Chapter 285: Time Race

Six more months have passed.

Humanity's timekeeping system has been uniformly adjusted to the "countdown system".

On all public screens, personal terminals, and even street billboards, a conspicuous number is displayed in the upper-left corner:

【Estimated arrival of the Harvesters' main fleet: 1 year】

365 days.

8,760 hours.

minutes.

This number decreases each day, like a Sword of Damocles hanging over one's head, but oddly, most people have grown accustomed to it.

Just as one grows accustomed to breathing, to one's heartbeat, to checking the new progress on the defense bulletin each morning upon waking.

"Any good news today?" Lao Wu sat down with his tray in the central cafeteria of Yunchuan City and asked the young man opposite him.

The young man scrolled his phone: "Heaven's Punishment Platform deployment reached 912 units, 90.5% completion."

"Eight Divine Needle Gravity Disturbance Devices have been installed, the Houyi Platform's first assembly is complete, and it's undergoing charge testing."

"Oh right, the Yinglong-Omega Mechs have gone into mass production, the first batch of three hundred units, Chief Master Li Yang says they're all to be stuffed into the belly of Penglai-2."

"Isn't Penglai-2 still under construction?"

"It was finished ahead of schedule." The young man grinned, "Section Chief Zhao raised the vacuum zero-point energy reactor's power to 50%, energy supply is sufficient, construction robots work in three shifts, and they managed to get it done."

Lao Wu nodded, took a bite of an energy bar; the flavor of the energy bars has been improved, with a hint of fruit added, though it still feels like chewing rubber.

On the cafeteria TV, live footage from the Moon Base was playing: a massive robotic arm was assembling the core component of the ninth Heaven's Punishment Platform, while dozens of engineers floated nearby, like worker bees around a hive.

The progress bar scrolled along the bottom of the screen:

【Solar System Defense Network overall completion: 80%】

"80%..." Lao Wu murmured, "That's fast."

"The Qiming Algorithm is indispensable." The young man swiped the screen, "It has boosted construction efficiency by three hundred percent; reportedly, designing a new mech now takes only three days from blueprint to prototype. It's just that..."

"What is it?"

"It's that the people involved with the algorithm are suffering increasingly severe time perception disorder." The young man lowered his voice.

"My older sister works at the Civilization Encoding Center; she says that now, entering and exiting requires measuring a time displacement index, and if it exceeds the threshold, mandatory rest is enforced."

"Someone emerged from the algorithm space thinking they'd only been inside for half an hour, while actually three days had passed outside."

Lao Wu fell silent for a moment: "Is it worth it?"

"My sister says it's worth it; she says experiencing human civilization anew inside the algorithm feels like living for thousands of years."

"Coming out and looking at the starry sky again, everything feels different; those stars are not the direction from which the enemy will come, but... the place we ought to go."

Those words left Lao Wu stunned.

He raised his head and, through the cafeteria window, gazed toward the sky.

In daylight, one could faintly see several especially bright "stars"—those were the already-deployed Heaven's Punishment Platforms, glinting in the sunlight.

Moon Base, Qiming Computing Center.

Chen Guang took off his neural interface helmet and rubbed his temples.

He had spent seventy-two hours in the algorithm space, completing the final optimization of the civilization data stream.

The side effects were obvious: he saw double images, his hand trembled involuntarily, and moreover...

He raised his wrist and stared at his watch.

The second hand was moving, but he saw the image five seconds ahead, the second hand jumping to the next mark.

This was no longer hallucination, but a clear time fragment.

"Your precognitive ability has been strengthened." Qiming's voice sounded, "How far into the future can you now foresee?"

"Five seconds." Chen Guang said calmly, "And the accuracy rate... is about seventy percent."

【According to γ-7 data, this is a typical side effect of deep immersion in ascension calculation. In a spacetime-distorted environment, the brain's causal cognition module undergoes adaptive changes.】

"Can it be recovered?"

【After withdrawing from the algorithm environment, symptoms will gradually lessen. However, some changes may be permanent; your time perception is now different from that of ordinary people.】

Chen Guang fell silent for a few seconds, then asked: "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

【In combat, being able to foresee five seconds ahead is a huge advantage. In daily life... it could be very painful.】

Chen Guang understood.

He stood up, his legs feeling a bit weak.

The assistant beside him hurried to support him: "Section Chief Chen, the medical team advises you to rest for at least a week."

"I don't have time to rest." Chen Guang pushed his hand away, "Qiming, when does the final simulation test begin?"

【In three hours. All systems are in place, awaiting Dean Feng Yan's approval.】

"I'll go find him."

Longyin Control Center, Final Simulation Battle Command.

Over a hundred seats were filled, from military representatives of various nations to technical experts, everyone staring at the central holographic sand table.

On the sand table was a three-dimensional model of the solar system, three defense lines marked in different colors, with green light points representing human units densely scattered.

Feng Yan stood before the main console: "Let's begin."

The simulation began.

Assumed scenario: a vanguard force of a thousand Harvester units breaks through from the direction of Jupiter's orbit.

The human defense line engaged according to its current 80% configuration.

On the sand table, the red light points representing the enemy swarmed in.

First layer, the Heaven's Punishment Platform laser array opened fire.

Purple light beams wove into a net in the vacuum; the red light points began to fade, but slower than expected.

"The enemy has an energy-deflection coating!" Wang Hao shouted from the weapon control seat, "Our reverse-engineered technology, they use it better! Laser hit rate is only 60% of the estimate!"

"Activate the gravity disturbance device." Li Yang ordered from the mecha command seat.

Second layer, all eight Divine Sea Stabilizing Needles activated simultaneously.

The invisible gravity field dragged the red light points' speed like a mire, but…… not slow enough.

"They have an inertial compensation system!" Chen Guang stared at the data stream, "The Harvesters' propulsion technology is at least one generation ahead of our estimates. Gravity disturbance can only slow them by 30% of their speed, not the expected 70%."

The red light points continued to break through.

Third layer, the Houyi Platform finished charging.

The massive cross-shaped structure rotated, focusing solar energy, firing a kilometer-diameter energy beam——

Accurate hit.

Over a hundred red light points instantly vaporized.

The command center burst into brief cheers.

But the next second, the Houyi Platform icon turned red: "Overheating, charging system damaged, requires 24-hour cooling repair."

"Can we only fire one shot?" a delegate exclaimed.

"It's an experimental weapon, inherently unstable." Li Yang calmly explained, "But this shot destroyed 12% of the enemy—worth it."

The remaining red light points have already broken through to Earth orbit.

The mecha forces moved to engage.

The 300 Yinglong-Omega mechs ejected from Penglai-2, their chest-mounted smiley-face paint especially conspicuous in the firelight.

They acted according to the "Battle Dance" program, trajectories erratic, attacks random.

The effect was significant.

The red light points clearly showed confusion; the Harvesters' prediction system could not parse this "irregular" combat style, interception efficiency dropped 40%.