Rebirth of the Super Battleship
Chapter 223: Occupation

It had been a long time since Xiao Yu encountered a situation this dangerous. It had also been a long time since the flagship he was aboard had come under attack.

Xiao Yu could genuinely feel the oppressive pressure. The flagship he rode in was the most advanced vessel in terms of defense, firepower, and overall performance. However, for safety reasons, flagships generally did not participate in combat.

This was the first time since the construction of the Yanjing that it had been directly attacked.

At this moment, Xiao Yu finally understood where the Molian Civilization’s confidence came from.

If nothing unexpected happened, with these ultimate doomsday weapons alone, they could indeed hold out for ten days. No, rather than holding out for ten days, they could use these doomsday weapons to annihilate Xiao Yu’s entire force.

Once again, Xiao Yu witnessed the immense chasm created by technological disparity.

“Luka Two, stop. There’s no need to keep pretending anymore. My ship is taking heavy losses. If I don’t take action, I might end up dead. Now is the time for these fifty thousand warships to serve their purpose. I need to use them to carry out a mission…”

Luka Two, who had been in continuous negotiations with the Molian Civilization, actually breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

“You know, this Molian Civilization is really…annoying,” Luka Two said. “Negotiating with them takes no less energy than commanding a war. So, I’ll leave what comes next to you, Master. I-I need to get some rest.”

It was as if Luka Two had cast off a heavy burden; his entire demeanor relaxed, and he collapsed into the chair like a puddle of sludge.

“Mm, you’ve done very well. Leave the rest to me. You may rest now,” Xiao Yu replied. Then, he began to maneuver the fifty thousand warships, moving them slowly forward.

“Honored guests, what are you doing? The evil Predator Civilizations are invading us. It’s very dangerous out there. You’d better just stay here quietly.”

The moment those fifty thousand warships began to show signs of movement, Xiao Yu immediately received a warning message.

“Oh, it’s nothing. We’re just…just going to destroy a few things,” Xiao Yu said as he continued accelerating his operations.

“Warning! Stop immediately! If you do not cease your actions, you will be attacked by us!”

“Screw you!!” Suddenly, Luka Two perked up and shouted into the communication channel.

“Built up too much resentment during the negotiations, huh?” Xiao Yu thought to himself, and decisively severed the data interface with the Molian Civilization.

All the defensive structures around the two outer gas giants had already been destroyed. This data interface had fulfilled its historical purpose. Due to hardware limitations, Xiao Yu would not be able to obtain higher-level access through it.

Xiao Yu’s plan was simple: use these fifty thousand warships to launch an attack on a large base located 3,000 kilometers away, seize control of a communications node, and hold it for at least forty minutes. Then, using that node, launch a digital assault from within the digital realm on the Molian Civilization’s data center located on the planet. The goal was to seize control over the heavy cannons. And even if control couldn’t be taken, at the very least, disable them!

If Xiao Yu’s estimation was correct, the connection between a space base and the ground-based data center wouldn’t be that easy to sever, certainly not within an hour!

This was Xiao Yu’s only path to survival. If this operation failed, he would be caught in an inescapable and indefensible situation, where his remaining forces would be obliterated one by one by those massive cannons.

“Are you all insane?” After receiving a new broadcast message, Xiao Yu saw that eight hundred Molian Civilization warships had swiftly appeared in front of his fifty thousand vessels and they had quickly formed into an attack formation!

“As expected, I knew you were holding back defensive forces here all along,” Xiao Yu muttered to himself. Without the slightest hesitation, he launched the first strike.

These fifty thousand warships under Xiao Yu’s command were not equipped with Four-Dimensional Shields. Before arriving here, to prevent unexpected losses, all the Four-Dimensional Shields had been removed. Objectively speaking, these fifty thousand warships were not superior to the Molian Civilization’s eight hundred ships, at most they were evenly matched.

Moreover, the Molian Civilization had additional defensive forces stationed here.

But Xiao Yu’s goal was not to destroy those eight hundred ships. His objective was to seize a space base. No matter the cost, regardless of losses or casualties, that space base had to be taken!

Xiao Yu’s warships opened fire! In that very instant, countless projectiles had already reached the front of the eight hundred enemy ships. Furthermore, Xiao Yu’s fleet wasn’t stationary. It weaved and maneuvered while attacking, rapidly closing in on the space base.

“So you really are in league with that Predator Civilization! Despicable! We should’ve wiped you out long ago!” As the battle erupted, Xiao Yu received another broadcast. From the tone, he detected a distinct emotion: panic-fueled rage.

“You wouldn’t let me leave when I wanted to. Fine, then I won’t leave at all.” Xiao Yu sneered coldly and sped toward the eight hundred Molian Civilization ships blocking his path to the base.

Just moments later, the Molian Civilization’s counterattack arrived. At that instant, the disparity in technological levels became starkly apparent, hundreds of Xiao Yu’s ships were obliterated in the blink of an eye.

“So be it. Let the chaos begin!” Xiao Yu charged his fleet straight into the enemy formation. He split off nearly ten thousand ships to entangle the eight hundred enemy vessels, while the remaining forces pushed onward toward the space base.

The advantage of numbers came into play once more. While the Molian ships were advanced and powerful, they were far too few! They might have had the capability to destroy all fifty thousand of Xiao Yu’s warships over the course of a day’s combat through heavy attrition, but they did not have the capability to stop Xiao Yu’s fleet from advancing toward the space base!

This was the power of numerical superiority!

This particular space base didn’t appear to be a military installation. Xiao Yu observed that its defensive capacity was not formidable, at least, not when faced with tens of thousands of warships. Braving a storm of gunfire and continuous losses as ships shattered and exploded around him, he charged forward while launching relentless attacks.

In that moment, Xiao Yu pushed the combat strength of his fleet to its absolute limit.

Only a single minute had passed since Xiao Yu made the decision to mobilize the fifty thousand warships. Yet in that single minute, his main fleet had already suffered another wave of attacks, over a thousand more ships had vanished.

Xiao Yu once again felt the pressing urgency. The enemy had locked onto the largest vessel, the Yanjing, as their primary target. As a result, every time the fleet came under attack, Xiao Yu had to frantically reposition other ships to block incoming fire. If he was even slightly too slow, the consequences could be fatal.

On average, dozens of ships were lost every second. Every second gained in completing the mission meant dozens of warships saved.

Under such conditions, Xiao Yu’s assault was nothing short of frenzied. The fifty thousand warships no longer cared about their own casualties. The contingent entangled with the eight hundred Molian ships fought with utter recklessness. When ships lost sufficient combat effectiveness, Xiao Yu directly directed them to ram the enemy, detonating themselves to inflict damage.

On one flank, more than twenty thousand warships had already reached the space base. Under the rain of fire from its defenses, they unleashed a brutal offensive. Tactics? Unnecessary! Evasion? Irrelevant! The only requirement was to pour firepower upon the target, to break through the shield as fast as possible!

Under Xiao Yu’s wild bombardment, the base’s defenses were soon breached. His warships closed in immediately, and an endless torrent of combat robots surged inside like a flood. They stormed through the base, and at this point, Xiao Yu no longer cared about capturing any Molian personnel, anyone in his way was killed on sight!

Purge all forces that dared to stand in his path!

Defensive weapons mounted within the base were overwhelmed by the robot tide. Armed robots, Molian troops, everything was swallowed in the torrent!

Red zones, signifying areas captured by the robot army, spread rapidly throughout the base.

Xiao Yu was racing to locate the base’s central computing module. Without question, the highest-level authority resided there. Only through that module could he launch a digital invasion with the highest probability of success.

He had already studied the problem of seizing enemy targets back when he captured that flagship-class vessel. As a result, this takeover was even more efficient, even faster, and far more…brutal. This time, there was no need for restraint.

As a result, just three minutes later, after Xiao Yu’s main fleet endured another four waves of attacks and lost eight thousand more ships, his robot army had completely taken over the space base.

In the base’s central chamber, dozens of robots were busily working in front of a machine that resembled a cabinet.

Cables had been pulled out and connected to the wiring on the robots’ bodies.

Through these cables, Xiao Yu’s computing power began to surge inward…