Chapter 143 - 142: A Clean Sweep
As the last Supercomputer Ship operating near Venus was destroyed, the full computational load for the planet’s unmanned combat forces shifted to Supercomputing Bases on other worlds.
Due to severe communication lag, the combat effectiveness of Venus’s unmanned forces plummeted. They could barely function, relying on the limited capabilities of a locally-run tactical version of Wukong.
But without coordination from the overall strategic level, the tactical Wukong’s effectiveness was severely limited.
Thus, the situation began to collapse irreversibly.
First, a large number of unmanned combat forces were destroyed, placing greater pressure on the manned forces.
Without the support of the unmanned forces, the manned forces—already at a technological and combat disadvantage—were utterly incapable of withstanding the enemy’s ferocious assault.
With no other choice, Li Qingsong decisively withdrew all Manned Warships from Venus, effectively ceding the planet.
When the last of Li Qingsong’s Warships had withdrawn from the battle for Venus and tranquility finally settled over the surrounding space, General Harir’s chest heaved violently inside the flagship. After a long moment, as if mustering every ounce of his strength, he bellowed a single word, his voice raw with emotion.
"YES!"
That single word seemed to unleash all the pressure, frustration, and anger he had endured.
In an instant, the flagship erupted with the cheers of countless people.
The celebration lasted for over ten minutes before the noise gradually subsided.
"This is not the time to relax completely."
General Harir suppressed his excitement. "Prepare for a counterattack. We must hold Planet Two and wait for the main fleet’s arrival!"
"Yes, sir!"
「Aboard the Blutuk Civilization’s main fleet.」
Upon receiving the news that Planet Two had been taken, a smile of relief finally appeared on Heirwe Supreme Leader’s face.
Inside the vast conference hall, the high-ranking officials of the civilization rose in unison and bowed deeply to the Heirwe Supreme Leader, their faces a mixture of shame and admiration.
’What were we thinking? We actually dared... dared to question the Supreme Leader’s decision. We were such fools...’
’If the Supreme Leader hadn’t insisted on keeping Harir... if we’d actually replaced him... looking at how everything unfolded, we never would have been able to take Planet Two...’
’Now, everything’s changed. With a major planet like Planet Two in our hands, we no longer have to scavenge for resources on dwarf planets like beggars scraping the dirt!’
’Planet Two may be a terrestrial planet, but as a major planet, it’s bound to have massive deuterium reserves. And besides deuterium, there will be a virtually endless supply of all kinds of mineral deposits.’
’We can finally build factories on a massive scale, produce war materials on-site, and build more Warships!’
’We’ll never have to worry about insufficient logistical support again!’
"I hereby order the main fleet... to set course!"
After remaining at Planet Huishen for nearly a decade, the main Blutuk Fleet was finally on the move.
Escorted by hundreds of thousands of Warships and a host of automated defensive weapons, the main fleet pushed through the enemy’s fierce attacks and entered the inner Solar System for the first time. It accelerated steadily, and with support from the fleet already stationed there, finally arrived in orbit around Venus.
Li Qingsong’s attacks were relentless, but they amounted to little more than a nuisance to the Blutuk Fleet, unable to completely halt their subsequent maneuvers.
Li Qingsong then watched as a seemingly endless stream of small landers, aerospace craft, and other vessels detached from the main fleet. They plunged directly into Venus’s thick atmosphere and vanished from sight.
Venus’s atmosphere was incredibly dense and filled with clouds of sulfuric acid, making it impossible to see the surface from space.
Li Qingsong didn’t know what kind of infrastructure the Blutuk Civilization was constructing on the surface of Venus, but he knew it had to be massive.
The fact that the Blutuk Civilization would now extract vast resources from Venus was an irreversible outcome.
Within just two or three years, Li Qingsong noticed the corresponding changes.
He observed that the Blutuk Civilization’s unmanned combat assets around Venus—Cannon Platforms, Unmanned Warships, satellites, space mines, and so on—were increasing at a tremendous rate. Their numbers were even beginning to approach the levels he himself had previously deployed.
Furthermore, the Blutuk Fleet’s logistical support seemed to be growing more robust.
Their Warships maneuvered without any apparent concern for fuel consumption, accelerating at full power to investigate even minor incidents. Moreover, Li Qingsong saw that they were also constructing massive spacecraft factories in orbit, which had already begun to produce a steady stream of new Warships.
Li Qingsong deployed over a million satellites, attempting to breach the Blutuk Fleet’s defensive lines from every direction. He finally managed to get just two of them through to Venus’s atmosphere, which briefly scouted the Blutuk Civilization’s construction on the planet’s surface.
Li Qingsong saw vast, interconnected factory complexes stretching to the horizon. He saw countless fully enclosed transit tubes, innumerable aircraft flying through Venus’s dense atmosphere, and endless streams of ships constantly landing and taking off from the surface.
This was the awesome power of infrastructure that a population of over a hundred billion could unleash.
This power was in no way inferior to Li Qingsong’s own.
Previously, this population and its infrastructural might simply had no outlet. But now, having gained an entire major planet, that power had been unleashed in full.
The satellite feed lasted only a few seconds before cutting out; they had clearly been destroyed.
But those few seconds of footage were enough to make Li Qingsong realize with stark clarity that the war to come... would be even more dangerous.
’My advantages lie in my industrial strength, a more intelligent AI, and a more abundant supply of resources.’
’It was by leveraging these three advantages that I was able to nullify the Blutuk Civilization’s technological superiority and gain the upper hand in this war.’
’But now, the loss of Venus has nullified two of those advantages: "industrial strength" and "abundant resource supply."’
’All that’s left is my advantage in AI.’
On the surface, he was now on the defensive.
But Li Qingsong didn’t panic.
Because his response to the fall of Venus was already in place.
’The vast majority of your civilization’s population is now gathered on Venus? Good. Excellent. That saves me the trouble of hunting you down. I’ll just wipe you all out in one fell swoop, right here.’
「The Asteroid Belt.」
On a colossal asteroid measuring 60 kilometers at its longest point and 40 kilometers at its widest—with a total volume of over 15,000 cubic kilometers and a mass of 24 trillion tons—the installation of two million large Thrust Devices was complete.
Powered by numerous nuclear plants and using a two-stage pressurized propulsion method, the two million Thrust Devices ignited simultaneously. The colossal asteroid began to accelerate, hurtling toward the distant planet Venus.