Chapter 67: The Shining Strike, A Great Victory

This planet was red, resembling Mars, and its land was also red.

However, Gliese 581c was not as small as Mars; its mass was 5.6 times that of Earth, and it had another title.

- The first potentially habitable Earth-like planet.

"Electromagnetic layer detected around the planet!"

"Electromagnetic layer detected around the planet!"

"Requesting mission termination!"

A message was frantically sent through the system, and the first group of fighters approaching the planet's surface all crashed into the electromagnetic layer and exploded. The second group of fighters tried to pull up, but their speed was too fast, and they also collided.

In an instant, hundreds of soldiers died, including some who had just been chatting with Plita.

Like Bie, they all hoped to survive and return home.

But each soldier unit was insignificant in the war.

"Keep going!"

"We'll provide support!"

A message came from the distant flagship, but before they could understand its meaning, a 3-kilometer-wide beam of light struck the planet's electromagnetic layer.

The beam was so parallel that almost no photons scattered, and it was only observed after hitting the electromagnetic layer.

When the planet was hit, arcs of electricity flashed, creating a massive hole where the beam struck, and even the clouds above were blown away, revealing the buildings on the planet's surface.

Countless fighters flew towards the hole.

Within seconds, they penetrated the hole and entered the planet's interior.

Decelerate!

Then, they began flying in parallel.

Some soldiers who were too nervous or lacked flying skills reacted a second too late, and their fighters crashed into the planet's surface, creating a crater several kilometers wide, no less destructive than a hydrogen bomb.

Plita calmly completed the pull-up and deceleration, reducing her speed from over 20,000 km/s to 20 km/s.

"Plita, are you okay?"

Bie sent a message.

"I'm fine. The scanner shows that there are more than 100,000 flying objects on the planet's surface. They're coming."

Plita gave a simple reply and looked ahead.

Countless spinning spacecraft, resembling finger spinners, began approaching them. These seemed to be unmanned, with no soldiers on board.

"There should be a central control for these unmanned vehicles, and their intelligence is not high, so it should be easy to find."

Bie was 140 kilometers to Plita's left and was also surrounded by these unmanned vehicles.

To prevent an AI revolution, higher civilizations would usually impose restrictions on AI systems, hindering their development.

However, due to Ella's existence, the Civilization Federation had fully open AI systems, and many service-type robots had intelligence levels close to that of living beings.

"Found it!" Bie exclaimed.

"In the planet's northern hemisphere, coordinates 123°51' East, 39°28' North."

Then, her communication was cut off, as the unmanned vehicles around her seemed to be blocking the signal.

Something was wrong.

The entire planet's surface had activated a shielding field, blocking all wireless communication and creating an information advantage. Only wired communication was possible.

Plita opened fire, and the laser guns on both sides of her fighter started shooting, hitting one unmanned vehicle with each shot.

The unmanned vehicles fired back, and Plita, unable to react as quickly as the lasers, activated her shield, enduring the onslaught.

The main cannon below her fighter's cockpit was ready, and she pressed the button, firing a stream of antimatter. As it flew, the antimatter began annihilating with normal matter, creating a terrifying white band.

Plita piloted her fighter through the white band, breaking through the unmanned vehicles' encirclement.

She flew towards the coordinates Bie had given her.

The fighter's energy was limited and couldn't be depleted by these unmanned vehicles.

At that moment, to her right, a fighter was surrounded and destroyed by the unmanned vehicles.

The scanner showed that the number of unmanned vehicles was increasing, about to surpass 1 million.

After all, this was the enemy's home turf.

She flew over a city, and the buildings resembled Mongolian yurts with red soil roofs, blending in with the planet's surface.

The fighter recorded the native life forms in the city - giant hairless porcupines with insect-like compound eyes, four upper limbs like centipedes, and numerous pairs of legs. On their backs were gem-like, colorful crystal shells, and they curled up like hedgehogs to protect their soft abdomens.

They had received information about the Purple Thorn civilization on Tau Ceti, and these beings were called the Colorful Stone civilization. They were more primitive than the Leler civilization and were still in the Stone Age when colonized by the Purple Thorn civilization, not knowing how to smelt or forge copper or iron.

This civilization was so weak that it had almost no resistance.

It was challenging to change the mindset of such a civilization because they had been enslaved for too long, becoming the most loyal vassals of the Purple Thorn civilization, almost indistinguishable from them.

Plita didn't know if these Colorful Stone beings would thank them for eliminating the Purple Thorn civilization, but nothing could stop the Civilization Federation's expansion.

Their goal from the beginning was not to liberate these beings in the name of justice.

Soon, she flew over the city.

More and more fighters were heading in the same direction, having received the information.

However, this also caused the unmanned vehicles to contract, forming a defensive line. From the fighter's perspective, they faced a wall of unmanned vehicles.

Some fighters began to accelerate, trying to fly through the gaps in the wall.

But an electromagnetic current, like a river, swept them away, instantly melting them into iron water.

They then realized that the unmanned vehicles were surrounding a massive energy device that could supply energy to the vehicles indefinitely. The fighters' energy was no match for this.

At this point, they were cut off from communication with the outside, isolated and without support.

All the fighters were in disarray, caught between a rock and a hard place. Advancing meant certain death, and retreating was not an option.

Among these fighters, Plita saw Bie's fighter, still intact.

She turned on her fighter's lights and sent a message to Bie.

Due to the integration of races in the Civilization Federation, the new generation of the three races generally mastered three languages: Chinese, the Light Language, and the Kaitian information language.

Bie was taken aback for a moment.

But then she saw Plita start to accelerate.

She paused for a moment and then pushed the control stick.

The two fighters flew towards the unmanned vehicles, seemingly on a suicide mission.

As they approached, they could even see the electromagnetic current with their naked eyes, and if hit, they would be instantly melted.

But at that moment, the two fighters fired their main cannons at the electromagnetic current.

The fighters' main cannons were like toys compared to the massive energy.

However, when antimatter and normal matter annihilate, they create a momentary vacuum region. The two fighters flew into this vacuum, one after the other.

But it was useless; the vacuum region existed for too short a time and was too small compared to the electromagnetic current.

The next moment, all the beings were astonished.

The two fighters had somehow avoided the attack, with the front fighter firing its main cannon while decelerating, and the rear fighter accelerating into the vacuum region before firing its main cannon and then decelerating. The other fighter repeated this process.

This technique required the pilots to have strong hearts and precise control over timing and maneuvers, something even computers might struggle to achieve smoothly.

The two fighters performed like elegant birds of paradise, supporting each other in flight.

After a few back-and-forth passes, which took less than two seconds, they broke through the electromagnetic current.

Almost simultaneously, the two fighters fired all their antimatter.

This antimatter struck the massive energy device.

"Boom!!!"

A terrifying explosion occurred, like hundreds or thousands of hydrogen bombs, and half the planet was bathed in blinding light. The accompanying powerful earthquake caused deep fissures on the planet's surface.

The shockwave swept across the globe, and all the unmanned vehicles instantly malfunctioned.

Several fighters broke through the atmosphere and reached the planet's exterior.

"What a shining strike, Plita. We might go down in history."

Bie was thrilled.

"But it seems we've done something wrong. This explosion will cause many casualties among the Colorful Stone beings."

Plita didn't respond to the previous statement but gave a later reply.

"No, they'll clean up after us."

Indeed, a powerful constraint force crossed millions of kilometers and descended onto the planet's surface, stopping the spreading shockwave and pausing time, minimizing the damage.

The interstellar battle was also coming to an end, as the enemy's warships began to retreat.

This was a great victory!