Nothing major happened in the next few days. Everything went on as usual, including all the research and development projects and the army's preparation for war and recruitment. Although there were still a lot of daily matters that needed to be dealt with, it was already very gratifying that there were no unexpected situations that popped up every few days. If possible, I really hoped that these days would last as long as possible. In the morning, I would study world peace, and in the afternoon, I would take the nine-tailed husky and a bunch of naughty kids to the park. As long as I could continue living like this, I would have nothing else to ask for.
News from the celestial city confirmed Sandora's speculation: Alleria did not find any ancient equipment. At the same time, Gaia also checked the home planet again and confirmed that the thing was also not on the technological side. In the end, everything pointed to one possibility: the Mellowans had already stolen the precious communication array. Now, all we had to worry about was whether they had already smashed the treasure for fun. If this was true, Sandora would really smash every planet of the Mellowans for fun.
There was not much movement from the Fallen Apostles for the time being. Although there was evidence that they were also actively mobilizing their troops, possibly doing the same preparation work as us, the frequency of their activities at the border had decreased significantly. This should be due to the pressure brought by the sudden appearance of the Godfather. It could also be that they needed time to cushion the losses from the last ambush and settle the research and development projects at hand. In any case, a tense "state of peace" was spreading. Everyone knew that a huge war was inevitable and would break out at any time, but at least for now, no one would act rashly. Under such pressure, all the military projects of the Empire were operating at an accelerated pace. The six main armies and the independent Royal Navy were quickly changing equipment. Sandora hoped to complete the strengthening and reorganization of these troops before the war broke out, adding new equipment and main ships, increasing the combat power of the Occult units, and increasing the specific confrontation training of the Abyss units … No one knew how fast the Fallen Apostles were in preparation for war. So the only way was to think that they were not fast enough, and then invest unlimited power into the future war.
On the other hand, the Shadow City was waiting for news from the Asida and Asidora sisters.
They had been on the road for nearly a week. It was a very risky behavior to patrol the Void White Area of the Distant Border for such a long time, and the longer the patrol time, the more dangerous it would be. The 'White Zone' was a void blind spot that had not been explored and could not provide immediate support. The Empire's influence in the White Zone was zero, and their understanding of it was also zero. There might be a super-large Abyssal Gate hidden there that no one knew about, or another B Squadron of the Fallen Apostle could be hidden there. Of course, there might also be the restless Mellowa rebel army hidden there. The Gemini only had a few immigration ships of the Fifth Fleet that basically had no combat power, and they could barely get on the road after some repairs. The only thing they could rely on was their super teleportation ability. That is why they have to be extremely cautious, and the longer they stay like that, the greater the chance of accidents happening. We also have to consider the issue of 'wastage'. High-ranking officers like Asida and Asidora and their elite troops cannot afford to waste too much energy in that place just to serve as fishing hooks. If the Merovans do not show up, I am afraid that we will have to consider the possibility of the sisters withdrawing. But now that the trapping fleet had been drifting in the White Zone for so long, if the Mellowans were really far away, they should have long discovered these ships and received the identification signal from the ancient hibernation facility. The reason they had not taken any action until now was probably out of extreme caution. Well, caution as expected. After all, they had found the Fifth Fleet in a very distant place, and then the latter suddenly appeared at their doorstep after escaping, and it seemed that the most important immigration ship had been separated from the main fleet. No matter who it was, this kind of pie falling from the sky would definitely be a little more cautious. Only hope that the Mellowans were not too cautious. If they waited a few more days …
If that happened, Asida and Asidora would not know how to continue acting.
But in the end, good luck was still on our side. After drifting in the White Zone for so long, the Mellowans finally dispelled their doubts and appeared …
They must have followed and observed the immigration ships for a long time to make sure that there were no groups of thugs hiding nearby. The Asida sisters waited until the last moment to simply shut down the main engine of the colonial ship and ordered their men to blow up a set of shield generators. This was to create the illusion that the ship was seriously damaged and was gradually disintegrating in the Void. The shutdown of the main engine meant that the battleship could no longer escape. The collapse of the shield generator meant that the Order Field was about to overload and the battleship was about to be swallowed by the Void. The Asida sisters turned out to be hidden actors. They acted out a slow-moving Void Shipwreck so that it was hard to tell what was real and what was fake. So, the Mellowans finally lost their patience. Once the battleship collapsed, the ancient hibernation pod might be thrown somewhere, so they had to rush out.
Well, two hundred and thirty-two mothership-level main spaceships and thousands of small gray spaceships rushed out …
In the command center, the two sisters stood in front of me as if they were carved from the same mold. They lowered their heads slightly and gave off an aura of resentment.
"So, in order to snatch a colonial ship and deal with two or three frigates that looked like they were about to sink, they sent out a military force …" My tone was erratic as I looked at the sky. "This is the rhythm of killing mosquitoes with a nuclear bomb …"
"We were shocked at that time," the Asida sisters replied in their synchronized voices. "Originally, when we sent out the spaceships to lure out the enemy's main force, we did not expect them to be so …" "So funny."
I could not help but lean on the table and slap my forehead with my hand. "So, in the end, you only caught a small plane and two captives, and the rest of the main force ran away, right?"
"We did not complete the mission well, Your Majesty, please punish us!" The two sisters immediately said something very classic. I had already guessed that they would have such a reaction, so I immediately waved my hand. "Well, it's not your fault. The fault is that the enemy was even funnier than we expected. Dang, is it necessary to send out an entire army to intercept a few civilian spaceships … Then, tell me how you managed to take down a small gray spaceship among thousands of troops. I feel that you can almost make a personal heroism blockbuster. "
The Asida sisters saluted solemnly and told me about their heroic deeds.
"At that time, the shipboard radar suddenly detected a shockingly large-scale materialization phenomenon on the periphery of the Orderly Field. Then, the entire trapping formation was enveloped by a larger Orderly Field. At that time, we felt that the situation might be wrong, but the Mellowans' Orderly Field technology seemed to be almost the same as the Empire's. They almost completed the encirclement of the formation and their own fleet almost instantly. We were surprised to find that we were surrounded by hundreds of motherships and a large number of small ships. Under such circumstances, it was impossible to follow the original plan and take away all the enemies that had been lured out without arousing the suspicion of the Mellowans. We did not have enough strength. The auxiliary tactical program suggested that we give up the mission, which was indeed the safest choice at the time, but later we still adopted a more risky plan. After all, we did not have anything to lure the Mellowans out the next time.
"Using the high-speed reaction of the Space Raiders, we created a series of explosions all over the giant colonial ship, creating the illusion that the crew of the giant ship was prepared to perish together and that the spaceship was about to self-destruct.
"Then, we blew up the connecting bridge between the front and back of the giant ship, exposing the entrance to the garage.
"The Mellowans' assault team attempted to charge into the garage in a suicidal manner to rescue the hibernation pod.
"Then, we detonated all the bombs on hand and destroyed the entire colonial ship in 0.35 seconds. At the same time, we also ordered the other escort ships to self-destruct."
I laughed. "At the moment of the explosion, you pulled the Mellowan spaceship that had already rushed into the garage and jumped into the portal. It was a close call. Good job. In that situation, it was indeed the only method that could have worked. In the process, the enemy should not have noticed your existence, right? "
"Yes." The Asida siblings nodded. "There was no time difference. The teleportation only began the moment the Orderly Field collapsed. Therefore, from the outside world's perspective, the missing spaceship was swallowed by the void because the Orderly Field was torn apart. We blew up everything that could be blown up. The Mellowans would not find any fragments, and they would not realize that there was no one in the colonial ship. The speed of the void swallowing was extremely fast, and the power of the explosion at the scene was unprecedented. They would not have had this chance. On top of that, we also rescued the ancient hibernation pod … but it was greatly damaged in the explosion. That was our mistake. "
The Asida sisters' tone was relaxed when they said that, but I could imagine the race against time. In order to prevent the Mellowans from discovering the truth, they had to activate the teleportation the moment the Orderly Field collapsed. The collapse of the Orderly Field of the colonial ship would also destroy the Orderly Fields of all the other small spaceships in the area. Therefore, if they had been a moment slower, all the Mellowan spaceships would have turned to dust. They seized that moment to drag the Mellowan spaceship that was about to be swallowed by the void after the Orderly Field collapsed — the occupants inside were still alive. What was even more insane was that the crazy sisters even rescued the ancient hibernation pod. I estimated that their APM was at least in the four digits.
I asked the Asida sisters to report to the headquarters and then go back to rest (of course, I reckoned that the two of them would also go to the cafeteria for a meal or something). I stood up and headed to the second research room in the staff center. The Mellowan spaceship that the Asida sisters had painstakingly captured had already been sent there and was now being examined by the experts. We had to find the jump coordinates of the Mellowan world from the spaceship's onboard computer. I reckoned that it would be quite a troublesome technical task — regardless of civilization, the most confidential part of their spaceships was the coordinates of their homeworld. The Mellowans were single-handedly nurtured by the Empire, so they knew how important it was to protect the coordinates of their homeworld.
Just as I had guessed, a group of experts in the second research room were having a headache over the captured Mellowan spaceship, while Sandora was personally observing the scene.
"How is it? Is the navigation system encrypted very well? " I leaned over and asked, my gaze falling on the gravity-free platform in the middle of the room. The Mellowan spaceship looked slightly smaller than the Empire's single-soldier spaceships. It looked like a squashed egg, roughly oval in shape, with one end narrower and the other wider. At the wider end, the fuselage swelled into a hemispherical shape, which was probably where the cockpit was. There was no conventional engine on this small spaceship, but there was a ring of light along the outer edge of its oval shape. This ring of light was very similar to the Empire's stepless vector engine, probably something similar. As an ancient vassal that had been ruled by the Empire for so long, the Mellowans' technology tree should have been completely destroyed during the era of the old Empire, and the technology in their hands should all be a counterfeit version of Schilling technology.
This small spaceship that looked similar to the stereotypical UFO in urban legends had gold paint on it, and on two-thirds of the surface of the spaceship, there were gorgeous patterns painted in bright colors. For advanced civilizations, all space weapons did not rely on visual lock-on and launch, which was why any paint on a space vehicle would not affect it. However, it was the first time I had seen such a completely meaningless and flashy golden coat of arms painted all over a small spaceship. At the front of the spaceship, we also saw the distorted emblem of the Empire — it was obviously a transformation of the Schilling military emblem, but it was almost unrecognizable.
"Their navigation computer uses an encryption method similar to the old Empire's, and it only breaks the encryption once," Sandora replied. "It seems that the Mellowans are very careful in protecting the coordinates of their home. The moment this set of encryption detects any illegal reading, even if it is only once, it will immediately self-destruct. Its authentication system is a modified Empire device, so it is a little difficult to crack."
"Tsk, I didn't expect the Mellowans to be so capable." I clicked my tongue, but I was not too surprised. Perhaps the Mellowans had only inherited a small fragment of the old Empire, but they were still the first clan back then. Furthermore, after tens of thousands of years of development, if they could still be easily manipulated by others, then they would be letting down the Empire's nurturing back then.
"Actually, it is not impossible to crack the navigation computer on this, but it will take too much time. Using the fuzzy calculation function of the Schilling mainframe, it should be possible to crack any encryption device that can be described, but I am worried that if we drag it out for too long, there will be problems." Sandora glanced at me and continued to speak on her own. "I know how the two sisters captured this spaceship. There is no problem with the process of capturing it, but there is still something suspicious about this entire plan. If we drag it out for too long, the Mellowans will probably suspect what is going on with the few spaceships that 'coincidentally' appeared in front of them back then. After all, the Far Frontier is not too far away from the Empire back then, and it is not too difficult to correct the coordinates of their own world. "
I nodded in understanding, and my gaze swept past the various equipment in front of me once again. The side armor of the captured Mellowan spaceship had been removed, revealing the dark pipes inside. The assistant technicians had fixed a set of non-contact scanning devices a few centimeters in front of these pipes. Using this safer method, they could 'copy' the target's data stream to the lower level equipment, and then upload it to the mainframe for decryption. The faint hum of the equipment's operation echoed in the research room, and Bubble's energetic voice suddenly sounded through the mental link, "Don't worry about the child's father! It is just a small toy. After I finish the simulation mission of the submersible ship, I will personally deal with it … "
I instantly became even more worried …
"Alright, alright, your load is already high enough. Don't worry about the things here, it would be a real disaster if the mothership crashes." I cut off the chattering voice in the mental link, and turned to look at Sandora. "Where are the other two captives?"
Sandora shrugged, "Where else can they be, the fourth zone …"
I was speechless, "… What the heck!"
"Don't worry, they are still alive, and from what I can see, they will live for a long time. Liliana is currently showing them around the fourth zone."
I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead, "Then we have to go over and take a look … Liliana, that sinister fellow, seems like she has finally found something fun this time."
After leaving the command center, I immediately headed to the fourth zone. In the entire City of Shadows … No, in the entire multidimensional world, it would be hard to find a better place to stop children from crying at night — the zone where human rights are frozen.
The so-called Fourth District was a definite existence in the hearts of the residents of the Shadow Realm, but everyone would rather treat it as a place of urban legends. Its existence was public, but no one was willing to have even the slightest relationship with this place. The fourth zone was located in the second parallel space of the City of Shadows, and it overlapped with the east side of the City of Shadows. One needed to pass through a special space gate or be guided to enter. It looked as if the City of Shadows had just been built: dead, cold, and eerie. This place was a nightmare prepared for sinners and vicious prisoners of war. Entering the fourth zone was equivalent to entering the crevice between the living and the dead.
This kind of place was indispensable to an Empire. Peace and justice often required a sufficient amount of shadows and cruelty as a guarantee. We couldn't guarantee that every inch of the Empire's territory strictly followed the Schilling Code. Many times, extreme crimes and mouths that had to be pried open by torture were troublesome things. That was why even the Empire needed prisons and wardens. Of course, it also needed execution grounds. And the fourth zone … At the very least, it was the most extreme of all the "execution grounds" that I knew of. There were very few people who had committed such heinous crimes that they had to be sent to the fourth zone to be "purified", but those who were sent to this place wouldn't last long.
The two Mellowa prisoners of war were unlucky enough to be sent here.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
