Black Star's opinions are an important reference for the Three Universal Civilizations when making decisions. It's as satisfying as following a strategy guide to fight monsters, allowing the high-ranking officials of the Three Universal Civilizations to fully experience the joy of relying on a powerful figure.
But now that he can't contact Black Star, he has to figure out a way on his own and act according to circumstances.
Simon composed himself and said slowly:
"Therefore, there are two key points that need to be addressed: first, locating the bases of each company and battalion; and second, adopting an efficient and low-cost method to break through the Raelbo Space Protection Belt and destroy the enemy's various artillery positions."
"If the Child of Destiny's surveillance yields no results, then we either passively wait for different bases to launch beyond-visual-range attacks and reverse-analyze to determine the source of the attacks, or we wait for our control range to gradually cover the area..."
One of the staff officers spoke up.
Upon hearing this, the Arcane Commander shook his head and said:
"As long as the World Tree's beyond-line-of-sight network exists, it will inevitably continue to damage our space anchoring orbits, monitoring base stations, and other facilities, hindering our expansion of control. In areas not covered by our forces, the World Tree can freely expand its network; we can't possibly destroy it all. These resources are nothing more than a drop in the ocean to them, allowing them to wage a tug-of-war against us at extremely low cost and impede our actions... Therefore, it seems that at present, we can only wait for the other side to make a move and then counter-lock on, which is very passive."
"How about using Reconnaissance ships for a large-scale search?"
"The uncovered area is too large; this method is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Moreover, the enemy will definitely deploy a large number of patrol fleets near the linked camps, making it unlikely to be effective."
"What about the occult?"
Upon hearing this, the Secret Master interjected, "The World Tree has specific defenses in this regard, making it impossible to use mystical methods for location tracking."
After discussing for a while, the group failed to come up with an effective solution, so they had to temporarily set aside the issue of location and instead discuss attack methods.
"Destroying the base is not difficult compared to locating it." At this moment, the Imperial Commander spoke up, slowly saying, "We can use Spacetime Shearing Technology to send small fleets carrying high-energy explosives directly through the Raelbo Space Protection Belt and blow up the enemy's base."
"Spacetime Shearing Technology... it is indeed feasible."
Simon hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.
During the war mobilization phase, the Three Universal Civilizations exchanged information, briefly introducing most of their respective trump cards to facilitate deployment. As a result, high-ranking officers of the Glory and the Arcane were aware that the Empire possessed Spacetime Shearing Technology.
On the method of attacking the battalion base, everyone agreed that the Spacetime Shearing Technology was extremely suitable for this kind of rear-attack. Compared to sending an army group to launch a strong attack under heavy fire, this was obviously a less costly method. The cost would be at most a few hundred warships and a group of optional suicide squads. The main purpose was to switch to manual control in case of emergencies, just to be on the safe side.
Everyone present knew who the suicide squad members should be.
"Let our Legion's Immortals carry out the Space-Time Shearing operation; it's the work they love," Aurora said, blinking.
"Can."
Simon had no objection, paused, and added, "The suicide squad should choose low-pollution explosives, and they need to be powerful enough, otherwise they won't even be able to break through the base's shields."
Having finalized the attack method, the group returned to the topic of location; a conclusion was needed.
"Passively waiting for the enemy to attack is not an option, but if we cannot withstand the enemy's attacks, our losses will only continue to increase. We need to find a way to protect the various branches of the space-stabilized anchor track."
"Forgive my bluntness, but trying to protect all orbital branches from an unknown-scale, unknown-location beyond-visual-range attack is almost an impossible task. After all, there are too many branches, and their numbers are constantly increasing. We don't have a defensive device like the Raelbo Space Protection Belt. At most, we can only try to clear out the directional targets left by small enemy units," an officer said helplessly.
"The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light, so we can't solve this for the time being. However, if we can capture and analyze the Raelbo Space Protection Belt, we can also have the same defensive advantage as them, reducing our passivity." Simon pondered, "Therefore, in addition to the Space-Time Shearing suicide squad's attack, we also need to deploy regular troops depending on the situation."
The Space-Time Shearing troops can only die and cannot capture any loot; in this respect, we still have to rely on advanced combat forces.
The few pieces of good news so far are that the World Tree's beyond-visual-range strike targets are limited. It can either target directional targets left by Reconnaissance teams or targets near the base, making it unable to conduct precise strikes on other locations. In essence, each battalion base is a decoy trap, and only when the Three Universal Civilizations' fleets launch an attack on it will it be exposed to the strike range. Therefore, there is not much to worry about being attacked beyond visual range en route.
Kant's army group quickly withdrew, suffering significant casualties. Most of the remaining warships had damaged outer armor and had not completed their mission, failing to destroy the targeted World Tree base.
The only gain was that when facing attacks from beyond visual range in other directions, the intelligent calculation model identified the locations of several new liaison bases, increasing the number of targets for the Three Universal Civilizations.
Before long, the second fleet set off, splitting up to head towards these bases. All of them were equipped with the Empire's improved Space-Time Shearing devices, which would only be activated upon arrival at their destinations.
The crew members were mostly temporarily recruited legion players. There was no sense of tragic grandeur, like the wind howling and the Yi River running cold, or the heroes going forth never to return. The atmosphere on each warship was very relaxed, with many players looking cheerful. They didn't seem like a group of suicide squads, but rather like people on a picnic.
"I didn't expect the rewards for this suicide mission to be so generous. Luckily, I managed to snag one."
"Completing the mission by simply feeding kills is too easy."
"Ah, that feels so good! If I could do this a few more times, wouldn't that be like gaining experience points?"
Listening to the excited discussions among the many players around him, Frenzied Saber felt a sense of satisfaction.
The player is the designated member of the suicide squad, and only the player can accept this mission. The mission briefly introduces the combat mission of the Space-Time Shearing Force. The player is surprised to find that this mission is not difficult for them at all, but the mission reward is so high that it is touching. Even the credit for destroying the enemy base is given to them.
It's like you don't have to do anything at all; just go out and feed a bunch of kills, and you'll get experience points like crazy. It's incredibly easy and effortless, practically like grinding for experience!
According to the forum, this combat mission is very important and is actually very difficult, equivalent to a death mission for normal soldiers. However, their innate advantages happen to overcome this difficulty, so they can obtain a high reward that seems disproportionate to the difficulty at a very low cost.
Few players would want to miss such a great opportunity, as the number of spots was limited and many players were practically fighting tooth and nail for them. Only a very few managed to get the chance to go, and they were overjoyed.
Amidst the jubilant atmosphere of the numerous players, the various fleets arrived at different World Tree bases, activated the Space-Time Shearing device without hesitation, and moved towards the bases as if skipping frames.
Various beyond-visual-range attacks came one after another, shattering the fleet. However, the fleet recovered as usual the next moment and continued to advance in leaps and bounds. Soon it broke into the Raelbo Space Protection Belt and was unaffected.
When the Space-Time Shearing force was halfway through its advance, the World Tree Base detected through its space radar that this was an unknown spacetime technology, and quickly ceased its conventional attacks, instead resorting to spacetime methods to counter it.
The Spacetime Shearing Technology is not insurmountable; its nemesis is spacetime-related technology. The Empire used the same method to crack this dark technology from the Kunde Race. The World Tree Base's response has been very effective. The distance between each frame jump by the Space-Time Shearing troops has begun to shorten, the white noise flickering on the surface has become more and more dense, and the collapse speed has accelerated.
However, after years of improvements by the Crimson Dynasty, while the Spacetime Shearing Technology is still countered by spatial means, its resistance has increased significantly, allowing it to withstand attacks for a longer period of time. The Space-Time Shearing troops, equipped with high-energy explosives, braved the World Tree Base's attacks and stubbornly passed through the Raelbo Space Protection Belt, exploding in the base complex.
Amidst the shocking fluctuations, dazzling clusters of energy lit up the universe one after another, engulfing the entire base.
At the same time, at the Black Star Army's temporary base in the interception zone, streaks of white light flashed, and the legion players acting as suicide squads were resurrected in their bound strongholds.
Frenzied Saber opened the panel, glanced at the quest that had become completed, and grinned like a blooming chrysanthemum.
"I'm so lucky! After consuming this wave of rewards, my level should be able to surpass the top-tier players... I wonder if this kind of mission is a one-time event; I really hope there will be more of these."
Utilizing the explosive power of Spacetime Shearing Technology, the Three Universal Civilizations are able to effectively strike the World Tree's long-range, interconnected forces.
The World Tree had no good solution to this kind of advanced technology and could only continue to implement its original tactics, constantly disrupting the anchoring orbits of the Three Universal Civilizations. In turn, the Three Universal Civilizations kept sending people to destroy the bases whose locations were exposed, resulting in a tug-of-war between the two sides.
Because the Space-Time Shearing forces are immune to conventional attacks, the World Tree reduced its beyond-visual-range strikes against incoming fleets, not wanting to needlessly expose the locations of more bases with forces immune to conventional attacks. Taking advantage of this, the Three Universal Civilizations secretly dispatched a wave of high-level combatants leading a normal fleet, mixed in with the Space-Time Shearing forces, and successfully breached a base, capturing a Raelbo Space Protection Belt device, which was hurriedly transported back to the main base of the interception circle for analysis.
In the massive forward research institute, the generator for the Raelbo Space Protection Belt is suspended in a vacuum bubble. Numerous mechanical probes are inserted into the structure of the device, constantly testing parameters and deriving principles. Countless technicians are busy in front of various instruments.
Simon and his entourage of senior officers were also keeping a close eye on the research institute's analysis progress. Standing on the ground, they looked up at the Raelbo Space Protection Belt device in mid-air, their spirits high.
"It was originally just an experiment, but we unexpectedly managed to capture the device, and the entire expeditionary force was almost wiped out."
"If we can analyze this technology, we can not only deal with the enemy's beyond-visual-range attacks, but our interception network will also become much harder to break through."
Just as the group was celebrating, the lights in the research institute suddenly turned a blinding blood red, and a blaring alarm sounded.
"Alert! Alert! Unknown data detected attempting to infiltrate the firewall..."
The numerous technicians present were immediately taken aback and quickly investigated the source of the problem.
"What's going on?" Simon's expression changed.
"Report: The device captured at the front appears to be carrying a highly stealthy data virus, which is infiltrating the firewall on its own and attempting to plunder our database..." the research team leader hurriedly responded.
"Where's the hazard investigation report? How come this virus wasn't detected beforehand?" Simon demanded.
"This... all the testing procedures were passed... the only explanation is that this unknown virus has deceived our testing." The research team leader gritted his teeth.
Just then, the alarm's buzzing frequency increased again, and many technicians were sweating profusely, shouting and yelling.
"Level 1 firewall breached! Level 2 firewall breached!"
"Too fast! This virus is invading too quickly!"
"Request immediate mobilization of main AI computing power for suppression!"
Simon hurriedly leaned over to the technician's screen for a glance, only to see that the unknown virus was advancing rapidly, breaking through layers of firewalls and about to officially enter the surface quantum network of the interception base cluster.
But at that moment, streams of silver data suddenly appeared, instantly enveloping the unknown virus. Like white blood cells engulfing germs, no matter how hard it tried to break free, it couldn't escape the blockade of the silver data, and its speed instantly slowed down.
A large amount of silver data stream surged forth again, coalescing into the virtual figure of Manison, who remained calm.
"The Mechanic Emperor!" Simon's eyes lit up.
"I've detected network fluctuations; it seems there's something wrong here... Is this World Tree virus?"
With a wave of his hand, Manison caught the struggling, unknown virus and examined it closely.
Seeing this, Simon immediately asked, "How is it?"
"This thing is a virus-like intelligent life form, not just simple data."
Manison responded indifferently.
Suddenly, the unknown virus exploded and disappeared. The institute's alarms immediately stopped, and the lights returned to normal.
"You eliminated him?" Simon was taken aback.
"No, he found he couldn't break through my blockade, so he disintegrated... If I'm not mistaken, this intelligent life form is a member of the World Tree's family, and can also enjoy the World Tree's rebirth. It has an inherent advantage at the quantum network level, and most firewalls can't stop it."
Manison narrowed his eyes.
"I see..." Simon pondered for a few seconds, then relaxed and said, "Luckily, you were here this time. Otherwise, even if we had been able to eliminate it, some information would have been leaked."
The Three Universal Civilizations could have eliminated this intelligent virus life form by mobilizing more of their main intelligence's computing power, but they were a step too slow. If it weren't for Manison's rapid response, the enemy's intelligent virus might have infiltrated the quantum network and, through information sharing, allowed the World Tree to learn some of their data.
Because of its intelligence disadvantage that led to the failure of the last major offensive, the World Tree has adopted more methods to collect information on the Three Universal Civilizations, and information warfare is naturally an essential part of this.
"Black Star isn't here, so leave this to me."
Manison responded calmly and deactivated his virtual avatar.
Upon hearing this, Simon breathed a sigh of relief.
Although when people mention the strongest mechanic in Galaxy now, the first person that comes to mind is Black Star, the presence of the Mechanic Emperor has declined.
However, we shouldn't underestimate the Mechanic Emperor just because Black Star is powerful. After all, they were the pinnacle of mechanics in the previous generation, and their skill level is still there. Putting aside the ideological conflict, Simon still believes in the Mechanic Emperor's abilities.
Although they have temporarily lost Black Star's help, thanks to the foundation laid by Han Xiao early on, the Three Universal Civilizations are still able to fight back and forth with the World Tree.
Both sides used various Universal Treasure and special technologies to constantly restrain each other, and for the time being, neither side could defeat the other.
The World Tree occasionally sends out some powerful alien beings it has devoured and transformed to test the waters. However, due to the existence of the Black Star, the World Tree has relegated these alien beings to the role of cannon fodder. Since they cannot play a role on the main battlefield, they are simply used for small-scale harassment and attrition.
However, because Han Xiao entered the Sanctuary, the foreign powerhouses of the World Tree did not suffer from the Virtual Purification treatment and could only be killed by the Beyond Grade A beings Explored Universe.
However, even without Black Star's support, the numerous Beyond Grade A were able to stand on their own and did not cause any trouble.
The two sides were locked in a back-and-forth battle, while quietly preparing for a fight, keeping the intensity at a relatively low level.
After about two months of this stalemate, Han Xiao returned from the Sanctuary.