Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 263: Iron Rule

At this moment, the number of warships Tom had deployed to the battlefield had fully surpassed that of the Havilah Civilization.

Although the Havilah Civilization had always maintained a larger total number of warships than Tom, and had been producing them on a large scale with all their might for the past few decades, the total number of warriors in the Havilah Civilization was, after all, limited.

Even after several rounds of expansion, the total number of warships the Havilah Civilization could control simultaneously was only 600,000.

However, with the completion of Tom’s full industrial system and his all-out large-scale production, the number of warships Tom had deployed to the battlefield had now reached 800,000!

800,000 warships, even for Tom’s clones, would require approximately 50 million to operate, and an additional 500 million clones for life and intelligence replenishment.

Based on a 4-hour shift—such high-intensity mental labor, a 4-hour rotation followed by eight hours of rest, was essentially the limit for a clone.

Tom would need three full sets of rotations, thus requiring a total of 1.65 billion clones.

But Tom had a unique advantage.

The clones that were resting did not require Tom to maintain a consciousness connection.

Tom could maintain over 3 billion consciousness connections at all times, keeping his combat power at its peak at every moment.

Under these circumstances, even on the Second Planet battlefield, which the Havilah Civilization valued most and put their full effort into, they could no longer maintain battlefield superiority and could only rely on more advanced technology to maintain a stalemate.

But this was only the beginning for Tom.

After another period of full-throttle production, Tom had once again amassed a fleet of about 10,000 warships.

Tom did not send this fleet to reinforce the Second Planet battlefield, but instead directed it straight to the Third Planet, where the Havilah Civilization’s main fleet was located.

As a result, the Havilah Civilization had no choice but to withdraw some of its control, shifting it from the Second Planet to the Third Planet for defense.

Just ten days later, the second fleet, also comprising about 10,000 warships, was completed and then dispatched to the First Planet.

Consequently, the number of Havilah warships on the Second Planet battlefield decreased again.

Although those warships remained on the edge of the battlefield, they could no longer be deployed.

Because at the rear control base, the Havilah Civilization no longer had enough qualified warriors to remotely operate them.

After this, Tom continued to maintain the pace of sending out a fleet of 10,000 warships every ten days, constantly deploying fleets to various locations.

Not only the First Planet and the Third Planet, but also some larger dwarf planets, moons, and even deep space began to see dispatched fleets.

Tom was not only attacking planets but also constantly harassing transport supply lines and attacking transport fleets.

In just a few short years, the number of Tom’s warships in the entire Lyra G16 Solar System skyrocketed to a full 2 million.

Moreover, all of them were under control, unlike the Havilah Civilization, which, despite having over a million warships, could only deploy 600,000 to the battlefield at any given time.

Thus, a truly large-scale interstellar war erupted.

Within the Lyra G16 Solar System, every larger planet was engulfed in war.

Every transport fleet, every logistics fleet, and even reconnaissance fleets, passenger fleets, and so on, located in space, would all come under Tom’s attack.

The flames of war raged fiercely, spreading throughout the entire solar system.

The entire Havilah Civilization was mobilized.

Elders who were supposed to enjoy their twilight years, wealthy individuals who were supposed to enjoy life, students who were supposed to focus on their studies—everyone, without exception, answered the call of Head of State Heimerlan, either entering factories, control bases, or becoming transport personnel, all contributing their utmost strength.

The entire Havilah Civilization had unleashed its full, complete power.

They even increased the daily output of manned warships to 200, a rate at which a massive fleet could be accumulated in just a few short years.

They even increased the number of frontline warriors to 600 million, so that even with rotating shifts, 200 million frontline warriors could be assembled at any given time to operate front-line warships, and the number of warships that could be controlled simultaneously surged from the initial 400,000 to 1.6 million.

These numbers, just by looking at them, could shock all high-ranking officials of the civilization, including Heimerlan.

They had never imagined that when pushed to their limits, the Havilah Civilization could unleash such powerful combat capabilities.

This was the great Havilah Civilization!

However...

The progression of the situation quickly shattered that faint sense of pride in Heimerlan’s heart.

They clearly saw that beyond the 2 million warships already deployed to the battlefield, which they had thought was the enemy’s limit, the enemy’s warships continued to increase ceaselessly.

In a short time, the number rose to 2.6 million, and... it was still increasing non-stop!

Their initial grand aspirations and fervent passion were swiftly suppressed by this cruel reality.

Why, why... why is it that even though our civilization has mobilized to its limit, we still can’t compare to the opponent...

Gazing at the vast starry sky, Heimerlan’s eyes were filled with stars that suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared.

The birth of each star signified a violent explosion.

The dimming of each star meant that at least one of their own warships, built at immense cost, was buried in the star sea.

Now, these stars had spread to every visible corner.

We can’t fight anymore.

We really can’t fight anymore.

In Conference Room One, facing the silent high-ranking officials of the civilization and looking at the weary, numb faces of the citizens in the factories and control bases as reported by intelligence agencies, Heimerlan said with great difficulty, "Let’s retreat... Flee this solar system, flee this opponent."

If they continued to fight, the civilization would collapse.

At that point, they truly wouldn’t be able to leave even if they wanted to.

But...

A high-ranking official of the civilization said with difficulty, "Can we leave? Don’t forget, once we choose to flee, we will become the side lacking supplies.

As long as the opponent pursues us, even if we succeed in our escape, our resources will be heavily depleted.

Under these circumstances... can we still feed our people? Can we still escape to the next solar system?"

Interstellar travel cannot carry too many supplies; this is an ironclad rule.

It applied to the opponent, and it applied to them.

Originally, they had used this ironclad rule to force the opponent into the solar system.

They never expected that, at this stage, they themselves would be bound by this very rule.

A resolute glint flashed in Heimerlan’s eyes: "I have decided... to activate the Cataclysm Plan."