Chapter 891: The Last Time! |
This was the moment Xiao Yu was closest to victory. Victory was right ahead. As long as Xiao Yu could charge through, the overall situation would be settled.
Xiao Yu was not worried that this steel planet would escape. Based on the most basic laws of warfare, if the steel planet moved at this time, then it would not be trying to flee, it would be seeking death. Because the situation was already chaotic to a certain degree, and a huge number of warships were hurrying toward it as their target. If it moved at this time, then the situation that the Virtual Life Number One had barely managed to hold together would immediately be broken. By then, it would become much easier for Xiao Yu to take it than it was now.
Xiao Yu was hoping that it would flee, but the situation did not go as he wished. This steel planet, even larger than Jupiter, simply floated silently in space the whole time. No matter how warships all around it shuttled back and forth, were destroyed, and fought, it remained unmoving and towering.
The replicates that had already rebelled were hurrying over. The virus had temporarily severed the connection between the main body and them, so for the moment they did not need to worry about being purged. But they knew that if this war failed to achieve victory and Virtual Life Number One was not destroyed, then what awaited them would be obvious. So at this time, they had also brought out their full strength.
But even more numerous were the replicates that had not been turned! Chaos, conflict, battle, the situation here truly was like a tangled mass of hemp.
All of the warships Xiao Yu could use at this moment had already gathered together. Leading the charge were the Human spaceship and the Dream spaceship. These two spaceships had taken on the role of the sharp blade, leading the vast fleet behind them in a savage charge inward.
“There is half an hour left. The chaotic situation is already gradually easing. If I still cannot destroy it within half an hour, then everything is over!” Xiao Yu thought anxiously, yet his mind became even calmer. The performance of the warships gathered around the Human spaceship and the Dream spaceship had almost been pushed to the limit by Xiao Yu, but even so, Xiao Yu was still advancing with great difficulty.
“I absolutely refuse to let it slip away like this when victory is so close to me!” Xiao Yu thought somewhat frantically. “For this victory, I have planned for several hundred years! If I fail, the Architectural Civilization will be destroyed, and I will also be unable to obtain even more advanced computer technology. It will mean that in the end I carried water in a bamboo basket for nothing! No, that will not do, absolutely not!”
Countless Imperial Guard Corps warships surged forward. Although the Imperial Guard Corps no longer had any Star Cluster-Class battleships, the external supporters did. In order to maintain a stable situation, it could easily be foreseen that Virtual Life Number One would definitely target the Star Cluster-Class battleships first. Regardless of whether those replicates had rebelled or not, it would first eliminate the original replicates, then replace them with initial replicates absolutely loyal to itself. So after the Human spaceship consecutively destroyed five enemy Star Cluster-Class battleships, new Star Cluster-Class battleships appeared again and blocked the Human spaceship and the Dream spaceship.
Xiao Yu also understood the current situation very well. So Xiao Yu did not tangle with this Star Cluster-Class battleship at all. At this moment, the Human spaceship and the Dream spaceship split their forces. The Human spaceship led a portion of the fleet, did not stop for even a moment, paid no attention to its current attacks, and directly bypassed it, continuing to sail toward the front.
This immediately placed that Star Cluster-Class battleship in an awkward situation. It did not know whether it should pursue or continue staying behind to block the other Dream Star Cluster-Class battleship. If it pursued, it would fall into a situation where it was being attacked from all sides, and probably would not last more than a few minutes. If it did not pursue, what if the Human spaceship ultimately broke through the line of defense?
In that instant of hesitation, the Dream spaceship behind it had already led the main force charging over and launched a fierce attack on it. And the Human spaceship, which had already gone to the front, also suddenly changed direction and began attacking it from the rear. Two Star Cluster-Class battleships and several hundred million other warships, at this moment, poured all of their fury onto it.
Faced with such ferocious attacks, this Star Cluster-Class battleship formation lasted only seven minutes before being completely annihilated. After clearing away this obstacle, the Human spaceship and the Dream spaceship joined together once again and began advancing once more.
“The time… there are twenty-two minutes left…” Xiao Yu silently recited in his heart. After destroying this Star Cluster-Class battleship, there were no longer any Star Cluster-Class battleships left among the forces currently under Virtual Life Number One’s control. In other words, it could no longer intercept the Human spaceship and the Dream spaceship with mass. It could only pile up huge numbers of other warship models and use quantity in exchange for time!
Only now had the war truly entered its most crucial stage! Xiao Yu was now only seventy billion kilometers away from the steel planet, and there were twenty-two minutes left!
At this time, neither side would hold back in the slightest. Both sides had already brought out their full strength, and had even erupted with power stronger than full strength. The fate of the two great civilizations afterward depended only on these twenty-some minutes!
Ahead, the stream of warships was converging. The countless warships seemed to form a dike, while Xiao Yu’s fleet was like a surging flood, continuously smashing against the dike. If the dike was breached, then ahead would be open and unobstructed, and Xiao Yu’s warships could surge freely. If the dike could not be broken, then they could only obediently advance along the path the enemy had designed for them.
This was the final line of defense, and also the most critical line of defense. The fiercest fighting spirit of both sides would erupt here, and the most elite strength of the two civilizations would unleash their final collision here.
The Human spaceship and the Dream battleship were like the sharpest awls, drill bits, fiercely smashing into the wall ahead. The first charge failed. If they did not retreat, Xiao Yu’s fleet would suffer enormous losses, and even if they charged through, they would still be unable to pose a threat to a target as enormous as the steel planet.
Xiao Yu pulled back slightly, reorganized the formation, and launched the second charge.
At this moment, there were fifteen minutes left.
Across this vast battlefield, aside from the core region, the other areas were still trapped in chaos. Vast quantities of warships were attacking each other, but the situation there no longer affected the overall outcome. Whether Xiao Yu’s side had the advantage there or the Virtual Life side had the advantage, the warships there would ultimately no longer have enough time to reach the battlefield core.
The only thing the Virtual Life Civilization could rely on was these several hundred million warships within the battlefield core. The only thing Xiao Yu could rely on was likewise the fewer than one hundred million warships in his hands.
The gap in numbers was enormous. If not for the fact that some of the turned ones were still desperately creating chaos here, and Xiao Yu’s warships had somewhat superior performance, Xiao Yu would not have had even the slightest chance. But the chaos created by those turned ones was rapidly declining. This very clearly meant that Virtual Life Number One was gradually freeing up more energy and was taking control of the current situation.
Inside the Supercomputing Center, most of the parts responsible for attacking Virtual Life Number One within the virtual world had already burned themselves out. At this moment, only five Supercomputing Centers were still persisting in the attack.
The second charge also failed. There were less than eight minutes left.
The chaotic situation was still continuing to diminish. The more the chaos was pacified, the greater the power Virtual Life Number One could bring out to resist, and the more unfavorable Xiao Yu’s situation became!
At this moment, this was the third charge. This was the last charge. If this charge still failed, Xiao Yu would no longer have time to organize a fourth charge. This was the final charge related to whether these several hundred years of planning could succeed, whether the Architectural Civilization could continue to endure, related to Xiao Yu’s future fate, related to whether Xiao Yu could ultimately obtain that advanced technology.
Xiao Yu had already brought out all of his strength. The flood blocked by the dike had raised unprecedented towering waves, yet that dike still firmly stood there, restraining the violent flood and refusing to let it break through.
Xiao Yu already felt a trace of despair in his heart. It was a feeling of utter powerlessness. Victory was clearly right before his eyes, yet he did not have the strength to pluck it down.
“In these several hundred years, everything has been advancing according to my plan. I successfully turned those replicates, successfully used the Supercomputing Center to restrain Virtual Life Number One’s attention, successfully created chaos within their civilization. I even already finished considering the plan for wiping out all those replicates in one stroke after destroying Virtual Life Number One. But now, am I going to fail? No, I refuse to accept it, I refuse to accept it, I absolutely refuse to accept it!”
Xiao Yu roared wildly in his heart.
At this moment, there were only four minutes left. Xiao Yu’s third charge had already begun to show signs of collapse. Xiao Yu’s advancing footsteps had already been severely obstructed. If no miracle appeared, then Xiao Yu’s third charge could already be declared a failure!
Once this retreat happened, there would forever be no chance to charge over again!
Xiao Yu roared violently once again.
“Replicates of the Imperial Guard Corps, listen up! Does it feel wonderful to have your life and death controlled at will by Virtual Life Number One! Even if you continue to live on in miserable survival, you are nothing more than puppets!”