A planet is a world. Now, Xiao Yu realized that this small world was in the process of destruction.

Before him unfolded an earth-shattering scene. Xiao Yu did not know exactly what kind of changes were occurring inside this asteroid, but he knew that the transformation was rapid and violent. And the trigger seemed to be the single action he had performed while controlling the robot.

“Is this a living creature? An Alien Beast Civilization?” In an instant, several speculations flashed through Xiao Yu’s mind.

The terrain on this asteroid was extremely complex, with the highest peaks reaching over four thousand meters. Now, these towering mountains were rapidly collapsing, with endless amounts of debris tumbling down under the asteroid’s own gravity like avalanches. But after the debris landed, it seemed that some powerful force acted upon it, shooting it into space like bullets fired from a gun.

If the five County-Class starships stationed here had only Energy Shields and Tachyon Shields, they would have already been destroyed. Only with the Four-Dimensional Space Shields were they able to withstand the chaos.

Under Xiao Yu’s sharp gaze, the transformation continued. Massive amounts of volatile substances erupted from underground like roaring waves, surging into the vast expanse of space. The nearby asteroids were also affected, rolling and colliding, with many suffering collateral damage.

“What exactly is this thing? It’s unlikely to be an Alien Beast Civilization, right? Judging by the situation, this thing seems to have been hiding inside the planet for a long time. If it were an Alien Beast Civilization, would the Specter elder have not noticed it? Would he have allowed it to survive until now?” Xiao Yu quickly pondered. “Should I attack it to test? No… better not. I’ll wait and observe for now.”

Xiao Yu made his decision. But observing did not mean doing nothing. Under Xiao Yu’s command, five City-Class starships, accompanied by several hundred County-Class starships and even more smaller vessels, broke through layers of debris and rushed toward the site. The five County-Class ships already here withdrew slightly to a safer distance.

In the distance, the still-raging yellow dwarf star continued to radiate its abnormal light, like a cold eye, watching the changes unfold.

The disturbance grew increasingly intense. Under the observation of countless detectors, suddenly, from the violently churning ground of the asteroid, a tentacle-like object shot upward!

Xiao Yu couldn’t confirm if it was truly a tentacle. It was roughly cylindrical, about one meter in diameter and several dozen kilometers long. If it hadn’t stopped moving after emerging, Xiao Yu might have mistaken it for a geyser.

It was a yellowish-brown color and stood upright, perfectly still.

“Is this really an Alien Beast?” Xiao Yu thought rapidly and made a decision: “Attack it first and see what happens!”

He never imagined that such a powerful unknown Alien Beast could be hiding here. Logically speaking, since the Specter elder had occupied this star system, how could he have allowed other lifeforms to exist? How could one tolerate others sleeping beside their own bed?

“I can’t be completely certain yet. Attack first.”

Having made the decision, Xiao Yu ordered the five nearby County-Class ships to launch antimatter bombs. These bombs, mounted on extremely fast rockets, shot out from their launch racks, streaking rapidly toward the target.

However, before the missiles arrived, the material disintegration beams, which traveled at the speed of light, had already struck the target. In fact, if the miniature negative matter cannons were already operational, the first to arrive would have been a torrent of tachyon-composed negative matter.

The material disintegration beams destroyed matter by nullifying the strong nuclear force that held hadrons together. Any matter struck by the beam lost this fundamental binding force, causing it to collapse into scattered elementary particles. Even after the beam ceased, and the particles regained strong nuclear interactions, they would no longer recombine into their original forms, but instead would merge into the simplest element in the universe: hydrogen.

To defend against such a weapon, one must follow the guidance of the Grand Unified Theory, and based on the weapon’s power level, generate counteracting beams to neutralize its effects. Mastery of the Grand Unified Theory was a fundamental requirement for a Level 4 Civilization. In other words, material disintegration beams were invincible and indefensible against any civilization below Level 4.

The scene unfolding before Xiao Yu sent a chill through his heart. Under the irradiation of the material disintegration beam, this tentacle-like object did not immediately disintegrate into basic particles as expected, but instead underwent a strange transformation. On its surface, something resembling smoke churned and rolled.

The beam was still having an effect; Xiao Yu detected clear hydrogen spectral lines. However, the power of the material disintegration beam seemed to be greatly suppressed.

This clearly indicated that the object possessed defenses against the material disintegration beam. In other words, regardless of whether it belonged to an Alien Beast Civilization or something else, it possessed at least Level 4 Civilization capabilities.

Following the material disintegration beam came the roaring antimatter bombs. The moment they struck the tentacle, the strong magnetic fields containing the antimatter suddenly collapsed, allowing antimatter and matter to meet and instantly release enormous amounts of energy.

Even though there was no sound in the vacuum of space, Xiao Yu could still sense the overwhelming force of this energy release. At the moment matter and antimatter met, no visible light was emitted, but instead, high-energy photons were produced. Amidst the eruption of energy, Xiao Yu seemed to hear the sound of flesh being torn apart. The mysterious object that had resisted the material disintegration beam was directly severed by the antimatter bombs.

The severed segment, several dozen kilometers long, twisted into a coil like a giant snake writhing in space, rolling and flipping endlessly. Any asteroid it struck was instantly shattered.

At the same time, Xiao Yu once again heard that ancient, desolate roar, like that of some primeval beast struggling to break free from its prison. Along with this sound, the asteroid’s upheaval became even more violent. More debris and meteorites were blasted into space, like a raging torrent of bullets tearing through the void.

Suddenly, another tentacle emerged from the asteroid! It was again several dozen kilometers long, about one meter in diameter, rising like a pillar piercing the heavens, standing straight in the vastness of space!

Then came a second, a third, a fourth!

Every second, at least a dozen more tentacles extended, increasing in number rapidly. In just a few minutes, Xiao Yu could no longer count how many tentacles had appeared. Their movements were no longer still; instead, they writhed and danced, twisting together or swaying wildly, like blades of grass whipped by a violent wind.

Soon, the entire asteroid was covered with these tentacles. Xiao Yu grew more and more shocked.

“This… this really is an Alien Beast! And at least a Level 4 Alien Beast! Damn it, how could something like this exist here?”

“Five City-Class ships likely won’t be enough to deal with this creature. Send in the Province-Class ship!” Xiao Yu swiftly made his decision. As the five City-Class starships approached, a massive Province-Class starship slowly deployed, leading its escort fleet and dozens of City-Class ships toward the scene.

Meanwhile, the five County-Class ships that remained had already launched their attacks. A barrage of antimatter bombs, decay bombs, material disintegration beams, high-energy laser cannons, gravitational bombs, and more poured down on the asteroid.

These attacks seemed to enrage the creature. Xiao Yu saw that, following one particularly violent explosion, all the debris covering the creature was instantly blasted away, finally revealing its true form.

It stretched its body casually, like a newborn baby, countless tentacle-like appendages floating in all directions. Endless asteroids were pulled toward it by its gravity and collided with its body, but these impacts had no effect on it.

Then, an even more astonishing phenomenon occurred. This Alien Beast was unquestionably massive and heavy, which meant it generated significant gravity. It was this gravity that drew the asteroids toward it. But suddenly, in an instant, the asteroids that had moments before been hurling toward it like moths to a flame now completely ignored its existence, showing no reaction whatsoever.

“Mastery of the Grand Unified Theory… it has found some way to completely nullify its own gravitational pull,” Xiao Yu murmured.

Only now did Xiao Yu clearly see what this thing was.

It was a colossal creature over fifty kilometers tall, with a body spanning seven to eight kilometers at its widest, and entirely covered in countless tentacles!

It resembled a jellyfish, and with a gentle movement in the vast universe, it charged directly toward the five County-Class ships. In an instant, its endless tentacles wrapped tightly around them. The next moment, all five County-Class ships lost contact with Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu knew that those five County-Class ships had been destroyed.