Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 486: Level 5 Predator
At this moment, a thought that could be considered filthy flashed through Xiao Yu’s mind. Completely subduing a civilization is not easy, and a Level 4 Civilization is not as easy to fool as a Level 2 Civilization. A Level 2 Civilization is very likely to have never encountered an extraterrestrial civilization, even naively believing that only their own intelligent species exists in the universe or the galaxy. A Level 4 Civilization is different. A Level 4 Civilization has already mastered interstellar navigation technology, is well informed and widely experienced, and more or less understands the situation in the universe. This means Xiao Yu would have to pay a certain price to achieve his goal. But now Xiao Yu had discovered a very good opportunity.
Judging from how this Level 4 Civilization was acting like a great enemy was upon them, Xiao Yu could infer that their enemy must be extremely powerful from their perspective. Then it was very simple. When their enemy had beaten them until they were miserable, he would step forward, descend with irresistible strength, and it would be very easy to subdue this civilization.
With this in mind, Xiao Yu’s fleet once again began to quietly approach. This time they advanced to a position only 0.2 light-years from the system’s primary star, and then the entire fleet quietly lay in ambush. With the technology of a Level 5 Civilization, Xiao Yu was not worried about being discovered by this Level 4 Civilization.
While lying in ambush here, Xiao Yu also carried out two other tasks. The first was to select a number of small spaceships to form a reconnaissance team. After closing to a distance of fifty billion kilometers from the primary star, they began to stealthily infiltrate the inner system at a speed of only 10,000 kilometers per second. The vessels performing this mission had to be small spaceships, and their forward speed could not be too fast. Only in this way, at such close distances, could they evade the detection of this Level 4 Civilization.
The second task was to launch a large number of interstellar probes to maintain a picket line beyond 0.2 light-years outside this star system. Xiao Yu wanted to know what exactly it was that made this Level 4 Civilization lay out such a battle formation and stand ready as if facing a mortal enemy.
Time passed little by little. Xiao Yu believed he would not have to wait long. As it turned out, just as Xiao Yu had guessed, two months after he arrived here, the interstellar probes he had scattered reported a message to him. After translating this message into a three-dimensional projection, Xiao Yu saw the following scene.
It was a massive fleet in the midst of curvature flight. There were more than four million spaceships in this fleet. The largest spaceship was even one class larger in size than the Asia. However, ships of that class numbered only one. As for the rest, divided according to Xiao Yu’s classification, there were roughly more than one hundred Nation-Class spaceships and more than four thousand Province-Class spaceships.
The construction style of these spaceships was extremely peculiar. The surfaces of their ships were not smooth but covered with all sorts of protrusions. A bit here, a block there, which made them look as if they had been cobbled together, and in a very shoddy manner. It was like a house from Earth’s era, with one half built in a European architectural style and the other half adopting the most traditional red bricks and green tiles. The entire spaceship exuded a strong sense of disharmony. The shapes of the ships were mostly irregular, with no sense of beauty.
“This is without a doubt a Level 5 Civilization, and at least a mid-Level 5 Civilization. You have to know that a nascent Level 5 Civilization does not have the capability to construct Continent-Class spaceships.” Seeing this, not only did Xiao Yu feel no fear, he instead grew secretly delighted. “My luck is still pretty good. For several hundred years I did not find any life-bearing planets, and now I have found two all at once.”
“Hmm… these architectural styles look quite familiar. I seem to have seen them somewhere.” Xiao Yu thought for a moment, and in just an instant he remembered. “When I first plundered the Azure Market of the Molian Civilization, didn’t I disguise myself in exactly this construction style? That would mean… this is a fleet of a Predator Civilization?”
Xiao Yu quickly confirmed his guess. This inference was based on a simple line of reasoning, namely a mismatch in strength. Would a Level 5 Civilization really find it worthwhile to mobilize such enormous force just to attack a fleet of only several hundred thousand ships belonging to a Level 4 Civilization? Obviously it would not be worth it. Then there was only one possibility. This Level 5 Civilization was a Predator Civilization. Only the fleets of a Predator Civilization would fully deploy regardless of the opponent they faced.
From this point of view, the Predator Civilization and Xiao Yu’s Divine Ark Civilization did share a certain similarity, which was that neither had a fixed base. The entire civilization was built upon spaceship fleets, wandering the universe all year round.
“A Predator Civilization, and one that even has a Continent-Class spaceship…” After reaching this conclusion, Xiao Yu immediately started feeling unbearably itchy with anticipation. By comparison, a Predator Civilization was more valuable than an ordinary Level 5 Civilization. Predator Civilizations survive by plundering. This means their technological depth might not match that of a typical Level 5 Civilization, but their technological breadth absolutely exceeds that of a typical Level 5 Civilization. And what Xiao Yu needed most right now was precisely technological breadth.
Not to mention the information within a Predator Civilization about other civilizations, such as where a given civilization’s base was located, what level its technology had reached, how strong its combat power was, and so on. With such information, Xiao Yu would no longer have to roam aimlessly through the Milky Way as he was doing now. He could simply travel in a straight line to find his targets.
This was a gain so rich it defied imagination.
“No rush, no rush. Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. I am not exposed yet, so I will wait here for a while and use this Level 4 Civilization to observe the strength of this Level 5 Predator Civilization, to prepare for future battles and minimize my losses. After the Predator Civilization clashes with this Level 4 Civilization, I can also descend in the guise of a savior and quickly subdue this Level 4 Civilization, bringing them into my Divine Ark Civilization. This is a plan that kills two birds with one stone. Only in this way can my interests be maximized.”
Xiao Yu suppressed the excitement in his heart and continued to wait patiently here. In Xiao Yu’s plan, he had only planned how to subdue this Level 4 Civilization. As for this Level 5 Predator Civilization, Xiao Yu had no interest in subduing them.
The reason was simple. Since they were predators, they had surely exterminated more than one civilization. Wandering the Milky Way all year round had made them ferocious and violent. They would only obtain technology through plunder and war, not through their own research. In other words, they had no potential to develop technology. Xiao Yu had no interest in such intelligent beings. Subduing them would simply be a waste of resources. When the time came, it would be best to wipe them out. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
This was Xiao Yu’s thinking. Exterminating a Predator Civilization would not weigh on his conscience in the slightest.
The reconnaissance team Xiao Yu had dispatched had already quietly entered the interior of the star system and approached the first line of defense of this Level 4 Civilization. This reconnaissance team was composed entirely of Village-Class ships. At such a distance, it was quite difficult to evade the perception of a Level 4 Civilization, so Xiao Yu had also applied some camouflage to these ships. The effect of this disguise was to make them look tattered, as if they had just completed a long voyage and suffered extremely serious damage.
This location was less than three billion kilometers from the system’s primary star. There were two planets in this star system, one a gas giant and the other a rocky planet. According to intelligence analysis, the rocky planet was the homeworld of this Level 4 Civilization, while the gas giant and its surrounding moons had been transformed by this Level 4 Civilization into the first line of defense.
“Hmm, although their level of technology is nothing special and their ships are shabby, just barely passable, their sense for warfare is not bad. Even if I were to operate these ships myself right now, this would be about the level I could bring them to. What a pity. Your largest flagships are only Nation-Class ships, and even then they are small Nation-Class ships. They do not even compare to my second-tier Nation-Class ships like the Cambodia and the Nepal back then, and there are only three of them. With such strength, how could you be a match for a Level 5 Predator Civilization?”
Carefully observing the defensive arrangements here, Xiao Yu sighed inwardly.
“The scenery on the homeworld is fairly good. The atmospheric composition has some similarity to Earth’s. Oxygen content reaches as high as 53 percent, while nitrogen is only 26 percent. With such a high oxygen concentration, this civilization must often be troubled by issues such as iron corrosion. However, from the aesthetic viewpoint of Earthlings, the scenery on this planet is still quite good.”
“Hm? They can construct Energy Cannons this large? That is somewhat beyond my expectations… not good.”
Just as another detail caught Xiao Yu’s attention, he suddenly perceived something else. Xiao Yu reacted immediately, but it was already too late.
Xiao Yu had been exposed. Because the distance was too close and due to his momentary negligence, this reconnaissance team of Xiao Yu’s was discovered by this Level 4 Civilization.
A message had already been sent to the reconnaissance team’s ships. However, due to the lack of sufficient characters for comparison, Xiao Yu could not temporarily understand the content of this message. A large number of ships had already appeared nearby, glaring like tigers watching their prey as they surrounded these more than one hundred reconnaissance ships, as if they would launch an attack at the slightest misstep.
At this moment, Xiao Yu did not want to engage in conflict with this Level 4 Civilization. Thus, with no other choice, Xiao Yu proactively sent out a message.
