Chapter 219: We Lack a Superconducting Catalyst

The Federation's encirclement was so vast that even the Silk Civilization would need 18 years to break through it.

Starting from the 5th year, the Silk Civilization fleet launched a full-scale attack on the front-facing spaceships within the encirclement. In just a few rounds of attacks, over 100 billion spaceships were instantly destroyed.

Fortunately, these spaceships were not controlled by lifeforms but were coordinated by Ella, with each spaceship's main computer performing its designated task within the plan.

So, even when the Silk Civilization's attack came, these spaceships did not attempt to dodge.

When a group of spaceships was destroyed, others quickly filled their positions.

Through this first wave of attacks, the Silk Civilization clearly understood the nature of these spaceships, and their breakthrough became more aggressive.

Of course, their aggression did not go entirely unpunished.

Starting from the 5th year, their battleship losses began to climb, with the number of battleships lost annually increasing from the initial 2,000 to nearly 10,000.

Fortunately, the journey was not too long.

The encirclement, which was slightly over 5 light-years in radius, had a radius of just over 3 light-years.

By the time they reached the edge of the encirclement, their battleship losses had reached 200,000.

In fact, Yan Xia was lamenting this.

"If the speed of the spaceships was faster, or if our weapons were more advanced, the losses of the Silk Civilization's battleships would at least double."

"What a pity!"

For a breakthrough attempt, a casualty ratio of 7 to 1 was already considered very good.

At the same time, after 18 years, the Silk Civilization and the Federation's spaceships made contact.

The terrifying offensive almost crushed the Federation's encirclement.

In just one week, the Federation lost 170 billion spaceships, while the casualties of the Silk Civilization's battleships were minimal—35,000 battleships turned into debris.

At this moment, the surrounding interstellar space was filled with debris.

Countless pieces.

If the Garbage Man saw this, he would probably be ecstatic. Not to mention the Silk Civilization's battleships, even just one of the Federation's 170 billion spaceships, if placed on Earth, would be enough to deplete all the metal resources on the planet's surface.

Just one of these spaceships would be enough for a Level 1 Civilization to accumulate for several decades, and here, there were 170 billion of them!

The Garbage Man would not dare to venture into such an intense battlefield, risking his life.

Here, every move was covered by large-scale weapons, and a slight lapse in attention would result in instant death.

After breaking through the encirclement, the Silk Civilization fleet did not relax because they had already anticipated what awaited them.

The fierce battle had only just begun.

As expected.

On the other side of the starry sky, 31 motherships quietly awaited their arrival.

Of course, the spaceships in other directions of the encirclement had already changed their positions and were preparing to re-establish the encirclement.

The new encirclement would take nearly 40 years to establish.

And these 40 years were the time for the Silk Civilization fleet to break through the encirclement.

In fact, before this, they had the option to attack the weakest point of the first encirclement and then move deeper into the Federation's territory, heading towards the outer regions.

But that would create another problem—the advantage they had built up would be lost, and they would have to regroup and reoccupy the six star systems again.

The Silk Civilization did not want to waste this advantage.

Were they reckless?

Not at all!

Yan Xia had already intercepted the information they sent out after the formation of the encirclement, which was likely a call for reinforcements.

Soon, the Silk Civilization would dispatch at least 500,000 battleships to the outer edge of the encirclement to coordinate with the encircled fleet.

Since the spaceships themselves did not have information shielding, another fleet of the Silk Civilization was already on its way.

Therefore, Yan Xia's side needed to fight quickly and decisively.

The result was that almost at the moment of their encounter, both sides began to bombard each other, with intense flames erupting between them.

In the interstellar bombardment, there was no room for details. In just 10 years, the Federation lost 10 motherships, and even with the use of countless Zerg, they could only exchange for the loss of 270,000 Silk Civilization battleships.

At this time, the number of Silk Civilization's battleships was still over 1 million, including motherships.

Fortunately, the semi-formed encirclement provided some pressure on the Silk Civilization, slowing down their progress.

"Let's begin the photon disturbance!"

Yan Xia, being ready to take on this battle, had made preparations.

Although the spaceships did not have many types of weapons, only one was needed.

The way life and some civilizations obtain information is actually very simple—through electromagnetic waves. Other types of waves, such as strong waves, weak waves, and gravitational waves, cannot convey clear information.

Photon disturbance involves releasing a large number of photons in a specific area, making it impossible for that area to transmit information, or at least basic information.

Advanced civilizations have more advanced means of information transmission, and many high-frequency information can directly penetrate interference.

But photon disturbance is not aimed at this advanced information or to prevent communication between the Silk Civilization fleets. Instead, it is to prevent the Silk Civilization from obtaining the Federation's information.

Photons.

Countless photons turned this area into a whiteout, with Silk Civilization battleships constantly receiving these photons, as if someone were constantly flashing a strobe light in their faces.

This was only temporary.

The Silk Civilization quickly found a solution.

During this process, Yan Xia ordered the fleet to advance.

At the same time, he instructed the fleet to disperse as much as possible and then began charging the large-scale weapons.

This charge was unprecedented.

The resulting range was also unprecedented.

This large-scale attack, with the cooperation of 21 motherships, 170,000 biological battleships, and countless spaceships, expanded the range to a diameter of 2,000 astronomical units.

In one wave, 140,000 Silk Civilization battleships were swallowed up.

The Silk Civilization instantly fell into a passive position.

Inside the Federation's motherships, countless soldiers cheered.

However, Yan Xia frowned, "It's not enough. The first large-scale weapon attack has alerted the Silk Civilization, and they will disperse."

"The energy reserves of the spaceships in the encirclement have already been largely depleted. The Silk Civilization probably won't be able to detect this information, so they won't be overly concerned about attacks on other positions."

"We must do our best to eliminate as many Silk Civilization battleships as possible in this battle. This is our only chance."

In this wave, Yan Xia had already chosen to release the large-scale weapons at the most concentrated position of the Silk Civilization.

But it only eliminated 140,000.

"Ella, calculate how much we can cover in our final, extreme attack."

Ella's calculation this time was not instantaneous but took 3 astronomical units of time to respond to Yan Xia.

"Yan Xia, at the extreme, it's about 2,400 astronomical units, and it can only be used once."

A large-scale weapon with a range of 1,000 astronomical units is already considered extreme, and this time, the Federation's 2,000 astronomical units were only achieved with the help of countless auxiliary tools.

To replicate this, a significant amount of energy would be lost.

The current 2,400 astronomical units would likely eliminate no more than 70,000 Silk Civilization battleships, half of the previous number.

Yan Xia fell into deep thought, weighing the pros and cons.

At this moment, Ella continued, "If there is a dense superconducting substance at this position as a catalyst to propagate the energy, the range can be expanded to 4,400 astronomical units."

This point is an energy gathering point, not an intentional one but a naturally existing point.

When the surrounding energy is excessive and evenly distributed, a point will appear in space as the energy's center, and it is not necessarily the center of the energy's distribution, such as a circular energy cluster, which must appear in the circle.

It can be moved to any position in the circle, and Ella's plan is to use this position to enhance the weapon's power.

"Launch a superconducting structure?"

Yan Xia asked.

Ella shook her head, "Unfortunately, such a precise superconducting substance, even if it maintains superconductivity at a specific temperature amid the surrounding electromagnetic interference, is still not reliable."

"There are such superconducting substances inside the battleships, but they are too important to the battleships and cannot be disassembled."

"The nuclear core equipment of the battleships is maintained by these superconducting substances."

"But..."

Ella looked at Yan Xia!