Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1485: Road Signs

After occupying the enemy’s territory, recovering the enemy’s data storage devices is a common practice. In the past, the final step after each of our battles with the Fallen Apostles was to tow a bunch of the opponent’s warship wreckage back for analysis. Naturally, ensuring the security of the Great Governor’s world hub database also follows this common knowledge, so seeing the expression on Sandora’s face, I couldn’t help but be a little curious, "Isn’t it good to find the database?"

"It’s indeed a good thing, but why was it so straightforward?" Sandora frowned, "In the past, finding data devices that the Fallen Apostles didn’t have time to destroy on the battlefield was extremely difficult, as you know. Normal soldiers would blow those things up when their position was about to fall—finding a complete database in the previous universe was already quite lucky, so why did the Fallen Apostles make this mistake again here?"

I clicked my tongue, "I also feel this went too smoothly... but I’m so used to being messed with that encountering a successful situation occasionally feels a bit unsettling. Do you think this is a trap set by the Fallen Apostles?"

"The main issue is that I can’t see what the purpose of this trap would be," Sandora shook her head, "Luring the Imperial Army to go deep alone? The problem is any slightly cautious commander wouldn’t make this mistake. The jump pathways between the Imperial Army Fleet and the evacuation routes to the Imperial District are always open, and it’s very challenging to build something like an encirclement in the Void in a short time. And frankly, if this were a trap... Ah Jun, don’t you think the cost would be a bit too high?"

I thought about it too. You see, after the Imperial Army got here, they burned, looted, and bombed, and the sovereignty of the enemy’s four worlds changed hands in the blink of an eye. Plus, they’re fighting fiercely with the Divine Race on the other side, and within the Abyss Zone, it’s a chaotic mess. If they could still set a trap, the person making such a plan would be quite mindless—the courage required would surpass even baiting with children.

Thinking this way, I suddenly felt much more at ease, and just then the Great Governor reported that the database had already been partially decoded: since we understood some rules when decomposing the previous database, analyzing this second one was exceptionally smooth.

Sandora asked the Great Governor to send her a copy of the decoded data, and as soon as she saw it, her face changed color, "Sivis, notify all units to stop advancing and prepare to retreat."

I was immediately confused and quickly leaned over to see what was going on, "Wait, wait, what’s happening?"

"It’s fleet transit records and detailed intelligence on each World Gate," Sandora pointed to the holographic image before us, "It’s so detailed that it’s abnormally precise, and it perfectly fits with the ’map’ we previously obtained, piecing together teleportation coordinates and defense forces of nearly a hundred universes in this area..."

Before Sandora finished her words, the communicator next to us lit up, and Audemus’s square face appeared in the holographic projection, "Your Majesty! This is the Seventh Fleet, we’ve successfully occupied the target universe, and we’ve salvaged a complete database from the enemy’s Sovereignty Hub. The database contains..."

"Let me guess, a list of teleportation coordinates, fleet transit records from the last few months, and the scale of each World Gate along with its military significance within its universe," Sandora looked at Audemus, "Is there anything else?"

Audemus also seemed to realize something was off on our side, "Your Majesty, on your side..."

"Yes, the same. Once or twice could be explained as mistakes made by border guards due to the turmoil within the Abyss Zone. But if it happens a third time, it’s hard to believe it’s not a conspiracy," Sandora pushed herself up by the table, "Is there anything unusual happening on your side?"

"No abnormality, and the previous battle was very typical. The enemy’s counterattacks were fierce, and they kept sending reinforcements to this universe before we destroyed the Sovereignty Hub. There was no sign of intentionally going easy to lure us in deeper. If this is a trap... the cost would be too high, they’ve already lost sovereignty over three universes..."

"Now it’s four," Sandora suddenly switched to another channel, "First Fleet, report your situation."

Earlier, the First Fleet had sent a routine communication request, but it had been put on hold because Sandora was talking with Audemus. Now, a holographic image of the First Fleet’s Supreme Commander appeared above the communicator, "Your Majesty, the First Fleet has successfully occupied the target universe. We salvaged a database from the wreckage of the enemy’s Sovereignty Hub, and it’s basically complete. Inside there’s..."

Sandora and I spoke in unison, "A map, right?"

The First Fleet’s Commander was stunned for two seconds, "Is it the same on your side?"

"In any case, all units take note: stop advancing now, temporarily hold your current conquered worlds, construct temporary World Gates ready for convergence, and throw out all your Void Interferers to guard against enemy counterattacks," Sandora issued her commands, and then connected to the Celestial System Fleet’s channel, "Any abnormal situations at the base?"

The commander of the Celestial System Fleet was a tall, thin man with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. I remembered he was a keen and steady officer. His image appeared in the holographic projection, and he saluted us, "Your Majesty, everything at the base is normal. The frontline fortresses have been fully deployed and can withstand a strong enemy counterattack."

Knowing the base was secure, both Sandora and I felt slightly relieved. Sandora nodded, "What about the enemy’s movements?"

The Celestial System Fleet was equipped with far stronger Void Scanning devices than the other fleets, and those massive constructs could carry fortress-level telemetry radars as shipborne equipment, so they served as the imperial army’s current frontline telemetry station. The Celestial System Fleet was monitoring the Abyss Zone border to prevent a sudden enemy mass counterattack—even though most of their main forces were held up on another front against the Divine Race, being cautious never hurt.

"We’ve detected multiple information sources beaming into this universe, confirming that the enemy has about four group armies assembling at the front line, but we’ve already dismantled their main facilities, so these fleets have no way to jump here directly."

"Make sure to fortify all defensive lines before they arrive," Sandora waved her hand, "Also, increase vigilance. Immediately send an alert if there’s any large-scale military movement in the Abyss Zone."

Then she hung up the communication and looked into my eyes, "Four group armies... just the normal reinforcement scale, about what we expected. If there was really a trap here, the enemy should have sent more. Ah Jun, I’m having trouble understanding this."

Current circumstances are unsettling: we have attacked four worlds in succession, and the Fallen Apostle’s local border guards all made the same mistake—in failing to destroy military secrets when the position was about to fall, and this aspect certainly seems abnormal. However, in battles, the enemy resisted fiercely across all fronts, and as it stands, we can’t see any trap here. Even battlefield veterans like Sandora have found themselves caught in a dilemma.

"Xiao Xue," I glanced over at the Mischievous King’s kid, happily spinning on a floating chair nearby, "Give a divination."

This time, Xiao Xue unusually refrained from joking around and simply suggested, "First, integrate all the data gathered from each fleet."

Taking into account the data we salvaged from the previous Fortress Universe, the Imperial Army now possesses four Sovereignty Hub databases containing four comprehensive transit archives of the World Gates and maps of border military weight distribution. Following Xiao Xue’s suggestion, these four pieces of information were quickly integrated—a roadmap that could be described as thorough was presented to everyone.

All that’s missing is a sign saying "Welcome." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Our whole family gathered together, whether we understood it or not, and Sandora pointed at the transmission network displayed on the holographic projection: "This is our current position, a relatively remote node. This is the main node, the first Fortress World captured by the Imperial Army, and these two locations were taken by the First Fleet and the Seventh Fleet. This network is very detailed... without any omissions, and there are many areas of overlapping in the transmission nodes covered by the four pieces of data. This is an obvious backup behavior. I suspect that even if we attacked another world this time, we could quickly piece this distribution map together. It’s almost like it was specifically prepared for the Imperial Army."

I looked at this "map" thoughtfully. I knew I was not an expert in this area, but I could still understand the conceptual diagram: it was like a local detail of a spider web, clearly presenting all the lines on the edge of the web to us. As I looked, I realized there was something notable about this transmission network: "Look here... this world seems a bit special."

Qianqian peered for a while: "This world’s identifier is particularly long?"

Me: "..."

"This world is the only one that has been ’marked’ four times. If the world coordinates mentioned in the transit logs are considered a ’mark’ specifically to guide the Imperial Army, then this world has been intentionally highlighted," Sandora deduced. In this network map pieced together by four sets of data, each transmission node has a footnote indicating how many times it was mentioned in the four data sets. This footnote was originally used by the operator organizing the data to assist in identifying the original source of each piece of data, but now it directs us to a clear coordinate point: a place that appears to be a network hub.

"Could it be just a coincidence?" Sister said, unsure, touching her chin. "All four databases have records of materials being sent to this world; maybe it’s just a traffic hub — if you copy the train dispatch records of every railway line in China, you’ll see Zhengzhou Railway Station in more than half..."

Sandora remained silent, quickly operating the data terminal in front of her, splitting and recomposing the "coordinate map" pieced together from four sets of data several times, using various methods to simulate the likelihood of this intersection occurring by chance. Finally, she shook her head: "It shouldn’t be a coincidence. Except for this world, all other nodes appear at most twice. It’s like it’s been deliberately highlighted. Moreover, look at this final route map. This jump route seems unreasonable. From this border world marked as ES-35D65 to the inland, there should be a more efficient jump path, but to more clearly mark this special world, records show a fleet deliberately took a detour — this is obviously taking the long way around; that fleet wasn’t executing any mission, just constantly jumping in this world, leaving this route map."

"Additionally, there’s a supply list here," Xiao Xue said beside me, browsing through the data beyond the route map. She transmitted her findings to the holographic projection in front of everyone, "It says here: Transport records, inland delivery to the border, with a transit station in-between at KN-22D (which caught our attention, numbered KN-22D by the Fallen Apostles), transported materials: stones."

Everyone looked at each other: Stones!

"Border worlds don’t need stones," Sandora leaned back in her chair, "No military outpost needs stones... this ’cargo special train’ isn’t for delivery; it’s just meant to pass through KN-22D. Ah Jun, you’re right; there’s definitely something wrong with this world."

"It feels like some kind of code," Bingdisi glanced at me and then at Sandora, "By frequently reallocating troops, they leave behind key points in the transport records. Though elaborate, as long as we can see this data, we’d immediately discover KN-22D."

Though Sister Bing usually acted carefree and careless, her mind was as meticulous as Sandora’s. Both are venerable figures who’ve been saving the world for billions of years. How could they not see through something so simple — Bingdisi’s ’code’ suggestion was immediately affirmed by everyone nodding. Considering that the databases of the four worlds were ’miraculously’ preserved, and the Fallen Apostle garrison officers hadn’t destroyed these storage devices as per protocol when the positions fell, I believe they were deliberately left by someone as ’road signs’ for the Imperial Army.

The identity of this ’someone’ seems to be emerging.

"Could it have been left by Abyss Xyrin?" My sister and I thought alike, and she spoke first, "Maybe these strange events at the border aren’t traps, but rather Abyss Xyrin left a marker for us."

"Hmm, I prefer to believe that even if she left a marker, it would still be with an ulterior motive," Sandora snorted coldly, "We’ve witnessed Abyss Xyrin’s cunning many times. Even if this really is just a marker, I don’t believe KN-22D is a good place."

"Well, this is simple," I chuckled, standing up, "Why don’t we go over and have a look?"

Bingdisi was pretending to be deep in thought with a head full of schemes, but as soon as I spoke, she slid right under the table. Sandora looked at me with a peculiar expression: "Are you seriously planning to go to this inexplicable place?"

"Why not?" I shrugged at Sandora, "We weren’t here in the Abyss Zone as guests anyway. Even without seeing these route maps, we’d eventually make it to KN-22D. And this guidance is so obvious; if there’s an ambush... Abyss Xyrin would be pretty dumb to set up something so blatant."

After thinking for a moment, Sandora finally nodded, appearing to agree with my reasoning: "Alright, we can go to that world and see what’s going on, but we must be fully prepared. It’d be best to bring a ’big guy’ along, capable of withstanding doomsday scenarios."

Then all of us simultaneously looked at the central holographic projection in the command hall: the War Song was gleefully circling, orbiting rapidly around a dimly glowing Brown Dwarf Star.

Perhaps the shipboard AI had a sixth sense, as Er Fengzi immediately yelled over the public channel, "This ship feels like someone is peeping at this ship!"

I connected with the Revenge Fleet’s communication, "Great Governor, the Revenge Fleet has a new mission: the next target is KN-22D. Er Fengzi, stop orbiting. Your orbital speed clearly defies scientific common sense; what ship orbits at sub-light speed? You’re practically tearing apart a constant star!"

"This ship feels like there’s another battle coming!" Er Fengzi exclaimed joyfully, "KN-22D, what is it? Do we need to bomb it too?"

"It’s still unclear whether we’re heading there for a battle or a reconnaissance. Just prepare for combat; peace is scarce in the Abyss Zone," Sandora waved her hand, assigned tasks to each unit, "Half of the Royal Fleet stays here for defense. The Celestial System Fleet will transmit ten Planet Battleships over here for base establishment to prevent enemy counterattacks. The second line formation’s Fortress Ships and Seventh Fleet will remain stationed, while the rest of the high-mobility units accompany the Royal Fleet. Who knows what’s up with KN-22D, bringing more people can always be handy."

Whenever the Imperial Fleet captures a world, the first task is to establish a temporary World Gate locally. This helps in initially controlling sovereignty and facilitates rapid troop deployment. Hence, the new fleet deployment was swiftly completed. The Revenge Army and half of the Royal Fleet, together with a large number of high-mobility Expeditionary-class Battleships, formed a powerful new force advancing toward KN-22D.

Some might have realized: this United Fleet emphasizes rapid response and high attack capability, keeping the necessary Fortress Ships at the rear to consolidate positions. Sandora’s intentions were clear: KN-22D is not a significant military node; even if occupied, it doesn’t meet her ’marking’ criteria. Thus, the fleet’s purpose is more about reconnaissance and eliminating the enemy’s viable forces, possibly leading to a major battle, but there’s no intention of permanently occupying that world.

The fleet quickly arrived at the border of KN-22D’s world, anchoring at the edge of the Material Realm. The leading fleet commander reported the World Barrier conditions in shock: "Your Majesty! The World Barrier is not encrypted!"

"Is this a welcoming gesture?" Sister couldn’t help but laugh given the circumstances, "Are we just going to jump in?"

"Jump!" Sandora didn’t hesitate, "We’ve come this far anyway. Everyone, stay alert and launch a batch of drones first. Great Governor, leave some Special Service Ships at the World Barrier, in case the enemy suddenly seals this universe. The other units, enter the Material Realm with the Royal Fleet!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast a recommendation vote or monthly vote. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)