Chapter 291: The Only Hope for Victory

At this moment, the vast battlefield of space had become a Black Hole, impossible to fill no matter how many resources were thrown into it.

But neither Li Qingsong nor the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity had any other choice.

The only thing to do was to produce and commit more resources with greater speed and higher efficiency. Whoever was slower would face defeat and ruin!

On Planet Three and the dozen or so other planets under Li Qingsong’s control, billions of Clones scurried like ants through various control bases. Whether they were heading off to rest or returning to work, all of them moved with hurried steps.

To conserve as much industrial capacity as possible, Li Qingsong had even sealed all farming and livestock bases, switching to artificially synthesized starches and cultured meat to meet the Clones’ survival needs.

This would reduce the capacity consumed by food production by over eighty percent. Yet in the grand scheme of things, the saved capacity accounted for less than one-ten-thousandth of the total.

After all, the farming and livestock bases had never consumed much capacity to begin with.

But even so, Li Qingsong forcefully conserved it.

In the sleep and rest bases, Li Qingsong went so far as to reduce the height between bunk beds by twenty percent and lower air conditioning energy consumption by twenty percent, scraping together another few-millionths of his total capacity.

Down to every last detail in every field, Li Qingsong was like the most miserly of landlords, penny-pinching and meticulously calculating to squeeze out every bit of capacity and pour it all into industrial production.

Countless nuclear fusion plants roared day and night. Countless maglev heavy-freight trains sped along at tens of thousands of kilometers per hour. In countless mines, the Divine Craft AI ran at full power. In countless Supercomputing Bases, the Quantum Supercomputers had all been pushed to their peak operational levels.

It was a true, all-out effort with only one goal: to produce more war materials and feed them into the Black Hole of the interstellar battlefield!

In space, Warship after Warship exploded violently. Satellite after satellite and fortress after fortress were silently annihilated, vanishing without a trace.

Facing immense external pressure, the Mercury-class Warships were treated like worthless consumables, desperately plugging holes in the defensive line. Even the Venus-class Warships were given almost no special regard here.

Only at the level of the Earth-class Warship did a vessel have significant value and could undertake certain tactical missions, but they too were lost at an extremely high rate.

But even as Li Qingsong suffered enormous casualties, he was still being thoroughly suppressed on the Manned Warship battlefield.

There was nothing to be done. Although his side had a numerical advantage and the home-field advantage, the enemy possessed superior technology and better Warship performance. Furthermore, by incorporating the Harville Civilization, they had solved their own deficiency in intelligent control.

The manned battlefield was in dire straits, and the unmanned battlefield was under the same immense pressure, just as thoroughly suppressed.

In fact, the pressure on the unmanned battlefield was even greater than on the manned one.

This was because on the unmanned battlefield, in addition to the technological suppression, his Wukong AI was being completely dominated by the Red Dog AI.

Your Wukong AI has a high degree of intelligence and can formulate complex tactics?

My Red Dog AI is even more intelligent, its tactics are more complex, and its execution is more precise!

Your Wukong AI is skilled at finding the enemy’s weaknesses and can use its superior intelligence to tear through their defensive lines?

You failed to realize those weaknesses were deliberately placed by my Red Dog AI. They are traps!

Your Wukong AI has a strong grasp of the overall situation, capable of controlling everything from the grand strategy down to the finest details?

My Red Dog AI’s grasp of the overall situation is even stronger. From the details to the whole, it is a seamless, integrated entity!

In the vastness of space, Li Qingsong could almost see the once-invincible Violent Ape, now covered in wounds. Despite fighting with all its might, it could only passively take a beating.

With both the manned and unmanned battlefronts completely suppressed, the defensive line of Planet Three was in grave danger.

Facing this situation, Li Qingsong had only two options.

First, maximize his material advantage from fighting on home turf. He would produce more manned and unmanned combat units, throw them into the space battlefield, and trade resources for time and space!

Second, maximize the combat effectiveness of his Mars-class Warships. He would turn them into a firefighting brigade, sending them to reinforce any section of the line that was about to break.

At this moment, the one hundred Mars-class Warships, which had cost Li Qingsong countless resources and immense effort to develop, became his saving grace.

A single projectile from their giant Energy Cannons, if it hit its mark, was enough to obliterate the Energy Shield of a small Manned Warship.

And in a chaotic battlefield like this, losing one’s Energy Shield was tantamount to an early death sentence.

Under the continuous bombardment from hundreds of small and medium-sized Energy Cannons, along with volleys from numerous Laser Cannons, Interstellar Missiles, and Rocket Shells, wherever a Mars-class Warship went, the crisis there was quickly averted.

Of course, the Mars-class Warships were not a panacea. The enemy also had giant Warships similar to the Mars-class.

In a head-on confrontation, the Mars-class Warships were no match for them.

In these situations, the Mars-class Warships would avoid a direct engagement. Li Qingsong would use his Mercury-class Warships, with the assistance of the Wukong AI, to tie down the enemy’s giants, preventing them from getting a chance to face the Mars-class Warships directly.

The defensive line of Planet Three was like a candle flame in a storm, constantly flickering and in danger of being extinguished at any moment.

But thanks to Li Qingsong’s desperate production of materials and his relentless fighting, thanks to him gritting his teeth and holding on, that candle flame continued to burn, refusing to go out.

Li Qingsong was waiting.

He knew in his heart that his only hope for victory was to rely on his advantage of occupying three major planets, giving him a nearly infinite supply of resources, and just hold on.

Although the enemy had brought a Flying Star with them, a Flying Star was not a major planet. Its resources would eventually be exhausted.

‘Time is on my side. I have to hold on. Hold on, and keep holding on until the enemy’s resources run out. Then, I’ll win!’

There was no other path to victory!

As if aware of this weakness, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s attacks grew fiercer with each wave. Li Qingsong could only struggle to hold on, and several times, he was tempted to use the Unified Force Field.

But each time, he forced himself to resist the urge.

‘The battlefield is too chaotic right now, with too many variables. The number of warships engaged on both sides is immense, and my own biological computing power is limited. I can’t achieve a high enough degree of accuracy.’

‘Even if I use the Unified Force Field, the effect probably won’t be that great.’

‘My side would likely achieve a significant victory, but it wouldn’t be the decisive, final blow.’

‘And the Unified Force Field can only be used once.’

‘Now is not the optimal time to use the Unified Force Field. This one and only strategic weapon cannot be wasted at this moment!’

‘Hold on. I have to hold on. Just keep holding on!’

Time flowed by quietly.

「Several years passed in the blink of an eye.」