“Although I encountered that creature and suffered a few unexpected twists while searching for the Specter Heart, the outcome is still fairly satisfying. At the very least, I obtained the Specter Heart, and the All Nations Pay Tribute was preserved,” Xiao Yu thought to himself during the tense repair process.
The fleet’s combat formation remained active, and would have to remain so for at least a month. At present, the All Nations Pay Tribute had lost its Faster-Than-Light travel capability. Xiao Yu needed time to repair it. That meant, for the next month, there was always the possibility that the powerful Alien Beast would return to attack.
What still troubled Xiao Yu deeply was how the creature had suddenly appeared next to the All Nations Pay Tribute during the battle. He had two theories: one, the Alien Beast possessed an ability to completely block his detection methods; two, it had hidden there beforehand.
If the first theory was true, that would be terrifying. It meant the Alien Beast could also suddenly appear next to the Beijing, whose defenses were not nearly as resilient as the All Nations Pay Tribute.
“So… there are two options. First, I must completely conceal the Beijing’s true value, I can’t let it realize the Beijing is actually my flagship. Second, I have to do everything I can to locate it. If my detection methods can find it, then the first theory collapses… but if I still can’t find it despite full efforts, then my situation becomes extremely dangerous…”
“Should I just abandon the All Nations Pay Tribute and start fleeing now?” Xiao Yu fell into a dilemma. After some thought, he gritted his teeth, “based on my deductions, the first possibility has a very low probability. After all, during the previous battle, it didn’t show the ability to completely evade my detection. This small risk is worth taking, abandoning the All Nations Pay Tribute now would be too great a loss.”
Once he made his decision, Xiao Yu’s mind calmed.
His current work was divided into two main efforts. First, repairing the All Nations Pay Tribute. Second, locating the hidden Level 4 Alien Beast with full force.
To be safe, Xiao Yu transferred all scientists out of the All Nations Pay Tribute and scattered them among several other ships, turning the All Nations Pay Tribute into a completely unmanned vessel. Then, a large number of robots were deployed inside to begin orderly work: checking circuits, repairing equipment, reinforcing structural damage.
The large-scale search operation also began. Now that he had begun to glimpse the secrets of a Level-Five Civilization, Xiao Yu had more tools beyond standard detection methods, specifically, tachyon-based detection. Using inert tachyons, he could carry out Faster-Than-Light scans and obtain real-time data on anything within one hundred billion kilometers.Tachyon detection worked even during Faster-Than-Light travel, operating via mechanisms entirely different from conventional scanning instruments. The only regret was that Xiao Yu still hadn’t succeeded in miniaturizing a usable negative matter cannon, so he couldn’t equip one on his ships. This meant he still had no ability to engage in combat during Faster-Than-Light travel.
Xiao Yu began a detailed scan of interstellar space. Massive numbers of robots, satellites, micro-ships, and more were launched and dispatched throughout the star system, scouring it in search of the Level 4 Alien Beast.
But the results were disappointing. Despite the massive search effort, the beast could not be found.
“Three possibilities: one, the beast has already left the star system; two, it really does have the ability to completely block my scans; three, it’s hiding in the asteroid belt.”
Xiao Yu reached this conclusion instantly.
“Given the level of hatred it has for me, the chances that it would just give up on revenge and leave the system are low, the first possibility can be ruled out. As for the second… based on its behavior during the previous battle, that’s also unlikely. Which leaves only the third.”
“Enter the asteroid belt. Find its trail with full effort.” Xiao Yu issued a new order. More detection instruments were produced and, along with the earlier micro-robots used to search for the Specter Heart, began a new round of scanning. However, these new detectors were slightly different from the previous micro-robots. The earlier ones used for locating the Specter Heart weren’t equipped with tachyon sensors, these new ones were.
As the slow search progressed, ten days quietly passed. During these ten days, the Alien Beast never once revealed itself. Xiao Yu suspected it might have been seriously injured and could be using this time to recuperate.
As a Level 4 Alien Beast, it had surely mastered elemental decay energy. In that case, an asteroid belt full of matter would serve as the perfect bed for it to heal.
“Since I’ve begun this new round of searching, I might as well do a bit more, let’s resume collecting flesh from the White Dwarf Beast.” After some thought, Xiao Yu made his decision.
“A large chunk of nickel ore… useless to me, leave it.”
“A lot of gold… gold only has industrial use for me now, and my reserves are still high. Leave it.”
“Hmm? Here’s a piece of stellar cannon wreckage. Estimated to contain 30 kilograms of White Dwarf Beast flesh. Good, recover it…”
Countless robots and detection units busied themselves in the asteroid belt.
Under the bright light of a distant star, a detection robot agilely dodged an oncoming asteroid, fired its thruster briefly, and glided forward several kilometers to arrive before another massive asteroid.
Originally, this robot hadn’t paid much attention to this particular asteroid. Hundreds of earlier micro-robots, those without tachyon sensors, had already scanned this area. All previous reports had returned as worthless.
But this time, with tachyon scanning, Xiao Yu noticed something unusual.
“Something’s not right… the inert tachyon feedback shows there’s something here. But… why can’t visible light, other light bands, or any radiation detectors pick it up? Hmm… it’s about a few dozen kilometers long, seven or eight kilometers wide.”
Reading the return data, Xiao Yu smirked coldly to himself.
He knew he had found the Level 4 Alien Beast. The realization brought immense relief. It meant many things, like the beast did not possess Level 5-level abilities, that it couldn’t fully evade his detection, and that Xiao Yu’s overall strength still outmatched it.
An invisible enemy was the most dangerous kind. Now that it was exposed, there was no longer much to fear.
The detection robot showed no sign of recognition. It flew past as if it hadn’t seen the beast at all, continuing on its patrol, appearing completely indifferent.
Naturally, this was to avoid alerting the Level 4 Alien Beast, to hide the fact that it had been discovered.
After the first robot passed, another tachyon-equipped robot flew by. It also flew past casually, appearing to conduct a normal patrol. But during that pass, Xiao Yu used it to observe the beast for five seconds…
Then a third robot flew by…
In this manner, Xiao Yu kept the beast under continuous surveillance. Every movement it made was under his watchful eye.
But Xiao Yu had no intention of launching an attack, because it would be pointless. His plan was to escape once the All Nations Pay Tribute was repaired. He had no interest in further entanglement.
The reason was simple, a fight to the death with a Level 4 Alien Beast would result in more losses than gains. Even if Xiao Yu could kill it, he would likely lose multiple Province-Class ships in the process. Worst case, the Beijing might even be destroyed, and that would be a disaster.
Level 4 Alien Beast flesh was indeed valuable, but only if you lived to retrieve it. Xiao Yu had always been very disciplined when it came to greed. As for hatred? That was even more pointless. In the vastness of the universe, hatred was meaningless, at least the kind they had. Only profit mattered.
And so, under covert surveillance, a month passed quietly. Xiao Yu finally completed his mission.
The All Nations Pay Tribute’s propulsion system was fully repaired. While it still lacked combat power, it could now travel at Faster-Than-Light speeds again, meaning it could rejoin the main fleet’s movements.
“All right. Time to go. Who knows when the Molian Civilization might show up. Better not waste time. I’ve already demonstrated my combat capabilities in the previous battle with the beast, and every large ship that was destroyed did explode and deal damage to it. I doubt it will risk such high costs to come after me again…” Xiao Yu thought to himself as he began gradually accelerating his massive fleet.
Of course, throughout this entire process, surveillance of the Level 4 Alien Beast never once let up.
And at that moment, under Xiao Yu’s monitoring, he saw the creature suddenly stir.
It quietly slipped from its hiding place, careful not to disturb the orbit of any surrounding asteroids, and like a ghost, began silently moving toward Xiao Yu’s fleet…