Chapter 240

The next morning, Chen Guang stood before the holographic projection, casting the final monitoring results into the center of the conference room.

It was a complex star map, with countless points of light forming the local structure of the Milky Way.

But everyone's eyes were focused on a striking red trajectory that started from a distant, unknown region, passed through several star systems, and finally pointed its arrow at the Sun.

"This is the Harvester's advance route map," Chen Guang said.

"Torch Dragon-3 used the interstellar navigation code just deciphered last night, combined with all abnormal astronomical phenomena from the past three months, to reverse-engineer this path."

He zoomed in on the end of the trajectory: "The next target is Alpha Centauri—that is, Proxima Centauri, 4.22 light-years from the Solar System."

Li Yang was the first to speak: "Proxima Centauri... that's the closest star to us. If something goes wrong there..."

"It means the Harvesters are not far from us," Feng Yan continued.

"From Proxima Centauri to the Solar System, for a civilization that can extinguish stars, it might just be a short-range jump."

Wang Hao stared at the red trajectory and suddenly asked: "Guangzi, is this map accurate? Don't tell me the system calculated it wrong..."

"Torch Dragon-3 used three independent algorithms for cross-verification, with a 99.7% alignment," Chen said, marking the data stream.

"And just seven hours ago, seventeen major astronomical observatories worldwide simultaneously monitored an abnormal drop in Proxima Centauri's brightness. Over the past seventy-two hours, its overall brightness has dropped by 0.3%."

"0.3%..." Zhao Kaiyuan calculated quickly, "If this is a sign that stellar energy output is being absorbed or shielded, it means the Harvesters are already at work."

"It's not 'if.' The hydrogen-alpha line is weakening, the helium line is abnormal, and the stellar wind speed has dropped by 30%. All these characteristics perfectly match the 'precursor stage' described in the deep space signal," Chen said, switching the screen to show the real-time spectral analysis of Proxima Centauri.

The conference room fell into silence.

Previously, those were just signals, warnings, and probability analyses.

Now, it was a star visible to the human eye undergoing some unknown change.

"So, we don't have much time left," Li Yang said slowly.

"Although it's not as short as 187 days, it might only be five years," Chen said, pulling up Torch Dragon-3's time estimation model.

"According to the Harvesters' advance speed in other star systems, combined with the distance from Proxima Centauri to the Solar System, in the most optimistic scenario, they will reach the edge of the Solar System in five years. In the most pessimistic scenario... only three years."

Wang Hao stood up abruptly: "Three years?! Our Penglai-2 isn't even built yet, the Tiangong Phase II just started construction, and the Moon Base only has twelve people living in it. How the hell are we supposed to fight?!"

"That's why we need a new plan," Chen said, closing the star map and switching to a brand-new weapon design interface.

The title had only two words: "Heaven's Punishment."

"Although the deep space signal didn't provide advanced interstellar navigation technology, it provided a complete theory of energy manipulation," Chen began to explain.

"There is a concept where a portion of stellar energy is converted into a directed energy beam, which theoretically can strike any target within the star system from any position within the star system."

He pulled up the schematic: "Simply put, it's deploying a set of energy collection arrays around the Sun, converting the collected solar energy into ultra-high-pressure lasers, and projecting them to the target through orbital relay stations."

In the footage, a ring-shaped structure surrounding the Sun began to glow, and energy was transmitted through several beams to a launch platform in lunar orbit, and from there, shot into deep space.

"Wait, this scale... is too big. An array surrounding the Sun? We haven't even finished building a complete defense network surrounding the Blue Star," Li Yang interrupted.

"That's why it's the Heaven's Punishment concept," Chen said, marking the phase division.

"The first phase only requires deploying a simplified version in lunar orbit. The power doesn't need to vaporize asteroids; it just needs to intercept incoming celestial bodies heading toward Blue Star."

He zoomed in on the Moon Base plan: "I've already selected a location next to the Guanghan Palace Base."

"Utilizing the Moon's rotation and revolution, one laser array can cover the defense sector of half of Blue Star. If three sets are deployed, global coverage without blind spots can be achieved."

Wang Hao sat back down, stroking his chin: "This thing... is the power enough?"

"A single shot's energy is equivalent to a thousand times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, focused on an area three meters in diameter," Chen said, marking the calculated data.

"It can vaporize asteroids under five hundred meters in diameter, melt through the armor of any existing material, and lock onto and strike any ground target globally within thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds? Globally?" Li Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Laser speed in a vacuum is the speed of light; it only takes 1.3 seconds from the Moon to Blue Star. The remaining twenty-eight seconds are for aiming and charging," Chen explained.

"In fact, if the early warning system detects the target in advance, the reaction time can be compressed to under five seconds."

A low intake of breath echoed in the conference room.

"This thing is... a bit too powerful, isn't it?" Wang Hao scratched his head.

"I mean, we have mechs, missiles, Penglai, and now we want to build a laser cannon that can fire from the Moon? If this thing misfires..."

"That's why we need multi-layer insurance," Chen said, pulling up the control architecture.

"Heaven's Punishment's firing requires triple authorization: the Moon Base Command Center, the Dragon Chant Ground Control Center, and Torch Dragon-3's threat assessment system. All three must confirm before firing."

"What if Torch Dragon-3 has a problem?" Zhao Kaiyuan asked.

"Then it reverts to dual manual authorization," Chen said. "But Torch Dragon-3's current error rate is one in ten billion, which is more reliable than humans."

Feng Yan had been silent, but now he finally spoke: "How long will construction take?"

"If we go all out..." Chen marked the timeline.

"Core energy collection array, six months. Lunar launch platform, nine months. Ground control system, three months. Total... one and a half years."

Feng Yan shook his head: "We don't have that much time. We need to see the first phase of combat deployment within at least nine months."

"That would require triple the budget and mobilizing Penglai's construction resources," Chen calculated quickly. "It will affect the progress of Penglai-2."

"Pause Penglai-2, and concentrate all resources on Heaven's Punishment and the Solar System Defense Network," Feng Yan said.

"Penglai-1 is enough for now. What we lack isn't a flying mothership, but a weapon that can hurt the Harvesters."

This decision left everyone stunned.

Penglai-2 was the culmination of a year of hard work by Li Yang's team, and 30% of its construction was already complete. Pausing it meant a massive waste of resources and a blow to team morale.

But Li Yang was the first to nod: "I agree. If the enemy is as terrifying as the signal says, what we need is an ultimate weapon, not more motherships."

"Lao Li..." Wang Hao wanted to say something.

"Haozi," Li Yang looked at him, "how far can your missiles reach? One thousand kilometers? Ten thousand kilometers? Heaven's Punishment's design range is—forty million kilometers. That's the distance from Blue Star to Mars."