“I told you not to touch the defense network!” Cynthia glared at the team of system experts cowering in the command room. “Restart the system immediately!”
“It’s useless, Commander,” the person in charge said. “The new system is an integrated architecture. Once you agreed to replace the other modules, the defense network also had to be replaced with the latest version. Otherwise, the old one can’t continue to function.”
These damn experts had concealed critical information, relying on the military’s backing. Cynthia drew the photon gun in her hand and pointed it at the person in charge’s head. “What did I say?”
“Commander, even if you kill me now, the old system still won’t work. We have to switch to the new system immediately.” The person in charge forced his trembling body to remain steady and continued, “If we deploy the new system now, we can still begin debugging as soon as possible.”
However, two days later, what she had feared most finally happened. First, the fortress checkpoint system began lagging. Then, the entire fortress’s Star Network went down.
Realizing that something was wrong, Cynthia immediately rushed to the defense system’s main control console, where she found the team of experts looking troubled.
“Commander, we didn’t expect the Star Network to be interrupted either.” The person in charge wiped the sweat from his face. “It was a debugging malfunction during deployment. We’re restarting it now.”
However, the internal analysis from the Leila Star Information Center showed that a ship was approaching.
Suppressing her anger, Cynthia immediately rushed back to the main command center.
If she couldn’t count on the defense network, she could only withstand the attack by force. There were hundreds of asteroids within the entire fortress, all inhabited by civilians. She could withstand a small-scale attack, but if a large ship arrived, there was nothing inside the fortress capable of fighting it.
“Use the military emergency communications channel and request assistance from Sevi Base.”
“Yes!”
Cynthia quickly finished adjusting the weapons and personnel deployment. On the tactical display, a thousand enemy fighter jets had arrived before the warships.
With the defense network inactive, those fighter jets could tear through the defenseless asteroids like hot knives through butter.
Cynthia headed toward the underground armory and put on a fighter pilot helmet when one of her subordinates hurriedly stopped her. “Commander, an unknown communications request! The other party says his designation is UMDA001.”
Cynthia stopped abruptly. “Put it through!”
A man wearing a spacesuit and helmet appeared on the communications screen. He was completely covered from head to toe, piloting a fighter jet as it circled near Leila Star.
“Cynthia.”
The familiar voice struck Cynthia the moment he spoke. “Com—”
Before she could finish, Li Xu interrupted her. “Answer me. Can my designation still be used in your fortress?”
“Yes.” Cynthia answered immediately, then quickly corrected herself. “It can.”
UMDA001, the designation of the Supreme Commander.
“What happened to the defense network?”
“The military’s system engineers forcibly deployed a new system, and it malfunctioned.”
“Give me the highest authority over the defense network,” Li Xu said. “Tell me where the main control console is.”
Cynthia said nothing more and immediately sent him both the authorization and location information as requested.
Before the man who had never removed his helmet flew away from Leila Star, he looked at the stern, silent face on the communications screen and said, “Take whatever firepower you can use. Hidden weapons or otherwise, go sweep all those intruders out. You don’t need to show anyone any courtesy.”
Cynthia’s hand hanging at her side clenched into a fist. “Yes!”
The defense network of a military fortress was the highest-grade system. When each fortress was constructed, its defense network was configured according to a standardized specification. The outermost layer of its defensive weapons consisted of antimatter cannons, while the internal modules were equipped with medium-scale nuclear bombs.
The configuration limit of the defense network represented the network’s maximum mental-strength threshold. If a pilot’s mental strength was below the defense network’s limit, they could not operate the equipment.
By the time Li Xu reached the main control console, the team of system experts had finally finished activating the new system. On the holographic display in the control room, the red defense network lit up, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
However, not long afterward, they saw an orderly formation of fighter jets break through the defense network and begin entering the fortress one after another.
Their new system was completely useless.
Li Xu fired a shot at the optical-brain in the person in charge’s hand. “From this moment on, I’m taking over.”
After issuing his orders, the entire team of experts was locked in the basement.
Using the highest authority, Li Xu opened the defense network system. After reading the information on the new system, his brows drew tightly together. The military had truly stopped at nothing to replace the original system.
The new system used a war-of-attrition approach. The mental-strength value of a single sample was not particularly high, but multiple samples could take turns being used. Under normal circumstances, it would use samples with as little mental strength as possible, allowing the system to remain awake while reducing energy consumption.
The idea was ideal. No matter how high an ordinary pilot’s mental strength was, they could not continuously withstand multiple defense mental-strength values taking turns attacking them.
But reality was that there were abnormal pilots who possessed extremely high mental strength and were not afraid of sustained mental strain.
Because they themselves were expendable.
Li Xu watched the increasingly numerous fighter formations on the holographic display. Inside the fortress, the outermost asteroids were gradually coming under attack and falling one after another. Scenes from decades ago, when the base at the Dawnlight Fortress had been destroyed, began flashing through his mind.
At the same time, another thought flashed through his mind. Several hours had already passed. He hoped Cheng Weilu had already left the fortress.
Was this a little selfish of him?
He steadied his mind and began attempting to connect to the system’s mental network.
A familiar voice suddenly sounded through the private communications channel in his ear. “Li Xu, it’s me. Can you hear me? Tell me where you are.”
─────── ✦ · ˚ ✧ · ˚ ✦ ───────
Two hours earlier—
The spaceship had activated stealth mode and had been hovering in place for three hours.
In the main control room, Cheng Weilu looked at the detection data Xiao Wei had gathered on the screen. The starship causing the spatial fluctuations had yet to appear, but fighter jets had already arrived at the fortress as the advance force.
When those fighter jets began attacking the outermost asteroids, the fortress’s defense network finally reacted. Seeing the entire fortress and the asteroids’ outer perimeter light up with a defense grid on the holographic display, Cheng Weilu breathed a sigh of relief.
She disengaged the spaceship’s stationary mode and flew toward Leila Star, wanting to see if she could locate Li Xu.
But then she noticed that the subsequent waves of fighter jets were still continuously entering the fortress. The defense network had not worked at all. On the asteroids, civilian ships that spontaneously rose up in resistance would be “captured” and lose control the moment they approached those fighter formations, after which they would crash into the atmosphere and be destroyed.
The scene looked very similar to what they had encountered at the Fourth Star Spaceport before. Cheng Weilu suddenly realized who the actual pilots of these fighter formations were.
“Xiao Wei,” Cheng Weilu said as she looked out through the porthole, “I want to find Li Xu. The fortress may need my help.”
Outside, explosions and the flashes of fighter fire filled the surroundings. Hundreds of asteroids were falling, and billions of ordinary people were there.
“Understood. Searching for Li Xu’s location…”
“Xiao Wei,” Cheng Weilu said very seriously, “making this decision may mean taking all of you with me to your deaths.”
Xiao Wei’s gentle mechanical voice echoed through the cabin. “Given the level of intelligence that Robert and I possess, we don’t really have a concept of death. We will only respect your choice and remain with you forever.”
“Exactly.” Robert tugged at her hand from beside her leg. “I want to be with A Luo.”
“You backed up my data in the cloud, didn’t you?” Xiao Wei said. “Then I won’t die. My backup will permanently preserve the behavioral data from this spaceship in the cloud database until the day the service ends.”
“To put it in human terms, even if the physical forms of the three of us disappear, I will still permanently possess the memories of this spaceship. In the world of data, we will always be here.”
…
“So I came,” Cheng Weilu said. “If their pilots are bionics, I thought you might need my help.”
The Star Network was down. Only when she got close enough would she have a chance of connecting to Li Xu’s communications and sending him a message. Cheng Weilu had been circling around the several asteroids where the fortress had stationed troops for a long time. She also had to be extremely careful to avoid the detection equipment and prevent her ship from being mistaken for a pirate vessel and triggering an attack. Only then did she finally manage to establish communications.
“You…” Li Xu’s words caught in his throat. For some reason, he could not say anything. Then he took a deep breath. “All right. Come to my location.”
…
“In short, I’m going to use your mental strength as the configuration limit to reconstruct the defense network,” Li Xu said.
Many years ago, when the military’s defense system was being constructed, he had been the sample used to establish the configuration limit. He knew the process very well. Cheng Weilu’s situation, however, was different. Her mental strength was too strong, but she did not know how to use it. Li Xu would have to use himself as a medium to guide her.
“All right.”
Cheng Weilu stood in the center of the main control console, wearing a half-face metal mask that covered her eyes. Li Xu watched her from in front of her.
He took Cheng Weilu’s black-gloved hand, pressed his palm against hers, and laced his fingers through hers. She had no idea what he was about to do.
“Connect to the mental network.”
Cheng Weilu did as instructed and released her mental projection. But this mental space was strange and chaotic. Her mind was a complete muddle at that moment, as though she had lost the ability to act independently. She opened her eyes blankly, but there was no focus in her gaze as she waited for Li Xu’s next instruction.
“Go into the mental sea and find me.”
The two of them were extremely close. As their breaths mingled, Li Xu pressed his forehead against hers and drew close to that powerful, stable mental projection.
Most of Cheng Weilu’s senses were concentrated in the mental sea. She sensed a familiar mental consciousness approaching her.
Without hesitation, as though acting on instinct, her mental projection pulled that consciousness toward her and wrapped itself tightly around it.
Li Xu completely relaxed and allowed himself to be devoured by her, becoming a part of her.
In the mental world, no one could defeat her.
The activity of their fused mental consciousness surged. It began spreading in all directions uncontrollably, charging wildly through the space. Cheng Weilu’s brows furrowed tightly, and her breathing quickened.
Li Xu lowered his lashes, his gray eyes focused intently on her. His slender fingers gently rubbed the back of her hand as he said softly, “Stay calm. Focus on your breathing.”
Cheng Weilu drew a light breath and began regulating her breathing. She suppressed the chaotic thoughts crashing wildly through her mind, and as her emotions gradually stabilized, that calmness was transmitted into Li Xu’s mind.
“You’re doing very well.” Li Xu stared at her slightly parted lips, steadied his mind, closed his eyes, and continued giving instructions. “Next, we rebuild this world.”
The data modules scattered throughout the space were like sand and gravel. The core framework capable of supporting and stabilizing them had already fallen apart. About 85 percent of the mental-strength values in the dynamic configuration sample pool were weak mental strengths, completely incapable of supporting such a vast data structure.
Within the sea of consciousness, Cheng Weilu felt a vine growing from her mental projection. It rapidly extended upward, becoming taller, longer, and larger, then sprouted countless branches and leaves that spread outward, blotting out the sky and sun until they covered the entire space.
Under Li Xu’s guidance, they spread across the piles of data modules. The branches penetrated deep into every gap, gathering the scattered sand and gravel and piling them up layer by layer into a new defensive wall.
The process was long and monotonous, but it required absolute concentration. Cheng Weilu watched as a towering wall rose from the ground before her, reaching all the way to the sky. Her breathing grew heavier and heavier, while her consciousness became increasingly blurred. She did not know how much time had passed. Her mental capacity was probably nearing its limit, and she closed her eyes.
Taking advantage of her weakened state, Li Xu successfully extracted his consciousness, severed the mental connection, and caught Cheng Weilu securely in his arms before she could collapse.
As her mask was removed, Cheng Weilu heard him sigh. “A Luo, you’re really amazing.”
“…At least this time he didn’t say my physical fitness was poor,” she thought.
…
On the Heta Fleet’s flagship, the Atlas, a red-haired man lay casually in the chair of the main command room. His legs were propped up on the control console, and he had a thin stick candy between his teeth as he watched the holographic battlefield map in the air.
Starships were enormous, so both their speed and maneuverability were subject to certain limitations. But once they reached the battlefield, they could directly crush ordinary ships, fighter jets, and other aircraft. Only starships could fight against starships.
After several hours of travel, the man’s patience seemed to have run out. A fortress full of holes and a commander with her hands tied hardly seemed worth wasting any thought on.
The man raised a hand and lazily made an attacking gesture.
Ahead of the starship, two thousand fighter jets flew rapidly toward the Nianchuan Fortress in neat formation.
“Second wave. Sweep them out quickly so we can go home and sleep.” With the candy still between his teeth, the man gently rocked his head as he muttered indistinctly to himself.
Just as the white dots representing the fighter formations drew close to the fortress, the hundreds of asteroids that had been dim on the holographic display suddenly lit up with a red defense grid around their outer perimeter. Not only that, a gigantic defense grid gradually formed around Nianchuan Fortress, enclosing and protecting the entire fortress.
At the very front of the fighter formation, the white dots that collided with the shield began gathering together. More and more accumulated, yet they were still unable to break through the red shield and enter the fortress area.
The stick candy in his mouth snapped. The red-haired man lowered his legs and sat upright. Of course he recognized what it was. The fortress’s defense network had been activated again, and their “Box” pilots had failed.
This had never happened in the past several decades. According to the records, even when their forces had faced Li Nianchuan on the battlefield back then, their Boxes had held an absolute advantage.
How had the Alliance’s defense network been upgraded so quickly?
Before he could figure it out, ten seconds later, the fighter formations gathered outside the shield began gradually disappearing from the holographic display.
The defense system’s antimatter cannons had been triggered, annihilating all matter within the affected area.
The man immediately issued an order. “All remaining fighter formations, retreat! Move away from the defense network!”
…
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