Chapter 246: Separation

Xiao Yu waited nervously the entire time. He had no idea what the Specter would do to make him trust it completely and without hesitation.

While waiting, he quickly sensed a slight anomaly. The disturbance came from his place of refuge, his flagship, the Beijing.

In Xiao Yu’s perception, the Beijing’s four-dimensional shield suddenly began to experience a rapid energy drain. The process was extremely fast, within just five seconds, the four-dimensional shield vanished. That’s right, the Beijing’s four-dimensional shield disappeared entirely, even though the Four-Dimensional Shield Generator showed no signs of malfunction. A massive amount of energy was still being fed into the generator, and it continued to function normally, but the protective field that once enveloped the Beijing was simply gone.

This situation was very different from a typical attack. Normally, when a four-dimensional shield is broken through, it results in a tremendous explosion. But this time, its disappearance was utterly silent.

“What’s going on?!” Xiao Yu’s heart jolted.

“This is just a small trick,” the Specter’s message came through again. “That foolish Taihao Civilization isn’t any stronger than I was at my peak. So even now, in my weakened and dying state, a few of its leftover fragments of body are no match for me. Hm… how did that little taste of negative matter feel?”

The silent disappearance of the four-dimensional shield implied many things. At the very least, one thing became immediately clear to Xiao Yu, at this stage, the Specter still possessed the ability to conduct long-range attacks across ten light-years. This alone was enough to shatter his earlier assumption that this unknown being was trapped on a star and unable to leave.

This wasn’t like the white dwarf Alien Beast. That creature couldn’t physically affect the outside world, it could only manipulate living beings through mental control to achieve its goals. But this Specter had directly and tangibly impacted Xiao Yu’s fleet.

“Was that enough to make you believe? If not… then how about this?” The Specter said with a hint of amusement, and then proceeded to do something else.

Xiao Yu’s place of refuge, more precisely, the supercomputer aboard the flagship Beijing. This was Xiao Yu’s home. From here, he operated his entire fleet of hundreds of thousands of starships, countless robots, and a vast array of instruments.

This place was the brain, the core of the entire fleet.

But suddenly, Xiao Yu, hidden within the computer, felt a bone-piercing chill. It was like running naked through a snowstorm in the dead of winter.

That cold seeped into every part of Xiao Yu’s consciousness, as if even his soul had been frozen solid.

Alongside this icy chill came an overwhelming sense of danger. It was the kind of feeling a rabbit might have deep in the forest when a tiger sets its sights on it. The threat was so immediate and immense that Xiao Yu couldn’t even react.

A moment later, Xiao Yu was struck by a strange sensation, he felt his body leaving him.

Yes, just like when he still had a physical body, and his arms, head, legs, muscles, blood, and bones slowly began to separate and drift away.

The process was terrifying. In that moment, a profound sense of helplessness arose in Xiao Yu’s heart. It was a sensation he couldn’t resist, he could only accept it quietly. This was a power far beyond anything Xiao Yu could imagine.

The feeling lasted less than three seconds. Then, the helplessness vanished, and Xiao Yu opened his eyes, or rather, his soul opened its eyes.

What appeared before him was a magnificent, vast starry sky. In the dark, tranquil backdrop of space, stars were scattered like embedded gemstones. Behind him, the binary star system remained clearly visible. The red dwarf continued to emit its faint crimson light, while the brown dwarf remained completely invisible. At this distance, the red dwarf was the brightest star in the entire sky.

Beyond the binary system, even more stars stretched out into the distance. Countless suns blazed across the heavens, and among them was a particularly bright, extremely flat elliptical shape…

Xiao Yu knew, it was the Milky Way.

What met Xiao Yu’s eyes were stars, the Milky Way, and the starry sky, but… all the starships had disappeared.

Not only had the starships vanished, but Xiao Yu couldn’t even sense their existence anymore. At the same time, he realized that he had lost his immense computational power, he had lost control over his fleet.

The sudden gap in computational ability made Xiao Yu feel incredibly uncomfortable. It was as if, just a moment ago, he had been a superhuman, and now, he had instantly reverted to an ordinary person.

Now, Xiao Yu possessed only the mental capabilities of a human. The massive computational power that came from the computer had been stripped away from him.

“I… have I been separated?” Xiao Yu murmured. “Am I now existing in the universe in pure soul form?”

As soon as he made this assumption, he was deeply shaken.

This state, Xiao Yu had experienced it once before. That was during his transfers between ships via radio signals. So, he quickly deduced his current condition.

To exist in pure soul form was extremely dangerous. Xiao Yu had studied this before, and ultimately, it all came down to energy. A soul form had no stable source of energy, and the universe was filled with radiation that could cause immense damage to a soul.

However, Xiao Yu didn’t feel any discomfort at the moment. Around him, a peculiar energy enveloped and protected him.

“Where’s my fleet?” Xiao Yu murmured.

“Your fleet is still in curvature flight. Objects in curvature flight are invisible, you’re aware of that, I’m sure. That’s why you can’t see your ships,” the Specter replied.

“Was… was it you who stripped me from the computer? You can do that from a distance of ten light-years?” Xiao Yu asked, a trace of fear in his voice.

It was like an ant facing an elephant. The abilities of this aged Specter were far beyond what Xiao Yu could imagine.

“Yes. For me at my peak, this would’ve been nothing. But now, I have to burn twenty years of my lifespan to accomplish it,” the aged Specter said with a hint of bitterness in his tone. “Your fleet has already disengaged from curvature flight under my control and has returned.”

As soon as the Specter finished speaking, Xiao Yu saw countless starships suddenly appear several thousand kilometers away from him, slowly approaching.

The unidentified structures still attached to their exteriors made them look particularly menacing. In that instant, Xiao Yu knew, those were his ships, the ones he had built with his own hands.

“Go back. My current power cannot sustain this state for long,” the aged Specter said softly. Xiao Yu’s vision blurred, and in the next moment, he felt himself return to the computer.

The immense computational power, the vast data streams, control over hundreds of thousands of starships, countless instruments, the access to every robot, all of it, and even the panicked calls of the scientists rushed back into Xiao Yu’s mind in an instant.

“Now… do you believe me completely?”

“Yes. I believe you completely, without reservation. With your abilities, you could easily end my life or seize control of my fleet at any moment. Under these circumstances, you have no reason to lie to me. You truly are my elder,” Xiao Yu said with heartfelt conviction.

The reason was simple, if his life, his wealth, his fleet could all be taken at any moment by this aged Specter, then what need would it have to deceive him?

If it wanted something, couldn’t it just take it?

“Come back. Return to my side. Under my protection, you’ll gain eighty years of safe development time. In those eighty years, you must attain the strength to defeat that Level 5 fleet. That is your only path forward… Yes, I could spend fifty years of my lifespan and destroy those fleets myself, but I do not intend to do so. If you don’t even have that much potential, then you are not worth saving.”

“Thank you. I will redirect the fleet and head toward the star you dwell upon. We’re about ten light-years away. At my current speed, it will take about one year and eight months to arrive.”

“Very well. I’ll be waiting for your arrival. To slow the drain on my lifespan, I will cut off our connection. Then, my successor, I wish you good fortune.”

After the aged Specter said this, no more messages came.

At that moment, Xiao Yu felt as if he had lived through another lifetime. Every word the aged Specter had spoken had now been verified. Xiao Yu knew, it hadn’t lied to him.

The information contained in this dialogue would take him a very long time to fully analyze.

“Master, Master, what just happened? Are you alright?”

When Xiao Yu had vanished, all the scientists had fallen into panic. Even the Luka scientists were no exception. Now that Xiao Yu had reappeared, they were all anxiously asking him questions.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Xiao Yu said with a smile. “I was just… outside, experiencing something.”

“Well then, the escape plan is canceled. We’re heading back, to that strange star.”

“There, my elder awaits. Under their protection, we shall gain another precious eighty years of development…”

“Set course!”