Chapter 298: No Time For That!

The moment the star’s light was focused, beaming down upon Planet One and the surrounding interstellar space, the surfaces of all unprotected satellites, small civilian vessels, and minor space installations were instantly melted. The intense heat ionized the material, turning it into plasma.

The sudden structural loss triggered a rapid release of stress. Caught between high-temperature expansion and low-temperature contraction, they lost their structural integrity and violently exploded before they even had time to fully melt.

Of course, exploding couldn’t prevent their ultimate fate of being melted.

And so, within just a few seconds of the beam’s ignition, the swarms of small devices—once as dense as a beehive and numbering in the tens of millions—were completely wiped out.

They left no macroscopic trace in space. All that remained were billows of plasma clouds, rapidly expanding in the vacuum of interstellar space.

Eventually, these clouds of plasma merged with those rising from the planet’s surface, becoming one indistinguishable mass.

In that moment, Planet One resembled a comet.

When illuminated by a star’s light and heat, comets from Deep Space release vast quantities of gas as their water and gas ices melt. This gas is then pushed back by radiation pressure, forming a long tail.

And now, Planet One trailed a colossal tail of its own, composed of interstellar dust and plasma clouds!

The smaller installations were annihilated in an instant. The larger ones were next.

Energy Shields flared to life under the sudden, violent bombardment, instantly ramping up to maximum power. They strained to reflect and weaken the stellar energy.

But even so, ships and bases were still exploding and melting in succession.

And these devastating consequences had unfolded in a matter of mere minutes!

Aboard the Honor Spaceship, in Conference Room One, the mood had been light, filled with laughter just a moment before. But now, the entire ship was filled with the piercing blare of alarms.

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances, completely baffled.

Red Dog suddenly raised his head.

In that single instant, it had already analyzed and interpreted the data from countless sensors and Detectors, immediately grasping the situation.

“The light and radiation from the Lyra G16 Star have been focused by some unknown means! They’re being directed at Planet One and the surrounding interstellar space! Stellar radiation levels per unit of area have skyrocketed to over a thousand times their normal levels! Run! We have to run now! Evacuate the irradiated zone!”

The next moment, under the Red Dog AI’s control, every ship—manned and unmanned, industrial, supply, and residential—began accelerating at maximum power, fleeing away from Planet One.

As it orchestrated the escape, the Red Dog AI listened to the endless cries and curses of the Black Mountain People. It maneuvered the industrial and supply ships to act as shields, positioning them between the residential ships and the star to block the furious stellar energy with their own hulls.

After delivering its report, the Red Dog AI’s virtual projection vanished. Haimo Lan was stunned for a moment before he snapped to his senses, roaring, “Run! Run! Faster, run!”

The numerous Harville ships also began to flee at full speed.

In contrast to the orderly retreat of the Black Mountain Civilization, the Harvillers’ escape was far more chaotic. There were even collisions in the ensuing panic.

‘Just run. As for my allies, the population on Planet One’s surface, all those buildings and facilities… there’s no time to think about them!’

‘Just run!’

While commanding the fleet to flee with all its might, Haimo Lan gritted his teeth.

By now, it was painfully clear what had happened.

‘The humans had known all along that Planet One was their defensive loophole. They knew that once we attacked the star and destabilized the interstellar environment, they wouldn’t be able to hold the planet.’

‘So, they turned Planet One into a trap. Since they couldn’t defend it, they let us take it.’

‘And once we took it, we would inevitably use Planet One as the core to build up our entire fleet’s infrastructure.’

‘Every civilization would do the same, and we were no exception.’

‘Our entire industrial base, all our resources, even a significant portion of our population—it would all be moved to Planet One.’

‘And once we were fully committed, the humans would spring their trap, wiping out our foundation in one fell swoop!’

‘The method they used to attack Planet One was also obvious now.’

‘Why was the light of the Lyra G16 Star focused?’

‘It was obvious. It could only be the Electromagnetic Celestial Calamity!’

‘Only the Electromagnetic Creatures could survive on a star’s surface and focus its light into a weapon to attack others.’

‘In the past, the Electromagnetic Creatures could only generate laser beams. It should have been absolutely impossible for them to focus such a vast amount of stellar light to attack an entire planet.’

‘Clearly, the Electromagnetic Creatures had been “coached” by the humans. Using their technology, the humans had devised new, larger-scale “applications.” They had unlocked more of the creatures’ potential, allowing them to better utilize their innate abilities, resulting in a massive spectacle like attacking an entire planet.’

‘It was also clear that the attack we had observed earlier—Human Civilization’s unprecedentedly fierce assault on the star, which we believed would annihilate all the Electromagnetic Creatures on it—was a sham. The attack was real, but its purpose was a lie.’

‘Long before the assault, the humans had already struck a deal with the Electromagnetic Calamities. The creatures had left the star ahead of time. The subsequent attack was just a disguise, a smokescreen to hide the fact that they were still out there!’

‘And now that we had moved nearly all of our core assets and industrial capacity to Planet One, the humans had brazenly sprung their devastating trap!’

In that single instant, Haimo Lan understood everything, from beginning to end.

But there was one thing Haimo Lan simply could not comprehend.

We were the first to capture the Electromagnetic Creatures.

We spent a thousand years and countless resources trying to tame them, and we still failed.

These Electromagnetic Creatures harbored a deep, irreconcilable animosity toward conventional technological civilizations.

So how did the humans manage to tame them?!

What gave the humans the right? Why were *they* able to tame them?!

At that moment, Haimo Lan gritted his teeth, his eyes bulging. His heart was filled with bitter resentment, fury, and hatred.

「Planet Two.」

Gazing at the suddenly dimmed Lyra G16, gazing at the enemy Warships frantically scattering like startled frogs, Li Qingsong could almost hear his opponents’ indignant cries.

“Why were you able to tame the Electromagnetic Celestial Calamity!”

A faint smile touched Li Qingsong’s lips.

‘Because I am the Cloning Calamity, not a conventional intelligent civilization…’