Rebirth of the Super Battleship

"Dead is good, dead is good indeed." Watching as this planet's president ultimately chose suicide, Xiao Yu felt full of emotion. "Ending it himself spares us the final clash of arms."

Although he still felt some admiration for this president in his heart, when it truly came time to strike him down, Xiao Yu would not have had even a shred of mercy. Xiao Yu always remembered that in this dark universe, when dealing with other civilizations, there was no need to speak of morality. To have conducted himself to this degree already counted as exceptionally, exceptionally benevolent.

Xiao Yu knew that on this planet, there were surely still many other clear-headed ones like the president. He had already identified most of them through his own screening methods and had dispatched invisible robots to monitor them.

Clear-headed ones, without a doubt, were all elites of this planet. Even if they were destitute now, it could not change the reality that they were elites. For these clear-headed individuals, Xiao Yu's method of handling them was simple: if they chose to submit to him, he would, while scorning them, grant them generous treatment; if they chose to resist, he would, while respecting them, kill them.

Reality was just this contradictory.

After the Level 4 Alien Beast fled in its wounds, Xiao Yu's voice once again spread across the globe. "My people, I have defeated the demon and driven it away injured. But to guard against its return, I will remain stationed here until it is slain."

"Trolor! Trolor is invincible!"

"Praise the true god! Praise the true god!"

Countless cheers shook the sky.

"The true god's majesty will endure forever. We shall forever follow the true god, serve the true god, obey the true god." In countless churches, under the guidance of the clergy, innumerable intelligent beings prostrated themselves fully to the ground, silently praying to the unseen Xiao Yu.

"The planetary government will be abolished. I will personally administer this world. All problems of energy crises, racial conflict, and environmental pollution will be resolved by me. I will transform this planet into a paradise, so that my people may live here in peace and happiness." Xiao Yu continued issuing his proclamations.

Indeed, Xiao Yu was in no hurry to immediately load all these intelligent beings onto his ships and take them away. The reason was simple: the material resources of this stellar system were quite abundant. Xiao Yu could fully afford to remain here for a while, assimilate his technological gains, and continue constructing new ships. At the same time, he would use this period to carry out genetic modification and species optimization for all intelligent beings on this planet, greatly extending their lifespans and intelligence, enhancing their physical qualities, and further strengthening their loyalty and sense of belonging. When everything was prepared, Xiao Yu would then have them board his ships and follow him to embark on a new voyage through the cosmos.

As Xiao Yu spoke, countless computer terminals descended from the sky, landing in the central locations of every level of government institution across the planet.

"These are my incarnations. From this moment on, all government personnel will obey my commands." Xiao Yu announced.

After this message was issued, no one knew how many native intelligent beings finally set down the great stone in their hearts. Because this statement meant they could still maintain their current social positions and wealth. With that one sentence, those who had wavered instantly became Xiao Yu's most steadfast supporters.

Xiao Yu would allocate two percent of his computational capacity to take over every affair on this planet. Whether military administration, civil administration, environment, education, resources, commerce, everything would be personally handled by Xiao Yu himself. Together with the omnipresent invisible robots and surveillance systems, Xiao Yu would truly attain the status of planetary ruler.

"I am not entirely malicious toward them." Xiao Yu thought silently. "Letting them live long lives, enhancing their intelligence, and giving them comfortable existences also aligns with my own interests. I imagine that once the initial turmoil has been suppressed by me, they should readily accept this new way of life and even feel deep gratitude toward me."

This was something Xiao Yu had planned long ago. Up until now, every step had been perfectly realized under his formidable execution.

The next phase of the plan was to use his control over every level of government institution, relying on the terminals under his command, to govern the entire society of this planet. Through the water supply, food distribution, and other systems, he would quietly release the gene-modification drugs he had developed, subtly enhancing their physical capabilities. At the same time, through the education system, he would comprehensively raise their technological level and further cement his rule, making them establish loyalty to him from childhood.

Xiao Yu's planned duration of stay was set at three hundred years. Over these three centuries, given their rate of reproduction, they would produce at least ten generations of descendants. With Xiao Yu's patient and meticulous genetic modification program, every generation would surpass the last in physical constitution, brain development, and genetic optimization. After three hundred years, they would reach a level only slightly inferior to that of the Luka people, fully capable of contributing to Xiao Yu's technological progress.

After three hundred years, Xiao Yu's fleet would also have undergone a complete upgrade. No fewer than ten Nation-Class ships would have been constructed, and the number of Province-Class ships would be counted in the hundreds. All accumulated technology would have been fully assimilated. By then, Xiao Yu would lead them on a new journey, to either engage with other civilizations or embark on cosmic exploration, continually advancing his technological might.

That was the entirety of Xiao Yu's plan.

So far, this plan was proceeding perfectly.

That asteroid which Xiao Yu had deliberately allowed to approach from the start finally reached the optimal position. Xiao Yu directed several County-Class ship formations to attack it, blasting it into fragments. Among these, the largest pieces would not exceed twenty meters in diameter. Since the asteroid was primarily stone, and stony meteorites typically shattered upon atmospheric entry due to uneven heating, it was almost certain none of the fragments would survive to reach the surface intact, thus posing no danger of casualties.

Because the asteroid had such considerable mass, this meteor shower would last more than twenty days before the planet fully absorbed it.

This was the first gift Xiao Yu had prepared for this planet.

Far from the cities, atop a mountain peak, the body Xiao Yu had created sat there quietly. The whistling night wind did not stir a corner of its clothing or a strand of hair. The frigid high-altitude air had no effect on it.

"To witness the greatest meteor shower in history through the eyes of a biological body… I wonder what that will feel like," Xiao Yu thought with a trace of emotion. "The last time I watched a meteor shower like this was over ten thousand years ago, on that small planet thousands of light-years away…"

Memories were like smoke, though they would scatter in the wind, they always left traces behind. Those traces were deeply engraved into the recesses of Xiao Yu's mind.

Xiao Yu thought again of the girl named Chen Mo. He still remembered that day, all the researchers in the institute had just completed a scientific project and were in a celebratory mood. Chen Mo wiped the fine sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, and, a little shy, said to Xiao Yu, "Director Xiao, there will be a meteor shower tonight. The activity should be very intense. Do you want to watch it with me?"

Xiao Yu remembered that, at the time, he had impatiently waved his hand without even looking at Chen Mo, plunging straight back into the laboratory to begin the next research. He vaguely recalled someone saying that after that rejection, Chen Mo had cried alone for a very long time.

"Sigh, the past is all gone." Xiao Yu manipulated the body to sit there alone, using its visual sensors to gaze up at the sky, feeling the tranquility of the night, and he sighed again in his heart.

"This meteor shower is immense, bigger than any before. Its peak rate is estimated to reach the hundreds of thousands. In Earth's history, even the most active meteor showers only reached a few hundred per hour. Such a spectacular meteor shower… and yet you are not here to watch it with me."

Xiao Yu's heart suddenly ached a little. Perhaps it was the loneliness of millennia, perhaps the long years of darkness and countless brushes with death that had finally left him, now that things were calm, with a touch of melancholy.

"Look, the meteor shower is coming." Xiao Yu stood up and spoke softly, as if in that moment, Chen Mo was standing right beside him.

"How beautiful it is. But sadly, each meteor only exists for a few short seconds, just like you."

"Fleeting and brief, yet in my mind, you left the most brilliant image. That image is enough for me to yearn for a lifetime."

"When you were still by my side, I never cherished you. Only after losing you did I feel, so deeply, the pain of your absence. But alas, the principle of entropy increase dictates that time will never reverse. We can never go back."

At that moment, above the head of that body, countless meteors emitting all kinds of radiance poured down, tracing fiery red tails across the black sky.

There were so many meteors, it truly looked as though it were raining.