Chapter 270

"Just that the cost is a bit high, one missile is enough to buy a house in Kyoto." Wang Hao grins.

"Brother Feng, if this can't be reimbursed after the war, you have to help me write the application report."

"After the war, I'll approve a piece of land for you on the moon, you can build it yourself." Feng Yan finishes and looks at Chen Guang.

"Most importantly, is there a way to interfere with the probe's signal transmission capability?"

Chen Guang pulls up the analysis chart: "Based on the characteristics of the scanning signal, it should be using quantum entanglement over-the-horizon communication technology. Conventional interference is ineffective, but..."

He pauses: "If we can use the Heaven's Punishment platform to concentrate fire on its communication module at the moment it transmits the signal, theoretically we can create local spacetime distortion, delaying or even blocking signal propagation."

"What is the success rate?"

"37%." Chen Guang says honestly, "And it requires the Heaven's Punishment platform to be pre-charged to combat status, which will expose our maximum output power."

Feng Yan is silent.

"Bet on it." After a while, Feng Yan speaks slowly, "Better than letting it transmit the intelligence that humanity has interstellar laser weapons back."

Order issued.

In lunar orbit, the Heaven's Punishment platform slowly turns, and 100,000 laser emitter units begin pre-charging, with ghostly blue energy light silently gathering in the vacuum.

And on the Penglai deck, Li Yang walks into his mech cockpit.

The panoramic screen lights up, outside is the deep starry sky and the blue Earth below.

Reports from various pilots come through the communication channel:

"Jingshi-01, system self-check completed."

"Jingshi-02, Lunar Soil-7 armor plate bonding degree 100%."

"Jingshi-03, the smiley face drawn by Chief Engineer Wang Hao is a bit crooked, applying to erase and redraw... rejected."

Li Yang smiles: "Attention everyone, final five-day preparation period. Eat when you should, drink when you should, those who need to write a suicide note... write it and give it to me, I'll keep it for you."

"Captain Li, can it be electronic? Handwriting is too tiring."

"Electronic is fine, but it must have a signature."

Amidst the laughter, the tense atmosphere eased slightly.

11:00 PM, Longyin cafeteria night snack stall.

Wang Hao sits opposite Chen Guang with two bowls of wontons: "Guangzi, seriously, do you think we can win?"

Chen Guang eats wontons and pushes his glasses: "According to existing data, the success rate of intercepting the probe is 68.3%. But the combat power of the main fleet behind the probe is unknown, and cannot be evaluated."

"Can't you give me some confidence?"

"I am a scientist, I only provide data, not emotional value." Chen Guang pauses, looking at the wontons in the bowl.

"However... if calculated according to conventional algorithms, our journey from warehouse mechs to interstellar defense in these three years is already a miracle."

Wang Hao is amused: "This sounds like human talk. Come, toast to the miracle with soup instead of wine."

The two clinked bowls.

At this time, the deep space monitoring screen on the cafeteria big screen suddenly flickered.

Chen Guang's chopsticks stopped in mid-air.

In the picture, in the void 125 astronomical units away, a circle of eerie purple patterns suddenly lit up on the surface of the irregular polyhedron.

"Energy readings surged by 500%!" Xiao Zhang's voice came from the communicator, "It... it is preparing for a short-range jump!"

"Where is the target?!" Feng Yan's voice.

"Jupiter! It's going to jump directly to Jupiter's orbit!"

Torch Dragon-3's calculation results popped out:

【Estimated arrival time: 2 years and 8 months (main fleet)】

【Arrival time after probe jump: 7 days】

The entire control center exploded.

"Seven days?!" Li Yang stood up on the Penglai bridge, "We still need five days to depart!"

"It can't wait." Feng Yan stares at the circle of purple patterns getting brighter and brighter, "Chen Guang, can we interfere with the jump?"

"The distance is too far, it takes six hours for the Heaven's Punishment platform's laser to get there, it's too late." Chen Guang's fingers tapped quickly.

"But... we can calculate the jump exit coordinates. If we can deploy a gravity interference field in Jupiter's orbit in advance—"

"What needs to be done?"

"Advance Penglai's departure time to within 24 hours." Chen Guang looked up.

"And we need Zhao Gong to retrofit all the Lunar Soil-7 test armor plates into the core components of the gravity generator."

"Zhao Gong?" Feng Yan connects to the lunar communication.

In the picture, Zhao Gong is squatting in the workshop smoking a pipe, behind him are twelve mech armor plates being assembled.

"Heard it." He puffed out a puff of smoke, "24 hours, three shifts, it's in time. It's just that the boys have to stay up all night."

"Please."

Communication cut off.

Feng Yan looks around the control room: "Plan changed. Penglai will depart in 24 hours."

"Li Yang, the mech team prepare for emergency departure. Wang Hao, missile loading acceleration. Chen Guang, I want the precise coordinates of the jump exit, the error cannot exceed one thousand kilometers."

"Understood!"

"Also..." Feng Yan looks at the big screen, the purple pattern is already blindingly bright, "Notify all member states."

"The countdown has changed from 62 days to 7 days."

"Humanity's first interstellar war—"

He takes a deep breath:

"Is about to start early."

2:00 AM, lunar base workshop brightly lit.

Zhao Gong bites his pipe, watching the apprentices dismantle the Lunar Soil-7 armor plates from the mechs and retrofit them into gravity generator cores the size of soccer balls. Mechanical arms dance in the air, welding sparks flying.

A young engineer wipes his sweat: "Master, rushing the work like this, can quality be guaranteed?"

"Can't guarantee it." Zhao Gong tells the truth, "But it's better than nothing."

He looks out the window, Blue Star slowly rotating in the distance, quiet like a blue sapphire.

And in the depths of this quiet starry sky, a chase spanning ten billion kilometers is about to begin.

Penglai bridge, Li Yang leans on the pilot seat, looking at the busy mech maintenance crew on the deck. Those Jingshi-3S with smiley faces on their chests are about to head to a deep space battlefield that humanity has never set foot on.

The communicator rings, it's Feng Yan.

"Old Li, is the pressure high?"

"A little." Li Yang says honestly, "But it's much better than building exoskeletons in a warehouse three years ago, at least now we have a country, a team, and Heaven's Punishment."

He pauses: "Brother Feng, if..."

"No if." Feng Yan interrupts, "After the war, there will always be a bowl of fried sauce noodles left for you in the cafeteria."

Li Yang smiles: "Okay. Then I'll go and come back."

Communication ends.

Li Yang pulls up the star map, his finger sliding across the 600 million kilometer route from Earth to Jupiter.

And at the end of the route, the purple pattern finally brightens to the extreme—

The probe disappeared.

The next second, on the deep space monitoring screen near Jupiter's orbit, a spatial ripple silently rippled out.

The irregular polyhedron emerged from the void, and the purple patterns on its surface slowly extinguished.

It hovered beside the huge gas giant, as small as a speck of dust.

But its "eyes" were already aimed at the inner solar system.

Aimed at Blue Star.

The alarm of the Heaven's Punishment platform resounded through the lunar base.

Chen Guang stares at the probe that has just completed the jump on the screen, and says softly:

"It's here."

"Our guest..."

"Came to the door early."