This was Xiao Yu’s entire plan. Within it, he had meticulously arranged everything, the precise location of the City-Class ship at each point in time, the predicted reactions of the Alien Beast at each moment, how to respond if unexpected situations occurred, and so on. Xiao Yu had considered it all.

Now came the critical moment to test whether his plan would succeed.

A massive tail, earthy yellow in color, with a maximum diameter of about one kilometer and a minimum diameter of less than ten meters, stretched over twenty kilometers long, lashed out at the City-Class starship, which was about two kilometers in length. At the tip of this tail, a dim blue light orb roughly ten meters in diameter continued to glow faintly.

“This Alien Beast… it seems it doesn’t understand what the Specter Heart actually is,” Xiao Yu thought silently.

Under the assault of Xiao Yu’s other ships, the City-Class vessel’s Four-Dimensional Shield was already pushed to its limit. So, the moment that thick tail made contact with the ship, before it had even fully released its tremendous force, the City-Class ship exploded with a thunderous blast.

This outcome seemed to catch the Alien Beast slightly off guard. Xiao Yu saw that when the ship detonated, the beast seemed stunned for a moment, pausing for just a few microseconds.

That brief pause was all that was needed.

The position where the City-Class ship had been was carefully calculated. It was located approximately twenty kilometers from the base of the Alien Beast’s tail, meaning the impact occurred at the very tip. At that point, the tail’s diameter had narrowed from a kilometer down to less than thirty meters.

In that instant of hesitation, the energy released from the collapse of the Four-Dimensional Shield had already fully erupted. Xiao Yu saw an extremely bright flash, like a miniature star, burst out in space. Then, a liquid-like substance that resembled blood began to float in the void, accompanied by a cylindrical mass several hundred meters long.

“Success!” Xiao Yu’s heart surged with excitement. The explosion of the City-Class ship had successfully severed the Alien Beast’s tail, separating the Specter Heart from its body.

“Now!” Xiao Yu quickly issued a command. Several nearby City-Class ships, designated for follow-up operations, rushed forward. Escorted by swarms of small ships and covered by the firepower of two Province-Class ships, they reached the severed tail in a very short time.

At this moment, the Alien Beast finally seemed to understand what was happening. It appeared to realize Xiao Yu’s true objective. As soon as its tail was severed, its massive body shifted, and countless long tentacles extended toward the detached tail. However, under the suppression fire from the City-Class formation and the two Province-Class ships, those reaching tentacles were shot down one after another. With no other choice, the beast abandoned its attempt to reclaim the severed limb.

Now, with heavy fire from escort vessels and two Province-Class ships forcing it farther and farther from the tail, the Alien Beast had little hope of recovering the lost piece. In this situation, one of the City-Class ships quickly dispatched a swarm of robots. Assisted by mechanical arms, the robots rapidly attached an engine to the severed tail and hauled it aboard the ship. Then, the ship quickly retreated. The entire operation took less than ten seconds.

Everything happened so fast, so fast it left no time to react.

“At last… I’ve finally obtained the legacy the Specter elder left for me! The Specter Heart! The elder once said that with this Specter Heart, I could establish a connection with its Main Civilization and gain access to the remains of the Micron Civilization. And with those remains, one day in the distant future, I may have a chance to defeat the Sweeper Civilization!”

Suppressing the surge of emotion in his chest, Xiao Yu regained his composure and returned his attention to the battlefield.

After recovering the Specter Heart, Xiao Yu once again heard that desolate, ancient, and wrath-filled voice echo in his mind.

“Despicable Technological Civilization… you used trickery and deceit to blow off my tail… I won’t let you go, never!”

Xiao Yu let out a cold laugh and was just about to shoot back with a sarcastic remark, but suddenly paused, his heart stirred.

A new idea had just emerged in Xiao Yu’s mind.

“I made a mistake before… the more I acted nervous about the All Nations Pay Tribute, the more this Alien Beast refused to let it go. But what if I change my thinking, look at this from a different angle…”

A plan gradually took shape.

“We’ve long since been locked in a battle to the death. Your words are useless. Let me be clear: this ship is merely an experimental vessel. None of our civilization’s top leaders are aboard it. If you want to destroy it, be my guest.”

Xiao Yu replied casually, but behind the scenes, he quietly began to change his actions.

Under his command, countless ships that had been executing precision strikes on the Alien Beast began to ‘accidentally’ make mistakes. Several projectiles and beam weapons started to strike the hull of the All Nations Pay Tribute instead. Moreover, the number of these mistakes seemed to be increasing.

Xiao Yu worked hard to put on an act of trying to cover up the incident, but the disguise was false. He was doing it intentionally. Xiao Yu wanted to give the Alien Beast the impression that he was hiding something, that there was a secret move underway. What conclusions the beast drew from that… he would leave to its imagination.

In the universe, every ancient species was no fool. Underestimating any existence could bring catastrophic consequences. The lesson from the Molian Civilization’s betrayal was still fresh in his mind. Naturally, Xiao Yu held no contempt for this beast.

That’s why Xiao Yu believed, it would absolutely understand his intentions. And after that, perhaps things would begin to take a very interesting turn.

Through his previous actions, Xiao Yu had already, perhaps unintentionally, laid many pieces and clues for his plan. He was certain this Alien Beast would connect those threads and arrive at a certain truth.

“You’ve lived all these years for nothing. With your size, you can’t even destroy a small starship? No wonder you could only cower like a lowly reptile in the core of some planet. From what I see, you’re fit only to hide in your cradle. The universe is dangerous. You’re not worthy of roaming in it.”

Though Xiao Yu’s heart was tense, the tone of his message feigned indifference, ridiculing the Alien Beast without restraint. Of course, he had no intention of truly enraging it. He simply wanted to make it feel like he was trying to provoke it.

The Alien Beast’s returning message was filled with icy hostility. “Wretched Technological Civilization, are you insulting me?”

“That’s right, I’m insulting you. And what can you do about it? In the cold universe, strength is the only foundation. If you truly had enough power, if you really were a Level 4 Alien Beast, then why haven’t you been able to destroy even one of my little starships?” Xiao Yu said.

His words remained full of mockery, but internally, Xiao Yu was carefully watching for any reaction from the beast.

Yet this time, the Alien Beast didn’t respond again.

“Caught on, have you?” Xiao Yu sneered inwardly. “Looks like you’re not completely brain-dead.”

The battlefield once again fell into silence. No more words were exchanged between them. Only the flashing light of countless explosions lit up this section of space, reflecting just how fierce the battle remained.

Time ticked away, second by second. Xiao Yu’s anxiety also steadily grew.

Whether he could save the All Nations Pay Tribute would depend entirely on this. Success or failure would be decided within the next five minutes.

“Still not backing off?” Xiao Yu gritted his teeth. “Then let’s turn up the heat.”

He issued a new command. Xiao Yu’s fleet suddenly made even more ‘errors,’ with more and more projectiles ‘accidentally’ raining down on the All Nations Pay Tribute, causing its shields to flicker repeatedly.

“At this rate, the All Nations Pay Tribute can last at most three more minutes,” Xiao Yu silently counted down in his mind. “Now it’s one minute. Sixty… fifty-nine…”

On the communication channel, countless monitors installed aboard the All Nations Pay Tribute were streaming real-time footage straight into Xiao Yu’s mind. He saw many injured scientists screaming in agony, others collapsed and motionless, dead or alive, he couldn’t tell. The ones still standing were in chaos, frantically scrambling for shelter in places they believed to be safe.

“If the All Nations Pay Tribute is destroyed… there will be no such place that is safe,” Xiao Yu sighed inwardly. “Just like when Earth explodes, any life dependent on Earth would die with it…”

Inside the All Nations Pay Tribute, chaos reigned. Wails echoed through the halls. A doomsday atmosphere engulfed the entire ship. And amid this chaos, inside the command office, Luka Two, Luka Three, and Luka Four sat silently around a table, saying nothing.

The countdown had reached ten, only ten seconds left.

And at that very moment, Xiao Yu suddenly received a message.

“Wretched Technological Civilization, you are truly despicable!”