Chapter 11: Sacrifice at the Edge of the Solar System

“Do you know why I called you to this meeting?”

Once everyone else had left, only Mu Qingxue, Ye Lingwei, and Lin Yu remained in the room.

Lin Yu shook his head.

“When you watched the battle footage from the Fourth Fleet’s Novaya Zemlya, did you notice anything?”

“I think… this wasn’t their main force.”

Lin Yu paused for a moment before answering.

That answer made Mu Qingxue’s eyes light up instantly.

“Go on. What makes you say that?”

“Because their tactics were too predictable. Their movements followed a single pattern.”

“And what does that tell us?”

Mu Qingxue pressed.

“It suggests these warships haven’t gone through complex, varied military drills. They’re more like one of our Federation security enforcement fleets—trained for specific tasks, so their training is pretty narrow.”

“Of course, there’s always the chance that this alien civilization’s understanding of interstellar warfare is just that limited.”

“But I can’t believe a society capable of building starships, one that traveled light-years to reach the Solar System, would be that shallow.”

“The Fourth Fleet…”

“Things aren’t looking good for them.”

The mention of the Fourth Fleet darkened Mu Qingxue’s expression.

She could already guess the true intent behind headquarters’ orders.

To put it plainly—

The Fourth Fleet is being offered as a sacrifice.

By sacrificing them, the Federation will get a shot at discovering the enemy’s real strength, which means future plans can be made with better judgment.

Grandpa…

How could he sign off on such an order? Doesn’t he realize…

Even if you leave out the support and logistics personnel, the Fourth Fleet still has over 150,000 combat troops.

Sure, we need to probe the enemy’s capabilities, but do we really have to go this far?

At that moment, Mu Qingxue didn’t know this plan wasn’t Mu Xingchen’s doing. It was—

Admiral Vladimir pushed for it.

He even connected live with the Fourth Fleet’s commander, and after hearing the proposal, they insisted they be the ones to take it.

As for the other, Western admiral? He gladly agreed.

After all, if anyone dies, it’ll be the Slavs, right?

What could Mu Xingchen even say?

“Chief of Staff Luo Ming and Admiral Mu Xingchen also believe this isn’t the enemy’s main force. They suggested pulling both the Fourth and Third Fleets back to the Jupiter defense line to join up with the Second Fleet.”

“That’s what I’d expect from the Commander and Chief of Staff. I think that strategy makes perfect sense.”

“It is the right call, but Admiral Vladimir objected. He said the Third Fleet can withdraw, but the Fourth Fleet must hold the line in the Kuiper Belt against the aliens!”

“Wait a second… are you saying—?”

“You guessed it. It’s exactly what you think.”

Lin Yu drew a sharp breath as Mu Qingxue confirmed his suspicion.

They’re really going to sacrifice the entire Fourth Fleet just to catch a glimpse of the enemy’s hand?

And the craziest part? This plan was Vladimir’s idea.

If Lin Yu remembered right, Vladimir himself was Slavic, representing the Slavs among the Federation Fleet’s top three leaders.

This was total madness.

“General, what do you need me to do?”

Lin Yu knew Mu Qingxue wouldn’t have brought him here for no reason.

And after telling him so much, there had to be an important task waiting for him.

“Lin Yu, I knew you had potential even before you joined the Fifth Fleet.”

“In fact, I was lucky—I was the only one who saw your talent, so I managed to bring you aboard without much trouble.”

“But after you joined the Fifth Fleet, I realized…”

“You’re even more outstanding than I thought!”

“Originally, I planned to spend three to five years grooming you slowly, but honestly, I’m not sure humanity even has three to five years left. So…”

“I want you to take another brain development test. Would you be willing to do that?”

That’s right, Mu Qingxue fully intended to give Lin Yu a bigger role, with a slew of critical missions ahead for him.

But…

Even as the Fifth Fleet commander, there were still limits to what Mu Qingxue could do.

Lin Yu had just graduated. Even after pushing every rule to the limit, he was still only a captain.

What can a captain do, really?

Many positions within the Federation Fleet require minimum ranks.

Even in emergencies, where the requirements can be lowered, at most you can only drop a rank or two.

It’s like—you can’t make a captain the commander of a cruiser. That’s just how it is.

So before making real use of Lin Yu, there was something Mu Qingxue had to do first—

Get him a promotion.

Not a big one, just enough to make him a major. With that rank, a lot more doors would open.

And the only way to do that right now is…

Have Lin Yu retake the brain development test.

If his brain development is even higher than hers, she can convince the generals at headquarters to give him a special promotion. Or…

Grant him some special authority.

Just like Mu Qingxue said, there’s no guarantee humanity even has three or five years left.

So if there’s someone you can use, you use them right away. Otherwise…

It could be too late.

“Does it have to be this way?”

After thinking it over for a moment, Lin Yu let out a soft sigh and asked.

“What do you mean—wait, do you already know there was a problem with your last test report?”

“Yeah. After all the training and exercises I’ve done recently, comparing my data to others… If I still hadn’t figured it out, I’d be a real idiot!”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“Say something? I’ve got a pretty good idea who tampered with it. Odds are, it was George’s father from the First Fleet, right?”

Lin Yu gave a wry smile.

“He… actually doesn’t really know his own son!”

“George may be proud—even extremely proud—but at the same time…”

“It’s this pride that won’t let him tolerate any cheating. If he found out his father pulled something like that, it’d crush him. And I’m not sure he could handle a blow like that!”

Mu Qingxue was stunned.

“Seriously? After what Campbell did to you, you’re still thinking of his kid?”

“His father is his father, George is George. They’re not the same person!”

Lin Yu shook his head.

He didn’t actually dislike George.

The guy might be proud, but he’s also got real integrity.

Just like Lin Yu said, that pride was in his very bones. He’d never cheat.

So even if he’s lost to Lin Yu for an entire decade, George has never once relied on family connections. Instead, he just worked harder for the next rematch.

In some ways, Lin Yu admired that about him.

But if the truth of the tampered test ever came out…

Lin Yu could picture exactly how hard it would hit George.

For someone so proud… could he really take it?

Lin Yu didn’t know.

And now that he’d made it into the Fifth Fleet, and even onto the Warstar itself, he honestly had no complaints.

So even if he’d guessed his report was faked, he had no intention of exposing it.

But now…”