"General, we don't have a so-called core planet. This is just the planet where the head of state usually holds meetings and activities, which is why it seems special and has some of the characteristics of a core planet. In fact, in terms of value, it is no different from other planets."
"Where are your scientific and technical personnel and research units? Are they all in the fleet?"
"We don't know these things. Every hundred years, the head of state sends a spaceship to pick up the newly appointed scientists, but we don't know where they go."
At this point, everyone understood why the leader dared to do this: all the important technology and personnel had never been here in the first place. Even the fleet here was just a decoy.
"General, the Führer only initiated this arrangement in the last ten thousand years. Before that, all the science and technology departments and scientists were on this planet. After they moved away, the planet became very empty," an official added.
"Yes, I need all the spaceship's flight records, the older the better. Who can provide them?"
"Who can provide it?" Hu Yu asked again in a loud voice.
These important officials all turned their attention to the few who had initially refused to cooperate.
"It's just navigation logs. I do have some, but I'm only in charge of logistics for civilian spacecraft. I don't have the logs for warships. Besides, the logs for civilian spacecraft only cover the last 100,000 years."
"Take as much as you can; the guard will go with you to collect it in a bit."
"No problem."
"Haha, General Hu Yu, hello, we meet again." Li Shun Shunyuan suddenly appeared beside Hu Yu; the holographic equipment around them must have activated again.
"Your Majesty, I admire you, I truly admire you. To obtain the technology for a mere weapon, you actually risked the lives of 200 billion people. Now you've lost. Didn't you say you had a secret to tell me? I wonder if that promise still holds any weight."
"I can reveal a little bit: the reason I'm bringing you in isn't just for your energy weapons. Even if you didn't have energy weapons, I would still make the same choice. Don't think that I'm abandoning these 200 billion people by doing this. On the contrary, I'm ensuring their survival, their permanent survival."
"What does our merger have to do with their lives? You're just making excuses and deceiving the people."
"No, absolutely not. To be honest, this has a lot to do with our origins. You don't need to ask the logistics officer for records anymore. Ever since I learned of that news, we did send a spaceship to your Third Spiral Arm."
"It was you guys who were behind this!"
"Don't misunderstand, we were just there to take a look. I didn't even take a single civilian from your ranks for research, let alone interfere with your origins."
"Wait, what news are you talking about?"
"I won't tell you, hahaha, only two people in this galaxy know this, and I'm one of them. You'll never know this secret, hahahaha."
"Lieutenant General Li Shun, I will not harm your people, but I will catch you sooner or later. Don't think that I can't find you just because you're hiding, unless you never show your face again!"
"Good luck, but you won't find us. We're heading to the Insect Race lines soon. If you're capable, we'll meet again on the battlefield."
" Insect Race defenses?"
"Oh, I forgot you're not Small Star Sector Civilization yet. According to news from the Great Star Region Civilization, all civilizations that have reached the Intermediate Stage of Small Star Sector need to participate in the war at the Insect Race defense line."
"There's nothing more to talk about between us. Goodbye."
Looking at Hu Yu and his group, Li Shun Shunyuan showed no sign of defeat. He smiled, as if everything was under control. It was a smug smile, the smile of a victor, but in his heart there was also a trace of jealousy and dissatisfaction, and even more so, a sense of unwillingness to defy the heavens.
On a distant planet, Li Shun's eyes were filled with resentment and unwillingness. He had tried everything, both soft and hard tactics, but Hu Yu simply refused to join his side.
"Hmph," Li Shun slammed his fist on the table, "Call the Minister of Science and Technology here!"
"Your Majesty," the Minister of Science and Technology rushed over.
"What's going on with the human warships, and those mechanical armors?"
"Your Majesty, we are conducting research, but we haven't obtained even a single sample, making the research extremely difficult."
"Forget it, our space attack methods are still too weak. You should continue researching space technology. It's impossible for that human force to join us now, but I refuse to believe that we can't rise up through our own efforts. That old bastard Zhou Dao ( Daozi ) thinks I don't know, humph."
"Your Majesty, since we settled down, our development has been rapid. In addition, we have attacked and plundered several other Advanced Star System-Level Civilization. Now our foundation is solid enough. I believe that in 200,000 years at most, we will be able to step into the Great Star Region Civilization."
"As soon as possible, the sooner the better. I don't know how much time we have left; the stability of the Milky Way is nearing a critical point."
Li Shun gazed at the massive disc-shaped fleet and dozens of busy planets in the starry sky. These were the fruits of his hard work over the past ten thousand years. As for the Second Spiral Arm, it was merely one of his branch bases. He had two more such branch bases. Like a cunning rabbit with three burrows, Li Shun had always been very cautious after experiencing several crises. Although the branch bases were not strong enough and could be in danger, if the main base was destroyed, the branch bases would be the key to his resurgence.
After gathering all the information he could find on the planets, Hu Yu led the Grim Slayer Fleet away. Hu Yu didn't harm a single human on these planets, not just because they were human, but because everyone there was useful until the secrets were uncovered.
After analyzing all the information, not much of value was found. However, the fragments of the disc-shaped warship brought back were somewhat of a gain. In terms of materials technology, the disc-shaped warship was better than the Grim Slayer. Even with the Reversed State Armor, conventional materials technology had not been neglected in research. In case a civilization mastered a simple method to destroy the reversed-state Reversed State Armor, the warship's defense would still need to rely on conventional materials. Therefore, the newly produced Grim Slayer's Reversed State Armor was still only one meter thick, and other conventional armor remained.
"General, do you remember what I told you about Number One's feeling? He said that Wei Kaiyuan and Guan Sengping had problems with their Consciousness Field."
"I remember, but our understanding of consciousness is even less than that of Number One. He doesn't even know the specific reasons, so how easy is it for us to figure it out?"
"These past few days in Li Shun Shunyuan's territory, I seem to have sensed a familiar feeling, but this feeling is definitely not because they are human, but something else entirely."
"Something else? Zhonghua, Academician Zeng, have you sensed anything?"
"No."
"I don't either."
"It's not surprising that you didn't feel it. Maybe it's because I've been studying consciousness for many years, or maybe it's because I've spent too much time with Number One and the others. When Number One said that Wei Kaiyuan and Guan Sengping's Consciousness Field had abnormal fluctuations, I didn't feel it. But after we entered their territory, there were probably too many of them around, and too many Consciousness Field, so I also felt something special and familiar. But I just can't figure out what it is."
"Actually, I'm more concerned about why Head of State Li Shun insisted on incorporating our people into their ranks."
"Yes, that's strange to me too. It seems he's more interested in our people than in technology. Logically speaking, even if we were to merge into their civilization, it wouldn't increase their strength much. Could it be that he values our potential?" Academician Zeng was also puzzled.
"Furthermore, even if they needed our population, they could have easily abducted us back in Earth's time. Around the 20th century, they even visited Earth, and those UFO legends have now been confirmed to be their spaceships. It's quite possible that from the time they reached the First Spiral Arm until we left the Solar System, they were secretly observing us."
"This is yet another question. It would have been better if we hadn't come here. Not only have we not found the answer, but we've also added more mysteries. Who knows where this Li Shun Shunyuan is hiding in the Milky Way? Sigh," Wen Zhonghua sighed.
"Head of State Li Shun said that two people knew the secret. Besides him, the other should be Mr. Daozi. It's just a pity that Mr. Daozi is like a dragon that only shows its head but not its tail."
"However, one thing is certain: it is impossible for President Li Shun Shunyuan to have interfered with the origins of humankind on Earth. This can be believed based on Wei Kaiyuan's words and what the President himself said. More than 2 million years ago, they were indeed on the other side of the Milky Way. If the archaeological data on Earth is correct, the age of Australopithecus is 2 million years, which means they were only about 300,000 years older than humankind on Earth," Academician Xiao said.
"Never mind, let's keep trying. We'll find the answers to these problems one by one eventually."