Chapter 1

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Prologue

In this universe, there are always things that humans cannot surpass, such as moving faster than light. In past science fiction works, people optimistically believed that humans would be able to colonize the moon by the year 2000, and as time went on, people thought that a century later, we would be able to surpass the speed of light and have unlimited capabilities to spread the light of civilization to the distant stars.

Year after year passes, the speed of light, a barrier that has been at the forefront of physics since the 19th century, has not yet been overcome. Our fundamental science is continuously advancing, with new materials and theories emerging constantly. The latest spacecraft can even touch the red Martian soil. However, let alone the speed of light, even 1% of light speed is an unbelievable challenge for us.

The population is increasing, resources are decreasing. Famine, crises, poverty, and war are spreading in this huge society of 11 billion people. Mines are running out, fuel sources are drying up. Even in the most optimistic scenarios, resources from Mars colonies and the Moon are not enough for the growing greedy appetite of humanity. The vast and lonely space, whether explored by probes, electromagnetic waves, or the latest gravitational wave signals, remains silent without any meaningful responses.

The idea that “the universe is a desert, and humans are in the only oasis” is getting louder. Yet, the only known oasis within reach for human survival is shrinking due to overpopulation.

Perhaps one day, only concrete grave markers and the remains of civilization will be left on this planet. Maybe in the distant future, greenery will cover the planet again, the sun will fill the dried-up oil fields, manganese nodules will create new seabed mines, lifted to the surface by geological activities, turning into new fertile lands.

Perhaps the new civilization will be curious about the synthetic pipelines that have not completely decayed after millennia. Maybe they will gaze at the stars like we do today, dreaming hazily about distant celestial bodies, until they once again hit their heads against these thick walls, suffering severe injuries. Or perhaps they will inherit the ambitions of humanity, overcome these barriers, and pass on civilization to the ends of the galaxy.

However, the universe played a huge joke on us…

April 1, 2075, lunar orbit, Talos II space station.

After the complete abandonment of the International Lunar Space Station, the Talos I space station was also on the verge of being scrapped due to overloaded operations. In order to prevent the breakdown of the crucial supply chain of rare elements and fuel from the lunar surface, the United Nations Aerospace Development Cooperation Organization, a collaborative effort led by the United States and China, had to allocate funds from their already strained resources to build the Talos II station.

Two aerospace engineers floated along the long prefabricated track, welding polymer pipelines together with nanospirit guns that were delivered from 380,000 kilometers away through cargo rockets, forming the basic framework of the space station. These pipelines would carry water and oxygen. Subsequent prefabricated modules would be assembled on these milky-white frames to create various functional chambers.

“Hey, Jack, I’m running low on oxygen,” one engineer tapped on his helmet, indicating to his companion. “Hold on, I’m almost done,” said the engineer Jack Amani from the United States. “I checked earlier and found another oxygen station malfunctioned. Can’t they switch to another supplier?”

“You know, nowadays the space agency chooses the manufacturer with the lowest bid, so they must be using the cheapest and most common materials.” The engineer from China shrugged, “Anyway, I’ll go see if I can fix it later. If the oxygen station breaks down completely, it will be terrible!”

Due to a severe lack of funds and many heavy rockets being retired one after another due to cost reasons, the original plan to complete the main structure of Talos II station in March only has one docking module, one command module, and a living module that can only accommodate three people. Even the goods transported from Earth are just wrapped in space-grade aluminum foil and straps tied to the main structure, making the originally elegant space station look extremely bulky, like a Russian grandma bundled up in a thick down jacket.

Going through the docking module, entering the living module, refilling the batteries, compressed oxygen tanks, and helium jet thrusters, and then returning to the construction site is too cumbersome and time-consuming. Therefore, they can only go back to replenish oxygen and take a rest as much as possible after completing a stage of work, and have a bite to eat or drink something to relieve the physical and mental fatigue.

Perhaps after the workshop module is assembled in a few days, with external supply and a resting platform, it will be a little easier. When the drone control station is installed, the construction speed may increase, but that’s about it. Space travel and operations have never been easy and enjoyable work. Many people might think that traveling or working in space is romantic, but is it really?

This is an extremely boring and dangerous thing. You need to remember a thick manual with instructions on everything from eating to drinking water. What happens if you don’t follow them? You will soon feel the cruel reality of this dark, icy, and incredibly hot world in the sky. Simple and quick death in this world is actually a kind of relief.

Unchanging stars, unchanging darkness, emptiness all around. Even if you fly out at the fastest speed, until you die and become a dehydrated corpse, you won’t touch anything in the void. In this void, besides the communication device in the command module, the only companions are a few clumsy drones.

The nearest help is 380,000 kilometers away, and it will take at least a week to reach the scene. How lonely, desperate, and terrifying is this? That’s why every person selected to work in the moon space station by the space agency has to pass this test on the ground first during training. Even the selected elites cannot handle long-term life and work in space, both mentally and physically.

“Lily, how’s everything?” Old Xiao floated into the command module with half a cup of coffee, holding onto a handle on the wall. Sipping the coffee through the small hole in the plastic lid on the cup, in zero gravity, the liquid formed a ball and scattered around. That’s why most water cups have lids to prevent splashing and damaging the equipment inside the module. “No abnormal situation. Oh, by the way, the ground command center sent a message to us, saying that the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted some unidentified flying objects approaching, so we should be careful.”

“Oh?”

“Today is April Fool’s Day.”

Old Xiao reacted, “Hmm, they are really mischievous.”

“Xiao! Come over here, I found something.”

“What’s up?”

“Something is flying towards us, it’s a spaceship.”

“Is there a launch mission at the lunar station today?” This was Old Xiao’s first reaction. After making eye contact with Lily, she quickly checked the work log, “No, I have confirmed today’s schedule at the lunar station.”

“Xiao!” Jack’s voice sounded as if he had seen his mother flying freely outside without a spacesuit, sharp like the voice of a pure-hearted girl being surrounded by several naked men, “There’s a ship flying outside, darn it just passed by, it’s a ship made entirely of steel!”

“A steel ship?” Old Xiao looked confused because due to the limitations of space transport, ships are not generally made of steel – too heavy!

“It’s aliens, it’s an alien warship. Oh no, lots of them!”

“Oh, Snow! Jack, enough with the jokes!” Old Xiao roared, it’s darn April Fools’ Day! “No, Xiao, the radar has detected something, three, no, five, no, many, at least double-digit reflection signals! Heading towards Earth at high speed!” Lily’s face turned as pale as a cream cake, lips lacking color.

“What? Let me go check, Lily, notify the ground station! Right away!”

Old Xiao pushed off the wall, floating towards the living quarters. Outside the porthole, a huge fleet passed by the space station like silent ghosts, seeming like they could crush everything. No high-temperature flames from engines, no extra electromagnetic signals, just the rhythmic lights at the top of tower-like structures on the steel egg expressing that these were man-made flying objects.

Below the towers, oval launch ports were visible, with fine light patterns inside the gun barrels. The pure metal surfaces emitted dazzling light under the sun, undoubtedly a group of warships, not ones that human technology could produce. Their target is the beautiful blue-and-white planet 380,000 kilometers away.

“Ground station, come in, ground station!”

“This is the International Space Center. Talos II, what’s the matter?”

“Just now, a large group of extraterrestrial warships passed through lunar orbit!”

“What? Please repeat that?”

“Alien spacecraft, warships! Damn! There are many of them, and they are quite big!”

“Um…” The ground crew instinctively glanced at the date at the bottom of the screen. Yep, it’s April 1st, all good!

“Okay, we got it, we’ll inform the space defense fleet.” The crew member replied, trying not to laugh.

“Space defense fleet?” Old Xiao, Lily, and Jack all looked confused: How come we’ve never heard of this? Is it a secret unit, maybe not for fighting aliens but for taking out current allies someday? But anyway, since Earth is prepared, all we can do now is leave it to God.

There are no atheists in foxholes, and likewise, there are no atheists on the space station. When faced with an unexpected crisis like the current alien invasion, all you can do is pray to any god you know, as the nearest rescue is 380,000 kilometers away.

“By the way, Lily, Xiao, do we have escape pods?” Jack watched the fleet drift away and suddenly asked.

“What?”

“It’s unlikely we can rely on Earth’s supplies. The food and water on the space station won’t last long. Our only hope is to head to the lunar base.”

At least there are mining stations and residential areas there, providing oxygen, water, electricity, and food – all thanks to the pioneers who discovered lunar ice and the great artificial sun – the controlled nuclear fusion reactor on the moon!

[For the scale and layout of Lunar Base, please refer to “Epoch 2145” on the moon’s development]

“No, the related parts will be delivered during the next shipment,” Lily shook her head. “All we can do is force the entire space station to change orbit and crash onto the lunar surface. Then we will have to trek into the Lunar Base. If we’re lucky, we should be able to arrive before running out of water and oxygen.”

“Let’s wait and see how things unfold,” Old Xiao’s eyes darkened. “If we confirm that war has begun, then we can descend.”

Earth, Equator, International Orbiting Space Station.

“Radar seems to have detected something flying towards us.”

“Is it the regular cargo rocket?”

“Hmm, no. We were informed today by the moon side that due to lunar quakes affecting the launch platform, there’s been some damage. The next scheduled launch is next week.”

“Send a communication to inquire about their identity.”

“Already sent, but no response to the electromagnetic signal!”

“Oh, darn it!”

A huge steel spaceship suddenly appeared around the space station, crashing heavily into its solar panel array. The fragile solar panels shattered into blue and black butterflies, scattering everywhere and causing damage to other compartments. The whole space station was filled with loud alarms as the trained astronauts rushed to the nearest maintenance station, put on their space suits, grabbed their tools, and prepared for emergencies.

“Ground control! We are under attack, repeat, we are under attack! We are losing control, the space station is drifting off orbit and falling, repeat, we are falling!”

“12 minutes and 49 seconds until entering the atmosphere!”

“Hurry to the escape pods!”

“No, there are too many debris outside, and… Oh my, goodness gracious, what is that!” The steel beast slowed down, gradually descending into the atmosphere in a manner that could have scared Newton out of his grave. Yes, descending, like a submarine sinking into the deep sea.

Chapter 1: For the Tribe!

The swaying blue halo outside the porthole gradually faded. Lieutenant Ruier skillfully pulled out the chamber pot from under the bed and started vomiting violently. Cursed side effects of the jumps, couldn’t those damn technicians come up with some way to ease this feeling? In that moment, it felt like riding something plunging down from a mountaintop, the world spinning fast in his eyes. Even as a seasoned veteran who had completed numerous invasion missions, it was hard to get used to this feeling.

“Hey, buddy, we’re here. General Locke wants all officers above lieutenant rank to gather in the conference room.” The young sailor leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms, and said, “Looks like the Empire’s expedition this time might not be in vain after all.”

“Hope those barbarians up there aren’t as troublesome as those dwarfs we encountered in Lindblom.” Lieutenant Ruier scratched his furry cheek, tightened his belt firmly around his slightly bulging belly, the orange-striped fur looking a bit messy in the mirror.

Through a narrow, damp, and hot passageway where occasional white steam could be seen, the sailors looked happy. In fact, Lieutenant Ruier felt very cheerful and relaxed when he saw through the porthole the blue planet symbolizing clean water, fresh air, delicious food, and the opportunity to unleash his desire for conquest and slaughter. However, this good mood only lasted until he entered the meeting room and saw his crowded colleagues and angry superiors with twisted expressions.

“You salty pieces of moldy scraps, not even fit for maggots that won’t eat you! Your behavior on Lindblom was disgusting!” The General’s words were a barrage of insults. “Goodness, you couldn’t even handle a group of primitive people who just learned how to boil water. I thought I was leading the finest Royal Expeditionary Army, not a bunch of Boy Scouts. But, I was wrong! You’re nothing but a bunch of crybabies, expecting your mothers to come to your rescue!”

“What’s wrong with that old man?” Ruier whispered.

“He met Captain Mason in the corridor earlier, you know.”

The elite Royal Garrison troops forced into the fleet by the Emperor were not well-regarded by the navy captains. Naturally, Colonel Locke, who had been temporarily promoted to General, was often ridiculed, especially after their recent defeat on the planet Lindblom. Captain Mason would use harsh and critical words to describe Ruier, as if he could almost come up with them with his own fingernails.

“Now, here is a weak planet even without a warship. These primitives can only float in space with their barrels,” a member of the officer corps chuckled. As the fleet exited warp mode, the lookout was almost alerted by a large white object passing by, mistaking it for a threat.

However, it was later discovered to be a long cylindrical object, seemingly made of some wooden material, with no metallic sheen. It appeared to be a primitive raft—a large barrel sealed and sturdy enough to hold water and air.

“So, you worthless cowards, you will only face primitives armed with blades, spears, and perhaps blowpipes. If any of you useless people get killed, I swear I will inscribe on his gravestone: ‘Here lies a fool, who died in a battle devoid of any honor, proving the entire troop to be a bunch of idiots!'”

“Don’t worry, General, no enemy stands a chance against our combat vehicle!” Captain Tucker from the Mech Unit proudly declared. Ever since successfully defeating a cavalry unit on Lindblom, he had immense trust in the steam-powered iron boxes issued by the military. “Their primitive weapons cannot penetrate our armored defense!” His confidence was clearly bolstered by the one-inch thick steel armor.

“Hmm, hopefully this time you won’t embarrass me.” The general’s expression softened a bit as he looked at his confident favorite lieutenant. If there was any bright spot in the Royal Guard of Lindblom, it was probably Captain Tucker’s mech squad. Just five of those tanks were able to scatter a fully armed cavalry of enemy troops like a sharp sword, breaking through their tightly guarded defense line made of dense trenches and barbed wire.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!” The ship’s bell suddenly rang, and the steam whistle inside the ship let out a sharp screech. “Alright, time’s up, go back and organize your troops and weapons, get ready to land!” The officers hurried out, jogging to gather their men, then lining up to board the landing crafts that looked like oversized matchboxes.

As a lookout, the giant telescope and meticulously polished multiple lenses were his closest companions, helping him and his comrades survive battle after battle. His eyes, nurtured with medicines and expensive food, were always something he took pride in among his colleagues. However, today, he began to doubt if there was something wrong with his eyes.

Through hundreds of enlarged and blurry images from the alternating lenses, he saw that the white objects on the ground, thought to be limestone mountain ranges, were actually tall and uniformly shaped monument-like structures. Clearly man-made buildings rather than natural mountain ranges, their sheer number was frightening. However, as the spacecraft descended further, the curved edge of the planet gradually became flat, and those white buildings gradually disappeared from view.

In their place were the dry yellow grasslands, roaming wild animals, and villages built with branches and thatch scattered across the grasslands. In the slightly more distant areas, there were some tall stone buildings, probably the indigenous palace of this planet. The lookout breathed a sigh of relief, attributing the earlier inexplicable sights to illusions, as it was said that prolonged hyperspace travel could indeed cause hallucinations.

Those mad sailors, the Empire priests declared they were all possessed by hyperspace demons, and the only way to deal with them was to burn them clean with flames and then discard them anywhere in space. However, their “old friends” from the Republic of Nyannis, who only believed in shiny coins, scoffed at this. Strangely enough, they seemed to have never encountered such a situation.

April 1, 2075, near the Gulf of Aden.

Across a narrow stretch of sea, two large fleets were in a tense standoff. The cause of this incident was insignificant in this era. The rising power in the East had even vaguely become a world power, and a certain country in Africa had reached a secret deal with them, obtaining cheaper oil and gas.

This was a huge setback for the booming shale gas business in the United States in recent years. With the deficit climbing to new highs every year, even the “quantitative easing” method was struggling to save the situation. Once this news got out, the fluctuations in the oil futures market were enough to put half of New York’s financiers on edge.

However, in this era, even the United States did not dare to start a war lightly. The whole earth was like a warehouse filled with explosives, waiting for someone irrational to light a tiny match. As a country that benefitted from past wars (WWI, WWII), the United States did not want to be that match that would lead to destruction. Therefore, they could only cause trouble for the other side through small tactics.

For example, they set up a security line in the name of fighting pirates in the Gulf of Aden, blocking Chinese oil tankers from entering or leaving. Then, they would negotiate with China again. If nothing unexpected happened, the result would be a compromise where both sides took a step back, pushing back the doomsday clock a few seconds, giving the world more time before reaching zero. In response to this show of force, China sent its largest naval fleet of the past five thousand years to this region, claiming they were there to escort against rampant piracy.

So, the two sides began facing off across this sea bay. This standoff wouldn’t last too long, or perhaps the posturing itself was a form of extortion, demanding payment before the debt was settled. Even the sailors on both sides showed no signs of tension. Modern naval warfare happened at such a distance that even insulting gestures couldn’t be seen — if made, the other side couldn’t see anything below the surface of the sea.

However, today, the standoff had to end prematurely. All radars and patrolling aircraft noticed nearly 20 elliptical, oval-shaped flying objects, about 150-200 meters long, descending from the sky as if defying gravity and disappearing at one end of the horizon. The phones at the Ministry of Defense had been ringing off the hook. But compared to their discovery, the falling of the international transit hub caused a commotion that rattled the entire United Nations.

Earth’s essential resources, fuels, and even some rare metals heavily relied on the rudimentary mining colonies on Mars and the Lunar Base for supply. These goods largely depended on the scheduling and distribution at the international space transit stations, coordinated based on each country’s contribution to allocate resources and send valuable supplies down to Earth through reusable rockets, maintaining a costly but just-about-sustainable commodity supply chain.

“Even if we were to launch all our rockets and mobilize all our space personnel immediately, it would be impossible to repair or rebuild the transit station in a short time. For at least three months, we would struggle to receive resources from space.”

“How long can our supply chain hold up, I mean, if we use our inventory?”

“Without tapping into strategic reserves, 45 days. With emergency reserves, 140 days, but only for the top 20 GDP-ranked countries.” Suddenly, the representatives present, already pale, turned a shade of greenish-blue.

“In comparison, what are your thoughts on these unidentified flying objects?”

Before entering the escape pod, the workers on the space station risked their lives to take a photo. Several egg-shaped spacecraft appeared suddenly from the void, quietly passing through the debris-filled orbit and entering the atmosphere. They seemed to be descending at a moderate speed based on their posture and surface color.

Just mentioning this matter caused even the usually composed Hall Masters to grimace. The breakdown of the supply chain seemed like a terrifying thing, but it was more concerning for smaller countries with less autonomy. For larger countries, they could resort to planned economies and rationing to secure resources for repairing the space station. If that failed, there was always a last resort: to seize resources by force!

(Just like during times of low human food reserves, it’s the black people in Africa and the Indians in India who starve, while big countries’ food prices remain unchanged.)

However, when it came to invaders from space, it seemed to be their problem to deal with. You couldn’t expect those African soldiers armed with AKs and RPGs to defend against alien invaders, could you?

You couldn’t expect those aliens not to target developed modern industrial civilizations and instead go after the black people who make a living by selling resources and land, could you?

In any case, only a few Hall Masters on this planet could stand a chance against the aliens. In fact, among these Hall Masters, only two and a half could truly resist – China and the US counted as one, while Russia, due to a surge in raw material prices, counted as half.

However, the world can sometimes be quite interesting… Central Africa, a certain tribe

Ever since the Chinese started leasing vast tracts of land to grow hybrid rice, the once impoverished black uncles who could only afford spears and stone-tipped javelins began to grow larger in size. The hunting tools they kept at home for self-defense evolved from spears to the AK guns from the previous century made in small workshops. Of course, the defense level of the Chinese farms also upgraded from security batons to professional private military contractors equipped with a full set of American civilian AR rifles.

Both sides did not hesitate to think the worst of these familiar yet strange neighbors. So when the black uncles were surprised to see a huge egg-shaped flying object descending, their first reaction was, “What mischief are those yellow-skinned neighbors up to now?”

When those black boxes one by one left the egg-shaped mothership, landed and released a large number of soldiers wearing neat military uniforms, with metal helmets, masks, and carrying some kind of… uh… rifles, launching an attack under the cover of what looked like armored vehicles, Uncle Black’s expression was a mix of astonishment and surprise, surprise mixed with confusion, and confusion mixed with a little fear and some desire to make some noise.

In the next minute, the rugged gunfire of Akka and the explosions of Yes! RPG! echoed over the land of Central Africa, while in the distant Chinese farm, the PMCs cursed as they rushed into the armory, nervously climbed the walls meant for defense and protection from naughty kids stealing crops, “Holy shit, what do those dark-skinned people want again?”

However, as time passed minute by minute, the distant faint sounds of gunfire continued, but on the horizon, there were only dry grass and gentle wind.