Chapter 243:

The star river shone brilliantly, like an endless ribbon of light flowing through the silent and cold universe.

With an infinite beginning…

And an eternal end…

Invisible spatial ripples surged, caught in the pull of gravity, tearing everything apart in a powerful burst of energy.

The stars… collapsed.

Like a true stormy sea, a colossal wave of shattered stars engulfed the starship fleet, annihilating everything in its path.

In an instant, the external armor was ripped apart, and the engine systems exploded.

In less than a second, everything…

Everything was reduced to twisted wreckage.

Just like the star graveyard Xu Xi had once seen through Ailei’s perspective long ago.

Now, the interstellar fleet he had built became part of that same graveyard.

The explosion resembled a grand cosmic fireworks show, scattering billions of fragments across multiple planetary systems. The celestial bodies within were damaged beyond recognition, riddled with countless scars.

A long time passed.

Amidst the dense wreckage of starships, Xu Xi’s figure reformed.

The moment he revived, his hands surged with mechanical force, attracting the nearby starship debris and quickly assembling it into a small emergency escape pod.

He had to avoid direct exposure to the vacuum of space.

Next, he hastily crafted a portable oxygen generation system.

Carbon dioxide collectors, hydrogen reactors, and water electrolyzers—

Piece by piece, he assembled them into a basic electrolyte circulation system.

“Mechanical force… it’s truly omnipotent,” Xu Xi sighed with genuine appreciation.

Once finished, he finally had the time to observe the outside world.

Through the small observation window, he could see the endless starship wreckage floating and colliding in the cold void.

The scene was too chaotic to discern any specifics.

But Xu Xi was certain—

The fleet was completely destroyed.

“So, it’s all back to square one…” Xu Xi sighed softly.

The overwhelming scale of the attack, despite splitting the fleet into three formations in advance, had still wiped them all out.

Fortunately, Xu Xi had anticipated potential threats after noticing the insectoids’ strange behavior and had taken precautions.

Thanks to his unique abilities and pre-arranged countermeasures, Ailei should be safe.

She was likely reorganizing and compiling herself through quantum data.

All Xu Xi had to do now was wait for Ailei’s arrival.

Yes, just waiting would suffice.

The “Ailei brand” reliance was reliable and reassuring.

The chaotic starfield remained turbulent, with debris colliding everywhere, but Xu Xi remained calm.

For an intelligent mechanical calamity, production capacity was never an issue.

Given time, the wreckage could be collected, refined, and turned into newer, stronger starships.

The only thing that puzzled Xu Xi was the mysterious cosmic strike.

“Why now…?”

“I expected it, but why at this specific moment? Nothing special happened. I didn’t do anything different. Everything was the same as before.”

“What exactly is…”

Xu Xi paused, his expression freezing.

Time?

Time…

Time!

His behavior, his fleet’s technological development—none of it differed from the past.

That meant the reason for the attack wasn’t related to his actions.

It was related to the hidden force behind it.

“I should have realized it earlier… Besides technological progress and civilization development, there’s one crucial factor—time.”

“Humans dislike rodents and insects. They implement pest control but don’t constantly monitor them.”

“Because humans have more important things to do.”

“Pests aren’t a top priority to be dealt with at all times.”

“Similarly, the mysterious force destroying civilizations cannot always focus on this region of space.”

Xu Xi murmured to himself, seated on his makeshift chair.

His expression grew solemn as he pondered further.

If this was the case, then the sudden destruction of civilizations could be explained.

Those civilizations, like Civilization 02, which sensed something wrong, were simply unfortunate to have entered the enemy’s focus.

Once a civilization reached the threshold of awareness, it became a target.

“The red light signals that trigger intelligent machine rebellions…”

“The powerful gravitational field strikes and kinetic bombardments…”

“The suspected long-range space-collapse attacks…”

“This war… is going to be tough,” Xu Xi muttered, feeling his eyelid twitch.

Fortunately, after this wave of attacks, there seemed to be no immediate follow-up strike.

The rigid nature of the enemy’s actions indicated an automated system—

Once a timer was set, it triggered the strike without deviation.

It was both good and bad news.

On the bright side, Xu Xi wouldn’t have to worry about another massive explosion for now.

On the downside, unless he found a solution, every future strike would result in his inevitable death.

“I either evade, defend, or eliminate the source of the attack.”

“Sitting and waiting isn’t an option.”

Xu Xi stood up.

Through the observation window, he saw an approaching starship.

It was a contingency ship he had hidden away—separate from the three fleet formations and stationed on a remote planet.

Now, under Ailei’s control, it was crossing the starry sea to rescue him.

“BOOM—!!”

“BOOM—!!”

The massive interstellar battleship activated its energy shields, smashing through the space debris at full speed until it reached Xu Xi’s escape pod.

“Master, please don’t worry.”

“Ailei will always protect your safety.”

Ailei, controlling her backup body, rushed to Xu Xi’s side at lightning speed and tackled him to the ground.

She frantically checked him from head to toe.

Only after confirming that he was fully revived and unharmed did she revert to her usual composed demeanor.

Xu Xi opened his mouth, hesitated, then sighed inwardly.

He must have done something wrong in Ailei’s training…

…

[You encountered an unknown attack, resulting in the destruction of your fleet.]

[Your loyal servant, Ailei, immediately controlled the backup starship to rescue you. You feel reassured.]

[At the same time, you’re troubled.]

[Even now, you still struggle to adapt to Ailei’s enthusiastic inspections.]

[Ailei asks if you wish to retreat further into the depths of space. You decline and instruct her to deploy salvage equipment to recover the wreckage of the fleet.]

[Recycling waste, reclaiming materials, and restoring the fleet’s former strength.]

[Ailei appears puzzled and expresses her concerns about another potential attack if they remain in place.]

[You explain your theory to her.]

[Ailei processes your reasoning and calculates a 64.8% probability that you are correct.]

[For safety, Ailei transports you to a more secure location while she remotely controls the engineering units to salvage and reconstruct the fleet.]

[In the 57th year of the simulation, you are 76 years old, and Ailei has been with you for 55 years.]

[Ailei successfully recovers all starship wreckage and rebuilds a smaller fleet.]

[Once again, with a renewed fleet, you embark on the journey into the starry sea.]