"Report to the Iron Star Lord, the battleship has approached the Demon Star's atmosphere and no anomalies or signs of life have been detected. We are now within nuclear missile range. Should we launch the Gold-Resistant Nuclear Bomb?"
Facing the request from the Hope Battleship, the Iron Star Lord decisively ordered: "As the supreme leader of Iron Base Star, I command you to immediately launch the nuclear bomb and destroy the Demon Star! This is a tough battle, related to the survival of Iron Base Star, and we are all awaiting your victorious return!"
Upon receiving the order, the general aboard the Hope Battleship pressed the launch button.
Just as the Gold-Resistant Nuclear Bomb was about to be launched, a super invincible giant drill suddenly emerged, striking the Hope Battleship in half, cutting off the electricity, damaging the systems, and abruptly stopping the launch of the nuclear bomb.
"If you want to harm my big brother, you'll have to step over my dead body!"
Transformed into a cosmic drill, the Wandering loyally protected Lu Chen's side, allowing no one to harm him.
When Lu Chen heard the noise, he turned his attention outward, only then realizing that the Wandering had just saved his life; otherwise, if those one hundred thousand Gold-Resistant Nuclear Bombs had really been fired, his chances of survival would have been slim!
"Wandering, thank you!" Lu Chen expressed his genuine gratitude.
Wandering laughingly said: "It's only right for a younger brother to do things for his elder brother, you saying thanks makes it feel too formal."
Lu Chen smiled and said, "Well then, I've decided to reward you with something, but it will have to wait until after we sort out the current situation."
Wandering asked, "Big brother, this battleship tried to attack you just now while you weren't paying attention. How should we deal with it?"
"I always talk reason. As others treat me, so will I treat them. The battleship is yours now, absorb its Metal Elements, and just kill the people," Lu Chen said coldly.
Wandering happily agreed.
Immediately, it flew towards the space-dwelling Hope Battleship.
At this moment, the Hope Battleship was already broken in two and had no power to resist; in just moments, it was completely absorbed by the Wandering.
However, the Wandering could only absorb the Metal Elements, the other substances and the corpses of the Iron Base people were absorbed by Lu Chen, becoming part of the small Planet.
After absorbing the Hope Battleship, the Wandering's size reached over six-hundred meters, nearly doubling from before!
Meanwhile, Lu Chen also reaped significant gains from this incident, his size increasing to three hundred thousand meters, and his gravitational range expanded to six-hundred thousand meters. After absorbing a large amount of hydrogen from the Small Constant Star, the surface of the small planet even developed water and a thin atmosphere—signs of planetization!
All Iron Base people simultaneously rubbed their eyes, staring at the starry sky in disbelief.
They seemed unable to believe that the well-equipped Hope Battleship was so easily defeated?
But the reality was there in front of their eyes, the Hope Battleship not only defeated but also completely absorbed by the Metal Ball, turning hope into despair!
"I had already said that the Demon Star and Metal Ball must be spacecraft from an Advanced Civilization, and we must submit, but our government foolishly arrogantly made a move against the Demon Star. Now, it's too late even if we wanted to submit!"
This was the common sentiment among many Iron Base people.
They had witnessed the terrifying and miraculous powers of the Metal Ball and were convinced that it indeed was from an Advanced Civilization.
Inside the Iron Base Star command room, the atmosphere was tense and sombre. The Iron Army Marshal gravely said, "Iron Star Lord, the Hope Battleship is lost, our combat plan has failed!"
"I don't need your reminder, I can see with my own eyes!"
The Iron Star Lord had always been skeptical about the tale of the Long-range Warship. Now, he finally believed, considering the strength of the Demon Star, there was indeed no hope for the Long-range Warship.
The Iron Star Lord inquired: "How long until the Demon Star collides with the Iron Base Star?"
"Demon Star's speed has been increasing, estimated to collide with Iron Base Star in twenty years!" Professor Tie Zha said.
The Iron Star Lord pondered for a moment, then ordered: "Pass my command, Iron Base Star goes into first-level alert starting tonight, immediately call back the warships from other Planet bases. At this point, there's no turning back, we must and can only prepare for war with full effort!"
"Yes!" The Iron Army Marshal nodded heavily.
After a brief respite from the conflict, Lu Chen and the Wandering continued to roam the galaxy, flying forward at speeds exceeding the Cosmic Fourth Speed.
Wandering asked expectantly, "Big brother, now that the matter is resolved, where's the reward you mentioned?"
"What's the rush, you think I won't give it to you?" Lu Chen teased: "Land on the small planet, and I'll divide some Consciousness Particles for you!"
Early in the conflict with the twin Small Constant Stars, the Wandering, due to too few Consciousness Particles, was unable to control its own gravity and was restricted in various ways. From then on, Lu Chen decided to give Wandering more Consciousness Particles, at least enough to control gravity, making flying through the universe much safer.
Even if it encounters Constant Star Level celestial bodies again, at least the Wandering would have a way to escape.
After receiving an infusion of Consciousness Particles from Lu Chen, the Wandering was finally able to control its own gravity. He immediately tried it a few times and found it very effective.
Of course, the benefits of increased Consciousness Particles were not just that.
With an increase in Consciousness Particles, the range Wandering could sense also expanded.
It also felt much more flexible in its thinking; previously, it always had a feeling of swelling.
It seems that each Consciousness Particle has a fixed storage space; if the stored information volume is too large, it would cause a headache.
At that moment, it thought of something and immediately said: "Big brother, can we try to find the position of Iron Base Star?"
Lu Chen was puzzled: "Why are you looking for Iron Base Star?"
The current Lu Chen did not know that he would collide with Iron Base Star, nor did he know the coordinates of Iron Base Star.
After all, he's not a computer, he couldn't predict his trajectory decades in the future; he was just wandering the universe as usual, whom he met was completely upto fate.
Wandering said: "Just now, when I was absorbing the Metal Elements from that battleship, I found a very special metal, this metal is more heat-resistant than other metals. If I can absorb a lot of this metal, my own heat resistance will definitely increase significantly, and then I might be able to approach the surface of stars without fearing collision with stars!"
"That is good news indeed. If you can really withstand the high temperatures of a star's surface, it will be very useful for our future journeys. Let's find the position of Iron Base Star then!" Eager for Wandering's growth, Lu Chen was willing to spend more time exploring this star system.
Immediately, Lu Chen slowed down the flying speed, allowing Wandering to start searching for the coordinates of Iron Base Star.
Since Wandering possesses the ability to change shape and even split its body into parts when there are enough Consciousness Particles, the search for anything becomes much more efficient!