267: Chapter 268 The Three Great Families

The Baby Bus void ship slowly ceased its engine propulsion at the edge of deep space, fifteen astronomical units away from the unknown blue star, floating quietly in space.

At the same time, the armored hatch at the bottom of the ship slid open.

A heavy optical detector bearing the Spark Alliance insignia was launched out.

The detector quickly deployed its folding antennas in the vacuum, and its massive, high-precision optical lens began to automatically adjust its focus and direction, steadily pointing at the three planets orbiting the star in the distance.

The high-definition surveillance footage was transmitted in real-time back to the large screen on the bridge of the Baby Bus.

When the players looked up and saw the distant star through the giant display screen, along with those three beautiful planets—which were clearly not over-developed by heavy industry and were covered in vast blue oceans and green vegetation—

a collective gasp of astonishment instantly erupted throughout the bridge.

"Holy shit!" Gou Ge couldn't help but exclaim. "So beautiful! This ecological environment is practically just like our Earth!"

Dumpling crossed his arms and analyzed seriously, "This is clearly a place that hasn't been ruled by the Imperium of Man. If the Imperium had discovered it, these three planets would have long since been developed into smog-filled industrial wastelands and crowded Hive Cities."

"It's just that I don't know…" Dumpling rubbed his chin, "whether the native civilization living on these planets is human or some kind of xenos."

Gou Ge pointed at the image on the screen, "To be honest, even if they are xenos, being able to maintain the ecological environment of these three planets so well, and having the surplus capacity to build near-orbit defensive facilities—their level of civilization definitely isn't low."

Dumpling looked at the massive space stations and defensive satellites floating quietly in the orbits of those three planets, "What do you say? Should we send a greeting message on the public channel to test the waters, or should we observe in hiding first?"

However, before the other players could respond, the surveillance footage on the display screen suddenly began to zoom in and flicker! The system issued an alarm!

It turned out that in the high orbits of those three planets, several massive armed starships had suddenly appeared out of nowhere! Furthermore, these ships were rapidly changing orbits, assembling and forming a formation in the direction of the Baby Bus!

The players on the bridge observed the screen closely. The exterior of these ships featured a streamlined design that they had never seen before in this game!

Moreover, there was no sign of the iconic double-headed eagle of Holy Terra from the Imperium of Man painted on the armored hulls of these ships. Instead, they bore some archaic-style sun patterns and mountain-and-river emblems.

But judging from the modular design and thruster layout of the ships, the players could be one hundred percent certain that this was definitely a design style belonging to the human tech tree!

Facing this sudden fleet standoff, the group of "lifestyle" players on the bridge—who usually only liked farming and fishing—instantly looked at each other in dismay. They had absolutely no experience in dealing with such space encounters and were momentarily stunned, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, the Big White Bear, who had been standing in the corner of the bridge with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes, and two blue flashes of psychic energy flickered in his bear eyes.

"I can sense it…" the Big White Bear frowned and spoke in a muffled voice, "The emotions radiating from those ships don't seem very friendly. I have a strong premonition that we might end up fighting directly in a moment."

You have to know, the Big Bear, Wu A Level Combo, had just awakened his psychic powers deep underground in the Shelter not long ago! This guy was now a bona fide Psyker, and what he said was very likely some sort of crisis prophecy from the Warp.

"All hands on alert!" Gou Ge became nervous upon hearing this and shouted orders, "Tell the brothers to activate the Mass-Energy Conversion Cannon immediately! Lock onto them; as soon as we detect them daring to fire, give them everything we've got and return fire!"

The atmosphere on the bridge instantly became tense. The combat alarm lights turned on.

Dumpling looked at the three planets on the screen, which resembled blue sapphires, and sighed, "Such beautiful planets—if they were to be engulfed in war and destroyed because of a minor misunderstanding, that would be a real pity. How about… we send an encrypted communication first to show goodwill and see what their attitude is?"

However, the Big Bear on the side had a completely different, violent idea.

"I disagree." The Big White Bear waved his thick Power Armor claw, "I think we should flex our muscles first! We should fire two gravity bombs from our main cannons right next to their ships! It's better to show them our firepower to avoid a situation where neither side knows their own weight!"

The Big White Bear analyzed with rare rationality, "Think about it, since these planets haven't been incorporated into the rule of the Imperium of Man, there are only two possibilities. Either the Imperial fleet simply didn't discover this place during the Great Crusade, or they have sufficient military power to directly stop or repel the Imperial expedition fleet!"

"The first point is easy to explain, but if it's the second point… that would be troublesome. Being able to stop an Imperial fleet's attack means their military power is definitely not weak!"

After hearing this, Gou Ge nodded heavily, "Brother Bear's analysis makes sense, but how to flex our muscles is also a technical skill. If we don't control our firepower well and accidentally destroy their ships, causing casualties, then a deal that could have been negotiated would likely turn into a blood feud."

Dumpling rubbed his temples and proposed a compromise: "In that case, why don't we just send a communication shuttle that isn't equipped with heavy weaponry?"

"The shuttle has no weapons and won't pose any military threat to their fleet, which is perfect for expressing our peaceful intentions. At the same time, it can also test their attitude at close range. Even if they really don't follow the rules and fire to shoot down the shuttle, we would only lose a piece of junk ship and one clone life; the loss wouldn't be significant."

This compromise proposal was immediately approved by all the players present.

"I'll go!" The busty female player Luluchiu volunteered and patted her chest, "Diplomatic tasks like negotiating with NPCs should be handled by a social butterfly like me with high charm stats!"

The group of male players looked at Luluchiu's eye-catching figure and expressed their agreement one after another.

Only the flat-chested Devil Muscle Thor, who was standing to the side, rolled her eyes sourly and muttered disdainfully, "Tch, having big boobs is nothing special!"

Soon, Luluchiu was fully armed and piloting a light shuttle; she detached from the hangar of the Baby Bus and flew alone toward the mysterious fleet in the distance.

Meanwhile, the other players remaining on the bridge stared intently at the screen, nervously watching the real-time footage transmitted back through the portable high-definition tactical camera on Luluchiu's chest.

…At the same time. The very moment the Baby Bus void ship jumped out of the Warp, deep within the flagship of that mysterious fleet, a high-level emergency family meeting was being held in a spacious conference room decorated with an antique, wood-textured aesthetic.

Around a huge mahogany round table, three groups of people were sitting in distinct, clear-cut factions. Moreover, on the three main seats, a metal family crest representing each respective family was placed!

The design style of these family crests was very retro, engraved with intricate classical patterns, which seemed incongruous with this conference room filled with high-tech holographic projections, exuding a sense of the vicissitudes of countless years.

Sitting in front of the emblem engraved with a sun pattern was a middle-aged man wearing a well-tailored dark military uniform. His hair was meticulously groomed, his facial features were angular as if chiseled by a knife, and his eyes were extremely sharp, exuding the aura of a soldier who commands respect without anger.

In front of the emblem engraved with a swan in a lake was a middle-aged woman with a graceful and luxurious temperament. The clothing she wore incorporated a large number of magnificent feathers from unknown birds of prey, as well as various exquisite swan patterns as embellishments.

Finally, sitting behind the emblem engraved with high mountains and great rivers was a young man with long black hair, whose expression was as calm as water and whose eyes were deep, making it impossible for anyone to discern any of his thoughts.

Most surprisingly! The representatives of these three factions were all authentic East Asian faces!

These three groups were currently sitting together, frowning and discussing the news about the unidentified void ship that had suddenly appeared at the edge of the galaxy, bearing a strange cartoon paint job.

Just then, the door to the conference room was gently knocked upon. A messenger wearing light Power Armor walked in quickly, knelt on one knee, and reported loudly, "My three lords! The other party has shown no hostility; instead, they have dispatched an unarmed small shuttle, requesting to dock and negotiate!"

Upon hearing this, the man with the sun emblem swept his gaze over the other two family heads. Seeing that both of the other parties nodded slightly in agreement, he turned his head and ordered in a steady voice, "Disengage orbital locks, open Hangar 4, and allow the other party to dock. Send the honor guard to bring the envoy directly to this conference room to see us."

Guided by the tractor beam, the shuttle steered steadily into the spacious hangar of the opposing flagship. The hatch slowly opened. Luluchiu, wearing a suit of light Power Armor, strode down the gangway.

As soon as she landed, her sharp eyes immediately began to quickly analyze the alien soldiers standing in formation on guard duty. With just a simple glance, Luluchiu gasped in the team channel.

The proficiency and equipment of these soldiers were clearly not simple! Although they were not wearing the heavy ceramite Power Armor of the Space Marines, those form-fitting composite armor plates were far superior to the crudely made flak armor of the Imperial Astra Militarum, both in terms of material luster and ergonomic design.

What made Luluchiu's eyelids twitch violently the most was the standard-issue weaponry in the hands of these soldiers! Without exception, they were all plasma rifles!

Moreover, there were none of the ugly external heat-sink pipelines or feudal purity seals characteristic of the Adeptus Mechanicus on the bodies of these plasma weapons. They were crafted with exquisite workmanship, with blue energy coils circulating steadily inside the barrel, completely devoid of any sense of danger that they might overheat and explode at any moment.

"Brothers, this is a tough nut to crack." Luluchiu muttered softly to the portable camera on her chest, "The fact that they can mass-produce and equip plasma weapons as if they were simple fire pokers means their military and technological level is likely not low. Our piece-of-junk passenger ship might not stand a chance against them, but the good news is that they are most likely human."