Within just five seconds of the Angel Fleet's forced warp into one of the Kadon Explorers' main star systems, all structures of significant scale in the base were annihilated. The planet was left with a massive crater, as if a giant creature had taken a bite out of it.
The aftermath of the planet's destruction quickly unfolded. The artificial atmosphere was breached, and antimatter annihilated vast amounts of atmospheric matter, creating voids tens of thousands of meters in diameter. The unpatched atmosphere was directly exposed to the star's radiation.
The side of the planet facing the star was bathed in its light once more, causing surface temperatures to skyrocket. A deluge of radiation continued to scour the planet's surface, melting the few surviving structures at the edges into rivers of molten metal. Countless carbonyl organisms perished in the catastrophe.
Witnessing the deaths of thousands of Katon creatures, Liu Hai felt no emotional disturbance. Though they were intelligent beings, in the eyes of humanoid species, they looked no different from animals—at most, they had dexterous fingers to craft tools and clever brains to think.
The impact of their deaths paled in comparison to the first time Liu Hai saw scavengers being killed. After all, those scavengers were humans, even if they had been reduced to non-Federation citizens stranded on Garbage Star for various reasons.
"This isn't enough for the grand gift I've prepared."
Liu Hai glanced at the swarm of Katon warships closing in, then turned his gaze toward the red dwarf star in the system.
"Deploy the Gamma-ray Burst Inducer."
The destroyer's wings gathered energy, diffracting light that enveloped the warship like a true angel descending to purify the star system.
As the energy from the two wings took shape, constrained by the spatial force field and propelled by a powerful magnetic field, particles were accelerated to light speed, encased in space warp bubbles, and launched toward the star.
Seconds later, at a distance of a few light-seconds from the red dwarf, the space warp bubbles containing the light-speed particles dissipated, leaving the particles to collide with the star.
Tens of thousands of light-speed particles struck the red dwarf simultaneously, colliding with stellar matter and forming microscopic black holes. The immense energy devoured stellar material, and as more matter was consumed, it heated to extreme temperatures, releasing vast amounts of energy outward.
The energy from the microscopic black holes converged, and the stellar fluctuations triggered by their emergence caused a solar storm. The storm, in turn, amplified the black holes' energy, forming an energy tide that swept through the star system. In this mutually reinforcing cycle, a gamma-ray burst was successfully generated.
Seeing his objective achieved and unwilling to endure the gamma-ray storm, Liu Hai immediately deployed a space disturbance device and warped away with his fleet.
After the Angel Fleet departed, the space disturbance device rapidly amplified the forcibly suppressed spatial fluctuations to twenty percent, causing all Katon civilization ships in the star system to drop out of warp drive abruptly.
As the red dwarf grew increasingly unstable due to the black holes within, triggering solar storms, the Katon creatures let out desperate, heart-wrenching screams.
Without faster-than-light travel and the ability to perform space warps, those still within the star system could only pray that their ships could withstand this unprecedented solar storm.
Unfortunately, this solar storm also carried the energy tides from countless micro black holes erupting, combined with various stellar radiation. Even fortress-level defenses might not last until the storm passed, let alone ordinary warships and vessels.
The star system was vast, spanning a diameter of one light-year. Liu Hai couldn't afford to wait an entire year just to see the outcome.
Moreover, his goal was to pin down the Katon Fleet in the Stardust Star Region, not to completely obliterate their rear base. Destroying it would only earn him some extra merit points. The current situation was ideal—survivors who had lost their means of escape would inevitably contact the Explorers Fleet, though how much impact that would have remained uncertain.
He left behind some monitoring equipment, then severed the neural link, handing fleet command over to the Clone Soldiers before setting course back to the Gemini Star Region.
Liu Hai also submitted the recorded footage of annihilating the Kadon Explorers' headquarters to the mission logs, along with a detailed report of his actions.
Meanwhile, in the Gemini Star Region, Liu Hai began postponing less urgent construction projects, focusing resources on military priorities—particularly the construction of Space Gates and the production of Angel-class warships.
With only twelve Corvette-class and one Destroyer-class Angel warships at his disposal, his current military strength left him feeling deeply insecure.
While keeping an eye on the frontline battles, Liu Hai reviewed the construction progress in the Gemini Star Region and made adjustments accordingly.
The second Space Dock was still under construction—its sheer size, a staggering 100 kilometers in diameter, meant that even though most of it was hollow, the resources required were astronomical.
On top of that, an immense number of components had to be manufactured and installed, driving up the demand for Engineering Robots of all models to absurd levels.
A single move affected the entire system.
Building a massive Space Dock required over ten thousand ground facilities, thousands of space-based engineering projects, and if counting all the necessary equipment and internal installations, millions of factories across the star system were mobilized to support the effort.
"Starlight falls into your eyes,
Like dazzling crystals projecting romance.
Love is magic, guiding us,
Through dark forests in search of dawn.
Starlight spills,
Starlight spills into your eyes,
Like a dream so vivid, I never want to wake.
The rest of my days, hand in hand with you,
We embark on a journey spanning light-years..."
"A dreamlike voyage through the Star Sea. To grasp glory, one must first wield destruction," Liu Hai murmured along with the song, his thoughts drifting far away.
Meanwhile, in the Stardust Star Region, the Katon Fleet was in turmoil. Upon learning that their home base had been razed, the Katon creatures were consumed by grief and fury—that was their stronghold, their everything. Now, it was gone.
Scouring their databases for any match to the warship described in the survivors' distress signals, they found nothing. But they did recognize the human who had projected the mocking gesture.
"It's him—one of the human Pioneers from that life-bearing star system!"
Someone found a matching figure from the records—the new Pioneer, Xue Jiye.
What mattered was that he was currently within this Star System.
"Attack, kill him, avenge my family!"
"Fleet, advance! I won't wait any longer. Launch a full-scale assault on the Pioneer Fleet. Kill them at all costs!"
...
Completely deranged, the explorers brandished their scepters and led their fleets in a reckless charge, no longer caring about formation as they surged toward the Pioneer Fleets.
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