In fact, various types of faster-than-light weapons powered by curvature drives can exceed the speed of light, weapons such as faster-than-light kinetic weapons and faster-than-light energy bombs. The principle behind these weapons is quite simple: they’re essentially conventional kinetic or energy weapons with an added curvature engine.

However, for numerous reasons, such weapons come with severe limitations. Their power is too low, energy consumption is enormous, and their safety margin is so poor that they’re extremely prone to damage. Most critically, during battles near star systems, the gravitational disturbances caused by massive celestial bodies render these weapons highly unstable once they enter curvature travel. Their miniature curvature engines are easily destroyed. Even in deep space combat, the chaotic battlefield filled with flying shrapnel, makes it nearly impossible for such weapons to inflict effective damage on the enemy.

For all these reasons, Xiao Yu had long since dismissed such weapons as having no practical use beyond scientific research. He had abandoned their development early on. Moreover, he did not believe there could exist a situation where something regarded as trash by a Level 4 Civilization would suddenly be considered a treasure by a Level 5 Civilization.

In other words, the Molian Civilization should be highly unlikely to possess such faster-than-light weapons.

So when Xiao Yu found himself under attack before the arrival of the material disintegration beam, he immediately began analyzing the situation. His conclusion: there were no enemy or third-party forces in the vicinity.

That left only one possibility: the Molian Civilization or rather, Level 5 Civilizations, had mastered a type of faster-than-light weapon that truly possessed practical battlefield utility.

It was clear this type of faster-than-light weapon was based on an entirely different technological foundation than his own.

The method of attack was extremely strange. It bore no resemblance to any known weapon systems. After being struck by this weapon, Xiao Yu sensed that the energy in his force field shield was being rapidly siphoned away. If his shield could be compared to a pool of water, then this weapon was like a powerful pump.

“What kind of weapon is this?” Xiao Yu was utterly confused.

Though he couldn’t determine what it was, Xiao Yu knew one thing for certain, he could not afford to delay. The weapon was draining his shield energy at a staggering rate. If it continued, his decay engine would soon be unable to sustain the energy loss and would burn out. Without the engine, the entire ship would become a sitting duck.

Unable to identify the nature of the attack, Xiao Yu could not defend against it.

“Activate the four-dimensional shield. Initiate the hidden backdoor!” Xiao Yu gritted his teeth and made the call.

Within the fleet, over 90,000 large ships immediately activated their four-dimensional shields. In an instant, a field of twisted space enveloped Xiao Yu’s fleet. As for the smaller ships not equipped with four-dimensional shields, Xiao Yu no longer had the capacity to worry about them.

At the same time, the hidden backdoors embedded within the Molian Civilization’s space fortresses and defense platforms were also activated. Under Xiao Yu’s immense computational control, countless data streams surged into the Molian Civilization’s computer systems. These data streams contained endless logical deadlocks and contradictory information, so overwhelming that even the Molian Civilization’s mixed-radix computer systems couldn’t withstand them. They collapsed instantly.

Immediately, the torrent of projectiles from the space fortresses and defense platforms ceased.

“Commence attack!” At that moment, Xiao Yu issued the order.

The entire fleet of 550,000 ships opened fire simultaneously. Countless material disintegration beams locked onto their targets, striking at the Molian Civilization’s ships. A deluge of elemental decay bombs, energy bombs, gravitational bombs, and other advanced weaponry rained down.

The four-dimensional shield surrounding the fleet permitted all outgoing firepower to pass unhindered, yet blocked everything attempting to enter, whether it was information carried by light or incoming weapon attacks. Even the unknown faster-than-light weapon that Xiao Yu had yet to understand was completely kept out.

This weapon could still damage the four-dimensional shield, but its effectiveness was drastically diminished. The reduced power of its attack was now well within Xiao Yu’s acceptable range.

“No wonder this four-dimensional shield is a creation of the Taihao Civilization. A mere Level 5 Civilization shouldn’t stand a chance against it,” Xiao Yu thought.

Xiao Yu saw that when all of the Molian Civilization’s space fortresses and defense bases simultaneously shut down, the ten thousand or so ships stationed nearby seemed momentarily stunned. Only after a brief pause did they begin to act in a panic, some ships rose to engage the enemy, launching attacks on Xiao Yu’s fleet, while many others remained in place, seemingly guarding the now-disabled bases.

At that moment, the first wave of weapons Xiao Yu had launched finally reached the Molian fleet. The first to arrive were the material disintegration beams and high-energy laser weapons. Their destructive power was immense, far greater than Xiao Yu had estimated. Under their assault, the smaller ships in Xiao Yu’s fleet that lacked four-dimensional shields melted away like snow under a blazing sun.

Just this initial barrage of beam weapons alone wiped out several thousand of Xiao Yu’s ships.

Next came a variety of explosive weapons: antimatter bombs, energy bombs, gravitational bombs, and more.

These weapons were even more devastating, especially the antimatter bombs, which exceeded even Xiao Yu’s expectations. When matter and antimatter annihilate each other, they release an unimaginable amount of energy. Under the intense high-energy radiation unleashed by the antimatter blasts, Xiao Yu’s small ships had absolutely no defensive capabilities.

Force field shields could, in theory, offer some protection against many kinds of attacks, but the sheer power of these weapons was overwhelming. Village-Class and Town-Class ships simply didn’t have engines powerful enough to support shields against such massive energy loads.

In total, the first wave of attacks wiped out over ten thousand of Xiao Yu’s smaller ships.

Although Xiao Yu had made many preparations before the war and was mentally ready to face the might of a Level 5 Civilization, the first clash made it clear, the strength of such civilizations was beyond his imagination.

Only the four-dimensional shields held strong. Under this first wave of attacks, not a single four-dimensional shield had been breached. Not one large ship had been destroyed. In fact, the large ships seemed virtually unaffected.

Seeing this, Xiao Yu felt a surge of relief.

“If not for the four-dimensional shields and the hidden backdoor I had planted in their computer systems to disable their base weaponry, I would’ve suffered catastrophic losses in the first clash.”

From this first encounter, Xiao Yu now had a clear, direct understanding of the power of Level 5 Civilization weaponry. Even without the strange, unknown faster-than-light weapon, a Level 5 Civilization was not something a Level 4 Civilization could contend with.

“I’ve got their offensive data. Now let’s see how their defense systems hold up…” Xiao Yu thought, eyes fixed on the wave of his own weapons rapidly approaching their targets.

His weapons were now striking the Molian ships.

What happened next shocked Xiao Yu once again. The weapons he had launched, powerful enough to shatter small asteroids tens of kilometers wide were barely inflicting any noticeable damage on the enemy ships.

Even close-range detonations from high-yield energy bombs merely caused some of the Molian small ships to spin, without even flickering their shields. The material disintegration beams were outright blocked by enemy shielding, having no effect at all. Elemental decay bombs were slightly more effective but only caused minor flickers in the enemy shield systems.

Watching this, Xiao Yu came to a sobering realization once more.

Not only had the enemy surpassed him in offensive capabilities, even their defense systems involved technologies far beyond what he had imagined.

“These can’t be standard force field shields… No. It must be a new kind of shield based on force field technology combined with some other unknown system. These shields are incredibly powerful.”

That was Xiao Yu’s conclusion.

Thanks to the overwhelming size of his fleet, Xiao Yu’s first wave of attacks, while individually ineffective, was cumulatively able to inflict some damage.

He saw several hundred Molian ships, equivalent in scale to his own Village and Town-Class vessels, detonated and disintegrated under the barrage. One County-Class ship also seemed unable to endure the sustained assault and was destroyed.

This scene immediately helped Xiao Yu settle on a concrete war strategy.

“Their ship performance is vastly superior to mine. In that case, I’ll trade quantity for quality. Overwhelm them with sheer numbers!”

After the first engagement, the two sides were now close enough for full-scale contact. The Molian ships seemed to have recovered from their earlier confusion. Several thousand vessels broke away from the bases and engaged Xiao Yu’s fleet directly, while others remained behind, using the bases and fortresses as cover to conduct guerrilla warfare.

The war had now fully erupted.

That was the battle on the visible front. But unseen, a war just as dangerous was raging elsewhere.

Inside the Molian Civilization’s computer systems, the data streams planted by Xiao Yu were engaged in a fierce struggle with the systems’ native data.

The Molian Civilization was not willing to let its space fortresses and defense platforms be rendered useless. Xiao Yu detected the presence of external forces trying to purge the logic deadlocks and contradictory information he had inserted, working to restore the bases’ functionality. At the same time, another force was attempting to trace the source of the corrupting data and mount an attack against it.

“They still haven’t suspected the 50,000 detained ships,” Xiao Yu concluded from the situation.