209: Chapter 209 Unite to Meet the Test
Bright red targeting lines, like the Grim Reaper's fingernails, slashed across the dark background of the star map, locking firmly onto the Moon, Earth orbit, and the "Ark" city.
They were no longer abstract threats, but paths of energy bombardment about to materialize into destruction.
The highest alert of the "Other Shore" status was instantly transmitted to every terminal of the human civilization defense network.
There were no panicked screams, no chaotic fleeing, only an atmosphere of suppressed, extreme tension that immediately transformed into steely determination—like the silence just before a fuse burns out.
The Moon, "Guanghan Palace" base.
Harsh alarms echoed beneath the dome.
Resident engineer Wang Lei had just finished a round of maintenance on the "Mount Tai" gravity simulator.
The moment he heard the alarm, he instinctively lunged toward the nearest bunker console, his fingers moving like a blur across the virtual keyboard.
"Fusion reactor core area! Level 3 protective shields at full power! Non-combat personnel evacuate to deep shelters according to the contingency plan! Engineering robot formation, move out to the preset buffer zone, prepare to withstand the first wave of impact!"
His voice was clearly transmitted to every corner of the base through the internal communication network.
No hesitation, no questions.
Engineers, scientists, and logistics personnel in different colored work uniforms ran quickly and orderly toward their battle stations or bunkers, just as they had practiced thousands of times.
A biological engineer, who had just been debugging a new type of "bio-lining" pipe sample, calmly saved the data, closed the culture tank, grabbed the engineering helmet beside him, and ran toward the nearest defense node.
Here, everyone was a soldier, and everyone knew that this first city built by humans on an alien world was an outpost that could never be lost.
Outside the base, dozens of large engineering robots slid out from their hiding places.
Their shells gleamed coldly in the moon dust as they quickly constructed temporary bunkers and energy refraction arrays around the area where the fusion reactor was located using the "keystone-1 type" material they carried.
They had no weapons, but they were the first sandbags to absorb the shockwave.
Earth orbit, "North Heaven Gate" fleet main assembly area.
On the bridge of the "soaring heavens," Long Zhantian stood like a mountain before the command seat.
On the holographic tactical star map, the bright red lines representing the attack paths of the four Scavenger units were glaringly obvious.
"All ships, adjust formation according to the 'Iron Wall' plan! The 'soaring heavens,' 'Mount Tai,' and 'Mount Hua' ships, move out to the Earth-Moon Lagrange point L1 to form the main interception barrier! The 'Yazi-class' assault fleet, scatter in small formations to harass and interfere with their targeting and energy gathering! 'Thunder Department' railgun batteries, wait for my unified command, concentrate fire on the target in the front!"
His orders were instantly broken down by the "Nuwa" AI and synchronized to every warship and every gun position.
The massive fleet began to maneuver silently and swiftly, the steel behemoths tracing cold trajectories in the starry sky.
On the bridge, the officers and soldiers looked grave but determined.
Li Rui sat in the cockpit of his "Dark Bird" class aerospace fighter, took a deep breath, and felt his optimized heart beating steadily and powerfully.
He glanced at the photo of his daughter taped to the edge of the instrument panel and whispered to himself: "Baby, Daddy is going to teach those ignorant robots a lesson about 'home'."
The "Ark" city itself.
This giant space station suspended in Earth's synchronous orbit was both the brain and the primary target.
Multi-layered composite force field shields bloomed like lotus flowers, emitting a soft energy glow.
Inside the city, personnel in non-core areas had entered reinforced compartments.
In the central command hall, Lin Mo looked at the red line on the star map pointing at him, his eyes unwavering.
"Activate the 'Star Shift' protocol." He ordered calmly, "The 'Ark' city will perform evasive maneuvers. At the same time, deploy the preset 'Mirror' decoy units in the third orbit to simulate our core energy signal."
The massive space station began to perform slow but precise displacement with a flexibility disproportionate to its size.
At the same time, several camouflage units, which looked identical to certain areas of the "Ark" city on the outside but were high-intensity energy reflectors and interference emitters on the inside, were ejected and deployed in nearby orbits, attempting to confuse the enemy's attack targeting.
"All 'Golden Crow' fusion power plants on the ground, enter pulse operation mode, reduce stable output power, increase fluctuation frequency, and lower the efficiency of being locked on." Lin Mo continued to deploy, "The global 'Mozi Network' is launching the highest level of encrypted frequency hopping, and the information center is transferring distributed backups."
Earth's surface.
The alarm was transmitted to every corner through the public network.
On city streets, the anti-gravity traffic system automatically switched to control mode, making way for possible emergency channels.
People did not crowd in panic but, guided by community workers and AI, orderly headed to the nearest underground shelters or reinforced buildings.
Places like schools, hospitals, and nursing homes were given priority.
A mother hugged her child tightly as they entered a community shelter, and the child asked innocently: "Mommy, is it dark?"
The mother kissed his forehead and said softly but firmly: "It's not dark; some bad things want to disturb us. But Daddy, uncles, aunts, and many, many brave people are protecting us in the sky, chasing the bad things away."
In the factory, workers did not leave the production line but, after confirming their safety, tried to manually fine-tune some automated processes under the guidance of engineers to cope with potential energy fluctuations or network interference, ensuring that military production was not interrupted.
In the "Kunlun-Education" world, the originally bustling virtual space was solemn at this moment.
All entertainment and non-essential activities were paused, and the real starry battlefield and commentary were projected on the central square.
Countless virtual avatars gathered there, watching silently, praying for the front line, and providing possible remote technical support or data analysis through virtual interfaces in their respective professional fields.
GDC Supreme Council, global simultaneous broadcast.
Lin Mo's face appeared on every running screen around the world.
His background was the solemn star map of the "Ark" city command hall, but his eyes were calm and full of power.
"Fellow human beings," his voice was clear, penetrating the barriers of space and the unease in people's hearts, "The 'Scavenger' attack is coming. They view us as 'disorder factors' that need to be 'purified.' But I want to tell them, and everyone listening —"
He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing the hearts of everyone in front of the screens.
"We may have had disagreements and conflicts; those were the bumps on our road to growth. But when we look up at the same starry sky and face the same threat, what we show is unprecedented unity, courage, and wisdom! We integrate the world, share technology, develop science, and even optimize ourselves—not for plunder, but for protection—to protect this blue planet, to protect the culture we inherit, to protect the smile of every child, to protect the light of civilization that belongs to 'humanity'!"
"Today, a trial has arrived. This trial is not to make us kneel and prove how 'harmless' we are. It is to show this cold universe what kind of power, resilience, and... nobility a civilization can erupt with in a desperate situation! Our power is for protection; our resilience is for continuation; our nobility lies in the fact that even when facing destruction, we never give up our belief in life, peace, and the future!"
"So, unite, my fellow countrymen! Trust the comrades beside you, trust our technology, trust our common choice! Whether you are controlling a warship on the front line, polishing parts in a workshop, analyzing data in a laboratory, or holding your loved one's hand in a shelter—you are an indispensable part of this great trial!"
"Let those machines that execute rigid programs see what the answer of human civilization is!"
"Our answer is —"
Lin Mo clenched his fist and struck the console heavily, his voice decisive, spreading across the universe through radio waves:
"Not an inch will be yielded, fight to the bloody end! For our home, for our civilization, for the future!"
"Roar —!!!"
It was as if an invisible sound wave erupted from countless corners of the Earth, from the silent base on the Moon, from the busy shipyards in Mars orbit, and from every warship standing by!
It was not an actual sound, but a majestic, condensed torrent of will!
Almost the moment the broadcast ended, on the star map, four dark red, highly condensed destructive energy beams shot out from the edge of the Kuiper Belt, spanning billions of kilometers toward the locked targets!
They were silent, yet carried the breath of death that froze the soul.
"Full shield defense! Maximize energy deflection!" Long Zhantian's roar exploded on the fleet channel.
Outside the Moon Base, the engineering robot cluster stood defiantly against the energy aftermath hitting the fusion reactor.
The "Ark" city's decoy units operated at full power, simulating strong energy radiation.
In Earth orbit, the massive "North Heaven Gate" class mothership pushed the joint shield to its limit, like a silver Great Wall in the starry sky.
The first wave of impact arrived!
A blindingly brilliant light exploded on the edge of the Moon, in Earth orbit, and near the "Ark" city!
The annihilation of energy against energy, shields against beams, erupted in silent yet soul-shaking brilliant ripples, like cruel fireworks suddenly blooming in the dark universe.
The shields flickered violently, energy readings soared crazily, and some outer defense platforms overloaded, exploded, and turned into fragments the moment they made contact.
But the main structure stood tall!
The fusion reactor at the Moon Base was still running stably!
The "Ark" city successfully evaded the main beam, the decoy units were completely vaporized, but the main body was only slightly affected!
The Earth orbit fleet bore the brunt of the most violent attack, the formation was broken, and several "Yazi-class" assault ships lost signals, but the shields of the main ships like the "soaring heavens" held on, even at the critical point of collapse!
"Attack effective! But the expected 'paralysis' effect was not achieved!" The monitor reported hoarsely, with the trembling and ecstasy of surviving a disaster, "The enemy's attack intensity exceeded estimates, but our defense system has withstood the first test!"
"Their database needs an update." Lin Mo looked at the human light points on the star map that were damaged but still stubbornly flickering, and said coldly, "This is the united humanity. Not so easily 'purified'."
"Detected enemy energy re-gathering!" The warning sounded again, "The second wave of attack is expected in three hundred seconds! The attack mode may be adjusted!"