Chapter 424 424: Preparing a Trap
After much deliberation, Tom gritted his teeth and finally made a decision.
"I can't silence them, and I need to eliminate the risk of secrets leaking, so I'll just take the Moraise civilization with me!
Anyway, they are already a Gravity Civilization, so they can perform warp travel with me without me having to pay extra. Besides, taking the Moraise civilization with me can also be a bait, perhaps luring the Grey Worm Civilization to appear.
Fishing for law enforcement, using the Moraise civilization to fish out the Grey Worm Civilization, that's what I'll do!"
When Tom announced this decision to the Moraise civilization Chief and a group of high-ranking civilization officials, their expressions were all somewhat complex.
Tom could understand their feelings.
This could probably be considered being hijacked.
Tom calmly said: "With your strength, you probably can never defeat the Grey Worm Civilization, and never reclaim this name or wash away your civilization's humiliation.
Acting with me, although you will temporarily lose freedom and autonomy, if we can successfully lure out the Grey Worm Civilization, I can use my power to help you achieve revenge.
Overall, you still benefit.
I said, we are a benevolent civilization and will not let you suffer."
The Moraise Chief sighed, bowing solemnly to Tom, all his tentacles drooping like the roots of a pine tree: "On behalf of the Moraise civilization, I accept all your arrangements."
"Very good. This place is not suitable for long stays, let's leave here first."
In just half a year, the two civilizations had completed all preparations for the long voyage.
Or rather, only Tom's side had completed preparations. The Moraise civilization was still far from truly completing preparations.
In the previous struggle against the Star Beast Disaster, the Moraise civilization consumed too many resources and spacecraft. With their industrial capacity, it would take decades for them to set sail.
But it didn't matter, as long as Tom was ready. If the Moraise civilization lacked supplies, Tom could just allocate dozens of aerospace carriers to them.
Anyway, Tom had plenty of such fully loaded aerospace carriers, each weighing over ten billion tons; he would never run out of supplies.
Enveloping the Moraise civilization's total of several million various spacecraft in the center of the fleet, the two merged into one and embarked on the journey to leave this solar system.
Time quietly passed, and in the blink of an eye, the fleet arrived outside the stellar gravity field, successfully entering warp travel state.
At this point, Tom had also communicated the next course of action with the Moraise civilization Chief.
"Choose a solar system, create the illusion that your side is under attack and besieged, and then your side will broadcast a distress signal via gravitational wave.
Our side will then set up a net in that solar system. Once the Grey Worm Civilization appears, our side will immediately step forward to capture them. After obtaining the intelligence we need, all Grey Worm Civilization intelligent beings will be handed over to your side for disposal, to be executed by your own hands, washing away your humiliation!"
The key to this plan was that the Moraise civilization's predicament had to be real. Only then could it conceal the illusion that it was a trap.
Secondly, the Grey Worm Civilization must also be located near the trap set by their side, preferably not exceeding 1,000 light-years.
Because the distress signal is transmitted by gravitational wave, and the speed of gravitational waves is the speed of light. If the distance is too far, the Grey Worm Civilization might receive the signal thousands or even tens of thousands of years later, and might judge the information to have lost its value.
Of course, Tom would also try his best to approach the Grey Worm Civilization, minimizing the distance between them.
Although he didn't know where the Grey Worm Civilization was hiding at the moment, based on the Moraise civilization's several battles with the Grey Worm Civilization, the former Grey Worm Civilization's modus operandi, the Moraise civilization's course, and previous escape plans, Tom could at least delineate a general area.
According to Tom's estimation, the probability that the chosen trap location was within 1,000 light-years of the Grey Worm Civilization's current position was as high as 55%.
Compared to the previous aimless, wide-net search, this probability was quite high now, making it worth Tom's effort.
The two fleets thus rapidly traveled at 3.4 times the speed of light.
During this process, both sides also incidentally engaged in technological exchange.
Purely from a technological standpoint, the Moraise civilization was actually not weaker than Tom. In some aspects, it even surpassed him.
Of course, there were also some areas where Tom excelled.
The modern technological system is too vast, and there are too many branch fields. Even with Tom's ability, he could not achieve overall superiority over an ordinary civilization of the same level in all fields.
Thus, following the principle of equivalent exchange, the two sides successively exchanged technologies in dozens of major fields, totaling over sixty thousand sub-fields and more than 1.0 million specific technologies.
From the material processing of a single screw to the energy utilization of multi-fusion reactors, or the precision adjustment of gravity control equipment, this exchange greatly benefited both sides.
"Indeed, just as the Recorder Civilization said, every civilization is a miracle of this universe. A civilization that can advance to the Gravity Civilization level relying on its own strength is a miracle among miracles.
I only achieved overwhelming combat power by relying on my unique existence form and some special trump cards. In terms of technology, even the Moraise civilization, whose combat power is far inferior to mine, has too many things worth learning from."
Tom's sincerity and friendliness, humility and honesty, quickly won the trust of all high-ranking officials of the Moraise civilization, including their Chief.
Under the premise that their fate was completely controlled by the other party, yet the other party still adhered to its bottom line and treated them with sincerity and goodwill, was such a civilization not trustworthy?
Especially since both sides now shared a common enemy and a common goal.
Several centuries passed quickly, and Tom crossed another thousand light-years.
The predetermined solar system, suitable for a trap, was finally reached.
The Moraise civilization entered the solar system first. After some reorganization, the Mechanical Disaster disguised by Tom followed, and the two sides then engaged in a great battle in this solar system.
After a period of "arduous and desperate" resistance, the Moraise civilization was finally successfully "besieged" on a large rocky planet.
The Mechanical Disaster disguised by Tom was temporarily unable to capture this large planet, and the Moraise civilization was powerless to break through the blockade and escape.
The two sides could only remain in a stalemate here.
Under these circumstances, a gravitational wave signal carrying a distress message was sent out by the Moraise civilization.
"Respected Bluetoth Civilization, my friend, our civilization has encountered a calamity and is in a very dangerous situation. If you receive this signal, I, on behalf of all our civilization, pray to you, please help us, our coordinates are..."
...
This message did not include a dictionary. And due to the extremely small sample size, unrelated civilizations were theoretically completely unable to decipher it.
But because they originated from the same source and used identical writing, the Grey Worm Civilization would be able to understand this message without any hindrance.
So...
Tom and the Moraise civilization began to wait together.