Chapter 14: Mechanical Civilization, Section 8

The massive roar gradually faded, and Mason’s planet finally slowed down. Though its enormous wake still remained unchanged, the power driving the planet itself visibly diminished. The terrifying gravitational pull of the neutron star finally became apparent.
72% was the probability Mason had given. It wasn’t a small figure, and Black Hair saw no reason not to give it a try. What he was truly worried about now was what would happen after escaping the neutron star’s gravitational field.
According to Mason’s predictions, by then its energy would be completely depleted, leaving it unable to maintain even its most basic consciousness. Until Black Hair supplied it with enough energy, it could only drift as a regular planet in the universe.
But that was enough. Black Hair had only asked for a base. Even if Mason lost consciousness, its physical structure would remain. Using such a massive armored planet as a base posed no problem at all—it would even greatly enhance the Blood Wolf Pirates’ stealth. The only downside was that it was far too extravagant.
Lost in thought, Black Hair suddenly noticed a severe distortion in the universe around him. At the same time, Mason’s voice came through.
“Black Hair, the neutron star’s gravity is much stronger than I expected. My energy is insufficient. I request abandoning this attempt to escape. What do you think?”
“No,” Black Hair replied calmly, shaking his head. “If we give up now, we’ll never have another chance to leave the neutron star. Without energy, you can’t even maintain your current state and will be pulled into the neutron star as it collapses.”
“That won’t happen. Even now, I still have 0.78% of my energy left, enough to maintain my current state for a hundred years. As long as I get enough replenishment during that time, I can restart the engines.” Mason’s voice was calm, as if losing energy or waiting for resupply were trivial matters, devoid of any emotional fluctuations typical of intelligent beings.
“Stop joking,” Black Hair sneered. “I can’t wait a hundred years.”
“Understood. Then I’ll activate the synchronization engines for one last attempt. Whether it succeeds or not, I’ll enter hibernation in thirty minutes.” Mason replied indifferently. At the same time, the blue light from its core flared brightly, causing the entire planet to shake violently once again.

From Black Hair’s perspective, at that very moment, the wake behind the planet expanded. In just an instant, it became larger than the planet itself. The terrifying energy caused violent fluctuations in space, with the oscillations intensifying. Yet the result was not ideal. The neutron star’s monstrous gravity acted like an invisible giant hand, firmly pulling at the massive planet, creating a situation akin to a wrestling match—sometimes pushing the planet forward and sometimes pulling it back.

Seeing this, Black Hair’s heart skipped a beat. He knew full well that this was the most dangerous situation. Two equally terrifying forces acting on the planet would not only accelerate energy loss but also cause severe damage to the planet’s structure. If it were a less powerful warship, it might even collapse from within.

Tension gripped Black Hair’s heart, causing him to frown. Large drops of sweat silently slid down his eyelids, stinging his eyes. For a moment, he even felt as if he could hear the friction within the planet’s structure. As time passed, just when Black Hair thought the planet would give out, a deafening explosion suddenly rang in his ears, followed by a blinding light that left him blind for a moment!

“It worked!!” Black Hair was overjoyed.

“Good thing it didn’t fail… I left 0.0013% of the energy in the planet, which should be enough for you. From now on, it’s your turn to provide energy for me. Lastly, please don’t forget our agreement.” Mason’s voice rang out again, but it grew weaker until it finally disappeared completely. At the same time, the scene before Black Hair changed. He left the 360-degree view and reappeared in the planet’s control room. In front of him was now a control panel covered with numerous buttons, along with a screen similar to that of Li Feng.

This was proof that Mason had handed over control.

Black Hair stood up, silently walked to the control panel, took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled a ring of smoke.

“Don’t worry. I will keep my promise.”

“After I gain enough strength.”

With that, Black Hair’s fingers began typing rapidly on the control panel. The screen lit up, and the universe around him appeared once again.

But to his surprise, what he saw this time was not a peaceful space, but countless raging battles.

No one knew how Mason managed it, but the spot where it stopped happened to be exactly the coordinates where Black Hair entered the planet. By now, this place had turned into a battlefield. Two fleets were fighting fiercely here; one group of warships was all silver in color, a model Black Hair had never seen before. Their shapes were sharp and square, resembling pieces of wood. Yet, both in size and firepower, they far surpassed the Spearfish-class ships Black Hair had encountered. There were about thirty of them, each with a distinct blue lightning symbol on the side. Their formation was highly disciplined, and it was clear at a glance just how powerful they were.

But they weren’t the ones in control of the battlefield. The real ones in charge were the smaller group. Although their warships were smaller and had weaker firepower, they relied on their high agility to move along the edges of the battlefield. A huge flagship among them, along with one red and one blue mech, kept launching attacks.

Those were… Blood Eyes, Lily, and Windy!!

Black Hair’s pupils contracted sharply, and his face turned ashen.

But he wasn’t the only one with a pale face at that moment. It seemed every warship present was stunned by the sudden appearance of this massive planet. The fighting stopped instantly, and both fleets froze in space. After a long while, as if by some unspoken agreement, they scattered and regrouped in two separate groups not far away.

The difference was that the silver fleet headed deep into space, while Windy’s group stayed near the planet. At the same time, anxious voices came through the common channel.

“Leader? Is that you? Really you?”

“Great! Master, is that you inside this giant?”

“Captain, welcome back!!”

Black Hair didn’t respond. With a pale face, he quickly tapped his fingers on the control panel. A black thread emerged from his left arm and plunged into another small control panel nearby. Countless graphs scrolled rapidly across the screen, and a flood of bizarre data poured into his mind. In less than thirty seconds, he identified all the weapons he could use. He quickly pressed a few buttons, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

“Let’s get started!”

Under everyone’s gaze, a section of the asteroid’s surface, over 500 meters in diameter, suddenly peeled away, revealing a silver-white metal coating beneath. Numerous spikes protruded from the surface of this metal coating, forming a huge circle. The spikes at the center of the circle were especially long, reaching hundreds of meters in height.

Before anyone could figure out what those spikes were for, terrifying arcs of electricity, as thick as a child’s arm, suddenly appeared before their eyes. These arcs moved back and forth between the spikes, as if trapped in a cage with no freedom. More and more arcs appeared, and in just an instant, a horrifying light sphere with a diameter of over 300 meters was formed!!

“Zzzz!!!”

The light sphere exploded…

Just like a lightning spear piercing the sky. To everyone’s astonishment, the light sphere disintegrated and instantly covered a vast area of nearly 100 kilometers in front of the planet. Those poor silver warships, which had just finished assembling and hadn’t yet switched to a defensive formation, were devastated. Their seemingly sturdy armor was as weak as paper in the face of those serpent-like arcs. In just an instant, half of the warships turned into dazzling fireballs in space.

God, what on earth was that???

Chaos and screams filled the public channel, as almost everyone couldn’t believe their own eyes.

The power of those arcs was truly terrifying. Not to mention others, even Black Hair himself was shocked. Watching the energy meter drop to zero in an instant, his face turned dark.

After all, what he had used was merely one of the weakest weapons on this armed planet, yet its power still shocked him greatly. One could imagine what would happen if he used the main weapons. But the more he thought about it, the less happy he became.

Because he suddenly realized that if even the Styos, who could create such powerful weapons, had been destroyed by the Moors, then his agreement with Mason seemed all too reckless. Perhaps it was a mistake.

“Whoa!!” Cheers from the public channel snapped Black Hair out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw that the silver fleets had retreated like a tide. Even as they fled, they still maintained a standard combat formation. Their discipline was far stricter than that of ordinary ragtag forces.

Could it be that they were…

“Boss, you came back just in time. If not for you, we would have been in trouble with those minions of the interstellar fleets.” Blood-Eyed’s voice rang in Black Hair’s ear at just the right moment, answering the question in his mind.

Sure enough, those silver warships were part of the interstellar fleets—the most powerful force among humans. No wonder they had such strict discipline. Black Hair realized this and shook his head before opening the planet’s entrance.

Watching his own fleets stream in, Black Hair felt a sense of oppression.

Finally… was it time to make contact?