Chapter 279 - 278: I Want to Talk to You

At that moment, the atmosphere in the conference room grew heavy. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Every high-ranking official turned pale, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

’It’s over. It’s all over.’

Though the enemy’s main fleet was still far away, their Detectors had already arrived nearby and sent them a message.

This meant their coordinates were completely exposed, and it was no longer possible to escape the enemy’s pursuit.

At this point, even scattering to flee would be useless. Completely useless.

Haimo Lan took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said, "My compatriots, the enemy has now made the choice for us.

Right now, other than fighting to the death, we have no other path!

The order is given! Prepare for battle! Prepare for war! We will pave our path with blood!"

"Yes, sir!"

With their path of retreat cut off, everyone forced themselves to rally their spirits. The entire Harville Fleet finally abandoned the stealth it had maintained for years, beginning to maneuver brazenly, lighting up its ships, and initiating electromagnetic communications.

Things had come to this; stealth was useless. They might as well reveal themselves.

In the distance, the enemy fleet closed in from the depths of space. The engagement erupted suddenly, a battle in the interstellar void, far from any celestial body.

"Compatriots, charge!"

"For our civilization!"

"Victory or death! The enemy has left us no other choice!"

In that moment, passions flared. In that moment, they were united as one. In that moment, the Harville Civilization unleashed the greatest combat power it could muster under the circumstances.

「Three months later.」

Haimo Lan sat staring blankly out the viewport, watching the stars appear and disappear outside, his expression filled with agony.

They had lost. Completely and hopelessly.

They had started with fewer than 200,000 Warships in total, most of which were already damaged. The enemy, on the other hand, possessed over 2 million Warships—ten times their number.

Furthermore, the enemy’s technology was more advanced than their own.

The enemy’s combat protocols were somewhat rigid, and their intelligence seemed low, strongly suggesting they were an Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet. However, any weakness caused by this low intelligence was easily offset by their superior technology, greater numbers, and ample supplies. It left the Harville Fleet with no opening to exploit.

’Interstellar wars were supposed to be measured in years, even decades or centuries. But this one... after only three months, they had been utterly routed.’

Of their 200,000 Warships, fewer than 10,000 now remained, and those were being rapidly destroyed.

The enemy fleet had completely surrounded their main fleet.

Their main fleet was like fish on a cutting board, completely unable to resist, simply waiting to be slaughtered.

Outside the viewport, the fires of battle slowly died down. Another message was sent to the Harville Fleet.

"Prey Civilization, greetings.

We are the Black Mountain Civilization. As you can see, we have achieved total victory in this war. You have lost any and all means of resistance.

Surrendering immediately and joining our civilization is the only wise choice.

Only by doing so can your civilization have a chance to continue, and your people will not have to die in vain.

We pledge to provide your people with sufficient food and water for survival, a habitable environment, and security. Barring absolute necessity, we will not abandon you, and so on.

If you refuse, we will be forced to capture your people by force. In that event, more of you will die, and the final outcome—your incorporation into our civilization—will not change in the slightest.

Given that the outcome is certain, any rational being knows the correct choice to make. Therefore, cease all resistance immediately and accept our arrangements."

In Conference Room One, the high-ranking officials of the civilization exchanged glances filled with despair, having completely resolved to commit suicide.

’Encountering an Intelligent Mechanical Calamity, being captured by it, becoming a slave... that’s a fate more terrifying than death.’

’If we’d met a fleet from a normal sapient civilization, we’d still likely have died, but dying on the battlefield is better than suicide.’

’But now... our opponent won’t even grant us the dignity of dying in battle.’

’The only option left is suicide.’

In this most critical moment, however, Haimo Lan remained surprisingly calm.

His mind was racing, elements and events spinning wildly in his thoughts.

’A Strong Core Level Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet, suspected of having low intelligence... and there’s only one real reason for an Intelligent Mechanical Calamity to have low intelligence: an insufficient number of sapient beings under its control.’

’Our fleet’s concealment was nearly perfect; our coordinates couldn’t have been leaked. If they had been, why would Human Civilization have entered our Star System, triggering this whole chain of events?’

’Normally, Intelligent Mechanical Calamities target lower-level civilizations. This is because they themselves have lost most of their own development potential, and from their perspective, the "performance" of sapient life is roughly the same regardless of the civilization’s level.’

’Human Civilization is also a Strong Core Civilization, but they clearly just made the breakthrough. They still had many traits of an Electroweak Civilization and only improved during our war.’

’The Human fleet has been on the run for unknown reasons, as if escaping from something...’

’And this Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet arrived in this very Star Domain, even though we were still hidden.’

’So...’

’There can only be one truth.’

’This Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet was coming for Human Civilization! We just had the bad luck of running into them in open space!’

’If that’s the case... if that’s the case...’

Haimo Lan’s breathing suddenly became ragged.

’Our civilization still has a chance! We have a chance!’

He shot to his feet and roared, "Secretary! Send a message to the Black Mountain Civilization immediately! Tell them that I, Haimo Lan, Supreme Leader of the Harville Civilization, want to speak with them!"

The assembled high-ranking officials stared at Haimo Lan in shock.

’What is there to talk about with an Intelligent Mechanical Calamity?’

Haimo Lan roared again, "Immediately!"

"Yes, yes!"

A moment later, the secretary quickly replied, "Message sent."

Time slowly passed. A moment later, the Black Mountain Civilization replied. But the reply was just the same surrender message as before, completely ignoring Haimo Lan.

Haimo Lan roared again, "Tell them, if they won’t speak with me, then we, the Harville Civilization... will all commit suicide!

I will detonate the ammunition holds, destroy every ship’s Nuclear Fusion Reactor, and blow up the entire fleet! I will kill every last person in our civilization... every single one!"