254: Chapter 254 A Narrow Victory on the Sand Table! The Twenty-Seventh Door Opened After Eight Days!

Three seconds.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan slammed his palm onto the console, pulling the scale of the holographic star map to the maximum.

"All warships, distribute fire to the target. That nearest capital ship, fire the moment it jumps out."

Two seconds.

Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan's fingers traced three arcs on the touch panel; the Blue team's remaining four cruisers and eleven destroyers all broke away from their defensive formation, pushing their engine output to the red line.

One second.

Three energy beams struck the core of the Blue team's formation simultaneously.

Two of them slammed into the transport fleet; the shields of the four transports didn't even last a tenth of a second, shattering into pieces instantly.

The third beam hit the side of the destroyer charging at the very front. The hull was pierced, but it didn't explode.

The captain of that destroyer had concentrated all shield energy onto the impact surface just one second before being hit.

[Blue team transports destroyed: four. Remaining: four.]

At the same moment, the shields of the Red team's capital ship that had just completed its jump went down. A fifteen-second window.

"Fire!"

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan's voice cracked.

The main guns of the four cruisers and the secondary guns of the eleven destroyers were all focused on a single point.

On the 3D star map, the dense blue energy beams converged into a thick pillar of light, pouring into the hull of that capital ship.

Five seconds, armor melted through.

Eight seconds, chain explosions inside the hull.

Twelve seconds, the capital ship turned into debris.

[Red team capital ship destroyed: one. Remaining: two.]

Zhang Zhiyue slammed his fist into his palm from his deputy command position.

"Two more to go!"

The two remaining Red team capital ships had just destroyed the last four transports and were turning their guns.

"Forget the transports," Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan's voice actually steadied. "All fleets, charge the second one."

The Blue team's remaining fleet turned around and surged at full speed toward the nearest Red team capital ship.

The Red team capital ship began to retreat, attempting to create distance and use its main guns to wear down the Blue team.

"Captain Li Jun, has the radar locked onto its jump signal?"

"Locked. It can't escape."

Xiao Jingrong pushed the power to the limit at the electronic warfare station, jamming the Red team capital ship's jump system.

The capital ship's jump charging was interrupted three times. On the fourth attempt, it finally finished charging and vanished into a jump.

But this time, it only jumped two light-seconds because Xiao Jingrong's interference had shifted its coordinates.

A fifteen-second window.

The Blue team fleet had long anticipated the arrival point and aimed all guns at those coordinates.

The capital ship had just emerged from the jump when it slammed head-on into over twenty energy beams. This time, it only took seven seconds.

[Red team capital ship destroyed: two. Remaining: one.]

The last Red team capital ship began to retreat.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan did not pursue.

The Blue team fleet had already lost seven cruisers, thirteen destroyers, nineteen frigates, and all eight transports. The remaining warships were running low on ammunition and were critical on energy.

[Red team fleet retreated, Blue team broke through the blockade.]

[Battle result: Blue team strategic objective achieved.]

[Simulation passed.]

The holographic star map froze. On the operating platform, none of the six people moved.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan leaned back in his chair, his uniform soaked in a large patch.

Zhang Zhiyue took off his helmet and set it on the console, his hair plastered to his forehead.

Xiao Jingrong's fingers were still pressed against the electronic warfare panel.

Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan and Captain Li Jun stood side by side in the back row, their breathing rhythms identical—heavy and rapid.

Li Chengwen sat in the alternate position in the corner, his recording pen having fallen to the floor at some point.

In the corridor, the dozens of onlookers were completely silent.

Three seconds later, it was unclear who started the applause.

The applause grew from sporadic to a roar; the people in Ye Zhiqiu's group started pounding the tables, and the people in Su Wanxing's second group followed by stomping their feet.

"We passed!"

"Damn it, we passed!"

Su Che let out a long breath outside the light screen. Kairos stood beside him, her blue fingers loosening their grip on her cuff fabric.

"Chief, they won."

"Yes." Su Che turned around. "Open the door."

The holographic star map on the door panel dissipated, replaced by a line of text formed by flowing light.

[Unlock successful.]

The metal door slid open to both sides.

Su Che walked in first.

The space behind the door was larger than the previous few areas, with a ceiling height of at least eight meters.

In the center was a circular platform, and above the platform hovered a three-dimensional holographic star map with a diameter of five meters, where the positions of every star and planet were updated in real-time.

Surrounding the platform were over twenty independent control stations, each equipped with a holographic display screen and data input terminal.

Eight large display screens were embedded in the walls, displaying the operational data of the mothership's various systems in real-time.

[Ship-borne Mission Planning and Combat Command Support Zone]

Navigation mission planning, scientific research mission deployment, and combat plan deduction. Equipped with a 3D star map sand table, real-time data deduction terminals, and a tactical simulation system.

Su Che had just finished reading the functional description when footsteps came from behind.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan walked in with five people.

The gazes of all six people were simultaneously pinned to the holographic star map in the center.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan circled the platform once.

"This thing... how many times better is it than that sand table from earlier?"

Zhang Zhiyue had already sat in a control station, his fingers tentatively swiping across the touch panel twice.

The holographic star map responded immediately, the perspective zooming in, magnifying, and locking onto the Solar System region. The orbit, distance, and relative velocity of every planet were clearly marked.

"Real-time data deduction, capable of directly accessing the data streams from the ship-borne radar and communication systems to update the battlefield situation in real-time."

Xiao Jingrong found the tactical simulation module at another control station. "It can preset hundreds of tactical scenarios, and the system automatically deduces the success rate and loss estimation for each."

Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan stood before the weapon scheduling station, where the holographic screen displayed the status parameters of all the mothership's weapon systems.

"Firepower distribution is precise down to individual guns."

Captain Li Jun looked up from the radar interface station.

"Detection range, target locking, threat assessment—everything can be operated directly on this platform."

Li Chengwen flipped through several menu layers at the logistics scheduling station.

"Ammunition, energy, personnel deployment—the entire ship's resources are clear at a glance."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan walked to the main command station and placed both hands on the control panel. After a long while, he spoke.

"Chief Engineer Su."

Su Che was leaning against the door frame. "Hm?"

"This door was worth it." Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan's voice was a bit hoarse. "Those two failures earlier were worth it."

Su Che laughed out loud. "There are still seventy-four doors left, Grandpa Wang. Don't get emotional just yet."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan chuckled too.

"Then we'll open them one by one."

Su Che left with Kairos, leaving the six people in the Command Support Zone to familiarize themselves with the system.

...

That night, Su Che called Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan, Zhang Zhiyue, Xiao Jingrong, Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan, Captain Li Jun, and Li Chengwen to a conference room in District D.

Kairos sat in the corner with a recording tablet in her hand. Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan sat at the head of the table and reviewed the three processes of the sand table simulation from the day from start to finish.

"The first time, we lost because the electronic warfare module wasn't deployed in time; we lacked intelligence and were ambushed."

"The second time, we lost because the detection range was insufficient, and we couldn't predict the enemy's jump coordinates."

"The third time..." Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan paused. "The third time, it was a gamble we won."

Zhang Zhiyue added, "Sacrificing the transports as bait—that decision might not necessarily be made on a real battlefield."

"But the logic was correct," Xiao Jingrong said, flipping through the data records in his hand. "The tempo of interstellar warfare is several orders of magnitude faster than on Earth; hesitating for a second means total annihilation."

"And that fifteen-second window."

Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan tapped the table. "The shield gap after the enemy capital ship's jump—that's critical intelligence. We need to figure that out in advance when fighting a real battle."

Captain Li Jun slammed the feature list of the radar system onto the table.

"The biggest problem exposed by this simulation is that our understanding of the Level 3 Civilization's radar system is too shallow; we don't even know how to use many of the functional modules."

Li Chengwen added, "Logistics deployment as well. The consumption rate of ammunition and energy far exceeded expectations; we need to make more precise contingency plans in the future."

After listening, Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan summarized the six points.

"First, electronic warfare must be prioritized; it cannot be used as a patch anymore."

"Second, training for the radar system needs to be stepped up; everyone at the control stations must know it by heart."

"Third, intelligence gathering and enemy capability analysis are the prerequisites for combat."

"Fourth, firepower distribution must be precise down to individual ships and guns; we can't spread it out like sprinkling pepper."

"Fifth, logistics plans must have redundancy; prepare for the worst-case scenario."

"Sixth, decision-making speed; when it's time to gamble, don't hesitate."

Su Che listened from the side. "Good summary. From now on, we'll do a sand table simulation every week using the system in this Command Support Zone."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan nodded. "I'll arrange it."

The meeting adjourned.

...

One month later.

Life on Genesis passed much faster than on Earth.

Su Che's shuttle piloting skills were fully up to par; he had flown several Earth-Moon round trips with pinpoint landing accuracy.

Senior Colonel He was even more impressive.

Under the dual training of Kairos and the training center, the one hundred pilots had mastered all types of spacecraft currently unlocked from the mothership.

Reconnaissance ships, engineering repair craft, planetary landing craft, material transport commuter craft, and emergency rescue craft—each one could be operated independently.

Instructor Han Tiefeng's two thousand officers and soldiers had also completed the first phase of training, and the pass rate in the full-sensory simulation pods had increased from the initial thirty percent to over eighty percent.

However, they were still a long way from forming a true interstellar warfare combat capability.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan led the command staff in a sand table simulation every week; from the initial crushing defeat, they eventually reached a point where they could go toe-to-toe with the simulated enemy.

They had scoured the Command Support Zone system, mastering every functional module. The unlocking of five doors also progressed sequentially during this month.

Su Wanxing led the second group, taking a full eight days to crack the twenty-seventh door.

The unlocking method for that door consisted of ten interdisciplinary comprehensive problems, involving multiple subjects such as astrophysics, signal processing, quantum computing, radar engineering, and spatial geometry.

After seeing the questions, Kairos shook her head immediately. "Of the ten questions, I can only confirm the answers to three. The remaining seven are beyond my area of expertise."

Su Che had also seen the questions and knew it would be difficult for this group to solve them all within the allotted time on their own.

He asked the system in his consciousness space. "How many answers can you give me for these ten questions?"

[At most two. Any more would arouse Kairos's suspicion.]

Su Che picked the two most obscure ones: one was about the application principle of quantum entanglement states in radar detection, and the other was about the mathematical model of dark matter halo scattering on electromagnetic waves.

Su Che memorized the answers and gave them to Su Wanxing. "I've seen similar theoretical derivations for these two questions in the Kairos database before; let me give you a hint on the approach."

Su Wanxing took the approach Su Che provided and quickly calculated a few steps on paper. "This direction... yes, if we approach it from this angle, the entire derivation chain makes sense."

Su Wanxing printed out the remaining five questions and distributed them to the group members.

Bai Yichen received the first question, a derivation problem about multi-source signal fusion algorithms, requiring the derivation of an optimal signal extraction path under a given noise environment. He calculated for four days and used over three hundred sheets of draft paper before finishing the derivation process.

The third question Chen Jingzhou received was even more outrageous: a correction equation for radar beamforming under curved gravitational field conditions, requiring consideration of the impact of spacetime curvature on electromagnetic wave propagation paths. He discussed this question with Su Wanxing for a week, and eventually started from the Einstein field equations, deriving a six-layer nested formula to arrive at the result.

On the eighth day, the hardest of the five questions was solved by a scientist named Zhou Xubai.

The door opened.

[Ship-borne Ultra-Long-Range Global Active Radar Detection System]

Chen Jingzhou and Bai Yichen stood before the system terminal, watching the detection data refreshing in real-time on the holographic screen. "Theoretical detection range is one hundred light-years; effective combat range is seventy to eighty light-years."

Bai Yichen's fingers swiped across the screen. "It compresses to thirty to fifty light-years in dense nebula regions."

Chen Jingzhou pulled up the stealth target identification module. "Passive signal monitoring, multi-target synchronous tracking, fire control guidance—it has everything."

"How many orders of magnitude stronger is it than our Second Generation Luan Bird's Global Deep Space Quantum Radar system?" Su Che asked.

Chen Jingzhou shook his head. "There's simply no comparison."

Su Che handed over the full responsibility for the operation and upgrade of this radar system to Chen Jingzhou.

The twenty-eighth door, with Friedman leading the third group, took five days. The unlocking method for this door was completely different from the previous ones.