novelraw Chapter 444: The Peerless Collision
Chapter 444: The Peerless Collision
Xiao Yu had already mastered how to detonate the strange spheres obtained from the silicon-based civilization’s base and had gained a general understanding of their destructive method, power, and effective range. That one sphere he had accidentally triggered had wiped out all living beings aboard the Home-class ships, except for the intelligent beings sealed in cryostasis, leaving not even a single bacterium. By examining how these organisms had died and the effects upon them, Xiao Yu could calculate the precise killing radius of this weapon.
These spheres played an extremely important role in Xiao Yu’s plan. Amid the massive planetary engine construction effort, Xiao Yu also dug a cylindrical pit into this planet, several kilometers deep. At the bottom of this pit, he built something else.
It was a highly sophisticated underground launch system. Within it, Xiao Yu specially constructed an ultra-miniature spaceship designed to carry and detonate one of the spheres. After obtaining sufficient initial velocity within the several-kilometer-deep underground launch shaft, this tiny craft would be fired into space. Of course, before leaving the shaft, the craft would shut down all engines and any components capable of emitting radiation, relying solely on inertia to fly.
After a set period of time, it would reach the stationing point of the Guardian Civilization’s fleet. Although Xiao Yu would lose contact with it once it traveled a certain distance, due to the unique conditions of this star system, that didn’t matter. Xiao Yu had already programmed full automation into the craft. After the set time, it would automatically trigger and detonate.
Xiao Yu was not confident the spheres could annihilate all the Guardian Civilization’s forces gathered here. In fact, the logic was simple, he had no idea how much power the Guardians had deployed around this star system. There could be countless hidden fleets whose positions and distances were unknown to him. Even with these spheres, wiping them all out was nothing more than wishful thinking.
But Xiao Yu’s goal was never total annihilation. If they couldn’t be completely eradicated, then severely crippling part of their forces was still possible. After all, these were weapons created by a Level 7 silicon-based civilization.
That was enough. In Xiao Yu’s calculations, this would spark a very interesting chain of events. The sphere would serve only as the detonating fuse.
Xiao Yu’s plan was unfolding in an orderly manner. Under his terrifying execution power, the towering planetary engines rapidly appeared on the planet’s surface. In just three months, Xiao Yu had completed eighty percent of the entire construction workload.
The first phase of the plan was complete. Next, Xiao Yu began maneuvering the Neutron War Star, setting it into slow motion.
This was an extremely delicate binary system, a neutron star and a white dwarf, where any abnormal movement of one would gravitationally affect the other. The gravitational waves emitted by the neutron star reached the white dwarf at light speed, quickly provoking its response.Thus, the entire star system began to tremble.
“Good… good. Everything is proceeding according to plan…” Xiao Yu observed the phenomenon quietly and moved to the next step.
On the two planets, construction was now complete. Under the immense power of the planetary engines, the planets began divergent motions. One planet gradually accelerated in its orbit, slowly breaking free of the white dwarf’s gravitational hold. The other began to decelerate, inching closer to the predetermined trajectory calculated by Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu’s plan, in truth, was simple, to maneuver the white dwarf to collide with the damaged Neutron War Star, or, alternatively, to maneuver the damaged Neutron War Star into collision with the white dwarf.
That’s right, Xiao Yu intended to destroy this Neutron War Star. He had ample reasons for doing so. For the Guardian Civilization, this damaged Neutron War Star might hold great importance and research value. But for Xiao Yu, it was nothing more than a burden. He was, after all, a wandering civilization. To seize and keep this Neutron War Star would mean chaining his movements. And such an object was far too conspicuous. He understood all too well the truth of ‘an innocent man with a treasure invites his own doom.’
Xiao Yu didn’t even dare to imagine what life would be like after obtaining the Neutron War Star. Even if he somehow managed to protect it from being seized by the Guardian Civilization, so what? Its pitiful maneuverability would make his whereabouts completely exposed. He would become the most prominent target in the Milky Way, drawing the attention of every advanced civilization. He would suffer endless harassment and attacks. Even the Sweepers themselves might be drawn to him and launch assaults.
If the Neutron War Star had overwhelming combat power that could provide him immense benefits, then that would be another matter, anyone who dared to invade could simply be annihilated. But unfortunately, the star was too badly damaged, leaving him with only one usable weapon, the death ray. And death rays were effective only against carbon-based life. So how could Xiao Yu ensure that, in the future, he wouldn’t face attacks carried out solely through remotely controlled mechanical devices? After all, signal shielding worked only in this star system. Once he left it, who knew if such shielding would still exist?
Thus, after weighing everything, Xiao Yu made his decision, abandon the Neutron War Star and destroy it. By orchestrating its glorious destruction, he would lay down a grand arrangement. Within this plan, he would ruthlessly toy with the Guardian Civilization, delivering them a lesson they would never forget, while simultaneously creating the conditions necessary for his own escape.
That was Xiao Yu’s entire plan. Building planetary engines and controlling the motions of two planets was only the first step.
The damaged Neutron War Star was already under his control. He could maneuver it at speeds not exceeding five hundred kilometers per second. But directly steering it to collide with the white dwarf was impossible. The collision was a highly complex and precise system of motion, and Xiao Yu had to control all their trajectories perfectly. Therefore, using one planet as a tool to adjust the white dwarf’s orbit was absolutely necessary.
As for the other planet, Xiao Yu planned to use it as a shield to absorb the massive energy release from the collision of two stellar objects. One thing was certain, the collision of a white dwarf and a neutron star would unleash an energy release even more powerful than the stellar explosion in the Molian Civilization’s capital system. It could even trigger one of the most catastrophic events in the universe, a gamma-ray burst. After colliding, the white dwarf and neutron star would merge into one, forming one of the most terrifying celestial bodies in existence, a black hole.
This raging energy was not something Xiao Yu could withstand. Under such circumstances, using a planet as a shield was absolutely necessary. That was the destiny Xiao Yu had assigned to these two planets.
“What I cannot obtain, I will not leave to you.” Xiao Yu thought coldly. “You’ve forced me to this point. If I don’t give you a harsh lesson, how could I ever vent this fury in my heart? You want this Neutron War Star so badly? Then I’ll destroy it right before your eyes.”
When Xiao Yu said ‘before your eyes,’ it was no mere figure of speech. Although the unknown signal shielding device in this system prevented communication between the inside and outside, visible light, as well as X-rays and gamma rays, could still propagate without obstruction. Thus, Xiao Yu’s actions inside the system could not escape the observation of outsiders. In other words, the Guardian Civilization could clearly see what he was doing.
It was precisely for this reason that Xiao Yu had gone to such lengths to dig a pit thousands of meters deep and use an underground launch system to fire the ultra-miniature spaceship carrying the death sphere. The same reason, he did not want the Guardian Civilization to detect it.
And so, under these circumstances, the signals of Xiao Yu’s actions sped away from the star system at the speed of light, constantly observed by both the Guardian Civilization and the Taihao Civilization lurking in the shadows…
The first step of Xiao Yu’s plan was to maneuver one planet to break free of the white dwarf’s gravitational grip and escape from this dangerous region, reducing the impact it would suffer from the collision and improving his own safety. Meanwhile, the other planet would follow a carefully calculated path, using its faint gravitational pull to fine-tune the orbit of the white dwarf. In coordination, the damaged Neutron War Star also continued to shift, applying its own gravity to influence the white dwarf. All of this was for one ultimate purpose, to make the white dwarf collide with him.
Xiao Yu believed that his actions could be clearly observed by the Guardian Civilization. By analyzing his movements and performing some simple orbital calculations, they would surely know what he intended to do.
“You want this Neutron War Star… but I am destroying it. You cannot enter this system, so you cannot stop me. And because of the signal shielding device, you cannot even contact me. So I’m very curious, what will you do? What clever tricks will you attempt?”