Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

The Tengshe continued its relentless advance through space, carving arcs until the opportune moment arrived to unleash the Spacetime Shockwave.

The conical gravity beam expanded, and the spacetime storm, with its immense power, collided head-on with the planet's gravity field. It was immediately constrained and suppressed by the pervasive force, the shockwave visibly weakening until it struck the pirate base cruising in orbit.

The robust Energy Shield and Alloy Armor were once again torn apart with ease. Even weakened by the gravity field, the space pirate base was still destroyed. Large, torn metal fragments twisted and ripped, crashing into the lava and splashing up vast amounts of crimson magma.

The violent shockwave lifted hundreds of meters of magma, scattering it into the sky before it fell back under the influence of gravity, causing a rain of lava to fall upon the planet's surface.

As Lin Zhichen had anticipated, Dakan's mass was greater, and its resistance to the shockwave was stronger. The greatest impact was felt in orbit, where the few pirate bases floating there were destroyed—though this achievement was already glorious enough.

The Tengshe weaved back and forth, firing a shockwave whenever the opportunity arose. After a few such attacks, the pirate bases that had been floating on the floating islands were all destroyed, leaving only a clean outer space.

But the battle was not over, for the pirate bases hidden deep within the planet were still resisting fiercely.

Brilliant beams of light shot out from the lava, vaporizing matter, while Particle Light Spears pierced the sky, plunging into the darkness.

"Dozens of Particle Light Spears, that's at least a large pirate base!"

The Tengshe maneuvered through the space near Dakan I, the light spears forming a cohesive unit, like an iron wall closing in, intending to crush the starship into a specific sector of space—while beneath the lava, numerous turrets were charging up.

Bases located deep within a planet, unlike space or surface bases, are situated deep underground, possibly tens or even hundreds of kilometers down.

Such bases naturally wouldn't have their entire defensive system buried deep within the earth. Instead, they would be within the surface lava—a space opened by an energy field to house the turrets and related equipment.

The advantage of these turrets is their extreme concealment; before they fire, their location cannot even be detected.

However, the disadvantage is also obvious. Due to their relatively dispersed distribution, the Energy Shield of each turret is comparatively fragile. Once its location is exposed, it becomes vulnerable to targeted attacks.

Of course, with the cover of the lava, it is still somewhat difficult for enemy ships to hit the turrets precisely. After all, these turrets are semi-hovering and can move freely within a certain range, making them harder to detect.

But these difficulties did not apply to Lin Zhichen at all. As an elite Psionicist, his psionic sensing ability, augmented by the Psionic Crystals, was on par with that of a Hero. The turrets hidden beneath the lava were as conspicuous as a bright light in his perception. As the Electromagnetic Cannon turrets rotated and projectiles shot out, on the planet's surface...

A mass of lava exploded violently—a detonating turret.

One after another, any exposed turrets were targeted and destroyed. Soon, the turrets hidden in the sea of lava were annihilated, and the planet's surface returned to a state of calm.

However, Lin Zhichen knew clearly that this was merely an outward appearance. In his psionic perception, danger still lingered in his heart, flickering like a venomous snake hidden in the dark, constantly waiting for its prey to let down its guard.

This was the second danger of a stealth base: its turrets were not exposed externally and could remain hidden, waiting to deliver a fatal blow when the enemy showed a flaw.

Without wasting time searching, the Tengshe quickly retreated, firing again towards the general vicinity of the pirate base—an Ultra Spacetime Shockwave!

The intensely disturbed gravity warped spacetime, erupting with power once more. Billions of tons of lava were lifted, exposing the depths of the earth—a semi-liquefied underground magma.

The stealth turrets hidden within this area were immediately destroyed by the wide-ranging gravity wave. As the lava rain, which affected half the planet, fell, the lingering sense of crisis vanished—there was no longer any threat beneath this sea of lava.

"Big Brother, how's the situation?" Wu Tianyi's voice came through the holographic projector. After some time in flight, the fleet was only 6.5 light-seconds away from Dakan I, well within radar detection range.

"The outer pirate bases have been dealt with. You can come over directly," Lin Zhichen instructed.

"So soon?" Link's tone held clear surprise. Although he had confidence in Lin Zhichen, according to his estimates, they should have only just begun by this time.

"There were some unexpected developments, but the outcome was good," Lin Zhichen said casually. At this moment, his psionic senses were fully active as he scanned the lava sea of Dakan I.

Despite the thick lava blocking his senses, his psionic perception penetrated the high-temperature material, reaching deeper.

Although psionic energy is formless and intangible, its detection range is affected by matter. He could only search bit by bit based on his intuition, which was much slower.

"The stealth turrets are mostly in this area. According to previous reconnaissance, there are also Battleships in this underground base, so the entrance won't be small."

Thinking this, he searched diligently. Such bases had a significant flaw: their entrances were far narrower than those of surface or sky bases.

This kind of carpet search, although it required considerable effort, would eventually lead to the correct location. Indeed, after three days of searching, the base entrance finally revealed itself.

Contrary to his expectations, what greeted his eyes was an energy curtain, firmly blocking tens of thousands of tons of molten material.

This design was quite peculiar, but Lin Zhichen understood the advantages of this energy gate after a moment's thought—there was no need to worry about lava or other liquid substances infiltrating when entering or exiting the underground base.

Furthermore, this energy gate did not impede the normal entry and exit of starships, making its passage efficiency far greater than that of an opening and closing metal door.

"Not bad, and it's convenient for invasion," Lin Zhichen thought. In reality, it wouldn't be that simple; there would inevitably be defensive weapons between the entrance and the underground base.

He didn't need to think to know that before the enemy's defenses were discovered, the Transformers, as the vanguard, would be in the most danger.

He calculated the ground forces he had at hand, and in the end, he still sent the Transformers first—whether it was a hover tank or an armored vehicle, none could compare to the Transformers' super armor, which was comparable to that of a Battleship!

With the order given, seven Transformers, transformed into humanoid forms, their feet propelled by the flames of their Ion Engines, swiftly passed through the lava and energy fields, rapidly descending into the underground base.

After some exploration, the Meteor Mercenary Group had basically determined the approximate depth of this underground base, about 23 kilometers from the surface.

What was particularly astonishing was that, according to the probes, this underground base was distributed in a disc shape, with a diameter of up to a hundred kilometers, possessing a vast internal space.

It was fortunate that this was a newly generated base. If it were excavated, building such an underground base would take years, even with the production capacity of the Interstellar Era, let alone installing the complex internal facilities.

Kilometers were a short distance for interstellar spacecraft. The seven Transformers descended rapidly using their engines, quickly covering several kilometers, and the second energy field wall was within sight.

Considering the possibility of equipment damage, the exits of bases built underground would not have just one energy field wall to block lava sedimentation. Instead, there would be a layer every few kilometers to prevent catastrophic base destruction due to unforeseen circumstances.

Just as the first Transformer breached the energy field wall, an accident occurred. Several high-energy laser beams shot out, striking the Transformer's external armor.

"Sizzle sizzle"

The flimsy energy shield was no match for these high-energy beams, comparable to ship cannons, and quickly shattered. The high-temperature rays grazed the Transformer's body, leaving shallow marks—if subjected to such laser fire for several minutes or tens of minutes, there might still be a chance to cut through the Transformer's superalloy body.

But in reality, the high-energy lasers only lasted for a few seconds. Any longer would cause energy overload and damage. Moreover, Transformers were Silicon-based lifeforms, so they would naturally not be unresponsive to attacks.

"Hiss~"

The Electromagnetic Cannon on its shoulder swiveled, firing several arm-thick projectiles that directly destroyed the Laser Cannons embedded in the tunnel.

The subsequent Transformers descending discovered the threat and immediately cooperated, destroying over a dozen high-energy Laser Ray Generators in almost an instant.

In reality, these defensive weapons were primarily meant to counter enemy Transport Ships. Once their hull plating was subjected to prolonged burning, a tragedy would ensue.

After passing through five energy field walls and destroying several defensive installations, the seven Transformers finally reached the end of the tunnel—a semicircular space with a diameter of 2.5 kilometers. As far as the eye could see, a massive Alloy Gate was tightly shut. On either side of the gate, numerous dormant turrets rotated, revealing menacing muzzles.

"Boom!"

A Sub-lightspeed projectile struck a Transformer. The energy deflection shield was almost useless as the alloy projectile hit the Transformer's body, causing it to fall like an apple dropped on the ground.

Aside from a large amount of shattered metal fragments, a clump of material stuck to the Transformer's Alloy Armor, sending the steel giant stumbling—but that was the extent of the damage.

With 15 points of armor, the Transformers were like mobile Fortress units. The weapons at the base gate unleashed a barrage, but it was like children's toys hitting them, having no effect.

The Transformers were not foolish enough to just take hits. Their mechanical bodies shifted, revealing the turrets embedded within. Electromagnetic Cannons fired. Using these ship-grade weapons against defensive turrets was overkill. In just a blink of an eye, dozens of turrets, large and small, were annihilated.

After destroying all the defensive weapons, the Electromagnetic Cannon on its shoulder targeted the base gate. Amidst deafening impacts, the alloy-cast gate was smashed into scrap metal and sent flying into the base.

The pirate guards, who were organizing a defense line behind the gate and preparing for a desperate last stand, were immediately caught in the crossfire. They were crushed into meat paste by the alloy gate, weighing dozens to hundreds of tons.

"Hiss!"

As the pirates panicked from the sudden impact, an Electromagnetic Projectile pierced through, striking a defensive turret. Along with over a dozen defending personnel around it, they were torn into a pile of minced meat by the metal fragments.

"Stop it!" the pirate leader roared. Beside him, several pirates NPCs hovered in mid-air, wielding laser swords and dodging through the base, revealing themselves to be awakened Psionicists.

"Big Brother, there are NPC Psionicists in this base, five of them at once! It seems the information on the Star Net was correct; medium-sized and larger wild bases have a chance to spawn Psionicist guards!"

In the outer space of Dakan I, members of the Meteor Mercenary Group were observing the pirate base's defensive deployment through the Transformers' vision.

When they saw NPC Psionicists appear, they clearly became excited.

Wild NPCs could also spawn Psionic awakeners, but they were rarer than some rare talent users.

These special NPCs were often targets for the Federation's established powers. Once captured and subjected to brainwashing for a period, they could be used with confidence. Although their innate talent was usually inferior to Natural Person awakeners, they had the advantage of being "mass-producible" and could be accumulated continuously, with considerable combat effectiveness.

"Tianyi, you're in charge of commanding the fleet. Dapeng, you command the ground troops to land, but remember, no battlefield engagement!" Lin Zhichen ordered, walking towards a flying car, clearly preparing to enter the fray himself.

"Big Brother, I can help too!" Wei Peng requested, unwilling to be left out.

"When you've advanced to Elite, then we can talk about it," Lin Zhichen refused without hesitation.

The battlefield was dangerous, with potential for unexpected events. Even he had to proceed with caution, let alone a rookie who hadn't even reached the Warrior rank?

The fully loaded military transport ships landed rapidly. With the Transformers clearing the path and destroying hidden defensive equipment, operations were much safer now.

This pirate base was quite large; seven Transformers alone couldn't take it down. In fact, the role of these behemoths was to destroy the enemy's powerful defensive weapons. Actual enemy clearing still relied on Army Soldiers, which was the purpose of Cannon Fodder in the Interstellar Era.

As transport ships landed one after another, deploying large numbers of fully loaded Army NPC soldiers, tanks led the way, followed by armored vehicles and infantry. The mechanized combined arms battalion, with the Transformers as the arrowhead, quickly launched a new wave of attack.

Seven massive metal giants strode with heavy footsteps, leaving shallow footprints on the alloy floor. The Electromagnetic Cannons equipped on their bodies fired continuously, erupting into storms of death within the pirate base.

Whether it was defensive turrets or heavy ground tanks, they were as fragile as rags under the assault of Transformer-class starship weapons. A single stomp turned them into flattened metal discs.

With the heavy firepower of the defensive weapons drawing the Transformers' attention, the subsequent advance of the Army NPCs went very smoothly. Laser guns and electromagnetic guns worked in tandem, easily surrounding and annihilating the pirate guard units whose defenses had been breached.

"Buzz."

The air rippled, and an inconspicuous wave struck an hidden NPC pirate Psionicist. The powerful psionic energy acted like an invisible rope, completely restraining them.

The Psionic Apprentice struggled with all their might, but the gap between ranks was like heaven and earth. Lin Zhichen casually snatched the laser sword from their grasp. With a surge of psionic energy, he struck the back of their head. The powerful Psionic Apprentice had no time to display their abilities before their vision went black and they lost consciousness.

After dealing with one Psionicist, Lin Zhichen activated his psionic senses to their fullest, covering the entire battlefield. At this moment, as transport ships continued to land and take off in orbit, batches of Army NPCs were continuously being deployed onto the battlefield.

With the rampaging Transformers, the pirate guards inside the base had no time to organize a defense and their lines were easily torn apart.