Chapter 163: Farewell, Until We Meet Again

This hydrogen bomb detonation not only shattered an entire satellite, but its effects even rippled outward to the mother planet—Planet three.

At the point of impact facing the blast, Xiao Yu saw visible ripples spreading through the atmosphere. The gas there was rapidly superheated by the violent radiation. The imbalance of thermal energy triggered massive storms across Planet three—storms far beyond the scale of even Category 12 typhoons on Earth, now rampaging across the planet’s surface.

The immense explosion vaporized half of Satellite 3A. These vaporized masses, upon cooling, would condense into countless small meteors and continue to orbit Planet three, forming a ring that would stretch over tens of millions of kilometers.

The remaining half of 3A, not vaporized, broke into several chunks. The force of the explosion altered their future orbital paths, and they could no longer remain in stable orbit around Planet three. Within a few million years, they would drift closer to the planet, and once inside the Roche limit, be torn apart by its powerful gravity and crash down onto the planet’s surface.

The death of the Swarm Queen marked the end of this vast war that had lasted for years and spanned the entire Aquila three Star System.

Throughout the entire war, Xiao Yu had relied on no shortcuts or tricks. He had defeated the Swarm Queen through sheer strength—head-on, with overwhelming force. Even in the Swarm’s strongest area—numerical superiority—Xiao Yu had thoroughly suppressed them.

“Ten thousand years of time… In this dark universe, I’ve finally reached this point—able to defeat my enemies by strength alone.” As he recalled every detail of the war over the years, Xiao Yu felt a touch of emotion.

Those lucky enough to survive the blast—bugs that had evaded destruction due to their positioning—lost all function the moment the Queen perished. Observing this, Xiao Yu once again confirmed the correctness of the neural-control theory.

“It seems the Swarm Queen’s computational power exceeded even mine. She could control so many bugs at once. But it’s a pity… her body was too massive. I couldn’t even dissect her for research. Otherwise, studying her structure might’ve offered valuable insights for advancing my computer technology.” Xiao Yu sighed regretfully as he led his vast fleet back toward Planet one.

“Still, there’s some cleanup to do before I leave,” Xiao Yu pondered carefully. “First, I need to gather the Swarm corpses scattered throughout the Aquila three Star System and collect usable materials. Ships built with these materials have performance ratings fifty percent higher than those made from standard resources.”

“Next, the large particle collider must be disassembled and prepared for reassembly near the next star I reach—for further research. And also, I should refit the four largest City-Class ships—Shanghai, Tianjin, Yucheng, and Shijiazhuang—using white dwarf beast tissue as material.”

As he thought through his plans, Planet one loomed ahead in the distance.

On the Arrow Beast homeworld, at the Arrow Beast settlement, Xiao Yu’s holographic projection still stood. Thanks to Xiao Yu’s earlier preparations, the war with the Swarm hadn’t affected this area at all. But Xiao Yu had kept the Arrow Beasts updated on the battle’s progress every day.

“Today, I have good news. The Swarm Queen has been destroyed. You no longer need to worry about Swarm attacks,” Xiao Yu announced to the tens of thousands of Arrow Beasts sitting quietly in the square.

“Brother Xiao, really? That’s amazing!” Lorna was the first to cheer excitedly.

“Of course it’s true. When have I ever lied to you?” Xiao Yu smiled. “From now on, you’ll be able to live peacefully on this planet—growing stronger, step by step.”

He paused here and swallowed the rest of the sentence he’d been about to say.

“I’ll save the goodbyes for when I’m really leaving. No need to bring sadness now,” Xiao Yu thought silently.

In space, the massive material recovery operation was already underway. The trillion-strong fleet of ultra-miniature starships had been slightly modified and now possessed the ability to harvest usable materials from Swarm corpses. With such a vast workforce, Xiao Yu’s progress was astonishingly fast.

Meanwhile, the enormous factories on the Arrow Beast homeworld’s two moons had resumed operations. Work had begun in full on refitting the four City-Class starships. With Xiao Yu’s current manufacturing capacity, the entire transformation was expected to be completed within two years.

Though peace had finally come, Xiao Yu had no intention of resting. He once again immersed himself in the burdens of scientific research. The Supercomputing Center he had built provided a trove of valuable data. Studying it could increase his own computing power by dozens of times.

Through this war, Xiao Yu had come to understand the true value of immense computational power. The sheer scale of ultra-miniature starships and combat robots he had to manage would have been impossible for him to control manually—but with Intelligent Programs, it was smooth and seamless. Still, artificial intelligence had obvious flaws. For example, given two fleets of equal size, one controlled by Xiao Yu, the other by AI, Xiao Yu could defeat the AI-controlled fleet with ease, no matter how advanced it was.

How to combine the strengths of both—that was a question Xiao Yu would explore in the future.

In the midst of this busy work, two years passed in a flash. The collection of usable materials from Swarm corpses was fully completed—ten billion tons of material now rested in Xiao Yu’s stockpile. In the future, he would use this alongside Alien Beast flesh to reconstruct his entire fleet. Its overall power would be several times greater than before.

With all tasks complete, the allure of Tianyuan IV, the quintuple Star System, grew stronger. Through the diary of the girl named Zhang Shengya, Xiao Yu had learned that the quintuple Star System likely held secrets related to the Grand Unified Theory.

“It’s time to say goodbye…”

At the Arrow Beast settlement, Xiao Yu once again gathered all the Arrow Beasts to announce the news.

“Today, I have an important announcement. I’m leaving this star system, heading into the endless cosmos to continue my journey. I’m very happy to have known you all and lived with you for so long.”

Xiao Yu smiled as he spoke, but before he could finish, Lorna interrupted him.

“Brother Xiao… you’re leaving?” Lorna’s eyes shimmered with tears.

Her voice choked. “Please don’t go… Did I upset you somehow? I’ll change, I promise… Please stay…”

Xiao Yu shook his head gently. “No, Lorna, how could I be angry with you? I care for you deeply. But I have something important I must do—something that concerns my survival, and the survival of my civilization. Lorna, don’t cry. Don’t be sad. You’re about to grow into a brave warrior. Crying like this… what kind of warrior will you become?”

Lorna looked at Xiao Yu with tear-filled eyes. “Then… then take me with you, okay?”

Xiao Yu gave a helpless laugh and shook his head. “Lorna, space travel can take thousands of years for a single journey. It’s a place of endless loneliness and danger. Even if nothing goes wrong, you’d grow old and die alone in a cold metal cabin. Is that what you want? Be good, Lorna. Don’t be stubborn. This is your home. The cold, dark universe is not where you belong.”

“As long as I can be with you, Brother Xiao… I’m not afraid of anything!” Lorna said stubbornly.

Xiao Yu kept smiling, but shook his head again—slowly, but firmly.

“Then… how about this?” Lorna’s tears finally fell, but she still looked at Xiao Yu defiantly. Under his shocked gaze, her appearance gradually changed—transforming into that of a young human woman.

At that moment, Xiao Yu’s expression froze. He couldn’t help but murmur softly.

“Chen… Mo?”

“I saw her image once, inside a large ship. Was she your lover? Has she passed away? Then let me become her. Take me with you… Brother Xiao…”

Lorna, now in Chen Mo’s form, continued pleading bitterly with Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu sighed. He forced himself to regain composure. Staring at Lorna—now with Chen Mo’s face—his mouth opened as if to speak, but in the end, he said nothing.

Then, as if making a final decision, Xiao Yu abruptly shut off his holographic projection from the Arrow Beast settlement. He vanished.

In the air, his voice lingered.

“Lorna, I’ve left you a City-Class starship. Its controller is the jade pendant I gave you. If you ever face danger, you can board the ship and travel into space…”

“This is your home. I can’t take you away. I’m leaving now. If fate allows, we’ll meet again someday.”

“Goodbye, dear Lorna.”

Xiao Yu’s massive fleet had already departed, heading into the boundless void of space.

In his heart, one phrase continued to echo.

“Rather than cling to fleeting comfort, it is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes…”