While everyone was busy focusing on our homeworld and when the mystery of the ancestral relic would be solved, there was one person who was focused on other matters — Tawil, the bespectacled sister whose thread count had reached an unscientific level. She suddenly reported that she had found traces of the fallen Emperor Halland the day after transporting back the Ancestral Ark (that was the name we had given to the wreckage. Sandora felt that it should be an immigrant ark).
Of course, as a scientist, she did not discover Halland's fleet that had mysteriously disappeared into the depths of the void. In fact, the traces she found came from a broken metal plate. It was the armor fragment that Medivh had picked up on our way here.
Sandora and I rushed to the analysis room where the armor fragment was stored. We saw three Tawil busily working there, and a dozen assistant technicians helping. The broken armor plate was placed above the gravity-free platform. It had been divided into dozens of regular pieces, floating in circles in the light column of the platform.
One of Tawil came to us, while the other two Tawil went to activate the equipment and command her large group of assistants.
"This thing was left by Halland's fleet?" Sandora frowned as she stared at the scattered armor fragments.
Halland and the remnants of his fleet had mysteriously disappeared into the depths of the void for a few days. The spy team that was sent to the border of the fallen apostles to spy on the fleet had not found any trace of the fleet. We had also used the void scanning function of the Garden of Departed Worlds to illuminate the direction where Halland's remnants had disappeared for seventy-two hours. But the fleet was fast when they retreated, and they were very good at hiding themselves. It could be said that after the last border defense battle, we had completely lost track of this powerful enemy.
But now, they had appeared in the most unlikely place: the distant border. It was a distance that spanned the entire Empire from the battlefield at that time!
"There is no way to explain how this fleet came to this place, but the sample fragment does have the mark of Halland's fleet." Tawil turned on the MDT in her hand, and a clear holographic image appeared in front of us. The image showed the subtle structure of the armor fragment, and I saw the mark of Halland's fleet in this subtle structure. This mark must have been modified. Perhaps Tawil had used information reconstruction technology to restore and strengthen it. When Little Bird first brought this thing back, Sandora had also checked it, and she did not see this mark. With Sandora's scanning accuracy, she would not have missed such important information.
"So small?" Shallow Shallow leaned in front of the holographic image and studied it for a while. She was particularly surprised. "Who is it for? Even Jingle is bigger than it. "
"It's not for anyone," Sandora explained. "Leaving small marks on the armor of the Royal Fleet is a common practice. It was in ancient times, when the Empire's ships still needed to be built with secular materials. Because the Royal Fleet's ships were basically independently designed and modified, the materials and specifications were often different from the original ships. To prevent assembly errors, the technicians considered leaving these marks for the assembly robots to scan. As time passed, this clumsy identification method was phased out. Coupled with the application of information materialization technology, the mining, smelting, prefabrication-assembly process was replaced by field filling technology, and these marks became a memento. They have no practical use, but keeping them would not cause any trouble. For the special workflow of the builders, a few extra patterns on the material would not affect the efficiency of the work, so we kept them."
"Oh," Shallow Shallow replied, and continued to crawl in front of the gravity-free platform to study if the fragments were the same size. Her OCD was acting up.
"If this was left behind by the Halan Fleet, it would explain the reason for the disintegration of this spaceship." I nodded to show that I had figured it out. "His fleet was basically destroyed by our doomsday. After traveling in the void for so long without any supplies or maintenance, there would definitely be some who couldn't hold on and fell behind."
Sandora had a pensive look. "I'm wondering why he would run this way. From the battlefield to here, they had crossed almost the entire Empire, and Halland's fleet must have taken a long detour outside the Empire's borders to get here. This armor fragment meant that there were stragglers in his spaceship after this long voyage. It also meant that he did not find a place to rest. I don't believe that he did not even have the equipment to repair his spaceship. To risk such a huge loss and rush here, what is he trying to do? "
There were many possibilities. Maybe Halland was just running aimlessly, and there was no reason for him to run in this direction, and the place where we found the armor fragment was just a midway point in his escape. But most of the time, things were not that simple, and over the years, I had gotten used to facing the worst possible scenarios, and these scenarios were much more common than usual.
The most likely scenario was this: The remnants of Halland's fleet had not given up, and they wanted to stir up trouble again.
"Could it be that they are after the Ancestral Relic?" Tawil suddenly guessed. "There are no valuable worlds nearby, only the Ancestral Relic of this universe, and it has special meaning to the Shiring Apostles."
"If that's the case, we have to prepare early," Sandora immediately said, nodding. "This possibility is very high."
I also agreed with Tawil's speculation: The Fallen Apostles had always been ahead of the New Empire in terms of intelligence, and Halland was the first to know about the Ancestral Relic. Although he did not capture the Fairy Lily, he may have known the general location of this universe through other means. Now that the remnants of Halland's fleet had appeared nearby, they were most likely looking for the specific coordinates of the Ancestral Relic.
The only good thing is that the fleet of the Fallen Apostles has yet to appear, which means that they haven't found this place yet. Moreover, they are still doing their futile work far away (if they are really looking for the Ancestral Relic), leaving the Imperial Army with plenty of time to react. When faced with the huge threat of the Fallen Apostles, it has been a long time since we had such a good time.
Sandora immediately contacted the City of Shadows and ordered Sives to prepare the fleet to support the possible large-scale conflict in the distant frontier. We believed that the remnants of Halland's fleet were still quite strong, because he had successfully withdrawn more than a dozen warships from King's Landing and successfully taken away his entire Royal Fleet. Later, Tawil ordered the entire engineering team to speed up the collection of the Ancestral Relic. Once a war broke out, no one could guarantee that this small galaxy would be safe. The loss of the Ancestral Relic here would be a pity for us.
After assigning all aspects of work, Sandora was bored in her room for a long time, and then suddenly came to me. "We can't fight in this universe, and we can't even let Halland know the existence of this world!"
I was in the resting area of the Fairy Void people, discussing the route of her fleet that day with Phyllis, hoping to find out more about the movement patterns of Halland's army and how they sensed the Ancestral Relic. When I saw Sandora rushing over, I was a little surprised. "What's wrong?"
"There's a hidden danger." Sandora sat next to me and picked up my cup of water. When she found that there was no water in it, she ate the cup. "The high-dimensional war will destroy the information balance of the universe, and the battle for the World Barrier will destroy the weak response left by the Spatial Flash. In either case, once we start a war with Halland in this universe, it is possible that the information left in our homeworld will be destroyed. By then, the last clue we have to find our homeworld will be gone. So, we must keep the war away from this world. If possible, it would be best if Halland doesn't know the existence of this universe before she is destroyed. No one can predict what Mad Dog will do. I can't guarantee that the Fallen Apostles also have feelings for their homeworld. If Halland is driven to desperation by us, she would rather destroy this universe to make trouble for the New Empire … "
I thought about the Fallen Apostles, who destroyed the world as easily as swatting flies, and it seemed to me that Harlan really could have done such a thing: the whole community of Fallen Apostles had been trained in the discipline of insanity.
"Erm …" Phyllis saw that Shadora and I had been having a serious conversation for a long time. She finally blurted out, "Are you going to war again? Or with those lunatics? "
I glanced at Phyllis and nodded solemnly. "War at any time. A few days ago, we found traces of the Fallen Apostles' fleet. They seem to be searching for this world. Yes, it's just like what you were worried about …"
Phyllis suddenly jumped more than a meter into the air. She stepped on the sofa and put on a defensive posture. "Actually, you're joking, right? You've been asking me about the process of being chased by those lunatics since the beginning. Is it because we're going to war again? "
I continued to nod at her solemnly. One of the reasons why Phyllis didn't want to follow me out was because she was afraid of meeting those lunatics again. In the end, what she feared had really happened. Phyllis put on a defensive posture with me for half a minute before she decisively jumped down to pack her things. I looked at her curiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm running." Phyllis didn't even raise her head. "It's too dangerous to be with you guys."
I knew she was joking because she still had the same things in her hands after packing for a long time. However, I still smiled and said, "How do you plan to go back? There is a void between here and the capital of the Empire. Are you going to go back in the washing machine in the house? "
Sandora helplessly spread out her hands at Phyllis. Sandora found it hard to look at Phyllis, who also had the title of Queen, but did not act like a Queen at all. "When facing the Fallen Apostles, we should fight bravely. Running away is —"
"The Fairy people are not afraid of fighting," Phyllis suddenly said solemnly before Sandora could finish her words. Her sudden change stunned Sandora and me. "In our homeworld, the Fairy people have been through a lot of wars. We have faced enemies ten times our number, but we have never flinched. When we decided to jump out of this world, none of us flinched. So, you don't have to worry that the Fairy people are afraid of fighting."
Phyllis's sudden change in attitude surprised Sandora and me. At the same time, we were in awe of her. I guessed that if Phyllis could maintain this expression for more than ten seconds, my and Sandora's opinion of this Queen of Peddlers would change. Sure enough, after a few seconds, she looked at me and Sandora with a bitter face. "But do you think we can still fight the Fallen Apostles? Besides, I'm here to do business. I'm not mentally prepared … "
I was speechless.
I knew this Phyllis was a bit of a flip-flopper most of the time, and the adjutant had sworn that Her Majesty was a dutiful and worthy ruler. Perhaps she really had those qualities, and I decided to believe that she was just trying to lighten the mood.
After Phyllis calmed down, Sandora turned to me and said, "What Phyllis said makes sense. We really need to move as soon as possible, even if it's for the sake of safety. Right now, there is only a group of engineers and scientists here who have almost no combat power. The escort team is also lacking in combat power. If Halland finds us in this universe in advance, we may even lose our lives here, let alone protect the ancestral heritage. Since we want to avoid a war in this universe, it is necessary to move the engineering team away as soon as possible. "
I felt the same way. Even though the Missy had assured me that this trip would be safe, she only said that the journey here would be safe. She didn't say that it would be safe here. As long as it was related to the Fallen Apostles, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to think of it as dangerous as possible.
"Originally, I planned to drag this universe into the Empire's territory," Sandora suddenly frowned and muttered. "But now, we can't do that. Moreover, we can't make any big movements. If Halland is really looking for this world, he must be very vigilant. We can't take the risk of exposing this place. "
"In short, pack up all the ancestral relics that you can find and take them away." I connected to Tawil's communication. "Tawil, get your engineering team to speed up. We have to pack up everything here and take them away. If we can't analyze them on the spot, we will move them back to the Shadow City."
Then, Sandora ordered the staff on the world barrier to withdraw and dismantle the various scanning devices they had set up at the Order Boundary. These devices were originally used to search for clues about our homeworld, but now was obviously not the time for that. Any activity of the Imperial Army in this universe would increase the chances of Halland finding this place. Before we got rid of this hidden danger, Sandora would not allow the ancestral relics to be damaged in the slightest.
Now, the Imperial Army and Halland's remnants were like two groups of people looking for the Luminous Pearl in the dark. The Imperial Army had found the target first, but Halland was still leading his people in circles. They were too far away to see the light here, so we had to quickly extinguish the lights and hide ourselves. Then, we would look for an opportunity to kill the people on the other side. In order to increase the success rate, I felt that just extinguishing the lights might not be enough. We had to find a way to hide the Luminous Pearl.
"Hide this world, huh." Sandora nodded in agreement. "The Garden of Separation can make a world untraceable for a period of time, just like 'hiding' in the void. But this place is too far away from the Empire. The power of the Garden of Separation will weaken in the void. We need a relay station to increase the power of the system. Moreover, these relay stations cannot be discovered … This is too troublesome. We should think of a way to hide the Luminous Pearl."
While we were deep in thought, I suddenly heard a lazy and mischievous female voice coming from the direction of the door. "Isn't your thinking a little too complicated?"
I looked up and saw Icetis leaning against the door with her arms crossed. The strange thing was that there was a puppet sitting on her shoulder … The ninety-centimeter-tall Goth girl was hugging Icetis's head. She had a bored expression as she spread her silver hair and Icetis's hair together. Then, she picked them out one by one. I couldn't understand this child's interests at all.
At that time, my first thought was that this female pervert had finally been subtly brainwashed by her father and really believed that she was the godmother of the puppet … However, I didn't dare to say this out loud because it might cause Shadora to eat me up on the spot without dipping anything in the sauce.
But then again, when Icetis and the puppet were placed together, they really looked like a mother and daughter! If you were to say that the former was the adult version of the latter, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it. Icetis's father's eyes were like torches.
"Oh, I saw this little girl wandering around when I came over, so I brought her over." Icetis noticed that both Sandora and I were looking at the puppet. She didn't think much of it and just took the little girl off her shoulder and placed her in my arms. Her tone was as if she had picked up a lost animal on the road. The puppet crawled on my body twice and found her 'throne'. Then, she sat down and hugged my head to pretend to sleep. Icetis sat next to Sandora. "Squeeze, squeeze. I heard that you guys noticed Halland's movements? He's nearby? "
"The possibility is more than ninety-eight percent. He must have a motive for coming here." Sandora was already used to Icetis's carefree style. She looked calm. "We are going to retreat now and pack up all the ancestral relics. That way, we can minimize our losses even if a war breaks out. Also … we want to protect this world as much as possible. There might be some information left behind in this world. Before we flip the entire universe upside down, I won't allow any Fallen Apostle to touch this place. "
"Let me think. Let me think. I feel that you guys are overthinking." Icetis shook her head and suddenly clapped her hands. "Sigh, hiding this universe is just a negative solution. Why don't you think of a way to lure Halland to another world? Throw a trap or something to make him think that the other world is Schilling's ancestral grave. Then, you guys move faster and clean up his defeated army. Don't leave any survivors like the last time. Then, this world will naturally be safe. "
Sandora thought for a moment and said, "That's a good idea. But where does the bait come from? If you use the ancestral relics — let's not talk about whether it's appropriate or not. After all, the ancestral relics are dead and not necessarily eye-catching enough. If you want the Imperial Army to do something, I'm afraid that Halland will see through it. He knows the Shiring Apostles too well. The trap and the truth are obvious in the eyes of that kind of enemy. "
"Eye-Catching? Isn't there a super eye-catching one here? "Icetis said and turned to look at Phyllis.
"Apart from the ancestral graves of your ancestors, these Fairy Ali people are the most eye-catching …"
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