Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 631 - 501: Shockwaves

The dispatcher couldn't even consider anything else; the starship rushing towards the star was too big a problem.

The price of cargo starships was originally very high, not to mention the technical personnel on board.

Not only the technical personnel of the Bida Company, but also the technical personnel from the customer's side.

The requirements for constant temperature and freshness are very high, especially for pharmaceuticals, precision, or luxury goods, so it's normal for customers to have technical personnel on board.

If carelessly done, the starship could crash straight into the star, leaving nothing behind.

Moreover, it's easy to enter the gravitational field of a star, but not easy to get out.

Apart from the strong gravity, there are flares, sunspots, solar winds, abnormal rays, and other complex situations.

Even if the starship control center is eventually successfully taken over, whether the course can be corrected remains unknown.

The more likely scenario is a limited takeover of the control center, but still unable to fly out of the star's gravitational field.

Then remote command and onsite repairs have to be considered, as well as deploying rescue ships.

If the ship can't break free of the star's gravitational field, it may end up orbiting the star and gradually falling onto it.

This consequence is simply too severe; not only will Bida's own people die, but the customer's technicians will also find it difficult to escape.

So what the dispatcher most wants to understand right now is what the current situation of the cargo ship 25683 is.

Only by thoroughly understanding the problem, can losses be salvaged to the greatest extent.

As for the missing fast cargo starship, he can't afford to think about it now and just sends a rescue starship.

He was so busy he was overwhelmed, and another call from the dispatcher came in, making him really explode with anger.

"Will it ever end? Don't you know I'm busy?"

"Star thief, it's a star thief!" the dispatcher shouted on the other end, "It's Cargo Sea Fleet 182, they've encountered star thieves!"

The Cargo Sea type is a large-capacity starship for mass cargo transportation.

In this scenario, several starships form a fleet, plus a guard team, making transportation more efficient and safer.

"Damn!" The dispatcher cursed directly, "What the hell... where did star thieves come from in the Hope Star Realm now?"

The star thieves on Zarif Star had been extinguished, and peace had been restored for quite some time.

However, this issue still had to be dealt with, "How many starships do the star thieves have, and what configuration does the Cargo Sea Fleet 182 have?"

Cargo Sea Fleet 182 consists of four Cargo Seas and one armed Cargo River.

The Cargo Sea itself has limited firepower, and although the Cargo River also transports bulk cargo, it is relatively smaller.

This Cargo River was converted into an armed merchant ship, significantly improving its firepower, though it's ultimately not a true warship.

The star thief fleet they encountered consists of six starships, including two warships, three armed merchant ships, and one modified support ship.

The support ship, as the name suggests, provides firepower support, adding some weapons to a normal starship.

Its firepower might be stronger than that of an armed merchant ship, just less defensively strong, focusing on long-range strikes.

Being targeted by such a star thief battleship, Cargo Sea Fleet 182 would likely be unlikely to escape unscathed.

The dispatcher pondered for a moment and commented, "Although the Cargo Seas have strong defenses, they are too large."

"Yes," the dispatcher replied, "Cargo Seas are not recommended for emergency jumping... the tearing force is too great."

Starships transporting bulk cargo may not always have high defense, and some have sturdy exteriors with weaker interiors.

However, the main operating area for Bida is on the Imperial border, where security is not very good.

So the Cargo Sea class starships they purchased have thick armor capable of withstanding a certain amount of artillery fire.

The dispatcher spoke in a deep voice, "The large size leads to long preparation time for jumping; the key issue is still the lack of power."

"By the way, do the star thieves want to capture the cargo or the ship?"

Capturing the ship means taking both the ship and the cargo; capturing the cargo usually doesn't involve a fight to the death, as they are just after money.

Bulk cargo isn't that easy to unload, but since it's bulk cargo, the star thieves' demand for it won't be low.

The dispatcher timidly replied, "The star thieves said they want to capture the ship, rather than destroy both the ship and the crew."

The dispatcher sneered upon hearing this, "Such a big appetite, which star thief gang is it? Wait..."

Just then, another piercing alarm sounded.

"Don't pass it over," the dispatcher decisively signaled to his assistant, "Something's wrong today."

In just a few minutes, alarms came one after another; up until now, there had been four waves, with who knows how many more to come.

"Send the order down, all starships currently on transport missions, start self-checks!"

After giving directives, he directly pressed a red button, "Boss, something big happened!"

By now, he realized that someone had begun to take a hard line against Bida.

It's not clear who did it at the moment, but such a silent declaration of war, with such a large-scale move, is truly aggressive.

So first, it was necessary to sort out which force had struck, starting with such fierce action.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Bida is indeed powerful, but for the company to develop this large, it had provoked countless forces.

The smaller forces had been directly wiped out, and the larger ones could be dealt with through interest exchanges to resolve grievances.

Of course, some people are willing to resolve issues, while others are not. If they're not willing, they should prepare for tough times.

Small and medium-sized forces bearing grudges are of no concern to Bida. Those forces launching such a large attack is nearly impossible.

Even if several join forces, Bida is confident in launching a heavy counterattack, retaliating blood for blood, tooth for tooth.

However, Bida also has corresponding competitors, whose strength would not differ greatly.

No matter what, gather all the resting middle and senior management to deal urgently with the unexpected situation.

The true top management will discuss today's situation through the holographic meeting system.

First, we must clarify who exactly the opponents are and what the reason is for their sudden provocation.

During the meeting, alarms kept coming in, truly giving a sense of a crisis meeting.

In the end, it was Bida's second boss who spoke - stop the reporting and handle it yourself for now.

Bida's big boss and second boss do not manage specific affairs; they leave it to the company's management.

Today, the big boss only sent an assistant, and the second boss taking charge is no issue, especially since he himself is Supreme.

The loss has already occurred; timely remedy is fine. Running such a massive company won't lead to confusion over such small sums.

The urgent priority is still pinpointing the opposition.

First, everyone analyzed the known dozen alarms, which originated from starships launched from four Habitable Stars.

In other words, the adversary is a force covering the entire Star Realm—or a loose alliance.

The most alerts come from cargo ships departing Star No. 2, with the fewest from Star No. 3.

Star No. 4 had the most variety, and Star One was the most ruthless.

Such as the hazardous leak requiring ship abandonment was from Star One, the Star of Hope.

Direct electromagnetic interference in communication, leading to unclear starship connection failures, was from Star No. 4.

Various situations are numerous; really indescribable in brief. However, when summarizing, everyone noted.

The problematic starships all departed from the Hope Star Realm; returning cargo starships did not have these issues.

In other words, the hostile forces originated from within this Star Realm.

The dozen cases have few samples, but this can basically be confirmed.

This attack started as a concentrated outbreak, indicating the opponent's very strict organizational structure.

The real cause for attendees' high attention was a shared trait among them.

That is, no matter the state of these cargo starships, their departure time was no more than three days.

Therefore, tracing some conflicts from three days ago may likely uncover the root cause.

This speculation gained high recognition from everyone, thus someone named "Panda" came into everyone's view. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The second boss furrowed his brow, "Does this Panda have any deep-seated hatred with our Bida?"

Someone softly replied, "Reportedly, he controls powerful artificial intelligence."

"Artificial intelligence..." The second boss sneered dismissively, "If this is the reason for conflict, that's too funny."

"Sir," a senior manager spoke up, "The malfunction in the central control of that cargo starship might be due to artificial intelligence."

The second boss looked at him helplessly, "Let me ask you, which star did the cargo launch from, and where is Panda now?"

"Cargo is from Star No. 2, Panda is currently on Star No. 4," the senior manager replied solemnly.

Daring to voice it means he's surely analyzed this information, but he had his own reasoning, "He was previously settled on Star No. 2."

Artificial intelligence, such a thing, doesn't need to be local. Leaving a terminal with some data is enough.

The second boss gave him a light glance, "So, according to you, he can control Star No. 3 and Star One alike from Star No. 4."

This senior manager thought about it and still nodded, "Theoretically speaking, sir is correct."

The second boss no longer paid him attention but slowly remarked, "The fleet departing from Star No. 2 was intercepted by Star Thieves."

This is indeed why starships departing from Star No. 2 suffered the most losses.

The runaway starship heading toward the star was definitely Little Lake's doing, while the Star Thieves' blockade was naturally Earth Scholar's handiwork.

Combined with Granny Jia's secret intervention, it's surprising that fewer starships from Star No. 2 had incidents.

Another senior manager spoke solemnly, "Sir, for Star Thieves, Star No. 2 is the safest."

The Star of Hope is the Central Star, with massive military temporary outposts nearby, capable of reaching an alert shortly after receiving it.

Star No. 3 is a semi-Military Star, Star No. 4 is a New Star, also stationed with large forces.

Thus, choosing to rob starships that departed from Star No. 2, Star Thieves' actions can't be more normal.

"That's not the issue I'm talking about," the second boss shook his head, "I'm just intrigued—are there still such daring Star Thieves now?"

His gaze swept around the room, eyes showing profound meaning, "Can anyone confirm which Star Thieves these are?"

The room fell silent instantly. This question was indeed rather nuanced.

A company conducting interstellar freight and operating this large, is it conceivable they wouldn't engage with Star Thieves?