The Qinyuan was equipped with a gravity sensor, which was the only reason they'd managed it. With a basic radar, or without the boost from the Gravity Drive, they would have been slower. They might have been surrounded by the Rebel Fleet, which had reacted long ago, before they could even blink.
That was the danger of pioneering in the Outer Domain. You never knew what you'd be facing, and by the time you realized what was happening, enemy fleets might already have you surrounded.
"So many?!" Link stared at the radar display, his expression changing.
This area was only a few light-seconds from the garrison at Raidor Fortress. In space, that was practically right next door.
Yet a fleet of wild NPCs was lurking so close by. It was easy to imagine how dangerous things would get deeper in the system.
"Sit tight. I'll give it a try." Lin Zhichen let out a breath. He had no intention of backing down. Instead, he planned to launch an attack and see how strong the wild NPC fleet in the Dark Galaxy was.
The engines engaged, and within seconds, the Qinyuan accelerated to 1 times the speed of light and charged toward the Rebel Fleet.
Sublight Assault!
The Rebel Fleet had detected the Qinyuan's movements in advance on radar. Just as they were about to spread out and surround it, they immediately changed formation. Led by their cruisers, they formed a neat line and charged forward.
It was a head-on collision. Judging solely by the strength of the two fleets, they weren't even in the same league. It was like watching a lone warrior make a tragic charge at a vast horde of enemies.
"Bzzzz—"
Electromagnetic projectiles shot out one after another, forming a sparse web across the starry sky.
The Rebel Fleet struck first. Thanks to their excellent shipboard radar, the ballistic trajectories of their shots came fairly close to the Qinyuan's course, making them far more dangerous than the pirate fleets in the Solar System.
The Qinyuan shuddered as it flew at sublight speed, making small, sudden course adjustments. Not a single projectile came close to the hull of the Psionic Warship.
The barrage looked dense, but it posed little threat to the Qinyuan at sublight speed. After briefly testing the enemy fleet's rate of fire, Lin Zhichen immediately steered the ship into a turn.
In space, as two fleets raced toward each other, one ship suddenly traced an arc just before they could collide head-on. It slipped past the front of the Rebel Fleet and flew off toward the open space to one side.
Within a single second, the Qinyuan soared from 1 times the speed of light to 1% of light speed. In just a few more seconds, it reached 10%, swung around in a wide arc, and turned toward the Rebel Fleet's rear flank.
Lin Zhichen's intentions were now clear. While the Rebel Fleet still hoped to settle things in a head-on battle, the Qinyuan had already set its sights on the enemy's most vulnerable flank, ready to deliver a lethal blow.
The Rebel Fleet was far better trained than the pirate fleets. As soon as the Qinyuan veered toward their flank, the enemy ships—having detected the move on radar—realized something was wrong. They hurried to slow down and turn sideways, intent on keeping their formation's front facing the enemy.
But it was futile. Equipped with a Gravity Drive, the Qinyuan was several levels more maneuverable than the enemy ships. It flicked its tail, carved an arc through space, and slipped directly behind the Rebel Fleet.
"Bzzzz—"
Three Coilguns fired, sending electromagnetic projectiles streaking out. Red meteors flashed across the void, and three frigates exploded in a thunderous burst.
Two seconds later, from the Qinyuan's closest position to the Rebel Fleet, another volley of electromagnetic cannons fired.
Three dazzling flashes appeared in space almost at once. Three Rebel ships, including a destroyer, exploded.
The Rebel Fleet still hadn't managed to turn around. All they could do was helplessly swivel their turrets and fire at the Qinyuan's course.
But it was futile. The Qinyuan spun around in space once more and charged at the Rebel Fleet again.
The battle looked like a furious giant bear swatting wildly at a venomous wasp in front of it, desperate to crush it.
No matter how much greater its strength, it was powerless against speed beyond the norm. Lin Zhichen made full use of the Qinyuan's speed advantage, tracing circle after circle through space without tiring, driving one deadly "stinger" after another into its prey.
Clusters of fire bloomed in space. Broken hull fragments tumbled in every direction. Under the Qinyuan's constant harassment, the orderly Rebel Fleet gradually fell into disarray. Some ships, unable to adjust in time, shifted course on their own judgment, even pointing their bows at allied vessels.
As the fleet descended into chaos, its coordinated salvos grew increasingly erratic. The Qinyuan, which had drawn the enemy's fire when it launched its attack, now faced far less of a threat.
Earlier, to avoid danger, the Qinyuan had accelerated to 10% of light speed during its attacks. That extreme speed made aiming difficult; it could usually fire at most two volleys during a single charge.
Now that the threat had lessened, he reduced the Qinyuan's speed as well. Within seconds, it dropped to 5% of light speed. At that speed, he could add another volley during each diving attack, accelerating the Rebel Fleet's losses even further.
In space, bursts of fire flared and vanished back into darkness. The Qinyuan darted about as ships exploded across the battlefield. Like peeling an onion, the once-massive Rebel Fleet was destroyed layer by layer, gradually exposing its core: the cruisers at the heart of the formation.
"They've protected them well," Lin Zhichen praised. By now, he no longer dared underestimate the Rebel NPC commander. Despite being at an absolute disadvantage, the fleet had maintained a semblance of formation.
Once they realized the Qinyuan was unstoppable, the cruisers serving as the fleet's flagships had tucked themselves right into the center of the formation. Lin Zhichen had wanted to strike directly at the enemy commander and throw the fleet into disarray, but now he was stumped, with no way to get at them.
"My Sublight Strike ability still isn't good enough. Federation Hero Billus Dical can launch a surprise attack at speeds over 30% of light speed, weaving through dense groups of enemy ships and finding a target to strike directly. He's on a whole different level from me!"
What kind of speed was % of light speed?
Without radar, you wouldn't even be able to find the enemy's position or see a trace of them. Imagine an enemy ship moving through a fleet at 30% of light speed, sometimes passing within just a few meters of another ship. How terrifying would that be?
The warnings from his Psionics never stopped. The danger wasn't coming from the enemy ships, most of which had already been destroyed. It came from the even darker reaches of space beyond them.
His keen sixth sense told him that something dangerous was happening, and that it was becoming more dangerous with every passing moment.
Clearly, while he'd been treating this fleet as prey, a much stronger predator was closing in. The danger was almost upon them.
Fortunately, the prey he'd been waiting for had finally been exposed. As one Rebel ship after another was destroyed, the cruiser protected at the center of the formation finally came into view. It seemed to have realized the danger and was trying to move its exposed stern back into the middle of the fleet.
But it was too late. The Qinyuan's speed and its crew's sharp reactions were more than enough to launch a lethal attack in an instant.
The Qinyuan swept through an arc. In a split second, an electromagnetic cannon took precise aim at the cruiser's stern thruster. An electromagnetic projectile shot out, punched straight through the engine, and blew up its Nuclear Fusion Engine.
A tiny sun blossomed in the darkness. The cruiser's enormous hull shattered, scattering broken armor in every direction.
Without their commander, the Rebel Fleet lost its ability to coordinate effectively. The surviving ships began acting independently, and their formation quickly fell apart.
With the formation in disarray, more weaknesses were exposed. The Qinyuan came under far less fire, and its sublight speed soon dropped to 1.2 kilometers per second, greatly increasing its attack efficiency.
More enemy ships were hit at once. Bursts of fire erupted one after another, and within minutes, the remaining Rebel ships had been completely destroyed.
The Qinyuan slowed down again. Its Psionics stretched out like tentacles, gathering every bit of loot floating in space.
The Psionic Warship traced an arc through the void and headed toward the danger that, according to his premonition, was drawing ever closer.
Since they'd entered the Dark Star Domain, they needed to understand how things worked here. Why had an unknown threat approached less than half an hour after they'd engaged the Rebel Fleet? It was a crucial question. The answer might determine whether they'd have only a short window to fight wild NPCs in the future, too.
The Qinyuan flew at sublight speed, boosted by its Gravity Drive to reach 50% of light speed. Its gravity sensor had a range of two light-seconds, which meant it took just four seconds for the ship to reach the edge of the radar's range.
If there were asteroids or other obstacles ahead, they'd have to find a way to evade them in those four short seconds.
For an ordinary crew, that speed would mean only one thing: the ship would be destroyed, and everyone aboard would die. Only someone like Lin Zhichen, who could filter out almost all useless information and relay only the key details to the crew, could keep the ship safe. With the help of the crew's Master-level skills and the Qinyuan's own systems, they could maintain that speed for a long time without disaster.
At % of light speed, everything in normal space streaked past like light. Before long, the source of the danger appeared.
The Qinyuan carved a sharp arc through space, rapidly slowing to its normal speed. Under the sensors' scan, the source of the danger finally emerged: a vast Rebel Fleet of more than a thousand ships, surging toward them!
"So many?!" Link stared at the enemy ship blips on the radar, almost stunned.
There were over a thousand enemy ships within sensor range alone. How many more were behind them or all around them?
As everyone stared in disbelief, more and more ships kept appearing on the radar display. Their numbers continued to grow until the dense red ship markers looked like a wall bearing down on them!
The Qinyuan was still flying along a tangent as more and more ships appeared. The enemy force ranged from the weakest frigates to destroyers, cruisers, and even battleships. Their radar systems were far superior to the gravity sensors on a frigate. By now, every Rebel ship had already locked onto the Qinyuan's course.
Almost simultaneously, every enemy ship that had a lock opened fire. Laser Cannons, electromagnetic cannons, swarms of missiles and torpedoes, every weapon they'd seen before and some they hadn't—all of them blanketed the entire expanse of space at once!
Just before the Rebel Fleet fired, Lin Zhichen's expression changed abruptly. The Psionic Warship took evasive action, darting back and forth four or five times in quick succession.
The next instant, a scorching beam tore through space. Darkness was ripped apart as countless tiny flashes flickered past, the beam skimming close to the Qinyuan before streaking into the depths of space.
The Particle Light Spear was the main gun of the Type-X Weapon Slot, which could only be equipped by battleships and larger ships. A single hit could sink a cruiser!
The Qinyuan didn't linger. It turned around, swept through a wide arc, and fled into deep space, away from the Rebel Fleet.
Behind it, Particle Light Spears chased its course, sweeping back and forth like searchlights. But with the Qinyuan fleeing at 50% of light speed, they all missed and faded out one after another.
Link was already pale as he sat in his space chair. At the most dangerous moment, dozens of Particle Light Spear trajectories had woven a net across space. The nearest beam had passed within a mere dozen meters—almost grazing his face!
The danger had passed. Only then did Lin Zhichen let out a sigh of relief. "It's over."
The Qinyuan sped into deep space, leaving the Rebel Fleet far behind.
"I finally understand how dangerous the Barren Star Domain is. If we'd spent an hour or two dealing with that first fleet, the Rebel Fleet that came after us would've surrounded us!" Link exhaled, calming himself. He looked at Lin Zhichen with admiration.
"Big Brother, thank goodness you attacked so quickly and destroyed that fleet outright. We didn't get bogged down."
Lin Zhichen smiled. "That wasn't luck. It was a premonition from my Psionics. This world is in a state of endless change every moment, giving rise to countless streams of information.
"Psionic precognition lets me capture some of that information and gain the initiative."
When the first Rebel Fleet encountered an enemy and realized the Qinyuan was invincible, they changed tactics. They dug in and waited for reinforcements, intending to hold the enemy in place.
If it hadn't been the Qinyuan, but another Mercenary Group, they might have been busy surrounding and suppressing that fleet, oblivious to the larger battlefield. The enemy ships that arrived afterward would have surrounded them.
That was the great danger of the Dark Star Domain. The wild NPCs that appeared weren't mindless monsters, but real people. They had intelligence, understood tactics, and knew how to ambush, launch surprise attacks, and cooperate.
And because they lacked emotions, they followed their set routines and searched for and encircled Intelligent Life with relentless determination. They fought to the death in battle and could withstand far more damage than normal intelligent beings, giving every civilized nation a headache!
"Opening up the Dark Galaxy is much harder than we imagined." Lin Zhichen was troubled, too. The difficulties they'd encountered were far beyond his expectations.
If the enemy were scattered, they could slowly pick them off, one group at a time, and take over a base to clear it out at their leisure.
But now, the moment they'd beaten the smaller force, the whole family had rushed in at once. There was no room to maneuver. The difference in strength between the two sides was simply too great, leaving little opportunity to make use of strategy.
"Big Brother, what do we do now?" Link asked anxiously. "It's going to be hard to set up a base."
An attack on a base could draw a huge fleet of NPCs. There'd be no room to develop and build up their forces.
"Then we change the plan. If one Qinyuan isn't enough, we'll bring two. Three!" Lin Zhichen gritted his teeth.
"What?" Link was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that answer.
Could there really be more Psionic Warships? Even the Federation wanted one!
"Actually, that's why I brought you here." As Lin Zhichen spoke, he closed his eyes. Link calmed down and waited quietly for him to continue.
The air in the command cabin rippled faintly. A massive Crystal Stone, taller than a person, slowly materialized, taking up nearly half the cabin and immediately making the spacious room feel cramped.
Before you continue