“Make sense.” Marbruce nodded. “Let’s not announce this publicly for now. We’ll secretly investigate the situation, then consider whether or not to publicize it depending on the situation. It won’t be too late to tell the association about it when we need their help.”
From the way the three of them looked at it, there was clearly no need to immediately tell the other organizations about this for now. They were all unstable factors, and who knew what trouble they would cause?
“Since that’s the case, let’s put aside our conflict with the association first,” Louis suggested. “Calm these Beyond Grade As down, don’t let them cause any trouble, and make peace with them temporarily… This is their goal too. Find a reason to agree with their goal, relay our intention of stopping the conflict, and make the association think we decided to compromise.”
The other two nodded in agreement. Although they could not deal with the association, as long as the Beyond Grade As did not cause troubles, it was enough for them.
At this time, Marbruce suddenly thought of something
If I remember correctly, Black Star has this set of wormhole data left behind by EsGod too. I seem to recall he even specifically asked the dynasty about our progress of studying this set of data…
Now that I think about it, does Black Star know something?
As this thought flashed past his mind, Marbruce shook his head.
He felt the possibility of this was very limited. Compared to asking Black Star, it was better to obtain intelligence through investigating themselves.
Furthermore, they had just agreed not to leak this secret to the outside world. Therefore, even if Black Star might know something about it, he did not plan to ask him. After all, Black Star was the leader of the organization opposing the three Universal Civilizations for now, so they were no longer allies.
In a certain Black Star Army base, an enormous star map hovered in the room. On it were marks of the movements of the three Universal Civilizations’ various armies, drawing out many arrows.
Han Xiao stood before the star map and carefully looked at it.
Quite some days had already passed since the three Universal Civilizations retreated from the Mechanical Race territory. In the past few days, the three Universal Civilizations’ armies’ movements had been very abnormal. Originally, they were stationed at the various Star Fields, prepared to deal with the Beyond Grade A Association at any time. However, now, they were all recalled back to the Central Galaxy, as if they had no intention of starting a war at all.
If that was all, he would not be so troubled. The weirdest part was that the three Universal Civilizations had remained silent all this time, neither making any announcement nor contacting him to relay their intentions. It was extremely odd, as if they had no time to deal with him.
He had been trying to find out what was going on behind the curtains. However, the three Universal Civilizations kept their secret extremely well hidden this time, and he did not discover anything at all. “Did I really guess right?” Han Xiao murmured.
What could make the three Universal Civilizations change their decision last minute?
At this point in time, there were not many possible scenarios. However, the butterfly effects he caused had changed countless things. One of them was that EsGod had given the dynasty the key toward the World Tree Civilization’s territory long ago, which was an unstable factor.
From his perspective, the most likely situation was that the three Universal Civilizations had discovered the World Tree Civilization. Due to the existence of an external enemy, the three Universal Civilizations retreated so quickly without any warning.
“If that’s really the case, the three Universal Civilizations will definitely investigate the wormhole thoroughly. They might tell me about it, but they might also keep it a secret… Given the three Universal Civilizations’ way of doing things and my current position, the latter is more likely.”
Han Xiao frowned, bit his nails, and did not feel good about this.
If the three Universal Civilizations chose to keep it a secret and secretly explored further, given how ignorant they were about the World Tree Civilization, the risk of them being exposed was extremely high. If making contact was already unavoidably brought forward, him continuing to hide the information about the World Tree would increase the risks. Now might be the best time to share what he knew.
However, he might have guessed wrong. If the three Universal Civilizations retreated not because they discovered the World Tree Civilization, it would be horrible.
“So, this is a gamble. It all depends on whether I’m willing to take the risk…”
Han Xiao’s expression changed rapidly.
Di di di…
At this time, his communicator rang.
He took it out. It was surprisingly a call from a dynasty emissary.
“Greetings, Your Excellency Black Star.”
As soon as the communication was picked up, the dynasty emissary nodded in a friendly way, looking quite respectful.
Han Xiao sized him up and cut to the chase. “Finally decided to explain what you guys did?”
“That’s humorous of you. I’m here to negotiate with you on behalf of the three Universal Civilizations this time. We are willing to accept the association’s proposal. We will allow you to restrain the Virtual Mutiny Virus technology on your own…”
The dynasty emissary said a ton of things. At its core, what he meant was that the three Universal Civilizations were willing to take a step back. They no longer required Manison to submit the virus technology and trusted the association’s integrity, allowing it to control this kind of high-risk technology. In short, they would no longer interfere.
“Oh?” Han Xiao raised his brows. “Since you guys have accepted that the association’s promise is effective, you’re recognizing the association’s correctness. What about the trade laws against the association?”
“They won’t be removed for the time being, but it can be discussed.” The dynasty emissary smiled.
Looking at his emotionless smile, Han Xiao acutely sensed the strange attitude of the three Universal Civilizations. He was filled with conflict.
His intuition felt stronger. He felt he might really have guessed the truth.
After a few seconds of silence, Han Xiao took a deep breath.
I’ll take the bet!
As he made up his mind, Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and slowly said, “I’ve received your message. Please relay this message to Marbruce.”
“What is it?”
“… From how strangely you guys are acting, it looks like you guys have finally deciphered the wormhole data left by EsGod, right?”
Chapter 1310 - Truth
Chapter 1310 Truth
One hour later, Han Xiao’s remote projection entered the three Universal Civilizations’ leaders’ joint conference room, and he immediately saw three old men staring dead at him with grave faces.
“Yo, you’re all here.”
Han Xiao was not in a hurry at all and greeted them casually. This was the first time he had been called into a meeting like this since the two sides’ relationship reached the freezing point.
“Black Star! What the hell do you know!”
Marbruce was in no mood to chitchat at all and cut to the chase.
An hour ago, when the three of them were waiting for the dynasty emissary to report Black Star’s stand toward the three Universal Civilizations’ proposal of peace to see if they could calm the association down, to their absolute dismay, what they received was the news that Black Star shockingly immediately called out the secret of the wormhole.
The three of them were all completely dumbfounded.
Where did Black Star find out about the fact that they had decrypted the secret of the wormhole? Who leaked the information? Was there a mole?
If not, how did Black Star find out? Did he know about the wormhole data’s secret all along?
There were so many unans
wered questions!
Marbruce, Louis, and the pope were anxious.
Since Black Star had specifically told the emissary to relay this message to them, it did not matter how he got such surprising information. The matter was of the utmost importance and had to be taken extremely seriously. The three of them held an emergency meeting where they decided to speak to Black Star, hence this meeting.
“I know lots of things.”
Han Xiao looked around and deliberately gave them a meaningful expression while feeling relaxed inside.
He was also unsure what was going on, so he did not directly reveal the World Tree Civilization’s name but instead pointed it out ambiguously.
Nonetheless, since he had been called to this meeting, Han Xiao knew he had won the bet and indeed guessed the truth. He was glad he did not make things worse.
“You mentioned the wormhole data left by EsGod. How much do you know about it?” Louis asked with a deep voice.
Han Xiao arranged his emotions, glanced at him, and said casually, “You guys discovered a civilization on the other side of the wormhole, right?”
The three of them exchanged looks with extremely serious expressions.
Marbruce frowned and asked, “Where did you get that information from?”
“I know what you guys want to ask me…” Han Xiao raised his brows. “No, I didn’t steal your internal information.”
Hearing this, their expressions became even more grave.
By saying that his source of information did not come from the three Universal Civilizations, Black Star was basically saying that he had uncovered the wormhole’s secret long ago and had information about it the three of them did not possess.
Marbruce took a deep breath, put down his pride, and said solemnly with even a slightly respectful tone, “I’m sure you know the nature of this matter. We hope you can tell us the truth. This is absolutely crucial to the entire universe.”
“Sure.” Han Xiao nodded. Since this had happened, there was no point hiding what he knew. It was time to tell them the truth. He had to make sure that the three Universal Civilizations were aware of how dangerous the World Tree was.
“… This wormhole leads to the territory of a civilization called the World Tree Civilization. That’s an extremely powerful civilization that loves war and expanding their territory. Decades ago, due to some reasons, EsGod sent a doppelganger to attack me, which led to his doppelganger falling into a wormhole and coincidentally discovering the World Tree Civilization. After that, EsGod sent his men to steal this wormhole data to figure out a way to pinpoint the World Tree Civilization’s coordinates. Some things happened, and I became the only person who knows about this…”
Of course, Han Xiao hid the fact that some of this information came from his previous life and described the matter in another way, emphasizing how powerful the World Tree Civilization was. He basically shared almost everything he knew about the World Tree Civilization.
The three of them listened till the end with frowns on their faces, full of doubts.
Marbruce asked, “Did EsGod tell you all this? Putting aside why EsGod told only you about this, why do you know this much about the World Tree Civilization? This is far from what EsGod could’ve found out in one trip.”
“I understand your doubts.” Han Xiao nodded. This was not a matter to be taken lightly. If he made EsGod the reason for everything, all they had to do was question EsGod, and his lies would be discovered.
Without an incomparably solid source of information, there was no way the three Universal Civilizations were going to believe all this.
However, he had come up with a reason long ago that just so happened to explain why he knew so much about the World Tree Civilization.
“Actually… I have something left behind by a certain civilization that was wiped out by the World Tree Civilization. It contains a ton of information. What I know about the World Tree Civilization mostly comes from that.”
As he said that, Han Xiao summoned the remote projection of SWY-001 and displayed the information he had prepared beforehand on the screen.
The expressions on their faces changed as they hastily browsed the information. The more they looked at it, the more shocked they became.
SWY-001’s memory module recorded the tragic state of the Karma Republic when it was being invaded as well as the World Tree Civilization’s unique and extremely strong way of war. Furthermore, it also showed that the World Tree Civilization was a Universal Civilization that was almost impossible to coexist with. Everything proved that what Han Xiao said was true.
Without this big treasure, even if Han Xiao could explain the source of this information, it would not be convincing enough.
Man did this thing come at a good time… Han Xiao thought in his mind.
There was nothing he could say but… Damn, Feidin!
The three of them spent some time reading all the information, and shock still lingered in their eyes.
“Devouring everything in their way, the World Tree Civilization is really the enemy of all intelligent civilizations. To think there’s such a hunter like this in the universe…” Louis mumbled. “Luckily, we sealed EsGod long ago. If he’d led the World Tree Civilization here…”
Suddenly, before he finished his sentence, his expression froze.
At this moment, Marbruce recalled that sealing EsGod up was something Black Star strongly proposed and made happen. The fact that they were still not discovered by the World Tree now was all thanks to Black Star.
Back then, Black Star insisted on sealing EsGod up no matter what. Was he already secretly trying to protect the explored universe from being invaded?
Marbruce’s heart skipped a beat. He looked up at Han Xiao and could not help but ask, “Was this the reason you insisted on asking us to capture EsGod back then?”
Han Xiao tutted and asked back, “Why else would I? You really think I had so much hatred against him that I had to kill him?”
Marbruce’s expression changed slightly. He looked at Han Xiao and could not help but feel a bit of admiration and appreciation toward him. The doubt in his heart instantly lessened.
If not for Black Star, this galactic society would have already been invaded. Technically speaking, the entire universe owed him a favor.
However, Black Star did not share this at all and silently hid this honorable achievement, letting it collect dust in history. No one knew about this colossal contribution he made.
How noble!
Han Xiao’s image immediately got taller in Marbruce’s heart.
Suddenly, the pope said, “Black Star, since you knew about the threat of the World Tree Civilization and had all this information long ago, why didn’t you share it till now?”
Han Xiao shook his head.
“I know you guys all too well. If you guys had found out there is a powerful unknown civilization in the unexplored universe, would you guys ignore its existence? Sharing it with you would only lead to making contact even earlier. It was best to keep this a secret. In fact, if not because you guys had made results studying the wormhole data, I wouldn’t have said all this even now.”
The three of them had nothing to say.
Indeed, even if they did not know about it, if they found out the threat of the World Tree, the three of them were fully certain there was absolutely no way they were going to simply ignore it. They would definitely want to strike first and attempt to take the World Tree Civilization by surprise; never would they have acted the same way they were now.
Attempting to find out more about the World Tree would mean they would be at risk of being exposed too. Despite that, based on their positions, striking first was a certainty. Otherwise, they would simply be relying on fate and waiting to be attacked.
Being aware of such a powerful enemy existing in the unknown universe would make the three of them sleepless, worrying about one day being discovered and invaded every second. That would be no way of living, so of course, active
ly erasing this threat was more in line with the three Universal Civilizations’ needs.
If both sides were unaware of each other’s existence, they could still coexist like two parallel lines. However, once one discovered the other, the two sides would rapidly collided
“I have to admit that makes sense…” Louis sighed. “But isn’t that betting on the enemies not discovering us first too?”
Han Xiao shook his head and did not reply.
He was confident in this because he knew exactly when the World Tree would be invading, only there was no need to explain that. Plus, it would neither be easy to explain nor be convincing enough.
At this time, the pope frowned and said, “But how can we be certain that the information from this object is true and not made up?”
“Are you doubting me?” Han Xiao glanced at him.
“I’m just being careful. It’s not personal.” The pope waved his hand.
Louis thought about it and added, “Indeed, the source of your information is very convincing, but its authenticity is still unclear… We’re not doubting you, but we can’t fully trust this information. Although it looks very real, who knows if this information was made up in the first place? We can’t just assume…”
“Black Star, we’ll carefully refer to this information you have provided, but we’ll still have to see the results of our reconnaissance,” Marbruce said.
Damn, you three are troublesome!
Han Xiao curled his lips but was not surprised.
It was normal for the three Universal Civilizations to be careful from their perspective. After all, there was indeed the possibility of this information being made up, just like what happened to the Kunde Race. Who knew if this information might be ‘bait’ too?
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