The Second Asteroid Belt War (9)

Oakes's 90,000 warships, at Adams's command, rapidly charged towards the human fleet before them.

"Commander Adams, 10,000 of the human fleet's warships are retreating, and the remaining 5,000 have formed a defensive formation in place, seemingly intending to cover the retreat!"

"Hmm, our warships are faster than theirs. Order the fleet to destroy the human fleet before us at maximum speed, then pursue the 10,000 warships that are escaping!"

"Yes!"

At this moment, Adams believed his guess was correct; it was indeed a coincidental encounter, and it seemed Liang Xingchen's luck had run out.

Since that was the case, he would crush humanity's final resistance in one fell swoop!

Therefore, Adams directly ordered all warships to press forward together, tearing apart the retreating human fleet from the front with an overwhelming numerical advantage.

The distance between the two sides shortened, and they were about to enter firing range.

"Commander, a human fleet has appeared on the left flank of our fleet, numbering approximately 10,000 ships!"

"Commander, a human fleet has also appeared on the right flank of our fleet, numbering approximately 10,000 ships!"

"Commander, the 10,000 human warships that were retreating have turned back!"

Listening to his subordinates' reports, Adams was momentarily stunned. What was going on? That made a total of 35,000 warships!

Had humanity been hiding its strength all along, just for this moment?

Adams looked at the tactical display. In front of his fleet, there were 15,000 human warships, and on the left and right flanks, there were another 10,000 warships each, all converging on his position. Soon, they would be within the firing range of three directions.

This situation looked quite grim.

"Quick! Before we enter their firing range, order all warships to turn 180 degrees and then advance at full speed to break out of the human encirclement!"

Several minutes later, before being brought into range by the humans, the Third Imperial Guard Legion completed its turn and fled at full speed.

However, it had to be understood that not all types of warships had the same speed. Under full-speed evasion, the entire fleet's formation was disrupted; it was only slightly better than a rout.

Adams didn't care about this. As long as they broke out of the encirclement from three sides, he could regroup the fleet's formation. It wasn't a major problem.

However, the unexpected happened again.

"Commander, a human fleet has appeared to our front left, numbering around 10,000!"

"Commander, a human fleet has also appeared to our front right, numbering around 10,000!"

"What? That's impossible! Where did humanity get so many fleets? Including the previous ones, that's a total of 55,000 warships."

"Commander, the human fleets appearing to our front left and front right have already opened intersecting fire on our vanguard!"

"Don't mind the casualties, continue advancing in a straight line, and break through first!"

Adams gritted his teeth and gave the order, looking at the tactical display where 35,000 warships were constantly closing in from the left, right, and rear.

He couldn't stop now; stopping would be fatal. Once caught by the fleets on the left, right, and rear, he would face intersecting fire from 55,000 warships from five directions.

In that scenario, the Third Imperial Guard Legion would be annihilated. It was better to break through, even at the cost of losing 30,000 to 40,000 warships.

Under normal circumstances, Adams would have keenly noticed that the firepower from the front left and front right was significantly weaker than what 10,000 warships should be capable of, not even reaching half their potential.

However, Duolun's death and the sudden appearance of 55,000 human warships had completely disrupted his state of mind, making it impossible for him to calmly assess the battlefield details.

Thus, 90,000 warships, enduring intersecting fire from two directions, fled rapidly in a scattered formation towards the empty space in the center.

Meanwhile, inside the flagship Uranus, Lin Fan was communicating with Liang Xingchen.

"I'm starting to admire you, kid. You disguised nearly 50,000 warships with mechs. Adams is already flustered; otherwise, it wouldn't be easy to fool him."

"Well, Duolun's death and the unexpected number of warships appearing before him – combined, I don't believe he wouldn't be flustered. Psychological warfare is also an important part of war!"

"But the Oakes Empire still has too many warships. Completely annihilating them is still not realistic!"

"Commander, we don't need to annihilate them completely. We just need to inflict heavy casualties on their fighting force and scare them back to Jupiter."

"Yes, you're right. If we can destroy half his fleet this time, our objective will be achieved!"

"Commander, it's almost time for your performance!"

"Yes, I'll make my move once half of Adams's fleet passes your ambush point."

"Sigh, it's still too few warships. If we had another 10,000, we could definitely keep them all here!"

"Alright, the Federation hasn't had an easy time these past few years. We could only build a little over 2,000 warships annually. But now, with your industrial robots, building 10,000 warships a year is no longer a problem. Things will get better. Let's focus on winning this battle first!"

"Yes, Commander!"

While the two were talking, Adams was in extreme distress!

"Commander Adams, one-third of the fleet has already passed through their crossfire!"

"What are the current casualties?"

"Approximately 7,000 warships lost!"

Adams's heart was bleeding. 7,000 warships were gone just like that, and even the fleet's main cannons hadn't fired a single shot!

After all, to attack the enemy, they had to turn, because the main cannons couldn't rotate 360 degrees; they could only make micro-adjustments within a 15-degree range.

This was why warships always faced the enemy head-on when attacking.

But in the current situation, the two fleets to his front left and front right were engaging him with crossfire. He had to quickly pass between them and then create distance.

If he turned to attack any of those fleets, his own warships would inevitably slow down. Once slowed, the 35,000 warships in pursuit would catch up immediately. By then, escape would be impossible.

Therefore, Adams could only retreat rapidly while firing back with his secondary cannons.

Ten minutes later, two-thirds of the fleet had passed through the crossfire.

"What are the current battle losses?"

"Reporting, Commander, we have lost approximately 15,000 warships!"

Hmm, 15,000. That was much better than he had anticipated.

Adams had originally prepared for a loss of 30,000 to 40,000 warships to break through the fire net. So, the losses should have been 20,000 to 30,000. Yet, his subordinate reported only 15,000 losses, which greatly surprised Adams.

With such small losses, perhaps after breaking out of the encirclement and creating distance, he could still regroup the fleet and turn back for another decisive battle. After all, his fleet still outnumbered the humans.

But why were the losses so small? A fire net formed by 20,000 warships, and they had only eliminated 15,000 of his ships after such a long time?

Before Adams could ponder the reason carefully, another change occurred.

"Commander Adams, another human fleet has appeared directly in front of our fleet. The number is around 5,000, and they have deployed a thickened formation. It looks like they intend to block us!"