Qin Beiwang's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of his seat.
He suddenly recalled the scene when they had infiltrated the Bushman Star System.
Back then, the system's detection range wasn't this extensive, and its analytical capabilities weren't this powerful.
Several times, they had nearly collided head-on with Imperial patrol fleets, relying solely on luck to evade them.
Now it was different.
1.48 billion kilometers.
It was enough for him to plan evasion routes well before any Imperial patrol fleet could detect them.
It was enough for him to find all the gaps that could be traversed within this densely woven net.
To allow him to lead these three hundred battered warships...
safely home.
Suddenly, Qin Beiwang's gaze abruptly halted on the system star chart.
At this moment, a new change appeared on the system star chart.
At the border between the Savannah Star System and the Elvira Star System, a dense cluster of light dots was slowly emerging.
Not just one or two.
But a swarm.
So numerous that the system needed some time to process the influx of data.
Those light dots shifted from blurry to clear, from sparse to dense, like a rising tide slowly filling that airspace.
Qin Beiwang's brow furrowed slightly.
He stared at that cluster of light dots, quickly estimating their numbers.
A joint fleet.
At the very least.
Due to the extreme distance.
The movement trajectories of those light dots had significant delays.
This meant that the time this fleet had entered the Savannah Star System was much earlier than what he was seeing now.
Possibly several days ago.
Or even longer.
Qin Beiwang's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of his seat.
A joint fleet coming from the direction of the Elvira Star System...
At this timing, appearing here.
He leaned toward one conclusion.
Imperial fleet.
And the analysis provided by the system also indicated Imperial warships.
His gaze shifted from the newly appeared cluster of light dots to the original red dots in the Savannah Star System.
There, over twenty thousand Imperial starships remained.
Patrolling everywhere.
A set of numbers flashed rapidly through Qin Beiwang's mind.
A newly arrived joint fleet, plus the original twenty thousand-plus...
The entire Savannah Star System now had at least the strength of two joint fleets.
Two fleets.
Over forty thousand starships.
And behind him, only three hundred battered, remnant ships.
His gaze continued to move across the star chart.
Back when infiltrating the Bushman Star System, he had primarily deployed passive detection buoys in the Bushman Star System.
In the Savannah Star System, only the passive detection buoys left along the combat routes during the previous operations in Savannah remained.
So now, what he could see was only the distribution of Imperial forces along that original route.
But this was enough.
Qin Beiwang carefully observed the system star chart.
Suddenly, his gaze settled on several coordinate points.
L-7 Jump Point.
N-12 Jump Point.
S-22 Jump Point.
Around those jump points, which should have been ordinary navigation routes, were now densely clustered with a large number of Imperial starships.
That density...
Qin Beiwang's brow furrowed even tighter.
He had seen the defensive density of planetary fortresses.
Even around fortresses garrisoned with thousands of warships, the density of starships was never this high.
And here.
These were just a few ordinary warp points.
Why were so many starships gathered here?
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
It came so quickly that even he was surprised.
But he did not deny it.
Because he knew it might be the only explanation.
"Could it be..."
He murmured, his voice so low it was almost inaudible.
"Are they planning to withdraw?"
The bridge was quiet.
No one heard his words.
Qin Beiwang's gaze fell on those warp points, on the dense clusters of red dots, on the newly arrived fleet slowly moving.
Two joint fleets.
Critical warp points.
A new fleet that had just entered Savannah.
All these pieces, put together.
He suddenly let out a soft sigh.
That sigh carried a sense of emotion he himself hadn't even noticed.
"Such a fast response speed."
He murmured.
"The enemy commander..."
Qin Beiwang nodded slightly.
"Truly decisive."
The enemy clearly intended to secure these warp points, allowing the frontline fleets to withdraw rapidly through warp.
The vanguard seizes the passage, and the follow-up forces retreat in succession.
A standard large-scale withdrawal tactic.
And he could only watch.
Qin Beiwang's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of his chair.
Three hundred starships.
Even if each could fight like ten, they couldn't shake the warp points guarded by those two joint fleets.
Moreover, half of his fleet was still damaged, with some warships' shield generators not fully repaired yet.
There were no massive meteorites to use as weapons now.
No zero-point energy or spare engines either.
Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice.
Today, he truly understood that saying.
He let out another soft sigh.
So soft that only he could hear it.
Then he shifted his gaze away from the warp points and back to the patrolling Imperial fleets.
Since he couldn't stop it, he had to keep moving.
Getting home was now the most important thing.
"Maintain current course."
His voice rang out on the bridge, not loud but clear.
"Continue evading patrols. Proceed toward the Elvira Star System."
In the time that followed, the Pluto Fleet continued navigating through the vast net woven by the Imperial patrols.
Qin Beiwang stared at the star chart, every course adjustment precise and flawless.
The movement patterns of those red dots, the outermost limits of detection ranges, those fleeting gaps—all were under his control.
Guided by him, the fleet moved like a serpent skirting the edge of a blade, slipping past the Imperial patrols time and again.
They drew closer and closer to the Elvira Star System.
After a long while, Qin Beiwang, who had been intently watching the system star chart, suddenly widened his eyes.
Zhuang Zhixuan was stunned.
She saw Qin Beiwang's gaze fix on a certain direction.
That direction held nothing.
Only the bulkhead of the bridge.
His brow furrowed slightly.
Just for a moment.
Then quickly smoothed back to calm.
Next, his lips moved faintly.
Zhuang Zhixuan heard him say something.
His words were so soft they were almost inaudible.
"Another batch..."
On Qin Beiwang's star chart, dense clusters of red dots were now pouring forth.
The location was still near the border between the Elvira Star System and the Savannah Star System.
It was the same direction as the Imperial Fleet he had seen earlier.
But the number...
His pupils contracted slightly.
The previous Imperial Fleet had numbered only twenty thousand ships.
Now there were eighty thousand.
A full two times more.
Those points of light surged from the border, overwhelming the sky, almost filling that entire airspace.
They spread slowly across the Star Chart, like a rising tide of red ocean.
Qin Bei Wang's breath halted for an instant.
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