Him and their stars.

Chapter 2061 The Swarm of the People, the Swarm of Progress

Looking at Yu Lian's incredulous face, Fei Fei chuckled and said something fair: "You said it before, we can't let stereotypes interfere with our judgment. People and history are materialistic and subject to change."

Yu Lian did say it, and more than once. He even used it to educate others and remind himself to reflect on himself, but he still found it difficult to accept emotionally.

"What's the current situation with the Twilight Gate?" he asked.

"There is no movement at present."

Even if it was just to wait for orders from above, their standby time was indeed far too long, which is certainly questionable.

Of course, as a qualified commander, he naturally had to comply on the surface. So he instructed, "In short, we just need to keep an eye on things."

Aside from these unoriginal, formulaic commands, he genuinely didn't know what kind of expression to make.

However, for the Yulian Fleet now, the movements of the Imperial Fleet on the Mumen side are no longer of much concern.

An hour later, as the parasitized garrison ships trudged into the asteroid belt, the Enterprise reported that all Imperial warships had either been sunk or had escaped the system.

Yu's fleet swaggered away from the local system and turned onto a branch line, once again parting ways with the Shirley Swarm fleet, which had already embarked on the Emperor's Road.

This time, both sides will have a bright future, and the time of "separation" will certainly be shorter than last time.

They both felt that way about each other.

Four hours after the Yulian Fleet left the Chaomen Alpha system, the main force of the Imperial Guard Fleet arrived at the scene in a grand procession. Their actions were faster than the Silent Ship's intelligence department had anticipated and even exceeded Shirley's observations.

Even so, they still came up empty-handed.

Led by Shirley herself, the swarm of insects successfully disguised themselves as a group of space spores, attaching themselves to the back of a group of dwarf planets, thus naturally completing a very stylish astronomical exercise.

It is said that at the very last moment, the Imperial Titan was less than an astronomical unit away from Shirley, and a single salvo from its dozen or so massive cannons could have instantly destroyed the fleet that the Overlord had painstakingly built. However, this steel behemoth, like a clumsy wild beast, ultimately let go of its prey that was so close at hand.

This was probably because the First Imperial Guard Fleet eventually received a distress signal from the Chaomen.

The Imperial Army was not lacking in intelligent men, and of course, some were not without suspicion of a trap. But by this point, the remaining soldiers still fiercely "resisting" aboard the armory ships and guard ships were beginning to show signs of a calculated scheme.

Shirley's ambush worked.

While the final salvo from these arsenal ships did not severely damage the Titans, it at least seriously wounded two armored carriers, casually destroyed six assault landing craft and at least two regiments of stormtroopers, and kept this massive fleet lingering in the chaotic intergalactic battlefield for at least two hours, which was certainly sufficient.

Meanwhile, the Zerg fleet had already broken through the vast Imperial army and plunged into the bustling, interconnected star systems of the Wanfan Sector.

Then, naturally, the situation became one of simultaneously releasing spores, playing hide-and-seek, and continuing the advance towards the Heavenly Realm.

The above information is, of course, what Yu Lian perceived from the swarm network.

In fact, on the third day after everyone split into two groups, March 20th, Xia Li had already reached the Silver Map Galaxy in the Wanfan Galaxy. This is a galaxy with a highly developed industry and commerce, with a permanent population of over 3 million, more than half of whom are employees and slaves of the Imperial Royal Chamber of Commerce.

The abundant gold and silver mines, the endless commercial crop plantations, the mints and spice workshops, the trading posts and rail cargo holds here are all naturally the property of the imperial family.

Then, naturally, they were all destroyed by the passing Miss Dominator.

"Burn! Burn! Mountains of gold and silver, plantations, and all that stinks of oppression! Burn them all!"

Within the swarm's mental network, Yu Lian sensed Xia Li's exhilaration and excitement, much like a peasant uprising that had just burned down a landlord's earthen fortress.

He also saw, of course, camel-like creatures that looked like flying octopuses, sweeping across the city of the planet, scattering the gold dragons and silver shields looted from the mint across the sky above the civilian district.

No matter how many people dare to leave their homes to collect these gold coins, as long as this rain of gold and silver fills the sky and the people's vision, some seeds will be sown.

So, is this the swarm of people?
This is just the beginning.

Twelve hours later, in the Bitai system, adjacent to Yintu, the Marine Corps' barracks were blasted into the sky by shells dropped by a giant crab. The landing Zergling force tore open the armory doors, destroyed all the defenses, and then slipped into the tunnels and made their escape.

All of the above actions were merely a cover for Shirley to drop spores containing the brainworm into the planet's dense forests. But in reality, when 90% of the Bitai Galaxy's security forces and mobilized militia have been wiped out, and when ordinary people see the armory's doors wide open, what choices will they ultimately make?
Well, the Wanfan Sector is, after all, the inner heart of the Galactic Empire, so even the slaves there enjoy relatively good living conditions. Overall, their imperial rule is quite well-received.

However, acceptance and loyalty are just completely different concepts that seem similar.

The Galactic Empire's core has never been the lower classes. They all know this perfectly well.

By revolutionary standards, Shirley's actions were somewhat adventurous. Her actions might cause the upper echelons of the ruling order to become unbalanced and create flaws, but they would certainly create more lumpenproletariat and out-of-control armed mobs.

But by the standards of insect swarms, how can this not be considered progress?

Yu Lian reaffirmed that if the Zerg Overmind in this timeline really did set up its base in some lawless star system, it would definitely be able to unleash a larger-scale and more far-reaching "catastrophe," right?
Or rather, she has already done it.

Shirley's actions successfully mobilized the Imperial fleet. This batch of reinforcements from the Celestial Realm could only follow the example of their enemy and split into two groups.

One group, naturally turning back towards the Wanfan Sector, made a frustrating, extreme turnaround, embarking on a hide-and-seek journey through the vast Zerg swarm. On the other side, with the Titan ship Sunset Angel as its flagship, all the elite high-speed warships of the First Guard Fleet were concentrated and entered a side channel, also heading towards the Mistwing Star Canyon.

Even if Yu Lian's actions were to be kept secret, with over thirty warships of varying sizes under his command, maintaining secrecy during their marches was no longer of much use. Their movements must have already been detected.

If the Demon Dragon and the Ghost Ship are blocked at the Xiamen Fortress, and the Imperial Guard Fleet launches a timely attack, they will surely be able to achieve a pincer movement from both sides.

That's probably what the Imperial Army was planning.

As for Jaeger Sobek, the "Flower of Famous Generals" and "Wolf of Dawn" on the other side of the Twilight Gate, they are getting further and further away from the battlefield. Whether he is still under investigation or has really rebelled seems to have become less and less important.

At 11:15 AM on March 21st, the garrison at the Xiamen Base, guarding the exit of Star Gorge, issued a message to the entire Empire: "The Demonic Dragon is attacking; we are on high alert." Xiamen Base was only a level-three fortress in the heart of the Empire, but its garrison had doubled since the fall of the Gate of Glory in January. As long as they weren't caught off guard by a surprise attack, they could hold out for at least three to five days, right?
No, it won't take that long. As long as we can hold out for more than half a day, reinforcements from the direction of Shengyuan will arrive on the battlefield. It's a unit from the Fifth Guard Fleet, consisting of two dreadnoughts and four battlecruisers.

If they can hold out for another 48 hours, the Imperial Guard fleet, centered around the Titan ship Sunset Angel, will also be able to reach the battlefield.

That's the fourth ship of the Dawn Angel class. Construction began in early 2017 and it wasn't completed until November of last year. Theoretically, it went directly into service without even completing testing.

However, the Empire has also made its share of rash decisions, substituting actual combat for testing, and the Dawn Angel's performance has indeed been tested in war.

As long as the garrison at Xiamen Base can exert its basic combat power, they will surely be able to block this mad dragon in the narrow channel.

He must never enter Shengyuan, nor could he possibly turn back to Wanfan. The dazzling nebula of Xiayi Xingxia would be his final resting place.

Thinking of this, the two imperial fleets even increased their speed. The dragon's past glorious achievements did not intimidate the soldiers of the Imperial Guard; on the contrary, they aroused their courage.

Of course, what the soldiers of the Imperial Guard were completely unaware of was that the battle at Xiamen Base was about to end as they began their forced march, disregarding the health of their ships and themselves.

At first, the defenders of Xiamen thought it would be a tough battle, but they weren't without a chance of victory. If they could hold out until reinforcements arrived, they would surely be the ones to achieve the greatest success.

They should be able to do it.

It should be noted that when the Star Gate fell in January, the Privy Council had the foresight to consider the possibility that the "unspeakable dragon" would attack the heart of the Empire, and thus reinforced all the passes.

This small level-three fortress not only doubled its garrison, but also doubled its reserves of weapons and supplies, and simultaneously deployed a considerable number of automatic turrets and minefields.

The densely packed mines of various types resembled a rampant virus, swaying aimlessly in the airspace near the gravity well, enough to make any engineer's scalp tingle.

Isn't a raise, a promotion, and even a leap in social class for the whole family just around the corner?
Therefore, when the Yulian fleet, like a silent swarm of ghosts, suddenly tore through the veil of nebula dust and arrived at the central choke point of the Xiayi Star Gorge, the Imperial garrison did not panic.

After all, they were facing an invincible demonic dragon, so of course they were afraid, but as long as it didn't turn into chaos, that was enough.

As planned, they issued a warning to the entire empire, then instantly illuminated the cold void with a barrage of artillery fire. The energy beams and physical projectiles intertwined to form a spectacular but not particularly deadly barrage, like a porcupine raining down arrows on a tiger.

...In fact, they had already opened fire before the Yu fleet's warships entered effective firing range.

This mere level three fortress never intended to achieve any victories; it only sought survival and interception.

The remaining fleet of Malaysia Airlines responded.

The Silent Ship's signature weapon array silently completed its charging, converging, leaping, and releasing process at the bow. The resulting destructive torrent, like an invisible giant python, viciously bit into the thick, energy-shining alloy armor belt of the Xiamen Fortress.

Its energy shield was still flashing, and its armor was still intact, but its internal structure had already begun to collapse and burn.

The electromagnetic pulse, inexplicably generated by the distortion of the space station's structure, began to spread wildly along the collapsed pipelines, paralyzing the defense systems and energy nodes in the nearby area.

But that's all there is to it.

Even a Tier 3 base is still a magnificent space city. Even if several areas are ravaged by high-dimensional electric arcs, the overall structure can still survive and it won't affect its status as a promising space porcupine.

On the bridge, the commanders of the remaining fleet held a short meeting.

Eleanor Bonaparte said, "As expected, the arc cannon has limited effect on the fortress. Compared to the warship, the space city's overall structure is more stable. Even if the structural damage from the high-dimensional double penetration reaches the entire area, it will not affect the overall structure."

Horatio Wayne said, "If we keep firing, we might be able to damage the main reactor directly, but that's a matter of luck."

Deng Zhengqing said, "Therefore, the actual instructions for using the arc gun do indeed require a certain number of units."

Eleanor nodded slightly: "As expected, all capital ships will need to be equipped with this weapon in the future. If they can't, they will lose the initiative on the battlefield."

“But sturdy shields and armor are useless against arc cannons, and future warships may really have to be miniaturized,” Wayne pondered.

Deng Zhengqing continued nodding: "Considering the maturity of hyperspace boarding tactics and space bubble torpedoes, this has become a trend."

Captain Nemo thought to himself, "You 'moon people' are really able to expand on the development of future warships from just a few shellings. Are you really that forward-thinking, or is your problem of just talking the talk but not walking the walk?"

Despite saying that, his high emotional intelligence still revealed a face full of anticipation: "Will I be able to see this day? I can't wait!"

Although the shelling was not very effective, everyone remained calm and composed.

They were already mentally prepared.

On the third row of the bridge, officers and soldiers from the technical and communications departments were typing away. The Silent Ship's information terminal, with computing power exceeding that of the opposing base by a factor of one, was extending its invisible tentacles into the communication channels of that base and was gradually attempting to take over its command and control system.

This was actually an experiment.

A certain general was very interested to see if, given the terminal capabilities of the Silent Ship, which could hack into the Imperial Army's internal nebula network, it could also, within the same star system, use more stable gravitational waves as a medium to directly obtain command authority over the enemy's fortresses or even warships.

Even if the enemy resorts to the extreme measure of physically cutting off the internet, it can still cause enormous chaos.

Judging from the current situation, the chances of this idea succeeding are quite high.

Within an hour of the fleet entering the star system, a massive amount of redundant information was already overwhelming the central control system of the Xiamen base, causing it to teeter on the brink of collapse.

Access authentication fails, command transmission is delayed or even malfunctions occur, shields and fire control systems malfunction intermittently, coordination between various defense units becomes chaotic, and the lock-up doors between various compartments are constantly opening and closing.

In the end, even the life support system went mad. The air conditioning seemed to be venting the odors from the sewage treatment system, filling the entire fortress with an indescribable smell.

During this process, the Earth fleet's fighters began to accelerate, which was no longer a major concern.