Chapter 256: The Darkest Hour_1

The majestic fleet began to mobilize for departure, and for a moment, the glow of their engines lit up the gloomy surroundings of Jupiter.

Jiang Yu went to the dock to see Gu Cheng off, but Gu Cheng completely ignored him.

Previously, he had held Jiang Yu in high regard, but ever since the incident of the "Natural Selection" desertion, he could no longer respect Jiang Yu at all.

Now, Gu Cheng was just looking forward to bringing "The Waterdrop" back as soon as possible and then reclaiming the eighty military ships he had handed over to Jiang Yu, kicking him back to Earth to retire in peace.

The soldiers on the eighty warships under Jiang Yu's command, still at the military port, complained bitterly that the Wallfacer had caused them to miss the historic event of intercepting "The Waterdrop".

Besides these eighty warships, Gu Cheng also left behind a confidant of his own, along with an additional one hundred and twenty warships.

The purpose was to keep an eye on Jiang Yu and prevent him from initiating a mutiny.

After the majority of humanity's interstellar warships had departed, Jiang Yu issued an order to the eighty warships under his command to refuel to capacity.

However, Liang Bote, the confidant left by Gu Cheng, coldly said, "Are you planning to have these eighty warships desert as well?

"We will not carry out this order!"

True to his name, Liang Bote was of mixed heritage.

Jiang Yu, frustrated, said, "Is Gu Cheng going back on his word? Aren't these eighty warships under my command?"

Liang Bote replied, "Indeed, they are under your command, but the logistics troops are not."

Jiang Yu took a deep breath to suppress his anger, "Fine, you fuel them up, and from now on, every order I issue to them can be relayed through you to the captains of each warship.

"Just as long as you don't have them siphon the fuel back out or unload the things I send them!

"If you find any order I give to be inappropriate, you have the right to not let them carry it out!"

Liang Bote was secretly delighted, as Jiang Yu's actions amounted to him giving up control of the eighty warships!

He didn't expect Jiang Yu to make such a major concession so quickly, "It's a deal!"

Jiang Yu sighed, "Go and relay the orders then!"

Then he said to Number Three, "Transport whatever I've prepared for these warships to the flagship!

"Make sure none of the sixteen lots are missed. If there aren't enough flagships, appoint new ones!"

Number Three was already prepared and went off to get busy as well.

To Liang Bote's surprise, Jiang Yu did not cause any trouble as Gu Cheng had speculated he would all the time.

After the eighty warships were fully fueled and had received the supplies and spare parts from Jiang Yu, he locked himself in his room and hadn't come out since.

Liang Bote reported this situation to Gu Cheng. Gu Cheng speculated Jiang Yu might have realized he was destined to lose the previous bet and therefore had become despondent.

This was for the best, to save them all future trouble.

Gu Cheng also guessed that Jiang Yu wouldn't watch the live broadcast of the human fleet's formal engagement with "The Waterdrop". Unexpectedly, as soon as Liang Bote invited him, Jiang Yu immediately agreed.

The location for watching the live broadcast was the command room.

The room featured a small, tiered structure, with the commander's seat raised more than a meter above ground level, standing out markedly within the command room.

This was the Commander-in-chief's seat, and as Jiang Yu was the nominal Commander-in-chief of the human fleet, he was arranged to sit there.

Looking down from this seat, the vast command room was in full view.

Around this elevated position, there were several seats at normal height, usually occupied by the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commanders and other high-ranking officers.

But all these people had gone to Uranus to intercept "The Waterdrop", so now only Liang Bote was sitting there.

Number Three arrived and also took a seat there, turning on the computer in front of her as though busy with something.

In front of these seats, the entire wall was a giant screen.

Some distance in front of the screen, there was a row of combat staff seats, responsible for collating and organizing data, as well as relaying orders and other tasks.

Of the twelve seats, only two were occupied.

Jiang Yu glanced at the quiet command center and then asked Liang Bote, "How long is the signal delay between us and the main fleet?"

Liang Bote replied, "Eighty-one minutes."

Jiang Yu sighed, "This distance is even farther than from Earth to Jupiter!"

He took a deep breath, "I need to speak with Gu Cheng."

The communications staff in front of the screen turned on the recording device, "Recording function is activated, please speak!"

Jiang Yu said, "The Waterdrop's main target is to attack the interstellar warship, not to kill people. Issue the order to abandon ship immediately upon being attacked; I will organize a rescue operation as much as possible."

Upon hearing this, the female communicator in her thirties opened her mouth in shock, and she quickly looked at Liang Bote with her eyes, asking whether to send Jiang Yu's message to Gu Cheng.

Liang Bote had a strange expression on his face; he hesitated for a while before waving his hand at the communications staff, gesturing for her to send the message.

At this moment, the large screen received footage from the interception scene, where the small unmanned spacecraft "Mantis" began capturing "The Waterdrop" against the backdrop of the star-studded black curtain.

Over three thousand ships arranged themselves into a tight matrix. Since they had already synchronized their speed with "The Waterdrop," the engines were turned off, and millions of officers and soldiers silently awaited the outcome of capturing "The Waterdrop."

The process was extremely slow; Gu Cheng had not received Jiang Yu's message by the time the capture process was completed.

Not only did Gu Cheng hear Jiang Yu's reminder, but everyone in the command center did too.

Gu Cheng said with a cold face, "Send back to Jupiter City: Any further disruptors of military spirit will be stripped of their positions!"

It took over eighty minutes before this message finally reached Jupiter City.

Upon hearing Gu Cheng's response, Liang Bote sighed and said to Jiang Yu, "Please stop causing trouble!"

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "He dares only to strip positions. If you fellows prove useless later, I will be the one to take lives!"

Liang Bote regretted having spoken up to persuade him and prepared to announce the revocation of Jiang Yu's authority immediately after successful contact with "The Waterdrop," according to Gu Cheng's plan.

At the same time, he planned to take back control of Guanghan City and Yinghuo City, leaving Jiang Yu without any power to wield.

Just then, on the screen, "Mantis" successfully captured "The Waterdrop," and Ding Yi and others aboard the shuttle embarked.

Liang Bote, seeing that "The Waterdrop" hadn't self-destructed, glanced at Jiang Yu, thinking, Now you must give up hope, right?

Little did he know, Jiang Yu was in fact shedding tears, making Liang Bote wonder, Could losing a bet really make him cry like this?

He could not know that Jiang Yu's tears were for Ding Yi, considering there was an eighty-one-minute signal delay between Jupiter City and the scene.

In other words, Ding Yi and his team had departed eighty-one minutes ago, and they had already encountered a disaster by now.

The only thing was that the bad news had not arrived yet!

Jiang Yu clenched his hands so tightly he almost drew blood from his palms; another old friend was gone.

Though he was heartbroken, he did not regret for Ding Yi, for this was the death Ding Yi had wanted.

This generation of physicists, especially leading scientists like Ding Yi, were unfortunate. Sophon, as if using a massive glass cover, had blocked all their paths to advancement.

When Jiang Yu had spoken with Ding Yi earlier, he had sensed his readiness to die, knowing full well the vast gap between humanity and the Trisolarans.

In Jiang Yu's ears seemed to echo that phrase, "Destroy you! What does that have to do with you?"

And that desperate cry: "Children! Run!"

Following that, humanity's darkest moment also arrived.