Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 277: Kax Ring

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Dodo, get Dolby to stand guard outside. Don't let anyone enter my laboratory," said Temo, ordering Dodo to have the air defense drone watch over the entrance.

Dodo immediately left to carry out the order.

"Warriors, it must have been hard for you. Two years have passed in the blink of an eye. I must confess, I quite missed all of you. When I first saw you on the ship, I had thought that I was seeing things. Please sit down. I'll update you on the latest events," said Temo as he pointed at the few chairs in the room.

We all sat down. The chair I sat on was incredibly form-fitting and comfortable. The moment I sat on it, my exhaustion was greatly alleviated.

"This chair is not bad. It's quite comfortable. I'll take a few with me before leaving," said Zhang Bao'er after feeling how comfortable the chair was.

"Good eyes. These chairs are known as the figure adjusting chair. They are made from a unique type of microorganism and can detect the levels of exhaustion in the different parts of one's body before releasing the relevant chemical substance to relieve fatigue. This is nothing special for a star-level civilization," said Temo, still as smug as ever.

At that time, Dodo had returned to the room. After shutting the door, they served us food and drinks.

"Dwarf, look what you did! A good and intelligent android was turned into a waiter. What are you trying to do?" questioned Zhang Bao'er.

"If I didn't, with how stubborn this slab of steel is, how could they hide from Dirk?" said Temo, instantly shutting Bao'er's mouth.

"How are the two Forests and Ada doing? Do you know about them? They were here with us to look for the two of you," asked Old Du.

"Of course I know. Back then, you did not come out after sneaking into the core room. The two Forests waited outside until their ship was discovered by the drones. You were fortunate to still be stuck in the particle room. Those three had suffered pitiful fates, especially Little Forest, who was my fellow Sacred Wing," said Temo with a sigh.

"What happened to them?" asked Anxashe, who was worried about Ada's safety.

"I heard that all three of them had their minds harvested and converted into the minds of smart robots. My apologies. At the time, I was under Dirk's watch and couldn't do much to help them," said Temo apologetically.

"Sigh. We were the ones who had gotten them into this. How about Sarje and the others?" I asked.

"You need to thank me. Back then, I reminded you to not take those laborers with you, but you refused to listen. All the Wargods and laborers were captured by Dirk, but I was able to protect Sarje since he was a Gando warrior, the most renowned race of assassins in the universe. I suggested to Dirk that Sarje be made his personal guard," said Temo.

"Dirk is using a Gando as a guard? He's enjoying the same special treatment as Emperor Fille himself," said Old Du.

"Emperor Fille is too busy to be bothered about something so trivial. There is an all-out war. To help with the war, the beast planets have stopped hiding. The emperor has removed the clock locks and brought all the planets back to the main temporal dimension," said Temo.

"What happened to Zhang Xingxing's fleet? Do you know their whereabouts?" I asked, worried that they had suffered the same fate as the two Forests.

"Li Canyue, member of a planet-level civilization, you need to thank me. Your fleet was pursued by the robot army in the Horsehead Nebula. A third of the fleet had perished in less than three days. The empire's Midstar Army had also laid out an inescapable encirclement outside the super space fort, intending to wipe the entire fleet out," said Temo, causing me to break out in cold sweat.

"What happened afterward?" asked Zhang Bao'er impatiently.

"I contacted a Sacred Wing commander in the Midstar Army. I had him take a huge risk to create a wormhole leading somewhere beyond the space fort and had Dodo send the coordinates to your fleet. They took the opportunity to finally escape the encirclement," said Temo. We were relieved to hear that.

"Thank you, Temo. I will repay you for this favor," I said.

"Why did you betray your own people and help us?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"What do you mean I betrayed my own people? The Sacred Wing race's sole pursuit is the excellence of technology. We never intended to participate in wars. I helped because I can't break my promise to you. How can a member of a star-level civilization go back on his words?" said Temo, obviously displeased with what was said about him.

"Since an all-out war has erupted, what is the current status of the war?" I asked a question I was dying to get an answer to.

"The war is extremely unfavorable for the Interstellar League. This is an unfair war where a superior civilization is crushing an inferior civilization. Your Interstellar League has basically lost all its outer defensive positions. The remaining military forces of your league have all withdrawn into their three final strongholds," said Temo.

"It has only been two years! Why was the league beaten so quickly?" said Old Du in disbelief.

"Where are the three final strongholds?" I asked.

"Gliese 581b, Blue, and Mars," said Temo as he released a hologram with the equipment in the laboratory.

The three last strongholds of the league appeared before our eyes, including the beautiful homeland, Blue, that I could never forget. The three planets were completely surrounded by some sort of golden chains. Surrounding the chains were countless league battleships, serving as the final defensive line for the league's remaining homelands. Far in outer space, a large fleet was mustering its forces. At a glance, their numbers were about ten times higher than the league's numbers.

"Kax Ring. My god, I did not expect that the Gliese researchers had really completed the research on this thing," exclaimed Old Du at the sight of the golden chains.

"You're correct. The league calls this installation the Kax Ring. It is a spherical defensive installation used to protect your final three forts. You have to know that about 80 percent of your fleet has been eliminated by the empire. Coupled with the loss of your military bases, the league no longer has much strength to contend against the empire. Thanks to the Kax Ring, they were able to put a stop to the empire's advance," said Temo.

'No wonder the remaining league fleets around the planets are so small. I wonder if Zhang Xingxing and the others are among them,' I thought sorrowfully.

"Old Du, what's that Kax Ring? Why have I never heard of it?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"The Kax Ring used to be something that had remained only as a theory, a legendary theory. It was an installation capable of making use of dark matter to tap into the energy of a star and a planet's core. The energy can be gathered outside the ring, creating a powerful photon shield that can be controlled with coded orders. Any targets identified as hostile will be destroyed by photon rays the moment they enter the ring's range," explained Old Du.

"Such a technology that lets you control the energy of a star is usually in the domain of a star-level civilization. It is truly surprising that someone from an inferior civilization had actually managed to understand something so complicated and advanced," said Temo with a pensive look.

"Thank god for the Kax Ring, or we would have suffered complete defeat by now," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Not even the Kax Ring can save you. It's only a matter of time before your defeat. The Kax Ring needs to work nonstop to protect the planet. That will consume a lot of energy. Your planets are all at the middle-late stage. The energy they have is limited. If this continues, your planets will run out of energy in less than a year. The empire also understands this, so they have prepared extensively for it," said Temo, dealing a great blow to our morale.

"He's right. I've heard about the excessive amount of energy the Kax Ring consumes. It's why I never expected them to really be able to complete the research," said Old Du.

"Everything is clear now. We need to rush back to help Blue with its defense. Temo, can you open another wormhole for us?" I asked.

"There is no need for that. We're now heading toward Mars," said Temo, giving us an even more shocking piece of news.

"What? Do you mean this beast planet is being moved by the superweapon?" I asked, voicing the fear in my head.

"Yes. Black King is being transported by two superweapons equipped with wormhole technology. I believe you have seen the two superweapons on your way to the skyscraper, right? Transporting a planet through a wormhole might affect the integrity of the planet, so the superweapons can only perform limited wormhole leaps. Even so, we're already nearing our destination. We are only seven days away from Mars," said Temo.

"No wonder the three stars are no longer visible in the sky, replaced by floating lamps," said Old Du in realization.

"Those are no simple lamps. While traveling through space, the temperature of the planet will drop. Those floating lamps are energy balls that provide not only illumination but also heat. They are maintaining the temperature of the planet," said Temo, further reminding us of the prowess of a star-level civilization.

"Is the empire planning to move these planets close to the three final planets in order to attack after the Kax Ring fails from energy exhaustion?" asked Old Du.

"No. There is no need to wait that long. All 27 artificial planets will be arranged near the three planets. The superweapons will also move over more than a hundred planets. These planets contain either high-radiation minerals, erupting volcanoes, frozen oceans, or other similar things. The empire intends to smash these planets into the Kax Rings to accelerate their consumption of energy. The three planets will fall before a year is up," said Temo, sinking us into despair.

"Damn them! Isn't that genocide?" cursed Old Du.

"Yes, that's exactly Emperor Fille's order. Complete annihilation of the Interstellar League, erasing all traces of the inferior civilization," confirmed Temo.

"Temo, do you have any way to help the Interstellar League survive annihilation?" I asked, finally understanding how hopeless the situation was.