Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 251: The wind blows down, stars fall like rain (5k)

The advance fleet had already overtaken the main force of the advancing expeditionary fleet. During the brief gap of several tens of minutes when the two fleets passed each other, the expeditionary fleet seized the opportunity to establish low-latency video communication with the preceding fleet.

During the call, Qian Mengjian, as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, highly praised the Natural Selection, especially Dongfang Yanxu's bold and decisive attack and dive bombing tactics.

The compliments made Dongfang Yanxu blush, and his eyes darted around.

Qian Mengjian noticed something unusual in the other party's reaction in the video footage. He astutely asked, "Was the final decision on this high-speed dive tactic made by Captain Dongfang, or by other personnel on your ship?"

Off-screen, Dongfang Yanxu seemed to have heard something, and then decisively admitted: "This tactic was proposed by the staff of our ship's staff, not by me alone."

Qian Mengjian nodded: "Yes, that's good. War is a collective war. The collective wisdom and strength of the group is greater than the individual wisdom of one person fighting alone. You did not take all the credit, which is correct. Captain Dongfang, please also tell the staff of the Natural Selection that your achievements are unprecedented. You have greatly relieved the pressure on the Solar System Fleet. The hundreds of thousands of Devouring Warships you destroyed will become a glory and goal that all Star-class warships can never reach."

Due to the extremely high speed of both warships, the delay in temporary communication became increasingly significant. After a brief conversation and encouragement with the other 11 captains of the previous fleet, the temporary communication ended.

"Returning home laden with glory, how enviable!"

On the Paradox Engine, the more than 400 captains who appeared in the combat command room via holographic projection uttered this sentence with a very sour tone.

Qian Mengjian encouraged the captains, saying, "Do what we should do. Although it is unlikely that we can achieve the same results as the vanguard fleet again, with the strength we have, we are enough to severely damage the Giant Ring."

Luo Qing, like an NPC, also shouted, "With me here, fight without hesitation!"

Qian Mengjian encouraged them further: "This should be the fleet's last long-range strike mission before reaching the Devouring Giant Ring. All ships should prepare to launch stellar hydrogen bombs in conjunction with electromagnetic kinetic energy bombs to carry out a mixed strike."

...

As the expeditionary fleet and the Devouring Ring were about to clash.

Three-body world.

The Trisolaran leader said, "Could you get Sophon closer? The image is too blurry, and we can only see the vicinity of the giant ring. I want to know what's going on with the human fleet."

Sophon Operator: "Sovereign, we may find it difficult to see the full picture of this war. There is only one Sophon left near the Devouring Ring. The impending cosmic war is far more extensive than the Earth's environment. Even traveling at the speed of light would take dozens of Trisolaran times. This Sophon can only choose one target to observe: the human fleet or the Devouring Ring. Given that the human fleet has a Wallfacer in charge, I suggest that this Sophon stay near the Ring."

The leader said, "Isn't there a sophon blind spot near the consuming giant ring? Won't this sophon get trapped in the sophon blind spot?"

Sophon Operator: "No, there are no sophon blind spots near the Devouring Giant Ring anymore. Your Majesty, the leading scientists have figured it out. The sophon blind spots are actually fragments of higher-dimensional space. Because they do not belong to the same dimensional space, these fragments can easily sever the quantum entanglement effect of sophons. And now, all those fragments of higher-dimensional space have disappeared."

The leader wondered, "Why have all the higher-dimensional fragments near the giant ring disappeared?"

Sophon Operator: "This seems to be caused by Shanqing. Although Sophon left the main body of the giant ring, it has been observing the space around the giant ring. Shanqing and the Devouring Empire have engaged in a high-energy battle. The Devouring Empire is suspected of using antimatter weapons and fought a great battle with Shanqing in a higher dimension. After the battle, those higher-dimensional fragments lost the giant ring's power supply and then quickly evaporated and disappeared."

The leader then asked, "How is our research on higher-dimensional fragments progressing?"

Sophon Operator: "You might need to ask the Science Administrator; I don't know much about this."

Just then, the Science Governor also arrived at the Sophon Observatory. It seems that the Trisolaran leadership is very interested in the upcoming large-scale space war at the edge of the solar system.

The leader's thought membrane displayed the question again: "Scientific Governor, how is our research on higher-dimensional fragments progressing?"

The Science Administrator glanced at the image of the Sophon and replied to the leader, "Your Majesty, we have roughly figured out the principle behind the four-dimensional space fragments. It involves expanding an entire area of ​​microscopic particles into a four-dimensional state, thereby creating a four-dimensional space. However, this is only a breakthrough in technical theory. In practice, the Trisolaran civilization still has a long way to go before it can create four-dimensional space. Your Majesty, you must know that expanding a large number of microscopic particles into a four-dimensional state requires an enormous amount of energy input. The Devouring Empire has the resources for this, but given the Trisolaran planet's scarce resources, it is probably impossible."

The Science Administrator reiterated, "We are the only planet left in the entire Trisolaran system."

The head of state was overcome with sadness.

It's poor, so poor it's miserable.

With the Trisolaran civilization's current technology, if Jupiter from Earth's solar system were moved here, the Trisolaran fleet could immediately assemble a fleet no smaller than the solar system's fleet within 50 years.

Ultimately, we're poor.

The Scientific Administrator ignored the President. Since the Renaissance, the Trisolaran civilization had no longer experienced that kind of oppressive regime; the President was merely an ordinary elected administrator. It asked the Sophon Observer, "How's the war going? Haven't humans and dinosaurs started fighting yet?"

Sophon Observer: "According to the response from the Great Ring Command, the human fleet should have launched a large number of electromagnetic cannon shells and stellar hydrogen bombs at the Devouring Great Ring again. These weapons are expected to enter the Great Ring in about a Trisolaran time. We can wait and see this spectacular sight."

The science governor commented, "These hydrogen bombs cannot shake the foundation of the Great Ring. The expeditionary fleet will likely have difficulty intercepting the Great Ring's advance. This cannot continue."

The leader said, "Should we transfer more technology to humanity? If the Great Ring swallows up Earth, Venus, and Mars—the three habitable planets—then there probably won't be any good places to stay after our fleet arrives."

The science official said, "Absolutely not! This is like raising a tiger to cause trouble. The transfer of the previous batch of technology was already abrupt enough. Technical support ends here!"

The leader said, "Don't be nervous. What we are passing on is our outdated technology, and it's wrong."

The Scientific Governor said: "The technology is indeed outdated, but please don't forget, Your Majesty. Without the Sophon's blockade, they might very well deduce the correct technological prototype from these outdated and erroneous technologies and then counter us."

The Führer: "Can humanity's expeditionary fleet not stop the Great Ring's advance?"

The Scientific Governor said, "It's unstoppable. Humanity's expeditionary fleet has unleashed all its firepower, and even firing the last electromagnetic cannon shell won't cause devastating damage to the Giant Ring. And judging from the fact that Shan Qing was able to be killed by the Devouring Empire using four-dimensional space, the super-individual Luo Qing may not be able to change the course of this war either."

The leader said, "Then we can only pray that the main force of the Solar System fleet can intercept the Great Ring."

The Science Governor said, “It is not advisable to place our hopes on humanity itself. I have authorized 10 strong interaction detectors to enter the final acceleration phase at 8% of the speed of light, and they are expected to arrive at the battlefield in 1.5 Earth years. But at this moment, the Military Governor and I are in a dilemma.”

The leader said, "What are you all worried about? That unknown evil Qing? Don't worry, there are sophons near the Trisolaran planet. As soon as it appears, we can immediately lock onto it, launch a low-light-speed annihilation bomb attack, and then kill it."

The Science Administrator: "No, it has nothing to do with Evil Qing. If the dinosaurs could kill him, so can we. What I'm worried about is that if we use 10 Strong Interaction Probes, in conjunction with the lurking Golden Plains warship, to surround and slaughter the human fleet while it's busy attacking the Giant Ring, we are indeed confident that we can completely defeat or even annihilate the human star-class spaceships in a short time. But in that case, there will be no force left to stop the Giant Ring from being devoured."

The leader asked, "Can't the giant ring be destroyed using a strong interaction probe?"

The Science Governor said, “Your Majesty, I can give you an analogy: the Strong Interaction and Cosmetic Probe attacking the Giant Ring is like using a needle to attack a tire. This needle could indeed cause the tire to deflate, but it would absolutely not be able to destroy the tire.”

The leader said, "After destroying the solar system fleet, we should be able to destroy all the giant ring engines on the equatorial surface of the Great Ring using the Strong Interaction Force probe, right? It's only 30,000 engines, it shouldn't take too long."

The Scientific Governor: "In principle, that's correct, but Your Majesty, please don't forget that we have always underestimated the Devouring Empire and did not anticipate the existence of higher-dimensional fragments. Now we know two facts: the Devouring Empire can create four-dimensional fragments, and the Devouring Empire possesses antimatter weapons."

The Science Governor: "Both of these technologies have the capability to destroy the Strong Force Detector. When the Strong Force Detector attacks the Giant Ring Engine, the Devouring Empire will certainly use antimatter weapons or even create four-dimensional fragments to retaliate against the Strong Force."

The leader said, “So you are now facing a difficult choice: choosing to destroy the human fleet would mean that the Devouring Empire would have no more obstacles in the solar system, and they would devour it without restraint, to the point that when the Trisolaran First Fleet arrives in the solar system, it will only be able to accept the scraps of the solar system. On the other hand, choosing to cooperate with the human fleet to destroy the Dinosaur Ring would make humanity realize the power of the Strong Interaction Probe, thereby allowing the human fleet to escape from the solar system and become a permanent threat to the Trisolaran civilization.”

Scientific Administrator: "That's right."

Scientific Governor: "Of course, we have a third option." Head of State: "What option?"

Scientific Governor: "Continue to increase investment in the warp drive. Once the warp drive is successfully developed, it can be immediately deployed to the Second Fleet. At that time, the Second Fleet will arrive in the Solar System in a very short time. Then, it will not be a big problem to devour the Empire or the Solar System Fleet."

The Führer: "But the investment in warp drive technology is an uncharted territory. You don't know when warp drive technology will be fully developed, right?"

Science Governor: "Science is always like this; it requires a lot of accumulation and a flash of inspiration."

The leader said, “I will provide you with resources. Please let your inspiration shine quickly. Also, tell the first 10 strong interaction probes that have arrived in the solar system not to make any rash moves. They are the only military force we can deploy in the solar system. Let the solar system fleet engage the Devouring Empire first. Don’t forget that they also have a super-individual.”

While the two were talking, the Zhizi operator suddenly experienced a violent emotional fluctuation; it suddenly became excited.

Sophon Operator: "Head of State! Scientific Governor! You can come and see now! Humanity's final round of ultra-long-range bombardment has reached the giant ring orbit, and the second super meteor shower is about to begin!"

Seeing this, all the Trisolarans stopped communicating and focused their attention on the image displayed by the Sophon.

...

Large ring surface.

The air raid siren sounded again, but this time it was extremely shrill, like the howl of death. The workers on the surface of the ring were fleeing to the inner ring area by taking the elevator.

According to gravitational lensing observations, approximately 5000 stellar hydrogen bombs and 120 million electromagnetic railgun shells are hurtling toward the Great Ring.

This level of crackdown is unprecedented.

In particular, the ongoing large-scale attacks by electromagnetic railguns have consumed nearly 80% of the expeditionary fleet's electromagnetic railgun reserves.

Because electromagnetic projectiles are faster than stellar hydrogen bombs, the human fleet first launched 5000 stellar hydrogen bombs. Only after the stellar hydrogen bombs had traveled a certain distance at 10% the speed of light did they launch all the electromagnetic projectiles.

This alternating launch method ensures that the stellar hydrogen bomb and the electromagnetic railgun projectile arrive at the large ring orbit at the same time, increasing the difficulty of intercepting the large ring.

In addition to the combined attack of stellar hydrogen bombs and electromagnetic cannons, more than 400 beams of gamma laser rays also rained down from the sky. These gamma laser rays were also released by human stellar-class warships. Although they were far inferior to the self-defense super gamma laser beam cannon of the Great Ring, they still brought a deep sense of frustration to the dinosaurs.

The gamma laser beams penetrate the atmosphere first, entering the Earth's surface. While these gamma laser beams aren't particularly powerful, their incredibly high frequency is a major advantage. Normal gamma laser beams are invisible to the naked eye, but when they enter the atmosphere, their immense energy ionizes the air, producing pale blue ionized beams that immediately create a spectacular high-frequency flashing light phenomenon in the sky, like lightning before a storm.

A large number of gamma laser beams penetrated the ground, causing numerous metal structures to melt and explode.

Thus, humanity's starships officially demonstrated their triad-like long-range strike capability.

The Devouring Fleet was completely powerless against such attacks, which were at least 10% of the speed of light. Even the most robust large Triangle Barrier-class warships dared not use their hulls to withstand 0.13c electromagnetic cannon shells, let alone 0.1c stellar hydrogen bombs.

The large ring could only rely on itself to withstand the strain.

One million two hundred thousand electromagnetic cannon shells transformed into a silvery frenzy. Each shell trailed an ionized tail, forming endless meteor trails in the deep universe before plunging into the atmosphere in whole swathes.

Under the command of the ring commander, the giant ring's gamma-ray laser interception device was not activated easily; it simply sent a lower-powered laser defense device to intercept the electromagnetic projectile.

Under the bombardment of dense plasma clusters, the surface of the large ring gradually became pitted and scarred.

[A stellar hydrogen bomb strike has been detected.]
[Ignore electromagnetic railgun shells; intercept only all star-shaped hydrogen bombs!]
All preparations were complete. The gamma-ray laser array turrets covering the ring began to activate, and beams of laser light, condensed to the extreme, burned deep blue pillars of light in the atmosphere, sweeping back and forth across the sky. Wherever they passed, 0.1c stellar hydrogen bombs began to detonate in near-ring orbit.

Of these 500 stellar hydrogen bombs, only 1/10 successfully fell onto the surface of the Great Ring, creating an ancient explosion and a mushroom cloud so large that the atmosphere could not support it.

Then came the second batch, the third batch, and the fourth batch.

The nuclear shockwaves on the surface of the Great Ring did not shake the mind of its commander. He calmly directed the Great Ring's defense system to precisely intercept all incoming stellar hydrogen bombs. Whether the interception was successful or failed, it did not stir any emotion in him. His golden vertical pupils remained calmly focused on the densely packed, incoming crimson dots on the screen.

The humans' insane firepower had already terrified the other dinosaurs in the defense command room, but the Great Ring Commander remained unaffected by any other emotions.

Go to defend, counter-attack, attack

Do what a military officer should do.

Little did it know that at this very moment, two beams of light from beyond the heavens were watching it intently. One beam came from the Sophon of the Trisolaran civilization, and the other beam came from Luo Qing, who was observing through divine sense.

"This commander did a good job."

Both the Three-Body leader and Luo Qing shared this sentiment.

In the subsequent seven waves of bombardment, totaling 3500 starburst hydrogen bombs, the laser interception device of the swallowing ring remained effective, intercepting approximately 80% of the starburst hydrogen bombs, with only about 700 falling onto the surface of the ring.

This number exceeds the total amount of star-shaped hydrogen bombs launched by the advance fleet at the Devouring Ring.

More than 700 nuclear fusion explosions were generated on the surface of the ring one after another, and mushroom clouds rose one after another. These super nuclear explosions have completely drawn the atmosphere on the surface of the ring into patches of high-temperature and high-heat air.

The surface ring of the Devouring Empire suffered incalculable damage; the direct bombardment of the star-shaped hydrogen bomb even briefly offset the thrust provided by the 30,000 giant ring engines.

The dinosaurs could clearly feel the large ring trembling.

The crackdown continues.

As the barrage of 120 million electromagnetic railgun shells came to an end, the last thousand star-shaped hydrogen bombs finally arrived.

However, these thousand star-shaped hydrogen bombs seemed to be different from the previous hydrogen bombs. They shone with a faint blue light and formed a neat disk array, which covered the entire sky above the giant ring.

More than three hundred deep blue laser beams extended from the large ring, sweeping across the hydrogen bomb disk array in the sky.

But just before the gamma-ray laser hit the hydrogen bomb, the disk of a thousand hydrogen bombs suddenly emitted an extremely bright cyan light. This light flashed alternately, rapidly connecting to form a mysterious array. The array then formed a giant cyan tortoise shield, which appeared in the vast universe.

A single shot, powerful enough to pierce Mount Everest with its super gamma laser beam, struck the giant tortoise shield with 350 ionized blue beams. Surprisingly, it failed to penetrate the shield completely and was instead blocked by the illusory image of the shield radiating a bright blue light.

The dinosaurs in the entire defense command room fell silent.

In the brief moment the dinosaur was stunned, the giant blue turtle shield had completely vanished, and all the stellar hydrogen bombs had penetrated the atmosphere and simultaneously struck the surface of the ring.

A thousand nuclear fusion suns rise.

(End of this chapter)