Chapter 10: Tenth Day of Lying Flat Like a Salted Fish

The basic requirement for a Warp is that the space at the starting and ending points must be sufficiently stable. Under the force of a violent explosion, it was already too late for Siming to maneuver the Command Ship into a Warp to escape.

The Command Ship and the Mothership collapsed almost simultaneously. The screen slowly faded to gray, leaving behind the words: [Game Over].

Siming grimaced. “Dammit, I lost even worse this time.”

“Twice the number of warships doesn’t actually help that much,” Lu Yuan said. “The reason the Empire’s standard fleet uses this specific configuration is because it’s already sufficient. In fact, for many, it’s the upper limit of what a commander can perfectly control.

“Recklessly controlling too many ships can actually create defensive vulnerabilities… just like how rashly attempting a novel formation might expose even greater weaknesses.”

“Yeah.” Siming had also realized this and nodded. “I was too impatient.”

“The bigger issue is that your mindset is too aggressive.” Lu Yuan thought for a moment. “You never gave up on attacking, which is the primary reason for those openings. If you had focused on defense, you wouldn’t have lost so miserably.”

“But I wouldn’t have won either.” Siming shook his head. “I don’t like being passive.”

Lu Yuan agreed. “True. Most of the time, defending is just buying time. But when there’s a massive gap in strength between you and the enemy, buying time is a strategy in itself. If this were outside the game, you might have been able to get reinforcements.”

Siming remarked, “Speaking of which, you always seem to talk as if you’re looking at things from outside the game-“

“I can win.”

Just as Siming’s focus was beginning to drift, Zhu Rong suddenly interjected, cutting him off.

“Oh?” Lu Yuan’s eyes lit up as he looked at her. “Tell me how?”

“As long as my consumption rate is faster than your production rate, I can win,” Zhu Rong said. She paused, then rephrased it. “As long as I keep my losses smaller than yours, I can win.”

“That’s difficult,” Lu Yuan said.

Zhu Rong replied without hesitation, “Set traps. At the start, if you want to reach me, you need at least twelve Warps, twelve seconds. If you want to reach my Mothership as fast as possible, the penultimate Warp point must be 183.39, 27.6, 12.

“After entering the game, immediately set up defenses at that point. If you really use that kind of surprise attack tactic, I can quickly annihilate your fleet.

“If you don’t show up there, I can move on to point 134.2, 29.8, 11. If you want to reach my position within fourteen seconds, you will definitely pass through that point. As long as I intercept you before the final Warp point, you won’t be able to blow up my Mothership.

“At the same time, I can keep producing new ships, and I’ll keep getting stronger. If I produce a group of ships in advance like you did this time, my advantage will be even greater.”

Such fast calculation.

Lu Yuan was surprised once again.

Zhu Rong had arrived late. Siming had been building his fleet for over half an hour before she even came over to watch.

This game was quite complex. If it were anyone else watching for half an hour, they might still be struggling to understand the basic mechanics, yet she not only understood it but already had her own ideas.

However, her plan was still not quite comprehensive enough.

“But I can launch simultaneous strikes from several different directions. Besides, the first two points are easy to calculate, but as time goes on, the routes become increasingly flexible,” Lu Yuan pointed out. “How do you predict how I’ll split my forces and what route each team will take?”

“Hmm…” Zhu Rong blinked, her large, clear eyes shimmering. After a long silence, she said, “Calculate by troop strength. You have to protect your own base, so it’s impossible for you to send everyone out. Then, if you split your forces too thin, each team will be too weak to complete the assault.

“So, as long as I calculate the minimum strength required for each of your groups, I can know the maximum number of paths you can take.

“And on my side, I can split into fewer groups – much fewer. I can arrange their trajectories in advance. For example, the first team goes to point 183.39 to lie in ambush. If you don’t show up after a certain amount of time, they move to the next point… ah, that won’t work, your follow-up forces might still pass through 183…

“Hmm…”

The young girl fell back into deep thought.

Lu Yuan smiled.

There was nothing fundamentally wrong with her logic, but how to set up an ambush was a massive challenge.

Space was so vast. Even if the stable points available for Warping were limited, the number of viable routes from one point to another was still countless.

If one was willing to throw energy to the wind and Warp however they pleased, they could even take a massive detour to the opponent’s rear.

And that was just within the game. In reality, the situation would be even more complex, and the available tactics far richer.

In such a complicated scenario, trying to simulate the opponent’s possible behavior from the very beginning and determine all subsequent actions was absolute fantasy.

Tactics could never be fixed; it was impossible to make all arrangements from the start. Ultimately, one had to provide reasonable solutions on the fly during the battle by comparing and deducing the strength, psychology, and mindset of both sides.

Patterns existed, but a one-size-fits-all solution was impossible.

Still, being able to think this far was already impressive for a ten-year-old child.

Lu Yuan moved past the topic for now. “Also, if I choose to defend as well, or if I conduct a thorough recovery after every attack, you wouldn’t be able to defeat me by purely defending.”

“I have patience,” Zhu Rong answered quickly.

It seemed she had considered that problem as well.

Keen, calm, possessing powerful calculation ability and speed, along with patience and confidence.

Lu Yuan smiled – here was another gaming companion worth cultivating!

“Do you like playing games?” he asked.

Zhu Rong’s eyes brightened. “I do!”

“Then I’ll lend this to you two for now. You can take it home to practice.” Lu Yuan tossed the handheld console in his hand into Zhu Rong’s arms and said, “The day you can beat me, I’ll give it to you for keeps.”

“You’re so nice to her,” Goudan said, his voice tinged with jealousy as he watched Zhu Rong and Siming leave clutching the console.

“Hmm… mostly because there aren’t many people who can play games with me?” Lu Yuan thought for a moment. “I regret it now. I only just realized that finding people to play games with was even an option.

“Come to think of it, maybe I could host an event? I could attract people who haven’t played before and test if there are any other hidden gaming masters nearby.

“…But that sounds like such a hassle.”

Thinking of Zhu Rong and Siming, the idea that had just sparked was quickly suppressed. “Forget it. Having two people to play with is enough. I can use the rest of my time for other things!”

“…” Goudan shook his head, speechless for a moment before remembering something else. “By the way, these people are really something else. Lao Tong and Siming are one thing, but that little girl is quite impressive too. I’m afraid I’m no match for her.”

“Yeah, she’s very talented. You won’t beat her.” Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. “The important thing is that she’s only ten years old.”

“So, who do you think they actually are? What’s their goal in staying here?” Goudan asked. “You said at first that Siming might want to terraform the Desolate Planet, but nesting in a place like this won’t achieve much for the planet.”

“It doesn’t really matter.” Lu Yuan shook his head, leaning back into his sofa and closing his eyes. “As long as they don’t affect me, they can do whatever they want. As for what happens if they do affect me…

“Well, I’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

“Is it really going to be okay?” Goudan looked hesitant.

“Hmm… for now, it seems so,” Lu Yuan reassured him. “You don’t need to worry too much. Besides, even if you are the administrator of this place, there’s no need to micromanage every single detail. You just need to hold the line on the essentials; everything else can be handled flexibly.”

He said that, but in truth, Lu Yuan had his own faint suspicions regarding the goals of Siming and the others.

Terraforming the Desolate Planet was only one part of it. On the other hand, they might also be looking for a way to leave the Desolate Planet.

…Regardless, they had certainly taken an interest in his connection to the outside world. That was Lu Yuan’s most unique trait. On the Desolate Planet, there weren’t many people who could maintain contact with the outside.

This was the reason Lu Yuan had been idling around: in his view, no matter what Siming and the others intended to do, it theoretically wouldn’t affect him.

And if he wanted to know their true purpose, it was incredibly simple for him-

Threads of Mental Power extended silently into the distance, following the footprints of Siming and Zhu Rong, probing into their newly built house.

Siming hadn’t necessarily chosen to play that game just because it was fun. During the process of playing, Siming had surely picked up quite a bit of information about him.

Therefore, after returning tonight, Siming would likely talk to Lao Tong about him.

As expected.

Through his Mental Power, Lu Yuan “heard” a cold female voice-

“Actually, I’ve felt for a long time that the shopkeeper is capable of leaving the Desolate Planet,” she said, her tone tinged with a hint of mockery. “But why on earth would he help you?”