Chapter 246: Chapter 241: The Dispersing Mist
Just as Gong’s anxiety grew increasingly intense, Feng Ping was aboard one of the moderately-sized spaceships.
A row of people were kneeling before him, trembling with fear.
The energy beam just now was, of course, sent by Shen Hao to deliver Feng Ping.
The temporal and spatial transmission caused by the Emperor’s Scepter made the energy glow even harder to conceal, and in this universe, to make use of the conveniences brought by “Dimension Space,” one inevitably fell under its influence, and it was hard to say whether the other party had detection means.
Therefore, Shen Hao simply chose not to conceal at all and directly sent Feng Ping to one of the spaceships.
Moreover, he used Dominator pressure to take control of everyone on the ship immediately.
This control penetrated deep into the spirit, rendering the so-called “key” utterly undetectable.
At this moment, Shen Hao, through Feng Ping’s eyes, observed the kneeling group before him, who seemed to belong to different species, and compared to the humanoid alien species encountered in the last trial, many among these intelligent beings bore absolutely no resemblance to humans.
For example, one of them looked like an oversized octopus, a true tentacle monster, but also an intelligent being, not a pet or food.
Shen Hao didn’t waste any time and directly probed into the consciousness of one who seemed to be the captain.
Because his approach was fairly rough, the captain was shaking violently, his very self nearly overwhelmed by the majestic consciousness in his mind.
This caused the others to tremble even more fiercely.
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They had followed the trading group to all corners of the universe and had seen much, but never before had they felt a sense of divinity as indescribable as now.
At the same time, Shen Hao also obtained the information he wanted.
“It really is a prosperous Extraordinary Universe,” Shen Hao summarized the information roughly, feeling somewhat astonished in his heart.
This universe, like the vast majority of universes, had boundless space, but civilizations and species, which should have been spread far and wide, were closely connected by “Dimension Space.”
In their common language translation, it was also referred to as the “Spirit Network.”
The ease of Spatial Jumps made the power structure of the entire universe crystal clear.
In the understanding of ordinary interstellar intelligent life, there were five forces that were the most powerful.
And one of them, known as the Life Empire, had plunged into chaos around twenty years ago, and now it had completely disintegrated, dispersing into hundreds of large and small different forces.
This was clearly not a normal event.
Because the Life Empire had been in existence for over ten thousand years, its influence pervaded the entire Universe.
Its collapse was too sudden; a mere twenty years was not enough time to establish a new order.
Therefore, the whole universe was now in a state of chaos, with the effects of the Life Empire’s disintegration rapidly expanding.
The gathering place of life planets about six hundred light-years from Human Civilization was one of the affected interstellar forces.
It was a kingdom named “Yodora,” which for thousands of years had always been an Affiliated Kingdom of the Life Empire.
By paying tribute, it had received the protection of the Life Empire and maintained the kingdom’s survival and development through commercial activities.
But now, that protection had suddenly vanished, and even the army that had been there to protect them was gone; not to mention facing their enemies, even a few powerful Dimensional Creatures required hiring an interstellar mercenary group for resolution.
Right, the fleet before them now.
They were known as the “Black Silver Mercenary Group,” a well-known mercenary group, and were also the same “Black Silver trading group,” a well-known itinerant merchant group.
In the current universe, this was very common; most mercenary groups would conduct commercial activities simultaneously, sometimes even doubling as interstellar pirates, all for resources and wealth.
And now, after they had taken care of those few not so weak Dimensional Creatures for the Yodora Kingdom, they had also accepted another mercenary task arranged by the kingdom—to investigate the mysterious star system that had recently appeared nearby.
“They actually have the capability to precisely detect us from six hundred light-years away?” Shen Hao gathered this information from the memories, which was indeed somewhat surprising.
After all, under normal circumstances, observing other planets at great distances across the universe required crossing long stretches of “time.”
For example, the life planets the Human Mother Planet observed a while ago were in fact images from hundreds of years ago.
Even if they have been destroyed by now, Human Civilization would only be able to observe this hundreds of years in the future.
Therefore, they weren’t too concerned about their sudden appearance attracting attention because under normal circumstances, for a newly appeared sun to spread its light to that place would take at least hundreds of years.
However, they still drew attention, in just a matter of days.
Clearly, this was a highly efficient scouting technique.
In the mercenarys’ understanding, Yodora was not particularly strong, especially after losing the shelter of the Life Empire, but even such a power possessed unexpectedly sophisticated technology.
“Feng Ping, you stay here,” Shen Hao ordered Feng Ping, “Conduct a simple investigation on this mercenary group and be aware of your safety.”
“Yes!” Feng Ping felt the departure of the President’s consciousness.
He once again looked at the alien lives prostrating before him, his expression becoming a bit grave.
Although he could not directly access these people’s memories like Shen Hao, he could still discern their strength.
The weakest among them also had a Life Level of roughly Level 9.
The captain’s level had even reached Level 14!
In the context of the current Human Mother Planet, that was no longer considered weak, although they already knew they were a mercenary group, within this mercenary group, they seemed to be nothing more than minor characters.
“The Transcendents in this fleet are not to be underestimated,” Feng Ping privately warned himself.
He was only Level 23 after all, and couldn’t be careless.
At this moment, Shen Hao, whose consciousness had been extricated at the first instance, had transmitted all the intelligence he had gathered to Fiora, who then relayed it to all the high-level ranks with the clearance to know.
All of a sudden, those who had been waiting since witnessing the light-speed departure hastily checked the new information.
Although it was just a mercenary’s memory, the vast world it revealed caused people to marvel and drew their utmost attention.
The Analysis Department had already started operating at full capacity.
“The disintegration of the Life Empire is of utmost importance!”
“Exactly, how could an empire of ten thousand years completely collapse in just mere twenty years!”
“The trial crisis is most likely related.”
“What kind of crisis could cause such a might interstellar empire to dissolve so quickly?”
“If it really is a trial, this could very well be just the beginning.”
“Dimensional Creatures… very dangerous. No life form that exists in the Dimension Space is weak, and some that have been modified by the Life Empire are outright war machines!”
“Could this be the trial crisis?”
“Whether it is or not, we must remain vigilant, as these creatures could appear anywhere at any time!”
“Yodora Kingdom can be leveraged, with its thriving commerce and weak military, it’s the perfect entry point.”
“…”
Unlike before, this intelligence was like water to fish for the Analysis Department.
The fog that shrouded this universe was blown away significantly at once.
The true face of the universe was revealed to a certain extent.
One could imagine the excitement in their hearts; each one was full of drive.
After all, the unknown is the greatest fear; under any trial, intelligence was of the utmost importance.
With such efficiency, in just a matter of hours, several different action plans made their way to Shen Hao.
The situation was, in fact, quite simple.
This trading group was not important, they could easily control it if they wished, but the Yodora Kingdom was very important, suitable as a springboard for Human Civilization to engage with the native civilization of this universe.
And this trading group was likewise suitable as a springboard to engage with the Yodora Civilization.
So, the task at hand was quite clear.
Gaining control over this trading group was the first move!
Shen Hao agreed with this, but according to the intelligence gathered, the leader of this trading group was very decisive, always hidden with a trump card, ready to flee instantly if the situation went south.
Even their most expensive item was not weapons, but the emergency Jump Engine.
This was a one-time use engine that could complete a Space Jump in an extremely short amount of time. Although there was a not insignificant risk of jumping to the wrong place, or becoming lost in Dimension Space, it was exactly by using this that the “Black Silver” had evaded several potential total annihilations.
“Truly cowardly,” Shen Hao’s consciousness returned to Feng Ping.
It was at this moment that he suddenly noticed Feng Ping seemed to have found something interesting.
It was a huge black box imbued with powerful Spiritual Energy, clearly not of low technological level.
Inside, it contained one of the spoils of this Mercenary Group and was also one of their commodities.
——A living Dimensional Creature!
A life form that existed within Dimension Space, wandering throughout the Universe via the “Spirit Network,” capable of appearing anywhere, regardless of distance.
It held immense value in the interstellar society, a genuine hard currency.
Even fragments could be sold at a high price due to their rich Spiritual Energy concentration.
And the price for a living one was even more extravagant.
Shen Hao could clearly sense that this box was actually a continuously sustained spatial cage made with Spiritual Energy, and the energy used was sourced from the trapped Dimensional Creature inside.
Just this box alone demonstrated a high level of Spiritual Energy Technology.
But, that could not divert Shen Hao’s gaze.