Chapter 1313: Civilization Era Gap

Star Alliance, Sunward Belt.

The Sunward Belt is the outermost ring of the Star Alliance's territory, and can also be said to be the Star Alliance's first line of defense, where the Sixth and Eighth Fleet Armadas of the Star Alliance are stationed.

Today is Sunday, and as usual, the fleet armada is holding a holiday celebration, with only a few people left on duty in the watch room; long interstellar patrols easily lead to fatigue, so such activities need to be held regularly.

Seeing their comrades singing and dancing on the monitor, the soldier on duty yawned and complained to the person next to him: "Sometimes I wonder what the point is of us patrolling this bird-shit-free zone every day; we might as well let the ether computer take over our patrols."

"Come on, when you lose your job you won't be saying that."

The man didn't care: "Unemployment is unemployment, I'm getting government relief, I won't die no matter what."

Suddenly, a large red exclamation mark appeared on the big screen, and a piercing alarm sounded: "Please note, unknown signal source detected!"

"Please note, unknown signal source detected!"

The two duty soldiers exchanged glances, somewhat puzzled: in this day and age, are there still unknown signal sources?

Could it be that a cosmic probe from some unknown planet drifted here, with something like "Let's be friends" written on it?

But soon the signal displayed on the radar overturned their fantasy.

On the radar dial were dense signal sources, the numbers jumping, freezing at one thousand five hundred.

This meant that one thousand five hundred unknown objects were approaching the Sunward Belt.

The two pupils shrank sharply, and they instantly felt that something big was wrong: "Report to the superior immediately!"

Soon the holiday celebration was canceled, the two fleet armadas entered emergency combat readiness, and the commander pulled up the space telescope, finally making out the appearance of the unknown signal source.

"What... is that?"

Rather than saying it's a spaceship, it's more like a giant meatball, its shell writhing, like one thousand five hundred giant caterpillars mightily traversing the starry sky.

The commander has seen many civilizations with interstellar navigation capabilities, and these civilizations were ultimately incorporated into the Star Alliance.

But no matter which civilization, none had the alien appearance of the spaceship before their eyes.

Or perhaps this is not a spaceship at all, but some kind of interstellar race?

"Report, life system detection found a large number of life forms inside."

"A large number of life forms?"

"Activate all defense systems, remain vigilant." The commander issued the order, his voice calm and firm, yet unable to conceal his inner anxiety: "Try to re-establish the communication link, and be sure to confirm their intentions!"

Numerous attempts ended in failure, the unknown fleet seemed to completely ignore any signal sent by the commander, continuing to maintain silence while slowly approaching.

"Send unmanned ships to block them in front, deploy the energy shield! And report this to the Council Chair!"

"Yes!"

Soon over a hundred unmanned ships deployed their energy shields, the energy shields interconnected with each other, forming an energy net that blocked this unknown fleet.

The commander was confident in the energy net; during military exercises he had tested the limit of this energy net, how many minutes could the energy net block planetary revolution before disintegrating? One can imagine the strength of the energy net.

However, facing the unknown fleet, this energy net collapsed on contact, utterly incapable of interception.

"How is this possible!" The soldiers stared dumbfounded at this scene, this is simply absurd.

The commander finally confirmed that the other party came with ill intent, and decisively issued the order: "All units, attack!"

Laser cannons, particle beams, and missiles rained down on the enemy like raindrops, instantly illuminating the dark void of space.

……

"Sixth Armada, respond immediately if you hear this!"

"Eighth Armada, respond immediately if you hear this!"

The Council Chair kept calling the fleet, but no one responded, and he grew anxious, sweat beading slightly on his forehead.

"Ether, pull up the surveillance of the Sunward Belt for me!"

However, before Ether could operate, the screen lit up, but the person on the other end was not any commander.

"You do it like this, right? Let me see, success."

On the other end of the screen stood a humanoid lifeform, dressed impeccably, appearing to be of high status.

"Who are you, and where are the Sixth and Eighth Armadas!"

"Sixth and Eighth Armadas? Oh, you mean those unfriendly little toys that didn't greet me nicely." The humanoid lifeform looked relaxed, snapped his fingers, and the view switched to outer space.

The ships of the Sixth and Eighth were swallowed by the undulating flesh walls of the unknown fleet, leaving only half their hulls.

Seeing this, the Council Chair's head felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, his head swam.

How long had he and the two armadas been out of contact, and how could the two armadas be completely wiped out?

To what extent has the enemy grown powerful?!

The view switched again, this time to the interior of the unknown fleet; the layout of the unknown fleet's interior resembled a biological body, with the fleet commander being swallowed by the walls, leaving only his head.

"Chong'en!" The Council Chair shouted the commander's name.

The view switched to the humanoid lifeform's side, he curled the corner of his mouth into a mocking smile: "Don't worry, we just want to know from his brain the language for communicating with you."

The Council Chair then realized that the humanoid lifeform had been speaking the Alliance language all along.

"What exactly are you people!"

"We? We are the Candle Heaven Civilization, the cosmic overlords, sent by the Heavenly Emperor to conquer the four directions, and we happened to run into you."

"As for me, I am the Fleet Commander of the Azure Fall Heaven Fleet, Shi Wumian."

"If the Star Alliance is willing to submit to our Candle Heaven Civilization, become our vassal state, bow down and pay tribute regularly, we can spare you from the ravages of war, how about that?"

The Council Chair flew into a rage: "Daydreaming, the Star Alliance will never bow down to any power!"

Shi Wumian sighed: "Every time we conquer, we encounter the same argument, and the end result is still the same?"

He turned to the Azure Fall Heaven Fleet and ordered: "All units, prepare, jump to the Eternal Star System!"

……

The Council Chair's expression was grim as water, the Candle Heaven Civilization's arrival was hostile and extraordinarily powerful, the two entire fleet armadas could not withstand the Candle Heaven Civilization for even ten minutes; even if the remaining fleet armadas were all recalled, they would likely still not be a match for the Candle Heaven Civilization.

For now, the only option is……

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single shot, not a single inner content, not a single existence, not a single look!

"Ether, the twelve fleets of the Star Alliance are entirely under your command—use all your strength to stop the invasion of the Candle Heaven Civilization!"

The Speaker has never trusted artificial intelligence; he only feels at ease when the military is in his own hands, but with a great enemy at the gate, relying solely on his command makes victory over the Candle Heaven Civilization impossible—only by placing Ether in command of the entire army can there be any chance of matching the Candle Heaven Civilization in battle!

……

After the Azure Sky Fleet jumped to the outskirts of the Eternal Star System, it immediately encountered military interception.

However, the strength of the Candle Heaven Civilization far exceeded the Speaker's expectations—they surged recklessly through the Eternal Star System, unrestrained, and any attack inflicted no damage whatsoever on them.

In the face of absolute power, no tactic could possibly compensate.

Such a large-scale war cannot be concealed from the populace, and the Ether computer cannot spare extra processing power to deal with online discourse.

The people wailed in unison—their proud, invincible fleet was nothing more than a slightly larger ant before the Candle Heaven Civilization.

"Why don't we just surrender? The Candle Heaven Civilization is so strong—serving them isn't so bad."

"Yeah, surrendering wouldn't mean a loss—maybe the Candle Heaven Civilization would even help the Alliance develop."

"Disgusting, spineless, without even a bottom line."

"Traitors, go die—the Alliance will never surrender!"

Although many people advocated death over surrender, just as many supported surrender, seeing this war as utterly meaningless in their view.

"If we don't surrender, what then—is there still a fight to be had?"

"There is—don't forget we still have the Star-Annihilation Cannon unused."

"Yeah, we still have the Star-Annihilation Cannon."

The three words "Star-Annihilation Cannon" rekindled confidence in the Star Alliance—it is the ultimate weapon, capable of instantly releasing an energy beam powerful enough to destroy a planet, its might so immense it strikes terror at the mere mention.

The Ether computer lured the Candle Heaven Civilization into an ambush, deciding to deploy the hidden Star-Annihilation Cannon.

Stored antimatter rapidly met matter and annihilated, releasing a tremendous crystalline blue energy mass; under magnetic field induction and constraint, this energy mass coalesced into a single beam, aimed at the command ship where Shi Wumian was located.

When the beam of the Star-Annihilation Cannon shot forth, a dazzling light engulfed the entire warship, as if a new star had been born in space.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the result.

As the light gradually faded, the command ship remained steadily suspended in place, its hull pierced by a large hole, the edges charred black.

But soon, flesh buds sprouted at the wound, sealing the breach.

Seeing this, the Speaker felt as if plunged into an abyss, slumped in his chair, eyes glazed, overwhelmed by despair.

It's over—everything is over; even the Star-Annihilation Cannon failed—what does the Star Alliance have left to oppose the Candle Heaven Civilization?

"Star-Annihilation-level weapons? Of course—given the Star Alliance's level of development, the appearance of such weapons is hardly surprising?"

Shi Wumian said coldly, they also possess Star-Annihilation-level weapons, once considered the ultimate armaments.

After the Sovereign Lord ascended to rule the world, the Candle Heaven Civilization advanced further, and Star-Annihilation-level weapons are now merely formidable killing tools.

"Thanks to the Sovereign Lord."

Had it been the former Candle Heaven Civilization facing the Star Alliance, even if victorious, they would not have won so easily.

Zero casualties in battle—this is the outcome only possible when civilizations differ by a generation.

The Azure Sky Fleet blockaded the Eternal Star System, and Shi Wumian piloted his command ship down to the Eternal Star.

Suddenly, several extremely bright points appeared on the command ship's spirit stone detection radar; the composed Shi Wumian saw them, and his heartbeat slowed by several beats.

"Does this planet possess the supreme spirit stones the Sovereign Lord needs?!"

(End of Chapter)