Chapter 297: Stellar-Level Counterattack

The light from the Hou Yi Platform's muzzle pulled out an energy torrent five hundred meters in diameter in the vacuum of the Moon's far side.

Pure, unprocessed stellar energy, overloaded and stimulated by the vacuum zero-point energy pile, was compressed by Hou Yi's focusing mirror into a golden needle capable of piercing the Sun's surface.

The moment the beam left the muzzle, all lights on the Moon Base went out simultaneously.

The entire Guanghan Palace Base's power system was drained; this Hou Yi strike consumed 3.7 times the total annual energy consumption of all humanity.

Zhao Kaiyuan stared at the screen in the control center, his finger pressed firmly on the confirm key.

Beside him, the temperature curve of the vacuum zero-point energy pile was soaring at a slope of three million degrees per second.

"Overload 160%......" his voice dry, "170%...... 180%......"

"Dump the pile!" Feng Yan shouted over the comm, "Kaiyuan, dump it now!"

"Wait a bit longer." Zhao Kaiyuan stared at Hou Yi's output curve, "We're still short 3% of the energy needed to break through——"

Boom.

Visible cracks began to appear on the surface of the vacuum zero-point energy pile's safety shell.

Jupiter orbit, the Harvesters' main fleet.

As the Hou Yi beam grazed the edge of their formation, three hundred units attempted to intercept.

They used shields to block the beam's path, used self-destruct units to create a spatial deflection field, and even used energy-absorption nets to forcibly siphon energy from the beam.

But stellar-level energy output cannot be blocked by constructs of this scale.

The beam penetrated the first shield layer.

It penetrated the second layer.

It penetrated the third layer.

Then, at the predetermined coordinates, it precisely struck the Sun's surface.

The Sun's wound was only thirty kilometers in diameter—tiny compared to a star with a seven-hundred-thousand-kilometer radius, smaller than a mosquito bite.

But this is like a mosquito driving its stinger into an artery.

The flare arrives.

Human textbooks define a flare as a sudden release of massive energy from a localized area on the Sun's surface, usually lasting minutes to hours.

Today, this star that has burned for forty-six billion years will, within three seconds, actively tear its own skin.

A golden energy jet surged from the breach—the lifeblood that sustains the star.

Jet speed: two thousand kilometers per second.

Jet temperature: fifteen million degrees.

Jet direction: straight toward the densest area of the Harvesters' fleet.

"The breach is open!" Chen Guang shouted in the control center, "Li Yang, now!"

In the Penglai hangar, fifty Yinglong-Omegas ignited simultaneously.

Li Yang led the charge.

Unit 001's thrusters were pushed to 300% overload, alarms blaring in the cockpit; he silenced them, knowing without listening that the mech was warning.

"All units, pay attention," he said over the channel.

"After entering the jet, the mech's surface temperature will exceed three thousand degrees within one second. The Lunar Regolith-7 armor can hold for five seconds. Within five seconds, we must redirect the energy flow to the predetermined direction."

"After redirecting," a young pilot asked over the channel.

"After redirecting, shut down immediately." Li Yang paused, "Eject the cockpit, then wait for rescue. The mech can be rebuilt; we must come back alive."

The channel fell silent for a moment.

Then someone said, "Captain Li, you've rehearsed these lines beforehand, haven't you?"

"Hmm."

"Then how do you sound exactly like something made up on the spot?"

"...... Shut up and charge."

Fifty mechs charged headfirst into the golden jet, diving into the Sun's wound.

Wang Hao stood before the Penglai weapon control console, watching the mech unit rush into that blinding white light.

His missiles were expended—three hundred seventy-two Bifangs, each detonating on the Harvesters' shields like fireworks.

A dozen or so broke through, tearing several gaps in the enemy formation—exactly the ingress route for the mech unit.

"Worth it." he muttered.

Then he pulled up another interface.

【Fireworks Mode: Ready】

【Trigger Condition: Battle Victory/Total Annihilation】

【Note: The system will judge in real time】

Wang Hao stared at that line for three seconds.

"...... Damn it, make the call already." he muttered under his breath.

Inside the jet, there is no direction.

All around is light, heat, the wrath of a star that has burned for forty-six billion years.

Li Yang's Unit 001 left-leg joint began to melt at 1.3 seconds after entering the jet.

Like a candle, from the knee down the armor turned red, softened, deformed, and finally peeled away and vaporized under the particle stream's scouring.

He severed the left leg, using the single-leg thruster to forcibly adjust attitude.

At 1.8 seconds, the right arm melted.

At 2.1 seconds, only three of the rear thruster array remained operational.

At 2.4 seconds, the cockpit temperature exceeded forty degrees.

Li Yang removed the neural-link helmet; wearing it or not made no difference anymore. The tactile signals coming from the mech were all overload warnings, so he stared directly at the screen with his naked eyes and manually controlled it.

At 2.9 seconds, he saw the preset coordinate point.

That was the optimal energy deflection zone calculated by Chen Guang; applying a tiny disturbance with the mech's thruster at this position would cause the entire energy jet to bend like light reflected by a mirror, turning toward the densest area of the enemy formation.

"Unit 001 has reached the target point." Li Yang said, "Begin guidance."

He pushed the thruster output to the limit.

All remaining energy of the mech surged into the three thrusters on its back; the plasma tail flame jetting from the nozzles was nearly invisible in the stellar energy flow, but the inertial data was changing.

The jet began to deflect.

At 3.1 seconds, units 002, 007, and 011 simultaneously reached the preset coordinate point.

At 3.4 seconds, eighteen mechs.

At 3.7 seconds, thirty-three mechs.

At 4.1 seconds, the remaining forty-nine mechs were all in position.

"All present, speed‑burst to the planned area and await rescue; repeat, speed‑burst, await rescue. You must survive! This is an order!"

"Received" ×49.

Communications cut off, the cockpits ejected swiftly toward the planned safe zone and flew away quickly.

The jet's direction was completely reversed; that golden torrent, like a tamed giant serpent, turned its head and lunged toward the core region of the Harvester fleet.

Three million kilometers above the solar surface, the Harvester main fleet reacted within 0.3 seconds.

Twelve hundred units simultaneously deployed energy shields, attempting to block the jet.

Shields at full power.

The jet struck the shields.

The shields collapsed instantly.

Energy consumption ratio: 1:3700.

In the face of absolute energy overwhelming, any technique becomes meaningless.

Harvester units began self‑destructing; before the jet could engulf them, they actively destroyed their core databases to prevent humans from reverse‑engineering more technology.

But the jet was too fast.

The front‑rank units vaporized 0.1 seconds before they could self‑destruct.

The second, third, and fourth ranks—

The golden torrent tore a death corridor three hundred kilometers wide and a hundred thousand kilometers long through the enemy formation.

【Battle results being tallied——】

【Confirmed Harvester units destroyed: 4271】

【Damaged, pending confirmation: about 600】

【Enemy formation integrity: dropped to 11%】

【Remaining enemy ships: about 1900 units】

【Mission objective: partially achieved】

Chen Guang stared at the data on the screen, and his hand finally stopped trembling.