"Who is it?" asked the clone, Si Luo.
Hu Yu's mind raced. Had his infiltration operation been discovered? No, it didn't seem likely. Every operation had been carried out strictly according to plan, even every word was verified before being uttered. And that wasn't all; after each transport operation, a group of intelligence analysts on the science ship would analyze every word and action, striving to find inconsistencies and potential detection. Centuries had passed, and the intelligence department unanimously agreed that the infiltration operation had been flawless, with the chance of being detected by the Wind Star Civilization virtually zero.
" Si Luo, see you in four years." After saying this, the voice disappeared again. Hu Yu controlled Si Luo to lead ten crew members to search the warship, but found nothing unusual. All the creatures on the warship were frozen solid by the low cosmic temperature, with a thin layer of ice on their bodies. This was from water molecules floating in space and water vapor from the planet when the warship stopped on the planet. Hu Yu was certain that he didn't have tinnitus or a short circuit in his brain, so where did the voice come from?
For the past four years, Hu Yu and his assistant have taken turns controlling the Si Luo clone, but they have never heard that voice again. However, after four years of analysis, with the help of Academician Xiao, Hu Yu has basically determined the source of the voice. This warship transported billions of creatures from ten civilizations, and the voice must have come from one of these civilizations.
The fleet arrived at the insect planet. More than two hundred years had passed. The insect corpses on the Insect Star had long been collected by the fleet to extract the precious Chong Element. Although warp drive no longer needed the Chong Element Chong Element, it could still play a significant role in other aspects. This time, Hu Yu did not scatter the frozen creatures toward the star, but instead scattered them all on the surface of the insect planet.
Above the side of the Insect Star facing away from its star, the temperature was not much different from that inside the warships. If the creature that made the sound was indeed inside these warships, the temperature here wouldn't freeze them to death either. Several new Wind Master warships had already arrived. Hu Yu, wearing a spacesuit, stood at the huge, open hatch, with a dozen heavily armed guards behind him. Watching piles of frozen creatures being tossed onto the planet like trash from the Wind Star warships, Hu Yu felt the cheapness of life.
Half an hour later, the billions of frozen civilization organisms carried by the 5,000 warships had been unloaded, and dozens of huge organic hills appeared on the planet's surface. Hu Yu Wind Master slowly surveyed these hills, hoping to find the source of the voice from four years ago.
Finally, a change began to occur somewhere on one of the hills, as if some enormous creature was desperately trying to break free, and frozen, civilized creatures slid down from the middle of the hill under the influence of this force.
Hu Yu looked around excitedly, and the guards also pointed their guns at them. Hu Yu signaled to everyone not to worry too much, as even if the creature that made the sound was powerful, it could not possibly threaten the Wind Master.
A creature tens of meters tall emerged from the pile of creatures—a tree-man, a towering tree-man, though it was completely bare, without a single leaf. It stared motionlessly at Hu Yu at the entrance of the Wind Master warship's cabin.
"It really is you!!!" Hu Yu chuckled.
"General, you have a keen eye. How did you know it was mine?"
"It's simple, because you tree people are special."
"General, may I board the ship? It's too cold here; I can't stand it any longer."
"Can."
"General," the subordinate said.
"It's nothing, just a tree. It won't cause any trouble," Hu Yu said confidently.
Fortunately, the hatch of the Wind Master warship was tall enough, otherwise this big tree really wouldn't have been able to climb in. Now that it has climbed in, it can only lie down inside. The Wind Master warship does not have space for personnel to live in for a long time. The entire interior layout of the warship is very crowded. In addition to various weapons and ammunition, there are many steel beams crisscrossing to strengthen the structural strength of the entire warship.
"You can tell me your situation now. Don't worry, our Human Civilization is not a bloodthirsty civilization. Now that we've saved you, we won't persecute you anymore, and we'll even guarantee your safety, provided you don't pose a threat to us," Hu Yu asked slowly, standing next to the tree-man.
"General, rest assured, I will never forget your kindness. I haven't even repaid your life-saving grace, how could I threaten you? Besides, look at my current state, I'm like a fish on a chopping board, I can't threaten you at all. Now I will tell you what happened, please listen to my explanation." The tree-man lay inside the warship, stretching its massive body. This time, the voice Hu Yu heard did not come from the depths of his mind, but from his ears.
"Actually, I realized you weren't Wind Star People at all when you first arrived on Planet No. 33. Although you impersonated the Wind Star Wind Star People perfectly and successfully fooled them, they didn't suspect a thing. But you couldn't fool me. We Wind Star People have a special ability: we can sense the brainwaves emitted by other beings. Although brainwaves are weak, we can still detect them. This wasn't the first time the Wind Star People had visited Planet No. 33, so I immediately sensed something was amiss when you arrived."
" The Wind Star People who descended this time didn't have any brainwaves; instead, they emitted a strong electromagnetic wave. I knew then that these so-called Wind Star People were definitely puppets controlled by some civilization. Your control of these puppets to come to Wind Star would inevitably lead to hostility towards Wind Star. So my opportunity came. I knew that this fleet would return to Wind Star territory approximately every 12 years, so I estimated that the fleet's journey to its destination would take 4 to 5 years. In the end, I took a gamble and voluntarily boarded the warship you controlled, escaping Planet No. 33."
"On the warship, I expended most of my energy transmitting my brainwaves to the puppet to attract your attention, hoping you would restore the warship's temperature and give me some peace. To avoid being discovered by the Wind Star People and your secrets, I couldn't directly use sound waves to transmit information. Unfortunately, you were even more cautious than me, taking no action other than checking civilized life. I had to use the remaining energy to maintain my life in the low temperature. That's fine, it increases my chances of escape."
"Fortunately, I wasn't wrong, and I didn't lose my gamble. You reached your destination just as my energy was about to run out. If it had taken any longer, I would have had to risk being discovered by the Wind Star People and reveal myself on the warship ahead of schedule."
"General, thank you for saving our lives. I know you infiltrated the Wind Star territory with the intention of harming the Wind Star Civilization. Whether you want to steal technology or carry out war and plunder, I will tell you whatever you want to know."
"Oh, thank you. By the way, what about your people? How come you're the only one who survived? Did they all freeze to death? Is there any hope of saving them? If needed, we're willing to provide some necessary assistance," Hu Yu said.
"Clan members? Haha, General, there are no clan members at all. These tree people are me."
What? It's all your doing?
"General, this was originally my biggest secret, but since you saved me, I'll tell you. Actually, all the tree people on Planet No. 33 are me. The Main Consciousness is here with me. The other tree people are just branches that I control. You don't really think that a seed can grow into a tree person, do you?"
"Isn't that right? We humans also grow from a single cell. It's not surprising that a seed could grow into a tree-man. Besides, you are special to begin with."