In the capital planet of the Empyreal Terminus Sector …
In the capital …
It was the greatest and most glorious world in history, the heart of the civilization of mankind, and the center of the sea of stars.
Ever since the Demon Beast Dynasty ruled the sea of stars, all the united countries had regarded the Empyreal Terminus Sector as their ruling center.
It was the same for the Demon Beast Dynasty, the Star Ocean Imperium, the Star Ocean Republic, and the Imperium of True Human Beings.
Any ambitious schemer who tried to control all the stars in the universe would also regard the Empyrean Terminus Sector as their ultimate goal that they had to get.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the Empyreal Terminus Sector was not a very prosperous world.
In terms of the location of the three-dimensional universe, it was not at the center of the sea of stars where the stars were densest.
However, the three-dimensional space of the Sector boasted very mysterious features. The void was full of folds, gaps, and stable wormholes.
From the perspective of the four-dimensional space, the travelers from other Sectors could jump to the Empyreal Terminus Sector at the cost of the least amount of energy. The natives of the Empyreal Terminus Sector could also travel to other places in the sea of stars through the ubiquitous space folds.
Such features made the Empyreal Terminus Sector a place where thousands of Sectors in the universe converged. It was also the first choice for every country to establish a capital there.
The people who jumped to the Empyreal Terminus Sector through wormholes for the first time were often shocked by the coldness of the world.
In the past forty thousand years, from the Demon Beast Dynasty to the Imperium of True Human Beings, the metals and minerals of the thousands of Sectors under the control of the civilization of mankind had been shipped to the Empyreal Terminus Sector incessantly and highly modified on the "capital planet", the main planet of the place, gradually transforming the planet into an indestructible iron fortress.
It was the highest symbol of the modification of the universe by "human beings" with their "will".
When the travelers took the sightseeing floating platforms that descended vertically from the ports at the periphery of the planet and entered the atmosphere, they would be able to see the continuous, glittering metal buildings under the sunlight. All kinds of buildings, in the most bizarre shapes and the most glamorous colors, fully demonstrated the ambitions, desires, and reckless impulses of human beings.
There was not much greenery on the capital planet except for the royal palace and the manors of the nobles. However, the ubiquitous air circulation tubes released the fresh air that contained all kinds of microelements day and night. As a result, the hundred billion people on the planet that were as dense as a swarm of insects would not go crazy from suffocation.
The travelers who came to the capital for the first time were shocked by the metal buildings that looked like lions, eggs, deities, and even underpants. Very soon, they saw the second wonder — the gaps on the ground that extended tens of thousands of meters deep into the ground. They looked like intersecting, enormous canyons that covered the entire land.
According to the legends, in the last years of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago, the Supreme Emperor had a shocking battle with the Mad Armageddon in the capital planet of the Empyreal Terminus Sector. The battle was so gory that the sun and the moon were eclipsed. Even the capital planet was blown apart by them.
Of course, it was nonsense. However strong human beings were, it was impossible for them to blow up such an enormous planet, which did not conform to the law of the conservation of spiritual energy at all.
However, riddling the crust of the planet with holes, activating the long-dormant seismic zones, and causing the tectonic plates to change drastically and tearing open interconnected gaps was an undeniable fact. Perhaps, it was also the limits of human beings' combat ability.
In the ten thousand years after the Star Ocean Imperium perished, the survivors repaired the broken planet carefully and arduously.
They discovered, to their surprise, the mother lodes hidden deep inside the gaps and the enormous geothermal energy contained in the magma belts below the ground. Therefore, they simply established enormous underground cities in the gaps that the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon left behind and lived there, expanding the living space of the capital by multiple times.
Naturally, the nobles and the magnates would not live below the ground that was dark and hot. Taking the sea level of the capital as the standard, from tens of thousands of meters below the ground all the way up, it was a clear distribution map of the social classes of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
The hominoids and the slave workers at the bottom level all lived tens of thousands of meters below the ground and made a living by running the geothermal factories to provide energy for the entire planet. Thousands of meters below the ground were the residences of the miners and smelters. There were also a lot of farms where the crops below the ground were grown. On the surface of the planet, a lot of low-level Immortal Cultivators and a small number of wealthy hominoids lived. Those hominoids were often deeply related to the Immortal Cultivators and could only get in touch with the sunlight of the capital planet under the protection of the Immortal Cultivators. They were at the top of the pyramid of the hominoids and responsible for maintaining the business and industry of the capital.
As for the nobles and the magnates, they often lived on the twelve satellites of the capital planet. Other than the two natural satellites, the other ten were all artificial super space stations. It was said that the interiors of the space stations were the most splendid, extravagant paradises on earth.
Over the thousand years since the Imperium of True Human Beings was founded, the capital had been running in such a hierarchical and orderly way.
It was a pity that after the collapse of etiquette and music, the laws of the Immortal Cultivators that Blackstar the Great established in the past gradually fell apart and collapsed. The Imperium was on the path of doom, and the capital gradually lost its former glory, too.
As one Sector after another was incorporated into the Imperium, the Imperium became too enormous. As the heart of the Imperium, the Empyreal Terminus Sector grew more and more bloated day by day, too.
In the past five hundred years, the population of the capital had soared by ten times. In order to maintain the governance that was more and more complicated and chaotic, the number of bureaucracies and offices from the outside world that were stationed in the capital was ten times higher than the population. The resources of the Empyreal Terminus Sector alone were far from enough to support such an enormous population and the daily training of so many Immortal Cultivators. The ecological chain was on the verge of collapse every year, and the Imperium had to count on the transfusion of the Sectors nearby.
When the total population of the Empyreal Terminus Sector exceeded eighty billion, it was strictly forbidden for the residents of the outside world to move into the capital. Not just the hominoids, even the Immortal Cultivators in the Refinement Stage could barely get a certificate of long-term residence in the capital.
However, the capital was where hopes and dreams were after all. However forbidden it was, the poor guys who had nothing but ambitions could not be stopped from swarming in.
Right now, the total population of the capital according to the official statistics was a hundred and twenty billion, but many demographers and economists estimated that it was at least two hundred billion. Most of the illegal residents were lurking at the bottom of the chasms that were thousands of meters deep like ants. Even if the authorities were blessed with ten thousand statisticians in the Divinity Transformation Stage, it would still be impossible for them to figure out the real population.
Such a huge population made the resource supply chain of the Empyreal Terminus Sector extremely vulnerable. One day without blood transfusions from the outside world would raise riots in the capital. Three days without blood transfusions from the outside world, and the capital might completely collapse.
When the population exceeded the tipping point, a lot of lawless gray and even dark areas would be born, too. Although it was only tens of thousands of meters away from the nominal highest authority of the Imperium, the bottom layer of the underground cracks was a place that even the Immortal Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage were unwilling to touch. It was a place of mayhem. Countless people were living in the most glorious and sacred planet of the Imperium, abiding by the clandestine rules and living like neither human nor ghost.
Perhaps, it was exactly what the four Kurfürst families wanted to see.
Maintaining a capital that was too powerful would not do them much good. The bloated, weak, and filthy capital right now was the paradise for adventurers, the stage for the ambitious, and the dining table for them to carve up the sea of stars blatantly!
It was a pity that a new force had shown up out of nowhere and was trying to break into the paradise, stomp on the stage, and smash the dining table!
The news that Lei Chenghu escaped from the Godly Might Prison with tremendous political prisoners and the entire Godly Might Fleet had been delivered to the ears of the important people in the Council of Elders in the capital two days ago.
What was even more dreadful than Lei Chenghu escaping from the Godly Might Prison was — on what basis and with what help was he able to escape?
What did the force want exactly by helping Lei Chenghu escape?
This question was like a dagger dipped in poison, gently cutting the elders' throats.
However, the elders could not do much about Lei Chenghu even though they knew that he had returned to the Third Battle Area.
Lei Chenghu was a famous expert of defense in the Imperium. In the past hundred years, he had defended the Black Wind Sector against the army of the Holy League.
The Third Battle Area, on the other hand, was the most important area in the frontline. It was built with Lei Chenghu's lifelong efforts and the tremendous resources from the rear.
Even if the four Kurfürst families mobilized all their forces to attack the Third Battle Area, they might not be able to annihilate the Thunder Fleet anytime soon. Also, doing so would mean raising a total civil war in the Imperium. None of the four Kurfürst families could afford that.
Besides, Lei Chenghu would not wait for them to attack in the Third Battle Area like an idiot.
A fleet was not a planet that could come and go without a trace. It could wander in the sea of stars randomly. Unless the enemy was willing, searching for a fleet in the vast sea of stars for a final battle would be like looking for a needle in a haystack!
That was exactly the situation right now.
Before the Council of Elders realized what was going on, Lei Chenghu had already cut off all the communication between the Third Battle Area and the outside world. Naturally, all the space gates in the Third Battle Area were closed too.
The Third Battle Area turned into a dark, immeasurable world of mist.
The Council of Elders argued furiously for a long time. None of the fleets were willing to be the first to jump in to be killed.
They could only cut off all the channels of assets from the outside world to the Third Battle Area first, hoping to trap Lei Chenghu or force him to negotiate with them.
However, even the dumbest person could tell that Lei Chenghu would not wait to be killed. The resources at his hands were enough for him to launch a shocking suicide attack!
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