Chapter 334: Unrestricted Warfare
Chapter 334: Unrestricted Warfare
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
After absorbing twenty standard units of nutrition liquids, Li Yao finished his preliminary treatment. His body's injuries were mostly recovered now.
But when he got out of his ward, he was surprised to see that, instead of the delegates of the Grand Desolate War Institution, two lieutenant generals as well as a lot of officers whose attitudes were far from friendly were waiting for him.
The officers of the Fifth Fleet were eyeing Li Yao half angrily and half cautiously, as if he were a high-level demon beast which had disguised itself as a human being.
Li Yao's heart was beating like a drum after he learnt of the identities of the two lieutenant generals.
For heaven's sake, it was the commanding officer of the Fifth Fleet! Definitely one of the highest officers and toughest warriors in the military!
The Fifth Fleet was the best fleet of the Star Glory Federation where countless war heroes had emerged from.
Back when Li Yao was a little boy, he had watched avidly clips of the Fifth Fleet's bloody battles on the ragged light beam projector of his.
Never had he expected that he would successfully infiltrate a warship of the Fifth Fleet one day and perform the decapitation strategy. Life was truly amazing.
Currently, Li Yao was no longer the ordinary young man that he had been before he went to college two years ago.
After life-and-death battles and training sessions, his soul was as solid as a super alloy now.
Under the glaring eyes of two lieutenant generals and so many unfriendly officers, he was still able to stand straight and stay calm.
His calmness somewhat surprised the two lieutenant generals.
Ren Xingbei stared at him for a long time, before he opened his mouth and said, "Mr. Li Yao, your performance today was really an eye-opener. What's your opinion about this battle?
"Do you think that once crystal suits can be mass-produced, or the abilities of the high-end crystal suits can be greatly improved, the crystal warships should serve as secondary forces, or simply retire once and for all?"
The sharp question made Li Yao's eyes twitched. He shook his head as he said, "I don't think there is any weapon that can secure the victory of a war by itself, not even the crystal suit, even though it is known as the 'king of magical equipment'.
"In the battle just now, the critical part of my intrusion was that I fooled the spiritual shield of the crystal warship with a modified Vicious Bee Armed Shuttle before I sprinted to the blind side of the Taiyi Lightning Railguns. That's why I could successfully land on the warship.
"But in a real battlefield, the spiritual shield of a warship will definitely not be deceived so easily. As long as authentication strategies such as passwords or biological detection are employed, it will be as easy as pie to find out whether the pilot is a human being or a demon. There's no way that the enemy would get aboard in disguise.
"Suppose the enemy successfully enters the spiritual shield in disguise, in reality, dozens of warships will team together for a battle instead of a lone warship going on a mission by itself like in the sham battle, which means their blind side is very limited. Once the enemy is recognized, they will be faced with a hundred or even more Taiyi Lightning Railguns instead of just twelve of them.
"Compared with crystal suits, crystal warships have their own irreplaceable advantages.
"For example, when faced with an overwhelming beast tide exclusively made of low-level demon beasts, Cultivators would be helpless even if they are wearing crystal suits. They can only kill a few demon beasts before their souls are burnt up.
"But a crystal warship can annihilate the demon beasts dozens of kilometers away unhurriedly with the Heaven Splitters and Taiyi Lightning Railguns.
"An ordinary soldier can launch deadly attacks and kill dozens of demon beasts just by pressing a button.
"He might even have time for a cup of tea during that.
"Therefore, although I did break into Tide Berserker today, I don't think that crystal suits alone are enough to win a war. There are many things that crystal warships can do that crystal suits can't.
"Besides, in my opinion, crystal suits and crystal warships are perfect partners for each other. The invention of MP crystal suits will not reduce the significance of crystal warships. Instead, crystal warships will be all the more important in the future!"
"Oh?"
Officers of the Fifth Fleet nodded at Li Yao's words approvingly.
The last sentence, on the other hand, particularly aroused Ren Xingbei's interest. He pursued, "How so?"
Li Yao explained carefully, "In the history, the fleets of the federal army are always deployed behind the Northern Defense Line and are not willing to break into the Dark Desolate Domain. It is partly because the climate in the Dark Desolate Domain is extremely harsh. In the case of a spiritual tide, crystal warships may be wrecked, and soldiers may be killed.
"It is also partly because there are a lot of strong demons inside the Dark Desolate Domain. Since the internal defense of crystal warships is too weak, some of them might break into a crystal warship and sabotage the warship like I did this time. It would be a terrible disaster."
Ren Xingbei acknowledged frankly, "Correct. It is universally known that the federal army is in charge of defense while the Cultivators are in charge of attack. That's mainly because there are too many ordinary soldiers in the military. Even on a crystal warship, most of the marines are still ordinary people. So, it would be a major headache if strong demons broke into the warship."
Li Yao continued, "Just like this time. There are only dozens of battle-type Cultivators on Tide Berserker, who are no higher than the middle level of the Refinement Stage. A few demon generals sneaking onto the crystal warship is enough to cause serious trouble.
"However, what if the dozens of Cultivators are all wearing crystal suits? Wouldn't the internal defense of the warship be greatly strengthened?"
Ren Xingbei was dazed. Then he fell into deep thought.
Li Yao smiled.
"The reason why marines are not armed with crystal suits is because crystal suits are too expensive. The cost of one crystal suit alone equals the cost of more than ten Vicious Bee Armed Shuttles with all the beast puppets that they carry.
"But if the crystal suit in question is the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, your expenses will be significantly reduced. Dozens of sets of such crystal suits are not unaffordable as long you make up your mind.
"That way, the internal defense of crystal warships will be significantly improved. The crystal warships will be able to take part in the aggressive missions, won't they?
"On the other hand, although crystal suits boast a lot of advantages, they are very precise magical equipment after all. The odds that they're damaged in a battlefield can be quite stunning.
"Besides, there is one prevailing problem bothering all the MP crystal suits, which is that their working time is too short. They are all short-legged and can only carry out missions in a fairly small range.
"So, they're also in dire need of a crystal warship which can serve as their base for maintenance and supply.
"Therefore, in my opinion, even if the MP crystal suits are to be promoted in the entire federal army, crystal warships will definitely not serve as secondary forces.
"Future crystal warships will probably serve as a platform with three functions: legions projection, remote firepower support, and maintenance and supply. That way, crystal warships will be really engaged in the attack missions!"
This time, Ren Xingbei was truly shocked. He gazed at Li Yao for a long time, before he opened his mouth and said, "Mr. Li Yao, did you come up with the theories you said just now by yourself?"
Li Yao blushed. He shook his head rapidly and said, "No. They are the collective work of the Project Mystic Skeleton team and the experienced staff and students of the Combat Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution.
"Project Mystic Skeleton is the golden project of the Grand Desolate War Institution. Everyone is hoping that the military can purchase more Mystic Skeleton Battlesuits. We often hold meetings to discuss the crystal suit tactics and how they can collaborate with other units.
"Besides the ground forces, all the fleets are our potential clients, too. We're hoping to sell a crystal suit to the commanding officer yourself. Of course, we need to study how crystal suits and crystal warships can cooperate in a battle."
Ren Xingbei couldn't help but smiled.
Of the Nine Elite Universities, the Grand Desolate War Institution was closest to the military except the First Military Academy of the Federation. The two parties often had joint missions.
Graduates of the Combat Department and Medical Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution most often went to the federal army, too.
As for the graduates of the Refining Department, they were not welcomed elsewhere because they were brought up with grassroots refining ideologies. Therefore, they often chose to work as military refiners.
Since the Grand Desolate War Institution and the military were deeply connected with each other, it was not unusual that they could present such insights with their collective wisdom.
"Mr. Li Yao, I have to say that both you and your Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit have left a deep impression on me. I will consider your suggestion seriously. Maybe one day, crystal warships of the Fifth Fleet will be loaded with Mystic Skeleton Battlesuits. Warships and crystal suits will fight side by side against a common foe!"
After giving the promise, Ren Xingbei and officers of the Fifth Fleet left.
Li Yao and Shangguan Ce, the other lieutenant general, were left alone.
Shangguan Ce was much friendlier to him.
He had been the toughest advocate of crystal suits in the military. Li Yao's performance today was truly marvelous. After the process and outcome of the sham battle were reported to the higher officials, he might be granted enough funds to establish another ten crystal suit legions.
He observed Li Yao with a smile while he pondered about the young man who had risen up like a fiend star.
Li Yao was studying his title, too.
'Commanding Officer of Special Forces Center, Director of Unrestricted Warfare Research Center?
'Unrestricted Warfare? What's that?'
Seeing through the confusion on his face, Shangguan Ce smiled and explained, "Unrestricted warfare means attacking the enemy in every way possible by ignoring all the rules and exceeding all limits. It is also known as asymmetric warfare.
"Just now, you fought a gargantuan crystal warship with a small crystal suit. It is one form of asymmetric warfare. The decapitation strategy that you employed is the most typical method in the unrestricted warfare.
"The wars between the federal army and the beast tides fall into the category of regular warfare.
"But the battles between Cultivators and high-level demons, especially those higher than Building Foundation Stage and demon general, cannot be bound by the methodologies of regular warfare. All the shackles confining our imagination must be broken into pieces!
"For example, will the demon clan teleport a demon king, or even a demon emperor, through mini wormholes to the front of the Speaker of Parliaments and decapitate him?
"Will the demon clan release so many 'Wave Jamming Bugs', which can malfunction the Spiritual Nexus, that the entire network will be wrecked and the economic and social order of the Star Glory Federation are in disarray?
"Have some strong demons sneaked into the Heaven's Origin Sector pretending to be human beings and even become high officials in the federal government?
"What limitless approaches can we undertake to infiltrate, unsettle and attack the Blood Demon Sector? Is it possible to mask a human being so that he can sneak into the Blood Demon Sector?
"These are all research fields of unrestricted warfare.
"Don't think I'm exaggerating to scare you. In fact, the things I mentioned just now have happened before, are happening, and will happen again."
Li Yao was shocked.
Were there really strong demons who had assassinated the Speaker of Parliaments through mini wormholes?
Were there countless demon spies living as human beings, some of whom even gained important positions in the federal government?
Unrestricted warfare sounded more much thrilling than a head-on battle!