168: Chapter 168 Reconnoitering the Battle Situation

Over the next six months, in addition to his daily cultivation, Su Fan personally visited Shengyuan Star.

The battle between the Canglan Empire and the Black Dragon Empire had already begun. Although the Shenyuan Clan was in a remote corner, it was necessary to warn them so they could prepare.

Upon hearing this news, Jiang Zibo immediately arranged for another 100,000 exchange students to follow Su Fan to the Xia Kingdom.

This way, if anything happened to Shengyuan Star, some seeds of their civilization would remain.

Su Fan discussed some cultivation knowledge with Jiang Zibo before returning to Blue Star.

The Xia Kingdom now had 53 habitable planets. Although the population had surged to 500 billion within a century, the defensive measures of these planets were still inadequate.

This included Blue Star and Mars.

The previous defensive measures were all at the Level 3 Civilization tier and couldn't withstand attacks from a Level 4 Civilization's class-c spaceship.

Therefore, the planetary defense systems needed an upgrade.

This time, Su Fan didn't count on independent research and development to produce these defense systems. After all, interstellar war was imminent; one had to sharpen their spear at the last moment!

So, besides extracting black technology for the Xia Country Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering, he directly used influence points to manifest 53 planetary defense systems.

Each of these 53 planetary defense systems was at the top tier of a Level 4 Civilization. Manifesting each one was worth a fortune, costing a full 9.9 billion influence points.

For 53 sets, it consumed over 500 billion influence points in total.

After this exchange was complete, he didn't have many influence points left.

However, the population of the Xia Kingdom was still increasing rapidly.

The estimated population capacity of the 53 planets could reach 5 trillion.

The reason it was so high was that not all of these 53 planets were as small as Blue Star or Mars; many had surface areas dozens or even hundreds of times that of Blue Star, allowing for a much higher population capacity.

The massive population brought a wealth of talent from all walks of life to the Xia Kingdom, further accelerating the research and development of class-c spaceships!

...

Six months later, all soldiers boarded the kongming mothership simultaneously.

A small meeting quietly began within Su Fan's spaceship.

"I think we should dispatch 100 spaceships into the Black Dragon Empire's territory for exploration. This way, we can obtain news of the battle between the Canglan Empire and the Black Dragon Empire more quickly," Zhao Jianguo suggested.

"100 ships is a bit much. If the Black Dragon Empire discovers ships disguised as their own, or if the Canglan Empire discovers ships disguised as theirs, we risk exposure," the Great Elder said with a frown.

"We can first have the ships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire circle behind the Canglan Empire, and then silently follow the Canglan ships to investigate the front lines."

"This way, even if they are discovered, the Canglan Empire will think they are Black Dragon Empire ships. Since they have no way of contacting the Black Dragon ships, they won't be able to detect our disguise other than by attacking immediately," Su Fan suggested.

"That works. We can do the same with the ships disguised as the Canglan Empire—circle behind the Black Dragon Empire's ships and follow them quietly." The Great Elder nodded.

"In that case, we will dispatch 50 ships to each side. If they encounter danger, they must retreat immediately," Su Fan said solemnly.

"Supported!"

"Agreed!"

"Seconded!"

Thus, 50 ships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire circled behind the Canglan Empire's army—into Canglan territory—and followed the Canglan ships into the battlefield from the flank.

The 50 ships disguised as the Canglan Empire circled to the flank of the Black Dragon Empire's army and also stealthily entered the edge of the battlefield.

A few days later, Su Fan and the others finally received news of the battle between the Canglan Empire and the Black Dragon Empire.

When the war began, the Canglan Empire, relying on its superior number of ships, forced the Black Dragon Empire's western border defense fleet into a steady retreat.

But a few months later, the Black Dragon Empire's reinforcements arrived.

The arrival of a large number of reinforcement ships immediately turned the tide, and the Canglan Empire's losses increased significantly.

Faced with more advanced ships, the Canglan Empire was simply no match.

However, after another month or so, the Canglan Empire sent another wave of reinforcements, turning the tide once more.

Now, the western border of the Black Dragon Empire was littered with ship wreckage. Countless ships had been destroyed, but because the war was raging so fiercely, no one was clearing the battlefield.

Hearing this, Su Fan's eyes lit up.

This ship wreckage consisted of high-quality Class-C materials. If collected and smelted back in the Xia Kingdom, it could be turned into new materials.

Therefore, he immediately ordered the 100 ships to collect as much wreckage as possible when no enemies were nearby.

Furthermore, as if struck by a sudden inspiration, he immediately led the 100 ships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire to bypass the Fifth Ring South District and head straight for the Fifth Ring's western region.

Now that the Canglan Empire and the Black Dragon Empire were fighting intensely, the other side of the empire was bound to have weakened defenses.

If he didn't seize the opportunity to plunder resources now, his hard work in instigating the conflict would have been for nothing!

Leaving the Great Elder to oversee the front lines, Su Fan took 100 ships and arrived at the Canglan Empire's Fifth Ring southwest region a few months later.

He planned to start from there and continue exploring and gathering resources all the way to the Fourth Ring area.

This time, neither the Great Elder nor Xia Feifei was on his ship. Instead, it was his rascal of an eldest son, Su Mingxia!

That's right, Su Mingxia had joined the military!

After spending years in the entertainment industry, where many female stars and models had been his girlfriends, he had grown tired of that decadent lifestyle in recent years and signed up for the military.

This time, he held the rank of Captain in the fleet, commanding 100 ships.

The 100 ships Su Fan was currently leading were under Su Mingxia's command.

"Dad, why did you bring me here? I want to go to the front lines and fight!" Su Mingxia said with some dissatisfaction.

"Su Mingxia, please address me by my title while on duty!" Su Fan's expression was stern, but his eyes were full of amusement.

"Yes—Commander Su!" Su Mingxia called out in a lazy drawl.

Su Fan could only shake his head helplessly at this.

"How is your cultivation of the Guidance Technique and God-Forging Technique coming along?"

"It's alright. I've already reached God Forging Level 2 and am about to break through to God-Forging Level 3!" Su Mingxia's tone remained half-dead.

"So fast?!" Su Fan was startled.

One had to know that Su Mingxia's cultivation time was even shorter than his own!

And Su Fan's own current level was only just entering God Forging Level 2!

Calculated this way, Su Mingxia's cultivation talent was actually slightly better than Su Fan's.

Thinking of this, Su Fan was overjoyed.

However, he certainly couldn't show it on the surface.

"Hmm, it's alright. You have about half the talent your father had back then. I reached God Forging Level 2 long ago as well, so don't slack off!" Su Fan exhorted.

Neither of his children, whether it was the eldest, Su Mingxia, or the second, Su Xiaobai, had been injected with level 4 gene optimization fluid.

Su Xiaobai hadn't even been injected with Level 1 Gene Optimization Fluid!

For some reason, he always felt that gene optimization fluid wasn't as wonderful as people imagined.

Compared to relying on gene optimization fluid to improve physical fitness, he felt that relying on one's own efforts and slowly cultivating to improve was the true path!

...