The warships from various civilizations, though unaware of the specifics, knew that the Star Ark had destroyed Planet Roll IV, and rejoiced, their morale soaring.
Some warships, blinded by the apparent victory, veered off from their positions and counter-attacked the Roll fleet. To them, with planets being destroyed, the Roll fleet must be on the verge of collapse. However, these were clearly civilizations lacking in military theory, utterly unaware of the concept that a cornered animal will fight with greater ferocity. With their own planets destroyed, the Rollers, their eyes red with fury, attacked with abandon, and those warships that advanced too quickly instantly became space debris.
Explosions lit up the spherical display, their flashes illuminating Ou Zhanpeng’s grim face, but he merely grunted, “Disorganized and undisciplined!” Though the Alliance fleet was in its infancy, once on the battlefield, who cared about the niceties? This was a fleet, this was a battlefield, and obeying orders and following command was the most basic of basics. Unauthorized action was battlefield insubordination. Even if not executed on the spot, they would face a military tribunal afterward.
To be fair, Ou Zhanpeng was not a rigid person. If unauthorized action benefited the overall situation, it would be acceptable. But to suddenly get a rush of blood, see oneself as a superhero, and charge headlessly in a warship – this was not maneuverability, this was a pig teammate feeding kills! Sympathy? Sorry, none!
As for the remaining warships, they weren’t much better. They merely possessed a slight edge in discipline over those who charged out, still a far cry from true elites. If time permitted, Ou Zhanpeng genuinely wanted to gather them, train them from scratch, and show these alien civilizations what elites and discipline truly meant.
Without exaggeration, even without knowing the specifics of these civilizations, Ou Zhanpeng could see from their battlefield performance that they lacked military acumen. Even with the most advanced warships, they were merely a haphazard assembly incapable of achieving significant feats. Fortunately, where there is no expectation, there is no disappointment; at most, there is only anger at their lack of progress.
The battle continued, but the outcome was no longer in doubt. Ou Zhanpeng wished he could delay, meticulously observe the Alliance warships’ performance, and select some usable ones. But time did not allow it. Just as he was preparing to press his advantage and destroy the Roll fleet’s morale in one go, the enemy unexpectedly retreated, disengaging from the battlefield. Except for a few rearguard enemy ships, the remaining Roll warships activated wormholes and departed.
Ou Zhanpeng’s heart skipped a beat, and a thought immediately struck him: Could the Roll fleet be heading for Earth? Strategic threats have a fatal weakness, and that is Earth. Although humanity had ventured beyond Earth, the time was too short, and they possessed few habitable planets worth mentioning. They had established numerous extraterrestrial bases, but the dispatched personnel were few. To this day, Earth remained humanity's main base. If Earth were to suffer an accident, not only would human civilization be destroyed, but the human species itself would be drastically reduced. Perhaps in some minds, in the interstellar era with its highly developed technology, population size was not the decisive factor in technological advancement. But in reality, it was nothing of the sort. In any era, there were demographic dividends, and the interstellar era was no exception. The Rollers, though advanced, did not have an infinite supply of warships. To ensure Earth’s safety, the Star Ark had to fight bravely and relentlessly, exerting sufficient pressure on the Rollers so that their fleet would be too preoccupied to target Earth.
The successive conquest of three Roll star systems was merely a victory at the tactical level. If Earth suffered any mishap, it would be an absolute strategic failure, and Ou Zhanpeng would never allow such a thing to happen! He immediately handed over the task of clearing the battlefield to the United fleet and returned the Star Ark directly to Earth. Yes, not only to check on his homeworld, but also to replenish the Star Ark’s supplies – the super mushroom bombs were just too effective. Although a yield of one hundred million tons was not enough to destroy a planet, the inherent power of the mushroom bomb, combined with various secondary effects, could at least destroy half a planet. With a few more on a planet, the surface could be completely vitrified, utterly destroying the original ecosystem. It would take tens of millions of years to recover.
Xu Qing privately asked Ou Zhanpeng if he felt any psychological burden destroying such fine habitable planets repeatedly. Although women were more emotional, she was a soldier and could not sympathize with the enemy. She merely asked out of concern that Ou Zhanpeng might develop psychological problems. As his intimate partner, she was naturally the first to notice any emotional changes in him. Ou Zhanpeng shook his head, "No psychological burden, just feel exhausted." No further explanation was needed; Xu Qing understood. Bearing the safety of Earth and all of humanity, and dealing with the threat from the Rollers, all the immense pressure rested on his shoulders alone. How could he not be tired? Only in front of Xu Qing would Ou Zhanpeng occasionally show signs of weariness; in front of others, he was always the composed and decisive commander. Xu Qing could not help him share the pressure, so she did her best to provide Ou Zhanpeng with a warm haven. The extent of its effectiveness was unclear, but at least, in the vast Star Ark base, there was one place where Ou Zhanpeng could slightly alleviate his burden.
The Star Ark base arrived in the solar system. Ou Zhanpeng immediately observed the situation on Earth and was relieved. Fortunately, his worst fears had not materialized. Ou Zhanpeng promptly contacted Earth, informed them of the events of the past period, and requested the delivery of over one hundred heavy mushroom bombs. Last time, the Star Ark base had scraped clean all the large-yield mushroom bombs, and Zhou Guangyi had promised to expedite the production of more heavy mushroom bombs. Although not much time had passed, humanity’s industrial system, operating at full capacity, was quite efficient. However, these things couldn’t be produced in excessive quantities. Theoretically, the maximum yield of a small mushroom bomb was only 500,000 tons; it could not be higher. Large mushroom bombs had no theoretical yield limit and could be made infinitely powerful. But large mushroom bombs required tritium isotopes, whose half-life was pitifully short. If not used for a long time, the tritium, with one proton and two neutrons, would decay into helium-3, with two protons and one neutron, eventually rendering the expensively built mushroom bomb ineffective. Therefore, the military could only limit the number of large-yield mushroom bombs, producing them as needed rather than stockpiling them for immediate use.
In addition to weapons, the Star Ark base received a large quantity of supplies, including fuel, food, and ammunition, as well as a research team of several thousand people, nearly emptying the Luojian Mountain base. Several hours later, the resupplied Star Ark base departed the solar system. After rendezvous with the Alliance fleet, they planned to head for Planet Roll V. Just as the fleet was about to depart, a wormhole opened in the distance, and a Roll warship appeared, requesting communication with the Star Ark. Although the Prism-forehead people were at the forefront, any discerning individual knew that the Star Ark base was the absolute core of the Alliance fleet.
The communication was connected, and a formally dressed Roller appeared on the screen: "I am the Plenipotentiary Special Envoy of the New Bay War Zone of the Roll Star Kingdom. You can call me Little Luo." Little Luo was not the name of any particular Roller; it was a convenient appellation, no different from simply calling someone a Roller. Ou Zhanpeng’s cheek twitched involuntarily: "I have a Little Luo here too. Let’s just call him Big Luo." "That’s fine too," Big Luo agreed. "I don’t need to introduce myself, I believe you already know me," Ou Zhanpeng said in an unfriendly tone. "Just get to the point, don’t waste each other’s time."
Big Luo said earnestly, "Our side believes this is a completely unnecessary war, and it is time to stop fighting." "Stop fighting?" Ou Zhanpeng acted as if he had heard the most laughable joke. "General Big Luo, you must understand, we do not like war, nor do we anticipate it. This war was not initiated by us. Do I need to repeat the sequence of events that led to the outbreak of war?" "No need, I am well aware of your demands," Big Luo said. "First, let me clarify, not all Rollers covet your warships. This conflict originated from the selfish desires of a small group, and they have already been punished accordingly. We have also paid the price of three planets for this conflict. Continuing to fight will benefit neither you nor us."
Ou Zhanpeng sneered, "Those are just words, how do I know if what you say is true? Have the so-called punishments truly occurred?" "I understand your doubts, but this is indeed the truth," Big Luo’s expression became even gloomier. "Some things, some matters, should not have been said, but in order to end this war, we must disclose some circumstances." Ou Zhanpeng made a gesture: "We are all ears!"
Big Luo on the screen suddenly disappeared, and the image turned into the blackness of space. A staggering number of Roll warships were arrayed neatly on one side of the screen, while on the other side, countless star beasts rolled in. After a moment, the Roll fleet unleashed a barrage of fire. The image froze, and Big Luo reappeared: "This is the reason. We have powerful fleets, and your assembled rabble are no match for us, but our most important enemy is not you, but the star beasts from other directions… I don’t need to elaborate on what star beasts are, do I?"
After a period of communication, Ou Zhanpeng finally understood what had happened. Several civilizations, including humanity, had been resisting the invasion of star beasts on the edge of the spiral arm. However, the width and thickness of the Orion Arm exceeded three thousand light-years; even half of it was fifteen hundred light-years. The three major civilizations had secured half of the spiral arm, and the star beasts could only spread deeper into the spiral arm from the other half. This meant that the entire New Bay star domain had to face a long battle line spanning at least a thousand light-years. The Rollers, though powerful, were not so powerful as to fight the star beasts single-handedly. They needed the assistance of other civilizations to barely hold… well, whether they could hold was still uncertain.
In short, the Rollers were under immense combat pressure. Therefore, when the Star Ark raised the banner of resistance against tyranny and was embraced by other civilizations, the situation in this direction suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse, reaching a point where the Rollers had to pay attention. To other civilizations, every Roll planet was advanced and enviable. But within the Roll Star Kingdom, there were bound to be certain differences between different regions. The planets destroyed by the Star Ark were all remote areas within the Roll Star Kingdom. To the Rollers, the loss of a few planets was insignificant; the main issue was the loss of face from being breached by a group of inferior civilizations.
But under the premise of a full-scale star beast invasion, face had to be temporarily set aside. If the war was not stopped, the Rollers would have to divert more fleets to fully suppress the resistance in this direction. If the civilizations in this direction were to completely defect, the Rollers would have to divert their own fleets to deal with the star beast problem. Losing the support of the major civilizations and expending vast resources to deal with the star beasts would be a double loss for the Rollers. The Rollers possessed a large number of administrative planets, and compared to the chaotic situation, the loss of a few planets was bearable. Especially after discovering that the Star Ark was more powerful than imagined, the high command of the Rollers unanimously agreed that continuing to oppose the Star Ark was not a wise move.
During this period, some people proposed the idea of a surprise attack on Earth, but the Roll Kutu rejected this suggestion. It was a critical time, and the Rollers could not risk a two-front war. Although humanity was weak, the Star Ark was powerful. All indications showed that the Star Ark had maintained a certain degree of restraint up to this point, and the reasons for this were self-evident. Once the Rollers destroyed Earth, the Star Ark would have no more reservations, effectively unleashing a beast that was originally leashed. No one knew what kind of damage the completely frenzied Star Ark would inflict upon the Roll Star Kingdom. The loss of a few planets was still within the capacity of the Roll high command to bear. However, if the Star Ark, without any regard, were to launch a full-scale retaliation, the consequences might be beyond what the Roll high command could handle.
Having reached this point, Ou Zhanpeng could only lament his good fortune in encountering such opportune timing. However, although the Rollers intended to cease hostilities, the wishes of the various civilizations were not so easily reconciled. After all, not every civilization possessed a Star Ark, and the Rollers naturally treated them differently. People do not suffer from poverty but from inequality. The Rollers’ actions also served to divide the Alliance, a classic tactic of killing multiple birds with one stone.
On this issue, Ou Zhanpeng and Gong Yiding engaged in a long discussion. Everyone unanimously agreed that the Star Ark must fight for humanity’s interests; this was the fundamental baseline with no room for negotiation. However, on the issue of other civilizations, the Star Ark could not make too many concessions, lest it alienate the other civilizations. If they encountered similar situations in the future, or if the Rollers mustered their strength for a counterattack, it was unlikely that any other civilization would be willing to help humanity. Gong Yiding felt that the current situation was very similar to the time when they had beaten up seventeen gangs; since they had already fallen out with the Rollers, they had to maintain a consistent stance with other civilizations to make the Rollers have some reservations. Subsequently, Ou Zhanpeng contacted the various civilizations and held a long discussion. Only after all civilizations reached a consensus did they formally begin negotiations with the Rollers. During the negotiations, warships from various civilizations were dispatched everywhere, constantly scouting the Rollers’ situation. The feedback they received was that the Rollers were indeed facing immense combat pressure. Ou Zhanpeng finally felt at ease and, leading the Alliance delegation, began arduous ceasefire negotiations with the Rollers.