The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Am I just a bug in their eyes?" Reinhardt was a little bit unbelievable, but shook his head helplessly. He had a preliminary understanding of the power of these ancient beings, but it was still difficult for him to accept that such beings always treated him and a civilization like humans as a bug.

"If you truly interfere with and hinder their actions to a level higher than that of insects, not only me, but even a civilization more advanced than ours won't be able to save you."

"Can beings as powerful and advanced as these really act so recklessly and without regard for any rules? Well?"

"What they do often has a greater purpose, sometimes even for the survival of the entire universe. Human civilization is still at a very low level, so it's normal that you can't understand their thoughts and behaviors. Even if they follow the rules, they are not your rules. Would you follow the rules made by a group of insects? Obviously not."

After hearing this answer, Reinhardt still couldn't understand the irregular and unscrupulous behavior of the creator behind the night fighter. As for the young and friendly alien lady on the screen in front of him, although his good friend Gilfias had seen her before, this was the first time he saw them in person.

"It's a simple truth. Just like when you're walking, you don't notice a bug you accidentally step on. To beings like them, human civilization at this stage is no different from a bug they ignore."

"So...what about you? What kind of existence are you in their eyes?"

"Hehe, us? Probably just a newborn baby who's still learning to walk."

"As for humans... to them, they're probably just bugs and bacteria."

"We are the relatively youngest among those ancient beings. Even beings like us are just babies who have barely learned to walk in front of those truly ancient beings."

"Don't think their actions are without basis or rules. For beings like them, they themselves are the embodiment and part of the fundamental laws of the universe. What you see is only the surface, Mr. Reinhardt."

"When facing these ancient, overly advanced, and powerful beings, the best option is to quickly avoid or get out of their way when they pass by. Otherwise, even a completely harmless and unintentional act from them could cost you your life."

"As one of these ancient beings, if you can stop and take a few more glances at a civilization like ours, you've already surpassed 90% of them."

"As for the remaining 10%... maybe 9% of them just took a few glances and left, and those who took the initiative to intervene gently or violently attack were only a tiny minority of the remaining tiny minority."

"Then could you please tell me what to do? To treat these ancient beings in the universe?"

"First, if you see them doing something, don't try to interfere or stop them. They'll think you're a bug trying to disrupt their normal work, and you'll be eliminated without hesitation."

"The best option is to stay away."

"You'd better not go to the Yamritza star system in the future." Yuki suddenly said.

"why?"

"If a bug buzzes in your ear while you're building a fire outdoors, wouldn't you want to swat it to death and get some peace and quiet?"

"That's why it came to you."

"That sounds like something a small-minded person would do."

"Alas, Reinhardt, you still don't understand. Don't treat it like a human like you. To it, this behavior isn't revenge in the sense of a human. It's just spraying insecticide on a bunch of bugs that are interfering with its work."

"As I said before, over 90% of these ancient and powerful beings will simply ignore the existence of species like you, treating you like moss on a riverbank stone. Would you harbor hatred and desire for revenge against a piece of moss on a riverbank stone that has nothing to do with you?"

"Again, this isn't some petty revenge on their part, it's just a few sprays of insecticide on a bunch of flying bugs to make sure it's working."

"But you stopped it."

"That's right, because in our opinion, you are still worth observing. If we spray him with pesticides, we will lose a valuable observation and research subject."

"So, for it, whether it kills you or other humans is completely irrelevant. In its eyes, it's just letting go of a group of insects it encountered in the wild."

"As for our obstruction, it's more like the petulance of a child who's interested in these bugs. It doesn't care how a child, in its eyes, deals with a group of bugs, which is a trivial matter that's not worth mentioning to it."

"Anyway, let me give you a little advice. If you encounter ancient beings like these in the future, don't provoke them or disturb them. Otherwise, you might encounter more than just a powerful insecticide."

"This time, I'll just consider it as helping you for the sake of the more than 200 million people on that planet." After saying this, Yuki was about to hang up the phone.

"Wait a minute, I have another question for you." Reinhardt suddenly thought of something, that is, the inexplicable advice the other party once gave that you can only realize half of your dreams.

"Since you and your civilization can observe and influence all possibilities and directions of the future, what exactly do you mean by saying that Gilphias's and my ideals can only be half realized?"

"Literally, there's gain and loss. Mr. Reinhardt, you want to realize your ideals. Given your abilities, you might succeed, but you'll lose a lot, including some of the things you cherish most."

“Remember, never deviate from your original intention and the bottom line set by your emotions. Otherwise, even if you achieve your ideal, you will only become a mechanical shell.”

"Okay, that's all I have to say. See you later, Mr. Reinhardt."

Yuuki said this and hung up the call.

"I've made it so obvious. I hope he can understand the specific meaning of what I said before that."

…………

After Yuki hung up the communication, Reinhardt first ordered the fleet to regroup and resume the previous formation sailing status. Since the fleet did not suffer any losses in the previous surprise attack by the night fighters, the whole process went smoothly. The fleet that re-entered the sailing status began to regroup and prepare to sail at high speed back to the front line where the Vulture City was located. After this thrilling incident, Reinhardt himself planned to go back to the room to rest for a while and sort out his thoughts.

"Losing something precious?" When Reinhardt heard this, he first thought of his sister and his red-haired best friend, and then his loyal subordinates.

Reinhardt couldn't even imagine what would become of him if his sister Anne Roger or his best friend Gilfias left him forever. He fell into deep thought about the words left by the alien lady who saved his life. At the same time, he also made up his mind to protect his sister and his red-haired best friend.

Chapter 233 Hunter and Prey (6000 words)

Gonif piloted the Beluska carefully as it sailed through space. Although it was a route he had been flying for many years and was extremely familiar with, Gonif felt for the first time that they were so unfamiliar. Looking at the stars and planets along the way, Gonif did not feel calm. On the contrary, he felt increasingly uneasy, as if someone was aiming a gun at his head in the dark where he could not see.

"Radar scan shows no abnormalities," a crew member reported.

"Scan it a few more times, just to be safe."

"Okay." The crew member in front of the operating table also nodded in agreement.

After experiencing the previous incident, they knew that the radar on their ship was sometimes not so reliable. Just because there was nothing on the radar did not mean that there was really nothing around the Beluska.

Gonif knew clearly that if that thing was really around the spacecraft, the radar would not be able to see it unless it was extremely close. The ghost thing hardly emitted any infrared radiation signals when it was sailing, and it was almost impossible to observe a black object that could absorb photons of any band at a long distance. Gonif hoped that everything would be just like the data scanned by the spacecraft's radar. There was really nothing around the Beluska. Except for a few unnamed asteroids tens of light seconds away, the crew of the Beluska did not observe anything abnormal around the spacecraft.

This news comforted Gonif a little and allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. They were about to leave the galaxy's stellar gravity well and make a subspace jump. At least at superluminal speeds, they should be safe.

But it was only a temporary relief, because the next galaxy they were going to was the deserted black hole galaxy, now named the Void Gate Galaxy by Yuki.

Gonif felt like a prisoner walking step by step towards the execution platform, and the Void Gate Galaxy was the execution platform that was about to take his life. The closer he got to the Void Gate Galaxy, the more uneasy he became.

"I'll go to the back to have a cup of coffee and be right back." Goniff greeted several crew members on the bridge, stood up from his seat, and went to the restaurant at the back of the ship yawning.

"Didn't you sleep well again?" A crew member he met on the way asked when he saw that he looked tired.

"How could I possibly sleep well... The closer I got to that place, the more frightened I became, and my insomnia became worse."

"Don't worry, haven't we come all this way safely? Maybe you shouldn't worry so much?"

"That's not true... Danger often appears the moment you let your guard down."

"No, what I mean is, even if we are targeted by that dangerous thing, compared to other more valuable targets, is a small, broken ship like ours really worth it for that thing to go to the trouble of coming specifically to deal with us?"

"When we passed by the spaceport on the last planet, I heard some news from the locals. Would you like to hear it?"

"Oh, what's the news?"

"There are rumors that the current commander-in-chief of the Empire's three armies, Rogdan Ram Reinhardt, encountered a direct attack from that thing on the battlefield and managed to survive."

"Most of the information you hear in places like that is unreliable, right?"

"No, no, no. This news is said to have come from a local old imperial noble who took the initiative to defect to Reinhard. After he defected to Duke Rogdenram, several of his senior officers temporarily stationed in Reinhard's fleet. The news came from them, so it can't be false."

"According to the fragmentary information sent back by those officers, Reinhardt was on his way back from stopping a high-ranking noble from the Allied Nobles' attempted nuclear attack on a territory experiencing a civil unrest when he encountered the same thing we encountered earlier. He nearly died."

"Huh? Even if I don't die, I'll at least lose half my life if I escape from that thing, right?"

"No, it is said that someone rescued the flagship where Reinhardt was, and the entire ship and people were rescued unharmed."

"Oh? Who could have saved a whole shipload of people from that monster? And they were able to leave them unharmed?"

"As for their target, I heard it's the aliens entrenched in the black hole galaxy we're about to head to."

"Ah?" When Gonif heard the news, the coffee cup in his hand shook in shock, and the coffee in the cup almost spilled out.

"It's true. The officers stationed in Reinhard's fleet also sent back video recordings of the scene. Here, I secretly managed to copy one." The ship's experienced and smooth engineer, who was often called an omnipotent technical expert, took out a holographic display from his jacket pocket and handed it to Gonif.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Gao Nifu took it and turned on the playback function of the holographic display.

The footage inside appeared to be captured by the cameras and sensors outside the cabin of an Imperial warship. In front of the Imperial fleet, a black, winged aircraft suddenly appeared on the route without warning. After the appearance of the vessel, which the Imperials had dubbed the Invincible Battleship, the surrounding Imperial warships captured by the exterior cameras immediately began to disperse. The Invincible Battleship also seemed uninterested in the other Imperial warships around it, firing a red beam directly at Reinhardt's pure white flagship, the "Brenhill," at the center of the formation. Just as the red beam approached the white "Brenhill," something strange appeared in the space in front of the "Brenhill." A strange warship that Gonif had never seen before suddenly appeared in front of Brunhill, accompanied by a circle of ellipsoidal bubbles that seemed to be mirrors. This giant ship was directly across in front of Brunhill and directly blocked the red beam of light. When the red beam approached the giant ship, it seemed to be forcibly deflected to another direction by some invisible force field. After blocking the red beam, the warship remained unharmed.

Then, beneath the armor plating of the suddenly appearing ship, four turret-mounted guns—something Golf swore he had never seen in his life—rose directly. They began unleashing a barrage of fire at the black ship at what seemed to Gonif an absurd rate of fire. The black, invincible warship actually took unprecedented steps to evade the enemy's fire, which greatly surprised Gonif. From all the reports he had gathered, the mythical invincible warship had been described as nearly indestructible, whether from the Empire or the Alliance. Even the combined firepower of an entire fleet was ineffective against the invincible warship, its weapons rendered ineffective by its eerie black hull. The invincible warship's usual battlefield attitude was to charge headlong into the full force of the fleet, refusing to evade or yield, as if the attacks were nothing to it.

However, when facing that massive ship made of what appeared to be a highly reflective material, the Invincible Battleship actually took the initiative to avoid the enemy's firepower for the first time, something that Gonif had not expected.

"I really didn't expect that..." Gonif sighed.

"It wasn't just you who didn't expect it... The Imperial soldiers present didn't expect the invincible battleship to take the initiative to evade the enemy either."

"In other words, either the black invincible battleship cannot defeat the giant ship that is nearly three thousand meters long, or the weapons launched by that giant ship can threaten the invincible battleship or even destroy it."

"Otherwise, there would be no need for it to take the initiative to avoid the enemy's artillery fire."

"Perhaps, the invincible battleship isn't so invincible after all?"

"It's just compared to that giant ship from another unknown alien nation. At least for the current Empire and Alliance, the Invincible Battleship is still an existence that we cannot match."

"We can't even penetrate the hull of an invincible battleship. As for forcing it to actively avoid a fight like that mysterious alien giant, that's completely impossible for the current alliance and empire, right?"

"That's true, but I'm showing this to you mainly for another reason."

"what reason?"

"Since we're heading to a galaxy controlled by aliens, this video proves that, at least in the event of danger, they might be able to save us from those creatures. Doesn't this give us an extra layer of security?"

"But the prerequisite is that they are willing to save a group of ordinary small merchants like us. How can we, a group of freight merchants working on a small shabby ship, compare with a man of Reinhard's status and position?"

"No, I think that in the eyes of those aliens, they may see everyone the same, no matter what the person's status in human society is."

"It's just your wishful thinking, right?" Although Gao Nifu did believe in something as illusory as luck, as a shrewd businessman, Gao Nifu would never put his entire fortune and life on luck.

"Okay, I'll go back to the bridge first. We're about to enter the subspace jump state, so you should be careful too." Gonif threw the empty disposable coffee cup into the trash can beside him, patted the crew member on the shoulder, and left the small restaurant.

After Gonif left, the crew member known as the technical expert looked at the image played on the holographic display that Gonif left on the table and pursed his lips.

"Sometimes luck is a very important factor. Besides...my wife and children are waiting for me at home. I can't just die in a place like this for no apparent reason."

…………

The moment it broke away from the subspace, Beluska seemed to be disturbed by something. Gonif felt a very violent vibration on the bridge, and several alarm indicators on the screen and panel in front of him also lit up.

"What happened?!" An ominous premonition arose in Gao Nifu's heart.

"It seems that the jump engine was disturbed by some kind of interference when it left the subspace, and the coordinates seem to have deviated!"

"How far off course?"

"It has deviated by approximately 357 million kilometers from the original estimated jump-off position."

"It shows here that the sublight engine is also offline. What's going on?"

"It seems that several sensors on the spacecraft's reactor were damaged by the violent vibration just now. The flight control system believes that the reactor may have leaked and has proactively shut down the conventional propulsion engine."

“How long will it take to repair?”

"Running into a recently shut down reactor in a protective, non-destructive suit is tough work, Captain."

"Don't worry, I'll give you enough overtime pay later. But if we can't solve the problem with the reactor, not to mention the money, all of our lives will be in danger."

"Don't worry, Captain. I'm not someone who values ​​money over life. I just have to make sure the radiation in the reactor drops to a safe level before I climb in and replace those sensors. This will take some time."

"How long exactly?"

"It will take at least two hours."

"Okay, then hurry up. I'm a little scared when I think about us floating in space with no power at all. If that thing shows up now, we won't be able to escape."

"There's nothing I can do, Captain. I have to make sure the radiation in the reactor drops to a safe level before I can go in with the others to work. Unless you want us damage control officers to die from the lethal radiation."

"Forget it, this is the only way. First mate, let me see what the situation is in this galaxy, first mate?" Gonif noticed that I seemed to be pressing the communicator on my ear to listen to something?

"Captain, I've received their message. They told us to leave this system as soon as possible. I'm explaining that our ship has accidentally veered off course, and now the engines and reactors are down. We'll leave as soon as we can after repairing the ship."

"What's their response?"

"Um...wait a minute, their response is: Allowed, but please leave as soon as possible after the repairs are completed."

"Phew... I hope our 'tech expert' can fix the ship quickly with the damage control team."

While the damage control team was repairing the spacecraft, Gonif and other crew members could only stay here temporarily, watching the rare and strange astronomical phenomena in the galaxy from afar.

The black hole at the current location in the distance had disappeared without a trace. Onif only saw a huge ring-shaped object rotating at high speed. In the center of the ring-shaped object was some kind of spatial distortion in the shape of water waves.

Orbiting that ring-shaped object was the original, atmosphereless, desolate planet in this galaxy. Now, Gonif could hardly see the large gray stone ball. The barrier ring built around the entire planet had completely enveloped it. The 12-sided barrier ring component with yellow and blue-green stripes on its surface was slowly rotating above the enclosed planet.

On the bridge, in order to relax, several crew members, drinking coffee and chewing on the compressed biscuits stored on the bridge, have been discussing with Gonif what kind of engineering capabilities are needed to build such a giant structure that wraps around the planet.

"With current human technology, building a massive fortress like the Sherron Fortress, with a diameter of 60 kilometers, is already the limit. It's hard to imagine the advanced materials science and engineering capabilities required to construct a physical shield facility thousands of kilometers in diameter, encompassing an entire planet."

"Since their technology is advanced enough to threaten that invincible battleship, it should be natural for them to be able to build a fortress like this, right?"

"It's said that the main guns of this fortress are at least ten thousand times more powerful than those of Iserlohn Fortress, and they immediately paralyzed the fleets of the Empire and the Alliance that were clashing in the galaxy at the time."

"It's a pity I wasn't there at the time. If I had seen a fortress of this size firing, it would have been worth dying for."

"Then you'll probably be vaporized into a pile of atoms. Only a fool would want to face such a fortress cannon."