Chapter 272

Twelve mechs ejected from the launch rack simultaneously, back thrusters fully open, drawing twelve pale blue tracks in the vacuum.

Li Yang could "feel" the vibration of the thrusters, could see the Penglai behind shrinking rapidly.

"Formation maintained, cone formation." Li Yang ordered in the channel.

"One to six in front, seven to twelve cover the flanks. After entering range, Wang Hao fire a wave of missiles first, interfere with its sensors. Then we go up."

"Received."

200,000 kilometers, for a mech at 0.1 times the speed of light, only takes a little over an hour.

During this hour, everyone stared at the probe.

It was still extracting energy, showing no reaction to the mechs approaching, or rather, not caring at all.

"Distance is 50,000 kilometers." Wang Hao's voice came from Penglai, "Missiles ready. Old Li, where to hit?"

"Hit its energy tentacles." Li Yang stared at the thin structures stuck into the ice, "Break its 'straw', see how it sucks."

"Alright."

The Penglai weapon bay opened, and one hundred Bifang-deep space modified missiles swarmed out.

These missiles do not need air propulsion in a vacuum, but rely on micro vector engines to adjust direction.

They were like a group of silent hunting falcons, pouncing on the prey 600 million kilometers away.

Flight time: eight minutes.

Li Yang stared at the timer.

At seven minutes and thirty seconds, the probe suddenly moved.

The purple patterns on its surface lit up instantly, and the dozen or so energy tentacles pulled out of the ice, waving in the air like startled tentacles.

Then, the probe body began to rotate, and each side of the polyhedron cracked open, revealing the ghostly blue crystal structure inside.

"It discovered us." Chen Guang's voice was very calm, "Missiles locked. It is calculating the interception trajectory."

"How many can it intercept?"

"According to its energy output efficiency... all of them."

As soon as the words fell, hundreds of slender blue light beams shot out from the surface of the probe.

Each beam precisely hit a missile, exploding into silent sparks in the vacuum.

One hundred missiles, all destroyed within three seconds.

"Damn it!" Wang Hao cursed in the channel, "What kind of ghost aiming system is this?!"

"At least we tested its defensive capability." Li Yang was even calmer.

"Attention all, change tactics. Abandon long-range attacks, close combat. Its beam weapon shooting has a 0.3-second charging interval, we will use this 0.3 seconds."

"How to use it?"

"Use the mechs as shields."

This made the channel quiet for a moment.

"Captain Li, are you serious?" Pilot No. 3 asked.

"Lunar Soil-7 armor plate anti-beam ability increased by 50%, should be able to withstand one shot." Li Yang had already begun calculating the charge route.

"One to six, charge in a straight line to attract fire. Seven to twelve, take advantage of the gap when it fires, cut in from the flanks, attack its core, the intersection points of the purple patterns on the surface."

"What about the six charging..."

"Might be destroyed." Li Yang said honestly, "But remote control, people are fine. Mechs destroyed can be rebuilt."

"Understood."

"One received."

"Two received."

Six mechs pushed their thruster power to the maximum, like six silver meteors pouncing on the probe.

The probe turned as expected, its surface crystal structure aimed at the charging formation.

Blue light beams shot out again.

First shot, hit the chest of mech No. 1.

The Lunar Soil-7 armor plate was instantly melted through, the mech's chest exploded, but the thrusters were still working, and the wreckage continued to charge forward.

Second shot, third shot...

Within three seconds, three mechs turned into space junk.

But the other three had reached a close enough distance.

"Now! Flanks up!"

Li Yang controlled his mech, he was No. 7, cutting in from the right flank.

Thrusters fully open, mechanical arm popped out a high-frequency vibration particle knife, stabbing hard at the intersection of the purple patterns on the probe's surface.

The moment the blade touched the metal surface, the probe vibrated violently.

Those purple patterns flashed wildly, and the entire polyhedron began to deform, extending more energy tentacles like a startled hedgehog.

One of the tentacles swept over, its speed so fast it even pulled out an afterimage.

"Dodge!"

Li Yang forcibly side-stepped, but the mech's left arm was still grazed.

The Lunar Soil-7 armor plate instantly turned red, and the internal alarm went wild.

"Temperature 8,000 degrees! Left arm joint melted!"

"Abandon arm!"

The mech's left arm automatically detached, tumbling away in the vacuum.

Li Yang couldn't care about the loss, staring at the probe's surface, that knife just now left a crack at the intersection.

Inside the crack, it wasn't a mechanical structure, but something like liquid metal and energy flow.

"Its weakness!" Li Yang shouted in the channel, "Attack all intersection points! That's the energy path!"

The remaining nine mechs pounced together.

The probe counterattacked wildly, energy tentacles waving, blue light beams shooting randomly.

Another mech was melted through, and one was entangled by a tentacle, torn into two pieces.

But the remaining seven had already stabbed their knives into the seven intersection points.

The probe began to convulse violently.

The purple patterns on the surface flashed wildly like a short circuit, and those liquid metal-like energy flows sprayed out from the cracks, condensing into eerie crystal fragments in the vacuum.

"It's going to self-destruct!" Chen Guang suddenly warned, "Energy readings soaring, internal antimatter reactor out of control!"

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!"

Li Yang controlled the mech to turn and run, thrusters pushed to overload state.

Just flew out five kilometers, a blinding white light lit up behind him.

The shockwave of the explosion spread in the form of radiation in the vacuum, instantly catching up with the mechs.

Li Yang felt the entire cockpit vibrating, the external armor plate temperature soaring to the warning line.

He looked back.

The probe was gone.

Replacing it was a plasma fireball that was expanding, and metal fragments flying all over the sky.

"Interception successful..." Li Yang murmured.

But the next second, his smile froze.

In the center of the explosion, a faint purple signal pulse shot into deep space at a speed exceeding light.

Direction: Orion Arm.

"It... still sent the signal out." Chen Guang's voice trembled rarely, "Torch Dragon-3 captured the signal content and is deciphering it."

The channel was dead silent.

A few seconds later, the deciphering result came back.

Only four words, encoded using the most basic mathematical language in the universe:

【Coordinates confirmed】

And then precise solar system location data.

And...

"New time calculation." Chen Guang's voice was dry, "The arrival time of the Harvester main fleet, from 2 years and 8 months... revised to 1 year and 11 months."

Advanced by another nine months.

Li Yang looked at the explosion afterglow gradually dissipating outside the porthole, and the floating mech wreckage.

They won the first battle.

But the price was...

The enemy already knows they are here.

And the time left for humanity is less than two years.

Penglai approached slowly, recovering mech wreckage and probe fragments.

In those fragments, there might be key intelligence about the Harvester civilization.

But Li Yang only wants one thing now:

"Chen Guang."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think, after they receive the signal that the coordinates are confirmed..." Li Yang paused, "Will they accelerate to come, or..."

"Will adjust tactics." Chen Guang analyzed calmly.

"After knowing that we have the ability to destroy their probes, they won't send single units to die again. The next time they come, it might be a fleet, or... something more terrifying."

On the bridge, Jupiter's huge figure filled the entire porthole.

And behind Jupiter, in the darkness of deep space, humanity's countdown has begun.

1 year and 11 months.

23 months.

700 days.

Li Yang turned off the control interface and took off the neural link helmet.

"Is the recovery complete?"

"Completed." Wang Hao's voice came, "Found a lot of good things, Zhao Gong is already waiting at the lunar base. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"Just that the probe self-destructed too thoroughly, the core components were all blown to pieces. We might have to reverse-engineer from fragments the size of fingernails."

Li Yang smiled: "Then piece it together slowly."

At least, they are still alive.

At least, there is still time.

Even if it's less than two years.

Penglai turned its course and began the return journey.

And behind it, among the metal fragments floating in Jupiter's orbit, a piece of probe wreckage the size of a palm, the purple patterns on its surface suddenly flickered faintly.

Then extinguished completely.