Chapter 258: Chapter 257: Three Years
On the battlefield, now a sudden void, Li Qingsong’s fleet of over 600,000 Warships launched a ferocious assault on the Harville Warships, which were still stunned and unable to react.
Energy Cannons of all sizes opened fire, unleashing a torrential storm of Super Micro-Nuclear Bomb projectiles. Beams from Laser Cannons pierced countless Warships, causing massive gas leaks before the ships violently exploded.
Innumerable Electromagnetic Interference Bombs detonated, further degrading an electromagnetic environment already thrown into chaos by the explosions of countless Warships.
Large-caliber Energy Cannons and Interstellar Missiles streaked through space, hunting down any valuable target at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second.
In just a few short minutes, over a thousand Harville Warships were destroyed!
Only then did the remaining Harville Warships—now numbering less than one hundred thousand—finally begin to react.
But it was clear they lacked a unified command; it seemed their commanders had yet to grasp the situation or formulate a proper response.
Their current countermeasures were more of a hasty, instinctual reaction than a coordinated defense.
Li Qingsong paid them no mind, seizing this rare opportunity to wantonly slaughter his opponents.
‘I sacrificed the lives of two billion Clones and paid the price of destroying countless precision instruments with a combined mass of ten billion tons, all for this one chance!’
‘The Harville Civilization, you say? You should have foreseen this outcome the moment you showed me unprovoked malice!’
Two billion Clones was the absolute limit of what Li Qingsong could deploy.
This figure took into account not only the current battlefield situation but also the needs of post-war industrial reconstruction. Had he sacrificed any more Clones, Li Qingsong would have been unable to meet future demands.
This was a true, all-out offensive, pushing his forces to their absolute limit!
Amidst the ferocious assault, the Harville forces—both Manned Warships and unmanned combat units—were rapidly being depleted. Li Qingsong had seized the absolute upper hand.
「Harville Civilization Flagship, Honor Spaceship, Conference Room One.」
The previously relaxed and cheerful atmosphere had vanished without a trace. Every person in attendance was pale, some even trembling uncontrollably.
The reports coming back from the frontline were beyond anyone’s imagination.
‘They were supposed to be a civilization technologically inferior to our own!’
‘Just a moment ago, we held the absolute advantage on the battlefield!’
‘But why? Why…’
‘How did the tables turn in an instant?’
‘How were seven hundred thousand of our Warships annihilated in a flash?’
‘What kind of technology is this?! What kind of weapon?’
‘Did some higher civilization intervene? But there’s no third party in this Star System! It’s just us and the enemy!’
The reversal was too sudden, too monumental. Even these veteran leaders, who had weathered countless storms, couldn’t process it quickly enough.
But…
Haimo Lan took several sharp breaths, then said fiercely, “For now, don’t worry about what happened on the battlefield, or what method or weapon the enemy used to cause this.
The most important thing right now is to… retreat! Evacuate everyone from Planet Two, and then destroy every industrial facility on the planet!”
At that moment, as if they had finally found their anchor, everyone in the conference room fixed their gaze on Haimo Lan.
‘He’s right!’
‘The fall of Planet Two is now inevitable. This isn’t the time to investigate what happened; it’s the time to figure out how to prevent even greater losses!’
‘Evacuate everyone from Planet Two, destroy all industrial facilities. We can’t leave anything for the enemy!’
Haimo Lan’s eyes were filled with a grim resolve. “How long will it take to dispatch fleets from Planet One and Planet Three to support Planet Two?”
“At least twenty days.”
“How much longer can the garrison fleet on Planet Two hold out?”
“Eight days! At most!”
A savage glint flashed in Haimo Lan’s eyes. “How long to evacuate all personnel from Planet Two!”
“Three… three years…”
The answer plunged the entire conference room into silence.
‘Yes, we already started a large-scale evacuation after confirming the enemy’s main thrust was toward Planet Two… but there are still over ten billion of our people on the planet… our workers, soldiers, scientists, logistics staff… all of them…’
‘The battle is raging. Even if the situation doesn’t deteriorate further, the evacuation will be incredibly difficult.’
‘Evacuating ten billion people in three years would already be a feat of remarkable efficiency.’
So then…
Haimo Lan’s hands were trembling slightly.
All eyes were fixed on him.
As the supreme leader of the civilization, he was the only one who could make the decision.
But… but…
Trembling, Haimo Lan spoke in a heavy voice. “Have the garrison fleet hold for at least nine days.
During those nine days, evacuate as many people from Planet Two as possible!
After nine days, begin a full-scale nuclear cleansing of Planet Two. Destroy… destroy all… all of… our facilities.”
The hall was silent for a moment. Then, one person was the first to respond. “Yes, sir.”
“Yes, sir!”
No one dared ask what would happen to those who couldn’t be evacuated in time.
Because everyone already knew the answer.
The meeting was temporarily adjourned. Military personnel immediately began organizing a rearguard action, fighting with all their might while simultaneously planning their next strategic and tactical moves.
A secretary hurried to Haimo Lan’s side and whispered something in his ear.
Haimo Lan strode to an office, closed the door, and took out a communicator in the empty room.
His mother’s projection appeared before him, her face etched with anxiety and fear. “Lanlan, what’s going on? What happened? What’s happening with the battle over Planet Two? Everyone’s saying the planet is going to fall, it’s so chaotic here…”
Haimo Lan forced down his emotions and put on a smile. “Mother, don’t be afraid. It’s nothing, just a minor incident. Everything is fine.
To be safe, I’m sending someone to escort you off Planet Two. Don’t go anywhere. Just stay in your lab and wait. I’ve already dispatched a team to pick you up. Just do as they say.
Don’t worry, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay…”