Chapter 294: Two Battlefields

During their rapid maneuvers, Li Qingsong’s interceptor fleet and the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s hydrogen bomb ships quickly closed to combat range, and the battle began.

As cannonfire filled the void, one side launched a desperate offensive while the other mounted a desperate defense. The only difference was that their roles were now reversed from the previous battle at Planet Three.

Li Qingsong, who had been on the defensive, was now the one attacking.

But with this reversal of roles, the situation was completely different from the one at Planet Three.

Without the support of the massive Unmanned Combat System that had surrounded the planet, Li Qingsong could not gain any advantage in this open-field battle in space, especially one being fought so close to a star.

There was another extremely important factor: a star was, ultimately, just too massive.

Li Qingsong’s fleet could block one orbital path, but the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s fleet could simply bypass it and choose another. The star wasn’t going anywhere, after all. What difference did it make which part of it they attacked?

No matter which part of the star they targeted, the entire celestial body would ultimately be affected, achieving the exact same result.

In the end, despite his best efforts, Li Qingsong failed to intercept them. After paying the price of tens of thousands of annihilated warships for nothing, he could only watch as several thousand hydrogen bomb ships plunged into the star.

These heavy transport ships had a greater payload capacity than Li Qingsong’s, and the yield of each individual hydrogen bomb was also higher. The total estimated explosive yield was approximately one quintillion tons of TNT.

The next moment, like a wounded beast, the star erupted violently once more. Its radiant output instantly more than doubled.

Under the bombardment of this endless thermal, light, and high-energy radiation, as well as streams of high-energy charged particles, the warships and industrial facilities on Planet One began to be affected, even though Li Qingsong had implemented every possible defensive measure.

Instantly, a massive number of industrial facilities were paralyzed. For those that remained operational, the malfunction rate skyrocketed. In space, countless satellites were destroyed, and warships were forced to divert more power to their shields, which in turn hampered their mobility and defensive capabilities.

Following this, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s fleet immediately changed its orbit and began to advance on Planet One.

Li Qingsong knew exactly what would happen next.

If he didn’t turn this situation around quickly, Planet One would truly fall into the enemy’s hands.

And once they had a major planet as a base, with its near-limitless supply of resources and energy, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s position would fundamentally improve. His own advantage would be completely wiped out!

Li Qingsong instantly activated all the Clones on Planet One to prepare for war with all his might, while simultaneously diverting a considerable portion of his mental processing power to the asteroid.

Vast numbers of his warships also began to maneuver, converging on the asteroid.

The reason was simple. The Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance’s intentions could not be concealed, and neither could his own.

They would not allow him to dismantle the asteroid and hurl it into the star.

To achieve this goal, he had to rely on his fleet and its sheer power.

‘Then we’ll just have to fight another battle!

‘No, two! Planet One requires an all-out defense, and the asteroid requires one as well. Two battlefronts. As long as I succeed on one of them, the situation can be turned around.’

At this moment, Li Qingsong had a total of only 2.1 million warships. After leaving just 100,000 to defend Planet Two and Planet Three, he split the remaining 2 million, sending 1 million to Planet One and deploying the other 1 million to the asteroid.

At the same time, a torrent of Unmanned Warships and other unmanned combat assets flooded toward these two battlefronts.

The Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance fleet also divided its forces, distributing them evenly. They clearly understood that they had to attack not only Planet One, but the asteroid as well.

They had to win on both fronts. They could not afford a single defeat.

And so, the great battle began.

The spaceborne meat grinder began to churn once more.

In the vastness of space, amidst a hail of cannonfire, warship after warship erupted in fiery explosions.

This time, Li Qingsong once again committed his full strength. Not only Gold Star Level and Earth-class warships, but even the incredibly precious Mars-class Warships were treated as mere consumables in his hands.

This time, the Mars-class Warships no longer targeted only the enemy’s smaller vessels. Instead, they boldly stepped forward to confront the enemy’s largest warships head-on. Even when at a disadvantage, they fought to the death without retreating, desperately holding the line.

This was because the asteroid battlefield lacked the advantages of a planetary one, and his forces at the Planet One battlefield were also weakened by the volatile star.

If the Mars-class Warships didn’t step up now, the defensive line would truly collapse!

BOOM!

A giant Mars-class Warship, with a mass of over 300,000 tons, exploded, completely obliterated in the flash of a high-yield hydrogen bomb. Nothing was left.

This was the first Mars-class Warship Li Qingsong had lost since the war began.

The fruits of decades of diligent labor by millions of Clones were completely wiped out in that single moment.

But Li Qingsong’s heart felt not the slightest ripple, nor any pang of regret.

With a calmness that bordered on cruelty, he simply sent another Mars-class Warship to take its place.

‘The Mars-class Warships can be lost, but the line… must not break!’

The meat-grinder of a space war continued to rage. Even while maintaining the defensive line, Li Qingsong was also carrying out the large-scale mission of carving up the asteroid.

One after another, cubes 100 meters to a side, each with a mass of about 1.5 million tons, were carved out and temporarily placed in orbit around the star. The installation of Thrust Devices proceeded in a hectic but orderly fashion.

Beyond this construction zone, over a million warships were locked in a fight to the death. The enemy’s offensive was as ferocious as a tidal wave. Although Li Qingsong’s defensive line was in jeopardy, it held like a great dam, staunchly blocking the assault.

The situation was now extremely critical, but Li Qingsong still had not deployed the Unified Force Field.

‘The perfect opportunity hasn’t arrived yet. I can’t waste it now!’

But…

It seemed he would no longer have the chance to use the Unified Force Field at the asteroid battlefield.

All fifteen of the Mars-class Warships dispatched to the asteroid battlefield had been destroyed. And still, the enemy’s offensive was relentless.

Finally, a gap was breached, and droves of Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance warships poured through.

An endless storm of Energy Cannonballs, Missiles, Lasers, and rockets rained down. The billion-plus cubes that Li Qingsong had painstakingly accumulated and fitted with thrusters over several years all came under attack.

All the Thrust Devices and factory facilities were destroyed in an instant.

Li Qingsong’s heart remained as still as a placid well, without the slightest ripple of emotion.

With a single command, Li Qingsong destroyed all the industrial facilities that the enemy had not yet managed to annihilate.