Chapter 90: Dawn of the Universal Warships

With the universal technological exchange language system, based on the periodic table of elements, finally cracked,

A massive trove of technical data, extracted from the mysterious civilization’s cubes, began streaming into Earth’s sphere and was quickly distributed among various research institutes.

The entire research community exploded with excitement.

After all, this was hyperspace technology—far beyond humanity’s fledgling theories of warp drive, and leagues more advanced.

Not to mention, using this technology, humanity could make massive strides and extend their capabilities along this path.

The future ahead…

Looked unimaginably terrifying.

Of course, even with complete technical data in hand, actually building a hyperspace engine wasn’t something that could be done overnight.

At the very least, it would be impossible before this war ended.

But with another piece of tech, things were different, and that was…

The thirty-two zero-point modules, each packed with genuine vacuum zero-point energy, that the Klein had recovered from the ancient ruins of that civilization.

Why had the Federation only built one Zhulong?

It was all because humanity only had three zero-point modules, and even those came from a one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable experimental accident.

So, being able to spare just one for the Federation Fleet to build a next-generation warship was already the limit.

As for the other two, they had to be reserved for scientific research.

But now things had changed…

Thirty-two zero-point modules were piled up right in front of them…

All it took was a few adjustments to the Zhulong’s energy core compartment, in line with this civilization’s module specs, and these modules could be put to use immediately.

And so…

Almost that very day,

The Federation Fleet approved an emergency program.

Construction began at once on eighteen Zhulong-class warships, with the project already on high priority.

The goal was to deliver within six months—no exceptions.

To make this happen, half-built warships were yanked straight off assembly lines to free up the shipyards.

The day those eighteen warships were finished would mark the start of humanity’s all-out counterattack, to take back the solar system for good.

Of course, to pull all this off, one more crucial task had to be completed.

And that task was…

Sending back those thirty-two zero-point modules.

When it came to who’d handle this mission, Mu Qingxue didn’t hesitate at all—she handed it directly to Lin Yu.

So after the Qiongxiao rescued the research team, returned the forty-seven Don River crew members, the alien cube, core components of the hyperspace engine, and the thirty-two zero-point modules to the Zhulong,

Lin Yu gave the order for the Zhulong to break away from the main fleet.

Naturally, the Klein Fleet behind them noticed this. Tumelo had no clue what humanity was doing, but still split off ten warships to give chase. Meanwhile, the main Klein fleet kept hounding Mu Qingxue like a pack of rabid dogs.

If those ten ships had been chasing any other Federation warships, it might have worked.

But chasing the Zhulong?

They were all light warships, not a single medium-class among them…

If even one medium-class ship had been in the mix, Lin Yu would have needed to be careful, since the Klein’s mediums usually carried a lot of assault corvettes.

But against light ships, Lin Yu just sneered. He told Bai Jun to ease up, letting the enemy catch up little by little.

Ten-odd hours later, with the pursuers now only 1.8 million kilometers behind…

Lin Yu welcomed them with a barrage from the Zhulong’s heavy ion beam cannons.

None of the four main guns could aim backward, and the bulk of the 168 secondary guns couldn’t cover the stern either.

But eight secondary guns could manage it.

The caliber wasn’t as large as the main guns, but these enemy ships weren’t real Klein fleet warships anyway—they were stripped-down models made back on Europa.

Lin Yu figured that out in just one salvo.

Their defenses were nowhere near the real Klein ships—the gap was massive.

Tumelo hadn’t even bothered to equip these fragile warships with assault corvettes.

After that, Lin Yu had Bai Jun keep the distance steady between their ship and the pursuers.

While Meng Fei methodically targeted each one.

Within ten minutes, all ten of the chasing ships were either blasted nearly dead, powerless and adrift, or just wiped out completely.

As for swinging back to finish off the wrecks?

Lin Yu didn’t waste time with that. Once the tail was handled, he told Bai Jun to push the engines to max and head straight for Europa.

——

A month later, the Zhulong reached Europa.

Mu Xingchen then dispatched an escort fleet—thirty ships in all—to safeguard the Zhulong on its way to Earth’s sphere.

Fleet Headquarters also delivered fresh orders to Lin Yu.

Given the Fifth Fleet’s current state, Lin Yu’s return wouldn’t make much difference. That front was basically caught in a stalemate anyway.

At the same time, thanks to a strong request from the Far East First Research Institute, Lin Yu was seconded there for three months to help analyze more data from the cube.

After that, the Federation Fleet would form a new, completely independent fleet under Fleet Headquarters, with Lin Yu as its commanding officer.

The new fleet wasn’t going to be big.

In fact, it was tiny.

Just nineteen warships in total—the Zhulong as flagship, and the other eighteen all Zhulong-class heavy cruisers.

That meant it was an entire fleet made up entirely of next-gen Zhulong-class heavy cruisers.

Nineteen ships might not sound like much, but their firepower could actually top even the Federation’s five main fleets.

In other words, it was an experimental fleet.

Because…

A new school of thought had emerged within the Federation: instead of multiple classes of warships, build a universal warship platform.

After all, as warships evolved, their weapon systems had become increasingly uniform, and speed differences barely mattered anymore.

As for armor…

Once all weapons became energy-based, no type of armor would matter.

So the old idea of using multiple classes for different missions was growing obsolete.

That’s when the concept of a common platform took hold.

Which led directly to the birth of Lin Yu’s special fleet.

If everything went well, the Federation’s future might see only two types of warships:

Warstars, and universal-class warships.

Frigates, destroyers, light cruisers, heavy cruisers, battleships, even carriers…

All would go the way of the dinosaurs.

Of course, there was a catch to all this—

Mass-producing zero-point modules.

Otherwise, these next-gen warships would remain stuck at just nineteen.

——

Over another month flew by.

Earth’s orbital ring station, Space Elevator Node Two.

Far East First Research Institute.

A man in a white lab coat with wire-rimmed glasses and a hopelessly messy head of hair stood at a console,

Rapidly sifting through data at lightning speed.

Take a closer look, and you’d see—

It was Lin Yu.

If anyone snapped a photo of him now and sent it to the Fifth Fleet, jaws would be dropping everywhere.

It was just…

Such a huge difference from the Lin Yu they knew!