That was because there were more empire ruins in this universe than I had expected. After Shadora provided us with an ancient star map, we discovered tens of thousands of ruins from the Old Empire Era in many broken star systems. The most likely one was a colonized planet that had been completely modified into a mechanical body, while the least likely one was a Digger probe that had lost its function. Because of this, Sives had sent out almost all the probes in his inventory to check the time of the destruction of these things. In the end, he calculated a time that matched the star map, and the accuracy was even up to a minute.
That was because the speed of the Empire's army was terrifying. Even if they encountered weak resistance, they could still crush the enemy at a speed far beyond the speed of light. A deviation of one hour in the timetable could cause the statistics of the Avengers' movements to be several light years off.
I connected the time schedule to the holographic projection. Everyone immediately gathered around and looked curiously at the image that had many time markers. After setting it up, the star map had already merged with the timetable. This colorful dot matrix was filled with densely packed numbers, to the point that I had to use color to differentiate the numbers and delete a large amount of data from the small-scale wreckage before I could get a general idea of what was going on.
We labeled this map of the apocalypse according to the time of the attack. We immediately noticed an interesting phenomenon. The star map in front of us looked like a few drops of oil on the surface of the water. There were many concentric colored spots that spread out in the shape of concentric circles.
"The Avengers attacked from more than ten locations at the same time." Sandora pointed at the star map, occasionally zooming in on some of the spots or placing them in the labeled area at the bottom of the star map. "The Cape of the Great House, the Beta-5 Constellation, the Deep Sea Base … I can still recognize a few of these. They were the original Avengers' fortresses. They had a large number of troops and were responsible for the production base. Their status was equivalent to the current Kuiper Belt Base. However, the remaining ruins don't seem to be from this universe. It should be that when the Old Empire was destroyed, it caused the worlds to intersect, and these spaces in other universes were moved into this universe."
"These colors are very uniform." Shallow Shallow also popped her head out from under my armpit. Even though she didn't really understand, her question was straight to the point. "What does this mean?"
"This means that the Avengers did not face any resistance when they swept through this universe." His elder sister's tone was very serious. This was the first time many of their guesses were directly confirmed. "We initially thought that the Avengers were split into two groups. One group fell into madness, and the other defended the remaining bases to resist. In the end, the mad army won and destroyed the old Empire base in this universe. But now, the situation is not so optimistic. All the bases were destroyed while advancing at a constant speed … There was no sign of resistance at all. "
All the Avengers were in a state of madness. All the old bases of the Empire were destroyed according to the plan. The so-called 'Avengers' did not exist from the beginning. They completed the doomsday plan with absolute unity and synchronization.
Sandora's expression grew grave. With her intelligence, she could tell the truth behind the timetable the moment it appeared before her eyes. However, she only bit her lip and didn't say anything else. I knew that it wasn't that she was numb to everything, but that she had temporarily suppressed everything in the depths of her heart. No matter who the culprit was, after the truth was revealed, the culprit would have to bear the wrath of the tyrant of the past.
We adjusted the coordinates and size of the star map and set the center point to the Mobrador star system. Immediately, we noticed an anomaly.
His elder sister was right. I was in for a shock.
The Mobrador star system was the only star system in the entire universe that had not been completely annihilated. After the Avengers went berserk, the star system was attacked. However, halfway through the attack, the Avengers suddenly retreated. With regards to this situation, my guess was that Mobrador was the last star system in the timeline. When the Avengers brought the flames of war to this star system, there was not enough time. That was why Mobrador was not completely destroyed. However, the bright colors on the timetable revealed a fact.
The Mobrador star system was one of the first star systems to be annihilated in the entire universe!
"This … This isn't right." I pulled out the numbers that I had hidden because I thought it would be troublesome. The results only proved that the relics of the Empire in the Mobrador star system were the first to be destroyed. "After the Avengers went berserk, they attacked this star system first. The relics of the old Empire near the God of Fog were the first to be destroyed. However, the Avengers seemed to have slammed on the brakes after that!"
That's right, it was an emergency brake. The Avengers might have been entrenched around the Mobrador Star System for as long as ten years, but other than almost destroying Mobrador's ecosystem in the beginning, they had not launched a single attack on the Star System. In the past ten years, they had destroyed everything in the universe that was related to the old Empire. However, they had not completely destroyed this small star system that was unremarkable in all aspects.
"It seems that our decision to protect Mobrador from the start was the right one." Sandora pressed her hands on the table, her face glowing. "There must be some secret in this star system that prevented the Avengers from taking action. Intelligence officer! Inform Zaku immediately. Get all their historical documents … "
Before Sandora could finish her order, Sives' image suddenly appeared in the tactical center. He said urgently, "Your Majesty! Emergency! The sixty-second engineering team is under attack! "
Sandora and I exchanged glances and exclaimed in unison, "So soon?!"
We had long expected that the Avengers would stop us from expanding our base outside. Once they discovered the engineering ships, they would definitely attack. But what was unbelievable was that they had appeared so early!
The engineering ships were special service ships that had undergone special modifications. They were irreplaceable spaceships even in the old Empire. Although they did not have powerful firepower, they had extremely strong defense and stealth capabilities. They were specially designed for the Schilling mainframe, so that the latter could build a base in the dangerous frontline environment. They had their own spatial concealment device that could hide a spherical space of ten thousand kilometers. Moreover, the Schilling mainframe was an expert in information manipulation. Although they could not reach the strange talent of Little Bubble, who could distort information at will in front of a true god, it was still easy for them to hide a base under the eyes of the scanning probes. The effect of these two factors was not as simple as one plus one. I even suspected that a mass-produced Bubble could build a highway to the Void node without anyone noticing. But it had not even been a day, and an engineering ship had already been attacked?
"How are the losses?"
The first thing I asked about was the damage. Bubbles also stood up with a worried look on her face. Although the mass-produced mainframe was strictly speaking a computing machine without independent thinking, they were still individual bodies separated from their own bodies. Although I always felt that it was a little funny that Bubble always called the mainframe "my daughters" with an arrogant expression, this little otaku girl really treated the replicas as her own children. This kind of relationship might not be true mother-daughter love, but it was not far from that.
"The escort team lost seven expeditionary battleships. The two accompanying Eternal-class motherships were both heavily damaged and are currently under repair. The engineering ship suffered light damage and has safely returned. Several armored scorpions from the Avengers successfully infiltrated the battleship but were surrounded and killed by the mainframe guards. One of the mainframes suffered light damage during the battle and is currently undergoing examination."
"Take your time, I'll go take a look!"
Upon hearing that one of the mainframes was injured, Bubble threw down that sentence and ran out like a runaway … Bubble.
"What about the ambush?" The big sister asked. "How did you guys get exposed?"
She looked troubled, as though she did not know how to answer such a simple question. After hesitating for a moment, she forced out a sentence. "From the looks of it, it might be a coincidence …"
"As soldiers, we shouldn't use coincidence to explain the ambush," Sandora said with a frown.
"I'm very sorry, Your Majesty, but there's no other explanation. The stealth system of the engineering ship has been operating well, and all the mainframes' information interference functions have been activated. At that time, the engineering team had already begun reconstruction of the target ruins and deployed the Schilling Hive and scanning tower. We can confirm that there were no probes from the Avengers in the vicinity of Bastion 62. All in all, the Avengers could not have discovered the engineering team. Furthermore, the enemy that Bastion 62 encountered did not seem to have come prepared. The enemy was a mix of frontier battleships and expeditionary battleships, which is not suitable for ambushing … "
I understood what Sives meant. In fact, the moment a frontier battleship appeared in the enemy's fleet, it was obvious that it was an ambush. That was because anyone with a normal brain would not use a Borderland-class warship in a sneak attack. That kind of slow-moving behemoth was not suitable for such a quick encounter. It was just like how assassins in ancient times would at most carry a dagger when they moved. Who would carry a halberd to assassinate someone? They might even get stuck in a skylight!
"Looks like it really was an ambush," Sandora said thoughtfully. "I didn't expect them to start patrolling the Prime Material Plane so soon, and they even brought a battleship with them. This could be a blockade … What's the situation with the other bases connected to Bastion 62?"
"We've revised the plan urgently. The four neighboring engineering teams are now moving to a safe alternate route to continue their work. The Avengers have disappeared after the ambush, and no other engineering teams have reported being ambushed. "
"Get them to be more vigilant. It seems that the Avengers have already started patrolling the universe. After this encounter, I'm afraid that they will increase the frequency of their patrols. It's not impossible for them to conduct another full-frequency scan."
I gave the order, and Sives' projection saluted before leaving the tactical center to make arrangements to counter the Avengers' patrol team. Big Sis frowned as she stood by the side. She had the same expression as Sandora: deep in thought.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem? "
I knew that one of them was experienced in war, and the other was naturally meticulous. She might have thought of something that was easily overlooked, so I hurriedly asked her.
"This is the third time." Big Sis and Sandora exchanged glances. "They come and go without a trace."
Sandora added, "It's the same in the previous encounters. They always appear out of nowhere, and our warning radar is useless. The other party will only have a mass reaction when they enter the Prime Material Plane, so we can't track their jump path at all. "
"Is this the Avengers' unique technology?" Shallow Shallow came over and asked.
Sandora immediately shook her head. "Of course not. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so confused."
Now that she said that, I understood as well. However, I could only be confused along with my sister and Shadora. If the two of them couldn't figure it out, it would be even more difficult for me to figure it out. Besides, this matter should be a headache for the officers in the intelligence department. Our only function was to complain about it. Speaking of which, I felt a little unbalanced. It couldn't be helped that Sandora thought further than me. After all, she had already ruled the world tens of millions of years ago, but Big Sis always thought one step ahead of everyone else. That was really strange. After all, this cute big sister of mine had a single-threaded brain. She could only think about one thing at a time since she was young, so how could she be so talented in strategy? Was this the embodiment of concentration?
It was almost night time when we left the tactical center. As the Divine Fog Planet's "day and night" cycle was as long as half a month, we simulated Earth's day and night cycle in General City. It was now the time when the city's lanterns were lit. The artificial dome above the city was adjusted to a dark state and simulated a bright moon. There was even a huge smiley face drawn on the moon, and a floating bubble beside it indicated the current Beijing time …
It seemed that we were using a theme pack designed by Shallow Shallow today.
The Empire's base wouldn't calm down even after nightfall. As far as the eye could see, all the military factories and assembly camps were still brightly lit. War puppets and light carriers that had just been assembled would occasionally line up from these factories. Under the command of the city's mainframe, they would easily complete the final scan at the nearest checkpoint. Then, they would line up and board large transport ships to report to their respective commanding officers. Blue psionic light flowed slowly in the night sky. Everything was silent and orderly. The Empire's full-power operation was an astonishingly efficient war machine. It was like an assembly line that continuously produced brand-new soldiers and fighter aircrafts. At the same time, it was also recycling and processing the discarded parts collected from the battlefield. The Shiring Apostles' "field filling technology" and "information materialization" technology allowed their military factories to no longer have a lack of raw materials. However, by recycling the discarded parts from the battlefield, they could still reduce energy consumption to a certain extent. In times of war, even a 0.1% increase in efficiency was not to be missed. The Schilling mainframe in these factories could not help but make such meticulous calculations every day.
After connecting to the information link, the progress of the munitions factory could be seen at a glance. In the previous ambush, when we intercepted the Vengeance Army's convoy, we had lost quite a number of light warships. But now, we had more or less replenished our losses. In less than 48 hours, we had made up for the losses from the war.
This was a production speed that could only be described as terrifying. And I had sufficient reason to believe that the Revenge Army's production efficiency was probably several times that of the General's City and the outpost base combined. And this was still an optimistic estimate. Although the production of Eternal-class motherships couldn't compare to the mass production of war puppets and fighter aircrafts, the Revenge Army's replenishment speed was still incomparable to ours.
If we were to fight a war of attrition, the Imperial Army would lose before the war even started. No wonder Sandora would choose a seemingly risky move like the "Mirage Plan." The Mirage Plan seemed to use a large number of fake bases to confuse the Revenge Army and provide cover for our real base. However, it also served as a large number of bait to lure the Revenge Army's main forces out. This way, we could reduce the enemy's numbers by fighting them head-on while being as safe as possible. Every single one of Sandora's plans contained more than ten steps. I could usually only see three or four steps. So, under normal circumstances, I simply didn't look at it. It would only make me feel inferior …
"Hu — Wah —"
I heard a soft murmur that I didn't understand. I felt a slight movement in the pocket in front of my chest. I placed my hand into the pocket as if I was performing a military salute. A few seconds later, my hand sank slightly. Someone was hugging my thumb.
"You're awake? Are you still jet-lagged? " I was rather amused as I looked at the tiny Goddess who was currently rubbing her eyes in her palm and muttering to herself. Her dress and wings were all wrinkled, and it seemed that her sleeping posture was no better than that of a mercury lamp. Jingle had a problem that made me not know whether to laugh or cry. She would often be jet-lagged. When we went on a mission, as long as the target world's timeline was different, she would be jet-lagged. She would be jet-lagged from the start of the mission to the end. When we returned to Earth, she would be jet-lagged again …
Jingle raised her wings so that I could help smooth them out. She muttered in a daze, "Oh, I slept for twenty-four hours. I've been jet-lagged …"
I was speechless.
This was the first time I heard that someone could be jet-lagged. She was getting closer to Araya!
Just as I was thinking about Araya, I felt a warm breeze brush past me. A pure white holy light descended from the sky. A silver-haired girl with a pair of wings stumbled in front of me while rubbing her eyes. She looked at the sky and muttered, "Brother Monarch, it's not even dawn yet?"
Jingle was instantly overjoyed. She hugged my index finger and shook it vigorously. "Haha! Another one that wasn't jet-lagged! "
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