"This war is destined to fail," remarked an analyst aboard Kunpeng.
Equipped with the most advanced quantum communication devices, Kunpeng's communication speed had not changed much over the past tens of thousands of years, but its size had significantly decreased, and its energy consumption was now only 7.47% of that of the first-generation quantum communication devices.
Yan Xia and Ella quickly received the information transmitted back from Kunpeng. From the data, it was clear that Kunpeng was merely trying its best to complete its reconnaissance mission, while its combat capabilities still fell short compared to the fleet dispatched by Olive Branch Civilization.
The distance between both fleets was not particularly vast, allowing Olive Branch Civilization to close in on Kunpeng within a few hundred years, which would hinder Kunpeng's development.
"Has Kunpeng's developmental capacity met your expectations?" Yan Xia asked Ella.
Kunpeng's primary oversight was under Ella's supervision; however, she primarily monitored while practical scholars from various fields related to materials, construction, machinery, and power did most of the work.
Yan Xia knew little about these areas; he could analyze a 20-meter-long yacht reasonably well, but Kunpeng was a planetary-class battleship larger than an ordinary planet—an amateur attempting to critique a professional endeavor.
Yet he understood that these scholars and workers had high hopes for Kunpeng.
"It's far from sufficient; it's only about 7% complete," Ella assessed accurately.
This indicated that Kunpeng was essentially a failure.
Ella continued, "But does it really matter?"
"After all, this battleship is our first planetary-class giant ship. Its mission is also to gather intelligence during wartime."
"The second planetary-class giant ship will not take long to construct; it should be operational in about 3,000 years. The issues with Kunpeng will be adequately resolved by then."
Yan Xia nodded in agreement.
"However, if this war ends quickly, it would still be somewhat regrettable."
Both Yan Xia and Ella held certain expectations for Kunpeng. Although it was a massive planetary-class giant ship, how did it compare to Olive Branch Civilization's star cities?
...
"Continue deploying waste particles to impede enemy warships while enticing them to use long-range weapons," Kunpeng continuously adjusted its tactics.
It possessed no emotions; strict limitations had been placed on it during its creation by Ella.
However, having integrated P=NP-related technologies allowed it to perform some simulations and innovations.
"Analysis indicates that the impact of waste particles on the enemy is now at 74.21%, a decrease of 22.26% from the initial 96.47%. This decline is severe; we anticipate that future deployments of waste particle weapons will lose effectiveness against the enemy."
"Next plan: deploy an interstellar curtain to disguise our combat strength and provoke an enemy response."
"Analysis of disguise effectiveness shows an 82% probability that the enemy will recognize our federation's combat strength. The effectiveness of this disguise plan is at 62.97%, exceeding 60%. Proceed with execution."
"New plans are being adjusted; we will actively engage. The AI has strong autonomous decision-making capabilities and is nearly impossible to deter from its judgments. However, we can lead it into making erroneous decisions—both individuals and groups can err, and the AI is no exception."
"Fleet 1 will disguise itself as the enemy fleet and attempt to infiltrate them... Plan effectiveness stands at 34.11%. Innovative plans exceed 20% effectiveness—approved for execution."
"Fleets 2 and 3 will begin mutual attacks; Fleet 2 will disguise itself as enemy warships to test their reactions. If accepted, Fleet 2 will conduct sabotage from within... Plan effectiveness stands at 21.42%. Innovative plans exceed 20% effectiveness—approved for execution."
...
Kunpeng spent three years developing these strategies, exceeding a total of 290,000 plans.
It then began executing these strategies sequentially and simultaneously.
"????"
Kunpeng operated seriously; however, from Olive Branch Civilization's perspective, it appeared utterly chaotic.
The sheer number of responses overwhelmed their processing capabilities.
In one moment they detected new giant ships appearing from the federation's side; just as they prepared to respond, they noticed federation warships beginning to contract as if preparing for an offensive. This led Olive Branch's AI systems into heated debates for several days until they realized those ships were mere illusions.
They were not using any specific detection methods; rather, the federation had revealed its hand—some ships overlapped in appearance with glowing edges reminiscent of poorly rendered animations.
This was not the end; this poor-quality animation seemed unaware of its exposure and continued charging toward them confidently, leading Olive Branch Civilization to conclude this must be a federation ploy.
"When falsehoods appear true and truths appear false, who knows if there's anything real hidden among these fakes? Attack!"
They initiated their assault only to discover it was indeed a ruse.
Frustration set in within a minute.
The federation escalated its tactics further by deploying countless warships as if treating them like high-level civilizations in a game rather than genuine adversaries.
At that moment, an ambush fleet emerged from their flank, launching genuine lasers that destroyed several Olive Branch warships in concentrated fire. The Olive Branch fleet immediately retaliated, annihilating thousands of federation ships in return.
It was a swift victory for Olive Branch Civilization; however, they felt elated because their opponents appeared disorganized—like children playing house rather than engaging in actual warfare.
Most importantly, they needed to take this seriously; what if there were genuine threats hidden within?
Initially contemplating how to respond effectively against these attacks, Olive Branch soon found themselves overwhelmed and decided once again to call for long-range support.
This time they directed their long-range weapons toward the star where Kunpeng was concealed.
"~"
The star was struck by long-range weaponry and unexpectedly underwent violent collapse.
However, since Kunpeng itself had not approached the star closely enough, it suffered minimal losses—only some factories were destroyed in the process.
"This new weapon is purely energy-based; by bombarding the star with extreme energy levels, internal energy rapidly accumulates leading to collapse. This weapon utilizes materials with high energy density—not purely photons—traveling at around 60% light speed without posing significant threats."
While analyzing this information halfway through, Kunpeng suddenly realized something crucial.
For stellar collapse to occur there must be ejection of some material; however, this collapse seemed peculiar—it appeared all material was converging inward rather than being expelled outward—a scenario more typical during black hole-level collapses.
A red dwarf star lacks sufficient mass for such collapse into a black hole!
Yet astonishingly enough… Kunpeng indeed observed black hole formation…
"Analyzing causes behind black hole emergence…"
"Cause remains unverified…"
"Integrating Olive Branch Civilization language model…"
"Integrating factors…"