A Clue

Without Rowan's knowledge, a large group of high-ranking generals and strategists of the Riken Race had already come up with a reason in their minds for why the Swarm was attacking the Riken Race in this way.

Even the Zerg's previous leniency has been given plausible and convincing explanations.

If Rowan hadn't been one of the parties involved, he almost would have believed those claims.

Of course, this is from Rowan's perspective. From the perspective of the Riken Race, although there are some slight differences, the result is similar.

But Rowan is no longer very interested in the Riken Race's so-called "treasure." Now that he has Claire, he is no longer as eager for that Ancient Spaceship as before.

Anyway, Claire's level is extremely high, and she can obtain all the relevant data from the Riken Race's detection. Since the Riken Race are also a mechanical civilization, their detection methods are actually much more advanced than the Swarm's. Even if the Swarm obtain the Ancient Spaceship, they can't do any better than the Riken Race are doing now.

Since that's the case, it's better to leave it there and let the Riken Race help with the testing, which will save a lot of testing costs.

At the same time, we can wait and see if there is any conspiracy behind this.

Rowan's battle of wits with the air wasn't without results; he had made some discoveries.

The Riken Race analyzed Ancient Spaceship and obtained some gravitational-related technologies, which they then used to develop a radar technology that uses gravitational waves to detect stealth units.

Over the years, the Intellect hidden within the Riken Race have developed to a considerable number. Therefore, many things about the Riken Race are completely transparent to the Swarm. For example, the Swarm have already acquired these new technologies and theories.

After a period of digestion and understanding, the relevant theories have been absorbed by the Intellect, who have innovated and transformed them into biotechnology.

Perhaps it's because biotechnology performs better in the area of gravitational waves, or perhaps it's because there are many similar biological organs to reference, but the Swarm has done this technology better than the Riken Race.

Some new types of Overseer, equipped with relevant technologies, are hiding in the void.

These Overseer detected some unusual fluctuations near the battlefield on Laze Planet. During the intense firefights on the battlefield, the firing of various weapons required the gathering of enormous amounts of energy, resulting in countless chaotic energy fluctuations. If Rowan hadn't been alert beforehand, it would have been easy to overlook this information.

By retracing the scenes observed by the Overseer, Rowan discovered that some unidentified objects were hidden in the target area. These objects were small enough that the Riken Race's observation instruments could not detect them.

If the Swarm didn't have any informants within the Riken Race, Rowan might have guessed it was something like Riken Race secret weapon, but he knew the Riken Race's situation well and knew that the Riken Race hadn't deployed anything in that area.

These unidentified objects seemed unguarded against the Overseer disguised as meteorites, confirming Rowan's presence. This was interesting, indicating the presence of a third force not belonging to the Riken Race or the Swarm.

They might be from surrounding civilizations attracted by the nuclear explosion, or they might be the Chess Player Rowan had previously speculated about.

Rowan himself leaned towards the latter, because Godzilla had lived on Proxima Centauri for countless years, and would occasionally unleash a few breaths to release its emotions. If there were any civilizations in the vicinity of Proxima Star System that had ventured into space, such as the Riken Race, they would definitely go and investigate.

Rowan didn't know if it had happened before, but he knew that in the last hundred years or so, only the Rickon civilization had gone to investigate. And Godzilla's Thermonuclear Breath had a low yield, and the distance was too great. Even if it were detected, they could probably only know that it came from the Proxima Star System, and it would be difficult to distinguish whether it came from the star or from one of its planets.

Therefore, Rowan judged that there should only be two relatively high-level forces around the Proxima Star System: the Swarm and the Riken Race.

But the Nuclear Bomb dropped by the Riken Race in Proxima Star System were different. Hundreds of high-yield Nuclear Bomb exploded almost simultaneously, and the resulting energy fluctuations were far too noticeable. Civilizations at greater distances should have been able to detect them as well.

However, there is a problem: if the technology of the distant civilization is similar to that of the Riken Race, then even if they have already sent troops to investigate, they should still be on their way.

If their technology were more advanced, and their speed exceeded the speed of light or even faster, they should have already expanded to this area during their years of development. However, neither Rowan's own observations nor the records of the Riken Race contain any relevant information.

Unless they arrived long ago but didn't occupy the area, instead hiding in the shadows to observe silently, which fits the profile of Chess Player.

Moreover, these cloaked objects appeared on Laze Planet, the planet where the Riken Race second round of Nuclear Bomb, only ten years ago.

If they're coming from a distance, unless it's on their way, they probably won't have enough time to get here.

However, Rowan also had some doubts. The Swarm hadn't considered the issue of the Chess Player in the early stages, so many things weren't concealed. For example, they sent Overseer into space for surveillance. If the Chess Player really existed, there was no reason for them not to take precautions against them.

However, the cloaked units hidden near Laze Planet, whether out of confidence in their own technology or due to the chaos of the battlefield, did not evade the Overseer.

Is it because the camouflage technology of Overseer is now too good?

After much deliberation, Rowan could only guess that the other party might not know that the Swarm had also acquired the relevant technology, and therefore did not believe that the Swarm could observe them.

To be on the safe side, Rowan didn't want to alert them, so he pretended not to have noticed and proceeded with the original plan. He wanted to see what the other party was really up to.

However, it seems these secretive individuals aren't up to any good. Fortunately, they've revealed some clues, which has put Rowan at ease. Moreover, their detectability has significantly reduced their mystique.

After capturing Laze Planet, the Swarm did not rush to continue its advance, but instead used Laze Planet as a base to regroup.

Because the occupation of Laze Planet was relatively short, only a little over ten years including the time spent developing underground, and because underground space and resources were limited, the Swarm in the Riken Star System was replenished with many Mature Form and Larval Form Space Octopus, but none of them grew to the Ancient Class.

However, in the two battles on Laze Planet, the total number of Ancient Class Swarm deployed was only a little over 15,000, which was only half of the total forces deployed to the Riken Star System.

With Laze Planet as an outpost, the Ancient Class that subsequently arrive in the Riken Star System will only need to stay briefly in the exoplanetary belt to accumulate a certain number before heading directly to rendezvous with the main force.

Thank you for the 100 Qidian coins reward from Abyss Order.