86: Tachyon Radar

The war above humanity's heads had been raging for over a month.

For the vast majority of ordinary people living on Earth, the winter of 2034 was the longest and most agonizing period of their lives.

The space war occurring between Earth and the Moon was no longer just distant and abstract numbers or battle reports in news broadcasts.

It had become a reality that everyone could witness with their own eyes.

When night fell, people didn't need telescopes; they only had to look up to see heart-wrenching scenes in that night sky, which should have been tranquil and profound.

From time to time, silent flashes like supernova explosions would suddenly light up near the Moon's orbit, their brightness capable of momentarily outshining the brightest stars.

Every flash could represent a warship carrying thousands of young soldiers turning into fragments in the cold universe.

Although the Earth Council tried its best to seal off the specific details of the battlefield, that sense of impending destruction right on their doorstep was something no news censorship could conceal.

The cities continued to operate during the day, and people continued to go to work, school, and live their lives.

But everyone's faces were shrouded in an inescapable haze.

In cafes that were once filled with laughter, people whispered, discussing the latest battle situation.

"Have you heard? In last night's battle, we lost another dozen frigates."

"My neighbor, his son was serving in the Third Fleet, and yesterday the community staff came to visit..."

In the once-bustling stock exchange, all indices showed a cliff-like decline, except for those related to the military industry and Paradox Technology.

And at night, countless people would spontaneously walk out of their homes, gathering in squares, on rooftops, or anywhere they could gaze up at the starry sky.

Most people were just gazing, while some would light candles to pray for the soldiers fighting to defend their homes on the distant space battlefield.

They were of no particular nationality or race.

At this moment, they were all just Earthlings gazing at the same starry sky, worried about the same fate.

But most people believed that humanity would achieve final victory.

Because of that decisive battle at the Lagrange L1 point a month ago.

When that super-giant ship, large enough to obscure the stars, appeared out of thin air and used that destructive black beam to tear a huge gap in the "rebels'" encirclement, everyone on Earth who was looking up at the sky saw it; that giant ship was so conspicuous even in daylight.

Initially, people on Earth thought it was a more powerful flagship of the enemy that had appeared, and everyone's hearts sank to the bottom.

But within less than an hour, an official announcement from the Earth Council was released through all global media channels.

"...We are not fighting alone! Our enemies are a group of rebels who failed in the Faleim Civilization civil war; a regular fleet from the Faleim Civilization has arrived on the battlefield and is currently assisting us in jointly striking the rebels..."

This news was like a bolt of lightning cutting through the long night.

"We actually have reinforcements!"

"What a terrifying civilization; just a defeated rebel force is already so powerful..."

"Long live Earth!"

On the other side.

Babel Space Station, this city in the sky suspended in Earth's geostationary orbit, welcomed a group of special "guests" it had never received since its construction.

A silver-white warship, similar in shape to the previous super-giant ship but much smaller, slowly docked at the station's main landing pad after deactivating its cloaking state.

Its appearance immediately put the entire space station into the highest level of alert.

Earth Defense Force Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Reinhardt personally led a team of heavily armed soldiers and had long been waiting outside the airlock.

They did not know whether the intentions of this warship, which claimed to be from the Faleim Civilization regular army, were good or evil.

When the warship's hatch slowly opened, everyone nervously gripped their weapons.

However, what walked off the warship were not the strangely shaped aliens they had imagined.

Instead, it was a team of intelligent robots, arranged in neat rows and moving in unison.

These robots were much larger in form than Paradox Technology's [Velociraptor] combat robots, and their design was more concise, efficient, and filled with a higher level of industrial aesthetics.

Their bodies were a matte silver-gray, carrying no visible weapons, with only a pair of electronic eyes flashing with blue light silently scanning everything around them.

The lead robot walked up to General Wang Quanjin and stopped.

A holographic projection suddenly lit up on its chest.

What appeared on the projection was standard Faleim text, which was instantly translated in real-time into standard Chinese and English.

"By order of the Faleim Scientific Conglomerate High Command, we have come to assist your civilization in deploying the Faster-Than-Light Suppressor. Please provide the designated installation site."

Wang Quanjin and Reinhardt exchanged a glance, both seeing a glimmer of understanding in each other's eyes.

Everything was completely consistent with the script that the "spokesperson" for Paradox Technology had told them in advance.

"Please follow me." Wang Quanjin turned to the side and made a "please" gesture.

He led the silent team of robots through the long corridor to the giant radar tower located at the top of Babel Tower, facing outer space.

A huge open space had long been cleared here.

The robots did not engage in any unnecessary communication.

Upon arriving at the designated location, they immediately began efficient construction operations.

Dozens of floating engineering robots, resembling metal discs, flew out from behind them.

These engineering robots flew to the center of the open space and began to release a liquid-metal-like silver-gray substance from their bases.

The moment these substances touched the space station floor, they began to rapidly solidify, take shape, and grow upward.

Without any scaffolding or external support, a hundred-meter-tall silver-gray obelisk rose from the ground before everyone's eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Its surface was smooth as a mirror, engraved with countless complex patterns full of mysterious beauty.

The entire construction process was filled with a miraculous, sci-fi aesthetic, leaving all the human engineers present dumbfounded.

When the obelisk's apex finally closed, its entire body emitted a fluorescent light that flickered like breathing.

A wave of energy, undetectable by any instrument, spread out from it in all directions, instantly covering the entire Solar System.

"Is this the Faster-Than-Light Suppressor?" General Reinhardt muttered, looking at the mysterious glowing obelisk.

From this moment on, the entire Solar System had become a giant "cage."

Any spaceship deemed a "hostile target" by this system would be unable to perform any form of faster-than-light travel here.

Moreover, those robots did not leave immediately after building the obelisk.

They erected dozens of ten-meter-tall cylindrical metal arrays, resembling giant antennas, around the obelisk.

Then, they transported a massive black cube with sides exceeding twenty meters from the warship's cargo hold and placed it steadily in front of the Earth Defense Force high-ranking officials.

After finishing all this, the silent team of robots lined up again, nodded slightly to General Wang Quanjin, then turned and boarded their warship, disappearing silently into the deep universe.

The entire process was crisp and efficient, without a single word of nonsense.

All that was left were the Earth Defense Force high-ranking officials and the mysterious black cube in front of them.

"This… what is this again?" General Wang Quanjin looked at the black cube, which was bigger than a house, completely confused.

Just then, the communication from the Paradox Technology "spokesperson" arrived in a timely manner again.

"General, our allies are even more generous than we imagined." There was a hint of perfectly timed "surprise" in "white flower"'s voice.

"What is this?"

"This is a set of Tachyon deep space detection radar arrays, kindly provided as aid by the Faleim Civilization." "white flower" began to explain it to them.

"tachyons?" A physicist in the command center exclaimed, "Aren't those just faster-than-light particles that only exist in theory?"

"Yes," "white flower" replied. "This radar utilizes a special type of tachyons as a detection medium, named Amuroka particles by the Faleim People, which humans have not yet discovered."

"Its detection signal can reach the target and return at hundreds of times the speed of light."

"According to the data provided by the Faleim People, the effective detection range of this radar array can cover the entire Solar System! And the feedback speed within 0.01 light-years does not exceed 5 minutes."

"In other words," her voice paused, emphasizing, "with its help, we can predict the attack movements of that rebel fleet in advance, so we can make sufficient preparations to deal with the attack."

This news was like a reassurance, putting everyone present at ease.

This meant that the human fleet would completely escape the previous predicament of being passively beaten like a blind person.

They would possess an information advantage equal to, or even exceeding, that of the enemy.

"Great!" General Wang Quanjin's face finally revealed a long-lost smile. "With this system, we have the confidence to drag that rebel fleet to its death here!"

"Before we achieve final victory, we must still take this war seriously." "white flower" continued, "That rebel fleet must also know that we have installed the Faster-Than-Light Suppressor here; they will definitely attack Babel Space Station at all costs, so please ensure you make proper defensive preparations for the space station."

Wang Quanjin smiled slightly, speaking for all the warriors of the Earth Defense Force:

"Before we die out, the enemy won't be able to touch a single alloy plate on the space station."