I’ve calculated it long ago. The fleet in Sanjing Sea is now too massive to maneuver. It will take at least several days,” Luo Dongjie said with a light laugh. “If they want to catch up with us, they must deploy one person’s warship. Only he can intercept us in time. That’s exactly who I’m waiting for.”
“Who?”
At the mere mention of this name, fury flared in Luo Dongjie’s eyes. His entire career and military achievements had been nearly destroyed by this person. Luo Dongjie could never understand how a young upstart could repeatedly crush the Empire’s armies and achieve victory after victory.
“Yang Hao. Yang Hao’s Dreadnought, the Doomsday,” Luo Dongjie hissed through clenched teeth. “That’s exactly who I’m waiting for. I want him and his fleet to perish together. Only when he dies can I escape.”
Only at this moment did Ling Ziyun finally understand Luo Dongjie’s hidden intentions. This guy indeed possessed considerable strategy, having calculated everything precisely beforehand.
The devastating defeat of the Sunset Fleet at Saint Bear Star had been the worst loss for the Galactic Empire in decades. As fleet commander, Luo Dongjie bore undeniable responsibility. Even if he had managed to transmit news of the rebellion in the Sanjing Sea system, it would merely balance the scales. For the sake of his future, Luo Dongjie had no choice but to confront Yang Hao head-on. Destroying Yang Hao’s dreadnought would be his revenge, and he could return and rewrite the defeat into a victory report.
“So you’re not rushing to escape beyond a hundred light-years but deliberately waiting here for the Doomsday?” Ling Ziyun felt a sense of being tricked.
“I heard,” Luo Dongjie said with a meaningful glance at her ample chest, “that Miss Ling Ziyun has quite a history with Yang Hao, even sharing a passionate night together.”
“That’s none of your business,” Ling Ziyun shot back coldly, her eyes flashing.
“Of course,” Luo Dongjie naturally wasn’t foolish enough to offend Ling Ziyan. He continued studying his star charts, but his newly appointed deputy officer immediately stirred his excitement.
“Report! A warship formation has been detected ahead.”
“How many warships?” Luo Dongjie leapt up and rushed toward the radar officer.
“More than 500 warships,” the officer replied, startled, but quickly added, “Among them, only one is a battleship. The rest are small craft, apparently single-pilot ships.”
Luo Dongjie exhaled in relief. “Locust tactics, probably from the Third Mongol Division. Those junk ships dare to challenge us? It’s practically suicide.”
“Sometimes, locusts can kill people too,” Ling Ziyun remained unmoved by the report. She continued admiring her freshly painted nails while sarcastically commenting, “Since they dared to come, they must have prepared something.”
“But they don’t have any aces. I do, and more than one,” Luo Dongjie growled fiercely, as if ready to devour the enemies ahead. “Issue my command! All fleet units shall converge rapidly around the Titan flagship!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The fleet appearing before the Sunset Fleet was naturally Long Yun’s group. Ever since they received the mission to intercept in the Sanjing Sea system, Long Yun and XII had immediately departed in the Doomsday dreadnought, locating several wormholes for rapid transit, overtaking Luo Dongjie’s fleet.
Now, Long Yun, XII, Maya, and the Hao Sword Corps were all aboard the dreadnought. Meanwhile, Commander Lei from the Mongol Division had also established his command post on the dreadnought, directing hundreds of small craft to set up a defensive line.
Observing Lei’s busy coordination, arranging each small ship like a precisely placed screw, Long Yun couldn’t help but admire the resistance leader’s courage and combat capability.
However, the overall battle situation was increasingly favoring the Sanjing Sea forces. XII’s voice came through: “The enemy is concentrating toward their flagship, likely preparing a final concentrated barrage. Currently, their spatial coverage is two million square kilometers, and it will soon converge to within a hundred kilometers.”
“Then it’s within the annihilation range of the Doomsday’s Kiss?” Long Yun waved his hand decisively, surprised at how favorable the situation had turned.
“It seems so. Considering the preparation time for their final barrage, our Doomsday’s Kiss should arrive first,” XII turned his mechanical head. “Shall we begin preparations? Initiating the Doomsday’s Kiss will drain all our power and defenses. If the enemy attacks, we will be completely defenseless.”
“Proceed!” Long Yun decided instantly. Though not an expert in space warfare, his decisiveness as a former general of Leimeng Star remained sharp. The enemy fleet was also preparing a final barrage. Both sides possessed overwhelming firepower, and whoever fired first would gain the advantage.
Without hesitation, XII began directing the Doomsday’s Kiss deployment, sending coordinates and energy concentration commands even before fully turning around.
The dreadnought trembled violently. Lights dimmed inside the ship, and the ion shield and aerodynamic protection outside vanished instantly. All the ship’s energy surged toward a small, dark cannon port atop the hull. For the next thirty minutes, the Doomsday dreadnought would be defenseless and unable to attack.
But it was worth it. The Doomsday’s Kiss was an overwhelmingly powerful attack, capable of rivaling the Empire’s Light-Hunting Weapon. Originally developed to counter the Empire’s new Light-Hunting Weapon, the Kiss’s principle was different.
The Light-Hunting Weapon required harvesting nearby light energy to generate massive firepower, but its preparation and firing process took hours. Moreover, it was difficult to control. During the previous battle at Saint Bear Star, the Sanjing Sea forces had easily disrupted its targeting, causing it to destroy itself.
In contrast, the Doomsday’s Kiss used the dreadnought’s own energy, concentrating all available power over thirty minutes before releasing it.
Though this energy couldn’t match the Light-Hunting Weapon’s raw power, when focused on a single point with over two hundred nuclear fusion reactions, it could rival its destructive force.
However, the Doomsday’s Kiss had a fatal flaw: it drained nearly all the dreadnought’s energy, leaving it without shields, weapons, or mobility for an extended period, making it a vulnerable target in space.
Yet Long Yun wasn’t worried. He understood Luo Dongjie’s fleet composition well. The only effective ways for that massive fleet to destroy a dreadnought were either using the Light-Hunting Weapon (whose system on the Titan had been destroyed at Saint Bear Star) or concentrating all fleet firepower for a final barrage. However, the final barrage required even more preparation time than the Doomsday’s Kiss. Essentially, Luo Dongjie wouldn’t complete his preparations before being annihilated.
Thus, Long Yun was confident that once the Doomsday’s Kiss was ready, the battle’s outcome would be decided. The Galactic Empire’s powerful fleet would finally be destroyed in the Sanjing Sea system, and news of the rebellion would be delayed for a long time before reaching the Empire.
Atop the massive dreadnought, a purple glow was gathering and growing—this was the energy wave of the Doomsday’s Kiss. As the energy expanded continuously, everyone seemed to feel the universe trembling, as if this power had unsettled the vast emptiness of space itself.
Everything seemed predetermined.
But can the future truly be predetermined?
In the distant, vast night sky, what beast lay in wait? What kind of unrest would make those who underestimated it pay with blood?
Although the entire Sunset Fleet lacked its former grandeur and majesty, when gathered together, it still seemed invincible, like an unbreakable wall of steel. Now, as the threat of doom approached, the once-invincible fleet trembled slightly.
This wasn’t the recoil from launching a weapon, nor the turbulence of initiating a nuclear drive. It was more like the delicate shiver when a gentle finger brushes against a woman’s skin.
With this subtle tremble, a massive fireball erupted from the Titan flagship. Dozens of meters wide, yet against the colossal Titan, it seemed as insignificant as a speck of dust.
This blazing speck moved astonishingly fast—faster than light itself.
In the post-space age, exceeding light speed wasn’t difficult. Even dozens or hundreds of times faster could be achieved during fleet accelerations. But that required powerful nuclear drives, sometimes supplemented by space station propulsion tracks.
Yet a fireball merely dozens of meters wide surpassing light speed? This wasn’t space technology—it was the Sunset Fleet concentrating all their nuclear energy across the entire fleet, launching this fireball.
They abandoned their final barrage, sacrificing everything just to launch one fireball. What was its purpose? Had Luo Dongjie gone mad?
Long Yun thought Luo Dongjie had indeed gone mad—and quite severely at that. Such a fireball wouldn’t decide the battle even in ancient times, let alone in this era of space warfare.
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