Mech: Shattering of the Galaxy

A chilling killing intent surged up from the depths of Mu Fan's heart.

It was Shura's reaction to this mysterious threat.

"Is the terror right before my eyes?"

Mu Fan asked once more. He phrased it skillfully, using simple words that Shura could understand without difficulty.

"...Information captured...vague."

Although the answer was still difficult, Shura gave Mu Fan a somewhat clear response.

In Shura's perception, this unknown terror did not seem to be happening right before his eyes.

Therefore, the crisis level of this event was not imminent.

Thinking about the fact that he had just landed on Planet 131, Mu Fan had a faint hypothesis in his heart, that Shura's intuition might be related to those Zeg.

Otherwise, why hadn't there been any anomalies before?

Mu Fan gently lifted his hand off Shura and looked up at the heavy metallic ceiling.

"Black, prepare for landing."

The gently descending Dawn Battleship finally began a slow descent.

After feeling the mild tremor beneath his feet, there was a hiss in front as the side hatch of the ship quietly slid open.

A moist airflow rushed in through the opening hatch, and Mu Fan caught a long-lost primitive scent in the air, invigorating his spirit.

"Landing successful, Mu Fan, take a look at the Shadow Base now."

Black's voice had a hint of smugness.

This was the most meticulous thing it had done since arriving in this Cosmic Plane.

This was Lord Black's greatest masterpiece!

Mu Fan walked to the hatch and looked out to see a vast, almost boundless all-metal base, exuding its unique industrial aesthetic. The artistic beauty of the artist harmoniously blended with the savage beauty of the metallic machinery, then heavily crashing into his sight.

Endless silver metallic structures, of various sizes, were like diligent ants, orderly constructing, repairing, and transporting...

Countless welding sparks and rhythmic metal clanging were presented before him, forming a completely mechanized metallic base where all tasks were handed over to intelligent Light Computers and autonomous robots.

Compared to this massive base, the once mighty Dawn Battleship now seemed like a Floating Car parked outside a large mansion.

When Mu Fan stepped out of the Dawn Battleship and fully placed his feet on this land, he realized that the height of those alloy walls all exceeded six meters.

Since Shura behind him only surpassed two-thirds of these walls' height.

A rumbling sound came from ahead, as a large gate slowly opened, and a small tracked robot walked out, eyes glowing green.

With a shocked gaze still looking upward, Mu Fan saw the robot approach with a hint of ingratiation, its electronic voice sounding out, "This is the Shadow Base."

"How about it, isn't it surprising, isn't it unexpected?"

Then...

Both man and Mecha completely ignored the robot and walked into the walls' interior.

Mu Fan truly felt like he was traversing a magnificent world constructed of machinery, and he had no idea what to call all those various metallic buildings.

Yet the ignored tracked robot then instinctively caught up, ingratiatingly explaining by Mu Fan's side, "This is the parts processing plant for warships below level six... This is the shipborne weapons foundry... This is the base's energy reactor..."

Walking for five minutes under Black's unceasing introduction, Mu Fan stopped, looking up at the enormous architecture that was like an arena in front of him.

"What's this?"

"This is the main dock, specifically for maintaining the Dawn Battleship. The current technology path of the Shadow Base is divided into two branches that are synchronized; one is the nanometer-scale reconstruction and upgrading of this high-end force, the Dawn Battleship, and the other is manufacturing small warships to expand the Shadow Fleet centered on Dawn."

The reason is simple: the current resources the Shadow Base can control aren't sufficient to produce a second Dawn.

"Simultaneously, this building is also the core of the entire Shadow Base; all the central control equipment is concealed at the base of this dock. You can now go inside and carefully browse through your Shadow Empire, great host!" said Black with a tone of flattery.

In its conscious logic, a sense of achievement was continually stimulating an increase in excitement.

...

In the spacious and bright underground workshop, a large three-dimensional planetary projection kept rotating with Mu Fan's hand.

Meanwhile, several Zeg projections of varying sizes kept flashing beside him.

If looked at closely, it was not hard to notice that those Zeg projections were the ones Mu Fan had previously encountered and fought against.

They varied in size, from the smallest Beetle with a diameter of only 0.5 meters to Corruptors with a length reaching hundreds of meters.

Beside those projections were densely marked data, such as "Hardness, Special Resistance, Tissue Composition, Cell Structure, Weak Points..."

Black's voice arose: "Two Cosmic Planes do share a common point: these bugs have not undergone any major changes. Through the reconnaissance by drones over these months, combined with the data left by that old guy Mohandas, I've digitized and tiered the Zeg on this planet."

"Next, I'll summarize the collected data, hoping you can take it seriously as Mohandas had always held this data in high regard."

Hearing these words from Black, Mu Fan's expression suddenly turned solemn.

Only by knowing both oneself and the enemy can one conduct effective operations.

And the Zeg Clan, who completely abandoned technological transfer means, left human society with scant intelligence, and what Black would narrate next was likely information that's extremely difficult to obtain in this universe.

"The Zeg Clan, no one knows their place of origin. They usually drift in from the deep void of space. This alien species, resembling arachnids, has a history of evolution spanning millions of years, possessing intelligence without selfishness or fear, with an exceptional ability to reproduce, possessing a perfect societal structure superior to that of humans."

When it came to vital information, Black wouldn't cover the facts with euphemistic language like humans.

Mu Fan remained silent, while that last sentence was harsh, recalling the more terrifying clan structure than the Ant Clan that he had observed, he was quite convinced.

"I have categorized and arranged these Zeg from level 1 to 10 according to their strength from weak to strong, and common to rare. Naturally, there are higher levels of 11 to 15, but for the moment there is no actual data to support."

Black's speech did not pause, and with his words, a light screen began to unfold.

A mix of graphic and textual information cascaded down the light screen.

Mu Fan squinted and took a close look, as this clear classification instantly provided him with an intuitive concept in his mind.

Cave Beetle: Tier 1.

Guard: Tier 2

Cliff Worm: Tier 3

Suicide Bomber Fly: Tier 3 (Flying Species)

Sentinel: Tier 3 (No Offensive Power)

Tiger Worm: Tier 4

Jet Tiger Insect: Tier 4

Lurker: Tier 5

Flying Winged Dragon: Tier 6 (Flying Species)

Plasma Worm: Tier 7

Overlord: Tier 7 (Flying Species)

Rhino Worm: Tier 7

Corruptor: Tier 8 (Flying Species)

Golden Scorpion Worm: Tier 9

When he saw that last line of information, a massive shadow silhouette directly occupied his vision.

"Giant Corruptor... Tier 10!"

The sole Tier 10 creature, which was also Mu Fan's target for this expedition.

"If matched against human warships, it would correspond to a level 9 warship," Black quietly explained.

"Moreover, it is the type of level 9 warship that is extremely cunning, ferocious, equipped with autonomous consciousness, and possessing formidable attack and defense capabilities..."

The moment he heard this, Mu Fan understood, and instinctively rubbed his face.

He got what Black meant; this type of creature might not be so simple to take down.

If that's the case, eventually, the obstinate one has to be persuaded to interface with the data center for future repair plans, the issues before, and how to proceed from here.

If any problem arises during the battle with the Giant Corruptor, then the consequences are unimaginable.

Listening to Black's words, Mu Fan turned to look at Shura, whose damaged body was particularly conspicuous.

Mu Fan still remembered when in the Land of Bright Star when the Blood Prison Blade was pulled out, and Shura's energy plummeted like an avalanche.

"Mecha Body in a state of disrepair, energy consumption at 500%..."

It was because of this statement that in the Barnard Star System, he barely exceeded this phrase's wall height.