Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 356: The Lie

While still decelerating, Tom had already formulated a complete battle plan.

There are a total of 6 major planets in this solar system. After entering the solar system, their primary strategic objective would still be to capture a major planet.

In the last war, their side did not rely on strength, but rather on their strategic errors to take down a major planet.

This time, after two updates and iterations, he wanted to truly show them what a Mechanical Disaster was!

Tom’s massive fleet was still rolling forward.

At this moment, Eridanus 735 Star, around the Third Planet, on the Da Hao spaceship. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Head of State, excluding communication delay, 10 days have passed, and the Bluetoth Civilization has still not responded."

In the large conference room, all the high-ranking officials of the Purple Moon Civilization looked solemn.

Ten days without a reply... Clearly, the other party would no longer reply.

Their actions also clearly indicated that they had no intention of negotiating.

Bang!

Purple Moon Leader slammed the table, his dark red face turning iron red.

"Who suggested infecting all humans and then handing them over to the Bluetoth Civilization?! Now, the Bluetoth Civilization has caught up, you go explain to them!"

The Purple Moon Civilization’s High Priest slowly stood up, his face full of anger: "Head of State, although this suggestion was made by me, it was ultimately approved by you! Now, are you trying to push all the responsibility onto me?!"

Purple Moon Leader’s face gradually returned to its original dark red, and his voice became low.

"We cannot get entangled with the Bluetoth Civilization here anymore. If we continue to be entangled, even if we win, we will inevitably miss the opening time of this Star Gate.

We have already missed it once, we cannot miss it again.

The Bluetoth Civilization’s anger must be appeased, and someone must bear the responsibility for this matter.

High Priest... This matter can only be borne by you."

In the conference room, everyone remained silent.

The person who could bear this responsibility and appease the Bluetoth Civilization’s anger must have a sufficiently high status within their own civilization, carry enough weight, and be directly related to the matter.

Indeed, as the Head of State said, only the High Priest met these conditions.

The High Priest’s face also returned to calm, and he fell into a long period of thought.

After a moment, he slowly stood up: "Indeed, as you said, only I can bear this responsibility. Then..."

"Send the message."

Another message arrived on Tom’s communication device.

"To the esteemed Head of State of the Bluetoth Civilization:

...After investigation, our side has determined that the mastermind behind the previous misunderstanding is the third-highest figure within our civilization, the High Priest.

Our internal affairs have severely judged the High Priest, removed him from all his duties, and arrested a total of thirty thousand mid-to-high-level officials involved in this matter.

Our previous conditions remain unchanged, and we can transfer all responsible parties for the incident, including the High Priest, to your esteemed side for disposal.

Peace is our only wish...

...

High Priest?

The Purple Moon Civilization is quite strange; a Strong Nuclear civilization actually has a position like High Priest, and he’s the third-highest figure in the civilization...

Tom was not worried that the Purple Moon Civilization would simply find a scapegoat. The reason was simple: once an agreement was reached, both sides would inevitably communicate. If it were a scapegoat, it would quickly be exposed.

Handing over the civilization’s third-highest figure and over thirty thousand mid-to-high-level officials for his disposal, this bargaining chip was indeed significant.

But...

Not enough!

Still not enough!

Unless you all die and the Purple Moon Civilization is completely erased from the universe, no other condition can move me!

You are so sincere, so eager to reach a settlement with me, combined with the intelligence I previously gathered about you being "in a hurry," now, you probably have something urgent to do, so you don’t want to start a war with me, right?

That’s perfect!

The more urgent you are, the more I will drag you down, drag you until you die, kill all of you Purple Moon!

Tom still did not respond, continuing the deceleration maneuver.

On the spaceship, in the conference room.

The atmosphere was even more solemn compared to the previous high-level general meeting.

"It seems the Bluetoth Civilization is truly determined... So many things, yet still unable to move them."

Amidst the silence, a high-ranking official of the civilization stood up.

"Currently, our civilization has approximately 10,000 ’native’ humans and 200,000 ’cultivated’ humans remaining.

Since the Bluetoth Civilization has shown such strong interest in these human captives, then, could we perhaps... hand over these human captives?"

"Absolutely not!"

Purple Moon Leader sternly rebuked, "These human captives are of extremely significant importance to us. Even if our civilization perishes, we cannot hand them over!"

The high-ranking official who had made the suggestion immediately said, "Not all of them. Just like last time under the Cloud Civilization’s pressure, we can hand over half, or even one-third, or one-fifth.

The remaining human captives will still be enough for us to achieve our goal!"

The High Priest shook his head with a heavy expression.

"Even handing them over would be useless; on the contrary, it would provoke an even more violent and resolute attack from the Bluetoth Civilization."

The high-ranking official was startled, and his expression gradually became solemn.

Last time, you claimed to have handed over all humans, yet now, you are once again bringing out some humans as bargaining chips?

So this time, whether you bring out ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or two hundred thousand humans, I want to ask: have you truly handed over all humans?

You said you handed over all of them?

You said the same thing last time.

The only way for me to believe you is to defeat your civilization, dismantle all resistance, and then investigate it myself...

...

Handing them over won’t work, and not handing them over won’t work either; both will lead to the Bluetoth Civilization’s attacks and entanglement.

Since that’s the case, and these human captives are also of great significance to us, why should we hand them over?

Purple Moon Leader sighed faintly, "Then... we can only execute the last plan."

He looked around at everyone: "Those who agree... raise your hands."

Arms were raised, one after another.

Purple Moon Leader took a deep breath, a grim expression on his face: "Then set sail! At the same time, impact the star!"

"Yes!"

At this moment, when Tom was still several years away from entering the solar system, countless Purple Moon Civilization spacecraft began to converge at their fastest speed, and personnel evacuated at their fastest speed.

In just a few days, the six major planets were already deserted.

Those towering buildings and massive factories were completely reduced to dust the day after the personnel evacuated, bombarded by high-yield hydrogen bombs.

At the same time, on a massive dwarf planet with a radius of over 900 kilometers, tens of millions of large thrusters simultaneously activated, forcefully pushing it out of its current orbit, causing it to rapidly fall under the star’s gravity.

Approximately two years before it impacted the star, the enormous Purple Moon Civilization Fleet completed its gathering. Countless large thrusters simultaneously activated, propelling this vast fleet to set sail towards the deep space.

The direction was... away from the Silver Heart, almost opposite to their previous course, and roughly opposite to the current course of Tom’s fleet.

If one were to extend the navigation paths of the two fleets, the angle between the two lines would be only a little over thirty degrees.

Just a few months later, the light carrying these changes entered Tom’s telescope.

At this moment, Tom’s heart was filled with solemnity.

The engineering capabilities of the Purple Moon Civilization were so advanced!

They could actually propel a massive dwarf planet, with a mass of about 600 quadrillion tons and a radius of over 900 kilometers, to change its orbit and impact a star!

Although this was still inferior to his own capabilities, compared to any other Strong Nuclear stage civilization, it was almost unimaginably advanced.

It even surpassed the Mechanical Disaster and Black Mountain Civilization of the past!

Although the Black Mountain Civilization was a Mechanical Disaster, it was limited by its technological level and could not achieve such a feat.

So, the Purple Moon Civilization is...

He saw that under the impact of the dwarf planet, which had a mass of approximately 600 quadrillion tons, the red dwarf star Eridani 735 instantly brightened.

Boundless, fierce radiation began to pour into space, and the entire star, like an enraged giant beast, frantically unleashed energy.

Tom knew that the impact of the entire dwarf planet was different from what he had done previously, which was to divide a dwarf planet into many pieces and impact different points on the star.

With his method of impact, although it would cause a violent reaction from the star, the reaction range was limited to the star’s surface.

The star’s thick atmosphere and dense plasma would destroy those dwarf planet fragments like melting meteors.

But this time was different.

No matter how thick the star’s atmosphere was, it would not be able to melt this entire dwarf planet.

Carrying enormous kinetic energy, it could not only penetrate the star’s corona but also its photosphere, extending its influence into the star’s interior and ultimately causing severe impact on the entire star.

This could even disrupt the star’s internal convection, leading to the star’s premature aging!

From an external perspective, it would appear as a massive expulsion of stellar material into interstellar space, with the star beginning to violently expand, its radius extremely extended, and the process lasting for an extremely long time with extreme intensity, making the environment of the entire solar system unimaginably harsh.

Even with Tom’s current technological level, he would undoubtedly be severely affected in such an environment, and his engineering capabilities would be greatly weakened.

He knew what the Purple Moon Civilization intended to do.

At this moment, the Purple Moon Civilization’s resupply and stopover in the Eridani 735 star system had clearly not been fully completed.

But at this very moment, they forcefully set sail, in the opposite direction to him, and at the same time completely destroyed the environment of the solar system.

This put Tom in a dilemma.

The two most energy and material-consuming phases of interstellar travel are the initial acceleration and the final deceleration.

During these two phases, all engines of all large spacecraft must operate at maximum power, continuously for at least several years.

Previously, Tom had already experienced one departure, and now it was a stopover.

Between the departure and the stopover, a large amount of materials had already been consumed. Even the Flying Star had been mostly consumed.

While the Flying Star certainly stored a large amount of materials, one must not forget that accelerating and decelerating these materials themselves also required material consumption.

And now, the Purple Moon Fleet had set sail, flying in an almost opposite direction.

To pursue them, Tom would first have to decelerate his own fleet to zero.

Normally, at this point, Tom would need to undergo a material resupply.

But at this moment, within the Eridani 735 star system, the star had already entered a violent phase due to the dwarf planet’s impact, and the environment within the solar system had severely deteriorated. Whatever was done would be greatly affected, and progress would be slow.

This resupply would likely take over a hundred years to complete.

By the time Tom completed his resupply and set sail again, the Purple Moon Civilization Fleet would have long since fled.

If he did not resupply and instead forcefully decelerated and then forcefully turned, even with Tom’s material reserves, he would be stretched thin. Even if he could forcefully catch up to the Purple Moon Civilization Fleet, would the remaining materials be enough to sustain a war?

Let’s not forget, although the Purple Moon Civilization Fleet had not fully completed their resupply and had also forcefully set sail, they had, after all, stayed in this solar system for decades and resupplied for decades. Even if not fully completed, their resupply was probably mostly done.

At this moment, Tom was in a bind: stopping for resupply was not an option, and forcefully decelerating and then accelerating in the opposite direction was also not an option.

So... what to do?

Facing this dilemma intentionally created by the Purple Moon Civilization, Tom showed no sign of anxiety on his face; instead, a faint smile appeared.

It seems that after fighting for so long in the Southern Fish H11 System, you Purple Moon Civilization still do not have a clear understanding of my engineering capabilities...

Very well, then let me show you just how immense the engineering power of a clone disaster combined with a wise race vassal truly is, and what it can achieve...

At this moment, Tom’s fleet once again began to mobilize.

Some enormous industrial spacecraft, residential spacecraft, and transport spacecraft, escorted by some combat spacecraft, detached from the Main Fleet and continued to decelerate towards the Eridani 935 star.

The Main Fleet adjusted its deceleration direction, separated from this sub-fleet, and decelerated in another direction, adjusting its orbit to prepare for the pursuit of the Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet.

This scene soon came into Purple Moon Leader’s view.

Facing this scene, the high-ranking officials of the Purple Moon Civilization were shocked and bewildered.

"What is this Bluetoth Civilization doing?

Given the current environment within the solar system, even if the Main Fleet entered and carried out material collection with all its might, it would be impossible to complete it within 150 years.

Now, they are only sending a sub-fleet into the solar system... Do they expect a sub-fleet to complete the material collection? Have the leaders of the Bluetoth Civilization gone mad?"

The high-ranking officials of the Purple Moon Civilization were completely puzzled.

But soon, they understood what Tom truly intended to do.

At this moment, that sub-fleet had arrived at the edge of the solar system, docking next to an asteroid with a radius of approximately 200 kilometers.

A celestial body of this size cannot achieve hydrostatic equilibrium and cannot be called a dwarf planet; it can only be considered a larger asteroid.

It was over 20 billion kilometers from the star, and thus less affected by the star.

Afterwards, countless engineering machines landed on the asteroid, and countless planetary-level large thrusters began to be installed.

This clearly meant that what the Bluetoth Civilization wanted to do was to "package" and take this asteroid with them as a resupply!

But... how could a sub-fleet possibly achieve this?!