In early January 2026, the Second Fleet returned to Jupiter.
At this time, the distance between Io and Jupiter has exceeded 17 million kilometers, and it will not take long to completely break away from Jupiter's gravity, much faster than the command center predicted.
Through the warship's observation equipment, we can see that the devastated Io is sailing alone in the void. The front of Io is full of craters left by nuclear explosions. There is a huge explosion crater with an astonishing diameter on the edge of the front, which is deep.
The deep explosion craters are like huge scars lingering on the surface of the planet, like silent accusations.
In the war between humans and aliens, how innocent is Europa itself?
At this time, the Second Fleet was located directly in front of Europa Zero, and could only see the blasted front, but not the back.
The fleet had been observing Io on the way here, but the semi-major axis of Io's revolution was getting longer and longer. It only flew a short distance around Jupiter in half a month, not even a tenth of a circle.
, and never exposed the situation on the back to the sight of the Second Fleet.
So far, the Second Fleet does not know what is on the back of Io. After searching all mankind, only the Tiangong has accidentally photographed the back of Io.
The photo was very blurry, and you could barely make out several regularly arranged craters on the back of Europa.
The command center determined that those craters were the giant nozzles of the planetary thrusters.
The command center demanded that the Second Fleet must destroy the propulsion system. In other words, the Second Fleet must bite Europa's ass and then blow up Europa's anus.
However, observations have found that Io's speed is close to leaving Jupiter, and it is not that simple to catch up with Io. Even if the fleet catches up with Io from behind, the impact will not be too violent due to the relative speed.
If there is not enough speed, there will not be enough impact energy, and the foundation of Io will not be damaged. Even if the entire second fleet is thrown onto Io, the goal of destroying the planetary thruster will not be achieved.
Only a frontal impact can maximize impact damage, but the planetary thrusters are located on the back of Europa. No matter how severe the frontal impact is, is it possible to destroy the thrusters on the back?
The side impact also failed to touch the edge of the propeller. Gao Kai almost turned his hair gray because of this.
After more than half a month of planning and countless communications with the command center, Gao Kai finally completed the combat plan. However, even he himself was not very optimistic about this plan.
After the fleet arrived at Jupiter, all personnel on the Penglai retreated to the Kunlun. The vacant Penglai entered the orbit around Jupiter in retrograde motion, and changed its orbit to face Jupiter zero under the remote control of the Kunlun.
In order to remotely control the huge Penglai, the ground command center specially modified the control program of the battleship, and this is how the Penglai can be remotely controlled.
The other warships formed a group and moved forward into the orbit.
Gao Kai's plan is very simple, use the Penglai of the highest quality to hit Europa!
Penglai and Kunlun are both space carriers with a displacement of more than 60,000 tons. They are the irreplaceable core of the fleet. If the highest quality space carrier cannot stop Io, other warships with a displacement of less than 10,000 tons will not be able to collide.
There is no difference.
The Penglai changed its orbit and approached the course of Europa, and finally blocked the path directly in front of Europa.
The alien fleet on Io took off, and most of the warships guarded the vicinity of Io. A dozen more warships accelerated towards the Penglai, trying to prevent the Penglai from approaching Io.
The Penglai accelerated with all its strength, and the explosions at the rear of the ship were connected together. The high temperature almost melted the reaction chamber. The destructive explosion gave the Penglai the ability to accelerate beyond the design limit. Like a warrior who was ready to die, he rode towards the alien fleet on a single horse.
A dozen alien fleets also lined up, blocking the route directly in front of the Penglai.
No matter how strong the Penglai is, it cannot withstand the serial collisions of more than a dozen alien warships. The determination of the aliens to stop the Penglai is evident.
But Gao Kai couldn't let go at this time. He quickly switched the control interface, mobilized the Penglai's weapons and equipment to counterattack, and fired the rapid-fire cannon and laser cannon at the same time.
The Penglai had already fired all the naval gun shells and missiles, but on the way back, it gathered all the 20mm artillery shells in the entire fleet, so that the Penglai's rapid-fire cannons had half the base ammunition.
After firing a round of shells, the Penglai performed a spiral maneuver under the control of Gao Kai, firing while avoiding the aliens' counterattack.
Without artillery shells and missiles, the Penglai's firepower density has dropped significantly, and it has no capital to confront the alien fleet head-on. The only way to stay away from base is to stay ahead.
Anyway, Europa is so big, and the Penglai's greater maneuvering range will not affect the accuracy of the force.
The irregular maneuvers made the alien fleet very uncomfortable. The alien warships lined up in a row were forced to disperse to expand the interception area as much as possible.
At the same time, the left-behind fleet near Io Zero detached more than a dozen warships to join the interception team. The situation became increasingly unfavorable. Even Gao Kai began to worry that the Penglai would die before it left the ship, so he simply gave it to Penglai.
The ship issued a command to advance at super power, and the originally dense explosion light suddenly became as dense as a torrential rain. If you look through the explosion light and penetrate into the reaction chamber, you can see that the reaction chamber has turned into a red state, as if it had just emerged from the explosion.
It looked like it was being pulled out of a furnace fire, and the nozzle showed signs of melting, so the propeller might be scrapped at any time.
But this is space. Even if all the engines of the Penglai are scrapped, the speed it already has will still belong to the Penglai!
The relative speed between the Penglai and Iobi Zero increased rapidly, and the battleship itself also entered the range of the alien fleet. In an instant, countless thin lights spread across the sky, and cuts were deeply embedded in the Penglai.
The ship flew out and continued to move forward with the battleship.
The ship's stern thrusters finally couldn't hold on any longer, melting and scrapping one after another. Gao Kai pointed a finger, and the Penglai suddenly turned 180 degrees, its butt rushed back and its head, and the brake thruster located at the bow of the ship suddenly exploded and flashed.
With a bright light, the battleship speed increased again, leaving the flying debris behind.
The fine light became more dense, and the fragments peeled off layer by layer, and were left behind by the Penglai who was riding Juechen, forming a sparse debris cloud.
The debris cloud was spread over a large area, and part of it would definitely fall on Io, but the alien fleet was busy dealing with the Horai, and no warship even sent out a single ray of light to clean up the debris.
The advantage of being relatively fast is that the time of direct contact is short. At this time, the relative speed of the Penglai and the alien fleet has exceeded 200 kilometers per second. It is so fast that it can leave the alien fleet behind in the blink of an eye.
The fleet remaining behind Io Zero could no longer wait any longer. No less than fifty warships joined forces and rushed towards the Horai.
