Chapter 255: No Turning Back Once the Arrow is Shot

“So, there’s some kind of superweapon on Ruins Star?”

The Executive Officer’s words made the players’ imaginations run wild.

“Maybe it’s a planetary defense cannon left over from the golden age, similar to those in the Gundam universe.”

“Genesis? That thing is a gamma-ray laser cannon. If we could capture it, we’d be able to unlock super-long-range laser main cannon technology.”

“I don’t think so—those kinds of super-weapons would definitely be among the first targets in a doomsday catastrophe.”

“Yeah, if it could have been left behind, the planet wouldn’t have fallen.”

“So it’s a more flexible weapon? A super battleship?”

“That’s not very likely either. If they had something like that, Dark Sun would have used it already. Not to mention, making New Hope submit would be a breeze.”

“Then it seems we’re heading into unknown danger—is it really wise to continue the attack?”

Lu Yuan stood up and walked to the front of the bridge, looking at the largest display screen.

This was a curved screen, perfectly recreating the battleship’s 180-degree forward view, displaying the Milky Way against a dark cosmic background, like an enormous porthole with infinite space outside.

However, in reality, to maximize safety and reduce the possibility of being paralyzed after a direct hit, the “Qinling” class, like most Star Alliance warships, had its bridge deeply embedded within the hull, integrated with the CIC Combat Information Center.

Knowing that the enemy had prepared a trap, should they still continue the fight?

Honestly, for Lu Yuan, this was the most difficult decision he had made since the game launched.

“Perhaps we can wait a bit.”

Xian Yu leaned in close to him, lowering his voice.

“Li Star has two new ‘Qinling’ class ships built, and in another week, two ‘Wuyi’ class ships will be commissioned. We can hold off on providing these four warships to the Free Trade Alliance for now and deploy them here to participate in the battle. That way, the number of warships will increase from seven to eleven.”

Lu Yuan was silent for a few seconds, then gently shook his head.

“In that case, we would need to wait an additional 20 days for these two warships, which is too long.”

“Executive Officer, with all due respect, excellent hunters are always patient and skilled at waiting for opportunities!”

“No. You misunderstood my meaning.”

Lu Yuan looked at Xian Yu.

“Currently, the major Star Alliance factions clearly overestimate our strength, which is why they are so compliant. This has bought Cangyuan valuable development opportunities. However, as time passes, they will constantly think, investigate, and continuously raise questions in their minds.”

Oh...

Xian Yu was a smart person, and with the Executive Officer’s hint, he immediately understood.

“You mean, we need to achieve another brilliant victory before the enemy tests us, to make them continue to overestimate our strength?”

Lu Yuan smiled.

“Precisely. If we delay in continuing our offensive, it will only increase the other factions’ doubts about us.”

War is like this; if there is no progress and a stalemate ensues, in the eyes of outsiders, it often shows signs of fear or weariness of war.

“I understand, Executive Officer.” Xian Yu no longer argued. “Then I will refine the tactics as quickly as possible!”

“Good!”

Lu Yuan patted him on the shoulder.

“When devising tactics, there’s no need to be too constrained. Although Dark Sun has likely set up a trap early, this has already been seen through, and I believe the initiative is still on our side.”

“Furthermore, Dark Sun does not know that we now have ‘Wuyi’ class frigates. We need to flexibly utilize the performance of these warships.”

“Yes!”

A moment later, in the Captain’s quarters, Lu Yuan received a special guest.

In the final days of the visit, the Cangyuan fleet issued an announcement to New Hope, deciding to recruit one to two shipboard journalists.

Ultimately, after layers of selection and Anya’s personal recommendation, Bianca, a journalist from Polaris TV, and her photographer were successfully chosen.

Considering that the work was essentially that of a war correspondent, with a certain degree of danger, Lu Yuan had originally planned to offer double the basic salary, with the specific amount open for discussion.

However, the other party’s focus did not seem to be on the remuneration; instead, she first asked if she could eat normally with the crew members after boarding the ship.

“Miss Bianca,”

Lu Yuan sat behind the desk in the captain’s suite, looking at this shipboard journalist who was enthusiastic about food tasting.

“I have something I need to ask you.”

“Of course! Please speak, it’s my honor!”

Bianca seemed to be in high spirits.

“From a media reporting perspective, what kind of evidence is needed to prove that Apollo and Dark Sun are the same entity?”

“Indeed!”

Bianca took a deep breath.

Ever since the fleet began entering the high-incidence area of pirate ship-hijacking incidents, she had a premonition that Cangyuan was going to act against Dark Sun, and now it had finally been confirmed by the Executive Officer himself!

So the Executive Officer had also suspected all along that Apollo and Dark Sun were one and the same?

If all went well, when this “rumor” that had circulated in the Star Alliance for decades was finally confirmed, Dark Sun and Apollo would also become dust in history!

“We need very direct, very strong evidence.”

Bianca said.

“For example, we could film a news segment with Apollo’s high-ranking officials, or even Mr. Sang himself, in the foreground, with Apollo’s fighters and headquarters in the background, and then have them confess their crimes on camera.”

Lu Yuan nodded silently.

It seemed that they still needed to try their best to capture Mr. Sang alive.

It was acceptable, and not necessarily too difficult.

Bianca thought for a moment, then continued: “And just video footage is still not enough. Those forces opposing you would probably still insist that it’s all AI-forged. You might still need to parade Mr. Sang through New Hope, like last time!”

Goodness gracious!

Lu Yuan thought, we were just taking Galan prisoners of war to give lectures about the war, and incidentally having a friendly spar with the boxing-loving Galan populace, how did that get interpreted as parading them through the streets? “Alright, I understand, thank you.”

A week later, the Cangyuan fleet entered the most dangerous shipping lane in the entire Star Alliance, arriving at the area between Paradise Island, Galan, and two other major factions,

Anjo Military Science and the Hansa Republic.

In terms of busyness, this area was second only to the trade route between New Hope and Paradise Island.

Looking down from the star map, the area controlled by Dark Sun largely overlapped with this region.

However, the star system structure is three-dimensional, and the entire galactic disk has a thickness of over 5,000 light-years. The starfield where they are hidden is quite a bit “higher” than the busy trade routes. Therefore, when observed from another angle, it is still located at the edge of the entire Star Alliance space.

Due to being extremely busy, the fleet encountered “traffic jams” multiple times when passing through Jump Points along the way, and had to slow down to minimize the risk of collision.

At this point, Lu Yuan knew that the fleet had likely been sighted by merchant ships, and its movements could no longer be kept completely secret. So, he did not linger, instructing the fleet to continue towards the final battlefield.

At the same time, in synchronous orbit around Li Star, four brand-new frigates embarked on their mission,

The butler, on behalf of Lu Yuan, sent authorization codes, leasing these four warships to the eager and highly motivated Xiu and Li Tao.

Afterward, the merchant fleet once again set sail from Li Star, most of them still heading towards New Hope.

The day they arrived at New Hope was also the day the Cangyuan fleet arrived at Ruins Star and began its assault on Dark Sun’s headquarters.

This, of course, was also planned by Lu Yuan in advance.

This time, in addition to crude oil, the merchant fleet would transport a large quantity of war materials to the Cangyuan branch, so that when the fleet attacked Dark Sun, they could simultaneously launch an attack on Apollo’s headquarters.

As for Xiu and Li Tao, who were already armed with powerful weapons, they would detach from the main fleet midway and venture into the densely active areas of Galan and Paradise Island.

Coincidentally, this area was actually the busy shipping lane that the Cangyuan fleet was currently passing through.

After passing through here, they could make contact with several large factions in the western Star Alliance, thereby securing new suppliers for Cangyuan’s third major procurement.

On the same day, an unregistered warp yacht entered the Paradise Island space station, located inside an asteroid, via the VWVIP channel, secretly transporting the disguised Galan Prime Minister Nadi into it.

He was there to negotiate a new warship purchase contract.

This time, Paradise Island, contrary to its previous stance in the prior superluminal communication, expressed willingness to provide “Special Grade Warships” that had never appeared on the arms market before.