CHAPTER 1176: CHAPTER 1175: WAR—WAR NEVER CHANGES

Many wars originate from a small accident, even a tiny coincidence.

The sound of a gunshot in Sarajevo marked the beginning of World War I.

This proves that often, the cause of a great war is not as significant as people imagine.

The current situation with the Dimensional Fleet is much the same.

At the start, when other fleets received a request for assistance from the Fifth Fleet, most people thought it was just a band of pirates or some such force attacking them in the outer regions — within and outside the jurisdiction of the Space-Time Bureau, various time-space criminal organizations emerged endlessly, some with quite profound backgrounds, or rather ruthless ones, not entirely unthinkable.

Therefore, at first, the Dimensional Fleets that came to assist were merely thinking of helping the Fifth Fleet repel bandits.

However, when they joined the battlefield and saw the fierce combat before them, they were completely dumbfounded.

It was like a group of police officers arriving at the crime scene to arrest criminals, only to find themselves plunged into a world war.

Screaming light beams whistling through the air, missiles shooting from all directions, explosions, flames, urgent alarms, and occasional screams coming through communication loops, all swallowed everything in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on?"

"Deploy the shields immediately!!"

"Retreat, retreat, call for headquarters support!!"

Fang Zheng stood on the deck, coldly watching the battlefield before him, which had now become a meat grinder; almost none of the Dimensional Battleships that entered could leave intact. They were either blown to pieces in an unexpected assault or barely supporting, attempting to escape the battlefield.

Fang Zheng didn’t annihilate them completely, not because the Dimensional Fleet was strong, but because Fang Zheng deliberately restrained the Azure Fleet’s firepower. In fact, the Azure Fleet fighting now mostly consisted of cruisers, destroyers, and warships. As for the strongest firepower units, there were only five warships and two aircraft carriers.

The Fearless Ships, Titans, and Ark of Star Spirits were not yet deployed by Fang Zheng.

If Fang Zheng wanted to dispatch a Titan, one doomsday weapon would finish off the Dimensional Fleet completely, leaving none alive.

Yet Fang Zheng didn’t do so; as he mentioned to Iona, this was fishing. Since it was fishing, you had to cast a long line to catch the big fish; he wanted to see exactly what the Space-Time Bureau’s warships were capable of.

However, after observing for quite some time, Fang Zheng helplessly discovered the Space-Time Bureau’s aerospace technology was even worse than he imagined. Other than their mastery of "time-space" navigation techniques and the Rainbow Cannon being somewhat noteworthy, in other areas, they were not even better than the Star Alliance, Serret, and other alien civilizations of the Mass World...

Well, at least they were better than the Gundam world.

Honestly, in such a Magic World, the power of time-space was indeed a rather advanced operation. No wonder the Space-Time Bureau acted arrogantly as if they were invincible. In fact, the Rainbow Cannon’s power was indeed astonishing. To date, although the Dimensional Fleet’s side suffered heavy losses, Fang Zheng’s side also had several destroyers and cruisers mid-broken and greatly ruptured due to Rainbow Cannon attacks, having no choice but to retreat from the battlefield.

After all, the power of time-space is terrifying. Even with shields and the Klein Field, Fang Zheng’s Azure Fleet could hardly withstand the Rainbow Cannon’s attacks under the same volume conditions.

But......that’s about it.

To speak frankly, this even made Fang Zheng somewhat doubtful that perhaps the Dimensional Fleet’s time-space technology was also excavated from somewhere? In theory, the power of time-space could be applied in many areas, yet it was merely used for navigation and main cannon firing here?

Honestly, this didn’t seem like the process of a civilized technological advancement at all. It was more like the outcomes reverse-engineered from discovering Procen civilization relics by the alien civilizations in the Mass World.

Considering this, Fang Zheng became increasingly convinced this might be the case. After all, why would the Space-Time Bureau dig up other people’s tombs all over the place? Let’s take the Seed of Holy Stone, for instance. Indeed, the Seed of Holy Stone is powerful, potentially causing dimensional earthquakes to destroy an entire plane. However......if you don’t dig it up, it wouldn’t happen?

Why dig it up?

There is only one answer, which is that the Space-Time Bureau rose to prominence by excavating ancient tombs, and all their current technology comes from ancient relics and civilizations!

If that’s the case......then what’s there to be afraid of?

Upon realizing this, Fang Zheng immediately felt reassured.

If you were a coherent time-space civilization system, I’d really be afraid. But you’re just a half-trained fool, so why should I fear you?

If that’s really the case......perhaps the initial plan needs some changes?

As Fang Zheng pondered whether to temporarily modify the plan, the situation on the Dimensional Fleet’s side grew increasingly severe.

Unless they’re fools, by now the Dimensional Fleet’s commanders almost all realized that what they’re facing isn’t some bandit or criminal organization, but a regular army!

Which country’s regular army is this?

Upon realizing this, almost everyone was shocked. Since the fall of Belka hundreds of years ago, no force or country could stand against Mid Zhilian. Yet now, in such a borderland, there would be a country’s regular army attacking the Dimensional Fleet?

What on earth happened?

During this period, Dimensional Fleet warships occasionally attempted to depart from the battlefield, only to despair when their usual infallible time-space travel failed! They couldn’t open a time-space channel, let alone withdraw from this battlefield!

This had never happened before!

Of course, they didn’t know what was going on. In fact, just as Fang Zheng thought, the power of time-space might indeed look impressive in this world, but in the Main World, there are plenty of techniques to counter it.

For example......the Dimensional Anchor......

In the early stages of the battle, Fang Zheng already stabilized a Dimensional Anchor barrier centered at this battlefield. Of course, initially, it was merely a try. Now it appears......indeed, mages have a good reason to use a Dimensional Anchor as the starting hand.

Time-space travel techniques ultimately cannot escape the dimensional space; however, the Dimensional Anchor can prohibit all cross-dimensional actions, leading to these Dimensional Battleships being trapped within, unable to do anything more than meow meow meow.

Reluctantly, they had to choose......to request reinforcements!

"Report, Admiral Halleff is requesting assistance!"

"Tilbit has been destroyed! The captain and crew have successfully transferred to the Golden Lion Ship!"

At this moment, within the Dimensional Headquarters of the Space-Time Bureau, the atmosphere was as tense as in battle......no, it should be said this is a war!

"This is truly outrageous!"

A pot-bellied admiral slammed the table forcefully, glaring at the screen before him.

"Since the inception of the Dimensional Fleet, it has never suffered such an immense humiliation! This is simply unimaginable!"

"Whose recommendation was it to deploy a fleet to the 97th Unmanaged World? This is going to a military court! Why wasn’t there a clear investigation before deploying the fleet?"

"What on earth was the Fifth Fleet doing, why didn’t they report the conflict promptly!!"

For a while, the entire meeting room at Dimensional Headquarters was in chaos. Seeing this, a thin man with glasses reached out and knocked on the table.

"Everyone, now is not the time to shirk responsibility; we must find a solution. Otherwise, leaving aside your reputations, it’s likely that none of those Dimensional Battleships might return!"

"Then what do you propose we do?"

Hearing the bespectacled man speak, another person immediately shouted.

"The opponent used a bizarre method to imprison the time-space channel, if we go in, we might not get out!"

"Do you intend to watch our comrades die without help?"

"I just don’t want to sacrifice in vain!"

Once again, the meeting room erupted into argument, and seeing this, the bespectacled man had to stand, waving his hand vigorously.

"Everyone, please calm down! I have a solution!"

"What solution?"

"I suggest......"

At this point, the bespectacled man took a deep breath and looked towards his colleagues before him.

"Deploy the Golden Fleet!"

"What?"

Hearing the bespectacled man’s words, the arguing high-ranking officials of the Space-Time Bureau were all taken aback.

"That’s very risky......"

"Of course, I know it’s risky, but we cannot let our comrades die without getting help!"

As he spoke, the bespectacled man looked up at the screen before him — in the air, three panels without any images were suspended there.

"Please permit the deployment of the Golden Fleet!"

"............"

Upon hearing this, the three light panels flickered for a moment, then a steady and deep voice sounded.

"Permission granted to deploy the Golden Fleet...... From now, the Space-Time Bureau enters an emergency state, and the 97th Unmanaged World is now designated as a war zone!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned serious.

Designating it as a war zone means......that the Space-Time Bureau has formally declared war against that mysterious force!