"What was that?" A shadow suddenly flashed across a Clone Trooper's field of vision, yet the life detector showed no reaction.
"Unit 1812, report your status." Stallone immediately inquired upon hearing the voice in the comm channel.
"Reporting, Captain. I spotted a dark shadow passing through my visual field, but radar detection shows no response," Clone Trooper 1812 promptly replied.
"Dispatch drones to investigate. All personnel maintain high alert. Armed robots take point—let's find out what that thing is," Stallone commanded, directing the armed robots toward the location where Trooper 1812 had detected the anomaly.
Simultaneously, two drones equipped with lights advanced into the corridor first. Thanks to their compact size, the drones could navigate tight spaces, compensating for the Clone Troopers' limited visibility.
"Deploy two more drones to scan the surrounding structures. I want every detail of this area documented," Stallone said, intently examining traces in the corridor for useful intel.
Floating debris in the corridor was pushed aside as the Clone Troopers cautiously advanced. Outside the space station, two mechas from the squadron patrolled near Stallone's team, using their onboard detectors to assist with internal reconnaissance.
"Boom!" A dark figure suddenly shot out from beneath the corridor, lunging at a Clone Soldier. A loud crash echoed through the comms—the sound of exoskeleton armor slamming into the metal wall.
"Damn it, open fire! Take it down!" Two Clone Troopers at the rear fired simultaneously, their electromagnetic rifles unleashing sub-light speed conical projectiles.
A dense barrage instantly enveloped the shadowy creature still obscured under the searchlights. The figure darted rapidly, flickering through the zero-gravity environment of the space station before vanishing into a gap in the metal walls within seconds.
The sub-light projectiles, now without a target, struck the metal corridor, scraping bright sparks and leaving behind circular craters.
"What happened?" Stallone turned just as the shadow disappeared, missing the sight of it directly.
After reviewing the recorded footage from the three Clone Troopers, Stallone approached the hole where the shadow had emerged. Comparing the footage, he realized that others had already walked over that spot earlier—the metal floor had seemed identical to the rest, and metal detectors had shown no anomalies, as if it were all the same material.
But the gaping hole before him now confirmed the presence of a creature—one that had mimicked the metal floor's texture to evade detection.
Recognizing the severity of the situation, Stallone immediately contacted Liu Hai, requesting authorization to deploy the swarm system for a full scan of the space station.
Liu Hai, who had been monitoring the situation in real-time, granted approval and dispatched a corvette to deliver the system.
"What do you think that thing was?" Liu Hai asked Irina and the others.
Irina shook her head. "Although I've come across a lot of extraterrestrial biological data, there hasn't been any creature so far that can completely evade current radar detection. I suspect it might be something like a robot, originally made of the same material as the space station, which is why it bypassed the metal detector."
"No way!" Li Yali immediately refuted. "It can't be a robot. That thing reacted extremely quickly, no less agile than our standard combat robots. Third-level civilization technology couldn't produce robots of that caliber. Besides, that thing showed no energy signature at all—even when it attacked the squad members, the energy detectors didn't pick up any source other than the combat team."
Igor, however, spoke thoughtfully, "Back when I was running cargo ships, I heard a story from some smugglers—something from over three hundred years ago, during the Expansion War era."
"At that time, the Federal Fleet encountered a very unusual biological civilization fleet in the Sha Polang Star System. They were only detected at a distance of one light-hour. Since there was no engagement and both sides just passed by each other, the Federation couldn't gather detailed intel on them. Later, it was never confirmed whether it was a radar malfunction or a misjudgment, so it remained just an underground rumor."
"Biological civilization?" Liu Hai asked Igor in surprise. "I've seen such descriptions in Federal archives, but in the entire supercluster, biological civilizations number fewer than the fingers on one hand—and they're all extremely reclusive, rarely interacting with other civilizations. So there's very little information about them."
"But Federal records indicate that even biological civilizations can't evade military-grade compound radar detection. They're just slightly better at stealth than regular material civilizations due to their unique nature."
"For something to remain undetected even at such close range—can a biological entity really achieve that?"
It was no wonder Liu Hai doubted Igor's words. Irina and the others also questioned whether the shadowy figure could be biological, given its incredible stealth capabilities. If biological civilizations were this terrifying, what chance did other civilizations in the supercluster have?
"I'm just throwing out a possibility, not confirming it's biological. Besides, we don't even know if it's an outsider or a product of the target civilization. If it's the latter, we might be in serious trouble."
Igor's words plunged the group into contemplation. He was right—if an advanced civilization with such capabilities appeared near the fleet, the combined fleet could very well be wiped out here. After all, if you can't even locate the enemy, escape becomes impossible.
"Let's not rush to leave. Something like this could be a treasure for us. If we can reverse-engineer stealth equipment with the same functionality from it, our warships could dominate this Star Region with impunity." Liu Hai's greed stirred. With stealth capabilities this strong, if his fleet could replicate them, ambushing the Katon Fleet would be child's play.
"Order the combat squad to temporarily withdraw outside the space station. Deploy the Swarm system for a thorough sweep before re-entering."
"Additionally, send Cruiser Five to the space station sector and use the warship's radar for detailed biological scans. I want a live specimen."
To capture the shadowy figure, Liu Hai had the warship equipped with high-powered tractor beams and portable force field cages.
He planned to set a trap to test whether the force field cage could contain the target. He also deployed a squad of armed robots, intending to dismantle the space station through sheer numbers. Once everything was contained within the Pyramid Core, whatever it was would be forced to reveal its true form within the Spatial Warehouse of the Pyramid Core.
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