Chapter 204: The Arrival of Eight Thousand Warships

“Barnard Defense Circle? Ross 248?”

“We’ve already dispatched all thirty Stellar Warship Transporters. Their job is to move the entire Sixth Fleet to Ross 248. Get yourself ready.”

“No problem!”

“One more thing. Take the Houyi Battlegroup to the Moon and receive the newly built fleet of eight thousand Zhulong-class B Warships.”

It’s been nearly two years since the three hundred Zhulong-class Warships first rolled out for trial production.

With the launch of large-scale production lines, Lin Yu was well aware that eight thousand new ships had just come off the assembly lines.

And it wasn’t just him; every single fleet commander across the Federation knew about it.

So, you could already guess what happened next.

After all, we’re talking eight thousand fully energy-equipped warships, each fitted with Jump Engines. What fleet wouldn’t want them?

So…

In the struggle to claim these warships, the fleet commanders immediately started flinging insults at each other over the comms. If they could, they’d have thrown down for a brawl in person.

In the end, Lunar Headquarters relented and declared that all fleets would get an equal share, finally shutting up the rowdy commanders.

But now…

Eight thousand warships…

All of them landed squarely in Lin Yu’s hands.

Sweet!

“Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”

“Alright, the warships are yours. But if you can’t pull off some impressive results, a lot of people are going to make trouble!”

Mu Xingchen said with a smirk.

Still, despite his words, he wasn’t the least bit worried about Lin Yu.

——

Three days later.

The Houyi Battlegroup arrived in lunar orbit.

They came with three hundred and one ships. By the time they left, that number had swelled to eight thousand three hundred and one.

Another day passed.

As space rippled and contracted

over eight thousand warships appeared in force at Ross 248.

If it weren’t for an advance heads-up from Lunar Headquarters, Vice Admiral Dawson of the Ninth Fleet would have jumped out of his seat in shock.

After all, he only had thirty-six hundred warships under his command.

If someone managed to bring that many across the stars and show up here overnight…

He’d basically be toast.

A connection was quickly established.

Dawson’s image flickered onto Lin Yu’s screen.

“Vice Admiral Dawson, how does the situation look right now?”

“Not great. Just three days ago, the enemy sent three thousand warships into the interstellar current. They’ll arrive in seventy-six days.”

“Three thousand… That sounds like a probing fleet.”

“Yeah, that’s my take too.”

Dawson nodded in agreement.

Everyone knew three thousand ships would never be enough to take Ross 248, but the enemy sent them anyway—knowingly sending them to their deaths.

So, what exactly are they trying to accomplish?

Simple. Before launching their main assault, they’re testing the Federation’s defenses.

How many ships, what kind of firepower, any secret tricks—

all the things an all-out offensive needs to know in advance.

Of course, if the Federation side turned out to be slack and the three thousand enemy ships somehow pulled off a win…

well, that’d be fine for them too.

“Here’s what I’m thinking. For the first wave, we pretend to be weak. Use just a thousand ships to defend and keep the rest hidden.”

“Uh…”

Dawson hesitated.

With only a thousand ships defending, their firepower would be way down.

Less firepower meant the enemy ships would survive longer.

If the attackers got to stick around, they’d get off more shots in return, causing heavier damage to the defending fleet.

That was why Dawson hesitated.

If the full defending fleet met the enemy head-on, they’d wipe out the three thousand ships and maybe only lose ten themselves.

But with just a thousand on defense, losses could triple or worse.

“I know, taking this approach would mean more losses in the first wave, but that’s a price we have to pay for a bigger win down the road.”

“Vice Admiral Lin Yu, what exactly do you have in mind?”

“Here’s how I see it…”

Ten minutes later.

Dawson’s eyes went wide.

He just couldn’t believe Lin Yu wanted to go with such a daring battle plan.

But even he had to admit—

as wild as it sounded, once you thought it through, the odds of success were actually pretty high. And—

if it worked, the payoff would be massive.

At a minimum, they’d destroy most of the enemy’s warships and almost all their supply ships.

Losing an extra twenty or thirty ships upfront suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad deal.

“Alright, Headquarters said you have full command at the front. You’ll have my total cooperation!”

On one hand, that’s exactly the order he’d gotten from Lunar Headquarters.

On the other, even Dawson was seriously impressed with Lin Yu’s plan.

They always said Lin Yu was the most unpredictable tactician in the entire Federation Fleet. Today—

Dawson finally saw it firsthand.

And it wasn’t just tactical genius—Lin Yu’s strategic thinking was just as unconventional.

——

In the blink of an eye, over seventy days passed.

By now the entire Sixth Fleet was in position. But as Lin Yu ordered, all 7,200 ships of the Sixth, the Houyi Battlegroup’s 8,300, and the Ninth Fleet’s 2,600 were all concealed, nowhere near the interstellar current’s entry.

That left defending the current’s mouth to…

just one thousand Ninth Fleet warships.

At that moment, five enemy warships emerged from the current. The instant they reached Ross 248,

waves of brilliant blue ion beams sliced through space toward them.

And so, the war began.

Meanwhile, 3.9 light-years away—

a super warship, as massive as the Houyi, now stood out among a colossal combat formation.

This was the flagship of the Venus Empire’s Third Legion—a Tier 3 civilization.

On its bridge, four holographic figures stood facing a humanoid lizard.

This two-legged, broad-shouldered, lizard-headed species was the Venusians.

“Legion Commander Dodovik, what do you think?”

“Hmm. Judging from their behavior, they’re much stronger than any of you four. I’d say they’re about a 2.8, maybe even a 2.9-tier civilization.”

The lizardman Dodovik—the Venus Empire’s Third Legion commander—pondered for a moment before answering.

Honestly, that response shocked the four holograms.

Living in the prosperous zone of the Orion Arm, even though they’re just tier-two civilizations themselves, their experience—

was far beyond most civilizations of the Desolate Star Region.

So they understood exactly what it meant to face a 2.8 or even a 2.9-tier civilization.

It meant the Federation had almost leapfrogged the rest of the tier-twos entirely.

Defeating an enemy like that would take at least four or five tier-two civilizations attacking together, and even then, only by sheer numbers.

If the Venus Empire weren’t here this time—

the four-civilization coalition probably would’ve been outmatched.

They’re far from their home bases and have no reinforcements—realistically, even as a coalition, they’d likely lose.

But…

with the Venus Empire now present, even though the others were amazed—

none of them were really worried.