This feeling was very strange. Xiao Yu didn’t even know why he could be so certain, it was as if the moment arose naturally in his mind, making him sure that this thing was exactly what he had been looking for.

“Perhaps this is some kind of special connection between the Main Civilization and the Specter Race,” Xiao Yu murmured to himself. “The Specter elder really did leave me enough clues. It’s just that the existence of this Level 4 Alien Beast likely went beyond the elder’s expectations. The elder probably never imagined that the Specter Heart he left behind would be seized by this creature.”

Pushing these chaotic thoughts from his mind, Xiao Yu quickly snapped out of his brief distraction.

“The All Nations Pay Tribute! It’s attacking the All Nations Pay Tribute!” Realizing the situation again, Xiao Yu’s mind immediately tensed up.

All of Xiao Yu’s scientists, as well as the vast majority of intelligent lifeforms from his civilization, had been relocated onto the All Nations Pay Tribute starship. Aside from that ship, only the New Homeland and The Paradise had a few remaining intelligent lifeforms aboard. However, those were just ordinary intelligent lifeforms, not scientists!

All the scientists, including Luka Two, Luka Three, Luka Four, all the scientists from the Psychosocial Sciences Division and the Science and Technology Division, were aboard the All Nations Pay Tribute starship!

If Xiao Yu lost this force, the speed of his scientific development would drop by at least several dozen percentage points. That was a loss Xiao Yu could not accept.

“Master, Master, what’s going on? Why is the ship shaking so violently? The artificial gravity system seems to have malfunctioned. Some sections of the ship have already lost gravity… and there are areas experiencing energy short-circuits. Some scientists have been injured already, Master, what exactly is happening?”

At that moment, Xiao Yu received an emergency communication request from Luka Four. As soon as he connected, he saw Luka Four’s slightly anxious face.

“It’s nothing. Just focus on calming everyone, maintaining order, and staying calm. Leave everything else to me,” Xiao Yu quickly responded, rapidly coming up with a countermeasure.

In this critical moment, Xiao Yu maneuvered the ship while thinking swiftly. ‘How exactly did this thing infiltrate the center of my fleet without a sound?’

Xiao Yu’s fleet was arranged in an order from smaller to larger ships, forming a roughly spherical formation. On the outer layers were the Village-Class and Town-Class small ships, and the further inward, the larger the ships became. Of course, this increase in size was just a general trend, not a strict rule. For instance, among roughly three thousand small ships, there would definitely be one large City-Class flagship per squad, accompanied by corresponding County-Class ships.

However, regardless of the arrangement method, the All Nations Pay Tribute, being the largest, most valuable ship but lacking in combat capability, was always placed at the very center, receiving the tightest protection.

And yet, this Level 4 Alien Beast had appeared right beside the All Nations Pay Tribute!

It seemed to have ignored all the defensive ships on the outer layers, evaded all of Xiao Yu’s observation methods, and silently slipped into the center of the fleet, launching a fatal strike at the largest ship!

What was going on? Xiao Yu had no idea.

“If it really possesses the ability to evade all my detection methods, then it’s far too terrifying. With such an ability, it would be classified as a Level 5 Alien Beast… If it really is a Level 5 Alien Beast, then forget the All Nations Pay Tribute, even the Beijing wouldn’t be guaranteed to escape!”

“No, that’s not right! There’s another possibility! That is, it was already hiding here before I finished arranging the formation! All my detection methods were aimed at monitoring the perimeter. My internal defenses and surveillance were much weaker! That must be it, that must be it!”

Xiao Yu murmured to himself, silently contemplating.

Under Xiao Yu’s control, the All Nations Pay Tribute starship’s shield output had been pushed to the maximum. The gravitational shield, energy shield, tachyon shield, and Four-Dimensional Shield were layered in four tiers, and with the ship’s immense internal energy supply, they stubbornly resisted the attacks from the Alien Beast. At the same time, the few weapons on the All Nations Pay Tribute that could be operated by Xiao Yu unleashed a fierce barrage, countless antimatter bombs, material disintegration beams, gravitational bombs, and other weapons were fired. In that instant, at the very core of the fleet, the entire area became engulfed in flames of war.

At the same time, the Beijing starship, which wasn’t far from the All Nations Pay Tribute, suddenly pulled back, retreating into the protective formation of the other ships. The remaining Province-Class ships, such as the Tianjin and the Shanghai, immediately surged forward. Because the attack came from within, the formation designed to repel external threats was now clearly ineffective. Under Xiao Yu’s command, hundreds of thousands of ships began a dazzling formation shift like a kaleidoscope. Within ten seconds of the Alien Beast’s appearance, Xiao Yu had completed all arrangements.

“Attack! Attack!” Xiao Yu issued the order.

At that moment, the Alien Beast was clinging to the All Nations Pay Tribute, launching a ferocious assault. According to Xiao Yu’s calculations, even with the fleet’s most powerful energy supply and defense systems, the ship could last no more than twenty minutes under the ferocity of this beast.

Twenty minutes!

If Xiao Yu couldn’t drive the beast away or kill it in that time, the All Nations Pay Tribute would explode into pieces, taking with it more than ten thousand scientists who were critical to Xiao Yu, sending them all to the afterlife.

If Xiao Yu still had eyes, they would be burning with anxious fire. Under his command, hundreds of thousands of ships launched a precise pinpoint strike on the beast, targeting only its body, with no friendly fire on the All Nations Pay Tribute.

“You’ve hurt me!” At that moment, a new message entered Xiao Yu’s mind. Xiao Yu tensed, coldly laughing, “I won’t just hurt you. I’m going to kill you!”

“Kill me? With just you?” Another mocking message followed. Immediately after, the All Nations Pay Tribute, under the creature’s restraint, began to move erratically and with extreme speed. In this situation, some of the pinpoint strikes failed and ended up hitting the All Nations Pay Tribute.

“You think you’re the only one who can move?!” Xiao Yu gritted his teeth, sneering coldly as he ramped up the ship’s engine output to the maximum!

The All Nations Pay Tribute starship had a total mass of several hundred million tons. Though still far less than that of the Alien Beast, the force that could be exerted to propel it forward was enormous. Under this force, the ship’s previously erratic movement began to show a faint trace of predictability.

“Good, just like that!” Seeing this, Xiao Yu’s spirit surged, and he intensified the attacks once again.

“Typically, the largest ship is the flagship of a Technological Civilization. And a flagship is usually equipped with the most advanced instruments, carries the most precious materials, and houses the highest-ranking intelligent beings. So I’ll destroy your flagship first, as a little interest for the destruction of my nest… Don’t worry. We’re already locked in a life-and-death battle. For the next few thousand, even tens of thousands of years, I’ll hound you until your civilization is completely annihilated…”

A message brimming with icy malice transmitted into Xiao Yu’s mind.

Xiao Yu clenched his teeth and replied, “Then let’s see which of us dies first…”

At this moment, under the encirclement of Xiao Yu’s fleet, a dramatic scene was unfolding.

A massive starship was being restrained by an even larger creature. Dragged along by the Alien Beast, the All Nations Pay Tribute was shifting positions wildly, at times darting this way, then lunging that way. As it moved, Xiao Yu’s hundreds of thousands of ships followed tightly, surrounding it, relentlessly unleashing heavy firepower. No matter what, they refused to let the beast escape the encirclement.

But this situation was gradually driving Xiao Yu to despair. He realized that although his firepower could severely injure the beast, he had no way to kill it in a short period of time. Meanwhile, it needed only twenty minutes to destroy the All Nations Pay Tribute.

“Am I really going to lose these over ten thousand scientists who are vital to me? Along with the All Nations Pay Tribute, a ship of such immense value… Damn it, I haven’t even had time to fully analyze its technology. Fine… If losing the All Nations Pay Tribute is unavoidable, then at the very least, I must seize the Specter Heart! The All Nations Pay Tribute, one day, I’ll build another with my own strength. Scientists can be trained again. But the Specter Heart, there’s only one!”

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Yu quickly devised a plan to seize the Specter Heart, making a decisive choice between two losses.

“Luka Two, Three, Four… I’m sorry. I don’t have the power to save you… But after your deaths, I will definitely kill this beast and avenge you…” Xiao Yu thought silently, but his attacks never ceased for even a second.

Under Xiao Yu’s command, another City-Class ship quietly broke off from the main fleet and began to approach the tail of the Alien Beast.