83: Chen Haikang's request

As the majestic hull of the voyager slowly pulled away from the Babel Space Station, the six hundred-plus frigates of the Earth Defense Force's First Fleet gradually formed their cruising formation.

This force, which included the flagship of the human fleet, was about to head to lunar orbit to intercept the "Faraim Fleet," which descended like a reaper from the heavens.

Meanwhile, a top-secret video call request from the "dome project" Joint Command Center connected to Lei Wen's command room located in the underground factory of Tianqiong City.

Academician Chen Haikang's face, filled with exhaustion and anxiety, appeared on the screen.

This old man, who had spent years working for the future of Human Civilization, seemed to have aged another ten years in these short two days.

The tragic state of the Guanghan Palace Base and the total annihilation of the lunar defense fleet struck his heart like a heavy hammer, shattering the glimmer of optimism that had just been ignited by the "victory" in Jupiter orbit.

"President Lei Wen..." He looked at the young man on the screen who remained calm and composed and spoke in a low voice, omitting all unnecessary pleasantries, "I believe you are already aware of what happened on the moon."

"Yes, Old Chen." Lei Wen nodded calmly. "I am very sorry."

"Regret solves nothing!" Academician Chen Haikang's voice carried a hint of irrepressible urgency. "President Lei Wen, we have reached a life-or-death moment! Although the voyager is powerful, it is only one ship! Facing that elusive enemy fleet that possesses jump technology, our chances of winning are slim to none!"

He took a deep breath and stated the true purpose of his call.

"I represent the Earth Council, and I represent the entirety of Human Civilization..."

"Please dispatch that massive, awe-inspiring fleet you once showed us!"

"Only you, only the power of Paradox Technology, can possibly defeat them and protect our home!"

His voice was filled with expectation.

However, faced with his expectant gaze, Lei Wen slowly shook his head.

He did not answer immediately but instead asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"Old Chen, do you believe in gods?"

This question stunned Academician Chen Haikang for a moment; he did not know why Lei Wen would suddenly ask this.

"I do not." He answered truthfully, "I am a staunch materialist."

"Very good." Lei Wen nodded. "Then let me ask you another question: what do you think a civilization needs most for its growth?"

"Is it technology? Is it resources? Or is it a wise leader?"

Academician Chen Haikang was silent for a moment; he seemed to have vaguely guessed what Lei Wen wanted to say.

"None of those." He said slowly. "It is the indomitable spirit that a civilization displays when facing hardship and challenges."

"Exactly right." A smile of approval appeared on Lei Wen's face.

"A civilization accustomed to praying for the protection of gods will never truly grow up. It is like a child who can never learn to walk, because he knows that whenever he is about to fall, a pair of large hands will lift him up."

"And I," Lei Wen's voice became incomparably solemn, "do not want to be those large hands."

He looked at the face on the screen filled with confusion and incomprehension and finally threw out the "script" that he had already rehearsed countless times with Grey Wind and the white flower.

"Old Chen, do you think we at Paradox Technology have done nothing these past two days?"

"Why do you think the enemy did not immediately press their advantage and launch an attack directly on Earth after destroying the Guanghan Palace Base?"

He projected a Star Map, meticulously forged by the white flower, onto the screen.

It was a simulation of a dark star region located on the periphery of the Solar System, about one light-year away from Earth.

In the center of the map, two massive fleets were entangled, erupting with countless points of light representing explosions and energy releases.

One side was the silver-white nano-fleet that Lei Wen had once shown them, which was the incarnation of Grey Wind.

And the other side consisted of thousands upon thousands of dense, locust-like, endless "falam warships"!

The scale of the scene and the brutality of the battle were enough to make anyone who saw it feel suffocated.

"This is..." Academician Chen Haikang was so shocked by the doomsday-like war picture that he was speechless.

"This is the truth." Lei Wen's voice was filled with "gravity."

"What you encountered on the moon, and what you repelled earlier in Jupiter orbit, were not the enemy's main force at all."

"They were merely a few stragglers that occasionally fell behind because the enemy's main fleet was too numerous."

"And my fleet," he pointed to the silver-white fleet on the Star Map that was locked in a brutal fight against an enemy several times its size, "has been engaged in an unexpected encounter battle with the enemy's true main force on the periphery of the Solar System for the past two days."

"We are using all our strength to hold back that tide capable of devouring everything for the sake of Earth."

"Therefore," he looked at Academician Chen Haikang, his face carrying a touch of well-measured "helplessness" and "apology."

"I am very sorry, Old Chen."

"I no longer have the spare strength to deal with those 'small fish' that have slipped into our home."

"They must rely on the power of Human Civilization itself to face them."

Lei Wen's words were like a bolt from the blue, striking Academician Chen Haikang's heart.

He looked at the brutal, purgatory-like "battlefield" image and thought about his own request just now, which was almost tantamount to moral kidnapping; a deep sense of shame welled up in his heart.

It turned out that while they were feeling desperate and panicked because of the failure on the moon.

Lei Wen, or rather Paradox Technology, was fighting a much grander and more brutal battle in a place they could not see.

They were the force standing on the front line of resisting the alien invasion.

And he had actually wanted them to divert their strength to help him deal with the small trouble they had let slip through?

"I... I understand."

Academician Chen Haikang said faintly after a silence.

However, just as he was about to end the communication to redeploy the battle plan.

A key piece of information suddenly flashed in his mind.

He caught a detail in Lei Wen's words.

"President Lei Wen, please wait!" He said eagerly. "You just said... your fleet is fighting the enemy one light-year away?"

"Yes."

"But... your fleet was clearly seen near Earth half a year ago! Does that mean you crossed a distance of one light-year in half a year?" Academician Chen Haikang's voice was filled with unbelievable shock.

He knew better than anyone what this speed meant.

"You have mastered faster-than-light travel technology?"

As soon as this question was asked, everyone in the entire Joint Command Center held their breath.

This was the Holy Grail that Human Civilization currently desired most and was the most out of reach.

"Yes." Lei Wen admitted it frankly.

"Then... can you provide this technology to us?" Academician Chen Haikang's voice was full of pleading. "No matter the cost! Human Civilization needs this technology; you can make any request you want..."

"I cannot."

Lei Wen's answer was crisp and ruthless, directly shattering his fantasy.

"Why?"

"Because it is impossible." Lei Wen explained. "Old Chen, faster-than-light travel is not a single technology; it is a complex system built upon extremely profound basic science and materials science."

"Given humanity's current level of basic science, where you cannot even stably capture super-gravitons, and your level of materials science, where you cannot even touch the weak force, even if I gave you the complete blueprints, you wouldn't be able to build even the most basic screw."

"Giving an aircraft engine blueprint to a primitive tribe that only knows how to fire pottery is meaningless."

Although his words were cruel, they were incredibly realistic.

Academician Chen Haikang was silent.

He knew that what Lei Wen said was the truth.

Although Human Civilization had made leaps and bounds in the past few years, this progress was more based on the imitation and application of the technology Lei Wen had given them. So far, the greatest discovery in the field of basic science was only the discovery of super-gravitons.

Humanity knew the "what," but was still an extremely long distance away from knowing the "why."

"However," Lei Wen's voice sounded again, giving him a glimmer of hope, "please do not be discouraged, Old Chen."

"Our human learning ability and creativity are infinite."

"I believe that as long as we are given enough time, we will definitely be able to rely on our own strength to touch that threshold belonging to faster-than-light travel."

"By then," he looked at Academician Chen Haikang and promised solemnly, "I will naturally share all the technology with you without reservation."

"Before that..."

"Let's first win this war that belongs to us right now."

...

The communication ended.

Lei Wen's words completely dispelled the last bit of escapism in everyone's hearts.

This time, they had no outside help to rely on.

Human Civilization could only rely on itself.

It had to rely on the voyager, the First Fleet, the soldiers of the Earth Defense Force, and the courage and wisdom of everyone on this planet to face this test of life and death.

Three days later.

At the Lagrange L1 point between Earth and the moon.

The Earth Defense Force's First Fleet, led by the voyager, conducted its first tentative contact with the "Faraim Fleet" that had just wreaked havoc over the moon.

The voyager's hull, as massive as a mountain, slowly sailed out of the concealed asteroid belt; its 1800-meter-long stature bared its fangs to the enemy from another star for the first time in the cold universe.

On its sides and rear was a strict escort formation composed of six hundred shark-like [starfish-class] frigates.

And opposite them, the "Faraim Fleet," composed of two hundred silver warships, also deployed in an attack formation.

A space battle that would determine the fate of Human Civilization was about to break out in the silent universe.