Chapter 195: Return of the Houyi: Upgrades and Breakthroughs

Lunar orbit.

After decades, the Houyi was finally returning to the shipyard where it was first built.

Countless industrial robots swarmed inside, making sweeping modifications throughout the ship.

All around the vessel, new compartments sprang up one after another.

“Light transmission, you say?”

“That’s right! Pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

Lin Yun looked at him expectantly, practically begging for praise—a complete contrast to her usual professional self.

Good thing none of the researchers were around to see this, or they’d have been left gaping in shock.

Lin Yun, of course, didn’t mention that the tech actually came from Lin Shuying.

It wasn’t that she wanted all the credit; Lin Shuying had specifically asked her to keep it quiet.

In her words: the time hadn’t come to meet Lin Yu, and besides, she was only an avatar—a set of data. Even if they did meet, she wasn’t the one who should do it.

Most importantly, for reasons no one knew, Lin Shuying had left a warning buried in her code.

That is…

If Lin Yu found out about her existence too soon, it would be bad—for him and for all of humanity.

Absolutely not a good thing.

Lin Yun didn’t quite get Lin Shuying’s reasoning, but she followed the instructions anyway.

She told Lin Yu nothing about Lin Shuying—or anything related to her. Naturally…

She ended up taking all the credit for light transmission herself.

“That’s incredible. If only we could use it to transport weapons, that’d be even better.”

“That’s doable, but honestly, the impact is limited. Right now, the maximum transmission distance is just one percent of a light-second—about three thousand kilometers. That doesn’t really mean much in space warfare, does it?”

“Who says it doesn’t? Think about how much safer orbital drops will be in the future. Plus, we won’t have to stress over how many heavy weapons to load up; we can just send them straight down to the surface all at once.”

“Now that you mention it… you’re right.”

Up till now, Lin Yun had been thinking only in terms of interstellar war.

After all, from a warship’s perspective, three thousand kilometers was next to nothing.

But if you switched to the idea of orbital drops…

Suddenly, there was a ton of potential.

Can’t blame Lin Yun for missing it—she wasn’t a soldier, and she’d never shown much interest in warfare.

So naturally, she hadn’t considered it from every angle.

In fact, if Lin Yu kept talking, he’d likely come up with even more creative uses.

“Alright. In addition to the internal light transmission system, I’ll add a high-powered external transmitter for the Houyi as well.”

With that, Lin Yu reached out to ruffle Lin Yun’s hair in satisfaction.

She just beamed, basking in the attention.

“By the way, are those over there on the production line Zhulong-class warships?”

Lin Yu glanced to the other side of the shipyard.

He’d spotted them the moment he arrived.

Now, across lunar orbit, all three hundred massive production lines—originally set up for Seawolf-class ships—were up and running.

Normally, this wouldn’t have caught his attention.

After all, the Federation had been mass-producing Seawolf-class ships for ages. On the Moon, these lines were relatively few—swap to Proxima Centauri V or Mars, and you’d see thousands working at once.

What truly piqued Lin Yu’s curiosity was that these ships looked nearly finished.

And their silhouettes…

Lin Yu couldn’t be more familiar.

Weren’t those the Zhulong-class warships?

He remembered clearly—the first Zhulong-class heavy cruiser ever built had been his own flagship.

For a long time, it led the vanguard as the Sixth Experimental Fleet’s flagship—what would eventually become the Sixth Fleet.

Even now…

Zhulong-class ships remained the backbone of the Sixth Fleet.

Out of nineteen, ten—together with the Houyi—formed a Warstar strike group, while the other nine each served as flagships for separate sub-fleets.

Forty years later,

The Zhulong-class was still king.

There was no helping it. The Zhulong-class was, after the Houyi, the only ship equipped with a Zero-Point Module. Its massive energy output and full energy weapon array met the standard for a true Tier-3 civilization.

Other ships, no matter how modern, were still basically second-generation models.

Even the latest Seawolf-class general-purpose warships fell into that category.

There was just no comparing them to the Zhulong-class.

When Lin Yu asked, Lin Yun rolled her eyes at him.

“Seriously? You of all people should know what those are.”

“So they’re Zhulong-class after all?”

“Yeah, but to be exact, they’re the new Zhulong-class. Internally, the original is dubbed x301A, and these are x301B.”

“So does that mean the Zero-Point Module issue is solved?”

“Of course! Your daughter handled it personally. Was there ever any doubt?”

Lin Yun puffed out her chest and grinned, radiating pride.

“Alright, alright, I get it—you’re amazing. But why do these new models have an extra engine? Their mass hasn’t changed that much, has it?”

“Dad, this is where you’re behind the times. That extra set isn’t for sublight speed—it’s… a jump engine!”

……

……

Even Lin Yu was taken aback.

“Wait, did you say a jump engine?”

“That’s right. The Houyi will get one during its refit, too. And Great-Grandpa said these three hundred Zhulong-B warships are all for you. Without a jump engine on the Houyi, how could you lead them into battle as a unit?”

“Hmm…”

Lin Yu turned it over in his mind.

Jump drives and hyperspace engines were two entirely different beasts.

Especially in terms of speed—night and day.

So if the Houyi used hyperspace travel, but the others jumped…

Coordinated maneuvers would be a nightmare.

“What about the hyperspace engine, then?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll still have that. The Houyi will be equipped with both the jump and hyperspace engines. You can switch back and forth as needed.”

“When will these Zhulong-B warships be ready?”

“Within a month—they’ll be finished around the same time as the Houyi. Great-Grandpa told me he’ll have a full crew ready for you by then so you can all leave together.”

“That’s fantastic!”

Lin Yu could barely hide his excitement.

With only the Houyi, there were so many ambitious plans he’d had to shelve.

But with three hundred Zhulong-B warships all equipped with jump engines…

Suddenly, all his old headaches vanished.

He could completely overhaul his strategy for the Desolate Star Region and take control with speed and force like never before.

“Oh, almost forgot—got too excited to ask earlier.”

“What is it?”

“I heard North American Research Institute had been working on jump technology. I thought we’d have to wait decades, so how’d it appear suddenly? Do they have some genius working over there?”

“Dad, what are you talking about? That bunch had nothing to do with it—the genius who cracked it is standing right in front of you!”

“Wait, you perfected the jump tech too?”

Unbelievable…

Lin Yu was floored.

His daughter really was something else.

Artificial synthesis of X Particles, gene enhancers, quantum bombs, Zero-Point Modules, extraction of vacuum zero-point energy, light transmission, and now jump technology.

She’d tackled every single high-end tech imaginable…

And mastered them all in one fell swoop?