CH 168

Lin Feixue carried out his order and deployed three robotic probes. While waiting, Spacetime continued hiding outside Cloudcast. About 30 kilometers ahead of our ship, a middle-sized imperial battleship was patrolling.

"This patrol ship looks much smaller than Starpath," I muttered to ourselves.

"Starpath is a Milky Way–class battleship. This ship is probably a Star-class battleship," said Domo.

"Imperial battleships are generally divided into three classes. The biggest is the Milky Way destroyer, second to that is the Nebula cruiser, and the Star warship is the smallest. The ship before us is probably a Star-class ship," said Prince Toruse, giving a detailed description.

"We need to transport over 10,000 people. We will need either one Milky Way–class ship or two Nebula-class ships," said Wind Spirit.

"If we can get a Milky Way–class ship, who would be able to pilot it?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"All imperial citizens have taken spaceship piloting courses. It's a basic lesson that everyone takes during their military service," said Prince Toruse.

Right at that moment, we received a piece of bad news. We had lost contact with two of our probes. Only one of them was still out and about. Lin Feixue hurriedly retrieved the recordings of the sole surviving probe and played it in the room.

At the same time, the intelligence officers also pulled out the recordings the lost probes managed to send back before they went missing and played them as well. From the recordings of the three probes, we could see the three moving together in the boundless darkness that was the universe. They were less than 20 meters away from each other, slowly advancing while staying far away from the patrolling enemy spaceship.

The probes were shaped like asteroids, so they could hide easily. One would assume that the probes were merely random asteroids if one wasn't paying attention. The probes continued advancing. They were surrounded by darkness, but we could see that there were no other physical objects around them.

We had been very nervous after hearing about the secret weapon from Wind Spirit. Now that two of our probes had disappeared, we were hoping to find traces of the secret weapon from the recordings. Suddenly, we saw a flash on the screen. Then, the recording of one of the probes was cut off. A few minutes later, the same happened to a second probe.

"What is going on here? We can't see anything at all," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Enlarge the videos and lower the speed. Replay them," ordered Lin Feixue.

The intelligence team did as told. From the enlarged videos, we could clearly see a black substance hidden amid the dark outer space. When the probes passed by, the black substance suddenly appeared and exploded, directing the force of the blast toward the probe and destroying it entirely.

"So there are invisible landmines hidden in that area. Looks like this must be the secret weapon Wind Spirit spoke of," said Baron Sisse.

"Clearly, apart from stealth, these mines can also track their targets. We are lucky we hadn't decided to go in rarshly. Otherwise, the mines would have exposed us," said Old Du with some fear in his heart.

Zhang Bao'er stuck his tongue out awkwardly as it was his suggestion to charge right in.

"There must be some sort of passage through these mines. We will only be able to enter after locating it," said Kelly.

"We won't be able to take the regular routes because the patrols will be using them. We need to look for a route different from what the patrols use, but with the mines around, our probes won't be able to scout out an alternative route," I said gravely.

"I told you. This place is not so easy to infiltrate," said Wind Spirit, further worsening the heavy mood.

"Weird. Why is this last probe still working normally, and why wasn't it blown up?" asked Prince Toruse.

The prince was right. The final probe was still operating normally. It was supposed to have been blown up by now.

"Lin Feixue, check the difference between this probe and the other two," I ordered.

"Reporting to the commander, this probe was manufactured with different materials. It was manufactured with fiberglass while the other two were manufactured with pure steel," said Lin Feixue.

"What? This probe was manufactured with fiberglass?" asked Kelly in astonishment.

"Yes, I am sure," replied Lin Feixue confidently.

"Kelly, why do you have such a reaction? Have you discovered something new?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Generally, fiberglass probes are used to counter magnetic bombs. But due to outer space's complicated environment and the high pressure we generally encounter, fiberglass probes are rather unstable to use. Thus, very few teams are equipped with them. What a surprise that one such probe has proved useful today," said Kelly.

"Oh? So they're magnetic bombs? I see. They had actually manufactured the stealth version of these weapons," said Wind Spirit with a look of realization.

"Magnetic bomb? Can you explain? I don't understand," asked Zhang Bao'er innocently.

"Soldier, did you not go through any training?" asked Kelly with a glare.

"I'll say it. An earlier recorded usage of magnetic bombs was from the world war on Blue 100 years ago. These bombs are capable of utilizing the magnetic inductions within spaceships and detonate themselves automatically to cause destructive damage to any nearby spaceship," said Old Du.

"Is this the league's technology from 100 years ago?" asked Prince Toruse.

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"After 100 years of development, this weapon has been developed into an even stronger weapon. It can now sense changes in magnetism, water pressure, atmospheric pressure, and the like to trigger. However, I'm not sure what level the empire has reached with this technology," said Old Du.

"Yes, and the biggest weakness of a magnetic bomb is anything that won't be detected by magnetic sensors. For example, the structural makeup of a fiberglass ship will automatically hide all its magnetic signals. That is also why this probe is still working even now," said Kelly.

"I believe these hidden mines are relying on magnetic triggers," I agreed.

"What about this ship? What materials is it made of?" asked Prince Toruse anxiously.

"Don't worry, Prince. Our battleship technology is at a level where our ships can easily move without creating magnetic reactions. If the magnetic bombs are all they have, they won't be able to threaten Spacetime," said Lin Feixue.

"Yes. If we're only facing magnetic bombs, things will be easy. In fact, these bombs' state of stealth is a trickier issue. We can easily expose ourselves by stumbling upon just one of these bombs," I said.

"Shit!" Zhang Bao'er suddenly shouted.

Everyone looked over, but he was keeping his mouth shut.

'This idiot is probably carrying out one of his attention-seeking antics again,' I thought inwardly.

"Fatty. What do you have in that shit-filled brain of yours? Say it. What's the point of acting all mysterious?" scolded Wind Spirit mercilessly.

Zhang Bao'er did not expect Wind Spirit to have such a venomous tongue and was helplessly scolded.

"Bao'er, finish your words. This is an order," I said loudly.

"Yes! Two of our probes were struck by two invisible landmines. We might have already attracted the attention of the patrols," said Zhang Bao'er.

"As expected, nothing smart will come out of your brain. There are countless magnetic asteroids in space. It is normal to lose a few mines to some asteroids," sneered Wind Spirit.

"Canyue, I can't take it anymore. This little female cat is even worse than Domo. I think we should cut her food supply for two days," complained Zhang Bao'er, not forgetting to throw some shade at Domo while he was at it.

"You dare? See what will happen if you try doing that to this princess!" said Wind Spirit.

"Enough," I said. "Wind Spirit, control your princess syndrome. This is not the palace. Back to the topic, I did get some inspiration from Bao'er's words," 

"Canyue, what idea do you have?" Master Crystal asked.

"Bao'er and Wind Spirit's words gave me the idea. We can't find a safe route, but we can have the imperial ships show the way for us," I said.

"I understand!" exclaimed Old Du in excitement.

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Bao'er couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore.

"Bao'er, I'm happy to see your hunger for knowledge," said Old Du. He was normally a straightforward person, but he seemed to have learned sarcasm from Zhang Bao'er.

"We can set off a few more mines and wait for the patrol to come. Then, we can follow them back into Cloudcast. We're quite far away from their main route. If we lure them here, it is likely that they will take a shortcut back to the planet," said Lin Feixue.

"Let's do that. Feixue, pull back the fiberglass probe. We'll move to the furthest point still covered by the patrols before starting the plan," I ordered.

After pulling back the probe, the ship started moving toward the furthest point. After about a dozen minutes of flight, we reached the other side of Cloudcast. There, we prepared to kick the plan into motion.

Lin Feixue spread some magnetic powder on 10 rocks. I was surprised by his actions because I did not expect some rocks to be available on the ship. After he finished spreading the powder over the rocks, he had a soldier launch the rocks in Cloudcast's direction.

The rocks left the ship and entered outer space. Propelled forward by inertia, they headed toward Cloudcast. Shortly after launching them, we saw a series of explosions not far ahead of us. And now, all that was left to do was to wait patiently.