Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

The fleet drifted in the endless darkness for another week.

Meanwhile, the Proxima Centauri civilization had another week of anxiety.

2146.6.21

"Zero, connect all starships for me."

Sitting in the command center, Lü Yongchang took a deep breath and turned on the long-range communication device in front of him.

After confirming that the communication equipment was working properly, he coughed lightly and then spoke.

"Hello, fellow countrymen."

"I am the fleet commander-in-chief, Lü Yongchang."

……

In the First Fleet, on a battleship named "Golden Crow".

Bai Yixuan sat solemnly in the captain's seat, silently sensing the heavy atmosphere in the cockpit.

"White Team, the war is about to begin. Are you scared?"

Hong Fan's soft voice came from the side.

Bai Yixuan turned to look at his teammates sitting in the vice-captain's seat. Like Hong Fan, Xia Wanyi's eyes were also filled with unease.

He was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"I'm afraid, of course I'm afraid."

Hong Fan opened his mouth, about to say something, but was interrupted by Bai Yixuan's next words.

"I'm afraid I'll die on the battlefield, and I'm afraid you'll all perish in front of me due to some accident..."

"But more than these, I fear the demise of human civilization!"

Hong Fan didn't speak, but listened quietly to his captain's story.

Bai Yixuan's voice continued: "Therefore, I will not shy away from this war."

"Even if I only have a few days left to live, I hope that humanity's glory will endure forever."

A flicker of excitement crossed Hong Fan's eyes. He clenched his fist and repeated in a low voice, "Humanity, may your glory endure!"

Beside her, Xia Wanyi wore a slightly helpless smile.

"Wanyi, what about you?" Hong Fan turned to his teammate and asked softly.

"Me?" Xia Wanyi chuckled, "Guess why I'm sitting on this [Golden Crow] battleship?"

"Captain, a long-range communication from the Earth." A report interrupted the three's conversation.

"Connect," Bai Yixuan said in a deep voice.

"……cough!"

A coughing sound rang out.

A hint of surprise flashed in Bai Yixuan's eyes.

He recognized the voice; it was Professor Lü's.

"We are about to head to the battlefield, the first and most important interstellar war of human civilization."

"We've won. Human civilization can continue to survive in the universe."

"We lost, so I don't need to tell you the result."

"I hereby declare war on the Proxima Centauri civilization!"

"Gentlemen, the time has come to achieve great things, bring honor to our ancestors, and make a name for yourselves!"

"Fleet, set sail!"

May humanity's glory endure forever!

Long-distance communication is automatically disconnected.

Inside the driver's cab, the previously heavy atmosphere vanished.

"The professor's words are so true," Xia Wanyi's exclamation came from the side.

Bai Yixuan turned his head and gave her a questioning look.

Xia Wanyi didn't say anything, but just gestured to the side with her lips.

Bai Yixuan looked in the direction she pointed.

The driver, who had originally looked gloomy, now had a rosy complexion!

He could even hear their hushed conversations.

It's nothing more than a few big characters.

To bring glory to one's ancestors and to achieve great things.

Feeling the atmosphere was completely different from the beginning, Bai Yixuan chuckled and turned to look at the holographic projection in front of him.

……

The tails of all 501 starships simultaneously lit up with a dim light.

Five years later, the Hall thrusters are activated again!

To prevent the Proxima Centauri civilization from detecting their presence, the Hall thrusters' power was reduced to a minimum.

The expeditionary fleet, consisting of 250 Taotie, 250 Jinwu, and one Earth, used a small amount of thrust to leave its original orbit and silently headed in another direction.

The remaining [Taotie] and [Homeland] ships were left in place.

0.01 light-years is a very safe distance for a Type I civilization.

The expeditionary fleet's destination was a region 1 astronomical unit (AU) from Proxima Centauri.

Although it is only 1 astronomical unit (AU), it is still an extremely distant distance for Proxima Centauri b.

Proxima Centauri b is 700 million kilometers away from Proxima Centauri, which translates to a mere 0.047 astronomical units (AU).

Therefore, in a sense, getting close to Proxima Centauri is the same as getting close to Proxima Centauri b.

……

2147.1.6

After more than half a year, the expeditionary fleet finally reached the target area.

Earth Command Center.

Lü Yongchang stood by the porthole, gazing at Proxima Centauri, which was much brighter than before.

Beside that red dwarf star, there was a slightly dim spot of light.

That's Proxima Centauri b, their target.

Illuminated by the light of its primary star, Proxima Centauri b radiates a crystalline glow.

Through optical telescopes, it can be clearly seen that, similar to Earth, Proxima Centauri also has extremely abundant water resources on its surface.

"Alarm! Alarm!"

The sudden alarm put everyone on edge!

High-intensity electromagnetic wave signal detected.

A bright red alarm appeared on the giant holographic projection directly in front of the command center.

Lu Yongchang's face darkened, and he quickly returned to his seat.

He reached out and dragged the holographic projection in front of him, separating the detected active electromagnetic wave signals from the various chaotic electromagnetic signals.

"Zero, what does this signal mean?"

With a dictionary of Proxima Centauri stars, they are fully capable of interpreting the captured signals from Proxima Centauri.

Zero quickly provided his answer.

"Professor, the signal does not contain any information."

"It's more like an active detection method."

"Similar to our active detection radar, only with a slightly different frequency band."

Upon hearing this, Lü Yongchang's face darkened: "How effective is our radar-absorbing coating against it?"

Active detection methods have both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that it can detect surrounding enemy targets in real time and prepare for impending attacks in advance.

The downside is that once activated, while releasing high-power electromagnetic waves, it also exposes itself to the view of the other side.

Therefore, the Earth fleet has been slow to activate active detection methods in order to prevent being discovered by the Proxima Centauri civilization.

However, the Proxima Centauri civilization, which is located on its home planet, is different from Earth's civilization. They are destined not to hide their existence. Therefore, they can use high-powered detection equipment to search for Earth's civilization around the clock without restraint.

This is precisely why, if the radar-absorbing coating on the outer layer of a starship is not effective at absorbing radar waves...

That means that the human fleet was now completely exposed to the Proxima Centauri civilization!

Everyone present naturally understood this.

Therefore, as soon as Lü Yongchang asked the question, everyone reached for their seatbelts and prepared for emergency maneuvers and attacks!

"The absorption is good."

Zero's voice remained as calm as ever: "Based on our estimates, the object we're detecting on the other side is most likely a slightly larger asteroid."

"It's about the same size as that asteroid next to us."

Lu Yongchang subconsciously turned his head to look out the porthole.

A small asteroid, about a hundred meters in diameter, wobbled around the fleet.

"call……"

Zero's words brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

Lu Yongchang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said softly, "Everyone, since we haven't been discovered, we should get back to work."

Let's give our neighbors a little surprise!

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Zijie, who was standing next to him, pressed the long-distance communication button.

"First Fleet, all personnel, listen to my command!"

"Lock onto Proxima Centauri b immediately!"

Like Zhao Zijie, the commanders of the other three fleets also quickly issued combat orders.

As soon as the order was given, Zero quickly sent the predicted ballistic trajectory and the trajectory of Proxima Centauri b to the onboard computer of every Golden Crow battleship.

A few seconds later, a response came.

"First Fleet, lock-on completed!"

"The Second Fleet..."

Seeing that all four fleets had locked onto their targets, a ruthless glint appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes, and he shouted sharply:

"Fire!"

The moment the words fell, countless tongues of fire shot out from the electromagnetic gun barrels of 250 Golden Crow battleships!

The energy generated by the fusion engine accelerated the projectile in the gun barrel to 6000 km/s in a very short time!

After leaving the barrel, the projectile flew straight toward Proxima Centauri b, which is 0.95 AU away!

These projectiles, each containing a miniature nuclear bomb, will arrive over Proxima Centauri b in 6.57 hours!

"Zero, change the fleet's course immediately!"

After the attack was launched, Lü Yongchang immediately shouted, "Watch out for the Hall thruster power!"

"Understood, Professor."

Under Zero's control, the fleet began to slowly turn, drifting away in another direction like ghosts.

P.S. To avoid disrupting the plot, this chapter has been lengthened.