They Ran Away
The companionship of women is but a fleeting moment in a lifetime. Some find solace in their own thoughts, conversing intimately within the confines of a room; others, entrusting themselves to something, roam freely beyond the constraints of the body. Though their interests and preferences may differ greatly, and their temperaments may vary, when they find joy in what they encounter and temporarily satisfy themselves, they are content and unaware of the approach of old age.
The battle between the First Fleet of Humanity and the Crimson Flame Civilization was nearing its end. By the time the Second Fleet arrived to join them, the enemy's more than ten million warships had been reduced to just over two million in long-range firefights by the First Fleet Humanity. Although they were still holding on, their annihilation was already a foregone conclusion.
However, because neither side wanted close combat, this rare long-range firefight lasted for seven months, much longer than initially estimated. During the battle, the Second Fleet's offensive also encountered unusually fierce resistance, which is why it took so long to destroy the production base on the First Orbital Planet.
When the Second Fleet successfully joined forces, Yue Yuan convened another emergency meeting aboard the Lyra. The Lyra was still engaged in combat, but no longer on the front lines, so it didn't need to perform any full-thrust acceleration or deceleration maneuvers. With the Second Fleet joining the fray, the human fleet now had a significant numerical advantage. Therefore, as the battle neared its end, Yue Yuan convened a group of High-Level Personnel via video conference to briefly analyze the fleet's next moves.
Instead of Conference Room, everyone was stationed at their own positions and the discussion was conducted via video. This type of discussion is common during operations and is nothing unusual.
However, at this moment, Yue Yuan suddenly realized that everyone's faces showed signs of aging to varying degrees. It was seeing these changes that made the words from the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection, which had been hidden in his mind for who knows how long, suddenly pop into his head.
We are unaware that old age is approaching! As this war goes on, everyone grows old.
As the faces of the First Mate, Second Mate, communications officer, helmsman, Fire Control Officer, observer, analyst, Science Officer, and Engine Crew appeared on the big screen, Yue Yuan suddenly felt a sense of the fleeting nature of youth.
When they first set off for this Star System, these people all looked to be in their early twenties, full of youthful energy. Now, their appearances have begun to change towards middle age. The men's faces seem to have gained a touch of vicissitude, while the women seem to have gained a touch of mature charm.
Yue Yuan knew that their Life Elixir had worn off and they had begun to enter the physiological cycle of aging.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but raise his hand and tap the terminal in front of him, turning the camera to reflect his face onto himself; he was using the camera as a mirror.
Yue Yuan remembered that the effects of his Life Elixir had reached their end, which seemed to have happened about ten years ago.
However, upon closer inspection, he was surprised to find that he seemed to have not changed at all, still possessing the same handsome face as ten years ago.
"Perhaps I just didn't notice it myself?"
Yue Yuan was taken aback, somewhat skeptical. Immediately before the impromptu video conference began, he quickly pulled up a photo of himself from ten years ago and compared it to the previous one.
He thought there would be a difference when comparing them, but to his surprise, there was no difference at all. It seemed that he hadn't changed much at all. Not believing it, Yue Yuan even used an electronic scanner to scan his current appearance and his appearance ten years ago and then compared them. The result was quite unexpected.
Nothing much has changed.
"Could it be that I'm aging slowly? That can't be right. Even if I'm aging slowly, I should be able to see changes after ten years. What's going on?!"
Yue Yuan thought he had misremembered when his medicine would expire, so he checked the data in the archives center. The results showed that, just as he remembered, it had expired ten years ago.
"That's strange! It seems we can only wait until we return to the Main Civilization to see what's going on." This discovery puzzled Yue Yuan, but he knew now was not the time to think about such things.
He then turned off the mirror and looked at the group of people appearing on the video, saying, "Based on the current situation, in another ten days or half a month, we can easily win this battle, and the objectives of this expedition will be basically achieved. At this time, I would like to hear your opinions: should we risk a surprise attack on the first core star field, or should we retreat to the base to regroup and then proceed with the next plan?"
Because the entire engagement was conducted at long range, the First Fleet achieved remarkable results, having lost only three million warships so far, including losses from previous surprise attacks.
"We currently have no idea how many warships the enemy has on the other side of the planet, so I suggest we stick to the original plan and go back to refuel and repair the damaged warships first. If we venture into its core area and the enemy suddenly launches a Great Fleet, we may find ourselves in a passive position due to fuel issues."
Another point is that the combat tactics of this fleet are very puzzling. They could easily launch a close-range assault on us, but instead they have chosen to engage us in long-range combat. I think there is something fishy going on. Perhaps they are showing weakness to lure us into continuing our attack on their core star system after a victory."
No sooner had Yue Yuan finished speaking than the First Mate of the Lyra expressed his opinion. However, before he could finish speaking, a message from the Second Fleet interrupted him—or rather, interrupted the entire impromptu meeting.
The communications officer said, "Commander Yue, the Second Fleet Commander requests a communication."
"Connect!"
Yue Yuan realized that a communication request at this time must mean something was wrong, so without saying a word, he immediately had the communicator connect to the signal.
Sure enough, as soon as the signal was connected, Man Yuemei appeared on the screen and said bluntly, "Commander Yue, there's a situation. Neutrino Detection information: the Great Fleet of the Interstellar Transaction Market has moved, and it's accelerating at an extremely rapid pace. Our ship's experts have concluded that the Interstellar Transaction Market is about to flee."
Running away?
Yue Yuan was taken aback at first, then he thought of the unusual behavior of the opposing fleet. They could have fought desperately against the humans and achieved a higher kill ratio, but they inexplicably chose a combat method that they were not at an advantage in.
At the time, he found it strange, but now that this news has appeared, Yue Yuan instantly understands that they are using their lives to buy time for the Main Civilization to Delaying Time.
"Is the information accurate?" Yue Yuan asked, thinking to himself.
"It's almost certain. There are about 70 million unidentified spaceships on the far side of the planet that have now broken away from the orbit of the Giant Gaseous Planet, heading in the opposite direction from where we are now. Our fleet has already dispatched probes to investigate the specific situation. Once we confirm their Magnetic Propulsion traces, we can confirm their specific flight path!" Man Yuemei replied in her special voice. As she spoke, the Second Fleet's detection data was also shared with the Lyra.
Upon seeing this, Yue Yuan waved his hand and distributed the data to every expert and scholar on the Lyra.
Before long, these experts and scholars also reached their own conclusions, which were roughly the same as the views of the Second Fleet where Man Yuemei was located: the Interstellar Transaction Market had indeed begun to abscond.
Then Yue Yuan instructed in the channel, "The intelligence department should immediately arrange detailed exploration of all the satellites of the Second Orbital Gaseous Planet. I need to know the detailed situation of the core area on the other side."