Chapter 177: Surprise Attack

The star sea was silent, yet at this moment it boiled.

When the Federal fleet tore through space and appeared at the designated battlefield, the war's countdown had already reached zero.

This is a void only 0.3 light-years from the first defense line, a perfectly calculated assault distance.

On the bridge of the flagship Nüwa, the atmosphere was heavy enough to feel tangible.

Everyone held their breath, eyes locked on the main screen where a massive, suffocating red light blob representing the enemy fleet loomed.

"Commander, we have entered the optimal attack position," a staff officer's voice broke the silence, tinged with uncontainable excitement.

He had waited a long time for this moment, because achieving fame and fortune was right before his eyes.

Zhang Xianzhong's gaze shifted from the star map to Qin Hao beside him.

Qin Hao remained calm, merely giving a slight nod.

That nod was the final signal.

Zhang Xianzhong's chest heaved violently, his eyes burning with all the fire accumulated from nine years of waiting.

He hesitated not at all; his voice, through the command system, became a steel torrent that swept through the entire fleet.

"Thunderbolt Operation, Phase One!"

"Curvature Antimatter Bomb, indiscriminate blanket attack!"

"——Fire!"

The moment the order was given, within the Federal fleet's formation, tens of thousands of warships loaded with antimatter bombs silently slid open their belly launch bays.

Hum——

Five million!

Exactly five million two-meter-diameter curvature antimatter bombs, like a swarm of deadly hornets awakened from a hive, were shot forth all at once.

They had no conventional flame trails, no violent engine roar.

One second after leaving the mother ship, the space around each bomb collapsed inward sharply, forming a micro curvature bubble.

Immediately, five million points of light, at twenty times the speed of light beyond physical law, vanished instantly from their spots.

Their target was the dark nebula ahead that blocked starlight, composed of tens of millions of bio-warships.

With this wave of attack, Zhang Xianzhong aimed to wipe out half the enemy's strength in one fell swoop!

Using an unprecedented devastation storm, he opened the curtain on this civilizational war!

……

"Emperor Insect"-class biological mother ship, core command area.

Ta Ta Li Ke's massive biological brain was leisurely soaking in nutrient fluid.

Its consciousness, like an intangible network, enveloped the vast fleet, feeling every subordinate's pulse.

"Those lowly worms, still hiding, dare not show themselves?"

Its consciousness was full of condescending arrogance.

According to the coordinates returned by Ka La Fa, the target star system was already within reach.

In its view, this pitiful bunch of organisms should now be trembling on their own planets, waiting for the "purification" to descend.

It had even begun to conceive how to make this "purification" more artistic, to better display the might of the Mo Yun Empire.

However, in the very next second.

A sudden, violent tremor originating from space itself made Ta Ta Li Ke's consciousness flinch sharply.

Before it could react, an indescribable, ultimate destruction warning, like billions of sharp needles, fiercely pierced its soul!

"Alert!"

That "alert" character had not yet fully formed in its consciousness.

Destruction had already descended.

In the vanguard formation of the Mo Yun fleet, space rippled without warning into five million tiny ripples.

Immediately, five million tiny suns simultaneously burst forth in that dark nebula!

No sound.

No shockwave.

Only light.

Pure light that annihilated all matter and law, absolute!

The violent annihilation of matter and antimatter released the universe's most primal, pure energy.

This energy could rend spacetime and erase all existence.

From the perspective of the Emperor Insect, the sight was magnificent yet terrifying.

Ahead of the fleet, a vast fan-shaped area was instantly swallowed by a sheet of white light.

Everything within that area, whether hundred-kilometer-class bio-mother ships or kilometer-long cruisers,

could not endure even three seconds in that pure light before being directly erased from three-dimensional space.

They did not explode, nor become debris, but directly and utterly reverted to the most basic particles.

The light persisted for over ten seconds before gradually fading.

Ta Ta Li Ke's consciousness went blank.

Its massive fleet resembled an apple savagely bitten by a beast, revealing a huge, shocking gap.

Yet, when it recovered from that extreme shock and quickly tallied the losses, a stronger sense of disbelief surged in its heart.

The losses…… were far less catastrophic than it had imagined.

That heaven‑shattering, earth‑rending strike erased only nearly two million of its warships.

One‑fifth.

This number, although still huge enough to make it ache, is still far from the goal of "half combat power."

"These... these damned bugs!"

In Tatarik's consciousness, a raging fury erupted.

It understood.

The enemy's attack, although immensely powerful, seemed to lack an effective targeting system, and could only carry out indiscriminate blanket bombardment.

And its own fleet, in order to cope with a possible interstellar dust belt, had its formation spread very thin.

This sparse formation, ironically, allowed them to dodge the fate of being crippled by a single blow.

More importantly, after Ka La Fa's defeat, the Mo Yun Empire upgraded the bio-force field shields of all its warships.

The new shields gained stronger resistance to this pure-energy annihilation attack.

Warships on the edge of the explosion, although their shields shattered and hulls damaged, ultimately endured.

Shame!

Unprecedented shame!

The imperial main fleet that I led was actually ambushed by a group of lowly civilizations, which wiped out two million warships in a first strike!

"Counterattack!"

"All fleets! Re-form ranks! Target, that damned bug fleet ahead!"

Tatarik's roar, brimming with endless fury, turned into a mental storm that swept over the surviving eight million warships.

"I will grind them... into powder!"

The sky‑covering Mo Yun fleet, after a brief confusion, like an enraged swarm of bees, turned about and launched a frenzied revenge charge at the Federal fleet that had just dealt them a heavy blow.

The true war has only just begun.

"Report! Enemy fleet loss assessment complete! Confirmed destruction of approximately 1.96 million enemy ships!"

"Confirmed! The enemy has not lost any main mother‑ship units!"

"Warning! The enemy fleet is regrouping and charging at us at full speed! Estimated contact time: three minutes!"