Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 564: Rebirth

“Mm? There is a black hole two light months ahead? Mass… roughly forty times the Sun’s mass. That counts as a medium black hole. Medium black holes are rare. In this universe, Sun-level black holes and those with a million or even a hundred million times the Sun’s mass are common, but black holes of several dozen to several hundred solar masses, this is my first time seeing one. I should go take a look.”

While in curvature flight, Xiao Yu discovered this object through the unceasing tachyon detection module, and at the same time noticed something odd.

“The orbital path of this black hole is extremely unstable. Mm, it should have been affected by that pair-instability supernova explosion. Hm? There are also ships? Quite a few… excluding the shattered ones that are clearly damaged, there are still roughly one million ships. Which unlucky civilization encountered a black hole?”

Xiao Yu sighed inwardly. Because he saw that among those one million ships, at least eight hundred thousand had been captured by the black hole’s gravity. With Xiao Yu’s technological level, he easily calculated that in about three days those ships would be damaged by the black hole’s tidal forces.

“Let us go take a look. Perhaps from this fleet I can obtain information related to where those Level 5 Civilizations went.” Xiao Yu abandoned the decision to detour around this black hole and continued onward.

Xiao Yu continued observing those ships, and moments later he discovered something else.

“These ships look somewhat familiar. This construction style. Why is it so similar to the Pegasus Civilization? Perhaps this is the Pegasus Civilization’s refugee fleet. But the Galloping Pegasus spaceship is not here. Could it have already been destroyed by the black hole?” Xiao Yu thought to himself. “The Pegasus Civilization’s understanding of other Level 5 Civilizations is not something I can match. From them, I should be able to get some relevant information.”

A strong interest arose in Xiao Yu’s heart. This Pegasus Civilization fleet was obviously a group of refugees and had suffered severe damage. Even if they had not been damaged, a mere one million warships would still be no match for Xiao Yu now. One should know that after yet another great leap in technology, Xiao Yu’s strength was no longer what it once had been.

Toward these ships, Xiao Yu bore no malice. After obtaining the complete technology of the Pegasus Civilization, that civilization had no value left for Xiao Yu. Things without value he naturally would not bother with. In fact, if these ships encountered some disaster, within a certain limit Xiao Yu did not mind extending a helping hand. Once interests were stripped away, it did not matter to act on sentiment occasionally and help the weak.

Utterly rational when facing conflicts of interest, never yielding an inch, not even frowning at destroying hundreds of billions of lives. When there was no entanglement of interest, occasionally showing kindness and helping the weak. That was Xiao Yu.

Meanwhile, within the Pegasus Civilization’s refugee fleet, a new wave of panic was brewing. The effects of the pair-instability supernova had not yet passed, when they encountered this black hole. Before they had fully escaped the black hole’s sphere of influence, they saw their former enemy rapidly approaching.

“Is there truly no good news at all?” The leader groaned inwardly, though his expression did not change.

“Order all fleets to accelerate immediately and flee at full speed toward that nearby stellar system. It is too open here. It is not suitable for us to hide. We must immediately hide within that stellar system.” The leader gave his order swiftly.

Yet even he harbored doubts about this order. If open space was unfavorable for hiding, would a stellar system be favorable? Under the opponent’s all-around search, it would be useless no matter where they hid. If the opponent wanted to find them, they certainly could.

Most important of all, the opponent’s fleet was traveling in a straight line, coming directly toward where they were. This meant that the opponent’s target was likely themselves. Under such circumstances, what use was hiding?

But whether or not it was useful, the leader still had to do it.

Thus these two hundred thousand surviving Pegasus Civilization refugee ships began to flee in panic toward a nearby stellar system. In their original location, many ship wrecks still drifted about. The more than eight hundred thousand ships captured by the black hole’s gravity still spun helplessly. Even along the route of flight, wreckage continued to fall, forming a very conspicuous belt of material in space. Under such circumstances, Xiao Yu did not even need to rely on other detection instruments. With optical equipment alone, he could follow this belt of material and find all the Pegasus Civilization refugee ships that had hidden themselves.

For the Pegasus Civilization, this was the worst situation. The situation could not be worse. Destruction was right before their eyes.

“Perhaps after today the name of the Pegasus Civilization will become history, vanish into the dust of history, never to be found. Elder, I am sorry. I have failed to fulfill your expectations, failed the heavy responsibility you entrusted to me. Under my leadership, the Pegasus Civilization has not been reborn, but has met complete annihilation. I am sorry, I am sorry.”

The leader’s expression was stern, his face without the slightest ripple, yet his heart churned like stormy seas.

At this time, all were silent. Not a single person spoke. The previous blow had not yet been fully accepted when a newer and even more serious disaster arrived. They had confronted the Divine Ark Civilization for nearly a century and destroyed nearly half of the Divine Ark Civilization’s armed forces. What an immense hatred this was. No one believed the Divine Ark Civilization would spare them.

“Where exactly is hope?” the leader thought feebly.

This news had already spread, immediately causing panic among the populace. Despair was spreading. Under blow after blow, the populace had become completely numb. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Time ticked by. In the distance, the vast fleet belonging to the Divine Ark Civilization finally arrived. The leader watched as they dropped out of curvature flight and then slowly approached the belt of wreckage left by his fleet.

The leader saw the densely packed, innumerable warship clusters, saw that colossal planet, and saw at least ten Continent-Class ships.

“Such power. Even in the heyday of our civilization, we could not have resisted them for more than one year. Forty-seven times the speed of light, a planetary war star, heavens… is this truly power a Level 5 Civilization can possess?”

“They should be analyzing within the belt of wreckage now. They will soon find us. Mm… they have already discovered those ships captured by the black hole’s gravity. They have discovered us…”

In the universe, there was no luck and no accidents. The leader’s last sliver of hope shattered. Since the Divine Ark Civilization had found them, then only destruction remained.

The leader watched the Divine Ark Civilization’s ships slowly approach the black hole, slowly approach those captured ships. Through the communications channel, the leader saw very clearly the people inside those ships scattering and fleeing, crying loudly.

“Do not cry. Do not grieve. Even if our Pegasus Civilization dies, we must die with dignity. Do not worry. Soon we will be the same as you. On the road to death, we are not alone…” the leader said quietly.

Those ships of the Divine Ark Civilization continued to approach. The Divine Ark Civilization’s ships, with their powerful maneuverability, forcibly resisted the black hole’s immense gravity at this distance and maintained their own stability. Then an astonishing scene appeared.

The leader was greatly shocked to see that at this moment the Divine Ark Civilization’s ships did not attack their ships. After the Divine Ark Civilization’s ships approached, large numbers of towing devices were released. Robots then fastened the towing devices onto these damaged ships, linking two ships together. Then the Divine Ark Civilization’s ships began to tow the ships behind and began to accelerate slowly. The acceleration could not be too fast, because if it were too fast, the damaged ships behind would be unable to withstand it and would be directly destroyed.

The Divine Ark Civilization’s ships did not tow these ships directly out of the black hole’s sphere of gravity. Because the black hole’s gravity was too powerful, direct towing away was impossible. It was like pushing a planet to break free of a star’s binding. One must let the planet accelerate continuously along its orbital path and only after reaching escape velocity can it leave. The logic was the same.

As they slowly accelerated, the tendency of their ships to fall into the black hole was halted. Their speeds grew faster and faster. Their speeds gradually approached escape velocity.

Beyond the black hole’s event horizon, the escape velocity of the black hole exceeds the speed of light, and no object can escape. But at present, these Pegasus Civilization ships were still outside the black hole’s event horizon. In other words, the escape velocity here was still below the speed of light. So long as it did not exceed the speed of light, there was a chance to save them.

Finally, under the towing of the Divine Ark Civilization’s ships, these ships reached escape velocity, successfully broke free of the black hole’s gravitational binding, and arrived in a nearby safe region of space.

That was only the first ship rescued. After that ship came the second, the third…

Watching his own ships escape danger and be reborn, the leader only felt a sourness in his heart, and tears flowed uncontrollably.