156 The Hope of Victory

The Mars had powerful thrust, but it was in a stationary state. No matter how defying its engines were, it was impossible to accelerate to high speed instantly.

The area covered by those thousands of beam rays was simply too vast, and the Mars failed to escape the bombardment range. The moment its hull was struck, ripples spread across its black surface, shattering like foam to reveal a dark cyan hull.

On the flagship of the Hongxian Federal Fleet, a sharp glint flashed in the commander-in-chief's eyes as he shouted, "I've got you."

He immediately issued the order: "All warships, listen up. Engage all thrusters and move forward at full speed."

The main cannons of all battleships had completed their energy charging, waiting only for the moment they entered the optimal firing range. Every soldier was brimming with energy, ready to blast the enemy to smithereens.

In just the past few minutes, the invincible super battleships in their hearts had half of their number destroyed—a fact they found almost impossible to accept.

Just as they held the absolute upper hand and were about to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop, they encountered such a sneak attack, and half of the federal soldiers had perished in this shameless assault.

A fire seemed to burn in everyone's chest; they were going to tear that shameless attacker into dust.

Zhong Yun remained calm. Everything was developing precisely as Xiao Ling had calculated in advance. After he formulated the plan to cloak and launch a surprise attack from the side, Xiao Ling had devised hundreds of contingency plans based on it. Knowing how to respond, he was fully confident and naturally unflustered.

That kind of bombardment moments ago had not caused substantial damage to the Mars. The explosion looked terrifying, but in reality, it merely scraped off the outermost layer.

Watching the overwhelming and aggressively approaching enemies, Zhong Yun calmly gave the order: "Secondary cannons eleven through thirty, take aim, fire."

Twenty beam cannons streaked across a distance of over two thousand kilometers, instantly detonating against three of the enemy's main warships.

The main cannon muzzle of the flagship on the left side was fortuitously hit, and the fully charged main cannon chamber immediately triggered a violent explosion. The intense blast inflicted massive trauma on the warship, blowing a huge hole where the main cannon muzzle had been, with countless electric arcs flashing inside. Its speed slowed down as well.

Misfortunes never come singly. A few shells exploded at its stern—those were fired by the two heavily damaged Davor warships pursuing from behind.

Seeing the enemy ambushed and four warships wiped out in an instant, the Davor commander, after a wave of shock and wild jubilation, immediately reacted. He turned his vessel around and pursued the Hongxian Federal warships in reverse, preparing to catch them in a pincer attack alongside their mysterious savior.

Although the Davor warships were somewhat inferior in speed compared to those of the Hongxian Federation, they were eager for revenge. Not only did they push their speed to the maximum, but upon seeing that an enemy flagship had been damaged and its speed slowed down, they impatiently fired several high-speed minor shells in an attempt to pin down that warship and alleviate the pressure on their mysterious savior.

Even though the performance of the Davor warships was far inferior to that of the enemy, the two of them combined were confident enough to hold down one heavily damaged enemy flagship.

"What is the situation?" The figure of Zhang Haokun appeared in the flagship command room of the Davor fleet. His "Blaze" was the highest-grade mecha in all of Davor, its speed far surpassing that of a warship by a wide margin, allowing him to catch up quickly. After depositing his mecha, he hurried back to the command room.

Facing this irresponsible commander, all the battlefield staff officers and commanding officers felt utterly helpless. The old man possessed terrifyingly high seniority, having participated in the Patriotic War fifty years ago and earned the "Hero Medal." With just these two qualifications, very few in all of Davor could match him.

Therefore, although the old man's behavior was sometimes rather eccentric, no one dared to discipline him, nor were there many who could.

Today, for instance, as the commander-in-chief, he had ridden his mecha straight onto the battlefield to engage the enemy in close combat. Surely, no other commander in the entire Omi Star System would do such a thing.

Regarding this blatant violation of military orders, everyone simply chose to turn a blind eye, leaving the headache to the military police department. It wasn't that they hadn't tried to stop him, but rather that they couldn't hold him back.

"Report, sir! Our forces have successfully intercepted the enemy's damaged warship. We are currently lingering outside the enemy's main cannon firing range, conducting harassing maneuvers," a staff officer hurriedly reported.

"Did you manage to see which faction the warships supporting us belong to?" Zhang Haokun asked again, his gaze fixed steadily upon the battlefield.

"We saw it clearly." The staff officer's expression turned somewhat peculiar.

"Hmm?" Zhang Haokun turned his head to look at him. "What is it?"

"That spacecraft does not bear any insignia indicating its nationality, and furthermore..."

"Furthermore what?" Seeing him hesitate and stammer, Zhang Haokun couldn't help but furrow his brow.

Sensing his commander's displeasure, fine beads of sweat oozed across the staff officer's forehead. He gritted his teeth and voiced his conjecture. "Furthermore, it does not appear to be a warship at all. Rather, it is an ordinary spacecraft."

"An ordinary merchant ship?" Zhang Haokun stared at him unblinkingly. "Pull up the imagery."

Fumbling in a fluster, the staff officer projected the captured image of the Mars onto the main screen.

At a single glance, Zhang Haokun could tell that this indeed looked like an ordinary spacecraft. Warships and ordinary spacecraft could basically be distinguished by their outward appearances. Warships were generally elongated and prismatic, whereas ordinary passenger or cargo spacecraft were egg-shaped or spherical.

Warships were built into long prismatic shapes to reduce their target-hit surface area. An egg-shaped vessel like an ordinary spacecraft was practically a textbook target.

Ordinary spacecraft were designed into egg shapes precisely to maximize interior space, allowing them to load more cargo and carry more passengers.

Different requirements resulted in a stark contrast between their outer forms.

Gazing at that egg-shaped dark spacecraft, Zhang Haokun groaned inwardly. This ordinary spacecraft had utilized merely four beam cannons to destroy four warships as sturdy as space fortresses? In all his years, he had never heard of a transport vessel defeating a warship of this caliber. Their combat capabilities were simply not in the same league.

If his own warship were to simultaneously face a hundred ordinary spacecraft of the same tier, the outcome would unquestionably be an overwhelming victory.

Was this truly an ordinary spacecraft? Could it be a disguised "satellite-class" warship?

Zhang Haokun withdrew his gaze. After his expression shifted through several changes, he gritted his teeth. "Abandon the front warship. Advance at full speed and execute a joint pincer attack on the enemy together with that... merchant vessel."

Everyone quickly grasped his intent. The warship before them was practically crippled; not only was its movement sluggish, but its massive wound continuously sparked with electrical fire, and goodness knows when it might explode altogether. Entangling with it was merely a waste of time.

Moreover, if that merchant ship were destroyed, their turn would be next. One could easily imagine how an enemy who had lost five flagships would deal with them.

With this thought, no one dared to slacken. They ignited all propulsion engines, pursuing the enemy warships. Only through a coordinated pincer attack back and forth with this mysterious helper would there be any hope of victory.

Right at this moment, the foremost flagship of the Hongxian Federal fleet had entered its effective firing range.

"Prepare—" The commander-in-chief stared fixedly at the egg-shaped dark cyan spacecraft. It was this vessel that had cost him five "quasi-satellite-class" warships. Now, go to hell.

"Fire!"