Chapter 202: Searching for Whirlwind Stomp_1

Crisis Era, year 202, summer, Wallfacer Headquarters.

The colossal holographic projection in the central hall displayed the grand entirety of the Solar System.

The vastness of the Solar System was astounding, if not for detailed annotations, besides the central sparkling Sun and the few tiny planets revolving around it which could be recognized, everything else was hard to distinguish.

Their distances were also extremely far from each other, an illustrative understanding:

Over a hundred diameters of Earth made up the Sun's diameter.

Over a hundred Sun diameters made up the distance from the Sun to Earth, which is one astronomical unit.

The Kuiper Belt is about 30 to 50 astronomical units from the Sun, showing the vastness of the Solar System.

But this holographic projection was the size of a quarter of a football field and had the capability to zoom in on specific areas, displaying the positions and movements of all human forces, even every single warship, clearly before people's eyes.

To monitor every move in the Solar System comprehensively, humans had launched a massive number of surveillance satellites at great cost, marking each asteroid with exhaustive precision.

The Wallfacer military strategy meeting, all relevant personnel had arrived.

Military think tank, "All the tasks assigned by Wallfacer Headquarters have been completed.

"According to our prediction, the Trisolaran Soothsayer Imprints will invade the Solar System from all directions simultaneously, attempting to destroy our defenses in one fell swoop.

"Therefore, all space battleships must maintain a high state of alert, ready to support any potential battlefields at any moment."

"During high-speed travel, our warships will face significant threats from large asteroids. These asteroids are like assassins hidden in the dark; a collision with a warship could lead to unthinkable consequences.

"Therefore, our focus has shifted to marking all large asteroids within the Kuiper Belt and formulating corresponding countermeasures.

"The United Government of the Solar System Fleet is also continuously working on this, and the data will be updated in sync. However, the positions of asteroids can change at any time, so we must keep up with it."

Lin Sen, "This is indeed necessary. There are billions of asteroids within the Solar System, and the volume of work is indeed massive, but it must be done."

As if recalling something, Lin Sen continued, "Smart brain, display the paths of all marked asteroids for the coming year."

The smart brain, as the latest developed high-level military intelligence system, promptly responded to Lin Sen's request.

This system, like the brain in modern warfare, could tightly connect various combat units together, achieving real-time transmission and efficient sharing of information. Its powerful data processing and analytical capabilities were providing critical strategic analysis for military decision-making.

With the unfolding of the asteroid trajectories on the holographic projection, the hall's holograph was filled with a dense network of extended lines from the asteroid paths.

Lin Sen reviewed the asteroid paths; the action seemed casual, but this was Lin Sen's true target. He remembered that in the original timeline, the Trisolarans had hidden The Waterdrop within an asteroid, striking humanity suddenly and destroying all broadcast systems.

At that time, humanity was not completely defenseless against The Waterdrop, as they could produce its surface material in small quantities.

The likelihood of the Trisolarans repeating their old tricks was too great not to guard against.

Lin Sen casually examined these paths, his gaze moving to areas where the path extension lines were densely clustered.

But from the corner of his eye, he locked onto several places and firmly embedded them in his mind.

"Turn it off, the key is these dense asteroid areas; if the battlefield is in these areas, will it significantly affect our warships' operations?" Lin Sen asked.

"It will indeed have an impact. Within these areas, the warships' speed must be reduced to ensure safety.

"But rest assured, we have deployed advanced sensing and reconnaissance systems in these key areas.

"These systems can real-time grasp the distribution and dynamic changes of the asteroids, allowing us to adjust our course in time to avoid risks."

At this moment, Lin Sen's thoughts were immersed in the places he had just been focusing on. Indeed, the Trisolarans were still using the asteroids to hide them.

Now, based on Trisolaris's potential attack targets, he had to locate them:

One, two… eight, there are eight!

Based on the order in which the Trisolarans dispatched the Whirlwind Stomps and the observations by the Linger-Fitzroy Telescope, the first ten and the last ten were sent in two batches, and they should arrive in the Solar System about a year apart.

The first ten were not too far away, and they had already infiltrated the Solar System for several months; they should have all arrived.

Using the trajectories of these meteoroids, the Trisolarans were likely to launch their war in eight months. This timing coincided with his predictions and further confirmed the accuracy of his judgment regarding the Trisolarans' strategic intentions.

On the surface, Lin Sen was still that tranquil figure, nonchalant like an ancient well without ripples. If the Trisolarans were trying to confuse him, wasn't he also confusing the Trisolarans?

Lin Sen's heart was now settled; the current situation was unfolding just as he had meticulously planned and envisioned, everything was within his control.

The division of human space power was as follows:

The largest space power was the former Earth Alliance camp, which coordinated the entire Stellar Defense System, with Ye Chen as the highest authority.

The second largest space power was the former Moon Camp, focusing on defending the inner Solar System. The Moon Camp had established numerous colonies and starport defense systems on Mars, Mercury, Venus, and the moons of Jupiter early on, which had become their sphere of influence, with Xiang Gaofeng as the highest authority.

The third largest space power consisted of various small federations that had developed in the outer Solar System. They were usually far apart and could not unite for battle; their main strategy was guerrilla warfare.

All three formed the United Government of the Solar System Fleet, administered by a council system. The Permanent Defense Council coordinated the various forces and resource allocations, jointly opposing the Trisolarans.

The human military staff estimated the time of engagement with the Trisolarans would be the summer of Crisis Era 204, two years from now.

The strategic plans of the Trisolarans were also relatively easy to conjecture:

All of the first ten Trisolaran Soothsayer Imprints had arrived in the Solar System, and the two that had not appeared were estimated to directly confront humanity. These two Whirlwind Stomps could attract humanity's main federal fleet.

During the war, the three forces would dispatch over half their space battleships each, overseen by the Command Headquarters for unified combat deployment; more than 3,000 ships were expected, and these were the best-performing battleships.

It could be foreseen that the target of the Trisolarans' two Whirlwind Stomps was this united fleet of over 3,000 ships, currently still in joint battle formation drills.

The Trisolarans launching their war in eight months indeed had the potential to catch humanity off guard; the Trisolarans' tactics had indeed grown a lot.

Humanity today would definitely not make the same mistake of dense formation as in the original timeline, but there would be a relative concentration, so the Trisolarans could not miss the best opportunity to attack.

The remaining space battleships of the three forces were also somewhat concentrated.

Their performance was inferior, and most of the battleships would return to the starports for a final maintenance check, while some would undergo modifications. This was also the best time for the Trisolarans to strike.

The concentrated locations of the ships from the three forces each had a "meteorite" drawing near and all would reach their optimal attack positions in eight months.

In addition, the most critical combat target for the Trisolarans was to destroy Earth's omnidirectional broadcast and to blockade the Sun.

They also aimed to destroy two omnidirectional broadcasts in space, requiring at least three more Whirlwind Stomps.

Right now, there were indeed three "meteoroids" approaching these key points, and in eight months, they too would reach their optimal attack positions.

The last two "meteoroids" were approaching the Wallfacer Headquarters from different directions.

It seemed the Trisolarans placed great importance on him; not only was the Wallfacer here, but also an omnidirectional broadcast station.

The comprehensive combat strategy of the Trisolarans was now clearly laid out in Lin Sen's mind.

If the Trisolarans' other ten Whirlwind Stomps all arrived, indeed it would be quite difficult to deal with, but currently, their forces were obviously stretched thin; humanity still had a chance.

However, everything was going too smoothly, so much so that it even gave him a slight unease.

How much of his plan had the Trisolarans figured out?

But now, there was no other choice!