Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

"Chief, leader..."

Milo's high-pitched voice trembled slightly: "This...it..."

"us……"

So shocked was Milo that his mind went blank for a moment, and he couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

After stammering for a long time, it finally managed to express its thoughts: "Leader, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Aldan's eye twitched violently.

That suddenly appearing fleet was clearly no pushover!

It estimated that it must be a powerful level four civilization!

Thinking about this, Aldan felt a tightness in his chest and shortness of breath.

That's a Level 4 civilization!

What should I do?

How would a mere level three civilization leader know this?

"Wait..." Aldan hesitated for a long time, his fur puffing up from holding it in, before finally managing to stammer out, "Wait a bit, let's see what they're up to."

After saying that, it silently surveyed the massive fleet on the screen.

The beams of flares and various high-powered searchlights illuminated the general outline of the fleet.

The exaggerated gamma-ray fluctuations clearly indicate that it is equipped with an antimatter engine.

Coupled with that elusive yet familiar way of appearing, and those "evil" ridges on the starship...

A terrifying thought suddenly arose in Aldan's mind.

"damn it……"

"Is it really that bad?"

"Huh?" Milo blinked, looking at its usually respected leader with a puzzled expression. "What did you say?"

"It's just a small detector... is it really necessary to mobilize such a large fleet to find us?!" Aldan said, on the verge of tears.

Where the hell can I get justice for this?

Milo blinked again, and the expression on his face gradually changed.

Clearly, he understood the meaning behind Aldan's words and also realized the origin of these massive warships.

"By Zanka..." Milo's eyes widened, and his mouth, hidden beneath his fur, formed an "O" shape. "A level five civilization shouldn't be so petty, should it?!"

"How do you know they're a Level 5 civilization?" Aldan quickly picked up on a piece of information from Milo's words: "Isn't an antimatter engine a Level 4 civilization's technology?"

"Chief, I think you might have misunderstood something..."

Milo swallowed hard, turned his head to gaze at the clearly outlined fleet outside the porthole, and said with difficulty, "This fleet does not use conventional propulsion."

"Our probe malfunctioned 9 light-years away, and they caught up with us in just three or four months."

"And that extremely abrupt way of appearing..."

"I suspect that this fleet has adopted warp propulsion technology, which is still in the theoretical conjecture stage of the Academy of Sciences."

"hiss!!!"

Aldan gasped sharply, his fur trembling again, and the shock and confusion in his eyes intensified.

"leader!"

As a muffled alarm sounded, Maren's voice came from the side.

"Communication request received!"

"The communication frequency is exactly the same as the warning message received by the detector four months ago."

"Is the call connected?"

Aldan turned to look at the fleet images on the screen, then at the eleven Eugene civilization fleets in the distance, gritted his teeth, and said with a death-defying air:

"Connected!"

During the holographic projection, electromagnetic wave communication was still not established.

Bai Yixuan, sitting in the command seat, frowned slightly.

"This communication method is too outdated."

He shook his head helplessly and said, "Luckily, the distance isn't far, otherwise this delay would have kept us waiting for half a day."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lü Yongchang's light laughter came from the speaker next to him.

Clearly, Lü Yongchang, light-years away, was also keeping a close eye on the progress here.

"Once initial trust is gained, the fleet can send a detector equipped with a tachyon communication device to act as an information relay station."

Bai Yixuan nodded: "That's a good idea."

"only……"

Bai Yixuan's expression became slightly more serious: "Of the 12 fleets here, 11 of them gave me a sense of familiarity."

"A space pirate civilization, huh?" Lü Yongchang said with a smile. "Wasn't the Lator civilization like that back then?"

"However, it seems that this group of space pirates is far less powerful than the Lator civilization we encountered before."

Lu Yongchang's tone was full of teasing: "Old Bai, it seems that the civilization we initially had our eye on is encountering some difficulties!"

A faint smile appeared on Bai Yixuan's face, but he quickly concealed it.

As the commander of the expeditionary fleet, he must not make the mistake of underestimating the enemy.

"This should be considered a good thing for us," he replied seriously. "The possibility of incorporating it into our subordinate civilization has increased considerably."

"Great, of course it's a good thing." Lu Yongchang seemed to be in a good mood at the moment, and his voice was full of laughter. "Who knows, this might even be a buy-one-get-one-free promotion."

Bai Yixuan was slightly taken aback: "You mean... these space pirate civilizations also want to be incorporated as subordinate civilizations?"

"But the last time we encountered the Lator civilization..."

"Times have changed," Lü Yongchang explained patiently. "We now have enough power to suppress them."

"Moreover, compared to ordinary civilizations, these space pirate civilizations possess far greater combat capabilities, and they can provide us with greater benefits."

Bai Yixuan nodded thoughtfully, silently adjusting his original battle plan in his mind.

"drop!"

A crisp notification sound rang out, followed by the electronic synthesized voice of Zero.

"The other party has accepted the communication request."

"Signal source:..."

Bai Yixuan raised an eyebrow slightly and said half-jokingly, "It seems our old friend was the first to respond!"

(Aldan: Are you being polite?)