The Harvest

Upon hearing his old friend's question, Lute fell into thought. As time passed, his face gradually contorted, as if he were struggling with a myriad of emotions.

Yes, what should we do now?

He was somewhat annoyed with his old friend for asking him such a question.

Lute has always been a smart and rational person, but when faced with death, he's no different from an ordinary person. Looking at his old friend's contorted face, Regi found it somewhat amusing, and his gloomy mood calmed down considerably.

"Lute, since the other party possesses intelligence, do you think there's a possibility of communication?"

These words struck like a thunderbolt, leaving Lute feeling numb all over. He suddenly realized what was happening. Because of the image the other person had cultivated, although he spoke of intelligent beings, he still categorized them in his mind as mindless beasts.

However, since the other party possesses intelligence, there must be a possibility of communication.

"What are your plans?" Lute suddenly asked.

"Demonstrate our value and buy time. Remember what I said last time? The aid might arrive sooner than we expect. If we can buy some time, we might actually be able to wait for rescue."

Is there anything I can't say?

"It's not that I can't say, but I'm not entirely sure myself. Do you remember when we arrived in the T85 Star System, we detected an energy burst and then sent a message back to our Mother Planet?"

Seeing Lute nod, Regi continued, "A few years ago, we received a reply from our Mother Planet that mentioned the issue of technological progress. Apparently, due to some external forces, we achieved some breakthroughs, but it was vague."

Lute understood that intergalactic communication couldn't possibly cover every detail; anything that could be mentioned was already quite important.

"What are we doing now? Waiting here? Judging from the fact that they're not damaging the ship, they probably want to capture us alive. Should we just surrender?"

"No, no, no, we can observe first. If the other side can't even break through these few doors, we'll have more leverage later."

As they were talking, the alien creatures that filled the ship's cabin were revealed in the surveillance footage. Behind their large heads, more than a dozen tentacles were swinging.

"It looks like some kind of mollusk."

"It's hard to imagine that they possess intelligence."

Suddenly, the soft-bodied creature in the cabin rushed out of the room, making room for it. Then, a larger soft-bodied creature crawled into the cabin.

What are they going to do?

"Have no idea."

Inside the ship's cabin, blue Electric Arc flashed.

"Boom!"

An irregular, large circular hole appeared in the hatch, and several soft-bodied creatures entered the cabin. They worked together to widen the hole, and then a large swarm of soft-bodied creatures rushed in.

On the bridge, not only Regi and Lute, but everyone else stared in astonishment with their mouths agape.

"Lute, you're an expert in this field. Do you really think they're living organisms?"

"I guess... I guess so. Even monsters that can launch Nuclear Bomb have appeared, so it's perfectly reasonable for some creatures that can launch Electromagnetic Cannon to appear as well, right?" This "right or wrong" question wasn't just seeking Regi's opinion, but also trying to convince himself, even though his mind was screaming, "No way!"

When developing technology, the Riken Race chose the energy direction, but they also had a complete theory about Electromagnetic Cannon, they just didn't develop it.

Therefore, Regi and Lute, as elites of the Riken Race, easily recognized the Electromagnetic Cannon. But it was precisely because they had read the relevant theories that they knew how incredible it was that such a thing could appear on a living organism.

"Looks like we need to make some preparations. Hopefully, they'll give us a dignified surrender ceremony." Regi shook his head and smiled wryly. "Celia, establish communications with all crew members."

"Captain, communications are established."

"My people, I never imagined that Riken Race first contact with extraterrestrial intelligent beings would end like this. To minimize casualties, I have decided to surrender. Please take care of yourselves, and remember the glory of our Riken Race. Never betray the interests of your tribe for the sake of survival!"

"Celia, unlock all hatches!"

Since the other side wants to capture them alive, there must be a place to hold them. And these aliens certainly cannot adapt to the local environment.

It's unlikely that the other side would be so thorough as to prepare a suitable ecological environment in advance as a detention location. Therefore, it's highly probable that they will be detained on this spaceship.

This place has an environment suitable for the survival of the Riken, so for the sake of making life easier in the future, he should open the hatch himself.

Having eliminated all the Riken Person's spies in the Proxima Star System, it's time to reap the rewards.

First, Rowan organized a team of 50,000 Intellect to reverse engineer the alien spaceship's technology. The Riken Race's technological level was not much ahead of the Swarm, but they did have their own unique advantages in certain aspects.

For example, if we can understand the principles behind their weapons and develop corresponding biological organs, then in addition to Electromagnetic Cannon, the Larval Form of the Swarm's Bio-ship could also be equipped with some conventional long-range attack methods, saving them from having to resort to melee combat.

Secondly, there's their observation technology. Because the Swarm initially neglected this area, the Riken Race Swarm far more advanced in it, and now they could use it to make up for their shortcomings.

Another point is their artificial intelligence system. Because its functions overlap somewhat with the previous Blade, the Swarm has almost no corresponding technical reserves in this area. Now is a good time for them to learn from it, which may improve the performance of Swarm units.

Finally, Riken's Light Sail technology. It's not particularly sophisticated, and the Swarm can easily replicate it given their current capabilities. The navigation capabilities it provides are negligible, but its material gave Rowan a new idea: perhaps they could develop a similar space Creep, increasing the area for absorbing space radiation. If they further modify the energy transmission system, they might be able to accelerate the growth rate of the Swarm's space units.

As for the Riken Race's other technologies, such as protective suits and communication systems, the Swarm's technology level is far ahead of theirs, so there's basically nothing they can learn from them. They can simply assign a few Intellect to organize them.

With the arrangements for the spaceship sorted out, all that's left is to prepare the feast.

There's a little cutie waiting for the Swarm on Big Origin Star. Once they obtain its genes, the Swarm might be able to directly master technologies such as Controlled Fusion of organisms.

Furthermore, Godzilla seems to possess other hidden abilities, such as the magnetic propulsion that drives it to swim. Although the Swarm already has a related technological system, there may be areas where they can learn from each other.

Furthermore, its weight-reduction system is also noteworthy. Without the relevant capabilities, it would be difficult to support tens of thousands of tons of weight. Whether it is direct physical support or magnetic field weight reduction, there are certainly aspects that can be learned from it.