Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

The situation of only being able to take hits without fighting back gradually made even the fearless pirate NPCs feel fear, their constant morale slowly declining.

Although it wasn't obvious at first, after fighting for a full half hour, a certain limit was finally reached. The surviving pirate fleet was less than two hundred strong, and the distance between the two sides was still a full 5 light-seconds.

After a long period of passively taking hits, the fleet finally showed clear signs of wavering. The once neat formation became scattered and disorganized.

At this point, even Wu Tianyi and the others could see what was happening, and they finally admired Lin Zhichen's foresight.

"Big Brother, is the pirate fleet going to retreat?" Link asked over the communication channel. This was a sure victory, the only question being the extent of the spoils:

"That's not right, Big Brother. According to the information I checked on the Star Net, wild NPC fleets are fearless and fight to the last warship without retreating. Why are they starting to buckle after losing just over a third?"

"What you saw was face-to-face combat, and even then, the NPC fleet had a certain advantage in numbers," Lin Zhichen replied. These were also lessons he had learned in recent battles:

"But now, we are facing the enemy with a fleet at an absolute disadvantage, yet we are defeating their ships with an absolute advantage, without sustaining any damage ourselves. The pirate fleet has never even had a chance to counterattack. This naturally has a huge impact on their morale."

In fact, morale is a very subtle concept, changing at any moment.

In ancient melee battlefields, armies could generally withstand no more than a 10% casualty rate. A 30% casualty rate would indicate an elite force.

However, in modern warfare, there are numerous instances of armies fighting to the death until annihilation.

This is a result of training, national identity, and changes in weaponry. With multiple factors combined, modern armies can withstand far greater casualties than ancient ones.

This is even more true in the Interstellar Era. Due to changes in combat forms, unless it's an overwhelming advantage, battles usually continue until complete annihilation.

Not only can regular fleets from civilized societies achieve this, but NPC fleets, influenced by their lack of emotion and programmed consciousness, have a concept of morale that surpasses that of regular armies in civilized societies, comparable to elite units of intelligent life.

It is imaginable how difficult it is to break the morale of an elite force.

"But even the greatest morale has a limit, just like these pirate NPCs in front of us, who clearly can't hold on any longer," Lin Zhichen said.

Just then, the first Pirate Raider slowed down, preparing to turn and retreat.

The first one to appear was like a clear signal. Soon, a second and a third pirate ship appeared fleeing. An avalanche happens in an instant. In just a minute or two, this pirate fleet of nearly two hundred ships collectively stopped advancing, turned, and retreated.

But while the pirates stopped their ships, the Meteor Mercenary Group did not. As the distance continued to close, their accuracy increased, putting increasing pressure on the pirate fleet. Some pirate ships that were turning were suddenly hit by cannonballs and exploded into flames.

This silent pressure further accelerated the pirate fleet's collapse. Some pirate ships, unable to fully turn, veered to the side, attempting to dodge the omnipresent hail of projectiles.

However, these hasty pirates often became the primary targets of the next volley. The pirate NPCs quickly discovered that those trying to escape the fastest were often the first to be destroyed.

The pressure of life and death grew. The pirates, who had maintained some semblance of formation and order, completely disintegrated, scattering in all directions in a desperate flight.

But by this time, the distance between the two fleets had closed to within 4 light-seconds, still within firing range.

Furthermore, the pirate ships rushing to escape directly exposed their relatively vulnerable sterns. In many cases, a single projectile could turn a sturdy starship into a ball of flame.

Explosions lit up the sky one after another. The pirate fleet was suffering even heavier blows than before. With every salvo, 3 to 4 pirate ships were destroyed. The scythe of death remained at their throats.

The fleeing pirates accelerated frantically. Some starships, due to excessive speed, didn't have time to evade and crashed directly into meteoroids.

The low morale, under continuous assault, decayed at an ever-increasing rate, like a string stretched tighter and tighter.

Twenty minutes later, the first former pirate NPC gunner, who had recently joined the mercenary group, broke through to Master level, marking the beginning of everyone reaching Master level.

Due to the powerful buffs from Master-level skills, the fleet's accuracy further increased, leading to an even faster rate of pirate ship destruction. Within just two minutes, over twenty pirate ships were destroyed.

The mind, stretched to its absolute limit, finally snapped. The first pirate ship to go dark appeared.

On the interstellar battlefield, a moving starship and a stationary one are two entirely different concepts. The former can advance and retreat, and even counterattack at critical moments; it is an enemy to be wary of. But with its engines dead, even its energy reactor stops operating, making it a complete sitting duck, a metal coffin, with no control over its fate.

This is because regardless of the engine type, there is always a period of time, whether it's tens of minutes or hours, from activation until it can support engine startup. During this time, weapons cannot be recharged, and even starting the engine is a luxury. This is a common surrender posture on the interstellar battlefield, generally limited to natural life forms, as NPCs usually do not take prisoners.

Soon, the fleeing pirates discovered that their disabled comrade who had surrendered was not attacked, while those who continued to flee were continuously destroyed.

Under this immense pressure, the second pirate ship surrendered, followed by a third, a fourth...

It was like a row of dominoes; when the first one falls, the rest are inevitably affected. Except for a few who were determined to escape, a large number of pirate ships went dark and surrendered.

By the time the last pirate pursuit ship was destroyed and the battlefield finally fell silent, more than half an hour had passed.

The starry sky was now completely dark. The vast interstellar battlefield was littered with meteoroids and shattered ship debris.

"Deploy the space fighter squadrons, Dapeng, it's your turn," Lin Zhichen ordered.

"Understood, Big Brother!" Wei Peng's excited voice echoed over the communication channel. Having watched the fierce fleet battle, he had been itching for his turn to enter the fray.

"Big Brother, the statistics are in. A total of 55 pirate ships, including 7 Pirate Gunboats, 1 Pirate Pursuit Ship, and the rest were Pirate Raiders!"

Wu Tianyi's calm voice was tinged with suppressed excitement. This was a great victory. If they could absorb this batch of pirate ships, the Meteor Mercenary Group's fleet size would immediately triple!

"Big Brother, we've hit the jackpot!" Link's voice trembled. He looked at his Ship Command skill, which had risen to Expert level after this battle, and could barely contain his desire for promotion. It took him a while to calm down.

It wasn't just him; now, everyone in the fleet, except for the least involved fighter pilots, had their primary skills at Expert level or above.

Such a luxurious configuration was not even possessed by the Federation's main fleets; only elite fleets could boast it.

A civilian military organization possessing talent comparable to an elite military fleet was almost like a dream.

"Clean up the battlefield, take a short rest, and then we'll pay a visit to the pirate base," Lin Zhichen decided.

Even so, whether it was accepting the surrender of the pirate fleet or searching for loot in the vast space battlefield spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometers, it would take time. The new fleet would set sail at least a day later.

During this time, he uploaded the previously acquired information about the pirate base to the Meteor Mercenary Group's homepage, leaving his contact information: "Discovered a small pirate base located in an asteroid field. Interested parties please contact."

Just as the Rockefeller Family intended to establish a base in the asteroid belt as a harbor for their private fleet, many consortia and families on Earth hoped to secure a foothold in the resource-rich asteroid belt.

The most foolish method is to find a suitable location yourself, then expend a large amount of manpower and resources to build a base from scratch.

The simplest is to directly occupy an NPC base and then carry out some modifications.

Of course, while the method is simple, it's not something everyone can achieve. The Rockefeller Family, as one of the top ancient families on Earth, still needs Lin Zhichen's support to take down a mini pirate base. This shows how difficult it is to occupy a pirate base with minimal damage.

Initially, this news went unnoticed. But the characteristic of the internet age is that there are too many idle people. As long as valuable information is released, it will quickly spread across the entire network at an exponential rate.

In just half an hour, this news spread like wildfire across Earth's Star Net, and the Meteor Mercenary Group became famous once again!

"It's you again! Meteor, Meteor, trending celebrity~"

"First post"

"Idiot upstairs"

"Which mercenary group is Meteor? They actually managed to capture a small pirate base? Even the private armies of the major families would suffer heavy losses to conquer a base, right?"

"Who are you, living under a rock, not even knowing Commander Lin?"

"666~ With a Psionic Warship, you can do whatever you want~"

""

The internet was abuzz with heated arguments, and Lin Zhichen's holographic communications were equally busy.

"Esteemed Commander, I am Staley, the head of the Morgan Financial Group in the North American Sector. Please allow me..." a middle-aged man chattered incessantly, introducing himself.

Lin Zhichen politely listened to the other party's introduction and smiled, "I'm sorry, Mr. Staley. Because there are too many people who want this base, please send your consortium's bid via sealed auction to our mercenary group's official website. We will contact the various consortiums and families with the highest offer.

Please do not be distressed by the scarcity of bases, as there will be more NPC bases captured and offered for selection. Please submit your bids. Thank you for your support!"

The holographic projection quickly disappeared. Lin Zhichen rubbed his temples, "Has the tally been made? How many consortiums and families have registered?"

"It's been tallied. Currently, there are 16 bids, involving six continents," Wu Tianyi briefly reported.

"The highest bid is 2500 Energy Coins!"

"That's good. After this round, we can earn over ten thousand Energy Coins just from selling bases. Although it's a one-time deal," Lin Zhichen nodded.

He understood the thoughts of Earth's major powers. They wanted to establish a foothold in the asteroid belt in the shortest possible time. This way, their family's private armies would have a base, and "grinding monsters" would be more convenient. In fact, the most complex terrain areas like the asteroid belt were the easiest places to spawn NPC fleets.

"Big Brother, we've already secured the newly captured pirate ships and collected the spoils. Can we set off now?" Wu Tianyi asked. He was currently serving as the fleet's adjutant.

"Let's go," Lin Zhichen said. "This time, the main assault will be me and the Qin Yuan. Dapeng, how many of your army can you spare now?"

"Most of them are used to supervise the newly surrendered pirate NPCs. I can only mobilize one battalion of 500 men," Wei Peng scratched his head. "Fortunately, the aircraft carrier has more space and can carry more people, otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to spare 500 men this time!"

"Then 500 men it is. After I take down all the pirate base's turrets, you can send your men to land," Lin Zhichen said, then added with concern, "Right, you'll be in command from the rear. No going to the front lines!"

"Understood!" Wei Peng pouted but didn't say anything more.

If it were before, he might have had other ideas, but now that he heard about the Psionic Crystals, he was waiting until he awakened and his safety was guaranteed before taking any risks.

With everything ready, the fleet, under Wu Tianyi's command, slowly approached the pirate base. Led by the "Qin Yuan," with the army transport ships following, two warships charged towards the pirate base, one after the other.

"Zzzzt~"

Brilliant beams of light cut through the dark space, mixed with a storm of Electromagnetic Projectiles.

The "Qin Yuan" made rapid turns in space, dodging the incoming barrage at near-light speed.

The pirate base's radar, at the same level, had almost maximum power. Even the radar equipped on the aircraft carrier was inferior in detection range.

Upon detecting the "Qin Yuan" approaching and entering range, the pirate base's large turrets immediately opened fire. Medium and small turrets unleashed a barrage of shells in an area-of-effect manner.

This display clearly showed they were intimidated by the Meteor Fleet's power. Despite a ten-to-one disparity in warship numbers, the pirate side suffered a crushing defeat with zero results. The vast difference in strength, yet zero outcome, had terrified the pirate NPCs within the base.

Compared to a mini pirate base, this small pirate base had more powerful firepower. The dense barrage was comparable to the Meteor Fleet before their recent gains. Under the fierce assault, even the "Qin Yuan," with its performance, had to make several detours in space.

But this was just a death throe. Once the "Qin Yuan's" radar displayed the full picture of the pirate base, everything was already decided.

Almost instantaneously, the "Qin Yuan's" speed surged to 50% light speed. One second later, it rapidly decreased to 30 kilometers per second. Six shells streaked across the starry sky, and the energy shield covering the pirate base flickered, only to be pierced by the Electromagnetic Projectiles.