Chapter 317: Erasing the Military Industrial Gap
The power of the Zerg bio-battleship's laser main cannon far exceeded initial estimates.
They did not choose the gamma-ray frequency band, as Lu Yuan had guessed, to solely pursue effective beam range and penetration. Instead, they adopted the extreme ultraviolet wavelength, which has higher cutting efficiency.
Of course, this might also be because the Imperial Fleet was less than 10,000 kilometers away at the time.
Calculated by the diameter of the Zerg's massive eyeball lens, at this distance, the extreme ultraviolet laser's spot diffusion would be at most 5 millimeters, fully meeting weapon-grade standards.
In short, the single-ship energy emission power of the Zerg main battleship, conservatively estimated, was 6 orders of magnitude greater than that of the Cangyuan frigate, meaning at least 1 million times more powerful.
The Imperial Fleet's armor might or might not have had laser defense capabilities, but in the face of a weapon of this caliber, it made no difference.
In just two minutes, the entire Imperial pursuit fleet, including the two warships whose power had been crippled by the First Air Squadron, was brutally dismembered.
Each warship was cut into more than 10 pieces, looking like a pile of debris floating in orbit from a distance.
Afterward, the Zerg fleet ascended at high speed, without ejecting any material behind them during the process.
How do they 'swim' in a vacuum? Currently, the Scholars of Cangyuan are unable to answer this question.
It is speculated to be related to a technology that reverses the direction of gravity, but this would only allow them to move freely near a planet's gravitational field.
When undertaking long-distance interstellar travel, Zerg warships should still reveal the nozzles of their biological engines, or unfurl light-wing organs similar to the Radiant Dragon's elytra:
Upon reaching the warship wreckage zone, the bio-armor on the surface of the bio-battleships shifted slightly, and numerous small symbiotes were ejected from the channels beneath the gaps.
These were two types of war beasts used for landing operations and boarding actions.
One type was slightly larger than a human, covered in hard armor, agile, and primarily inflicted damage through close combat; the other type was larger, capable of spitting plasma, and mainly used for armor-piercing and breaching doors.
The two types of symbiotes quickly infiltrated the warship wreckage, with only the Oka and the carrier escaping unscathed.
This was an 'agreement' made before the battle; the parts of these two warships, excluding the zero element reserves, were considered spoils of war for the Cangyuan Fleet.
"Alright, let's go!"
Chao Yuan gave the command.
Seeing the Zergs begin boarding, the Cangyuan Expeditionary Fleet also moved in.
Over 200 Marine Corps members entered space, activated their flight packs, and flew towards the wreckage suspected of containing the Oka's bridge and combat intelligence center. It was helplessly spinning and drifting in low orbit, expected to crash into the Brown Dwarf's atmosphere in a week.
Because the ship's hull had been cut, all corridor structures were exposed, making boarding effortless, like a tourist visit.
Soon, a group of eager players found the bridge by following the markings on the corridors and successfully breached the door.
"Everyone put down your weapons!"
The heavy assault team advanced with shields, but met no resistance.
The Zerg battleship's laser cuts were extremely 'clean'; explosions and fires did not spread into the enclosed bridge. Everyone here was unharmed, curled up under their seats, many of them sobbing.
"These people are terrified—"
Since the monitoring and communication systems on other Imperial warships were still intact, the horrific images of the Zerg symbiote infantry invasion there were transmitted to the Oka and displayed on the bridge's main screen.
Whatever the people here had seen, it caused them to completely lose the will to resist, so much so that they barely knew how to surrender.
"Who is Rear Admiral Reid!"
Chao Yuan switched his radio to broadcast mode and asked loudly.
A technical officer looked up, stunned for a long time, incredibly shocked that the intruders were actually humans.
"Are you Cangyuan?! How is that possible, weren't you— already dead in the clouds?"
"Who is Rear Admiral Reid."
Chao Yuan repeated the question.
"Th-th-that way—"
The technical officer secretly pointed him in a direction.
Chao Yuan and two other Marine Corps members followed the direction he indicated and saw a 50-something Imperial military officer leaning dejectedly against the wall.
The Imperial military ranks were different from those of the Star Alliance and ancient Earth, but there were similarities.
From his arm patch, he was indeed a Rear Admiral.
"Rear Admiral Reid, I am Cangyuan's military operations commander. Your fleet has been annihilated. You and your crew will be taken prisoner as war criminals."
Reid looked up, his eyes red and his face gaunt, looking a dozen years older than his spirited appearance in the video communication a few hours ago.
"Whatever it takes— please! Get me out of here!"
He clutched Chao Yuan's arm tightly.
A small team escorted the prisoners back to the fleet. Along the way, over a dozen Zerg larvae broke through the Brown Dwarf's atmosphere and happily flew into orbit.
Their bodies were soft, most no more than a kilometer long, only a tenth the length of an adult, but still colossal compared to human warships.
The feast began, with the larvae devouring the pre-cut warship wreckage, ingesting the zero element needed for their migration journey, and the carbon and various metal elements required for their growth and development.
Witnessing this scene, the Imperial prisoners completely broke down mentally, terrified into a daze.
Today, they fully understood what megalophobia was.
"How troublesome—"
The players assigned to the escort mission had no choice but to find a safety rope, tie the prisoners in a line, and then lead them all back to the hangar.
"How do we handle this? They've all become useless. How can we interrogate them later?"
One player, watching the Imperial military personnel curled up, trembling, and floating around in the zero-gravity hangar, scratched his head repeatedly.
"Sigh," the player next to him also expressed difficulty, "Open the display in the hangar and play some Tom and Jerry for them to relax their minds."
"Is that appropriate? It feels like an insult to soldiers. We just finished a cosmic version of cat and mouse!"
"It's appropriate! The best way to face fear is to confront it! At this point, we can't worry about too much."
The remaining personnel quickly completed the scan of the Oka's core compartments, continuously sending back exciting news.
In the power section, all 6 super-large nuclear Jubian reactors were in perfect condition.
A single reactor's maximum power reached 20 TW, roughly equivalent to the total energy output of all humanity in reality, 100 times that of the Cangyuan frigate's reactor, reaching the energy density limit of traditional nuclear Jubian methods.
According to preliminary interrogation of the technical officer prisoners, this type of reactor was extremely expensive and represented the pinnacle of the Imperial technology tree.
The 1100-meter-long Imperial main battleship also used this type of reactor, only it had 40 to 50 units installed.
Having obtained the blueprints and complete samples of the reactor, Cangyuan finally fully mastered Level 8.0 energy technology, facing no further obstacles on the path of traditional nuclear Jubian, and completely assimilated it.
Other supporting technologies were also acquired.
Over 90% of the massive superconducting capacitor arrays were recoverable. The four axial electromagnetic main cannons were all cut into five sections, but the severed parts were all electromagnetic acceleration rail sections, with no unique and irreplaceable components vaporized, meaning the blueprint integrity was 100%, and the main cannons could be repaired.
Additionally, the ship's electromagnetic secondary cannons, laser secondary cannons, laser point defense, advanced warp missiles, and so on, could only be described as a military industrial treasure trove, now falling intact into Cangyuan's hands.
So much so that the high-grade carbon-based chips and humanoid maintenance robots discovered along the way seemed insignificant.
The players tirelessly sent this data back to Li Star.
"Awesome, awesome! This completeness is much higher than the spoils of war we got before!"
The Scholars and Engineers were ecstatic, immediately stating that they could advance the design progress of the Cangyuan 400-meter-class frigates to 95% within a week, and simultaneously complete the preliminary research for 800-meter-class destroyers.
Because highly complete blueprints would bring a unique development advantage, commonly referred to as 'Picture Set' (set of drawings) in engineering.
All acquired subsystem blueprints could be packaged and integrated into existing hull frameworks.
Or even, to make dumplings for a dish of vinegar, design hull structures that match existing energy, weapon, and propulsion systems.
After completing a rough scan of the Oka, the Marine Corps quickly captured the fleet carrier, which was similar in size.
Because this ship was not equipped with high-power weapons, its reactor power was relatively small, with only four 800 GW-class Jubian reactors installed.
The gains from the carrier primarily came from its massive hangar, which had been cut into several sections.
Here, there were still over a dozen fighter jets remaining from the First Air Squadron, divided into three types: torpedo bombers, light fighters, and heavy fighters.
Thanks to more advanced reactors, the power reserves of these three types were much higher than the 'owl'. The heavy fighter, for example, was 38 meters long, which would already be classified as a gunboat in the Star Alliance, and its internal volume was twice that of the 'owl'.
Lu Yuan was very satisfied with the results. As for the remaining destroyers and cruisers, he decided to let the Zergs eat them as snacks.
After confirming the amount of materials that could be obtained this time, he quietly logged into the player community and released a game hotfix announcement.
Lu Yuan, in the persona of a junior planner, informed the players that the difficulty of this expedition would be adjusted, and a giant 3D printer would be added to the Brown Dwarf's synchronous orbit for players to use.
Of course, the players had no objections to this official 'cheat' and cheered on the spot.
In their view, the single-ship strength of the Empire was simply too great compared to Cangyuan at this stage!
The output of the oka was 200 times that of the Taibai, making people suspect that the planner was just filling in values haphazardly before.
But in reality, it is very normal for civilizations at different stages in the universe to have logarithmic or even exponential differences in energy production efficiency.
For example, according to the classic Kardashev scale, the energy obtainable by K1 and K2 civilizations differs by 10 billion times.
Six hours after the announcement, after confirming that all Imperial prisoners and the indigenous inhabitants of the fleet had been safely accommodated and would not witness the 'cheating' spectacle of objects being summoned out of thin air, Lu Yuan spent 350 exchange points to purchase the giant 3D printer he had long coveted!
Subsequently, he personally issued a series of tasks, calling on everyone to quickly dismantle the warship wreckage and load materials into the 3D printer so that it could start working as soon as possible.
Currently, the fleet's massive losses of carrier-based aircraft, drones, and missiles urgently needed replenishment.
The repair of armor had already been delayed for 19 days.
Furthermore, the 3D printer itself, the spoils of war obtained from this battle, and the valuable psionic communication equipment in the space station should ideally continue the journey with the expeditionary force.
For this, an invisible ship capable of accommodating these goods also needed to be printed.