Chapter 284: The Keluo Empire

Keluo Empire, eastern border, a military outpost star codenamed "Outpost-3".

This is the Keluo Empire's front line monitoring the Eastern camp, and also one of the most important command nodes in this standoff.

At this moment, in the secret intelligence center deep within the outpost star, the atmosphere is oppressive.

A "Shadow" fleet composed of the Keluo Empire's most elite intelligence personnel had just finished a months‑long covert search on the dim star You An Xing Xuan and returned here.

The fleet's commander is a legendary figure in the Keluo Empire's intelligence world, known by the moniker "Lie Quan".

His whole life has been spent dealing with enemies hidden in the shadows, never missing a strike.

But this time, he encountered the greatest difficulty of his career.

"Commander, we… have found nothing."

A technical officer reported the final investigation results to him.

"We deployed the Empire's most advanced spatial detector, scanning the dim star You An Xing Xuan and the surrounding hundreds‑of‑light‑year region at least ten times."

"Aside from discovering an audio fragment pointing to Bi Long on site, and some energy residues belonging to Bi Te En‑class warships, we found no other trace of the attacking fleet."

"They were like true ghosts, appearing out of nowhere and vanishing into thin air.

No trans‑dimensional trace left, no engine parameters, not even a stray warship wreck."

The technical officer's face was filled with frustration and bewilderment.

"This is unscientific and defies physical law. Any spatial jump or wormhole transit must leave a trace. How did they manage it?"

The commander known as "Lie Quan", whose face was as chiseled as if cut by a knife, showed no expression.

He simply stared at the void on the screen and the arrogant proclamation about Bi Long that he had watched countless times.

His intuition told him something was amiss.

Too clean.

Clean as if someone had deliberately swept it.

How could a raid involving ten thousand warships leave no trace at all?

Unless…

The opponent possesses spatial technology and anti‑reconnaissance methods far beyond their comprehension.

"Re‑analyze all the raw data."

The commander barked in his hoarse voice, "I want to see every byte, every primitive form of energy fluctuation.

I do not believe a perfect crime exists in this universe."

Under his strict order, all analysts in the intelligence center threw themselves back into sleepless work.

They magnified, dissected, and recombined those seemingly chaotic raw data,

trying to extract a single overlooked clue from the sea of information.

Time passed day by day.

Just when everyone was about to lose hope,

an analyst responsible for background spatial radiation suddenly let out a startled cry.

"Commander! Here! There's an anomaly!"

Pointing at a barely noticeable string of wave data on his screen, almost drowned by background noise, he shouted excitedly.

Commander "Lie Quan" immediately walked over.

He stared at the string, his brows tightly knit.

It was an extremely weak, extremely brief quantum entanglement signal.

It was like a ghost that appeared at the battlefield's edge a few minutes after the attack and then vanished swiftly.

Had it not been this analyst, using the most precise algorithms to filter and denoise the background radiation countless times, it would have been impossible to detect.

"Quantum entanglement signal?"

A hint of doubt flashed in the commander's eyes, "What does this have to do with the Bi Te En fleet?

They have achievements in quantum communications, but have never applied such unstable technology in combat."

"No, Commander."

The young analyst pulled up another comparative dataset, his face lit with the fervor of discovering a new continent.

"Look, we have seen this kind of quantum entanglement signal signature before."

He overlaid the screen signal with another file from the Empire's database.

That file recorded the battle between Yanhuang Civilization and Tianlang Civilization in the Shen Yun Starfield months ago.

In that battle, Yanhuang Civilization's Tian Jian Fleet had used a weapon called a "Quantum Entanglement Bomb".

The quantum signal signature produced when that bomb detonated matches the weak signal they now find on You An Xing Xuan with a similarity of 99.9%.

The only difference is that the Shen Yun signal was raging and destructive,

whereas the You An Xing Xuan signal is weak and covert.

"This… this is…"

Commander "Lie Quan" watched the two almost perfectly overlapping signal curves, his pupils suddenly constricted.

A wildly chilling speculation ripped through the fog in his mind.

Could it be…

That the raid on the Seventh Truth Institute was not carried out by the Bi Te En Empire at all?

But by the seemingly weak and harmless… Yanhuang Civilization that everyone ignored?

They impersonated the Bi Te En Empire, launched an attack on the Keluo Empire,

and then used this unfathomable quantum technology to remotely detonate something, erasing all their traces?

That speculation is insane.

It's so insane that if he said it out loud, absolutely no one would believe him.

A third-level civilization frames a fourth-level civilization, then provokes a war between two fourth-level civilizations?

This is sheer fantasy!

A fine layer of cold sweat seeped onto the forehead of the Hound Commander.

He might have touched a staggering secret capable of overturning the entire Milky Way Galaxy's structure.

He immediately ordered all information to be sealed.

Then he used the highest‑level encrypted channel to send his speculation, together with the crucial signal‑matching evidence,

directly to His Majesty Emperor Ke, far away on Imperial Capital Star.

……

Kelo Empire, Imperial Capital Star.

Inside that black palace, Emperor Ke stared at the top‑secret report sent by the Hound Commander; his massive body, formed of dark matter, fell into a prolonged silence.

Yanhuang Civilization?

That emerging civilization that the Biteen Empire blocked like trash?

Did they orchestrate all of this?

Emperor Ke's consciousness core churned wildly.

He retrieved all intelligence concerning the Yanhuang Civilization.

From how they bizarrely rose, to how they used "Thought" to subvert the Star Sea Divine Cult.

Then how, in the Divine Meteor Star Domain, they employed unheard‑of bizarre weapons to annihilate the elite fleet of the Tianlang Civilization.

Clues linked together rapidly in his mind.

He discovered that this Yanhuang Civilization was far more mysterious and far more terrifying than he had imagined.

They were like hunters hidden in darkness, each strike precise and lethal, leaving no trace.

If the Hound's speculation is true.

Then he and the entire Kelo Empire had been toyed with from the start by this seemingly weak third-level civilization.

They became the opponent's most useful knife for stirring up the Milky Way Galaxy's situation.

Anger, humiliation, and… a deep sense of dread surged in Emperor Ke's heart.

He, the dignified emperor of the Kelo Empire, the hegemon of the Milky Way Galaxy's west, was being made a monkey by a third-level civilization?

This was even more unbearable than being slapped in the face by the Biteen Empire!

But he did not erupt immediately.

As a ruler, he understood restraint and deception far better than anyone.

He glanced at the evidence of the Quantum Entanglement Signal, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Yanhuang Civilization…"

He murmured in a voice only he could hear.

"Very well, you have successfully piqued my interest."

"Since you enjoy hiding in the shadows to play games, I shall join you for a proper match."

A scheme more insidious and more venomous than Qin Hao's plan began to brew silently in his mind.

He made no proclamation, withdrew no troops, and even the diplomatic pressure from the Biteen Empire did not lessen at all.

He still maintained the posture of a decisive battle against the Biteen Empire.

He wanted everyone to believe he had been blinded by rage.

He wanted the Biteen Empire to keep all its attention focused on confronting him.

He also intended to make that self‑righteous Yanhuang Civilization lower its guard, believing its plan flawless.

Then, at a moment no one expects, he will unleash his sharpest fangs,

delivering the deadliest strike to the enemy lurking in the shadows.

Let that Yanhuang Civilization know what true terror is.

He will personally snuff out that so‑called "Thought Spark" completely from this universe.