’If I had been held up by those challenges a bit longer, or if I had acted just a little slower, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet might have trapped me in the star system.
But the distance between us is still too close. I need to be even more cautious with my next moves.’
Li Qingsong initiated randomized maneuvers again. This time, however, the propulsion power was much lower, only about one percent of its full capacity.
This would make the engine plume much fainter and the flight path harder to trace. Even if the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet could still discern the trail, it would likely cost them more time and effort.
Time slipped by. The Clones left behind in the Pegasus V432 Star System clearly saw the engine plumes of the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet growing ever brighter and larger.
But their brightness vanished before reaching its peak, as if they had stopped decelerating.
At the same time, another plume of light flared up—smaller in scope, but even brighter.
A realization dawned on Li Qingsong.
He knew the main Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet probably wouldn’t enter the star system this time.
Their earlier deceleration was merely in preparation for a course change. While the main fleet slowed, another detachment did not.
They would arrive inside the star system ahead of the main fleet. With fewer ships, they were more maneuverable, allowing them to decelerate at a higher rate and enter the system much faster.
’What is this detachment here for?’
The answer was obvious: they were here to connect with the spy probes inside the star system and retrieve their data.
Once they had deciphered his fleet’s heading from that data, the main fleet—which had not fully decelerated—would immediately change course and begin its pursuit.
’Good thing I prepared countermeasures in advance... Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to escape this time.’
Li Qingsong silently analyzed the engine plume trails he had observed from the main fleet. He sensed that the scale of the main Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet had likely recovered to its previous size, with the total number of Warships once again exceeding two million.
’As expected, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet recovers its strength just as quickly.’
A little over a year slipped by.
Li Qingsong clearly saw the engine plumes of the main Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet reappear in the distant depths of space.
They had clearly read the data from the Detectors inside the system. This time, the main fleet didn’t enter the Star System at all; it immediately changed course, following the direction in which his own fleet had fled.
Several years later, Detectors that Li Qingsong had placed near the separation point between his main fleet and the decoy fleets picked up the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet.
They stopped there. A large number of Scientific Research Vessels and exploration ships began to conduct a survey in the void, far from any large-scale celestial bodies.
On the Supercomputer Mother Ship, within the logical processing units of the Red Dog AI, countless data streams representing its thought processes flashed rapidly.
"Confirmed: six flight path data signatures. A total of six fleets fled in six different directions. Acceleration is approximately 0.06 meters per second squared.
Thrust was initiated thirty-five years ago.
Based on the prey fleet’s velocity, they are estimated to have fled a distance of approximately four light-years.
Due to the relatively close proximity, this search will not require a sequential inspection of Interstellar Systems. A direct deep-space pursuit can be initiated based on the flight path data.
Factoring in the randomized maneuvering patterns the Prey Civilization will inevitably adopt, our fleet can expect to locate the first fleet in approximately fifty years.
Thereafter, we will hunt down each fleeing fleet sequentially, at an average rate of one every fifty years.
It is currently impossible to confirm which fleet is the true one and which are decoys. Therefore, we will catch up to the prey fleet in fifty years at the earliest, or three hundred years at the latest.
Note: There is ample evidence to suggest the Prey Civilization has already achieved the breakthrough from an Electroweak Civilization to a Strong Core Civilization.
However, they have likely not yet completed the transition from fundamental physics theory to industrial and military application.
There is also ample evidence indicating that the Prey Civilization fled with an unimaginable quantity of resources, estimated to be between 150 to 250 trillion tons.
Such abundant material support is sufficient for them to undergo technological conversion during their flight.
By the time our fleet intercepts them, their applied technology may have undergone significant breakthroughs, resulting in a massive increase in combat capability.
Furthermore, during the previous stage, we encountered a trap within that Star System that caused the deaths of numerous slave organisms. As a result, our supply of life wisdom is severely insufficient, leading to a significant degradation in the performance of my combat systems.
But even with this disparity—their rise and our decline—we are still projected to maintain absolute technological superiority over them.
Simultaneously, the Prey Civilization’s extraordinary rate of technological advancement implies they possess a higher grade of life wisdom.
And we are currently facing a severe shortage of that very life wisdom.
Considering our overall situation, and to prevent a future scenario where we encounter other civilizations without sufficient combat power or technological standing to protect the Master’s life, the capture of the Prey Civilization to replenish our reserves of life wisdom is now the highest priority.
We must commit all available resources!"
The massive fleet remained in that patch of void for less than a decade before setting off once more. Propelling themselves forward with an acceleration that far surpassed that of Li Qingsong’s fleet, they sped off in the direction indicated by one of the flight paths.
Watching this, Li Qingsong felt a knot of alarm in his stomach, but at the same time, he could finally relax a little.
He was alarmed because the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet had departed so quickly. He was relaxed because the course they had chosen was not the one taken by his actual main fleet.
There were six flight paths in total. In a completely random selection, the probability of choosing the correct one on the first try was only about 16.7%. If the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet had managed to guess correctly, he would have been impossibly unlucky.
This meant he had, at minimum, another fifty to one hundred years to develop.
After the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet departed, Li Qingsong lost all trace of them.
What course they would choose next, and how they would continue the chase, was now beyond Li Qingsong’s ability to know.
At this point, the only thing Li Qingsong could do was commit everything to development.
During the past several decades of travel, with an ample supply of resources, Li Qingsong had never for a moment ceased his focus on scientific research and development.
By now, the total mass of the Flying Star had decreased from its original 202 trillion tons to about 140 trillion tons—a reduction of a full thirty percent.
This loss in mass, equivalent to several of the old migration fleets, had been consumed by Li Qingsong’s prolonged acceleration and his numerous experiments and research projects.
With the Grand Unification Formula as his foundational physics support, the consumption of all those resources had finally allowed Li Qingsong’s various technologies to advance by leaps and bounds.
Right now, Li Qingsong’s attention was focused on two vessels, one to the left and one to the right, positioned on opposite flanks of the fleet and separated by a distance of about thirty million kilometers.
Each of these two ships housed an enormous device. And at this very moment, these two devices, separated by such a vast distance, were connected by some peculiar means.