Chapter 293: Technological Advantage

The Lyra G16 Star had still not recovered from the impact of Li Qingsong dismantling a dwarf planet and hurling it into the star.

Its magnetic field remained turbulent, its convection in disarray. As a result, vast amounts of matter and streams of high-energy charged particles from its corona were constantly being ejected, sweeping across the entire star system like a super-powered stellar wind.

But while the environment was harsh, it was of little concern to the Strong Core Civilization, which possessed advanced technology.

At a distance of tens of millions of kilometers, at least, the star’s effects could be kept well within acceptable limits.

On Planet One, Li Qingsong had also built a massive industrial complex and stationed a large number of warships and Unmanned Combat Systems.

Although only a small portion of its factories were currently operational, Li Qingsong could transfer his consciousness over at a moment’s notice, activating the clones stationed there and bringing the entire industrial complex to full power.

“Leverage our technological advantage on Planet One?”

Red Dog mulled it over for a moment. “I don’t quite understand.”

We couldn’t gain an advantage in the battle for Planet Three. How would things be any different on Planet One?

Haimo Lan smiled. “That’s right. The current environment on Planet One prevents us from showcasing our technological superiority, but… we can reshape the environment.”

He turned and pointed at the projection of the immense star, which was wantonly spewing energy. “We are going to attack the star! The star is already raging, but it’s not enough! It needs to become even more violent! So violent that Human Civilization’s space facilities and industrial equipment can no longer bear it. At the very least, their operations must be weakened to a certain degree. But thanks to our more advanced technology—our superior Energy Shield Technology, materials science, temperature control, recycling systems, radiation shielding, and so on—the impact on us will be far less than what humanity will suffer. The reduction in our production and combat efficiency will be less severe as well! That is our technological advantage! Under these conditions, we will have an excellent chance of seizing Planet One! Your Excellency, Red Dog, here are all the investigations, calculations, assessment processes, and data from our science and military teams regarding this concept. Please review them.”

A file was transmitted to the logical processing unit of the Red Dog AI. A mere instant later, Red Dog looked up.

“The wisdom of your Harville Civilization is astounding. My assessment confirms this plan has a high probability of success. In that case, let’s proceed with this plan.”

“Yes!”

Haimo Lan shot to his feet, his eyes brimming with excitement and a fervent will to fight.

Using the core of the remaining Flying Star as a foundation, a new round of massive construction began. Simultaneously, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance fleet set off once more, activating its countless Thrust Devices and propelling the entire armada forward.

This immediately put Li Qingsong on high alert.

‘They’re moving into the inner star system? Why?

Other than being subjected to more harassment from my unmanned combat forces, there seems to be no benefit to entering the inner system.

What are they plotting? Could it be…’

A suspicion flashed through Li Qingsong’s mind.

He didn’t try to further obstruct the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s movements, knowing he couldn’t stop them anyway. He simply had the Wukong AI direct his unmanned combat forces to continue their harassment.

A little over a year flew by. By now, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance fleet had reached a position just one hundred million kilometers from the Lyra G16 Star.

As Li Qingsong watched closely, several thousand massive transport ships suddenly emerged from the core of the enemy fleet. Escorted by the vast armada, they accelerated at maximum velocity toward the star.

At that moment, Li Qingsong felt an unprecedented sense of dread.

His suspicion was confirmed.

Just as he’d suspected. The true goal of the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance fleet was to build hydrogen bomb-ships to attack the star directly. They intended to destabilize the star’s environment, weakening his own defenses and industrial capacity on Planet One. Meanwhile, thanks to their superior technology, they would retain more of their combat and production capabilities, allowing them to overpower him!

Back during the war against the Blutuk Civilization in the Solar System, they had used a similar tactic to seize control of Venus from him.

And now, it seemed history was about to repeat itself in the Lyra G16 Star System.

Back in the Solar System, he had countered the Blutuk Civilization’s strategy by “rehydrating Venus.” But now, what could he do to deal with this situation?

Li Qingsong made his decision without hesitation.

Under his command, a massive fleet of over one hundred thousand warships immediately departed from Planet One, racing at full speed toward the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance fleet in an attempt to intercept it.

At the same time, Li Qingsong took another action.

A vast industrial fleet, also escorted by warships, headed for an asteroid located between the orbits of Planet Two and Planet Three.

Although the asteroid lacked sufficient mass to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium and become spherical, its longest dimension still exceeded 400 kilometers, and it possessed considerable mass.

Li Qingsong planned to repeat his previous gambit: dismantle this asteroid and throw it into the star.

‘Back in the Solar System, the fundamental logic I used to counter the Blutuk Civilization’s offensive was: “If I can’t stand it, I’ll make the environment on Venus so bad that you can’t stand it either.”

Now you want to destabilize Planet One’s environment by attacking the star? Fine, I’ll raise the stakes! If you’re going to make things worse, let’s push it to the absolute limit. If I can’t take it, I’ll make damn sure you can’t either. As for Planet One, nobody gets to have it!’

How could Li Qingsong not have a contingency plan for such a glaring defensive vulnerability on Planet One?

‘If my interceptor fleet stops your hydrogen bomb-ships, that’s one thing. But if it can’t, I’ll dismantle the asteroid and hurl it in!’

The reason he didn’t opt to throw his own hydrogen bombs into the star was simple. Even if he succeeded, the impact on such a massive star would be limited. At best, it would likely only create an environment that was detrimental to himself, while being insufficient to affect the technologically superior Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance.

‘In that case, I might as well take it to the extreme and just throw in an asteroid.’

‘Either nobody destabilizes the star, or if you do, I’ll do it too, and push things to their absolute breaking point!’

The Lyra G16 Star System, which had known peace for only a short time, was once again plunged into a state of sudden tension.

Both sides maneuvered their forces, setting the stage for an imminent, large-scale conflict.