Tobelu is an advanced race with high achievements in both space technology and psionic technology. When we discovered that the orbital teleportation gates they used had performance almost on par with the Empire’s medium and short-range teleportation systems, and were completely driven by psionic energy, our beliefs were further confirmed.

Although many people associate the Insect Race with barbarism, ruthlessness, lack of restraint, and extreme expansionism, among other negative impressions, and many believe the Insect Race is only good at developing biotechnology—like their own biceps—and not suited for researching high technology, in fact, such "conclusions" based on racial impressions are very unreasonable prejudices. Whether a race can develop a technological civilization is not determined by their appearance but depends on their historical progress and world environment. Tobelu is a striking example. They are a typical insect swarm race with a centralized structure similar to an insect kingdom, and have undergone various adaptive super evolution in their bodies to suit the environment. However, their strongest asset is still their scientific technology, and they are capable of harmonious coexistence with other races.

They are even the members with the most advanced technology in the Exile Fleet—and the only ones who retained most of their original technology. After the exiles finally settled in this universe, all races unanimously chose to continue using Tobelu technology, which is mature and adapted by all as the core technology for their worlds. For example, the space dock station we passed, and the building complexes on this colony star below us, all were constructed using Tobelu technology. At least eighty percent of it, anyway.

A civilization with special talents, more suited to facing the harsh cosmic environment and various evolutionary challenges in their social structure, would certainly have achieved immeasurable accomplishments if it had not encountered the disaster at that time and continued developing safely to this day. Although they have not been able to simultaneously develop both the Mysterious system and Technology system like the Xyrin Apostle and thereby easily grasp the truths of the world, a race able to control psionic energy already possesses the foundation to join the ranks of super civilizations.

When teleporting to the planetary governor’s office through a space transmission device crafted by the Tobelu Insect Clan, these thoughts naturally came to my mind. The surrounding devices easily evoke such reflections: They have completely different manufacturing techniques, peculiar yet effective system architecture, and these black machines, with smooth and rounded shells reminiscent of insect carapaces, are filled with the psionic energy I am most familiar with. The Tobelu High-level Insect Race is the only race I have seen, besides the Xyrin Empire, that can use psionic energy as a daily energy source and apply it to themselves. Other races may have some ability to harness psionic energy, but their physical evolution has never reached corresponding progress, making Tobelu an exception whose civilization shares many similarities with the Xyrin Apostle in technological development.

Thus, it is truly a pity for both Sandora and me that such a race has never been able to join the Imperial Camp.

Sandora has been contemplating how to completely eliminate the exiles’ apprehensions about the Empire, to reconcile their differences, and ultimately bring Tobelu High-level Insect Race, a genius species scarce throughout the Void, into the ranks of the New Empire’s army. Originally, we thought this would require two hundred years of effort—this being the average lifespan of Exile United Fleet members. Sandora and the expert team believe reconciling their differences would require at least one generation’s lifetime from the exiles—but now, I suddenly feel I may be facing an opportunity: If we can find that escape team that completely lost contact with the Fourth Fleet hundreds of years ago, we might be able to motivate a significant portion of the exiles to join the Imperial Camp, instead of the present situation where only a few "heretical" radicals among them show goodwill towards the Empire.

Guided by Jin and Tuolulu, along with a small squad of Tobelu soldiers, we arrived at the capital star just established by the exiles and came to a city called "Kerudak" (actually, Kerudak is also the name of this planet; Tobelu High-level Insect Race habitually uses the planet’s name directly for the planetary capital). This city serves as the "capital" of this planet, and also as the administrative center for the exiles. As we took the atmosphere shuttle to the "Council" location, we curiously observed this alien city with its unique style. The most striking feature is the style of Tobelu buildings, which resemble swollen spore plants at their ends. All the buildings are tall, with a relatively slender (compared to the entire building) and smooth black "stem" at the bottom, resembling a tower, while the upper part swells forming irregular spheres of various sizes. Countless such buildings form the main body of "Kerudak," giving the impression of a spore city. Small transportation vehicles for planetary movement shuttle through these buildings’ "waists" busily and orderly. Due to the special shape of Tobelu buildings, the mid-air area of "Kerudak" city is quite spacious, suitable for the traffic needs of civilian flying devices.

Of course, there are also many buildings with a different style in this city, although they are few in number and seem more like decorative accents.

Throughout the journey, Jin and Tuolulu enthusiastically chatted with us, focusing mainly on introducing their fairly sizable city—though all the buildings here appear so bizarre to me, in their eyes, this is clearly their most proud homeland. Just so happens, we are keenly interested in the construction progress here, and thus the conversation naturally unfolded. I suspect the "Council" assigned these two ordinary young soldiers with little authority as "envoys" precisely for this reason, mainly to keep the Imperial Leader company. Perhaps the "Council" has learned through various channels about the habits of the New Empire rulers. They thus knew that under conditions where a ceremonial welcome was not feasible, sending two familiar faces would more easily gain our group’s favor. Their judgment was correct.

However, we did not mention to Jin and Tuolulu the specific matter we came to discuss with the council this time—the news that the Fifth Joint Fleet may still be surviving. This was agreed upon during our previous communications with the "council." The matter of the Fifth Fleet remains a secret within the exiled community; aside from the "council" and some high-ranking officials, only the technicians who received the signal are aware of it. Jin and Tuolulu’s level doesn’t grant them this knowledge; they only know that the Imperial Leader suddenly decided to visit today and that their task is to provide reception. But they are wisely refraining from asking about the detailed topics of discussion between the Imperial Leader and the "council".

"The city’s sky is blocked by these large spheres, but the lighting is not affected," my big sister wondered aloud, looking curiously through the porthole at the scenery outside. "Moreover, such large structures being supported by a thin column look quite unstable."

"Light enters the lower layers of the city through a refraction field for even distribution across the whole city," Tuolulu, sitting next to us, waved his slender forelimbs to explain, "There are gravity devices; they don’t need support. The buildings themselves..."

"Ahem, let me explain," Jin said, noticing our increasing confusion and gesturing for his companion to quiet down. "Firstly, you probably understand the lighting issue; it’s just about adding a light deflection system. Additionally, all these buildings have independent gravity devices, so they are not at risk of toppling over—the thin columns below are not for support, just connection devices. The city’s main structure is the spheres above, and everyone lives inside them."

"Back on your planet battleship, I didn’t notice these," I said, observing the passing "spore buildings" outside, feeling that the Great Thousand World is indeed full of wonders, "but it seems quite different from the architecture I saw back then."

"That was the refuge; this is home," Jin beamed with a smile, openly expressing his delight. "The houses in the refuge are very low, without such aerial structures, because space is too precious there; it’s different here. Kerudak is now an extremely large city where many people reside. However, today is the day of expansion, and once expanded, the city won’t be as crowded as it is now—oh, you must see that sight, it’s the most spectacular view above the city."

Jin suddenly mentioned a term unfamiliar to us: expansion. But before I could inquire about this term’s specifics, a Tobelu Soldier entered the cabin and informed us that we had arrived at our destination.

Our final destination was the "Parliament Building," a giant sphere supported by a thin column only a few meters in diameter. The Tobelu architecture adhered to a rather uniform foundational structure, with variations only in the swollen spheres of their buildings’ upper layers. The Parliament Building stood taller than those surrounding it, with a symmetrical octagonal "cap" atop its sphere, making it particularly distinctive. The shuttle docked at a small platform on the sphere’s base, and Jin and Tuolulu seemed unable to enter, so they bid farewell to us outside, while we were led inside by a squad of Tobelu soldiers. Our reception was surprisingly handled by the same female officer who had previously guided us; upon meeting us, she rigidly saluted—not the Imperial Army salute, but their own. The exiles haven’t joined any Imperial Army, so they aren’t required to salute us with an Imperial salute.

"The council is awaiting you. This is a secret meeting; nearly half of the government officials are still in the dark, so please excuse any lack of hospitality," the female officer’s demeanor had significantly improved compared to our first encounter, despite her apparent unnatural stiffness, which likely stemmed from nervousness and anxiety rather than hostility. My big sister nodded kindly at her, and we all proceeded to the hall together. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Again, we were greeted by a hollow, perfectly symmetrical polygonal metal room, identical to the one where we had first met the "council." Stepping inside instantly reminded everyone of the day we first entered the command center of the exile fleet and listened to the "council" recount the darkest Chapters of the Empire’s history. However, this time, there was a difference: as the lights began to flicker and the "council" gradually materialized from the air, several spacious chairs unexpectedly appeared behind us—quite nice of them to provide furniture this time.

A woman’s voice, accompanied by a metallic echo, resonated in the air: "I hope you don’t mind this simple reception, your arrival was so sudden, I didn’t have time to prepare—originally, we should have sent someone to report, but I didn’t expect you to come personally right away."

This time, the reception is much more personable than the last...

"Forget the formalities, you know we’re not accustomed to them—and neither are you," I waved my hand dismissively at the elegantly dressed woman appearing in mid-air, and sat down casually, "Let’s talk about the current situation directly."

"Yes, first, this is the signal we received." The mental aggregation that appeared before us activated the other projection devices in the hall, showing everyone a video fragment so distorted that its content was entirely unrecognizable. Only the audio signal seemed slightly better; it had been processed, and the identifiable fragments sounded relatively clear: "...the Fifth Fleet has already... never reached... is under attack... Empire mark... unidentified enemy, we are outnumbered and have already retreated, but can hold out for a while, regardless of whether anyone can still receive this frequency... this is the last communication attempt..."

The "Council" showed us this brief signal of only a dozen seconds, which then began looping.

"Sounds chaotic," Sandora raised her arm, pointing at the disordered images, "These video fragments seem to be battle footage, but they’re too blurry."

"This is the clearest version," the "Council" shook their head regretfully, "We received this last communication early this morning, and then lost contact with the other side again. As of now, the channels where this information was found are still filled with noise. We tried reverse-calling twenty-seven times using our strongest communications equipment, but we’re unsure if the other side received the signal."

"So, there’s absolutely no news from the Fifth Fleet now..." Big Sister didn’t look optimistic about the situation, "This message was likely sent earlier—I heard you received the same signal for three consecutive days, so it must be an automated broadcast; the first transmission probably happened a long time ago."

"That’s the worst assessment," the Council nodded, "Therefore, we are weighing whether to make this event public to the citizens, or the extent to which it should be disclosed. News of the Fifth Fleet is significant to us, but announcing it now might cause unrest."

"Xiao Xue." I thought for a moment, turning to look at the girl sitting beside me, who answered, "Snore~~"

"You can still sleep at a time like this!" I was about to explode, pinching her cheeks and pulling them to the sides, making Xiao Xue cry out: "Ah, ouch, ouch~! Dad, I’m not sleeping, I’m not sleeping! I just did divination for the Fifth Fleet—"

I was taken aback, suddenly unsure whether to believe this girl’s wild words, because Lin Xue had indeed told me before that when prophesying an extremely vague target, it felt like a soul leaving the body, easily entering a trance state, appearing asleep to outsiders. However, when Lin Xue was doing such deep prophecies, she usually didn’t snore...

Xiao Xue’s eyes darted quickly as she hurried to change the topic before I could speak: "The Fifth Fleet is temporarily safe—though they haven’t escaped pursuit yet. In my prophecy, the target gradually became more vague, which should be due to them being hunted down—of course, that’s assuming we don’t perform an effective rescue."

The "Council" looked at us with confusion, I pointed at Xiao Xue: "Her words are credible, she’s a Prophet."

"An... incredible ability," the Council seemed surprised, but the tone remained factual, then they no longer dwelled on the temporarily unclear issue, "So according to your words, the Fifth Fleet still has a chance. They should be attempting to escape from the attackers’ hands. The enemy is strong, but clearly lacks the ability to completely trap and annihilate the Fifth Fleet. However, we haven’t found a way to help them yet."

"They may have already reached the deep Void, with unknown coordinates, unable to send reinforcements, communication severed, unable to confirm their situation... Hmm, the only current action is to re-establish contact; we need to determine the Fifth Fleet’s status." Sandora immediately assessed the current situation, then focused on the "Council," "Open your communications port to us, tell us your information modes when contacting the Fifth Fleet, we’ll use the Leaving World Garden System to search for that signal."

The "Council" seemed slightly surprised, possibly not expecting the Empire to help so readily: the Exiles’ inertia impressions of the Empire aren’t easily changed. She then fell into brief silence, I felt that I couldn’t let her hesitate over this issue, I took the initiative to speak, "Now is not the time to consider psychological barriers, the Fifth Fleet is being reduced every moment. Besides, you’ve already settled within the Empire, you shouldn’t still be so apprehensive of us, right?"

"No, please forgive us, the Council isn’t hesitating over this issue," the female mental aggregation expressed apologies to us—in a completely flat tone, "It’s just suddenly rather poignant: the initial purpose of the United Fleet’s internal communication protocols when forming was to keep the Empire military’s equipment confidential, unexpected now that it requires your Empire’s technology... it’s truly dramatic."

"We’ll talk about theatrical issues later," Sandora stood up, "I have already arranged for the system transition, when will you be ready here?" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian.com and vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)