Chapter 245: Chapter 245 - 240: Intelligence Delivered to the Door

“Indeed!”

More people came to the same realization.

“Then we can’t just observe the nearby star domains anymore; we need to guard against the sudden arrival of indigenous civilizations.”

“We still need to take the initiative to strike, trying to make contact with the natives of this universe, at the very least to grasp some intelligence on spiritual energy or high-dimensional space.”@@novelbin@@

“I agree, in this situation, research in isolation is too inefficient.”

“We still have to be cautious.”

“…”

This is the significance of studying Extraordinary Power; just a few key characteristics directly outline some information about the native civilizations of this world.

Shen Hao saw it very clearly; the councilors present were all extremely cautious, with a palpable sense of tension in their mood.

In any Trial, the most taxing part is actually the beginning.

Unknowns are the greatest fear.

They didn’t know who the enemy was, where they were, and were ignorant about this vast, mysterious starry sky.

Any intelligence, any information, was exceedingly precious.

This was also the purpose of this meeting, to make the high-level leaders of Human Civilization aware of some information.

The discussion on spiritual energy came to a temporary close, and the next agenda continued. It was an internal report. After eight days, the tense atmosphere in society had eased somewhat. Although it was still at emergency combat readiness, some industries had gradually returned to their previous state.

Afterwards, the situations of two Affiliated Civilizations were reported.

Though the subjects of these Affiliated Civilizations also had personal terminals and were connected to the network of Human Civilization, the network information they could access was extremely rudimentary to prevent the Intelligence Cage’s inmates from being too shocked by the wealth of Human Civilization’s network information.

It served more as a tool for communication, with only a few people authorized to access information through the network.

As a result, the interiors of these two civilizations had been very stable.

Sometimes ignorance can reduce awe.

The meeting lasted almost a whole day.

The meeting decided many matters and shared a lot of information. The top-secret documents everyone ended up with were very thick, but some key issues were still undecided.

For instance, sending someone to the observed area where Life Planets congregated for reconnaissance.

Shen Hao actually had this idea.

But he considered that there were only seven days left for the activation of the cheat codes.

Once the cheats were activated, barring any accidents, there should be related cheat codes for the database, which would help him quickly understand this Trial, this universe.

Given that, waiting a while to make a decision shouldn’t hurt.

Moreover, the rank information on the Civilization Leaderboard was also quite odd.

It clearly listed nine civilizations, but including Human Civilization, the performance values of all civilizations were progressing slowly.

Although not zero, it was clear that the current performance values were all coming from the normal development of the civilizations.

After all, as long as a civilization becomes stronger, it’s only natural to perform better in the Trials and to gain performance values was not strange at all.

In such a case, Human Civilization ranked fifth.

However, the performance values of each civilization were not much different, even the first place was only one-fifth more than the performance value of Human Civilization.

This seemed to indicate that nothing had happened to any of the civilizations in the past eight days.

Moreover, and most importantly—there was no settlement cycle.

Yes, the rankings were out, but unlike the last time, there was no indication of the length of the settlement cycle.

So it was completely unknown when this ranking would settle or even if there were any settlement rewards.

“The rules of the Civilization Trial are obviously changing,” Shen Hao pondered. “From the version numbers, it’s indeed difficult to judge the ranking situation.”

In short, he still had to wait for the refresh of the cheats to see.

However, just as Shen Hao was waiting and thinking that he would peacefully get through the remaining seven days, an accident still happened.

On the fourth day, a Space Outpost observed a Fleet suddenly jumping into existence about three “light-days” away!

That’s right, a Fleet!

This distance far exceeded that from the Human Mother Planet to the Great Yan Civilization, but in the scale of the entire starry sky, it was akin to them jumping directly near the Human Mother Planet!

It was obvious that this Fleet was headed straight for the Human Mother Planet!

Moreover, judging by the speed of light, they must have jumped here at least three days prior and were rapidly approaching the Human Mother Planet with astonishing speed.

Yet, even so, the Space Outpost that observed the Fleet did not panic too much, nor did the council members who learned of this urgent news.

In fact, they were quite excited.

Because, this Fleet was in too poor of a condition.

To call it a “Fleet” was to overestimate them.

“Based on our current observations, this fleet consists of seventy-three ships of various sizes and designs, with the largest measuring about three kilometers in diameter and the smallest just twenty meters long. They do not appear to be an established fleet but rather something hastily assembled. Moreover, some of the ships have obvious damage, it’s unclear whether they lacked the time to repair or were recently attacked,” Dong Gong briefly reported the situation to Shen Hao.

Of course, Shen Hao had already been keeping an eye on the fleet the moment the observers began their surveillance.

“They are indeed heading our way, but it’s uncertain if they are enemies,” said Shen Hao, “I will send Feng Ping to investigate.”

“Yes,” replied Dong Gong, feeling somewhat relieved now.

Feng Ping had now become a direct subordinate of Shen Hao.

His Illusion Body ability was actually not all that important. What mattered was that he could infiltrate with Shen Hao’s will!

Just for that reason alone, this ragtag “fleet” posed virtually no threat.

In fact, it might even bring substantial benefits — Human Civilization was just fretting over the lack of opportunities to understand this world!

This was also why many people were excited; it seemed like intelligence was coming to them on a silver platter.

They held genuine anticipation for the people and objects aboard this “fleet”.

And at this very moment, the people on the fleet had no idea where they were heading.

The person in charge of the fleet was a male life form whose name was pronounced “Gong.”

He had a furry body, a robust physique and, despite wearing thick and tough clothing, he looked more like a gigantic beast. One of his arms was replaced by a rather complex mechanical structure, adding an even more ferocious appearance to his already fierce demeanor.

However, at this time, Gong’s bear-like face was filled with worry.

“That’s really a new Constant Star System! It even has nine planets on the same orbit. Damn it, it’s probably been sucked here by a ‘Dimension Vortex’!” Gong cursed over the communications channel. “Everyone, be cautious; we are now a trading group! Stow all weapons for now!”

“Yes, Boss!”

“What Boss? Call me Chairman.”

“Yes, Chairman!”

“Chairman, this star system seems a bit strange,” suddenly a voice came in a private chat, Gong’s capable assistant named Ao Ran.

“Indeed, I’ve noticed,” Gong said, his gaze fixated on the projection of the nine planets, his expression grave. “Different sizes, yet they are placed on the same orbit; that kind of same-track artificial planet technology only a few great forces possess. No idea where this star system came from, just hope it’s not the Life Empire.”

“I’ve already tightened surveillance on the Dimension Space. If any trace of Dimensional Creatures is found, I will immediately sound the alarm,” Ao Ran responded anxiously.

Everyone in the universe knew that the Life Empire had now fallen apart, and the Dimensional Creatures they modified and bred were wreaking havoc everywhere in the universe.

One or two weren’t much of a concern.

But an entire planet’s worth would be catastrophic.

“If there’s danger, immediately activate the emergency Jump Engine,” Gong ordered again. “Stay sharp, the little money we’ve earned isn’t worth risking our lives.”

“Yes, Boss!”

A series of voices transmitted over the communications.

Gong had confidence in his crew. Nowadays, any trading group capable of freighting goods around could not be taken lightly.

They all had some kind of ace up their sleeve.

Their ace was the speed at which they could run away!

Gong stared intently at the planets ahead, especially the largest one. Just by looking at it, his spiritual sense started to tingle with pain.

Damn it, having finally found a relatively peaceful Kingdom, he hoped nothing would go wrong!

As these thoughts raced through Gong’s mind, his pupils suddenly dilated.

He saw a streak of light, one that seemed to pierce through the entire universe, passing directly through their fleet!

“Damn! What is that!”

“Report! Dimension Space fluctuation observed!”

“I see it, but I’m asking what that is!” Gong stepped down from his chair, the foreboding feeling in his heart reaching a peak!

Even without looking at the observation results, he could sense that it was no natural phenomenon!

In the vastness of the universe, the likelihood of a natural phenomenon directly hitting a fleet was far lower than normal circumstances!

“Everyone input the key!” Gong immediately ordered.

Inputting the key was the fastest way to determine if everything was normal with the fleet.

Unless their minds were controlled, if anything was amiss, they would either not input anything or they would input a warning key.

Yet, moments later, all was normal.

“No, something definitely happened!” Gong took a deep breath, his gaze fixated on the scorching star, his expression extremely solemn.

He even regretted taking on this hiring mission.

But it was too late for regrets now.

If that beam of light had indeed done something to their fleet, even if they turned and fled now, they might not be able to escape.

In this universe, any kind of strange and bizarre event could occur!