Chapter 419: A Seventy Year Layout

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo StudioAn abundance of nuclear torpedoes.An interstellar minefield.In more exact terms, it was an interstellar minefield that had been laid out for a very long time.Doomed!Looking at the flares before him, Krrr’da went into frenzy, his heart sinking into the depths of the sea.“It’s a trap!“We have been tricked. This is a conspiracy, a clever and sinister one!“Those damned Haierfareans, how dare they deceive me like this! They should burn in hell!”Krrr’da, who had apprehended many things in an instant, was extremely outraged. He had actually been deceived by those despicable slaves.They must not be forgiven!We must slaughter them all!Boom…Boom, boom…All of a sudden, the battleship beneath his feet began trembling vigorously.An emergency alarm sounded: “The spacecraft in under attack. Defenses have dropped to 91%. Please disengage from combat status immediately.”“Defenses have dropped to 83%. Force field alloy armor has partially failed.”“Defenses have dropped to 61%. Spacecraft has sustained 3% structural damage.”“…”“Defenses have failed. Spacecraft has sustained 33% structural damage.”Within a short two to three minutes under the barrage of the densely-packed minefields, the warships under Krrr’da’s command had lost all their protection and had sustained great damage to their hulls. Their weapon system, power system, and life support system were about to collapse. His crew had suffered numerous deaths and injuries. Tragic screams could be heard throughout the entire spacecraft.And this was only the flagship’s state. The other nine smaller warships, which had even weaker protection, were completely blasted by explosions of unrivaled intensity into big and small pieces of garbage floating in the space.…On the other side.At the periphery of the meteorite minefield.After the detonation of the hundreds of thousands of nuclear torpedoes with ten billion tons of equivalent weight, many manned and unmanned space fighters came out from hiding, pouring out from behind some large meteorites toward the one remaining alien flagship.“Kill them all! Crush their resistance!”“This victory is definitely ours!”“Advance!”Bai Shengqi, who was handling a fighter, lead the way as the frontline commander of the ambush. He had been looking forward to this moment for many years.Looking down, he saw the large alien flagship that was engulfed in flames. Despite being made of technology one to two hundred years more advanced than the humans’, and even if it hadn’t shattered into pieces—after sustaining such a heavy blow from the impact of countless nuclear torpedoes, it was at least deprived of 99% of its combat power.Victory was already in sight!…Krrr’da had already left the bridge control hall. He was lifted by the guards into a cabin for hiding.Inside the small and enclosed cabin.Krrr’da held a heat gun in his hand while his heart plunged into desolation.Impolitic. He was really too impolitic for this.He had belittled the will and wisdom of the Haierfareans, believed their words of submission, and thought that they were truly sincere and loyal to the Selains. In the end… he walked step by step into their trap. Their ten warships were completely destroyed and his own life was also in great danger.But reflecting at this moment was pointless.Bratatatata…Dodododododo…Listening to the cacophony of crossfire and collision in his ears, it seemed that the footsteps that were getting closer and closer to him weren’t those of the Selains.Krrr’da slowly lifted the heat gun in his hand and pointed it at his own brain.He muttered, “I was going to let them live. But who could have known that things would end this way?”Prff.At the gentle press of his finger, a small scorched hole appeared in his forehead. With a tinge of unwillingness, he slowly fell to the ground.…About two hours later.Planet Walf.Excavation Base 1, inside the Supreme Council Chamber.Ding, ding, ding.The intelligent terminal on Wu Zhixian’s wrist received a short message. The content of the message had only a one-letter code: V. He immediately became excited, even standing up from his seat, and began dancing and yelling out of the blue.“It is done! It has been done! “We have succeeded! We are victorious!“Hahahaha, we have finally come through this crisis! We… the last of our kind, can finally take a breather.“Hahahahaha!”Wu Zhixian cracked up maniacally and howled like a wailing ghost. His face was covered entirely in tears.All the representatives simultaneously looked at him.What’s the matter?What’s going on?“Is Minister Wu sick?”“Is he being possessed, or is he suffering a neurotic attack?”“Should we call in the medical staff to treat this madman?”“Medical personnel, or robots, we have a sick man here,” a representative yelled subsequently.“Don’t call anyone!” Wu Zhixian stopped laughing and halted him. “I’m fine, finer than ever. I’m just too elated! Hahaha, all of you should be as happy as I am. A short while ago, I received a report of success from the frontline. We are the victors. We have completely obliterated the alien fleet. Our plan has been realized—together, we have forged an unprecedented miracle! Rejoice with me, everyone!”He raised his hand as he smiled with a beam of joy and welcomed the representatives from the audience to join his celebration.The alien fleet… completely obliterated?All the representatives were stunned for a moment, and they then looked at him as if he was a psychopath.“That guy has really gone crazy.”“He must have sucked up to the aliens so much that he lost his sanity.”“Medics, take him down for treatment, quickly. Keep his drug supply ongoing.”None of the representatives believed him. On the contrary, they felt that things had become tricky. The aliens would be arriving soon, but their Minister Wu had gone wild with a disturbance. Who would be licking the aliens’ boots now?“Let me explain.”A voice came from the entrance.A valiant figure walked into the conference chamber.“Mu… Mu Yunhua!” All the representatives were shocked.“C-captain Mu… what is she doing here?”“Isn’t she sentenced to indefinite imprisonment?”All the representatives were startled. What was going on?When Mu Yunhua came in, Wu Zhixian immediately restrained his laughter and gave her a deep bow. Pointing at the seat in which he had just sat, he reached out his arms and said, “Captain, this is your place. Please have a seat.”Upon finishing, he went down the stage and occupied the seat of a representative in front, squeezing him out of the way.Such an action bewildered the representatives once again.Huge question marks sprung up in their heads. “What in the world is going on?”Instead of sitting down, Mu Yunhua opened a holographic projection video to explain to everyone:“In fact, this was an arrangement, an arrangement that has been in design since more than 70 years ago. It is a plan that was always hidden in the shadows.“Our ultimate goal was to deliver humanity from our predicaments, and to ensure the continuation of our civilization…“In this plan, Representative Wu was a very important chess piece. He was the one that would determine the outcome of our plan. It can be said that, without Representative Wu, our plan would never have succeeded. He is our biggest hero!”It turned out that, more than 70 years ago, when the Selains themselves exposed the existence of their spying devices and took the initiative to contact Wu Zhixian, he experienced a eureka-moment and realized that this was actually an opportunity: a great chance for them to understand the enemy.An unknown enemy would always be the scariest because, without any information about them, they would be immensely difficult to deal with. If an enemy became known, even if their strength was very strong and the level of their civilization was very high, they would not seem that intimidating anymore as long as they were understood.And it was from that moment on that the secret plan began in the shadows, with the main purpose of acquiring the enemy’s information.What was the technological level of the Selains?They learned about their culture, character, and customs, and came to understand their strengths, and analyzing their weaknesses—seeking some flaws within.They would find a way to defeat them.In this exchange of information for more than 70 years, whether it was through beating around the bush, direct inquiry, or via other communication strategies, they used AI Pan Gu’s deductive analysis to infer a lot of information about the Selains.To avoid suspicion, Wu Zhixian had lowered his threshold to the extreme, often showcasing a moronic, feeble-minded persona, with the sole purpose of preventing the other party from suspecting them… he who had a 190 IQ and was once an elite scientist had accomplished his task outstandingly. The best drama award should, in fact, be awarded to him.But what was Mu Yunhua doing for all these years?Actually, she was also acting. She had been secretly hiding out and finding ways to defeat the Selains.Besides, she had known from the beginning that, given circumstances—their information was transparent to the enemy while they know nothing about them—their chances of winning would almost be zero in a battle of strength.Within a mere few decades time and a population base of 100 thousand, even if everyone was involved in scientific research, it would still be difficult to attain any major breakthroughs… not to mention the possibility of encountering a “Technological Lock.” Even if they opted for direct military confrontation, channeled all their resources into military construction, and built a fleet of more than a thousand large interstellar warships, it would still be difficult for them to ward off the alien ships whose technological advantage was a few generations ahead.However…After collecting enough information about the alien fleet, via studying some of their speeches, Pangu made several judgments:Firstly, the number of warships in the alien fleet would be between 10 and 100. It would not be too many. After all, they, as the remnants of human civilization, were very weak. It would be unnecessary for the aliens to deploy a huge fleet. There was no need to use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken.Even more, the alien battleships that were deployed were not the most advanced main battleships, but some outdated vessels that had already been phased out… Wu Zhixian had heard complaints in this regard.Secondly, the direction from which the alien fleet would arrive had been confirmed ten years earlier. This allowed observation equipment to be deployed ahead of time. When the alien fleet entered the Orte Nebula and began to decelerate, that was when the fleet was discovered. Their route was charted and locked on. Finally, via high-precision optical equipment, the number of alien warships was counted one-by-one… there were actually only ten ships.This was simply thrilling.Moreover, after the Selains had determined that the humans had no space military force available to conduct a rebellion, the route of the alien fleet could be described as completely in line with the results of computer deduction. They didn’t even think of detouring to bring about confusion at all. They blatantly entered the meteorite belt as expected. As had also been predicted, they decelerated to replenish some of the resources they were lacking. With utmost precision, they maneuvered into the minefield. After the detonation of the gobs of nuclear torpedoes, without even having time to fortify their defenses, the alien warships were all severely damaged or straight-up destroyed.This ambush could be described as the sort of attack that’s included in general textbooks, a classic demonstration of the weak devouring the strong. The weak humans attained a miraculous and incredible triumph.“How is this possible?!”All the representatives present in the chamber were shocked, and they all had an incredulous look.A representative stood up and asked, “Captain Mu, 20 years ago, you pressed for us to invest our resources in science and technology and in the military. Was that not for real?”“That was for real. Although I knew that it wouldn’t do us much help, my act had to be more realistic,” Mu Yunhua said, nodding.“The disunions and conflicts within the immigration base—were those in your plan as well?”“Yes. But if you look at things closely, you will discover that, in all those conflicts, none of our citizens lost their lives.”“Later on, you lost your authority and were imprisoned for 10 years. Was that also a part of the plan?”“I may have lost my own freedom, but everything was still under my control.” Mu Yunhua smiled.“From the beginning until the end, how many people participated in and knew about this secret plan of yours?”“Me, Wu Zhixian, Pangu… even Bai Shengqi and those who are always by side only knew about a part of this plan 10 years ago.”Whoosh.At that moment, everyone was rendered speechless.In the depths of their hearts, there was only profound astonishment.A far-reaching arrangement spanning more than seventy years.A secret that only a few had known. Everyone else had been faithfully playing their respective roles as chess pieces. Some of them have made hefty sacrifices, suffering from injustice, defamation, and misconception, only to launch an ambush with an extremely high risk.At last… they had won themselves a flawless victory.After learning the truth about everything, everyone, no matter who they were, had only one word in their hearts—astonishment.Wu Zhixian grinned. “Huhuh, actually, the crucial thing was that the Selains are too conceited. They took us too lightly. No matter how timid and weak I am, I would never betray humanity. 70 years ago, when the Selains decided to gild the lily and came to contact me, I was literally overwhelmed by ecstasy. All of my fears disappeared instantly, and I realized at that exact moment that our hope and chance had arrived.”Clap, clap, clap!A burst of applause sounded.All the representatives looked at him with full respect. From the bottom of their hearts, they thought, “The brilliance of this man deserves a page in human history.”…Two days later.The front line of the battlefield was cleaned up.Many wreckages of the Selain warships were scavenged. Some high-level technological information could perhaps be deciphered from some of the valuable complete wreckages, as well as equipment which would be beneficial in facilitating their own technological advancement.Additionally, 118 of the space escape cabins were salvaged, with 101 of them containing living specimens of the Selains. Subsequently, these Selains were taken into captivity by the humans. After interrogation, they would possibly be able to collect more information about the Selain Civilization.More importantly, after this victory, it was predicted that the next Selain fleet would not arrive for at least thirty or forty years. The Haierfareans had won for themselves enough time to breathe and develop.…On the other side.Planet Haierfa.Observing the remote monitor, Chen Jin, who had initially thought that the human remnants were doomed, was also left astounded.He was stunned by the huge turn of events.“In Galaxy Era, there have been countless classic interplanetary battles. There are also countless examples of the weak triumphing over the strong. But a war as unexpected as this—nothing like it has ever happened.“Sure enough, is this why reality is always far more exciting than games?”Impressed. Chen Jin was truly impressed.