To all my readers, I sincerely apologize for the missed update last night; it wasn't for lack of wanting to deliver. The issue was that yesterday evening, the broadband at my place was upgraded from telephone line to fiber optic. While this should have been a good thing, the fiber optic connection only worked properly for about two hours before suddenly failing completely!!!!!

I exhausted every method I knew, but I couldn't get back online. I called to report the issue, but since it was late, the technicians had already finished their shifts. So, I deeply apologize to everyone, especially those readers who waited up late. I truly regret the upgrade; I wish I had never switched to fiber optic!

As it turns out, technicians came this morning to inspect the line. After over an hour of troubleshooting, they discovered the problem wasn't in my house but at the telecommunications company's terminal. In the end, they had no choice but to switch me back to the telephone line, and finally, I'm back online. I'm posting this chapter first—it was yesterday’s first installment—and I will catch up on the rest today.

The Protoss did indeed utilize Spore Colonies on the battlefield. The reason the Burke fleet failed to detect them was due to the Arbiters.

Those meteoroids approaching the Burke fleet, while appearing to be mere stones, were, in fact, disguises employed by the Arbiters. The Arbiter is the pinnacle of Protoss technological achievement, superior to even the Carrier in terms of sheer technological complexity. It carries technology capable of warping the laws of space, creating wormholes and stasis fields, which demands a high level of skill from its operator—only an Executor can pilot such a craft with ease.

Besides wormholes and stasis fields, the Arbiter's most potent feature is its Cloaking Field. This function is truly marvelous, capable of cloaking allies across a vast area. The Spore Colonies used this method to approach the Burke fleet, striking them with devastating force.

The Cloaking Field has only one drawback: the Arbiter itself cannot be cloaked, nor can it be enveloped by another Arbiter's field. Thus, the Protoss solution was to encase the Arbiters in shells made of meteoroid material, allowing them to approach undetected through this camouflage.

Of course, the situation was not that simple. The Burkes, being a high-level civilization from the Ninth Arm of Orion, possess unique accomplishments in reconnaissance technology. Without proper countermeasures, the Spore Colonies hidden within stasis fields might still be discovered.

Fortunately, during the last attack by that main Burke fleet, Kass had probed the mind of the fleet commander. That commander was a master at the peak of Tier Three, possessing an extensive accumulation of knowledge, which included memories pertaining to reconnaissance techniques.

Through him, Yang Ying gained sufficient understanding of the reconnaissance technology mastered by the Burkes.

Having acquired the knowledge and wisdom of the Xel'naga, developing a new stealth technology specifically tailored to counter the Burke reconnaissance methods became child’s play for Yang Ying; it took less than a day to upgrade the existing Cloaking Field.

Now, this novel stealth technology entered real combat, and as expected, it brought immense success.

Of the seven hundred thousand Burke fleet ships, over two hundred thousand were lost in a short period, and another two hundred thousand were heavily damaged, resulting in a drastic reduction of their combat effectiveness.

Gaborhe did not let up the pressure. Turning sharply, he strictly ordered the Carrier fleet to launch a fierce assault; the interceptors surged with renewed ferocity.

Meanwhile, aboard the bridge of the Burke flagship.

"Tell me everything unusual in our vicinity! Do not miss the slightest detail!" roared the Commander-in-Chief of the Burke Fleet.

"Our warships are continuously exploding, the cause unknown..."

"Nonsense, I know that. I want the reason, and what else?"

"The enemy interceptors are too numerous! Ah, they are attacking!"

"Do not panic! If you panic again, I'll shoot you. Reorganize all remaining operational warships into formation; raise the barrage shield! We still have more ships than they do; victory is still possible!"

"Commander, I have spotted something—there seem to be too many surrounding meteoroids. It doesn't look normal."

"Oh?" The Burke Commander-in-Chief immediately became alert. "In plain sight? Show me."

The staff officer who raised the issue immediately pulled up the imagery. Indeed, around the areas where the Burke fleet had suffered the most severe damage, numerous meteoroids nearly a hundred meters in diameter floated seemingly naturally. There were hundreds of them in total.

"That's it!" The Commander-in-Chief glanced at them and immediately felt that the distribution of these meteoroids was too coincidental, smelling strongly of conspiracy.

"Shatter all those meteoroids!" he commanded.

This order was swiftly relayed. Some Burke warships immediately swiveled their cannons, unleashing torrents of beams toward the meteoroids.

Boom! Boom!

All the beams were blocked by the Arbiters' plasma shields.

"Discovered in just over a minute? Kass mused. "It seems camouflage alone is insufficient. We absolutely must devise a way to cloak the Arbiters themselves. This is a technical hurdle, but with Xel'naga technology, it should be achievable. After this battle, I must set aside some time to study this thoroughly."

The appearance of the plasma shields unequivocally signaled to the Burkes that these meteoroids were indeed problematic. Consequently, more cannon muzzles turned toward the stones. Judging by the situation, a single coordinated volley would be enough to turn the meteoroids, and the Arbiters within, into cosmic debris.

"Bring them back," Kass commanded via the psychic link.

On the battlefield, swirling vortex-like wormholes suddenly materialized, drawing those "meteoroids" into their depths. The Burke fleet was stunned, because when the vortices vanished, the meteoroids had disappeared as well.

This was because other Arbiters located behind the battlefield had pulled the disguised Arbiters back through the spatial tears.

"To open wormholes so freely... what kind of entity are these Protoss?"

The Burke Commander-in-Chief was a master at the absolute limit of Tier Three, having experienced hundreds of battles in his lifetime, suffering countless defeats. His insight was considerable.

Wormholes, as a form of navigation technology superior to space jumping, are typically the exclusive domain of Tier Four entities. In the Orion Arm, he had only occasionally heard mentions of artificial wormholes. The most technologically powerful race, the Cycrows, conducted some research into artificial wormholes, but that research was top secret to them, unknown to other races.

Since the Protoss before them possessed the ability to open wormholes, there were only two possibilities: either their Tier Four entities were exceptionally powerful, or their technology was not far behind that of the Cycrows.

Whichever the case, it was not good news for the Burkes.

However, the Commander-in-Chief leaned toward the latter. In his assessment, the Protoss Tier Four entities were likely already entangled with the God of Slaughter, perhaps even killed, leaving them no time to monitor the entire battlefield.

"It seems the situation is grim," the Minister of Foreign Affairs also clearly understood the implications of artificial wormholes. He now regretted coming here; antagonizing this terrifying Protoss race might exceed the bottom line of the Burke Emperor. He grew tense. "Should we, perhaps, try to negotiate with them, start talks anew?"

"Negotiate? Is that even possible now?" the Commander-in-Chief scoffed. "With the war having reached this stage, reconciliation is impossible. Have you forgotten that the God of Slaughter has already gone to assassinate their Tier Four entity?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs went pale, clearly recalling the consequences.

The Commander-in-Chief continued, "For now, we must fight this to a conclusion before they might return to the negotiating table. We still have over two hundred thousand intact warships; we can still inflict heavy damage upon them. We must let them know that we Burkes are not easily provoked before negotiations can begin. Otherwise, if we simply accept defeat now, the entire army might collapse, leading to the total failure of the Perseus Arm campaign. At that point, both you and I will certainly lose our lives. Think about the Emperor's character, and you'll know he won't spare us."

Fear surfaced in the Foreign Minister's eyes as he thought of the horrific treatment awaiting them if they returned disgraced.

The Burke Emperor was a man obsessed with glory and utterly brutal, incapable of listening to dissenting opinions. If his subordinates failed to complete the tasks he assigned, the punishment ranged from execution to the execution of their entire extended family.

Even old ministers who had served the Burke Empire for hundreds of years were executed for minor infractions. If they presented him with a battle report showing the loss of hundreds of thousands of ships with no substantial gains, it was easy to imagine that the Foreign Minister's life would be forfeit.

"Then, what should we do?" the Foreign Minister asked in terror.

"Keep attacking!" the Commander-in-Chief said softly. "Even if it costs us the entire fleet, we must assault the Protoss homeworld. Only one planet is their sole weakness. If we can bring our fleet within attack range, a few main cannon blasts will show them that if they refuse to obey the will of us Burkes, the only outcome is mutual destruction—a dead end. Only then will we have leverage for negotiation. Afterward... you are the Minister of Foreign Affairs; you certainly know better than I what to demand from them!"

"That's right. Whether it's securing the allegiance of a Tier Four entity or obtaining the artificial wormhole technology, either outcome can excuse our failure—at the very least, it can save our lives from execution," the Foreign Minister’s eyes regained a glimmer of hope.

"Good! Full assault! Charge toward the enemy homeworld!" the Commander-in-Chief announced loudly.

At this moment, with the Arbiters having withdrawn, the Spore Colony defense network was exposed. The Burkes dispatched minesweepers, coordinating with the main fleet cannons to clear a few pathways. They then charged toward Aiur, enduring the relentless waves of interceptor attacks.

"Only twenty thousand intact warships, and they think they can punch through the Carrier fleet's interceptor screen? That is truly naive," Gaborhe's eyes flashed. The interceptor offensive swelled like the third wave of the Yangtze River—each wave higher than the last—as they hammered forward.

Because the Burke fleet's movement and evasion were severely restricted while clearing the minefield, they were confined to a small operational area, making it difficult to maintain formation. Gaps appeared everywhere in their anti-air defenses, which was a massive advantage for the agile, smaller interceptors.

Nearly a hundred million interceptors swarmed forward, filling every direction—front, back, left, and right—of the Burke fleet. Every minute gap was exploited by the interceptors, causing the Burke fleet's rate of damage to increase sharply.

"Break through! No matter the sacrifice, we must break through! For the Burke Empire! For His Majesty the Emperor!" The Commander-in-Chief and the Foreign Minister sounded like gamblers who had lost everything; since they were already deeply in debt, they could only rely on this final, reckless gamble, betting everything to win back what they had lost.

Losing now was the same as giving up now—a fate of eternal damnation. Winning offered a sliver of hope.

However, they were destined never to see the result of this desperate wager, because at this moment, Kass arrived on the battlefield. His gaze instantly locked onto the Burke flagship. With a flash, he appeared before the flagship's bridge and unleashed a blinding bolt of lightning with a raised hand.

Boom!

The bridge was instantly engulfed in a sea of fire.