" Old Gao, you've finally figured it out! That's exactly what I was thinking. Chief of the General Staff, what do you think?"
"We have no other choice but to take the risk. Hopefully, this worm won't kill us too; that would be ridiculous."
"If we plan carefully, ensuring our safety shouldn't be a problem. The Matter River is so vast. Last time, this worm didn't actually descend; it only displayed its power in the fourth dimension and that was it. It didn't even come down into the three-dimensional universe to hunt down our fleet, otherwise we would have been gone long ago."
"In that case, let's get to work quickly and go back as soon as possible."
The Matter River has plenty of matter, so the amount of matter needed to create Consciousness Field simulation device is not much. In order to attract the attention of that four-dimensional giant worm, at least hundreds of millions of simulation devices would need to be created.
Currently, the fleet lacks scientific and technological personnel, Gao Jianchuan found a few commanders who were somewhat involved in the manufacture of Consciousness Field simulators to work together to research the manufacturing process of Consciousness Field simulators.
It's impossible to figure out how it works; for now, we can only copy it and make it work. Fortunately, the Reaper is fully equipped. Although the Reaper is a warship, it is also a comprehensive ship, with all kinds of equipment for transportation, supply, maintenance, reconnaissance, medical care, etc.
Since entering space, Hu Yu has strictly controlled the types of warships. The fewer the types of warships, the more integrated functions they have, and the stronger their survivability. If a fleet has dozens of types such as supply ships, reconnaissance ships, and transport ships, it will be very troublesome to fight. Moreover, interstellar warfare is not the same as war on Earth.
Interstellar warfare covers a vast area, ranging from millions of kilometers to hundreds of light-years. It would be ridiculous if warships needed other functional ships to assist them in order to fully exert their combat power over such a long distance. Therefore, the fleet initially minimized the types of auxiliary functional ships and concentrated these functions on the warships, so that they could fully exert their combat power during battle.
With the aid of a supercomputer, the production blueprints were quickly drawn up, and the rest was left to the Reaper to complete the manufacturing bit by bit. Since the equipment inside the Reaper was designed to serve the Reaper, the production of many components was not compatible, and the Consciousness Field simulation instrument was not just an ordinary piece of equipment, so the production of the Reaper was still somewhat difficult.
The Consciousness Field simulators provided by Academician Xiao all consist of a single Consciousness Field, but the intensity of the Consciousness Field of each insect is different. In order to achieve the insect swarm effect, Gao Jianchuan made countless adjustments before he could barely succeed with a few.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, Consciousness Field simulators were produced one by one. Although some were crudely made, they were still usable. These were all disposable items, so it didn't matter whether they were easy to use, durable, or had a high failure rate. After working for more than ten years, a total of one hundred million Consciousness Field simulators were finally manufactured.
The next step is to find a way to gather the Mechanical Civilization's fleet together. Currently, the Mechanical Civilization's fleet is divided into more than a dozen parts stationed around the Matter River. In theory, even if the Reaper fleet is discovered, there is no need for these Mechanical Civilization fleets to gather together. They can completely defeat the Reaper fleet with fewer troops.
This problem has been troubling Wen Zhonghua for over a decade. Ever since he started producing the Consciousness Field simulator, Wen Zhonghua has been pondering this issue. Over the years, the miniature spaceship Bee have transmitted the information of the Mechanical Civilization's fleet back to the fleet without any error. The Mechanical Civilization's fleet even discovered the existence of the Bee but ignored them, just waiting to see what tricks humans could come up with.
It wasn't just Wen Zhonghua; everyone in the fleet was thinking about this problem. Even the most improbable solutions were brought to the table for study, but none of them were feasible.
Building a holographic fleet and increasing its size won't work. Holographic technology might fool people from a distance, but it's impossible to fool Mechanical Civilization.
Sending microships to the Insect Zone to impersonate the Insect King and drive the insects to attack the Mechanical Civilization fleet is also not feasible. Not to mention whether the microships could successfully impersonate the Insect King, even if they did, how many fearless insects would dare to come? Moreover, the fleet has no idea what the Insect King's Consciousness Field looks like.
Creating a large-scale explosion at the edge of the Matter River to attract the Mechanical Civilization fleet wouldn't work either, as the fleet's energy is limited and not enough to warrant the Mechanical Civilization fleet's attention.
Four-dimensional rendezvous won't work either. There are important figures on the fleet, and the number of personnel on board this time is enormous, reaching over a million. The four-dimensional rendezvous channel can only be accessed through small spaceships. It would take a lot of time for so many people to return in small spaceships, and the insects won't give the fleet that much time before cutting off the channel.
One proposal after another was put forward, and one after another was rejected. Wen Zhonghua was so worried that he couldn't eat or sleep. It didn't matter that he couldn't go back, but Academician Liu had to go back. The technology that Academician Liu had mastered was enough to upgrade the fleet by a large margin, so he had to send Academician Liu back as soon as possible no matter what.
As time passed day by day, everyone was extremely anxious. Not only did they need to hurry to send Academician Liu back, but they also had to tell the Great Star Region Civilization about the Mechanical Civilization. Otherwise, if the Mechanical Civilization developed, the entire galaxy would be in danger. Right now, the Mechanical Civilization was still in its infancy, and there was an opportunity to suppress it.
"Chief of the General Staff, if all else fails, we can simply lure out the giant insects here," Li Zhixiong suggested.
"Lure them out?"
"Yes, we've deployed a large number of Consciousness Field simulators along the Matter River. Now, the Mechanical Civilization is completely ignoring our satellite equipment. They're so arrogant! We might as well send the Consciousness Field simulators into the middle of their fleet and let the giant insects destroy it. Then we can seize the opportunity to break out. Maybe we'll still have a sliver of a chance."
"This is extremely risky. We don't care about our own glory, but Academician Liu's safety must be guaranteed 100%. No, I disagree. Let's think of another way."
"Chief of the General Staff, then we can only wait and see who can outlast whom."
"How pathetic. The Mechanical Civilization's fleet can wait, but can we? Sigh, there really isn't any other way now. Alright, let's do it this way, but we must make sure everything is arranged properly to guarantee Academician Liu's absolute safety."
"Alright, don't worry, not only Academician Liu's life, but everyone's life must be guaranteed."
The Consciousness Field simulators were quickly sent to various locations along the edge of the Matter River. The Mechanical Civilization's fleet was not far from the edge. The Consciousness Field simulators that arrived there were dispersed in the vast airspace, and then all of them activated their Consciousness Field simulations and flew towards the Mechanical Civilization's fleet at the same time.