Toberu was an advanced race with high attainments in space technology and psionic energy technology. When we discovered that the orbital teleportation gate they used was almost on par with the short and medium range teleportation system of the Empire and was completely powered by psionic energy, we were even more convinced of this point.
Many people would associate the insectoids with barbarism, ruthlessness, lack of control, extreme expansionism, and other negative impressions of the insectoids. Moreover, many people believed that the insectoids were only good at developing biotechnology — such as their biceps — and were not suited to researching high technology. But in fact, such a 'conclusion' based on racial impressions was a form of unreasonable prejudice. Whether or not a race could develop a technological civilization had no decisive relationship with the appearance of a race, but depended on their historical process and the world's environment. Toberu was a clear-cut example. They were a typical insectoid race and had a centralized structure similar to the insectoid kingdom. Their bodies had evolved to adapt to the environment, but their strongest point was still their technology, and they were able to live in harmony with other races.
They were even the members of the exile fleet who possessed the highest technology, and they were the only members who retained most of their original technology. After the exiles finally settled down in this universe, all the races unanimously chose to continue using the matured and adapted Toberu technology as the core technology of their world. For example, the space dock station that we passed through, and the buildings on the colony planet below, were all built using Toberu technology. Yes, at least 80% of them were.
Such a civilization with such a special talent, and the social structure of the race was more suitable to face the cruel environment of the universe and the various challenges of evolution. If they didn't encounter that disaster and developed safely to this day, they would have achieved immeasurable achievements. Although they weren't like the Shiring Apostles, who developed both the mystical and technological systems at the same time to grasp the truth of the world, a race that could control psionic energy already had the foundation to become a super civilization.
When I was teleported to the governor's office through the space teleportation device created by the Toberu insectoids, I couldn't help but think of the above. The equipment around me easily made me sigh. They had a completely different manufacturing process, a strange but effective system structure. These black machines with the smooth and round appearance of an insect's carapace were filled with the psionic energy that I was most familiar with. The Toberu advanced insectoids were the only race I had seen other than the Xiling Empire that could use psionic energy as a daily energy source, and could even use it for themselves. Other races might have the ability to control psionic energy, but their bodies had never made the corresponding progress. Only Toberu was an exception. Other than the huge difference in appearance, their civilization and the Shiring Apostles' technological development were full of similarities.
It was precisely because of that, Sandora and I were rather regretful that such a race could never join the Empire's camp.
Sandora had been thinking about how to completely dispel the fear of the exiles towards the Empire, so that they could bury the hatchet and finally allow the Toberu advanced insectoids, a rare and talented species throughout the Void, to join the new Empire's army. We had originally thought that it would take two hundred years of effort — that was the average lifespan of the exiles' Allied Fleet, and Sandora and the team of experts believed that it would take at least a generation for the exiles to bury the hatchet. But now, I suddenly felt that I might be facing an opportunity. As long as I could find the refugee fleet that had completely lost contact with the Fourth Fleet hundreds of years ago, I might be able to motivate a considerable portion of the exiles to join the Empire's camp, unlike now where only a minority of them, who were viewed as' heretics', had a good impression of the Empire.
Under the guidance of Kim and Tolulu, as well as a small group of Toberu soldiers, we arrived at the capital planet that the exiles had just established, and arrived at a city known as' Kailudak '(in fact, Kailudak was also the planet's name, and the Toberu advanced insectoids were used to naming their planet's capital directly after the planet's name). This city was the planet's' capital ', and at the same time, it was also the exile's administrative center. As we boarded the shuttle in the atmosphere to head to the location of the 'Parliament', we curiously observed the unique style of this alien city. The most eye-catching was the style of Toberu's buildings. They looked like spore plants with inflated ends. All of the buildings were very tall, and the lower half was a slender (relative to the entire building) and smooth black 'umbrella handle', like a tower, while the upper half was swollen, forming irregular spheres of different sizes and shapes. Countless such buildings formed the main body of 'Kailudak', like a spore city. And various small transportation vehicles used for transportation within the planet shuttled through the 'waist' of these buildings, busy and orderly. Due to the unique shape of Toberu's buildings, the 'Kailudak' city's midair area was rather spacious, suitable for the transportation of civilian aircraft.
Of course, there were many buildings of different styles in this city, but there were very few of them, and they were more like decorative embellishments.
Along the way, Kim and Tolulu chatted with us excitedly, and the main topic was to introduce their rather large city. Even though all the buildings here looked so strange to me, in the eyes of the two of them, this was obviously the home that they were most proud of. And it just so happened that we were also very interested in the progress of the construction here, so the conversation went smoothly. I think that the 'Council' sent these two ordinary young soldiers who didn't have much authority as' envoys' for the same reason. Their mission was most likely to accompany the leader of the Empire for a chat. Perhaps the 'Council' had already used various channels to understand the habits of the new Empire's ruler, and thus knew that in this kind of situation where they couldn't use a guard of honor to welcome us with great fanfare, sending two familiar people to welcome us would be easier to gain the goodwill of the group. Her judgment was correct.
However, we never mentioned to Kim and Tolulu the specific matter that we were here to discuss with the 'Council', which was the news that the Fifth Combined Fleet might still be alive. This was something that we had previously communicated with the 'Council'. The matter about the Fifth Combined Fleet was still a secret among the exiles. Apart from the 'Council' and some high-ranking officials, only the technical personnel who received the signal knew about it. Kim and Tolulu's ranks weren't high enough, so of course, they knew nothing about it. They only knew that the leader of the Empire had suddenly come to visit today, and their mission was to receive him. However, they didn't know the specifics of the discussion between the leader of the Empire and the 'Council', and they were wise not to ask.
"The sky above the city is blocked by these large spheres, but the lighting is not affected." The elder sister looked curiously at the scenery outside through the porthole, and she couldn't help but mutter to herself, "And such a large building is supported by a thin pillar. It doesn't look sturdy."
"Light enters the lower layer of the city and is diverted through the refraction field. The light is evenly distributed throughout the entire city," Tolulu, who was sitting next to us, waved her thin forelimbs and explained to us, "There is gravity-free equipment that doesn't need support. The buildings themselves …"
"Cough, cough. Let me explain." Kim saw that we were getting more and more confused, so she waved her hand to quiet her companions. "First of all, you probably know what is going on with the lighting problem. You just need to add a light deflection system. Also, all these buildings have independent gravity-free equipment, so they are not afraid of falling. The thin pillars below are not used for support, but only for connecting devices. The main body of the city is the spheres above, and everyone lives in them. "
"I didn't notice this when I was in your planet's battleship." I looked at the 'Spore Buildings' that passed by outside, and I felt that the world was full of wonders. "But it seems to be very different from the buildings I saw back then."
"That was a sanctuary, and this is home." Kim's face was filled with a smile, and she didn't hide her happiness at all. "The houses in the sanctuary are all very low, and there are no such structures in the sky, because the space there is too precious. It's different here. Kailudak is now a very, very large city, and many people live here. But today is the day of expansion, and after expansion, the city will not be as crowded as it is now. Oh yeah, you must see that, that is the most spectacular time in the sky of the city … "
Kim suddenly mentioned a term that was unfamiliar to us: expansion. But before I could ask about the details of the term, a Toberu insectoid soldier suddenly walked into the cabin and told us that we had arrived at our destination.
The final destination was the 'Parliament Building', which was also a huge sphere supported by a thin pillar that was only a few meters in diameter. The basic structure of the buildings built by the Toberu insectoids was somewhat similar, and it seemed that the only difference between the buildings was the swollen sphere at the top. The Parliament Building was taller than the surrounding buildings, and the upper half of the sphere at the top had a symmetrical octagonal 'lid,' which was the most unique feature of the building. The shuttle stopped on a small platform at the bottom of the sphere. Kim and Tolulu didn't seem to have the authority to enter, so they bade us farewell outside, and we were led into the 'building' by a team of Toberu soldiers. In the end, the person who received us was the female officer who had led the way for us. When she saw us, she gave us a stiff military salute — not the military salute of the Empire, but their own. The refugees didn't join any of the Imperial Army troops, so they didn't have to give us the Imperial Army salute.
"The Parliament is waiting for you. This is a secret meeting, and almost half of the government officials are in the dark, so please forgive us for our lack of hospitality. " The female officer's attitude this time was much better than the first time we met. Although it was obvious that she was a little unnatural, it was mostly due to nervousness and apprehension, and there wasn't much hostility in her. The elder sister nodded at her kindly, and then we walked into the hall together.
What welcomed us was still an empty, perfectly symmetrical polygonal metal room, exactly the same as the room where we met the 'Parliament'. Walking into this room reminded us of the first time we entered the command center of the exile fleet, and the scene where the 'Parliament' recounted the darkest history of the Empire. But this time, there was something different. When the surrounding lights began to flicker, the 'Parliament' gradually emerged from the air, and a few spacious chairs appeared behind us out of thin air. Not bad, they even prepared furniture for us this time.
A female voice echoed in the air, "I hope you don't mind this simple reception. Your arrival was very sudden, and I didn't have time to prepare. Originally, we should have sent someone to report, but I didn't expect you to come in person."
This reception was much more humane than the last time …
"Forget about the formalities, you know we aren't used to this — and you aren't used to it either." I waved my hand at the woman who appeared in the air, and casually sat down. "Let's talk about the current situation."
"Yes, first of all, this is the signal we received." The mind collective that appeared before us in the form of a projection turned on the other projection devices in the hall, and what appeared before us was a video clip that was distorted to the point where the content could not be seen at all. Only the audio signal seemed to be in better condition, and the audio had been processed, so the recognizable clip sounded relatively clear. "… The Fifth Fleet has … no one has arrived … is under attack … the Empire's mark … unidentifiable enemy, we are alone … have retreated, can still hold on for a while, regardless of whether anyone can still receive this frequency … this is our last attempt at communication …"
The 'Parliament' only showed us a short signal of a few dozen seconds, after which it began to play on a loop.
"It sounds very messy," Sandora raised her arm and pointed at the messy image. "These video clips seem to be images of the battle, but it's too blurry."
"This is already the clearest version," the 'Parliament' shook its head regretfully. "We received this last communication in the wee hours of this morning, and then lost contact with the other party again. Until now, the channel searching for this information is still a mess. We have used our most powerful communication device to reverse-call twenty-seven times, but we don't know if the other party received the signal. "
"In other words, we have completely lost contact with the Fifth Fleet …" The elder sister didn't look too optimistic about the current situation. "This message might have been sent a long time ago. I heard that you have received the same signal for three consecutive days, so this should be an automatic broadcast, and the first transmission might have been a long time ago."
"This is the worst judgment," the Parliament nodded. "Hence, the Parliament is weighing how to publicize this incident to the public, and to what extent. The news of the Fifth Fleet is of great significance to us, but if we publicize it now, it might cause a commotion. "
"Xiaoxue." I thought for a while, and turned to look at the girl sitting next to me. She replied, "Snore …"
"You can still sleep at this time!" I was about to explode. I pinched her cheeks and pulled them to both sides. Xiaoxue immediately waved her hands and shouted, "Ah, it hurts, it hurts … Dad, I'm not sleeping, I'm not sleeping! I was just doing a divination for the Fifth Fleet … "
I was stunned, and I suddenly didn't know if I should believe this lady's nonsense, because Lin Xue had really told me before that when she was making a prophecy for an extremely vague target, it felt as though her soul had left her body, and it was easy for her to enter a trance state, making it seem as though she was asleep to the outside world. It was just that Lin Xue usually didn't snore when she was making such a deep prophecy …
Xiaoxue's eyes darted around quickly, and she quickly changed the topic before I could speak. "The Fifth Fleet is safe for now, but they haven't escaped their pursuit yet. I can see that the target of my prophecy is becoming more and more blurry, which should be the reason why they are gradually being hunted down. Of course, the premise is that we don't have an effective rescue mission. "
The 'Parliament' looked at us suspiciously, and I pointed at Xiaoxue. "Her words can be trusted. She is a prophet."
"Very … incredible ability." The 'Parliament' seemed to be surprised, but her tone was still as if she was stating a fact. Then, she didn't dwell on the question that she couldn't understand for the time being. "Then, based on your words, the Fifth Fleet still has a chance. They should be trying to escape from the attackers. The enemy is very strong, but they obviously don't have the ability to completely suppress and annihilate the Fifth Fleet. It's just that we haven't found a way to help the Fifth Fleet yet. "
"They might have reached the depths of the void, and their coordinates are unknown, so we can't send reinforcements. Communication has been cut off, and we can't confirm their situation … Well, the only thing we can do now is to re-establish communication. We have to determine the current situation of the Fifth Fleet." Sandora immediately judged the current situation, and then she looked at the 'Parliament'. "Open up your communication port, and tell us the mode of communication when you communicate with the Fifth Fleet. We will use the Garden of Death system to search for that signal."
The 'Parliament' seemed a little surprised, probably because she didn't expect the Empire to help so easily. The habitual impression that the exiles had of the Empire wasn't that easy to change. Then, she fell into a short silence, and I felt that I couldn't let her hesitate on the question, so I took the initiative to speak. "Now is not the time to care about the problem of psychological barriers. The Fifth Fleet is losing members every second. By the way, you have already settled down in the Empire. You don't have to be so afraid of us, do you? "
"No, please forgive me, but the Parliament isn't hesitating on this question," the female thought collective apologized to us, in a completely flat tone. "It's just that I suddenly felt a little emotional. The first purpose of the internal communication protocol of the Combined Fleet was to keep the equipment of the Imperial Army a secret. I didn't expect that we would need to borrow the technology of the Empire … This is really dramatic."
"Let's talk about dramatic questions later." Sandora stood up. "I have just arranged for the system to transfer the call. When will you be ready here?"
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