Approximately 240 Great Spike airships suddenly appeared, abruptly abandoning their pursuit of humanity's fleeing fleet and charging directly toward the Moon.
Among them was the entire pursuit fleet from Mars, including that cataclysmic super dreadnought.
Moreover, judging by its scale, it was noticeably larger than when it had departed Mars.
This was enough to corroborate two prior deductions made by Blue Star:
First, just like humanity, these Great Spikes knew the Yanxiu skeletal remains were near the Moon.
Second, that colossal warship was itself a super towing field; during the recent pursuit, it had just conducted a massive towing operation, bringing new Great Spike forces into its ranks.
These two conclusions meant that an unprecedented clash of life and death was imminent.
Although there had been more than one large-scale frontal battle between humanity and the Great Spikes before, this was the very first time a decisive confrontation centered on airships and fleets—a full-scale air battle in the true sense, taking place above the dome—would unfold.
For this first time, humanity had wagered everything it possessed.
According to communications from Azure, whether in terms of source energy airships or high-tier combatants, what remained of humanity on Blue Star was already pitifully sparse. Anything that could be used, anyone who could go, had nearly all headed to the vicinity of the Moon to participate in this struggle that would decide the fate of the species.
The Azure core leadership satellite-networked conference was permeated with grim resolve and solemnity.
"So, this battle before us is probably the final battle between us humans and the Great Spikes."
"In truth, it's merely our final battle... As for them, don't forget they still have Miwang and its fleet on the way."
"No matter what price must be paid, we must fight for the Yanxiu skeletal remains. If we don't, humanity will have no hope and no future."
"Actually, even if we were willing to give up the remains, it wouldn't help. With the appearance of that healthy Puta'er, humanity has no retreat left. Even if we ultimately chose to back down and abandon the Moon, their next step would still be to invade Blue Star and completely destroy us."
"Don't forget, there's also Ne... No, by now it should be called Nikola—she has also appeared there," Wen Jifei, aboard airship CA117, spoke up, joining the discussion for the first time.
What Wen Jifei meant by this was actually very clear.
This was the Great Spike infiltrator who had originally transmitted Blue Star's coordinates to the Great Spike civilization, while secretly gathering the Yanxiu skeletal remains and sending them near the Moon aboard a satellite.
The entity itself was originally an elderly, dying Great Spike, but now, through parasitism and consciousness possession, it had unexpectedly gained a new lease on life.
She, too, was an enemy.
Indeed, aside from the Great Spike fleet, Nikola was a perilous presence that could not be overlooked. Azure's current assessment of her true combat strength was steadily approaching that of a complete-body Yanxiu.
Currently, humanity no longer possessed any super combatants who could restrain or rival Nikola.
In fact, humanity could scarcely even find a handful of high-tier combatants capable of withstanding a full-power strike from that Puta'er from Mars.
"Furthermore, I've just analyzed the trajectory of Nikola's appearances around the Moon," Wen Jifei continued over the frequency. "In my judgment, the behavior she is currently displaying is also a state of searching."
"Are you saying that Nikola herself doesn't have the precise location of the Yanxiu skeletal remains right now either?" Xu Xiaohong chimed in to ask.
"Yes, Chief of Staff," Wen Jifei continued his deduction. "Ruling out the worthless hypothesis that Nikola's own memories are jumbled, the only deduction we can make is that the satellite housing the skeletal remains is no longer in its original position and orbit."
"Therefore, with our top-tier combat power at an absolute disadvantage, we must deliberately hold back a portion of our strongest airships and super combatants in the ongoing interception battle, keeping them off the front line for now," Wen Jifei's voice continued over the frequency. "Those ships and personnel must be saved for the struggle when the remains are discovered."
In truth, it was not certain that the remains could be found, but Wen Jifei consciously rejected the use of words like "in case" or "if."
The skeletal remains had to be found. Otherwise, humanity could not hold out for long in this decisive battle, and the extinction of the human race would be right before their eyes.
"That's right. Make arrangements according to Chief of Staff Wen Jifei's words," Chairman Kemore of Azure affirmed, ordering execution accordingly.
Considering the current battlefield situation, this single statement could essentially be defined as a momentous battlefield appointment: in the time ahead, Wen Jifei would fully take over the front-line command of the lunar theater.
And this was clearly not Chairman Kemore's personal opinion alone. The old men must have discussed this matter privately and reached a decision long before the meeting began.
Even though Wen Jifei was not, in reality, directly under Azure's jurisdiction.
This was the first time Azure's high command had addressed Wen Jifei directly as "Chief of Staff" in a core-level conference without drawing any distinction. In the past, Azure had usually followed their old habit of calling him Second Lieutenant Wen, just as they had always addressed Qing as Major Qing.
He could be considered the Chief of General Staff of Stream Blades, and at the same time, he was the person with the richest frontline command experience on humanity's direct battlefields, as well as one of only two people with command experience in deep-space warfare.
In this regard, not even Chief of Staff Xu Xiaohong of Azure's Huaxia Front could compare to him, because in the old men's era, humanity essentially had no large-scale frontal warfare against the Great Spikes, let alone the conditions to wage war in space.
In this battle, they chose to trust and rely on this twenty-six-year-old Huaxia young man.
In this core high-level conference, he was the only one who was about to enter the lunar battlefield.
On the spot, Wen Jifei himself gave no sign of hesitation, neither declining the responsibility nor openly voicing acceptance. He merely maintained his tone and posture from before, continuing his analysis:
"So, excluding human factors, how many possibilities are there for such a shift?"
"Many—so many that it's entirely impossible to calculate and report in a short time. I apologize for having to put it that way, but humanity's understanding of the cosmos's workings is still far from deep," a relevant scientific researcher in the channel volunteered in response.
The entire channel went momentarily quiet.
Because for humanity, those possible changes meant one thing: it was over; everything ended here.
Humanity dared not assume that the satellite had undergone positional changes beyond their current capabilities—such as drifting into the depths of space due to some anomaly, or having re-entered the atmosphere and burned up long ago, with the skeletal remains scattered to parts unknown.
"In truth, there's no need for us to make so many assumptions and deductions," the leader of the Rejecters joined in. "Because the vast majority of those possibilities are meaningless to us, essentially amounting to an immediate death sentence for humanity—since they would mean we have virtually zero chance of ever finding the remains."
"I think I understand what Second Lieutenant Wen is trying to convey," the Rejecter leader continued. "The only meaningful deduction at present is that the satellite... crashed onto the lunar surface years or decades ago. And the skeletal remains aboard it are, in all probability, buried."
This was neither the sole conclusion of scientific deduction nor the most probable one—it was simply the only deductive direction under which humanity still had a chance to find the remains, given the existing evidence and current circumstances.
"The satellite's position underwent an abnormal displacement over the past few decades?" a member of the Elder Council spoke up, seemingly asking a question, but actually stating a conclusion.
"Then..."
A voice away from the microphone suddenly cried out in excitement:
"Found it! In 1972, due to the gravitational drag of lunar mascons, a satellite crash onto the Moon did indeed occur!"
"That's it."
Chapter 974