“Before I fight, I need you to do some things for me.” The voice of the envoy from the Guardian Civilization, a being of a Level 6 Civilization, continued to echo in the conference room, entering the ears of several ministers.
“Please tell us what you require, Envoy. Our Molian Civilization is honored to serve you.” the Minister of Commerce said.
“According to this technological document, go and build an energy replenishment device. My energy reserves are not sufficient to support long combat, so from time to time, I will need to replenish my energy. While I am replenishing energy, I need your fleet to hold off the Divine Ark Civilization’s attack. Oh, and one more thing, I only have one spaceship. My strength is not enough to repel hundreds of thousands of warships, at most I can only protect your capital planet from occupation. Of course, I have already sent a related message to our civilization. One year from now, a combat squad from the Guardian Civilization will arrive. At that time, it will be the end of this Divine Ark Civilization…”
“During this year, you will always protect us, correct?” the Minister of Civil Affairs asked.
“Yes. With me here, a Level 5 Civilization cannot possibly invade your home planet. On this point, you may rest assured.” the envoy replied.
“Excellent, thank you for your generous assistance. I have already issued new orders to our army. They have abandoned all outer defenses and are converging upon this planet.”
“Very good, very good. Always pay attention to my orders, and always coordinate with my actions.”
Inside the Heaven’s Kingdom, Xiao Yu let out a slight sigh.
“Molian Civilization… so they still had a trump card. Now, I finally know what it is. Truly unexpected, a City-Class spaceship from a Level 6 Civilization…”
At this moment, the war situation in the Molian Civilization’s capital star system was clearly displayed in the Heaven’s Kingdom’s combat command room through a three-dimensional holographic dynamic image.By now, there were no longer any active Molian Civilization warships on the system’s periphery. Out of 150,000 warships, after this brutal battle, less than 80,000 remained. At this moment, these 80,000 warships had completely withdrawn from the battlefield and gathered around the Molian Civilization’s capital planet. In the starry sky, only some star system defense weapons remained. Without the coordination of warships, these defense systems could not exert much effect, and they were quickly wiped out by the biological army.
Out of 500,000 warships in the biological army, fewer than 350,000 remained. Now, all of them had followed the retreating Molian Civilization fleet to the vicinity of the capital planet, facing the Molian fleet in a distant standoff.
One spaceship stood out, its body entirely orange-red, its design ordinary. Yet it was conspicuous. It floated silently in the center of the battlefield, as if belonging to neither side. Behind it was the heavily battered Molian Civilization fleet and their capital planet. In front of it were the more than 340,000 warships of Xiao Yu’s biological army.
The biological army’s warships had not launched an attack; they were waiting for orders. The soldiers did not know what this ordinary-looking yet striking spaceship represented, or what consequences attacking it might bring. In fact, they did not need to consider such things. Their only duty was to obey orders. Even if the order was to die, they would follow it without hesitation.
Without too many things to consider, there was little difficulty for them. But as the commander, as both the nominal and actual Supreme Leader of the Divine Ark Civilization, Xiao Yu had to consider countless matters.
Would attacking a Level 6 Civilization’s spaceship bring irreparable consequences for his side? What was the combat strength of the enemy spaceship? Could he handle it? If he attacked, how would the other side react? This battle, should it be fought or not?
If we fight, what about retaliation? If we don’t fight, after paying such a heavy price, would we just return empty-handed without any results?
The committee members of the Military Committee did not disturb Xiao Yu. Their opinions only carried weight in military matters. When it came to an issue that could affect the very life and death of the entire Divine Ark Civilization, they dared not speak lightly. This was something Xiao Yu had to decide for himself.
Xiao Yu felt as if he stood at a fork in fate. Before him lay two roads, and choosing the wrong one would mean total annihilation. Several million warships, tens of billions of people, the Specter companion hidden somewhere in the void whose whereabouts and actions were unknown, the several billion humans who had already perished on Earth, and the Earth girl lying silently in the cabin of the China spaceship, all were waiting for Xiao Yu to make his decision.
Fight, or not fight?
At whatever position one stands, one must bear the responsibility of that position. This responsibility was something no one else could bear, neither Luka Two, nor Luka Three, nor Luka Four, nor even Senya, who had just become Number Five. None of them together could shoulder this. Only Xiao Yu. Only Xiao Yu could take it up, only Xiao Yu could decide the fate of the entire Divine Ark Civilization.
Xiao Yu was carefully thinking over this matter, considering it from every angle, the mysterious force hiding behind him, the self who claimed to have come from the future, the current situation in the Milky Way, and the mysterious Level 6 Civilization spaceship before him.
“Divine Ark Civilization, is it? I am an envoy from the Guardian Civilization. I believe you have heard my name. Now, I speak on behalf of the Guardian Civilization to tell you something.”
“This matter is of utmost importance to your development, even to the point that it concerns your life and death. You should know about the recent joint siege against the Sweeper Civilization. That event caused tremendous damage to the Sweepers, forcing them to go into hiding for the time being, to recuperate.”
“As the peace-loving Guardian Civilization, resisting the Sweepers, protecting the weak civilizations of the galaxy, maintaining galactic peace, is our unshirkable duty. We have the responsibility and obligation to take the initiative at the time when the Sweeper Civilization is at its weakest, to completely eliminate this cancer from the galaxy.”
“But there is one regretful matter. In that campaign against the Sweepers, our Guardian Civilization’s losses were no less than theirs. Our flagship, the Radiance, is still under repair and cannot be restored anytime soon. Therefore, our Guardian Civilization followed the trend and established the Guardian Alliance, uniting all civilizations across the galaxy, every civilization unwilling to endure the Sweepers’ oppression, every civilization with the will to resist. We pooled our strength together to fight the Sweepers!”
“Do not think these matters are far removed from you. The situation has already reached a critical urgency. Scattered, we can only be picked off by the Sweepers one by one. Only by uniting can we seek a sliver of hope for survival. Therefore, Divine Ark Civilization, abandon your irrational behavior. Among technological civilizations, there is no need to fight each other. What do you want? Higher-level technology? Ample construction materials? Join our Guardian Alliance, and all of this will be given to you.”
“Most importantly, in the Guardian Alliance, you will have safety. You can peacefully reproduce your population, expand your species. Within the Alliance, all civilizations coexist in peace, exchange what they have, stand together, and fight against the Sweeper Civilization.”
The messages from the Guardian Civilization envoy’s spaceship were unstoppable; they appeared vividly in the minds of all soldiers, all members of the Military Committee, Luka Two, and Xiao Yu. A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on Xiao Yu’s face, while the members of the Military Committee clenched their teeth and fists with rage.
In fact, Xiao Yu was not at all worried that the biological army would be swayed by the envoy’s rhetoric into rebelling against him. The reason was simple, quite a number of the committee members had personally lived under the rule of the Guardian Alliance. These experiences had long been compiled by Xiao Yu into teaching material and widely disseminated among the intelligent beings under his command.
Xiao Yu had long prepared, long told his intelligent beings the true face of the Guardian Civilization. Naturally, they would not be deceived by this seemingly heartfelt but utterly false speech.
“That damned thing. We finally escaped the captivity of the Guardian Civilization and gained the life we have now, and this creature dares to clamor here? I really want to kill it.” one Military Committee member said viciously.
“Yes, back when the Molian Civilization escaped from the Guardian Alliance, they abducted us and sold us at the Azure Market. From then on, I resolved that if possible, I would destroy both the Guardian Civilization and the Molian Civilization. Neither of them are any good. And now, they really have joined together again…”
“Master, I request to go to battle! To kill these damned things!”
“No, you cannot go to battle. Though I also loathe the Guardian Civilization and the Molian Civilization, our strength is not yet enough to oppose the Guardian Civilization. We cannot risk losing everything for the sake of small vengeance!”
“Master…”
Xiao Yu smiled faintly. In this moment, he had already made his decision.
“Kill! Kill! Guardian Civilization? Level 6 Civilization spaceship? I don’t believe that 350,000 warships can’t defeat one! Even if these 350,000 cannot, I am confident that the war in the Star System Number 5 will be ended quickly. By then, at least one million warships will come to reinforce us! With 1.35 million warships, even if it means drowning, I will drown you!”
“Hear my command! Biological army, the time has come to wash away our shame! Full assault!”