After spending a few days in the deeper Secondary Dimension World, Han Xiao returned to the Explored Universe and immediately visited the Sanctum Organization to inquire about the movements of the World Tree Civilization from the Child of Destiny.
He was easily teleported to the Child of Destiny's laboratory. The surrounding staff glanced at him, but he only looked once before returning to his work, as if it were nothing new.
"You've come to see me..."
Sensing something, the Child of Destiny turned to Han Xiao, placed his hands on the inner wall of the container, and emitted joyful mental fluctuations.
Han Xiao smiled, stepped forward, and tapped the container as a greeting.
The Child of Destiny noticed that the mark on Han Xiao hadn't faded yet, and tilted his head. "You didn't... designate an area?"
"Something unexpected happened, and I didn't have a chance to do it." Han Xiao shook his head and said, "I need you to tell me what the other side is doing now."
"Good..."
The Child of Destiny did not refuse, sharing information through the mental link, and a stream of intelligence flooded into Han Xiao's mind.
Han Xiao quickly scanned these images, gaining a comprehensive view of the World Tree Civilization's real-time dynamics.
He soon saw that during his stay in the deeper Secondary Dimension, the World Tree Civilization, stimulated by him, was frantically searching for clues related to him and had increased the frequency of the Predictors' abilities, indirectly leading to an increase in the surveillance efforts of the Child of Destiny.
He had made a deep impression on the other side during his trip, and the reaction of the World Tree Civilization was all monitored by the Child of Destiny, so he was not completely in the dark about the World Tree's movements.
The Child of Destiny is currently the most important intelligence source, allowing us to observe the opponent's real-time movements and make targeted arrangements in advance. It's like two players in a real-time strategy game, one of whom has opened the fog of war while the other is still trying to find the opponent's location. The difference is obvious.
Seeing the World Tree Civilization's headless movements, Han Xiao breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Just then, black flames surged, and the Oathkeeper arrived at this place.
"Black Star, why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
As he spoke, the Oathkeeper's gaze swept back and forth between Han Xiao and the Child of Destiny, his expression conveying a sense of "you two were having a secret rendezvous behind my back."
"I just came to ask about the surveillance footage. I'll be coming here frequently in the future, and it would be too much trouble to let you know every time. You'll get used to it."
Han Xiao waved his hand.
Do you think you're a leader, able to come and inspect whenever you want...?
The Oathkeeper secretly grumbled to himself.
"Alright, I've finished asking the questions. I have other things to take care of, so I'll be leaving now."
Han Xiao nodded, and without waiting for the Oathkeeper to speak, he changed into another set of Sovereign and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The Oathkeeper reluctantly withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the Child of Destiny.
The Child of Destiny ignored him, and after Han Xiao left, he went back to sleep, showing none of the initiative he had shown when facing Han Xiao. It was as if he regarded the Oathkeeper as air, clearly treating him differently.
Seeing that the Child of Destiny was indifferent to him, the Oathkeeper's lips twitched. He took a deep breath, suppressed the bitterness in his heart, and turned away dejectedly.
Conference room for the leaders of the Three Universal Civilizations.
"Black Star, you're finally back! Why were you gone for so long?"
Mabrus looked Han Xiao up and down at the remote projection, his tone questioning.
Louis and the leader of the Arcane Cult, who were standing nearby, also looked on with curiosity.
After sending Han Xiao Han Xiao away, they thought his first exploration wouldn't last too long, but unexpectedly, more than half a month has passed without any news. If they hadn't received a message from Han Xiao just now, they wouldn't have known Han Xiao was back.
The past two weeks have been quite agonizing for the three of them, as they were unable to contact Han Xiao, who was far away in the territory of the World Tree Civilization. They were constantly on edge, worried that something had happened to Black Star over there.
Seeing that Han Xiao had taken the initiative to visit, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Then they became curious about what Han Xiao had been doing in the World Tree Culture and Tu Shu Ming Territory for so long.
"Some unexpected things happened along the way, causing delays. But let's put that aside for now. I've gathered some intelligence on this trip; take a look."
Han Xiao waved his hand, too lazy to exchange pleasantries with the three, and went straight to the point, sending them the World Tree secrets that Babani had mentioned.
A virtual screen appeared on the desktop. The three of them glanced at it and were immediately captivated, frozen in shock.
"This... this is all the intelligence you gathered on this trip?!"
Mabrus stared wide-eyed, utterly incredulous, almost stunned.
The three had limited expectations for this intelligence, thinking that Han Xiao had gone to the enemy's headquarters and would face difficulties, so even if he gained something, it wouldn't be too amazing... But what was this intelligence? It was all unheard-of secrets!
Information State Warning Network, Information State Imaging Device... a whole bunch of important strategic intelligence, clearly not information that can be obtained casually. Could it be that Black Star raided the World Tree's confidential database this time?!
The three of them were somewhat dazed.
They've explored the World Tree Civilization countless times, and at best they've only managed to steal some basic network information—just scratching the surface. Black Star, on the other hand, only went once and gained explosive results, both in terms of the quality and quantity of intelligence—far exceeding theirs!
All the explorations of our Three Universal Civilizations combined don't even amount to what Black Star gained from just one trip...
The three looked at each other, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
Black Star was a major headache for them when he was an opponent, but extremely reliable when he was an ally—it was a real treat. If it weren't for the confidential intelligence that Black Star continuously provided, they wouldn't have known how passive the Three Universal Civilizations were in their current situation.
Suppressing their shock, the three steadied themselves and focused on browsing the World Tree secrets shared by Han Xiao. Their expressions changed constantly, sometimes solemn, sometimes surprised, and sometimes annoyed.
The three of them quickly reviewed the intelligence report, their expressions complex.
"So that's how we were exposed..."
Louis sighed. Seeing the Information State Warning Network, they finally understood how the World Tree Civilization had discovered them.
"This kind of technology is impossible to defend against. The World Tree Civilization's research level in the Information State field is far superior to ours." The leader of the Arcane Sect also frowned and spoke with worry.
"It seems Black Star was right; we'd better halt our regular exploration..."
The three of them looked at the intelligence report and felt immense pressure, but also a sense of relief.
Thanks to Black Star for stealing these secrets, otherwise, if they had continued exploring using the original methods without knowing the truth, they might have met with dire consequences. Now that they know the World Tree's detection methods, they can take targeted measures.
"... Black Star, how exactly did you obtain this information?"
Mabrus couldn't help but ask, and the other two also perked up their ears.
"It's nothing, just a fight with them and some information extracted from some of them... By the way, I've recorded the abilities of all the high-level World Tree combatants I've fought, and I'm sending that to you as well."
Han Xiao concealed his own abilities and gave a brief explanation. After thinking for a moment, he shared the information he had collected about the World Tree experts with the three of them. The information recorded on the panel was not as detailed as the combat information on the panel, but it was enough to give a general understanding of the abilities and combat strength of hundreds of World Tree experts.
The purpose of gathering this intelligence is not for personal use, but also to give the Beyond Grade A Explored Universe a basic understanding of the enemy, so that they are not caught off guard and there is no need to hide anything.
Upon seeing the information on hundreds of powerful World Tree experts, the three were immediately stunned.
Good grief, are you going to stealth or to start a fight?
You've defeated hundreds of high-level combatants in someone else's base, but you're just rowing a boat without oars, relying entirely on the waves!
"Isn't this a bit too radical...?"
Louis couldn't help but speak up.
Han Xiao glanced at him and shrugged. "If we don't make contact like this, do you think those secrets just fall from the sky? Don't worry, although I fought with the enemy, I erased all traces. My intelligence channels monitored the World Tree Civilization's real-time movements, and they haven't found anything."
Upon hearing this, Mabrus was speechless for a moment, somewhat moved.
"Black Star, you took such a great risk to gather intelligence; everyone will remember your contribution..."
In his view, Black Star wouldn't have risked dealing with the World Tree powerhouses and being pursued if it weren't for gathering strategic intelligence; it was all for the greater good.
The other two realized this and nodded in agreement, expressing their amazement.
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow slightly.
Seeing that the three had misunderstood his motives, he didn't bother to explain. He was happy for them to think that way, since it wouldn't do any harm.
"Regardless, the intelligence you obtained is of extremely high strategic significance and can provide important reference for our strategic direction."
The three of them sighed for a while, then quickly cheered up.
In any case, the intelligence Black Star gained on this trip solved their immediate problem; it was almost like a lifeline, enough to change their strategic deployment.
The three began a heated discussion about the next steps, occasionally asking Han Xiao for his opinion.
Hearing that the three had finally adopted his suggestion and decided to stop routine exploration, Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he had finally convinced the Three Universal Civilizations not to do anything unnecessary, and his trust level had increased.
Somewhere in the Unexplored Universe.
Two spindle-shaped, dark green spaceships sped through the boundless, desolate universe, their onboard concealment devices masking the trajectory of their warp lights.
Inside the cockpit, a dozen or so operators sat at their respective seats, engrossed in their work. No one spoke; the only sounds in the room were the sounds of their operations—a profound silence.
The cabin looked clean and tidy, but in some subtle places, one could still find traces of time.
Every so often, the World Tree Civilization would send out expeditions in different directions to try to discover other civilizations in the vast galaxy. These two spaceships were among them. The crew members couldn't remember how many years they had been sailing, as if they were silently wandering in the cold universe.
Suddenly, the radar, which had been silent for many years, started to make a sound.
"Unknown metallic object detected, direction:..."
The dozen or so people in the room were stunned for a moment, but they quickly reacted and immediately steered the spaceship toward the direction indicated by the radar.
The two spaceships trailed streaks of light as they turned and drove for a while. Soon, the object locked by the radar came into view.
Not far away, an egg-shaped metal capsule, trailing a low-powered exhaust plume, slowly traveled through space. Its outer shell was mottled, bearing the marks of cosmic radiation erosion, as if it had been traveling for a long time.
The dozen or so people present, watching the metal cabin on the observation screen, all had the same thought.
"This looks... like a life pod?"
The group activated the life detection equipment, whose advanced technology penetrated the outer shell of the escape capsule and detected life signals inside.
The screen quickly displayed the appearance of the life inside the escape pod, resembling upright lobsters.