After thorough consideration, Xiao Yu concluded that disguising himself as a Predator Civilization was a viable plan.

“But there’s one problem staring me in the face,” he thought. “Because the architectural style and construction technology of the two fleets are the same, these ships are bound to share certain distinctive features. Features that will make them recognizable at a glance. I’ll need to use some camouflage and deception.”

In Faster-Than-Light travel, only the space around the ship is warped. The hull and interior remain in normal conditions, meaning Xiao Yu’s fleet could still undergo modification mid-flight.

Thus, under Xiao Yu’s control, a grand-scale beautification project began.

He painted the exterior of all 550,000 ships with deceptive camouflage and randomly welded on all kinds of bizarre, meaningless attachments, a tripod protruding from one spot, an antenna-like structure jutting out from another. In short, over this period, Xiao Yu transformed his sleek, streamlined, elegantly designed fleet into a fleet of grotesque, mismatched monsters. By now, at least visually, there was no longer any resemblance to the 50,000 warships currently detained by the Molian Civilization.

The modified ships now radiated a sense of chaos and menace, no longer retaining a trace of their former grace.

“Now this looks more like a Predator Civilization,” Xiao Yu said with deep satisfaction as he admired his handiwork.

He didn’t expect this disguise to fool the Molian Civilization for long. After all, cosmetic changes were superficial at best. The propulsion systems, tech levels, construction materials, and overall performance hadn’t changed. But Xiao Yu believed that fooling them for five days should be feasible. And in his battle plan, the entire war would last no longer than ten days. Five days was enough.

While disguising the ships, Xiao Yu also issued a second directive to Luka Two.

“From this moment onward, I authorize you to trade a few County-Class ships to earn the Molian Civilization’s trust. But remember, this shift must appear natural. They cannot suspect a thing.”

Perceptive as ever, Luka Two understood Xiao Yu’s meaning immediately. It bowed deeply and replied. “Master, please rest assured. I will execute your orders flawlessly.”

To numb the Molian Civilization and to lower their guard against the detained fifty thousand ships, especially when war broke out, it was worth sacrificing a few vessels.

Thus, after a long series of stalling tactics, a few County-Class ships were eventually handed over to the Molians under Luka Two’s careful orchestration.

“As a gesture of our sincerity, we’ve completed the evacuation procedures ahead of schedule and cleared out several mid-sized ships. Please accept them and assess their value as Transaction Points. If the pricing is reasonable, we’ll proceed with trades involving larger vessels,” Luka Two said.

“Generous guests, please rest assured,” came the Molian response. “We of the Molian Civilization have always upheld fair and impartial trade principles. You will be pleased with the price.”

Thus, the deception continued in secret, hidden beneath the surface of polite, peaceful exchanges.

These County-Class ships contained at least 50% white dwarf Alien Beast flesh in their construction. Xiao Yu was certain these vessels would satisfy the Molian Civilization.

While Luka Two and the Psychosocial Sciences scientists maneuvered skillfully on the negotiation front. Xiao Yu unseen and deep in the void, was directing his massive fleet as it charged ahead at full speed.

FTL travel was a strange and wondrous thing. Due to the nature of curved space, which broke free from relativistic constraints, countless bizarre phenomena could occur during such journeys.

The first strange phenomenon of FTL travel was this: if a light source existed in front of a ship, the light signals it emitted would stack up.

Put simply, since the ship was moving faster than the speed of light, it would continually catch up to the light waves already emitted by the source. After catching them, the ship would reflect those signals forward, only to chase them down again. This loop would continue until all the light and signals accumulated in front of the ship, unable to escape.

If the light source was on the side or rear of the ship, similarly bizarre effects occurred. Under normal circumstances, light would travel outward in all directions from the source. But in curvature flight, the light’s behavior changed. Instead of flying away, the moment it left the source, it would turn around to chase it, because the source itself was moving faster than light.

This led to a strange outcome: a ship travelling via curvature drive was essentially invisible.

A vessel in this state could not emit any detectable signals other than those produced by superluminal communication tech, nor could it attack the outside world, just as no external attack could reach it.

According to Xiao Yu’s reasoning, if an outside observer were watching, a ship traveling via curvature drive would suddenly appear out of nowhere once it exited FTL—without any warning or foreknowledge.

This shaped the nature of Level 4 Civilization warfare in fascinating ways. Because of the nature of FTL travel, such civilizations could only engage in combat near star systems where the gravitational pull of massive stars prevented curvature travel—fixed-base battles over strategic systems.

This meant that a Level 4 Civilization could not completely destroy another Level 4 Civilization, as the latter would always have ways to flee into FTL.

Xiao Yu didn’t know whether Level 5 Civilizations had the ability to detect or attack ships in FTL. The Galactic Encyclopedia he’d purchased from the Molian Civilization had no mention of such capabilities. He could only rely on his own deductions.

And his conclusion was this: Level 5 Civilizations likely possessed some method of detecting and possibly attacking ships in curvature travel.

Why? Because when the first fleet of fifty thousand ships exited FTL, there had already been a Molian ship waiting for them. That fact had made Xiao Yu extremely wary.

In other words, this new fleet of five hundred fifty thousand ships might also be detected in advance.

As a result, Xiao Yu revised his battle and retreat plans, even recalculating his risk assessments. His conclusion: as long as he fought a quick war, striking and retreating before Molian reinforcements arrived, the risk remained within acceptable limits.

So his fleet pressed forward at full speed, unstoppable.

Meanwhile, Luka Two and the Psychosocial Sciences scientists, still under Molian surveillance, continued weaving their web of deception, doing their best to gain trust.

Xiao Yu, for his part, never stopped using the data interface to infiltrate the Molian computer system, gathering intel and leaving backdoors, preparing for the upcoming war.

Time crept forward.

Finally, Xiao Yu’s main fleet arrived at the edge of the star system. Even while still in FTL, with hundreds of billions of kilometers left to go, Xiao Yu received a familiar transmission.

“Greetings, traveler. You’ve arrived at the Azure Market, established by the Level 5 Molian Civilization. Here, you may enjoy a fair, just, and secure trading environment. May I ask the purpose of your visit?”

This message was identical to the one received by the first fleet.

But that fleet had only fifty thousand ships.

This one had five hundred and fifty thousand.

That discrepancy immediately caught Xiao Yu’s attention.

“Facing such a massive fleet, and they still act so calm and indifferent. Are they truly so confident?” Xiao Yu began rapidly calculating.

There could only be two explanations. Their FTL detection technology is still immature, so while they sensed a fleet approaching, they couldn’t determine its exact scale, mistaking Xiao Yu’s fleet as another ordinary trading group. Or they could detect the full fleet, but were so confident in their strength that they simply didn’t care.

“The first option is unlikely,” Xiao Yu reasoned. “If they can detect a fleet approaching, there’s no reason they wouldn’t know the ship count.”

“Then it must be the second… but are they really that powerful? So powerful they can ignore 550,000 warships?”

“But I’m not an ordinary Level 4 Civilization. And your stationed force here is far too weak. Besides… I’ve already infiltrated your computer system…”

The distance was now close enough.

Xiao Yu pulled the fleet out of curvature travel.

In an instant, 550,000 jagged, monstrous, seemingly cobbled-together warships appeared in the void, nothing like their original, elegant forms.

Just as expected, a small silver-gray ship appeared ahead of them, silently hovering in space.

“Let me ask again, why have you come here? If you are a peaceful civilization seeking trade, we welcome you. But if you come with ill intent, then leave at once. The dignity of the Molian Civilization is not to be violated…”

Xiao Yu stared at the tiny ship and muttered:

“So they really are that confident, huh?”

And then, he broadcast a short radio message.

“R-R-Raid!”