173: Chapter 173 The Enemy's Mystery: Adaptation and Form Change
The brilliant white light from the "Thunder Department" volley gradually dimmed and dissipated in the starry sky, leaving only a few slowly dispersing ion wakes and a disturbed cosmic microwave background, silently testifying to the terrifying power of that strike.
Inside the bridge of the "soaring heavens," the atmosphere did not relax in the slightest; instead, it became even more solemn than before the bombardment, like a block of frozen lead. Everyone stared intently at the figure becoming clear again on the main screen—"the piercer."
It was indeed heavily damaged. The massive erosion crater in its midsection was shocking, with twisted metal edges curling back to reveal a non-human mechanical structure so complex it made one's skin crawl. Some conduits were severed, and deep blue energy spurted intermittently like blood, rapidly cooling into ice crystals in the vacuum. Its posture was no longer stable, showing slight yaw and spin.
North Heaven Gate—that was by no means the state a dying prey should be in.
Most heart-wrenching was the silver-gray "liquid metal" covering the edges of the erosion crater, spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye. They were like living slime, crawling and extending rapidly along the damaged edges. Wherever they passed, twisted metal was "smoothed," molten edges were "filled," and they even began to regenerate structures resembling the outer shell. The speed of repair far exceeded any known human nano-repair technology or memory alloy!
But that wasn't all.
“'Nuwa' reports: The target's hit area is undergoing a drastic change in energy radiation characteristics!” Nuwa's electronic voice carried unprecedented high-speed data processing noise. “Analyzing rapidly... Analysis completion 71%... Confirmed, the energy fluctuation frequency in that area has reached an 89% match with the core frequency of our ship's 'Thunder Department' main cannon energy beam! Furthermore, this frequency is being 'solidified' into its local energy field!”
“It's 'learning' our attack frequency?” the Vice Captain said in horror. “And then using that frequency for... what?”
The answer was revealed in the next second.
Deep within the erosion crater being repaired on "the piercer," the originally leaking deep blue energy was suddenly replaced by a newborn energy stream with a faint white halo! This white energy stream flowed rapidly along the newborn silver-gray "liquid metal" network, finally converging at several newly formed, nodule-like protrusions.
Immediately afterward, those protrusions snapped open, forming several new, small "muzzles"!
Buzz—!
A sharper, higher-frequency energy condensation sound (simulated), completely different from the previous dark red particle stream, was heard. At the newly formed muzzles, white light rapidly converged!
“'Nuwa' alarm! High-intensity energy reaction detected! Frequency characteristics... highly similar to our ship's 'Thunder Department' main cannon residual frequency, but the phase and polarization state have been distorted! Target is suspected to be generating a... derivative weapon based on our attack energy!” Nuwa's warning sounded urgently.
“Evade!” Long Zhantian’s pupils shrank as he roared sharply!
Almost at the same time he spoke, several thin but extremely fast white energy beams with even more erratic trajectories shot out from the new small muzzles on "the piercer's" hull! Their target was not the main body of the "soaring heavens," but rather several broadside areas where the shields were relatively thin after being grazed by the "Thunder Department" bombardment, as well as... the "Thunder Department" main cannon barrels themselves, which were still in an overheated state after firing!
“Reinforce the Joint Force Field Shields in key areas! 'zhurong engine,' emergency attitude adjustment, minimize the target profile!” Nuwa's execution seamlessly connected with Long Zhantian's command.
The pale gold shield light instantly thickened in several locked broadside areas. The massive hull of the "soaring heavens," under the micro-thrust of the "zhurong engine," performed an exquisite and extreme small-angle roll, narrowly avoiding the two white beams aimed at the main cannon barrels.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Several white energy beams struck the reinforced shields, erupting with an energy erosion sound that was harsher and more "viscous" than the previous dark red particle stream. The shield light flickered violently, and the hit areas actually experienced a brief, "resonance-like" co-frequency jitter, causing energy consumption readings to spike instantly!
“Abnormal shield energy consumption! The penetration and 'adhesion' of the white energy beams to the shields far exceed those of the dark red particle stream! They are causing strong interference with specific frequency layers of the shield!” The Defense System Operator's voice carried unbelievable terror.
Even more unsettling was that the two white beams aimed at the main cannon barrels, though they missed, caused the sensors on the outer walls of the barrels to detect a strange microscopic vibration—as if being "scanned" or "resonated" with—as they passed by the still-warm barrels!
“It's testing! Using attacks 'derived' from our own energy to test the weaknesses of our shields, and even attempting to resonate with the residual frequency of our overheated cannons!” The Electronic Warfare Officer understood the opponent's intent instantly, his voice dry. “This isn't just learning... this is plundering! It's 'eating' our attacks, digesting them, and then turning them into its own weapons and detection tools to use against us!”
“And its form...” the Intelligence Officer stared fixedly at the repairing "the piercer," his face pale. “Look next to the erosion crater... those newly grown 'muzzle' structures... and the areas covered by flowing liquid metal... its external silhouette and local structure are undergoing fine-tuning! It's optimizing its own structure based on the damage received and the data collected! This isn't simple repair; this is... real-time battlefield evolution!”
Adaptive energy frequency, predatory weapon derivation, liquid metal repair, and structural optimization...
What "the piercer" displayed was a desperate war mechanism that fused "learning," "adaptation," "evolution," and "counterattack" to a near-instinctive level. It wasn't afraid of being hurt, because damage would be converted into data for understanding the enemy and optimizing itself; it didn't fear energy attacks, because energy attacks might be "tasted," "analyzed," and eventually turned to its own use!
“Emergency communication from the 'system' matrix!” the Communications Officer shouted. “Consultant Lin is patching in!”
Lin Mo's image appeared on the small screen against a background of frantically refreshing data streams. His gaze was as sharp as a knife, clearly having monitored the battle throughout.
“Captain Long, I've received the data!” Lin Mo spoke very fast. “The 'system's' preliminary analysis suggests that the core of 'the piercer's' adaptive mechanism is likely a 'Distributed Field Effect Processor' based on quantum entanglement or higher-dimensional information transfer. Its liquid metal is not just a repair material, but also an information transfer medium and an energy frequency 'sampler.' It can rapidly analyze the 'fingerprint' of attack energy and adjust its own energy field's 'frequency impedance' at local or even global levels to achieve deflection, absorption, and attempt 'reverse compilation' to generate counter-measure or probing derivative attacks!”
He paused, his voice incredibly solemn. “In other words, as long as our attack is 'tasted' once, the effect of a similar attack next time will be greatly reduced, and it might even be used against us! The white energy beams it's generating now are the products of preliminary 'compilation' of our 'Thunder Department' energy. Although crude, they are highly targeted!”
“Then what do we do?” Long Zhantian felt his throat tighten. “Does that mean we can't use energy weapons anymore?”
“No! On the contrary!” A near-manic light of calculation flickered in Lin Mo's eyes. “While its mechanism is eerie, it must have limits and a rhythm! The 'system' has discovered that when it performs frequency matching and energy absorption, the 'coordination' of its overall energy field experiences brief, periodic 'lag' or 'disorder,' much like a person getting distracted when doing multiple complex things at once. Especially right after it has just completed a 'sampling' and 'derivative' attack!”
Long Zhantian instantly grasped the key: “You mean... disrupt its rhythm? By 'distracting' it?”
“Yes! We can't let it 'learn' and 'evolve' comfortably!” Lin Mo said decisively. “Nuwa, immediately use the 'system' model to calculate the potential 'disorder windows' in 'the piercer's' adaptive cycle! Captain Long, the next attack must not be a simple repetition! We must mix attacks of different natures, different frequencies, and even different operating principles, applied simultaneously or sequentially, to force its processing system to overload and break its adaptive cycle! Even if we can only create a few tenths of a second of chaos, that will be our chance!”
“Understood!” Long Zhantian and Lin Mo said almost simultaneously.
Cutting the communication, Long Zhantian turned to the main screen. There, "the piercer's" repair seemed nearly complete, with a new silver-gray shell covering most of the wounds. Although the color was different from its surroundings, it had clearly restored its structural strength. Those new white "muzzles" were adjusting their angles, and deep within the dark hull, new energy was beginning to dangerously converge once again.
It was like a metal demon reborn from the flames, wearing part of those flames as armor, becoming even more eerie and dangerous.
But humanity was not unprepared either.
“The enemy is very eerie and very powerful.” Long Zhantian took a deep breath and spoke into the ship-wide channel, his voice cold and firm. “But its eeriness is being peeled away layer by layer by our 'system' and scientists! Its strength is not invulnerable! Next, it's our turn to give it a 'surprise' and let it taste the feeling of being overwhelmed!”
“All hands! Prepare to execute the 'Chaos Strike' protocol! Nuwa, generate the optimal attack combination! We're going to pour the most chaotic and unpredictable 'cocktail' into this monster's 'processor'!”
In the sea of stars, "the piercer," newly healed and slightly morphed, and the "soaring heavens," ready and with updated tactics, faced each other once again from a distance.