Everyone's playing Red Giant? I, Black Hole, devour everything!

Colonel Nakamura's ears were ringing.

The 10th three-star sector has deployed nearly 8,000 neutron stars, along with a large number of red giants and blue giants as auxiliary stars.

This was the largest force he could muster on the border, but less than an hour into the battle, nearly a third of his troops had already been wiped out.

"Colonel Nakamura! Retreat! It'll be too late if you don't retreat now—your command star has been locked onto by that black hole!"

"Withdraw? Withdraw to where?"

Colonel Nakamura slowly closed his eyes.

He is the commander of the 10th Star Sector, and the entire sector is his defense line.

Behind him was the Twelfth Star Sector, where thousands of neutron stars were desperately building fortifications in an attempt to block the black hole of the Great Xia Kingdom.

He cannot retreat.

We cannot retreat at this juncture.

However, some retreats are not something you can simply decide to do.

"Pass on my orders." Colonel Nakamura's voice suddenly became calm. "Tell headquarters that the 10th Three-Star Sector is on the verge of irreversible collapse. Request the rear star sector to accelerate the completion of its defensive fortifications, and if necessary, take extreme measures to stop the Great Xia Kingdom from advancing further."

As soon as he finished speaking, the last kamikaze attack signal went out on the command center's large screen.

Only cold, static noise remained on the communication channel.

Colonel Nakamura raised his head.

Above his head was the metal inner wall of the observation chamber.

But what he saw in his mind was an incredibly dazzling light.

……

The battle in the tenth three-star district ended much faster than expected.

After the dark, oppressive gravitational field completely engulfed the last observer's star in the Sakura Kingdom, the entire public channel of the Thirteenth Star Sector fell into a deathly silence.

Everywhere there were wrecks, everywhere there were specks of dust floating in the starry sky.

Those once invincible neutron stars, red giants, and blue giants are now just scattered fragments drifting aimlessly in the void of the universe.

"All squadrons, report the battle situation." Su Li's voice switched into the command channel.

"The first formation annihilated over 4,400 enemy soldiers, with no losses on our side."

"The second formation annihilated over 3,100 enemy soldiers, with no losses on our side."

"The third formation annihilated approximately 2,500 enemy soldiers, with no losses on our side."

……

Reports came one after another, and the numbers accumulated rapidly.

Finally, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the radio, followed by a cheerful voice.

"Sister Su, we have a slightly lower number here, it seems to be only a little over a thousand..."

"Alright, alright, let's not worry about the amount. The important thing is that no one got hurt."

Su Li said this to the whole team in the channel with satisfaction.

Then she opened her private chat with Lin Tian.

"Teacher Lin, did you see that? Eight thousand people! In less than two hours, we wiped out more than eight thousand of them!"

Lin Tian's voice came from the other end of the communicator: "Received. I've read the battle report. The follow-up cleanup work will be handed over to the second team. You lead your team to continue advancing."

"Alright!" Su Li replied crisply. "But Teacher Lin, aren't you going to give me a compliment? Look how well I led the team this time—"

"Well played."

"That's it? Just these three words? Teacher Lin, your evaluation standard is too high!" Su Li's tone was full of dissatisfaction, but she couldn't hide the laughter in her voice.

Lu Xuejian's voice cut in from the side: "Su Li, if you keep showing off, Lin Tianxia will have Fang Yan lead the team next time."

"No, no, no! I won't show off anymore, okay?" Su Li immediately changed to a fawning tone. "Teacher Lin, I didn't say anything just now. Please continue drinking your tea and resting. I'll take care of these small fry for you!"

The laughter of the group leaders in the channel was kept low, but Su Li could hear it.

She didn't care, snorted, and then turned her attention back to the star map.

……

At the border of the 10th Three-Star District, the Great Xia Kingdom's Red Giant Star Force began to move in and take over.

"All star mining facilities are labeled with national requisition tags."

"This star mineral vein was stolen from our Seventh Star Sector by the Japanese Empire—damn it, we finally got it back!"

"That's not all. I saw the brochure that came in this morning. Half of the resources in this sector were taken from us before."

The public channels of the taking-over forces were filled with jubilant voices.

Meanwhile, in the more remote mainland of the Great Xia Kingdom, star mineral resources are continuously flowing into major refining centers.

The national comprehensive strength score began to rise sharply after each red giant star took office.

Overnight, the ratings increased by nearly 200 million.

When this figure was transmitted back to China, even the most composed financial commentators couldn't help but drop their jaws during the live broadcast.

……

The beacon of democracy, the White House.

The president sat in a high-backed chair in the Oval Office, with three screens simultaneously displayed on the screen in front of him.

One of them is the real-time battle report for the tenth three-star district.

One section contains global military situation reports compiled by the White Eagle Secret Service.

There's also a video of the spokesperson for the Great Xia Kingdom's Ministry of Foreign Affairs walking away from a UN meeting.

He watched it three times.

The first time, I couldn't believe it.

The second time was anger.

The third time, he experienced a sense of powerlessness he had never felt before in his life.

"Mr. President," the adjutant's voice came from outside the door, "Old Chen of the Great Xia Kingdom still refuses to answer the phone."

The president did not speak.

He slowly took off his glasses and rubbed his temples with two fingers.

This isn't the first time.

Since three days ago, his staff has submitted no fewer than ten phone call requests to the high-ranking officials of the Great Xia Kingdom through various channels.

All of them disappeared without a trace.

The other party's response was always the same: "The high-ranking officials of the Great Xia Kingdom are busy with important matters and cannot arrange a call at the moment."

Busy with work.

The president certainly knows what they're busy with.

They are busy erasing the Cherry Blossom Country from the star map, sector by sector.

"So, they're determined to fight."

The president's voice was low, as if he were talking to himself, or perhaps asking his aides.

The chief of staff standing next to him was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Yes, sir. According to our intelligence, the Great Xia Kingdom has mobilized at least six legions this time, plus a strike force centered on the Black Hole Legion. This scale of deployment far exceeds the scope of a punitive operation."

"They really intend to destroy Japan."

The president tapped his fingers lightly on the table, one tap at a time, the rhythm slow and heavy.

He was thinking about something.

He thought about this for three whole days, but still couldn't figure it out.

Should the United States intervene?

If we don't intervene, Japan's defense perimeter, which has been operating in East Asia for decades, will become a thing of the past.

The United States' strategic foothold in the Western Pacific will be uprooted, and the power structure of the entire Asia-Pacific region will be completely rewritten.

More importantly, the overall national strength of the Great Xia Kingdom is currently increasing by tens of millions or even hundreds of millions every day.

On the day the 10th three-star district was captured, according to the intelligence department's conservative estimate, the Great Xia Kingdom's overall strength score increased by at least 200 million.

Two hundred million.

How much has the United States increased in the past year?

150 million.

The amount they produce in a single day is more than you accumulate in a year.

He didn't want to admit it, but the facts were there.

"How many of our Quark Star troops are currently available?" the president finally asked.

"Less than nine thousand." The chief of staff flipped open the data panel in his hand, his voice low. "Of them, only less than four thousand are front-line troops capable of withstanding high-intensity gravitational attacks. The rest are either damaged in previous operations and need to rest, or are new recruits still in their training period."