Chapter 129 Battle (Part 2)

“Ding Di——”

The dedicated communication starship at the rear of the fleet received the order, quickly switched communications to a special radio frequency, and issued a special black tide energy alert.

All inhabited planets and space cities within a thousand star miles received this alarm.

The Free Star Field, the Central Star Field Labyrinth Star, the Bird Space City on the border... Simultaneous alarm sounds were heard above countless cities, followed by a series of mechanical sound prompts.

"All non-combatants, please enter the nearest Kuroshio Shelter. I repeat, all non-combatants, please enter the nearest Kuroshio Shelter."

The underground Kuroshio Shelter is a special building built with a Kuroshio radiation protection capability far exceeding that of civilian buildings. It will not be used at all during ordinary Kuroshio days and will only be activated in wartime.

In the Free Star Region, the exploration team's captain, Adeline, maintained her composure. She waved her hand and called out, "Those who can't fight, get off the starship! Head to the underground hangar! Those who can fight, stay!"

The Free Star Region's infrastructure was poorly maintained. The underground shelter where their space city was located existed in name only, and had long been inaccessible. Fortunately, the underground hangars at the exploration team's base were built with the highest level of protection for firefighting purposes, making them perfectly suited for temporary shelter.

But if the Free Star Region is completely submerged by the black tide, just like the Northern Star Region... then this refuge will only become a huge coffin of despair.

"Those who can fight, follow me aboard!" she called to her subordinates. "Go to the Star Line! Send a message to the Second Legion on the public channel! Ask them if they need any support!"

Inside the Labyrinth, high-ranking officials, led by the Labyrinthian Executive Officer, hurried underground in a panic. The members of the Second Legion's investigation team glanced at each other and simply launched their aircraft into the streets, urging the war-inexperienced and panic-stricken exploration team members, all new to war, to head to the evacuation facilities.

Farther away in Bird City, the old man sitting behind the cashier in a noodle shop suddenly stood up, picked up his well-worn North Star Region military uniform jacket, and stared at the news broadcast screen in front of him.

Bird City was still several hours' sailing distance from the border, so although the city had received an early warning, the executive officer hadn't issued an emergency evacuation order. His son was still kneading dough in the kitchen. The old man's heart tightened. His fingers subconsciously touched the North Star Region emblem on his coat, muttering to himself, "We can't make the same mistake again..."

At the same time, the military headquarters on the capital planet of the Central Star also received the distant alarm. The military headquarters' communications buzzed non-stop, and officials were awakened from their sleep and convened for emergency meetings.

"Everyone, the black tide is coming."

In the military conference room, a huge light screen was projected, and everyone saw the images sent back from the Second Legion.

In the black energy wave, tens of thousands of black tideworms are mixed in, rushing towards the human star field rapidly.

Whether it was from the energy fluctuation image or the light screen reflecting the real-time image, it was an extremely horrifying scene.

The conference room in the capital star of the central star region was completely silent.

This was a joint meeting of senior officials from the military and the central star region. Several senior officials in the meeting looked at the monitoring screens with unstable signals and stepped back inconspicuously.

"Is this... a war about to start?" After a while, an official spoke first. "Is only the central star field under attack?"

You know, the southeastern star field and the southwestern star field will also be affected by the Black Tide Star Sea.

"I just sent a warning to the other two star regions." The military commander-in-chief hung up the phone and walked into the conference room. "Currently, the black tides in the southeast and southwest star regions are normal. Only we are under attack."

"This isn't a common phenomenon," someone said after a moment's silence. "The central star field is the location with the strongest star protection. Why did the Black Tide creatures choose to come here?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the Ming family." Another person said, "Did the Ming family's army let the wolf into the house?"

In the conference room, officials who had had contact with the Ming family were as quiet as quails, not daring to say a word.

Their relationship with the Ming family was not actually very close. In the entire conference room, there was not a single official with close ties to the Ming family.

...Because all those who have close ties with the Ming family are still in the intensive care unit of the hospital!

While pretending to be cowards, these officials secretly lamented the fickleness of fate.

Just over thirty hours ago, they were still feeling frustrated that they hadn't been invited to Ming Zhengen's birthday party by the Ming family. But now, they felt that not being able to join the Ming family was truly a blessing in disguise!

Who could have imagined that in just one night, not only would the Ming family's reputation on Starnet be completely ruined and directly reported to the military and Star Navigation courts, but they would also be attacked at their birthday party, with family members killed, injured, or missing, and most of the guests at the party implicated...

According to the news they had heard, Ming Zhengen had passed away, and Ming Zhilang, Zhao Ying, Ming Yan, and Ming Zhuo were all in the emergency room. Their second son, Ming Yu, was not in the hospital, but he had been abducted by a black tide creature, and his aircraft had exploded. He was most likely in critical condition...

Speaking of which, the scene of the aircraft explosion was also quite strange. It was unknown what could have caused such a violent explosion, directly creating a rift in space. According to nearby witnesses, they also saw interlaced golden and blue light.

The police immediately suppressed the news, preventing even high-ranking officials from learning the full story. To prevent panic, StarNet has temporarily blocked all reports related to the incident, and videos and text descriptions posted by witnesses have been almost completely deleted. They can only wait for the investigation to be completed before receiving any relevant information.

"The Third Legion has been charged with many crimes, but collusion with the Black Tide creatures is probably untenable," the commander-in-chief said from the stage, interrupting the officials' wild thoughts. "The Second Legion's investigation report indicates that traces of high-level Black Tide creature activity were detected on Labyrinth Planet during the last Black Tide Day. It's likely that Albin of the Third Legion was infected then."

His face was cold and serious, he said: "The Black Tide invasion is imminent, there is no time to discuss the reasons now."

"With the Second Legion at the border, nothing serious can happen." An official said with a relaxed attitude, "This should only be a small-scale battle. As long as we don't let the Black Tide creatures get away with it..."

"If the energy value gets any higher, it won't be just a small-scale battle." The deputy commander sighed.

As he spoke, the values ​​on the energy screen continued to rise.

"You see the current Black Tide Energy value isn't high because it's just the beginning. The records show that the Black Tide Energy impact at the beginning of the Dawn War wasn't much higher than the current value."

"If the Kuroshio energy doesn't recede within three hours... then we're in real trouble."

In the fleet near the star line, Musa had similar thoughts.

He stood in the command room of the main ship, his mouth tight, knowing that the first wave of attacks by the black tide creatures was just the appetizer of the battle.

"Form a single line," Musa said solemnly, "charge all the starships' main and secondary energy cannons to 50% and fire forward—"

The Second Legion moved quickly, obeying his command, and formed into a single-line formation while advancing at high speed against the black tide.

"volley!"

Various kinds of mental powers emerged from the wide artillery, intertwined with each other, and connected into one piece, easily strangling the black tide insects.

The first wave of invading Black Tide creatures were the farthest from the core of the Black Tide Star Sea and were also the weakest. Being able to easily kill them didn't mean this confrontation would be easy. Whether this battle would be easy or difficult would depend on what happened next...

Boom boom boom——

The black tide energy hit the surface of the starship covered by the energy shield, splashing large sparks.

In the squadron's aircraft carrier, An Qiang glanced at the pale white shield light outside the porthole and suddenly thought of the colorful world.

This new type of shield was developed by them in collaboration with the Star Navigation Design Institute, based on the conical reflector at the front end of the starship designed by LUCE at the time. It uses the energy of the Kuroshio to drive the reverse creation of a protective shield, greatly increasing their survival rate in the battle against the Kuroshio.

You have to know that not all pilots have mental strength and plasticity high enough to serve as starship shields. There are very few who use their own mental power as shields like Mu Baixing and LUCE.

However, ordinary energy crystal shields are not strong enough and have a limited lifespan...

"Watch out for the second wave!" Musa's command quickly drew An Qiang's attention back to the battle at hand. The observer stared ahead and reminded Hao Ru, "This wave of black tide creatures has a higher energy value!"

"Of course, they're not ordinary bugs, but they're not bad." Hao Ru's energy cannon was fully charged. "I wonder how intense this battle will be! As long as there are no descendants of high-level Black Tide creatures, it won't be a big deal!"

At the same time, Musa was also observing with a frown.

He participated in dozens of battles, both large and small, during the War of Dawn. At that time, the method of judging the difficulty of a battle was to check whether there were any black-tailed beasts.

As a large and dominant group of advanced black tide creatures at the time, the black-tailed beasts were like a symbol of death to humans.

Battles without Black Tailed Beasts usually resulted in minimal casualties, being little more than minor skirmishes with the Kuroshio. However, battles involving Black Tailed Beasts signaled the involvement of higher-level Kuroshio creatures, and usually ended badly.

After the Battle of Dawn, the Black Tailed Beast disappeared. According to Gao Siqi's investigation and the warnings from the Ming Family Manor accident, the leader of the advanced creatures in the Black Tide should be... the moth.

"The third wave!" The operator's somewhat nervous voice came from the starship communicator, "It's a swarm of moths!"

Musa: What you fear will come true.

He took a deep breath and said quickly, "Another alarm! Tell headquarters that there are high-level black tide creatures involved! Also notify the border troops and the Star Navigation Department! Everyone, increase the power of your fire!—"

In the universe, light is shining everywhere.

As wave after wave of attacks arrived, the number of moths swooping out increased exponentially. Their numbers were so great that it seemed impossible to exterminate them. As the battle dragged on, gaps gradually appeared in the Second Legion's defenses.

"Wounded, retreat!" Musa shouted sternly, "Combat starships adjust their gun coverage area—!"

The fire coverage area of ​​the front starship must be increased to hold the front line.

"Commander, the Free Sector exploration fleet is arriving. Their captain is Adeline," the communicator reported quickly. "They've sent a request for assistance."

The other party is the largest and most powerful exploration team in the Free Star Domain, and Musa knows this name.

While the Central Sector doesn't intervene in the Free Sector, it's aware of its major fleets. Adeline, despite her tough tactics, has always maintained a principle of "no offense, no offense" and avoids any involvement with wanted criminals. They are one of the cleanest fleets in the Free Sector, boasting significant overall strength. Their arrival on the front lines at this time is undoubtedly a significant boost to the Second Legion.

"Let them fill the gaps in the queue." Musa nodded immediately.

The situation is becoming difficult, but the value of the black tide energy shows no signs of stopping and is still rising.

The fleet from Adeline sailed forward, intersecting the Second Legion's formation, significantly reducing the pressure on the Second Legion. However, before the Second Legion could breathe a sigh of relief, the energy screens in all the starships suddenly sounded the alarm.

"Alarm—Detected an abnormal and significant increase in energy growth rate—Alarm—"

The sharp alarm from the energy monitor sounded like an ominous scream.

Amidst the already frighteningly rapid energy increase, the energy curve on the screen suddenly rose almost vertically, its angle alarmingly sharp. The vertical axis, representing the energy value, updated repeatedly, and the already steep upward trend line became flatter and gentler in contrast.

At the same time, at the end of the universe, behind the large swarms of moths, the increasingly large and terrifying black tide moths suddenly appeared.

They huddled together tightly, their slender bodies and huge wings wrapped in a chaotic mass that resembled a human form, but with a broken black color.

Strong energy waves emanated from within the moth swarm. Musa knew without hesitation that the black mass was the culprit causing the energy meter to continuously sound the alarm.

However, in such an extremely urgent situation, his attention uncontrollably shifted away from the black mass and looked at the large group of moths again.

He saw the bright white thread tied to the moth's wings, and the starship connected by the thread, which was attached to the moth.

It was undoubtedly a starship made by humans, with an appearance that was very unfamiliar yet very familiar to Musa.

It is a large transport starship that would have been used in the Northern Star Region decades ago.

The originally bulky starship was now filled with gun barrels, making it look extremely strange.

Even weirder is the way it appears...

The starship's engines were not working, only the gun barrels around it were emitting a dazzling light.

The bright light seemed to be the only light in the dark world.

It sailed forward at high speed, following the Kuroshio Current, pulled by those large moths.

Like a king controlling these terrifying black tide creatures and patrolling the starry sky.

Musa narrowed his eyes slightly.

The energy fluctuations in the light were somewhat familiar.

It is difficult to find the source at the moment.

"...Commander?" The Second Legion's communications officer didn't seem familiar, but was momentarily stunned by the unbelievable scene. He couldn't help but ask, "What's going on over there?"