The operation this time was highly clandestine; only the young man who had come looking for Ziye, along with the twins, knew of it. To prevent the Allied Forces from receiving advance notice, they skipped reporting to the main body. Aixe and Xiao Lü, along with a few others, rented several warships from a nearby space station and initiated the attack immediately.

Aircraft carriers were extraordinarily expensive to build and took an immense amount of time, positioning them as one of the Legion's strategic capital ships. However, carriers were fundamentally not designed for direct combat.

Each sortie consumed a hundred times the fuel of a battleship, and their massive size made them inherently inflexible. If one were caught, the resulting loss would be catastrophic. Therefore, unless facing a full-scale war, most Legions would never use a carrier for mere transport.

Ziye seized the opportunity. Just as the carrier approached the Stargate, waiting for the induction field to stabilize, she instantly severed its control system. Simultaneously, all the warships hidden behind the Stargate opened fire in perfect unison!

Yet, things did not proceed as smoothly as anticipated.

Against the colossal bulk of the aircraft carrier, the frigates looked like kittens facing an elephant. Heavy missiles striking the carrier’s shields only managed to spark a few sporadic flashes.

Several warships circled the carrier, attacking for over ten minutes without managing to penetrate the shields, let alone the armor or structural integrity.

Ziye monitored the timer for the induction field activation, a knot of anxiety tightening in her chest. If they couldn't bring the carrier down within twenty minutes, once the induction field was up, the enemy could immediately use their recovery backup protocols to shake off the virus's control and vanish into the Hope Galaxy in a 'whoosh.'

Ziye flared with sudden anger—she couldn't just stand by and watch it escape!

Gritting her teeth, she ordered Xiao Hei to eject a container-load of ordnance. She reconfigured her mech, forming two hands, and propelled the container toward the carrier's cargo bay.

The carrier, shaped like a giant shark in the sea, had its belly section dedicated to cargo. With the battleships blocking the front, striking the rear was difficult, and the enemy couldn't see her. Reassured, she secured the container against a weak point in the shield, retreated a thousand meters, activated her turrets, unleashed two rapid bursts of four shells each, and immediately bolted away.

The container, made of thin Tri-Titanium alloy, was pierced instantly by the shells. All the missiles inside were subjected to intense heat and fire, detonating with a violent 'boom!'

The massive explosion ripped through the carrier’s shields and armor. A violent plume of superheated gas surged into the cargo hold. Ziye watched clearly on the optical screen and commanded, "Switch to cruise missiles! Target the ignition points!"

Cruise missiles possessed a significantly longer range than other munitions.

Xiao Hei, Xiao Bai, and the others, having honed their skills during a month of intense battlefield experience, reacted instantly: reload, lock target, aim, fire!

Amidst rolling smoke and sparks, a gaping hole was blown into the carrier's underside. The ordnance stored within ignited, triggering a chain reaction of explosions.

Boom—

Boom-boom-boom—

The sound of detonations was incessant, and soon the entire carrier was engulfed in flames.

Seeing the inevitable, Ziye yelled, "Jump!"

All the warships scattered in different directions and engaged their warp drives.

Three, two, one!

Three seconds after initiating the jump sequence,

A silent, massive shockwave enveloped the entire Xining Star System. Everyone was instantly thrown down by the terrifying pressure. Even the warships couldn't withstand the horrifying impact; they tumbled end-over-end several times, tossed thousands of meters away.

That colossal sound was comparable to the descent of a thunder god.

That powerful shockwave shattered the Stargate into dust.

The rolling mushroom cloud blanketed the entire star system.

The light from the explosion illuminated the entire expanse of space as if it were bright daylight.

Ziye's mech immediately reverted to its small spherical configuration after the event, drifting within the shockwave to minimize the pressure, but even Ziye couldn't endure the impact. She slammed her head onto the control console and passed out.

The shockwave from the carrier’s explosion lasted for a full four hours.

Warships from other star systems received news of the blast and swiftly steered clear of the Xining System. However, the Allied Forces under Odo were plunged into despair.

Their last hope was lost.

The carrier was gone. The supplies were gone. The ammunition was gone.

Odo stared at his fleet, his eyes bloodshot. They had set out with five thousand warships; now fewer than two thousand remained. Furthermore, sixty percent of those remaining ships had sustained damage exceeding forty percent—any further engagement risked an explosion.

Ahead, the Wolf’s Den fleet blockaded the border. Behind them, An Junlie’s fleet. To the left, a blinding cluster of bubbles. To the right, the carrier had been ambushed en route.

He no longer had the capacity to dwell on the cause of the carrier's destruction.

His most pressing concern now was how to minimize casualties as much as possible.

Odo’s spirit was utterly crushed.

This was the most devastating defeat of his entire career.

His title as the General of a Hundred Victories had been utterly ruined on the battlefield of the Hope Galaxy.

Did he even have a retreat path left?

Odo forlornly withdrew his gaze and looked toward his adjutant.

The adjutant stepped forward, about to speak, but Odo shook his head. "No. Let me have a moment alone."

The adjutant paused, swallowing the question he was about to voice.

He had wanted to ask, "Can we still go back?"

Odo could no longer bear to look at their eyes. He turned and walked toward the command room door.

Just then, the voice system chimed.

Odo paused his step but did not turn around, walking straight out.

The adjutants exchanged glances. Odo’s assistant stepped forward and activated the voice system.

"You actually suffered a defeat?" a sharp voice echoed in the command room.

The adjutants all frowned.

Odo's assistant shot back, "Who are you?"

The man sounded offended. "You don't recognize me? I am Ivan of the Fia family! Your Interstellar Federation is good at keeping score—you lost none of your own troops but managed to drain all of our Fia's warships!"

Veins stood out on the assistant's hands; he nearly flipped the table. "What nonsense? Get lost!" He slammed the system off. Turning back, he saw that the adjutants' faces showed no relief, only deeper gravity.

If they had won this battle, even with heavy losses, both sides could have absorbed the cost.

But now that they had lost, the Allied Forces were bound to descend into infighting, creating a fresh cascade of problems...

Odo locked himself in his quarters for a day and a night, neither eating, drinking, nor sleeping. When he emerged the next day, he looked a decade older. His skin, usually maintained flawlessly without a wrinkle, was now so haggard that crow's feet lined his eyes.

He patted the shoulders of the adjutants one by one. "Thank you for your hard work, brothers." He finally approached his assistant, his voice dry and weak. "Help me prepare a statement. We have failed."

The assistant stared at him blankly, tears involuntarily streaming down his face.

Odo turned his back, unable to look at the assistant’s expression, his voice sinking to a hoarse rasp. "I request a ceasefire from the Wolf's Den."

Ziye was nudged awake by Douzai.

She opened her eyes to find her head resting on the controls, her body twisted into an 'S' shape, her legs pinned, leaving her entirely stiff.

She tried to stand up, finding her back and waist aching, her legs trembling, as if she had been run over. Her head throbbed intensely. She reached up to touch it and found a large lump.

Douzai huddled next to her seat, chirping, its wet eyes full of anxiety.

Ziye felt terrible from the pain and was starving. She frantically dug out a packet of rations from storage, tossing a metal teething stick to Douzai at the same time.

With a cup of water and a packet of rations consumed, Ziye finally felt somewhat alive again.

The view outside the viewport was monotonously barren, with no lighthouses nearby—she had absolutely no idea where she was.

She sighed, opened the star chart, and began searching for coordinates.

Just then, the long-range communicator chimed.

She opened it to find dozens of missed calls.

The current active connection was from An Junlie.

Ziye’s spirits immediately lifted by half, the thought of running away from home completely forgotten for the moment.

"Where are you right now?" An Junlie’s voice was filled with urgency. "I just contacted the twins; they said you were missing!"

Ziye found her coordinates and sent them over, saying weakly, "Come pick me up."

"Alright, stay put. I'm coming immediately."

Ziye murmured an "Mm," leaning back in her seat and rubbing her aching waist. God, holding that position for N hours—no wonder my back feels broken.

She didn't close the long-range link, and An Junlie didn't press for conversation either. Ziye didn't want to talk, and An Junlie respected the silence, maintaining the quiet connection.

An Junlie arrived quickly at the coordinates she sent, but upon scanning left and right, he saw nothing. "Where are you? I can't see you!" he called out anxiously.

After the carrier explosion, An Junlie had scoured the entire Xining System with his fleet. He had found the twins and the ten young men safe and sound. Only Xiao Zi had sustained minor injuries; everyone else was fine.

But the most crucial piece, Ziye, had vanished as if evaporated into the starry void!

An Junlie was nearly driven mad with worry. Ziye, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them upon hearing his voice and immediately saw the Dauntless class vessel before her, emblazoned with the Angelic Domain Legion insignia. She couldn't help but smile. "Open the gangway. I'm coming in."

An Junlie, disbelieving, opened the gangway and ran toward the rear of his ship, clutching his communicator.

Xiao Cheng remarked, "Huh? He can't find Ziye; is he trying to run away?"

Xiao Hei retorted, "Mmm, possibly. Let's follow him!"

The ten young men followed one after another, scrambling behind An Junlie. The twins, having been located and woken from a nap by An Junlie, saw the group running toward the rear and, without a second thought, followed to join the excitement.

As he reached the rear of the ship, he saw a perfect sphere rolling in like a bullet.

An Junlie: "(O_O)?" Since when did Ziye build such a miniature escape pod?

The gangway slowly retracted, and the mech finally straightened up.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded, as a head sprouted from the top of the sphere. The head continued upward, forming a neck. The sphere flattened, and two legs extended from the bottom. In less than ten seconds, it transformed into a formidable, compact mech!

The crowd: "(⊙o⊙)!"

Then, the hatch opened, and Ziye peered out. "Hi!"

Before she could finish speaking, her legs gave way, and she tumbled down from the seven-meter-high cockpit.

An Junlie was nearly scared witless!