Wandering Meteor-Chapter 192 - 191: Mutual Deception

The Earth Core Civilization is no benevolent entity, always on guard and wary of the Wandering Alliance.

When they detected the Wandering approaching with a super light-speed sword strike, they were both surprised and unsurprised, and immediately used space acceleration to dodge to the side, creating a certain distance.

"What is the meaning of this, Wandering Alliance?" the Earth Core Civilization demanded.

By this time, Constant Star Lu Chen stopped pretending and said directly, "It’s a pity, I wasn’t able to weaken your combat strength."

Constant Star Lu Chen was not foolish, and certainly wouldn’t easily believe the Earth Core Civilization’s proposal of alliance. If it wasn’t for the intelligence obtained from the Pirate Civilization about the Earth Core Civilization, Lu Chen might have trusted them a tad, but after knowing their past, he didn’t trust them one bit, let alone risk venturing to the home base of a civilization with slightly more advanced technology than his own, which was undoubtedly like throwing himself into the tiger’s den.

Of course, Lu Chen wouldn’t do such a foolish thing.

As a leader, Lu Chen would not risk the Wandering Alliance in danger either.

Therefore, Lu Chen played along with the Earth Core Civilization, and then took the opportunity to let the Wandering launch a surprise attack on the Earth Core Civilization, intending to first weaken the opponent’s combat strength.

Regrettably, the Earth Core Civilization was well-prepared and detected the intention of the Wandering Alliance right away.

And from this, it could also be proven that Lu Chen’s concerns were justified; the Earth Core Civilization never trusted the Wandering Alliance and only wanted to lure them to their home base.

In fact, this was a plot devised by the Earth Core Civilization.

Originally, after these three Planet Battleships reported back to headquarters,

the headquarters of the Earth Core Civilization took into account that despite their higher technology, to face a third-level life community led by a being of over eight thousand Constant Star Masses with only three Planet Battleships still posed risks.

However, they could not possibly give up on the Ant Queen, which they had obtained not without difficulty, so the higher-ups of the Earth Core Civilization decided to use a ploy to deceive the Wandering Alliance into their home base and then seize or annihilate them using the Earth Core Civilization’s true main force starships!

It can be said that Lu Chen’s quick-witted vigilance had averted a crisis.

"Do you really think our Wandering Alliance is so naive to believe you could dissolve a third-level life community with such a simple plot?" Lu Chen stated unabashedly.

Knowing their intent was seen through, the Planet Battleships from the Earth Core Civilization stopped pretending and said directly, "It seems we were too naive, but your bold move to tear this thin veil and attack us has pushed us into opposition, which will only hasten your demise!"

"The scope of your Earth Core Civilization’s power is not clear to me, but with just your current three Planet Battleships, dreaming of obliterating us is pure fantasy," Lu Chen confidently said.

Since the Earth Core Civilization originally only targeted the Ant Queen from the Ant-man Civilization and did not anticipate a third-level life community’s involvement in the fray, they had dispatched only three Planet Battleships at the time.

Now, facing a life community led by a Constant Star Celestial Civilization, the risk for the three Planet Battleships was significant.

Therefore, after relations with the Wandering Alliance soured, the leadership of the Earth Core Civilization abandoned their mission to lure the Wandering Alliance and instead commanded the three Planet Battleships to retreat with the Ant Queen, prioritizing completion of the mission without a head-on conflict with the Wandering Alliance to avoid unnecessary losses.

It can be said that this decision by the Earth Core Civilization was very shrewd.

However, it was not easy for the Earth Core Civilization’s three Planet Battleships to withdraw smoothly.

Because they had just maneuvered to avoid the super light-speed sword strike of the Metal Planet Wandering, they had ended up encircled by the Wandering Alliance.

At this moment, they had to find a way to break out of the encirclement.

This was also why they deliberately engaged in conversation with Constant Star Lu Chen to stall for time, seeking an opportunity to find a way out.

And at this very moment, they finally saw their chance, so they promptly activated the Space Curvature Engine and surged upwards.

"Thinking of escaping? I’ve already anticipated your intentions!"

Lu Chen from the Earth Core Civilization is not surprised by the actions of his adversaries; after all, the smartest decision for them now is to escape.

In fact, Lu Chen had already made arrangements for this, guessing that his previous order for the Wandering to attack the Earth Core Civilization would likely fail. His real intent was to have the Wandering scatter some of its mass in space to prevent the Planet Battleships of the Earth Core Civilization from focusing solely on escaping.

"Thinking of escaping? Get back to where you came from!"

At this moment, in the dark expanse of space, a Metal Planet swiftly condensed into existence.

It was formed from the fusion of metal atoms scattered across space. More and more metal atoms gathered, instantly amassing over a hundred Planet masses.

Whoosh!

And then, the Metal Planet transformed into a massive Planet Giant Sword, furiously slashing toward the three Planet Battleships which were attempting to escape in this direction, forcing the three Planet Battleships of the Earth Core Civilization to slow down and retreat.

This was the encirclement strategy that Lu Chen had arranged in advance, utilizing the massive and variable mass of the Wandering.

After absorbing the remnants of numerous battleships from the Ant-man Civilization, the Wandering’s Planetary mass had reached 983, warranting its division into many parts.

Keep in mind that among the Earth Core Civilization’s three Planet Battleships, the Main Starship merely had a mass of 500 planets. Assuming the Wandering needed to reserve 500 Planet masses to deal with the Main Starship, that still left 483 Planet masses to disperse into space. These vast masses, spread across the cosmos, in combination with the Green Star, Earth, and Lu Chen from the Constant Star, would entirely block the Earth Core Civilization’s escape routes.

Therefore, no matter where the Earth Core Civilization’s Planet Battleships tried to flee, they would be intercepted.

Moreover, to prevent Earth Core Civilization’s early detection of the Wandering Alliance’s encirclement strategy, the Wandering altered its own density while dispersing its mass, maintaining the apparent diameter of the Metal Planet relatively unchanged. This was one of the reasons why they could deceive the Earth Core Civilization and successfully implement the encirclement strategy.

Of course, the cooperation of the Earth Core Civilization during this process was needed.

At that time, they were communicating with their headquarters, solely intent on escaping, thus neglecting some aspects of intelligence.

"Damn it, does the Wandering Alliance truly wish to wipe us out? We, the Earth Core Civilization, are not to be trifled with. Even with only three Planet Battleships, the outcome of this battle is still uncertain. Are you sure you want to wage this bound-to-be brutal war? I advise you to think thrice before acting," said the Earth Core People on the three Planet Battleships angrily after realizing that they had fallen into the encirclement.

Lu Chen replied, "When you decided to set a trap for us, we became enemies. You speak this way now only because you are at a disadvantage. If it were us in the weaker position, you would have struck without hesitation. Now that we have the upper hand, we must seize the opportunity to reduce the enemy’s strength. Are you naive enough to think that there’s a chance for an alliance between us? Since there isn’t, we are naturally life-and-death enemies who threaten each other’s existence."

"Also, you are vastly overestimating yourselves; to subdue you, we don’t need a pyrrhic victory!" Lu Chen added.

Earth Core Civilization: "What would it take for the Wandering Alliance to let us pass? We believe everything has a price. Even if there’s enmity between us, there’s no need to erupt now, right?"

Lu Chen replied, "Wrong, there is nothing now that could outweigh our determination to eliminate you!"

Earth Core Civilization: "Doesn’t the Wandering Alliance want the Ant Queen? If you let us pass, we can hand over the Ant Queen to you. Isn’t that a good deal?"

"That is good, but I’ll have to add one more condition," Lu Chen suddenly said.

Earth Core Civilization: "What condition?"

Lu Chen paused, then coldly said: "I will also need the corpses of your three Planet Battleships!"

"Damned scum! The Wandering Alliance is overbearing; since this is how it is, let’s see you taste the consequences of provoking the Earth Core Civilization!"

Realizing that there was no chance of resolving the situation, the three Planet Battleships of the Earth Core Civilization sent a resolution for a fight to the death to their headquarters.

For a moment, an intense atmosphere permeated the Ring Nebula!