Chapter 50: The Barren Planet

Words : 1418 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Xiao Yu and this alien civilization had been locked in conflict for several years. Now, this protracted war was finally reaching its conclusion. Annihilating a civilization sounded cruel, but it was far less cruel than being annihilated oneself. This was the nature of inter-civilizational warfare—devoid of morality or mercy, defined only by cold, relentless slaughter. “Infrasound weapons, activate,” Xiao Yu commanded with a voice void of emotion. Immediately, low-frequency mechanical waves began to ravage the planet. These waves penetrated buildings and caused lethal harm to the lifeforms inside. At this stage, such a weapon was nearly impossible to defend against, unless the structures were constructed with special materials capable of absorbing sound waves. Xiao Yu didn’t believe the lizard people retained the resources or strength to accomplish that. Xiao Yu had calculated that twenty minutes of sustained infrasound waves would cause severe internal damage to the lizard people, rupturing their organs. After thirty minutes, any lifeform exposed to the waves within the affected range would die. Within an hour, even those hiding under five meters of soil or within shelters would be eliminated. Satellites orbiting the planet silently monitored the events, continuously transmitting observational data back to Xiao Yu. Twenty minutes passed. In the city center, a large plaza suddenly opened up, and dozens of small spacecraft shakily ascended into the air. Xiao Yu sneered. “Have their pilots all died? Are these lizard people rookies at the controls?” Without hesitation, Xiao Yu commanded one hundred Village-Class ships to engage. The near-ground battle commenced, and without the suppression of the primitive energy weapons, Xiao Yu’s fleet once again narrowed the gap in combat capabilities. Fifty minutes later, the enemy’s ships were annihilated. “As expected, the lizard people still had residual strength. Luckily, I destroyed their flagship earlier. If I had to face a flagship in a desperate last stand, it could have been troublesome,” Xiao Yu thought with a sense of relief. Thirty minutes later, a large group of lizard people, numbering nearly a thousand, appeared in the city. Their central limbs raised high, clutching various weapons, they charged at the robots. Xiao Yu brought the Village-Class ships hovering overhead closer and increased the infrasound weapon’s power. Instantly, the lizard people writhed on the ground in agony, where they were ruthlessly executed by the robot squads. “If you had known this would be the result, would you still have tried to ambush me with hydrogen bombs, intending to wipe me out?” Xiao Yu thought coldly, his heart devoid of pity. “Still, something feels off. I’ve yet to figure out why they targeted me in the first place. When I gather their data, I need to pay special attention to this.” This was the first alien civilization Xiao Yu had encountered. But he couldn’t be certain he was the first extraterrestrial presence the lizard people had encountered. It was possible they had previously encountered other alien civilizations and obtained information unknown to Xiao Yu, which might explain why they attacked him preemptively. After the slaughter of the thousand lizard people, no large groups appeared again. Occasionally, a few deranged individuals would burst out of buildings screaming, only to be swiftly eliminated by the robots’ Gauss pistols. To ensure no survivors remained, Xiao Yu sustained the infrasound attack for a full two hours. Once he confirmed that no lifeforms remained, he initiated a large-scale landing operation. Out of his 281 ships, Xiao Yu left 30 small ships to guard the perimeter. The remaining 250 ships—200 of which carried nearly 40,000 robots—descended upon the city, while 50 ships transported another 10,000 robots to the towering structures, which Xiao Yu hypothesized were propulsion engines for the planet. The 40,000 robots in the city began an extensive search. Xiao Yu intended to leave nothing of value untouched. Inside one of the buildings, Xiao Yu discovered the alien civilization’s computer system for the first time. He quickly realized that their computational framework employed photon computing technology similar to his own. This meant Xiao Yu could extract their data. As long as he cracked their encryption system and translated their written language, he would be able to access their records without hindrance. In addition to electronic data, Xiao Yu spared no effort in collecting all possible information about the alien civilization, including their architectural concepts, societal structure, and various technologies. As the satellite reconnaissance system gathered more data and Xiao Yu compiled his findings, he gained a preliminary understanding of the planet. It became increasingly evident that the planet had been artificially modified. Xiao Yu’s earlier hypothesis was further confirmed: this civilization was not native to the planet but had migrated here. Xiao Yu also conducted a detailed analysis of the planet’s geological composition. The results left him astonished. “What a barren planet,” he muttered. The planet’s crust consisted primarily of light elements, in stark contrast to its core, which was composed of heavy elements. The heavy elements concentrated in the core rendered them inaccessible for mining, making the planet exceedingly resource-poor. Xiao Yu speculated that the planet likely originated as a first-generation star-orbiting planet, formed shortly after the Big Bang, which would explain its initial composition of predominantly light elements. He theorized that this planet later collided with another, possibly orbiting a second- or third-generation star system rich in heavy elements. The collision and subsequent geological transformations created the peculiar structure of a light-element crust overlaying a heavy-element core. First-generation stars are early stars formed shortly after the Big Bang, characterized by a low abundance of heavy elements. In contrast, second-generation stars, such as the Sun, form from the dust and remnants of supernovae, containing significantly higher concentrations of heavy elements. The large-scale data collection operation spanned a month. During this time, Xiao Yu gathered a substantial quantity of devices resembling Earth’s computer hard drives, along with extensive insights into the aliens’ technology through dissection and analysis. Xiao Yu immediately initiated decryption efforts. Translating the alien language wasn’t particularly challenging. By analyzing character frequency, their positions within sentences, and their relationships with other characters, Xiao Yu could deduce grammatical roles like subjects, predicates, or objects. Gradually, he deciphered their meanings. However, the more immediate challenge lay in breaking through the civilization’s encryption system. A civilization’s encryption methods are often deeply intertwined with its social structure and way of life. Lacking such contextual knowledge, Xiao Yu faced certain difficulties. Nonetheless, he was confident that he would eventually crack the system. In addition to decryption, Xiao Yu took control of various alien facilities, including mining bases and equipment factories that the lizard people hadn’t managed to destroy. In a hidden base, Xiao Yu even discovered around fifty half-built interstellar ships. This discovery delighted him. He resolved to complete their construction. “If I don’t thoroughly plunder this planet, how will I ever get over the loss of hundreds of my own ships?” Xiao Yu thought bitterly, recalling the heavy losses his fleet had endured. Xiao Yu dismantled large numbers of useless buildings and factories, salvaging all reusable materials for his own stockpiles while discarding the rest. This was complete exploitation without any consideration for sustainability—after all, he had no intention of returning to this “pond” once he had fished it dry. Meanwhile, functional buildings and factories were modified to better suit Xiao Yu’s requirements. He planned to construct at least 1,000 ships on this planet before leaving. Time passed quickly amidst Xiao Yu’s relentless work. Over the course of a year, he transformed two of the lizard people’s shipyards. With a steady supply of raw materials, Xiao Yu continued to produce new ships, primarily small vessels. He refrained from constructing larger ships, intending to wait until the energy weapon technology was fully deciphered, allowing him to integrate it directly into the designs. In preparation, Xiao Yu also restored two large orbital shipyards. Once the technology and resources were ready, he could immediately begin constructing County-Class ships. In the midst of this hectic activity, Xiao Yu received an unexpected signal. “What? A portion of the most heavily encrypted data has been decrypted?” Xiao Yu felt a surge of excitement and began reading immediately. The decrypted information contained just a single sentence: “After receiving the warning that our planet was about to explode, we spent twenty years constructing a massive ship capable of carrying 300,000 people and escaped to an outer planet far from the star...” “Planet... explosion?” Xiao Yu froze in shock.

Chapter 50: The Barren Planet

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