"Hey, I feel like they're trembling."
Liliana clung to the railing in front of her and muttered to herself, her eyes sparkling. "Heh, I suddenly saw some interesting life forms. They seem to be in that planetary fortress … They've hidden so well that even I, Pope, was fooled."
Sandora and I looked at each other. The latter pondered for a moment before asking Lin Xue, "What did you see just now?"
"Escape, annihilation, hatred, despair, wandering until now …" The missy closed her eyes slightly, her tone carrying an indescribable sense of desolation and sorrow. The girl who had the power of prophecy seemed to be instantly immersed in a time and space that we couldn't see with our naked eyes. Her entire being was surrounded by a kind of lonely aura. Seeing this, I quickly slapped the back of her head. "Speak human language!"
"This bunch of unlucky bastards had been defeated by the Empire once before." Lin Xue rubbed the back of her head as she extended her leg to kick me. "Now, they still have a few survivors hiding in that planetary fortress. Don't ask any more questions, just go and take a look for yourself. My suggestion is not to cause any casualties, so you'd better tie up Pandora and Visca first … "
The two short melons immediately looked at the missy and ground their teeth.
Most of the Ghost Fleet were unmanned death spaceships, but it was obvious that there were still living people in the fleet. They were hiding in the large spaceships in the inner layer of the fleet and the planetary fortress at the core of the fleet. They were hiding from the Empire's spaceships, but unfortunately, they bumped into the Macro World. Now that the Empire's fleet had appeared in front of them, they instinctively wanted to escape. This should be the current situation. Based on the fact that the other party was willing to use a spaceship to lure the Imperial Army to launch an all-out attack in order to buy a minute of space jump time, it seemed that the other party was quite familiar with some of the key parameters of the Empire's equipment. If not for the new equipment, the Ghost Fleet might really be able to escape from this place. Sandora thought for a moment before making a decision. She ordered the main forces to continue gathering at the periphery of the Ghost Fleet, and at the same time, used the fully charged cannons to deter the unknown Ghost Ships. Then, the Empire General led the 22 Angel-class elite motherships and a few light spaceships to the planetary fortress at the core of the Ghost Fleet.
"Isn't this a little risky?"
My sister was more cautious. she looked worriedly at the dark and flickering Ghost Ships. "They aren't small fries. If there is a misunderstanding and they fight to the death, the Empire General might not be able to hold them off."
I glanced at Lin Xue, and she nodded. "They won't initiate an attack. Of course, the prerequisite is that we don't open fire first."
"But I think it's better to make a statement first to be safe."
I thought for a moment, then ordered for the communicator on the officer's platform to be switched to the full frequency broadcast. Then, I thought for a minute. "Right, what should I say? Say that we are here for love and justice. It has to be especially sensational. It has to be the kind that makes you want to take out your house and give it to them. "
Liliana looked at me in admiration. "Wow, Boss, you really never make a draft!"
I didn't know if she was praising me or insulting me. But out of habit, I threw her into a nearby basket.
"Whatever. They won't respond anyway, but there are some benefits to it."
Lin Xue glanced at me and said helplessly.
I thought for a moment, then connected the communicator and said in the full frequency broadcast, "Ghost Fleet … Mm, I don't know what your name is, but this is the Xiling Empire's Royal Fleet. I am the fleet commander. You have entered the Empire's territory. Our fleet will be conducting a routine inspection. You can relax. Our fleet will not attack you. I hope that you can cooperate with our operation. During the routine inspection, I hope that you will not attempt to leave the scene or do anything irrational. Otherwise, we have the right to …"
Lin Xue pinched me from behind. "Hurry up and get to the point!"
I quickly summarized, "Anyway, we are going to land now. Don't open fire carelessly. Otherwise, the Imperial Army will launch an all-out assault."
Sandora pressed her hand against her forehead. "Letting Ah Jun do as he pleases was a huge mistake …"
I chuckled. Anyway, it was fine as long as I had expressed myself clearly. I always felt that it was a pain in the ass to pay attention to diplomatic language between two civilizations. If you used a bunch of rhetoric … would the other party even understand? Even the cultural background was different. In Biboru's hometown, "Have you eaten?" was a curse word … Look, I went off topic.
After the declaration of no exchange of fire was broadcasted three times, the Empire Admiral led the selected elite escort fleet and approached the center of the Ghost Fleet. I noticed that after the Imperial Army's flagship suddenly moved, the Ghost Ships more or less panicked. The lights on many of the spaceships flickered non-stop as if they were having a spasm. The spaceships that were identified subconsciously increased the thrust of their engines. However, the Garden of Death System had changed the information structure of the void in this area. Except for the Imperial Army, all spaceships had lost the ability to travel in the void. In the end, the Ghost Ships were still frozen in place.
Just as Lin Xue had said, although the Ghost Ships caused a small commotion, none of the spaceships rashly exchanged fire with the Empire's spaceships. Even when we approached the huge planetary fortress, there was no conflict. Although everyone could feel that the atmosphere in this area was extremely tense, Lin Xue's prophecy was correct.
There was only one thing that was regrettable. In the end, we did not receive any response from the other party. All the Ghost Ships remained silent. The planetary warships in the core area welcomed the landing craft from the Empire Admiral in a lifeless darkness.
The landing team boarded the special defense landing craft that looked like a plant bud and arrived at the surface of the planetary fortress that was nicknamed "Rotten Potato." The landing craft and a few escorts landed without any response. After we left the gangway, we only saw a dark and gloomy sky and land. The atmosphere here was a little depressing.
"There's an atmosphere here, and it seems to be denser than Earth's." The elder sister sniffled and frowned. "It's just that the taste is terrible."
"The creatures on Earth can't survive in such an atmosphere. There are some toxic trace elements." Sandora stomped her feet and her leather boots made a short clanking sound when she stepped on the metal ground. "All the Ghost Ships are in such an atmosphere. Perhaps they are simulating the ecology of 'their' home. The surroundings look desolate. There are no plants or animals. As the home planet of carbon-based creatures, the environment here is not comfortable. "
I found a small platform and gazed into the distance. What entered my eyes was a barren, dark-colored metal land that stretched all the way to the horizon. Only in the far distance could I see that the land was slightly undulating, forming a parabola that stretched across the entire sky. This planetary fortress that looked bumpy from afar was actually quite smooth in terms of details. There were no plants or animals here, nor were there any rivers, lakes, mountains, or any other complex landforms. Everything that looked like a parabola was made of smooth alloy armor. Standing on the surface of the planet, it was as if I was looking at an infinitely vast plaza. Such a monotonous scene made even the battleships of the empire look much friendlier than this.
The planetary fortress beneath our feet had an atmosphere that was thicker than Earth's. There were a few light sources in the atmosphere that allowed us to observe our surroundings with the naked eye. These light sources were uniformly emitted from the edge of the atmosphere. A quick analysis showed that they were a phenomenon of self-illumination caused by a chemical reaction in the atmosphere. When the landing craft passed through the atmosphere, it disrupted these chemical reactions, causing a few small black holes to appear at the edge of the atmosphere. When I looked up, I could see that they were spreading out from the top of the sky. However, there was a phenomenon of light in the center of the holes. Perhaps in a few minutes, they would connect into a huge black ring.
Other than our entire family, there were also three small teams of heroic warriors and scouts. These special teams made up of armored scorpions, ravens, and leader bees weren't tasked to protect the leader, but to protect the scouts, explore the planet's crust, and find the entrance as soon as possible. Because the previous scans showed that there was an extremely powerful energy reaction beneath the planet's crust, we couldn't guarantee our safety once we entered the enemy's base.
As for the Pandora sisters, they didn't come. I was afraid that they would tear down the enemy's house.
"Olga, you will be the overall commander. Try not to get into a fight when you find the enemy."
Before we split up, Sandora gave a few instructions to the leader of the Leader Bee. She was the most rational and calm of the three types of heroic soldiers. It was the safest way to let her control this mission that required peace. If Vega was the one giving the orders, I was worried that she would swing her sword all the way from one side of the planet to the other.
"Even if we are attacked?"
Olga asked quietly. Her smooth, half-covered visor made it impossible for us to see her expression. Of course, you could also think that "smooth" was the expression of the Leader Bee, although it was a little strange.
Sandora glanced at Lin Xue and nodded. "Even if we are attacked."
Olga nodded calmly. Not far away, Vega immediately put away her Battleship Slicing Sword dejectedly. Her six robotic limbs made a bunch of China knots on the ground.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Raven 001, the most mischievous of all the high-ranking officers of the Empire, muttered. It was no wonder that she was dissatisfied. After all, how could an ordinary Imperial soldier not be allowed to kill when they were under attack?
But with Lin Xue leading the way, she could only obey unconditionally. After a moment of awkwardness, Raven and Vega assigned their soldiers to follow the team and quickly disappeared from our sight.
The Admiral of the Empire hovering above the planet fortress had already released some temporary satellites. Now, these mini probes, which were not much bigger than the Mercury Lamp's box, had begun to orbit around the dark 'rotten potato', transmitting the scanned information to the landing troops on the surface. Sandora set up a temporary communication platform on the small highland where we were, which was used to keep track of the satellite scans and the progress of the various reconnaissance troops. There was a huge difference between a close range scan and a long-range probe. Soon, we found the location of the various facilities of the planet fortress on the energy distribution map marked by the satellites. Of course, in Tawil's words, it was only in theory.
Sandora slowly identified the energy readings that seemed almost identical to what I saw. She explained in a low voice, "The anti-aircraft gun position, the large hangar, the torpedo platform used for rapid close-range defense, and the accelerator ring suspected to be a field effect weapon. The weapon system of this fortress is very complete, but it is more focused on defense within the solar system. And I don't see any mathematical law modification facilities related to the law system. This fortress may not be offensive, but survival. Ah Jun, look at these shield charging … Hmm, you probably don't understand …"
I felt that she did not need to say that.
"This is the first time I've seen a planet fortress built by a civilization other than the Empire," the big sister said with interest. "I feel that this thing is quite high-end. How does it compare to our planet warships?"
"Planet warships are actually not that high-end." Sandora's hair began to emit golden light spots as she said in a low voice, "No, it should be said that the definition of planet warships is too broad, to the point that it is difficult to say whether it is high-end or not. Many civilizations have the ability to build this kind of giant fortress. As long as they can master the driving method that is independent of macroscopic forces, such as quasi-coordinate drive or curvature drive, and have enough internal space isolation technology, they can build planet warships. Some of the galactic civilizations that have just entered space also have the ability to hollow out some metal planets and transform them into colonial ships. If I must say, those space capsules with a bunch of thrusters can also be considered planet fortresses. But those things have nothing to do with real warships. Planet warships of the lowest level may only have the ability to cruise in the range of low light speed, and limited the ability to provide mobile colonial needs. The highest level may be like the Warsong, which can easily turn the entire galaxy upside down. And the one we are standing on is in between the two … I don't really understand the physical properties of the interstellar alloy it uses, but if my guess is correct, it is completely capable of fighting against the 'zero' class planet warships that the Empire is currently building. It even has an obvious advantage when facing some of the earlier models. "
I could instantly feel that I was very surprised.
"So, they might have had a very deep relationship with the Empire during their glorious period. Such a powerful civilization, there is no reason for them not to be included in the anti-abyss battlefront. Unfortunately, I know nothing about them …" Sandora said with a helpless smile.
At this moment, we suddenly received a message from Olga. They had found something that looked like the entrance to the planet fortress thousands of kilometers away from here!
With the help of teleportation, we traveled thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye. We quickly met up with Olga. She had already asked the Leader Bee to use the power of the mirror image to set up a large temporary base nearby. There was no sign of the armored scorpion at the scene.
"They have already gone down with the scouts." A certain Raven (I really couldn't recognize the number, but looking at the Raven's laughing manner, it must be a veteran with a high number) shook its head and said, "Moving in such a narrow place, it is true that only those guys with more muscles than brains can perform well. You have to hurry, you might be able to meet up with the scouts before those paranoid machetes tear down their house …"
I looked at the so-called entrance not far away. It was a tunnel that looked like an ant's nest, located in the middle of a relatively gentle hill. The entrance of the tunnel formed a hole with a slope of about forty-five degrees, and the narrowest part was about ten meters in radius. Standing at the edge of the hill, I could feel the cold wind blowing up from below. There were no signs on the smooth metal walls, which meant that this opening was most likely not for people to walk through. Of course, according to the usual style of the book, it could also be that the road signs had been blown off by the wind for a long time, or even worse, the road signs on the ground had faded.
… Anyway, let's go down and have a look.
Leaving Olga and her bees to stand guard outside the entrance, I dragged my family and jumped into the big hole. After going down, I realized that the hole was not as deep as I had imagined. It was only about a hundred meters down, which was really a small step compared to the spaceship corridor that was a few kilometers long.
But when we landed, there was a sloping tubular tunnel in front of us. I couldn't see the end of it, which meant that the real destination was still a long way underground.
I contacted Vega. She had already advanced a few hundred kilometers with the scouts, charging all the way at supersonic speed. I began to feel that it was a huge mistake to let her participate in this kind of exploration mission. But fortunately, she at least remembered the rule of not harming anyone, and didn't use her own battleship slicing sword to open the way. Otherwise, she would have already run thousands of kilometers.
Vega also reported to us something noteworthy.
The underground of this planet's fortress extended in all directions, and there were forks everywhere. The scan showed that it was an extremely complicated transportation network. Due to the existence of psionic interference, the scan could not easily extend to the entire planet, and could only be used within a few hundred kilometers. The team that she led had split into three groups. Considering safety issues, they would not split up further, but they would randomly choose the path that led to the lowest level. In other words, we could only find a general direction to advance in, and wouldn't need to meet up with her.
These underground tunnels were completely different from the bright and straight corridors of the space fortress that I had in mind. Even though they had flat floors, the walls were like irregular tunnels, with grayish-black metal covering the uneven walls. In the dim light, they didn't look very clean. There were lights in the tunnels, but it was hard to tell if they were normal lighting. It was probably just a weak light for emergencies. Anyway, it looked so dim that it was uncomfortable to the eyes. After walking for a while, I couldn't stand it anymore. I decisively shook my head and called Alaya and Little Jewel out. One adjusted the daylight while the other adjusted the long distance light to act as a searchlight in front of us …
Exposed cables could be seen on the walls and above the corridors. I wasn't sure whose idea it was to expose the pipes. Putting safety and stability aside, they looked like an unfinished building from an aesthetic point of view. Sandora complained about the terrible wiring as we walked, while Shallow Shallow kept associating the winding tunnel with an ant hole.
Then … we arrived at an unusually wide and irregular hall. In front of us were fifty to sixty messy tunnels of different sizes.
Shallow Shallow hugged my arm and jumped up. "See, Ah Jun, I told you that this is an ant hole!"
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