Chapter 1 The Sudden Retreat

The sudden retreat of the three great civilizations before the deadline of the ultimatum stunned the entire interstellar society. For a time, no one knew what was happening, and countless faces were filled with bewilderment.

The voices supporting war in the quantum network disappeared, and all sorts of sarcastic remarks rapidly emerged.

"Oh, aren't the three great civilizations very tough? So they're backing down now?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, it seems the three great civilizations only have pretenses left. They've fully exposed their outward strength and inner weakness."

"Still supporting them to start a war? Have you even considered whether the three great civilizations take you seriously?"

The direction of public opinion shifted again. Watching these sarcastic remarks, countless interstellar citizens were rendered speechless, feeling extremely frustrated.

Among them were not only some Super users who had been holding their breath and were now watching the show, but also certain forces stirring up trouble from behind the scenes. The Star Cluster Alliance had been lying dormant, and now seeing an opportunity, they immediately jumped out to add fuel to the fire, using their traditional skills to stir up trouble.

On the other side, compared to the interstellar citizens, many players were even more confused.

"That's it?"

"I watched ten days of cutscenes, and you're telling me you're not fighting?!"

"What about the all-out war you promised?! Cowards!"

"I already took my pants off, and you're just going to... oh, right, I can't take my pants off."

Under the horrified and wary gazes of other crew members, many legion players yelled and shouted, pounded their chests, and stamped their feet, their emotions running high, lamenting that the war hadn't broken out smoothly. They were a group of shockingly fanatical warmongers.

The joint fleet of the three great civilizations turned into dense streams of warp light, hurriedly retreating. Watching this scene, Manison flew out of the fleet and stood shoulder to shoulder with Han Xiao, together watching the three great civilizations depart.

"Strange, they didn't even say goodbye and just gave up the siege like that?" Manison was at a loss.

"Something is amiss when things are out of the ordinary. This matter is suspicious. The three great civilizations put on such a big show, it's definitely not just to bluff us. It's clear they were really psychologically prepared for war, but now they'd rather break their word and lose face than retreat and avoid battle. Something huge must have happened."

Han Xiao pinched his chin and muttered softly.

"Hmm… maybe they're just really cowards?" Manison said, then shook his head, feeling the possibility wasn't high. He guessed, "Maybe the leaders of the three great civilizations figured it out and thought that an all-out war with the Association would do more harm than good, so they changed their decision and withdrew their orders... so the strategic goal of leaking the virus technology has been achieved?"

"I'm not sure. The three great civilizations should give the interstellar society an answer. Let's wait and see. I'll also find a way to ask around for inside information… maybe the three great civilizations will take the initiative to contact me after a while."

Han Xiao's eyes flickered, lost in thought.

Hearing this, Manison turned to look at him.

"Do you know something?"

"Just some guesses, lacking intelligence, I can't be sure yet."

Han Xiao shook his head.

Just then, the communicator rang, connecting to the communication channel of the Super-A Grade Association.

"Black Star, what's going on on your side? The three great civilizations aren't fighting?"

"What do they mean by this?"

"Do we still need to carry out our battle plan?"

As soon as he answered, many Super-A Grades immediately asked a barrage of questions, full of confusion.

Many Association members were just as confused. They had all made psychological preparations for a bloody battle and had their pants off, ready for a fiery battle at any time, but the opponent changed their mind and ran away at the last moment. The fighting spirit that had been built up was stuck in their hearts. This feeling was like preparing to race, suddenly seeing a speed limit sign and a traffic police officer watching vigilantly beside them, and having to suppress the uninhibitedness in their hearts.

They said whoever backed down was a grandson, so why did they chicken out?!

"You guys stand by for now. Watch the subsequent actions of the three great civilizations, but don't relax too much. Be careful of a feint. If they really want to attack, they might directly use the High-Dimensional Apocalypse Transporter to launch a surprise attack on strategic locations…"

Han Xiao instructed them again, telling the Association members to remain vigilant, then hung up the call.

The encirclement of the Machinery Race's territory by the three great civilizations was just a signal to force accountability. Actually, attacking here was useless, only having the significance of a declaration of war. At this time, it was still impossible to determine the exact intentions of the three great civilizations… openly withdrawing their troops, then using the High-Dimensional Apocalypse Transporter to launch a surprise attack, was also possible and had to be guarded against.

Seeing that Han Xiao had finished the call, Manison reopened his mouth and said, "What now? The three great civilizations have withdrawn. Should the troops here be disbanded?"

Han Xiao thought for a moment and shook his head. "Don't withdraw yet. Reduce the defensive circle and continue to protect the Machinery Race's territory. Disband the troops after confirming that the joint fleet of the three great civilizations has left this star cluster. I'll go back first."

Manison nodded and flew back to the main ship to instruct the Machinery Race troops.

Han Xiao retracted his gaze, put on the Emperor Suit, and disappeared from the spot with a whoosh!

Swish!

The view instantly changed. The next second, he returned to a secret legion base, a hideout for some of the non-combatant cadres to avoid the flames of war.

Sitting in the room were some legion cadres and many members of Longtan, with Ames also among them, sitting there to oversee the situation, all watching the news broadcast of the Machinery Race's territory.

Seeing Han Xiao suddenly appear, the gazes of the many cadres all focused on him, and the reverence and worship in their eyes were more intense than before, as if they were looking at a god.

"You've been very brave these past few days." Ames crossed her legs, leaned her upper body forward, rested her arm on her knee, supported her chin with her hand, tilted her head slightly, her smooth long hair cascading down, blinked her eyes, her expression a playful smile, her tone teasing.

"Am I brave or not, don't you know?"

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.

Ames smiled lightly. "You should still have a lot of things to deal with, right? What are you doing running over here for no reason?"

"Just coming over to take a look and make sure everything is alright here."

Han Xiao casually found an excuse, turned his head and glanced at the cadres, his gaze accurately landing on Fording, and immediately showed a smile, striding forward to rub him a bit, frantically absorbing luck.

Fording looked helpless, acting in a submissive and docile manner.

Seeing this, Iso couldn't help but cough and said, "You repelled all the direct descendants of the three great civilizations, and even Urnos couldn't do anything to you. They must have given up on attacking you in terms of individual ability. I don't know if the retreat of the three great civilizations has this factor, but in short, they don't seem to want to start a war now. What are you going to do next?"

Hearing this, Han Xiao put away his smile.

"Let's figure out what's going on first. In short, don't be happy too soon. If I unfortunately guessed correctly, I'm afraid the situation will be even worse."

……

The ten-day standoff between the three great civilizations and the Association attracted the attention of the entire universe, but few people expected it to end in this way. After the joint fleet withdrew, the three great civilizations fell silent. They not only transferred back some of the group armies they had sent out some time ago, but they also didn't issue a public statement explaining the reason for the retreat. The storm of public opinion intensified, and various guesses and statements emerged one after another.

Everyone thought this would become the fuse for an all-out war, but the three great civilizations reined in their horses at the edge of the cliff, extinguishing the imminent flames of war. This standoff instead fulfilled Black Star's reputation, basically confirming his title as the peak of the current Super-A Grade combat power. If there had to be a winner, only Black Star could barely be counted.

Some were glad the flames of war had not ignited, some denounced the three great civilizations for being cowardly and useless, some ridiculed the interstellar citizens for being sentimental, and the direction of public opinion was constantly changing, but the only thing that was the same was that everyone was curious about what factors forced the three great civilizations to choose to back down.

Due to the silence of the three great civilizations, no one knew the inside story, and even the Super-A Grade Association did not issue a public statement, also waiting and watching, causing the interstellar society to be full of speculation, and countless people itching with impatience.

……

The joint conference room of the three great civilizations.

"...We have repeatedly verified the authenticity of this report. Through directional wormhole probes, we have indeed discovered traces of unknown civilization activity. The data itself is fine, but the project's conclusion is difficult to judge."

The remote projection of the Imperial high-ranking official in charge of the scientific research field stood in front of Marbrus and the other three leaders, making a serious report.

"So, we can't temporarily determine if this unknown civilization is at the universe level?" Marbrus emphasized.

"This… that's right, but the other side must have the standards of an advanced civilization. These days, we have frequently sent multi-functional space probes to the other side, collecting more data, all proving that this unknown civilization has a quite high level of technology."

"...I understand. You continue to collect data while hiding yourselves. I want to know the detailed situation of this civilization."

After giving a few instructions, Marbrus hung up the communication, leaving only him and the other two civilization leaders in the room.

"It seems that the decision to retreat at that time was correct." The head of the Arcane Church said in a deep voice.

"Yes, otherwise we would be in a terrible mess now. This report came just in time." Louis echoed, feeling somewhat fortunate.

On the last day of the standoff, they had wanted to act according to the battle plan, but this wormhole report from the Imperial Academy of Sciences shook their decision.

The three great civilizations had always been committed to exploring the unknown universe territories. This wormhole report discovered an unknown universe-level civilization, which was a huge threat. In this regard, the three great civilizations had rich experience. Once an external enemy appeared, they had to carefully handle internal contradictions. It was undoubtedly not a good time to deal with the problem of personal power imbalance, and it was not suitable to continue to entangle with the Super-A Grades.

At that time, the arrow was on the string, and there was not much time left for the three to discuss. In the end, they would rather believe it than not, dispelled their fluke mentality, suspended the battle plan, and turned to use a lot of resources to verify this wormhole data, knowing what was more important.

This wormhole data was one of the legacies left by the Hetero God. Because the Hetero God had been sealed for many years, it was already an unimportant project, but now there were amazing discoveries. From almost no one paying attention, it suddenly became the highest priority project, all the way green light, the progress was directly supervised by the three great civilization leaders, extremely valued.

The final result was that although the conclusion of this wormhole report had exaggerations, the data was fine, and unknown advanced civilization was indeed discovered, but whether it was at the universe level or not could not be determined.

If that was really the case… it could only be said that this was an "imprecise" conclusion of incalculable value.

Marbrus tapped the table and slowly said:

"The top priority now is to collect intelligence on this unknown civilization, determine the other side's strength level, as well as their social form, attitude toward the outside world, and so on. Other things can be temporarily put aside."

Louis and the head of the Arcane Church nodded.

The three great civilizations had a set of strategic plans in this regard. Direct contact or direct war was impossible. Once they discovered an advanced civilization in the unexplored universe, the primary task was to carefully collect intelligence without exposing themselves, and then choose different response plans according to the other side's strength, culture, and other factors. Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to winning every battle.

Although the explored universe had entered the interstellar society era, when magnified to the entire unexplored universe, it was still in a dark forest period similar to the exploration era. Being hidden in the dark while the enemy is in the open was a huge advantage, and naturally it should be used well.

"Don't forget, before further exploration, we must first take all measures to deal with accidents." The head of the Arcane Church said.

"I understand this."

Marbrus nodded.

The measures the three were talking about were mainly war mobilization, and being ready at any time to launch strategic extinction weapons through the wormhole toward the other side's territory. In certain extreme cases, they didn't mind directly blowing up the other side's territory, turning it into a desolate universe belt, obliterating all living beings of the unknown civilization, without any soft-heartedness.

"This matter is of great importance. If a war really breaks out, the Super-A Grade Association is also a powerful armed force. Should we let them know about this now?"

Louis's eyes flashed, and he raised a sensitive question, turning his head to ask the other two for their opinions.

The existence of the Super-A Grades threatened their rule, but at the same time, it was also a sharp weapon for external operations. Now that the situation had changed, their thoughts had also changed. In their eyes, there were never permanent enemies.

The head of the Arcane Church pondered for a moment, waved his hand, and elaborated on his views:

"Let's be cautious. We haven't figured out the situation of this unknown civilization yet, so there's no need to reveal it to the Association now. You think about it, if this unknown civilization can coexist and also has universe-level strength, once they are incorporated into the interstellar society system, then the Association will have one more choice to rely on, which will impact the interstellar pattern… we can't guarantee the Association's loyalty, so we should keep it secret for the time being."

"That makes sense." Marbrus nodded, "Don't announce this matter to the outside world now. Let's explore it secretly first, and then consider whether to announce it or not depending on the situation. It won't be too late to tell them when we need the Association's assistance."

In the opinion of the three, such a major event obviously did not need to be immediately notified to other forces, all of which were potential destabilizing factors, who knows what kind of trouble would be caused.

"In that case, let's put aside the dispute with the Association for now, stabilize those Super-A Grades, don't let them cause trouble, and coexist peacefully for the time being… anyway, this is also the goal of Black Star and the others. Find a reason to unify our tone with them and convey our intention to stop the fight, let the Association think we've backed down."

Louis suggested.

The other two nodded in agreement. It was inevitable to secure the home front before resisting foreign aggression. Although they couldn't handle the Association for the time being, it was enough for them as long as the Super-A Grades didn't make trouble.

Just then, Marbrus thought of something, and his eyes suddenly flashed.

If he remembered correctly, Black Star also had this wormhole data from the Hetero God's legacy, and seemed to have specifically asked the Empire about the research progress on this set of wormhole data…

Now it seemed, could it be that Black Star knew something?

A thought flashed through his mind, and Marbrus then shook his head.

He felt that this possibility was extremely limited. Compared to asking Black Star, the intelligence obtained from his own exploration was more trustworthy.

Moreover, he had just reached a consensus, agreeing not to leak this secret to the outside world, so even if Black Star might know something, he didn't intend to ask, after all, the other side was still the leader of the forces leading the opposition to the three great civilizations, and had already parted ways.

……

A certain base of the Black Star Mercenary Group, the legion commander's office.

A huge cosmic star map floated in the room, on which were marked the large-scale mobilization trajectories of the various group armies of the three great civilizations, drawing arrows of troop movement.

Han Xiao stood in front of the star map, carefully looking at the troop mobilization chart of the three great civilizations during this period.

It had been a while since the three great civilizations withdrew their troops from the Machinery Race's territory. These days, the military deployments of the three great civilizations had been very abnormal. They were originally stationed in various star fields, preparing to deal with the Super-A Grade Association, but now they had all returned to the central star sea, seemingly without any intention of starting a war.

If it was just this, it would be fine, but the strangest thing was that the three great civilizations had been playing dumb, with no announcement and no contact with him, the president of the Association, to explain their intentions. Their actions were very abnormal, as if they didn't have time to care about him.

He had been trying to find out the inside story these days, but the three great civilizations had been highly secretive this time, and no relevant intelligence had been leaked.

"Could it be that I really guessed right…"

Han Xiao murmured to himself.

What could make the three great civilizations change their decision at the last minute?

Placed in this version period, there didn't seem to be many possible situations, but the butterfly effect he had caused had already changed a lot of things, one of which was that the Hetero God allowed the Empire to obtain the key to the World Tree civilization's territory early, becoming an unstable factor.

In his opinion, the most likely situation at present was that the three great civilizations had discovered the World Tree from it. Because of the existence of external enemies, the three great civilizations retreated so decisively, so unexpectedly.

"If that's the case, the three great civilizations will definitely conduct in-depth research on the wormhole, possibly notifying me, or possibly keeping it secret from the outside world… with the style of the three great civilizations, and my current identity, the probability of the latter is higher."

Han Xiao frowned tightly, gently bit his fingernail, and felt uneasy.

If the three great civilizations chose to keep it secret and explore it privately, then they wouldn't know enough about the World Tree civilization, and the risk of exposure would be very high.

If contact had already been inevitably brought forward, then continuing to hide the information about the World Tree at this time would instead increase the risk. Perhaps now was the most suitable time to reveal the intelligence.

But it was also possible that he guessed wrong, and if the three great civilizations' concession wasn't because they discovered the World Tree, he would be shooting himself in the foot.

"So the essence is still a gamble. Should I take a gamble…"

Han Xiao's expression changed.

Beep, beep, beep…

Just then, the communicator rang.

He took it out and glanced at it. It was a call from an Imperial envoy.

"Hello, Your Excellency Black Star."

As soon as the communication was connected, the Imperial envoy nodded in greeting, appearing quite respectful.

Han Xiao glanced at him and went straight to the point, "Are you finally planning to explain your behavior?"

"You're joking. This time, I'm here on behalf of the three great civilizations to negotiate with you. We are willing to accept the Association's proposal and allow your side to restrict the virtual rebellion virus technology yourself…"

The Imperial envoy said a lot, the core meaning being that the three great civilizations were willing to concede, saying that they did not need Manison to hand over the virus technology, believed in the Association's guarantee, allowed the Association to manage this high-risk technology themselves, and they would no longer interfere.

"Oh?" Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, "Since you admit that the Association's guarantee is valid, you are admitting the correctness of the Association, so what about the blockade order against the Association?"

"It won't be lifted temporarily, but it can be discussed." The Imperial envoy smiled.

Looking at the other side's cold smile, Han Xiao increasingly realized the subtle attitude of the three great civilizations, and his expression suddenly became uncertain, his heart in turmoil.

His intuition grew stronger, feeling that he might have really guessed the truth.

After a few seconds of silence, Han Xiao slowly took a breath.

Gamble!

With a sudden determination, Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and said quietly:

"I have received your message. Help me pass a message to Marbrus."

"What message?"

"...You are so abnormal, it seems that you have finally cracked the wormhole data in the Hetero God's legacy, right?"