Zhao Chen, without the least ceremony, rapped her on the head.
"We should have ten T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships here now, shouldn't we?" Zhao Chen looked to Tao Beibei beside him.
Tao Beibei was only this starship's captain, but with Zhao Chen, the Emperor, aboard, she took on part of a secretary officer's work too.
It must be understood that her starship's being chosen as Zhao Chen's flagship was no coincidence.
It was because Tao Beibei herself was on the list for training as a senior officer and commander.
That was why she had been given such a chance.
Tao Beibei knew it well, and so did her utmost to show herself well here.
"There are ten," Tao Beibei said.
"Contact the captains of the other nine Seraph Ballistas and pass on my order. In a little while, they are to fire together on the area I designate!" Zhao Chen said in a low voice.
Tao Beibei brightened.
She at once understood what His Majesty the Emperor had in mind.
"Understood!" She set about passing it on at once.
Soon the ten T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships had gone to standby.
All ten great ballistas began to charge; the dazzling "arrows" stood ready to loose!
"Chu Xuan, Xiaoxiao… muster every interstellar gunship and interstellar missile ship under you into two attack phalanxes. Once the T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships have finished their first round, the gunship formation attacks at once! After that the interstellar missile ships await orders, and give fire support if needed." Zhao Chen looked at the marshals and commanders on the command channel and gave his orders.
"Understood." Chu Xuan and the others understood His Majesty the Emperor's arrangements as well.
As things stood, this plan was the most fitting.
No one knew how it would turn out, but it had to be tried all the same.
What if it worked?
And if it failed, the Owl Dragon side would lose only some ammunition stocks.
Weighing the two, the attempt was wholly worth it.
Soon all was ready.
"All Seraph Ballistas, hear my order." Zhao Chen looked at the attack zone drawn on the interstellar holo-table.
It was synced to every interstellar warship.
The captains of the ten Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships, Tao Beibei among them, awaited the Emperor's order.
"Start time six-twenty, three minutes from now, ships No. 1 through No. 10 in order, firing at ten-second intervals. Understood?"
"Understood!" Tao Beibei and the nine other captains said together.
At that moment everyone was watching the clock, watching the seconds tick by.
At last, with about five seconds left to the time the Emperor had set.
Tao Beibei raised her hand first, her gaze like a hunter's; then, watching the ticking time, she gave the order without hesitation: "Loose!"
In an instant a crimson arrow shot toward the target at tremendous speed.
Before it had even struck, ship No. 2 of the Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships had already fired.
The attack zone far off exploded.
The dazzling blaze was like fireworks bursting.
Before the fireworks had wholly faded, a second burst came on its heels.
The ten T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships fired at ten-second intervals, almost to the second.
A minute and forty seconds in all.
Zhao Chen raised his head and glanced at the scene on the video feed.
Because of the explosions one after another, there was no telling how much damage had been done in the target zone.
At this, Zhao Chen did not hesitate, and gave the second attack echelon the order to attack.
"All interstellar gunships, aim at the designated zone, saturation fire!" Zhao Chen gave the second attack order.
Compared with the first, this second attack was more terrible still, and denser.
At the same time, from the area and effect of the explosions, it could be judged that there was certainly a great "hole" in the attack zone.
And now all the interstellar gunships need only fire their shells accurately into that "hole".
Zhao Chen watched the scene.
The attack went on for a full five minutes.
Then at last it stopped.
It stopped not, naturally, because the interstellar gunships had run out, but because the aim of the attack had been achieved.
Zhao Chen glanced at the black-and-white image beside him.
It could plainly be seen that the great tree-shaped thing inside the great wall of flesh had been hit.
That was Zhao Chen's target.
Since the target had been reached, there was no need to consider anything else.
All that remained was to see the result.
Zhao Chen and the Owl Dragon commanders all waited for the result of this attack.
Time passed, little by little.
The smoke and dust of the blasts cleared.
A huge cavern stood revealed in the great wall of flesh, very jarring to the eye.
But there it truly was.
And deep in the cavern could be seen a burning, tree-shaped creature,
with many roots.
These were the tentacles that had attacked just now.
But now the roots were withering, fast enough to see.
And the change was only beginning.
All around the tree-shaped creature, the great wall of flesh began to dry out.
The nearer the edge, the faster it dried.
And soon the outermost wall of flesh was like a riverbed dried up for years.
And turned gray.
After a moment, these dried-up areas became like ash, crumbling at a touch and scattering away through that stretch of space.
More and more dried-up areas crumbled like this, and it kept spreading into other areas.
And any giant sandworms in these collapsing areas were left floating in space, all at once robbed of their power to move.
Becoming live targets, killed one by one!
"Oh my goodness!" Tao Beibei cried out, a hand over her mouth.
Zhao Chen said, comparatively calm, "It seems we guessed right. This Hive Nest is its own core, of course. But at so vast a size, it could hardly grow this big on a single core alone. So there may well be other things like nodes. This tree-shaped hive-race creature is one such node. Their purpose is, on the one hand, to protect the Hive Nest. On the other, to reinforce the Hive Nest's framework, and even to extend and spread it outward. And once this kind of tree-shaped creature in an area is destroyed, that area, having lost its support, collapses at once."
Hearing His Majesty the Emperor's explanation, Tao Beibei nodded, enlightened.
All that had just been done was an attempt made on that possibility.
The present result showed their attempt had been right.
The area collapsing just now already far exceeded what their steady fire had destroyed before.
"Chu Xuan, Xiaoxiao, carry on the fight this way. Use the least ammunition and open a passage as soon as you can!" Zhao Chen ordered the two marshals.
The way had been found; what came next was in the two marshals' hands.