Chapter 968: Microcosm of the Exploration Era (Revised)

Chapter 968: A Microcosm of the Exploration Era (Revised)

The Empire's method of exploration advanced step by step, expanding steadily. Now, the exploration fleet had just entered two star clusters, beginning their survey from the border star systems.

In the border star system of the Guangchen Star Cluster, a small exploration fleet warped to a lush, verdant planet. The outer armor of the warship bore the emblem of a vassal star-level civilization of the Empire, tasked with exploring this nearby region, and this planet was their target.

"Warp complete, destination reached, cooling down the warp engine."

"Planetary environment probes deployed, currently detecting the planet's environment and resource distribution."

"Life monitoring devices activated, scanning the target planet for signs of life."

In the main control room of the command ship, numerous crew members were busily operating various equipment, while the captain paced back and forth in the room, awaiting the detection results.

Swish—

At this moment, the door opened, and a man clad in heavy mechanical battle armor walked in, his stride revealing the posture of a soldier.

The captain turned his head to glance at him and nodded in greeting, "Captain Kriber, what is it?"

"I'm just here to take a look." The man known as Kriber was expressionless, his tone somewhat impatient.

This man was one of the Calamity Grades of this vassal civilization, accompanying the exploration team to handle armed security.

But it was obvious that while exploring the Shining World, the chances of encountering an enemy worthy of his intervention were minuscule. Kriber's presence was more of an insurance policy; with nothing to do normally, he naturally resented this assignment, viewing it as a waste of his training time.

After waiting for a while, the monitoring results came in, displayed on the large virtual screen in the main control room.

"Report, Captain. Environmental parameters have been read. This is a habitable planet with relatively abundant resources. We have also detected signs of life, scanning seventy-three thousand species of organisms, including one intelligent species that has formed settlements on the surface. According to observations, their civilization level is still in the tribal era, intelligence level temporarily unknown, and the population is around one hundred and twenty thousand."

The virtual screen displayed the appearance of this intelligent species, looking like a bunch of small, upright, goblin-like creatures. Their white skin was covered with numerous wrinkles, looking loose and flabby, like a fat man who had undergone liposuction.

"There are intelligent lifeforms, that's quite good." The captain nodded. "Then let's make contact with them according to the exploration protocols."

The Empire's exploration protocols stipulated the procedures for contacting indigenous civilizations, adopting different policies depending on the situation. For indigenous peoples who appeared to pose no threat, the main approach was gentle education and enlightenment. Han Xiao had once contacted the Panguride Star during the first phase of exploration, adopting this very policy of enlightenment.

The fleet slowly descended into a forest on the planet, and the ground troops landed, beginning friendly contact with the indigenous tribes one by one. These intelligent indigenous beings were both startled and frightened, while also extremely curious about these suddenly appearing creatures.

With the help of universal translators, the exploration team successfully built a bridge of communication with the indigenous people. While learning about them, they explained their intentions, using various videos and images to explain the state of the explored universe and introduce the Crimson Dynasty, thereby letting the indigenous people understand the current situation.

The team's doctors also began conducting physical examinations on the curious indigenous people to prevent them from carrying unseen, novel pathogens—there were too many such examples—while also checking their physiological structures.

Everything seemed orderly. Kriber, bored out of his mind, strolled through the busy camp.

As he turned his head, he suddenly saw an indigenous person leave the quarantine line and sneak toward a hut of the indigenous tribe.

Kriber didn't think much of it at first and was about to look away, but in that very instant, an inexplicable sense of alertness rose in his mind.

His steps immediately halted. Most Calamity Grades possessed keen intuition, occasionally sensing certain threats in the ether. Basically, the more powerful the transcendent, the more they trusted their instincts.

"Something seems off..." Kriber frowned, turned, and followed the sneaking indigenous person, pushing open the door and walking straight into the hut.

The indigenous person was sitting with his back to the door in the corner, doing something unknown. Hearing the noise behind him, he seemed startled and abruptly turned his head to look.

"What are you doing?" The ominous premonition in Kriber's heart grew stronger.

The next moment, the indigenous person's expression suddenly became ferocious and twisted. He abruptly pulled out a bone dagger and fiercely thrust it toward his own neck.

Whoosh!

A gust of wild wind blew past. Kriber moved with incomparable swiftness, flashing in front of the other party in an instant. With a light flick of his finger, he knocked the bone dagger out of the indigenous person's hand, then grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

He didn't know what the indigenous person meant by this action, but stopping him was definitely the right choice.

However, before he could even question him, the indigenous person's body suddenly began to tremble violently. Foaming at the mouth and eyes bulging, he died on the spot.

"Poisoned himself?" Kriber was astonished.

Just then, cries of alarm suddenly rang out from outside. Kriber carried the corpse and ran out, only to find a commotion among the team's doctors. A large group of doctors was gathered around a medical examination device, and even more were crowding over, seemingly having discovered something.

Kriber flew directly over, and as soon as he landed, he looked at the head of the medical team.

"What are you doing?"

"Your Excellency, look at this genetic examination report!" A doctor said with a surprised expression. "We found a major defect in the genes of this intelligent lifeform, and this defect actually bears traces of artificial genetic modification, causing the brain capacity of this intelligent species to be suppressed by over eighty percent. Simply put, someone has castrated their intelligence!"

"You mean, this is a farmed species?" Kriber's heart skipped a beat.

Just then, a sudden mutation occurred!

Boom, boom, boom—

At this moment, everyone felt the ground beneath their feet suddenly tremble.

The next second, all the ships blared with piercing alarms!

"Alert! Alert! High-energy reaction detected, comparing with the event model database... Matching complete, [Primordial Psionic Eruption] match rate reaches 99.8%. Evacuate immediately! Evacuate immediately!"

"Primordial Psionic?!"

Including Kriber, everyone's expression changed drastically in an instant.

Kriber seemed to have suddenly thought of something. He fiercely punched and shattered the skull of the strange indigenous corpse in his hand, held the body upside down, and poured everything inside out. A minuscule mechanical device mixed with pulp fell out.

The moment he saw this mechanical device, Kriber's pupils contracted sharply, and he instantly understood.

This was a life signal sensing device. Simply put, when the user's life signal fluctuated or even ended, the connected device on the other end would activate or shut down—the Primordial Psionic Eruption was related to this life signal sensing device!

Boom!!

The planet instantly collapsed inward. Beams of dark blue energy fountains burst through the surface, shooting into the clouds.

Immediately after, the dark blue spread rapidly across the land, contaminating the entire planet.

Mountains, rivers, forests... land, oceans, skies, all existence was swallowed by the dark blue, transformed into a part of the primordial psionic energy!

Expansion, endless expansion!

All matter vanished within this hue of blue. In the process of mass-energy conversion, it released unparalleled, immense energy. The escape speed of this exploration fleet couldn't even keep up with the expansion speed of the primordial psionic energy, and they were all swallowed by this dark blue light.

Kriber rushed out of the spaceship, still trying to struggle and escape. However, the endless blue light engulfed his figure. In the face of this heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating wave of primordial psionic energy, a Calamity Grade was nothing more than an indistinguishable mass of matter.

And this same scene was playing out on more than one planet on the border of the Guangchen Star Cluster.

...

Beacon Star, Command Conference Room.

Not long after the last meeting, the remote projections of representatives from all factions participating in the exploration gathered once again.

This was an emergency temporary meeting. Han Xiao and a group of Beyond Grade A's were also urgently called to attend.

Looking at the casualty statistics on the virtual screen, the atmosphere in the room was heavy.

"As you all can see, our exploration fleet has encountered an accident in the Guangchen Star Cluster," Talrokov said in a deep, solemn tone. "Over six thousand warships have been destroyed, with a death toll exceeding seven million, including two Calamity Grades from the vassal civilizations."

Upon hearing this, many people immediately burst into an uproar.

"What situation did they encounter? Did they run into a very powerful indigenous civilization?"

"Are there such powerful indigenous people in the Guangchen Star Cluster?!"

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. He only knew that this indigenous civilization had caused trouble for the Empire, and didn't fully understand the detailed process of the war. After all, this happened during the version update. Players in his past life hadn't experienced it personally and could only learn about it from historical background materials.

Talrokov pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to be quiet, and said in a deep voice:

"The armed forces of these indigenous people are more powerful than you imagine... They have mastered psionic technology. These lost teams were all wiped out when they encountered a Primordial Psionic Eruption while exploring planets. We have reason to believe this is a trap set by that unknown indigenous civilization."

As soon as these words were spoken, most of the representatives present held their breath, their expressions turning astonished.

They could accept indigenous civilizations possessing formidable military might, for with the Empire's warship technology, subjugating such natives was no difficult feat; no matter how strong conventional forces might be, they could pose little threat to their expeditionary fleets.

But an indigenous civilization that had mastered primordial psionic energy—that carried an entirely different significance!

Within the explored universe under the jurisdiction of the three great civilizations, primordial psionic energy was an absolutely forbidden weapon, its destructive power terrifying and its lingering contamination even more severe; it possessed absolute deterrent force.

And yet, these natives had actually mastered primordial psionic technology?

How on earth had they climbed their technological tree?

Could they possibly possess some other unfathomable dark technology unknown to us?!

In the hearts of most representatives present, a profound sense of dread took root.

The feeling when facing such an indigenous civilization was entirely different. In interstellar society, even if you lacked a certain technology, you knew it existed, but when confronting a powerful, unprecedented native civilization, who knew what inconceivable dark technology they might suddenly produce from nowhere?

Many civilizations present had experienced the Exploration Era wars, and now it felt like a dreamlike return to those days—no one knew what terrifying hidden cards other civilizations held, such as the High-Dimensional Apocalypse Transmitter of the Radiant Federation, the Myriad Gods Scepter of the Virtual Spirit Sect, the Mutation Missiles of the Evolver Civilization, and so on.

These indigenous civilizations were naturally unbound by the rules of interstellar society and cared nothing about recklessly deploying primordial psionic energy, which was exceedingly dangerous; like children playing with loaded pistols, everyone present had a premonition... the casualties this time would be far from small.

"What are the Empire's plans, then?" someone could not help but ask.

Talrokov said coldly, "The current situation indicates that this indigenous civilization is not friendly toward us and poses a severe threat. According to the Exploration Code - Indigenous Civilization Contact Regulations, we will implement the twenty-fourth contingency plan."

Upon hearing this, many present felt a chill run down their spines.

This was the final contingency plan, and compared to the others, its contents were brutally simple—deal with the target through warfare, until they were either exterminated or enslaved.

The hegemonic civilizations that had emerged from the Exploration Era wars were never saints or pious folk.

The Shining World was a microcosm of the Exploration Era wars, with the difference that the three great civilizations had already become hegemons, possessing the confidence to adopt moderate measures, while the weak found it easier to preserve themselves.

The stronger the natives, the harsher the attitude of the three great civilizations.

And natives who had mastered psionic technology had become an obvious threat; the Crimson Dynasty would not mind nipping it in the bud, eliminating one more annoying hostile cluster-level civilization, which would also be beneficial to interstellar society as a whole.

Sweeping a cold gaze across the assembly, Talrokov said:

"We know almost nothing about them—we do not know their location, nor what species they are, yet they have launched precise attacks against us, indicating they hold a certain amount of intelligence, and prior to this, we had no contact with this civilization... thus, we can deduce someone is pulling strings in the shadows, and those smugglers bear the greatest suspicion."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the civilization representatives present varied, yet all their minds converged on the same thought.

This was not hard to guess; a single civilization could not cover every branch of its technological tree, whereas the brilliance of interstellar society lay in the mutual circulation of technology; it was precisely the smugglers who packaged a multitude of advanced technologies from interstellar society and handed them to the indigenous civilizations, including psionic technology.

Those super-cluster-level civilizations also had sufficient motives: first, to inflict casualties on the Empire's armed forces; second, to delay the progress of exploration; and third, to borrow a knife to kill, indirectly eliminating powerful indigenous civilizations to free up more space in the Shining World.

Of course, they did not just hand out technology to anyone; only advanced indigenous civilizations with sufficient productive capacity would be targeted, for otherwise, giving them technology would be useless.

"I announce that the exploration plan for the Light Dust Cluster is temporarily suspended, and the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet officially enters a state of war," Talrokov declared, his tone solemn and heavy.

The expressions of the crowd turned grim as they nodded in agreement.

Before resolving the opponent, there would be no more leisurely exploration; the Empire possessed rich experience in warfare and countless cases to refer to, which was a distinct advantage.

The opponent, meanwhile, temporarily held an advantage in intelligence, but this advantage would not last long; with the trap of the primordial psionic eruption serving as an event anchor, the Empire's prophetic ability corps could be put to use, and the mechanics were not to be underestimated either.

As the Empire mobilized its armies, the Black Star Legion also had to respond to the call, but Han Xiao did not intend to intervene personally; he would mainly have Nilo and a group of subordinates participate, while he dispatched mechanical troops to provide covert protection.

He knew that the Kunde race had no super-powered system, their individual combat strength limited to various armored warriors, and their greatest threat was strategic-level psionic bombardment; as long as they were careful to avoid such battlefields, casualties could be minimized.

"My advantage in being familiar with the map might actually be of some help," Han Xiao mused to himself.

...

At the same time, deep within the Light Dust Cluster.

Ships carrying countless civilians vanished into the depths of the starry sky; watching this scene, every Kunde soldier left behind felt a strange, indescribable emotion flowing through their hearts.

"Report, the wanderer fleets from every colonial star have departed, all loaded with the local civilians and equipped with every biological and crop seed we have discovered, setting out to find a new home."

Listening to his subordinate's report, the Kunde leader nodded silently, while the other high-ranking officials remained mute.

The crashed ship had not deceived them; they had secretly arranged for some enslaved vassal races to make contact with the other party, and the other party was indeed called the Crimson Dynasty, just as powerful as the data had shown.

Although the other party appeared friendly, which differed somewhat from the data, in the eyes of the Kunde, hidden beneath that friendliness were still the intentions of colonization and control.

The future was predictable, and this was something the Kunde could not accept—originally, this entire cluster would have been their resource for development, the stepping stone for their evolution, but now the Crimson Dynasty had arrived, wanting to seize these resources; just as the data had said, their path forward would be blocked, and they would never be able to develop normally again.

In this regard, the super-cluster-level civilizations were not entirely lying, and they had deeply experienced this—telling the truth is the most masterful form of deception.

The Kunde were unwilling to become vassals, and with the universe so vast, they still had a way out.

Anticipating defeat before victory, while deciding on armed resistance, the Kunde made preparations for the worst, packing off the vast majority of civilians to the depths of the starry sky to preserve the spark of their civilization—win or lose, staying here offered no chance for normal development, so it was better to send their people to find an undisturbed new home.

And those left behind to defend the old home were only the assembled armies of the Kunde, fully prepared to burn their boats and sink their cauldrons.

Just as the theory of the cosmic relations scholars stated, war has always been the inevitable path to peace.