Chapter 118 Contact Battle: The First Interstellar Conflict

Five minutes later, the real-time optical images on the big screen were transmitted back to the Command Center.

Seven jet-black warships with terrifying designs were floating silently in the cold, dead space.

Unlike human warships that pursued streamlined aesthetics, they were covered in sharp metal spikes and eerie skull reliefs. The bow, in particular, was designed like an open metal jaw, exuding a nauseating scent of blood and religious fanaticism.

No diplomatic probing.

No civilization exchange.

The moment they exited curvature travel, they broadcasted a harsh electronic noise across all frequencies in the Solar System.

After gaia's real-time translation, this short message was laid bare before everyone:

"Organic infection source detected."

"Executing purification procedure."

"For the glory of our Lord, cleanse the bugs."

Arrogance.

An arrogance carved into their bones, viewing carbon-based life as dust.

"Bugs?"

Chen Weiguo stood before the command console, staring at that line of text. The collar of his uniform, usually ironed to perfection, seemed to be strained tight by his anger at this moment.

He waved his hand violently, his voice like thunder: "luan bird, sortie! First and Second Joint Fleets, flank them!"

"Since you've come, don't even think about leaving!"

...

Pluto's orbit.

This was the frontier of the Solar System, but now it had become the front line of a meat grinder.

The 488-meter-long luan bird, like a drawn sword, led the fifty frigates that humanity had built with global effort over the past two years, forming the first line of defense.

"Target locked! All fire-control radars active!"

"Fire!"

Li Na's voice roared through the communication channel.

In an instant, thousands of missiles and high-energy laser beams, like a brilliant meteor shower, slammed into those seven black warships.

This was the pinnacle of human firepower.

However, a scene that chilled everyone to the bone occurred.

Facing a barrage of firepower capable of destroying a small nation, those seven "Zealots" didn't even make an evasive maneuver.

Hum—

A pale golden dodecahedron energy shield lit up on the surface of their hulls.

Missiles striking it were like raindrops hitting glass; apart from exploding into futile sparks, they couldn't even make the enemy tremble.

"How is this possible..."

A frigate captain looked at this scene in despair. "Those were ten-megaton nuclear warheads!"

"This is the technological gap." Lin Yuan's voice cut coldly into the communication channel. "Their shields are 'Phase Deflection Force Fields'; conventional kinetic weapons and thermal weapons will be deflected directly. Don't use brute force!"

Before his voice faded, the counterattack arrived.

The enemy ships' jaw-like bows suddenly opened, spraying dark red particle beams.

No sound at all.

The three human frigates at the very front, before their shields could even overload, were like butter cut by a hot knife, instantly severed in two, and then exploded silently in space.

One strike, three ships destroyed, six hundred officers and soldiers killed.

This was the cruelty of interstellar war. No passionate roars, only cold slaughter.

"This shield strength... we can't penetrate it!" Li Na gritted her teeth, her eyes red. "Is this the strength of a higher civilization?"

Despair spread through the fleet.

The enemy hadn't even used their main guns; mere potshots from their secondary guns had already pushed the fleet humanity was proud of to the brink of collapse.

Lin Yuan stood on the command deck of the "Heavenly Court," watching the fireballs exploding on the screen, his expression terrifyingly calm.

"gaia, show me the secondary guns."

"Commander, are you sure?" gaia's data stream flickered slightly. "The 'Starlight Destroyer' secondary guns' charging will consume 30% of the fortress's reserve energy, and also..."

"Enough talk." Lin Yuan interrupted it, the corner of his mouth curling into a sinister arc. "The nation spent two years building this fortress, wasn't it for this very moment?"

"Charge it for me! Aim at the lead one!"

...

On the battlefield, the Mechanical Papacy Commander—a semi-mechanized creature—was watching these fragile "indigenous" warships with contempt.

"Low-level civilization." Its electronic eye flickered with red light. "End this boring game. Charge the main cannon and take out that largest ship (luan bird)."

Just at this moment.

A hair-raising energy fluctuation suddenly came from that massive "satellite," which had been ignored like a background object.

On the surface of the 2,000-kilometer-diameter giant sphere, a heavy armor plate slowly shifted away.

Revealing a... gun barrel with a shocking caliber of 500 meters.

Deep within the muzzle, a deep blue light began to converge, and the surrounding space began to twist and collapse due to the terrifying energy density.

"What... what is that?!" The Mechanical Papacy Commander's logic processor overloaded instantly. "titan... titan-level energy signature?! How could these bugs have titan weaponry?!"

"Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!!!"

Too late.

"Here's a big present for you." Lin Yuan pressed the launch button hard.

BOOM——————!!!

A deep blue beam of light, several kilometers in diameter, spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers of void.

It was like a spear of judgment cast by a god, ignoring distance, ignoring time.

All meteorites and debris in its path were vaporized into plasma the moment they made contact.

The lead "Zealot" warship, along with its proud golden shield, was as fragile as a thin sheet of paper in front of this beam of light.

No explosion.

Because at that energy level, matter was simply erased.

The beam pierced the first warship, its momentum undiminished, and grazed the flank of the second, melting half the hull directly.

One shot.

One dead, one crippled.

The entire battlefield was deathly silent.

The Mechanical Papacy fleet, which had been attacking frantically, looked like ducks with their necks squeezed, their formation instantly chaotic.

"This is a titan." Lin Yuan looked at the empty area on the screen and whistled. "Awesome!"

But he wasn't carried away by victory.

"Now! They're in chaos!" Lin Yuan grabbed his helmet and strode toward the exit of the command room. "gaia, take over fortress defense! All 'Heavenly Soldier' mecha regiments, follow me!"

"It's time to let these aliens see what a Daxia charge is!"

...

Ten minutes later.

Thousands of "Heavenly Soldier" mechas modified with titan technology swarmed out of the luan bird's ejection ports like a swarm of bloodthirsty wasps.

Charging at the very front was a pitch-black mecha — "ghost" mod.

"Brothers! Don't trade fire with them!"

Lin Yuan's voice exploded in the communication channel. "Get up close! Use your blades to cut them for me!"

He piloted the "ghost", engine nozzles erupting with blinding white light, pulling an eerie Z-shaped trajectory in space, dodging three particle beam interceptions, and like a nail, drove hard into the armor gap of the damaged enemy ship.

Zzzzz—!

The plasma cutting blade popped out, and Lin Yuan, like a mad surgeon, piloted the mecha directly into the enemy ship's engine room.

"Die, you bastard!"

Stabbed through the energy core with one blade.

Meanwhile, thousands of Daxia mecha warriors, braving dense anti-aircraft fire, crashed into the warships that were ten thousand times larger than themselves without hesitation.

Explosions.

Firelight.

The wreckage of mechas and the fragments of warships mixed together.

"Squad 03 wiped out! But we destroyed its radar!"

"I am Zhao Tiezhu! I'm out of energy... I see that muzzle is pretty big, I'm going to blow it up! For Daxia!!!"

BOOM!

A warrior piloted his mecha, rushing into the enemy ship's charging main gun muzzle at the last moment, choosing to self-destruct.

Tragic.

This was a battle where flesh and blood were used to fill the technological chasm.

Half an hour later.

When the last "Zealot" warship turned into a huge fireball under the siege, Lin Yuan piloted the scarred "ghost" and floated silently among the wreckage.

In the communication channel, there were no cheers.

Only muffled sobbing and rapid breathing.

Lin Yuan looked through the broken viewscreen at the floating human mecha wreckage in the distance, some of which didn't even have complete bodies left to recover.

We won.

But these were only seven frigates.

Just an insignificant reconnaissance squad of that massive Mechanical Papacy.

"Is this interstellar war..." Lin Yuan's fingers gripped the joystick tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"gaia."

"Present."

"Compile the list of sacrifices and carve it onto the monument of heroes in the 'Heavenly Court'."

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, the rogueishness in his eyes disappearing, replaced by a cold hardness like a ten-thousand-year rock.

"Tell everyone, don't cry."

"This is just the beginning."

"We must grow stronger, until we... kill our way through this starry sky!"