"It's too fast. We can't get rid of it at all!"
"No lightning can persist in a vacuum for such a long time without dying out. What is it exactly?"
"Fuel! More than half of the fuel on my starship is gone, as if it has been swallowed by something invisible! Is it? Is it not just releasing energy but also absorbing our energy? "
"The force field is too unstable. The mainframe crystal processor and a lot of magical equipment units on my starship are all paralyzed!"
The exclamations in the communication channel were louder and louder.
The noises of electric currents were getting sharper and sharper, too, as if a ferocious beast made of electric currents was rubbing its sharp tusks.
Even 'Falcon', where Li Yao was, was pierced through by electric arcs many times. A lot of magical equipment units and control chips were bursting out deep blue flames and dazzling electric sparks. One cabin after another dimmed.
Li Yao himself was pierced through by invisible electric currents.
It was a very weird feeling, as if a sour wind had passed through his limbs and bones and scanned his every vein, nerve, and cell carefully.
The bioelectric currents that were wandering among the nerves and cells were also seen clearly by the lightning.
Li Yao smelled the smell of his burnt hair and felt nauseous.
Right then, an even weirder scene took place.
Not far away from the exploration fleet, the enormous ball of lightning that had been simulated into the appearance of the Dry Wood Fortress suddenly split into almost a hundred clusters of electric currents that were smaller in size. Every cluster of electric currents was jumping and wriggling as if they were alive. Very soon, they formed the long, narrow shape of starships!
They were exactly 'duplicates' of all the starships in the exploration fleet. It was an exploration fleet that was exactly the same as theirs, except that it was made of lightning and was blue in color.
Although smaller in size, they were much faster and more agile. The 'exploration fleet' made of torrents of lightning attacked the real exploration fleet from all directions, like haunting ghosts that were looking for a 'substitute' to arrive at the real world!
"Calm down and think carefully. They are definitely not intelligent lives in the real sense. They must have weaknesses and loopholes. Otherwise, Lu Qingchen couldn't have escaped after discovering them and set up such a fatal trap!"
Looking at the army of lightning that was drawing closer and closer, Li Yao bit his lips so hard that blood zigzagged out of his mouth, only to be burnt into smoke by the electric arcs very soon. His eyes were bloodshot, and his eye sockets were almost exploding. He mumbled nervously, "It is not an intelligent life. It is just an unconscious imitation. How exactly does it lock onto the 'prey'? It seems to be particularly sensitive to all kinds of energy. Could it be …"
Li Yao's pupils suddenly expanded to the maximum.
Through the fuzzy pictures that were captured by an insignificant probe camera, he discovered something very strange.
The starship that was unfortunately swept by the super torrents of lightning at the beginning had completely lost its spiritual shield and power output. It was paralyzed in the vacuum like a cold iron coffin.
However, although it was right next to the raging 'electric devil', the super torrents of lightning did not touch it at all, showing no intention of completely ripping it apart.
Li Yao even saw quite a few bolts of lightning that were as thick as boas brushing past the paralyzed starship, but they were not interested in moving their 'claws' at it at all. They simply ignored it.
He then thought of Lu Qingchen's series of actions, including the weird spiritual waves that he released to entangle all the starships of the exploration fleet at the cost of two Supreme Fortresses and left some sort of 'mark' on their spiritual shields.
"Let's assume that the terrifying torrents of plasma are indeed some sort of weird 'life', which is entirely different from the regular carbon-based life in that it does not have any facial organs and naturally does not have vision. Hearing in a vacuum is meaningless, too. It is very likely that it is scanning and locking onto its prey with spiritual waves."
Li Yao's eyes suddenly shone. "Therefore, as long as we conceal all the spiritual waves …"
BOOM!
Falcon was hit by the plasma again. There was suddenly nothing but darkness around. It was not until a long time later that the dim green light of the emergency lights was turned on.
There was no time to think. Every bloodshot vein in Li Yao's eyes was bouncing like lightning. Thinking quickly, he went through the battle plan in his head. After confirming that there was a 30% chance of success, he gritted his teeth and jumped into the Colossus that had just been repaired.
"Turn off the spiritual shield!"
Hardly had he turned on the communication channel for everybody in the Colossus when he shouted at the top of his voice, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Ding Ling Dong, Boss Bai, Long Yangjun, Lei Chenghu, and everybody else, there is no time for explanations. Turn off the spiritual shield, the force field, and the power output immediately. Turn off all the units on your starships that release the slightest spiritual waves. Ask everybody to conceal their spiritual energy and lock their pores. Turn your starships into cold iron coffins. Hurry up!"
"…"
There was a brief silence in the communication channel. Then, Li Linghai's surprised voice came over. "But we are in the middle of a surging stone belt!"
In the gravity circle of 'Gu Shisan' and the highly unstable stone belts, every meteorite the size of a grain of sand carried as much kinetic energy and damage as the giant cannons of the starships when they were accelerated to the maximum. Only by relying on the spiritual shield and the force field could the kinetic energy be neutralized or 'thrown' away.
Turning off the spiritual shield and the force field meant resisting the torrent of meteorites with the plate armor. In the meantime, Li Yao asked them to cut off the power output, which meant that they could not even dodge the meteorites at all. They could only watch the infinite shower of meteorites hitting their faces overwhelmingly.
However hard the composite plate armor of the starships was, how long could it withstand the bombardment?
In such a dangerous environment, as long as one meteorite pierced through the plate armor, it would be a catastrophe.
"I know, but we don't have a choice."
His eyes bloodshot, Li Yao gnashed his teeth. "Haven't you noticed that this … 'lightning life' searches for targets by energy waves? It is exactly because Lu Qingchen detonated the two Supreme Battle Fortresses and created the most intense energy ripples near our battlefield that it considered it a 'hunting area'. In the meantime, the spiritual shield, the force field, and the exhaust flames of our starships are all releasing energy to the outside world incessantly. It is almost as stupid as dancing and roaring in a soundless dark forest!
"It is a body of pure energy, and its speed is much higher than ours. If the stalemate goes on, even if we activate all our defense magical equipment to the maximum, the spiritual shield and the force field will be blown up by it. Why don't we take a chance?"
"How do we take a chance?"
Boss Bai joined the discussion. His voice was unprecedentedly solemn. "If we turn off the spiritual shield and the force field, we can only persist for half an hour to an hour in such a violent stone belt. If all the power is cut off, it will be impossible for us to escape at all. We will be like dry leaves in a surging tide that can only drift with the current. Won't we be broken into pieces in the end?
"Do you want to take a chance that it will perish or retreat in half an hour?
"If it were regular lightning, half an hour would be enough for it to release all the energy. But for this … weird torrent of plasma, I really don't want to take a chance!"
"Of course, we have to take a chance."
Li Yao's lips curled high, putting on a smile that was so confident that it was almost crazy. "However, I never like to ask other people to throw the dice. It is not my style to wait for the enemy to retreat. I want to throw the dice in person!
"Listen, what we are going to do next is of paramount importance. Listen to my arrangement, which will decide everybody's life and death and even the fate of the entire civilization!
"Next, turn off all the units, spiritual shield, force field, power units, external communication, and even the artificial gravity and life-support systems inside the starships immediately to make sure that no spiritual waves will spread out. Ask all the crew members to put on the Mustard Suit and the Crystal Suit and survive with the compressed oxygen. Boss Bai, just like you did in the ambush in the Blue Sky Space Zone, turn yourselves into cold meteoroids and do not even let out half a fart.
"I know that the environment here is ten thousand times harsher than the Blue Sky Space Zone. Once the spiritual shield and the power output are turned off, you will be swept away by the torrent of materials released by 'Gu Shisan' at any moment and blown to an unknown place. But it can't be helped. You have to hold on for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Even if the starships are riddled with holes, and even if someone is heavily wounded in the scourge of meteoroids, you must not move!
"In the meantime, I'll figure out a way to distract the super plasma torrent to a certain safe distance. Then, you will turn on your spiritual shield and power units and march into the entrance of the Supreme Emperor's mausoleum at full speed.
"I estimate that, since Lu Qingchen was willing to sacrifice all the five Supreme Fortresses to set up the trap, he must've entered the Supreme Emperor's mausoleum with light equipment. You must seize every second to capture him. He has completely lost his mind and sacrificed all the Supreme Fortresses without blinking. He is capable of even the most inhumane things. He must not be allowed to control the core forces of the Supreme Emperor's mausoleum!"
"Li Yao, you are going to distract it?"
Ding Ling Dong's voice joined in. "You are out of your mind. Those things are at least a thousand kilometers in diameter. They are like tiny suns with a core temperature of at least ten thousand degrees. Once you are swallowed by them, you will immediately be obliterated. Even half of your telepathic thoughts will not be able to escape!"
"I know, but I don't have a better solution. We will be killed if we hide here. We might as well take a chance."
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