Alien Hotel.

Chapter 679 Star Gate
The Alien Hotel was slowly navigating in stealth mode, using the chaotic magnetic and gravitational environment near the brown dwarf to further conceal its presence, while cautiously approaching the area with a large number of signal feedbacks.

In the dim starlight, Yu Sheng first saw a cluster of lights flickering in the darkness—a red and orange light system anchored in space, with a striking holographic beacon nearby.

Immediately afterwards, the spacecraft's external monitors captured images of some space structures further away.

Large and small sentry gun platforms floated in space. Between the platforms, one could see wide-area shield generators that flickered with light, as well as energy broadcasting towers and reactors that powered a large number of space facilities. A large fortress-like space station was located at the center of the sentry gun array. The thick energy shield made the outline of the entire building appear somewhat blurred. It seemed to be the command center of this defensive position. Many ships of various sizes could be seen moving around the fortress. Among them, two large spaceships were the "Dark Star" class missile cruisers that Yu Sheng had seen once before.

Within this protective network of countless artillery platforms, fleets, and armed space stations, and shrouded in the dim light of the brown dwarf, Yu Sheng finally saw the appearance of the "stargate."

It stood there majestically, its scale far exceeding that of any ship or even any space building. Its massive main structure was a ring-shaped behemoth stretching across the sea of ​​stars. The surface of the ring flickered with lights and was home to numerous antenna systems used to stabilize the spacetime structure, guide spacecraft jumps, and transmit and receive deep space signals. It looked like countless endless towers. At the "front end" of the ring, there was a slightly smaller ring-shaped opening, which seemed to be a passage for conventional ships to enter and exit. Inside, a vibrant red light curtain floated. At this moment, a fleet was leaving through that passage, leaping into deep space along the navigation lights.

Even though they were still far apart, and even though he could only see the details of the spatial megastructure through the external monitor of the Alien Hotel, Yu Sheng could still clearly feel the colossal size and imposing aura of the stargate. He roughly calculated that the entire Black Rock Station could be thrown directly into that giant ring, and there would still be plenty of room for it.

"My God, the ancestor of all dolls..." Even Eileen, who usually had no concept of spaceships or space stations, exclaimed in surprise. The little thing jumped up from her seat, stood on the armrest, and stared wide-eyed. "What the hell is this thing... And what the hell is all this around here? Wait, wait a minute, Yu Sheng, the defensive firepower here is probably no less than ours..."

The holographic projection in the control hall clearly showed the appearance of the stargate in the distance. Yu Sheng looked at the spatial megastructure on the projection and the heavily armed defenses around it, and clicked his tongue: "Enough of the nonsense, tell us something we don't know."

"...Should we send the Border Fleet to launch a full-scale attack on this?" Eileen turned her head. "Can't we just go around it? Or attack the Hermitage's homeland directly...I think space is so spacious."

As soon as the little puppet finished speaking, the holographic projection next to the captain's seat suddenly lit up, and Luo's figure appeared in mid-air. Her voice came from the communicator: "Spaceship jumps must be aimed at a gravitational anchor point because, strictly speaking, a spaceship jump is not actually a 'flight' process, but a 'fall' process in an artificial spatial drop - the mass must fall toward a specific 'landing point', and one of the functions of facilities like stargates is to serve as a large artificial gravitational landing point to guide spaceships on long voyages."

"Without a landing point, a normal warp engine will not start at all. Even if it is forcibly started for various reasons, the spaceship will fall into an endless warp state. Perhaps it will not 'fall out' of the uniform closed-loop warped space until the end of all things due to the disintegration of the material world."

"Of course, we could choose other massive celestial bodies as 'anchor points,' but we know nothing about the distribution of celestial bodies within the Hermitage's sphere of influence, and even if there were other anchor points... I'm sure they would all be piled with anti-aircraft artillery."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Being able to clearly identify all the gravitational anchors within one's own sphere of influence, and to build effective control over these anchors, is the foundation for an interstellar organization to establish real control over its own sphere of influence—so don't even think about bypassing it, you can't. The Secret Order has been able to take root here for so many years, not because of the 'saintly protection' they claim to have."

Yu Sheng stroked his chin without saying a word, staring intently at the holographic projection, seemingly lost in thought. Eileen, standing beside him, let out a drawn-out "Oh"—a tone that conveyed a sense of confidence, even though she hadn't understood.

Hu Li had clearly caught up with Luo's pace. She frowned and thought for a moment: "If the Border Fleet launches an attack from here, it will definitely run into those layers of defensive forces... To take this stargate, many people will die."

“This is war, and people are bound to die,” Luo sighed. “So the ideal situation is to crack the Hermitage’s stargate code—if you have the stargate code, you can send a small force through that ‘gate’ and appear behind the enemy’s lines, which would minimize the losses. But stargate codes have always been the core lifeline of major powers, and their authorization and issuance process is often directly controlled by the home planet. Getting your hands on this thing is probably no less difficult than a frontal assault on that armed star fortress.”

"But on the other hand, as long as we can capture this stargate, the fleet at the border will essentially occupy a 'projection port' in enemy territory. Subsequent large forces can continuously enter the Hermitage's homeland directly from here without having to go through a long jump journey. If there are other military nodes in the Hermitage's controlled area that are directly connected to this stargate, their coordinates will also be exposed—and they would need three or four times the manpower to possibly plug this 'hole' again."

"So for most small and medium-sized interstellar forces, once the stargate is taken, it's basically like the sky has fallen—unless it's an old-established force like Alglade and Feather with great depth and deep foundation, or an oddball like the Borderlands that controls the 'space transportation hub' and doesn't need to play by the rules."

Yu Sheng listened silently to Luo's explanation. This knowledge was completely different from what he had seen in those rudimentary captain's manuals. It also gave him his first intuitive understanding and feeling of "order among the stars". He was still looking at the space buildings in the holographic projection, but his eyes were filled with more thought. If someone knew him well, they would immediately see that this was a sign that the King of the Boundary Points was about to have another idea.

Luo clearly lacked understanding of this, so she continued rambling on: "You can't go any further—although the Oddity Lodge's stealth capabilities are strong, the stargate's scanning system is even stronger, and going any further might trigger an alarm..."

“I suggest you light up the beacon on the back of that brown dwarf and report the location to that expressionless guy first—the fleet from the border region will need a long time to get to the Dark Current Starfield from the rear, and then they will have to pass through the outer gas clouds and gravitational faults of the Dark Current Starfield. During this time, that 'Dark Star' cruiser will definitely have arrived at the 'Holy Realm' with the Angel Catalyst. You will have plenty of time to infiltrate that planet and find the 'Gate of Eden'. Once you have dealt with the Gate of Eden, notify the fleet from the border region to officially launch the attack…” Yu Sheng still didn’t speak, but continued to stroke his chin and stare at the stargate, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

Luo: "Uh... Boss?"

Eileen finally realized something and turned to look at Yu Sheng.

Hu Li also turned his head and glanced at his benefactor.

The two exclaimed in unison, "Wow!"

Luo was startled: "W-what's wrong?"

"Master Yu (my benefactor) has an idea!"

Luo: "...?"

In that brief moment of exclamation, Yu Sheng finally broke the silence, seemingly lost in thought: "Luo, you just said that if a small force could jump directly out of the stargate, they could launch an attack from behind the defensive forces...?"

"Yes, but the prerequisite is obtaining the authorization code for this stargate and being able to bypass the surveillance of that armed star fortress for a short period of time..."

“What if we just send the main force over here?” Yu Sheng pointed to the holographic projection. “That ‘main gate’ is huge. I feel like the entire fleet could even come in sideways.”

Luo was stunned for at least three or four seconds: "...What are you saying?"

Then, looking completely bewildered, she continued, "If that's really the case, then there's no need to talk about tactics. A main fleet could just jump into the blind spot of the defenses, and two rounds of fire would take down that star fortress. The surrounding sentry gun platforms are clearly redesigned cannons, definitely locked by security protocols so they can't fire towards the stargate... All that's left are some defensive forces that can't react in time. Well, even a pig could win if they were in command. But we don't even have the stargate's authorization code..."

"Do you think it's possible," Yu Sheng interrupted Luo, raising his hands to frame the holographic projection of the colossal space structure in front of him, "that the stargate... is also a door?"

Luo: "...?!"

Eileen immediately jumped off her chair excitedly, ran to Huli's side, raised her hand, and Huli also lowered one of its tails. The two of them high-fived (with their tails) and exclaimed, "Yay!"

Luo finally realized what she had heard, and her long, pointed ears perked up for the first time (Yu Sheng was also discovering for the first time that her elf ears could stand up): "This actually works?!"

“I’ve wanted to say this for a long time. You’re an elf, and elves should speak more politely,” Yu Sheng said as he stood up from the captain’s seat, clapped his hands, and looked at the stargate with a face full of pride. “I find this gate to be quite magnificent. It would be a real waste to leave it to a bunch of cultists—why don’t we just make it? What do you all think?”

Eileen and Huli clapped enthusiastically, and even Luna, who had been standing there in a daze, suddenly turned her head and nodded vigorously: "Yes, that's right!"

(End of this chapter)