Chapter 130: Sea of Defiance
Surrounded by countless stars, a massive spaceship floated silently.
It had a long, string-like shape overall, with a thick central shaft hundreds of meters in diameter. Many spokes, like bicycle tires, extended outward from the main shaft, collectively securing a giant ring several kilometers in diameter.
This main shaft was about a dozen kilometers long, with a ring every approximately 1 kilometer, so the total number of rings connected to it reached 15.
At this moment, this enormous ring-shaped spaceship floated alone in the boundless void of space.
Around it, whether up, down, left, right, front, or back, no other ships could be seen, only countless stars, as if at this moment, the entire vast universe contained only this one spaceship.
Within a porthole of one of the rings was a massive room.
The room was predominantly pure black, as preferred by the Bluetoth, with simple decorations, subtly revealing a serious atmosphere.
The tall Chief Haiwei, the leader of the Bluetoth Civilization, with a body covered in neat silvery-white scales, stood silently before the porthole, gazing at the myriad stars outside, lost in thought for a long time.
A soft knock came from behind him. A moment later, another Bluetoth, whose scales were also silvery-white, walked in.
"Chief, an emergency. We received a signal from the solar system, and it’s highly likely it was sent by the alien civilization that preemptively occupied the solar system."
"Oh?"
The Bluetoth who came to report waved his hand gently, and a 3D projection appeared before Chief Haiwei.
Looking at this message, a faint smile appeared on his face, which was also covered in tiny silvery-white scales.
"If it was only remote detection intelligence, I would still have some doubts."
Chief Haiwei smiled peacefully: "Now it’s good. With this information, I am completely at ease.
How could a powerful civilization be so weak? If they are so weak, it can only prove that they are not powerful.
We can save a lot of effort in the preparations for our next interstellar voyage..."
"Chief, should this information be released to the public?"
"Release it. We have prepared for this voyage for hundreds of years, and countless citizens have sacrificed their lives for it.
Now it’s good; those complex and arduous foundational tasks finally have someone to do them for us. This is a good thing, a great thing, and it should be announced so our citizens can celebrate."
"Yes."
The Bluetoth bowed slightly and turned to leave the pure black office.
Chief Haiwei regained his composure and turned his gaze back to the myriad stars outside the porthole.
Countless stars surrounded this massive spaceship, making it seem as if it were immersed in a true sea of stars.
But Chief Haiwei knew that those were not actually stars.
Each star was actually a powerful, giant engine that was ejecting strong plasma.
Each star represented a giant spaceship equipped with advanced technology and powerful combat capabilities.
These countless ships gathered together, like a sea of stars, protecting the most core flagship in the center.
Although he could not see any single ship, he clearly knew that tens of thousands of various ships were around him.
At this moment, this sea of stars, following his will, was steadily approaching the star system that had already been taken by another civilization.
As for what humanity said about returning home, or the solar system not being unowned territory... Haiwei did not believe it at all.
Or rather, he simply didn’t care whether it was true or false. What if it was true, what if it was false?
It didn’t matter.
...
Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, three months had gone by.
Based on communication delay calculations, if the Bluetoth Civilization had received his message and replied to him, that reply should have already arrived.
But the final result was that it did not come.
Furthermore, Tom clearly saw that the star in the direction of the Gliese 625 star system had not only not disappeared but had become even brighter, so bright that with the highest resolution telescope, geometric structures could already be vaguely seen.
Tom knew very well what this meant.
Deceleration was still continuing. And that massive fleet was getting closer and closer to him, to the Sun.
Tom’s last shred of hope for peace was shattered.
But at this moment, he felt no frustration or despair.
The reason is simple: since I proposed negotiations, it means I already have confidence. And since I already have confidence, no matter the outcome of the negotiations, even if negotiations cannot even begin, it is within my acceptable range.
My proposal for negotiations is giving them an opportunity, not me an opportunity.
Since they don’t cherish it... then we fight.
Fight!
At this moment, within the vast solar system, countless massive spaceships were still busily shuttling. Innumerable resources from countless planets were still converging on every factory.
An endless supply of space mines was being poured into the sea of stars, a process that had continued for decades and would continue; the spaceship assembly plant had been operating for decades, producing hundreds of thousands of warships, and would continue to produce more.
In addition, the production of all materials, including interstellar turrets, satellites, missiles, supercomputers, and so on, had not stopped for a single day.
Hestia AI had been upgraded to the strongest level allowed by current technology.
Hestia AI, along with other industry AIs, both named and unnamed, had all been upgraded to their strongest.
Goku AI had also been upgraded to its strongest!
After decades, with millions of clones killed in action and tens of thousands of warships destroyed, under this tempering of iron and blood, Goku AI had become a true God of War!
Even Tom himself, through his persistent research in biotechnology, had truly increased his maximum consciousness connection limit to 200 million.
With a maximum consciousness connection limit of 200 million, 400 million commonly used clones, and a total of 3 billion clones stored using hibernation technology in major hibernation bases!
At this moment, Tom could simultaneously control a maximum of 150,000 warships. But beyond these 150,000 warships, there were more than 300,000 various warships hidden throughout the solar system.
...
Time continued to pass slowly, and in the blink of an eye, several years went by.
The Bluetoth Civilization never replied to Tom, and Tom did not send any more messages.
He continued his war preparations while quietly watching that star gradually expand, growing larger and brighter, then finally splitting into thousands of smaller stars, which then began to gradually brighten again.
Until now, all those stars had disappeared.
That massive fleet had stopped decelerating.
But even though the engines were no longer spewing flames, Tom could already see them directly with a telescope.
Because the Bluetoth Fleet’s distance from the Sun was now less than 13 billion kilometers.
Even closer than Loshen Star had been.