Chapter 362: The Missing Hunter
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
While the exploration of the megacorp galaxy was progressing, the second advance team sent by Li Wenyuan eight million light-years away was about to arrive at the target galaxy.
This was originally a place that was prepared to be explored at the same time, but an unexpected situation caused the exploration to be obstructed.
The s.p.a.ceships that were sent in this direction by the Outer Stargate were obstructed by an unknown force when they were about to approach the galaxy cl.u.s.ter. They still maintained their faster-than-light speed, but they seemed to be in the same place. This made the Surveillance Terminal, which arrived later, gradually discover their abnormality.
Through the comparison of the celestial body reference coordinates, it could be confirmed that this group of advance partys seemed to be advancing, but their spatial location had not changed at all.
The way the Outer Stargate moved was obviously impossible to turn halfway. In other words, if they couldn’t find the cause of the problem, this fleet would continue forward forever until the end of the universe.
However, because the distance was too far, the previous detection methods could not be effective at this distance. Li Wenyuan could only guess the reason for this phenomenon.
He guessed that the area was most likely a place with huge s.p.a.ce-time curvature. The fleet’s advancement was actually repeating back to the starting point.
So far, there was no evidence to prove that he was just unlucky. There happened to be such a special area along the path of the Outer Stargate.
However, this kind of accidental situation could only be said to be almost impossible in the distance of the universe. A millimeter difference was enough to cause a huge deviation a few light years later, let alone eight million light years.
Now, Li Wenyuan felt that it was most likely because that galaxy had an extremely special external environment. In fact, the entire galaxy was actually wrapped in this special environment.
“Is this also a protection method similar to the Curtain?” He couldn’t help but think of this.
If that was the case, then the situation in this galaxy was definitely not ordinary.
After thinking about it, Li Wenyuan decided to use the Outer Stargate to send a few more fleets over to test if this place was really in a blocked state.
This would take some time. After all, the Outer Stargate had to be recharged halfway through its activation, and the waiting time would not be wasted.
He had already chosen the location for the construction of the Pillar of Creation. This kind of megastructure that spanned dozens of galaxies was a huge project. In order to find a suitable celestial body environment, he conducted many investigations and finally chose a galaxy border area far away from civilization.
After the complete Pillar of Creation was completed, it would undoubtedly be a huge help to him, be it military or scientific research.
Therefore, his focus was still on the galaxy where the megacorp was located. This place was closely related to the Hunter civilization. Perhaps it could help him understand what the Hunter had been doing all along.
The stars spun again, and Presolin fell into silence. Even the group that was still in the spiral galaxy was in low spirits, as if they had lost their vitality because their connection with the queen had weakened.
The a.s.similation Fighters had also made new progress in the megacorp galaxy.
At this moment, it was a special festival for the Servant Megacorp. The current megacorp had a unique holiday system. Different cla.s.ses were applied to different festivals.
However, this was only effective for the upper cla.s.s. The lower cla.s.s actually did not have holidays, and they did not even have much time to rest.
However, there was only one exception, and that was the century-old festival that the megacorp called Welcome Day. This festival was held every 100 years, and everyone could have a stipulated vacation, even the lowest-ranking personnel.
In fact, even the miner himself had experienced this festival. The average lifespan of people in his cla.s.s was about 120 years. As long as nothing unexpected happened, most people could survive this festival.
Would megacorp really be so kind as to give everyone an equal vacation? Of course not.
This holiday could be forced to work overtime for various reasons. It was not difficult to pick on this thorn, so in fact, this holiday was equivalent to nothing for the lower cla.s.s.
But for the rest of the cla.s.s, it’s still an important holiday, because it usually means that civilization was coming.
Sometime before the celebration, the board of directors of the megacorp headquarters held a meeting as usual.
This group of people who stood at the peak of power and resources would only gather on this day.
Although they were equivalent to the G.o.ds of everyone else in this galaxy, they still had to wag their tails like dogs in the face of the civilization that was about to arrive.
They were all smart people and understood who had given them everything.
However, it was a little different this time.
“…Do you think they’ll come again this time?”
In the conference room where only the virtual image was present, a board member asked this question. The others remained silent. It was obvious that they did not know how to answer this question.
“It’s been almost twenty times since they came, right? It’s been two thousand years. Even old things like us have changed our sh.e.l.ls generation after generation, but they still haven’t come.”
“…If that’s the case, can 1 take it that they’re trapped?”
Another director deliberately emphasized the word trapped in his inquiry. On the surface, he was worried that the civilization was busy, but in fact, he was asking if they had perished for some reason.
Two thousand years was neither long nor short, but it was enough for a civilization to go from chaos to destruction.
At this moment, the most senior member of the board spoke.
“…Don’t jump to conclusions about them. They’ve roamed the galaxy for an unimaginable period of time. Even if they’re going to perish, they won’t do it so casually. Think about the last time you see them. We just have to do our part.”
His words caused many directors to ponder. Although a long time had pa.s.sed, as long as it was related to that civilization, they would remember it clearly.
The last time the civilization came here to collect the hounds, they did not seem to be in a hurry. They maintained their usual arrogance and casualness, not shying from revealing to them what they were going to do recently.
[We found a good place with a lot of resources. It’s a good place to go.]
[You can use your observation methods to take a look. It’s probably near you. When you see a galaxy’s star suddenly extinguish, that will be our hunting ground.]
[By the way, the number of hounds that we need recently might be a little too much. Prepare yourselves. The next time 1 come here, I want to see ten times the amount. You…can do it, right?]
The visitor from that civilization did not sound threatening at all, but it still left a huge impression in their hearts. They could even remember every move they made back then.
However, it was also after this that the civilization never appeared again. The so-called star extinguishment did not happen at all. Even batches of eggs that were at the critical stage of incubation had appeared, and they did not fulfill their promise of recycling.
Once or twice was fine, but now that 2,000 years had pa.s.sed and they were a group of opportunists, even if they knew in their hearts that they could not afford to provoke that civilization, they could not help but have some risky thoughts.
In fact, there were already many directors secretly researching ways to control those Void Eggs in order to convert these creatures into their combat power.
The capital was always profit-driven. Raising these eggs for free was an unnecessary burden for their company. In the database of a large computer in the company, there was even a record of fighting with that civilization and seizing their intergalactic navigation method.
This group of capitalists who stood at the top were no longer satisfied with the market in the galaxy. They wanted to open up an alien market in other galaxies. Under the surface of submission was the huge ambition of establishing a Pan Universe Trading Company.
It could be said that they were arrogant, but the huge amount of resources they had acc.u.mulated after ruling a galaxy group without any effort was also the source of their ambition.
If they really found a way to travel across the galaxy and mastered the hatching and control methods of the Void Egg, perhaps the ambition of this Pan Universe Trading Company would really succeed.
However, up until now, this ambition was still buried deep in their hearts. Every director knew this tacitly.
Two thousand years might not be enough, but what about ten thousand or twenty thousand years?
They knew that one day, they would not be able to hold it in anymore. Although they were still respectful to that civilization on the surface, everyone was looking forward to its demise.
In this way, they would become the greatest victors.
“…No matter what, let’s continue with the festival celebration this time. We’ve already thought of a way to delay the hatching time of the Void Egg quite a bit. This one time won’t make a difference, but…”
At the end of the meeting, a director frowned and reminded them, “The rats in the asteroid belt seem to be showing signs of activity again recently. They seem to be preparing to cause trouble during this festival celebration…” Another person sneered and said nonchalantly, “Why? Are you afraid of them?” “What a group of pitiful fellows. They claim to be great successors, but they don’t even have a decent lost building. They can only survive on the surface of meteorite belts and giant gas planets. As long as we want to capture them all at once, there’s no need.”
“Isn’t it fun to watch them struggle? I have to take a look at their activity schedules myself every day and laugh bitterly at them for not knowing that more than half of their organization is a spy.”
The director who had reminded him before also nodded thoughtfully, as if he knew something new..