Facing the Void, the high-intensity broadcasting and listening have been going on for a day, yet we’ve received no reply from the Fifth Fleet so far. However, due to the performance of the Leaving World Courtyard System being cranked up to unprecedented levels, we unintentionally discovered a small group of Fallen Apostle spies in the Imperial Border Region. Pandora and Visca rushed over to satisfy their two-month-long accumulated desire for combat. Based on bits and pieces of intelligence the Twins found from the wreckage of those enemy ships and reports from the spy units deployed at the border of the Fallen Apostles, the enemy indeed seems to be feeling paranoid lately. Following my previous plan, we’ve dismantled the Sixth Fleet into smaller units frequently appearing in the Fallen Apostle border area. Although no substantial attacks have been made against the enemy, it looks as though we are setting a vanguard for a major force entry. This has considerably heightened the Fallen Apostles’ border alert level, and several of their worlds have gone into full lockdown—likely researching their mysterious system technology. Meanwhile, they are also increasing their espionage activities on the Empire’s border, seemingly wanting to know what’s happening here and if the mysterious system knowledge has also appeared within the New Empire. However, since we were prepared well in advance, the enemy’s spy units basically cannot scan the situation within the Empire, and even if they get hold of any information, it’s misinformation we’ve deliberately leaked. On this battleground, everything is going according to plan—at least, so far, it is.

We just don’t know when the Fallen Apostles will realize they’ve been deceived. By then, they will most likely launch a large-scale attack at any cost, but hopefully, Bellavilla’s Caster Corps can be of use before that happens.

Putting the matter of the Fallen Apostles aside for now, what we’re most concerned with is the situation of the Fifth Fleet. Due to the lack of new intelligence, right now we can only analyze the limited information we have, namely the "clearest" video sent to the Fourth Fleet lasting several seconds.

After restoration by Xyrin scientists using special methods and maximum fuzzy deductions by the Xyrin Host, we’ve finally seen some additional information from this few seconds of video. It’s now certain that the video doesn’t show the specific persons who sent the distress signal—the voice calling for help is just a voice-over. The video appears to be of a chaotic battlefield and doesn’t really seem like space combat. Sandora believes that those blurry shadows conceal the scene of the planetary surface being bombarded. The video is of course shot from the Fifth Fleet’s perspective, meaning the Fifth Fleet is under bombardment. The appearance of the planetary surface in the footage suggests that the Fifth Fleet might have indeed found a temporary home in a universe years ago—or it’s possible the fleet, unable to survive in the Void, has been forced to fall into some universe, and its crew moved from ecologically deteriorating spaceships to the planet surface. Regardless of which possibility, their current situation is extremely dire. When a planet undergoes bombardment by a space fleet, it’s practically a death sentence for that planet. Ground-based anti-aircraft guns never turn the tide of a battle and can only delay for a limited time or temporarily deter the enemy, especially when the defending side is at a disadvantage. Planetary bombardment often indicates that the battle is in its closing stages. Thus, Sandora deduces that by the time this distress signal reached the Fourth Fleet, the planet shown in the video must have already fallen.

And according to the contents of the distress message, when the Fifth Fleet’s home planet was being bombarded, they had already begun a collective evacuation, and it’s very likely they can endure for a while longer, which is some good news.

After multiple refinements that have rendered the video’s clarity irretrievable, Sandora looped those precious few seconds of video many times, making sure everyone in the family (except the bunch of nuisance kids) had a look, and stated her hypothesis about the attackers:

"I think the Fifth Fleet might have encountered a Servant Army left behind by the Old Empire."

"On what grounds?" I vaguely share a similar suspicion but am not as certain as Sandora, and I don’t know which particular signs triggered this feeling, so I ask casually.

"Firstly, they mentioned the Empire’s emblem, suggesting they saw something with the Empire’s emblem on the battlefield, which definitely refers to the enemy," Sandora unfolded her hands and explained in detail, "but they also mentioned that the enemy was unidentified—the Exile Fleet had been hunted by the Fallen Apostles for years and are extremely familiar with Imperial battleships, so if they were facing genuine Imperial battleships, there’s no way they’d say the identity is unknown, suggesting the attackers should be a third party force with the Empire’s emblem. I can only think of the Servant Army. Based on our intel, the Fallen Apostles on that side haven’t cultivated their own vassal race—actually, since they align with the Abyss Camp, they can’t find servants among ordinary races, so the Fallen Apostles don’t have a Servant Army. Hence, I deduce the attackers of the Fifth Fleet might be...a clan left from the Old Empire era."

"What’s the motivation for the attack?" Big Sister ponders, knocking on her forehead, puzzled, "There’s no reason. The Fallen Apostles are chasing the Exiles because they’re driven by Abyss contamination to attack anything, but the Old Empire’s Servant Army shouldn’t have transformed into a Fallen Legion, as ordinary races can’t endure the damage caused by Abyss transformation. The Old Empire’s Servant Army shouldn’t attack the Fifth Legion due to Abyss contamination. Plus, it doesn’t make sense how the two would encounter one another, the Void’s vastness makes it too coincidental that they’d meet up with the Fifth Legion, which fled so far."

Big Sister’s puzzlement is valid. We’ve deliberated before whether the Servant Armies of the Old Empire could have been transformed like the Fallen Apostles after the Old Empire fell; we concluded—absolutely not. Xyrin Apostles were transformed for having strong individuals and special racial talents. Ubiquitous Tai Chu Energy allowed the Fallen Apostles to endure the destructive phase of Abyss contamination, turning the Abyss within themselves, whereas ordinary races don’t possess such power. Certainly, a few immensely strong individuals might be transformed, but their numbers are few, unable to form a legion like the Fallen Apostles. Hence, there cannot be such creatures as Fallen Servant Armies.

No one knows why a surviving portion of the Servant Army from the Old Empire would attack the Fifth Legion—most bafflingly, the Fifth Legion fled to such a remote location, only to encounter something like this...

"I’m more curious as to how that distress signal was sent out rather than why the two sides are fighting," Sandora said, sitting in a high chair by the window, basking in her afternoon tea, with a face as murky as the waters, "The Fifth Fleet’s location is in the deep Void that even the Empire hasn’t explored. Even with the Leaving World Courtyard System, broadcasting information that far is uncertain, yet the Fifth Fleet managed to transmit a distress signal—how? Conducting ultra-long-range cross-world communication in the Void, ensuring timely delivery of information without a relay station, that’s peak technology. The Empire took millennia to perfect and popularize this technology, and when the Fifth and Fourth Fleets lost contact centuries ago, they didn’t have this capability. They couldn’t possibly have made such a technological leap. What’s more...the Fifth Fleet’s situation should be worse than the Fourth Fleet; they shouldn’t have the means to develop such new technology."

"Well, I just returned from the Divine Realm and asked around for you," Bingdisi’s voice immediately follows. Sitting opposite Sandora, unlike her Queen’s elegant afternoon tea demeanor, this female hooligan is drinking straight from the teapot, pairing tea with buns and pickled vegetable strands as if it’s normal—a Goddess aura completely nonexistent, "The Void Node nearest to the Fourth Fleet also detected vague information waves, likely the distress signal you guys have. But one thing is abnormal—the Garrison Officer of the Void Node said the waves were so diminished when they detected them that they appeared as chaotic as the static noise formed after a world’s end. It’s impossible for such a signal to recompose into anything meaningful, let alone transform into several seconds of video..."

"Hey...could you at least make an effort to maintain your manners while drinking tea? Your treatment of black tea is just an insult..." Sandora watched Bingdisi crumble a bun into her big bowl of tea; her temples throbbed. To the elegant Queen, such a mischief by Bingdisi seemed the dark side of her life.

Bing-six gestures behind Sandora: "Come on, check out that tea urn taller than a person behind you, to see how elegant you really are...I just got back from the Divine Realm, haven’t had lunch yet."

Sandora rolled her eyes, speechless, looking up at the sky, utterly helpless against this female hooligan’s behavior.

Big Sister pondered alone for a moment, then offered her perspective: "In any case, the distress signal itself is very problematic, isn’t it? Clearly faded beyond recognition, yet suddenly strengthened in the universe where the Fourth Fleet resides, could it be...a trap?"

As Big Sister’s words fell, the room fell silent, aside from the crunchy sound of Bingdisi munching on buns, and just about everyone turned their heads in sync towards Xiao Xue (since her mom’s not around): "Check quickly!"

"No need, the distress signal is fine," said Xiao Xue, immersed in examining the elementary school textbooks Little Baobao had brought home from school, her head not lifting, "I’ve seen the Fifth Fleet in trouble; the distress signal is definitely genuine. Hey, Dad, do you think it’s harsh for the Imperial College to use a photo of EOP-03 in first-grade picture literacy exercises? I remember when I was in elementary school at the Imperial College too, and picture literacy images featured two half-naked men..."

"Pfft—" My attention was instantly cut off by what Xiao Xue said, "Elementary school first grade? Two half-naked men in picture literacy?! Who the hell wrote those textbooks, why would that kind of thing appear?!"

"The Haier Brothers, Dad, why’s your mind so impure..."

I thought for a moment and decided to continue researching the Fifth Fleet stuff. Xiao Xue’s words were just too much to handle, and if I sarcastically responded to every single one, I’d need an inhaler for six months.

"My intuition tells me we need to pay attention to this," Sandora finally couldn’t tolerate Bingdisi’s wasteful act, pushing her giant teapot over to me, "I’m talking about the potential discontiguous surfaces problem during the distress signal’s propagation in the void. Its intensity experienced some inexplicable fluctuations, and its transmission ’distance’ exceeded theoretical values. These anomalies should be researched by the expert team. The void is the foundation of everything; any slight change, and we must be promptly aware."

After saying that, Sandora suddenly showed a thoughtful smile: "Perhaps we’re about to discover a void ’phenomenon’ unnoticed before—the abnormal amplification phenomenon during communication between two vastly different quadrants. If this phenomenon truly exists and is controllable, we might instantly extend the Empire’s vision to places even the Star Domain Divine Race hasn’t observed. Can’t wait to see what’s there..."

As Sandora spoke, she fell into her state of fantasy... Well, okay, I shouldn’t say it’s a fantasy; it’s more like Her Majesty’s foresight standing at a leader’s height. But to me, it indeed felt like fantasy—that’s so far away. Right now, forget about the Fallen Apostles, we haven’t even resolved the Fifth Fleet yet...

"Honey! Come over, I’ve got an echo here!"

Speak of the devil, just then, a sudden urgent call from Bubbles came through the spiritual connection. After a day and night of monitoring, the newly assembled super amplification antenna finally received a signal from the Fifth Fleet!

The teleportation gate to the Exile World has been kept open for extended periods since yesterday, so in no time, we found ourselves on Kerudak Star again. This time, apart from Sandora and Big Sister, even Qianqian and the Tiaozi Five from the Divine Race came along, claiming to help—though I honestly don’t know what else they could do besides eat and make noise.

The Parliament Building’s ground floor hall was vastly different from our last visit, now crowded with the Fourth Fleet’s high-ranking officials. Beings of various races with bizarre appearances looked like they were having an expo. In the hall’s center, some unidentifiable Tobelu devices, presumably communication terminals, were temporarily installed. Two Tobelu scientists were busily tuning those green-glowing control panels, while floating holographic projections displayed images still in disarray. But according to experts, these chaotic images were indeed from the Fifth Fleet.

A loli with a cone on her head was hopping around the Tobelu experts, pointing and directing, looking more expert than the experts: "Hey! Didn’t see the static on the six-band frequency? That’s extraneous, just filter it out... Why’s the image from Group Three blacked out? No way, crashed again! How many years have your communication arrays gone without maintenance... Let someone upstairs check the port; I feel noise in my head... Ah, never mind, just a poor connection issue here. Alright, the main road’s signal is stable now, the Leaving World Garden is syncing this channel, keep up the pace, I have faith in you—ah! Daddy, you guys finally arrived!"

"What’s with that cone on her head?" Bingdisi asked stiffly, pointing at Bubbles’ peculiar accessory.

"An antenna," I explained succinctly, seeing "the Council" approaching with a group of officials in tow, quickly stepping up to greet them, "Had breakfast... never mind, how’s the situation now?"

"The Council" didn’t quite catch my first sentence but nodded at the latter, saying, "The equipment reacted about thirty minutes ago, detecting a data header possibly from the encrypted messages of the United Fleet back then. This... is it the Xyrin Host? She said she and her... daughter captured a signal source. We’re still tracing this signal source, and if we can stabilize the trace, we might establish a connection."

"So you mean communication isn’t possible yet," I nodded, signaling Bubbles over, "How’s your side progressing?"

"Still tracing, the signal source is shifting significantly. The Leaving World Garden can only expand listening range to ensure not losing the target, but this makes precision questionable," Bubbles said, gently twisting the cone on her head, "You know, Daddy, everything in the void sustains order by informational representation, and since the Fifth Fleet is fleeing, moving from one quadrant to another, the fleet’s informational representation naturally changes constantly. The Leaving World Garden’s feedback signal always comes with an encrypted ’shell’ mixed in, and I have to crack this shell to send out the call, by which time the target has moved elsewhere, and the fleeting message’s information representation has refreshed, blocking our outbound call..."

"...Say something I can understand."

"We can hear the Fifth Fleet’s voice, but they can’t hear ours—ah, bandwidth’s insufficient at this crucial moment," Bubbles said, stomping her foot, then pulling out another cone from her pocket, sticking it on her head with a "sizzle," "Phew... Thankfully I was prepared; that’s much better."

Everyone: "..."

I basically understood the Fifth Fleet’s situation. They don’t know someone’s trying to communicate with them, and their signals naturally can’t actively match the reception antennas of the Leaving World Garden, hence they’re only sending unidirectionally for the system. Given the vast distance, even the Leaving World Garden System can only send one call each time to the Fifth Fleet’s signal source, while the latter constantly changes its informational representation, causing any infiltration message constructed one moment to be blocked by a new informational representation the next. Such communication hurdles wouldn’t occur within the world, nor within the Empire’s network coverage. If both sides had a unified, pre-agreed message transformation rule, they could also avoid it, but now, the mixture of crossing too many quadrants, Leaving World Garden’s power limitations, the lack of a unified coordinated message format, and system latency issues have fully exposed it. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)