Chapter 1134 - 321: Destruction
"No way."
Chen Ming stared at the dense area covered with debris around the planet shown by the sensor readings.
Now he understood why there was not a single ship left in the superspace region of the star system.
It turned out they all entered the star system to protect their stronghold.
Glancing again at the vast areas of fire still erupting on the planet.
Chen Ming suddenly had a bad premonition.
But it shouldn’t be such a coincidence, let’s wait and see.
As Chen Ming adjusted the sensor precision of the reconnaissance fleet ship and performed a second scan.
The specific damage of the ship debris and the orbital defense structures surrounding the planet’s orbit appeared before Chen Ming.
After further verification.
Chen Ming could make a judgment.
The cause of these wrecks was entirely due to ships or defense facilities being shattered by some extremely powerful physical attack, followed by explosions caused by line damage or various reasons.
This scenario looked very familiar to Chen Ming.
As expected, it was the Phase Giant Beast.
What else could cause such damage other than it?
Turning his gaze back to the condition on the planet, he figured it was likely the work of that Phase Giant Beast as well.
"It’s actually here."
For a moment, Chen Ming couldn’t hold it together.
He had just mentioned something offhand earlier, yet upon arriving at the Mechanical Race’s stronghold, he found the Phase Giant Beast had beaten him there.
This... really is... he didn’t know what to say.
How did the Mechanical Race provoke the Phase Giant Beast to such an extent?
The last time they developed a stronghold, it was dismantled by the Phase Giant Beast. And this time, it happened again.
Chen Ming hadn’t even taken action yet.
Speaking of which, Chen Ming remembered that last time the Phase Giant Beast followed the Mechanical Race’s reinforcement fleet to their developed stronghold.
So what was the reason this time?
Of course, that’s not the focus right now.
Chen Ming had no interest in dealing with the Phase Giant Beast, as long as it continued attacking the Mechanical Race, that was absolutely good for him.
What he needed to do was find the Mechanical Race that stole his cargo.
He first needed to confirm whether the fleet that warped had already arrived here.
Even if the Phase Giant Beast’s attack might reach his fleet, he couldn’t just run away pointlessly.
But just as Chen Ming was thinking of finding his target.
The sensors on the reconnaissance fleet within the star system suddenly displayed the Mechanical Race fleet that had previously attacked his fleet.
Not the entire fleet; what was left was half of it, consisting of a dozen cruisers and barely a hundred small ships.
They had just taken off from the ravaged planet, escaping its gravity and fleeing towards the edge of the star system in panic.
And among them was the cruiser that stole Chen Ming’s cargo.
It seemed like the timing was just right.
While Chen Ming was relieved that these ships hadn’t directly run away, he also noticed a problem.
A timing issue.
Adding up all the happenings, it had almost been an hour since the Mechanical Race attacked his fleet.
Even if the Mechanical Race fleet’s warp destination seemed to be a nearby star system rather than this one, it’s not exactly far.
It would take at most twenty minutes to get here by way of the corridor.
The Mechanical Race must have arrived here before him and knew about the Phase Giant Beast attacking the stronghold earlier than he did.
Seeing the plundering Mechanical Race fleet appear on the planet’s surface initially seemed normal.
But a closer look revealed the issue.
The battle between the Mechanical Race and the Phase Giant Beast must have lasted more than a while. Judging by the debris in the planet’s orbit, one or two hours must have passed.
At the latest, it erupted when the Mechanical Race ambushing his cargo fleet retreated.
Which means, after the robbery and departing via warp, these Mechanical Race fleets had two choices.
Either come to offer support.
Or directly flee.
There’s no reason to come over after eating their fill and then run away.
And those Mechanical Race fleets were retreating when Chen Ming saw them, clearly not coming for support.
After all, supporting would at least require weapons that can offer support; otherwise, it’s just a futile sacrifice.
Supporting fleets wouldn’t flee in panic as they did; at least they’d maintain a loose formation to entangle the Phase Giant Beast, right?
This Phase Giant Beast, though unobservable, has a tangible impact on the real world.
As long as a physical distance is maintained, the destructive power of the Phase Giant Beast could be significantly limited.
Of course, the ground is an exception.
Ground structures cannot relocate; if the Giant Beast targets them, they are doomed to be dismantled.
But fleets aren’t subjected to such limitations.
What exactly did these Mechanical Race fleets that robbed Chen Ming come back for?
Surely, they didn’t leave the stolen cargo on this already doomed planet, right?
Maybe there’s some special reason?
Chen Ming didn’t understand.
But no worries, he would understand soon.
After determining the escape direction of the internal Mechanical Race plundering fleet.
The Chen Ming fleet, which was in superspace of the star system, immediately started maneuvering, approaching the other side of the star system within hyperspace, ready to launch an ambush.
The efficiency of moving in superspace is much higher than in the normal universe environment, surely enough to hit the fleeing Mechanical Race hard.