Under Xiao Yu’s forceful pressure, the Expeditionary Army’s ships had no choice but to drop out of curvature flight. In curvature flight, Xiao Yu could only use negative matter cannons and the space weapon. Other weapons could not be used. Although this was also true for the Expeditionary Army, they had one fewer doomsday weapon than Xiao Yu, namely the space weapon. Moreover, Xiao Yu held a certain advantage in conventional weaponry, which he had no need to waste.

Fighting in normal space was even more advantageous for Xiao Yu.

Formations of every kind, coordination between units, penetration and interleaving maneuvers, Xiao Yu had long since mastered them. The warships of the biological army did not need Xiao Yu’s direct command. Their ships fought freely on the battlefield. The Europe engaged the somewhat inferior ship of the Expeditionary Army’s two remaining Continent-Class ships, while the Asia engaged the strongest one. The Continent-Class ship seized from the Predator Civilization lurked in the dark, watching like a tiger and seeking an opening.

Within the Expeditionary Army, the total number of ships had fallen to fewer than three million. To completely rout and annihilate this force was not difficult for Xiao Yu. The difficulty lay in how to capture enemy ships. Although Xiao Yu’s strength was great enough to destroy them, he could not prevent the enemy from self-destructing and destroying their own vessels. After a battle, if he failed to obtain a considerable number of captives, the loss would be too great.

Xiao Yu’s current method was to take the risk of destroying the enemy ships’ engines and energy reserve modules, thereby depriving them of the ability to self-destruct. This method worked tolerably well against medium and small ships, but was clearly unsuitable for Continent-Class ships. If the other side was determined to die, capturing a Continent-Class ship was truly difficult.

The reason the seizure of the Predator Civilization’s Continent-Class ship had been so simple was that the Predator Civilization’s intelligent beings feared death and lacked the resolve to self-destruct. The situation of the Expeditionary Army now was entirely different.

“This is really a headache.” Xiao Yu murmured. “I can only look for an opportunity in the midst of battle. The value of a single Continent-Class ship is too great. Who knows how many valuable technologies are hidden within.”

It could be said that if he could capture one Continent-Class ship, then after several decades of technological analysis Xiao Yu could gain at least sixty percent of the Pegasus Civilization’s technology. The remaining forty percent could not be obtained through analysis. For that, he would need to collect documentation from the Pegasus Civilization’s various research institutes. Cases like the Predator Civilization, where all technical data was stored inside ship computers, were the minority.

The fierce battle had already begun. Four Continent-Class ships, plus one more lurking in the dark and watching for a chance to strike, made five in total, engaging in intense exchanges of fire.

The battlefield was under Xiao Yu’s control. He was carefully modulating his firepower to avoid mishaps. If he accidentally pressed the Expeditionary Army into self-destructing their flagship, that would be bad.

The Predator Civilization’s Continent-Class ship had already closed in and, together with the Asia, was attacking the Expeditionary Army’s flagship. The Predator ship did not have a space weapon, and its conventional weapons were far weaker than those of the Asia. Even so, its participation still posed a certain threat to the enemy.

Amid such fighting, Xiao Yu slowly searched for an opportunity, attempting to bring this enemy flagship into his bag.

After three hours had passed. Xiao Yu noticed a phenomenon.

“Based on data analysis, the firepower of this Expeditionary Army flagship is tilting toward the Predator Civilization’s Continent-Class ship. The current ratio is about six to four. Sixty percent of its firepower is pouring onto the Predator ship. This seems to mean…” A slight movement stirred in Xiao Yu’s heart.

“Could it be that the Expeditionary Army flagship knows there is no way to survive today, so it intends to drag one of my Continent-Class flagships down with it before it is destroyed? If so, I might have found an opening.”

As Xiao Yu considered, he slightly reduced the shield power of the Predator ship. That Continent-Class ship from the Predator Civilization had already taken some damage earlier. With Xiao Yu deliberately lowering its shield output, the damage it took became even more severe. It should be known that the Predator Civilization’s technological level was in any case somewhat inferior to that of the Pegasus Civilization.

This made the external damage of the Predator ship even more obvious. Xiao Yu knew that the Expeditionary Army flagship could easily judge from the Predator ship’s current damage how much time it would need to finish it off.

“Do you want to destroy one of my Continent-Class ships? I will give you that chance. Come.” With that thought, Xiao Yu suddenly increased the Asia’s attack intensity. The space weapon was brought back into use. One after another black fine lines slashed through the dark cosmic void and struck the Expeditionary Army’s flagship with heavy blows.

Events developed as Xiao Yu expected. After the Asia intensified its attacks, the Expeditionary Army flagship did not evade or tilt its fire toward the Asia. Instead, it further strengthened its assault on the Predator ship. It was as if it had gone mad, no longer caring for its own life or death. It seemed to have resolved that even if it was going to die, before its death it would destroy this already heavily damaged Continent-Class ship.

“This is a good opportunity.” Xiao Yu’s spirit stirred. Following the changing situation, he carefully controlled the Predator ship’s shield output to present varying levels of damage, affecting the Expeditionary Army flagship’s assessment. Meanwhile, the Asia unleashed full firepower. He had to open a breach in the enemy ship in a short time, then launch a boarding operation to seize the ship’s control authority directly.

Xiao Yu no longer worried that the ship might self-destruct and leave him with nothing. He knew that under these circumstances the enemy would be loath to self-destruct. After all, the target before them was so close at hand. How could they bear to die before securing the final kill.

The battle among the escort fleets grew even fiercer. Upon the hulls of the Continent-Class ships, wide as continents, under the dim glow of shields, the small ships swarmed like clouds of mosquitoes, tangling densely with one another. Shells rained incessantly onto the continent below, setting the Energy Shields rippling again and again. Ships were destroyed one after another, bursting into flashes of light.

The firing of the space weapon grew more rapid. The Asia was the strongest ship in Xiao Yu’s hands, and its space weapon was likewise the most powerful. Up to this point, several dozen spatial rifts had struck the enemy ship. The shield of that Expeditionary Army flagship had visibly dimmed, like a candle in the wind, about to be blown out at any moment. Yet it still fought, tenaciously.

Xiao Yu sensed their resolve. Unless they destroyed the Continent-Class ship before them, they would absolutely refuse to die.

Another spatial rift blasted forth. The shield of the Expeditionary Army flagship flickered once more and dimmed further. At that moment, with a strike from the main cannon of a Nation-Class ship, a breach opened upon the Continent-Class hull. Large quantities of warship fragments, gases, and debris spewed from the breach into the vastness of space. Like unwanted trash, in a blink they vanished who knew where.

“Now.” Xiao Yu’s spirit jolted. A great number of ships loaded with boarding robots and the biological army’s boarding units rapidly closed on the breach and swarmed inside. They would seize, in the shortest possible time, key sections such as the engine room, the energy reserve chamber, and the ship control center, completely stripping the ship of its ability to self-destruct.

The situation had reached the brink. The enemy ship then made a move that could only be called mad. Xiao Yu saw that it had completely abandoned attacking the Asia. Even its escort ships ceased their duties there and rushed to the Predator ship, pouring a furious bombardment onto it.

Now it was entirely a race against time. Both Xiao Yu and the Expeditionary Army were betting. If the Expeditionary Army managed to destroy the Predator Continent-Class ship before Xiao Yu seized control of their flagship, then in the next instant they would self-destruct. If they failed to destroy the Predator ship before Xiao Yu took their flagship, they would be utterly defeated.

The battle had entered its most intense phase. Xiao Yu even reduced the Predator ship’s shield output to the minimum. The purpose was to give the Expeditionary Army flagship confidence, to make them firmly believe they could do it, that they could destroy this ship.

Xiao Yu no longer cared about the life or death of the Predator Continent-Class ship. Compared with the Expeditionary Army’s flagship, even if it was destroyed he would not feel distress.

In total, about three million boarding combat robots and boarding units of the biological army had already infiltrated the Expeditionary Army flagship. Follow-up forces continued to flow in without cease. Time was ticking away, moment by moment.