Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

Inside the command cabin of the Tengshe, Lin Zhichen remained unfazed by the Particle Light Spears that zipped past, grazing the hull. Under the acceleration of its Gravity Drive, the entire Warship transformed into a winding streak of light, dodging one deadly threat after another in space.

"Swish swish~"

Just then, as they closed the distance, more Electromagnetic Projectiles and even Particle Light Spears swept over, forming a net in space.

"Zzzz"

The Tengshe's large Coilgun, fully charged, fired. A soccer ball-sized projectile shot out at sublight speed. Dozens of seconds later, it easily pierced the Electromagnetic Deflection Shield and accurately hit a main cannon. Instantly, the Particle Light Spears sweeping back and forth in space were extinguished, and the tight net

developed a huge gap.

Easily evading the net's embrace, the large Ship Cannon recharged while dodging enemy turret fire, closing in on the pirate base.

As they got closer to Dakan I, Lin Zhichen's brow furrowed tighter. He sensed that as the distance decreased, the attack density on the Tengshe rapidly increased. Within a mere light-second, it had more than quadrupled. Even with his abilities, he felt a sliver of pressure.

"1 light-second!"

A mere 300,000 kilometers. Insignificant in the Universe, but at this moment, it felt like an insurmountable chasm.

With the boost from the base's Radar, the pirate bases densely packed in the orbits of Dakan I and Dakan Ia planets had unleashed their full firepower. Guided by the Radar, they fired upon the star sector where the Tengshe was located.

At such a great distance, even with the support of base Radar and the computational power of the optical computer, the hit rate remained low. Normally, 0.5 light-seconds was the optimal combat range.

But clearly, the Tengshe's superior maneuverability and long-range precision shooting had unsettled the pirate NPCs within the base. Thus, they responded with equally long-range fire, at least to restrict the enemy's exceptional mobility.

"As expected, confronting a base or fortress head-on with a fleet is often more trouble than it's worth," Lin Zhichen exhaled, piloting the Tengshe in a sharp turn and accelerating away.

Behind them, the pirate base was like a disturbed beehive. A massive number of starships were continuously launching and pursuing the direction the Tengshe had fled.

The objective of luring the enemy deep had been achieved!

"According to information on the Star Net, the radar detection range of the pirates' Battleship, the Pirate Butcher, is about 3 light-seconds. With the AllSpark's boost, the carrier's detection range is about 6.5 light-seconds. That's enough."

Lin Zhichen pondered the upcoming tactical arrangements while taunting the pursuing pirate fleet. In space, beams of light and Electromagnetic Projectiles streaked across the void, narrowly missing the Tengshe.

"It's time to test the power of the Spacetime Shockwave!"

On the ship's Radar, dense red dots were relentlessly pursuing – the enraged pirate fleet chasing them.

Drawing an arc in space, it lightly dodged numerous beams and Electromagnetic Projectiles, streaking through the darkness like a meteor. A second later, it abruptly appeared only 100,000 kilometers from the pirate fleet—one-third of a light-second!

"Ooom"

The accumulated Psionic energy erupted, and a powerful shockwave rapidly expanded in a conical shape. At this moment, intense gravity condensed into a tangible substance, distorting the calm spacetime!

Affected by the shockwave, both incoming Electromagnetic Projectiles and the swiftly fired Particle Light Spears were distorted by spacetime.

The hardened Electromagnetic Projectiles, forged from alloy, were directly torn apart by the distorted spacetime, disintegrating into fine dust. The condensed Particle Light Spears were directly warped; the straight beams rapidly fractured, scattering into countless tiny fragments of light, eventually swallowed by the darkness.

The calm space then churned like a tidal wave, rushing towards the pirate fleet!

The conical Spacetime Shockwave rapidly expanded, soon covering a large area of space. Starships caught in the wave, whether weak Pirate Raiders or heavily armored Pirate Butcher Battleships, were like ships caught in a tidal wave, experiencing a catastrophic storm in space.

First were the most fragile Pirate Raiders and Pirate Gunboats, their Energy Shields and thin hulls directly torn apart, exploding on the spot.

The Pirate Pursuit Cruisers fared slightly better. Their sturdy hull armor suffered explosions of electronic equipment under the shockwave's erosion, but they barely maintained their distorted hulls, not shattering into pieces immediately.

The sturdiest Battleships, the Pirate Butchers, were least affected by the shockwave. Their thick outer armor was merely torn and twisted, not completely destroyed. The biggest loss was the destruction of exposed point-defense cannons and the like on the ships.

Of course, one unlucky Pirate Butcher, due to the shockwave's impact, tumbled and collided with a Pirate Pursuit Cruiser, severely damaging both vessels. This outcome was unexpected.

"As expected, it's an area-of-effect attack!" Lin Zhichen was extremely satisfied with the result. This single Spacetime Shockwave had wiped out over a hundred pirate ships and heavily damaged more than twenty, virtually clearing a small section of space.

With a ten-second cooldown, the Tengshe turned and fled. After this round of attacks, the Spacetime Shockwave's power and limitations had been tested—it was most effective against Frigates and Destroyers, tearing their hulls apart. Cruisers were slightly less affected, but if hit, they would at least be crippled.

However, its effect on heavily armored ships like Battleships was mediocre. The Pirate Butchers that were attacked largely retained their combat effectiveness.

Furthermore, the maximum effective range of the Spacetime Shockwave was only 1.5 light-seconds, but at that distance, even Space Fighters might not be destroyed. Its optimal range was within 0.5 light-seconds, where the shockwave's power could be effectively utilized, and the area of effect was sufficiently wide.

"Truly a combat-type Psionic Combat Skill. This is a divine skill for clearing NPC fleets!"

Having calculated the Spacetime Shockwave's effectiveness, Lin Zhichen was overjoyed.

With this skill, the Tengshe's combat power soared. From now on, unless facing Battleships, ordinary warships would be wiped out in swaths!

The Tengshe's 350-meter hull moved through space like a nimble viper, circling and deftly evading most of the cannon fire.

When the skill cooldown ended, Lin Zhichen quickly turned the ship and, using Sublight Assault, charged to within 0.5 light-years of the pirate fleet, unleashing another Spacetime Shockwave.

The highly condensed Gravity Beam acted like a tornado, leaving devastation in its wake. Any ship caught in its path, except for Battleships that could escape, was immediately destroyed.

In the dark expanse of space, bursts of fire flashed and vanished, shattered hull fragments streaked through space. The once massive pirate fleet suffered heavy losses before even engaging in battle.

Ten minutes later, after repeatedly releasing the Spacetime Shockwave and destroying over a thousand pirate warships, the Tengshe, fighting and retreating, finally reached the Meteor Fleet's 6.5 light-second mark and re-established contact with its own fleet.

No longer entangled with enemy ships, and having suffered significant blows, the remaining pirates had adapted their tactics. Each ship maintained a distance of hundreds of kilometers, spreading out in space, which greatly reduced the shockwave's effectiveness.

Quickly returning to the fleet, Lin Zhichen reactivated Mind Resonance. Thousands of minds became one, and three hundred warships became his arms.

"Zzz"

Electromagnetic Projectiles streaked through space, trails of crimson light flashing and vanishing as wave after wave of attacks were launched towards the approaching pirate force in the distance.

With the boost from the gunner skill and the AllSpark, even the smallest turrets in the fleet delivered power close to that of large cannons, achieving considerable results against enemy ships.

The only problem was that the two fleets were too far apart, which brought the Meteor Fleet's hit rate to just under 20%.

The heavily damaged pirate fleet pursued them in a frenzy, even after losing sight of the enemy.

At this time, due to the "wash" of the Spacetime Shockwave, only heavily armored vessels like the Pirate Butcher and Pirate Pursuit Cruiser remained in space. The "squishy" Pirate Gunboats and Raiders had almost completely disappeared.

"Boom!"

The first casualty appeared. A Pirate Pursuit Cruiser, damaged by the shockwave, exploded after taking several Electromagnetic Cannon shells.

Then came the second, the third. One bright flash after another erupted in space. Although slower than the Spacetime Shockwave's effect, the enemy ship icons on the radar steadily disappeared, one after another.

The Meteor Fleet could sense the condition of the pirate fleet, and the pirate fleet knew its own situation even better. They had started with over 1200 pirate vessels, and in less than half an hour of combat, more than half were wiped out.

With unseen enemies still lurking in ambush, the pirates, battered by continuous attacks, finally sobered up from their rage and began to feel a sliver of fear.

These enemies, never encountered before, made them lose hope of victory.

If they were small warships like Pirate Raiders or Gunboats, with small crews, it would be easier to reach a consensus. In that case, there might already be deserters.

But for large ships like Cruisers and Battleships, with crews ranging from dozens to nearly a hundred, reaching a unified opinion was quite difficult. At such times, even if fearful, they had to grit their teeth and push forward. But clearly, the pirate fleet's forward momentum was slowing down, and getting slower.

The Meteor Fleet continued to advance, their formation neat, their volleys perfect, round after round, seemingly endless.

Lin Zhichen observed the fleet, noting the Transformers, Silicon-based lifeforms, which had now reached seven in number.

[Transformer HWJ Intelligent Mechanical Body, Red]
[Body Type: Height 121.5 meters, Weight 112,500 tons]
[Class: Soldier (Advanced)]
[Talents: 1: Transform Yellow: Freely switch between humanoid, Fortress, and Warship forms]
[-King Yellow Transformation: Enhance own body and armor by absorbing higher quality alloys, up to the unit's upper limit of Frigate-class]
[-Rapid Fire Pale Red: Weapon firing rate +13%]
[Skills: 1: Shooting Red, Advanced 0.16%: Weapon hit rate +18%, shooting damage +18%; 2: Rapid Fire Pale Red, Intermediate 10.21%: Weapon firing rate +13%]
[Body Value: 465]
[Armor: 15]
[Shields: 200]
[Shield Recharge Rate: 5%]
[Damage: 8.13]
[Speed: 210]
[Evasion: 50%]
[Evaluation: Lifespan is over, the iron lump actually became sentient!]

"Lifeforms of this special form indeed have slower skill progression. 001 has been with me the longest. In over half a year, it has experienced less than a hundred battles, perhaps dozens, yet its skill level is only Advanced," Lin Zhichen shook his head.

But they were still growing, and with the superalloys provided by Li Heng, the Transformers' armor defense reached 15 points. On the battlefield, they were practically indestructible iron lumps.

There was an issue here: after transforming into Transformers, as Silicon-based lifeforms, they did not require NPC Crew control. Without skill buffs, their combat effectiveness in space warfare significantly decreased.

However, in the long run, once they grew, their individual combat power would far exceed their initial state.

Lin Zhichen pondered the future, while the battle before him showed no signs of stopping. With continuous volleys of Electromagnetic Cannon fire, more and more pirate ships were destroyed.

Unable to retaliate, the morale of the pirate NPCs plummeted. Although Pirate Pursuit Cruisers and Butchers could withstand more damage than Raiders, they too had their limits.

Finally, the first deserter appeared.

As a chain reaction, the second and third followed. The battle entered a phase of pursuit and annihilation. The fighter wings, always used as reconnaissance aircraft on the aircraft carriers, were deployed to chase down the fleeing pirate ships.

At this moment, the Meteor Fleet changed its strategy again. The fleet, which had been advancing slowly, gradually picked up speed. Their targets shifted from the nearest pirate ships to the farthest vessels, aiming to annihilate the enemy completely.