Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 161: The ECS System!

Yao Yuan scanned through the pictures brought back by Ying’s scouting team one more time. The alien main body that was previously spreading itself to cover Moon 2 was unfurling at record speed. As it layered upon itself, the 4 reactors showed signs of charging up. It was obvious that it was leaving Moon 2.

Simultaneously, in the space between the planet and Moon 2, especially around Moon 2, was a dense crowd of flying monsters. The monsters had both giant fleshy wings and an opening on their back for a stream of corpuscular flux. It seemed like they had the ability of flight both in space and within the ozone.

Captured in some of pictures was the combat between the space jet and the alien monsters. Like other aliens that they’d seen, the flying monsters were covered with an exoskeleton and looked grim and ferocious. While their bodies were only 8 to 9 meters tall, their wings extended to more than 20 meters wide. Their flight speed was unknown, but it was obvious that they were much slower than the space jets. The fact that they weren’t electromagnetically shielded also made them easy targets for the combat jets.

The 4 space combat jets cut through the ranks of flying monsters easily. Due to time constraints though, they didn’t wander deep into the monster army.

"This thing here is what worries me," Ying said while pointing at an oval-shaped meat blob that hid behind the frontline. "At the interval of about every 10,000 monsters, there will be one such blob. The thing is about several hundred meters long and I believe it has a similar purpose as those electromagnetic shield generating monsters. And if that’s true, the combat capability of our troopers will be greatly hindered."

Looking at the images, Yao Yuan asked suddenly, "Was the ECS system activated? I notice that these are all pictures of close-ranged combat."

Ying was taken aback. "Of course it was activated. That’s common space combat rules."

"Is that so…"

Yao Yuan stood up with joy. "Our minute technological advantage might tip this war to our favor! There’s still hope, Ying!"

Very quickly, Yao Yuan gathered all of the Black Star Troopers at the Space Combat Jet Prototype 3s’ hangar. The combat jets were all ready. A space war was going to start.

"…There’s no time to waste. Everyone here knows how much is at stake. If we fail, our families, friends, future generations, and the entire human civilization will end up as alien nutrients!"

Yao Yuan stared down from his vantage point at the podium. 120 plus troopers stood at attention. Each was armed with standard trooper equipment, fitted space armor, Gaussian rifle, and a sawblade strapped to their waist.

"Remember to activate your ECS system before entering combat. Based on our observation, our enemy doesn’t have access to this technology, so they will only realize our presence when we’re awfully near. Therefore, we’ll be depending on a guerrilla tactic for this battle. Hit hard and hit fast. The moment your target is struck, get out of its detection range! Rinse and repeat!

"Let’s save humanity! Move out!"

The ECS system was also known as the invisibility tech. Unlike Earth’s camouflage, the ECS enables actual invisibility by refracting the light source that enters one’s eyes. It was a 4th revolution technology.

As mentioned above, invisibility didn’t mean actual disappearance. It was all light manipulation. One’s presence will still be exposed if scanned using powerful optical radar systems. Therefore, the ECS system had to be paired with creator’s particles. With creator’s particles blocking the radar system, the ECS system could provide substantial invisibility. This technology completely invalidated a warship’s main cannon, making skirmishes between mobile engines that much more important.

This ECS system was also inherited from the junkyard. In fact, when the AI ambushed the Hope, it had used the ECS system to cloak the battleship piece!

Since the alien didn’t know about the ECS system, this meant that it was open to ambushes from the Black Star Troopers. Similarly, after the Hope lifted up into space, it could activate its ECS system to escape detection. Furthermore, since the alien monsters had no ECS system, the Hope’s long-ranged weapons weren’t at all hampered!

The Hope could provide a warship’s worth of long distance support! After a series of bad news, Yao Yuan was immensely relieved to finally hear some good news. After the Hope lifts into space, it will be easy to squish the meat blob into a meat pie!

It was as Yao Yuan thought, even a small technological difference could mean life or death in space!

Back at the base, Guang Zhen used his military-grade binoculars to scour the sky above them. Even the horizon was packed with a sea of monsters; there was not even any breathing room available. Other than the monster types that they had already encountered in their previous skirmish, there were a lot more weird-looking monsters.

One of them crawled on 6 legs and had a tube-like extended neck. It had not a head but a pair of eyes that blinked at the end of its long neck. The monster was 5 to 6 meters tall and more than 10 meters long. It easily dwarfed the other monsters on the field. It was a cannon monster.

Another monster was awashed in black. However, unlike other monsters that had shell-like exoskeletons, this monster’s black outer shell had a metallic sheen. Like a centipede, it was segmented and had appendages that extended underneath the many segments. At the forefront was a pair of pincers that surged with electricity. It was not tall, only several meters in height, but it was about 8 meters long. Its looks alone could inspire fear in one’s heart.

Other notable monsters included the long-barrel-at-the-chest monsters that appeared in the previous battle. The long barrels could shoot Gaussian bullets, and compared to last time, there were a lot more of them this time.

Similarly, the small foot soldiers and giant electromagnetic shield generating monsters also increased in numbers. Collectively, they gushed towards the base like a tsunami.

Guang Zhen breathed in deeply. He hugged himself closely, saying to no one in particular, "This is so weird. Why they aren’t attacking? If I had known that it would be so complicated, I would have asked Yao Yuan for a Thinker…"

"…Sorry, can’t help you there."

Guang Zhen turned to see Ren Tao saunter lazily out of one of the transport shuttles. Even though there was a distance between them, thanks to the internal communicator within the space armor, the troopers were able to communicate with each other easily. The whole base was in the creator’s particle isolator’s range, so this line of communication wasn’t affected.

Ren Tao dragged himself to stand beside Guang Zhen with reluctant steps. He surveyed the army of monsters that had them at a chokehold, observing. "Unfortunately, I’m still unfamiliar with how to pilot the combat jet, so Yao Yuan left me behind."

Guang Zhen, though, rejoiced. "That works out just fine. To fully understand the complicated wartime state of affairs, we need a Thinker like yourself… So looking at all these, anything come to mind?"

Ren Tao glanced sideways at Guang Zhen and shrugged. "I told you, I have no clue why they aren’t attacking… But if I have to guess, they are waiting for something."

"Waiting for what?"

The puzzle attracted not only Guang Zhen’s attention but also Zhang Heng’s, who stood beside him. Even the other troopers moved closer despite the fact that they were already in hearing range.

"Who knows, maybe they’re waiting for the battle horn."

Ren Tao, though, disappointed them with a non-serious answer. Right then, several combat jets flew up into space from the opening. The moment they hit open air, light waves twirled around them, eclipsing their presence, leaving only their smoke trails behind.

At the same time, the line of alien monsters roared in response. Numerous monsters started charging towards them. The cannon monsters hunkered down for impact as bombs were lobbed into the sky one after another. It was clear that these were not Gaussian bombs, because the soldiers were able to follow their trajectory. They arced beautifully through the sky until…

A series of explosions erupted several thousand meters around the base. The bombs were traditional explosive blast weapons!

"I believe that qualifies as a battle horn," Ren Tao commented lightly.

Guang Zhen had no time for his snide comments. He yelled, "Support battalion, prepare your weapons! Let some of the enemies through. 10 seconds later, bombard the horizon with a Gaussian carpet bombing!

Let’s make these alien filths eat some shrapnel!"