Chapter 116: A Message from the Orion Nebula

Chu felt a sense of relief.

The fleeing Federal lives had been annihilated, with 930,000 destroyed and 6,160,000 captured and brought back.

Chu would now confine these lives more strictly and extract their genes to create a small Federal civilization within the Star City.

Chu abandoned the idea of controlling the Federal civilization perfectly in his mind and settled for creating a Federal civilization based on the known information, providing a driving force for the Olive Branch civilization.

This would be a slower process, but it would no longer make Chu feel constrained.

Three days later, Chu issued a command, determining the coordinates of the Federal capital star system, Mizar, and releasing the gravity weapon at that location.

Furthermore, all main-sequence stars within the Federal territory should be heavily struck to paralyze the Federal civilization.

The Shared Consciousness Cluster had been waiting for this order.

It took only a month for all units to be ready. The invisible, terrifying gravity weapon was activated and instantly reached the Federal star domain. After 268 years, the Star City would observe the shattered scene of Mizar.

"It's all over."

"Now, we just need to take down the Silk civilization as well."

Chu focused his attention on the Silk civilization, which was stronger than the Federal civilization, and it had been a long time since any significant information had been received from them.

Chu had no idea what the battlefield looked like at that moment.

It was too distant.

The farthest Chu had ever been was only a few dozen light-years away, and he couldn't even imagine what a place thousands of light-years away would look like. The Orion Nebula, as the largest nebula structure within a few thousand light-years, what was happening inside the star systems where new stars were born?

"Perhaps I can take a trip there later."

However, more advanced technology was needed. The speed of the Olive Branch civilization's ships was still too slow, and more energy should be used to accelerate the ships to 90% of the speed of light.

But even then, the journey would still take thousands of years.

"The universe is too vast."

This was a sentiment shared by every civilization when faced with the universe.

They could already destroy stars, and they could already create giant structures like the Star City, but in the face of the universe, they were still as insignificant as a grain of sand.

As Chu was lost in thought, a message arrived from the direction of the Silk civilization.

This message made it impossible for Chu to remain calm.

"We have defeated the Silk civilization and are returning..."

As soon as Chu saw the message, he exclaimed, "Impossible!"

How long had it been since they left?

It had only been a few thousand years. The fleet sent was powerful, but how could it have defeated the Silk civilization when it hadn't even completed the journey?

This was a huge joke.

"This message came from within the Orion Nebula," reported the Shared Consciousness Cluster.

"Do they think they can deceive us with such a stupid trick?"

Chu found it somewhat amusing.

But the Shared Consciousness Cluster reported another piece of information.

"The First Fleet is not at its planned location, and the message they sent back matches the information we actually observed."

"We also received a message from the First Fleet about their return, and based on the judgment of the First Fleet, they have already started to turn back. We have observed the light signal of their return."

Chu couldn't believe it.

"Is there a problem with my time?"

"How long has it been now?"

"187,379 years, Manager."

It had been one era, where one era was equivalent to one year, as defined by the first leader of the Olive Branch civilization. At that time, the Olive Branch civilization had already reached a 1.4-level civilization.

Even Chu didn't know how long the Olive Branch civilization had existed since its birth; it might have been 210,000 years, or even longer. (1 era = 0.72 years)

The time was right; it had only been 5,031 years since the First Fleet left, which was far less than the expected 11,400 years for the First Fleet to reach the Orion Nebula.

They were still halfway there, or so they thought, but they hadn't even reached the true halfway point.

And now, to receive a message that they had defeated the Silk civilization was simply laughable.

"Am I going crazy, or did you guys make a mistake?"

Chu wanted to know what had happened at the front.

But it would take at least a thousand years to receive a message.

"Damn the distance!"

Chu felt himself becoming irritable, which was unusual for him.

Recently, things hadn't been going his way, and he really wished he was a physical life form so he could sleep and start a new day to numb himself.

"I'll go to the core to verify the information."

...

The core of the Star City.

Chu never thought he would come here so frequently.

The last time he was here was probably a few dozen days ago.

"You're still awake. You must be waiting for news of your real self's escape."

Yan Xia was indeed awake, waiting for that news. But after hearing those words, he knew he didn't need to wait anymore.

"You found out, so he must be in grave danger. The plan must have been perfect, at least you couldn't have discovered it at the first moment."

The plan was indeed good and utilized highly advanced technology.

But Yan Xia had shown too many flaws from the beginning, even daring to face Chu directly. That strong feeling made it hard for Chu to not be suspicious.

Chu had simulated Yan Xia's escape in his mind numerous times and found that it was the best way for Yan Xia, with no other options available.

After all, the Federal civilization's strength was too limited, and the distance to that faraway place was too great.

"A message came from the front. Our fleet has defeated the Silk civilization in the Orion Nebula," Chu said.

Yan Xia laughed upon hearing this.

"I didn't expect you to make jokes. How many years has it been?"

"Your fleet probably hasn't even seen a Silk civilization warship. How could they have defeated them?"

"You should know that the Silk civilization is a 2.2-level civilization, and with the Holy Grail project, our civilization level may be close to 2.3."

"The gap between us and them is not 100 times, it may only be 50, 30, or even less."

Chu also thought about the Holy Grail project. He had been speechless for an entire day.

Yan Xia was getting impatient, "If you're not here anymore, I'm going to sleep."

Chu snapped out of it after two minutes.

"If the Silk civilization has indeed used some advanced technology, is there a chance they could counterattack me?"

Chu had been thinking about this.

Lower-level civilizations cannot guess the tricks of higher-level civilizations, just as Yan Xia couldn't imagine the gravity weapon of the Olive Branch civilization.

So, the Olive Branch civilization also couldn't guess the tricks of even higher-level civilizations. For example, Chu's civilization was in the dark about quantum communication, even though they all yearned for superluminal communication. But what was the principle of quantum communication? The Shared Consciousness Cluster was currently focusing on conquering this technology.

The technology obtained by the Silk civilization must also be an "unimaginable technology."

Chu wondered if the information he had received meant that the First Fleet had won, or perhaps the opposite—that the Silk civilization had destroyed the First Fleet using this "unimaginable technology" and was simulating the First Fleet's return. This First Fleet might be carrying the "unimaginable technology."

Yan Xia replied, "I don't know."

Chu just nodded and left.

If even Chu couldn't figure it out, how could a clone from a 2.1-level civilization possibly understand it?

This wasn't a matter of strategy, but of technology.

Chu felt threatened!

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