Xiao Yu was very familiar with these things. Back when he was still on Earth, Xiao Yu had personally handled similar devices. At that time, on Earth, these were considered cutting-edge technology.
“This is a cosmic high-energy particle detection module, this is a fission battery, this is a stellar wind detection module… hmm, an infrared camera, a communication module…” Xiao Yu clearly identified every single module in this crude instrument.
Of course, these things could not possibly have come from human hands, humanity had been extinct for over ten thousand years by now. But according to Xiao Yu’s assessment, the development of civilizations tended to have certain similarities. In other words, these devices were very likely created by a civilization whose technological level was comparable to humanity’s during Earth’s era.
“This object’s relative velocity to the red dwarf star is thirty-one kilometers per second, and it’s located sixteen and a half billion kilometers from the star. But its trajectory isn’t linear, it’s curved. Based on these calculations… hmm, it must have been launched a bit over twenty years ago. How interesting. So here, there exists a primitive Level 2 Civilization?”
Xiao Yu’s spirits lifted again, and he felt a faint premonition in his heart that his long search was nearing its end.
“A Level 2 Civilization! A sentient species at this level, if I just spend a hundred years modifying them, I can raise their intelligence to be no less than the Luka’s. And since they already have the capacity for interstellar exploration, it proves this civilization is currently flourishing. This means a population in the several billion, even tens of billions, this is it!”
Xiao Yu was so excited that he immediately activated the ship’s engines and led the massive fleet toward the planet.
During this process, Xiao Yu began pondering an important question, how should he make contact with this civilization?
Through this crude interstellar probe, Xiao Yu could be certain that this Level 2 Civilization had never encountered other intelligent civilizations before, just like humanity during the Earth era. The sudden arrival of a powerful civilization would trigger many changes within this weaker one.
Those changes could be both beneficial and harmful.Even when contacting a civilization far weaker than oneself, a certain amount of finesse was still required. The approach of violently seizing and enslaving them was something Xiao Yu rejected without hesitation. If he used that method, it would provoke extremely strong backlash within the civilization. A civilization’s spirit was not so easily crushed.
Naturally, Xiao Yu wasn’t concerned that their resistance would inflict any losses on him. In fact, if he exercised a bit of caution, even if the entire civilization united all its strength, they could not inflict any damage on even a single Village-Class ship. But such resistance would certainly lead to internal upheaval, government collapse, social disorder, and so on, which meant unnecessary population loss. And to Xiao Yu, every sentient lifeform was a form of wealth.
“Perhaps I should approach this civilization as a savior. That would win them the most goodwill. When the time comes to relocate their population from the planet into my ships, it would reduce a great deal of resistance and avoid many accidental casualties,” Xiao Yu reflected slowly, and one scheme after another began to take shape in his mind.
“Are you searching for primitive civilizations, you damn creature?”
Just then, Xiao Yu suddenly received a transmission from the long-silent Level 4 Alien Beast.
In the split second after receiving this message, Xiao Yu’s mind jolted violently, and he couldn’t stop himself from cursing inwardly.
“Damn it, damn it!”
Xiao Yu had been dividing his attention to monitor the Level 4 Alien Beast all along. But just now, right in this dangerously close proximity to the star, the Level 4 Alien Beast had taken the risk to initiate a curvature flight, instantly appearing among Xiao Yu’s fleet, right beside a City-Class ship on the outer perimeter. Its colossal tail, stretching several kilometers, lashed out in one strike and completely smashed the City-Class ship to pieces. Then, before the energy from the shattering Four-Dimensional Shield could fully erupt, it performed another risky curvature flight and fled far away.
Just like that, a City-Class ship was destroyed.
“Its full-powered attack strength is enough to annihilate a City-Class ship in one blow. Against a Province-Class ship, that wouldn’t work, it probably targeted a City-Class ship precisely to avoid a prolonged battle,” Xiao Yu immediately understood.
The City-Class ship that had been destroyed was one of the latest batch Xiao Yu had built: the Taiyuan, a City-Class ship under the command of the Shanxi Province-Class ship formation.
Having lost the Taiyuan, Xiao Yu reacted at once. He unleashed a furious bombardment toward the Level 4 Alien Beast, which had exited curvature flight and revealed its form again in the visible universe. But because the distance was too great, all those attacks proved ineffective.
“How long are you planning to keep pestering me, you thick-skulled creature? With all this time, you won’t develop yourself or improve your strength, and instead you insist on coming here to irritate me!” Xiao Yu gnashed his teeth in hatred, yet had no good solution. This creature was truly too troublesome. Between Xiao Yu’s forces and the beast, it was essentially a stalemate, neither side could do anything to the other. But if it kept hounding Xiao Yu like this, it was enough to keep him in constant anxiety day and night.
“I will not rest until I have utterly destroyed your fleet. You can be certain, I will keep following you until you die…” The Alien Beast spoke in a low, eerie voice. Its body moved swiftly, and in just over ten minutes it had slipped into the asteroid belt surrounding the star and hidden itself away.
“Fine, fine. If you want to die, I’ll grant your wish.” A surge of furious resentment churned in Xiao Yu’s chest, nearly stripping away his reason. At once, the enormous fleet altered course, pursuing the place where the beast had disappeared.
During the formation of any stellar system, countless fragments are left over. Over long ages, these fragments usually settle into relatively stable orbits, forming asteroid belts. One could say that while it was fairly common for a stellar system to lack planets, it was rare for it not to have an asteroid belt. The only difference lay in how many asteroids there were.
This red dwarf star had a particularly abundant asteroid belt. Without a doubt, it was an ideal place to hide.
Having made up his mind, Xiao Yu no longer cared about conserving energy. He maneuvered hundreds of thousands of ships to the edge of the asteroid belt. Swarms of micro-probes equipped with tachyon detection modules were released, searching the asteroid belt for any trace of the Level 4 Alien Beast. Meanwhile, the hundreds of thousands of ships, divided into nine groups centered on nine Province-Class ships, waited menacingly outside the belt.
In the distance, less than two hundred million kilometers away, that blue-tinged life-bearing planet continued its quiet revolution. Down there, perhaps just like Earth, countless joys and sorrows were unfolding. Perhaps several billion intelligent beings were busy working for their future.
Two hundred million kilometers, at Xiao Yu’s current speed, it was only a blink away. But despite the short distance, all the events happening here remained completely unknown to the sentient life on that planet.
“Hm? What’s this? A survey satellite?” In the course of his search, Xiao Yu discovered something else.
This object was without question built by the same civilization that had launched the interstellar probe he’d already captured. It shared the same technological level and a similar construction style. At this moment, it was orbiting the largest asteroid within the belt.
Clearly, it was still operational. Xiao Yu saw that this satellite was outfitted with numerous instruments, all busily surveying the asteroid’s geological structure, formation age, impact traces, and related data.
“Better destroy it first,” Xiao Yu thought. “Since I intend to approach this civilization as a savior, I can’t allow them to discover me prematurely, or it will trigger some unfortunate consequences.”
With that in mind, Xiao Yu sent a robot to quietly attach itself to a small asteroid about half a meter in diameter. The robot pushed it forward a certain distance, imparting enough initial momentum, then detached and withdrew. The asteroid, like a bullet leaving the barrel, shot straight toward the survey satellite.
The satellite was exceedingly rudimentary. It had no defense or attack modules, very poor maneuverability, and given the more than twenty-minute communication delay between here and the planet, it was effectively defenseless.
Xiao Yu watched as, under the impact of the stone, the satellite was knocked hard enough to gain the asteroid’s escape velocity. Tumbling wildly, it flew off into space, destination unknown.
Judging by Xiao Yu’s understanding of this Level 2 Civilization’s technological level, an impact of this magnitude would have completely destroyed the satellite.
“Whew, now I can finally work in peace. You vile creature, I won’t let you get away,” Xiao Yu thought bitterly as he resumed his search.
More than twenty minutes later, just two hundred million kilometers away, on that life-bearing planet, deep in the heart of a continent, in an underground base buried hundreds of meters below the surface, a group of intelligent beings, whose appearance somewhat resembled humans and who were clad in white coats, were sweating profusely as they worked.
“Sir, Sir, the Messenger probe may, it may have malfunctioned… We, we’ve lost contact with it. And also, the Voyager probe, which had been operating normally and already reached the heliopause, has also disappeared.”
These intelligent beings conversed in their own language.