Colonial Suit

"What happened?"

"How could this be?"

Inside the immigration ship, countless people rushed to the windows, gazing at the enormous fireball outside. Just a few seconds ago, it had been a complete TL12-class high-speed reconnaissance ship, nicknamed 'Halibut,' boasting an elegant streamlined hull and speeds that made girls scream with excitement. Now, not even a single intact piece of the hull could be found. The violent explosion had torn apart its reactor, and no one inside had escaped.

It was a disaster, but what terrified people was that no one knew how it had happened.

"Did anyone see anything? Was it an enemy attack?"

"Holographic scanners, spectrum analyzers, any clues? What just happened?"

"Damn it, I told old Habby to check his power system a long time ago, but he was just too lazy to do it. Now we're screwed..."

The fleet channel erupted in a clamor of discussion as all crew members busied themselves, trying to find the cause of the disaster. The navigation footage was replayed a thousand times, but to no avail. Every image, every record indicated that the reconnaissance ship had simply self-destructed during normal flight, with no attack or cosmic rift encountered.

A natural accident that even God couldn't control.

But was that the truth?

In the garden, the Speaker's face was incredibly grim as he stared at the still-burning and disintegrating fireball. He asked in a deep voice, "Did you see anything?"

"Attack!" Sal Jones replied. "A super-high-speed, super-dense attack, like billions of needles piercing through. Because it was launched suddenly and then immediately disappeared, it couldn't be captured by conventional instruments. Only the psionic senses of Star-level warriors or above would have noticed it."

"But even so, the difference only became apparent after the attack."

Sal Jones quickly manipulated the intelligent computer, pulling up streams of light and placing one of them in front of the Speaker.

It was an image of the warship's flight, the same TL12-class high-speed reconnaissance ship from before, but this time displayed in slow motion, the picture almost frozen. In the image, the reconnaissance ship began by flying normally, then suddenly, starting from the bow, layers of armor were torn away, and countless tiny holes appeared in the hull. Then it disintegrated, shattered, and exploded from bow to stern... The whole process was like slow motion, but the attacker was never seen.

"Optical imaging can no longer capture this enemy. It's not shielding or illusion, but speed!" Sal Jones concluded. "They're faster than light!"

"It's the Nihil," the Speaker said, his face twitching slightly. "Only the Nihil could have such speed, such numbers."

"We were all wrong."

The Speaker turned his head, gazing at the vast void outside, revealing worry.

"We did receive intelligence about the Nihil, but no one ever mentioned their numbers or size... Because of their unimaginable ability to interact between the illusory and the real, and their extraordinary speed, we naturally assumed they were powerful creatures that were few in number and medium in size. This in itself was a common-sense error."

At this point, the Speaker turned back and emphasized to Sal Jones, "We forgot that the Nihil are not human. Our common sense cannot be applied to them!"

"The truth is, there are many, many of them! And they are minuscule in size!"

"They are more dangerous than we anticipated!"

"Yes..." Sal Jones opened his mouth, agreeing with the Speaker's judgment.

Yes, quantity and size. These attributes, easily overlooked among cosmic warriors, became a matter of life and death when amplified to the scale of an entire fleet. Excessive numbers meant that a defensive network was difficult to establish, and minuscule size meant concealment. The penetration was astonishing. What made Sal even more troubled was that this terrifying creature possessed both illusory and real characteristics, so even the psionic senses of cosmic warriors could not provide early warning. By the time they reacted, it was already too late.

No wonder even the consistently aggressive Boca and Sasha clans suffered heavy losses!

Then how did they penetrate this layer of Naraka?

"Sacrifice."

The Speaker said with a serious expression. "Do you see that immigration ship? That's a Kunt Clan's super-giant snail ship, even it can't protect itself. It's obvious that the Boca Clan had already given up. Transferring the main fleet by sacrificing a portion of their members is a decision that any commander would make. The Sasha Clan is the same..."

"嘶..." Even though he always trusted the Speaker's analysis, Sal Jones couldn't help but gasp at this moment.

Abandoning part of the fleet and relying on sacrifice to pass through this layer of Naraka? Damn... What a painful price that must be? Based on previous experiences with the three layers of Naraka, it would take at least a few days to pass through this layer... Isn't this just piling up lives?

"That's how it is, just like migratory birds being hunted by predators during migration. This is the price," the Speaker replied, his gaze lingering on the firelight outside for a long time before finally saying.

"Fortunately, the Nihil don't seem to be able to hunt endlessly!"

"Order: Reconnaissance fleets move forward, light armor assault fleets move forward, disband all high-speed ship types, and find the lower-level entrance in the shortest possible time! Order: The main fleet follows the reconnaissance fleets. Enter immediately after discovering the entrance. This time, we can't establish POS groups. Hopefully, the previous rest has kept our ships in good condition. If anything needs to be replenished, it must be done during the voyage."

"Yes!"

The Speaker was silent for a while, and finally said, "Select warriors above the Planetary level to form a defense network. If you encounter the Nihil, let them resist."

"This will lose strength," Sal Jones reminded.

"I know, but I hope more people can survive," the Speaker replied, and then added, "Contact our allies. What we can't do doesn't mean they can't do it either. The universe is so big that anything can happen. Maybe our allies have a way to deal with this thing."

"Everything must be fast. We have no time to waste."

"Understood," Sal Jones replied, turning and walking out of the room.

Just a few minutes later, the entire human fleet wriggled, like a huge flock of migratory birds, slowly sailing forward, while a large number of high-speed ships left the group and pierced into the vast void like lightning.

Many of them will not return, but they carry the hope of humanity and all allies.

At this moment, in the Twilight of the Gods, Blood瞳 also just opened his eyes, with a look of doubt on his face.

"What's wrong? Brother Blood瞳?" Little Bosi hugged Lie Ya, licking the ice cream with big gulps, and asked strangely.

"I seem to... have awakened some memories." Blood瞳 covered his head, feeling that his brain was in a chaotic mess. He frowned unconsciously.

"It hurts... it's messy..."

"It's very dark..."

"Where... is this?"

"Ah..."

"Brother Blood瞳!!" Little Bosi had just screamed when he was shot out by an invisible force, and 'stuck' to the wall with a 'pa' sound...

Pa!

The second sound... This is Lie Ya...