After the mainframe announced that the system was ready to return to the fleet, I couldn't hold back my curiosity and asked the spaceship's AI, which should have no personality, "What does Warren Ferd mean to you?"
"He's a crew member, the sole survivor, and a priority target," the mainframe replied in a straightforward tone, but Sandora and I waited patiently for it to continue. As expected, after a few seconds of silence, the voice added, "I'm not sure if the logic is correct, but I see Warren as a supplement to the system of this spaceship."
"See him as a supplement?" Sandora smiled faintly. "You shouldn't have generated such data, but there are enough strange things about this spaceship. It's better to keep it strange … Warren Ferd is your partner, and this is the meaning of the 'strange logic' you generated."
"I don't understand. I didn't design a personality system."
"That's not important," Sandora smiled and shook her head. "Really, it's not important."
It seemed that everything was as I had guessed. The starship commander from tens of thousands of years ago and the spaceship's AI fell in love. Two souls with completely different life forms, one of them didn't even have a body, but this didn't stop them from loving each other in the decades of companionship. In theory, a starship's mainframe that didn't have a complete personality shouldn't have developed such feelings, but it could have been her special model, or it could have been some kind of benign malfunction caused by the spaceship's destruction, or it could have been a miracle that the ship's mainframe had developed humanity.
Even though the decades of lonely journey were sad, I suddenly felt that the story wasn't that sad after all. Warren Ferd and the mainframe had lived together for decades, and the limited space in the spaceship was their entire world. They were never separated, and they stayed together until one of them died. From another perspective, it was just a normal love affair between ordinary people. The only thing that stood out was that the spaceship was especially deserted.
At that moment, the other Empire soldiers who were on standby outside had entered the spaceship according to the plan. One of them had found Warren Ferd's body according to the route we had left behind. An Empire soldier reported, "Your Majesty, we've found the remains of the starship commander. What should we do with it?"
I thought about it and made a decision. "Deal with it carefully. Don't damage it. Bring it back and bury it on a public cemetery planet under the command of the military."
The Shiring Apostles didn't have a funeral custom, but the servant army did. The military headquarters had a "graveyard star" specifically for the burial of soldiers who died in battle. These graveyard stars were usually created from completely broken planetary battleships that couldn't even be converted into colonial planets. Technically speaking, Warren Ferd wasn't a member of the new Empire's servant army, but I felt that he qualified to be one.
Sandora had no objections. She then connected to the City of Shadows' database. "Personnel database, log in a set of family data. Warren Ferd, male servant army, Heckner human, N-CCER-06, female Shiring Apostles, warship mainframe, partner."
Perhaps the family data reported by the emperor was too strange. The servo program in the personnel database asked, "Your Majesty, one of them is from an unrecorded vassal race, and the other is a mainframe of the warship?"
"That's right," Sandora said as she repeated the information. "Just record it like this. Legacy of the old Empire."
The personnel database had no doubt that the words "legacy of the old Empire" were enough to explain everything.
We then went to the activity hall. There was a large holographic device in the hall, which made it easier to check the information that we had just received. Sandora connected the MDT to the holographic device in the center of the hall. The secret of the ghost ship finally came to light.
The first data was the captain's record. It was Warren Ferd's observations in the decades after he woke up. The starship commander thought the data was boring, but to us, it was very important. This was the rare data that the new Empire desperately needed. It was the observation record of the polluted zone after the collapse of the old Empire. As the old Empire had completely sealed its borders and expelled all Protoss observers, there were very few observations after the collapse of the old Empire. We only had a few remnant data from automated outposts. Now, with Warren's decades of void readings, we had a chance to further our research on the "cataclysm". We could gain a deeper understanding of the changes in the turbulent zone after the collapse of the old Empire.
Sandora took a quick look at the data and uploaded it to the engineering/research ship. We could bring it back to the workaholics in the research center. Now, we were more concerned about the other information that the ark had brought back.
Based on past experience, the exiled ark would carry the last information of the celestial zone it belonged to. Usually, it was technical information left by the ruler of the celestial zone to the survivors. You could think of it as some kind of "last words". These last words were very meaningful.
However, the strange thing was that after Sandora filtered through all the keywords, she could not find any information related to the celestial zone it belonged to. She also could not find the name of the emperor who issued the mission document for the "Schilling 6". It was still the same strange situation as before. She could not find the "origin information" of the ark!
Sandora frowned as she searched for the keywords. "That's strange. The designer of the ark is referred to as a" special entity ". But this" special entity "obviously does not refer to a certain emperor … It is mentioned that three celestial zones participated in the construction of a large number of exiled arks named" Schilling ". But it does not specify which three celestial zones it is, nor does it mention the name of any emperor. It's as if it doesn't matter."
I leaned over to take a look. There was indeed a "special entity" mentioned in the initial information of the ark, but the name of the mysterious designer was never revealed. Sandora read quickly. She had already read more than half of the document. The doubt on her face did not diminish. "If this information is correct, the emperors of the three celestial zones did not participate in the design and construction of these arks. I think they did not even know that their spaceport was building these unplanned arks … Could it be that during the Great Cataclysm, Emperor Schilling's control over the celestial zones under his jurisdiction had weakened to such an extent?"
The construction of these spaceships was suspicious. The designer was unknown, and the person who ordered the construction was also unknown. Even the Emperor of Heaven did not know about the existence of these spaceships. I could not think of anything that could bypass the surveillance of the authority tree and achieve these things under the strict authentication and logic system of the Empire. Moreover, not only did the mysterious "individual with special authority" build a large number of spaceships in the three heavens at the same time, but he also put a large number of servants who had not been infected on the spaceships and assigned them drifting missions. This process required the participation of the Xi Ling apostles. So, did the Xi Ling apostles who participated in these things not report to their emperor?
I thought of the strange features I found when I entered the Specter Ship. There was no logo, no model, no code, no nameplate for all the equipment. Only the mainframe of the entire ship had an unknown and non-compliant code (the code for mainframe units should start with an X, but the mainframe of this ship started with an N). It did not conform to the system from beginning to end. But these arks were built. Not only were they built, they set sail in large numbers to carry out drifting missions. One of the arks even survived to this day.
"Let's not care about the creator of these arks." Sandora realized that it was a waste of time to dwell on this issue. She decisively cut off her train of thought. "Let's look for the initial mission log and the message. The mainframe mentioned that there was a message. It may tell us something."
The initial mission log was basically nothing surprising. In summary, there were three points:
First, do everything possible to escape from the collapsing Empire zone. Avoid all units with the logo of the Imperial Army on the route.
Second, after successfully escaping from the Empire zone, sail in silence, wait for the chaos to end, and then cruise along a seemingly meaningless route. Sandora and I guessed that this route would intersect with other exiled arks, probably to meet up with other people.
Third, if you meet survivors from other celestial zones, pass a message to them.
The main point was the message. It was very short, but the content stunned Sandora and me.
"To any Shiring Apostles or servants who may have survived the disaster in the abyss:"
We preserved the tinder! I repeat, we preserved the tinder! "
If there are no accidents, when you read this message, the Xiling Empire has already collapsed. The impact of the abyss will destroy all the worlds in the Empire zone. The Shiring Apostles in the Empire zone may be extinct or almost extinct. However, if the calculations are correct, there should be a small number of survivors who have successfully escaped from the Empire zone like this ship. You are drifting randomly in the void. However, according to the calculated scale of the impact, the number of safe escape routes is limited. Therefore, the surviving exiles still have a chance to meet this ship and read this message. "
As it is impossible to determine when the chaos will subside, the main functions of this ship will be in a frozen state during the drifting period. The arrival of other survivors, namely you, will reactivate the ship (if it is not malfunctioning). If the chaos has already ended and the spiritual network of the Shiring Apostles has completely disintegrated, then please execute the following action:
Read the attachment of this message. It records the coordinates of a remote world. This remote world is far away from the impact and should still exist. Please head to this world and search carefully. There is an Emperor Schilling and his Schilling mainframe that is isolated on a local planet. They are unable to leave that world and are isolated from the main network of the Empire. Therefore, they are not contaminated. "
That is the last tinder of the Empire! I repeat, that is the last tinder of the Empire! "
However, please note that this ship has an automatic reconnection protocol. After it enters the safe world, the safety isolation of the 'tinder' will be removed. Therefore, please confirm two things before executing the above action:
First: The impact has ended. The abyss in the Empire zone has calmed down or at least stopped spreading.
Second: The data network of the Xiling Empire has disintegrated. As the disaster spread through this network, it is highly likely that it will continue to occupy the network nodes. Therefore, you must confirm this point. Otherwise, the tinder will be contaminated! "
If you are unable to confirm the above two points, please reset the ship to silent mode and wait for the time when everything completely calms down. "
Be patient and continue to wait. The Empire will never be defeated. The day of victory will come! "
Sandora and I looked at each other. This message was another heavy bomb. The amount of information it contained stunned us both!
"Hurry up and look at the attachment!" Even Liliana was shouting. Sandora immediately opened the attachment of the message. It was indeed a set of world coordinates. It was difficult to describe the contents of the world coordinates in words. It could only be understood by reading the message directly. Therefore, there was no need to explain it here. Sandora wrote down the coordinates. Liliana was jumping around restlessly. "Hurry up! Hurry up! The people over there might still be alive! We have made another big discovery! Another emperor and a Schilling mainframe! "
However, Sandora and I didn't move. Liliana was excited for a long time. When she realized that neither of us said anything, she suddenly felt strange. "Huh? Boss, Big Sis, are you not happy? "
"Why do I find these coordinates so familiar?" Sandora frowned and muttered. I was comparing the coordinates with the historical records in the database. Then, I finally understood what was going on. "Isn't this the world that you were trapped in back then?!"
The entire place quietened down. Even Ding Dang, who had never had much intelligence, popped half of her body out of my pocket and muttered in shock, "Ah, the amount of information this time is too much …"
"The tinder mentioned here …" Sandora stared at the letter from seventy thousand years ago. "Is it me and Bubble?"
My mind was still in a mess. It took me a long time to put all the information together. When I finally came back to my senses, I was pleasantly surprised. The person who had isolated Sandora and a portion of her elite Avengers in another world had finally surfaced!
Not only had the culprit been revealed, but we had also seen the other hidden plans behind that "safe isolation". Isolating Sandora and her Avengers in another world was just one part of a larger plan. Behind this, there was a large group of exiled arks and a plan to rebuild the Empire!
"So that's what happened …" Sandora muttered to herself as she repeatedly browsed through the message and the coordinates. It was as though she wanted to carve them into her mind. "Isolating an emperor who happened to be far away from the Empire District in a safe world. Then, releasing a large number of escape arks to carry out drifting missions. Once the Empire District has calmed down, they would rely on the original plan to reactivate the arks. Finally, they would retrieve the 'tinder' and rebuild the Empire … So, I was part of this plan back then."
"It was a huge gamble from start to finish." Liliana clicked her tongue and couldn't help but mutter, "Every part of the plan could have gone wrong, especially those arks. Basically, they only survived because of luck. Furthermore, they would only be able to reactivate after meeting other survivors … Why didn't they just set an automatic awakening procedure for the arks?"
"Because the person who came up with this plan didn't know when the impact would end." Sandora quickly figured out the logic behind it. "Setting up a set of automatic awakening procedures would increase the risk. If the arks were still very close to the contaminated area, or if the infected Shiring Apostles were still chasing after them, the automatic awakening would increase the chances of them being destroyed. On the other hand, setting it to only awaken after meeting other survivors would be safer. If there were more survivors, it would mean that the situation had calmed down. At the very least, it would mean that the arks weren't on a dangerous path. There's only one tinder. So, it's better to delay time than to increase the risk. "
Shadora, on the other hand, calmed down faster than I did. Though she had been inexplicably set up as a tinder, Her Majesty the Queen had a big heart. However, she really didn't need to be calculative. Instead, she should be thanking the mysterious person who came up with this plan. If it wasn't for the "safe isolation" back then, the Avengers would definitely have been swallowed by the abyss like the other Shiring Apostles.
We had previously researched many suspicious points about Sandora being trapped in another world. The spiritual network was blocked, the interdimensional devices were jammed for no reason, the Schilling mainframe lost its production capacity, and the Empire's soldier who finally managed to escape died on Earth due to some sort of "suicide program." All these abnormalities couldn't be explained by simple "abyss interference" or equipment malfunction. So, our final conclusion was: Sandora and her soldiers were protected by a safety barrier similar to a Faraday cage. Although it looked like they had lost their freedom on the surface, this safety barrier prevented them from coming into contact with the impact of the abyss that was destroying the Empire. The reason why Sandora survived and met me was almost entirely due to the safety barrier.
From the day we came to this conclusion, we knew that there was someone behind the scenes who planned everything, and it was definitely someone with great foresight. Now, we saw another part of this plan: the Ark of Exile.
So, there was only one question in front of us: who was this person?
"Actually … I have a little idea in my mind."
After hesitating for a long time, I decided to tell them my shocking conjecture.
Sandora raised her eyebrows, and her tone seemed to reveal that she had guessed something. "You mean …"
"Only one 'person' could have done all of these things. From the most macroscopic perspective, he realized the danger of that crazy experiment; he completely cut off the connection between the Avengers and the Empire's main data network and remotely shut down your equipment; he used a portion of the resources to secretly build a batch of spaceships without the approval of the Xi Ling Emperor; and finally, he initiated the exile mission. Only one 'person' could have done all of these things at the same time. Xi Ling, the collective consciousness!
Of course, now we had given this collective consciousness a new name: Abyss Schilling, to distinguish it from the little girl who obeyed orders in the City of Shadows.
Liliana was stunned, and the little crow cawed. Sandora, on the other hand, had expected this. She didn't look too surprised, but lowered her head slightly. "Theoretically, only this collective consciousness has this ability, but there are still many things that don't make sense. Theoretically, Schilling is above the entire spiritual network and can control all the equipment connected to the spiritual network. But back then, she still had to obey all kinds of basic agreements. Those agreements determined that her authority was lower than the emperor's, and she couldn't destroy the integrity of the network. How do you explain this?"
I thought about it, and there was already a vague conclusion in my mind …
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