Chapter 218: The Final Battle, Another Waterdrop Destroyed_1

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Fortunately, this explosion wasn't as intense as the previous secondary fusion explosions of the warship's fuel storages, where a blazing white fireball devoured the entire warship.

Now, it merely set off the warship's fusion reactor, and the explosion was confined to the aft section of the ship.

The crew of the warship was all immersed in Deep-Sea Acceleration Fluid, and the living quarters were some distance from the aft, so they weren't too severely affected. Most of them did not die in this collision explosion.

Although the warship was destroyed, if rescue efforts were prompt, most of the crew could still survive.

The reaper's scythe continued to swing, as human warships exploded one after another, like a consecutive series of fireworks blossoming in the night sky, spectacular yet tragic. Each warship's destruction was like a meteor streaking across the starry sky, brief yet brilliant.

In just 2 minutes and 30 seconds, The Waterdrop had destroyed 50 warships of a column, making the human pride in their space strength seem so fragile before The Waterdrop, as if it were made of paper, no, more like it was made of cheese paste.

At this moment, another Waterdrop began its slaughter, like a silent reaper, mercilessly reaping each warship without a trace of pity or hesitation, just mechanically and precisely executing its task.

Each pass resulted in one warship turning into debris, and soon, the 50 warships of the second column also turned to cosmic dust.

Then The Waterdrop welcomed several new columns of warships.

The war scene became increasingly gruesome, with the continuous explosions of warships echoing through the silence of space, debris scattering, and flames soaring, even though there was no sound in space.

In just 15 minutes, 250 warships of the Human Fleet had been reduced to smithereens.

Space was filled with the remnants and fragments of exploded warships, creating a grim and tragic scene.

The turning point came at this moment.

The entire battlefield, the three major Array Groups of the federal fleet, now formed a shape like an inverted eight with a vertical line through the middle.

The inverted eight represented the two Array Groups preparing to leave the battlefield, while the vertical line was the First Array Group stretching back to the original positions of the two others.

On this vertical line, at this moment, a Waterdrop seemed to be surrounded by nearly 400 warships. The Trisolarans preferred such encirclements as it allowed them to slaughter faster.

To slaughter the human warships more quickly, The Waterdrop even chose to turn on the spot without decelerating, otherwise, it would swiftly pass by the human warships.

At the rear command post, Ye Chen finally revealed a hint of a smile upon witnessing this warfare situation. He thought, "Finally, we've lured you in."

Trisolarans have some traits that will never change, always choosing the most optimal solution.

Destroying the Human Fleet also followed the most optimal path of attack, not realizing that this optimal path was the trap prepared for them, albeit at a great cost.

At this time, close to 12,000 secondary guns of the 400-plus warships surrounding The Waterdrop turned their barrels and fired at The Waterdrop from all different directions.

Although these secondary guns were much weaker than the main cannons, they were still far stronger than the laser cannons on warships in the original work; these secondary guns were specially enhanced during warship design 40 years earlier.

The barrage from these twelve thousand secondary guns couldn't damage The Waterdrop, but it did restrict The Waterdrop's dodging speed.

The Waterdrop, which had previously moved with ease, now seemed to be in a dense liquid, its mobility greatly impaired. Even these secondary guns had undergone more significant modifications with the purpose of restricting The Waterdrop's mobility.

Some believe that when The Waterdrop is attacked from all sides, the net force it experiences should be zero, and it won't affect its maneuverability.

But this is not the case. Even with a net force of zero, would moving in air be the same as maneuvering in water?

Moreover, the warships were now very close to The Waterdrop and could easily predict its forward direction, thereby increasing the intensity of attacks in that direction. As for The Waterdrop's sharp-angle turns, when The Waterdrop turns, the warship's attack strategy also needs to change in real time—there's virtually no delay in judgment at such close distances, and the density of attacks can be altered at any moment.

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At that moment, 2000 warships, far away from the battlefield, instantaneously turned their hulls, and all their cannons aimed at the Waterdrop, whose maneuverability had drastically decreased.

The Trisolarans finally understood the intent of the federal fleet and hurriedly dispatched another Waterdrop to destroy the 400 warships surrounding the first one, attempting to blast an aperture in their siege, allowing one direction of cannon fire to weaken and thereby escape from that direction.

However, Ye Chen wasn't going to give it that chance, as the nearby other warships' primary and secondary guns all fired, blocking the forward path of this Waterdrop.

If the Waterdrop charged directly into these main cannon energy beams, its speed would slow down. If it maneuvered around, that too would delay it, and now it all came down to fractions of a second.

Ye Chen's timing was too perfect, as it also coincided with the moment when the Waterdrop was at its farthest distance. Otherwise, it could have been quite possible for the Waterdrop to blast an aperture in the encircling warships and allow the one inside to escape.

Still, the Waterdrop engaged its highest acceleration mode and chose to charge straight in. Countless main cannons' energy beams bombarded the Waterdrop, greatly reducing its speed.

The Waterdrop steadfastly continued its charge forward, while several warships from the Human Fleet rapidly moved to intercept it from the front.

The Waterdrop immediately executed evasive maneuvers; it had to, as some of these warships were equipped with antimatter emitters, some of which were mounted externally and directed antimatter streams toward the Waterdrop.

The Trisolarans naturally knew about these installations, but they didn't pay much attention. Under normal circumstances, the Waterdrop would be able to target and easily eliminate them from specific angles, but now time was of the essence for the Waterdrop.

As the Waterdrop dodged and weaved through the fleet's attacks, it lost too much time, thereby missing the chance to rescue the other Waterdrop.

The Trisolarans calculated that they were just 0.1 seconds short.

Meanwhile, the main cannons of the 2000 warships from the Second and Third Array Groups fired simultaneously, as if the universe itself trembled. In that instant, space was filled with blinding light, as if daylight had descended.

In 0.05 seconds, two thousand energy beams, like two thousand roaring dragons, charged towards the besieged Waterdrop.

Nearly 800 energy beams struck the Waterdrop simultaneously. At that moment, the entire battle reached its climax, adeptly blocking any evasive path for the Waterdrop.

Under such a barrage of powerful energy, the outer shell of the Waterdrop, made from strong interaction material, finally could no longer hold.

At that moment, fine cracks began to appear on the surface of the Waterdrop, like the prelude to the collapse of a formidable fortress.

These cracks gradually widened, like the spreading of ice fissures on a winter's Ice Lake, and finally, at a certain instant, the Waterdrop completely burst open.

Never underestimate the power of these 800 main cannons' energy beams. If we were to make an analogy, every energy release from a warship's main cannon was akin to directing the explosive force of a Stellar-Class Hydrogen Bomb.

The directed energy of 800 Stellar-Class Hydrogen Bombs striking the Waterdrop was so immense that even neutron star material would struggle to withstand it and would be sufficient to obliterate it.

Ye Chen had already guessed that the surface of the Waterdrop might utilize strong interaction material, and his plan was directly aimed at destroying neutron star material, since strong interaction material, no matter how durable, would not exceed the strength of neutron star material.

As the outer material of this Waterdrop could no longer withstand the attack, it had no choice but to self-destruct in time, the aftermath of which almost took with it the majority of the warships in the First Array Group.

Because under such an energy attack, the propulsion system of the Waterdrop could also be damaged, and even leaving behind a remnant would pose an immense threat to the Trisolaran world.

PS:

No. 7: I really regret it, truly. Why do I always run into so many old sixes? Ye bro, I never expected you to be as cunning as Lin Sen.

Ye Chen: Brother didn't want to do this, but our strength doesn't allow for hesitation. How about it, my acting skills aren't far behind Lin Sen's, right?

Lin Sen: No good, I still need to practice more. Maybe one day you'll even surpass me in acting.

Logic, Rey Diaz, Hines, Tyler: No. 7 bro, we mourn for you.