Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-245

Chapter 245: Super Magnetic Track Cannon!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After the shot was fired, the solid amalgamation of electromagnetic layers disintegrated. However, the space merchants started charging, and the outline of the cannon began to appear again.

This was some sort of plasma weapon!

Yao Yuan was certain of that fact!

This was a product from the peak of the 4th revolution, a product of the scale of a giant airship, the ultimate planet destruction weapon, the Genesis Cannon. This was a technology that lied between the peak of electromagnetic technology from 4th revolution and the plasma technology from beginning of the 5th. This was something Yao Yuan had been hoping to build but was limited by technology. They had the necessary materials, but the Academy predicted that they would need at least another fifty years before work on the cannon could start in earnest. Therefore, the super weapon only existed on paper so far.

The weapon that the space merchants were using was the perfect Genesis Cannon, or rather, an actual Genesis Cannon using the plasma technology of the f5th revolution and not the electromagnetic technology of the 4th.

The blurry shot of light might look insignificant, but once it hit, the Hope would immediately melt and explode. If used on a normal planet the size of Earth, the power of one shot was enough to destroy one third of the surface layer, melting it with the high temperature of a microwave oven. This was a sign of the 5th revolution!

An actual plasma weapon!

Of course, for something as powerful as the Genesis Cannon, every shot required an extremely large pool of energy. Even for the weapons from the 5th revolution, this was true. The situation might be different for the 6th revolution, but they perhaps would be dealing with a different kind of weaponry then. Therefore, like what the Academy said, industrial revolutions were nothing more than the development of more efficient energy sources.

Yao Yuan had started using his Thinker power. Mankind was fighting a losing warfare, the space merchants’ mother ship had an indestructible defense, and the Hope was still under lockdown. It couldn’t evade or move; it couldn't even enter ECS mode to avoid the merchants’ long-distance targeting system, much less space warp. It was a sitting duck…

No, there must be a way out of this!

When there’s a will there’s a way. There must be something he hadn’t thought about before, there had to be!

Yao Yuan’s Thinker power was activated to its maximum, so much so that he felt a bit of a headache from over-exertion. His body even started to spasm. He was almost hit by the track cannons on the surface of the mother ship. However, it was thanks to this near death danger that Yao Yuan’s attention was pulled to the giant mother ship.

"Right, our people are still on the mother ship. With Ying, Ebon, Liu Bai, Zhang Heng, Ren Tao, and Xiao Niao, they have both brawns and brains, so there is no way they have been killed or captured. Even though their current situation is unknown, at least maybe we can reach out to them somehow…

"Either that or undo the code infecting the Hope, then we can space warp again. This too is not a bad idea…

"If nothing works, then we can only… No, we cannot surrender. Either we die fighting, win, or escape!"

Surrender… is not an option!

Yao Yuan understood the implication of surrender. Without the military's protection, mankind would become something like livestock to the space merchants, or even worse, live experiments. Humans might be made into live specimens, tested on without regards for the value of life… This was no joke; it would be a fate worse than death!

Therefore, only an idiot would surrender to the space merchants!

"Regardless, the main thing to do now is stall!"

With a plan in mind, Yao Yuan used his Anima power to inform the whole military, "Everyone, retreat to set up a defensive perimeter around the Hope! Be careful not to stray too close to the Hope’s creator’s particle range!"

Following Yao Yuan’s orders, all of the Prototype 003 jets started to distance themselves from the space merchants' mother ship. The space merchants didn’t give chase. Instead, they focused on charging the Genesis Cannon, as if it had made the decision to abandon the few spaceships that were stranded in space because their propulsion systems had been blown off.

Before long, Yao Yuan led the troopers back to the area around the Hope, then he used his Anima power to pinpoint Bo Li’s location.

It is worth noting that Yao Yuan’s Anima power was not as good as a pure Anima's. His power was less effective than Barbie's, the newly awakened Anima, much less Xi Kong, the most powerful Anima the Hope had. Yao Yuan’s Anima power was limited by distance; his power could only reach so far and he could only converse with other Homo Evolutis. This was the biggest weakness of his Anima power.

Yao Yuan was 10 kilometers away from the Hope when he activated his Anima power to search for Bo Li’s location. Very quickly, he found the orb of fire that represented the Whisperer, Bo Li, among the sea of people.

"Bo Li! This is Yao Yuan. How is the current condition on the Hope? Is the central mainframe back under control? How much longer until it can be used? Has Guang Zhen found the Black Dragons yet? Did they riot? How many enemies are left in the ship? Get me the answers and tell Xi Kong to pass them over to me." Yao Yuan sent all this information through the soul-web to Bo Li.

Bo Li was currently busy fixing the central mainframe. There were no soldiers around her anymore, just a group of normal human experts. About 100 of them were there working on the central mainframe. Everyone was wearing a mask of anxiety and worry.

When Bo Li heard Yao Yuan’s voice, she immediately turned to Xi Kong beside her. "Help me pass on these words to Yao Yuan, he is near the Hope. Tell him that the Hope’s central mainframe was a no-go. Even though we’ve found the virus, it is an extremely mysterious quantum computer code, a quantum-level computer virus so to speak. When it was unnoticed, it exists in a certain manner, but after it is found out, it will change into another. And whenever we managed to break a bit of its defense, it self-recovered and changed its signal structure. Without the original coding, with our current computer technology, it will take at least a decade to break it, so tell him to not place any hope on the central mainframe…

"After that, tell him Guang Zhen has found the Black Dragons and is leading up to clear away the remaining enemies on the Hope. According to Guang Zhen, the enemy troops have lost the will to fight. After the combat situation turned with the arrival of the Black Dragons, they started to flee. Currently, we have 1,000 captives, so it’s only a matter of time until Guang Zhen clears them out completely. The Defense Unit soldiers are keeping the captives under control, so he needn’t worry about that… Also, I’ve caught a glimpse of the space merchants’ weapon and I’m sure that’s the final form of the Genesis Cannon. In other words, a plasma weapon from the early 5th revolution, the Requiem!"

Xi Kong carefully repeated Bo Li’s every word. She was slightly shaking with fear, as if afraid of the aloof Bo Li.

Thanks to her, Yao Yuan had an overall understanding of the situation within the Hope. He thought about it and then said, "Bo Li, now I need you to help me with two things. One is to carry the almost finished supermagnetic orbit cannon using your alien robot and bring it to me. I will dispose of Red Lightning to monitor it. Currently, the cannon allows for three shots before overheating, right? The second thing I need you to do is have Xi Kong contact Ying’s group within the space merchants’ mother ship. I need an update on their current situation. In less than five minutes, the Requiem will fire another shot at the Hope… and I don’t think it will miss this time!"

Bo Li was stunned. She stood there motionless for a few minutes as if weighing the options in her mind. Then she turned to Xi Kong. "Help me with these words too. The supermagnetic orbit cannon’s technical aspect is not yet perfected. The one we have now is only a prototype, plus, important parts like cooling chambers haven’t even been fitted yet. Yes, it can fire three shots safely, but a huge explosion might follow the third shot, consuming the cannon itself. The weapon is simply too dangerous…"

As the words came into Yao Yuan’s mind, he interrupted Bo Li. "This is the last chance we have! This is the only weapon we have that can possibly harm the space merchants’ mother ship, since the Supermagnetic Planet Annihilating Rail-Cannon is offline! Furthermore, I’m only using it to disturb the energy charging process of the Requiem. There is no time for explanations, get your alien robot to bring the cannon outside of the Hope! This is an order!"

Bo Li sighed before turning to Xi Kong. "Tell him that if he dies, I will never forgive him as long as I have a breath in me… Also, Yao Yuan wants you to use your power to locate Ying’s group and try to get an update from them if you can." Bo Li climbed onto one of the alien robot’s tentacles and rushed towards the weapons testing room that was on the fourth floor.

Xi Kong was caught by surprise. She mumbled, "Die? What death? Who died? Is Yao Yuan going to do something dangerous…"

She realized she was talking to no one, so she quickly submerged into the soul-web.

She could see that Yao Yuan’s fireball was still glowing like the sun, and beyond that, the group of fireballs that represented the Black Star Troopers around the sun. She went beyond the Hope and quickly found Ying’s group within the space merchants’ mother ship. She quickly sent them the message.

At that moment, Ying’s group was in throes of madness. The presence of two Thinkers completely neutralized the aliens’ mind-breaker attacks, and after the unfortunate death of three soldiers, they were on their way of demolishing their fourth siege unit. Currently, they were massacring the captives from the fourth unit.

Suddenly, they heard Xi Kong’s voice in their minds. Like a crisp and melodious song, it pierced through the haze of madness. Suddenly, there was hope in their despairing hearts, and some of them started sobbing uncontrollably…