252: Chapter 252 Half a Month of All-Staff Training: Interstellar Sandbox Exercise Begins!

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

There wasn't a single quiet place on Genesis from morning till night.

In the training center, Instructor Han Tiefeng divided the two thousand personnel into twenty batches, rotating them around the clock.

In the full-sensory simulation training pods, they went through one subject after another: disaster response, hull damage, and alien invasion.

A recruit was so scared by the "hull depressurization" scenario in the simulation pod that he threw up, but after wiping his mouth, he continued training.

Instructor Han Tiefeng made a mark on his recording tablet.

"Insufficient psychological resilience, additional training," he noted.

Senior Colonel He wasn't idle either.

One hundred pilots were practicing simulated flight in the training center, and Kayla came over to provide guidance for half a day every two days.

For the rest of the time,

Senior Colonel He led the men to the scout ship hangar, where they took turns operating the eighteen scout ships.

At the beginning, someone bent a scout ship's docking arm, and Senior Colonel He spent ten minutes berating them in the hangar.

Kayla added a comment from the side.

"Deduct the docking arm repair costs from his rations."

Senior Colonel He didn't respond, only realizing later that Kayla was joking.

But after that, no one ever crashed into anything again.

Su Che was training himself as well.

The handling of the shuttle became increasingly smooth, and the landing error was reduced from over ten meters to within two meters.

Kayla sat in the co-pilot seat, and seeing Su Che complete a standard crosswind landing, she gave a rare nod.

"You are ready to fly outside the ship."

Su Che parked the shuttle back in the hangar and flexed his wrists.

After half a month, muscle memory had formed in his forearms; roll, pitch, and yaw—his body moved on its own.

As for the command level, Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan, along with Li Chengwen, Zhang Zhiyue, and Captain Li Jun, crowded into a simulation pod in the training center.

The subjects Instructor Han Tiefeng arranged for them were different from those for the ordinary officers and soldiers.

They focused primarily on command coordination and emergency decision-making.

When Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan entered the simulation pod for the first time, he remained silent for a long time while facing the overwhelming number of enemy ships in the holographic projection.

"This battle is unwinnable."

Zhang Zhiyue added from the side.

"That's why we need to train."

The four of them started from scratch, exploring the Level 3 Civilization's command system, learning it button by button.

On the scientists' side, the five groups took turns unlocking, maintaining an unbroken rhythm.

Su Wanxing led the second group, and including the two days spent earlier, it took a total of four days to unlock the twenty-second door.

Behind the door was the ship-wide structural health monitoring system.

Zong Mingyuan crouched in front of the terminal and pulled up the hull stress distribution map.

On the 3D model, real-time stress data for every bulkhead, keel, and core component was flickering.

"It provides structural safety risk warnings seventy-two hours in advance and automatically generates maintenance plans," Zong Mingyuan said, tracing an arc on the screen with his finger.

Chen Jingzhou stood by, staring at the refresh rate of the stress model for a long time.

"This refresh speed is several orders of magnitude faster than what we have on Earth."

Su Che assigned this area to Zong Mingyuan and Chen Jingzhou to manage.

For the twenty-third door, Friedman led the third group, and this time it took even longer: a full five days.

It was the interstellar scientific research sample analysis and storage area.

Kimura Koji stood in the center of the storage area. All four walls were filled with constant-temperature storage units, divided into over a dozen temperature zones ranging from ultra-low to room temperature.

On the central console sat an atomic-level composition analyzer, a full-spectrum mass spectrometer, a gene sequence decoding terminal, and a 3D molecular structure reconstruction table.

Kimura Koji touched the casing of the mass spectrometer, unable to pull his hands away.

"The precision of this instrument is something I wouldn't even dare to dream of on Earth."

Su Che patted him on the shoulder.

"After your Sakura Country surrendered last year, I reckon it won't be long before it becomes our East Sea Province. Serve me well, and this will be your territory in the future."

Kimura Koji bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

"Hai, Captain, it is the greatest honor for Sato Kenta and me to serve you!"

Su Che didn't say much more and turned to leave.

Kimura Koji only stood up and raised his head after Su Che's footsteps had completely faded.

For the twenty-fourth door, Patrick led the fourth group, taking four days.

It was the ship-borne medical isolation and biosafety cabin area.

James Lovelock stood before the airlock door, looking at the Level 4 biosafety protection sign on it.

"Isolation for highly virulent interstellar infectious diseases, high-risk biological sample processing, biosafety experiments—it's a full suite of Level 4 protection."

Liu Nanshan and Chen Junhong also rushed over to take a look, exchanged a glance, and turned back to their own medical cabin area.

For the twenty-fifth door, Academician Zhong led the fifth group, taking three and a half days.

It was the ship-borne fusion fuel safety storage area.

Li Jiangang stood before the storage tank, his palm pressed against the tank wall.

"Multi-layer leak prevention, radiation shielding, explosion protection, and automatic fire suppression," he said, knocking on the tank wall. "The storage conditions for Helium-3 are countless levels better than what we could achieve on Earth."

Zhao Yuan stood nearby, staring at the magnetic confinement parameters of the storage tank for a long time.

"The precision of this magnetic confinement... the superconducting system inside our nuclear fusion reactor is designed to match this."

Su Che assigned the fusion fuel storage area to Li Jiangang to manage.

With four doors opened, half a month had passed.

That morning, Kayla helped Ye Zhiqiu's first group initiate the unlocking process for the twenty-sixth door.

Su Che had just stepped off the shuttle when his communicator rang.

"Chief, there is a penalty mechanism."

Su Che quickened his pace and arrived at the twenty-sixth door.

Ye Zhiqiu and his group of twenty people were standing at the door, with quite a few onlookers gathered around.

In the center of the door panel, a massive 3D star map hovered in mid-air.

The star map was densely marked with fleet designations, flight paths, resource nodes, and defensive fortifications.

Below it was a line of text.

[Unlocking Method: Interstellar War Sandbox Simulation.]

[The tester must command a fleet on the holographic sandbox to complete a full interstellar offensive and defensive campaign, simulating the entire process from strategic deployment to tactical execution.]

[Unlock upon successful simulation.]

Su Che's gaze moved downward.

[Failure Penalty: If the simulation fails three times in total, the penalty mechanism will be activated for all unlocking doors from the 27th to the 100th.]

A chill ran down Su Che's spine.

Seventy-four doors, all with penalty mechanisms.

He turned to look at Kayla.

"Can you do it?"

Kayla shook her head. "I am a scientist, not a commander."

"You are a scientist from a Level 3 Civilization. As the saying goes on Earth, even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen a pig run, right!"

Kayla's blue skin shimmered coldly under the lights.

"If you are willing to gamble, I am willing to try, but I have never seen a real interstellar war. If all the subsequent doors trigger penalty mechanisms, don't blame me."

Su Che felt helpless.

She was telling the truth; having a researcher command an interstellar battle was the same as having a civil official lead troops into war.

He took out his communicator and dialed Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan's private line.

"Grandpa Wang, bring Li Chengwen, Zhang Zhiyue, Xiao Jingrong, Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan, and Captain Li Jun. Come to the twenty-sixth door."

"What happened?"

"The unlocking method for this door is an interstellar war sandbox simulation. If we fail three times, all seventy-four subsequent doors will activate penalty mechanisms."

There was silence on the other end of the line for two seconds.

"We'll be there in five minutes."

When Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan arrived, he was followed by Li Chengwen, Zhang Zhiyue, Xiao Jingrong, Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan, and Captain Li Jun.

The six of them stood before the door panel and finished reading the penalty notice.

Zhang Zhiyue's voice was much lower than usual.

"Penalty mechanisms on all seventy-four doors... that's going to cost a lot of lives..."

"That's why we cannot fail," Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan took over. "Three chances—we only have three."

Su Che walked to the door panel and pressed his palm against the unlock button.

The holographic sandbox unfolded.

The entire corridor was separated by a light curtain, and inside was a circular operating platform ten meters in diameter.

On the platform, a 3D star map filled the entire space.

Hundreds of light points represented ships, with different colors distinguishing friend from foe. The star map also included planets, asteroid belts, space stations, and gravity wells.

At the edge of the operating platform were over twenty touch stations, each with an independent holographic display.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan walked to the main command station and stood still.

"Everyone, get up here."

Zhang Zhiyue walked to the deputy command station, Li Chengwen to the left, and Xiao Jingrong to the right.

Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan and Captain Li Jun stood in the back row, responsible for fleet maneuvering and fire coordination.

Su Che and Kayla stood outside the light curtain, watching.

[Simulation start.]

[Campaign Background: The Blue fleet is escorting a transport convoy through enemy-controlled star territory, and the Red fleet will dispatch its main force to intercept.]

[Blue Force: 12 cruisers, 24 destroyers, 36 frigates, 8 transports.]

[Red Force: 3 capital ships, 18 cruisers, 30 destroyers, several swarms of unmanned attack craft.]

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan glanced at the force comparison, his brows knitting together.

The Red fleet's three capital ships were heavy warships standard to a Level 3 Civilization; one could take on several of the Blue fleet's ships.

"Zhang Zhiyue, you and Xiao Jingrong come up with a deployment plan. Li Chengwen, watch the logistics line. Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan, handle the fleet formation."

"Understood."

Zhang Zhiyue's fingers slid quickly across the touch panel, and the Blue fleet on the hologram began to move.

He divided the frigates into three groups: scouting ahead, spreading out on both flanks, with the transport ships hidden in the center.

Xiao Jingrong pulled up the Red fleet's likely flight paths and marked three interception points.

"The Red fleet's capital ships have a longer jump range than ours. They will most likely set an ambush here," Xiao Jingrong said, pointing at the edge of a gravity well on the star map.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan took a look.

"Go around it."

"We can't go around; the transport ships aren't fast enough, and there isn't enough time to take a detour."

"Then we charge through," Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan said from the back row. "Frigate groups in a wedge formation, main force leading the way."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan nodded.

"Execute."

The Blue fleet began to accelerate, advancing toward the central channel of the star map.

The scouting group ahead discovered the Red fleet's swarm of unmanned attack craft near the third interception point.

Densely packed red light points surged from the edge of the star map.

"Electronic warfare group, prepare," Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan said, his voice remaining steady.

But there was no electronic warfare control station on the operating platform.

He paused for a moment.

"There's no electronic warfare module on this sandbox?"

Kayla answered from outside the light curtain.

"There is; it's in the secondary menu. You need to pull it up manually."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan's fingers flipped through two layers of menus on the panel and found the electronic warfare module.

It was already too late.

The Red fleet's swarm of unmanned attack craft had reached the firing range of the Blue fleet's frigate group.

Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan subconsciously contracted the frigate group, attempting to intercept with concentrated fire.

As the formation contracted, the flanks were left exposed.

Two of the Red fleet's cruisers cut in from the side and rear, locking directly onto the transport fleet.

"Turn around! Frigates, turn around and protect the transports!" Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan roared.

But the fleet needed time to turn. By the time the frigate group completed a 180-degree turn, two transport ships had already been blasted into fragments by the Red fleet's main cruiser guns.

[Two Blue transport ships destroyed.]

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan slammed his fist onto the operating console.

"Keep fighting!"

The Blue fleet fought back desperately, the frigate group latching onto the Red cruisers, and the destroyers flanking from both sides.

But the Red fleet's three capital ships never appeared.

Not until the Blue fleet had exhausted half its ammunition did the three capital ships simultaneously jump out from the edge of the star map.

Three energy beams pierced straight through the Blue flagship.

[Blue flagship destroyed, command chain severed.]

[Simulation failed!]