Chapter 2838: Attack from the Darkness!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Red Pig…”
Chu Zhixiao was going to say something else, but Li Yao pulled his telepathic thoughts away from him.
It was about time. He would have goosebumps all over his body if he kept talking.
Li Yao only wanted to ‘push’ Chu Zhixiao and plant a seed of suspicion and resistance in the soul of the Goddess of Slaughter. He did not want to hypnotize her and force her to act according to his will.
If he really strengthened the hypnotization and bewitchment, he might be able to turn Chu Zhixiao into a rebel, but what was the difference between that and the brainwashing of the Grand Master and the puppet king?
This was as far as he could go. It was up to her whether or not she could make the first step of her resistance. Li Yao could not interfere.
Besides, the space jump was coming to an end, too. The colorful kaleidoscopes nearby were all shaking and overlapping.
They had passed through the four-dimensional universe and jumped to the center of the imperium across billions of lightyears.
Of course, before he got rid of the four-dimensional state, Li Yao did not forget to leave a vague, inconspicuous mark in the brains of the four members of the yaksha squad and the puppet king.
It was like a coordinate that could pierce through all the barriers of plate armor and shields, allowing him to locate the five of them instantly.
The transmigration ended.
It was as if the bungee jumpers had fallen to the bottom of the valley and were suddenly pulled up by the safety rope on their waists.
Everybody felt that their internal organs had been pinched hard, and they felt that the world was spinning and that they were about to vomit. Then, the dancing kaleidoscopes around them quickly condensed and reorganized, turning into the real entities in the three-dimensional world again.
Everyone seemed to be dreaming as they looked at each other in a trance.
Chu Zhixiao was even more suspicious. He stared at the spider tank—Li Yao.
She rubbed her temples, not sure what the real ‘dream’ was exactly.
Li Yao lay down next to her obediently. He even crouched his six limbs to his abdomen, as if he had entered the hibernation state.
Chu Zhixiao looked at Li Yao and then at the puppet king. He thought for a long time but came up with nothing.
However, the pain and hesitation in her eyes indicated that the seed of suspicion and resistance had taken root deep inside her heart. The vines and branches that grew out gradually tied up her soul and shaped it into a new shape.
Taking a deep breath, Chu Zhixiao stood up and looked out of the virtual window.
Li Yao took the opportunity to release his telepathic thoughts and hack into the mainframe crystal processor, the navigation system, and the sensors all over the starship to collect the data that was flooding close.
It was a dark space zone.
In many virtual entertainment works and thrilling games, space voyages were often conducted in a brilliant sea of stars. Wherever the space jumps took place, countless stars, planets, satellites, and asteroids would serve as battlefields. In the worst-case scenario, countless stars would serve as
background.
In fact, ‘planets’ were rarely-seen in the universe.
Planets—regardless of whether they were stars, planets, satellites, or even erratic asteroids—were distributed in the universe as if a handful of sand had been tossed into a vast square. On average, there was not even one grain of sand per cubic meter.
Therefore, most of the time, there was nothing in the universe. No light or heat. No matter. No waves. There was only endless darkness, coldness, and desperation.
It was the same in this space zone.
It was even difficult for Li Yao to find an object as a reference with the sensors of the shuttle. He could only tell from the coordinates provided by the navigation system that he was indeed near the Empyrean Terminus Sector, which was only three to five lightyears away from the resource-rich area.
It was indeed ‘near’. Three to five lightyears away at the regular sailing speed, it would take dozens of years. No wonder Xiao Ming and Wen Wen did not notice the main force of the Sanctuary Alliance—the fleet of the Fuxi Clan.
It was true that, although there were no celestial bodies in the universe, the destructive killing machines built by the ancestors of human beings and the so-called ‘gods’ still tore apart the coldness and ignited the darkness.
The exhaust flames of countless starships, together with the space ripples caused by their space jump, constituted a magnificent torrent.
“How many starships are there in this place?”
Li Yao mumbled to himself, his scalp tingling.
The fleet of the Fuxis was still assembling, Starships were jumping out of the void one after another like sharks that had risen from the deep sea.
In order to ensure the safety of the space jumps, most of the starships were far away from each other, to the extent that they could not be recognized with the naked eye or ordinary crystal cameras.
However, the shuttle still received the data from the core of the fleet of the Fuxi Clan and showed them a route. It also let them know how many silent space beasts were scattered in the darkness around them.
Li Yao had never seen such a large fleet before.
‘Whether it was the ‘counterattack of the Star Glory Federation’, the ‘battle of a Million Starships’ in the Seven Seas Space Zone, or the ‘defense of the capital city’ in the Empyrean Terminus Sector, billions of tons of steel had been piled together, burning, exploding, and annihilated. The number of
starships on both sides combined was not as enormous and terrifying as the fleet of the Fuxi fleet in front of them!
It was because, whether it was the imperium or the federation, the rulers and the citizens were all living human beings with flesh and blood, emotions, and selfish desires.
Even in the most extreme circumstances, it was impossible to concentrate all the starships in one place and abandon other places.
Most of the troops still had to defend the strategic locations of various worlds. To maintain the supply lines and the rear defense lines, they had to suppress the possible riots and insurrection in certain places.
Under such circumstances, the federation and the imperium would only be able to devote one third of their troops to a strategical war.
It was not the limit of technology and resources but the limit of human nature.
But the people of the Sanctuary were a bunch of inhumane people.
Therefore, Li Yao was very suspicious that the Holy Alliance had exploited the last resources and soldiers of every Sector under their command and brought them to the frontline without caring about anything else.
As for the logistics and logistics, there was no regard for the order in the rear at all. It was a gamble and a sure win. There were no other possibilities.
“The people of the Star Glory Federation are truly… insane. They are betting all their assets without any hesitation. Have the five greatest masters never considered the possibility that they might lose or be locked in a stalemate for ten years?”
Li Yao simply could not understand the strategy of the people of the Sanctuary Alliance.
He even had a weird feeling that such a ‘flattening’ strategy was more like a super-large crystal processor game than a real-world war.
“Tt seems that Lei Chenghu was right. Something is seriously wrong with the members of the Star Glory Federation. Or rather, their system has been rigid since the very beginning without any creativity or motivation.
“A thousand years of development is already their limit,” the mental devil said. “They have reached the peak of weakness. If the stalemate continues, more and more ‘Puppet Kings’, ‘Infected Ones’, and ‘Awakened Ones’ will appear and collapse the system from the inside.
“Therefore, the five great masters decided to take care of the imperium before it collapsed, even if they had to go all out!
“As for whether or not the rear world will fall into chaos or collapse because there are not enough soldiers to maintain order, it is definitely not within the consideration of Master Zhi Shan. After all, no matter how many people there are, they are just ‘soldier bees’ and ‘worker bees’. As long as we can
occupy the imperium, which is the resource-rich area in the center of the sea of stars, we will naturally be able to get more ‘soldier bees’ and ‘worker bees’.
“Indeed.”
Li Yao mumbled, “The people of the Star Glory Federation attacked the new area of the imperium on a large scale and separated the expedition army from the territory of the imperium. On one hand, it was a strike to the morale of the people of the imperium, and on the other hand, it was a distraction.
The imperium did not expect that they would be so crazy as to deploy themselves in such a dark space zone where no resources were available.
It was extremely risky to deploy the magnificent fleet that the entire nation had gathered in such a dark space zone where there were no celestial bodies or spiritual energy.
Of course, this place was not far away from the capital city and was in the ‘darkness under the light’ state. It was not easy to be detected by the guards of the imperium.
However, the attackers would not be able to receive any supplies on the spot. All the supplies had to be transported from the rear through space jumps. The cost was astronomical!
It was as absurd as stationing an ‘800,000-strong army’ in a desert in an ancient battlefield. Every portion of food and water had to be transported from the rear, and ten portions of food had to be consumed on the way to transport one portion of food. If the war was not started as soon as possible, they
would be dragging themselves to death.
Therefore, both the military colleges of the federation and the imperium never considered such a resourceless dark space zone as a rendezvous point when they were teaching strategies, no matter how close it was to the enemy’s strategic location.
As insane as the Black Wind Fleet was, they had found a space zone with brown dwarfs when they assaulted the federation. The attraction force of the brown dwarfs alone was enough to save a lot of fuel.
If any commander-in-chief of an imperium or a federation dared to propose a plan where the dark space zone would be the rendezvous point, they would definitely be sent to the hospital for a brain examination by all the generals and advisors under their command.
But the craziness of the members of the Sanctuary was beyond everyone’s expectation.
As the shuttle sailed in the darkness, he could vaguely feel the exhaust flames of countless starships shining around him, like the glittering tusks of a cosmic beast.
They were like small fish that had accidentally entered the shark’s feast.
After sailing for an entire day, they finally reached the center of the shoal of sharks and heard a clearer and clearer call.
In front of them was Ultimate Rescue, the flagship of the Fuxi fleet!