Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 600: Conversation
The war that had lasted for several centuries finally came completely to an end. Xiao Yu had already completed the initial aftermath work. At this time, he finally had the energy to talk with his Specter companion and ask what it had encountered over all this time, what thrilling, strange, or heroic stories there had been.
“In truth, the events of these years are rather unremarkable.” the Specter companion replied. “All these years I have been fleeing, and there have always been those hunting me. In the cycle of chase and escape, I kept devouring the intelligent beings of the civilizations pursuing me, gradually increasing my own strength, and ultimately reaching my current level. During this period, I exterminated at least two Level 5 Civilizations and sixteen Level 4 Civilizations. As for the small fry at Level 2 and Level 3, if I saw them I wiped them out with a flick of the hand.”
The Specter companion’s tone was calm, as if narrating a trivial matter. Yet the aura of slaughter revealed in those calm words made even Xiao Yu feel a bit shocked.
“Hunting you? Why?” Xiao Yu asked in some puzzlement. “Also, which civilization was hunting you? Give me their coordinate positions. When we reach the level of a Level 6 Civilization, we will go and wipe them out.”
“Xiao Yu, have you ignored one thing?” The Specter companion said with some helplessness. “In the eyes of the powerful existences such as the Taihao Alliance, the Sweepers, and the Guardians, I cannot threaten them, and they cannot be bothered to pay attention to me. They might even use me if there is an opportunity. But in the eyes of those Level 5 or Level 4 Civilizations, the Specter Race is the enemy of all. Do they need a reason to hunt me? As for revenge, that is unnecessary. After I grew strong, I already exterminated all enemies I could handle. Otherwise, how would I have reached the level of a Level 3 peak Specter?”
The Specter companion spoke lightly, but Xiao Yu knew that behind this lightness there must be many soul-stirring stories hidden. Countless trillions upon trillions of intelligent beings, millions and tens of millions of warships, were destroyed over that long span of time in the confrontation with the Specter companion. Xiao Yu knew this must have been a remarkable journey. Yet everything was glossed over by a single, bland remark.
It was like his own experience. He had endured innumerable hardships and perils, with nine lives nearly lost. Yet if others asked about his experiences, he would also answer with a simple response ‘I simply kept developing amid crises.’
In the Specter companion’s words there was also a very critical term hidden, the Taihao Alliance. Xiao Yu very keenly noticed this term, so he immediately asked, “The Taihao Alliance? I do know of the Taihao Civilization. Could it be that this alliance is an alliance formed by Taihao Civilizations?”
“Yes,” the Specter companion replied. “The three Taihao Civilizations in our Milky Way formed an alliance, namely Technology Taihao, Alien Beast Taihao, and Specter Taihao. Right, there is one thing you may not know. That aged Specter we encountered that time was actually Specter Taihao in disguise. The purpose was to teach you some things and let you grow quickly.”
Xiao Yu fell into silent thought. He had very complicated feelings toward this thing called the Taihao Civilization. After all, the emergence of humanity may have other hidden causes, but the Taihao Civilization undoubtedly exerted a very great influence in the process, bringing certain benefits to humanity, to himself, and to his Specter companion. Moreover, after he left Earth, even though he constantly encountered danger, he always managed to pull through and usher in periods of rapid development one after another. Behind all of this, there were shadows of the Taihao Civilization.
“An alliance formed by three Taihao Civilizations. That must be a colossal force.” Xiao Yu thought silently. “The strength of the Taihao Alliance already surpasses that of the Guardians Civilization. Whether it is a match for the Sweepers Civilization is unclear, but it should not be much weaker. It is already a powerful existence that can influence the overall situation of the entire Milky Way.”
“Specter, to what extent do you understand the Taihao Alliance?” Xiao Yu asked.
“Not much, but I do know a little.” the Specter companion said, and at this point gave a cold laugh. “I know your complicated feelings toward the Taihao Civilization, but you do not need to be that way. You must understand that the Taihao Civilization and the Taihao Alliance helped us only for their own interests. After you grew to your current stage, the Taihao Civilization had already completed its task. I dare guarantee that in the future, if you do not pay the corresponding price, the Taihao Civilization will absolutely not help you again. There is one thing you do not yet know. When you had just ended your war with the Pegasus Civilization, the Arboreal Race Alien Beast, one of the three great Alien Beasts of the Milky Way, had intended to deal with you, but I managed to resolve it. In that matter, I suspect the power of the Taihao Alliance was pushing from the shadows behind the scenes. It is even very possible that the matter itself was stirred up by the Taihao Alliance.”
“The Arboreal Race Alien Beast?” Xiao Yu’s heart tightened. He remembered the fleeing Pegasus Civilization he had encountered and the events the new leader had told him.
At that time, Xiao Yu had speculated that the mysterious existence following behind the Arboreal Race Alien Beast, as mentioned by the new leader of the Pegasus Civilization, might be his own Specter companion. Now this was finally confirmed. From the Specter companion, Xiao Yu once again corroborated the matter from another angle.
“That incident was truly dangerous.” the Specter companion sighed. “We were lucky that time and used the Pegasus Civilization’s capital planet to carry out a direct impact to drive the Arboreal Race Alien Beast away. But I also paid a heavy price. I burned my life force to barely restrain the Arboreal Race Alien Beast for three hours. For that I suffered very serious injury, and only after devouring so many intelligent beings of the Level 5 Civilization Alliance here did I recover.”
The Specter companion described the detailed course of events, including how it went to seek help from the Taihao Alliance and was coldly refused, how it deceived the Arboreal Race Alien Beast, used the Pegasus Civilization, and ultimately dissolved a crisis into nothingness.
“You are a Technological Civilization and are good at analyzing such things, so why not analyze what role the Taihao Alliance played in this matter? Has the Taihao Alliance already abandoned us?” the Specter companion said.
Xiao Yu continued to think silently. After a while he sighed. “This is very strange, very strange indeed.”
“How is it strange?” the Specter companion asked.
“First, we know that you and I are probably chess pieces in some operation of the Taihao Alliance, and that this game was laid out at least several million years ago. Technology Taihao modified the genes of a certain ape on Earth, leading to the emergence of humanity. Then Earth exploded, giving birth to you and me. After that we were still subjected to a certain degree of manipulation by the Taihao Civilization, and we grew to our present stage. Then a simple question arises. After planning for several million years, why would the Taihao Alliance suddenly abandon us at this time? Anyone would know that we could not be a match for the Arboreal Race Alien Beast. If it truly caught up with us, we would definitely be completely annihilated.”
“Although we no longer much care whether the Taihao Alliance abandoned us, your claim that it already abandoned us does not fit logic in my view. Of course, we cannot deny that this is still possible, though the probability is not high.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
“Combining previous intelligence, we can reach two explanations. One, the Taihao Civilization really did abandon us, but I think this is unlikely. It makes no sense to abandon so casually a plan that has been plotted for several million years. Two, the Taihao Civilization did not abandon us. They declined to assist us for some purpose. Yet we absolutely are not a match for the Arboreal Race Alien Beast. In that case, were they certain that when we encountered danger, another existence would come to save us? Was their reason for refusing to aid us simply to draw out that existence?”
“If that is so, then I took an enormous risk to drive off the Arboreal Race Alien Beast for nothing.” the Specter companion said a bit sheepishly. “Had I known, I would not have taken such a risk. The brain of an Alien Beast may be a bit dull, but its strength is no joke. In a head-on clash, several of me added together would still not be its match.”
“It cannot be said to be for nothing. Whether my conjecture is correct or not, whether or not the Taihao Alliance hoped to draw out another existence by means of this incident, relying on ourselves is steadier than relying on others. The Taihao Alliance is not very reliable. We cannot pin our hopes on it.” Xiao Yu said.
Xiao Yu thought for a moment and still could not determine whether his conjecture was correct, so he continued to ask, “There are only a few existences qualified to oppose the Arboreal Race Alien Beast. Specter, tell me the movements of the other powerful existences you knew of at the time. When the Arboreal Race Alien Beast was about to attack us, what were those powerful existences doing?”
“Hmm.” The Specter companion thought for a moment and said, “At that time the Taihao Alliance sat tight. The Guardians Civilization seemed to be busy with a massive project and had no energy to handle other matters. The Crocodilian Alien Beast had had its reproductive organ destroyed by Alien Beast Taihao, so it was recuperating and had no capacity to act. The Python Alien Beast had always been very mysterious, so I do not know what it was doing. The Sweepers Civilization was then busy dealing with that spatial lifeform from the Andromeda Galaxy.”
