Chapter 917: A Group of Neutron War Stars |
That was right. At this moment, what Xiao Yu felt was not fear, not shock, but only simple surprise. For the current Xiao Yu, a single Neutron War Star truly was not worth wasting that much emotion over.
At this moment, what appeared before Xiao Yu was precisely such a surprising scene. A celestial body of extremely small volume, extremely high mass, and invisible in the visible-light band, while emitting immense radiation, was speeding forward through curvature space at a speed of nearly more than one thousand times the speed of light. At the same time, within Xiao Yu’s monitoring network, Xiao Yu detected more similar fluctuations, farther away and weaker. Xiao Yu knew very clearly what this meant.
In the depths of this galaxy, there existed even more Neutron War Stars of this kind. With such a huge number of Neutron War Stars gathered together, aside from war, Xiao Yu could think of no other possibility.
Those fluctuations could only be caused by at least several hundred thousand Neutron War Stars, or White Dwarf War Stars transformed from white dwarfs, gathered together. Several hundred thousand neutron stars and white dwarfs, and perhaps even Black Hole War Stars as Xiao Yu had inferred, this scene made Xiao Yu excited just imagining it.
This galaxy had no name. In Xiao Yu’s star charts, it only had a number. Because it was relatively small and dim, it truly had nothing outstanding about it. There were simply too many galaxies in the universe, and there was no need for Xiao Yu to give every galaxy a name. Most galaxies in the universe were like this one and had only a number.
This Neutron War Star closest to Xiao Yu still had a certain distance between it and Xiao Yu. And it most likely had not discovered Xiao Yu. Otherwise, how could it possibly not stop even once? Of course, at the instant he discovered this Neutron War Star, Xiao Yu had already adopted the highest level of concealment measures for his vast fleet. Perhaps it was precisely these concealment measures that had worked.
This Neutron War Star aroused tremendous interest in Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu still remembered how much pressure that Neutron War Star of the Sweepers Civilization in the Milky Way had once placed on him. In fact, in order to defeat that Neutron War Star, even his Specter companion had been wiped out, and he himself had been forced to painfully separate from the Divine Ark Civilization and step alone into the dark and boundless universe. It was only after he mastered the space energy formula and was about to enter Level 7 Civilization that he finally destroyed it, borrowing the space laboratory and expending enormous effort.
The height reached by that Neutron War Star in the Milky Way made even the current Xiao Yu feel that it had been unbelievable to the extreme. Xiao Yu still remembered his impression of Neutron War Stars back then. Even the still unfathomable rebels, the Guardian of the Way, or even the Spokesperson had never given Xiao Yu such a feeling. In the hearts of all the civilizations of the Milky Way at that time, Neutron War Stars seemed to have become something invincible. No matter how powerful an existence was, it would fail and perish before a Neutron War Star. Relying on that single Neutron War Star alone, the Sweepers Civilization had dominated the Milky Way for tens of millions of years.
Of course, for the current Xiao Yu, a single Neutron War Star was no longer anything special. Although the power of a Neutron War Star operated by a Level 7 extreme stellar body civilization would naturally exceed that of the Sweepers Civilization by thousands or tens of thousands of times, Xiao Yu still did not care. Frankly speaking, the combat power of one Neutron War Star might not even compare to the combat power of one of Xiao Yu’s Star-Class battleships, let alone Star Cluster-Class battleships such as the Human, the Dream, the Azure Dragon, and the Nine Provinces.
“The days when I had to flee in panic beneath a Neutron War Star still feel as if they were only yesterday. And in the blink of an eye, I have already grown to this point, where I can completely disregard Neutron War Stars.” Xiao Yu thought with deep emotion. “A Level 7 Civilization of the extreme stellar body direction. This is the first war-related Level 7 Civilization I have encountered. Perhaps I should make contact with them.”
“With such a huge mobilization of a Neutron War Star cluster, what exactly are they doing this for? And what type of Level 7 Civilization is the one they are fighting against?” Xiao Yu thought silently. The main fleet remained motionless here, while only a small exploration fleet was sent out, maintaining the highest degree of concealment as it followed this Neutron War Star and quietly advanced.
“Could it be that this extreme stellar body civilization is fighting that music civilization?” Xiao Yu thought silently. “The music civilization said they were waiting for me in this galaxy. Then there is a considerable possibility that they and this extreme stellar body civilization happened to meet here. If it is the music civilization, then in the war between them and this extreme stellar body civilization, who will gain the final victory? Although the music civilization is a Level 8 Civilization, they are still an interest-related civilization after all. Judging by how, when I was only a late Level 6 Civilization, I could already barely contend with the microscopic civilization, the music civilization may not necessarily hold the advantage in a war with an extreme stellar body civilization. Mm, in that case, I should be a little more cautious. After all, the music civilization once expressed goodwill toward me and also helped me escape the attack of the Logic Weapon. If something happened to them, that would not be a good thing either.”
Thinking this way, Xiao Yu sent out another portion of tracking forces, once again following behind that departing Neutron War Star.
“The technology of transforming Neutron War Stars or white dwarfs is based on a different growth direction of space technology. Even I have not yet mastered this kind of technology. If it is transforming neutron stars, I might be able to research it in a few thousand years. But if they possess Black Hole War Stars, that is different. Transforming black holes would definitely involve the application of Rules technology, and in my inference, Rules technology belongs to the domain of Level 8 Civilization. Let me observe the situation first. If possible, I will trade with this extreme stellar body civilization and exchange some of my technology for theirs.”
The manufacturing technology of Neutron War Stars still held considerable appeal for Xiao Yu. In wars between Level 7 Civilizations, Neutron War Stars clearly also possessed extremely powerful combat strength. In Xiao Yu’s estimate, a Neutron War Star was roughly comparable to one of his own Star-Class battleships, while a White Dwarf War Star was roughly comparable to one of his Planet-Class battleships.
This category of extreme stellar body war star had one characteristic, namely that they were basically immune to the attacks of small and medium warships. Taking an ordinary, unmodified Neutron War Star as an example, Xiao Yu’s Nation-Class battleships might not necessarily be able to inflict obvious damage on it, while Province-Class and City-Class battleships, so long as their group scale was below one million ships, basically posed no threat to a Neutron War Star. On the contrary, the impact ability of a Neutron War Star, coupled with the high mobility of a Level 7 Civilization, basically meant that a single collision would be enough to destroy warships of that level.
Back when Xiao Yu was still a Level 6 Civilization, there had once been cases where Star-Class battleships escaped alive beneath a Neutron War Star. But in such cases, one also had to consider the factor that the Neutron War Star was not in the hands of a Level 7 Civilization, as well as the factor of the enormous size of Star-Class battleships. Even Province-Class and City-Class battleships of a Level 7 Civilization would not be as large as Star-Class battleships of a Level 6 Civilization.
Time passed bit by bit. Xiao Yu’s main fleet remained still, while the spy ships following that Neutron War Star detected ever stronger spatial fluctuations. That Neutron War Star finally withdrew from curvature space and began conventional navigation, while Xiao Yu’s spy ships hid in a corner of the universe and quietly observed everything here through long-range detection equipment.
Everything was exactly as Xiao Yu had imagined. In this stretch of cosmic space, there were in fact several hundred thousand neutron stars and white dwarfs. These were without question all transformed extreme stellar body war stars. Among them, the number of Neutron War Stars was about one hundred thousand, while the number of White Dwarf War Stars was nearly three hundred thousand.
Seeing that his inference had finally been confirmed, Xiao Yu could not help but feel somewhat shaken. “Has this extreme stellar body civilization gathered together all the neutron stars and white dwarfs of this entire galaxy?”
In Xiao Yu’s field of vision, these numerous extreme stellar bodies were all suspended silently here. Some had self-rotation, while some did not, but one thing was the same, all of them were emitting intense radiation. The radiation of several hundred thousand celestial bodies intertwined together, turning this region of space into a true hell…
Both neutron stars and white dwarfs originated from the remnants of dead stars. The difference was that neutron stars could only be born from the remnants of more massive stars. The existence of one neutron star in the universe meant that, at some point in the past, a supernova explosion had occurred there. White dwarfs, by contrast, were much more common. In this universe, low-mass stars that did not reach the threshold for a supernova explosion accounted for the overwhelming majority. After such stars died, they formed white dwarfs. White dwarfs were far more numerous in the universe than neutron stars.
Xiao Yu carefully observed them, his gaze shifting little by little. Gradually, Xiao Yu saw what kind of enemy this cluster of extreme stellar body war stars was facing.
That was without question a group of warships from a Technological Civilization. The spacecraft hulls, clearly full of traces of artificial construction, made that point unmistakable. Yet there was one thing: all of a sudden, Xiao Yu felt that the design of these warships from the Technological Civilization looked somewhat familiar.
“A very interesting civilization, is it not?”
At some unknown moment, that music civilization had already come to Xiao Yu’s side. They still spoke in that rhythm like singing. “Civilizations of the extreme stellar body direction are quite rare in this universe…”