Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 371: The Last Bit Of Hope

In the Head of State’s office, located in the office building specifically built by Tom for handling affairs of various races, the clone serving as "Head of State," under Tom’s control, silently looked at Heimerlan before him.

Heimerlan lowered his eyes slightly and said in a deep voice, "This is just a suggestion, an idea of mine. Whether it is ultimately feasible still depends on your opinion."

Tom merely sighed softly.

"Given the current situation, this might truly be the last bit of hope for our Human Civilization... No matter what, we should try it."

Heimerlan’s heart first filled with joy, because it seemed his suggestion had gained the Head of State’s approval.

But then his heart grew dim.

Even the Head of State said this was the last bit of hope. Our current predicament... has it become this difficult?

"However, to execute this plan, there is still one obstacle to overcome."

"Please speak."

Tom manipulated the "Head of State" to stand up, pondered for a moment, and slowly said, "Because of the great distance, the fleet going to carry out this mission will inevitably lose contact with the home base, unable to receive any instructions from me or support from the civilization. All matters will need to be handled on the fly.

This mission requires a leader. A leader who is excellent enough, decisive enough, and possesses sufficient strategic vision.

I need to remain at the home base and cannot leave. Then... there is only one suitable candidate for this mission."

The Head of State looked steadily at Heimerlan: "You."

Heimerlan remained silent.

Frankly, he was actually unwilling to carry out this mission. The reason was simple: it was too dangerous.

He also knew that if he refused, the Head of State would certainly not be able to force him.

Because any reluctance could lead to the failure of this mission.

After his refusal, there would likely be no punishment. At most, his "path to promotion" would be cut off, but his position as Vice Chief of the Viller Race would remain stable.

So...

Heimerlan sighed softly, and when he looked up, his expression had regained its resolve.

"Head of State, if you believe I am the only candidate, then I am willing to carry out this mission."

He didn’t know why he agreed. Perhaps he still wanted to advance his position? Was it an identification with Human Civilization? Or did he understand the principle of all for one and one for all? Or was it that he didn’t want his compatriots to perish here, or... all of the above?

He hadn’t figured it out, and he was too lazy to continue thinking about it.

Tom nodded, and through the thin, portable spacesuit, gently patted Heimerlan’s shoulder.

"Go. Whether it succeeds or fails, whether our civilization has a future or not, the civilization will remember your contribution."

Heimerlan’s body gradually straightened. Following the etiquette of Human Civilization, he saluted Tom, then turned and left.

The fleet prepared for this mission was quickly completed. Its scale was not large, consisting of only five aerospace carriers, 100 auxiliary spacecraft, ten thousand warships, and corresponding unmanned combat forces.

There wasn’t even a single residential spacecraft.

The population participating in this mission consisted of only about 1 million warriors and engineers carefully selected from various races.

However, to enable this mission fleet to break through from the Pegasus G76d planet, Tom prepared a full 300,000 warships for it, and planned an offensive that affected the entire battlefield.

There was no other way. The disadvantage on the battlefield was too great. Without launching a full-scale offensive and mobilizing all warships to escort this mission fleet’s breakthrough, Tom would simply not be able to let a single aerospace carrier leave here.

At this moment, everything was ready. The dispatched soldiers, engineers, officers, and most importantly, the leader, Heimerlan, had all boarded the flagship of the task force, the integrated spaceship "Liaoyuan."

Under the complete suppression of the Purple Moon Civilization, Tom had deployed approximately 300,000 warships that he had painstakingly accumulated during this period—these were originally intended as mobile forces, to be deployed as a last resort when a certain direction could no longer hold—all of them were deployed to the side facing away from the Pegasus G76 star. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

At the same time, all of Tom’s manned and unmanned combat forces in all areas of the entire battlefield began a furious counterattack with unprecedented intensity.

Indeed, although his side had been completely suppressed, although there were heavy casualties every moment, and although it was already exhausting to merely maintain the current defensive line, even under such circumstances, Tom still launched a genuine counterattack.

Under the joint control of Tom’s clones, intelligent beings, and Primal, enduring the assault and tearing of the invisible and intangible gravity weapons, and bearing the instantly surging casualties, at this moment, both manned and unmanned warships launched a suicidal-like, frenzied assault on the Purple Moon Fleet.

The objective was simple.

To tie down the Purple Moon Civilization’s forces in other directions, creating an opportunity for the task force to break through!

The sudden and drastic change in the battlefield caught the Purple Moon Fleet off guard for a moment. But they quickly reacted and launched a fierce counterattack.

In just one hour, more than 5,000 of Tom’s warships were destroyed. Furthermore, from the tactical details of both sides at this moment, Tom could clearly perceive the Purple Moon warriors’ ecstasy.

They seemed to be thinking, "How can there be such a good thing in this world? The prey we have been desperately trying to corner has now come to us on its own initiative?"

What are we waiting for? Just kill them!

In an instant, the entire battlefield plunged into madness.

At this moment, what Tom saw did not seem to be an intense interstellar battlefield, but countless hungry wolves descending from the mountains, frantically hunting domestic hens!

"Kill them, kill them. Even if they are domestic hens, it will take you hungry wolves some time to kill them..."

Suppressing the heartache, Tom shifted his attention to the direction of the task force.

The battle there was equally fierce. But unlike elsewhere, there were his 300,000 warships acting as reserves! Moreover, the Purple Moon Fleet in other areas was temporarily tied down by him, unable to provide support here!

Thus, Tom forcibly broke through a gap.

"Heimerlan! Now!"

"Yes!"

Within the task force, Heimerlan, who had been waiting for a long time, roared into the microphone as if expending all his strength.

"Break through! Break through!"

In an instant, under the escort of 10,000 warships, the 100 auxiliary spacecraft and the five most crucial aerospace carriers ignited their engines simultaneously.

These five aerospace carriers had all been specially modified by Tom, with greater thrust and thus stronger maneuverability.

Although still far inferior to warships, their average acceleration could reach 15 \text{ m/s}^2.

At this moment, all personnel working within the aerospace carriers were pressed firmly against their seats by the acceleration, which was approximately 1.5 times Earth’s gravity.

Even though movement was difficult under this immense gravity, people did not forget to constantly monitor their control panels, ready to make maneuvers according to orders or use the limited defensive equipment on the carrier to intercept enemy attacks.

The soldiers within the 100 auxiliary spacecraft were also fully focused on operating the 10,000 warships of the task force, firmly guarding their own fleet.

The Purple Moon Fleet seemed to have detected Tom’s intention.

He saw the Purple Moon warships quickly organize an offensive, forming several thousand warships, desperately breaking free from the original battlefield and rushing towards the task force.

Tom reacted accordingly.

Another ten thousand or so of his own warships charged forward, at their own cost, not retreating even when destroyed, firmly blocking this wave of attack.

Warship after warship was destroyed, and violent explosions seemed to never cease in this solar system.

Even though the battle was so tragic, Tom remained firmly focused on that task force, doing his utmost to provide it protection.

Time passed bit by bit. Finally, the last wave of enemies blocking the way was dispersed by Tom’s desperate tactics. The path ahead of the task force was clear, with no enemy fleets remaining!

The acceleration of 15 \text{ m/s}^2 was still ongoing; at this moment, the overall speed had reached over four hundred kilometers per second relative to Pegasus G76.

But this was not enough!

Tom clearly saw another fleet departing from other directions of the battlefield, tracking the task force.

"Want to intercept them? Dream on!"

Tom once again manipulated a fleet to go and block them.

One side wanted to intercept, while the other was counter-intercepting. Constantly, Purple Moon Fleets tried to break away from the battlefield, but whenever this trend appeared, Tom would always suppress them at all costs.

At this moment, the task force’s speed had reached nearly one thousand kilometers per second. The distance from G76d had also reached approximately thirty million kilometers.

This distance could already be considered a true departure from the battlefield.

Tom’s heart finally settled.

"This is the limit of what I can do... From now on, it’s up to you.

Heimerlan, I know you have always been unwilling to be in the position of Deputy Patriarch, and your vision has never been limited to a mere Viller Race.

You have ideals and ambitions. You have always hoped for a higher and larger stage to display your talents.

This time, I give you the opportunity.

If you complete this mission, when you return, I will give you what you want.

Of course, you can also betray my trust, abandon Human Civilization, and use these three aerospace carriers, ten thousand warships, and one million people as your foundation to leave and never return, rebuilding the framework of your mother civilization.

For this, I cannot possibly have any power to stop you.

At that time, it’s hard to say if I will even exist in this universe.

There is no kindness between our Human Civilization and your mother civilization, the Havilah Civilization; on the contrary, it can be said there is deep hatred.

Within this task force, I cannot possibly set any restrictive measures for you in advance.

This is a gamble. For both me and you, it is so.

Since we are gambling, we must put all our chips on the table. To use you and then still suspect you is not my style, and for this mission, it would only increase discord and lower the success rate, serving no other purpose.

The choice is yours. I only hope you can be true to your heart, no matter what you choose, in the future... may you have no regrets."

Looking back at the G76d planetary battlefield again, Tom couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

From the beginning of the breakthrough until the task force left the battlefield, only 18 hours had passed.

Even when the battle was at its most tragic, and he was at a disadvantage and on the back foot, being suppressed by the Purple Moon Fleet, in 18 hours, he would at most lose two to three hundred warships.

But now, to escort this task force to break through, he had to actively launch an offensive, and his interception actions were even more forceful.

This inevitably meant greater battle losses.

Roughly estimated, in just these 18 hours, his side lost over 220,000 warships!

The entire reserve force was almost wiped out.

In the future, accumulating so many warships again as a contingency reserve, it is unknown how much effort it will take.

Perhaps... it might even be impossible for him to ever accumulate a reserve force of such a scale again.

But Tom believed all of this was worth it.

"Go, go. I’ll handle the planetary battlefield here."

...

Tom’s naming convention for stars, planets, and moons was as follows: First, the main star, G76. The large planets orbiting it were denoted by lowercase a, b, c, d, arranged from inner to outer.

Moons were represented by numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, also from inner to outer. For example, the large planet occupied by Tom, G76d, and its moon number 5, G76d-5.

At this moment, next to another gas giant, designated G76e in Tom’s numbering system, which was occupied by the Purple Moon Civilization, inside the Da Hao spaceship.

The atmosphere in the conference room was slightly solemn.

Of course, overall, it was still relatively relaxed, as the battle was progressing smoothly and their side held a significant advantage. So the solemnity was only slight.

The reason for this slight solemnity was that some incomprehensible events had occurred on the battlefield.

"At this stage, why would the Bluetoth Civilization pay such a huge price to break out with such a small fleet... For what?"

Facing the Purple Moon Leader’s question, generals, military advisors, and staff alike all fell silent.

No one could understand this question.

It was simply too illogical.

If it were the main fleet attempting a general breakthrough, that would be understandable; if you can’t win, aren’t you allowed to run?

Of course, whether they could escape was another matter.

But the main fleet remained here, while a small fleet broke through... Was there some important person in that small fleet?

But this was the interstellar age; no matter how important a person, if they left the main fleet, with so few people venturing into the star sea, they wouldn’t even know how they died.

Executing a mission?

With so few ships and so few people, what kind of mission could they execute?

No matter how people thought about it, they couldn’t understand.

But... one thing was certain.

Whatever the enemy wanted to do, their side had to stop it.

If they couldn’t understand what they wanted to do, it didn’t matter; their side only needed to block it, and they would definitely not make a mistake.

Once this principle of action was determined, the slight solemnity in the conference room finally disappeared.

"Head of State, our side currently has approximately twenty thousand warships available.

Based on the necessity for our side to quickly eliminate the Bluetoth Civilization, swiftly end the war, and promptly begin the supernova ignition operation, we cannot dispatch too many fleets to intercept that Bluetoth Fleet.

Based on comprehensive assessment, I believe dispatching 5,000 warships and their supporting forces would be most suitable.

Our side can both maintain a combat advantage, ensuring successful interception, and not affect the overall situation of the current war."

Purple Moon Leader did not respond immediately but fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he raised his head and said slowly but firmly, "Send ten thousand warships."