After activating the Garden of Death, we didn't return to the Shadow City immediately. Instead, we stayed in Kailudak and learned about the development of the exile fleet from the 'Parliament'. I have to say, due to all kinds of busy matters, we didn't pay enough attention to this new world. We didn't even know when they built these colonial planets, which was a little wrong.
"Now, almost half of the population lives in spaceships and planetary fortresses." In the middle of the parliament building, there was a semicircular platform that extended out of the outer wall of the building. We looked down at the alien city from this platform and listened to the 'Parliament' talk about their recent development. "On one hand, the ecological environment is still not too stable, so we can't just shut down the fleet's ecological system. On the other hand, many people are really used to life on spaceships. But even so, the construction of these colonial planets is still progressing very quickly. This universe was indeed rich in resources, and the distribution, form, and number of planets of various types were unbelievably suitable … There was also a complete star chart of the universe and a list of world parameters prepared in advance. These conditions were simply too generous. On most of the colonial planets, we only need to do a little ecological modification, and then move down the industrial facilities on the spaceships to make it livable. The citizens who are willing to live on the surface of the planet are very satisfied with such an environment. This is the first time they have the experience of breathing under the open sky, and everyone feels that it is very fresh. "
"It's good that you are satisfied." Sandora smiled. "It's the first time you have seen a universe with a manual, isn't it inconceivable?"
"… Yes, we were shocked at that time." The 'Parliament's' expression became strange. "We originally thought that we only received a place to live, but we accidentally found a set of universe manual, and even …"
"There are also three quality inspection reports issued by the authoritative temples and product nameplates that the consumers can trust." The corner of my mouth couldn't help but twitch at the mention of the universe manual. "I heard that you also found the factory timestamp in the universe's background radiation …"
"Mm … Ah." The Mind Collective beside me responded with a subtle expression, both eyes staring into the distance in a daze.
Following the direction of her gaze, it was the city center of Kailudak. In this city that was almost entirely made up of Toberu 'tower ball' buildings, there was one tallest building that was completely different. It was located on a high ground in the center of the city, and it was an octahedron monument. The monument was thousands of meters tall, and every surface was engraved with dazzling Protoss characters. From top to bottom, there was a brand, factory name, factory address, factory serial number, inspector serial number, a product that the consumers can trust, and a stamp that indicated that it was allowed to circulate. Inside the monument that was engraved with all of the above, there was a small-scale crystal tower (not visible from the outside), and inside the crystal tower was an instruction manual that contained several petabytes of information. The instruction manual, labeled 'Simplified Version', listed all fixed parameters of the entire universe, as well as the data of all the frozen galaxies, and expressed sincere gratitude to the six sponsors at the end …
In the beginning, we did not know about the existence of such a thing. It was only after we handed over the universe to the exiled fleet that they discovered that the operation of the world was very abnormal. All the celestial bodies were in a frozen state, and when the fleet entered space, they could not determine the basic parameters of the surrounding environment. The universe was filled with a light of unknown origin (it was actually the Holy Light. Later, they found out that the Holy Light was similar to a preservative). They did not report the situation to the Empire at that time and went to investigate on their own. In the end, they found this huge monument in the center of the universe.
When the monument was first discovered, it was huge, and the longest axis was millions of kilometers long. The commanders of the exile fleet were shocked by this huge and abnormal celestial body, and finally informed us. Since this world was created by the Protoss, I decided to let the five Protoss Cops take a look. Later, according to the judgment of the authoritative person Icetis, she believed that in order to use the universe normally, the first thing to do was to press the little green button on the top of the monument.
An ordinary soldier of the exile fleet that had been recorded in history pressed the button, and all the celestial bodies in the universe began to operate normally. It was like a paused video suddenly resuming, and the holy light that filled the universe as a preservative began to dissipate and blend into the background radiation. The monument that was millions of kilometers long became a miniature version that was only a few kilometers long. Then, Icetis found the instruction manual of this universe from the monument and handed it to the 'Parliament'.
This was the little 'interlude' that happened before the exile fleet built their new home.
To be honest, I did not expect that some of the worlds created by the Protoss would come with instruction manuals and activation buttons!
After asking Icetis, I finally understood what was going on. Wasn't this universe a gift from Monina when she bought furniture? Therefore, even though it was a second-hand product, it was still a circulation product produced by the official temples of the Divine Realm. Naturally, it was different from those unlicensed worlds with uncertain lifespan and quality assurance. It came with a product manual and a full set of quality certification documents. And because the world itself was something that would evolve over time, after being used as a product or a gift, they had to undergo a 'stagnant' process. The process was to pause the entire world and wait for the buyer to receive the item before the user could activate it. This would effectively prevent the world that had been unmarketable for tens of billions of years from devaluing due to the expiration date. (Speaking of which, was there really such a thing?) As for the activation method, there was a little green button in the center of the universe. Of course, there were some models that required an activation code. The other world that Jingle managed used an activation code to activate it. However, it was said that things that used an activation code could be easily pirated, so it was safer to use the little green button. This was called physical encryption.
That was the explanation that Icetis gave us.
That day, Monina was busy planning how to decorate her newly bought furniture, and she forgot to tell us about this …
Looking at the towering white monument in the center of the city, the few of us laughed in unison and from the bottom of our hearts. "Hehe, hehehe …" We were already used to these pointless toys that the Gods had researched in their infinite lives. Of course, the 'Parliament' would probably need a long time to adapt to the universe they lived in, where even the background radiation had hidden trademarks and barcodes.
"Before this, we've never come into contact with the galactic gods that you speak of." After a moment of silence, the 'parliament' suddenly spoke. "The belief in the gods is something that we remember a long time ago. Many races, after jumping out of their own universe and discovering that there are countless worlds in the Void, would abandon the religion and gods that appeared in their civilization. However, we didn't expect that there's actually a race known as the 'gods' that creates and manages countless worlds."
"We have checked and found that the fleet of exiles came from the most remote regions of the Void. That is a place that the Galactic Protoss had never set foot in, so it is normal that you don't know about them." Sandora said casually, and then looked at the distant city, suddenly surprised. "What's going on? The buildings are leaving their bases? "
I immediately looked in the direction that Sandora was pointing at and saw a spectacular scene in the distance. Hundreds of Toberu Tower Buildings were trembling slightly, and the swollen spheres at the top and the slender connecting towers at the bottom were breaking apart one by one. After that, the huge spheres (which were the main bodies of the buildings) began to rise slowly into the sky. The lower half of their outer shell had disappeared at some point in time, revealing a complex structure that flickered with green light. As these spheres gradually rose into the sky, new, smaller connecting towers slowly emerged from the exposed green core, as though a seed of life was gradually growing roots. From the distance came a low and rhythmic roar, as though a huge ship that weighed tens of thousands of tons was blowing its horn and setting sail. After that, the swollen giant spheres began to fly towards the east.
"There … and there, they are everywhere!" The elder sister's tone was filled with surprise as she pointed in every direction. There were countless' tower ball buildings' on the outskirts of the city that were undergoing the same change. They separated from the base, and then the giant ball at the top slowly floated in all directions. They were so huge and there were so many of them that it was as though the entire city had turned into dandelions that were scattering with the wind. I couldn't help but associate this scene with the appearance of the buildings: they looked like spores that were floating in the wind.
"Today is the day of diffusion. The city has grown big enough, it is time for diffusion."
The Council's joyful voice sounded behind us. I heard the term again: diffusion. Previously, Kim had mentioned this term in front of everyone, but I didn't have the time to ask him what it meant. Now that everyone saw the spectacular scene of "diffusion" with their own eyes, they instantly understood what it meant.
"The Toberu Arachnids use this method to increase their city," the 'Parliament' only retracted its gaze when there weren't any new tower structures rising into the sky. "All of these structures can replicate themselves and grow continuously. Even though they are made of metal, they seem to have a life of their own. This is also the reason why we ultimately chose to use the Toberu Zerg's technology to build the first colonial planet. In fact, in terms of surface construction technology and ecological livability technology, the Ossa people are more advanced than the Toberu Zerg. However, the construction efficiency of Ossa technology is far inferior to these living towers, and what we need the most now is construction efficiency. To be able to modify so many colonial planets in just a few short months (of course, the exiled fleet doesn't only have one colonial planet, in fact, they have already extensively migrated to a few nearby star systems), Toberu's technology played a huge role. "
The Council also told us some of her plans for the future. When the ecological problems were solved, and the citizens no longer had to squeeze into old spaceships, she wanted to gradually restore the civilization of every member of the Fourth Fleet. Based on the preserved information, she wanted to rebuild the cities, restore the culture of the past, and tell the newborns about the history of their ancestors. The recovery that she hoped to see wasn't as simple as moving to live under the vast sky again. She wanted to see the cities in her memory once again appear on the horizon.
Even if this project might take up to a hundred years.
"But I think there might be a lot of problems with your work, and there might even be resistance from the citizens of the Fourth Fleet." Standing on the second highest observation deck in the city, Sandora looked at the bare connection towers on the horizon and gave her own assessment of the Council's plans. "Many people might not understand your thoughts. As far as I know, more than 90% of the citizens of the Fourth Fleet are the new generation, and some are even new races that were born during the Fourth Fleet's exile. After tens of thousands of years, how many of those who first set sail have survived? Do you think these new citizens who have almost nothing to do with the past would still know what a home planet is? What's more, how are you going to restore those races that have gone extinct during the exile? "
Sandora's words pointed out the most important point: the members of the Fourth Fleet had already changed during the tens of thousands of years of exile. From the beginning of the voyage to the present, many races had been hunted down to extinction. Some members had integrated with other races, and some races were born in the middle of the exile. In the end, the race that was produced could even be called a spaceship civilization. They lived in closed, old metal cabins from the first generation, and the story about the planet and the blue sky was meaningless to them. Even now, this part of the spaceship race remained in their old cabins. The living conditions on the colonial planet were not up to standard, and the other reason was that they simply could not imagine what it would feel like to leave the spaceship and live on a stone ball drifting in space. They felt that it was very unrealistic.
With the current situation of the members of the Fourth Fleet, the Council's idea was a bit of wishful thinking.
"You are one of the few crew members who have survived since the beginning of the fleet. I understand your feelings, but to be honest, it's better to let everything take its course. Let the survivors of the Fourth Fleet choose their own path and develop their own brand new civilization. As for history … just remember it. Being too attached to it is not worth it. "Sandora looked into the eyes of the Council, and her voice was a little low.
The Council was a little stunned. For a moment, she could not figure out why Emperor Schilling would show such a gloomy expression. But when she thought of what happened in the Xiling Empire, her expression changed instantly.
"I … understand this logic. You're right, but I just can't let it go," the 'Parliament' said in a low voice with a gloomy expression. "Almost all of my old friends who set sail with me back then are no longer around. I keep feeling that I should do something for them … When we were being pursued by the Fallen Apostle, those races that were unfortunate enough to fall behind would always send back their civilization's database. Later on, we even compiled the history of all the races in the fleet and built a huge database. No matter who perished, we hoped that this huge database would remain forever …"
"There is such a thing in the capital of the New Empire, but the more important building is the Totem Square that commemorates the new history. Compared to being obsessed with rebuilding the ruins of the past, we feel that it is more meaningful to commemorate the warriors who sacrificed themselves for the new history," Sandora said. "The Shiring Apostles are a race that will not look back. If you want to continue moving forward in the cruel Void, it is best that you learn not to look back. Of course, it is still important to remember history. And … if you don't mind, I hope to combine your 'huge database' with our various commemorative databases — of course, I am talking about replicas. "
"Combine the Fourth Fleet's huge database with the Empire's database?" The Council's eyes widened in shock.
"There is a famous saying in the Empire: Dark history is also history," Sandora said as she glanced at me. "Chen Jun, the third year, fifth month of the New Empire, in the capital planet. Therefore, we are willing to look straight at any history, even the most disgraceful moments. "
I was speechless. Did I finally get shot by Sandora's strange hobby?
"Alright, I will discuss this matter with the other high-ranking officials." The Council regained her composure and nodded. "This might take some time to decide. You know, this matter won't have much practical impact on the current Fourth Fleet, but the symbolism is significant. "
Due to the need to check the network components on this side at all times, we left Bubble behind when we left the world of exiles and promised to come and see her as soon as possible. However, the latter didn't seem to have any objections. I reckon that to her, as long as she could go online and play games at any time, the world would be beautiful enough. The Council promised to take good care of the 'important minister' of the Empire. I could only reluctantly promise that this' important minister 'wouldn't look for trouble in the short term. I also suggested that the Council feed Bubble three times a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening. Otherwise, that otaku definitely wouldn't be able to take care of herself.
After we returned to the City of Shadows, we didn't stay idle. We immediately found a large group of experts and started to study the small piece of information that we had copied from the 'Parliament'. It was the distress signal that the Fourth Fleet had received from the Fifth Fleet.
Although the scientists in Toberu weren't able to analyze much valuable information from the severely distorted signal, I felt that with the capabilities of the scientists in Schilling, they should be able to fix it more clearly. At the very least …
We had to know who was chasing after the Fifth Fleet.
In this distress signal that lasted only a few dozen seconds, there was an extremely concerning term: Empire. Among the exiled fleets, the word 'Empire' could only refer to the Xiling Empire. However, judging from the context of the message, it gave people the impression that the Fifth Fleet wasn't attacked by the Imperial Army. This was the biggest mystery.
Another mystery was — in the deepest part of the void where even the Empire couldn't reach, how did the Fifth Fleet send such a weak message over?
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