Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1164
Ding Lingdang smiled and raised her thumb at Wu Mayan, too, but then she changed into a threatening posture, as if she were saying, "Hey, you'd better work hard later, and do not bring shame to your master, or I will teach you a good lesson once we're back!"
The earth hummed and shivered as the Heaven's Artillery began to charge with energy.
Around the silver bowl more than five thousand meters in diameter that was deeply embedded underground, rounds of spiritual stripes were shining one after another, as if an enormous swirl was reaching the bottom of the bowl while revolving at a higher and higher speed.
But the highest command center from the capital city suddenly sent a request for an urgent conversation.
Ding Lingdang was slightly dazed. She activated the 3D light beam, and the person who showed up on the light beam was quite out of her expectations—it was Jin Xinyue.
Jin Xinyue no longer had the calmness and confidence that she had when the 'Dim Moon Plan' was just drafted and initiated as if everything was under her control.
Her hair was messy, her face was pale, and her eyes were full of helplessness. In great embarrassment, she hesitated for a long time before she finally opened her mouth. "Masteress…"
Ding Lingdang eyed the little witch up and down for a long time. Then she chuckled and said, "You're calling me 'Masteress' again? Not 'Madam Ding', 'Representative Ding', or 'President Ding'?"
Jin Xinyue was so mortified that she did not know what to say anymore. She simply lowered her head deeper.
"Forget it. I have a lot of shortcomings. I'm rude, rash, impatient, and sometimes simpleminded despite my strength, but I am never a petty person!" Ding Lingdang waved her hands reassuringly. "Director Guo has told me all the truth. Since you didn't really betray the federation, and the so-called 'terror attacks' of the CFIA were merely accidents during production, you have proven that you never broke the boundary of the Cultivators. Is there any reason for me to reproach you?"
Jin Xinyue was overjoyed. When she raised her head, her eyes were already filled with tears. "But—But I was very likely deceived by the enemy, which caused us to fall into such a disadvantageous situation. Do you really not blame me, Masteress?"
"You are a smart person, but smart people tend to suffer from their own smartness. None of the people who are fooled think that they are fools." Ding Lingdang changed the topic. "With everything coming to this, will it help even if I do blame you? Since you are still willing to call me masteress, then, let your masteress clean the mess for you in the stupidest way!"
"Masteress…" Jin Xinyue's eyes were red.
"Hey, hey, hey. You did not call me just to give an apology, did you?" Ding Lingdang frowned and rubbed her arm hard. "I'm getting goosebumps. When I watch movies, such clichés always make me feel awkward. If everything's alright, I'll hang up now!"
"Wait!" Jin Xinyue yelled in a hurry. "There's still something important that I need to tell you. My 'Dim Moon Plan' isn't so simple. We still have a secret weapon that is installed on a carrier. It is a super bomb excavated from Kunlun!
"I didn't know that the Black Wind Fleet had seen through my scheme. The original plan was that my 'demon rebellion troops' would join the main force of the Black Wind Fleet and try to move the carrier with the super bomb near to Black Swirl, the enemy's flagship. It would be best if the carrier could be attached to Black Swirl. Once the bomb exploded, it would be possible for Black Swirl to be entirely blown up!
"After the flagship was gone and the leadership of the Black Wind Fleet died, the Black Wind Fleet would immediately fall apart because of the lack of organization!"
Chapter 1803: Wormhole Bomb |
Ding Lingdang was slightly dazed. "I have never seen 'Black Swirl' with my own eyes, but I've boarded Burning Prairie, the flagship of the Burning Prairie Fleet, and even performed a drill of 'invasion and denial' with it before.
"For every starship that is qualified to serve as the flagship of a Deep Sky Fleet, the plate armor, defense ability, and damage control system must be most perfect. Take Burning Prairie for example. Even I might not necessarily be able to break into it with a Colossus. Black Swirl, as the flagship of the expedition army of the Imperium, will only be sturdier than Burning Prairie. What kind of bomb can possibly blow it up entirely?"
"It may be inappropriate to call it a 'bomb'," Jin Xinyue replied. "It is in fact a space jump unit that we discovered in the debris of a Nuwa warship in Kunlun. The Nuwa warship must've used it to break the void and perform space jumps, but when it was unearthed, it was already riddled with holes and fragile because of millenniums of corrosion in the air.
"We thought about dismantling the device for studies to build up our own space jump technology, but its core was too sophisticated, and it was highly unsteady due to the corrosion, to the point that it might completely fall apart with one careless move. Except for scanning, there wasn't really anything we could do about it.
"In the end, the space jump unit was transferred to the Secret Sword Bureau and studied by Director Guo and me. We did not analyze it with the traditional technology employed in the maintenance of magical equipment but adopted synthesized biochemical neurons of the Blood Demon Sector. We connected the internal components of the device with soft, synthesized nerves and cleaned the rusted rune arrays with a special bacterium that feeds on rust.
"Even so, it was too seriously damaged to be dismantled or duplicated. The only function it had left was to be activated once. Therefore, we modified it into a special bomb!"
Ding Lingdang widened her eyes. "I don't see the connection between a space jump unit and a super bomb."
"It's very simple," Jin Xinyue quickly explained. "The device was supposed to drive a Nuwa warship to perform a super long-distance jump. The activation speed, distance of the jump, and effective range of the device are far larger than the counterparts on our starships. It is safe to say that once it is activated, the device will instantly create an enormous bubble almost a hundred kilometers in diameter centered around itself and teleport all the materials inside the 'bubble' somewhere else. No material can escape the teleportation."
Ding Lingdang frowned. "Where would they be teleported to?"
"That is the key." Jin Xinyue waved her fists and declared in delight, "We don't know! The navigation and stabilization system of the device have been completely wrecked. The only function left is 'teleportation'. According to the specialists of the Secret Sword Bureau and the Dim Moon Fund, once activated, it will perform a random teleportation and deliver the materials inside the 'bubble' to random coordinates in the vast sea of stars. There is a 99.99% likelihood that they will reach a certain area far away from the radiation of the civilization of mankind, which is barren, desolate, and devoid of spiritual energy.
"Or even better, because the stabilization rune arrays are seriously damaged, too, it is possible that accidents will occur during the teleportation. The materials to be teleported will be disintegrated into the most fundamental atoms and scattered across the entire universe evenly!
"Think about it, Masteress. If such a 'super teleportation' happens to Black Swirl, even the most powerful disruptive force field, spiritual shield, and multiple layers of plate armor will not be able to resist the violent space-time ripples. The flagship of the Imperium's expedition army will be torn to shreds!
"Even if the carrier cannot come into contact with Black Swirl, it will do as long as the distance is less than twenty kilometers. In fact, the effect may be even better in such a case. The 'bubble' will be like an invisible mouth that bites Black Swirl. As long as more than thirty percent of the body is 'bitten off', even the most remarkable damage control system will be rendered useless."
Ding Lingdang understood it.
A space jump was the most dangerous thing in universal cruise.
The established idea was that the more accurate the destination and the steadier the process, the better.
Therefore, although they had retrieved a lot of space jump units from the Nuwa warships on Kunlun and performed a lot of studies, they had yet to build up their own relevant technology with the new knowledge because such technology was too critical and dangerous!
Jin Xinyue, on the other hand, had chosen the opposite approach. Since the space jump unit of the Nuwa Clan was irrecoverable, and accuracy and steadiness could not be ensured, she simply tried to improve the dangerousness of the device and turn it into a super bomb that would smash the enemy.
Once it succeeded, it would create a new wormhole near Black Swirl. It was a super wormhole bomb!
Ding Lingdang laughed. "So, this is the trump card that made you bold enough to carry out the 'Dim Moon Plan'!"
Jin Xinyue, however, found it difficult to laugh. "Yes. The super bomb was supposed to be my trump card. I even screened out several hundred elite warriors from the Blood Demon Sector to form a daring team that would march into the core of the Black Wind Fleet no matter the cost and detonate the bomb. They would make the greatest contribution to the federation on behalf of the demon race.
"I didn't know that Heiye Ming had seen through my scheme a long time ago. After the Black Wind Fleet arrived at the Heaven's Origin Sector, they did not give the rebel demon troops any chance to approach. The few carriers that moved toward them at the beginning were turned into sieves. Naturally, the carrier that carried the bomb did not dare draw close.
"Although the 'radius of absolute destruction' of the bomb is quite large after it is activated, the carrier itself does not boast any combat ability. The defense ability of the vehicle is weak, too. Given the circumstances now, it has no chance to approach the core of the Black Wind Fleet without being completely blown up at all!"
"So…" Ding Lingdang began.
Jin Xinyue gritted her teeth and said, "We haven't figured out a way to detonate it at a close distance yet. There isn't much I can do on the ground now. I've decided to go to the battlefield near the No. 1 space gate to command the demon team and 'Moth', which is carrying the super bomb. I hope that your troop of Colossi and the elites of the Burning Prairie Fleet that arrive later can rip open a gap and cover 'Moth' to fly to 'Black Swirl'!
"The specific battle plan is still being drafted by the advisors and analysts in the highest command center. It will be sent over after it is done, but I wanted to tell you about it first personally. I…"
She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. Then, she looked Ding Lingdang in the eye. The redness in her eyes was gone, replaced by the resolution and sharpness of the queen of demons. She said, one word after another, "I may have done a lot of wrong things in the past hundred years, but I really never betrayed the federation or did anything that dishonored my master.
"That's all I want to say now. I'll see you in space, Masteress!"
Jin Xinyue stared at Ding Lingdang. She was about to shut down the communication when Ding Lingdang stopped her and said, "Wait a moment."
Jin Xinyue looked at the woman standing in the blowing wind on the Grand Desolate Plateau, somewhat surprised. "Masteress?"
"Since you still consider me as your masteress and you never really betrayed the federation or your master, I believe that there is something you ought to know." Ding Lingdang thought for a moment and said, "A message arrived this morning. There's no telling if it is true. Later, everything was in chaos after the Spiritual Nexus crashed. I never had the chance to speak to you."
Jin Xinyue blinked quickly and grew solemn. "What is it that's so important?"
"Yesterday, Wu Yaxuan's workshop received a crystal suit shipped in from the Dragon Snake Space Zone. It was an Azure Thunder, the very first model he devised independently," Ding Lingdang said. "It is common practice for a broken crystal suit to be sent back to the original manufacturer for maintenance, but after Wu Yaxuan opened the Azure Thunder, he discovered something quite uncanny.
"There were not many serious issues on the surface, but he couldn't repair the crystal suit no matter how he tried, as if somebody had cast a weird spell on the equipment.
"Knowing that he had encountered an expert, Wu Yaxuan wasted no time inviting his master Jiang Shaoyang and his mother Xie Anan to study it together. After the two of them examined the crystal suit carefully, they indeed found the traces of adjustment left by an expert. But… but…"
Even a woman as straightforward as Ding Lingdang hesitated for a moment. Then, with expectation beaming out of her eyes, she softly said, "Jiang Shaoyang and Xie Anan both said that the adjustment was similar to your master's style."
"What!" Jiang Shaoyang shrieked inside the highest command center.
"I don't know much about crystal suit maintenance, but I do know a thing or two about adjustments," Ding Lingdang said. "My feeling is that… they are indeed quite similar.
"But 'similar' is just 'similar'. There are too many refiners in the world. It is not strange for two people to have similar styles. Besides, if your master had indeed returned, why did he go to the chaotic Dragon Snake Space Zone instead of coming back to the Heaven's Origin Sector directly? It is too important an issue to be publicized before everything is figured out. Wouldn't it be the greatest joke if it wasn't him?"
"Then, ask somebody to investigate immediately," Jin Xinyue said in a hurry. "Send someone to the Dragon Snake Space Zone now. Both the Secret Sword Bureau and the Dim Moon Fund have a lot of forces in the Dragon Snake Space Zone. There's no time to worry about them being exposed now. We must get to the bottom of it!"
"As I said, the message only arrived this morning. The whole Heaven's Origin Sector entered the highest battle-preparation state soon after. Later, the Spiritual Nexus crashed, and we were entirely isolated from the outside world. How do you expect us to investigate it?
"I'm telling this because I want you to keep your hope even at the last moment. Maybe your master is fighting side by side with us in his own way somewhere we can't see and will jump out like a thief at the most critical moment!"
Tears were welling up inside Jin Xinyue's eyes again. She nodded heavily. "I—I will not disappoint my master. I won't!"
"He'd better not disappoint me, either, and jump out soon." Rubbing her fists and warming up her body, Ding Lingdang stared at the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau and mumbled, "Otherwise, I will blow up each and every scumbag in the Black Wind Fleet without leaving any for him!"
Chapter 1804: Fury of the Tyrannosaur |
"Heaven's Artillery is to be activated in ten, nine, eight, seven…"
The earth was shaking, the wind was blowing, sand was everywhere, and mystic rays were rising up in every corner. An enormous bud seemed to be blossoming slowly inside the silver bowl. The ivory petals enveloped nine Colossi and almost two thousand Exos. Illuminated by the brightness, everybody became transparent and intangible, as if they were turning into brilliant stars that would stab at the center of the universe.
This was the first time that Ding Lingdang had been launched by the Heaven's Artillery.
Whenever her body was disintegrated, and her brain cells and memory cortexes were unfolded in the four-dimension, redisplaying the past for her, she could not help but recall Li Yao and the place where they first met.
It seemed to be… inside the war memorial museum on Distant Expanse, known as the eternal flagship of the federal army, in the Far East Ocean, when the Nine Elite Universities were admitting students, right?
At that time, she was a girl who had just graduated from college and was about to start working, and Li Yao was nothing more than a silly boy.
Her first impression of the silly boy was that he was quite interesting.
Her second impression was that—she needed to find a way to trick such an interesting, sturdy, silly boy into the Grand Desolate War Institution!
Shua!
The ivory flowers blossomed. The nine Colossi were all as clear as glasses, reflecting the sunlight in colorful ripples. The ripples turned into waves, and the waves gathered into tides. The tides surged and resonated with each other, drawing Ding Lingdang and everybody else into a turbulence made of a billion colors.
Her muscles, veins, nerves, bones, guts, and soul were all shattered in the turbulence!
The distance of teleportation was too short for the launch power of the Heaven's Artillery. Not only was it unnecessary for them to be teleported to another Sector, they did not even reach the edge of the Heaven's Origin Sector.
Therefore, when the weird feeling of 'breaking the void' had just occurred to her, the colorful turbulence around her dispersed before Ding Lingdang enjoyed the feeling in it.
What replaced the colorful turbulence was a profound universe, burning stars, and the flames of starships that were even fiercer than the burning stars.
The teleportation had succeeded!
The astronomical parameters in the Heaven's Origin Sector, at least in the area around the home planet, had all been well documented. The distance of teleportation was quite short, too. A hundred enormous crystal cameras were even helping to lock onto the coordinates of the destination. Therefore, they were teleported to the rear of the Black Wind Fleet precisely, comprising the most vulnerable star beacons and their guardian fleet.
One of the starships of the Black Wind Fleet in front exploded for no good reason when it was not attacked by anything. It was immediately swallowed by a gigantic light ball.
Ding Lingdang was slightly dazed. Then, she realized that it was a rare 'space-time conflict', meaning that an Exo was directly teleported to a critical location on the Imperium's starship, perhaps deeply 'embedded' into the warehouse of crystals, the arsenal, or the engine unit.
When different materials superimposed on the same location, such a powerful 'rejection reaction' was immediately triggered!
The space was too vast a place. Even in a battle of starships that was in a dense battle formation, the distance between starships was still often very far away from each other. The odds of someone directly jumping into the enemy's starship were little to none, almost theoretically impossible.
