Chapter 495: Live Experiments

“We are the most elite soldiers. After a period of integration and then undergoing your training, we can fully become a combat force subordinate to your civilization and fight for your civilization. I am the supreme commander of the Predator Civilizations. I request that you spare our lives.” In the detention room specially designated by Xiao Yu, facing fully armed combat robots, an intelligent being resembling a reptile from Earth used its vocal organs to deliver this statement.

This statement was easily translated by Xiao Yu into a language he could understand. Xiao Yu received the message, but he paid them no heed.

“I do not believe these intelligent beings of the Predator Civilizations have any value. I intend to kill them all. Do any of you have a different opinion?” Xiao Yu asked in the conference room.

After this war ended, Xiao Yu captured roughly thirty million extraterrestrial beings. Among these thirty million, there were at least more than thirty different life forms, with differing appearances. There were humanoid beings, reptilian beings, and so on.

“Master, I request that you not kill all these intelligent beings. That would be an enormous waste of resources. I hope you can allocate at least five hundred thousand intelligent beings for us to use in research.” Luka Four said to Xiao Yu.

Luka Four was an authority in life sciences. The research he spoke of was naturally the so-called ‘live experiments.’ Every kind of intelligent being, and even every kind of life form, that has evolved to its current state without going extinct must possess something of value. Studying these things is very beneficial for improving the comprehensive qualities of a civilization’s intelligent beings. As an authority in life sciences, Luka Four understood this deeply.

“Very well. I will allocate one million intelligent beings to you for research. Consider it waste utilization.” Xiao Yu replied. “Are there any other uses? If not, I will carry out executions so as not to waste our resources.”

“Perhaps you could also select some intelligent beings with relatively strong individual combat power, keep them in captivity, and use them for our warriors’ training.” said Luka Two, chairman of the Military Committee. “At the present stage, when the boarding squads conduct individual combat training, they spar either with companions or with combat robots. Such training cannot fully tap the warriors’ combat potential. I believe having the warriors and intelligent beings engage in live combat is most suitable. That way, both in combat technique and in mental and psychological aspects, we can achieve the best results.”

“Fine.” Xiao Yu swiftly screened the captives of the Predator Civilizations and said, “I will select five million intelligent beings of relatively strong individual capability to be used for our army’s training.”

“Master, I hope to obtain at least five hundred thousand intelligent beings of the Predator Civilizations for research.” Luka Three also requested. “The development of new weapons may require testing their effects on these beings’ bodies.”

“Fine, I will give you one million…”

“Master, our High-Energy Physics Institute hopes to obtain three hundred thousand intelligent beings…”

“Fine, I will allocate five hundred thousand to you…”

After one round of allocations, Xiao Yu assigned out more than twelve million of these intelligent beings. It could be confirmed that what awaited them would be endless torment. This outcome would be little better than death.

“Since you have become a Predator Civilization and live by plunder, do not expect to receive humane treatment from me.” Xiao Yu thought coldly. “You should have been mentally prepared long ago.”

Driven by large numbers of armed robots, the intelligent beings who had been screened out were roughly herded into confinement areas to await the next stage of allocation. Those not selected were, under the robots’ prodding, led one by one in despair to the execution ground. Throughout the entire process, the cries and wails never ceased.

After finishing the handling of the intelligent beings, this Continent-Class ship became completely Xiao Yu’s to pocket. The first thing Xiao Yu did was to connect with the ship’s central computer and begin reading the various data stored within it. Next, he arranged for robots to inventory the ship’s various resources.

The results delighted Xiao Yu. On the data level, he obtained a great many pieces of information about other civilizations in the Milky Way, such as locations, civilization levels, technological directions, approximate numbers of intelligent beings, military strength, as well as various star maps, routes, hazardous regions, and all kinds of secrets. Beyond these, what pleased Xiao Yu most was the various technological information.

The Predator Civilizations are not a complete civilizational system and have no ability to develop technology on their own. All their technology is obtained through plunder. Since it is plunder, it is unlikely they would acquire the complete technology tree’s information. Instead, they know a bit here and a bit there. In other words, the Predator Civilizations’ technological knowledge is very broad, but for any given technology, their understanding is shallow. Different technologies are not connected by a technology tree. What Xiao Yu currently lacks, however, is breadth, not depth. He has ample time to digest this technology, infer the unknown from the known, and ultimately establish a complete technology tree.

“Plunder truly is the most richly rewarding approach. It seems that even without so-called ‘Luck Value’ constraints, this universe would not be peaceful.” Xiao Yu sighed inwardly.

Beyond gains at the technological level, Xiao Yu also discovered large quantities of various rare resources aboard this Continent-Class ship. The largest stockpile turned out to be the Grade 1 Metal necessary for constructing spatial weapons. This stock of Grade 1 Metal was enough for Xiao Yu to equip twenty Nation-Class ships with spatial weapons.

“Excellent, excellent. I estimate that if I encounter ten more Predator Civilizations of this level, I can complete the technological reserves needed to advance a Level 5 Civilization to a Level 6 Civilization. If they were normal Level 5 Civilizations, the number would need to be at least twenty. Predator Civilizations really are a fine thing.” Xiao Yu thought with joy.

“Although this Continent-Class ship is a bit damaged, it is still a Continent-Class ship and possesses combat strength far beyond that of a Nation-Class ship. After a round of modifications, I will still hand it over to the biological army to use. As for the other ships, hm, there are also three Nation-Class ships. Modify them as well and hand them over to the biological army. As for the rest of the ships, melt them down and rebuild. Recover the rare metals and discard the remaining parts.” Xiao Yu swiftly arranged the distribution of these spoils.

Within the Purple Civilization’s home star system, a brief period of refit began. Xiao Yu started to carry out the next phase of his plan.

Large numbers of scientific expeditions were dispatched to conduct various scientific surveys on the Purple Civilization’s homeworld. Teams of scientists were also sent out to begin technological exchanges with the Purple Civilization’s scientists.

Even a Level 4 Civilization possesses some unique technologies, such as the construction technology for the Purple Civilization’s oversized energy cannon. Although the number and quality of a Level 4 Civilization’s unique technologies are far inferior to those of a Level 5 Civilization, even a mosquito’s leg is still meat, and Xiao Yu did not intend to let these slip by.

Only after beginning exchanges with the Purple Civilization did Xiao Yu learn what the Purple Civilization’s intelligent beings actually looked like. To Xiao Yu’s great surprise, their appearance conformed very well to the aesthetics of Earth humans. Specifically, the Purple Civilization’s beings looked somewhat similar to human figures in certain Earth-era animations, with exaggeratedly large photoreceptive organs and exaggeratedly small respiratory organs.

Xiao Yu was very interested in why the Purple Civilization’s intelligent beings evolved into such forms. After conducting a round of research, he concluded that the generally dim environment on their planet led these beings to evolve oversized eyes, since large eyes are better at capturing light. At the same time, perhaps the overly abundant oxygen caused their respiratory organs to degenerate and become so small, since with such high oxygen content, the respiratory system can meet the organism’s needs with only a very low working efficiency.

In addition, by studying the Purple Civilization’s culture, Xiao Yu discovered a very interesting point.

“Hmm. This is a people with extremely high innate talent for war.” Xiao Yu observed the data before him with great interest. “There was a planetwide war nearly ten thousand years ago, was there not? That war unified the planet and made the new government aware of the dangers of war, and anti-war sentiment became the trend. Since then, the art of war has seen little progress. This also led this race to develop a national character that abides by order and is eager to help weaker races. So that is how it is.”

Only now were all of Xiao Yu’s doubts fully resolved. At the same time, he thought of another point.

Xiao Yu still remembered his earlier exclamation when he first saw the battle formation arrayed by the Purple Civilization’s warships. He believed that even if he were the one arranging it, under the technological conditions of the Purple Civilization, he could do no better than this.

“With the art of war having seen no progress for thousands of years, they can still achieve such an outstanding level. It seems this Purple Civilization truly does possess a talent for war. I am becoming more and more interested in you. If all your intelligent beings were incorporated into the Divine Ark Civilization and given some training in the art of war, I wonder how far you would ultimately advance.”