Chapter 312: The Most Thorough Occupation
Nearly four hundred thousand warships, under Xiao Yu's control, had formed a vast net between the Level 4 Alien Beast and the planet. This net would provide the most solid protection for the world. Xiao Yu would never allow something else to destroy the cake he had already claimed as his own.
The remaining hundred thousand or so warships stayed together with the Beijing, still stationed behind the moon. Not deploying the Beijing in battle was naturally a precaution, Xiao Yu would always place his own safety above everything else.
"Despicable technological civilization! I will destroy this planet. Do you think you have the power to stop me?"
Amid the tense standoff, the Level 4 Alien Beast transmitted a message. Xiao Yu, however, modified it completely before broadcasting it to the journalists inside the Qingdao.
After Xiao Yu's embellishments, the message became.
"Trolor! I come bearing annihilation and death, emerging from the abyss to bestow this planet with destruction! I will turn every living creature into my food, transform the soil and rock into my bones, and make every river churn as blood within my veins. Do you believe you can stop me?"
Upon hearing this message, all the journalists erupted in collective outrage and fervor.
"The demon has declared war on the True God! That damned demon, our True God will surely grant it death!"
"The demon will never succeed! The True God will never fail!"
This message, too, was carried over Xiao Yu's communications link, spreading down to the planet's surface, and ultimately entering the ears of most of this world's intelligent beings.
At this moment, the number of viewers watching this live broadcast had reached nine billion, fully ninety percent of the intelligent population. Without question, it was the highest-rated broadcast in the planet's history.
After hearing the message, countless curses, prayers, and sobs erupted from every corner of the world. Countless eyes were fixed on this place, on Xiao Yu's fleet.
"This is the world I created, these are my children. Demon, you should remain in the abyss. You were never meant to emerge again. Five hundred thousand years ago, I defeated you. And five hundred thousand years later, I can still defeat you."
After the demon's so-called declaration of war, Xiao Yu's deep, righteous voice resonated in the ears of all the intelligent beings. Hearing these words, they once again wept with relief and devotion. In places Xiao Yu could not see, untold multitudes were prostrating themselves in reverence.
In truth, Xiao Yu's actual response had been.
"I don't have the power to kill you, but you also lack the power to break through my defenses. Listen to me, there is no deep enmity between us. Just leave and never return to harass me again. Focus on developing yourself instead of wasting time on this meaningless conflict."
"Killing you is my business," the Level 4 Alien Beast replied. Then its enormous body suddenly contracted and shot downward like a meteor.
Its reaction was quick, Xiao Yu's was quicker. Countless shells and death beams wove together into a massive net. Many small ships, without hesitation, rammed themselves straight into it in true suicidal assaults.
These suicide ships were loaded with vast quantities of antimatter. When they collided with the creature and were destroyed, the antimatter was released. The moment it met normal matter, it triggered an extraordinarily violent explosion.
Fully four hundred thousand ships were there to block its advance.
"Look, everyone! The demon is trying to break through the True God's defensive line! It's trying to reach our planet! My god, this is truly terrifying! Thank goodness, thank goodness the True God's ships have held back its attack. Praise the True God!"
This thrilling scene was swiftly transmitted down to the surface. In fact, from the moment they first laid eyes on that Level 4 Alien Beast, the intelligent beings had already grasped just how disastrous it would be if it truly reached their planet unimpeded. When they saw the creature launch its assault on Xiao Yu's defensive line, their hearts leapt into their throats. It was only after witnessing that defense successfully withstand the attack that they finally felt a little relief.
"If only I'd already mastered the technology to miniaturize the negative matter cannons, I'd have killed it long ago," Xiao Yu thought irritably. "The resources here are abundant, so I don't need to hurry away. I'll have to remain stationed here for at least a few centuries to digest all the technology I've acquired and to build various ships. Hmm… I'll build another large negative matter cannon, one with the same power output as the Stellar Cannon. When it's ready, a single shot will blast this thing to pieces so it stops meddling with me."
At that moment, tens of thousands of kilometers above the planet, the battle was still raging. The Qingdao was observing quietly from a distance. Inside the Qingdao, thousands of journalists were hauling cameras, and anchors were holding microphones as they broadcasted the scene live from space.
Down on the surface, viewers' moods shifted constantly as the footage and commentary poured in. To them, it was like watching the latest blockbuster film about interstellar war, except that the outcome of this movie was directly tied to their own fate.
"The True God is all-powerful. The True God never fails, right?"
"Yes, the True God will surely defeat the demon, protect us, and grant us a life of peace and tranquility…"
After Xiao Yu descended under the name of Trolor, the creator god of this planet's legends, the temples that worshipped Trolor had become some of the most popular gathering places. At that moment, in one such temple on the outskirts of the city, a dense crowd packed every bit of floor space, all watching the live broadcast on the giant screen at the front. A cleric was answering the faithful's questions with absolute confidence.
"The True God comes accompanied by light. He can turn night into day and send the demon back to its lair. Leave the demon to the True God. What we must do is to worship the True God with pure devotion, to serve the True God, to follow the True God's guidance…"
The cleric's resounding voice echoed through the temple. The gathered worshippers all wore solemn expressions. When the cleric finished speaking, they all prostrated themselves on the ground, murmuring Trolor's name under their breath.
On the giant screen at the front, the battle was entering its most intense phase. The journalists acting as commentators spoke with rising urgency.
"A massive ship, at least four hundred meters long and over a hundred meters wide, was just destroyed by the demon! That ship was larger than our biggest aircraft carrier! What unimaginable power does this demon possess? But thankfully, in the True God's fleet, there are tens of thousands of ships of this class. For now, it seems the True God still holds the advantage. Ah, look! In the shockwave from the explosion, it seems the demon was also injured! Dozens of its tentacles were blown clean off!"
"Damn it, another County-Class ship was destroyed."
At that moment, Xiao Yu's heart was filled with rage.
Even though this was still outer space, because they were close enough to the planet, and because those severed tentacles lacked sufficient initial velocity, once they detached from the Level 4 Alien Beast's body, they quickly began falling toward the planet's surface.
Those cylindrical objects, each ten meters in diameter and nearly a hundred meters long, now plummeted down like meteors. No one knew where they would land, or whether they might crush a few intelligent beings on impact.
On the planet's surface, in the central district of its most prosperous city, there stood a colossal building at least several hundred meters tall. In one of its rooms, the planet's most powerful individual, the president, was watching the live broadcast with a tense expression, accompanied by several high-ranking officials.
"Mr. President, this technological civilization seems to possess extraordinary power. A preliminary report from the Academy of Sciences has just come in. The conclusion is that if we continued developing at our current pace, and ignored the possibility of technological bottlenecks, it would take us about five thousand more years to reach this level of capability," one official murmured after taking a phone call.
The president's brow furrowed deeply. "That means nothing. All the Academy's report demonstrates is one thing, we don't have the strength to oppose this civilization, correct?"
"At present, that's correct," the official replied.
Another official added, "The Institute of Psychology and Inference has also completed their analysis. Their conclusion is that there's insufficient data. They cannot determine whether Trolor's words are true or false. But in combination with the Academy's findings, they believe there's a high probability that Trolor really did awaken our ancestors' intelligence five hundred thousand years ago."
"I see…" The president's brow knitted even tighter. "What is the Joint General Staff's recommendation?"
That official hesitated, then said, "Submit. No matter what its true motives are, submit to it. We have to admit, through the recent miracles and this confrontation with the demon, it has already won the absolute loyalty of at least eighty percent of the populace. Even if it ordered them to commit suicide, they would do it without hesitation."
"So… in other words, it has, without shedding a drop of blood, without any violent measures, carried out the most thorough occupation of our planet? It hasn't resorted to any coercion at all, yet our people have chosen to place complete trust in it, complete obedience…"