Right now, the battlefield had expanded from the 'narrow space zone' with a radius of a million square kilometers to the space beyond hundreds of millions of square kilometers and even deeper.
Although the outcome of the battle had been decided, the dust was far from settled.
The situation right now was somewhat similar to the latter part of the Uranian Ring War. Although the core forces of the Black Wind Fleet were on the brink of collapse, many claw fleets still had the ability to fight, except that they lacked supplies. Some of them were even crazier and more dangerous like wounded animals, ready to jump over the wall in desperation at any moment.
Faced with such unpredictable enemies, the Federation's fleets were not willing to push them too hard, either. They chose to keep the enemy neither too far away nor too close while they kept the psychological attacks nonstop, hoping to come up with an appropriate solution.
That was the feature of a space war. There were no mountains, rivers, or forests in the vacuum of space. There was not even the influence of friction or air resistance. As long as the initial speed was high enough and the momentum was still feeble, they would be able to escape at a high speed.
Not just a few days, even if it took a year and a half, the pursuers might not be able to catch all the fish that escaped. Firefly had been on the run for a thousand years in the past!
Of course, Firefly's escape had been premeditated for a long time. As an enormous deep-space exploration starship in the first place, the starship boasted a perfect ecological cycle and resource recycling system. Also, it had received abundant supplies from the dozens of Sectors along the way. That was why such an incredible voyage could be carried out.
The fleeing starships of the Imperium, on the other hand, were riddled with holes and running out of supplies. Even if they did escape the pursuit of the Federation's starships, because of the extreme shortage of resources, tragedies of cannibalism were inevitable, creating small-scale 'dark forests'. Both the Federation and the people of the Imperium were well aware of that.
The Federation's people took advantage of that to persuade the starships to surrender. They also 'kindly reminded' the members of the Black Wind Fleet who were running together to be wary of each other, fearing that their allies might turn hostile and harvest their starships as supplies.
Perhaps because the Black Wind Fleet had done a lot of such things in the previous space wars, the Federation's psychological attack did work.
Although none of the fugitives were willing to surrender yet, the high-level Immortal Cultivators on some of the starships whose prestige and capability were enough were already talking to the fleet of the Federation.
According to the estimation of the highest command center, few of the Immortal Cultivators would really resist to the end. It would take a long time for all the Immortal Cultivators to reach out and negotiate, and eventually, all the Immortal Cultivators would accept the cruel reality.
The war was far from over. Small-scale hunting wars and interstellar banditry wars would probably last for years to come. The negotiations between the two parties would be another arduous battlefield. But no matter what, the Xing Yao Federation had finally broken free from the whirlpool of destruction and regained the initiative. Li Yao did not need to worry about the details of the subsequent battles and negotiations.
After listening to Ding Ling Dong's explanation, Li Yao let out a long sigh of relief.
He was only concerned about his family, disciples, and friends.
"Fortunately, everybody is safe and sound!"
Ding Ling Dong counted with her fingers and said, "Wu Mayan, Jin Xinyue, Bai Kaixin, Fire Ant, and your senior brother, Fiend Blade Peng Hai. Those are the top experts of the Federation. Although their souls are exhausted and heavily wounded, thankfully, there are no irreversible, fatal wounds. Our medical technology right now is much better than a hundred years ago. They will be fully recovered after a while of rest.
Also, Xie Anan and Guo Chunfeng are on their way to this place on a boat. They are waiting to meet you! "
"That's good."
Li Yao smiled in relief. Then, he suddenly thought of someone. "Right. Before our three Colossi invaded Black Swirl, a starship crashed into it brutally and seriously damaged its internal structure and interfered with its high-speed movement. Judging from its paint, it should be from the Great White Fleet, right? I've met Bai Xingjian, commander of the Great White Fleet. How is he now? "
Li Yao had left a deep impression on Bai Xingjian. The guy was a terrifying existence that could ignite the strongest fighting will in 'Sword Maniac' Yan Liren!
Also, Li Yao and his companions had only slain Heiye Ming and the extraterrestrial devils. The great explosion and the complete disintegration of Black Swirl obviously had nothing to do with them. It was the contribution of the starship of the Great White Fleet and the assault team on the starship.
For some reason, Li Yao felt that Bai Xingjian was rather mysterious and gave him a weird feeling.
He was more and more interested in the guy and decided to have a good competition with Bai Xingjian in a few days so that he could find out more details about the guy.
But out of his expectation, Ding Ling Dong put on a confused and sad expression. She hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes. It was' Infinite Fire ', the flagship of the Great White Fleet.
"Other than the twelve experts of the Ancient Sages Sector, the Great White Fleet was the greatest unexpected factor and contributor to the battle. Had it not been for their unexpected assault and harassment, the space gate of the Black Wind Fleet would've been assembled a long time ago and summoned the enemy's main troops to the Tian Yuan Realm.
"If the enemy's main troops had crushed the elite fleet of the Federation before you arrived, it would've been useless even if you had arrived. With the overwhelming, incessant firepower, the thousands of starships on the enemy's side would've certainly exhausted you to death!
"It is needless to say that at the last moment, Infinite Fire crashed into Black Swirl without caring about its own safety and blew up the enemy's flagship. We were all dumbfounded and didn't see it coming at all!"
Li Yao nodded. "Yes. That's why I want to meet their commander, Bai Xingjian, and see what an extraordinary person he is exactly."
With a bitter smile, Ding Ling Dong shook her head and said, "Everybody in the Union Army and parliament wants to know the answer to that question, but it's impossible because Bai Xingjian has … perished!"
Li Yao was greatly surprised. "What!"
"The explosion of Black Swirl was so intense that Infinite Fire, which was deeply embedded inside its body, was blown into smithereens, too," Ding Ling Dong said. "When we cleaned the battlefield, we searched the area first and found abundant debris of the critical parts of Infinite Fire, which proved that it had completely disintegrated. However, we did not find the bodies of the leadership of the Great White Fleet such as Bai Xingjian. They must've been shattered or even vaporized, right?"
Space wars were extremely cruel. The surging mystic rays and the explosions of starships could raise a temperature of thousands of degrees all the time. Even if a person could not be vaporized, it was very likely that their broken limbs would be blown away to the end of the sea of stars after they were blown apart.
The corpses of ground wars would lie in the craters or ravines dutifully, waiting to be collected and sorted when the battlefield was cleaned. The corpses of space wars would run everywhere. The missing rate of soldiers in the post-war statistics was often hundreds of times higher than in the ground wars.
Under such circumstances, missing equaled to death. Even if one was not killed when they were blown away from the battlefield, after floating in the dark sea of stars for a few days and nights, when the Crystal Suit completely lost the power and the energy to keep it warm, there would be nothing but death for them.
Therefore, the disappearance of Bai Xingjian and the other leadership of the Great White Fleet was not beyond the expectations of the highest command center.
After all, the scale of the explosion on Black Swirl was obvious for everyone to see.
Even though Bai Xingjian boasted the computational and commanding abilities of the Divinity Transformation Stage, he was just a simple commander of a fleet. It was not surprising that he could've survived the explosion of such a scale.
Li Yao, on the other hand, was deeply suspicious.
Nobody knew better than Li Yao how dreadful 'Sword Maniac' Yan Liren's most powerful killing intent of 'a hundred thousand kilometers' was.
However, even such a dreadful 'Sword Maniac' was so interested in Bai Xingjian. Was the highest commander of the Great White Fleet really just an admin-type Cultivator?
"Bai Xingjian, what exactly are you …"
Li Yao mumbled to himself. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the depths of the sea of stars.
In a place where his eyes could not reach, a glittering star was running away at a high speed.
…
At the edge of the Heaven's Origin Galaxy, in the dark, cold space almost two billion kilometers away from the capital planet, a seemingly ragged, lackluster comprehensive supply starship was rushing at a high speed that did not match its ragged appearance, with its back to the capital planet.
The central battlefield was in chaos. Hundreds of starships were fleeing crazily, and thousands of starships were chasing them closely. It was very easy for them to lose contact and direction during the chase and escape, only to move forward on their own just like the comprehensive supply starship.
Therefore, the comprehensive supply starship from the Great White Fleet was like a piece of ice that had been tossed into the ocean. It was inconspicuous and did not deserve any suspicion.
At such a distance, there was not a second starship in the millions of kilometers nearby. Even if it was highly suspected, nobody could catch up with it.
At the rear of the comprehensive command starship, on the deck where the escape capsules were released, dozens of members of the Great White Fleet were stuffed into three escape capsules. Their widened eyes were bloodshot as they roared in confusion, "Commander, what is the meaning of this? What are you doing exactly? We have been loyal to the fleet and the Federation, and we have never flinched in the battle. Why is that? "
"I know."
Outside of the three escape capsules, Bai Xingjian looked at his subordinates who were struggling hard and said with mixed feelings, "In the battle and in the years before, your performance has always been impeccable. You are the best members of the Union Army. To have subordinates like you is the greatest pride of my life.
"Therefore, I have written a recommendation letter with high comments for each of you, listing your specialties and accomplishments. I believe that you will certainly distinguish yourself in your new posts after you return to the Federation. One day, you may even command your own starships and even fleets and become the pillars of the Union Army.
"However, you and I are not the same type of people after all. All good things must come to an end. Now that we have different beliefs, we can only part ways."
Bai Xingjian slowly raised his hands and saluted his subordinates who were blushing and overwhelmed in a standard Union Army salute. Then …
He took off the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars emblem on his military cap, the epaulets on his shoulders, and the special symbol of the highest commander of the fleet on his chest and stuffed them into an escape capsule casually.
"Launch now!"
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