Chapter 210 Fearful Roar_1

The Trisolaran Military Governor revealed a smile:

"The high-speed formation will be your biggest mistake.

"The three large array groups charging in a '品' shape at such high speed.

"We will intercept the First Array Group with two Waterdrops, coordinating with each other—one focusing on the attack and the other able to strike at some key nodes, creating more chaos among the Human Warships.

"The two Waterdrops will destroy the First Array Group at the highest speed, and then each will head to the other two array groups for a second wave of attacks.

"You truly do not understand the real speed of The Waterdrop, do you actually think we need a considerable amount of time to accelerate?

"Through our attack simulations, under the onslaught of the first and second waves, at most, no more than a hundred Human Warships will be able to escape.

"Next, the only task for the two Waterdrops will be to pursue these warships—not a single one is to escape. The speed of The Waterdrop is beyond your imagination, it's just that we prefer not to use it."

At this moment, the nerves of everyone in the Human Combined Fleet were stretched tight, all understanding that it was essential to deal effective damage to The Waterdrop before it approached the array.

The attack pattern of The Waterdrop was now clear; it would destroy all Human Warships through the simplest means—collision.

Once The Waterdrop approached the fleet formation, all the warships would face a harsh reality: their main guns would become useless.

First, firing at the middle of the formation would risk damaging other warships, a risk that humans couldn't afford.

Second, attacking the middle of the formation could make any warship a casualty of the crossfire, which would inevitably lead to evasive maneuvers, triggering a chain reaction that could lead to the collapse of the entire fleet.

Thus, humans could only rely on secondary guns to combat The Waterdrop. However, it is well known that the firepower of secondary guns is trivial compared to the main guns, almost incapable of posing a substantial threat to The Waterdrop.

All warships now had only one choice: to frantically direct their main gun firepower at The Waterdrop, more like venting their roar in fear.

Would the Human Fleet once again fall into the same trap of the dense formation from the original timeline?

...

Meanwhile, in the Third Warzone, Fourth Warzone, and Fifth Warzone.

Three Waterdrops suddenly accelerated, charging at 50 times the Third Cosmic Velocity towards the three main fleets in the three warzones.

Each of the three warzones had nearly 700 warships, all on high alert for The Waterdrop.

The warships in the three warzones were in a deep-sea state, unlike the federal fleet, they had always been moving forward with low power.

The federal fleet was massive, employing high-speed blitz tactics, and fixed formations were necessary.

However, the warships in the three warzones, with slightly inferior performance compared to the federal fleet and a smaller size, could adjust their formations more easily, and maintaining a speed of 10 times the Third Cosmic Velocity was the best choice.

Moreover, the battlefields were not too far from the core areas of their respective powers; thus, their combat strategies focused more on coordination with the defensive systems of the rear naval ports, with an emphasis on defense and counterattacks.

Military personnel in this era might be arrogant, but they were definitely not foolish; they had a clear understanding of the nature of war.

At this moment, as The Waterdrop approached with a ferocious momentum at 50 times the Third Cosmic Velocity, it indicated that the Trisolarans believed their attack could break through the defenses organized by their opponents.

As the distance narrowed, a similar probing attack by the group of Combined Fleet warships unfolded.

Many warships activated their visible light observation systems, scanning the outer surface of The Waterdrop. Although not as detailed as the scans by the Combined Fleet, they came to similar conclusions.

The tense atmosphere that permeated the fleets was instantaneously replaced with a new emotion—deep dread and anxiety.

The combat power and maneuverability of The Waterdrop far exceeded the Human Fleet's imagination. Its surface, made of strong interaction materials, could virtually ignore all attacks from human weapons.

Faced with such an enemy, all advantages and tactics of the Human Fleet seemed to become ineffective in an instant. Their warships, once a source of pride, appeared so insignificant and helpless at this moment.

The commanders in the three warzones faced the most difficult decision in their military careers: should they bravely engage the insurmountable Waterdrop or choose the shameful path of retreat?

Yet, even if they chose to flee, where could they go in the vastness of space? What would become of the defensive systems of the naval ports behind them and the countless people relying on their protection?

Regardless of the choice, it seemed already too late.

The three Waterdrops heading toward the three warzones had nearly reached the battlefield.

The surface of The Waterdrop, reflecting the afterglow of the galaxy, had a curvature that seemed like Death's smile gently cracking open, revealing a profound and eerie beauty—it was the smile of the Grim Reaper.

In the past two hundred years, the Trisolarans had grown rapidly, not only had their technology advanced by leaps and bounds, but they had also learned to use psychological warfare.

Facing the federal fleet that adopted mobile warfare, they feigned weakness, closing in gradually and then suddenly launched unparalleled rapid attacks.

As for the three main fleets that took a defensive strategy, the Trisolarans approached with powerful offensives, intending to impose the greatest psychological pressure on their opponents.

The Trisolarans were well aware that for a fleet, the most deadly thing was not the brave fearlessness when in total ignorance, nor the cowardly desire to survive in despair.

The real danger lay in wandering in the fog; the hesitation and indecisiveness in one's heart could destroy a fleet like poison.

Furthermore, when the crew learned of the astounding maneuverability of The Waterdrop and its surface composed of strong interaction materials, doubt and fear spread among them.

This psychological impact was also a part of the Trisolarans' meticulously planned psychological tactics.

Unable to attack for fear of being attacked, and afraid to flee, the Human Fleet was caught in a dilemma of indecision.

Amidst the hesitation of the three warzones, the command system gradually descended into chaos. Since the warships in the fleet were widely dispersed and their main task was to cooperate with the rear naval port, the problem of communication delays became more apparent, undoubtedly making the overall situation even more passive and unfavorable.

This chaos and hesitation further exacerbated the difficult situation of the Human Fleet, making them feel increasingly helpless as The Waterdrop drew nearer.

As The Waterdrop got closer, all the warships in the three battlefields were forced to make the only choice.

All main guns roared in unison, unleashing fiery beams of energy. Like furious dragons, they traced dazzling paths across the dark universe, madly firing at the relentlessly approaching Waterdrop.

This was the Human Fleet's desperate attempt in dire straits, trying to use this final effort to turn the tide of the battle.

At this moment, the dense net of fire was not just an attack but also the Human Fleet's last cry in despair—it was their fierce venting, an attempt to break free from the shackles of death.

This mad venting undoubtedly also exposed the warriors' inner fear.

They feared the unknown, their own impotence, and the unfathomable enemy strength that The Waterdrop represented.

Each flash of the gunfire was like a manifestation of their fear, an attempt to use firepower to dispel the gloom in their hearts.

Humans seem to roar only in fear...

...

PS: In the original work, The Waterdrop engaged in battle with humanity using a speed three times that of the Third Cosmic Velocity, but The Waterdrop's actual speed was far beyond this.

That speed might seem fast, but it's actually pitifully slow; even humanity's ordinary shuttlecraft exceed this speed, and no human warship could possibly outpace it at these velocities.

It took The Waterdrop 200 years to travel from the Trisolaran Star System to the Solar System, indicating that its speed was at least 2% of the speed of light, which is almost 360 times the Third Cosmic Velocity or even 400 times.

In the third book of the series, during The Deterrence Era's final phase, there is a description: The Waterdrop was 13 million kilometers from Earth, reaching the ground in eight minutes. This is already 9% of the speed of light, which is over 1600 times the Third Cosmic Velocity, and The Waterdrop accelerated to this speed quickly.

There are several speculations as to why The Waterdrop did not use a higher speed to defeat the Human Warship:

First, there's no need for a higher speed; such speed suffices to slaughter all of the Human Warships. The "Quantum" and the "Bronze Age" were also inescapable, with The Waterdrop accelerating towards them but soon giving up.

Naturally, something more frightening happened on Earth, something that wasn't Logic, but an astronomer. He saved everyone, including Logic. This also shows the importance of ordinary people being interested in astronomy.

Second, The Waterdrop's surface is strong, but its interior may not be. In the original work, humans enter The Waterdrop through four-dimensional space and manage to damage its interior through human effort alone, suggesting its interior wasn't as strong, and its impact resistance was limited.

In the original work, attacks with kinetic and laser weapons are able to slow The Waterdrop, and its collisions with warships do affect its speed. The Waterdrop, too, must abide by the basic law of conservation of momentum; its interior would also sustain the corresponding impact force. According to the impulse-momentum theorem, the greater the velocity, the greater the impact force.

Third, The Waterdrop needed to conserve energy to block the sun and could not waste too much energy. Greater speeds would require more energy for turns and deceleration.

By the end of The Deterrence Era, the Trisolarans couldn't give Cheng Xin any more time, having to use their strongest conventional speed to smash all of humanity's broadcasts.

The original work also mentioned that The Waterdrop began using a speed three times the Third Cosmic Velocity, but increased its speed instantly by another factor when the spacing of the human warships increased.

This implies that the Trisolarans calculated every detail to the extreme, not wasting even a bit more resources on unnecessary things.

In other words, the Trisolarans' downfall might have been a result of their overly meticulous calculations.

If, after destroying the Human Warships, The Waterdrop had increased its speed towards Earth, killing Logic at the first opportunity, then proceeding to block the sun,

Humanity would have been completely bereft of hope.

The Trisolarans, obsessed with solving the three-body problem, also foolishly tried to calculate everything in the war of civilizations, and the result is evidently clear.

Trisolarans: Right, right, right, you're all correct! Anyway, it wouldn't be a bug from the great Liu Cixin.