Wen Jifei received word immediately that their trump card was on its way.
Without question, he was glad. On this battlefield, not a single person wouldn't feel joy deep in their heart at the prospect of eliminating that Puta'er.
Yet, how much longer would it take? Perhaps seven to nine hours, or maybe even longer?
"Damn it. Those old bastards on the Azure Board of Elders are still clinging to wishful thinking. They probably kept thinking that if we could quickly find the skeletal remains, they could save the trump card for the future.
"Otherwise, the moment they learned the approximate location of the remains and knew a complete-form Puta'er was on Mars, the trump card should have been prepared to deploy.
"Then, no matter how sudden and surprising the appearance of Puta'er and its fleet near the Moon was, he should have arrived at least at the same time as us.
"If that had happened, maybe Admiral Bochen, Admiral Christine... so many people wouldn't have had to sacrifice their lives.
"Those people once held up an era. They were formidable and had illustrious records, yet in the end, they died so simply and powerlessly under Puta'er's four-edged greatsword."
As Puta'er began to strike frequently across the battlefield, the human fleet's predicament grew increasingly dire. High-tier combatants in particular risked catching Puta'er's attention almost every time they moved.
Once targeted, virtually no one escaped alive.
Under these circumstances, commanding ability, judgment, tactical deductions... all of it seemed meaningless. Wen Jifei could only do what any commander would do—and had no choice but to do: dispatch small single-pilot source energy craft at regular intervals to harass and tie it down, drawing its attention away.
And the price of such harassment, with few exceptions, was almost always the destruction of the ship and the death of its pilot.
Meanwhile, even more human warships were locked in mortal entanglements under enemy pursuit. Even if they were capable of fighting, none was willing to put on a burst of speed to break away when an opportunity presented itself... because if they did, the enemy craft would most likely turn back and join the siege against their comrades on other human vessels.
And if escape was truly impossible, their choice without exception was like picking a girl at a nightclub: carefully selecting the highest-grade Great Spike ship within their capability, and ramming into it at full speed without looking back.
Although humanity had made near-miraculous strides in source energy craft, source energy compression and refinement, energy supplies, combat gear, fighting methods, talent scouting, and training speed, when pitted against the enemy, these advances were still far from enough.
"To seize the Yanxiu skeletal remains, and even more to suppress humanity's rapid progress, the Great Spike Miwang must be risking everything—no, it's afraid. Perhaps it has felt fear.
"I don't believe a transmission of this scale and tier comes cheaply. As long as we can survive this, humanity's future will truly be bright and full of hope."
Wen Jifei was right. Across the last three super transmissions, the Great Spike race had expended countless precious resources. During the transmissions alone, they had lost hundreds of source energy craft, nearly a hundred Daie-class Great Spikes, and even... two Puta'er.
One had arrived half-dead above the South Pole and was beaten to death by a mob of defenders before long.
The other met an even worse fate, shattered to pieces directly inside the transmission channel.
***
At the same time, the search on the lunar surface, conducted through patterned drilling and excavation, still turned up nothing.
Perhaps humanity's only consolation was that the unexplored area was steadily shrinking. The lunar soil was not particularly deep, typically around four or five meters and at most a dozen meters in thicker spots. Its texture was relatively loose, so excavation posed little difficulty for source energy warriors and could proceed quickly enough.
Thus, as long as previous deductions were not mistaken, as long as the air fleet could hold out with their lives long enough, and as long as the Great Spikes and Nikola didn't suddenly realize the plan... humanity might ultimately find the remains.
Yet by then, who knew how many Azure supers and promising prodigies bearing the will of Yanxiu would still be alive to find their corresponding remains and complete the fusion?
Meanwhile, Han Qingyu had taken Pegmont and sprinted thousands of kilometers across the lunar surface at top speed, yet throughout the entire journey, he had not sensed the slightest anomaly. The supposed summons and resonance from the half-skeleton had always been merely a hope, or even humanity's subjective wishful thinking; the chances of it happening were likely slim.
"Or is there some trigger condition I haven't met?" Han Qingyu thought. "After all, that broken dragon inside me is sleeping like it's dead."
"Boom!"
Han Qingyu looked up and saw another human warship shattered into powder far off in the sky beneath Puta'er's four-edged pillar sword.
A wave of powerlessness and self-reproach surged into his heart. Han Qingyu had been accustomed to bearing responsibility for far too long. But this time, faced with these scenes, he could only lower his head and continue this foolish sprint, hoping it might truly bring about a miracle.
***
CA117 continued to weave across the sky of the entire battlefield. Almost every time Wu Xu and Rusty Sister deployed outside the craft, they managed to save one or two human vessels or relieve the pressure on the human fleet within a patch of airspace.
"Eleven o'clock! Eleven o'clock, Qingbai!" Rusty Sister urged, slapping the back of his seat.
"...Listen to me!" Yang Qingbai had no choice but to raise his voice, roaring like a teacher at students daydreaming in class. "Stop giving me deployment suggestions, understand? Whether you can deploy or not is my call! You only go out when I say so!"
Rusty Sister took his outburst in stride, offering merely a perfunctory "Oh."
"Listen to me. It's already noticed you. The only reason it didn't strike just now was that it couldn't make it in time. So from now on, every single move you make must be repeatedly evaluated and decided by me..." Yang Qingbai said sternly.
"Nine o'clock," Wu Xu said.
"...Aargh..." Yang Qingbai raged inwardly in sheer helplessness. Even so, he followed Wu Xu's gesture and carefully observed the situation at nine o'clock, then checked back in the opposite direction toward the battlefield between them and the giant warship where Puta'er was located.
This was far from simple. It involved numerous factors, such as the movements of friendly and enemy fleets blocking line of sight and trajectories, the combat window available, the subsequent escape distance, possible retreat routes, and more.
Although humanity had three warships there against only two Great Spike craft, the humans were at an absolute disadvantage because one of the two enemy craft was a Daie-class.
The Daie-class Great Spike from that ship had already deployed outside to fight, while human ships carrying non-super combatants possessed virtually no ability to fight outside their hulls. They were practically lambs to the slaughter. Consequently, in such a battle, they appeared clumsy and lacked offensive measures.
"Two minutes! You have to finish the battle and get back within two minutes! Be one second late and I'm cutting ties with both of you!" Yang Qingbai gave his time limit and threat.
Wu Xu was left completely dazed by the yelling. After his gaze drifted for a few seconds, he asked slowly, "Why?"
"Because... because... didn't you hear a word I just said?" Yang Qingbai countered.
"No."
"I said earlier... no, what I mean is: from now on, all deployment actions are judged and decided by me alone! Don't bring them up to me..."
Even as he thought this while weaving effortlessly through the battlefield, Yang Qingbai tried to muster a sliver of pride amidst the tension.
Then, as CA117 rocketed toward nine o'clock, the ejection hatch on the roof opened.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Wu Xu and Rusty Sister ejected from the cabin one after another, leveling spear and raising blade as they plunged into the three-on-two skirmish.
"Goddammit, why are there so many Daie-class?!" Left behind on the ship, Yang Qingbai couldn't help cursing. From Blue Star to Mars, and now to the lunar battlefield, the rank and combat intensity of the Great Spike forces facing humanity had undoubtedly escalated too fast and too high.
Chapter 978