Light Speed ​​War

Chapter 211: An Unexpected Turn of Events

After the Technology Advancement Act came into effect, humanity on Earth embarked on an unprecedented period of large-scale development, production, and construction.

Two years later, this stable, efficient, and progressive situation began to face a significant crisis. As the development of weapons such as miniature death stars and Dyson clouds came to light, it became apparent that these projects seemed unrelated to the super-Earth colonization project 39 light-years away. Consequently, many people in the public and online began questioning the purpose of the Technology Advancement Act. These critics argued that humanity intended to seize the super-Earth by force, or conversely, that an alien civilization inhabited the super-Earth and posed a threat to humanity.

Although government officials repeatedly emphasized that the development of a miniature Death Star and Dyson Cloud was to enhance humanity's military offensive and defensive capabilities and tried their best to reassure the public, rumors began to spread and public panic began to rise.

On the second anniversary of the Technology Upgrade Act, Parliament passed the Global Militarization Act. This sparked protests from the opposition, who held massive demonstrations, which subsequently erupted into widespread riots, looting, arson, and vandalism, affecting more than 190 cities worldwide. The unrest gradually subsided after seven months of forceful suppression by the military and police. The Seongquit government executed over a thousand opposition leaders and high-ranking officials.

Zhou Yuan and the other three were under the special protection of the government, so they did not encounter any accidents or troubles.

On October 1, 2249 AD, the third anniversary of the enactment of the Technology Advancement Act and the centenary of the founding of the Empire, the Starquat government held a grand military parade. Unlike previous parades, this one featured an intelligent robot formation. The sight of these intelligent robots marching in unison on the ground and then taking to the air in formation was impressive. But what was most impressive was the small Death Star weapon. A large warship target ship in the sky was instantly vaporized by a powerful laser beam from the small Death Star.

This unprecedented military parade greatly boosted the public's confidence in confronting the long-questioned hypothetical enemy, extraterrestrials, and even those who opposed the government began to change their minds and actively cooperate with and support the government.

Thanks to the existence and widespread application of highly efficient solar energy conversion materials, energy is no longer an issue. Giant umbrellas of solar absorbers, like those in the Dyson Cloud, are being built over various planets. Within the solar system, warships, spaceships, and transport ships travel back and forth in the solar system. The resources of the eight planets are being fully utilized and exploited, and the construction of solar absorbers has begun.

The four members of Zhou Yuan No. 1 have completely integrated into this human civilization. If it weren't for their inherent nature, the four of them would have almost forgotten their time travel mission.

The four people in Zhouyuan No. 1 live in the Jasmine Garden on Dika Avenue, Fourth Ring Road in the capital city. The house is a duplex villa. The place where the four of them work is within the Third Ring Road, about 40 kilometers away as the crow flies.

In this world's human era, on June 23, 2256 AD, approximately ten years after Zhou Yuan No. 6 and his three companions arrived in this human world. That morning, as usual, the four got out of bed, washed up, ate breakfast, and went out. They drove their flying car out of the underground garage, and the car took off, flying towards the city along the aerial highway.

The aerial highways, like overpasses, are layered. However, these aerial highways of human civilization are based on ground roads and limited by their boundaries. These layers of aerial highways, along with corresponding ground roads, form the planet's three-dimensional transportation network. From the ground up, the speed of the aerial highways increases. All flying vehicles are controlled by artificial intelligence. Ground-based flying vehicles are set to a fixed speed of 100 kilometers per hour. For each aerial highway ascended, the speed increases by approximately 100 kilometers per hour. The maximum speed of the aerial vehicles can reach 2,600 kilometers per hour. These high-speed flying vehicles are generally used to reach other, more distant cities on the planet.

The flying car is six meters long and two and a half meters wide. It is a streamlined car with bullet-shaped ends. There is a plasma jet pipe at the back of the car. The car starts and stops almost instantly. People on the flying car will not feel any discomfort caused by the inertia of acceleration and deceleration.

As usual, Panna No. 1 was the driver, sitting next to Zhou Yuan No. 1, while Huo Jing No. 1 and Chu Xiaolu No. 1 sat in the back.

After flying on the air highway for about twelve minutes, one of the flying cars suddenly fell from the sky and crashed into another flying car traveling in the same lane ahead. Then, seven or eight flying cars fell in succession.

Huo Jing No. 1 opened the skylight of the flying car. Above the car, a huge circular hole appeared in the sky, from which a swarm of warships poured out—more than a dozen warships—firing laser beams at the flying cars on the main airway. Panna No. 1 accelerated and sprinted, speeding through the gap between two crashing flying cars. All the flying cars sped up, vying to leave the main road and head towards the side streets.

Pana One also accelerated frantically, weaving rapidly between the flying vehicles, while a warship's laser beams fired in short bursts from all sides. Pana One was forced to rely on the flying vehicle's superior power system and her own excellent driving skills, sometimes braking to slow down, sometimes accelerating to speed up.

Perhaps it was this skillful dodging maneuver that displeased the other party, because suddenly a bright laser wall appeared in front of them, blocking the way of the flying cars. More than a dozen flying cars crashed directly into the laser wall, and the flying cars exploded violently.

"Quickly, speed up and get through the flames!" Huo Jing No. 1 shouted as he closed the skylight.

Pana One pushed the energy bar to its maximum, and the flying car began to accelerate again. With a "whoosh," it flew at supersonic speed and rushed towards the laser curtain wall that had just been on fire. Everyone heard a "hissing" sound from the roof of the car, and then the temperature inside the car suddenly rose. The four of them felt very hot, and sweat poured down their foreheads and faces.

After the flying car passed through the laser barrier, it continued speeding along, billowing smoke, as the temperature inside began to drop. Pana-1 steered the car to a small side road and slowed down, flying at a steady pace.

The Zhouyuan-1 vehicle had already activated its in-vehicle video system, and the news channel was broadcasting breaking news.

The enormous circular hole continued to spin, like a vortex. This vortex-like hole seemed to be a portal or a "time portal," from which alien warships poured out continuously. Each alien warship that appeared either entered into battle to guard the "time portal" or flew to other locations. In addition to the capital city, alien warships also appeared in the skies above other major and medium-sized cities around the world.

More than 300 small dead stars near Mars are accelerating toward Earth, and small dead stars near other planets are also on their way.

The solar system has long been blockaded by alien warships. Any flying object capable of high-speed flight, such as warships and spaceships, is pursued and destroyed by the alien warships.

The "space-time portal" of the giant vortex-shaped hole lasted for about three hours before disappearing. During those three hours, the "space-time portal" transported about three thousand alien warships.

Alien warships swarmed out from the enormous circular hole in the sky and had already clashed with the human warships of this world. These suddenly appearing warships were far superior to the opposing warships in terms of speed, weaponry, and shields. As more and more teleportation warships joined the battle, the human warships were utterly defeated under the overwhelming firepower of the alien warships. Major cities around the world suffered from the raging fire, many buildings collapsed, roads were littered with corpses, thick smoke billowed everywhere, rivers turned dark red, and the piercing air raid sirens wailed incessantly—a scene of utter apocalypse.

The miniature Death Star weapons finally arrived. More than two thousand miniature Death Stars formed an almost spherical surface and began firing at the invading alien warships. The intensely bright energy torrents directly destroyed the energy shields of the alien warships, causing them to explode.

Using their speed advantage, the alien warships began to flee into outer space. However, this was merely a pretense; these warships began their ascent to the major planets of the solar system, destroying Dyson cloud modules and ruthlessly annihilating aerial construction bases and planetary ground manufacturing facilities. Communication satellites, military satellites, various space stations, and shipyards in the skies above Earth and other planets were also destroyed.

Government officials, led by Xingkuite, had already taken refuge in deep underground bunkers. Many civilians also hid in their basements, all in a state of panic, unable to maintain any modern communication with the outside world. Even light became a luxury; oil lamps and candles were collected and reused to illuminate the dark underground space.

The alien warships played hide-and-seek with more than two thousand smaller death stars. Whenever the smaller death stars were not around, these alien warships would launch fierce attacks and destroy human military bases and infrastructure.

A day later, humanity's military forces in the solar system were reduced to almost nothing but those two thousand-odd small dead stars; their space fleets and military bases had all vanished. After a day of fighting and attrition, these two thousand-odd small dead stars were forced to replenish their energy from the sun once more. The alien warships recognized this as a good opportunity to attack, and the two thousand-odd warships launched a fierce assault on the small dead stars again. Some of the small dead stars managed to retaliate with their remaining energy, but this resistance lasted only a dozen minutes. Afterward, all two thousand-odd small dead stars went "out of service," becoming aerial targets and being completely destroyed by the alien warships. Many fragments of the small dead stars' weapons hurtled directly towards Earth, passing through the atmosphere and, accelerated by Earth's gravity, violently impacting the ground, creating massive craters. Tsunamis and earthquakes began to occur in the Northern Hemisphere; towering tsunamis swept through coastal cities, submerging them and leaving many corpses adrift on the waves.

Earth has become a living hell, and humanity has fallen into unprecedented darkness.

Two days after the alien warships appeared, the "space-time portal" with the huge circular hole in the sky above Earth was opened again, and a large number of warships and transport ships poured out. Among them, there was a giant warship that looked very different from the other warships. This warship was clearly a flagship.

Near the sun, a stealth fleet was observing the "space-time portal" of the huge circular hole. When the flagship appeared, Zhou Yuan and his crew of four exclaimed in surprise, because the warship had familiar characters on its hull. The characters read "Linghu X-2".