Soon, more than 20,000 giant steel spheres gathered in the air. These spheres, like hedgehogs, continuously launched energy balls to block the incoming Xuan Star Civilization warships. This group defense immediately proved very effective, and the impact of the Xuan Star Civilization's attacks became less and less effective.
Eight hundred million high-level civilization warships couldn't stop two hundred million low-level civilization warships. Bi Cha wished he could just charge in and fight the humans hand-to-hand.
"Damn space vortexes, and those bizarre human armors and strange energy spheres... Humans, what kind of civilization are you? You haven't even reached the Small Star Region stage, so why are you so troublesome, forcing us into this situation? Lieutenant, report to the Führer and prepare to initiate the destruction plan."
"Sir, once the destruction plan is launched, none of us will have time to leave."
Are you scared?
"No, sir, I'm not afraid. What does my life matter for the sake of civilization?"
"Okay, report it."
Suddenly, all the warships stopped and retreated towards the center of the territory. Seeing this, Wen Zhonghua immediately slowed down his attack.
" Old Hu, something seems off."
"Slow down, send a hundred million warships to circle around. I reckon their residents and elite fleets will break out from the other side of the vortex by now. Also, protect the transport ships."
"I understand, but why did they suddenly retreat? Is there a conspiracy?"
"Send out a vanguard fleet to investigate. The other warships advance slowly, maintaining their current group and keeping their distance. There seems to be a problem."
"What other tricks does the Xuan Star Civilization have up its sleeve?"
"It's hard to say, let's wait and see."
" Academician Zeng, I suddenly have an idea."
"Chief of the General Staff, please speak."
"You see, space weapons become quite useless once we engage in combat. Should we continue developing space weapons in the future? Shouldn't we start researching them?"
"The Chief of the General Staff makes a good point, but you've only seen the battle between us and the Xuan Star Civilization. This situation arises because our strengths are evenly matched. If the Xuan Star Civilization were to advance further, the effectiveness of its space weapons would certainly be different. You could say that the space weapons the Xuan Star Civilization currently possesses are only the most basic level. It's like a small stream flowing into a large river; the stream immediately disappears. But if we replace the small stream with a high-pressure water gun, we can carve a path through the raging river. Don't you agree?"
"The academician's opinion is indeed insightful!"
One hundred thousand Grim Slayer followed the Xuan Star Civilization's fleet, but were quickly halted. Within a day, all one hundred thousand Grim Slayer were destroyed. Sending a second and third batch yielded the same result. Left with no other option, the main fleet followed the Xuan Star Civilization, while another one hundred million Grim Slayer embarked on a journey around the edge of the vortex, pursuing the main body of the Xuan Star Civilization. The Grim Slayer were moving in the direction of the vortex's rotation, so catching up with the main body of the Xuan Star Civilization was only a matter of time.
" Bi Cha, have you made your decision?" the leader of the Xuan Star Civilization asked.
"Your Excellency, I have made my decision. As long as you and the people are safe, Bi Cha die without regret! Please approve my decision!"
" Bi Cha, you are a hero of civilization!"
"Chief, I'm just doing my duty. In two more years, you'll be safe. I'll do everything I can to hold off humanity and buy you and your people time. I don't need these extra warships anymore; you can take them. I'll leave one hundred million behind."
"Furthermore, Leader, a portion of the human fleet has already circled the vortex, clearly intending to intercept you. I will dispatch three hundred million warships to intercept them."
" Bi Cha, once you've made the arrangements, I'll contact the humans to see if peace talks are possible."
"Peace talks? Difficult. This time, we don't even know where humans came from, and they have no reason to negotiate with us. Besides, we killed nearly 10 billion of their people. Humans won't negotiate with us so easily."
"Let's do our best; we don't have much of a chance left."
This is the center of the Xuan Star Civilization's territory. Although space has begun to deform, it is still in a regular deformation state, and the warp drive is barely usable. A giant star, about three times the diameter of the Sun, is burning steadily at the very center of the civilization's territory. Unlike other stars, this star has no planets around it. Bi Cha commands 20 million warships to surround it and pry up this giant star. Another 20 million warships then move another star of similar size, several light-years away, towards the human fleet. Only when the warp drive malfunctions and the warships begin to shake do they detach from the warp drive.
Then all the warships lined up in front of the two stars, quietly waiting for the arrival of the human fleet. Seeing the formation of the Xuan Star Civilization's fleet, the Grim Slayer also stopped, and the two sides faced each other in this space.
"Human, can we talk?"
" Old Hu, the leader of the Xuan Star Civilization wants to negotiate."
"Don't rush, let's see what they say."
"Humans, why are you attacking our Xuan Star Civilization?"
"Why? Don't you understand? Have you forgotten how you hunted us down back then? Now you want to negotiate? Fine, hand over the tech tree, and everything will be fine."
"Impossible. Our technology tree is the result of countless years of effort by our Xuan Star Civilization. How could we possibly hand it over to you? Let's find another condition."
"In our human eyes, nothing is impossible. You now have two choices: hand over your technology or face extinction."
"Humans, I don't believe you can achieve such results. Look at what's behind our fleet!"
"They're just two stars; they're not enough to pose a threat to us."
"Indeed, these are two stars, but one of them is an antimatter star. Once these two stars get close, the result is self-evident: everything in this space will cease to exist. Nothing can withstand such power."
What! An antimatter star?
"Indeed, this is the culmination of countless years of our civilization's efforts. Originally, it was just an ordinary star, and we never intended to detonate it. But now, we have no choice but to destroy these countless years of achievements."
" Xuan Star leaders, you are indeed powerful, capable of creating something like an antimatter star. We humans admire you."
"Actually, this is nothing special, just the accumulation of time. If you have enough time and energy, you can also create it. So, humans, have you thought it through?"
"Sir, if it detonates, your losses will far exceed ours. Everything within your territory will be destroyed. It will be impossible for you to recover to your original state in less than several thousand years. Moreover, the importance of this antimatter star is self-evident. As for the defensive capabilities of our human warships, I believe you are aware that even if it explodes, we will only lose a third of our warships at most. We can rebuild them in just a few hundred years, and the remaining warships will be enough for us to win this war."
"Several hundred years? That's an exaggeration. The last battle was over 3,500 years ago. You only had 250 million warships involved. Even if you left some to defend your base planets, it would only be a little over 300 million. So, our reconstruction time is almost the same. Although our warships are not as powerful as yours in the vortex, our numbers are still enough to wear you down. Continuing to fight will not benefit anyone."
"Moreover, our Xuan Star Civilization has already been punished by you. You only lost a little over 8 billion people, while we lost over 200 billion. Of course, talking about numbers is meaningless; we provoked you first, so your retaliation is only natural. I just want to say that you have almost achieved your goal. Why don't we stop fighting now and turn enemies into friends?"
"Turning enemies into friends? We humans are not qualified. We have a blood feud with the Insect Race, and the same goes for the Fish Horse Star Civilization. You are allies of the Fish Horse Star Civilization, and there is no basis for friendship between us."