Upon Ou Zhanpeng's command, the Starship entered the battlefield from the rear. The enemy forces that discovered the anomaly immediately attempted to intercept, but before they could open fire, four white ships to the left of the Starship instantly turned into red-hot irons, their personnel carbonized and dead, their equipment burned and disabled.
The five white ships to the right fared even more tragically, turning to dust amidst violent high-frequency vibrations in the blink of an eye.
In this battlefield, a single warship truly meant little, but if that warship was the Starship, the situation would be entirely different.
Destroying nine white ships right at the outset, both the First Civilization and the Third Civilization were stunned by the formidable Starship.
Even though it was a legendary super-warship, its power was perhaps a little too overwhelming.
Ou Zhanpeng did not intend to continue his assault. After sinking nine warships in one go, he issued an ultimatum to both enemy forces: "Surrender immediately, or die!"
Mi Sha's heart contracted with shock, and she instinctively wanted to order her flagship to escape.
But she was a step too late. Six flying saucers had already fled the battlefield.
Seeing this, the other warships also activated their wormholes.
However, before the wormholes could fully open, the Starship had already opened fire. None of the six flying saucers escaped; all were destroyed by the firepower originating from the Starship base.
The remaining alien warships no longer dared to act rashly.
Ou Zhanpeng notified his own fleet to immediately take over all alien warships.
The two major fleets were disheartened, while the Earth fleet was jubilant. The former were like the depth of winter, while the latter were like the bright sun of May.
The takeover process was not smooth. Although they dared not resist openly, after humans entered the enemy ships, many warships suddenly turned traitor, intending to take hostages and escape the danger.
Ou Zhanpeng gave them no chance, severing the tail of the target ship with a single shot, nipping their escape plan in the bud.
He was determined not to let any enemy escape. Only by giving the enemy a profound lesson could similar situations be prevented from recurring.
The hostage incident added an unnecessary complication to the takeover. To prevent similar situations from happening again, Ou Zhanpeng urgently contacted Gong Yiding to transfer a batch of robots from the Starship base to clear personnel from the enemy ships first, and then tow the warships back to the Starship base.
The next step was complete disassembly, retaining the jump and power equipment, and assembling new warships.
Although the battle did not last long, the losses on both sides were considerable. The Third Civilization lost more than half of its flying saucers, with only over thirty remaining; the First Civilization's fleet was slightly better off, with over forty warships left.
It was not that the Starship attacked too fiercely; otherwise, the total number of white ships would have been over fifty.
With so many warships, whether for disassembly or reconstruction, a large amount of time would be needed. Relying solely on the Starship base, the construction progress would inevitably be slow.
Since they couldn't digest them all at once, they could only take the enemies out of the warships and guard them for the time being.
Next, the military carried out a series of intensive adjustments and deployments. The first was to place the Luojiashan Base under the command of the Starship Base.
More accurately, it was entrusted to Gong Yiding's temporary management. Through a period of adjustment, the Starship base formed a division of labor: Gong Yiding managed manufacturing, production, and research, while Ou Zhanpeng managed military training and combat. They each managed half, making the allocation relatively balanced.
Well, from certain angles, Gong Yiding's role in the Starship base was far more important than Ou Zhanpeng's. Without the support of the research and logistics departments, it would be difficult for the base not to fall into chaos.
However, Ou Zhanpeng was the de facto controller of the base. Without the authority granted by him, neither Gong Yiding nor anyone else could move freely within the base.
Furthermore, these two individuals were very complementary. Gong Yiding was entirely focused on research. While he wasn't completely oblivious to worldly affairs, he would only step out when absolutely necessary, temporarily setting aside his research.
Ou Zhanpeng had no interest in research; his only desire was to lead warships across the starry sea.
The two complemented and restrained each other, forming the power structure most favored by the higher-ups.
The higher-ups first arranged for the captured enemy warships and then assigned a place for the prisoners of war. To prevent any accidents, they were not released onto Earth but were temporarily detained at the Starship base.
In the entire solar system, there was no place safer or more secure than the Starship base.
However, the good behavior in prison was not without cost. The military dispatched a group of professional personnel specifically for the ideological transformation of the prisoners of war, with Zhan WenyI in charge.
The military's POW work had a history and tradition; no one dared to claim they were second to anyone on Blue Star!
However, humanity's understanding of alien civilizations was too limited. How to carry out the work, where to find the entry point, and how to conduct deep ideological transformation were major issues facing the military.
Simply offering warmth and comfort to achieve the desired results was too idealistic.
For this purpose, the work team tried many methods.
As expected, the prisoners of war were generally very resistant at first, but with the painstaking efforts of the work team, they gradually achieved results, softening the attitudes of some prisoners and, through their accounts, gaining a relatively deep understanding of prehistoric civilizations—or rather, the Glorious Empire.
It became easier from then on. The work team entered and exited the POW camps daily, and the ideological state of the prisoners underwent a significant transformation.
During this period, there was also a small interlude.
The Third Civilization had similar physiques to humans, with an average height of about two meters. The work team did not need any special equipment to mingle with the prisoners.
The First Civilization was different; each individual was tall and strong, standing over four meters tall, which was quite intimidating to anyone who saw them.
For this reason, Gong Yiding urgently manufactured a batch of four-meter-tall "humanoid mechs" and required the work team to wear mechs when carrying out their work, to avoid any accidents.
Duchess Mi Sha was also among the prisoners. She strongly demanded treatment commensurate with her noble rank, but the military had no policy of granting preferential treatment based on rank. After repeated setbacks, Mi Sha finally recognized the reality and obediently stayed in the POW camp.
However, she was only outwardly quiet; she was constantly plotting how to make humanity pay the price after escaping.
With Gong Yiding responsible for the warships and Zhan WenyI responsible for the prisoners, the higher-ups retracted their gaze from the void of the universe and began to clean up the mess on Blue Star.
Given that the chaotic system had severely affected the combat effectiveness of the human fleet for a long time, the military's first action was to disband the Joint Fleet.
When the news spread, it caused an uproar.
All the allies knew that "Rabbit" was no longer what it used to be, but disbanding the Joint Fleet was perhaps too much.
The allies immediately contacted the military, trying every means to persuade the higher-ups to change their minds.
But Zhou Guangyi and others were as stubborn as mules; no matter who came to persuade them, they were completely ignored.
The second action was to reorganize the Joint Command Headquarters, stipulating the conditions for entering the command, as well as its powers and obligations.
Simply put, the original Joint Command Headquarters was jointly established by the military forces of various countries. The current Joint Command Headquarters is a department under the command of the Chinese military, which is a fundamental change.
The fleet also underwent corresponding reorganization. The original three fleets were decommissioned and reorganized into the Solar System International Fleet. The only eight warships were temporarily organized into the First Fleet.
In addition, no ally was allowed to possess starships. If they wished to resist alien invasion, they could apply to the Chinese military. Regardless of how veteran the soldiers were, they had to undergo training from scratch. Only after they were qualified in all aspects would they be formally inducted into service in the International Fleet.
It was obvious to everyone that the International Fleet, from personnel to equipment to command, bore the imprint of China. Except for the personnel being international, everything else had nothing to do with being international.
This situation angered the allies, who tried to resist the International Fleet.
But the military was determined to prevent the chaos of the former Joint Fleet from happening again.
Humanity's enemies were becoming stronger and stronger. If they were still as scattered as before, what was the point of resisting? They might as well surrender.
Therefore, whether they agreed or not was all cast aside by the military; the priority was to organize the fleet.
After all, their own population was sufficient, and their automation technology was strong enough to independently support a fleet to campaign in space.
Of course, the military was not entirely inflexible. For the friends from various parties participating in the International Fleet, they were given extremely generous treatment, fully aligning with the treatment of Chinese soldiers.
With the help of a series of policies, the status of the International Fleet was infinitely elevated. Non-Chinese soldiers were henceforth relegated to second-class troops, only able to gaze at the starry sky in the dark night.
Although Blue Star still had many allies at this moment, everyone understood in their hearts that unification was the general trend.
However, the military believed that the time was not yet ripe, and forcing the allies together would only do harm. Since the military strength had already been integrated, the rest could be done slowly.
Although complex, with the military's investment without regard for cost, the fleet integration work began to show initial results within half a month. Next, the military announced a series of plans targeting the Brain Fish, preparing to clear out the Brain Fish hidden in the deep oceans, as well as the remaining Brain Fish in other celestial bodies in the solar system.
For this purpose, the military not only presented intelligence collected over the years but also integrated intelligence from other allies and launched a comprehensive eradication operation one morning.
On that day, hundreds of warships set sail on the sea, and various submersible devices cleaved through the waves.
In just four days, this surface joint fleet found the location of the broken ship and successfully salvaged the front half of it.
All parties treated it as a treasure but dared not reach out arbitrarily due to the military's deterrence.
However, the military had already upgraded its equipment and was not interested in such things. They simply said whoever wanted it could take it and did not mention it again.
Next came days of continuous encirclement and suppression. Ou Zhanpeng did not understand the specific process much, only hearing that it was very tortuous.
It would be strange if it weren't tortuous. The Brain Fish had occupied the deep sea for so many years, and the Sea Monster Legion alone was enough to keep the joint fleet busy for a while. How could it be so smooth sailing?
According to post-operation statistics, the eradication operation destroyed 47 underwater bases, defeated over 120 Sea Monster Legions, and killed tens of thousands of Brain Fish.
During this period, the Brain Fish also made a desperate attempt, launching a suicidal charge towards the coastal areas, but they were repelled by the well-prepared military.
The Sea Monster Legion, once feared by the entire world, was reduced to taking blows in front of the transformed military.
Shortly after the eradication operation, the Starship base received a package from the ground. Gong Yiding led a group of researchers and very carefully delivered the package into a fully enclosed laboratory.
Upon opening the package, they found a large bag of egg-shaped objects of various sizes.
Ou Zhanpeng happened to be idle and came to watch the excitement, asking curiously, "What is this thing?"
"What else could it be? Insect eggs," said Gong Yiding.
Insect eggs...
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly awoke, "The insect eggs of the Zerg? Where did they come from?"
Gong Yiding manipulated the equipment to scan the small pile of insect eggs: "I heard they were found when an underwater base was destroyed."
He didn't need to operate it himself; he just stood outside the laboratory with his arms crossed, controlling the robotic arm inside the laboratory entirely with his consciousness.
"What's the meaning of this? Are they planning to cultivate the Zerg?"
"Not exactly. It's mainly for research. If they can be controlled, cultivation isn't impossible. If they can't be controlled, it can be considered technological reserve."
In the laboratory, a robotic arm gently picked up an insect egg and placed it aside, covered it with a glass罩, and then set the hatching parameters.
Ou Zhanpeng asked curiously, "Wasn't that base a hive?"
Gong Yiding turned to look at him: "Do you think this is a game? A single hive can dominate everything?"
Ou Zhanpeng chuckled: "Hey, I was just asking... Is this thing safe in our base?"
"Let's research it here for now. I plan to submit a report and then find a suitable asteroid to build a dedicated laboratory."
Ou Zhanpeng became excited: "It's best not to do it in the solar system. How about Proxima Centauri?"
Gong Yiding nodded: "We can consider it... By the way, there's another matter. The higher-ups plan to build a space base in the asteroid belt."
"Asteroid belt? Which celestial body?"
"Which else could it be? Ceres!" said Gong Yiding.
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly realized: "That's a good place!"
Ceres is the most special celestial body in the asteroid belt, with a diameter of more than two hundred kilometers, mainly composed of iron, nickel, and some rare metals such as gold, platinum, and copper. Some estimated its value at 100 trillion US dollars.
Some believed it was not an ordinary small celestial body but the core of a planet.
However, the wish was beautiful, but reality was stark. Later, it was discovered that Ceres did not have that much gold, and its main components were just iron and nickel.
Although precious metals were gone, the large amounts of iron and nickel could completely become a source of high-quality warship materials, further reducing the military's warship construction costs.
Ou Zhanpeng thought for a moment and asked again, "What about Mercury? Are there any plans to develop Mercury?"
Gong Yiding smiled: "Did the sun rise from the west today? Why are you suddenly concerned about this?"
"Just curious, I'm just asking," Ou Zhanpeng said.
"Of course, there are. The higher-ups plan to build an orbital elevator on both the Moon and Mercury."
"That's great!" Ou Zhanpeng said.
Fighting the Black-horned people was quite satisfying, but he preferred to see Earth continuously develop.
As they were talking, Ou Zhanpeng's terminal suddenly vibrated, receiving the latest news from above: the negotiation representatives from the First Civilization had arrived at the edge of the galaxy, requesting immediate dispatch to xx coordinates for negotiations.
"Well, looks like I have something else to do!" Ou Zhanpeng said.