What exactly had happened in these more than thirty years during which the Neutron War Star disappeared, Xiao Yu did not know. But he knew that the conflicts that occurred during this time must have been unimaginably intense, perhaps even beyond his imagination.

To say that it was the most advanced war ever fought below the level of a Level 7 Civilization would not be an exaggeration.

On one side was the Taihao Civilization, which had failed to ascend to Level 7 but had attained a semi-four-dimensional structure. On the other side was the Sweeper Civilization, which had mastered the creations of Level 7 Civilizations: the Neutron War Star.

The clash between these two powerful civilizations was like the duel between martial arts masters described in certain Wuxia novels. From the outside, one might only see two experts with palms pressed against each other, motionless, perhaps with some steam rising from their heads. It appeared dull and uneventful, but the hidden dangers—only those directly involved in the battle could truly understand.

The battle between the Taihao Civilization and the Neutron War Star was exactly such a process. Xiao Yu had only seen that the Neutron War Star had vanished for more than thirty years, and that the Taihao Civilization had remained silent for just as long. As for everything else, Xiao Yu knew nothing. All he knew was that after more than thirty years, the Neutron War Star reappeared, and the Taihao Civilization had shattered into pieces.

“Taihao is dead.” Upon seeing this, Xiao Yu thought with some sorrow.

As for the environment within the war-torn star cluster, Xiao Yu could roughly imagine it. On that battlefield, high-temperature matter from exploding stars must have filled the space, and all kinds of extremely intense radiation would be sweeping across the entire star cluster. The environment there must have been unimaginably harsh.

In such an environment, even the most powerful warship in Xiao Yu’s possession, the Hebei, would not be able to guarantee survival.

“A war at this level really isn’t something I can be involved in,” Xiao Yu sighed. “It seems Taihao’s decision to throw me away in advance, to keep me far from the battlefield, was the right one. Otherwise, I would have died together with Taihao long ago.”

Taihao’s death left Xiao Yu briefly dazed. When he came back to his senses, he saw that the countless points of light, entangled with the Sweeper Civilization, had suddenly fallen into disarray at the moment of Taihao’s demise. As soon as the Neutron War Star reappeared, it charged ferociously into the densest cluster of light points. Instantly, the entire cluster scattered with a thunderous burst, like a swarm of fireflies smashed by something heavy.

The death of the Taihao Civilization marked the true conclusion of this war.

Among the scattered light points, the most eye-catching was one that glowed a faint orange. This light point appeared to be the strongest. The instant the Neutron War Star emerged, it instantly leapt several light-years away, evading the Neutron War Star’s most devastating strike. Then, it disappeared entirely, vanishing from the star cluster through some unknown method of escape.

The rest of the light points were not so lucky. Pursued by the Neutron War Star and other light points belonging to the Sweeper Civilization, they couldn’t even flee, they could only be extinguished one by one by the Sweeper Civilization.

In the end, fewer than one out of every hundred light points managed to escape.

This vast war finally came to an end.

This war gave Xiao Yu a much clearer understanding of the power of the Sweeper Civilization.

“I didn’t expect the Guardian Civilization to escape under these circumstances. It seems that over these tens of millions of years, the Guardian Civilization has likely focused most of its efforts on escape and concealment. According to the scientists of Luka, tens of millions of years ago before the Sweeper Civilization possessed the Neutron War Star, the Guardian Civilization could still fight the Sweepers to a draw. But now, the gap in strength has become so vast. The Neutron War Star… the Neutron War Star… is it really that powerful…”

“In this major event, without a doubt, the Sweeper Civilization reaped the greatest benefit. It eliminated the Taihao Civilization, wiped out hundreds of Level 4 and Level 5 Civilizations. Who knows what kind of advantages this will bring them? Who knows if the fortune gained from destroying so many powerful entities could help them break through to the level of a Level 7 Civilization…”

“Let’s hope not. If they do manage to ascend to the level of a Level 7 Civilization, then the rest of the civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy are doomed. But then again, who can say? Perhaps a Level 7 Civilization can break free from the restrictions of the galaxy and embark on far-reaching journeys measured in millions or tens of millions of light-years, and in doing so, lose all interest in lower civilizations.”

Up until now, everything Xiao Yu had seen and experienced was still confined within the Milky Way Galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud was merely a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, similar in relationship to the Earth and its moon. Therefore, the Taihao Civilization, which originated from the Large Magellanic Cloud, still technically belonged to the domain of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Extragalactic systems and Level 7 Civilizations were both unknown realms to Xiao Yu. He speculated that perhaps only after reaching the level of a Level 7 Civilization would it truly be possible to voyage beyond one’s home galaxy.

While speculating, Xiao Yu piloted his fleet, once again accelerating rapidly toward his designated target.

During the decades spent observing the war, the number of Luka people had increased once again. At the same time, breakthroughs were made in biotechnology, the average lifespan of the Luka had surpassed the millennium mark. As a result, the number of scientists available to serve Xiao Yu had reached as many as three thousand.

These three thousand scientists worked alongside Xiao Yu, tirelessly engaged in scientific research day and night. However, over these decades, Xiao Yu’s technology had not seen any major breakthroughs.

“Just as I thought, once technology reaches a certain level, it’s no longer something a single genius scientist can independently push forward. If I want further technological progress, I’ll have to rely on time and steady accumulation,” Xiao Yu mused, gazing at the increasingly radiant star ahead of him.

Over the long journey, Xiao Yu’s fleet had shrunk to fewer than seventy thousand ships. Fortunately, at this moment, he was already quite close to his destination, only about a year’s journey remained.

Xiao Yu had already pre-modified several faster-than-light Village-Class starships, which had been sent ahead with a few instruments to begin preliminary scans of the star system. The scan results were highly encouraging to Xiao Yu.

The data showed that although the star had entered its middle-to-late life stage, it remained generally stable. It possessed a massive gas giant, four to five times the mass of Jupiter. Most importantly, this gas giant had several hundred rocky moons. These moons would provide Xiao Yu with an endless supply of construction materials.

And so, even while still en route, Xiao Yu began intense preparations.

When it came to transforming a star system and extracting its resources to the fullest, Xiao Yu was already highly skilled. At Tianyuan IV and in the Aquila Nebula, Xiao Yu had accumulated a wealth of experience. He was confident that, within ten years of arriving at this star, he could rebuild his industrial system.

Amidst his busy preparations, one year later, Xiao Yu arrived at the vicinity of the star. Looking at the place where he would spend at least the next hundred years, his heart was full of admiration.

“What a paradise of a place this is,” Xiao Yu marveled.

A stable star, a massive gas giant, and several hundred moons, everything here carried an extraordinary allure for Xiao Yu.

“This star… let’s call you the Star of Hope. And this gas giant, let’s just name it Hope One. The moons orbiting around Hope One will be labeled in order of size, using the alphabet.”

After decelerating, Xiao Yu’s fleet successfully entered orbit around Hope One. The first thing Xiao Yu did was establish the naming convention for these celestial bodies and notify the Luka scientists. From this point on, Xiao Yu and the Luka scientists would communicate using this naming system.

With that settled, Xiao Yu began the vast, chaotic, yet methodically organized planetary system reconstruction project. First, he dispatched a large number of satellites to conduct detailed scans of the hundreds of moons orbiting Hope One, determining their elemental composition, size, mass, potential utility, and other relevant data.

With this information in hand, the next steps of construction became significantly simpler. Onboard the ships, Xiao Yu had long prepared a massive fleet of construction robots. These robots, categorized by function, were deployed to different moons to begin their assigned tasks.

They began by building mining bases. These bases would handle the supply of raw materials for all of Xiao Yu’s future construction projects. Following the mining bases were the initial forging factories.

These factories would perform primary processing on the minerals extracted by the mining bases to prepare them for later use.

After the forging factories came the robot foundries and various parts-manufacturing plants. Due to limitations in ship tonnage and capacity, it was impossible for Xiao Yu to bring too many robots aboard, thus, constructing robot foundries was crucial. The parts factories included a wide variety of precision-instrument manufacturing facilities as well.

In addition to ground construction, Xiao Yu also established thousands of massive space docks in orbit. These space docks would handle the construction of new starships and the faster-than-light upgrades of existing vessels.

Under the powerful computational control of Xiao Yu, every complex task proceeded in perfect order.

The robot foundries on the ground became the heart of Xiao Yu’s entire construction effort, these hearts continuously produced fresh labor to replenish every “organ.” The mining bases, in turn, constantly outputted raw materials to supply the factories.

Thus began another grand era of large-scale construction.