It's not entirely accurate to say that the Infinite Chapter didn't sense that the Eldar were targeting them.
They simply lack concrete evidence, have some doubts, and are hesitant to be certain.
After all, isn't raiding a common occurrence for the Dark Eldar?
It wasn't just merchant ships from the Infinite Starfield that were attacked; there were other merchant ships as well. The attacks didn't necessarily happen within the Infinite Starfield, or even in the surrounding area, but rather they were attacked as soon as those merchant ships set off.
Is this definitely targeting me?
Of course, it took them a long time to realize what had happened.
Regardless of the Dark Eldar's goals, the final result shows that the Infinite Starfield suffered a great loss, and their development was severely affected.
Although not completely cut off from the outside world, foreign trade required a great deal of effort and a large number of troops were mobilized for escort missions.
The efficiency of trade and transportation depends on security.
Given the unstable situation and the possibility of being plundered, many caravans that prioritize profit, have low tolerance for losses, and are relatively weak in their ability to withstand risks will simply abandon the idea of doing business with the Infinite Warband.
Those who manage to successfully complete their business also need to invest more in security and protection.
More escort fleets are needed, and even more frequent deployments by the Infinite Chapter are required to personally protect them.
This undoubtedly reduces efficiency and increases trade costs.
The development of the Infinite Starfield suffered some setbacks.
Of course, relying solely on this strategy is certainly not enough to inflict a real blow on the Infinite Starfield.
But that's okay, it's just one of the methods.
There are many other arrangements.
The reason Zernos is coming to the Spiderweb Space, a region he has never been before, is because the Alliance is going to do business with the Infinite Starfield here.
It looks like it's going to be quite large, and they'll likely establish stable connections in the future.
That would be terrible!
The Dark Eldar's raids will naturally extend to the Spiderweb Universe.
However, what was somewhat unexpected was the speed at which this alliance reacted... a little too quickly.
Zernos is an experienced raiding captain who has robbed many human forces throughout his life, including some so-called 'major forces'.
Once they succeed, they often have ample time to quickly escape, taking advantage of the superior convenience and secrecy provided by the veiled spirit gate.
Then, with the help of highly skilled camouflage agents, they continue to gather information within human society. Once things have calmed down, they'll strike again.
However, to his surprise, the infiltrator was caught so quickly!
He made his judgment the moment he confirmed that the infiltrators had lost contact.
Logically speaking, his clansmen should be very tight-lipped and not afraid of being tortured to confess.
Compared to what his kin have accomplished through drugs, surgery, and the dual torture of body and soul, humanity's methods are utterly insignificant. In fact, unless their methods reach a certain level, they might even find enjoyment in this suffering.
They weren't afraid of death; if they died, they would simply return to Comoros, be resurrected by the Bloodlust people supported by their families, and only be weak for a short period.
In this situation, the lurker has been caught, so there's really nothing to be afraid of, right?
Zernos's men thought so too. They originally planned to continue transporting supplies and prisoners through the Veil Spirit Gate, into the Comoros privateer's port on the other side, and even hold a ceremony to temporarily expand the Veil Spirit Gate so that they could squeeze a few starships in as well.
However, Zernos called a halt to the operation.
He ordered everyone to speed up the pace, transport as many supplies as possible, and then carry out a large-scale massacre of the prisoners to extract their soul energy and maintain the expanded Veil Spirit Gate so that privateers could pass through quickly.
Under normal circumstances, the Veil Spirit Gate is just an original gate with a diameter of several tens of meters. When not activated, it does not connect Comoros with the real universe.
Once the system is operational, the two sides are connected, allowing people and supplies to move freely between them.
By temporarily injecting a large number of tormented souls, the veiled spirit gate can be temporarily expanded to allow starships to pass through—but this must be done quickly. If it is too slow, the souls will be gradually consumed, and the spirit gate will shrink until it becomes impassable.
The Dark Eldar's own ships are designed to be as long and slender as possible to facilitate passage through the limited-sized Veil Spirit Gates. They also possess technologies that can indirectly enlarge the Spirit Gates when passing through them, and their shape can change to match the starship's exterior, not necessarily being a perfect circle. This greatly improves the maneuverability of their starships.
Human ships certainly wouldn't have any special design in this regard, so it would take much longer to open up a human ship of the same size as a trophy and put it inside, using the time spent meticulously torturing and killing individuals one by one to create enough fear and pain as fuel.
But now, there's no time for that.
Normally, the infiltrators wouldn't reveal their identities. However, given how quickly they were captured, it's likely that the humans possessed some special methods to quickly identify and locate the infiltrators.
Since they have this technology, is there any way to quickly extract information from the infiltrators?
He thought it was very likely.
You can't gamble on things like this.
He forced his subordinates to abandon everything and only wanted to kill quickly so that the veiled spirit gate could be expanded to a sufficient extent so that they could escape by ship.
Even so, the Allied fleet arrived before they finished their work.
Zernos remained expressionless. He informed all his subordinates that progress was good and that a faster slaughter procedure had been initiated. Soon the door would be opened wide enough. He ordered some of his men to harass and distract the human ships.
After coercing the deployment of several privateers, he turned around and fled with the rest of his men, closing the Veil Spirit Gate as he did so.
The supplies that had leaked out, the people who hadn't returned, and the ships were all discarded. At the same time, this also cut off any possibility of humanity pursuing them through the Veiled Spirit Gate.
That's how decisive they were.
...
Even after achieving a victory, Du Shiliang was still somewhat unsatisfied.
The looted ships were recovered, but half of the supplies were gone, 80% of the crew died, and the survivors suffered severe psychological trauma.
Most importantly, that annoying dark-skinned pirate ran away!
Although four privateers were left behind, these four small ships were clearly abandoned as cannon fodder to cover the retreat, not even enough to fill a tooth gap, while the Blackskin's main force escaped right under his nose.
The remaining veiled spirit gate is now just an archway made of silver-gray metal with a diameter of sixty meters.
According to the Inquisitors, this is the beacon of the Veiled Spiritgate in the real universe, and once destroyed, the Dark Eldar will no longer be able to open the gate—unless they sneak into the real universe and rebuild it.
Upon hearing this news, Du Shiliang breathed a slight sigh of relief.
The recovered ships, supplies, and personnel will be returned to Wang Jiarong; the relevant report will be submitted to the Alliance government and the Ministry of Military Affairs, and copies will be sent to all relevant parties.
At least this matter has been resolved.
But then he started to have a headache: who knew how many Veiled Gates the Dark Eldar had built throughout the entire Spiderweb Space, and where they were located?
I can't sleep or eat properly until I get it clean.