Humanity Is Gone, but I Have Billions of Clones

Within the chaotic battlefield, countless starships were locked in a ferocious struggle.

All kinds of conventional explosions continuously bloomed into fireballs as bright as stars. Beyond the light of these detonations, the flashes of atomic and Hydrogen Bomb explosions appeared without pause.

The light from these nuclear weapons was even more like a star, a single one capable of illuminating an area for tens of thousands of kilometers and wiping out all tangible and intangible existence within a radius of thousands of kilometers.

Their detonations also released intense electromagnetic radiation, making the battlefield's electromagnetic environment even more hostile and chaotic.

But as if that weren't enough chaos, both sides were, by unspoken agreement, continuing to deploy massive numbers of specially developed Electromagnetic Interference Bombs onto the battlefield.

Due to special modulation, a side's equipment had stronger resistance to its own Electromagnetic Interference Bombs but weaker resistance to the enemy's.

In this situation, they could only rely on anti-jamming communication technology to brute-force their way through.

This was a genuine gap in technological levels, one that couldn't be overcome with clever tricks.

Thus, at least on the level of electronic warfare, Li Qingsong was at a complete disadvantage.

A large number of his unmanned combat forces were forced to disconnect from the strategic Wukong AI, and many Manned Warships were cut off as well.

The connection between Li Qingsong and his Clones, however, remained unaffected. But one must not forget that this only put him on equal footing with the Blutuk Fleet, as the warriors of the Blutuk Civilization already possessed their own consciousness and could operate their Warships independently even if disconnected.

The consequences of being disconnected from the strategic Wukong AI began to manifest.

Even though the Clones could pilot the Warships, without the synergy between AIs, certain tactics requiring exquisite coordination became impossible—such as close-quarters maneuvers timed to the millisecond or precise, kilometer-scale formations.

On an interstellar battlefield, operating without human involvement was certainly not an option; after all, an AI could not truly possess human-level intelligence. But without an AI, performance would also be greatly affected, as there were things an AI could do that a human could not.

The two had to work in close coordination to unleash their maximum combat potential.

But… it didn't matter! Li Qingsong had long ago considered the possibility of his forces being cut off from the base.

At that moment, the tactical Wukong AI—equipped in every Manned Warship, every Unmanned Warship, every unmanned Cannon Platform, every unmanned nuclear Missile, and even in every one-kilogram Interstellar Mine—once again demonstrated its power.

Fed on massive amounts of high-quality data, these highly intelligent AIs were capable of a certain degree of intelligent cooperation, even without the unified command and coordination of the strategic Wukong AI!

Faced with the same battlefield situation, the tactical AIs would independently determine what tasks they were best suited to perform.

Those needed for assault missions would take the initiative to carry them out, no coordination from the strategic AI required.

Those needed for cover missions would similarly take the initiative to provide cover.

Even on Manned Warships that had lost contact with the main base, the tactical Wukong AI continuously analyzed battlefield data and proposed rational suggestions. The Clones would see these proposals, which were then transmitted to Li Qingsong's brain for unified thought and coordination.

Although this autonomous coordination, born from the loss of communication, resulted in a certain drop in efficiency and cooperation compared to the previous unified command of the strategic Wukong AI, it didn't matter—the enemy's combat AI would suffer a drop as well!

And because their AI was less intelligent than the Wukong AI, their performance would degrade even more severely, despite Li Qingsong's weaker electronic interference technology and the enemy's stronger anti-jamming capabilities!

In this way, the communications disadvantage caused by his inferior technology was forcefully clawed back by the superior intelligence of the Wukong AI, completely nullifying the enemy's advantage.

The scales of war were still tipping in Li Qingsong's favor.

Aboard the Blutuk Fleet's flagship, General Harir's expression was grave.

He considered himself to have taken his opponent seriously enough, to have been cautious enough, careful enough, and to have sufficiently overestimated them. But he never expected that they could display such formidable combat power with such primitive equipment!

'At this rate…' he thought, 'relying on only the forty thousand Warships we've already committed, we won't even be able to avoid defeat, let alone capture a satellite.'

Quickly taking stock of the forces at his disposal, Harir made a swift decision.

His fleet's total size was approximately one hundred thousand ships. Excluding various support vessels, the number of deployable Manned Warships was about ninety thousand.

'Alright then. We'll leave ten thousand ships to intercept external reinforcements and act as a reserve. I'll dispatch another forty thousand Warships to the battlefield!'

Given the current situation, these forty thousand new Warships would undoubtedly give his side an absolute advantage, allowing them to quickly annihilate the enemy's unmanned combat forces.

Thanks to the enemy's superior combat AI, their unmanned forces were playing a crucial role in this battle.

Once the enemy's unmanned forces were whittled down to a certain point, his side would be able to truly crush their Manned Fleet and finally claim victory!

'Then, move out!'

Tens of thousands of powerful Warships poured into the battlefield, and Li Qingsong instantly felt the pressure mount even higher.

'The enemy's Warships are too technologically advanced, too powerful,' Li Qingsong thought. 'Even though I have more Manned Warships—twice their number—and every Clone is under my direct command for hyper-efficient coordination, and every Clone is fearless in the face of death, and even though my combat AI is superior... but...'

'A total of eighty thousand Manned Warships... that's still not something I can fight!'

The tide of battle seemed to have entered an unstoppable downward spiral.

Vast numbers of his unmanned combat forces were being destroyed, which only increased the pressure on his side.

This greater pressure prevented him from mounting a sufficiently damaging counterattack, which in turn led to his unmanned forces being destroyed even faster.

'The enemy commander must be a seasoned veteran. To have identified my weakness so quickly and acted so decisively!'

At that moment, Li Qingsong couldn't help but feel a flicker of admiration for his opponent.

But…

'You know my weakness, but I know it even better!'

'You want to defeat me by destroying my unmanned forces?'

'In your dreams!'

When Li Qingsong had assessed his industrial capacity and calculated that he could simultaneously command a maximum of 160,000 Warships, he hadn't just been thinking about the supplies consumed by the Warships themselves.

He had also factored in the replenishment of his unmanned combat systems.

Maintaining a fleet of that size in combat while also replenishing disposable assets like his unmanned forces was something others couldn't do. But Li Qingsong could!