It was a warning shot, they are spying on us!" Bibobarn's eyes blazed. The Burkeans were always supreme in this star sector, and he himself was a well-known figure among Burkean explorers, holding considerable social status; it had been a long time since anyone dared fire upon him.

Where in the void had the people on that warship sprung from? Such audacity—why did he have no recollection of them?

No! He did have a recollection!

A scene flashed through Bibobarn's mind. The memory recall ability inherent to a Rank Three expert kicked in, dredging up the physical characteristics of Yang Ying and his crew from long-sealed memories.

"Yes, I have seen races with that exact appearance before. Could it be… they are the true humans of the Atlantean Empire!"

A chill shot down Bibobarn’s spine, the coldness surging directly to his brain, jolting him awake.

Explorers, by necessity to handle all manner of unforeseen circumstances, generally possessed a vast breadth of knowledge. Although the Atlantean Empire had sealed itself off for twenty thousand years—so much so that even literature documenting their existence had been lost for the most part across the vast expanse of those millennia due to various unknown reasons—a few texts had fortunately escaped this fate. They were preserved within certain ancient, high-tier civilizations, and only those with specific professional needs bothered to study them.

The Burkeans' history was not short, and they possessed a small collection of such documents. Bibobarn, being an explorer, had indeed read them, but as the years spun endlessly onward, he had long allowed them to gather dust in the deepest recesses of his memory.

"The legendary Atlantean Empire, glorious yet extremely conservative, monopolized two spiral arms, refusing contact with outsiders for twenty millennia. Countless explorers once charged into the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm, fueled by burning passion, hoping for a glimpse of that civilization which once dominated the galaxy, yet all went in and never returned, without exception.

"On the other hand, the true humans never ventured beyond their own territories. The only exception occurred ten thousand years ago when the Grinval people, ranked first in the Orion Arm, and the Tanxing people, ranked first in the Perseus Arm, allied to foolishly attempt an invasion of Atlantis. The result was that an unprecedentedly massive fleet went in and never returned, attracting ferocious retaliation from Atlantis."

The more Bibobarn thought, the more his heart trembled: "According to the records, the fleet Atlantis dispatched into the Orion and Perseus Arms eradicated those two races to their roots in just seven days, even blasting apart several Level Four super-beings among them, annihilating both form and spirit. If this incident hadn't occurred, the Jialan people would still be ranked second among the high-tier civilizations in the Orion Arm today. After this event, no one dared utter the name Atlantis again; the true humans became a taboo among the races. But that warship just now… it must have been the true humans. Haven't they been isolationist? Why are they here?!"

Seeing Bibobarn growing agitated, his First Officer was utterly bewildered. He had never witnessed his Captain display such an expression, one suggesting the heavens themselves were about to collapse. Unable to help himself, he stepped forward and called out, "Captain? Captain Bibobarn?"

Bibobarn shuddered, snapping back from his thoughts, and looked at his First Officer: "What is it?"

"That warship fired a provocative shot at us. Should we report to the nearest garrison and have them send a few warships to support us, so we can blast them to pieces!" The First Officer clenched his fist, making a sharp downward smashing gesture.

"Insolent fool!" Bibobarn swung his fist, striking the First Officer squarely in the face and sending him flying back to crash against the door of the cockpit, "Dare to call the garrison? You don't want to live anymore!"

The surrounding crew fell into an immediate, terrifying silence. They were confused; hadn't the Captain just said that if the other side dared fire, he would immediately summon military support to shatter them? Now that the other side had actually opened fire, why had the Captain’s attitude flipped a complete one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, as if the enemy were the overlord and they mere insects?

"Don't mention calling the army again. Anyone who does, I'll toss them out to feed the void worms!"

If Bibobarn hadn't been a Rank Three expert, he would likely be drenched in sweat right now. If the other party were true humans, how could he dare summon the garrison? Launching a military attack against true humans was an act proven to be utterly foolish ten millennia ago by the Grinval and Tanxing people; there was only one outcome: death and extermination of their entire race!

Thinking of this, Bibobarn inwardly cursed his misfortune. He realized his previous actions might have already enraged those true humans, and he must clarify this misunderstanding immediately, lest the Burkeans follow in the footsteps of the Grinval and Tanxing people!

"Quickly, connect me to that warship's communication line, now, immediately!" Bibobarn roared.

On the bridge of the Behemoth, an adjutant reported, "Captain, Sir, the Burkean vessel is requesting communication."

"Are they scared?" Yang Ying asked the adjutant. "Put it through?"

⁴Daotao stood by Yang Ying, ready for immediate action.

The adjutant manipulated the controls, and a light screen opened before Yang Ying. There, Bibobarn appeared with a strained, forced smile, saying, "May I ask your designation? What happened just now was merely a joke, a misunderstanding. I sincerely hope you won't take offense, hahahaha..."

Yang Ying vaguely sensed something strange; why was this person so arrogant one moment and so deferential the next?

Bibobarn offered a dry laugh and continued, "You are searching for that planet, perhaps we could offer assistance? My exploration fleet can lend its full support!"

Yang Ying grew even more suspicious. A single warning shot shouldn't have made Bibobarn so obliging. Since unusual behavior often masks danger, Yang Ying was hesitant to accept help offered by unknown parties. "We don't require assistance. You go your way, and we will go ours. That will suffice."

Bibobarn nodded repeatedly: "That is excellent. Since you are interested in that planet, I won't disturb you further. I will immediately return to Burke planet—" Just as he was about to finish his sentence, the connection was abruptly cut. Immediately following this, Bibobarn’s exploration fleet turned around as if fleeing a disaster, speeding backward. Once they reached an open expanse of space, they initiated a spatial jump, plunging into hyperspace and vanishing without a trace.

"How strange," Yang Ying murmured to himself. "A vessel using a spatial jump requires a certain acceleration distance before entering hyperspace, much like a runway, demanding clear paths free of obstacles. There are quite a few asteroids within this gas cloud. They might have struck an asteroid and shattered before even fully entering hyperspace."

"Their reaction was overly dramatic. It seems he misunderstood something," Yang Ying pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "Right, this attitude of extreme caution and panic is just like the Jeyuna back then. He very likely mistook us for true humans."

Understanding this, Bibobarn's performance suddenly made sense. The true human empire commanded half the galaxy, possessing power far exceeding that of the Burkeans. Bibobarn’s hasty apology followed immediately by a panicked retreat was entirely reasonable under such circumstances.

Yang Ying was unaware of the terrifying reputation the true humans had left in the Orion and Perseus Arms. Information regarding them was extremely scarce; ordinary races knew only that Atlantis was a taboo. Only the higher-ranked races within those two arms possessed a deeper, and therefore greater, understanding and fear of the true humans' might.

Having figured out that Bibobarn might have mistaken his crew for true humans, Yang Ying had no intention of offering clarification. Bibobarn had already fled into the void, leaving no direction to pursue. Although faster-than-light communication existed, it operated on a different protocol than standard communication. To switch to FTL communication, Yang Ying would have needed Bibobarn’s ship's FTL channel frequency, which was now impossible to obtain since he had left.

"Forget about him. Let's continue our search for the planet," Yang Ying said, leaning back in his command chair and closing his eyes to rest.

"Yes, Sir," replied everyone on the bridge.

After searching for half a day more, the Behemoth emerged from the gas cloud, and the surrounding starscape became clear.

"According to Captain Rall's description, after exiting the gas cloud, they performed a spatial jump spanning forty-two light-years," Howard reported. "We will jump as well. Prepare the FTL engines."

"FTL engines, ready."

"Engage!"

The Behemoth was enveloped in a sheath of light and suddenly accelerated, plunging into hyperspace.

More than three hours later, the Behemoth burst out of hyperspace.

"Gather environmental data for the surroundings. Captain Rall described detecting a small-scale electromagnetic storm shortly after exiting their jump. They executed another hyperspace jump, extending one hundred and twenty light-years, before the storm reached them. If this is where the storm occurred, even though nearly two months have passed, there should still be some residual trace," Howard commanded.

Moments later, an adjutant replied, "Report! No signs of any magnetic storm detected."

"This means we took the wrong path. We need to return and try again."

Although they hadn't navigated correctly, Yang Ying was not disappointed. There were only six possible directions, one had already been eliminated, leaving five. They could complete the task within two days.

Meanwhile, Bibobarn's exploration fleet arrived at a Class One supply station within Burkean territory—a hub exclusively established and populated by Burkean explorers.

As soon as he disembarked, Bibobarn saw another Burkean, equally corpulent, approaching him. "Well, Captain Bibobarn! I heard you received intelligence about an unclaimed habitable planet and went searching. Why are you back so soon? Did you find out the information was false, sending you on a fruitless journey?"

Bibobarn frowned upon seeing this man, a fellow top-tier Burkean explorer and a long-standing rival. "Warrengas, don't start with your sarcastic remarks. I've met with disastrous luck this time, encountering the legendary true humans! Now that even they have joined the hunt for that planet, what chance do I have?"

"What? You encountered true humans? Hahahaha!" Warrengas, also a Rank Three expert with some knowledge of the true humans, suddenly recalled a recent piece of news and burst into loud laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Bibobarn asked, thinking the other was mocking him.

The fact was, Warrengas was laughing at him: "Old friend Bibobarn, you must have been tricked! You surely haven't heard that the Gexing people recently issued a declaration, acknowledging a race called the Earthlings as members of the high-tier civilizations. And the Earthlings are descendants left by the true humans in the Orion Arm twenty thousand years ago—sub-humans! You most likely ran into the Earthlings and mistook them for true humans. Honestly, Bibobarn, what can I even say to you? Hahahaha!"

"Ahhhh!!!"

When Bibobarn heard this, his eyes instantly turned blood-red, and fury coursed through him. He knew Warrengas wouldn't lie about something like this, and if this incident spread, he would become the laughingstock of all Burkean explorers. His expression shifted violently, and he abruptly turned back toward his ship.

His First Officer, who was about to disembark, saw the Captain returning with murder in his eyes and asked, "Captain, what are you doing?"

"Stop the nonsense and come with me!" Bibobarn herded the crew members preparing to leave back onto the ship. "Those so-called Earthlings have gone too far! If I don't avenge this insult, how can I maintain my standing in the exploration community? Contact the military! Ask them to send some warships over."