The construction inside the Energy Shield lasted only half an hour. Afterward, a familiar sensation washed over Xiao Yu—it felt as though an invisible, strange force was spreading throughout the universe. Xiao Yu observed sparks appearing on the surfaces of his ships, and so faster-moving ships’ hulls began glowing red-hot. A few Village-Class ships couldn’t withstand the energy surge and exploded instantly.
This phenonon was all too familiar to Xiao Yu; he had encountered it before.
“This is… Force Field Coverage… and it’s even stronger than the one used by the flagship destroyed at Tianyuan C. No wonder… The apparatus for this Force Field Coverage must be so massive that no ship could carry it. That’s why the Luka Civilization split it into several parts, loaded them onto different ships, and assembled it on the surface of Tianyuan A.”
This ti, the Force Field’s coverage reached a radius of at least 150,000 kiloters—five tis larger than the flagship’s field from before.
Within this range, Xiao Yu’s combat effectiveness would drop by at least half, as proven in the battle at Tianyuan C.
This was unacceptable to Xiao Yu. After fighting so fiercely to force the battle into a stalemate, having his forces suddenly weakened by half was intolerable.
The situation had now beco dire for Xiao Yu.
“I have to destroy this Force Field Generator imdiately… or I’m finished,” Xiao Yu thought urgently, his imnse computational capabilities kicking into overdrive to devise a plan.
“Beijing! Tianjin! Two City-Class ships, each leading 10,000 ships, attack the Energy Shield and take out the Force Field Generator!”
Xiao Yu issued the command without hesitation.
A massive fleet of 20,000 ships mobilized instantly, disengaging from the main battle. Within minutes, they arrived above the Energy Shield on Tianyuan A.
Xiao Yu wasn’t concerned about weakening his primary fleet by dispatching these ships. His reasoning was simple: the Luka ships wouldn’t sit idly by and let the Force Field Generator be destroyed. They would undoubtedly divert forces to protect it. Xiao Yu even harbored a small hope that if the Luka fleet thinned their ranks, he could seize the opportunity to break out of the encirclent.
Even if the Luka fleet didn’t reallocate their forces and instead launched an all-out attack on him, Xiao Yu wasn’t worried. His calculations showed that, unimpeded, he could destroy the Force Field Generator in three minutes. Conversely, the Luka fleet would need at least 20 minutes to destroy him. This ti gap ensured Xiao Yu’s safety.
As expected, when Xiao Yu dispatched 20,000 ships to attack the Force Field Generator, the Luka Civilization responded by diverting around 3,000 ships to pursue the attackers.
The Tianyuan A battlefield was now divided into two fronts. One front revolved around the siege and counter-siege of Xiao Yu’s flagship, while the other focused on the destruction and defense of the Energy Shield and Force Field Generator.
Above Tianyuan A, just 100 kiloters from the surface, 23,000 ships were engaged in fierce combat. The ships’ sizes varied based on their proximity to the planet.
The closer to Tianyuan A, the smaller the ships. On the near-Earth orbit, it was a domain of Village-Class and Town-Class ships. Larger ships, limited by their mass and size, couldn’t approach as closely and were restricted to fighting thousands of kiloters away.
On the ground of Tianyuan A stood a massive Energy Shield covering an area of tens of thousands of square ters and towering over a hundred ters high. Inside this shield was the Force Field Generator, continuously emitting its lethal field. Above it, countless ships clashed and tangled in a brutal lee.
Xiao Yu, piloting a County-Class ship, saw an opening and fired an Energy Cannon shell at the Energy Shield. The projectile struck the shield in fractions of a second. The shield’s surface rippled like water, quivering briefly before stabilizing. The Energy Shield remained entirely unaffected.
The County-Class ship under Xiao Yu’s command beca a target of opportunity for the enemy. Dozens of Energy Cannon shells struck it simultaneously, shattering its hull and disabling its propulsion system. Trailing thick black smoke, the ship spiraled down toward the surface of Tianyuan A, crashing into the ground with an explosion that left a massive crater.
This scene was just one of countless similar monts unfolding across the battlefield, repeated dozens or even hundreds of tis simultaneously.
“This can’t go on,” Xiao Yu thought anxiously. Within the Force Field Coverage, his ships’ attrition rate had skyrocketed. At this pace, holding out for eight hours was unrealistic; even four hours seed doubtful.
“What should I do? What resources haven’t I utilized yet?” Xiao Yu frantically pondered until a sudden realization struck him.
“Damn it, if air assaults don’t work, then I’ll attack from the ground! I still have tens of millions of robots stored in various ground-based facilities. With the help of chanical tools, they can exert so offensive power! Yes, they’re the solution!”
Imdiately, Xiao Yu issued activation commands to his ground facilities. Dormant robots, stored away like the dead, began to awaken and march forth as if resurrected.
Robots erged from all corners of Tianyuan A: so from Planetary Engines, others from central research institutes, equipnt processing plants, foundries, and mining bases. From every facility across the planet, robots rallied together for a single purpose.
This army of robots began advancing toward the Force Field Generator. Due to their scattered locations, only two million robots could reach the site within the first half-hour, with reinforcents arriving steadily thereafter.
What unfolded on Tianyuan A’s surface was a breathtaking sight.
An imnse, motley army of robots surged forward. They ca in all shapes and sizes: welding robots equipped with oxygen tanks and torches repurposed as weapons; talworking robots wielding high-strength milling tools; mining robots ard with high-pressure water jets; and transport robots ferrying smaller robots to the front lines. This eclectic army of machines, each utilizing its unique functions, marched together with singular purpose.
With Tianyuan A’s gravity being lower than Earth’s and Xiao Yu’s advanced technology enhancing their mobility, the robot army achieved an astonishing speed of 1,000 kiloters per hour. Within ten minutes, the first wave of 300,000 robots reached their destination.
While 1,000 kiloters per hour was extraordinary for ground movent, it was negligible compared to spacefaring speeds of several thousand kiloters per second. As a result, the Force Field Generator’s effects were entirely ineffective against these slower-moving robots.
This advantage, however, ca with significant drawbacks. The robots were extrely fragile, with minimal defense capabilities. A single ordinary bullet could disable them, and their offensive power was modest. But their greatest strength lay in their overwhelming numbers.
Often, stray projectiles from the sky would destroy dozens or hundreds of robots. The wreckage of a downed ship could obliterate hundreds or thousands more upon impact. Yet, for every hundred destroyed, a thousand more pressed on; for every thousand lost, ten thousand advanced. Xiao Yu had an almost limitless supply of robots.
By the ti the first wave of 300,000 robots arrived, fewer than 100,000 remained. Yet the plains were teeming with reinforcents, either marching on foot or riding transport robots, replenishing the ranks ceaselessly.
Under heavy fire, the surviving 100,000 robots imdiately began their work. They didn’t foolishly attack the Energy Shield directly; instead, they started digging tunnels.
That’s right—digging. Xiao Yu was certain the Energy Shield couldn’t extend underground. Tunneling beneath the shield to reach the Force Field Generator was a feasible strategy. In fact, Xiao Yu planned to dig directly beneath the generator and destroy it from below.
Inside the Energy Shield, though 100 Luka ships were stationed, there was little they could do against underground threats. Fire heavy ordnance? What if they accidentally damaged the generator? Deploy troops to fight? Even a novice strategist knew that sending biological troops to engage robotic forces in close combat was the height of folly.
Xiao Yu could sense the Luka fleet’s confusion and panic in the face of this developnt. He watched as the Luka fleet diverted several hundred ships to intercept the robot army on the ground.
Dozens of kiloters from the Force Field Generator, a Luka Town-Class ship rained down Energy Cannon fire on the tens of thousands of robots below.
Following Xiao Yu’s command, the robots spread out, advancing in dispersed formations. The effectiveness of the Energy Cannon fire was thus greatly diminished. A single shell could only destroy a few hundred robots within a radius of several hundred ters—insignificant compared to the vast size of the robot army.
Moreover, the robots blanketed the land like a swarm of ants, covering millions of square kiloters. A few hundred Luka ships stood no chance of halting this relentless robotic tide.
Under the fading light of the Tianyuan IV sunset, on Tianyuan A’s dark and rugged terrain, countless robots marched forward like soldiers on an expedition, singing a silent song of conquest.
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