Chapter 157 The Real Interstellar War

Boulder Starfield, inside the titan Arsenal.

The Star Spirit Warriors who had just stepped off the assembly line were entering transport ships in an orderly fashion, preparing to be shipped to various border outposts.

Lin Yuan stood on the high platform of the control room, watching the dense torrent of steel below. His right hand subconsciously stroked the tactical pouch on the outside of his thigh, which contained the incomplete divine spark he had recently recovered.

"The intelligence brought back by that idiot Lao Ba is even worse than expected." Lin Yuan tapped the console, and the star map confessed by Sano before his death immediately appeared on the screen.

Behind the route representing the Moran Dynasty, a huge shadow was slowly pressing over from the direction of the Galactic Center. It was the main force of the Mechanical Papacy, a massive formation known as the "Penitent Expeditionary Force."

"Boss, according to the beacon feedback left by the great xia dragon sparrow at Proxima Centauri, we have lost all detection rights over the periphery of Centaurus." gaia's figure appeared in the corner of the screen, her expression somewhat solemn. "The enemy launched a massive amount of interference powder during the advance. Those things can absorb electromagnetic waves of all frequency bands, and even the gravitational wave detectors have been severely interfered with."

Lin Yuan didn't say a word; he was calculating rapidly in his mind.

Earth today was like a child who had just learned to walk. Although it held a peerless sword picked up from a graveyard, its physique was still too weak. If the Papacy's flagship rushed into the Solar System, the gravitational pressure of that magnitude alone would cause Earth's sea levels to rise by hundreds of meters, triggering a global catastrophe.

"Has the order been issued to the Homeland Defense Department?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Confirmed an hour ago. General Chen Weiguo has taken full command of the global mobilization order."

Earth at this time was no longer the world from a few years ago that bickered over energy and territory.

The second phase of the South Heaven Gate Project had been forcibly accelerated. Walking on the streets of the Great Xia capital, looking up, one no longer saw clouds, but giant bases slowly moving in orbit. Those were orbital shipyards built to carry the "Star Core Furnace."

Former office buildings had been reinforced into air-raid shelters. The broadcasts in schools no longer played morning exercise music, but "Interstellar Combat Evasion Manual" and "Introduction to Star Spirit Warriors Collaborative Operations."

Children who had not yet reached military age could already skillfully operate drone swarms to conduct saturation attacks in simulation pods. This sense of crisis that permeated from the bones caused the entire civilization to erupt with an unprecedented cohesion.

"Kid Lin, come over here quickly. If this thing succeeds, our Earth will have taken root in the universe!" The voice of Academician Wang, sounding like a broken record, came through the communication channel.

Lin Yuan cut off the feed from the factory, his figure instantly disappearing from where he stood, and the next second he appeared in the research cabin of the "dragon sparrow."

Academician Wang was surrounded by hundreds of white-haired researchers, gathered around a huge holographic sphere. At the center of the sphere was a model of Earth, and wrapped around it was a layer of constantly flickering dark purple grids.

"Is this something reverse-engineered from that titan dimensional blockade box?" Lin Yuan looked at the grid and reached out to touch it tentatively. His fingertips felt a subtle resistance, like a layer of thick water film.

"Exactly! I call it the 'Indestructible Golden Body' — ahem, the formal name is the 'Planetary Absolute Domain Matrix'." Academician Wang pointed excitedly at the data board. "This thing is not just an energy shield; it also incorporates some spatial folding technology. If the opponent launches star-annihilation level physical impacts or high-energy lasers, the matrix will automatically conduct the attack to the surrounding secondary space. Simply put, it makes the attack 'miss'."

Lin Yuan looked at the complex energy consumption data: "This thing consumes a lot of energy, right?"

"All the nuclear fusion power plants on the entire Earth running at overload can only maintain it for ten minutes." Academician Wang sighed. "Unless you can really build that 'Star Core Furnace' and hang it in Earth's synchronous orbit. As long as there is enough energy, even if the Papacy crashes the moon over, we can bounce it away."

"I'll think of a way regarding the energy. You just focus on adjusting the stability of the matrix to the maximum."

Lin Yuan turned and walked into a fully enclosed training room.

He knew that no matter how strong the weapons were, the final outcome would still be decided by the clash of top combat power.

The "Cardinal" in Sano's words must possess strength surpassing that of an Arbiter. According to the system's classification, the existence of that level had at least touched the threshold of high-dimensional life.

In the training room, the gravity multiplier was adjusted to a staggering 500 times.

In this environment, ordinary alloys would deform due to their own weight. Lin Yuan was shirtless, his originally fair skin now covered with dense dark gold patterns—the sequelae of him forcibly digesting that Antimatter Core, and also a symbol of evolution.

He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

His consciousness began to extend infinitely outward.

Through the system, he attempted to connect his mental power with all the Star Spirit Warriors controlled by gaia, and even every excavator under construction.

This was a crazy attempt.

He wanted to build a "Psionic Interconnection Network."

The will of the Great Xia people was unified, but tactical coordination always had delays. If every soldier and every unit could share information in real-time through his brain, the entire Earth's defense system would become a terrifying living creature with a God's-eye view.

"Ah—!" Lin Yuan opened his eyes abruptly, his eyes bursting with brilliant golden light.

Because the data stream accessed at once was too large, his cerebral cortex even oozed fine beads of blood.

That feeling was like ten thousand suns exploding in his brain at the same time. He saw the robotic arms mining ore light-years away, saw a mother breastfeeding her child on Earth, and saw veterans debugging main guns on the lunar base.

This illusion of omniscience intoxicated him, but immediately followed by a tidal wave of exhaustion.

"Still not enough... This load can only be maintained for three seconds at most." He panted, wiping away the nosebleed, his eyes fierce. "Continue, adjust the gravity to 800 times!"

Just as Lin Yuan was crazily torturing himself, on the outskirts of the Solar System, inside that modified Pluto monitoring station.

Several young soldiers on duty were staring at the stellar brightness monitoring chart on the screen.

"Old Chen, look at this area. Isn't the brightness abnormally low?" A soldier rubbed his eyes, pointing to a corner of the screen.

The middle-aged man known as Old Chen leaned over and increased the magnification.

Originally, there should have been dozens of stars twinkling there, but at this moment, that starfield seemed to have been taken away by someone, completely disappearing into the darkness.

This wasn't cloud cover.

This was something of massive size blocking the light of those stars.

"What about the signals? We have hundreds of deep-space probes over there!" Old Chen's palms were full of uneasy cold sweat.

"All lost contact. The last image transmitted back was..." The young soldier called up the last frame.

It was a dead silence in deep space.

But in the center of that silence, one could vaguely see the outline of a huge cross.

The outline was too big.

So big that even through a high-power astronomical telescope, one could only see a corner of it.

It was a steel spine spanning thousands of kilometers, and every edge was engraved with suffocating mechanical runes. As it advanced, surrounding asteroids and meteorites were ruthlessly torn into fragments by gravity, turning into a long tail trace behind it.

"Quick! Sound the special red alert!" Old Chen screamed shrilly, his voice sounding particularly harsh in the empty monitoring station.

However, before he could press the button representing the end of the world, the entire Pluto monitoring station began to shake violently.

It wasn't because of an earthquake.

It was because of gravity.

The huge existence hadn't descended yet, but the terrifying mass it carried had already distorted the gravitational balance of the Solar System.

At this very moment, Lin Yuan, who was challenging 800 times gravity in the special training room, suddenly raised his head.

The [Dimensional Vision] in front of him instantly turned into a shocking blood red.

That feeling was like a monster much larger than a lion had quietly placed its claws on the fence of his own backyard.

"Finally here, are you?"

Lin Yuan pushed open the door of the gravity room, his voice resounding directly in the minds of every Great Xia warrior through the psionic network.

"To your positions."

"Let these cultists who only know how to hide behind masks see that this starry sky now bears the surname 'Xia'."

Earth, Command Headquarters.

General Chen Weiguo changed into his faded old military uniform, but he held a command saber forged from titanium alloy in his hand.

Because he had been taking gene purification agents for the past few years, he didn't look like a seventy-year-old man, but rather like a wild lion in his prime.

"All units, report your status!" He roared in a deep voice.

"Dongfeng-X orbital cannon group charged, ready for cross-border firing at any time!"

"South Heaven Gate First and Second Joint Fleets have entered ambush orbit!"

"Earth Defense Matrix preheating, current output power 12%!"

On the big screen, the behemoth that blocked the starlight finally revealed its full appearance.

It was a pitch-black planetary-class warship.

Its shape was like a huge cross inserted into the void, with a length exceeding 20,000 kilometers, even larger than the diameter of the Earth. At its bow, a huge mechanical eyeball was emitting a ghostly red light, staring fixedly at the blue planet not far away.

Around that giant eye, dense small warships were constantly moving in and out like worker bees returning to the hive.

That was the flagship of the Mechanical Papacy — [divine punishment].

In front of it, the fleet composed of three thousand mercenary warships really looked like a bunch of low-class bandits.

With its appearance, the frequency of the public channel was forcibly cut off again.

A figure wearing a scarlet cloak slowly appeared on the communication terminal screens of all humans.

His face had no flesh, replaced by pure metal components, and a crystal emitting an eerie purple light was embedded in his forehead.

That was one of the Papacy's highest combat powers — the Cardinal, Moria.

He didn't speak, just raised his hand and pointed to the distant Earth.

The next second, a dark red beam spanning thousands of kilometers erupted from the center of the "cross" of [divine punishment] without warning.

That wasn't an ordinary energy attack.

That was the material disintegration ray known as the "Light of Order."

Where the beam passed, space collapsed. Several innocent asteroids didn't even explode, but disappeared without a trace, as if they had never existed.

The beam pointed straight at Earth!

"Activate the shield!" Lin Yuan's voice was like a thunderclap.

Boom—!

The moment the beam hit Earth's orbit, a huge dark purple ring lit up in the void.

That was the "Indestructible Golden Body" that Academician Wang had painstakingly created.

The intense light generated by the violent energy collision made humans across the entire hemisphere feel a vast whiteness before their eyes. Communications within the atmosphere were instantly interrupted, and strong winds raged across the land.

The defense matrix was trembling. Academician Wang looked at the red line jumping crazily on the energy monitor, his teeth chattering.

"30% of the energy storage gone after just the first hit?! Are these bastards stuffing the sun into their cannon barrels?" He cursed.

The light dissipated.

The terrifying red beam was twisted to the back of the sun and disappeared into the void.

Although the defense matrix was much dimmer, it had held.

Great Xia had caught this first strike that was enough to destroy civilization.

Lin Yuan stood at the hatch of the "dragon sparrow," looking at the giant ship blotting out the sky in the distance. He didn't retreat; instead, he revealed a hint of pathological excitement.

Behind him, three thousand Star Spirit Warriors simultaneously drew the high-frequency vibration blades from their backs.

"Since you like giving gifts so much."

Lin Yuan gripped the Void Blade in his hand—it was a titan relic he had brought out from the deepest part of the arsenal.

"Then I'll return a big one to you too."

"Attention everyone, cross-border jump, target — inside the enemy ship!"

"We're going in to rip out its heart!"

As his voice fell, tens of thousands of blue lights flashed.

In this darkness where starlight had been extinguished, Great Xia's sharp sword was officially unsheathed.

This was the spark of civilization making its final desperate strike.

And deep inside that pitch-black planetary-class warship, the Cardinal Moria seemed to sense something.

His metal lips curled slightly upward, and the light in his mechanical eyeball became even more intense.

"Is this the civilization that dares to steal the legacy of the gods?"

"Interesting."

"Then let you see a real 'miracle'."