After a brief observation, Li Qingsong was certain. This was the exhaust trail of the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet; there was no mistaking it.
Currently, they were approximately 3.2 light-years away. In just a few more years, they would officially enter the star system.
"So, you've finally come?"
A cold, almost crazed smile crept into Li Qingsong's mind. 'I've been waiting for you for a long, long time.'
By now, Li Qingsong had transformed the innermost asteroid belt of the Pegasus V432 Star System—the one closest to its primary star—into a veritable war fortress.
Over the past two hundred years, Li Qingsong had produced and scattered tens of billions of hydrogen bombs throughout the Asteroid Belt. He had also manufactured hundreds of billions of unmanned warships of all sizes, Interstellar Cannon Platforms, minefield clusters, and countless other assets. The number of space-based and surface-based electromagnetic and laser cannon emplacements was simply beyond measure.
He had even produced over 3 million Mercury-class Warships.
The current generation of Mercury-class Warships was more powerful and boasted greater combat effectiveness, but they were also more complex. Even with the assistance of the tactical Wukong AI, a single Mercury-class Warship required a crew of ten clones to operate.
Obviously, Li Qingsong was incapable of controlling so many Mercury-class Warships simultaneously. After all, interstellar warfare wasn't just a matter of sending out warships; the immense logistical demands and industrial production on the home front also had to be managed.
By a rough estimate, Li Qingsong could simultaneously operate about 500,000 Mercury-class Warships.
Li Qingsong didn't let the remaining Mercury-class Warships sit idle, either.
Even though he couldn't operate them the moment an interstellar battle began, that didn't matter. He sent them out into space to wait.
This way, the moment a warship was destroyed elsewhere, Li Qingsong's consciousness could instantly transfer to a replacement. This eliminated the need to scramble a crew and launch into space, allowing the new ship to join the battle immediately.
And so, the manned warships; the unimaginably vast unmanned combat forces under the Wukong AI's command—Unmanned Warships, Cannon Platforms, satellites, anti-aircraft bases, mines, and missile bases; and the innumerable hydrogen bombs lying in ambush within countless asteroids all came together to form a defensive line as solid as a wall of iron.
Such was the strength of this defensive line that if the Blutuk Civilization's fleet, even at its zenith, were to charge in, they would be annihilated in an instant without so much as making a ripple.
This was the ultimate display of military might for a peak Electroweak Civilization—and not even a typical one.
Because Li Qingsong's engineering capabilities surpassed those of an ordinary Electroweak Civilization!
Even now, in the final years before the war's outbreak, Li Qingsong's massive industrial complex had not halted. It continued to frantically churn out manned and unmanned warships and all manner of military hardware, all of which was unceremoniously thrown into the Asteroid Belt to further bolster his defensive line.
At the same time, Li Qingsong carried out another task in extreme secrecy.
Under his command, more than twenty thousand heavy transport ships quietly lifted off. They flew toward the primary star, eventually stopping at a distance of just over six million kilometers from it.
It wasn't that Li Qingsong didn't want to get closer. Any nearer, and the stellar radiation would be too intense to withstand, even with the technological prowess of a peak Electroweak Civilization.
This position was the absolute limit.
Each of these heavy transport ships had a payload capacity of over ten million tons and had been specially designed to withstand extreme temperatures.
They also incorporated a stealth design. The starlight from the Pegasus V432 Star hitting one side of the ships would be synchronously transferred and released from the other side.
In this way, they would be "swallowed" by the star's intense light and radiation.
This light and radiation also served as a natural "cloak." The interference was so intense that no effective detection method known to Li Qingsong could penetrate the region.
In fact, without specially designed communication methods, even Li Qingsong would be unable to maintain contact with these heavy transport ships.
With this most critical "trump card" in place, Li Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief.
All the preparations were complete. Whether his plan would succeed, whether he could find a slim chance of survival from the pursuit of the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity, Li Qingsong did not know.
The only thing Li Qingsong knew was that once a plan was set, he had to execute it with everything he had!
「In this way, time quietly passed.」
Trillions of kilometers away, the vast Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet continued to advance, all the while steadily decelerating.
Among them was one particularly enormous vessel.
It was not a Space-Air Carrier, yet its size was comparable to one.
Despite its immense size, it transported no supplies of its own. In fact, it was the opposite; shuttle craft constantly traveled between it and the other Space-Air Carriers, delivering a steady stream of resources to it.
Aboard it, a total of seventy-six massive nuclear fusion power plants operated day and night, generating an incalculable amount of surging electrical power. This power was not supplied to the Thrust Devices, however. Instead, it was all channeled into the hundreds of special structures scattered across the giant vessel.
Each of these special structures covered an enormous area of several square kilometers, with heights ranging from tens to a hundred meters.
These were not ordinary factory buildings, but chip processing centers.
Numerous quantum and electronic chips worked in concert, housed within laser cooling towers and liquid nitrogen cooling pools.
A network of pipes and cables crisscrossed the structures, feeding in surging power and siphoning away immense heat. This network also brought in data from every corner of the vast fleet. After processing, the results were transmitted back in real-time via Super-distance Communication, where they were carried out by intelligent machines and sensors.
The entire fleet was under the control of this one Supercomputer Carrier.
The "Red Dog" AI ran within this Supercomputer Carrier.
"Master #661588902's interaction count with the android doll decreased by 0.8% today. This is the 100th consecutive day of decline.
Psychological modeling predicts a high probability that the master has lost interest in said doll; boredom factor has risen to 5%.
Computational thread has decided: in 5 hours, query the master about changing the doll's appearance and personality."
...
"Master #1155874365's health index has dropped to 78%, approaching the alert threshold. However, the master has a preference for sour foods, which is detrimental to their body.
Computational thread has decided: employ interest-diversion methods. Use mental stimulation to transfer the master's dependence on sour food and reduce their intake. Simultaneously, formulate a new gene therapy plan.
Note: This master is extremely averse to treatment. This therapy session must be administered while the master is asleep, without their knowledge."
...