The previous location, that was the Vatican fleet. The distance of three hundred light-seconds perfectly shielded the Vatican's detection instruments; their strongest power scan only reached one hundred light-seconds, whereas a Desolation-class battleship could effortlessly track the every move of several fleets from three thousand light-seconds away.

The Romans seemed to have encountered a minor issue; an asteroid strike disabled one of their transport ships, causing the entire fleet to halt operations to conduct emergency repairs on the damaged vessel.

The three warships of the Pantheon Alliance were concealed within a cloud of cosmic dust four hundred and fifty light-seconds away, resembling a school of piranhas lurking in water, slowly closing in on the Roman fleet.

The Vatican fleet also cautiously edged closer to the Roman formation, meticulously avoiding the small probes the Romans had scattered along their trajectory.

The vessels of all three factions utilized the metal alloys that Gu Xiechen had acquired from Paradise Planet, including the specific composite capable of blocking radar waves, rendering the newer warships almost invisible to older detection equipment. Only newly developed quantum wave detection radar could possibly locate the opposing ships at close range; the only other viable method of detection relied solely on massive optical telescopes.

Quantum wave detection radar demanded an enormous expenditure of energy. Excluding the sheer scale and unparalleled power of the Desolation-class battleships, the maximum search range for the quantum wave detection radar aboard the fleets of the Romans, the Pantheon Alliance, and the Vatican was only one hundred light-seconds.

Watching the movements of the three fleets displayed on the light-screen, Gu Xiechen, who had just discarded an eight of Wan (ten thousand), chuckled lightly. "Well, well, they've started playing hide-and-seek."

Inside the spacious command bridge of the Desolation-class battleship, a Mahjong table had been set up. Gu Xiechen, Kan Hua, Holm, and Linghu were thoroughly engrossed in a spirited game. Kan Hua, whose eyes darted around constantly, clearly tempted to deploy a subtle trick to cheat, immediately grinned broadly upon hearing Gu Xiechen's remark and said, "Ah, lagging technology gets you hit. Look at our behemoth; its detection range is tens of times greater than theirs, and even the aperture of our optical telescopes is several times larger! Tsk, tsk, this is exhilarating!" Kan Hua, exhibiting extremely exaggerated gestures, shifted his body and nonchalantly swapped a tile with his right hand—Xiang! Xiang! Xiang! Xiang!—meaning, self-drawn win.

Holm and Linghu gritted their teeth, studying the tiles laid out before Gu Xiechen, while Kan Hua stared blankly at the Two of Bamboo that Gu Xiechen had just declared a self-draw.

If his memory served him even remotely correctly, that Two of Bamboo was his? Kan Hua rubbed his eyes, taking a careful look at the tiles in front of him. Indeed, he was missing a Two of Bamboo, but instead possessed an extra Seven of Wan! The infuriated Kan Hua was about to denounce Gu Xiechen for such shameless cheating, but Gu Xiechen's gaze swept casually over Kan Hua’s right hand.

The tile clenched in his right palm immediately burned like a hot coal. Kan Hua emitted a strange, strained laugh, "Junior Brother, you have incredible luck today, ha ha ha!"

Gu Xiechen returned the gesture with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "Ah, it's all about courtesy, courtesy... Mahjong, you see, relies on a sharp eye and quick hands!"

Holm and Linghu looked utterly drained. After carefully examining Gu Xiechen's hand for a moment, they wearily fished out their last remaining large-denomination bills from their pockets. Linghu's round face crumpled into a frown; he forced a dry chuckle, "Boss, between the three of us, we’ve gambled away our savings from the last few years in just these past three months."

Holm shook his empty wallet upside down, his voice raspy, "If we keep gambling, Linghu and I will have to mortgage our underwear to you."

Snatching the cash from Holm and Linghu, Gu Xiechen squinted and smiled, "Then you'd better pray the Romans reach their destination quickly... No money? I can lend you some!"

Kan Hua slapped Gu Xiechen’s hand away and crowed happily, "Lend money? Absolutely do not ask him! I'll lend it to you. Tell me, how much do you need? I'll charge you three points interest, compounded interest, interest that spirals until the end of time! We're brothers, after all. Back when I took funds from the Nine Nether Dao to engage in lending in the secular world, I always charged five points interest!"

Kan Hua was laughing gleefully, his laughter utterly unrestrained and arrogant, yet his heart was spasming. He was astonished almost to the point of shouting: Not long ago, he and Gu Xiechen were evenly matched, neither gaining an advantage. But now, Gu Xiechen had stolen a tile right under his nose, and he hadn't even noticed! Had the gap in their strength widened to this extent? How was that possible? How had he cultivated? This was only a short year! Gu Xiechen had some extraordinary encounter, but Kan Hua himself had successfully fused a colorless crystal sphere, causing his strength to soar as well!

Gu Xiechen smiled faintly, smiling very happily, very contentedly. Kan Hua wished he could land a fist squarely on Gu Xiechen’s face!

The Roman fleet finished attending to the transport ship damaged by the asteroid. They carefully navigated around a small planet being consumed by its own star, slowly maneuvering into an area of chaos. Massive amounts of stellar dust had been whipped into a funnel-shaped vortex hundreds of thousands of kilometers in diameter. The dust particles scraped and collided, sparking countless flashes of light. The chaotic electromagnetic field rendered all detection instruments within the dust cloud inoperative; only by relying on optical instruments could they barely keep track of the other fleets.

Utilizing this hellish, violent region, the Romans vanished from the sight of the three trailing fleets as if teleported.

The Pantheon Alliance fleet arrived at the location where the Romans disappeared moments later. There was a jump wormhole leading to an uncharted star sector. The three warships of the Pantheon Alliance flew into it without hesitation, and the Vatican fleet boldly followed right behind them. Gu Xiechen commanded his fleet to first launch three detection satellites outside the wormhole. Only after the feedback signals indicated everything was normal did they cautiously slip through. The surrounding light distorted momentarily, and in the next instant, the fleet arrived in a staggeringly beautiful star sector.

Dozens of meticulously arranged small celestial bodies encircled this sector, and faint pinkish-blue stellar dust permeated the area. Starlight illuminated the dust, bathing the sector in a dreamlike blue glow. In hundreds of locations, the stellar dust had compressed into rapidly spinning, vortex-shaped stellar bodies. Clearly, given enough time, new planets would form in these locations. Currently, these vortex-shaped bodies orbited the small stars, devouring nearby dust and trailing deep-blue tendrils spanning tens of thousands of kilometers. Starlight shone upon these highly condensed vortex bodies, causing them to emit a brilliant, sapphire-like radiance.

At the core of this sector, a colossal statue, a thousand meters tall, entirely black yet slightly translucent, floated silently in the vacuum. The Roman fleet circled this statue at a slow speed, seemingly paying homage or making an offering.

The fleets of the Pantheon Alliance and the Vatican had already discovered each other. They were cautiously hiding to the left and right within the arms of two of the stellar bodies. The main cannons of both sides were locked onto the other. Radio waves were constantly zipping back and forth between the two sides... Two small craft launched from the flagships of both factions, cautiously approaching the opposing side.

No one paid attention to the activity near the jump wormhole. Gu Xiechen hurriedly commanded his fleet to mimic the others, hiding within one of the stellar arms, maintaining a cautious yet sufficient distance. A tiny reconnaissance satellite was deployed, carefully using a stream of meteoroids for cover to approach the opposing fleets, nearly brushing against the small craft launched by the Vatican flagship.

The light-screen in the command bridge suddenly lit up, revealing Gu Xiechen's old acquaintances, Andre and Bobby. Both parties had clearly exchanged sharp greetings for some time already. Now, Andre’s face was flushed crimson with anger, while Bobby’s face had turned ashen-green. They stared at each other, breathless. After a long pause, Bobby finally let out a confident, cold sneer, "Andre, you are completely unqualified to compete with us this time! You lack the qualification, the strength to compete with us! You are destined to lose!"

Andre responded with an equally confident, booming laugh, "Nonsense, we lack qualification?" He shot Bobby a look of mockery, then coldly stated, "Then let us each use our means to contend for that mothership, and we shall see who succeeds in the end! The Pantheon Alliance? This time, you are doomed to lose!"

The highly charged communication cut off abruptly. The two small craft emitted a signal, and the main fleets of both sides rapidly converged, actually merging into a single formation.

"Did I see that right? They joined forces?" Kan Hua stared, his eyes wide with astonishment, "These shameless creatures, how could they ally? They should be going at each other with cold steel, fighting to the death! Cowards, how could they unite?"

"Smart," Gu Xiechen stared intensely at the data feedback from the two fleets on the screen, speaking gravely, "There's a mastermind among them this time! First, they’ll combine forces to deal with the Romans, seize control of the mothership, and then they'll have a real fight for ownership. Very clever strategy. But who could have maneuvered Andre and Bobby to be their vanguard? Could it be that the Pope and the Grand Dark Priest are both present?"

Kan Hua angrily strode to the main control console, muttering, "The Sky-tempered Blue Crystal is a fine item. This thing hasn't fired a single shot yet; let's test the firepower!" He looked at Gu Xiechen, itching to unleash a full-power salvo right now, to obliterate the Vatican and Pantheon Alliance fleets completely.

Gu Xiechen shook his head, smiling lightly, "Let them take the lead for now, see if the Romans have any other arrangements. We'll make our move when they are close to success. In any case, our objective is simple: if we cannot obtain that mothership, we will utterly destroy it—it only takes a single shot."

Kan Hua grinned widely; destruction was what he enjoyed most.