This was the base's assembly platform, right next to the landing platform where we had landed. As the largest flat area in the asteroid complex, this place was completely cast from the silver-gray Empire Alloy. The ground was also etched with the emblem of the New Eden Federation and the Empire Coat of Arms. Everything around the assembly platform was brand new.
The surface of the building was smooth, the alloy armor plates that had just been grown by the nano-builders, the assembled aerial combat robots that had yet to be activated, and the crystal matrix was spotless. The lifeless base had a brand new vibe everywhere, making people feel very out of place.
We had clearly contacted this base before we set sail, but it had only been twelve hours, and the base had been abandoned due to the attack. Even the garrison had disappeared. What happened here?
"There is still ten percent of the power here," Visca's voice came through the mental link. She had just come out of a functional building that had not been completely sealed off. She was combing through her messy hair. "It's the few beacons that are still lit with warning lights. They are powered by the backup Proteus Crystal Tower and luckily escaped the attack. They also provided the Void Rogues with teleportation coordinates. I have already transferred their energy to the artificial gravity generator. That thing will be activated in about ten minutes. The remaining crystal energy can maintain gravity for twelve hours, so the Heroic Spirits who are not used to the space environment can relax a little."
Suddenly, everyone's eyes were focused on one person.
The antenna on Ahoge's head suddenly straightened. "I … I'm just not used to this feeling of being helpless! As a knight, we are meant to fight on the ground … "
Before she could finish, Bedivere gracefully floated in front of her. Noticing Saber's gaze, the latter immediately straightened her body in the air and gave a knight's salute. "Your Majesty."
"Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses." I saw that Artoria's hair was all curled up, so I immediately stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. "Go back and eat less with Sandora. If you have time, learn some basic physics. You will get better …"
How should I put it? I hadn't even finished speaking when Saber was sent flying by me. She really needed more practice.
Originally, it was impossible for such a guy who could not learn how to fight in zero gravity to participate in this operation, but the pride of the Knight King did not allow her to hide in the safety of the spaceship and stare at a colossus because she could not stand up straight on the battlefield. Lion King almost pestered her, and finally, in the name of familiarizing herself with the combat skills, followed her. But now it seemed that Saber had a long way to go before she could learn how to walk in space. Before that, she could not use her swordsmanship, so she could only be a space cannon. After firing a shot, she would fly more than 100 kilometers away like the Long March 7, and then be towed back by the tugboat to fire a second shot.
Fortunately, the life-saving artificial gravity was restored at that moment. Artoria, who was about to float out of the assembly platform and into the sea of stars, danced in the air for a moment before lying on the edge of the platform. Next to me, Sister R sighed in disappointment. She had even prepared her chain and was just waiting to throw a spear to tie people up for fun.
Sister R had completely gone astray.
"The damage to the base isn't too great." Weska walked in front of us. As the strongest person in the military field, the little lass had the upper hand. "The destroyed sentry cannons and laser cannons mean that they were all engaged in battle when the enemy appeared. The battleship fragments collected nearby and the damage to the front of the base show that the enemy's main forces weren't able to get too close. However, due to the incomplete construction of the base, the power of the energy shield wasn't enough. Coupled with the possibility that the enemy might have a superweapon, the defensive barrier was the first to be destroyed even though the base's firepower was intact. Then, a bit of bad luck —"
Visca pointed to two small dots in the distance. They were two asteroids that had flown away from the building complex. The alloy skeleton connecting them to the main body of the base was directly blown off, and they were thrown out. They may have collided with something in the middle, and in the end, they became two unlucky asteroids that spun rapidly.
"The psionic reactor was hit head-on … Those idiots … We gave them so much technology, but the imitation they made is still at such a level. They can't even copy the technology of the psionic reactor …"
Have mercy on your words, my precious sister. Not all species are able to use quantum brains as a daily computing tool.
The base's power source was already in pieces, and a large amount of psionic energy might have leaked out. It was impossible for there to be any survivors. The heroic spirit squads that came with us split into three groups and went to investigate the base's storage area, residential area, and weapons production area. The bonuses from the Yggdrasill Temple gave them a higher sensitivity than the Schilling life detection device. We moved closer to the command center in the center of the base. The golden pyramid-shaped building, the Astral Soul Hub, didn't seem to have suffered any serious damage. Perhaps there was something worth collecting inside.
"The base hasn't been completely destroyed, only the most important building has been destroyed." Visca's blood-red cat eyes emitted a faint red light, and it seemed to be scanning the structure of the surrounding buildings. "There are no signs of overloading in the conventional energy pipes, and so far, there are no signs that the base has been attacked by a large number of enemies. The troops stationed here should have successfully driven away the first wave of enemies, but when they discovered that the base couldn't work and that their location was exposed, they chose to retreat. They took almost everything they could with them … Hmm?"
Visca suddenly discovered something and quickly ran to the front. Then, she ran back with something the size of a water tank.
"Proteus' probe. It seems to be broken, but there are no signs of damage on the surface. This builder might still remember something."
The little girl had an excited expression on her face. She was 1.2 meters tall, and she held up a "water tank" that was almost the same size as her. She looked light as a feather, and then she violently threw the "water tank" on the ground. My sister and I instantly felt the ground shake under our feet.
… Even if it wasn't broken, it should be almost broken by now. This little girl is really used to using those monster machines produced by the Empire.
As the most important daily work unit, the probe made by Proteus had naturally been modified by Schilling technology. However, those were internal improvements aimed at the AI system and energy system. Their appearance was still simple and round. The front half was a multi-industrial ray focusing prism that looked like a big eye, the middle part had a fat alloy belly, and the rear part was an anti-gravity device and thruster. Visca was now lying in front of its big eye, holding the shiny focusing prism with her little hand and pulling it out.
This violent little girl didn't have the time to study the crude automatic robots of the Proteus people. She just detected that the latter's memory core was near its head, so she wanted to find the nearest way to dig it out.
"Hey, little girl, be careful not to break it …"
I quickly stepped forward to stop Visca's violent dismantling. Suddenly, the "eye" of the probe suddenly lit up.
A blue-white high-energy flow hit Visca directly before I could react. The latter's little head suddenly tilted back more than ninety degrees, and the little girl's forceful pulling suddenly became stiff.
Still in the instant before I could react, Visca, who was suddenly attacked, recovered her posture, and swept her leg. Instantly, the entire prism of the probe flew out like a meteor.
What a violent solution.
"Tsk, I knew that this kind of idiotic AI was unreliable," Visca muttered. She reached out and pulled out a triangular crystal from the head of the probe that was still smoking. She turned her face and showed off to me, "Hehe, big brother, this didn't break … Huh? What's wrong? "
Should I remind her to look at herself in the mirror?
After being shot by the probe's self-defense particle gun, although it didn't break through, it was completely black!
"Wah!" Visca finally realized that her little face was probably the same as the background of the universe. She hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe it, "Damn it … That thing's attack power is too low, and the automatic shield didn't even activate … I didn't think that it would turn out like this …"
Ah, a face that could block a particle gun, and she didn't even bother to activate the shield. Visca, are you forcing me to ridicule you?
Together with big sister, I helped Visca wipe her black face. In the end, the little girl's face turned into a big mess. I don't know the theory behind that attack, but it didn't have much power, but it was quite colorful.
By the way, Visca's face feels really good to the touch, it's soft. If you didn't remind me, no one would have thought that this thing could block armor-piercing bullets.
"Alright, now let's see what this hateful probe recorded."
Like a child throwing a tantrum, Visca forcefully wiped her black and white face and held the dismantled memory core in her hand. She didn't seem to make any other movements, but the memory core lit up by itself.
A few seconds passed, and there was no movement.
"… Oh, big brother, wait a minute, this is using the Proteus language code, I'll download the next compatibility pack …"
So that's why your stomach was beeping non-stop because of this?
"Alright!" Visca downloaded the language library from the Void Roamer's mainframe and finally analyzed the memory of this broken crystal, "Let me see … spaceships, miscellaneous troops, pirate attack, there doesn't seem to be anything valuable … Hmm, finally, it was hit by some kind of space weapon, and the shield was overloaded. The pirates here are quite powerful … big brother, this base was attacked by local pirates!"
Pirates? Pirates who could use space weapons? It would be great to have such strength to build a country!
Visca tossed and turned the poor memory core for at least five minutes until it turned into a gaseous state in a flash of light. All its information was finally extracted. The probe witnessed the whole process of the base being attacked by a large mixed fleet, but it wasn't sure whether the latter were pirates or not. The pirates in this world were no different from the government forces. At the end of the memory core, the probe recorded an order for the entire army to retreat. It seemed that the garrison here had found a safe new base, but the probe was destroyed at that moment. The final location of the army's retreat was not recorded, and it wouldn't be easy to find other memory cores. Everything in the base that was intact had been moved away, and what was left was some junk.
A tall figure landed lightly like the wind. Medusa, who went to investigate the residential area, had returned.
"There's the smell of blood and death, but no corpses."
The purple-haired big sister reported somewhat dispiritedly. Behind her, a group of dejected heroic spirits followed.
"We collapsed a hollowed out asteroid," Sister R's lips curled up slightly, "but I ran out in time!"
Hey! It's obvious that your team members were buried, right? Even if you know that heroic spirits won't get hurt that easily, can't you at least have some self-awareness as a leader?
"As a female, won't it affect your image if you're dirty?" Sister R turned her head unnaturally in response to my ridicule, and then she saw a dirty cat face diagonally below her. She immediately broke out in a cold sweat, "General Visca, I'm very sorry. Please don't mind my words just now!"
"The storage area and the weapons production area are the same. There are no corpses or wreckage. They were evacuated cleanly." The other two groups of heroic spirits rushed back, and their findings were more or less the same. "All the buildings are now empty shells. Everything that could be moved has been moved away." "Yup.
If they shifted their strategy after defeating the enemy, they would have definitely taken everything that could be taken away. The corpses of their comrades would definitely not be left in the abandoned base. There's nothing left, and there are no signs of the base's buildings being forcefully opened. At the very least, it means that the remaining people retreated in a safe and orderly manner. However, it's a little strange. "I looked around at the dark and silent asteroid complex. The lights of a few buildings that were still working distorted everything." Even if they abandoned the base, they should have reported to the rear. But the Light of Aiur didn't receive any communication. Furthermore, they didn't leave any password to explain where they went. Did the garrison troops not know that we would arrive soon before they retreated? "
"Who knows?" Sister drew circles on the ground. "There's nothing left. There's no way to investigate what the retreating exploration troops were doing …"
"Err, erm, Sis." I watched my elder sister draw circles on the alloy floor with trepidation. I felt that the surrounding temperature was approaching absolute zero. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to destroy this place later and release a chain curse to bring misfortune to those who attacked this place. Oh, I'm not very familiar with it, so I can't guarantee the actual effect and success rate. Also, I don't know how the aliens reproduce …"
Seeing my older sister's entire body shrouded in black mist as she spoke such chilling words in such a casual tone, even Demetrius, who was nicknamed the Witch, scampered ten meters away with an expression that said "Good Kappa, the people of the Empire are all good Kappa". As for me, I really wanted to know. My previously pure and gentle older sister, just what exactly were you cursing about when it came to other people's reproduction methods …
At this moment, Ying's voice suddenly sounded in the communication link. She sounded a little nervous. "This is the communication tower. This is the communication tower … There's a small spaceship approaching. Its target is this base. Should we stop the operation?"
"Spaceship?" Sister stood up. "Are you sure that there's only a small spaceship?"
"Mm, it just jumped out from a few thousand kilometers away. Its body length is only about five hundred meters. Based on your classification, it should be considered a small spaceship. The target's speed isn't fast, but it will definitely reach the airspace above the base within two hours."
"Don't be in a hurry to attack." I was also curious about the small spaceship that suddenly appeared. I didn't know where it came from, so I immediately ordered. "The Void Rogues will sink into the space folds. The Heroic Spirits in the abandoned base will turn invisible. Let's see what the other party is trying to do."
A minute later, all of us entered invisible mode. We hid in a corner and waited for the small spaceship of unknown origin.
Just like what Sakura had reported, about two hours later, the slowly moving spaceship finally appeared.
"So broken …"
That was Sister's first thought.
Looking at the rectangular spaceship that was struggling to find a landing spot on the landing platform, as though there was a malfunction in one of its engines, I couldn't help but agree.
It was fine if the spaceship was slightly damaged, it could be considered to have been baptized by the flames of war. Some traces of modification could also be ignored since the spaceships in this universe were a hodgepodge of various technologies. However, the two large pieces of armor on the belly of the broken spaceship were obviously different from the other spaceships, right? One of the eight engines on its buttocks obviously couldn't be ignited anymore, right? The metal sheet that was fluttering in the wind (if there was wind) definitely wasn't designed like that, right?
Also, I wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but among the bunch of antennas in the middle of the spaceship, there seemed to be one … one that was tied to the frame with iron wire?
Could this weird thing really travel into space? How did it leave the atmosphere? More importantly, did this thing really jump over? The pilot of the spaceship, apologize to all the physicists in the universe!
"I … I need to reevaluate the technological creativity of those inferior races," Visca stared blankly at the rectangular spaceship that looked like a large piece of sliced bread, especially the antenna that was tied to the frame with iron wire. "Even the damaged spaceships that we refurbished were better than this. How did it break free from gravity?"
While we were in a daze, the tattered spaceship that seemed to challenge the limits of technology finally completed its descent. It took fifteen minutes to find its balance. If it were on the battlefield, it would have been enough to turn it into a honeycomb briquet. The moment I saw this scene, I came to a conclusion. The enemy in front of me was definitely not the enemy that attacked this base. Otherwise, even if I had to search through the deep space, I would have shot all the exploration teams that were stationed here one by one.
In this cruel universe, there was actually such a weird spaceship that dared to come and go alone. I instantly lost my hostility towards them. Then, I patted Visca's little head and said, "Lass, try to monitor their communication channel."
"It was already a success," Visca squinted her eyes and rubbed her face against my pants. "It was too easy. That kind of communication device that has no defenses, I'm afraid you could even pick it up with an FM radio …"
Hey, this is too much …
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