Chapter 166 A Frog in a Well

At the same time, the data sent by the locator beacon, along the quantum link, was transmitted to a desolate planet several star sectors away.

A mountain-like, huge disc-shaped warship was quietly parked in a crater. It was more than thirty kilometers in diameter and made of ordinary alloy, a rudimentary material for space warships in the explored universe. This disc-shaped warship had anti-gravity suspension and a high-concentration nuclear propulsion engine. Its warp technology was very primitive. If any interstellar citizens were here, they would know that the technology of this warship was between that of a star system civilization and a surface civilization, equivalent to the technological level of a planetary civilization that had just begun to colonize outer space.

The only outstanding feature was its quantum communication technology.

In the lower-level cabins, there were many cryogenic hibernation pods, with countless crew members sleeping inside. Only a few were awake, maintaining the life support functions of the spacecraft in the bridge cockpit.

Dozens of creatures wearing simple combat uniforms were busy in front of the consoles. These creatures were quite short, had six arms, and their skin was brown.

Suddenly, one of the consoles issued a prompt.

"Beep beep! Beacon No. 0278 has been activated, and the location data of the beacon has been received."

All the operators in the room hurriedly turned their heads and swarmed to the console, talking to each other. Then, a tall creature of a different species pushed through the crowd and squeezed in front of the console.

"Get out of the way, let me see... Gaggagga, have we discovered another new planet?"

This tall creature was obviously the leader, nearly three meters tall. The short operators around him only reached his thighs. The leader wore a metal armor that clanged as he walked. His appearance was monstrous, more hideous than an orc, and fundamentally did not conform to the aesthetics of most humanoid creatures.

"Great Chieftain Qiqijia, this beacon has been out of contact for a long time. I didn't expect it to be activated now. Our beacon has been discovered by unknown intelligent creatures! They repaired the beacon!" One of the operators said, quite frightened.

"Isn't that even better! We can also capture them as slaves and offer them to the Great Emperor. The Great Emperor likes new species the most!" Qiqijia laughed in a coarse voice.

"G-Great Chieftain, it's not that simple. This time, the target is different from the races we have invaded before. The fact that they can repair the beacon means that they have a technological level close to ours. There are not many individuals in the entire universe who can catch up with us. This time, the target will not be so easy to deal with! They actively repaired the beacon, most likely wanting to track us down."

"What, they dare to find us?!"

Hearing this, Qiqijia's expression became fierce, and he roared, "It seems like a bunch of ignorant fellows who haven't heard the name of our Great Cosmos Army! They even want to track us down, courting death!"

If Han Xiao were here, he would not be unfamiliar with the name "Great Cosmos Army". It was a local force in the Shattered Star Ring, originally a wandering civilization that lost its home planet due to disaster. They originally wandered in the center of the Goul Star Cluster, searching for various resources to maintain their lives.

In the early stages of their wandering, they explored the surrounding planets through beacons and gradually discovered some backward civilizations. Due to a lack of trust and inability to communicate, they eliminated all the civilizations they encountered and plundered a large amount of resources and technology. They gradually became accustomed to this method of development and transformed from a wandering civilization into a pirate organization, making a living by plundering planets.

Since most of the indigenous civilizations in the Goul Star Cluster were relatively weak and had no contact with each other, this force ran rampant in the central area of the star cluster without anyone stopping them. They accumulated a large amount of resources and manpower through plundering. There were no more civilizations nearby that could resist them. This group of people believed that they were the overlords of this universe, so they changed their name and called themselves the "Great Cosmos Army"...

Just from the name, it could be seen that this group of people was quite inflated.

Later, the Great Cosmos Army began to explore farther areas. With their technology, they naturally could not figure out the overall distribution of the star cluster, and they were completely in the dark about the unknown areas, only able to grope around.

Although they occupied many planets as their territory, they did not conduct a complete exploration of the star systems and lacked various infrastructures. It was equivalent to occupying some planets and thinking they ruled an area. Compared with the in-depth development of territories by civilizations in the explored universe, this group of people was completely disorganized.

It was in this uncharted star area without order that a special force like this appeared—a force with a sphere of influence exceeding that of a star system-level civilization, yet its strength was not as good as that of the most ordinary star system-level civilization. Because of the lack of opponents, they felt very good about themselves.

Their "strength" was only limited to the standards of the natives.

In Han Xiao's words, this group of people was commonly known as frogs in a well.

In his previous life, when the empire explored the Goul Star Cluster, it only left a short record of this force. After Han Xiao read it, he laughed for a long time.

Because in the empire's records, the deeds of this "Great Cosmos Army" could basically be compared to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in reality...

However, the title of "Hidden Mission" when the beacon was discovered was quite suspicious, leading Han Xiao to assume that it was a mysterious civilization from within the star system. The Great Cosmos Army was located in the central part of the Goul Star Cluster, and in the empire's records from his previous life, there was no mention of the Great Cosmos Army appearing in the border star system in the southern part of the Goul Star Cluster.

Moreover, the empire only had a brief record of the Great Cosmos Army because, to the empire, this local force was simply too weak. They committed the common mistake of the natives, which was arrogance. This small episode did not have much worth recording for the empire. In his previous life, the empire's exploration took place during a version update, and the players did not personally experience it. After officially entering the Shattered Star Ring, the Great Cosmos Army had long since cooled down. Han Xiao could only learn about it through the empire's brief records, which he felt were not important and did not leave a deep impression.

Therefore, he did not think of it that way at first and did not know that the target of the mission was this force... But even if he knew, it would not make much of a difference to him.

The operator was trembling, "I... I think we should report this matter to the Great Emperor... We don't have enough manpower..."

"What did you say!" Qiqijia was irritable and angry, and slammed his palm on the table.

"Great Chieftain, don't be angry. The Great Emperor put you in charge of this area. If we act without authorization on such a big matter, the Great Emperor will be angry!"

Hearing that the Great Emperor might be angry, Qiqijia hurriedly shivered, his anger dissipated, and he hesitated, "Then... then report to the Great Emperor."

Everyone hurriedly contacted the Great Emperor, holding their breath. Soon, an image of a person appeared on the screen.

The person in the picture was a humanoid race, wrapped in black and purple mechanical armor, only revealing his head. He had messy black hair, pale skin, and a metal mask covering the lower half of his face, making it impossible to see his appearance. His eyes were indifferent. He wore a bright red half-shoulder cloak, and thick tentacles extended from his back. These tentacles were muscular and covered with armor, like many mechanical tails, surrounding him.

He sat on a steel throne in a warship, with a metal wall engraved with the emblem of the Great Cosmos Army behind him, hanging with the skulls of different beasts, like trophies or collections. This person was the leader of the Great Cosmos Army, Atimoo, who called himself "Cosmic Emperor."

Seeing this person, Qiqijia hurriedly stood up straight.

"You better have a reason for disturbing me."

Atimoo raised his eyelids, his tone neither salty nor bland, with a hint of coldness.

Qiqijia shivered. He had become one of the great chieftains because of his outstanding combat power. Although he was irritable, he was genuinely afraid of Atimoo. With the occasional reminders from the operators, he stuttered as he reported what had happened, carefully waiting for a reply.

"So, you've been discovered by a group of unknown forces with advanced technology?"

"Yes, what should we do..."

"Invade their planet, plunder their technology, seize their resources, eliminate them, and capture them." Atimoo's tone remained unchanged, and he said lightly, "Do I still need to teach you this?"

"Y-Yes, I understand." Qiqijia hurriedly nodded.

Hanging up the communication, Qiqijia breathed a sigh of relief and became arrogant again. He glared at the operators around him and roared loudly:

"Did you hear that! The Great Emperor ordered us to eliminate the enemy. Wake up all the guys in hibernation. We have a war to fight!"

...

Two days passed in a flash. Han Xiao's main fleet officially set off, leaving Pangurid Star, leaving only a certain number of mining troops.

Han Xiao's next plan was to personally explore a mediocre resource planet in the first star sector of the border star system.

The famous planets in his memory were distributed in various areas. Compared to the scale of the entire star cluster, the first star sector was still a bit small. In addition to Pangurid Star, he had some memory of about a dozen planets in this star sector, all of which he had personally visited before. Some of them were resource planets—at that time, he mainly found people to team up with to snatch resources from the guilds. Others were functional planets, such as stargate stations, supply stations, and the like.

The Black Star Army exploration team and the Seerinker exploration team, with tens of millions of spaceships, acted separately. Based on the current efficiency, it would take about seventeen or eighteen days to explore all the planets in the first star sector. It was estimated that it would take about half a year to explore this star system, mainly because the time spent on the road was relatively long.

After all, not every planet had natives, and ordinary planets could be detected quickly.

The special task force was riding high warp speed ships, and since they did not stop along the way, it would only take four months to cross more than a dozen star systems to establish a long-distance stargate channel. During this time, Han Xiao felt that he should be able to explore every planet he had a memory of in the current star system.

On the other side, a few warships detached from the fleet, carrying the mechanical troops sent by Han Xiao, heading towards the location of Qiqijia and the others along the reverse positioning of the beacon.

In the spaceship, rows of mechanical soldiers stood quietly in formation, waiting for orders from Sparta, without the slightest movement.

However, in the cabin, there was a group of guys who were out of sync with the lifeless mechanical troops. It was the group of mechanical lives under Han Xiao who had activated their sparks.

"Everyone, this is the first time the Master has sent us out to fight. We must not let the Master down."

In the spacious room, dozens of mechanical lives were sitting or standing, looking at Youzu, who was speaking seriously.

As soon as he finished speaking, a silver mechanical life swaggered on the sofa and spoke, simulating an impatient tone.

"Humph, we are all the Master's first generation of children. Just because you were born the earliest, you think you are our leader?"

Han Xiao personally manufactured thousands of first-generation mechanical lives, led by Youzu, but some mechanical lives were not convinced.

Mechanical lives who awakened free thinking also had emotional modules. Because their bodies were different, they would basically use nano-transformation to give themselves bodies that were convenient for activity.

"According to the blood relationship of living things, Silver Flash, I am your elder brother," Youzu said.

This mechanical life was called Silver Flash, and he was usually jealous of Youzu's ability to be by Han Xiao's side at all times... Youzu was just a Floating Splitter, the master's favorite was obviously his kind of thick, long, and fierce Star Destroyer Cannon!

"Let's fight! Let's fight! Whoever wins will be the big brother!" A red and black mechanical life, which was obviously shorter than the others, jumped up and down, fearing that the world would not be chaotic. Its body was a Dark Energy Floating Turret, called Red Fireball.

"Don't make trouble." Youzu waved his hand.

"I'm just making trouble!" Silver Flash seized the opportunity and suddenly pounced, his mechanical butt smashed the sofa, and he rammed into Youzu.

Youzu suddenly split from a humanoid into individual floating guards, allowing Silver Flash to pass through and miss.

Bang! Silver Flash put his arm on the ground, spun his body, and kicked a whirlwind leg at Youzu's Floating Guard avatar. His body was a Star Destroyer Cannon, and he didn't dare to fire randomly on the ship, so he only used melee combat.

Two Floating Guards suddenly merged, turning into a palm, grabbing Silver Flash's kicking leg. Sparks flew from the metal collision. Then Youzu returned to his humanoid form, grabbed Silver Flash, and performed a shoulder throw.

Bang! The heavy mechanical body slammed into a pit in the metal floor.

"Still playing?" Youzu grabbed Silver Flash's leg and refused to let go, his palm releasing a nano-particle constraint field, preventing Silver Flash from nano-transforming to take his leg back.

Silver Flash fell to the ground, one leg being grabbed, and the other leg kicked continuously at Youzu, just like a child fighting, but all were avoided by Youzu.

The two mechanical lives fought, and the room was immediately in a mess. The surrounding mechanical lives quickly avoided it, leaving space.

Usually, in Han Xiao's secondary space barracks, mechanical lives were constantly sparring and fighting every day, without any hesitation. All the mechanical lives were used to it.

"Didn't you oil it up? Use more force!!" Red Fireball shouted, fearing that the world would not be in chaos. A Vindicator couldn't stand it anymore and kicked him away like a ball.

"Don't sink the spaceship! If you want to fight, go to the combat room!" a Ranger mechanical life shouted.

At this moment, all the mechanical lives' movements froze, and Sparta's cold voice sounded out of thin air.

"The master finally gave you a mission, and you're messing around like this?! All of you, reflect on yourselves!"

Mechanical lives had free will, but in the underlying logic, Han Xiao's intelligent control had a higher priority, second only to Han Xiao's own authority.

Generally speaking, Han Xiao did not let Ai intelligence easily take over control, letting mechanical lives act freely so that they could grow better. However, Sparta did not want this group of mechanical lives to continue messing around and snatched the control of these mechanical lives' bodies in an instant, controlling these mechanical lives to go back to the cabin and stand properly.

However, although these mechanical lives could not control their bodies, their minds were still active, cursing each other through the network connection.

Silver Flash: "If it were in an open area, you would have become scrap metal!"

Youzu: "Hehe."

Ranger: "It's all your fault, we can't move anymore!"

Vindicator: "Silver Flash... after completing the mission, I will dismantle you and send you to the Master to be remade!"

Silver Flash: "Do you think I'm afraid of you? If you have the guts, let me fire a shot! See if you still have the chance to be remade!"

These mechanical lives' bodies could not move, but their mouths could speak...

In short, punishment stands.