Chapter 40: Trapped in the Asteroid Gauntlet

“Three seconds to the end of the passage!”

“Viper Dragon-class cruiser has exited the passage, now locking onto its target!”

A flurry of status reports filled the bridge.

Wang Jianjun was practically buzzing with excitement—he’d been cooped up in that narrow passageway for so long he was about to lose it.

After all, having to crawl along at a snail’s pace and move so cautiously just wasn’t his style.

“Tell the Viper Dragon—smash that brat Lin Yu! Don’t let him get away.”

“Once the other ships exit the passage, no need to wait for new orders—join the attack immediately!”

“Three minutes!”

“I’m giving them three minutes—if they can’t take the Zhulong down by then, when we get back…”

“Report!” Wang Jianjun’s orders were cut off mid-sentence by a crisp report.

He scowled in annoyance.

“This better be important!”

“Major General, latest update from Headquarters: Once the Viper Dragon-class light cruiser exited the passage, it was instantly targeted by crossfire from thirteen Blue Fleet warships. Judged as heavily damaged and disabled. Combat capability lost!”

“Impossible. That can’t be right—how could Lin Yu have thirteen ships out here?”

“That’s… but that’s exactly what Headquarters reported…”

“What about the Coiling Dragon?”

“Approaching the passage exit now—seventeen seconds till it clears the way!”

“Pull up exterior visuals for the Coiling Dragon—I want to see for myself if Headquarters is covering Lin Yu or if he really has thirteen ships out there!”

“Yes, sir!”

The next moment several windows appeared midair, refracted through the holographic interface.

They revealed exterior views of the Coiling Dragon battleship from multiple angles.

Seventeen seconds passed in a flash.

The Coiling Dragon exited the narrow corridor—suddenly their field of vision opened wide.

But—

Before they could even adjust to the abrupt scene change, Headquarters sent another notice.

Almost identical to last time, except now it was the Coiling Dragon’s name instead of the Viper Dragon.

Both cruisers of the Second Sub-Fleet were eliminated just like that.

Now, putting aside the carriers, both Red and Blue Fleets were each left with only a flagship and a swarm of destroyers and frigates.

The only real difference? Lin Yu commanded a heavy cruiser, while Wang Jianjun was stuck with a battleship.

Of course, the Zhulong, as a next-generation heavy cruiser, was easily on par with an active-duty battleship. Its overall power was even closing in on the Warstar class.

Add in that crossfire blocking the passage exit, and Lin Yu’s side had seized a clear, absolute advantage.

After all, Wang Jianjun could only send his ships out one by one.

And every ship exiting the corridor had to face Lin Yu’s thirteen warships completely alone.

Worse, all thirteen of Lin Yu’s ships were posted right near the corridor exit—ready to open up with energy weapons the moment anything came out.

It was a massacre—one ship out, one ship down.

Effortlessly.

And Wang Jianjun’s nightmare wasn’t over yet.

“Report! Enemy bombers detected behind the fleet. Scans indicate they’re carrying a large number of Starcruise IV tactical missiles!”

“Starcruise IVs? With nuclear warheads?”

“Can’t confirm—wait! Report! The enemy bomber formation has opened fire—ninety-six Starcruise IV missiles detected!”

The radar officer gaped at his screen, quickly reporting the new data.

Ninety-six Starcruise IV tactical missiles—

Back in the Nyx Campaign, even the entire Fourth Fleet had only launched a few hundred.

Even knowing the enemy wouldn’t really fire that many, and that the radar readings had been tweaked behind the scenes by Headquarters…

This special operations unit’s move still left him stunned.

“Don’t just stare! Fire up the railgun arrays—don’t let a single missile through!”

“Sir, the missiles aren’t targeting us!”

“Don’t care who they’re after—wait, what? They’re not targeting us?”

“Right. They seem to be aimed at empty space behind our fleet. If that many explode all at once here…”

“That means they’re about to destroy the middle stretch of the passage, box us in up front, and force us to queue up for Lin Yu to pick us off one by one, right?”

The radar officer fell silent.

Wang Jianjun understood immediately. There was nothing tricky about it.

Sure enough, a few seconds later—

Headquarters sent out another bulletin.

N-089 passage was hit by ninety-six Starcruise IV tactical missiles. Countless celestial bodies, large and small, were destroyed, creating a huge debris cloud that completely blocked the passage.

Clearing it out would take at least a month.

In other words: Wang Jianjun’s route back had been cut off.

At least, for the duration of this exercise, that path was closed.

The rest—

“Figure it out yourself.”

——

Half an hour later.

Wang Jianjun, nearly clawing his hair out, still couldn’t think of any good ideas.

His only choice was to shrink the distance between his ships and minimize the time gap between each pair rushing out of the passage.

Then, gritting his teeth, he ordered the charge.

And the result…

Didn’t matter much. Aside from Headquarters stepping in and calling two frigates damaged by force, he got nothing.

No gains at all, really.

Lin Yu, meanwhile, had a perfect view of it all.

Those so-called “damaged frigates”—total nonsense. Headquarters just wanted Wang Jianjun to save face, so they bent the rules.

Not that Lin Yu cared much anyway.

All in all, at the cost of two damaged frigates and seventeen lost mechs, Lin Yu completely wiped out the whole First and Second Sub-Fleets—all fifty-seven warships.

The feat left everyone who saw it utterly shocked.

When the exercise report hit Moon Headquarters via Mu Qingxue…

It was forwarded to every Federation fleet, ordered as study material for every fleet commander.

After all, asteroid belt combat tactics would be immediately useful when facing the Klein down the line.

——

After that last major exercise—

The Fifth Fleet lingered in the asteroid belt for another month.

During that time they ran at least two exercises a day. And out of all opponents, there was one Lin Yu didn’t want to face…

Sun Wei.

Unlike Qin Xuan or Wang Jiancheng, Sun Wei was an absolute defense master.

Even Lin Yu ended up banging his head against the wall sometimes.

The one kind of commander who could truly counter Lin Yu was the type who stood immovable, no matter what schemes he tried!

And Sun Wei was the perfect example.

Every exercise against him cost Lin Yu several times—sometimes dozens of times—more effort to win.

Only after exhausting every trick did he finally come out on top.

Now, though, it was time for a break.

When the Fifth Fleet returned to Mars, all crew members were divided into three groups. Each group got three days of rest.

Which meant the entire rest period would last nine days.

Afterwards, the Fifth Fleet would rendezvous with the incoming First Fleet and head for Mars together.

There, all four major Federation fleets would gather.

Preparing for the final fight for the Homeworld’s defense.