Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 347: The Strategic Weapon

Tom always had a question in his mind.

This Purple Moon Civilization had seemed too eager from the very beginning of the war.

Deploying Electromagnetic Life on the star, setting up First Planet as a trap, feigning to hand over First Planet to his side, and then using the power of Electromagnetic Life to annihilate him in one fell swoop—this was indeed a good plan.

His discovery of the plan and subsequent counter-strategy leading to the fall of First Planet, causing the overall failure of the Purple Moon Civilization’s plan, seemed more like an accidental factor. Simply put, this was "not a fault of war," and did not prove that the Purple Moon Civilization’s strategy was bad.

But one must look at problems from different angles. This strategy was indeed good, but... was there really a need to use it?

After all, his side had no large planets and their overall technological strength was inferior to theirs. If they just proceeded step by step, fortified their defenses, and slowly wore him down, he would have almost no chance of winning.

In such a situation, no matter how good the trap plan was, it always carried some risk. From the perspective of balancing risk and reward, the Purple Moon Civilization seemed to have no need or motive to execute this plan.

But they did it anyway.

This clearly indicated that the Purple Moon Civilization did not want to be entangled with his side in this solar system for too long.

They were very "anxious," very "impatient."

This aligned with the intelligence he had previously received about the Purple Moon Civilization continuously flying at sub-light speed for over a thousand years without a single stop for rest or repair.

Regardless of why they were so anxious, there were some opportunities hidden within that his side could exploit.

Given this... now that he had truly occupied First Planet, demonstrated unimaginable industrial strength, and the war could not end quickly but would certainly be protracted, perhaps negotiation was a way out?

And no matter what, he first had to trick those human compatriots from the Purple Moon Civilization!

Anyway, the Purple Moon Civilization didn’t know that he had long considered them a mortal enemy. In their eyes, his only demand should be the return of those human captives.

Based on this, the Purple Moon Civilization, in order to end the war quickly and extricate themselves from this solar system, was very likely to agree to him!

After tricking them over, he could always just tear up the armistice agreement. For enemies, Tom never had any moral scruples; he would trick them if he could.

After sending that message, Tom manipulated numerous battleships, carried out large-scale industrial construction, and patiently waited.

After a long time, the Purple Moon Civilization’s reply arrived.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Indeed! In order to extricate themselves quickly, the opponent also had an intention to negotiate!

"Engaging in war means significant losses for both our sides. And this war was originally unnecessary.

Our demand is very simple: those human captives.

As long as your side hands them over to us, our side will stop bothering your side, and both sides can live in peace, collecting enough resources and then leaving. How about that?"

"Accepted."

The Purple Moon Civilization agreed very readily. But before Tom could rejoice, the subsequent message came: "However, your side has caused such tremendous losses to our side during this period, so there must be compensation.

Our side demands that your side transfer over 100,000 unique technologies, as well as the complete source code and training data of your artificial intelligence.

If so, our side can transfer the human captives to your side, and then both sides will cease hostilities and make peace."

A cold smile appeared at the corner of Tom’s mouth.

This Purple Moon Civilization really dared to name their price...

However...

"Accepted."

Tom replied very straightforwardly, "For the sake of peace, our side is willing to make significant concessions. Please immediately transfer all human captives to our side. After inspection, we will hand over the relevant data to your side as agreed."

"This does not conform to interstellar custom. Please first transfer the relevant data to our side for our inspection, and then we will transfer all humans to your side."

"Since our two sides have a difference of opinion on the transfer method, why don’t we discuss it in detail? First, please open your Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet defense line and allow our robot envoy to confirm the number of human captives and their living conditions on site?"

"Certainly. But to show your sincerity, please first allow our robot envoy to conduct an on-site inspection of the unique technology types and artificial intelligence operating modes that your side possesses."

After several rounds of communication and discussion, the two sides were still unable to reach an agreement.

Seemingly realizing that they couldn’t gain an advantage over Tom, the Purple Moon Civilization angrily refused to negotiate, declaring that they would reclaim what belonged to them on the First Planet Battlefield.

Tom also responded with a strong and angry retort.

The negotiations broke down.

Tom’s expression was full of solemnity.

Although his reply was full of anger, Tom remained calm.

He once again detected the abnormality within it.

The Purple Moon Civilization... it seemed from the very beginning that they had no intention of negotiating. They never intended to hand over those human captives from the start.

The subsequent entanglement was merely an attempt to gain some advantage from him.

Of course, Tom thought the same way.

But... the Purple Moon Civilization clearly had very urgent matters to attend to, and from the surface, their demands were truly only those human captives. They could have clearly extricated themselves by handing over the captives, so why did the Purple Moon Civilization refuse?

At that time, their refusal could still be explained by their underestimation of his combat power.

Why, now that his side had already occupied First Planet and the war’s trajectory clearly pointed towards a stalemate, were they still refusing?

What did those human captives mean to them, after all?!

Regardless of the reason. At this moment, under these circumstances...

Then let it be a stalemate!

Then let the fighting continue!

Let’s see who breaks first in the end!

After establishing his subsequent strategy, Tom truly calmed down.

At this moment, what Tom needed to do was simple, only two aspects.

First, continue with ultra-large-scale industrial construction and production to supply the needs of the battlefield.

Second, continue to defend against the opponent’s offensive on the First Planet Battlefield and the stellar battlefield. If possible, he could also extend the front line further outwards, fighting space battles, or opening new battlefields on other planets.

And then... wait!

Based on the current situation and the comparison of strengths between the two sides, winning this war was very difficult, almost impossible.

However, this time, Tom was not thinking of winning. At least not for now.

As long as he didn’t lose, that was enough!

As long as he remained like a nail, firmly embedded in this solar system, the opponent would never be able to extricate themselves.

One day, the opponent would reveal a flaw again. And as soon as the opponent revealed a flaw, that would be the time for his side to launch a desperate counterattack!

If one hundred years wasn’t enough, then two hundred years; if two hundred years wasn’t enough, then five hundred or a thousand years!

Anyway, I can afford to wait, and I can endure. I just don’t know if you, as a mainstream intelligent civilization, the Purple Moon Civilization, can afford to wait and endure!

As for what the Cloud Civilization said, that this starfield was about to become a Space-level civilization battlefield... he couldn’t worry about that for now.

This space was so vast, the possibility of it truly affecting him was still relatively small.

This was the only way Tom found to win against the Purple Moon Civilization, which possessed superior technological strength and combat power, after a comprehensive assessment.

Time quietly flowed by, and the large-scale war surrounding First Planet never ceased.

The two sides remained in a stalemate.

Relying on more advanced technology and greater combat power, the Purple Moon Civilization consistently maintained immense pressure on Tom at First Planet, leaving Tom with no time for anything else besides First Planet and the stellar battlefield. However, they were consistently unable to break through Tom’s defense line or launch a direct attack on the planet’s surface.

Tom, on the other hand, relying on Primal and superior industrial strength, continuously supplied the battlefield with massive amounts of combat facilities, desperately maintaining the defense line from being breached and firmly keeping the Purple Moon Civilization’s battleships outside. However, he was consistently unable to break through the Purple Moon Civilization’s blockade and extend his combat power to more external areas.

Every day, a large number of manned and unmanned battleships were blown into wreckage, and every day, a large number of battleships were destroyed.

Then, either from First Planet or from the other planets, large numbers of combat facilities belonging to both sides would be supplemented, continuing a seemingly endless meat grinder war.

Time quietly passed for several decades under these circumstances.

At this moment, Tom noticed something unusual.

He saw that more battleships were gathering from the other planets and beginning to head towards First Planet.

Combining this with the fact that he had detected the opponent’s industrial base production efficiency increasing again and their scale expanding again over the past few decades, Tom immediately understood.

Clearly, the civilization mobilization efforts the opponent had carried out over the past few decades had, at this moment, yielded sufficient results.

Next, he would surely face an even more ferocious wave of attacks from the opponent!

And, at this stage, his defense line was already precarious. If the opponent’s offensive were to strengthen further...

Tom’s expression was calm, without the slightest emotional fluctuation.

Just as he had predicted, after these hundreds of thousands of newly arrived battleships joined the battlefield, the pressure on his defense line suddenly increased. Even though Tom had activated all his industrial power, making every effort to supplement the space with manned and unmanned battleships and various combat facilities, he was unable to alleviate this pressure.

At this moment, Tom even felt that the space battlefield was like a forest fire. The combat facilities he supplemented into it were like barrels of water.

Once poured, they would immediately evaporate. Not to mention extinguishing the flames, at this moment, he was even unable to control the spread of the fire.

Since that was the case...

Tom immediately issued an order.

The situation had reached its most urgent moment. It was time to use the Unified Force Field, this strategic weapon!

Under Tom’s control, the hundreds of billions of clones previously stored flowed like rivers into the sea, converging from various hibernation bases into the control base.

After connecting the intravenous channels, the clones lay quietly on the control chairs.

In space, dozens of giant aerospace carriers, under heavy protection, were dispatched, and the Unified Force Field components were systematically placed in space.

All preparations were complete.

Unified Force Field, activate!

At this moment, at the cost of hundreds of billions of clone lives and the accumulation of hundreds of years of industrial production, Tom’s strongest strategic offensive weapon unleashed its full power.

The next moment, in the battlefield, countless powerful battleships that Tom had struggled to resist suddenly exploded, and fireballs appeared out of nowhere, completely illuminating this starfield.

In that instant, the overall brightness of this interstellar battlefield surrounding First Planet even surpassed that of the star!

Amidst the fierce energy radiation, all of Tom’s battleships and all combat facilities were put into maximum protection status in advance. But even so, a large number of smaller devices were still affected and destroyed.

This caused some losses for Tom. But compared to the Purple Moon Civilization, Tom’s losses were nothing at all.

After a simple count, Tom saw that the total number of Purple Moon Civilization battleships destroyed by the Unified Force Field was as high as 550,000!

Even more than he had initially estimated!

Among them, there were even more than a dozen of the largest battleships, equivalent to his own Mars-class battleships!

As for the smaller unmanned battleships, space mines, missile turrets, and so on, that were affected and destroyed, their number was too large to count.

At this moment, all of the Purple Moon Civilization battleships seemed to have fallen into a state of confusion, at a loss. After being fiercely attacked by Tom, they lost all coordination and command, only knowing how to retreat in a hurry.

In an instant, the area around First Planet became calm.

The entire war was temporarily halted due to the use of the Unified Force Field, this strategic weapon. The wealth accumulated by the Purple Moon Civilization through decades of full-civilization mobilization was completely wiped out by this single strike.

But Tom knew that this... was not the end.

Although the Unified Force Field achieved such a huge victory, Tom felt no excitement in his heart; instead, it was filled with solemnity.

For any other civilization, the use of the Unified Force Field would have been enough to annihilate a civilization.

But against the Purple Moon Civilization, the Unified Force Field could only temporarily halt the war, merely buying himself some breathing room.

Subsequently, the Purple Moon Civilization’s fleet would surely return.

He still needed to use this time to quickly reinforce his defense line and await more intense attacks.

Just as Tom had predicted, after a brief period of chaos, the Purple Moon Civilization fleet quickly calmed down, and the war resumed.

And the industrial construction and mobilization affecting the entire civilization also continued.

It would probably only take a few decades for the Purple Moon Civilization to accumulate another wave of attacks.

Fortunately... a few decades would also be enough for him to prepare another Unified Force Field.

The battle situation remained in a stalemate, and in the short term, neither side saw any hope of turning the tide.

Then let’s wait longer! Keep waiting! Keep waiting until your Purple Moon Civilization collapses!