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

Chapter 454 Countering the Hydrogen-4 Annihilation Bomb (6k)

A ten-day information black hole has begun.

All the images transmitted by the deep space telescopes were from ten days ago, which is very unsettling for humans who are used to real-time communication via quantum entanglement.

What will the Second Fleet do in these ten days?
Nobody knows.

During the same ten days, five hundred star-class warships completed their nuclear fusion fuel and ammunition replenishment at Europa spaceport and returned to outer solar system orbit to re-enter defensive deployment status.

The star-class warships did not launch a rash attack, but proceeded with extreme caution.
Because the battlefield situation is being broadcast live on television stations of various countries and governments, some military experts have said:

The war between the Solar System Fleet and the Trisolaran Second Fleet was a collision between 500 'glass ships' and 415 'modern ships'. They looked tough, but were actually fragile.

As for the old solar system fleet, it consisted of 5000 'paper boats'.

Humanity dispatched more sophons, and when the new sophons traveled at the speed of light and returned to the predicted flight path of the Second Fleet, everyone felt a chill.

The Second Fleet is not here.

There were no traces of warp drive nearby, indicating that the Trisolaran Second Fleet had performed some kind of conventional power steering or acceleration.

In the footage from the deep space telescope, the Second Fleet, which was still traveling along a fixed trajectory and at a fixed speed ten days earlier, was still trekking towards the solar system.

But at this moment, humanity has indeed lost the exact location of the Second Fleet.

"This is troublesome." Luo Ji sighed when he heard the news.

The Second Fleet is already an extremely small target in space, and after shutting down its matter-antimatter annihilation engines and gliding, it is completely non-luminous, making it even more stealthy than a meteorite. Under these circumstances, finding the exact location of the Second Fleet is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The light cone telescope on the ring has also calibrated its observation target from the Trisolaran system to the direction of the Trisolaran Second Fleet, but this is at best equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.

However, to humanity's relief, no light-speed weapons were detected in the "fog umbrella" space deployed in the outer solar system, which spans hundreds of solar volumes, confirming human speculation.

—The Second Fleet is unable to launch sub-light-speed kinetic energy strike weapons similar to 'light particles'.

Perhaps due to insufficient resources or limited technology, the Second Fleet simply could not accomplish this.

The twelfth day.

The light cone telescope has transmitted the latest images.

The Second Fleet split into two, forming two fleets of 215 and 200 warships respectively. The two fleets then made a sharp turn and accelerated by about 0.11C, completely deviating from their straight trajectory.

Like two arcs, gracefully flying to both sides.

Both the Light Cone Telescope and other deep-space telescopes attempted to track the positions of the two Trisolaran fleets, but this nearly ten-day-delayed tracking and observation was clearly not going smoothly. Both fleets of the Trisolaran Second Fleet entered a state of erratic maneuvering and turning.

Moreover, the Second Fleet somehow managed to block the visible light emitted by the matter-antimatter annihilation engines when they were in operation.

Then, the same trick was used again. The warp drive was slightly activated, creating a slow fog zone at 99% of the speed of light, which delayed human visible light perception.

The Second Fleet even canceled its own strong interaction force state, causing the surface of the warships to change from reflecting all electromagnetic waves to a special state that almost absorbed all electromagnetic waves.

Infrared, ultraviolet, neutrino, and laser interferometer telescopes have failed.

Subsequently, a warship in the Trisolaran fleet launched a large-diameter interference source, which, like a droplet blocking the sun, emitted extremely strong electromagnetic interference, shielding almost all radio and ray detection at this stage.

Radio and X-ray deep space telescopes have failed.

All human means of detection have been exhausted.

Ultimately, humanity lost all positions in the Second Fleet.

The Earth Sophon's search range was far too limited. After the first batch of Sophons was destroyed, humanity released about 100 more Sophons. The Sophons flew around in the vast darkness, but failed to find the direction of any Trisolaran warship.

The atmosphere became terrifying.

The most terrifying enemy is the unknown one.

Considering the possibility that the Trisolaran Second Fleet might be deployed in a dispersed manner and launch attacks from all directions, the command headquarters was forced to disperse the deployment of the Solar System Fleet as well, and simulated thousands of attack routes of the Trisolaran Second Fleet through MOSS to carry out pre-defense.

Time passed little by little.

Day 15.

At a normal cruising speed of 0.1C, the Trisolaran Second Fleet, traveling 2000 astronomical units, would only need 115 days to reach the solar system. If they maintain the previously demonstrated speed of 0.11C, the Trisolaran Second Fleet would only need 105 days.

[Distance of the Second Fleet of the Trisolarans from the Solar System: 1700 AU / 2250 billion km]

Inside the command center, the Trisolaran fleet pressed down on the second ecliptic line and slowly moved towards the third ecliptic line.

At this rate of progress, humanity has about three months left.

Just as the command headquarters was becoming increasingly anxious due to the loss of the Trisolaran Second Fleet, the large unmanned early warning spacecraft platform [Sentinel-7], located approximately 145 billion kilometers outside the Kuiper dust belt, suddenly burst into a blinding blue-white flash.

Annihilation has begun.

Subsequently, the massive energy release instantly transformed tens of thousands of tons of steel and equipment into pure light and heat, like a blue-white rose that suddenly blooms and rapidly withers on a black velvet cloth.

在［哨兵—7］被摧毁的同时，［哨兵—1］、［哨兵—6］、［哨兵—14］、［哨兵—27］等数座大型无人预警飞船平台也遭遇了类似的攻击，化作了一朵蓝色的玫瑰一闪而逝。

When the command received this news, even more [Sentries] were destroyed using the same old trick.

These [sentinels], separated by hundreds of millions of kilometers, were all destroyed in a 15-minute attack.

A small number of the [sentinel platforms] guarded by the Space Force received a warning from Earth's sophon and evacuated these deep space sentinels in advance, boarding small rescue ships and watching as the sentinels suddenly turned into a ball of flame and exploded.

Five minutes after all 32 deep-space [Sentinel] stations were destroyed, humanity deduced the correct answer.

"It's an antimatter annihilation bomb strike! The light waves match the characteristics of annihilation!"

"A total of thirty-two antimatter annihilation bombs!"

"The flight speed of the antimatter annihilation bomb is uncertain, but based on the relative distance, it should be no less than 0.6 times the speed of light."

"Faster than the fastest shells we can fire!"

"The Trisolarans want to destroy our outer eyes!"

These large, unmanned "Sentinel" spaceships are less like spaceships and more like artificial planets gliding along the edge of the solar system. They are about the size of an oil rig platform in the ocean and have virtually no self-defense capabilities. Their greatest value lies in their early warning capabilities.

[Sentinel] is a space-based early warning system for the outer solar system, established by humanity after the apocalyptic war.

Commander-in-Chief Qian Mengjian: "Didn't we receive any warnings about our 'Fog Umbrella' project?"

Near each sentry post, there is a cloud of 'ink material' larger than the sun, enough to foresee all long-range strikes.

The General Staff of Intelligence stated: "The antimatter annihilation bomb is extremely small, with a volume likely only about one cubic millimeter. The 'Fog Umbrella' project would have difficulty showing a clear trajectory for an object of this size."

Chief of Operations: "How could such a small amount of antimatter annihilate an early warning platform weighing tens of thousands of tons?"

Someone from the Science Committee stood up and said:

"We submitted the entire process of the annihilation bombs to Earth. The antimatter research team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed experimental data from approximately 66 billion heavy ion collision events and ultimately derived the data for these 'antimatter bombs'."

These antimatter bombs are structured as "anti-hyperhydrogen-4," consisting of one antiproton, two antineutrons, and one antihyperon. Theoretically, due to the presence of the unstable antihyperon, anti-hyperhydrogen-4 should decay after flying only a few centimeters in the laboratory. The research team stated that they cannot understand how the Trisolarans managed to make the "anti-hyperhydrogen-4" annihilation bomb fly stably for hundreds of billions of kilometers.

According to the density research of the antimatter research team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on [anti-hyperhydrogen-4], these anti-hyperhydrogen-4 have extremely high densities, and the mass of one cubic millimeter of anti-hyperhydrogen-4 can reach 100 million tons.

This means that the Trisolarans' antimatter technology far surpasses that of humans and dinosaurs. Currently, humanity's antimatter weapon is the "anti-hydrogen atom," composed of one antiproton and one positron. While this antimatter is simple to prepare, its density is limited. A bullet containing one cubic centimeter of anti-hydrogen atoms would only weigh around 100,000 tons.

For the same volume, the Trisolarans' antimatter annihilation bomb is about ten thousand times more powerful than a human's.

The Science Committee has finished its presentation.

Silence fell over the headquarters.

Are the differences between antimatter weapons really that big?
The chairman of the Solar System Fleet Council encouraged, "Anti-Hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs can destroy our ships, and anti-hydrogen atomic bombs can also damage theirs. The outcome is not about the size of the weapon, but about human effort. Comrades of the Space Force, cheer up! The time has come to fulfill our responsibility to humanity."

Commander-in-Chief of the Solar System Fleet, Qian Mengjian, immediately issued the order: "Tracing the direction of the attack, locate the second fleet that launched the attack."

Faced with the sniper fire from the Trisolaran Second Fleet, the Solar System Fleet did everything within its power to respond, but given the absolute technological gap, all of humanity's actions were like the blind men touching an elephant, unable to grasp the whole picture.

Luo Ji saw it all, but at this moment he could only wait.

The destruction of the outer solar system's [sentinel] detection platform is just the beginning.

In the following hours, the Trisolaran Second Fleet's antimatter annihilation bombs bypassed the 'Fog Umbrella' project and headed straight for the interior of the Kuiper Belt!
Twelve concealed radio radar stations, three unmanned lidar arrays, and the latest Fitzroy-Ringer fourth-generation large telescope within the Kuiper Belt were all precisely destroyed in the same manner.

The annihilation of the fourth-generation Fitzroy-Ringer telescope was a major loss to the solar system fleet.

The Trisolarans' Anti-Hydrogen-4 Annihilation Bomb is extremely economical in its strikes, using only one Anti-Hydrogen-4 Annihilation Bomb per target, never wasting any.

The destruction of these human facilities only required the use of sixteen anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs.

Someone in the command suggested: "The Second Fleet lacks antimatter resources, so this kind of antimatter attack should not be able to last long."

But the Commander-in-Chief dismissed this idea: "How do you know if the Trisolaran fleet is deliberately hiding? The enemy could unleash tens of thousands of annihilation bombs at any moment. Get the fleet moving and be careful of annihilation bomb snipes." With the annihilation of the Fitzroy-Ringer telescope, the death toll on the human side had reached several thousand.

Shanqing, the ruler of the underworld, hurriedly organized a welcoming ceremony for these bewildered space force martyrs.

A warm welcome to the Space Force comrades for their visit to the Underworld.

—In the underworld, which resembles paradise, many similar banners were hung up.

Of course, people in the mortal realm are unaware of the affairs of the underworld. After paying a certain price, humanity finally figured out the Second Fleet's attack preferences: humanity's deep-space exploration and early warning equipment!
"Choosing to destroy the enemy's eyes first at the start of the war is a standard strategy for warfare between equals. This shows that the Second Fleet regards us as an opponent of equal caliber and has chosen to conceal its beyond-visual-range strikes to weaken our combat capabilities rather than directly crush us. This is a good sign," Commander-in-Chief Qian encouraged everyone in the command headquarters.

Day sixteen.

The Trisolaran Second Fleet's antimatter annihilation strikes began to penetrate deep into the Kuiper Belt, targeting humanity's star-class and planetary-class warships.

However, it is not easy to cross such a vast distance and hit these moving targets at a speed far below the speed of light. In addition, the command had already ordered the fleet to perform irregular maneuvers to avoid the antimatter attacks of these Trisolaran fleets.

The pre-erected empty hulls of warships replaced the positions of normal warships and were unsurprisingly annihilated by antimatter, confirming that this attack, invisible to the naked eye, was real.

The Trisolaran Second Fleet's direct attack on the Solar System Fleet lasted only one round, using approximately 1500 anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs, targeting 473 star-class warships no longer obscured by planets and over a thousand planetary warships.

Clearly, the Second Fleet also knew that if the sneak attack failed, it would be impossible to hit the enemy again.

These 1500 anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs have also sounded an alarm for humanity.

The Second Fleet's antimatter reserves are far greater than some had previously predicted.

The fact that all 1500 anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs missed their targets means that 1700 astronomical units is too far for humanity, and equally far for the Trisolaran Second Fleet. While the Trisolaran Second Fleet is powerful, it is not powerful enough to remotely control antimatter annihilation bombs for tracking and striking.

The Solar System fleet also did not retaliate against the direction of the antimatter annihilation bomb—the Trisolaran fleet must have launched the attack at high speed and also made irregular maneuvers; to attempt a tracing attack would be tantamount to trying to find a sword by marking the boat where it was thrown.

However, through tracing the flight paths of numerous annihilation bombs and predicting the trajectory of MOSS, humanity miraculously discovered a sub-fleet consisting of twenty Trisolaran warships. It was clear that the Trisolarans' second fleet had undergone multiple rounds of further splitting after escaping human surveillance, forming a small and scattered fleet.

Humanity clearly did not want the Trisolaran Second Fleet to be so disorganized, but war is not subject to human will, and Luo Ji could only continue to wait for an opportunity.

After all attacks on the Solar System Fleet missed their targets, the Second Fleet's final wave of counter-hydrogen-4 annihilation bomb strikes arrived as scheduled.

This time, the Trisolarans are targeting humanity as a 'fixed target'.

Multiple large deep-space exploration instruments on Pluto, as well as two Sunspear laser weapon platforms relocated from the Devouring Ring, were destroyed by precise antimatter annihilation bombs.

Fortunately, the Museum of Human History, built for the "Human Commemoration Event," was located in the "flat" region of Pluto, while the Trisolaran fleet was attacking from the "spherical" region on the far side of Pluto.

Art replicas, such as the Mona Lisa, are still safely housed in museums on Pluto and have not been attacked by the anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bomb.

Since the 'original' works, including the Mona Lisa, are stored in museums like the Louvre in France, humans have never intended to move these 'replicas'. After all, they are all replicas, so it wouldn't be a big deal if they were damaged.

Due to the large number of large facilities on Pluto's surface, the Trisolaran Second Fleet launched approximately 320 anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs in this round of attacks. The damage caused to the planet's surface by these annihilation bombs was no less than that caused by a nuclear explosion.

With the destruction of all large-scale detection equipment on Pluto's surface, all of humanity's large-scale deep space exploration equipment in the outer solar system has now been destroyed.

During the two-day precision strikes by the Trisolarans, humanity realized that there should be a large number of sophons belonging to the Trisolaran Second Fleet flying within the solar system.

Unfortunately, humanity lacks the technology of the Second Fleet to destroy Earth's sophons. Humanity cannot even sense the existence of enemy sophons, nor do they know their exact number.

Humanity can only allow these hostile sophons to fly through the solar system.

"Shouldn't the Trisolaran offensive be over by now?" The commander of the First Fleet thought to himself as he looked at the 320 hemispherical craters caused by the annihilation of antimatter on the surface of Pluto aboard his flagship, the Golden Plains, a star-class warship.

But suddenly, a horrified report came through the communications channel.

"Commander, the outermost 'fog umbrella' project has shown clear ejection tracks. It's a large number of anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs. Because these anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs are so dense and numerous, they have disturbed the fog umbrella formed by the ink material, finally revealing clear tracks!"

"A large quantity? How many? Ten thousand?!"

"It's one million anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs!"

"I knew the Trisolarans had far more than that in stock. Where were these annihilation bombs being fired?"

The correspondent quickly reads out the latest intelligence:
"Those one million anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs formed a complex concentric circle shape, which was exactly... exactly the same as the 'concentric circles' of the cross-section of the light cone telescope. They were heading towards the large ring of the light cone telescope! The Trisolarans aimed at one million lenses! The annihilation bombs were traveling at 67.9% of the speed of light! We couldn't intercept them!"

"Moreover, since the Light Cone Telescope can only rotate clockwise at a constant power, this round of anti-Hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs predicted the Light Cone Telescope's rotation. Since there are no planetary engines on the large ring, it cannot maneuver. This largest-scale anti-Hydrogen-4 annihilation bomb attack will completely destroy the Light Cone Telescope in 12 hours!"

The correspondent has finished reporting.

But the commander felt a chill in his heart.

It’s over.

Although the Light Cone Telescope is a legacy of the previous dynasty of the Devouring Empire, it has long been an important means of observation for human space power. Without the Light Cone Telescope, humanity would be as blind as if it had lost an eye.

The other eye is sophon technology.

If the light cone telescope were destroyed, the commander simply couldn't imagine how the war would continue.

Intercept? With what? One million anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs correspond to one million light cone telescope lenses. Even if warships were to use their own bodies to intercept them, humanity simply couldn't produce one million warships. Moreover, the command would never issue such a suicidal order.

What to do.

But soon, the messenger's voice, filled with surprise and delight, rang out.

"Commander! Breaking news: Under Karl's command, tens of thousands of civilian dinosaur ships have emerged from the Devouring Ring and are blocking the way of the Light Cone Telescope's most important giant lens."

This incident caused a huge stir. Because the entire war was broadcast live, the general public throughout the solar system became aware of the crisis humanity was facing.

The light cone telescope must not be lost!
The seven sophons unfolded in three dimensions before the seven fleet commanders, jointly broadcasting the following breaking news:

[All 17214 interplanetary logistics transport ships of China Post Group Corporation are en route to the Grand Ring.]

[DHL's 12048 Deep Space Hummingbird cargo ships in Germany have unloaded all interplanetary packages and are heading towards the Light Cone Telescope]

[The Royal Mail's 3120 giant 'Royal-class transport ships' are en route to the central area of ​​the Light Cone Telescope]

[JD Logistics' 21009 silver transport ships are en route to their designated coordinates to intercept the light cone telescope in area A3 on its right flank.]

[The French Starship fleet, consisting of 75085 ships, is en route to a large circular orbit.]

Zhizi's broadcast paused for half a second, then connected to a signal from a more distant location.

[The 15000 "Crimson Dust Ships" of the "Mars 'Star Ring Interstellar Express' have broken through Mars' orbit and are now rushing toward the defense line with maximum thrust.]

[“Kuiper brought 20000 asteroid shuttles from various mining sites with the ‘United Warehousing and Logistics’ initiative.”]

……

Originally used for transporting packages, minerals, and supplies, the spaceships have now shed their "logistics tool" label and transformed into streaks of light of various colors, converging in front of the light cone telescope to form a colorful light shield made of observable matter.

The fleet commanders who saw the news gaped open, their expressions one of astonishment.

At that moment, a widespread solar system announcement rang out, a mixture of modern languages, Old Chinese, Old English, Old German, Old Japanese, and even the swallowing language of dinosaurs, all speaking similar words:

"In place," "Barrier intact," "Ready to go," "The fourth quadrant is still missing a defense piece. Does anyone have a civilian spaceship to fill the gap?" "This is my private spaceship that I saved up for half my life... I'll risk it all."

In addition to these large logistics companies, small civilian spaceships and interstellar trains also dropped off passengers. There were even a large number of private spaceships, including those belonging to the middle class, the wealthy, and even those on welfare, all rushing towards their destinations without hesitation.

All mobile spacecraft that could reach the light cone telescope within 24 hours have been put into operation.

After about 4 hours of convergence, the total number of civilian spacecraft belonging to humans and dinosaurs in the solar system finally exceeded 100 million!

As Qian Mengjian watched the numbers "Protection Rate 157.1%" and "Protection Rate 157.2%" constantly updating on Zhi Zi's screen, his tense shoulders finally relaxed.

"bring it on!"

The solar system's wide-area radio waves have all roared with the anger of the people/dragon people.

Then, under the watchful eyes of billions, all the antimatter annihilation bombs collided with Neptune's orbit, emitting a blinding light.

The strong interaction force caused the ice sea to surge with towering waves, blocking all the anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs.

At that moment, all of humanity was stunned.

Seeing this, Luo Ji finally felt relieved, and his voice resounded throughout the solar system via the live broadcast:

"With the formation in place, the Second Fleet can't break through Neptune's orbital defenses. We appreciate everyone's good intentions, but leave the rest of the battle to us."

Luo Ji stood floating in the vacuum, with boundless light behind him, appearing for the first time in the form of a cultivator before the terrified eyes of the Trisolarans in the Second Fleet of the Trisolarans.

No? There are cultivators on Earth?
With the unprecedented scale of the anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bomb strike, a total of 215 Trisolaran fleet ships exposed their positions and were relentlessly pursued by 215 Earth sophons at the forefront.

Luo Ji waved.

Four fiery spears converge amidst the wind and clouds.

(End of this chapter)