Chapter 64: One Minute

Words : 1582 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

At this moment, Xiao Yu, as he had been for hundreds of years, was busy overseeing his vast construction projects. There were simply too many matters requiring his attention. Amidst his busyness, a sudden message appeared in his main control computer, just like the previous time. It required no translation and automatically converted into a language Xiao Yu could understand. Upon detecting this message, Xiao Yu froze in place. But the new messages kept coming in, one after another. “This is the 387th Cosmic Probe belonging to the Third Starfield Division of the Guardian Alliance. If you are an intelligent mechanical civilization, you should understand that I am unbeatable. Come with me, and the Alliance will provide you with a small computer for your existence. If you resist, I will annihilate your fleet and destroy you.” “I am giving you one minute to decide. Your future is up to you.” “Sixty.” Xiao Yu’s exceptional intellect quickly snapped him back to reality. His first instinct was to locate the source of this message. “Fifty-nine.” But after less than a second of attempts, Xiao Yu abandoned the idea of tracking the sender. Just like the previous message claiming to be from the Guardian Alliance, this one came without a trace, with no discernible origin. Moreover, this time the message wasn’t a wide-area broadcast but a directed transmission. This indicated that the sender had indeed found his location. Xiao Yu had no time to be shocked or afraid. With only one minute to respond, he had to come up with a feasible plan of action: submit or resist. And if resistance was the choice, how could he resist? This was the second time Xiao Yu had encountered the term “Guardian Alliance.” In his earlier analysis, Xiao Yu had concluded that an “Alliance” was unlikely to exist in the dark universe. However, it now seemed he might need to revise his perspective. “In my speculation, there are two forms an ‘Alliance’ could take. The first is a peaceful coexistence model, where civilizations share a high degree of unity. This would mean that their technological advancements are relatively even, with no major disparities in power. The second is a strong civilization-dominated model. If this is the case, there is a 70% likelihood that the technological development of the civilizations would be uneven, with significant power gaps among them.” “Which type is the Guardian Alliance? For now, it’s unclear. But regardless of the type, if I resist, the probability of victory is negligible—nearly zero.” Xiao Yu quickly came to a conclusion. “Fifty-two...” Eight seconds had already passed. “If resistance is futile, submission is the only option. But... they mentioned providing me with a small computer for my survival? Wait... hold on! They referred to me as a mechanical civilization! This implies that I’m not the first mechanical civilization they’ve encountered. They must have established protocols and practices for dealing with mechanical civilizations! From their message, it’s clear that their standard practice is to destroy those who resist and domesticate those who submit.” “And if domestication is their approach, there will undoubtedly be heavy restrictions. Without the ability to develop technology, I will have almost no hope of escape!” “Forty-eight...” The cold, mechanical voice continued counting down. Xiao Yu’s mind raced faster than ever, to the point where faint white vapor began rising from the liquid hydrogen cooling pool. “In this scenario, escape is impossible. I am left with two choices: submission or resistance. Submission means eternal imprisonment. Resistance means a 99.9% chance of death! Damn it! Just when I was making such good progress with my technological development, this thing had to show up out of nowhere!” At this moment, Xiao Yu felt an overwhelming urge to curse. “Forty-two...” “Mechanical civilization? It seems that a mechanical civilization refers to one that has lost its organic intelligent beings and has evolved independently through computers. This means they don’t realize I actually possess intelligence. They don’t know that I am not just a cold collection of machines!” “Perhaps, this is a point I can leverage to slightly improve my odds. But even so, I still face a survival probability of less than one percent!” “Thirty-seven...” “It seems that mechanical civilizations are unwelcome in the universe. The last time I received a message, joining the Alliance was voluntary. But now, upon discovering I am a mechanical civilization, it has become mandatory: submission leads to eternal imprisonment, and resistance leads to total destruction.” Xiao Yu’s mind raced as he processed the information, desperately trying to find a glimmer of hope. “Thirty-one...” Submission and resistance—both choices led to outcomes Xiao Yu found unbearable and unacceptable. Yet, only thirty seconds remained, and he had to make a decision. The thought of being imprisoned in a tiny computer for all eternity, with no hope of escape, solidified Xiao Yu’s resolve. There’s an old Chinese saying, “Better a bad life than a good death.” But if life were infinite, it would mean endless suffering. In such a scenario, death would be preferable. “Damn it, I’ll fight! If I must die, I’ll die spectacularly!” In that instant, Xiao Yu decided to fight to the bitter end. Simultaneously, the four City-Class spaceships were placed in emergency standby. Their fusion reactors roared to full power, energy cannons began charging, and through quantum communication, Xiao Yu directed the interstellar fortresses at Tianyuan B and Tianyuan C, as well as the countless controlled mines and concealed turrets scattered in the asteroid belt, to enter full combat readiness. Xiao Yu had no way of knowing the enemy’s attack methods. But one thing was clear: their methods would surely exceed his imagination. Everything he was doing now might very well be futile. Yet, Xiao Yu firmly believed in the saying, “Do your best, and leave the rest to fate.” Whether or not destiny truly existed was irrelevant—his duty was to prepare as thoroughly as possible. In this way, even in failure, there would be no regrets. “Twenty-five...” “Alright, let’s hypothesize the enemy’s possible attack methods and defenses!” “First, the enemy clearly has faster-than-light travel and superluminal communication. In my theoretical framework, faster-than-light travel can only be achieved through space warping. Fine, it could also be through methods unknown to me, but let’s base my hypothesis on this for now.” “Faster-than-light travel implies a deep understanding of spatial manipulation. Perhaps... they could extend or compress the space I occupy to tear my ships apart? This kind of attack... is indefensible!” “Or perhaps antimatter annihilation? Using antimatter bombs to react with the matter constituting my ships and obliterate them outright? Again, indefensible!” “Maybe ultra-high-energy beam weapons? Incinerating my ships directly? ... Indefensible!” “Indefensible!” “Indefensible!” Xiao Yu theorized various attack methods aligned with a civilization possessing space-warping technology, but every prediction led to despair. Every conceivable attack was utterly indefensible with Xiao Yu’s current level of technology, not to mention the possibility of even more incomprehensible methods the enemy might possess. “Nineteen...” “Fine, if I can’t defend, then my response is...” “First, let’s observe what their fleet looks like... and take it one step at a time,” Xiao Yu thought bitterly. This highlighted the disparity between Xiao Yu and his adversary. The enemy already had a complete understanding of Xiao Yu’s situation, while Xiao Yu didn’t even know what they looked like. “Eleven...” “Activate the interstellar defense system. Tianyuan B and Tianyuan C fortresses, shift to level one combat readiness. All relay satellites, enter stealth mode. Space turrets at Tianyuan A, prepare for combat at level one...” Xiao Yu issued commands with a sense of helplessness, bracing himself for what was to come. “Truly unlucky. If only I had another thousand years, I might have developed faster-than-light travel technology here. Then I wouldn’t be in a position where even escape is impossible,” Xiao Yu lamented with a heavy heart. Moments ago, Xiao Yu had been brimming with ambition, focused on advancing his constructions. Now, in less than a minute, his mood had plummeted to rock bottom. “Five... Attention, stranger of the mechanical civilization, you have five seconds remaining. If you do not choose to submit, I will destroy your fleet.” “Well, at least witnessing a super-civilization’s attack method before I die wouldn’t be a total loss,” Xiao Yu thought, suppressing his fear of the unknown and trying to console himself. “Has it really been over five thousand years since I left Earth? Is my life truly ending today?” Time slipped away, second by second. “One... Stranger of the mechanical civilization, have you truly decided not to surrender?” “Better death than captivity!” Xiao Yu thought furiously. “Zero! Very well. Since you have made your choice, do not blame me.” Xiao Yu received the cold, emotionless message. The countdown had reached zero. In that instant, Xiao Yu’s entire being tensed up, and every detection device was pushed to its maximum capacity. Xiao Yu was determined to detect the incoming attack at the first moment. Even if death was imminent, Xiao Yu’s sole desire at this moment was to glean a trace of the enemy’s technological methods, to unravel even a sliver of his unanswered questions. “So many unknowns remain unexplored...” Xiao Yu sighed in quiet sadness, waiting silently for the decisive moment to arrive.

Chapter 64: One Minute

Comments (0)