As every crew member in Eugene's fleet was fully prepared for battle, images of enemy ships gradually appeared on the large screen in the command center.

The moment the image became clear, the tense atmosphere in the command center suddenly froze.

The once noisy command center was now filled only with the faint static of the instruments operating.

Emperor Eugene's nostrils flared rapidly as he stared in horror at the screen directly in front of him.

Contrary to his expectations, a large fleet did not appear in the scene.

Forget about a fleet, it didn't even show a single warship in the footage!

In the deep, dark universe, there is only an inconspicuous white dot.

On a scale of fifty million kilometers, this white dot is not even as conspicuous as those infinitely distant stars!

The camera zooms in rapidly, and the images in the frame become increasingly larger and clearer.

Finally, what appeared before Eugene's fleet was a spherical, silver-white aircraft!

The spacecraft was not large in size; compared to the starships of the Eugene civilization, it could even be described as miniature!

"No!!"

Emperor Eugene's orange-yellow vertical pupils had shrunk into a thin, straight line.

At the same time, it opened its sharp beak, filled with tiny, fine teeth, and let out a terribly distorted howl: "This is impossible!!"

A chill instantly emanated from its back, and the fine scales on its body stood up!

This scene was so terrifying that it dared not even imagine the information hidden behind it!

The next instant, a purple light appeared in the camera's view.

The explosion then erupted in flames.

It was a small warship located on the outermost edge of the defensive formation.

Although its design is somewhat outdated and its performance is somewhat obsolete, as the core strength of the Eugene civilization, it can be considered one of the best among the Tier III warships!

But this elite third-class warship was transformed into brilliant flames the moment it was attacked!

The attack was launched by a small detector!

This immense sense of contrast immediately made Emperor Eugene feel suffocated!

The hidden information behind this was revealed to it like a trump card!

There is a very high probability that this detector comes from that unseen Level 5 civilization!

The piercing alarm sounded again.

"...A communication request from the other party has been detected!"

A crew member reported in an extremely hoarse voice: "The information comes with a dictionary."

“…Receive it.” Emperor Eugene reached out and lightly supported himself on the seat beside him, muttering to himself with a blank look in his eyes.

In zero gravity space, its movements actually have no real effect.

But the cool touch from inside its claws still gave it some strength to maintain its appearance.

[...Third warning!]

This star system belongs to a human civilization within the Milky Way galaxy!

Any unauthorized entry will be considered an invasion by human civilization and implicitly regarded as a declaration of war against it!

[...]

As Emperor Eugene watched the lines of text rapidly appear on the screen, a wave of bitterness surged up from his throat.

Third warning?

Considering the three attacks on Eugene's fleet, it's not hard to imagine that the powerful laser beam with its purple glow was a warning from the enemy.

That was merely a warning tactic by the other party!

The image of the warship exploding flashed through its mind again.

He took a deep breath and typed a line of information with trembling fingers.

[Dear human civilization, we have no intention of offending your territory.]

We will leave immediately, please... show some mercy.

Before any response could be received, Emperor Eugene screamed, "Run!"

"Run!!"

"The enemy only has one detector!"

"All warships, disperse and flee!"

...

23 light-years away.

Within the Kepler-452 star system.

A piercing alarm suddenly rang out in the quiet office, startling Lü Yongchang, who was resting on the sofa.

"Professor, an unknown civilization has been discovered near the HIP star system!"

Before Lü Yongchang could fully regain his senses, Ling's urgent voice rang in his ears!

"Preliminary assessment: The other party is a Level 3 nomadic civilization!"

Lu Yongchang suddenly opened his somewhat drowsy eyes and raised his hand to rub his face vigorously.

"Report the details!"

He commanded in a deep voice, "Notify Zhao Zijie to prepare for battle!"

As he finished speaking, a deep blue holographic projection appeared in front of him.

The projection displays images from the perspective of an interstellar probe.

"Um?"

Lu Yongchang raised an eyebrow, a hint of confusion in his eyes: "The style of this fleet feels..."

"Does it look familiar?"

Compared to the Eugene civilization they encountered before, this fleet was significantly better, but the types of warships were still somewhat mixed.

"Is this also a space pirate civilization?" Lu Yongchang muttered to himself in surprise. "Are there so many space pirates in this star system?"

"Things are really not peaceful..."

“Professor, the other party has responded to our message.” Zero interrupted Lü Yongchang’s mutterings. “The dictionary comparison is complete, confirming that the other party is Eugene Civilization.”

"Oh wow!" Lu Yongchang's eyes lit up with interest. "Isn't this a coincidence?!"

"It's nice to see you again!"

"What did they say?" Lu Yongchang asked casually as he got up from the sofa, picked up a glass of water, took a sip of warm water, and asked.

Information from the Eugene civilization quickly appeared before Lü Yongchang's eyes.

"leave?"

A faint smile appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes: "What a joke."

"After all this time, we finally caught a Level 3 civilization. Do you think we'd let you get away?"

Before he could finish speaking, another holographic image appeared on Lü Yongchang's side.

"professor!"

Zhao Zijie's voice came through the loudspeaker: "The Eugene civilization has been discovered near HIP, we..."

"Arrest them all, leave no one out!"

Lu Yongchang interrupted Zhao Zijie: "There are still quite a few escort fleets near HIP that haven't returned yet. You will command this battle remotely."

"The People's Federation is currently facing a severe labor shortage, so we must try our best to avoid causing too many casualties!"

“Okay!” Zhao Zijie nodded and readily agreed. “Don’t worry, I guarantee I will complete the mission.”

The holographic communication from the side was automatically cut off.

Holding his water glass, Lü Yongchang sat back down in his office chair, watching with great interest the holographic image that followed him.

"Split up and escape?"

He immediately saw through Eugene's fleet's intentions: "This commander is quite decisive!"

"but……"

Can they escape?

Lu Yongchang muttered to himself as he raised his hand and waved it through the air, opening another holographic image.

"Zero, bring over all the nearby detectors and keep a close watch on these warships!"