Chapter 553 The Calm Before the Storm

Doubt always leads to action – that was Han Xiao’s style. He had Philip monitor intelligence from all corners of interstellar society, ready to report any unusual activity immediately. However, after several months of cautious observation, he found nothing, and the situation remained unchanged.

Because of the Kard Snake, the World Tree Civilization was in a state of frantic urgency, launching wave after wave of attacks against the border defense lines. They threw troops into the battlefield as if they were free, disregarding losses. However, the Interstellar Joint Army was not to be trifled with and would not allow their defenses to be breached so easily.

Even on the secondary dimension front, the World Tree’s dependents stubbornly invaded several times. However, with Han Xiao guarding the shallow dimensions, he was like an unshakable guardian deity. The dependents invaded time and again, only to be beaten back repeatedly, leaving behind countless fleets as they fled, allowing Han Xiao to reap a bountiful harvest.

The most miserable were those on the individual power level. The World Tree realized that they were being completely crushed. On the Shining World front, there was Aurora, the奶妈 (milkmaid, healer), as well as Hetero-God and Hyperion, top-tier combatants. The World Tree’s powerhouses were essentially trading injuries for zero gain. Meanwhile, the guardian of the secondary dimensions was the Beyond Grade A Han Xiao, against whom even the Tree King dared not show his face, let alone anyone else.

For a time, many holy tree envoys, ancestral spirits, and military leaders were stunned to find that they were utterly useless, with neither battlefront needing them.

If they had already invaded the enemy’s homeworld, they could still rely on their individual strength to maneuver flexibly through space, like special forces, distracting the enemy civilization and causing various kinds of damage. But in the current situation, they could only wait in frustrated idleness.

Meanwhile, after several months of war, the tens of millions of players had reintegrated into the atmosphere of battle. Both battlefronts offered choices, tasks were much more plentiful, and their wallets were slowly filling up. Unfortunately, Version 5.5 had unlocked a new level cap, and the players’ primary goal was to level up, leaving them with little spare cash to spend.

As more and more players reached the Calamity Grade, a qualitative change slowly emerged. The player community became more present on the battlefield, and the three Universal Civilizations paid more and more attention.

From the perspective of the higher-ups, the explored universe was rich in resources. For a long time, their powerful productivity was sufficient to hold out against the World Tree Civilization. However, this path would eventually come to an end. The World Tree was ultimately superior in this aspect, and as time passed, the three Universal Civilizations believed that they would eventually begin to weaken, and the various hidden dangers of the wartime policies would gradually surface.

Of course, this situation would not occur anytime soon. It was not them who were in a desperate situation right now. The three Universal Civilizations were sitting pretty, hoping for a war of attrition more than the World Tree, to buy time for the Kard Snake to grow. Therefore, the players, with their Calamity Grade potential and immortality, were seen by the three Universal Civilizations as an important strategic weapon, not afraid of attrition.

For several months, the situation had been excellent, and interstellar society was gradually filled with confidence and optimism.

Although the players did not know about the Kard Snake, they analyzed the situation on the surface and felt that the three Universal Civilizations were likely to win this time. They had learned Black Star’s operational style, and all that was left was the f2A (gaming term, “attack-move”) to finish the job. How could they lose with a Mutalisk rush?

Just when everyone’s morale was high, Han Xiao discovered some clues.

…

“The various members of the Super Star Cluster Alliance have all set up secret stargates within their borders, and have gathered large numbers of civilians, countless supplies, and long-range warships, suspected of preparing to run away?”

Han Xiao flipped through the intelligence reports, his expression shifting as he pondered.

Faced with an invasion by a foreign enemy, it was perfectly normal for these advanced civilizations to leave themselves a way out and make a second-hand preparation. Even if everyone was optimistic about the war now and had high morale, the advanced civilizations were still planning for the worst. Han Xiao had noticed the movements of the Super Star Cluster Alliance before but had not taken it to heart.

However, because of his suspicion of a “total war” and the calm of the past few months, Han Xiao’s paranoia had become increasingly severe. Now, everyone looked suspicious to him. The Super Star Cluster Alliance’s preparations for a rainy day, even if reasonable, still seemed a little glaring to him.

Han Xiao recalled the performance of the Super Star Cluster Civilization’s forces on the battlefield. Although they had completed their combat missions, he always had the feeling that they were not giving their all.

He used to think that the Super Star Clusters were worried about being used as cannon fodder by the three Universal Civilizations, so they were cautiously holding back. But now that his paranoia had been triggered, he felt that there was something else going on.

After all, the conflicts between the Super Star Cluster Alliance and the three Universal Civilizations were deeply rooted. In this war of foreign invasion, which was rebuilding the structure of power, it would be unlike them if the Super Star Cluster Alliance did not seize the opportunity to do something.

“I always feel like they’re not just leaving a way out, but have other plans…”

Han Xiao rubbed his chin, secretly resolving to thoroughly investigate the Super Star Cluster Alliance’s secrets.

In any case, it would not be a bad thing to investigate, regardless of whether there was a problem or not. It would be best if he could catch them doing something wrong.

He sent a message to Philip, telling him to pay attention to intelligence in this area. Only then did Han Xiao withdraw from the quantum network view, walk out of the room, and a huge cloud of mist immediately entered his sight. It was the Kard Snake hiding inside, along with its caretaker, the King of Everlasting, and a bunch of mechanical troops acting as bodyguards.

The group was currently in a secondary dimension, allowing the Kard Snake to devour it to its heart’s content. Han Xiao had been closely following it with his mobile fortress all this time. While protecting it, he was also wondering how to accelerate the Kard Snake’s growth.

To this end, he had previously had to give the Kard Snake a comprehensive examination. The Kard Snake was naturally unwilling, but under his strong control, it could only stare with its aloof and unwilling eyes, allowing Han Xiao to manipulate its body.

After examining its body, Han Xiao discovered that the Kard Snake had no gender, or rather, it was hermaphroditic.

After a more detailed and in-depth examination, Han Xiao also figured out the Kard Snake’s method of reproduction, which left him feeling somewhat complicated.

The Kard Snake’s reproduction required the assistance of a secondary dimension that had given birth to a conscious entity, engaging in mating-like behavior, absorbing the secondary dimension in another way, transforming it into an embryo. This behavior could be said to be solitary reproduction, or it could be said to be crossbreeding. In any case, it did not require the “help” of other members of the same species.

But thinking about it, the Kard Snake would probably never encounter another of its kind in its life, and it was being hunted down by the World Tree. If it could not reproduce on its own, it would probably have gone extinct long ago.

The problem was that the Kard Snake usually ate secondary dimensions… to understand it in another way, what did this snake do to its food…

Moreover, after sleeping with someone, it had to eat them and absorb them as nutrients… you can still eat after you’re done? Are you a praying mantis?

Han Xiao flashed through various thoughts, looking at the Kard Snake, which did not give him the time of day, and had some ideas.

“Even if the Kard Snake eats more, it will at most get fatter, and it will not rapidly enter adulthood. Biological growth must follow the laws… But if I change the basis of its existence, I wonder if it will have any effect.”

Han Xiao had a bold idea.

If he allowed the Kard Snake to develop normally, he did not know when it would reach adulthood, but if he used [Life Transformation – Virtual] to transform it into an intelligent life form, then its life form would be completely different. Could he directly infuse it with a large amount of data to mature it quickly, to rapidly reach “adulthood”…

The only problem was that he did not know if the Kard Snake would still retain its sensitivity to the World Tree after its form of existence changed.

In theory, if the sensitivity came from the information state level, then it should not be affected no matter what type of life form the Kard Snake became.

But Han Xiao did not dare to gamble now. There was only one Kard Snake, and he could not reverse the transformation. If he broke it, it would be gone.

“If I could get another one to experiment with, that would be great…”

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, looking at the Kard Snake with ill intentions.

Why not… let this snake give birth now?

Speaking of which, it was still a juvenile. Could it even get it up…

Han Xiao fell into deep thought.

…

Just as Han Xiao was taking advanced studies in animal husbandry, the World Tree Civilization made some discoveries.

In the Tree King’s palace, the Ancestor Tree King listened to the reports from the front lines, revealing a subtle expression.

“Are you sure? The particles you intercepted contained a large amount of intelligence about the enemy civilization?”

“Yes, these particles used micro-recording technology involving dimensional transformation. We are still deciphering them and trying to restore the specific content, but there is roughly no mistake. They contain a great many spatial coordinates and star charts of the enemy’s territory.”

“Is that so?”

The Ancestor Tree King’s eyes flickered.

The armies of both sides were deadlocked at the border, and the World Tree had also built a garrison, placing their base right at the doorstep of the three Universal Civilizations. Not long ago, an urgent report came from the front lines. The radar at the front line garrison detected abnormal spatial reactions and faint energy bursts at a certain distance away. They sent out a reconnaissance team to investigate, fearing that the three Universal Civilizations were not content with defense and were up to something.

However, after some testing, they discovered a briefly opened wormhole. It had disappeared by the time the reconnaissance team arrived. Out of caution, the reconnaissance team followed the traces of the energy burst and searched. The microscopic vision scanner quickly discovered some special particles floating in this area, seemingly ejected in all directions by the explosion. The reconnaissance team collected some of them, and unexpectedly discovered a large amount of intelligence related to the three Universal Civilizations.

The Ancestor Tree King’s first reaction upon hearing this was a feint, thinking that it was false intelligence from the three Universal Civilizations, trying to trick them with false information.

His second reaction was that there was an internal traitor within the three Universal Civilizations who wanted to communicate with the enemy for some purpose… This was not the first time the World Tree had encountered such a thing. During their conquest of the universe, as long as the opponent was a composite civilization alliance, it would not be monolithic.

And his third thought was that there was a third party lurking, wanting to fan the flames and muddy the waters… The World Tree was also experienced in this.

“The variable actually came from here…”

These thoughts flashed through the Ancestor Tree King’s mind in an instant, and a strange look appeared on his face, as if he was relieved, and also seemed to be wearing a sneer.

He had been at his wits’ end for the past few months, racking his brains over the war with the three Universal Civilizations. He never expected that someone would bring him a pillow when he was sleepy. The most urgent task was to verify whether the intelligence was true. As long as it was not false intelligence deliberately released by the three Universal Civilizations, there would be a turning point in the war.

“Decipher all the content as soon as possible, sort it all out, and try to reverse engineer the origin of this wormhole,”

The Ancestor Tree King did not hesitate and told the research department to produce results as soon as possible.

Whether it was an internal traitor or a third party, whether they were revealing intelligence for whatever purpose, whether they wanted to use the World Tree… it did not matter to him. The only important thing was to kill the three Universal Civilizations and eliminate the Mother Tree’s greatest threat!

As for other problems, they could be solved slowly after the threat was eliminated and the World Tree was once again invincible. The Ancestor Tree King had always been able to grasp the main contradictions.

…

On the other side, in the Shining World, Seberte Fortress, Strategic Command Room.

“Report, abnormal spatial reactions have appeared outside the border, suspected of a wormhole being generated,” the military’s radar AI issued a prompt.

The many military officers present gathered around and looked at the source, discovering that the abnormal signal occurred outside the border defense lines, not too far from the World Tree’s garrison.

“Can you investigate and see what the specific situation is there?” a staff officer asked.

“Insufficient information, on-site inspection is recommended,” the military AI replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Hearing this, the crowd looked at each other and murmured softly.

The border defense forces were stationed at various posts on the defense lines. If they left this place, without the endless defenses and closely connected rapid support channels, it would be difficult to cope with the World Tree fleet’s tide. Therefore, the border defense forces had always focused on defense and basically would not take the initiative to attack.

The source of the anomaly was outside the defense lines. To conduct an on-site inspection, they would have to send out a fleet. Not only were they watching the movements of the World Tree, but the World Tree was also watching the defense lines. Once the border defense forces sent out a fleet, the World Tree would definitely send troops to engage in a skirmish and eat up their outgoing fleet… Moreover, judging from the distance, the World Tree was closer to the source of the abnormal reaction. First come, first served. Even if they sent troops over, they would probably get nothing.

Generally speaking, the border troops rarely sent people to carry out such high-risk missions with unknown value.

But unfortunately… the players were perfect for this job.