Chapter 88: Desperate Pursuit Across the Stars

Lin Yu made it back to the Zhulong.

Just as Mu Qingxue had warned, the Klein fleet had already pushed through the Asteroid Belt and was now speeding toward the Homeworld.

In just a few days, they’d arrive.

Their losses had been heavy during the last assault, but they still brought more than 500 main warships, over 1,200 newly built stripped-down warships, and around 4,000 assault corvettes.

For the Fifth Fleet, with just 146 warships, this was a force they could never hope to match.

——

Four days later.

The Klein fleet stopped about 8 million kilometers from Europa.

Part of this was due to the Fifth Fleet warning them to halt.

But more importantly, the entire Klein immigrant fleet was still in human hands—Tumelo didn’t dare force his way through.

At the same time, Tumelo messaged the Fifth Fleet, saying he wanted to negotiate.

Mu Qingxue’s reply?

She detonated every nuclear warhead that had been secretly set within the facilities on Europa’s orbit.

Hundreds of fireballs erupted all at once along the orbital ring.

The remaining shipyards, docking areas, living quarters, resource processing facilities—everything…

Everything was wiped out in a matter of moments.

The sight turned Tumelo’s eyes bloodshot, but he didn’t dare move a muscle.

For all the ruined infrastructure, nothing mattered more than the Klein immigrant fleet still hovering in orbit.

But Mu Qingxue moved quickly to show him her stance.

What was precious to the Klein meant nothing to humanity.

There was no warning.

Over a hundred Federation warships at point-blank range opened fire on the immigrant fleet.

These weren’t Klein warships—just ordinary ships.

With their targets this close and every Klein ship dead in the water, it was like target practice.

Even the most basic railgun strikes could guarantee a perfect hit.

The fleet was torn apart in minutes.

Tumelo flew into a rage, screaming for his ships to charge and wipe out the humans.

But it was pointless. The distance between them…

Was just too vast.

And now that their whole fleet had stopped, it’d take over ten hours just to reach Europa.

By then…

It’d all be over.

Forty minutes later, the last Klein immigrant ship went up in flames.

Without hesitation, the Fifth Fleet pivoted and withdrew—not toward Mars, but in the opposite direction altogether.

——

Eleven hours passed.

The massive Klein fleet arrived at Europa.

But there was nothing left.

The only thing left drifting in the void were endless corpses. Not a single survivor was left behind.

And those orbital facilities that took over a year to build? Completely obliterated.

The chance of ever rebuilding looked slim.

Why? The entire immigrant fleet was gone.

That meant no more professionals, and not a single piece of necessary equipment or tools.

How on earth could you rebuild after that?

“Chase them! Catch up with the humans!”

“That human fleet—destroy them all!”

After a moment lost in grief, Tumelo lifted his head, and there was nothing left of his old composure.

All that remained was a savage, wild madness.

He’d lost it—Tumelo was utterly unhinged.

One thought alone burned in his mind—

Wipe out the human fleet, even if he had to chase them to the farthest corner of space.

So, with the Klein fleet about 7.5 million kilometers behind, the pursuit began.

——

The news sent Mu Xingchen straight into action.

Once Tumelo had withdrawn, he reclaimed every Asteroid Belt sector that used to be Federation-controlled.

Now, with Tumelo off chasing the Fifth Fleet,

He and his fleet were hunting the humans far on the other side.

Both Klein outposts in the Belt had only about thirty warships each.

There was no way he’d let an opportunity like that pass.

On one hand, they could wreck both Klein outposts and eat up sixty warships. On the other, there’d be no risk of the main Klein force coming to bail them out.

But most importantly, he could take back the whole Asteroid Belt.

While Tumelo’s armada was off chasing the Fifth Fleet, they could mine the Belt for all it was worth.

Once those sixty warships were gone, the Klein wouldn’t have anything left to threaten the Federation Mining Fleet’s operations there.

The Federation’s thousands of Asteroid Tug Ships could work openly, unafraid.

And with enough resources, the Federation could keep building up its forces.

Who could pass this up?

Six days later, the Federation main fleet entered the Asteroid Belt.

Thirteen days later, they wiped out the first Klein outpost and took out thirty more warships.

Seventeen days in, the second outpost was gone—and so were another thirty Klein ships.

With that, the Federation controlled the entire Asteroid Belt once more.

Twenty-eight days later, the main fleet redeployed, pushing ahead to Europa and using it as a new defensive hub.

And Tumelo? He wasn’t blind to the fleet’s every move. He saw everything.

He’d gotten word of Mu Xingchen’s attacks as soon as they started, but…

He just didn’t care anymore. His sanity was gone, and his mind was full of only one thing—

Catch up and slaughter every last person on that fleet.

Nothing else mattered. He had neither time nor desire to care.

——

One month passed.

It had been a whole month since the Fifth Fleet’s escape began.

Both forces did whatever it took to slow each other down.

For the Fifth Fleet, slowing down their pursuers meant more distance between them and the Klein.

For the Klein, slowing down the Fifth Fleet meant closing the gap.

But how did they do it?

It was simple. Most of the Federation warships couldn’t shoot behind themselves, thanks to shielding, but…

A few railgun batteries were mounted on either side near the rear—they could still fire back.

So even while running, they kept shooting at the Klein fleet, forcing them to slow down and change course to dodge the incoming shots.

It was a very effective way to make the fleet behind decelerate.

But the Klein had tricks, too.

They’d deploy a dozen or twenty assault corvettes, which were faster than warships and coasted ahead on pure momentum.

They could quickly close the distance to the Federation fleet.

The Federation ships had to slow down and alter course to avoid having those corvettes break into their formation. Otherwise, that would spell disaster.

And if you thought changing course once was enough…

Think again. Klein corvettes could pull off quick course corrections and double-boost attacks.

After you shifted course, they’d do the same and keep charging—leaving you no choice but to dodge again.

Tumelo could be downright nasty, too.

Imagine he sent out twenty corvettes. The Federation fleet would maneuver out of the way to avoid their approach.

Then, instead of ordering them all to change course, Tumelo would have just five switch direction.

So what would the Federation do now—maintain course or dodge again?

If they changed again, Tumelo would wait until the ships were settling back in, then have another five corvettes veer after them.

But if they didn’t change, the remaining fifteen would continue straight in, and those five would—

Burst right into the Federation formation.