Under Xiao Yu’s coordination, all affairs proceeded in perfect order. It had now been five years since he arrived on this planet. Over those five years, all of Xiao Yu’s foundational infrastructure had been completed. In total, several thousand large-scale extraction bases had been constructed, constantly producing vast quantities of minerals to support various research efforts and the construction of experimental instruments.

“The Specter Race elder said I had eighty years for development, but that timeframe includes both research and application. From the moment a new technology is developed until I produce a functional device, there’s always a buffer period. So in reality, I don’t have eighty years, at most, I only have fifty. After those fifty years, I’ll need to consolidate all newly developed technologies and spend thirty years completing all construction tasks.”

“By then, I’ll turn this entire star system into a graveyard for the Molian Civilization fleet,” Xiao Yu resolved silently.

Yes, Xiao Yu did not intend to leave this place to confront the Molian Civilization. He could instead use these several decades of safe development to transform this star system into a fully fortified interstellar fortress and fight a defensive war, wiping out the enemy through defense.

In a defensive war, the most effective and powerful weapon, without question, was the negative matter cannon. In Xiao Yu’s current theoretical framework, there was no known effective defense against a negative matter cannon. The only way to defend against it was to use an equal amount of energy or mass to neutralize the Tachyon Torrent. This applied to Level 5 and even Level 6 Civilizations.

By constructing the first large-scale negative matter cannon, Xiao Yu had acquired a wealth of relevant knowledge. After the ground bases were completed, he immediately launched a new construction plan for a negative matter cannon, this time located in orbit around the planet. As the related technologies were still incomplete, this negative matter cannon would remain experimental and not yet viable for actual combat.

The previous negative matter cannon had been five kilometers long, yet its muzzle diameter was only two hundred meters. Its firepower, compared to its massive size, was almost negligible. Moreover, it was unstable, Xiao Yu only conducted a single firing test before it completely burned out.

That previous project exposed many technical issues. Now, with the help of scientists from various races, Xiao Yu had resolved those challenges one by one. This time, the new negative matter cannon would still be five kilometers in length, but the muzzle diameter would reach five hundred meters. Once completed, its power would increase more than tenfold.

Currently, over thirty large space bases were orbiting the planet. All of them were integrated facilities, capable of independently manufacturing a variety of instruments. Under such conditions, many precision components were fabricated directly in space and then transported to the construction site of the negative matter cannon, where Xiao Yu directed robots to assemble them.

On this geologically active planet, rife with tectonic collisions, powerful earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, Xiao Yu’s spacecraft tirelessly shuttled back and forth, ferrying endless construction materials from the surface to space. In return, wave after wave of experimental data was transmitted back to the ground. The massive negative matter cannon continued to expand in size…

At this time, another obstacle stood in Xiao Yu’s way. He realized his computational power was gradually becoming insufficient.

Despite having already deployed a large number of automated systems to operate the equipment, no longer handling low-level machine operations himself and instead managing only the broader systems, the computational demands still amounted to astronomical figures.

Xiao Yu had maintained the current quantum computer architecture for many years. After such prolonged development, the main computing system was slowly falling behind.

“Should I reallocate computational resources and begin designing a completely new computer architecture? Or should I patch the current architecture? If I go with the former, it’ll take at least thirty years and consume at least ten percent of my total computational power, but it would result in a thirtyfold increase in computing capacity. If I go with the latter, I can produce a finished system within five years, and triple the current computational power… Hmm. Things are far too busy right now. A brand-new architecture will have to wait. I’ll just patch the current system for now. A threefold boost in power should suffice, for the time being.”

After thinking it over, Xiao Yu made his decision.

“My descendant, your potential for growth and your ability to execute truly astound me. In you, I see the shadow of my main civilization. At your current stage, it too was this fanatical, this spirited. It’s just a pity… in the end, it still couldn’t defeat the Neutron War Star.”

While Xiao Yu was in the midst of his busy work, a message arrived from the Specter Race.

Xiao Yu replied, “Senior, it’s an honor to receive your protection and this precious window of several decades to develop. The pressure to survive has always weighed on me, so I have no choice but to be frantic, no choice but to stay energized. By the way, how are you doing now?”

“My condition… is the same as before. My body is aging. The immense energy from the star is becoming insufficient to suppress the rampaging negative matter inside me. Once the positive energy can no longer suppress the negative energy… that will be the moment I die.”

Hearing this, a ripple stirred in Xiao Yu’s heart.

What exactly was the state of existence of the Specter Race? Even now, Xiao Yu didn’t understand.

“Can you tell me what kind of existence the Specter Race truly is? Why does the Specter Race possess such overwhelming combat strength?”

“The Specter Race, huh…” It paused briefly in thought, then continued, “You may have heard of the Specter Race’s classification system. Our abilities are measured in a completely different way from all other races. That race member of yours who transformed into a member of the Specter Race, he’s probably reached the level of a Tier-Two Specter now. I… am a Tier-Four Specter.”

Xiao Yu recalled the battle against the Luka Civilization fleet. When the Specter Race had first appeared, the Luka fleet’s commander had mentioned something like ‘Tier-Two Specter.’

“The Specter Race’s existence defies logic. At the very least, with the technological strength of a Level 6 Civilization, it is still impossible to explain the Specter Race. Even I don’t know what state I actually exist in. My main civilization once captured a Level 6 preliminary Technological Civilization, which conducted a detailed analysis on me. Do you know what conclusion they reached?”

There was a trace of sarcasm in the Specter’s tone as it continued, “That Level 6 Civilization’s analysis concluded that I do not exist in this universe. That’s right, you heard correctly, my total mass is zero, my total energy is zero. Everything is zero. In other words, there is no such thing as a ‘Specter Race’ in this universe at all. If the total mass and total energy are zero, then how can something be said to exist?”

Hearing this, Xiao Yu felt a strange sense of disquiet.

Could something with no mass and no energy really exist in this universe? At least at his current level, Xiao Yu had never found such a thing. Even photons, though they had no rest mass, undoubtedly carried energy. Negative matter, despite having negative mass and energy, still couldn’t stably exist in this universe.

In the end, whether the total energy and mass were positive or negative, they still had a measurable existence. But something with zero mass and zero energy, like that proverbial dragon in the room that no one can see, touch, or detect through any means, and that also cannot exert any influence on the real world… in that case, wouldn’t it be more logical to say it doesn’t exist at all?

“But… you undeniably exist, don’t you?” Xiao Yu asked cautiously. “How can something with zero total mass and energy possess independent consciousness, and such overwhelming combat power?”

“I don’t know,” the Specter Race replied. “This touches on the classification system of the Specter Race. Our tiers are determined by the types of matter we’ve mastered. A Tier-One Specter only controls regular matter. A Tier-Two Specter controls both regular matter and antimatter. Tier-Three adds dark matter to that. And finally, a Tier-Four Specter controls all four types of matter.”

“The total mass and energy of the first three tiers are all positive. Only Tier-Four Specters, who have mastered negative matter, have zero total mass and energy. But it’s precisely the Tier-Four Specters that are the most powerful.”

“In other words, as a whole, the amount of regular matter and negative matter within me is balanced. The two cancel each other out. From the outside, I appear to exhibit no mass and no energy. And yet, I do undeniably exist. I can cling to stars and draw energy from them. I can traverse the universe and slaughter other civilizations at will. My existence defies logic, at least, no Level 6 Civilization has yet been able to explain me.”

“Defies logic?” Xiao Yu murmured, feeling as though his mind had entered a dead end, a paradox he couldn’t escape.

Xiao Yu still couldn’t bring himself to accept how something with zero total mass and energy could be so powerful.

“This is the secret of the Specter Race’s very structure. If you can uncover the principles behind it, perhaps you could use them to develop even more powerful weapons. Maybe… even enough to defeat the Neutron War Star.”

“Defeat the Neutron War Star, huh?” As soon as he heard those words, a great wave surged through Xiao Yu’s mind.