Super Mothership
The intelligence obtained this time was extremely important, and because of it, Nie Yun needed to revise and redraw the original strategy targeting Gemini.
After all, he originally thought it was a case of two tigers fighting each other, but now it turned out to be a mantis trying to stop a chariot!
Even if Gemini managed to defeat Jinlok’s mercenary legion and even rapidly grew by absorbing its opponent’s technology, once the Wolf Empire got serious, Gemini would probably still end up beaten like a dog.
Although both sides currently seemed evenly matched—and Gemini had only mobilized the forces of one star region—the problem was that the Wolf Empire hadn’t even deployed its regular army!
One should know that the Wolf Empire’s vassal civilizations were numbered beyond 50. Gemini struggled just dealing with the Ryan Tribe; if three, four, five, six, or seven more vassal civilizations ganged up, they would definitely be forced to kneel.
Not to mention the enemy had wormhole expansion technology. Methods of blocking and holding the chokepoints had lost all effectiveness; even if Gemini wanted to run like a dog, it wouldn’t be able to.
This was the difference in civilizational depth. In the short term, Gemini could not catch up to the Wolf Empire at all.
Thus, times had changed. If Gemini used to be an obstacle to Earth’s civilization, now it had become a shield. Nie Yun felt he had to cherish it.
At critical moments, he might even have to give Gemini a helping hand—otherwise the buffer zone between Earth and the Wolf Empire would disappear.
"If I reveal the Wolf Civilization’s true situation to Gemini…" Nie Yun thought for a moment, then shook his head and abandoned the idea of providing intelligence support.
Just imagine—once Gemini learned that the opponent was such a colossal behemoth, being scared witless would only be the first step. Next, they would likely mobilize the entire nation’s power to destroy the wormhole expansion device, slowing the enemy's advance.
After that, they would adopt a scorched-earth strategy—completely erasing all traces of civilization in the Storm Galaxy, wiping out wormhole coordinates and star maps, then withdrawing to the next galaxy to form an isolation belt, then fortifying each subsequent galaxy step by step.
This approach couldn’t fully stop the invasion, but it could stretch the enemy’s invasion timeline indefinitely—if lucky, delaying them for decades or even centuries.
During that time, Gemini would throw all its resources into expanding survival space in other star regions, trying to obtain development resources from other directions to compensate for the loss—and maybe even look for a chance to turn the tables!
This wasn’t Nie Yun’s imagination. It was a contingency plan long written into Gemini’s military textbooks for when a civilization encountered an S-level—also called a Calamity-level—civilization.
When facing an unbeatable power, one must make full use of the vastness of the universe, exploiting territorial depth—retreat when the enemy advances, trading space for time.
Its essence is: “If land survives but people perish, both are lost; if land is lost but people survive, both may survive.” Ahem.
And once it reached that stage, the Solar System would undoubtedly become one of Gemini’s fallback targets—something Nie Yun least wanted to see.
However, even if Nie Yun didn’t intend to reveal the intel, as the war escalated, it was only a matter of time before Gemini’s intelligence agencies uncovered these facts on their own.
“It seems before Gemini realizes the problem and retreats, I need to do something,” Nie Yun rested his chin on one hand, running constant simulations in his mind…
…
Meanwhile, as the Ryan Tribe was being punished and scolded by Jinlok for poor combat performance, Gemini’s supreme commander, Gilard, was also not having an easy time.
“General Gilard, this battle plan was submitted by you and approved by the Council. We invested a great deal of preparation and sacrifice for this operation.
But now, you have failed to deliver a satisfactory result to the Council. We are very disappointed…”
In the slightly dim conference room, Chairman Cruze rested his chin on his hands and looked at Gilard with a stern expression.
Behind him stood more than a dozen high-ranking council members, some looking solemn, others mocking.
“Your Excellency Chairman, although this battle did not achieve complete success, we have severely damaged one of their wormhole expansion devices. Based on later observations, the wormhole’s expansion has indeed stopped, and it is even slowly shrinking — proving the effectiveness of our attack.”
“There is a difference between ‘severely damaged’ and ‘destroyed.’ I assume you understand that,” Cruze said in a deep tone.
“Yes, I must admit that the enemy may have the ability to repair it in a short time.” Gilard did not argue further. “However… destroying it was not my ultimate goal!”
“What?” “Not the ultimate goal?” The council members whispered among themselves.
“Oh? Explain,” Cruze said calmly.
“You must understand, even if we destroy one or even two devices, as long as the enemy possesses this technology, reopening a wormhole is only a matter of time.
And once they become vigilant, attempting to destroy their devices again will cost us far more. This is merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause.”
Gilard paused and scanned the room.
“In this operation, we used our full strength to heavily cripple their elite mecha corps — eliminating at least 30% of their effective combat power. This is a major victory.
If, even after witnessing our strength, the enemy still insists on repairing the wormhole expansion device at any cost, it means they are utterly confident — backed by overwhelming reserves and reinforcements — and therefore determined to escalate the war.
I believe everyone here understands what that implies…”
“Hm! It means their true strength is far beyond what we’ve seen so far!” one councilor said gravely.
“Precisely! It means we would need to commit the forces of two star regions, or even more, to win this war.
If that is the case, our current war mobilization is far from sufficient. I need more warships, more soldiers — perhaps the entire civilization must commit its full strength to defeat such a powerful enemy!”
“On the other hand, if after this battle the enemy shows hesitation, retreats, or even stops trying to repair the damaged wormhole expansion device, then it means our displayed strength is enough to make them fearful.
If so, we can roughly gauge their upper limits — meaning they are an opponent we can defeat!
Next, we should gather even more forces, counterattack, and seize their mecha technology and wormhole expansion technology!”
“So your true strategic intention was to interfere with the wormhole expansion process to test the enemy’s reaction, thereby determining their true strength?” Chairman Cruze asked.
“Your Excellency Chairman is wise — exactly so.” Gilard smiled confidently.
But Cruze frowned.
Gilard’s analysis made sense… but it didn’t change the fact that he was subtly asking for more reinforcements and support.
According to his analysis, no matter how the enemy reacted, the Council should commit more resources and troops.
This was supposed to be an accountability hearing — but through his smooth rhetoric, Gilard not only downplayed his failures but also convinced the Council to “nourish” him even more…
What an old fox.
“The Council will carefully consider your analysis and proposal. I expect a detailed report,” Cruze said.
“Yes!” Gilard bowed respectfully to all the senior members.
Cruze gave Gilard one last long look before his projected image faded away.
The other councilors disconnected one after another. As the lights brightened, the meeting room returned to clarity.
Gilard stared at the spot where their images vanished. The confident expression he had worn moments earlier slowly darkened…
The enemy… how did they see through his tactics?
TL Note- From Enemies to Friends....
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