Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 572: Earth, Set Out!
There is one most important basic principle in doing business, namely that all early investment is for greater returns later. Different civilizations may express this principle differently, but Xiao Yu believed the reasoning contained within it was universal across the entire galaxy and even the entire universe.
Now Xiao Yu was curious about the former leader of the Pegasus Civilization’s reasons for doing this. What supported him, such that he was willing to pay such a heavy price just to keep this secret? By doing this, what goal did he want to achieve?
After the Level 5 Civilization Alliance likewise abandoned concealment and used their full strength, Xiao Yu decisively gave up on continuing to advance, because the original objective was basically impossible now. This was very unfortunate, but there was no helping it. If he could cross the last one billion kilometers, he could attack and destroy the primary star of the Death Flower Star System. But now that final one billion kilometers had become a chasm he no longer had the ability to cross.
A twenty percent increase in combat power was enough to fundamentally change the entire battlefield. Xiao Yu’s ten million warships, at this point there were about nine and a half million left, were clearly no match for the more than thirty million Alliance ships.
Since the mission had already failed, there was no meaning in remaining. Xiao Yu had no interest in a head-on large-scale battle with the Alliance here. Naturally, he would pull his fleet back to a safe place and prepare for the next battle.
Just as he intended to retreat, Xiao Yu discovered the plan of the former leader of the Pegasus Civilization, now the highest leader of the Level 5 Civilization Alliance. He also understood why he would make such arrangements, why he would rather abandon the lives of hundreds of millions of soldiers and millions of ships to do so.
Having understood everything, Xiao Yu could not help a slight tremor in his heart.
“So the scope of your design is indeed grand.” Xiao Yu sighed softly. “This fellow’s arts of stratagem are truly high. He even fooled me. He deceived me so well.”
Given the current situation, Xiao Yu could not help but utter such a sigh. He understood completely now.
One point was certain, the former leader of the Pegasus Civilization had, to a certain extent, grasped Xiao Yu’s style of operations. Otherwise, he could not have made such a perfect arrangement.
He knew Xiao Yu liked to rely on high-quality warship clusters to force open enemy defenses and then destroy the star in order to win the war. Using this, the former leader made the following arrangements.
First, in the contact battle, he concealed twenty percent of his fleet’s strength to mislead Xiao Yu. This was the first step.
Then, true to his own style and as in previous star system wars, Xiao Yu indeed sent an elite assault force to try to force open the defense and then destroy the star. In such a situation, the Alliance naturally made a corresponding response. However, in the process of resisting, due to the former leader’s operational planning, they coolly paid the price of hundreds of millions of soldiers and millions of warships to keep secret the fact that they had concealed twenty percent of their strength.
Because the Alliance’s warship strength was weaker than Xiao Yu’s estimate, the success probability of the star-destruction operation in Xiao Yu’s evaluation system kept rising, from the initial twenty percent all the way to nearly fifty percent. Precisely because hope was right before his eyes, Xiao Yu kept moving forward, kept advancing deep into the star system. To lure Xiao Yu into the depths of the system was the second step.
For the former leader, the fact that Xiao Yu’s fleet had also concealed ten percent of its strength may have been an accident, but only an accident. It did not significantly affect the overall situation. Under his cold rationality and powerful sense of the big picture, events developed to their present state.
The Alliance fleet finally used its full strength and reversed the battlefield in a short time. At this moment, Xiao Yu no longer had any hope of accomplishing the star-destruction task.
Xiao Yu wanted to leave, but he discovered he could not. To his rear, more than ten million ships emerged from that planetary war star and joined the battle. This was the third step.
With the three-step plan executed, the former leader successfully trapped Xiao Yu’s ten million ships here and achieved his goal.
Thus, in this region alone, not counting the Alliance ships rushing in from other directions to reinforce, Xiao Yu now faced nearly forty-five million Alliance warships. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu’s current strength was only a bit over nine and a half million ships.
“No wonder that planetary war star was always unwilling to enter the center of the battlefield. At first I thought it was only because it feared I would mount a powerful attack and destroy it.” Xiao Yu gave a silent, wry smile. “So that was not the reason. The true reason was that the former leader hid ten million ships on it, prepared to cut off my retreat, while worrying I would discover this, so it never dared to approach the core of the battle. That was all.”
Such was the current situation, nine and a half million ships against forty-five million ships. The ratio was about 4.5 to 1.
Even with twenty percent previously concealed, these forty-five million ships were not something Xiao Yu could defeat. Now that he had entered the trap, they would surely use full strength. Under the siege of forty-five million Level 5 Civilization Alliance ships fighting at full power, could he escape?
This was the huge trap laid by the former leader. Now Xiao Yu had fallen into it. The former leader had successfully deceived him.
Throughout the execution of this plan, with terrifying calm and cruel rationality, the former leader pushed it forward decisively. For this he paid the price of millions of ships and hundreds of millions of soldiers dying in vain. The cost was enormous, and the harvest would be equally enormous. There was no doubt that, for the former leader, the time to reap had come.
Ten Continent-Class ships. More than nine and a half million ships of all other types. What an immense force. After devouring this force, how great a loss would be inflicted on Xiao Yu? After capturing the enemy ships and analyzing their technology, how great a benefit would accrue to his own side?
Compared with gains of such magnitude, what did the loss of some soldiers and ships matter?
By now Xiao Yu fully understood the former leader’s plan and intentions. Unfortunately, he understood a bit late, only after he had stepped into the trap.
The fierce fighting never ceased and continued without pause. From the moment he discovered he had fallen into a trap, Xiao Yu had contracted his lines. On the periphery, tens of millions of ships were fiercely assaulting his fleet, and in the distance countless massive warship clusters were rushing over.
The pressure Xiao Yu bore was slowly increasing.
The current situation was extremely unfavorable to Xiao Yu. If he mishandled it, he might perish here.
But among all the various crises Xiao Yu had encountered since leaving Earth, this was not the most dangerous. Although the former leader’s plan had been perfectly executed and had succeeded, although Xiao Yu had indeed stepped into the trap laid for him, he still had his own trump cards. Of course, this trump card was not the Sphere of Death. A single exploding Sphere of Death could certainly resolve the crisis.
In fact, up to now, Xiao Yu still believed it would be wasteful to use the Sphere of Death against the Alliance. He thought so because he still had other arrangements and backhanded moves he could employ.
“At this moment, you must feel victory is in your grasp, right?” Though the situation was perilous, Xiao Yu secretly let out a cold laugh.
“You must think I no longer have any means to respond and can only obediently be eliminated by you, that the final victory belongs to you, correct? Your mind is sufficiently cautious and your stratagems effective, but unfortunately for you, this alone is still not enough against me.”
“I am not as foolish as you imagine, to penetrate alone deep behind enemy lines without leaving any means of response. In fact, though I did not know your plan at first, I still made arrangements for how to respond if I were trapped in the interior of the system. The Asia ship is my flagship. Without absolute assurance, how could I possibly let the Asia ship take such a risk in person?”
“In that case, it is time for your Pegasus Civilization and your Level 5 Civilization Alliance to taste the power of a truly complete version of a planetary war star. It is time for you to understand just how vulnerable your half-finished planetary war stars are before a true planetary war star.”
“Planetary war star, Earth, set out!” At this moment of extreme peril, Xiao Yu finally issued this order.
