After the grand but boring welcoming ceremony, a group of high-ranking officials of the Empire took a vehicle provided by the financial group and entered their capital. On the way, I finally learned of Liliana's feats.
Not only did she distribute leaflets and preach at the borders of Roland's Gale, she even helped Roland's Gale sink 120 'Shepherdian' warships from the very beginning.
By chance, Liliana's fleet encountered Roland's exploration fleet in the Desolate Lands. That was the first time both sides came into contact. Out of professional habit, a certain priest led over a hundred fully armed Empire warships to preach. However, at that moment, a Shepherdian fleet suddenly appeared and started attacking the exploration fleet of the financial group indiscriminately.
The development after that was very uneventful. The female Pope, who felt that her work as a priest was being rudely obstructed, flew into a rage on the spot. She commanded her fleet and fired a volley of shots from the back of the Shepherdians, setting up ambushes and ambushes. The Holy Temple army had the advantage in terms of numbers, and they were all elites. On top of that, they had a wretched and despicable commander-in-chief. There was no doubt about the outcome of the battle. Over a hundred Shepherdian warships that were only expeditionary class were wiped out on the spot. This battle was the historic meeting between the Holy Temple army and Roland's Gale.
It was also because of this that Roland's Gale became the only force in the universe that knew of the existence of the Xiling Empire. It was also the only force that knew that the Shepherdians were not the only ones. There was another faction of the Good Faction (Liliana's self-assessment), the "Imperial Army", and that the latter was about to enter this universe.
Not long after that, Liliana was forced to retreat into the deep space. However, her vigorous propaganda had played a huge role. While the ordinary citizens of Roland's Gale did not know about it, the entire upper echelons were shocked by the news. However, considering the stability of the country, and more importantly, the fact that the "Holy Temple army" had been defeated by the "Shepherdians" who had the upper hand, the "Shepherdians", the "Imperial Army", had not been announced to the ordinary citizens. Until today, when the Holy Temple army reappeared, accompanied by the Empire's regular army, the financial group, who had lost all hope, remembered the Arabian Nights that a certain madwoman had spread to them.
Thinking back to the rumors of a "civil war between the Shepherdians", the financial group finally confirmed one thing: the Imperial Army had really come, and had begun to move.
This was the reason why we were able to come into contact with the financial group so smoothly. If the latter were from another civilization, we would not have been able to see an orderly welcoming party or a rehearsed welcoming process. It would be good enough if we did not have to face a scene of a catastrophic retreat.
The place where the leader of Roland's Gale resided, well, it should be called the President's Palace. It was an extremely tall black building, shaped like a vertical rectangular metal block. There was no light at all, and the entire building had no doors or windows. Did it not look familiar?
Obviously, it reminded people of the Hanged Man Aresta's residence. The building had no doors or windows, resembling a tomb. However, the one before us was obviously more advanced and grandiose.
"It's really strange to have the President's office set up in such a place. Don't you find it boring to live in there?"
I did not hide my surprise and ridicule. However, the middle-aged military-like man beside me, whose name was "Ling J.", what a strange name. He smiled bitterly and shook his head. "This is a cruel world. In order to survive, our leader has given up many things. In fact, the leaders of the other organizations are more or less the same."
After entering the strange building through a teleportation device, the accompanying officials of Roland's Gale stopped in their tracks. Along the way, other than a few useless words and coughs, they were dumbstruck. Although they performed well in terms of calmness and etiquette, I felt that they were really bored. It was good that they took the initiative to leave.
The weird-named "Ling?" Took the lead and walked in front, dismissing all of his followers.
"Please follow me. The leader is right in front. He has ordered that this meeting is top secret. Even I have to stop in front of the last door. Please don't take it to heart."
"It's okay. Time is precious. Efficiency comes first. We aren't here to freeload." I nodded and activated our mental connection. "Liliana, do you know what kind of person their leader is?"
Liliana shook her head. "I have seen him in the communication device. He is an old man, but I have never seen him with my own eyes."
As we chatted, we arrived at the deepest part of the dark building. In front of us was a silver-white alloy door.
"The leader is behind this door. I will be on standby outside." Ling J. stood at the side of the door and opened the path for us.
Before this, I had already imagined what kind of person the leader of Roland's Gale would be. According to Liliana, he would be an old man who looked to be at least 70 or 80 years old. He was full of vigor, like an old general. I felt that when the door opened, the person who would appear in front of us would be this old man. He would be wearing a well-ironed uniform and would be waiting for us behind a spacious office desk. His face would be filled with the calmness of an old man and the calmness of a leader of Roland's Gale facing the Emperor of the Empire. Around him, there would be stacks of thread-bound books and various editions of Jin Ping Mei … In any case, he would be filled with a scholarly aura.
However, I had guessed wrong.
What appeared in front of us was a very bright silver-white circular hall. It was made of some kind of high-strength alloy. There was no light at all, but it was filled with a soft glow. Other than the platform at the edge of the hall, there was a circular staircase that extended downwards like the Colosseum in ancient Rome. The staircase extended down layer by layer, reaching a depth of more than ten meters, all the way to the circular platform at the bottom. The leader of Roland's Gale was on that platform. His line of sight was level with the platform at the top of the hall, so he could effortlessly look at us.
A … huge head.
You didn't see wrong. The leader of Roland's Gale was a huge head that was at least 20 meters tall. Of course, his appearance was that of a hale and hearty old man with medium length white hair and a thin layer of white beard. The lines of his face were as firm as an old general's.
"Greetings, leaders of the Empire. It is a great honor to be able to talk to all of you face to face. This is definitely something that has never happened before in this universe. I am the leader of Roland's Gale, Roland's Gale."
The gigantic head opened its mouth and its voice was as loud as a bell. This damned hall was shaped like a microphone. As soon as the old man below opened his mouth, the entire hall was filled with rising air currents. Thank goodness we activated our shields in time.
Also, as a form of courtesy, I will not seriously ridicule the other party's name.
"Alright, I understand." I dug my ears hard and finally recovered from the shock caused by the huge head. "Now I know why you couldn't come to the landing site to welcome us personally. You really are a giant."
"Giant … No, I am no longer a human. As you can see, this head is my entire body."
This time, I was stunned. Then, I was deeply shocked by the miraculous theory of evolution.
"You are surprised, leader of the Empire. I am very presumptuous, but I am even more surprised now. You seem to have the same emotional model as humans. Please do not take this as a provocation. This is just my personal feeling."
The big sister had a curious expression on her face, and at the same time, she revealed a gentle smile. "It seems that there are many things that we do not understand about each other. As you can see, the real Shiring Apostles are also creatures with emotions. Those rebels are just a bunch of drones that have gone out of control. We will talk about this later. Right now, I am just curious. You … were you born like this?"
I couldn't help but cover my face with my hands. Big sister usually doesn't ask about other people's private matters, but all girls have the spirit of gossip. When this curiosity really comes out, no one can stop it.
The … old man named Roland Gale. Alright, he is an old man. I can no longer find any other way to describe this "human" leader in front of me. Facing the big sister's question, he didn't show any signs of awkwardness or displeasure. Instead, he revealed a very generous smile like an ordinary honest elder. "Regardless of whether you believe it or not, ever since I found out that you were coming, I have been thinking about this for three days and three nights. But now, I realize that interacting with you isn't as scary as I thought it would be. Sorry, I am getting old, and I tend to be a little talkative … As for my current appearance …"
The huge head in front of me didn't hide the reason why he looked like this. Or rather, if he told us the reason why he looked like this, it would make us feel even more responsible.
Everything was thanks to "our rebel army".
Just like what the Roland Gale official who was waiting at the door said, in this cruel world, in order for their people to survive, many leaders gave up many things that ordinary people couldn't imagine. Funa was a half-human, half-machine synthetic thinking machine, and old man Roland Gale used his outstanding biochemical technology and bionic technology to turn himself into a head that never needed rest. His thinking ability and energy were infinitely strong.
Before coming to this universe, Roland Gale was just a human, a young leader of a merchant group. He ambitiously led his family's merchant group to engage in interstellar trade. However, an unexpected warp engine malfunction brought his merchant group to this strange and cruel world.
Relying on talent and hard work that ordinary people couldn't imagine, Roland Gale survived in this chaotic Sky Zone. He founded the first financial group, a huge economic and military Empire. Using his astonishing sensitivity to long-term interests and military talent, Roland Gale almost unified the entire Eastern Sky Zone in his middle years. This made him almost a miracle — even the Shepherd noticed this constantly growing power.
Then, disaster struck.
In an era of war a few hundred years ago, Roland Gale's financial group faced the invading army of the Southern Zone, as well as the frantically expanding Angel and Black Mist Pirates. The war entered a stalemate. Perhaps if everything went smoothly, the financial group would still be victorious. However, at this time, Roland Gale made a fatal mistake. A blind and impulsive military decision. The other party didn't explain the mistake in detail, but the giant head told us that the mistake led to the complete destruction of the financial group. The Southern Zone occupied almost one-third of the financial group's territory, while the remaining two-thirds were ravaged by the Angel Pirates, Black Mist Pirates, and the sudden attack of the Shepherd fleet.
Fortunately, Roland Gale decisively gave up the fallen borders at the last moment and did his best to drag the war into a stalemate on a small scale. He held on until the Shepherd announced the beginning of the era of peace. Only then did the financial group finally turn the tables.
This near-death crisis made Roland Gale question his decision-making ability, but he knew that there was no other possible leader in the financial group other than himself. In order to ensure the survival of the country, which was already in danger, he decided to never make a mistake again. "This is the final result."
The old man's head still had a calm expression, and his voice was low and steady. "As you can see, an artificially created brain, a combination of machinery, biological tissue, bionic neural network, half a ton of chips, and the continuous energy technology we learned from the 'Imperial Army'. I'm no longer tired, no longer impulsive. All my emotions are set to a safe threshold between human and machine. Moreover, any decision I make now will be the limit of human intelligence and machine intelligence. From now on, the financial group will stand tall. We drove away the colonists of the Southern Zone, and blocked the Angel Pirates, who were secretly supported by the 'Imperial Army', outside our home. Now, I've made the decision to stand with you. This may cause the financial group to be instantly destroyed by the anger of the 'rebel army', but I believe it's worth it."
"You're very admirable. Really."
The big sister was silent for a few seconds, then she bowed slightly to the huge old man's head in front of her. Visca snorted softly, but there was still some praise in his voice. "As a lowly race, you've done well. You're barely worthy of the title of a warrior."
Even the old man Roland Gale, who didn't show much expression, showed an expression of surprise and surprise after the big sister bowed slightly and Visca praised him softly. Obviously, he still had the impression that the people of the Empire were "cold, ruthless, and harsh". Well, in a way, this impression wasn't wrong.
I was surprised by the old man's courage and his experiences, but I was more concerned about how many more examples there were in the universe.
"Very many. If someone as powerful as you is interested in asking a simple race like us, then you will know everything, because this isn't a secret at all. Everyone in the universe knows about this. In the endless cycle of war, the leaders of all the forces in the universe have clashed many times, and we know our friends and enemies very well. I know that the emperor of the Kemitre Empire in the South used to be a Tydal Star, but now he is a gigantic quantum computer, with three continuous fusion reactors providing him with energy. Similarly, in the South, the Violet Federation's twelve-member parliament is twelve brains immersed in test tubes, and they need to change their nutrient solution and part of their brain tissue every ten years to maintain consciousness. The Holy King of the Northern Heaven merged himself with his wife who died on the frontlines, and used the mysterious technology stolen from the Empire to transform both of them into a half-energy creature bound in a strong magnetic field that doesn't know fatigue. The Pope of the Church of Gusta in the Western Heaven used biochemical technology to create a brain matrix for himself, and his own head was empty except for a bunch of bionic antennas. His Pope's crown was actually a piercing analgesic signal transmitter, used to prevent his spinal cord from dying due to the incessant and intense headache. The Queen of the Gotark Free Kingdom was a combination of half human and half machine. Her biological part couldn't survive independently, so she was installed on a steel throne by her own subjects, acting as a calculator day and night … There are too many. Almost every kingdom that has survived to this day has a leader like this that has almost broken away from the biological category, and the goal is basically the same: to make sure that they don't make any mistakes, have unlimited energy, make accurate judgments, be efficient, agile, and fearless, and lead their own kingdom as a perfect leader every second. Countless of our soldiers bleed and die on the frontlines, and billions of our subjects face the threat of death every day, but they still maintain a basic level of loyalty, because they know how much their leader has sacrificed — it's not as light as life."
"Yes, it's very heavy." Other than that sentence, I was speechless. Even the thick-headed Shallow Shallow had quietened down.
"But this is the only way for us to survive. The 'Imperial Army' is too powerful for a normal race. Even if they tease us occasionally, we will need the strength of our entire country to defend against them. We have to give up everything in order to ensure that we don't lose our lives at the very last moment."
The huge old man's head spoke calmly. His deep eyes stared at us calmly.
"To be honest, I am a little embarrassed now." I shrugged. Then, Mercury Lamp immediately hugged my neck and spun me around forcefully. I had forgotten that this girl was still here.
"I'm sorry, I have already tried my best to control my emotions." The huge old man's face was a little nervous, but more than that, he was relieved. "I know that you are different from them, and what I said earlier was just a statement of facts. Please don't misunderstand … I am not arrogant enough to bargain with the Empire, but I hope that my words can make you sympathize with us normal races. Perhaps to you, the most important mission is to eliminate the rebel army. We are like primitive people in front of the Empire's technology. It doesn't matter how many we sacrifice, but we just want to survive. Even if we are weak, if we are forced to, even ants will resist — that's all."
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