Somewhere in the frontlines of the Kunde Race, the remnants of the Kunde Race's main fleet were slowly cruising through the universe.
Not long ago, this fleet, which was codenamed 'Sea Flag', had experienced a fierce battle and been ambushed by a dynasty general. The command ship and the guards had fought with their lives and escaped with their lives.
There were only twenty-odd battleships left beside the command ship, and the other battleships had either been destroyed or scattered.
The Sea Flag fleet belonged to the Third Space Corps of the Kunde Race, and the commander of this fleet was the famous general of the Third Corps, Oliert. He was known as the future star of the Third Corps. A few years ago, the marshal of the Third Corps had reached the age of retirement, and Oliert was seen as the first candidate for the position.
However, because they had received information about the fallen spaceship, the upper echelons had made the decision to delay the retirement of all the officers, and this matter had been delayed.
At this moment, the Sea Flag fleet, which had just suffered a defeat, was moving stealthily while waiting for the next order from the command center.
In the bridge of the command ship, the atmosphere was silent and dejected. Everyone was immersed in the sorrow of losing a battle and losing their comrades.
Oliert stood silently in front of the porthole, leaving his back view for all the operators and adjutant in the room. The color of the shell on his body was a mixture of sorrowful green and angry red.
In the previous battle, he had been led by the nose by the enemy commander, and he was a part of the reason why they had lost the battle.
Everyone knew that the commander was the one under the most pressure and did not dare disturb him.
The adjutant hesitated for a long time before walking to Oliert's side and saying softly, "Sir, we …"
"There's no need to say anymore."
Oliert turned around, and his body gradually turned back to a calm blue color. "This is not my personal failure but the failure of the civilization foundation. I did not lose to the enemy but to the entire civilization."
Oliert knew that his ability as a commander could not be compared to the dynasty's general, but he felt that it was not just a matter of personal ability but also the foundation of the civilization.
During the fight, he had made the most delicate operation and decision he had ever made. He believed that his performance this time could even be used as an important lesson in the military academy. However, what shocked him was that the enemy's reaction was unbelievably fast. The enemy saw through his arrangement almost instantly. It was like two sides playing chess, and the enemy saw through the backup plan he had racked his brains to set up ten steps away. It was as if the enemy had memorized the chess book.
Encountering such an opponent was a heavy blow to the commander's confidence.
This did not mean that Oliert's standards were lacking. In fact, he could already be considered a Famed General by the standards of the Kunde Race. The reason for this was that the abilities of the dynasty's Famed Generals were far superior to his, but the deeper reason was the difference in the foundation of their civilization.
The rise of the three Universal Civilizations was accompanied by the cries of countless races. They walked step by step through the flames of war, and all the war cases were written in the curriculum of the military academy. Therefore, no matter what situation the officers encountered, they could instantly come up with a corresponding solution. Their thinking was more flexible.
On the other hand, the Kunde Race had far too little experience in galactic wars, and the number of battles they had was far from comparable to the dynasty. All of the strategies used by their officers were old strategies that had been eliminated many years ago.
After fighting in actual combat, Oliert was pessimistic. He could not see the possibility of winning the war at all, and the defeat of the various fleets was the best proof.
In fact, he was not the only one. Different from the radical views of the Kunde Race's upper echelons, the soldiers fighting on the frontlines all had pessimistic views of this war.
They were angry that their homeland was being targeted by the enemy, but they did not feel that sacrificing themselves in this war was necessary. However, military orders were absolute, and the orders of the upper echelons were the will of the soldiers.
Oliert sighed inwardly and put away his pessimistic thoughts. He looked at his adjutant and asked in a deep voice, "What's the matter?
"Has the command been sent over?"
"Er … it was just sent over. He wants us to wait here and recover the scattered fleets. We will then gather with the main fleet of the Third Army and plan a round of attacks on the enemy's stargate."
Upon hearing this, Oliert slammed the table and said in anger, "Bullsh * t! Why aren't we retreating? Has the command center really gone mad? "
We've just been scattered, and we still want to stay in this dangerous area to find our old troops? Do you think the enemy won't chase after us?
Furthermore, our main fleet has already been defeated to such an extent, and we still want to forcefully gather and attack the enemy's stargate? This is akin to sending us to our deaths!
Many of the officers in the room felt that there was something wrong with this tactical arrangement, but they did not dare voice their anger. They all stared at Oliert and waited for the commander's decision.
Oliert paced back and forth before suppressing his anger and saying, "Contact the marshal. I want to ask him personally what's going on with this decision!"
The adjutant nodded and immediately acted. A communication interface popped up on the virtual screen. After waiting for a few seconds, the other party picked up, and the figure of the Third Army marshal appeared on the screen.
"Oliert, I heard that you were attacked. Thankfully, you're still alive."
"It's partly because of luck." Oliert calmed himself down and said, "I received orders from the command center. We're planning to attack the enemy's stargate?"
"Yes, this is the command center's order."
"Don't you think there's a problem? The battle has already deviated from the original plan. We shouldn't continue fighting. That will only cause more troops to be sacrificed. "
"I know. I also think that it's time to retreat. I'm currently negotiating with the upper echelons. Before that, listen to the orders first."
Upon hearing this, Oliert fell silent and hung up.
The adjutant carefully asked, "Sir, what should we do now?"
Oliert glanced at him and suddenly said, "How many battleships do we have left?"
"Uh, twenty-four."
"Gather all the captains and pull them into the communication channel."
Hearing this, everyone immediately took action. Oliert stood in place with his hands behind his back and waited for a while. Instantly, one image after another appeared on the screen. They were all the remaining captains.
This time, Oliert made a hand gesture and slowly said, "Remember this.
I'll only say what I'm going to say next once … "
He gave a bunch of meaningless encouragement and repeated the command center's order. During this process, he kept making all sorts of hand gestures. All the captains stared at him intently.
"Alright, that's all I have to say. Everyone, get moving."
Finally, Oliert put down his hand and ended his speech.
The images of the captains on the screen dimmed one after another.
At this time, the adjutant looked at another command screen and exclaimed, "Sir, all the captains have turned off their artificial intelligence cores and blocked all external information. We can't contact them!"
However, Oliert had already expected this. He calmly nodded and said, "Very good. Turn off the artificial intelligence cores of our spaceships as well."
Everyone was shocked. They suddenly understood something and could not believe it.
Did this mean … they were going to become deserters?
"This, this …"
The adjutant was stunned.
Oliert glared at him, and his tone suddenly became stern. "Why aren't you going?"
The adjutant hesitated for a moment but still ran off to make the arrangements. Very soon, he got someone to turn off the artificial intelligence cores of the command ship.
This way, the remnants of this Sea Flag fleet became a ghost fleet that had lost contact with the outside world.
Oliert slowly exhaled, looked at the confused people around him, and explained, "Sorry, this is all for the sake of caution. If I'm not wrong, our quantum network has been completely infiltrated by the enemy."
As soon as this was said, everyone was shocked.
Glancing around, Oliert slowly said, "I know the Marshal very well. He's a rigid soldier who would never question the orders of the higher-ups. Although we're in a critical period now and everyone can change, we can't let go of any suspicious points. I suspect that the person just now wasn't the Marshal at all.
The enemy has very likely infiltrated our command system. I don't need to explain the consequences. Thus, the war is already over, and I can no longer follow their orders. We can only save ourselves now. The hand signals I gave just now were a special signal that only a few people know about. I got all the captains to cut off the connection. From now on, we can only rely on ourselves. "
Everyone was dumbfounded by these words. They were unable to accept such a huge amount of information, and their minds went blank.
The adjutant clenched his teeth and mustered up his courage. "Sir, this is desertion!"
However, Oliert was not angry and glanced at him coldly.
"This is a battle that we will definitely lose. No matter what you think, I will not send my remaining subordinates to the battlefield to sacrifice themselves. Desertion? No, maybe we are the last survivors of the Kunde Race. "
"Then, where should we go now?"
"As far away from here as possible."
Oliert looked out of the porthole and into the depths of space.
…
"I feel that there might be a problem with the route."
In a cramped spaceship room, a few Kunde Race members in ordinary clothes were gathered in a circle.
This was one of the spaceships in the migration fleet, and it was filled with civilians. Most of them were uneasy and confused about the future, and the atmosphere was gloomy.
Due to the large population, every spaceship had a group of civilians squeezed into a room. The people in this room were all brothers who were born in the same nest and were related to each other by blood.
"Big brother, what did you discover?" a short brother asked.
The big brother of this group of brothers was a burly mantis shrimp.
He said in a low voice, "I have a friend who is a crew member on the guide ship. He told me some insider information. According to the plan, the fleet should have arrived at a planet yesterday for a short rest. However, they did not encounter any planets yesterday, and the fleet has been moving."
"Could they have changed the plan? Why don't you ask your friend again? "
"I haven't been able to contact my friend," the big brother said with a deep voice. "I feel that there might be something wrong."
"Big brother, could it be that you're too sensitive? If there's a problem, the higher-ups will definitely inform us."
"I have a bad feeling, but I can't put my finger on it." The big brother shook his head.
"Sigh, what's the point of thinking so much? We can't help anyway. Let's just listen to the fleet's arrangements," one of the brothers said casually.
Right at this moment, the youngest brother beside him suddenly said, "Big brother is right. There's a problem with the route of the fleet. We're going back the way we came."
Hearing that, everyone looked at him.
"Don't spout nonsense. How did you find out?"
The little brother pointed at the porthole. Everyone looked over and saw that there was a simple graffiti on the porthole. It was a series of circles drawn from the smallest to the largest. At this moment, there was a planet outside the window that perfectly fit into one of the circles in the middle.
Seeing that, everyone's expression changed.
Living in the same house, no one had any secrets. Some time ago, a planet appeared in the fleet's vision, and the little brother used a paintbrush to draw the outline of the planet on the porthole every day. The circles changed from small to large, then from large to small. It changed every day, representing the distance.
At this moment, this planet's outline actually overlapped with the one a few days ago. Everyone understood what this meant.
"I'll go ask!"
Seeing that, the big brother could not sit still anymore, and everyone hurriedly followed behind.
The group hurriedly passed through the back half of the cabin, which was as crowded as a refugee camp, and came to the middle part of the cabin. They found a few soldiers on the ship and reported the situation.
"You said there's a problem with the route?" A soldier picked his ear and said impatiently, "This is not something you should be worried about. What are you worrying about?"
"It's true. I can show you the evidence. I …"
"Alright, alright." The soldier waved his hand. "The guiding ship has a star map. If it really deviates from the route, it will definitely adjust immediately. You guys just go back and wait."
The big brother had no choice but to take his brothers back and wait.
However, after three consecutive days, they stared at the graffiti on the porthole every day and found that the fleet was still going back the way they came. There was no adjustment at all.
The big brother contacted the friend who leaked the information every day, and only on the third day did he contact the other party. However, the other party's answer made his heart sink.
"You said we deviated from the route? No, no, no, our star map shows that the route is completely correct … We didn't encounter the supply planet I mentioned? Oh, this is a long-distance observation error. The star map is not very accurate. We have already reported it to the higher-ups, and they have updated our star map. There is no problem now … What graffiti record? Hmm, you guys might have made a mistake. That is a new planet marked on the updated star map, not the one we saw before. Anyway, the navigation device here shows that the route has been moving forward. "
The big brother turned off the communicator with a cold face and was silent for a long time.
Suddenly, he seemed to have made up his mind. He said, "Do you guys believe me or the higher-ups?"
The brothers looked at each other and hesitated.
"What do you want to do?" The little brother could not help but ask.
"My intuition is getting stronger and stronger. There must be a problem. Maybe the higher-ups are sending us into the fire pit." The big brother lowered his voice. "I don't want to stay on the spaceship anymore. I am going to steal supplies and escape pods. We will escape on our own."
"Are you crazy?!"
Someone was stunned. "This is suicide. The fleet will definitely catch us. Even if we succeed, the stolen supplies will be used up sooner or later. There will be no food, no fuel. What will we do when the time comes? Also, do you have a star map? Without a star map, how are we going to escape? "
"I can get the star map and access to the escape pods from my friend. As for supplies … the medium escape pods have complete facilities. As long as we reach the planet, we can use the collector to replenish the fuel inventory. It will be enough for us to use for many years. To solve the food problem, we will need greenhouse incubators, crop seeds, and nutrient paste makers. These things can be obtained on the spaceship. During the incubation period, we can hibernate in the cryogenic chamber. " The big brother said in a low voice, "I have been thinking about the escape route for the past three days. This is not a decision I made on the spot."
Everyone still shook their heads.
Leaving the main group of people to build a new home, a few of them running to the unknown universe to survive?
Just thinking about it made them feel that this plan was too crazy!
"I will go with you." At this time, the little brother stood up and shrugged. "Big brother, you know me. I don't like to be bound by rules. Since I have left my home, I do not intend to continue living a stable life of following the crowd. The universe is so big. I want to see it for myself. You can say that I like to take risks and seek excitement, but count me in."
The big brother nodded and looked at the other brothers. "I know that everyone has their concerns. The universe is too big. If there are only a few of us, this will touch the deepest loneliness and fear in our hearts. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in the end, but I do not want to wait passively. I will not force everyone to go with me."
The little brother hesitated for a while and said, "Big brother, I will go with you. You are the person I trust the most. I believe in your judgment."
Hearing this, more people wavered.
Someone shook his head helplessly. "Sigh, forget it. Let's go. From the moment we left our home, I will treat this life as dead. So what if we take a little more risk? We are brothers. We cannot be separated."
This group of brothers had grown up together and were already used to sticking together. After some hesitation, everyone finally agreed with the big brother's plan. Miraculously, after making up their minds, the previous hesitation and uneasiness disappeared and turned into unparalleled excitement and anticipation.
"Big brother, I have a suggestion. We should at least bring a girl."
As soon as this was said, everyone laughed. The tense atmosphere dissipated and the room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
"That's right. We should bring more than one."
"Haha, maybe we will become a wandering civilization in the future."
…
In the following days, this group of brothers split up and used their connections to secretly prepare. As the migration spaceship carried a large amount of daily supplies, the things they needed could be found on the spaceship. The only problem was how to get them.
With courage, money, connections, and a little bit of luck, they used various methods to gather most of the supplies they needed and completed the scouting.
Soon, the day of the operation arrived. The progress was much smoother than they had imagined. Based on the information they had gathered, they sneaked into the escape pod and stepped into a medium-sized escape pod. They turned off the artificial intelligence core and switched to manual control mode.
The big brother's palm stopped above the launch button and did not press it.
"Have you thought it through? As long as you press this button, there is no turning back. If we are caught, we will be treated as prisoners."
"We are not much different from prisoners now. The people above are looking at us more like a group of laborers." The little brother smiled freely. "We have just changed the name to human resources. I have wanted to get rid of this identity for a long time."
"Nonsense." The big brother shook his head and laughed. He pressed the button hard.
Chi!
The escape pod suddenly fell and shot into space.
After leaving the spaceship, everyone subconsciously turned to look outside the porthole and was suddenly stunned.
They saw that the other spaceships in the migration fleet also shot out a few escape pods and scattered like scattered sparks.
…
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
On the other side of the Kunde Race's territory, the core fleet of the Kunde Race jumped out of the stargate and turned around to retrieve the stargate used for retreating.
"Alright, we have arrived at the target area. According to the previous secret signal, all the surviving fleets will gather in this area."
In the command center, the upper echelons of the Kunde Race were gathered together to check the news sent back by the other troops before the network connection was disconnected.
"The scorched earth troops have sent a report. The psionic energy has been successfully detonated, and the plan has been executed. The other fleets outside have sent a report that they are retreating in the direction we have designated. Phew, the situation is still good."
The Kunde Race leader heaved a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, everyone's spirits were slightly better.
The situation was finally back on track.
Because they were worried that the information would be leaked, the command center did not dare maintain a long-term connection and gave up on real-time communication. At the same time, they did not dare to transmit orders normally for fear of being intercepted by the enemy.
However, before they could catch their breath, the radar suddenly sounded!
"Attention, attention, an unknown large fleet has been detected ahead!"
Everyone suddenly turned pale with fright.
"Why would there be a fleet here? Could it be an ambush? "
"Quick, see if it's the enemy!"
The upper echelons hurriedly passed down the order, and a few seconds later, the captain sent a report.
"Leaders, we have already confirmed that the other party is not the enemy but our fleet."
Hearing this, the upper echelons heaved a sigh of relief and almost had a heart attack.
"That scared me to death. So, it's our own people."
"The fleet that received the order to gather should have arrived earlier. They are actually faster than us."
Right at this moment, the captain spoke again, and his tone became extremely strange.
"Everyone, you have misunderstood. The other party is not our armed fleet but the migration fleet that we sent out a long time ago. For some reason, they all ran back!"
The moment he said that, the entire place fell silent.
All the upper echelons were stunned for a second before their minds were thrown into chaos!
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