Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1177 Time, a Little Bit of Time
The details of the transaction between the Hermocratic Merchant Guild and Ur were disclosed by the Hermocratic Merchant Guild three days later.

Well, it is indeed strange.

While the neutral city-state does have "laws" and a market economy, its laws are not detailed enough to include a "Securities Law," and its market is not prosperous enough to support a "financial market." The Securities and Futures Commission is practically nonexistent.

However, Hermès does regularly disclose its operating status to the public, as well as interim reports on "major events that may have a significant impact on the stock price."

However, it's not so conspicuous here.

The Fourth Martial God once proposed a solution: "Pretend that the past society is still functioning normally."

The era that the Fourth Martial God faced was very different from today.

At that time, the remnants of the old society and their first-generation descendants still constituted the vast majority of the population. Most people still had only a vague concept of "the society of the past".

However, the foundation of mutual trust among people in the past has been crushed.

Impersonating others has become incredibly easy, and some have even used this method to steal from the state.

Humanity can never go back to the past.

The past performance of the old system led people to believe that it was incapable of handling such special events—humanity lost faith in it.

A real defeat.

And this is exactly what entities built on shared imagination are most afraid of.

The Fourth God of War's initial goal was to "rapidly rebuild society" and then use organized productivity to accumulate military power. He told people to "pretend that society is still functioning" and to play the role according to past experience.

In this process, the dysfunction caused by the "lack of power" will be exposed on its own. Naturally, some dynamic forces will also emerge to fill this void. At that time, we might as well sit down again and carefully examine these forces that "fill the void."

The Fourth God of War did indeed create a glorious city in the shortest amount of time.

What happened after that is basically known to all of humanity in the solar system.

King Agni shattered the Fourth War God, along with the space city and the last vestiges of its former glory.

A small number of survivors endured a long escape and, together with the abandoned children who had feigned death in the asteroid belt, established the current space city-state.

For neutral city-states, "pretending that the past society still exists and following some rules that only make sense in the past" is not something they cannot understand.

Hermès did this simply to demonstrate that "our business organization can guarantee the interests of investors" and to neutrally control more scattered resources.

Incidentally, it also involves building a "brand effect".

According to the concept proposed by the Fourth War God, soon there will be voices questioning the authenticity of the data disclosed by Hermo, and Hermo will naturally seek a way to prove it.

Under the supervision and guidance of chivalrous forces, this kind of thing is repeated again and again, and the missing parts of the system's operation are gradually filled. At this time, an organizational form that can be accepted by everyone and at the same time resist internal corruption and theft to a certain extent will gradually emerge.

The Fourth Martial God also admitted that this was a rather idealistic proposition, even overly naive.

Even today, there are still undestroyed blockchains on the internet, recording the internal conflicts of several space cities, the various contradictions between different groups, and the details of their difficult negotiations.

"It's just a pity that most people in that era naively thought 'humanity has suffered enough from war'—look at people now." Liu Xiangshan commented sharply on the Hermo Society's report, "They don't know any other way of living except 'living towards death'."

The warriors of Ur chose to sell their entire homeland.

All the resources of Ur that could not be used in the war were sold to the Hermite Society in exchange for "resources that could be used in the war" and to pay for the relocation of non-warrior members.

Regardless of the outcome of this battle, all "non-private assets" of Ur will belong to the Hermite Society.

Of course, there is one prerequisite: "if Ur still exists."

No one knows whether King Agni will simply vaporize this space city that dared to defy him with a single shot.

After hearing the news, the space city-state of Chaldea even experienced several minor internal conflicts.

Two skirmishes have broken out in the past few days between residents who, out of fear, advocate "expelling the warriors of Ur and sending a declaration of no hostility to King Agni," and residents who advocate "avenging the protectors."

Meanwhile, the port was also crowded with people trying to escape.

Many people expressed despair, saying that King Agni would surely destroy Chaldea with a single shot.

Those who want to survive must escape from here as soon as possible.

However, most of the city's surplus transportation capacity has now been rented by the Hermocratic Merchant Guild.

Small cargo ships carrying medicines, chemical fuels, and other resources that Ur is currently in short supply are heading there, while also being fully loaded with passengers bound for other cities.

A large number of people attempting to flee were stranded at the port.

This, in turn, has created further social problems.

"In this place, everyone has PTSD. It's just that some people's stress response is 'fighting,' while others 'flee.'"

Jeanne asked, "So what do you think should be done normally? What would be considered rational behavior?"

“Of course it’s an ‘orderly evacuation’.” Xiang Shan’s illusion sat on his small stool, flipping through large pages of Hermetic data as if reading an old-fashioned newspaper.

"Isn't that still running away?"

"Isn't that obvious? You expect Hartmann to abide by the humanitarian principle of not attacking non-combatants and international law? Holy crap, this thing was practically worthless in the old days, let alone in this era."

Xiang Shan shook his head: "If it were me, I would also run away, but an orderly evacuation is obviously more efficient. Compared to that, this Hermo Society is quite interesting."

Jeanne asked, "You mean, there might be a problem with Herm?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, but I smell that familiar scumbag vibe." Mukai Yamaguchi clicked his tongue in amazement. "The data they released is probably true. If their goal is something like 'reshaping social consciousness' instead of just making a quick buck and running. But they're clearly not being honest."

"scam?"

"It's not quite like that. It's just that their publicly available data is carefully organized, which can easily mislead uninformed people into thinking that their business is booming and that investing in them is a sure thing." Xiang Shan's expression was a mix of sarcasm and self-deprecation, as complex as a palette. "By the way, has a secondary stock market developed here? If not... 'not losing money' might be a misnomer, and when we can recoup our investment is uncertain."

"The bulk of the Hermé Association's resources are allocated to 'non-disclosure' or 'delayed disclosure' items. The Hermé Association has even been diverting resources from 'routine business' to invest in this 'core trade secret.' Anyone with a little knowledge might suspect that this chamber of commerce is brewing something big..."

“But I could tell at a glance that this ‘core business’ was something that would never generate any return on investment. And saying it out loud wouldn’t earn me any goodwill in this neutral city-state.”

"Supporting chivalry? But the chivalrous people who come here don't have much contact with the Hermetic Society. Simply cultivating their own martial strength isn't exactly 'unacceptable' for a neutral city-state, is it? They can't be research knights who make a living through shady means..."

As Xiang Shan pondered, Jeanne suddenly felt a darkness before her eyes... no, to be precise, it should be described as "her field of vision contracted and the edges of her field of vision turned black."

"Alas, this illness is incurable." Xiang Shan chuckled self-deprecatingly and consciously entered a meditative state.

The tumor's foundation is a cluster of neural tissue with activated proto-oncogenes, exhibiting highly active growth and division. It is precisely for this reason that the tumor can develop into an independent personality in a short period of time.

However, this growth has no brakes.

The tumor suppressor genes in the diseased nerve tissue did not increase their activity level in sync. While the "brake pads" may not be completely ineffective, a thirty-dollar brake pad obviously cannot bring a car traveling at 130 miles per hour to a sudden stop.

The mountain will only grow stronger.

"How many of us do we actually have left?" Xiang Shan sighed.

Jeanne suddenly burst out laughing at this moment: "Old man... if there really is no other way... I don't mind anymore."

"Don't mind what? Explain yourself!" Xiang Shan retorted as if he'd eaten something unclean. "What do you mean you don't mind anymore? I mind a lot! And to be honest, I'm still a tumor. You think if you disappeared, the thirteenth Martial God would be born? Bullshit! All that would appear is a Xiang Shan with a terminal brain tumor!"

"The potion that cured Xiangshan can also save you now. So you mustn't give up!"

Jeanne shook her head: "Didn't you always say that we should prepare for the worst? Li Zheyuan doesn't seem to be any remarkable researcher—you said it yourself, didn't you? We kidnapped this guy because we couldn't find anyone better."

"Correct."

“Because of the impending war, the laboratories that can take on outsourced work will have to be relocated, right?” Jeanne asked. “You thought of that just now, didn’t you? It’s probably impossible for that bastard Li Zheyuan to complete his original research plan.”

"Sigh." Xiang Shan sighed silently, but did not speak.

"If I'm not mistaken, we can't continue hibernating here."

“There are plenty of objects in the asteroid belt. Just take a small spaceship, find one, and you’re good to go. That old dog Hartman won’t specifically target those small spaceships,” Xiang Shan said. “The fuel cost for the fleet to slow down, turn, and then accelerate is enough to buy dozens of those small spaceships.”

"But that's just waiting to die. There's no laboratory in a neutral city-state..."

“Then let’s go to Mars,” Xiang Shan said. “Mars is in chaos now, so there are more opportunities.”

Upon waking up this time, strange news came one after another. On Earth, the Twelfth Martial God won a great victory, while Mars was plunged into turmoil because of the Fifth Martial God—and it seemed that AI was also involved.

“It would take several months, almost half a year, to smuggle across using a small spaceship. And to smuggle across, we would have to remain silent for a period of time and approach using inertia…” Jeanne said.

“Daughter, I know you want to go and fight that bastard Hartman to the death, but we have to live well—living well means doing meaningful things.” Xiang Shan said seriously, “In this situation where the two of us are holding each other back, and with only half a first-level prosthetic body, it’s not meaningful for us to rush over and fight the Tianxing Fleet, is it? Let alone touching King Agni’s iron shell, we’d be lucky if we could even get past the escort aircraft.”

"What about the people of Ur City?"

"Forgive my bluntness, but their preparatory work for the battlefield was actually more meaningful than their own involvement in the fighting. The most significant aspects were the time they saved and the supplies they brought," Xiang Shan said, shaking his head.

Jeanne felt that the mountain in her heart should be looking at herself.

Xiang Shan said, "Are you really that eager to go and fight Hartman?"

Jeanne paused for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I know this might not be the most rational thing to do, but..." She peered through the security cameras on the outskirts of the base, gazing at the distant airport. The cameras weren't sharp enough; from here, all she could see were two large, dark groups of people colliding.

"I think... I might be a lot like those residents?"

"You've all been betrayed by that old dog Hartman, haven't you?" Xiang Shan scratched his head in frustration. "Really... I'm starting to sympathize with you now."

“I don’t know…” Jeanne thought for a moment and asked, “To the mountain, I think I understand that doing this is not very rational. But I feel that we have to do something now—I think I see an opportunity to make that bastard King Agni suffer.”

“We’ve been on the run for so many years…” Xiang Shan’s tone suddenly stopped. “That’s right. Living a good life is doing something meaningful. Just running away doesn’t really mean anything.”

He had already sensed Jeanne's will.

The will to fight.

This is the best opportunity to make King Agni suffer.

So I don't want to escape.

“Come to think of it, haven’t we never talked about this kind of thing before?” Jeanne said. “You’re a mountaineer… every mountaineer aspires to change the world, right? You even said something like, ‘If I need your brain, I’ll steal it.’”

"...Can we not talk about this?" Xiang Shan shook his head. "Struggling to survive is an instinct that every living being has, and it is also the most fundamental driving force. On top of that, I do want to do something for this world—but to be honest, when I realized that I was born out of some conspiracy, I gave up on the path that Xiang Shan would normally take, because I suspected that was the purpose of the person who created me."

"I don't trust any of the Martial Gods who came after my birth, because I'd suspect they might be similar to me... Hmm, thinking about it carefully, I was just being presumptuous. I was afraid this was being pushed forward in secret, afraid that the mastermind would actually succeed after I disappeared. But in reality, the Twelfth Brother did far better than me... He couldn't possibly be from the Six Dragons Cult, because the damage he caused to them was so great, their secrets were exposed. He almost killed Falcon, and he also killed Zhu Anleibin."

Xiang Shan had to seriously consider this issue.

Here, at this crucial juncture of the war...

What can he and Jeanne do?
Can he really accomplish more elsewhere?

Xiang Shan nodded: "Jeanne, I must say you've grown a lot. Just a few months ago I taught you to 'draw confidence from victory,' and now you can even inspire my fighting spirit. On the contrary, I've fallen into your negative mindset, tsk tsk—if you can continue to live, perhaps one day you'll surpass me."

"So, are we going to pull this off?"

"Is that even a question?" Xiang Shan nodded. "We've been investigating all along to uncover the truth of the matter, to survive, and most importantly, to avenge what happened back then. The Twelfth Martial God has already severely damaged the Six Dragons Cult, and Mars is currently in turmoil, with the Fifth Martial God active there. Perhaps we can hope for the Fifth Martial God... So now, among our enemies, only one remains, and at this stage, there are no signs of his defeat..."

Since the path to survival has become fraught with difficulties due to King Agni's arrival...

"Fight."

Jeanne said softly.

“Indeed, we should do something.” Xiang Shan nodded. “Then, the first step should be to go find the Hermo Society.”

"what?"

"In any case, we have to find a way to convey our understanding of the Six Dragons Cult over the years to the Fifth Martial God—if he really is Xiang Shan," Liu Xiang Shan said. "What we've done over the years has some significance, after all. As for what to do next, that's a matter for later."

............................................................

Within an enclosed space in the upper part of the Chaldean city-state, suspended by eight chains at the angle between two pieces of warship's outer armor, near the northernmost point of the Chaldean city-state.

Less than 300 meters from here is a group of three separate small exits. This outer armor was originally adjacent to the warship's hangar - in the era of the Sixth and Seventh War Gods, deep space warships had not yet developed to such an extreme degree, and there were many types that carried a large number of escort aircraft within their formations.

The Hermocratic Merchant Guild controlled this independent exit and built its own small spaceport on the outside. The warehouses nearby also belonged to the Hermocratic Guild.

These privileges were presented by the Chaldean government to the Hermocratic Merchant Guild as a "testament to friendship," in recognition of the guild's achievements in the development of the city-state.

The headquarters of the Hermetic Society is located here.

It was a silver box with two exits, and besides that, there was only a black-painted logo with a three-part resemblance to the Superman Corporation trademark.

This place is closed off year-round and has no lighting inside.

Light only shone into the room when a martial artist outside opened the door.

The martial artist held up a lamp and searched up and down before finally finding the person dangling in mid-air by a data cable.

The gravity in Chaldea is extremely low; even without a locking mechanism, friction alone can suspend a cyborg. His arms and legs hung naturally, like a corpse suspended in water.

The martial artist kicked him without hesitation: "President, time to go to work."

"Damn it." The president of the Hermocratic Merchant Guild shuddered as the data cable detached from behind him.

"Junk information will eventually turn your brain into white noise." The martial artist kicked him to the door: "Get some work done."

"The general direction and overall plan for the chamber of commerce are already in place. The rest is just work that AI can do..." the president muttered. "My dear operations manager, shouldn't you be looking for me at a time like this?"

"Even if there's nothing to do, find me something to do. If all else fails, plan an escape route," the operations manager said. "Escape as soon as possible. We can't stay here."

She sighed softly: "I spent a few hours under the guns of King Agni. He certainly wouldn't mind firing here."

“That will take quite a few days. At least seventeen or eighteen days before they can bring Chaldea within their attack range. Before that, they won’t be able to touch this place…” The guild master stretched his body. “Ouch, ouch, has the lubricant hardened? Looks like I haven’t moved in too long.”

The two walked along the warship's outer armor, aided by electromagnets beneath their feet. After a few steps, they connected to a wireless signal. An external camera belonging to the Chamber of Commerce swung twice, locating their target.

A silvery mist appeared in the universe, pointing towards the sun.

Those are clumps of metal dust.

The Uer people are making preliminary battlefield preparations.

According to the planned schedule, the Ur people, the Hermite Association, and the local knights will work together to complete this project. They will arrange metallic dust in space at a density of 0.1g per cubic meter, which will form several irregular clumps that are hundreds of kilometers long and wide and tens of meters thick, as well as a small number of scattered metallic clouds.

The equivalent of the metal from an old naval aircraft carrier and its battle group would be granulated and scattered across this space.

"Luckily, this place is a battlefield remnant, so there's not a shortage of scrap metal." The guild leader gazed into the distance and sighed, "All the resources I've accumulated over the years have been poured in. Sigh, it has to work."

For Hartmann, clearing a path through this labyrinth of metallic clouds was often just a matter of a few shots. No matter how high the reflective and refractive power of the metallic dust was, it couldn't withstand the weapons of a warship and would immediately sublimate into high-temperature gas after being attacked.

Passing through scorching metallic gases would indeed cause a slight damage to the outer armor—theoretically possible, but that's about it. You can't expect 0.1g of scorching gas per cubic meter to burn through the outer armor of a warship.

Unless a warship forgets to retract its heat sink while traveling, causing some of the capillary tubes, which are already under extreme conditions, to overheat and crack.

If the Black Ship Righteous Army cannot arrive here before the Celestial Star Fleet, the small fighting force assembled by Ur City will pose virtually no threat to the Celestial Star Fleet. All of this will have been in vain.

Main maintenance pipeline: "We should be able to do more..."

"Dongzi, I know you have a deep-seated grudge against that old dog Hartman, but we really can't do any more." The chairman shook his head. "What, did Sister Zhu send some new information from Mars?"

“No…” The supervisor, referred to as “Dongzi,” shook her head.

"What a pity," the president sighed. "That woman... I felt something was off about her before. She's been contacting us more frequently lately, and her style of doing things seems different. If she could pull out some special plan, some secretly hoarded resources... I must be dreaming. Speaking of which, any new news from Mars, brother?"

The supervisor shook his head: "The government has destroyed all the relay satellites around Mars. These are ultra-long-range electromagnetic signals, and the delay and packet loss rate are too high. Whether or not messages can be transmitted from Mars, and how many can be transmitted, depends entirely on luck."

"Tsk..." The president sat cross-legged against the wall, looking up at the upside-down city. "Adong, what was the point of you pulling me up like this? I'm a disabled person, I can't do anything else..."

Adong pressed his forehead: "You bastard... if you keep absorbing this junk information, the lubricant on your body will really solidify!"

"I don't really need to move around much for my job!"

"You're at least at the first level of cultivation now, aren't you?"

“I know, you’re unhappy that I didn’t arrange for us to go to the battlefield.” The president shook his head. “We are the least suitable first-level warriors in the solar system for fleet battles. Your skill area highly overlaps with King Agni’s, and every strength of yours is crushed. As for me, I’m a professional manager, a business talent. Sister Zhu picked me up for this job. There’s no need for us to cause trouble.”

"Then I want to go to Mars..."

"Given the current situation, if you go to Mars, the solar system might change halfway there," the president calmly advised. "There might actually be a way you can be of use, but you'll be stuck halfway there, without even enough fuel to speed up your return."

The operations manager, A Dong, hesitated before speaking.

"Don't lose your composure, Adon," the guild master said calmly. "The closer Hartman gets, the calmer we need to be. Everyone here has a deep-seated hatred for him. If you really can't calm down, try optimizing the transport mission and see if you can squeeze out a few more cabins to take a hundred or so Chaldeans away."

Adong nodded, then suddenly realized something and raised his voice: "That's your job, isn't it?"

"Oh dear... I'm doing this to calm you down, giving you the task of honing my skills! Elder, this is for your own good!"

The current president of the Hermocratic Chamber of Commerce is not the founder of the chamber. He or she is a "professional manager" who came here under the assignment of Zhu Xinyu—at least that's what the president calls himself.

The Chamber of Commerce has grown under his leadership in less than twenty years.

Ah Dong had been here much longer than him.

Adong was once a friend of the Eighth Martial God and received his guidance. During the Ninth Martial God's era, Adong and other heroes influenced by the Eighth Martial God also responded in the Inner Solar System. However, with the defeat of the Ninth Martial God, they also suffered heavy losses. Adong lost several children he had raised near his hometown.

After that, A Dong unexpectedly received a call from "Turing" Zhu Xinyu.

The internal martial arts left behind by the Eighth Martial God are in line with "Turing"—the Eighth Martial God is Xiang Shan from Zhu Xinyu's memories, and the part that comes from Zhu Xinyu accounts for a considerable proportion of the constituent elements.

Zhu Xinyu hopes these people can help her implement a plan. She needs others' help to do things that are inconvenient for her to do herself.

The Eighth Martial God, whose internal energy cultivation path is similar to that of Turing's disciples, is an ideal helper.

Furthermore, this group of people did not have a deep connection with ordinary martial arts heroes.

Zhu Xinyu seems to need a force that won't attract attention to do something that must be done in secret.

The Hermocratic Chamber of Commerce's pharmaceutical business and research outsourcing over the years have all been a cover for Zhu Xinyu's true intentions.

A Dong didn't know the full picture, only that it should be a clinical trial related to internal energy cultivation.

Meanwhile, another force is lurking on Mars, assisting Zhu Xinyu in stealing the technological achievements of the Science Knights.

"I don't know what's going on with the Fifth Martial God either..."

"Sister Zhu, did you really not get any information from Mars? You reacted quite quickly to the Agni King's matter." The president shook his head.

At that moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a flash of light in the sky.

The external camera was pointed directly at the sun. On the edge of the dazzling sunlight, an unexpected flash appeared.

"That location..." the guild leader nodded, "at least the 'small fleet claiming to be hindering the slowdown of the Celestial Star Fleet' does exist. Let's see how much they can achieve."

In space, young Sandel also saw that flash of light.

He gazed in that direction with a silent salute. It was a tribute to those facing death.

The mysterious fleet that dared to cut into the acceleration route of the Celestial Fleet can no longer escape from the inner solar system.

The Black Ship Righteous Army can now arrive one step ahead of the Celestial Star Fleet!

"Stop looking," said Sandel's father, Old Sandel. "Come help set up the booby traps."

Space booby traps look very different from conventional naval mines. They even resemble nerve cells somewhat—two or three cables, measured in kilometers in length, extend from the main body of the booby trap. These cables are magnetic and, upon contact with a warship, rapidly coil, causing the booby trap to collide with the warship. The cables can also branch.

Once these booby traps receive the "activation" command, they burn out their signal receivers, becoming immune to external signal interference. However, deploying them is rather complicated, requiring small drones to pull the cables.

These booby traps have a coating on their surface, making them difficult for radar to detect. The purpose of the metallic cloud is also to conceal their presence.

These booby traps also revolve and rotate in space.

If it weren't for the fact that booby traps would rotate due to the momentum left by the drones used to deploy them, a complete booby trap array might resemble a biological neural network.

The same principle applies to clumps of metallic dust, which also revolve around the sun.

The spacecraft that drop these weapons have different speeds, different orbits, and different masses, so their orbital speeds and orbits also differ.

With several dozen days remaining before the scheduled battle, it's crucial to plan ahead to ensure these deployments arrive at the appropriate locations at the designated time.

In addition, the side that sets up the battlefield must also leave behind settings that are advantageous to itself.

This time, the metal dust particles come in several lengths, targeting the radar frequency bands most commonly used by the Tianxing Fleet, striving for the best scattering effect.

Narrow gaps may also be left in the metal dust clumps, allowing for limited spying by specific radars—provided that the existence of these gaps is known.

Hopefully, these measures will give the Black Ships a slight advantage.

So thought little Sandel.

On the other side, Li Liang was working with several swordsmen to adjust the revolution speed of a turret.

These dark purple turrets are covered with an absorbing coating, making them difficult to detect with conventional radar. They are internally activated after thirty days and will fire autonomously upon detecting Tianxing Fleet ships or escort aircraft, firing only one kinetic round.

"It's fortunate that the Hermès Society was able to assemble such a batch of weapons," an old swordsman remarked. "There are good people among the neutral masses!"

Asga lamented, "I think there's something wrong with the standard for 'good person'—what kind of good person hoards so many cannons? On a rocky planet in the inner solar system, that'd be enough to wage a war. And it's so extravagant, only firing one..."

"If it doesn't activate after fifty days, the system will automatically go into hibernation, while periodically sending location signals. If it can be recovered, it should be recovered." The old swordsman shook his head.

“Fuel is a resource too!” Asgard said.

“Young man, you’ve never been to the outer reaches of the solar system, have you? Fuel is cheap there, and metals are valuable,” the old swordsman said. “If no one retrieves it, it will reach Saturn’s region in a few decades, and then it will definitely come in very handy.”

“That’s how space warfare is fought,” Li Liang remarked. “The outer solar system is really difficult. In the past, when we were mining in the asteroid belt, we had limited fuel and were afraid of being discovered. If we were being watched by our hounds, we had to calculate the orbit and figure out how to just throw the crude metal ore out there, waiting to retrieve it from Saturn’s moons years later—at that time, Saturn wasn’t even under our actual control!”

"Can you really tolerate such low transportation efficiency?"

“The outer solar system is full of icy celestial bodies,” the old knight said. “Years ago, we had a batch of civilian spacecraft with metal reactors and engines, but everything else was ice. The connections between the ice and metal parts needed to be constantly replaced, otherwise they would easily disintegrate—we had to use even these kinds of things.”

"Hmm... at least we don't have to worry about heat dissipation," Li Liang said from the window.

Asga looked at the turret and said, "Can we... really defeat King Agni?"

"Not necessarily. If the Black Ship Legion can catch up, these arrangements could give them the upper hand." The old swordsman shook his head. "Whether King Agni clears a path with firepower or slows down and changes direction, he will lose the initiative. The best outcome would be to force him to miss the light-speed highway again and have to turn back to refuel."

"In that case, the White Ship Jupiter Corps will have a chance to completely seize the Jupiter moons."

The old swordsman is said to be a swordsman from the era of the Sixth Martial God. After the Sixth Martial God's defeat, he was exhausted and abandoned his former name, and could only perform some non-combat missions.

He was the most knowledgeable about warship warfare among the nearby space city-states, and was therefore summoned to lead the preliminary work.

The heroes would gather this information and pass it on to the Black Ship Righteous Cavalry.

The Black Ship Righteous Army will have a "territorial" advantage over the Celestial Star Fleet in certain battlefields.

The old swordsman gazed into the distance again: "Also, we must keep a close eye on that space city over there. Within ten days, we may face a battle. The road administration fleet of the light-speed highway is a small fleet, not a formidable opponent. Their wreckage will also become part of the roadblock..."

From the distant inner reaches of the solar system, another unexpected flash of light appeared.

"That's the direction..." the old swordsman sighed, "I really don't know where these righteous men came from..."

"We can't let their efforts go to waste, comrades. Let's keep working!"

I'm so sorry. I went to Suzhou in the second half of July for an event organized by the China Writers Association. I was supposed to update this post when I got back, but I caught a cold for several days. I'm really sorry.

I won't say any more; the final, major chapter will soon be accelerated.