Chapter 19: A Trap in the Stars

Aboard the Warstar Qiongxiao.

In the operations conference room.

Everyone’s eyes were locked onto the holographic display.

The Fourth Fleet’s main force served as bait, luring the Klein’s main fleet onto a predetermined route, all to create an opening for Rear Admiral Alexei’s special task force.

Right now, Rear Admiral Alexei spotted his chance and set his sights on the Klein fleet’s flagship—

and launched a decapitation strike.

“Rear Admiral Alexei really has impeccable timing.”

“At the very least, the first wave is sure to go off without a hitch.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The three fleet sub-commanders seemed to be in full agreement.

Everyone was optimistic about this sudden assault.

But Mu Qingxue’s expression only grew more troubled.

“Hey kid, what do you think?”

Serena, sitting beside Lin Yu, leaned over, bumped his shoulder, and asked quietly.

“It’s not that simple…”

“Why? Isn’t everything going smoothly right now?”

Serena looked genuinely puzzled.

She hadn’t voiced her thoughts earlier, but in her mind she’d agreed with the other three.

Alexei’s timing—

was just too precise.

“Boss, haven’t you noticed something off about those alien warships?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The alien ships from the Nyx side—they come in all sizes, but if you look closely, they’re different from the main force we saw on the Pluto front.”

Lin Yu started explaining,

while adjusting the holographic interface.

He split the frontline feed into seven separate views.

Each focused on a different Klein warship.

“See these three types? They’re from the Nyx fleet. But these four here—they’re the main force from Pluto!”

“All their ships may look rough, like someone carved out a cylinder from some random asteroid and just slapped engines and weapons inside.”

“But if you check the details, there’s a lot more going on.”

At Lin Yu’s words,

Serena studied the ships closely.

Sure enough, she quickly spotted plenty of small differences.

The ships facing the Fourth Fleet directly—their energy launch ports for kinetic projectiles and acid beams—

obviously had a lot fewer than those on the Pluto front.

“So you’re saying…”

“The ones fighting the Fourth Fleet from the start weren’t even the real main force. They were second-line or even third-line ships?”

Serena was starting to understand Lin Yu’s point.

It was like the gulf between the Federation’s security patrol ships and those of the formal Federation Fleet.

Those security ships, whether by weapon count or firepower, were lightyears behind proper warships.

So the Fourth Fleet had only faced these kinds of opponents at first?

“If not for those ten precise strikes that wiped out half their ships at once, I’m afraid…”

“the Pluto main fleet would’ve never needed to show themselves!”

“Plus, everyone’s forgetting the real danger—this alien civilization is deadliest at close range.”

Lin Yu shook his head slightly.

Serena, staring at the battlefield, started to look just as grim.

Thirty warships had already broken into the Klein fleet’s formation.

They charged straight in, railguns and ion cannons firing as they went.

Ripping into the enemy ships ahead.

As always, the flanks proved to be the soft spot—

with a hundred times as much surface area exposed and much easier to hit.

In a flash, seven ships exploded, exposing the flagship.

The next moment, the specially prepared missiles, already loaded, fired off one after another from the different warships.

They streaked forward at blinding speed.

These weren’t just missiles—they were nukes.

Even in space—even if they didn’t break through the hull—one burrowing nuke was enough to obliterate the enemy’s armor.

All it took was a single hit.

Or even if it didn’t pierce the hull, as long as it struck armor, the nuclear warhead was still lethal over hundreds of meters—even in space.

More than enough to cripple the enemy.

Afterward, the star-cruiser missiles could finish the job and deliver the killing blow.

Alexei was absolutely confident in this plan.

But then—

just as Lin Yu predicted, Alexei’s confidence was resting on—

old intel.

Earlier reports on the Klein ships—

had described second-line patrol ships, not true frontline warships.

It was like the difference between a navy and a coast guard from humanity’s old days.

Sure, both counted as warships, and both had weapons, but—

in terms of weapons, numbers, and firepower, they were worlds apart from the main battle fleet.

Alexei had seized the perfect window for his assault.

And at first, the Kleins had been thrown into brief chaos by the unexpected maneuver.

But—

apart from Lin Yu, almost everyone—Alexei included—had forgotten one crucial detail.

What the Kleins truly excelled at was fighting at extremely close range.

Now, over a hundred medium and large warships guarding the flagship sprang into action.

Thousands of pale yellow acid beams shot out.

Unlike the Nyx-side second-line fleet, these true main force ships each unleashed ten times more acid beams—

and—

with far greater caliber guns.

The beams they fired now were noticeably thicker than any seen on the Nyx front.

Even their color looked deeper.

Eight hundred star-cruiser missiles, no matter how many that sounded like,

were nowhere near enough.

Most were wiped out instantly.

Next, the Klein ships began sweeping the area, like firefighters with high-pressure hoses. They didn’t fire new beams—

instead, they redirected their old ones, swinging the acid streams horizontally.

In just over ten seconds,

every last star-cruiser missile had been intercepted.

Meanwhile, hundreds—thousands—of enemy ships surged in from all sides, like a black storm closing in.

——

Three hours later.

The Petrov Glory Warstar was a battered wreck, surrounded by more than 2,000 enemy ships.

Most areas inside the warship had already fallen.

Thousands of Klein warriors roamed the corridors, slaughtering everyone they found.

On the bridge, Volkov surveyed his surviving crew, then—

he started keying in a long sequence on the holographic interface.

The self-destruct code.