Chapter 295: It's Ours

On the asteroid battlefield, Li Qingsong had suffered an unprecedented and catastrophic defeat.

Not only were all his industrial facilities destroyed and his entire strategy a failure, but of the one million warships committed to the battle, fewer than 500,000 had managed to withdraw.

With the asteroid battlefield lost, Li Qingsong’s only remaining hope rested entirely on the Planet One battlefield.

Even if he couldn’t worsen the stellar environment any further, as long as he could hold Planet One, the situation would still be under his control.

Although his combat strength and industrial capacity had been weakened by the raging star, he still had the advantage in resources, a home-field advantage, and the superiority of his Unmanned Combat System!

‘If I leverage all of it, I might just be able to defend Planet One!’

With no time for grief or anger over the loss of the asteroid battlefield, Li Qingsong maintained absolute calm and rationality, throwing every force he could currently mobilize into the fight for Planet One.

At this moment, the sky of Planet One seemed to be on fire, as if Purgatory had descended upon the mortal realm.

This was not only due to the raging star but also because of the endless flashes of explosions scattered around it.

When one Warship exploded, another immediately took its place. When one Cannon Platform was destroyed, another was immediately assembled to resume combat operations for that sector.

Braving intense radiation that could kill an unprotected human instantly, braving the 300-plus-degree Celsius temperatures on the surface of Planet One, and braving the fierce bombardment of charged particle streams, countless factories on the planet’s surface continued to operate at full capacity.

There were constant mechanical failures, constant explosions, constant fires, constant gas leaks, and a constant stream of Clones dying instantly from these accidents.

But the hibernation base seemed to spawn Clones out of thin air. An endless supply of them, clad in uniform, their expressions cold and calm, rushed to their posts like fearless soldiers.

In the space control bases, the native Clones on Planet One and the Clones on other planets worked together seamlessly as a single entity under Li Qingsong’s unified command. But the combat tasks were so demanding, the mental strain so immense, that Clones were constantly dying suddenly in their smart cockpits.

Some bled from all seven orifices, some leaked cerebrospinal fluid, some suffered cardiac arrest, some had their brains collapse—their deaths were gruesome.

Whenever a Clone died, the others would move the body away without the slightest expression, as if handling trash. A replacement Clone would immediately take over. The process was chillingly smooth.

Li Qingsong had truly, genuinely given it his all.

Because Li Qingsong knew that if he didn’t truly give it his all, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Alliance might see through his ruse…

「Near the “Flying Star,” aboard the Honor Spaceship, in Conference Room One.」

All the high-ranking members of the Harville Civilization were present, along with the virtual avatar representing Red Dog.

Every single one of them was tensely watching the battle’s development.

At this moment, the high-ranking officials responsible for managing the entire civilization had completely transformed into assistants and coordinators for the military personnel.

A total of over a billion soldiers, working in shifts, continuously manned their battle stations, keeping their combat effectiveness at its peak and executing orders from their superiors at all times.

Everyone clearly understood that this battle would be the most important one of the entire war—a battle that could be called its turning point.

After creating so many favorable conditions, if they still couldn’t take Planet One, they would never be able to take it. And without capturing a major planet, even if they could maintain their technological advantage, the final outcome would still be inevitable defeat!

Fortunately, at this moment, they still held a massive advantage.

With the help of the interference from the star, they had completely suppressed the enemy’s defense systems.

On more than one occasion, the enemy’s unmanned or Manned Warships had malfunctioned out of nowhere without being attacked, allowing them to seize the opportunity and annihilate them.

On more than one occasion, they had seen the enemy’s Warships fail to redeploy in time, causing minor gaps to appear in their battle lines. If not for the enemy paying a higher price to plug them later, they would have long since exploited these gaps and widened them.

Even the enemy’s industrial supply system had been severely weakened. They hadn’t faced that kind of overwhelming, endless barrage of Interstellar Mines and Missiles for a long time.

Meanwhile, their own logistical supply remained consistently sufficient.

Although the Flying Star was down to only 20% of its mass, it was still more than enough to supply a single battle.

Most importantly, their industrial production and material transport were completely unaffected by the star. This was because their material science was more advanced, and their ships had greater survivability!

As another of the enemy’s largest warships was annihilated, they once again gained a certain advantage on a localized battlefield.

But this advantage seemed different from the ones before.

Previous advantages had merely been tactical. This time, however, the outcome of this local battle seemed like it could affect a much broader area of space…

Including Haimo Lan, a hint of anticipation, mixed with a slight tension, began to stir in the hearts of all the Harville Civilization’s leaders.

At that moment, the most advantageous course of action was to leverage their current advantage and tear through the link of space Cannon Platforms on the left. This would grant their 771st Fleet more maneuvering space.

Soon, those 109 space Cannon Platforms were destroyed, and the 771st Fleet gained more room to operate.

The next most favorable development would be to maneuver at full speed to support the 625th Fleet in annihilating the enemy’s sub-core class Warship…

The enemy’s sub-core class Warship escaped; they failed to destroy it. But it was heavily damaged and couldn’t return to the battlefield anytime soon. And without its support, this sector of space would likely fall to them as well.

‘It’s not the optimal result, but it’s the next best thing. Acceptable. Very good.’

‘And next…’

The course of the battle unfolded roughly according to Haimo Lan’s predictions. With each milestone reached, the excitement in his heart grew.

By now, people could no longer suppress the smiles on their faces.

They could see the enemy’s powerful will to fight, their unyielding spirit to battle to the death. But at the same time, they could also see that even with such a strong will, the tide of battle was not turning in their favor. It continued to shift, unstoppably, toward a state advantageous to their side!

Victory was assured!

As the light of high-yield Hydrogen Bomb explosions erupted on the surface of Planet One, as numerous industrial facilities were utterly destroyed, and as the remaining warships of Human Civilization fled for their lives, fervent applause and cheers suddenly broke out in Conference Room One.

It was obvious: the human side had realized the battle was irreversible and the situation unsalvageable. To avoid further losses, they had proactively abandoned Planet One!

Haimo Lan slowly rose to his feet, his face filled with elation.

‘We’ve won! From now on, Planet One is ours!’

‘We’ve finally broken free from our resource constraints. And without those limitations, what advantage could you, Human Civilization… possibly have against us!’