When he heard the term ‘Micron Civilization,’ Xiao Yu once again froze.

“Micron Civilization? Micron Civilization? That’s right, I have heard of it before. It was during a very accidental encounter, when I heard the name ‘Micron Civilization’ from the mouth of a Level 6 Alien Beast…” Xiao Yu murmured.

“Oh? So the long river of time hasn’t yet buried the fame of the Micron Civilization?” the unknown civilization said with great interest. “A Level 6 Alien Beast? Given your level of technology, encountering a Level 6 Alien Beast should have meant certain death. What exactly happened then? Could you tell me about it?”

“I can,” Xiao Yu replied. “It happened in the Aquila Nebula. That beast had been imprisoned by a Taihao Civilization on a white dwarf star, unable to escape. It used a method of psychic manipulation, trying to use me to escape from that white dwarf. But I saw through its scheme, and found a way to break free from its psychic control. In the end, I manipulated a planet to collide with the white dwarf, triggering a nova explosion and killing it.”

“I see…” the unknown being said slowly. “Psychic manipulation… a Level 6 Alien Beast… I don’t recall anything like that. It seems our Micron Civilization never had contact with it. In what context did it mention the Micron Civilization?”

“It was right after I uncovered its plan,” Xiao Yu answered. “At the time, it seemed furious. It was pacing furiously on that white dwarf, roaring with rage. It said that one day it would escape that white dwarf, and when it did, it would kill off the Taihao Civilization and the Micron Civilization to vent its fury. From the looks of it, it seems that the Micron Civilization had some kind of past grievance with it.”

“Hmm, now I remember.” The unknown being paused, then sighed as he spoke. “That must’ve been about four million years before my Main Civilization was destroyed. At that time, my Main Civilization was already quite fragile. Constantly occupied with fleeing the pursuit of the Neutron War Star, he had no chance to repair himself. During one such flight, they encountered a peak Level 5 Alien Beast. That beast even dared to try to devour my Main Civilization. Hmph. Overestimating itself. Even a severely weakened Micron Civilization was not something a Level 5 Alien Beast could provoke. That beast was struck by my Main Civilization and lost half its body in the impact. Because he was in a hurry to flee, my Main Civilization didn’t pay further attention to it. I never expected that the beast would manage to repair itself and even evolve to Level 6.”

“So there was such a story in that distant history… lost half its body, huh… No wonder that beast harbored such intense resentment.” Xiao Yu thought silently, then after a moment of reflection, asked, “Do you know about the Taihao Civilization? There is a Taihao Civilization that exists within our Milky Way. Mm… from what I understand, it originated as a technological civilization. This civilization has many ties with our race.”

At this point in the exchange, Xiao Yu found himself, almost subconsciously, beginning to believe the words of this unknown being, to believe that it really was a Specter Race entity closely tied to him. However, his rational mind continued to sound a steady warning, be cautious, ever cautious. And so, Xiao Yu kept probing it further. If he could obtain additional intelligence in the process, all the better.

“I know of its existence,” the Specter said. “In fact, within our Milky Way, there are three Taihao Civilizations. But I’ve never interacted with any of them, and I don’t know their exact strength. The Taihao Civilizations are extremely mysterious and immensely powerful. One trait of the Taihao Civilizations is that if you don’t provoke them directly, then no matter how intense the conflict outside, no matter what earth-shaking events occur, they won’t get involved. Just like recently, that foolish Taihao Civilization from the Large Magellanic Cloud, when it gathered so many allies to go up against the Sweepers, even with something that big happening, the Taihao Civilizations in our Milky Way didn’t lift a finger. That’s what you get from being from a small, ignorant region. They had no understanding of the might of the Neutron War Star.”

The Specter spoke with a tone full of disdain. “Still, while that Taihao Civilization was lacking in experience, its strength wasn’t bad, about equal to my own at my peak. Under such conditions, if one of our Milky Way’s native Taihao Civilizations had joined in, the Sweeper Civilization would likely have been wiped out.”

Xiao Yu listened quietly. He had experienced the might of the Taihao Civilization firsthand. Its semi-four-dimensional structure meant it was immune to any attacks from the three-dimensional world. Attacks from the third dimension couldn’t even make contact with it, just like how creatures drawn on a piece of paper couldn’t possibly harm a human being.

Its strength was beyond question.

“This Specter… what an arrogant tone…” Xiao Yu muttered to himself. “Such a powerful Taihao, and yet it was only about equal to this being at its peak?”

“Then… the battle where this Specter and its Main Civilization, the Micron Civilization, joined forces to fight against the Sweepers and the Guardians, what a grand and earth-shaking war that must have been. It probably wasn’t any less intense than the last full-scale assault on the Sweepers by the Milky Way’s advanced civilizations. In fact, it might have surpassed even that.”

“But… the Neutron War Star is simply too powerful. It’s like a death god that can crush all hope, bringing only destruction and death. For tens of millions of years, no matter how formidable the being, whether it’s the Taihao, the Guardian Alliance, the Specter Race, or the Micron Civilization, everyone who tried to oppose the Neutron War Star… died. And that’s just counting those whose names I know. How many other powerful beings, whose names were erased by the sands of time and ground down by endless ages, were also destroyed by the Neutron War Star?”

Xiao Yu’s heart was full of emotion.

“I’ll have to face off against the Sweepers sooner or later. And when that day comes… what will I rely on to fight the Neutron War Star? It’s so powerful, how could I possibly defeat it?”

Xiao Yu thought in confusion, “If everything this Specter says is true, then Earth’s destruction becomes even more mysterious. It definitely wasn’t just some civilization casually destroying it to gain Luck Value. Nor was it the Taihao Civilization wiping it out for experimental results. It seems… there’s a deeper reason behind it all.”

Through the conversation, Xiao Yu thought of a new question.

According to this Specter, the very existence of the Specter Race defied logic. And given their nature, bloodthirsty and slaughter-driven, it was inevitable that all civilizations in the universe, whether Sweepers or Guardians, would harbor great hostility toward them.

Then… why does the Specter Race exist? What is its purpose? What meaning does its existence serve?

Xiao Yu’s mind was filled with confusion.

All of Xiao Yu’s dialogue with the Specter was being broadcast in real time and shared with all the attending scientists. So, all the scientists heard this conversation.

At the very least, these beings were members of peak Level 4 Civilizations, and under Xiao Yu’s influence over this time, they had learned some of the deeper secrets of the universe. At this moment, it was as if they were all stunned. Each remained frozen in place, speechless.

This information… had surpassed the boundaries of their understanding.

“I want to know, what happened to your civilization before you were born?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Our homeworld experienced elemental decay within the planet’s core, which triggered an explosion and shattered the entire planet,” the Specter replied. “Of the entire civilization, only the Micron Civilization escaped. All other intelligent beings died. The souls of my dead kin could not rest and thus became me, became the Specter Race.”

Hearing this explanation, Xiao Yu grew even more puzzled.

“That’s… very similar to the way Earth was destroyed,” Xiao Yu said with emotion. Then he noticed something else: “What do you mean only the Micron Civilization escaped? Can a single being be called a civilization? Though this phenomenon is common in Alien Beast Civilizations, your former civilization seemed to be a Technological Civilization, not an Alien Beast Civilization.”

“Haha, seems you still don’t know how the Micron Civilization survives,” the Specter said with laughter in his voice. “Well, you’re still quite weak, no way you could know such distant and secret things. Why don’t you try guessing? Here’s a hint: the way the Micron Civilization exists is very similar to you.”

“Similar to me?” Xiao Yu pondered. “Could it be… he also separated his soul from his body and merged it with something else? Micron… Micron… could it be?!”

A theory formed in Xiao Yu’s mind, but it was so shocking that he hesitated to speak it aloud.

“That’s right. You guessed correctly,” the Specter said solemnly. “Just as you suspected. Before our homeworld was destroyed, he used a mysterious object, hmm, it seemed to be a black stone of unknown origin, and with its help, separated his soul from his body. He then merged his soul with an asteroid that orbited our homeworld and escaped just in time before the planet exploded, thus surviving. Because his body was a planet, he named himself the Micron Civilization.”

“You merged your soul with a computer. The Micron Civilization merged its soul with a planet.”

“He existed in the form of a planet, slowly developing, increasing his mass, and growing stronger. He is… the Micron Civilization! The Micron Civilization that carved out a legendary name for itself across the Milky Way!”

Xiao Yu stood there, stunned and speechless for a long time.

[T/N: The author is dropping some crazy lore right now. While editing, I was genuinely confused about why he kept using ‘he’ to refer to the Micron Civilization, but it all made sense by the end. I’ve started noticing that things I initially thought were errors or plot holes actually have explanations later on. It’s one of those stories where the author clearly has a plan, even if it’s not obvious at first. Regardless, hope you enjoyed the chapter and see ya tomorrow!]