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

Chapter 456 The End of the Second Fleet (5k)

On the rings, on Neptune, all the human starships adjusted their course, and then calculated the correct interception route based on the trajectory of the enemy's projectile weapons provided by the Sophon, bursting forth with brilliant light.

In the past, Neptune and Uranus, these two ice giants, were actually similar to liquid-solid mixed planets, and were even still classified as one of the four gas giants. Humans simply could not carry out any construction on these two semi-gaseous giant planets.

But after the Devouring Crisis, having demonstrated his ability to drag the giant rings and Pluto, Luo Qing stopped pretending and directly condensed Neptune and Uranus into a true "solid ice giant".

Excess water, ammonia, methane, and other substances formed an icy ocean in orbit.

This led to humanity's subsequent development of Neptune and Uranus, and also to the formation of the Ice Sea with strong interaction forces created by the array.

At this moment, a large number of gamma laser rays of different energy levels, as well as a gamma-ray burst on Neptune, are hurtling towards the heavens at the speed of light.

Two hours later.

The Trisolaran Second Fleet's anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bomb strike has ended; all anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs were intercepted by Neptune's ice array.

Three hours later.

17000 planetary warships completed the total acceleration of [Advance 4] within the solar system, flying away from the flank of the Second Fleet at a speed of 0.2C, and triggering an electromagnetic orbital rain at 20% the speed of light, which, under the superposition of relativism, reached 38.5% the speed of light.

The lower the speed, the lower the effect of relativistic forces. And the number of electromagnetic railguns launched by these 17500 planetary warships has reached a terrifying hundreds of millions.

These hundreds of millions of electromagnetic railguns have blocked all the Second Fleet's planned evasive range at 10% of the speed of light, ensuring that every direction will be hit by at least millions of electromagnetic railguns.

Ten hours later.

Humanity's gamma laser beams, solar spears, gamma-ray bursts, and degenerate matter bombs launched by the Trisolaran fleet collided with extreme precision at a distance of approximately 1500 billion kilometers from the solar system.

In the ten hours since, Earth's scientific community has analyzed the material properties of this weapon. This degenerate matter bomb can only exist stably under extremely high pressure and temperature; it would immediately self-destruct in a normal space environment. Therefore, the scientific community believes that there must be an extremely strong energy field surrounding this degenerate matter bomb.

This also matches what Tomoko saw.

Lasers possess a stable energy field that destroys them, causing them to explode in mid-air.

This is the best interception humanity can muster. Beyond that, whether it's a regular electromagnetic railgun shell, an antimatter bullet mixed in with it, or even the explosion of a stellar hydrogen bomb, it will all be directly crushed by the degenerate matter bomb.

It can be said that if the array hadn't intercepted them, and those 215 matter spheres had crashed onto the planets of the solar system, the entire solar system would have instantly turned into a hellish landscape, with only Jupiter and Saturn, the two Jovian planets, surviving.

All the geologically solid planets, including the large rings and the two ice giants, will suffer a devastating disintegration, forming the seven asteroid belts that spread throughout the solar system.

The Second Fleet of the Trisolarans' attack was aimed at taking the lives of humanity!
Clearly, the Trisolaran Second Fleet has lost all interest in conquering Earth; they only want to plunge the solar system into a destruction similar to that of the 'four'-body system.

Boom boom boom!
A large number of gamma laser beams bombarded the 215 degenerate matter bombs.

The collision between the blinding laser rain and the degenerate matter bomb produced a noticeable change in light.

Under Zhizi's observation, the interception results came out quickly.

The high-powered laser beams fired by the human star-class warships failed to effectively destroy the energy field of any of the degenerate matter bombs. Instead, the dinosaur's sunspear-class lasers, through concentrated fire, successfully penetrated five degenerate matter bombs, causing them to explode in mid-air and form a tiny supernova explosion.

Five shining stars appeared in the center of the battlefield.

The explosion of these five degenerate matter bombs was no less spectacular than the flash of light that occurs when matter and antimatter annihilate each other.

Of course, this brilliance is only dazzling from the perspective of the solar system; outside the Oort cloud, it cannot even compare to the light of the smallest star.

Then came the human gamma-ray burst.

The gamma laser burst not only penetrated the energy field of the degenerate matter bomb, but also went through the past, successively destroying several energy fields that contained the degenerate matter bomb, forming a series of small-scale supernova explosions.

Upon seeing this, humanity immediately began modifying the interception data, directing stellar-class warships to concentrate their fire, dispersing the attacks of the sun spear weapons, and directing gamma-ray bursts to intercept the densest degenerate matter regions.

However, due to the limited interception time, only four or five interceptions can be carried out within the foreseeable time, destroying at most twenty degenerate matter bombs.

The Trisolaran fleet's attack on Earth's nine planets was an oversaturation attack.

One bomb could destroy a solid planet, yet the Trisolarans overloaded all the solid planets in the solar system, especially targeting Earth, launching over eighty degenerate matter bombs!
This is aimed at blowing the Earth to dust.

Of course, the Trisolarans did not use this method to attack Jupiter and Saturn in any way. Instead, they distributed two of their four massive satellites to each of them, in order to prevent humanity from clinging to life on satellites after the planet's destruction.

Even the moon was targeted with three of them.

The Big Ring received treatment second only to Earth, receiving a total of 40 stars.

Just one of these bombs could break the entire ring, skeleton and frame together. Even a ring skeleton made of white dwarf matter cannot withstand the impact of such a degenerate matter bomb at sublight speed, let alone 40 of them.

In addition, there are several Mercury planets, more than thirty Mars planets, more than twenty Venus planets, more than ten Uranus planets and more than ten Neptune planets, and even several Pluto planets.

Among the nine planets and satellites in the solar system, only Mercury and the Moon have the ability to evade attacks and deviate from their intended orbits in advance, but humanity has not rashly launched the lunar exploration program and the wandering Mercury program.

Any change in the position of a planet is a major event for the world, especially a sudden shift in the position of the moon, which could trigger a global tsunami.

Humanity chose to believe in Luo Qing, in the formation, and in Luo Ji.

Twenty-six hours later.

A degenerate matter bomb crashes into the solar system!

At the last moment, the solar system fleet simultaneously released high-yield antimatter bombs and destroyed more than 10 degenerate matter bombs traveling at sub-light speed through matter-antimatter annihilation.

The remaining 160-odd degenerate matter bombs, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, hurtled into Pluto's orbit. The three degenerate matter bombs targeting Pluto had already been destroyed by humans, and the remaining planets would have to rely on the array.

The Trisolarans were extremely confident that they could break through the strange protection of Pluto.

This is a power capable of destroying stars! It is the embodiment of the Trisolarans' most advanced weapon technology!
"Impact of 0.8C degenerate matter! Expected to arrive in Neptune's orbit in 15 minutes!"

"Calculations show that the kinetic energy of a single impactor is enough to penetrate the Earth."

"All weapon interception methods have been exhausted! Prepare for the assault!"

"No, it's not over yet, look up at the sky."

A towering spear, burning away half the night sky, tumbled and charged towards the enemy ranks.

"I come."

Luo Ji leaped into the air, and the Starflame Spear in his hand flew away at the speed of light, transforming into a fire dragon and rushing towards the largest and heaviest degenerate matter bomb.

The two sides exploded the instant they made contact.

This 20-kilometer-long spear, which had withstood thousands of anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bombs, emitted a blinding light when it collided with the Trisolaran Second Fleet's most powerful projectile weapon.

The degenerate matter bomb was directly penetrated, and before the pseudo-supernova could even explode, it was already shattered into pieces, with fragments scattered everywhere.

Compared to the immense power of a star, the Trisolarans' technological capabilities are far too weak.

Ultimately, the Starfire Spear, like a dragon, consciously traversed at the speed of light amidst the close-range attacks of degenerate matter bombs, and finally destroyed dozens of degenerate matter bombs.

At this moment, the flames of the Starfire Spear began to fade. A Trisolaran, overjoyed, rushed in, only to be instantly burned out.

Luo Ji gripped the vibrating spear again; he had done his best.

He was just a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The rest is up to the formation itself.

Noticing Luo Ji's condition, the Second Fleet, located far away, finally breathed a sigh of relief. They guessed that the spear was some kind of magical artifact left by Luo Qing for Luo Ji, but now this artifact was almost destroyed.

Victory is at hand.

The Second Fleet had clearly exhausted most of its conventional energy in order to release these degenerate matter bombs; even its powerful force field tentacles had withered and disappeared, and had simply shut down.

The Second Fleet of the Trisolarans watched all of this with anticipation.

Sudden changes occur.

Deep within the sun, a dazzling pillar of light of indescribable color suddenly erupted, instantly connecting the nine planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, the Rings, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—like the roots of a plant!
This formation has automatically detected a world-ending crisis!

At this moment, the nine celestial bodies formed a massive and profound array with the sun at its core! The immense power of the stars was drawn in, creating an incomparably complex and magnificent spiritual barrier within the solar system.

Above the barrier, illusory images of stars flowed, and the Daoist principles of the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) were endlessly generated. Furthermore, the illusory images of the nine luminaries, including the sun, moon, and stars, appeared and disappeared, exuding supreme majesty that suppressed all heavens and established the order of earth, fire, water, and wind.

The primordial self floated above the fully activated array, looking at the remaining 160-plus sub-light-speed degenerate matter bombs with a look of utter contempt for ants.

Fight!

The entire orbit around Neptune was covered in a blue, icy sea!

Boom, boom, boom!
Hundreds of degenerate matter bombs, powerful enough to penetrate a solid planet, crashed into that eternal icy barrier.

Like snow meeting the warm spring sun, like clouds entering a raging wind, like flowers falling into a muddy swamp.

Everything quickly melted and disintegrated.

Ripples spread across the icy ocean, and the illusory images of the Nine Luminaries shone brightly, easily neutralizing the sub-light-speed kinetic energy bombardment.

Where the torrents collided, starlight shone brightly, and ripples spread like rain falling on a lake, but apart from the hundreds of additional ocean ripples, nothing else happened. The attack, capable of destroying the entire solar system, was easily intercepted by the Nine Luminaries Celestial Array.

The Trisolaran Second Fleet fell completely silent upon seeing this.

Commander of the Second Fleet of the Trisolarans: "Turn, conventional power, full speed."

Commander of the Second Fleet of the Trisolarans: "Let's leave the solar system while we're still far away."

However, while the Second Fleet wanted to leave, some people didn't want them to.

Twenty hours later.

The kinetic energy barrage and stellar hydrogen bombs launched by humanity from another direction have also flown into the flank of the Trisolaran Second Fleet from a new direction.

The Trisolaran Second Fleet was indeed caught off guard by the attack from this direction. These kinetic energy projectiles were only about 0.38 times the speed of light, and it seemed that they were not released by star-class warships, but by a large number of planetary warships.

In order to predict the direction of the Second Fleet's turn, the more than 10,000 planetary warships carried out pre-strikes from different directions.

This exhaustive attack was something the Second Fleet hadn't anticipated.

Another deafening explosion echoed through deep space.

Since the Trisolaran fleet no longer had the energy to maintain the force field tentacles, the Second Fleet could only withstand the bombardment and release the anti-hydrogen-4 annihilation bomb in advance to kill the stellar hydrogen bombs mixed in with it.

While the power of a stellar hydrogen bomb explosion is insufficient to shake a trimaran warship, the kinetic energy it generates will indeed have some impact on its course.

Subsequently, more four-dimensional space lines appeared tens of thousands of kilometers away from the incoming barrage of bullets, shredding all the electromagnetic projectiles.

Due to the vast distance between them, the mesh-like four-dimensional space lines could not possibly block all the electromagnetic projectiles. In the end, tens of thousands of electromagnetic kinetic energy cannons successfully broke through the Trisolaran fleet's interception line.

The Trisolaran fleet restarted its force field tentacles, which had been weakened by a lack of resources. However, due to the excessive dispersion of the warships, the force field tentacles of a single warship were simply unable to deflect the shells.

Even at this point, the Trisolaran Second Fleet was still unwilling to activate the warp drive.

To prevent any accidents, the Second Fleet deployed a 'red zone stasis field' on top of its strong interaction force armor, locking itself in place with baryons.

The Second Fleet of the Trisolarans burst into neat red light.

But the thing the Second Fleet least wanted to see still happened: the cunning humans actually hid antimatter bullets inside the electromagnetic cannon shells.

At least a dozen electromagnetic railgun shells, concealing antimatter bullets, struck the sides of the three warp drive ships.

And coincidentally, the antimatter bullet struck the ring-shaped warp drive, resulting in a clear annihilation of matter and antimatter.

A blinding white light appeared as these simplest anti-hydrogen weapons successfully melted the strong interaction force armor and the protection of the 'red zone stasis field', and penetrated the warp drive.

The Second Fleet commander's heart sank.

In the current cosmic environment, a trimaran warship that has lost its warp drive is essentially destroyed.

Almost without hesitation, the three damaged trimaran warships all sent the same message to the commander of the Second Fleet:
Don't abandon us.

The commander of the Second Fleet ignored this information; he was only regretting why he hadn't reserved ten ships in advance to stop the degenerate matter bomb strikes, so as to reserve some energy to activate force field tentacles for interception.

As commander-in-chief, he bears inescapable responsibility for the loss of the three warp drive ships.

The right decision must be made immediately.

The commander of the Second Fleet issued the following order:
[All combat units immediately converge at the mothership's coordinates, activating the cluster energy pathways and constructing a powerful force field covering the entire area. Humanity has already embedded antimatter modules within the electromagnetic railgun projectiles. Considering the energy consumption caused by launching degenerate matter bombs, the force field of a single ship is insufficient to deflect enemy projectiles. Only by aggregating the force fields of all ships to form a widespread repulsive force field can complete immunity be achieved, enabling safe maneuvering.]

Two hundred and twelve trimaran warships began to converge, transforming from a loose formation into a dense one.

Humanity is watching.

Luo Ji also saw this.

As expected, the subsequent electromagnetic projectiles were no longer able to break through the deflection of the fleet's combined force field and were all deflected, flying into the depths of space.

At this moment, Earth's sophons at the front line suddenly sent a message: Luo Ji's Starfire Spear was thrown towards the Second Fleet at 90% of the speed of light.

His movements were as precise as those of an ancient Greek javelin thrower, determined to kill his prey.

Second Fleet Commander: "Humanity is forcing us to activate our warp drives..."

Second Fleet Commander: "They're courting death."

Second Fleet Commander: "We have done enough for our home planet, even at the cost of three light-speed ships."

Second Fleet Commander: "I hereby declare warp drive activated..."

The dazzling firelight suddenly enveloped its silvery-gray face.

The commander of the Second Fleet froze slightly.

At this critical moment, Luo Ji, who had been holding his throwing posture like a statue, suddenly opened his eyes.

The fake Starfire Spear suddenly vanished, transforming into the shape of the Azure Sea Sword and flying back into Luo Ji's hand.

Meanwhile, the four real starfire spears had already flown at the speed of light to the four corners of the Trisolaran second fleet formation, directly piercing through the four Trisolaran warships!

Because they were completely invisible while traveling at the speed of light, the Second Fleet never detected the four star-fire spears approaching at the speed of light, and didn't even know when the enemy had surrounded the fleet.

The commander of the Second Fleet stared in astonishment at his four light-speed ships that had burned out completely.

After the four Trisolaran warships were destroyed, the nearby Trisolaran warships had no time to react before they were instantly incinerated by the patrolling Starflame Spears, which transformed into four scorching Sky-Piercing Fire Feathers emanating extremely yang and powerful starflames.

Another twenty trimaran warships were instantly destroyed.

"A sharp-angle turn! A sharp-angle turn at the speed of light!"

"The Red Domain Stasis Field cannot withstand it; it will be burned to ashes in an instant!"

"Oh my god, start the warp drive!"

"Wasn't that fire spear just thrown? When did these four fire spears appear?"

"Damn it! The warships are too close together; it will take time to activate the warp drives!"

"A conspiracy! A conspiracy by cultivators! A conspiracy by those who face the wall!"

"We can't even see where the fire spear is; fire is everywhere, the universe is on fire..."

A wave of terrified thoughts spread rapidly through the Second Fleet of the Trisolarans.

[Evacuate! Activate the warp drive!]

The Second Fleet Commander's mind was roaring as he tried to direct the remaining Second Fleet to evacuate.

In that brief second, the four Starfire Spears had already pierced through the formation of the Trisolaran Second Fleet and flew out from the other end. Behind these four Starfire Spears were the wreckage of a full one hundred light-speed spaceships.

Everything happened so fast.

In front of the Trisolaran Second Fleet's mothership, four star-flame spears pierced through the fleet's formation and headed towards the far reaches of deep space.

"It flew off, and even turning takes time..."

The commander was thinking this, but his thought process was quickly interrupted. He saw the four star-flame spears sweep past the mothership and then instantly return at the speed of light in a completely incomprehensible way!

In his final moments, the fleet commander saw only the flames that resembled the sun's true fire.

"Ah, it's the sun..."

At this moment, the Trisolaran warship in the corner finally realized that the actions of the four starfire spears were to preemptively block their escape route at the speed of light!
However, Luo Ji did not expect that the Trisolaran Second Fleet would not be able to complete the activation of the warp drive within a second.

After the Starflame Spear returned, another twenty Trisolaran warships exploded!

All counterattacks, dodges, and defenses were rendered utterly ineffective before the Starfire Spear, which drew upon the instantaneous power of the entire sun!
1.57 seconds after the formation attack was launched, the first Trisolaran warship successfully activated its warp drive and entered a state of light-speed flight.

Then came the second trimaran warship, the third trimaran warship...

Ultimately, before the four star-flame spears could destroy all the Trisolaran warships, ten Trisolaran warships successfully entered light-speed flight mode, evading the pursuit of the four star-flame spears.

"Are we...safe?"

Before the surviving Trisolarans could even rejoice...

A towering wave of flames roared in from another direction.

It was a star spear, 200,000 kilometers long and 10,000 kilometers wide.

The spear, like a golden-red scourge of God, lashed out in the dark universe, lashing clockwise at the ten Trisolaran warships that had already entered the light-speed spaceship. Unfortunately, both sides were outside the light cone, and the Trisolarans would never see this moment of their destruction.

Thus, the Second Fleet was destroyed.

(End of this chapter)