As the alloy door to the tactics room closed behind Lin Yi, Long Wu's electromagnetic scabbard struck the edge of the long conference table. The metallic clanging sound was like a fine needle, precisely piercing everyone's tense nerves.
"Sit down, everyone." Lin Yi took off his tactical goggles and placed them on the table. His knuckles paused for half a second on the holographic projection switch—he needed to calm his breathing first.
Three hours, which was originally enough to complete three pre-battle simulations, is now barely enough to charge Long Wu's mech.
But when he glanced up at the four people sitting around him, his heart skipped a beat: Su Qing was pushing the locator from the sealed box in front of each person, the stray hairs sticking up on her head trembling slightly with the movement; Chu Yao's terminal was already on the stand, her fingertips leaving afterimages on the virtual keyboard, her hair sticking to her ears with sweat from the training area; Xuan Mingzi sat cross-legged in the hover chair, the celestial compass swirling in his palm, each star dazzlingly bright; Long Wu sat half-sitting on the edge of the table, the electromagnetic blade across his knees, the blade reflecting the newly added mecha connector on the back of his neck, still oozing pale red blood.
"Let's check the latest intelligence on the Shadow first." Lin Yi opened the terminal, and the holographic screen unfolded in response, with a deep purple data stream pouring out like a waterfall.
Su Qing tapped her finger on her terminal, and the data stream suddenly froze. Twenty-seven flashing red dots exploded on the star map—those were the energy nodes of the intruders distributed in near-Earth orbit.
Chu Yao's fingernails dug into her palm.
Three days ago, when she analyzed these nodes, they looked like glass beads strung together, so regular it was unsettling.
But now… she pulled up the comparison photos from three days ago, and her pupils suddenly contracted.
“The frequency of energy fluctuations has changed.” Her voice was low, but it was like a nail driven into the air. “The synchronization peak that used to occur every seventy-two minutes has now become random.”
Xuanmingzi's star chart suddenly emitted a clear ringing sound.
He raised his eyes, his white eyebrows furrowing into two small mountains: "When the old Taoist observes the stars at night, he is most afraid of the stars' orbits being out of order—disorder breeds discord."
"Specifically." Lin Yi rested his thumb on his chin, a habitual gesture when he was thinking.
Chu Yao traced two curves on the holographic screen with her fingertips, one smooth as a mirror, the other surging like waves: "The invaders' energy supply system uses a combination of core power supply and sub-node distribution. Originally, the core of the mother planet released a high-energy pulse every seventy-two minutes, which the sub-nodes received synchronously. But now..." She suddenly zoomed in on one of the red dots, "This node, numbered a-17, received the pulse seventeen minutes ago, but the next one came forty-three minutes earlier."
Long Wu's electromagnetic sword hummed softly. He narrowed his eyes: "You mean, their power supply system is messed up?"
“It’s not chaos.” Chu Yao’s voice suddenly rose, her fingertips rapidly typing out a string of code. “It’s overload.” Countless green light bands popped up on the holographic screen, like spider webs scattered by the wind. “Each child node has a fixed reception threshold. In order to activate the warp drive ahead of schedule, the mother planet’s core had to increase the pulse power. The child nodes couldn’t receive that much energy, so they could only release it randomly—like a water pipe suddenly being pressurized, causing leaks at the joints.”
A brief silence fell over the meeting room.
Su Qing's locator fell to the table with a "click." She hurriedly went to pick it up, but Lin Yi pressed her hand down.
"Where is the leak?" His voice was as heavy as if it were made of lead.
Chu Yao drew a bright blue circle on the holographic screen with her finger, which perfectly encircled the shadowed area below node a-17: "Here. Each child node has an energy buffer chamber to balance the pulse. But in case of overload, the buffer chamber will prioritize protecting the main system and discharge excess energy into the secondary pipeline—" Her fingertip suddenly jabbed the center of the circle, "The secondary pipeline's protective power is only 37% of that of the main system."
Xuanmingzi's star chart suddenly burst out with blinding white light, and the twelve main stars simultaneously lit up with a blood-red glow.
He slammed his hand on the table, nearly sending the star chart flying: "Brilliant! Back when I followed my master to break the Myriad Stars Formation, we were looking for the weak point of the formation! This super-channel is the weak point of the intruder's formation!"
Long Wu slammed his fist on the table with a thud, making Chu Yao's terminal shake: "I'll lead the Xuanxiao Guards in a frontal assault and draw all their attention! You lead the Time Air Force Legion to flank them from the rear and directly pierce through that so-called secondary pipe!"
“Data verification is needed,” Su Qing suddenly said.
Her terminal had somehow brought up a simulation program, and with her fingers flying across the screen, countless points of light formed a three-dimensional battlefield in the conference room.
"Assuming the overload rate of node a-17 reaches 85%, the secondary pipeline protection drops to 30%..." She pressed the confirmation button. In the simulation, a silver light pierced through the shadow area, and node a-17 exploded instantly. The chain reaction was like a lit powder keg, blowing away seven adjacent nodes.
"Success rate: 79%." Su Qing's eyes lit up as she looked up. "21% higher than originally planned!"
Lin Yi's fingers tapped softly on the table.
As he gazed at the explosion of fire in the simulation, he suddenly recalled the crystal the shadowy figure had handed him three days ago in the spacetime rift, inscribed with the words "To break the formation, one must strike its lazy retreat."
It turns out that the so-called "laziness" was never the enemy's laxity, but rather their own eagerness for quick success and instant benefits.
“Adjust the plan.” He stood up, put his tactical goggles back on, and watched the red countdown tick in his field of vision—two hours and forty-five minutes left.
"Long Wu, lead the first and third battalions of the Xuanxiao Guard in a feint attack from the front, focusing on the main node. Don't actually break through; draw all the firepower there."
Long Wu grinned, twirling the electromagnetic knife in his palm: "Understood, I'll put on a big show for them."
“Senior Xuanmingzi,” Lin Yi turned to the old man, “please use astrology to locate the positions of all secondary pipes. The error must not exceed five hundred meters.”
Xuanmingzi stroked his beard and nodded, the star chart spinning rapidly in his palm: "This old Daoist can still show you the stars and guide you, young friend."
"Chu Yao." Lin Yi's gaze softened for a moment. "You and Su Qing stay in the command center to monitor energy fluctuations in real time. If any anomalies are detected, immediately adjust the attack coordinates."
Chu Yao pushed the slipped terminal bracket, her ear tips turning slightly red: "I'll make sure their pipes leak more thoroughly than a sieve."
"As for me—" Lin Yi touched the Time and Space Dominator emblem on his chest, which was burning hot. The hourglass totem on the emblem suddenly began to rotate. "Lead the elite of the Time and Space Legion, and go straight to the back of node A-17 through the time and space rift."
The atmosphere in the tactics room suddenly heated up, as if a fire had been thrown into it.
Long Wu had already begun checking the mecha interfaces. Su Qing's hands were shaking as she handed out the locators to everyone. Xuan Mingzi's star chart emitted seven beams of starlight, outlining a star map on the wall. Chu Yao's terminal was synchronizing the tactical chips of all the team members.
Just then, Lin Yi's terminal suddenly vibrated.
He looked down and saw that the sender was "Black Shadow" with only one line of text: "The protection of node A-17 has been increased to 50%, and countermeasures devices have been installed on secondary pipelines."
The temperature in the conference room seemed to drop ten degrees instantly.
Chu Yao's terminal fell to the table with a "thud," Su Qing's locator rolled to Long Wu's feet, and Xuan Mingzi's star chart went dark for three seconds before lighting up again.
Lin Yi hovered his thumb over the terminal for three seconds before finally pressing "Confirm".
As he looked up, his gaze swept over everyone's tense faces, and he suddenly smiled: "Only 50%." He pulled off his tactical goggles, revealing a glint in his eyes. "Back when I was in the newbie village, when I killed my first mutated beast, its leather armor was even thicker than this."
Long Wu bent down to pick up the locator and patted Lin Yi on the shoulder: "What are you afraid of? At worst, I'll just cut the countermeasure device to pieces too."
Chu Yao set up the terminal again, her fingers clattering on the keyboard: "I'll recalculate the attack angle now. 50% defense, with the Anti-Entropy Blade..."
Su Qing bit her lip and placed the locators one by one on everyone's tactical vests, her wisps of hair sticking up again: "I tripled the power of the locator's signal enhancement module."
Xuanmingzi's star chart suddenly burst forth with brilliant starlight, and the twelve main stars lit up again: "The stars say that although this situation is dangerous, there is a glimmer of hope."
Looking at the four people in front of him, Lin Yi suddenly remembered what they looked like when he first met them three months ago: Long Wu was still fighting in underground boxing gyms, Chu Yao was buried in data in the laboratory and turned into a snowman, Su Qing was repairing toys for children in an orphanage, and Xuan Mingzi was growing cabbages in a Taoist temple on the mountain.
Now they stand here, their eyes burning with fire, their hands wielding swords, and behind them lies the hope of all human civilization.
The countdown on the terminal jumped to exactly two hours.
Lin Yi put on his tactical goggles, and the vibration of the anti-entropy blade came from his waist, as if echoing a certain heartbeat.
He grabbed the locator from the table, pinned it to his chest, and turned to walk toward the alloy door of the tactics room.
"Let's go." His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a thunderclap splitting the dark clouds. "Let them see what it means to—"
The moment the door opened, alarms from the lunar far side base blared in, mingling with Long Wu's loud laughter: "—Humanity's counterattack!"
The message from the shadowy figure lay quietly in Lin Yi's terminal, like an unlit fuse.
He knew that the intruders' adjustments were just the beginning, but when he looked back at the four people still busy in the tactics room, he suddenly understood: pressure is never a boulder that crushes people, but a whetstone that sharpens swords.
In the corridor, the members of the Time and Space Legion had already lined up, their anti-entropy blades gleaming in a continuous, cold light.
Lin Yi touched the emblem on his chest; the hourglass totem was still spinning—this time, time was on their side.
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