Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1483: Splitting Into Three Forces

After a long journey, the Celestial System Fleet finally entered this universe. In an open zone approximately ten astronomical units away from the main Imperial Army force, an immensely grand space rift appeared out of nowhere, resembling a vortex capable of devouring an entire Constant Star System. This space rift instantly cleared all matter around it: the floating remnants of warships, fragments of exploded space fortresses, and the gradually cooling metal slag of unidentifiable origins. These battlefield scraps, left uncollected, were thrown into the Void by the intense space shock as the Celestial System Fleet entered the Material Universe.

A dazzling blue Constant Star gradually peeked out from the dark vortex, and its radiant light finally brought some brightness to this star-less and overly dim universe—though it could only illuminate one Constant Star System, at least the Tiaozi Five could once again hang outside the spaceship to sunbathe. Seriously, would those guys die if they didn’t get a daily dose of sunlight?

"Ghost Energy Death Star is online, ready for combat at any time."

The public information link broadcast the news from the core host of the Ghost Energy Death Star. Subsequently, this superweapon, representing the Empire’s ultimate force, began to deploy its "carrier aircraft." Ripples appeared on the surface of the blue Constant Star, and Planet Fortresses drifted out from the star’s Gnaku, quickly jumping into their designated orbits. Over the past two years, the Celestial System Fleet has been continuously expanding, and has now turned into a formidable behemoth, with the Ghost Energy Death Star as the flagship and over ninety Planet Fortresses as escort ships. Each Planet Fortress is also equipped with a significant number of Armed Satellites and Planet Defense Fleets. Although these second-line fleets cannot compare to the Imperial Main Army, their combat power, as supplementary armed forces of the Celestial System Fleet, is not to be underestimated.

Not to mention they have a remarkable quantity: almost comparable to the total of the Empire’s current Seven Great Armies.

A considerable portion of those Planet Defense Fleets consists of spaceships from the Civilization Community. Originally, this war was not intended to involve the Servant Army, but the Civilization Community is an exception: they are the most fierce among all Servant Armies of the New Empire and possess a willpower that rivals the Xyrin Apostles. After being equipped with high-tech spaceships provided by the Empire, their combat power was completely sufficient to contend with the Fallen Apostles, and they are well-acquainted with the Celestial System Fleet’s combat procedures. Therefore, even when heading to the Abyss Zone for battles, the Community Fleet resolutely follows the Celestial System Fleet on its campaign—considering that the Celestial System Fleet is also the dwelling place of half their population, they are essentially going to war alongside their homeland.

As the Celestial System Fleet unfolded, before the Space Gate closed, another smaller unit quickly rushed in. The second unit consisted of only one silver-white Planet Battleship, with the rest being "conventional vessels," making them seem insignificant like small animals compared to the Celestial System Fleet beside them. However, the commotion made by the second unit in the public channel was anything but small, with a certain individual shouting as if in a rush to reincarnate: "The Invincible Fleet has arrived! The Invincible Fleet has arrived! In the name of the General, crush them, keep crushing them! This ship is named Chen, and I’m here to conquer this world! All hands, open the main cannon power module and position the bomb! Let’s give them a blast! Destroy those ene... what the heck, where are the enemies?! Where are the enemies they promised us? Your Excellency General, why can’t this ship see where the enemies are..."

I sat on the bridge of the Imperial Admiral, listening to the noisy chatter on the public channel, with an expression like I had swallowed over two pounds of bitter herbs. Sandora nudged my arm and whispered, "Ah Jun, do you think she really read the orders we sent her?"

"She read it," I nodded with a stiff expression, "but I’m afraid she just saw the words ’come to battle’ and rushed over excitedly... definitely didn’t read the rest."

By this time, the Celestial System Fleet had already begun setting up a base according to the previous plan. It was like an ant colony with a queen, deploying various space constructions under the control of the Ghost Energy Death Star Command. Sivis had once ordered special modifications on these Planet Fortresses to better suit the needs of the Celestial System Fleet. Aside from enhancing their defense capabilities, these modifications included designing high-speed industrial modules: Numerous space constructions (such as large Starports and Orbital Defense Cannons) must be deployed upon entering a war zone. However, on-site construction couldn’t meet the demands, so these were pre-built as modules, kept divided and stored in the Planet Fortresses (which were simultaneously parts of these Planet fortresses’ crusts). When deployment was required, these modules would be instantly projected into orbit through precise jump assembly. They would swiftly assemble and activate, establishing comprehensive space base clusters with production, supply, repair, and other functions in the shortest time, meeting the needs of the Celestial System Fleet’s various units and providing ample logistical support to surrounding allies. Upon entering enemy territory, they essentially forcefully set up a home base right under the enemy’s nose—a fortress of solid iron walls.

In the initial period after entering the war zone, the Celestial System Fleet was like this: continuously transforming, unfolding, constructing, becoming more robust over time, and gaining the abilities of perpetual self-restoration and battlefield production. If the enemy couldn’t interrupt this process in time, they would soon find the massive fleet had self-strengthened to an unassailable level. Once the Celestial System Fleet’s deployment work was completed, it would lead to a direct steamroll—fearless of any attack and even unafraid of being interrupted during the heralding of Doomsday, leaving them with only one option: to welcome the victory.

While the Celestial System Fleet was busy, the erratic "surname Chen" AI kept leading her fleet with restless excitement, wandering endlessly by taking advantage of its unlimited power, constantly roaming around the Ghost Energy Death Star out of curiosity: "Hey, you’re quite bright, and so big! What do you eat to grow so large?"

The mainframe of the Ghost Energy Death Star responded with silence, but the Great Governor, the Commander-in-Chief of the Revenge Fleet, couldn’t hold back any longer: "Flagship, I think our fleet can just maintain standby in orbit around the Death Star for the time being."

"What? You want this ship to circle this great light egg?" Er Fengzi was suddenly puzzled, "Why? Is this the General’s intention?"

I really can’t stand this Er Fengzi who jokes all the time and isn’t very bright, so I yelled in the command link: "Just turn when I tell you to turn! Before the attack order comes down, just circle that big light egg... just circle the Ghost Energy Death Star!"

"Ah! General’s brother!" Er Fengzi exclaimed in surprise, then finally obediently found an orbit, "Turn, turn, it’s really boring... Usually, when I browse the web of Earthlings, I have to keep spinning around all day, now even coming out to fight a war I have to spin around..."

I was about to turn and continue discussing the advance plans with Sandora when I was stunned: "How is your internet browsing related to ’spinning’?"

Er Fengzi adjusted the orbit and started circling the Ghost Energy Death Star while mumbling, "Yeah, even this ship is puzzled, why do Earthlings know about the Planet Battleship, they post things like ’if you don’t spin, your whole family will die’, ’you’re not human if you don’t spin’, ’don’t spin or you’ll be haunted by Resentful Spirits’ below, this ship just spins a circle for every post it sees, anyway, the posts don’t say whether it’s rotating or orbiting, right... but there are so many posts, sometimes after glancing at Baidu, the spinning makes my head dizzy... General’s brother, you’re well informed, what does this mean?"

I was dumbfounded and didn’t know how to answer, while the Great Governor was nearly going crazy: "Flagship! You spin madly every day just because of this!?"

"Yes—it’s really no trouble, though if it were this ship’s previous body, it wouldn’t spin."

"Ah Jun," Sandora held my arm tightly, "was it a mistake to bring this guy out?"

I remained silent with tears in my eyes, hoping that when the war breaks out, this Er Fengzi won’t mess up...

With the Celestial System Fleet and the Revenge Army in position, it’s time to consider the next military actions.

Currently, we have two attack plans before us.

The first proposal comes from Sivis: continue with a stable and steady approach. After establishing a relatively solid base in this universe, we then launch a full-scale assault on the next outpost, advancing one world at a time until forming the kind of "marked circle" Sandora talked about. Then we would carve large portions of the Fallen Apostle’s territory, taking as much as we can—no need to sweep the Abyss Zone in one go, as long as we can fatally weaken the enemy’s foundation, that counts as victory.

The second attack plan is suggested by Bingdisi, and is somewhat more aggressive: split the current Imperial Fleet into three, simultaneously attacking all surrounding enemy territories, using this universe we’ve claimed as the headquarters, where the Celestial System Fleet provides strong logistical support. Units damaged on the front do not linger, but retreat immediately for repairs, while the Revenge Army acts as a mobile unit, ready to bolster any frontline where the advance is too slow, expanding the battle outcomes quickly with lightning-fast assaults.

Clearly, the second tactic fits the style of that female hooligan who reigns supreme before making a quick getaway, but it must be admitted that this tactic does have some rationale: we already know the Fallen Apostle has split into the New Army and Old Army, with the Old Army seemingly not completely dissolved, and more importantly, even in a divided state, they adhere to the principle of "group interests first." This means the enemy could reorganize under the joint pressure of the Divine Race and the Imperial Army. Thus, our time to advance is quite limited.

The steady tactics were originally safe and reliable, but with limited time they may actually delay opportunities. Bingdisi’s aggressive plan, therefore, appears particularly attractive at this moment.

Looking at these two vastly different plans, even Big Sister joined the discussion: "Encountering such resistance just attacking this one world, is it really okay to split into three and strike everywhere?"

Sandora’s reply was quite relaxed: "Initially, there won’t be any issues. Not every world is as heavily defended as this one. Based on the scale of this sovereignty hub, we just happened to hit the enemy’s defense node. Usually, even border worlds in a normal universe wouldn’t require such a large sovereignty hub and so many stationed troops. Therefore, the surrounding universes should be easier to capture."

"But they will react soon enough," my sister thought for a moment, "Earlier, the Fallen Apostles attempted to send reinforcements to this world but we intercepted them. However, they certainly won’t just give up. This world is temporarily obscured, but they will likely teleport their troops to the surrounding worlds to bolster their defense. Although they are somewhat slow to react now, they shouldn’t be so unresponsive that they can’t react at all, right?"

"Hey, you’re all getting tired from overthinking this," Bingdisi, who had been listening patiently, finally couldn’t hold back, "Just follow my idea. Think about it: if the enemy’s troops are split, won’t they have to spread out their defenses too? Moreover, they’re already engaged in intense combat with our Divine Race, so even if they send more reinforcements, they won’t exceed the number of troops initially stationed here. Having already captured this defense node, surely we can take a few small outposts— and the Celestial System Fleet is so large, it shouldn’t just remain in the rear as a base. It has dozens of Planet Fortresses around it, just deploy a few for battle. Ready for attack, ready for defense."

"Temporarily incorporating some Planet Fortresses into the offensive forces to participate in battle?" Sandora actually began seriously considering Bingdisi’s suggestions. She nodded slightly, "Hmm, it might be feasible, but the construction cycle for Planet Fortresses is long, and the models used by the Celestial System Fleet are special, considered a precious combat force. We must minimize their casualties..."

Just as Sandora was speaking, the communicator on the officer platform suddenly lit up: "Report! This is the battlefield lab. We’ve discovered something new from the enemy’s database!"

Something new again? Wasn’t the last batch of information big enough?

We looked at each other in surprise, then Bingdisi was the first to rush over: "What did you find?"

"The activation records of the World Gate and server logs that weren’t deleted in time," the Imperial Scientist on the other end of the communicator had an excited expression on his face, "Using these, we can backtrack the coordinates of hundreds of worlds along the Abyss Zone’s border and their approximate military importance!"

Sandora was momentarily stunned, and then a look of ecstatic joy appeared on her face as she slapped the table: "We’ll do as Bingdisi suggested! Prepare to split the forces for an attack— Laboratory, derive the ’map’ as quickly as possible!"

Even more excited than Sandora was Bingdisi. That female hooligan started showing off smugly: "See, it should have been done according to my plan all along. This is called battlefield intuition, this is called farsightedness, this is... Hey, don’t walk away!"

The fact that the enemy’s database contained an undestroyed "border defense map" was truly like a godsend that could stun an Imperial General (in fact, Pandora was actually stunned for a few seconds after hearing this news). With the border defense map, even if it was slightly outdated, we could roughly gauge the defense situation of the various worlds along the Fallen Apostle’s border: they may be able to quickly redeploy troops to change their defenses, but they can’t alter those fixed Space Fortresses and military bases, can they?

With the guidance of this defense map, Bingdisi’s somewhat rash three-pronged plan became unprecedentedly feasible: we could bypass the most tightly guarded areas of the enemy, starting first from the weak points to capture a wide range of outposts, and then, according to Sandora’s "Void Identifier" method, use the new outposts as a base to isolate those heavily defended universes. At that point, even if we had to destroy those universes directly, it’d be fine: after all, besides seizing territory, our second target is to reduce the living forces of the Fallen Apostle.

But just as all units were busily preparing for the second battle, Sandora suddenly remembered something. She reconnected with the battlefield lab: "Are you sure those access records and server logs are fine?"

I glanced at Sandora: "You suspect deceit?"

"Of course," Sandora nodded, "Destroying all databases and carriers storing sensitive information at the point of losing a base is common sense. To prevent secrets from falling into others’ hands, Xyrin Apostles would even choose to self-destruct to prevent mind-reading—those irrelevant miscellaneous logs aside, something as extremely sensitive as the border access records should never be left intact. As long as there was one Fallen Apostle on the sovereignty hub when the Imperial Fleet began bombing, he would have deleted those things, possibly even destroying the database."

I quickly calmed down from my excitement: this was indeed a point of concern!

Even Bingdisi, who had been showing off for so long, turned serious, and although that female hooligan was somewhat mad, she had eons of experience. And she wasn’t inexperienced in commanding battles; she understood these fundamental truths too.

We waited silently for a while before new information finally came from the battlefield lab: "Your Majesty, the data is completely normal, with no signs of forgery. We have decrypted the root server program of this database and can examine the entry and modification records of each entry. We can confirm that all access records are unprocessed raw data."

I pondered for a moment, then pulled Xiao Xue, who was passing by, over to my side: "Girl, do a divination."

"Dad, are you questioning the prophet profession... hey, ow ow... dad, I get it, stop pinching my cheek..."

The Naughty Kid rubbed her cheeks and closed her eyes, mumbling a few words as she calculated. Finally, she opened her eyes, revealing two beams of light: "Dad, are my eyes shining... hey, ow ow..."

I was almost driven mad by this Naughty Kid—this must be a bad habit she picked up from Er Fengzi!

"These records are fine," Xiao Xue finally realized now wasn’t the time to keep playing around (she had already gone quite far), so she started talking business: "The routes, universe distribution map, military importance, and the last batch of frontier garrison records as of yesterday... hmm, all are true."

Qianqian, who had been busy fiddling with the Magic Cube all along, was finally prompted to speak: "Why didn’t the people on the sovereignty hub destroy all this when the defense line collapsed?"

Xiao Xue spread her hands: "I probably know some things, but I can’t say—anyway, it doesn’t harm us. And honestly...the scope of this situation is vast, so I can only see two or three steps ahead. Even the Prophet’s eyes can’t see too far. Hmm, maybe my mom can see farther. Should we call her?"

"Enough, your mom is probably busy memorizing the Lin family rules right now, let her be." I patted Xiao Xue’s head, feeling slightly reassured inside.

If even the Prophet says everything is fine...

Then let’s prepare for battle. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)