Chapter 131 130: Sea of Stars
Surrounded by a myriad of stars, a colossal spaceship hung silently in the void.
It had a long, articulated shape, with a thick central axis hundreds of meters in diameter. Extending from the axis were numerous spokes, like those of a bicycle wheel, which held in place a massive ring several kilometers across.
This central axis was over ten kilometers long, with a ring attached approximately every kilometer, for a total of fifteen rings.
At this moment, the enormous, ringed spaceship floated in solitude within the boundless expanse of space.
In its vicinity—above, below, left, right, fore, and aft—not a single other ship could be seen. There were only the myriad stars. It seemed as if, in this moment, this one ship was all that remained in the Vast Cosmos.
Within one of the rings, behind a large porthole, lay a spacious room.
The room was decorated primarily in the pure black favored by the Blutuk People. The furnishings were simple, subtly exuding a solemn air.
Heirwe, the tall Supreme Leader of the Blutuk Civilization, his body covered in neat, silver-white scales, stood silently before the porthole. He gazed out at the myriad stars, lost in thought.
A soft knock sounded from behind him. A moment later, another Blutuk with matching silver-white scales entered.
"Supreme Leader, we have an urgent situation. We've received a signal from the Solar System. We believe it was almost certainly sent by the alien civilization that beat us to it."
"Oh?"
The reporting Blutuk waved a hand, and a 3D projection materialized in front of the Heirwe Supreme Leader.
As he read the message, a faint smile spread across his face, which was also covered in fine, silver-white scales.
"Based on the long-range sensor data alone, I still had some doubts."
The Heirwe Supreme Leader smiled placidly. "But now, with this message, my concerns are completely assuaged.
"How could a powerful civilization be so weak? Their weakness can only mean one thing: they are not powerful at all.
"Our preparations for the next interstellar voyage just became much, much easier…"
"Supreme Leader, shall we release this information to the public?"
"Release it. We've spent centuries preparing for this voyage. Countless citizens have sacrificed their lives for it.
"Now, finally, someone else can do all that tedious, back-breaking labor for us. This is wonderful news, truly wonderful. It's time to announce it and let our people celebrate."
"Yes."
The Blutuk gave a slight bow, then turned and left the pure black office.
The Heirwe Supreme Leader's attention returned to the porthole, his gaze once again drifting out to the myriad stars.
Countless stars surrounded the massive ship, making it seem as though it were submerged in a true ocean of stars.
But the Heirwe Supreme Leader knew they were not stars at all.
Each point of light was, in fact, a colossal, high-powered engine, blasting out powerful streams of plasma.
Each star represented a massive warship, equipped with advanced technology and formidable combat power.
These countless vessels converged into a veritable Sea of Stars, shielding the core flagship at its center.
Though he couldn't see a single one, he knew with certainty that tens of thousands of warships of all types were right beside him.
At this very moment, this Sea of Stars was moving according to his will, steadily closing in on the Star System another civilization had already reached.
As for the humans' claims about "returning to their homeland" and how the "Solar System is not unclaimed territory"... Heirwe didn't believe a word of it.
Or rather, he simply didn't care if it was true or not. 'True? False? What does it matter?'
'It's all irrelevant.'
...
「Three months passed in the blink of an eye.」
Based on the communication delay, if the Blutuk Civilization had replied after receiving his message, that reply should have arrived by now.
But nothing came.
Furthermore, Li Qingsong could clearly see that the "star" in the direction of the Gliese 625 Star System hadn't vanished. On the contrary, it had grown even brighter—so bright, in fact, that he could now faintly make out a geometric structure through a maximum-resolution telescope.
Li Qingsong knew exactly what this meant.
The deceleration burn was still ongoing. The massive fleet was drawing ever closer to him, to the Sun.
The last glimmer of hope for peace in Li Qingsong's heart was extinguished.
Yet, he felt no despair, no frustration.
'The reason is simple. I proposed negotiations because I already had the confidence to back them up. And with that confidence, any outcome—even a complete failure to negotiate—is acceptable to me.'
'I offered to negotiate to give *you* a chance, not myself.'
'Since you won't take it... then we fight.'
'Fight!'
At this very moment, across the vast Solar System, countless colossal warships continued to shuttle back and forth. A ceaseless flow of resources from every planet converged on every factory.
An endless stream of Interstellar Mines had been poured into the sea of stars for decades, a process that would continue unabated.
The warship assembly plants had been running for decades, producing hundreds of thousands of warships, and their production lines would not stop.
Beyond that, the production of Interstellar Cannon Platforms, satellites, Missiles, supercomputers, and all other materiel had not paused for a single day.
The Jade Emperor AI had been upgraded to the most powerful version possible with current technology.
Divine Craft, Nuwa, Dianmu, Shennong, Lu Ban—all the industrial AIs, both named and unnamed, had been upgraded to their peak.
The Wukong AI, too, had been upgraded to its ultimate form!
After decades of trials by fire, after millions of Clones had fallen in battle and tens of thousands of warships had been destroyed, Wukong AI had been forged in iron and blood into a true god of war!
Even Li Qingsong himself, through his relentless, tireless research into biotechnology, had truly increased his maximum number of consciousness connections to two hundred million.
A maximum of two hundred million consciousness connections, four hundred million active Clones, and a total of three billion Clones held in reserve in hibernation across the major cryo-stasis bases!
At present, Li Qingsong could simultaneously command a maximum of 150,000 warships. But beyond those, over 300,000 more warships of various classes lay hidden throughout the Solar System.
...
「Several more years passed.」
The Blutuk Civilization never replied to Li Qingsong, and Li Qingsong sent no further messages.
He simply continued his war preparations, quietly watching as the "star" gradually expanded, growing larger and brighter, until it finally split into thousands of smaller stars, which in turn began to brighten.
Then, just moments ago, all those stars vanished.
The massive fleet had ceased its deceleration burn.
But even without their engines firing, Li Qingsong could now see them directly through a telescope.
The Blutuk Fleet was now less than thirteen billion kilometers from the Sun.
Closer even than Ceres had been.