Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1387: Ghost Ship

Isana laughed heartily and suddenly seemed to remember something, patting my arm: "Oh right, Your Majesty, have you heard about the ghost ship?"

"Ghost ship?" I was taken aback by the Fish Girl’s abrupt question, then quickly connected it to her race and nodded knowingly, "Oh, you mean the legend of those drifting, unmanned ancient ships at sea, right? Humans have quite a few legends about ghost ships. Are you mermaids also interested in this? Were those ships made by you?"

"No, not those kinds of ghost ships," Isana had a habit of wagging her tail when anxious, so I heard her tail flap on the floor, "Although I did love treasure hunting in shipwrecks when I was little... That has nothing to do with this; I’m talking about a popular legend in the Macro World these days. It’s said that an Imperial Warship retreated from a battlefield, lost the fleet, and the General and Soldiers on board disappeared, leaving the ship floating under the main host’s control back to the Imperial District. Unable to find a port, it kept drifting around the Universe, becoming a ghost ship. Occasionally, interstellar travelers would spot this giant ship, describing it as seemingly lifeless, barely glowing, with dim engines almost extinguished, covered in scars, and if close enough, they could see the dark corridors within through the cracked openings. But no one could ever board the ship since no one dared to approach, and the ghost ship always vanished suddenly as if still striving to locate a military port. Many claimed to have seen this ship, especially the old sailors in the convoys transporting supplies for the Servant Army, though most lacked evidence; it’s likely just boasting."

Isana was enthusiastically narrating the ghost ship tale. Initially, I paid extra attention, thinking it was important intelligence, only to later realize: it was basically a space version of a sailor’s tall tale, akin to the drunken seamen in the port bars during the sail era boasting about sea monsters and ghost ships. Those superstitious old sailors loved enhancing their adventures with such stories, and now, interstellar wandering boring crewmen have their advanced topic: interstellar ghost ships, even void ghost ships.

From a creativity standpoint, the story is quite good: they used the Imperial Warship as the story’s background, which is undoubtedly eye-catching. In the eyes of most of the civilians in the Macro World and the Clan, the Imperial Warship resembles a legendary object, especially large ships, mostly seen in brochures and screens, admired like a 16th-century inland youth dreaming of a sail battleship with a 55-meter mast and 18-pound cannons, yet these warships wouldn’t cruise through villages, with overwhelming odds of never having a chance to see the Eternal Level ships at Imperial bases, let alone going to outer space. Therefore, ghost ship stories concocted by old sailors, who have traveled through space, circulate widely in taverns mixed with alcohol and adrenaline.

Isana immediately noticed my lack of interest in the story, and I could hear the flapping sound again from under her chair: she was wagging her tail, displeased, "Ghost ships might not be fake, right? Though certainly some are bragging, yet recently there have been ghost ship legends across dozens of worlds!"

"An Imperial Warship goes astray? Then the navigation host powers on but can’t provide directions? Ultimately drifting within the Imperial District?" I chuckled, "Moreover, no outpost detected this active ship’s signal? It’s not that I wish to ruin your fairy tale, but the story is hardly possible— for our ships have multiple backup navigation systems, plus a ’catastrophic damage identification protocol’ amongst them, so if all navigation equipment fails, the ship would jump to a stable universe and lock the engines, preventing navigation-less flight into hostile territories, thus averting information leaks. Additionally, all officers and soldiers disappearing from the ship is less believable, as the Imperial Army has clear ’abandon ship’ procedures. Unless all soldiers died before evacuation, the Military Department wouldn’t let a ship ’disappear’; it would either be recovered immediately, destroyed by allied forces pre-capture, or the Captain would detonate the ship pre-evacuation, ensuring it wouldn’t drift out of sight. Furthermore— the identification signal transmitter onboard is sturdy like the black box; a ghost ship would have been detected by local Imperial outposts."

Isana listened to my explanation, dumbfounded and dejectedly lowered her head, "Why do your Technicians never leave room for dreams?"

Me: "..." This involves national interests and war outcome; can there be room for dreams?

"Though someone truly submitted a video recording of an encounter with a ghost ship to your Military Department," Isana pondered and suddenly grew excited again, "Not only videos but also voyage logs, supposedly amongst those who encountered the ghost ship is a Servant Army officer, who encountered it while cruising in a private ship, that’s the most widely spread tale— surely it can’t be false?"

"Hmm?" I perked up this time, "There’s more to this?"

Isana nodded vigorously, the two white-haired old grandpas across the table nodded as well; it seemed they were also aware of these widely spread ’stories’ in the Macro World.

I fell into contemplation: with videos, voyage logs, and even eyewitness records from a Servant Army officer, if such a ’ghost ship story’ is detailed to this extent, it’s likely more than mere folk tales.

Could it be similar to when encountering an exile fleet’s ’ghost ship’ in the Macro World passageway, an old Empire era spacecraft drifting into the void? Just this time, it’s not an exile race but an out-of-control old Empire battleship?

"I’ll check back on it, see if the Military Department has official sighting reports," I nodded to Isana, glanced outside: it was already late, street lights were starting to illuminate, so I stood up, "Then I’ll head off, feel free to stay."

Isana waved her hand: "Jumping around is inconvenient, so I won’t see you off."

Me: "..."

Before leaving, I suddenly remembered the two white-haired grandpas and recalled an important thing: "You better not stay out late, the Military Academy locks down at night; you two are students after all now..."

"No worries, I’ll teleport in." white-haired grandpa number one said, and number two nodded along: "I’ll climb the walls to get in."

As an institution focusing on students’ hard skills, the Imperial Military Academy has this rule: whether wall climbing, skipping class, cheating, or leaving early, as long as you can manage it without the teachers noticing, there won’t be any penalties, and confessing afterward could even earn credits. Thus, I smiled and nodded to the two high-energy grandpas: "Wish you luck."

I sent a message to the Military Academy’s Security Department as soon as I went out: "Increase the night lockdown at the academy, electrify all walls, and raise the spatial confinement field to the stratosphere..."

Disconnecting the communication, I felt refreshed, vaguely getting what my high school’s disciplinary head used to feel, realizing this feeling is quite pleasant indeed...

Returning home later than usual today, but as always, unless I said I’d eat out, the family would wait for everyone to gather for dinner. The signature large dining table seated a crowd like a mini banquet, and the only empty seat was between Pandora and Visca, seems the sisters fought with others to secure this prime spot. I sat down and the first thing I did was pinch the sisters’ cheeks for affection, then moved the little Wild Dingdang drowsing in front of me aside: again, it’s going to be the rhythm of dining with dozens of Dou Ding Goddesses, some clever ones already alighted on Big Sister’s or Uncle Kenser’s shoulders waiting to be fed.

"You’re finally back!" I heard a chiding voice full of puffed air from the right, across Pandora’s seat, unable to see the speaker, searched over and discovered a tiny Gothic Doll only a few dozen centimeters tall sitting on a chair, raising a small fork and knife in protest, due to her stature, she’d almost be enveloped by the chair’s back and arms, so she sat atop a pile of books, making one worry if she’d fall over. Certainly, Pandora and Visca were also sitting atop books...

"Ran into acquaintances," I explained to the little girl, and while lifting my chopsticks, remembered my tea house excursions this afternoon, having filled my belly with water and snacks, "Uh..."

"Master, what’s wrong? Is the food not good?" Anwina’s head emerged from the soup bowl before me, steaming, "There are chive dumplings that the master likes today."

I watched a ghost head floating above the table, but I was already accustomed to it. With a slightly awkward laugh, I said, "No, I had some snacks before coming here, so I’m not very hungry."

While I was talking, Sandora had already finished her third bowl of rice porridge.

"Speaking of... do you know about the ghost ship, Sandora?" I recalled what Isana had told me earlier, then looked up at Sandora. She forcefully swallowed a baozi whole and rolled her eyes, mumbling, "You mean the ghost ship?"

"It is said that an unknown Empire warship has appeared in the Macro World," I said slowly while picking out the filling from the baozi to feed Wild Dingdang and another unfamiliar Wild Dingdang in front of me (otherwise, they would eat themselves full without realizing the baozi has fillings inside), "It’s been spread far and wide, with many interstellar travelers claiming to have encountered that ship. Based on descriptions, it should be a large mother ship, but it doesn’t quite resemble an Eternal Level spaceship. It’s severely damaged, doesn’t send active signals, won’t respond to calls, yet retains its ability for cross-world travel. Initially, I thought this was just like some urban legend, but I heard that even officers from the Servant Army have reported sightings, so I wanted to ask if you’ve heard anything about it."

"I’ve heard about it, and someone did report it to the Military Department. Moreover, there is indeed a report from the Servant Army." Sandora nodded, causing my hand movement to suddenly stop: "There’s really a ghost ship?!"

The two Dou Ding Goddesses saw no one was feeding them, so they took two toothpicks and went off to find food themselves.

"It’s hard to say whether it’s real or not. There are voyage logs and video files, but the investigation teams sent by the Imperial Army and all monitoring stations haven’t captured any direct evidence, so for now, it’s still a pending case," Sandora shook her head, "We can only say there’s a high suspicion that this thing is real. I have more detailed data here: The sighting reports mention that the ghost ship is a special model not registered in the current Empire ship library but has distinct Xyrin characteristics. The ghost ship is larger than the Eternal Level, over one hundred kilometers in size, but its bow is damaged, so it’s uncertain how large it was when intact. The ship might have been deeply modified based on the Eternal Level or possibly integrated certain Eternal Level structures. The front half resembles the charging section of the Galaxy Main Cannon. Additionally, the surface power network of the ghost ship appears to have collapsed; a Servant Army officer risked approaching the ghost ship and tested its outer devices, discovering that all external devices were not activated. But before the support troops he called could arrive, the ghost ship seemed to sense something and suddenly jumped out of the world. Oh, right, when the ghost ship report was submitted, you were in the Divine Realm, so it’s normal that you don’t know about it—Fox, pass the vinegar."

A furry big tail wrapped around a vinegar bottle and stretched across half the table to Sandora. On its way back, it casually swiped a baozi away: the Fox Fairy Lord has more functions by the day.

Sandora shared a part of the ghost ship report, and I observed those hastily taken sighting pictures on my data terminal. Most of these images came from civilian sightings, each accompanied by annotations, with witnesses ranging from workers on cargo ships to tourists on commercial travel ships. I even saw a picture label indicating it was from lumei920 below one image. Of course, there were also pictures captured by ship’s automatic observation devices, which appeared clearer.

Most of the images weren’t taken from good angles, and some had distorted due to hastily zooming in, yet one picture was particularly pressing: a large patch of silver-gray, battered armor dominated three-quarters of the image. The witness who took this picture suffered a heart attack on the spot and was sent to the medical room because the ghost ship appeared directly around the spaceship he was on, less than a hundred meters away...

I spent a lot of effort piecing together the fragmented sighting photos from various angles in my mind, spending half the day to roughly conjecture the ghost ship’s overall shape: a ragged Imperial Starship, possessing a bow section similar to the Eternal Level, with the rear half consisting of three parallel hulls, mainly armored in silver-gray, while the remaining quarter was black-painted. The Empire Army Emblem could be seen on the midsection of the ship, but the personal insignia of a certain Emperor seemed to be lost with the damaged hull, leaving Sandora unable to determine who the ship originally belonged to.

Then I flipped to the last page of the data and was taken aback by a complete, high-resolution, multi-million pixel image of the ghost ship, followed by a short video...

Me: "..."

Anyway, it’s almost certain that the ghost ship really exists, and it seems to be just as I guessed: it’s a lost starship from the Old Empire Era. After all, the New Empire hasn’t built such a ship, and it certainly doesn’t belong to the Fallen Apostle. The biggest problem now is that the ship doesn’t send any signals, making it possible that all the crew members inside have disappeared. Establishing contact with it using conventional means is definitely impossible. Plus, it keeps wandering around—to catch a ship like this in countless universes is as difficult as finding Dingdang on the Inner Mongolian grasslands. It’s distressing.

I can only wait for more sighting reports to summarize the appearance pattern of the ghost ship—after reading the reports I have, I feel the ship seems to have some navigation pattern, since the universe is so vast, yet it has coincidentally brushed past other ships multiple times, which shouldn’t be pure coincidence.

The ghost ship matter was temporarily set aside by me, and after dinner, Big Sister and Anwina were busy tidying up things. Lin, who wanted to help, was routinely ordered to spectate from the side. Apart from Pandora, the little ones would always vanish without a trace as soon as they finished eating. I was too lazy to care about them. They most likely ran into the yard for a game of hide and seek with the mini Medivhs: they’ve been keen on that lately.

Qianqian took the ghost ship data and read it for a while, quickly losing interest in it. She tossed the data terminal aside, casually turned on the TV and switched channels, searching for something interesting. After a long while, she finally found a somewhat intriguing program: a foreign dubbed documentary about the habits of foxes.

Fox Fairy Lord, who had just eaten and was dozing next to me, instantly perked up, ears tipped up listening to the sounds from the TV. Qianqian watched TV for a bit and suddenly had a brainwave: "Ah Jun, Ah Jun, how do foxes call?"

I pondered for a while, thinking that this was indeed quite a difficult question, as not many people have actually heard the sound of a fox’s call—of course, if you claim it’s "Rise of Chu, King Chen Sheng," that would be a disruption—what sound do foxes make when they call?

This one question completely expelled the chaotic thoughts of ghost ships and such from my mind. I furrowed my brow and thought for a long time until a golden-streaked big tail playfully wrapped around my neck, giving me sudden insight: wasn’t there a fox right beside me!

I can’t blame myself for reacting slowly; mainly because the Fox Fairy Lord, aside from her ears and tail, is in a girl form, even lying close by, it’s hard to connect Qianqian’s question to her right away.

"Fox, how do you usually call?" I patted the Fox Fairy Lord’s tail.

The Demon Fox Girl looked at me quizzically, hesitated for a moment, and cautiously spoke: "Wah! ← ← like this?"

I froze: "... I asked how a fox calls, not how your human form calls!"

The second big tail slapped my face, and the Demon Fox Girl lazily stretched: "Haven’t called for over a thousand years, forgot." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Me: "..." (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote with recommendations or monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com for reading.)