In the past, this distance of more than seven thousand light-years was something Xiao Yu could not even imagine. It was a distance he would not have dared to dream of reaching even until death. But the situation was different now. If the engines of Xiao Yu’s fleet were pushed to full power, their speed could reach thirty-five times light speed, and they would need only two hundred years to arrive.

Of course, running the engines at full power meant an extremely terrifying consumption of energy. Curvature flight is not conventional navigation. Under conventional navigation, once the acceleration phase is completed, one can travel under inertia without further fuel expenditure. Curvature flight, however, requires the engines to remain on continuously, constantly consuming fuel.

Before setting out, Xiao Yu had stored as much fuel as possible, yet it still supported only fifty years, after which he had to stop again to carry out maintenance.

Xiao Yu casually selected a star system that had planets, moved a large quantity of basic industrial equipment directly out, and began mining operations. The large dock constructed previously had always been carried with him, so there was no need to waste extra time building it again. If a spaceship suffered damage, it could be brought straight into the dock for repairs.

This period of maintenance took only three months before Xiao Yu once more set off on the journey. After several more decades of travel, Xiao Yu performed a second maintenance stop, then a third…

Nearly two hundred years passed before Xiao Yu’s fleet finally approached the destination. At this moment, they were about one light-year from the nearest planet on which biological activity had already been detected. There was a red dwarf here. Xiao Yu’s vast fleet remained in place, undertaking a final round of maintenance and preparing for a possible war.

According to intelligence from the Predator Civilization, Xiao Yu was still about five hundred light-years from the capital star system of the Pegasus Civilization. This was the outermost periphery of the Pegasus Civilization’s sphere of influence.

In fact, there were not even intelligent beings of the Pegasus Civilization in the star system ahead. What existed there were merely mechanized automated devices, such as satellites, probes, planetary rovers, and the like. To avoid having his traces discovered by the Pegasus Civilization, Xiao Yu did not risk advancing further.

“Pegasus Civilization, Advanced Level 5 Civilization, actual control radius of about twenty light-years, maximum detection range of about five hundred light-years, carbon-based lifeforms, average height around two meters, social structure similar to what we call a federal system, a federation formed by governments of different planets. The mainstream culture favors adventure and pioneering spirit…”

Xiao Yu slowly recited some of the currently known data, then looked at the assembled scientists. “For first contact, I am inclined to use the following method. That is, a fleet composed of two million warships and a portion of habitation ships will proceed directly toward the Pegasus Civilization’s sphere of influence without concealment. It is certain that we will be detected immediately by the Pegasus Civilization, and then they will actively probe our intentions. At that time, we will carry out our first formal contact with the Pegasus Civilization.”

“The basis for using this method is as follows. First, although we do not wish to go to war with the Pegasus Civilization, necessary military deterrence is essential. This can prevent the Pegasus Civilization from disregarding us or doing things such as directly capturing and destroying the fleet we dispatch. But this requires moderation. Too many warships will arouse strong vigilance in the Pegasus Civilization and may directly trigger war. I believe one million warships is a suitable scale.”

“Second, a portion of habitation-type ships is also necessary. This can show that we are not a Predator Civilization that lives by fighting and plunder. In addition, going directly without hiding can also reduce unnecessary trouble…”

“The most important point is that if war truly breaks out, our forces that have been hidden in advance can serve as a surprise army to inflict the greatest possible blow on the Pegasus Civilization’s military strength…”

“Does anyone have any comments?” Xiao Yu asked.

Luka Two, along with a group of scientists from the psychosocial division and members of the Military Committee, as well as scientists from the science and technology division represented by Luka Three, discussed among themselves for a while. In the end, Luka Two summarized the opinions.

“We agree with this plan overall, but there is one point to add.” Luka Two said. “This point is still in consideration of a wartime scenario. When we send one million ships to negotiate with the Pegasus Civilization, the remaining ten million warships do not all need to be concealed in this star system. We can split off several million ships and send them to the neighboring star system.”

Luka Two pointed to the virtual star map to indicate a location. Xiao Yu glanced at it, nodded, and indicated that he understood.

This star was only about 1.5 light-years from the system where Xiao Yu currently was. It was also a red dwarf, ordinary and unremarkable. This star, too, lay outside the Pegasus Civilization’s area of involvement.

“We will hide part of our strength here.” Luka Two continued. “If war breaks out, it is certain that the Pegasus Civilization will dispatch forces to search the peripheral stars of their sphere of influence to confirm whether we still have hidden strength. If they discover our hidden forces, they are very likely to launch a surprise attack against us. If such a surprise attack does occur, then these arrangements can take effect.”

Xiao Yu nodded and said, “Very good. That is an excellent supplement. We will proceed accordingly.”

After agreeing on the contact plan, Xiao Yu immediately began implementation. First, Xiao Yu split off a little more than four million warships, led by the Asia, and sent them to the star which Xiao Yu had named Star Number Two. This part of the fleet would hide there as Xiao Yu’s reserve force. After this was done, Xiao Yu split off another part of the fleet, personally headed toward the Pegasus Civilization’s sphere of influence under the lead of the America, intending to negotiate with the Pegasus Civilization.

Among the three Continent-Class ships in Xiao Yu’s fleet, the America ranked in the middle in strength. Xiao Yu believed that the strength of the America was already sufficient to suppress any single Continent-Class ship within the Pegasus Civilization. Even if this part of the fleet were besieged, he was absolutely confident of escaping.

The Europe, together with the biological army and another portion of combat ships, hid within this star system.

This was the periphery of the Pegasus Civilization’s sphere of influence. In such places, the Pegasus Civilization basically maintained only scientific instruments and the like, and basically lacked the capability to monitor passing ships. But this was only true in these regions. As the distance to the Pegasus Civilization’s capital star system decreased, various mechanical detection devices and lifeform-operated detection facilities would become more and more numerous, and Xiao Yu’s fleets would be discovered sooner or later.

Once all arrangements were in place, these more than one million ships, under the leadership of the America, set out toward the front and entered curvature flight.

The speed of curvature flight is a very important indicator by which to measure a civilization’s technological strength. In this respect, Xiao Yu did not intend to hide it, but planned to display it openly so that the Pegasus Civilization could perceive his strength.

Passing by the star system ahead, Xiao Yu also captured a stellar activity monitoring satellite of the Pegasus Civilization and placed it in his analysis chamber to assess its technological level. The conclusion was that the technological strength of the Pegasus Civilization was not beyond his expectations.

Time passed bit by bit. Every second, Xiao Yu spanned a vast distance of several million kilometers. Under such circumstances, in less than three months, Xiao Yu’s fleet arrived before the Star System Number 1 that had activity of intelligent beings from the Pegasus Civilization.

In this star system, there was a simple research base of the Pegasus Civilization, where studies were carried out on topics such as stars, planetary atmospheric evolution, internal operating mechanisms, and stellar activity. The nature of these research bases was roughly similar to the research stations that human nations established in Antarctica and the Arctic during the Earth era. Xiao Yu’s fleet did not stop here, but sent a message carrying a related dictionary to this research base.

“Greetings, unknown civilization. We are the Divine Ark Civilization from the depths of the universe. Allow us to make a brief self-introduction.”

“We come from the location shown below on the star map. Our civilization’s homeworld encountered an unexpected disaster and was destroyed. Before the catastrophe struck, the seed of our civilization fled from the home star system, becoming a wandering civilization drifting through the galaxy. During our wandering, our civilization made contact with many other civilizations. In the course of these encounters, we exchanged and traded technology with those civilizations, and together with our own efforts, we finally reached the stage of a Level 5 Civilization.”

“We know that your civilization is also a Level 5 Civilization at this moment, with technological development not inferior to ours. Therefore, we believe your civilization has also perceived the importance of accumulating unique technologies. After learning the information about your civilization’s positioning, we came here in good faith, hoping that, on a fair and friendly basis, we can carry out exchanges of relevant technologies.”

“This is a matter of great benefit to both our Divine Ark Civilization and your civilization. We believe that as long as we can begin cooperation, both our civilizations can usher in a period of great development. In this boundless and vast galaxy, what could be more important than that?”

“We are the Divine Ark Civilization, and we await your reply.”