Chapter 1793 The Joker Has Come!

The command center of the Defense Counsel was consumed by silence.

The Black Wind Fleet had established a space gate at a certain point dozens of lightyears away, perhaps in the orbit of some dim star. It was no secret.

No matter how tense the relations between the Black Wind Fleet and the homeland of the Imperium were, and no matter how dangerous the power struggles were, it was impossible for the expedition army to completely cut off the connection with the homeland.

By establishing a space gate and a super long-distance communication base, if the nightmare of failure came true, however unlikely, they would be able to ask for help from the homeland.

Whether or not the homeland would send out reinforcements in time, and whatever the purpose of the reinforcement would be after they did come, such preparation work had to be done nonetheless.

However, none of the leadership of the federation had foreseen that Heiye Ming, the commander of the Black Wind Fleet, would be insane enough to teleport the space gate, which was made of hundreds of star beacons and boasted absolutely no defense or attack abilities due to the enormous size and the sophisticated structure, to the Heaven's Origin Sector altogether!

Under normal circumstances, it would be the most idiotic strategy.

The capacity, cost, and scale of every space jump were limited. To teleport the star beacons, which did not have any impetus and were extremely precise, dozens of lightyears away would not only consume an astronomical amount of spiritual energy but also occupy the capacity that should have belonged to warships.

One could not have all the best in the world. One more star beacon teleported could mean the reduction of quite a few arsenal starships or shield starships. Who could tell if the lack of one arsenal starship or a shield starship would be the last feather that decided the outcome of the war at the most crucial moment?

Even if they did dismember the entire space gate into parts and teleport them over at great cost, it would still take a lot of time for the space gate to be assembled, debugged, and charged with energy.

During the whole process, the space gate would be an enormous and fragile target that was at any weapon's mercy.

The first wave of attack from the Black Wind Fleet was not large in quantity in the first place. Logically, as long as the follow-up troops of the Burning Prairie Fleet arrived in time, they would not have any opportunity to assemble and debug the space gate unhurriedly at all. Instead, they would be drowned by the warships and soldiers ten times more than themselves!

However…

The three space gates on the federation's side had all been paralyzed, and it remained unknown when they could be fixed. Part of the elite forces of the Burning Prairie Fleet were all there were. Besides, due to the blackout of the Spiritual Nexus, the coordination and command structure had fallen into chaos. They were all mired in an invisible swamp!

Was it possible to compete with Black Swirl, the flagship of the Black Wind Fleet, with the forces that they had available?

Before the Spiritual Nexus was repaired and rebooted, would the space gate of the Black Wind Fleet flare first?

Everybody had the same desperate questions.

Heiye Ming's seemingly rash and insane strategy turned out to be a marvelous, decisive move. As long as he could assemble and debug his own space gate before the three space gates of the federation were repaired, the unstoppable hooves of the Imperium would thump on the entire federation starting from the Heaven's Origin Sector!

"I…"

Linking the anomalies from the beginning of the war to now, Jin Xinyue reached the conclusion immediately—she had been tricked!

The queen of demons felt as if a sour and bitter plum was stuck inside her throat. Her heaving shoulders were shivering intensely, and she could barely catch her breath.

Wan Guqing, the Speaker of the Federation, glanced at her and blocked her from everyone's berating eyes in silence. Then, he peacefully said, "The space gate must be destroyed before the enemy finishes assembly and charging."

It was a useless statement.

But on many occasions, a useless statement was the most correct statement.

"At least, we know for certain now…"

Wan Guqing was even able to control his facial muscles to put on a seemingly confident smile.

"As long as we win the war, we wouldn't need to worry about the arrival of a second Black Wind Fleet for a long time in the future.

"It is well-known that the construction of a large-scale, high-level space gate consumes tremendous time and resources. To say that only a national treasury can afford such projects is not an exaggeration. I think that the Black Wind Fleet must've reached their limits to build such a space gate after only ten years no matter how extravagant they may be, right?

"Our strategic focus was supposed to be destroying the enemy's space gate and preventing the forces from the enemy's homeland arriving at the border of the federation directly. However, we did not know where the Black Wind Fleet had hidden their nest and their space gate at all. Searching for a secret space gate in thousands of space zones would be no different from fishing for a needle in a vast ocean.

"But as it turns out, the enemy has delivered the fat meat to our door. What else can this be if not a blessing for the federation?

"We must get rid of the chaotic state quickly. At least, we must establish a communication route that directly leads to the flagship of the Burning Prairie Fleet. We also need to know the latest situation on the frontline. Right now, in the boiling sea of stars, how many troops are still organized and under our control?"

Since the best specialists of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus nationwide had gathered there, and even quite a few experts in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage were supervising, it was possible to establish a route to the flagship of the Burning Prairie Fleet in the emergency even though the Spiritual Nexus could not be completely repaired for the time being.

The result of the communication, however, was not promising.

When the highest command center in the capital city was scourged by the storm of crystal processor virus, the first attack group of the Burning Prairie Fleet that had been comprehensively connected to the battle network suffered ubiquitous infiltration and infection, too.

The crystal processors were paralyzed. The data was a mess. The communication lagged. The commands could not be delivered. The battle formation was falling apart. It was even impossible to distinguish the quadrants and the coordinates. The warships had turned from moths darting toward fire into flies that had lost their heads. There was not the slightest 'organization' anymore.

Bai Kaixin, the Chief of Staff, estimated that it would take at least three hours to regain effective command and the ability to fight against the Black Wind Fleet!

"Three hours…"

The highest command center was caught in dead silence again.

Everybody knew clearly that the Heaven's Original Fleet had been exhausted to the maximum and might collapse at any second. The demon troops that had reinforced them were neither good at space battles nor led by a distinguished commander. They were 'camouflage' and 'bait' in the first place, and courage was almost all that they had.

The two second-tier troops were impossible to stop or stall the Black Wind Fleet.

Once the Black Wind Fleet destroyed them easily, they would be able to change their battle formation unhurriedly into an impregnable defensive circle.

In either the battles in space or those on the ground, the defenders always had greater advantages than the attackers. The Black Wind Fleet was of a higher quality than the Burning Prairie Fleet in the first place. If they were given enough time to arrange their battle formation and take a good rest, it would be practically impossible for the Burning Prairie Fleet to break the defense and destroy the space gate even if it regained effective command later!

What could they do?

Who else could stall the Black Wind Fleet and earn three precious hours for the recovery of the Burning Prairie Fleet and the Spiritual Nexus?

Yes. There was another Deep Sky Fleet—the Big Bai Fleet.

However, the Big Bai Fleet was incomparable to the Burning Prairie Fleet in terms of both scale and quality.

It was merely established for experimental and explorational purposes as a supplement for the Burning Prairie Fleet. The members of the fleet were mostly ex-space pirates, a mob that was too old to brush their own teeth. Their commander, Bai Xingjian, was merely at the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage. If he were in the Burning Prairie Fleet where the most distinguished talents were gathered, he might not even be qualified as a commander of a secondary fleet.

Besides, the Big Bai Fleet had lost connection even earlier. It was presumed first that they had encountered a cosmic storm or were under the inferences of the enemy. However, judging from what had happened recently, it was possible that the crystal processor virus had broken out on their starships in advance.

Even the most elite forces in the Burning Prairie Fleet were greatly disturbed by the mysterious virus. The Big Bai Fleet must have been even more chaotic, right?

The last order from the command center to the Big Bai Fleet was to move to the No. 2 and No. 3 space gates immediately and join the first attack group of the Burning Prairie Fleet.

"Report!" The communication officers brought messages from the ground. "Representative Ding and the other eight Nascent Soul Stage experts have arrived at the launch base of Heaven's Artillery. All the Colossi have finished their maintenance. They are ready for an assault!"

Representative Ding was Ding Lingdang.

Unlike Jin Xinyue, she did not work in any government departments but was just a senior representative in the federal parliament.

Other than the fleets, the Colossi were the only forces under the control of the highest command center now.

But it was their last trump card and last resort. Right now, the Colossi of the Black Wind Fleet had not been deployed. If the few Colossi on the federation's side carried out such an exhausting mission as to 'stall the enemy', they would certainly be trapped by the hostile starships and crystal suits.

Such a strategy was no different from quenching thirst with poison, but watching the Black Wind Fleet assemble the space gate unhurriedly while doing nothing meant nothing but doom.

The highest commander was so quiet that even a needle would rumble when it hit the ground.

"Re—report!"

Right then, another route leading to a hundred probe cameras in space was finally repaired. The chaotic battlefield around the Black Wind Fleet was displayed on the light beam clearly again.

The series of little white spots that were rushing at the Black Wind Fleet from the edge of the battlefield made an analyst cry in excitement. He jumped to his feet so hard that the chair below his bottom was blown away.

Everybody was taken aback. They looked at the analyst in surprise.

"Big Bai! It's the Big Bai Fleet!"

The familiar appearance parameters gradually focused into the models and names of starships. The analyst's throat seemed to be on fire under the stimulation of the glittering names.

"The Big Bai Fleet has somehow appeared behind the Black Wind Fleet. The two parties are less than thirty light seconds away from each other. The distance is still reducing.

"They are so fast. They—they still have their organization and keep the most perfect cone-shaped attack formation. How is it possible?

"Ah. They took a turn. The Big Bai Fleet changed their overall direction at a speed of at least three percent the speed of light, and the battle formation is utterly unchanged. Is this really happening?

"They've changed their target and lunged at the space gate of the Imperium that was just teleported!"