After activating the Leaving World Garden, we didn’t immediately return to Shadow City. Instead, we stayed temporarily at Kerudak to understand the current development of the Exile Fleet from the "Council." I have to say, due to the endless busy affairs one after another, we haven’t paid enough attention to this new world, to the extent of not knowing when they set up these Colonization Stars. This is somewhat inappropriate.

"Now, nearly half of the population still lives on Spaceships and Planet Fortresses," on a semicircular platform protruding from the outer wall of the Parliament Building’s middle section, we overlooked the alien city below while listening to the "Council" talk about their development status, "on one hand, the ecological environment is not stable enough to hastily shut down the Fleet’s ecosystem, on the other hand, many people have really become accustomed to life on spaceships. However, despite this, the construction progress of these Colonization Stars is still very fast. This Universe is indeed rich in resources, and the various types of planets, from distribution to form and even quantity, are quite unbelievably suitable... Also, there are ready-made, comprehensive star maps and world parameter lists that are incredibly advantageous. On most Colonization Stars, we only need a little ecological transformation, then transport the industrial facilities from the Spaceships for remodeling so that people can live there. The Citizens willing to come live on the surface of the planets are very pleased with such an environment—it is their first experience breathing under the expansive Sky since birth, and everyone finds it very novel."

"As long as you’re satisfied," Sandora smiled, "isn’t it amazing to encounter a Universe with a manual for the first time?"

"...Yes, it was quite a shock," the "Council" had a strange expression on its face, "we initially thought we were just receiving a living space, only to accidentally uncover a set of Universe usage instructions, and even..."

"Even three quality inspection reports and consumer trust product emblems issued by authoritative temples," when mentioning the "Universe manual," I couldn’t help but twitch the corner of my mouth, "it’s said you also found a manufacturing timestamp in the cosmic background radiation..."

"Um... Ah." The mental aggregation by my side responded subtly, gazing blankly into the distance.

In the direction of her gaze was the city center of Kerudak. In this city almost entirely composed of Tobelu-style "Tower Ball" buildings, there was an especially tall building that was completely different. It was located on a Highland at the city center, an octahedral monument. The monument was thousands of meters high, with each surface inscribed with radiant Divine Race characters, from top to bottom, there were trademarks, factory names, factory addresses, factory numbers, inspector numbers, consumer trust product honor badges, and a seal indicating circulation permission. Inside this monument, full of the above distressing contents, was a small Crystal Tower (invisible from outside), storing a usage manual with an information volume reaching several PBs. This manual, marked as "brief version," listed all fixed parameters of the entire Universe, the data of all Star Systems in a state of stasis, and expressed sincere gratitude to six sponsors at the end... 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Initially, we didn’t know of its existence. It wasn’t until we handed over this Universe to the Exile Fleet that they themselves discovered this world was operating very abnormally: all celestial bodies were in a state of stasis, and when the Fleet entered outer space, it couldn’t determine the basic parameters of its surroundings. The Universe was suffused with a mysterious light (actually Holy Light, which they later learned was akin to a preservative). They didn’t report it to the Empire then but inspected it themselves, and in the universe’s central zone, they found this huge monument.

When the monument was discovered, it was incredibly massive, with its longest axis reaching millions of kilometers. The Exile Fleet’s commanders were extremely shocked by this enormous thing that evidently didn’t resemble a normal celestial body and finally notified us. Since this world was made by the Divine Race, I decided to let the Tiaozi Five come to check the situation. According to the authoritative judgment of Bingdisi, she believed that to use this Universe properly, the small green button at the top of that monument needed to be pressed.

An ordinary soldier of the Exile Fleet, who has been etched into history, was assigned to press that button. As a result, all celestial bodies in this Universe began to operate normally—like a paused video resuming playback. The Holy Light, which served as a preservative, started to dissipate and merged into the background radiation. The monument, millions of kilometers long, became a shortened version only a few kilometers in length. Then, Bingdisi found the Universe’s instruction manual inside the monument and handed it to the "Council."

This was a little "episode" that happened before the Exile Fleet built their new home.

Honestly, I didn’t expect some worlds made by the Divine Race to come with a manual and a start button!

Later, after asking Bingdisi, I finally understood what was going on: wasn’t this Universe the one given away when Monina bought furniture back then? So, even though it’s a slightly regrettable second-hand item, it’s a circulating product officially produced by the Divine Realm temples and naturally different from those unlicensed, uncertified worlds with unpredictable lifespan and no quality assurance. It comes with product instructions and a full set of quality certification documents. Because the world itself is something that evolves over time, once designated as a product or gift, a "stasis" treatment must be conducted. The treatment involves pausing the entire world, allowing the recipient to activate it themselves once received, effectively preventing it from depreciating due to passing its shelf life after being unsold for tens of billions of years (are there really things this miserably handled?). As for activation, there’s a small green button at the center of the Universe—of course, some models require entering an activation code, and another world managed by Dingdang was started using an activation code. However, it’s reportedly very prone to piracy if using an activation code, so the small green button is more reliable: this is called physical encryption.

The above is Bingdisi’s explanation to us.

On the day, Monina was too busy planning the layout of her new furniture to remember to tell us these things...

Looking at the towering white monument in the city center, we all let out a uniform and heartfelt foolish grin: "Hehe, hehe..." In the face of these utterly nonsensical and trivial things researched by the gods through their endless lives, we have long been unfazed. Of course, the "Council" might need a long time to adapt to the fact that in their Universe, even the background radiation hides trademarks and barcodes.

"We have never encountered the Star Domain Divine Race you mentioned before," after a brief silence, the "Council" suddenly spoke, "belief in Gods is an ancient memory for us. Many Races abandon their religions and gods that emerged during their civilization’s process after discovering countless worlds in the Void. Yet, unexpectedly, there is truly a Race known as the ’Gods’ that creates and governs countless worlds."

"We checked the data and found that the Exile Fleet comes from the farthest region of the Void, where the Star Domain Divine Race hasn’t ventured, so it’s quite normal for you not to know them," Sandora said casually, then looked into the city’s distance, suddenly amazed, "What’s going on? Buildings are leaving their bases?"

I immediately looked in the direction Sandora was pointing, discovering a magnificent scene in the distance: hundreds of Tobelu Tower Ball buildings were gently trembling, with the spherical tops and thin connecting towers beneath gradually detaching. Subsequently, the massive spheres (the main bodies of the buildings) began to ascend slowly into the air. The outer shells of their lower halves disappeared at some point, revealing a complex structure gleaming with green light. As these spheres rose to high altitudes, new, smaller connecting towers gradually emerged from the exposed green cores, as if living seeds were slowly growing roots. From afar came a deep, rhythmic rumble, like countless mega-ton ships sounding their horns and setting sail. Soon, the massive swelling spheres began to fly eastward.

"There... and there, it’s the same everywhere!" My sister’s tone was full of amazement, pointing in every direction, the city outskirts were showing the same changes with countless "Tower Ball" buildings: separating from their bases and then the giant spherical tops floating gently to all directions. They were so huge, so numerous; it was as if the entire city had turned into dandelions scattered by the wind. This scene irresistibly reminded me of the shape of these buildings: like spores drifting in the breeze.

"Today is the day of expansion, the city has grown big enough to expand."

"Council" with a voice of joy sounded behind us, and I heard that term again: Expansion. Jin had mentioned this word in front of everyone before, but I didn’t have the chance to ask him what it meant. Now, everyone witnessed the spectacular scene when "expansion" occurred and instantly understood its meaning.

"The Tobelu Insect Clan uses this way to expand their cities," when no new tower ball buildings rose into the sky in our view, "Council" withdrew her gaze and explained to us, "All these structures can self-replicate and continuously grow, although they are composed of metal, they seem to have life. This is also why we ultimately chose to use Tobelu Insect Clan technology to construct the first Colonization Star—in fact, in terms of surface construction technology and ecological livability technology, the Osar are more advanced than the Tobelu Insect Clan, but the building efficiency of Osar technology is far from matching these living towers, and what we need most now is building efficiency. It played a significant role in transforming so many Colonization Stars in just a few months (and now, of course, the Exile Fleet is not limited to just one Colonization Star of Kerudak; in fact, they have widely migrated to several nearby Constant Star Systems)."

"Council" also shared some of her future plans with us: when ecological issues are resolved, and citizens no longer need to crowd into old and outdated spaceships, she wants to gradually restore each member civilization of the Fourth Fleet, reconstructing those cities based on preserved materials and reviving the culture of the day, telling newborns the history of their ancestors. The revival she hopes to see is not just to live under the broad sky again; she wants to see the cities from her memories appear on the horizon once more.

Even if this project might take hundreds of years to complete.

"But I fear your work may encounter many problems, and there might even be resistance from the citizens of the Fourth Fleet." Standing on the second-highest observation platform in the city, Sandora looked at the barren connection towers on the horizon and gave her evaluation of "Council’s" vision. "Many people may not understand your idea. As far as I know, more than ninety percent of the citizens of the Fourth Fleet are of the new generation, and some are even mixed races that emerged during the exile process of the Fourth Fleet. After tens of thousands of years, how many of the initial people who set sail have survived until now? Do you think these new citizens, who have almost nothing to do with the past, will know what Mother Star means? Moreover, for those races that have gone extinct during exile, how will you restore them?"

Sandora pointed out the most crucial point: the member races of the Fourth Fleet have long changed during their tens of thousands of years of exile life. From the start to now, many races have been hunted to extinction, some members have fused with other races, and new races even emerged midway through exile. Ultimately, the resulting races can even be described as spaceship civilizations. From the first generation, they have lived in closed outdated metal cabins. Stories about planets and blue skies hold no meaning for them. Even now, these spaceship races remain in their outdated cabins. The substandard living conditions on the Colonization Star are one reason, but another is their inability to imagine what it’s like to leave the spaceship and reside on a stone sphere drifting in outer space: they find it unsettling.

Given this status among the members of the Fourth Fleet, "Council’s" idea indeed seems a bit wishful.

"You are one of the few passengers who have survived from the fleet’s departure to the present. I understand your feelings, but honestly, it’s better to let everything run its natural course and let the survivors of the Fourth Fleet choose their path. They might develop their brand-new civilization again. As for history... it’s enough to remember, being overly persistent is usually of no value." Sandora looked into "Council’s" eyes, her voice somewhat somber.

"Council" was a bit stunned, unable to immediately understand why even a Xyrin Emperor would show such a desolate expression, but she thought of what had happened to the Xyrin Empire, and her expression changed momentarily.

"I... understand this truth, you are right, but I’m just somewhat unable to let go," "Council" said quietly with a dim expression, "Almost all the old friends who set sail together are no longer here, I always feel I should do something for them... When being hunted by the Fallen Apostles, those unfortunate detached races always sent back their civilization databases first, and later, we even compiled the entire fleet’s civilization history, establishing a giant library. Regardless of who perished, they hoped this giant library would remain forever..."

"Such things exist in the New Empire’s capital too, but more important structures are the Totem Square commemorating the new history, rather than being fixated on reshaping the ruins of the past. We feel it’s more meaningful to commemorate the warriors who sacrificed for pioneering new history," Sandora said, "Xyrin Apostles are a race that doesn’t look back, and if you wish to continue moving forward in the harsh Void, best learn not to look back as well. Of course, remembering history remains important, and... if you don’t mind, I hope to integrate your ’giant library’ with our various commemorative databases—of course, I mean copies."

"Merging the Fourth Fleet’s giant library with the Empire’s database?" "Council" immediately widened her eyes in shock.

"The Empire has a saying: even black history is history," Sandora said as she glanced at me, "Chen Jun, New Empire, Year Three, May, at the Capital Star. Therefore, we are willing to face any history, even the most disgraceful moments."

Me: "..." Have I also been dragged into trouble by Sandora’s peculiar hobby?

"Alright, I will discuss this matter with other senior officials," "Council" regained her composure and nodded, "This might take some time to decide. You know, it won’t have much practical impact on the Fourth Fleet now, but its symbolic significance is immense."

As we left the Exile World, we left Bubbles behind to continuously monitor the network components on this side, promising to visit her soon. However, the latter seemed to have no objections, probably because, in her view, as long as she could connect to the internet to play games at any time, the world was good enough. "Council" promised to take good care of the Empire’s "important minister," and I could only reluctantly promise that this "important minister" would not cause troubles in the short term and suggested that "Council" should feed Bubbles three times a day at regular intervals—otherwise, that stay-at-home girl would definitely not take care of herself.

And when we returned to Shadow City, we weren’t idle either. We immediately gathered a large group of experts to start researching the small piece of information we copied from "Council"—the distress signal received by the Fourth Fleet from the Fifth Fleet at that time.

Even though the Tobelu scientists couldn’t extract much valuable information from these severely distorted signals, I believe with the Xyrin scientists’ capabilities, they should be able to restore them somewhat clearer, at least...

We need to know exactly who is hunting the Fifth Fleet.

In this brief distress message lasting only a few dozen seconds, a term appeared that caught extreme attention: Empire, and in those Exile Fleets, the term "Empire" only referred to the Xyrin Empire. But judging from the context of the entire information, it seemed the Fifth Fleet was not attacked by the Imperial Army, which is the greatest mystery.

And another mystery is —in that deep Void where even the Empire cannot reach, how did the Fifth Fleet manage to send such a weak message over here? (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation votes, monthly votes, your support is my greatest motivation.)