Everyone's playing Red Giant? I, Black Hole, devour everything!

Zhou Zhenguo's breathing suddenly became heavy.

He served in the army for over forty years and witnessed firsthand the entire process of the Great Xia Kingdom's defense capabilities growing from weak to strong.

But in more than forty years, no weapon has ever excited him as much as it does today.

This is no longer just icing on the cake!

This has overturned the entire set of rules of war!

Once the gravity shield is deployed across the entire army of the Great Xia Kingdom, it will be as if all tens of millions of ordinary observers in the Great Xia Kingdom are wearing an invulnerable armor!

By then, all those things like the Lighthouse Country's Quark Star and the Cherry Blossom Country's Neutron Star will be nothing but paper!

"but."

Lin Tian's voice interrupted Zhou Zhenguo's thoughts.

"To obtain the complete technical data on the Gravity Shield, we must do one thing first."

He raised his hand and marked a location on the holographic star map.

"The First Star Region of the Cherry Blossom Country".

"Less than 30 light-years from Tokyo."

"The Ayers built a relay station there, and the core technical data of the Gravity Shield is stored in the database of that relay station."

As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room, which had been filled with excitement, suddenly fell silent.

"The First Star Region of the Cherry Blossom Country..."

Zhou Zhenguo slowly sat back in his chair, his expression becoming more solemn than ever before.

"That's the Achilles' heel of the Cherry Blossom Country."

"Once the First Star Sector is breached, it's no different from the destruction of a nation."

"Yes." Lin Tian's tone remained calm. "We must destroy it."

The atmosphere in the meeting room seemed to plummet to freezing point in that instant.

Zhao Yuanshan, commander of the Ninth Army Corps, spoke first.

"Professor Lin, please allow me to say something: with the Black Hole Legion's current strength, it is not difficult for them to destroy the resistance forces of the Sakura Kingdom."

Zhao Yuanshan's words elicited slight nods from everyone present.

This is not bragging.

The Black Hole Legion achieved a casualty ratio of 3,080 to 0 in the Seventh Sector, wiping out the elite main force of the four-nation alliance without losing a single soldier.

With this level of combat strength, defeating Japan wouldn't be too difficult.

"But—" Zhao Yuanshan changed the subject, "Even with a 10 billion-year acceleration card, it would still take at least 30 hours to travel from the Great Xia Kingdom to the First Star Sector of the Sakura Kingdom."

"Thirty hours is a long time; there are too many variables in that time."

Han Li, the director of the intelligence bureau, took over the conversation: "Commander Zhao is right. Although Japan was crippled by us on the neutron star route, their intelligence system is still functioning."

"A massive black hole army is moving towards the mainland of Japan; it's impossible for the enemy not to notice."

"More importantly, Japan is currently unaware of the existence of that relay station."

"But if the Great Xia Kingdom's target is the other party's First Star Sector, even a fool would realize that there must be something there."

"At that time, the Sakura Kingdom will definitely conduct a comprehensive exploration of all areas surrounding the First Star Sector."

"Once they locate that relay station, the enemy will likely destroy it before retreating."

"By then, even if we conquer Japan, we won't be able to obtain the gravity shield technology."

"That's not the worst part."

Zhou Zhenguo continued speaking.

"The most troublesome thing is that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the British Empire will not stand by and watch Japan be destroyed by us."

"Especially the United States, the beacon of light."

"Japan is the most important strategic foothold of the United States in East Asia, and an outpost used by the United States to contain the Great Xia Kingdom."

"If we launch a full-scale war against Japan, the United States will surely retaliate with all its might."

"Everyone knows they can't defeat the Black Hole Legion."

"But the problem is—the Black Hole Legion of the Great Xia Kingdom has too few people."

"Thirty-four people, even if each one is a top-notch fighter capable of taking on a thousand men, the Great Xia Kingdom has thirty-four star sectors to defend."

"The enemy can't defeat the Black Hole Legion, but they can completely avoid the Black Hole Legion and attack other star sectors that are not guarded by black holes."

"At that time, the Great Xia Kingdom may be plunged into the danger of a full-scale war."

When Zhou Zhenguo finished speaking, everyone in the conference room turned serious.

He was right.

The Black Hole Legion is indeed very strong, but its sheer numbers are a major weakness.

Thirty-four people, scattered across at most a dozen star sectors.

The Great Xia Kingdom has a total of thirty-four star sectors.

Once the United States joins forces with other countries to launch a large-scale attack in multiple star sectors simultaneously, the Black Hole Legion will be forced to fight fires everywhere.

"By then, even if we acquire gravity shield technology, it will probably be too late to develop and deploy it."

Zhou Zhenguo finished speaking.

A long silence fell over the conference room.

Everyone frowned.

People were talking in hushed tones, trying to find a way to satisfy both sides.

Some people suggested sending a small elite force to secretly infiltrate the first star sector of Japan and retrieve the data without alerting the enemy.

But this was quickly refuted.

Neutron stars have an extremely strong detection capability, especially in their sensitivity to gravitational wave signals, which far exceeds that of ordinary stars. Any black hole that approaches the first star region will be detected immediately.

Some argue that diplomatic means could be used to buy time and give the Black Hole Legion enough opportunities to act.

But this idea was quickly rejected.

Now that it is wartime, the Sakura Kingdom cannot possibly believe any diplomatic rhetoric from the Great Xia Kingdom.

One proposal after another was put forward, and one after another was rejected.

The atmosphere in the meeting room grew increasingly tense, with people sighing and looking worried.

Just when everyone was at a loss, Lin Tian spoke up: "I have a suggestion. Let's temporarily and completely block the news about the gravity shield. From this moment on, all participants in this meeting must sign the highest level of confidentiality agreement."

"Not a single word about the Gravity Shield, the Ayers Relay Station, or the targets in the First Sector of the Sakura Kingdom is to be leaked."

He continued without pausing.

"At the same time, expand the Black Hole Legion."

"Over the next few months, we will select a second batch of black hole route retrainers from across the country for intensive training and development."

"Once the expansion is complete and the Black Hole Legion has enough personnel to cover all star sectors—"

"We are formally declaring war on the Land of Cherry Blossoms again!"

The meeting room was silent for about five seconds.

Then, Zhou Zhenguo was the first to speak: "To what extent should we expand?"

"At least five hundred people. That way, we can assign a dozen or so black holes to each star sector, which is enough for defense," Lin Tian replied crisply.

Zhou Zhenguo remained silent for a moment.

Five hundred black hole observers mean that the size of the black hole army would need to be increased by more than ten times.

This goal may seem exaggerated, but it is not impossible.

After all, in the last black hole crash course, forty-seven trainees were selected nationwide.

Of those who successfully switched to the new program, thirty-four were ultimately successful.

The success rate is over 70%.

The success of the crash course has fully demonstrated that the black hole route is not the exclusive domain of a few.

As long as an observer with sufficient talent and mental calculation ability can be found, the trajectory of a black hole can be replicated.

Now, what the country needs to do is to cast this net wider and larger.

Before Zhou Zhenguo could express his opinion, Old Chen, who was sitting at the other end of the long table, spoke first.

"I agree with Professor Lin's proposal."

"From now on, the expansion plan of the Black Hole Legion will be listed as the highest strategic priority of the Great Xia Kingdom."

"The nation will do everything in its power to support us."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the military and high-ranking national representatives present.

"The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Defense Force—all relevant departments' resources are being channeled toward this plan."

"The government will provide whatever amount of money is needed."

"How many people are needed? How many people will be selected from across the country?"

"If any equipment is needed, it will be directly allocated from the national inventory; if not, research and development and production will be arranged immediately."

"In short, we must ensure that the Black Hole Legion completes its expansion in the shortest possible time."