In the current war for the Lyra G16 Star System, Li Qingsong had already gained the absolute upper hand.
As long as he continued to fight methodically, Li Qingsong estimated that it would take no more than twenty years for the enemy’s fleet to collapse.
At that point, he would be able to break through the enemy’s main fleet defenses and bring a population of hundreds of billions under his rule. Then, just as he had transformed the Blutuk People into Human Civilization’s Blutuk Race, he would do the same to these intelligent lifeforms. He would make them another race under Human Civilization’s banner, forcing them to contribute to his technological progress!
’In this cosmos, even between two legitimate intelligent civilizations, once war breaks out, there are probably no prisoners left alive.
After all, our physiological structures and living environments are different, and our cultural backgrounds are completely incompatible. It’s impossible for alien prisoners to integrate into one’s own civilization. What’s the point of taking them?
The most logical course of action is to execute them all after interrogation.
But I’m different! After I capture you, you can all still live good lives—perhaps even in a better environment than before. However, don’t even think about continuing to exist as an independent civilization.
The name of your civilization will become history.
As for whether you’re willing or not, that’s not important. You should have been prepared for this outcome the moment you decided to make trouble out of nothing and intercept me!’
While maintaining immense military pressure on the enemy, Li Qingsong continued his massive industrial construction and production.
Besides the production of conventional military supplies like Missiles, Landmines, and Warships, Li Qingsong was also manufacturing other things.
These were some extremely precise and complex machines.
Some of them resembled starships but had no propulsion of their own. Their interiors were filled with all sorts of complex equipment, making them more like workstations.
Some looked like a Particle Collider, with long tubes and even a dedicated nuclear fusion power plant as an energy source. However, they were far larger than normal Particle Colliders, with lengths reaching up to several hundred kilometers.
Others were like massive, square boxes with sides over 100 meters long. A single one of these boxes had a mass of over a million tons.
Some of these machines were produced on the planet’s surface, others in space. Some were built in high-magnetic-field environments, others in high-temperature environments, and so on and so forth.
All of these were the devices Li Qingsong needed to unleash the Unified Force Field.
Previously, during his long Interstellar Travel, Li Qingsong had spent a great deal of time painstakingly assembling one set. But the device was a one-time use item. Because it had to be overloaded with energy to unleash its maximum power, a single use would cause it to burn out or be completely destroyed.
If he wanted to unleash the Unified Force Field again, he had to build a whole new set.
That’s right. Even though he could defeat his opponent with his conventional fleet by just fighting methodically for less than twenty years, Li Qingsong couldn’t be bothered to wait any longer.
’I’ll activate the Unified Force Field again, crush your fleet decisively, and capture your civilization. The sooner I end this battle, the sooner I can focus all my efforts on preparing for the war against the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity!’
Compared to this legitimate intelligent civilization before him, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity was Li Qingsong’s true, critical threat.
Unfortunately, the complete Unified Force Field apparatus required immense precision and was far too complex. Even with Li Qingsong’s industrial capabilities, he had to have a sufficient number of Clones before he could even begin production, and the manufacturing process was extremely long.
Li Qingsong had started producing the Unified Force Field apparatus as soon as his Clone count reached five billion. Now, eight or nine years had passed, and the production of this set was still only just past the halfway mark.
Including the subsequent debugging and testing, it was estimated that it would take about another 10 years to be truly complete.
And this was only possible due to the massive increase in his maximum consciousness-link capacity and the abundance of resources within the Star System.
Back when he was traveling through space, it had taken Li Qingsong a full 100 years to produce the first set.
’Just ten more years. Ten years from now will be the day your civilization is erased from this cosmos!’
Time continued to pass quietly.
After a long period of suppressing the enemy and seeing his advantage grow ever larger, Li Qingsong noticed that the Harville Civilization’s fleet had started to make some unusual moves.
A large-scale evacuation of personnel began on Planet One.
Under the desperate protection of numerous Warships, a large number of passenger ships flew from Planet One to Planet Three. As the personnel evacuated, the number of Warships at Planet One also dwindled.
Finally, after another massive, planet-wide nuclear detonation, all structures and facilities on Planet One were destroyed.
The last Harville Fleet garrisoned at Planet One also broke through after suffering heavy casualties, regrouping with the main fleet at Planet Three.
Afterward, the main fleet ascended, and all its Warships began to assemble.
’Are they... trying to run?’
Li Qingsong was slightly surprised.
’Run? You think you can get away?’
’The moment your main fleet sets off, you are destined to lose the ability to resupply from within the Star System. And without supplies, coupled with my pursuit, harassment, and interception, even if you could break through my defensive lines, how many resources would you have left?’
’That iron law doesn’t just apply to me; it applies to your Harville Civilization as well!’
At first, Li Qingsong couldn’t be entirely certain.
But after seeing that the many factories, cities, and other installations belonging to the Harville Civilization on Planet Three’s numerous moons had all been utterly destroyed by high-yield Hydrogen Bombs, leaving nothing behind, Li Qingsong was finally sure.
Although he didn’t know what the Harville Civilization was planning, Li Qingsong immediately responded.
At that moment, Li Qingsong’s entire force of approximately 3 million Warships—aside from a few still garrisoning Planet Two or held in reserve for space maneuvers—all converged on Planet Three, completely surrounding the Harville Civilization’s main fleet.
Amidst the fierce exchange of fire, escorted by a total of about 600,000 Harville Warships and protected by countless internal automated defense systems, the Harville main fleet began to slowly accelerate.
’Trying to run? Did you ask for my permission?!’
A cold sneer touched Li Qingsong’s lips.
With a single thought, the tens of millions of combat Clones stationed in the main operations control base on Planet Two simultaneously maneuvered several million Warships, launching the most ferocious assault on the Harville Civilization’s main fleet.
In an instant, Planet Three itself began to glow, illuminated by the impacts of a nearly countless number of stray shots.
Even though the Harville Fleet was concentrated together, charging forward with all its might and with every Warship fighting to the death, Li Qingsong still managed to pin down their advance.
"Why did you intercept us in the first place! Why did you show unprovoked malice toward us! Why did you have to stir up trouble for no reason!
Now the tables have turned! You want to leave? Dream on! You’re all staying here! The Harville Civilization is getting what it deserves! You are destined to perish in this Star System!"
In this final battle, Li Qingsong didn’t forget to use a broadcast to the enemy to try and shake their will to resist.
But to Li Qingsong’s surprise, the Harville Civilization actually responded.
"Your Human Civilization was wiped out long ago! Why do you still exist!
Every civilization that encounters you humans tries to capture you! What did we do wrong!"