Since Hawk discovered the hydrogen bomb trap and was nearly wiped out, the two civilizations were in a no-win situation, and one of them was bound to be wiped out and completely extinguished.
Time ticked away as they waited, and finally, it was time for the predicted detonation of the hydrogen bomb. Hawke aimed all his optical equipment in the direction of the planet.
Fifty seconds later, Hawke observed the glow of the first hydrogen bomb explosion. Illuminated by the glare, Hawke saw at least three small black dots resembling bases or moons above the orbit of that planet, swallowed up by the infinite amount of light and heat.
"Great!" Hawke's heart was overwhelmed with excitement.
There on the alien planet, there was no movement after the explosion of this hydrogen bomb, seemingly, dumbfounded by this seemingly ghostly celestial visitor.
Three minutes later, the second hydrogen bomb reached its intended target and exploded like a glorious firework in space, bringing death to Hawke's enemies.
Hawke seemed to be able to see the scene. In the darkness of space, a powerful light source suddenly appeared, illuminating the darkness, but what it brought, instead of warmth and light, was cold and slaughter.
Since this planet has an atmosphere, it is certain that it must have an atmospheric circulation system, which means that the radioactive waste from the hydrogen bomb will slowly spread around the world with the atmospheric circulation system.
If it were just one hydrogen bomb, even if it spreads, it would not matter, because diffusion also means dilution, and the radiation damage that one hydrogen bomb can bring is too small.
But what about ten large-yield hydrogen bombs? What about a hundred?
Next, there was the third hydrogen bomb.
After the explosion of the third hydrogen bomb, a reaction finally appeared on the planet. Hawke observed that the radar beam from the direction of the planet had increased in power, soaring to a level that Hawke could clearly locate it.
Luckily for Hawke, the materials of his ship were powerful in absorbing radar waves, otherwise Hawke would have been detected by the other side's radar detection system.
But those hydrogen bombs were too close. Even if their materials were superior, they would not be able to conceal themselves under a radar sweep of such power. Hawke saw that there were countless laser beams erupting from above that planet, sweeping haphazardly through space.
Hawke could seem to sense the panic on the other side. The powerful radar emissions indicated that they were no longer concerned about revealing their tracks, and the haphazard laser beams indicated that they were panicking, wanting to destroy all the hydrogen bombs and stop them from exploding over their planet, rather than thinking about whether what they were doing was useful.
Hawke did not use this opportunity to attack, but continued to hide in the darkness, watching the panicked aliens coldly.
Launching an attack would mean revealing the trail, and by remaining hidden, Hawke would get more chances.
There was not much time left for these aliens. Since a hydrogen bomb would reach its intended orbit almost every few minutes, all of them would explode within a few hours, and the aliens would have to find all of these abominations, hidden in the darkness of space and small in size, within a few hours if they wanted to stop them.
Hawke just watched in silence.
After a few hours, the silence returned to space. Hawke did a little tally and found that of the eighty-five hydrogen bombs he had fired, sixty-nine had exploded and sixteen had been intercepted by the other side.
It was an amazing achievement, the first time Hawke had done substantial damage to the other side.
"They already know that their position is exposed, I wonder what they will choose to do next in response?" Hawk was very interested in this, and even vaguely, he was somewhat looking forward to how these aliens would behave.
The first time he encountered an alien civilization, it was this kind of technology level that was similar to his own, which had to be said, Hawk's luck was really good. In this clash of civilisations, Hawke would gain valuable experience in interstellar warfare.
"What would I do if it were me?" Hawke began to think about this question, slowly projecting.
"Well ... first of all, I would find a way to hide myself before I did, otherwise, I can't guarantee that I would not get hit like this again. So ... a planet, what's the best way to hide it?"
"First of all, conventional methods like radio silence, visible light shielding and the like would definitely be used, but they are now in my orbit, so even if I used those methods it wouldn't work, I could always work out their location by simple calculations. Changing the current orbit? That's even less plausible, changing a planet's orbit would take God knows how much energy, and with that kind of energy, 100% of it would emit huge amounts of radiation that couldn't be shielded, and that would only expose it more completely."
Hawke thought about it, but could not think of a way to hide the planet again. In his heart, he couldn't help but look forward to the other side's performance even more.
If he didn't find a way to hide it, he would only continue to be subjected to Hawke's unceasing blows, and to hide it, Hawke couldn't really think of a way.
"Or ... I would simply give up on the idea of hiding and choose to find the other side out regardless of the consequences. Both sides exposed at the same time, or hidden at the same time, so that is the balance." Hawke pondered, "Perhaps, they will choose this method. En, I will prepare in advance and try not to be found out by the other side."
Hawke immediately began to project what method the other side would probably use to find him.
"Perhaps it will be ... high-intensity radar beam full space scanning? Or firing a high intensity light source and looking through the visible band?"
Still pondering, Hawke began to modify his fleet without exposing it, in order to avoid the various means of detection that might come from the other side.
While modifying the fleet, Hawke also launched about fifty more interstellar missiles one after another by catapulting them. In this way, it would not be possible to destroy them all in a short period of time, but it would be possible to cut off the life of the opponent at the root, and probably after hundreds or thousands of years, all life on the planet would be extinct due to the harmful radiation.
Anyway, Hawke had a lot of time, a long journey, and thousands of years left, so it was not bad to be idle and destroy an enemy in the process.
Within that time, that planet no longer cared about exposure, always turning on all means of detection to maximum power, which also caused the hit rate of Hawke's nukes to plummet, fifty interstellar missiles, only twelve of them could reach the exact location to explode, the rest were all intercepted.
"I'm stuck with you." Hawk thought indifferently, "Hydrogen bombs? I have a lot of them, so many that you can eat them as sugar beans. Even if only one of them explodes, I can still kill you."
This good time lasted for a month. Within that month, the planet remained in a defensive posture, and the large-scale detection means that Hawke had expected never came.
After a month, the alien planet made an unexpected move.
A powerful beam of light suddenly erupted from some part of the planet, which Hawke immediately analysed as the beam of a very powerful fusion engine!
"What are they doing? Change orbit? They're not that stupid, a beam so bright, a blind man could see it." Looking at this incredible scene, Hawke was puzzled, but in the next moment, Hawke understood, and at the same time, began to exclaim heartily, "There really is enough shamelessness, it really is a civilization that is ten years more advanced than me, to have such a method."
Previously, in Hawke's reasoning, it was impossible for them to hide, and would only choose to find Hawke as well, thus putting both sides back on the same starting line.
However, it was in the impossibility that they found the possibility of hiding again.
That's where the ... high-powered signal interference comes in. This includes ultraviolet, infrared, visible wavelengths, Röntgen rays, gamma rays, neutrinos, etc., etc., all-weather, no-miss 360-degree signal jamming.
Under this powerful signal interference, Hawke became a blind man, unable to see or observe anything. He was frantic, "How can you use such a shameless tactic?"
Faced with such an attack, Hawke could do nothing but resentfully stay where he was, waiting for the burst of signal interference to pass. If Hawke's estimation was correct, when the interference dissipated, the other party would also disappear, and then it would not be so easy to find them again.
Back on Earth, Hawke had heard a saying that in a war between races, there was no morality, everything was aimed at killing the other side, and as long as it worked, any despicable means was encouraged.
The situation now was even more dire than a war between races. This was a clash between different interstellar civilisations, where there was even less moral righteousness to speak of, and the other side's so-called meanness was a compliment to their own methods.
There was no doubt that Hawke had just complimented the other side's methods. This means of making oneself invisible again was a godsend. In fact, there was not much technical content, it was just that, within the dead zone of thinking, such a tactic could not really be thought of by ordinary people.
At least, Hawk was caught in a dead end of thinking and did not think of such a tactic.
"Alright, let's let you guys off the hook for now, and when I find a way to get you out, I'll continue to give you the nuclear gift package."
Hawke took his time thinking, hiding himself a little more tightly in the darkness of the universe.