Chapter 206: The Silent Trap of the Starry Void

Right outside the flagship’s observation window.

A sapphire-blue bubble suddenly materialized ahead.

Its edge came within just a few kilometers of Dodovik’s warship, swallowing up the three warships directly in front.

The next moment, as this eerie bubble vanished, the three warships and the nearby debris fragments disappeared along with it.

The area was pristine—so clear you couldn’t even find a speck of dust.

It looked as though the place had just been given a thorough cleaning.

Dodovik stared blankly out the window, his whole body frozen.

“C-Commander…”

“We’ve lost contact with a warship in the fleet. Our loss rate is now at… 92.43%.”

“This is…”

The adjutant reported the numbers, sheer terror written all over his face.

Losing this many warships in under a minute…

Even the Drac Empire couldn’t pull off something like that, right?

What in the world just happened?

Dodovik didn’t respond, still dazed.

Just then, his second-in-command suddenly remembered something…

“Commander, if the enemy has power like this, then what about the four civilizations that entered the interstellar current…”

Uh…

Hearing that, Dodovik finally snapped out of his haze.

Now he was starting to understand why, back during the probing attack, the enemy only sent a thousand warships—ships that didn’t even look like they belonged to a Level 3 civilization.

It was obvious—they were pretending to be weak on purpose, making them think humanity was an easy target, their defenses easy to break.

With that setup, of course a Level 3 civilization like the Empire would never want to lead the charge.

After all, with four allied cannon-fodder civilizations available, only a fool would send Imperial soldiers out front.

So, with or without an agreement, he’d always planned to have the Level 2 civilizations forge ahead.

But then, why use this devastating weapon in such a strange way right here?

Dodovik figured it probably had something to do with the enemy’s method of delivery—by laying a minefield, waiting for the Imperial fleet to walk straight into it, they could maximize the weapon’s effect.

The attack on the logistics fleet might’ve been the key part of this grand scheme all along.

First, the wreckage of hundreds of thousands of ships could easily be used to disguise all these hidden weapons scattered across the area.

Second, by playing on his desire to recover resources, the enemy could lure him right into the kill zone.

But pulling that off precisely would need one more crucial detail.

Specifically: the fleets from the four Level 2 civilizations couldn’t be here. Otherwise, Dodovik would probably have let those fleets handle the salvage, while the Empire’s warships kept up the pursuit.

But that wasn’t what the enemy wanted.

So, their initial display of weakness was part of a plot to let those Level 2 fleets enter the interstellar current first.

Then, once all four Level 2 fleets had gone in, the humans warped in and began leading the Empire step by step right into the trap.

Every one of the human commander’s moves had a clear and deadly purpose…

This person was terrifying.

Overall, Lin Yu’s strategy was almost exactly what Dodovik had inferred.

Quantum bombs were powerful.

But the problem was, for now, they could only be fired with railguns.

And for a Level 3 civilization, railgun projectiles could actually be intercepted most of the time.

Not to mention, once Level 3 warships left the current’s mouth, they could immediately attack the Federation fleet’s defensive lines with energy weapons.

In that situation, even with victory thanks to quantum bombs,

the Federation fleet would still end up in tatters.

Probably half-destroyed.

So Lin Yu needed a different way to use quantum bombs.

This plan, though, came with its own set of crucial problems.

First, the fleets from all four Level 2 civilizations had to be completely separated from the Venus Empire’s fleet—the best case was having the Level 2 fleets enter the current first.

Second, he had to lure the Empire’s fleet into the minefield themselves.

As for the specific method—it was just as Dodovik had guessed.

The wrecks of hundreds of thousands of ships were the perfect bait.

In the end, just as Lin Yu planned, everything worked flawlessly. As for the three thousand remaining Imperial warships…

Lin Yu could’ve crushed them head-on with ease.

Especially now, after what just happened, the Imperial soldiers left on those warships—

their morale was already shattered. Forget fighting again anytime soon.

After all…

With jump engines—and blasting 46,000 Imperial warships in a single minute…

Who wouldn’t be scared out of their wits…

“Forget those others. With things the way they are, do you really think any of them have a chance of making it out alive?”

“I… all right. But what about us now?”

Hearing his second-in-command’s question,

Dodovik fell silent.

He looked around at everyone on the bridge.

In that moment, all eyes were on him, but he saw only emptiness in their gaze.

He let out a small sigh.

“Send a message to the enemy. Tell them we’re willing to surrender unconditionally.”

“But…”

“I’ll take responsibility for whatever comes next. Go.”

“Understood, Commander!”

——

More than ten hours later.

Lin Yu’s fleet used warp and appeared before the Venus Empire’s warships.

“Commander, confirmed: all enemy warships have shut down their engines. Their weapon systems are offline; there’s no sign of any weapon charging.”

“Good. Send ships in close and directly teleport the Heavy Infantry onto their bridges. Secure all ships as quickly as possible!”

“Yes, Commander!”

The Zhulong-class Type B ships might not have boasted full-ship light transmission tech like the Houyi—those are just too costly, and Zhulong-class ships aren’t as massive as Warstar, so it isn’t really needed.

Still, each was equipped with an external light transmission device.

Perfect for quick deployments—really handy when you need to drop troops in fast.

Even earlier, quantum bombs had been deployed via light transmission.

And now, once again, light transmission was proving its worth.

They no longer needed to send out assault ships to board every Imperial warship one by one.

Instead, whole squads of Heavy Infantry were teleported straight onto enemy bridges. Fast and efficient.

No tricks could save them now.

One after another, beams of white light flashed through the void, piercing into the bridges of each Imperial warship.

At first, the Empire’s crews were paralyzed with fear.

They thought the humans had tricked them and would slaughter everyone the moment engines and weapons went offline.

But after the white light struck, nothing happened—they felt no pain or effects.

At last, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Whatever that was, it didn’t seem to be a weapon.

Still, seeing fully-armed Federation Heavy Infantry suddenly appear on their bridges…

every crew member was left in utter shock.