"Why did someone wearing the Empire’s insignia appear on the communication screen?"

The commander of the Fifth Fleet, the spiritual being known as Cocogina, suddenly changed his tone and said in a deep and serious manner. The three eyes of this spiritual entity became brighter than usual, with a faint purple halo. What kind of emotional change does this indicate? Surprise? Fear? Anger? Confusion? Or all of the above? For now, we do not know. We can only be sure of one thing, the situation has indeed become more complicated.

No one on-site here is wearing an Empire uniform, yet Taville’s communication screen floats right next to the "Council." She is in uniform, and from the angle of the communication device, Cocogina could clearly see Taville in her Imperial Researcher uniform. So, in his eyes, the council is maintaining contact with the Fifth Fleet on one side and communicating with the Empire on the other... Well, this is indeed the truth. But this truth now being exposed is really ill-timed.

"Yunade Council, I do not believe that those mindless monsters would become your new allies, but you certainly need to explain." Seems like Cocogina couldn’t hold back any longer after not hearing back from the "Council" and spoke up, breaking the silence. However, before the "Council" could respond, Sandora stepped forward voluntarily and said, "Commander Cocogina, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Let me introduce myself; I am the Xyrin Emperor, Sandora Kervy Yurasis, one of the rulers of the New Empire. As you can see, the Empire now stands with the Fourth Fleet, and we belong to the same camp."

No one expected (including me) that Sandora would suddenly stand up and speak so clearly about the situation. Not to mention the already dumbfounded "Council" and these high-ranking officers of the Fourth Fleet around, even Cocogina on the other side of the video was stunned. I reckon he was utterly unprepared to accept this arrangement mentally. After Sandora’s words fell, he began flickering and finally spread his much wider-than-human "hands," making a gesture of confusion: "What’s going on? Has the Fourth Fleet finally fallen into your hands?"

"You have to clarify matters sooner or later. If you wait until the Fifth Fleet retreats to the Imperial Border and then let them discover those Imperial stations, things will be more complicated," Sandora whispered to the "Council," then looked back at the communicator, "No, quite the opposite. We just recently protected the Fourth Fleet from those monsters you mentioned."

Cocogina leaned his upper body toward the communicator, and his fluctuating "face" was enlarged on the holographic screen: "Imperials, what exactly are you saying?"

"The Empire you remember has been destroyed and collapsed entirely," Sandora replied in a calm, water-like tone, "Now the homeland is gone, and the surviving Xyrin Apostles have split into two factions. One part is the Fallen, who once hunted you, the rebels to us. We are the second force, reformed as the New Empire. Unfortunately, we are weak, and most of us only awakened from a long slumber a few years ago, powerless to help with what happened to you. Now the New Empire is gradually rising, committed to eliminating the rebels who have turned to the Abyss and, within our capabilities, providing shelter to worlds harmed by the Fallen. The Fourth Fleet is already within the New Empire’s camp, and recently, they received your distress signal, leading to this rescue plan. This is everything you wanted to know."

I found it hard to read any expression from a face that looks like jelly with three bulbous eyes, and Cocogina’s body language seemed just as bewildering, so nobody knew if he was confused or completely disbelieving after hearing Sandora. His fluctuating spiritual energy rhythmically contracted three times before focusing on the "Council": "Yunade Council, I need your testimony. This matter is dubious."

— Actually, this request for verification was meaningless; the "Council" was already standing with us, so their answer was bound to be affirmative. He just hoped to hear the confirmation from his old friend. So the "Council" nodded firmly: "I can swear by the Ancestor’s Spirit of the Yunadeans, the Emperor’s words are entirely true."

At the same time, we heard the "Council’s" explanation via the spiritual connection: "For the Allen Spirit Clan, the highest expression of credibility is swearing by their Race’s Ancestor’s Spirit. Whether this weight holds the same significance for other races, it is undoubtedly my strongest statement of intent."

Cocogina’s eyes flickered uncertainly, the trio of lights ultimately settled into a dim state: "For various reasons, I should believe you. Moreover, those monsters of the past would certainly not have reasoned with me in this way, and they had no need to concoct any form of deception... So, trust is temporarily established, New Empire’s Emperor."

"Wow, did the plan succeed so simply?" Qianqian’s booming voice resounded as usual at critical moments. She was clutching a massive Nine-level Rubik’s Cube, looking ready to spend a large chunk of time on it, "I prepared my toys only to hear this?"

Sandora’s mouth twitched visibly, and I quickly coaxed Qianqian aside. It was indeed surprising how quickly Cocogina accepted our explanation, but I soon understood the reason — strictly speaking, mutual trust had not been built between both sides; Cocogina’s current reaction was due to having no other choice.

His battered fleet was being pursued if they could not find a way out, they would be annihilated, and on our side, we could at least offer him a ten percent chance of hope.

Just as he said, the completely irrational Fallen Apostles wouldn’t take such a convoluted approach to set up a trap for him (yet he doesn’t know that those irrational madmen have indeed turned into very cunning rogues), and with the Yunade Council willing to vouch for Sandora’s words with their utmost sincerity, his choice was to either continue leading the fleet to wander aimlessly or cooperate with us, the latter seemed obvious.

As for the grudges like those of being hunted by the Xyrin Apostles in the past, such issues certainly will not disappear in the current scenario. Both sides wisely chose not to discuss such matters at this critical juncture. I believe the time to discuss this will come after the Fifth Fleet successfully escapes from danger.

"Now I need to know the overall condition of your fleet, the operating parameters of your void jump devices, and your precise location."

Once basic trust had been established between the two sides, Sandora immediately shifted the topic towards supporting the Fifth Fleet and thoroughly inquired about their current status. In my view, it’s almost impossible to rush to the aid of the Fifth Fleet—the distance is simply too great, and even with the Empire’s Void Exploration Team, there’s hardly time to burn incense in honor of the Fifth Fleet’s entire crew.

Sandora was, of course, aware of this, so her questions already excluded any idea of rushing to the Fifth Fleet’s aid — the distance is simply too far, even with the current most advanced Void Exploration Team of the Empire, making it nearly impossible to promptly provide aid to all the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Fleet in time.

Of course, Sandora also knows this, so her questions have already excluded the notion of rushing to aid the Fifth Fleet — the distance was truly too far, making it nearly impossible to reach the entire crew in time, even with the Empire’s most advanced Void Exploration Team.

"We have begun uploading the technical data of the Fifth Fleet, which is expected to be completed in two minutes. I must first state that the void jump system used by the Fifth Fleet is quite outdated. It is challenging to guarantee how long it can operate under such full capacity. Currently, the largest ships in the fleet have a positional deviation correction of six percent per jump, with an eight-second interval between each jump. Consequently, the entire fleet can only move at this speed. During the attack, we suffered losses, and because many of our ships are now advancing with nearly empty compartments and are surviving on onboard ecological systems to maintain the crew’s life, but the ecosystem of the large ships was all shut down at some point for a full hundred years. Though we’ve restarted them, there’s a high chance of them failing suddenly..."

As Cocogina continued to relay the current state of the Fifth Fleet to us, I could tell from Sandora’s expression that she was understanding the fleet’s situation as quite dire by the condition of the ships alone, even though many technical terms were beyond my comprehension. She suddenly waved her hand to interrupt Cocogina: "I’ve seen data regarding your ecological systems too. Some systems labeled as Alpha Level within large ships have extremely dangerous operational statuses. These systems provide for nearly a third of the fleet members, and though they were recently restarted after being shut down for so long, they could lead to disastrous ecological failures at any moment..."

"Our technical data transfer has begun, and it’s expected to be completed in two minutes. I must explain first that the Fifth Fleet’s Void Jump system is old and difficult to guarantee how long it can function at full capacity. Now, the largest ships we have show a correction rate of six percent for position deviation per jump, with an eight-second interval between jumps, which means the fleet is moving only at this speed. We lost a lot of ships in the attack, and many of them are now moving with nearly empty compartments, relying only on the onboard ecological systems to sustain crew life. However, the ecological systems of the large ships are in a highly perilous state; they were all shut down for a total of a year, and although they’ve been restarted, there is a high possibility of a sudden disaster due to a loop failure in the ecological system..."

As Cocogina continued to relay the status of the Fifth Fleet to us, I could tell from the look on Sandora’s face that the situation of the fleet was concerning based on the conditions of the ships. Although I didn’t understand many of the professional terms, it was apparent the Fifth Fleet itself was facing significant challenges. Sandora suddenly raised her hand to interrupt Cocogina: "I see some of the systems labeled as Alpha Level on your ecological systems data—those systems are in a highly dangerous state, supplying nearly a third of the fleet’s crew members. Although recently restarted after a complete shutdown of a hundred years, despite no current issues, there is a high risk of sudden ecosystem collapse..."

"We have begun uploading the technical data about the fleet, which should be completed in two minutes. I must clarify first that the Fifth Fleet’s Void Jump system is already quite outdated, and under such full-power conditions, it’s hard to guarantee its operation duration. Now, the largest ships in our fleet have a positional deviation correction per jump of six percent, and we have eight-second jump intervals, therefore the fleet can only move at this speed. In the attack, we lost many ships, and many ships are advancing with almost empty hulls, relying on the onboard ecological systems to sustain the crew’s life. However, the ecological systems of the large ships were entirely shut down for a full hundred years, and although they have been restarted, a catastrophic failure in the ecological cycle could happen without warning..."

Cocogina didn’t seem to have any expectations of receiving aid equipment from the Empire, so he wasn’t disappointed, either. He simply nodded calmly, then indicated that the ecosystems could hold on for another one or two days — meaning if they couldn’t shake off the pursuit and find a safe docking world within that time, the Fifth Fleet would have to abandon nearly a third of its members.

They were not like the Empire, which possessed the "secondary jump" technology to directly transfer units from one ship to another in the Void. Their current ships couldn’t maintain a sufficiently large Order Field in the Void to use small transport ships for large-scale personnel transfer. Unless they could dock at a safe world, the occupants trapped aboard starships on the verge of ecological collapse had no hope. Overall, the situation of the Fifth Fleet now was infinitely worse than when the Fourth Fleet met us back then.

"In any case, the fleet is currently proceeding according to the navigation information you provided. We haven’t found any sign of pursuers yet, but they’re definitely not giving up," Cocogina glanced at an information terminal by his side, and his low tone indicated he wasn’t optimistic about the situation. "It seems impossible to withdraw to the nearest safe zone you’ve marked within a short time. Our evacuation back then happened to intersect with your New Empire’s territory, and although we’re not heading in completely opposite directions, the ’distance’ between the two is now exceedingly remote."

Thousands of years ago, when the Exile Fleet decided to split up and evacuate, each fleet chose a different Void Quadrant as their target. The Fourth Fleet’s target happened to be near the current New Empire’s territory, which is why they were able to mistakenly enter the Macro World passage. However, the route chosen by the Fifth Fleet avoided every world of the New Empire (well, at least they didn’t choose the Second Fleet’s route; according to the "Council," the Second Fleet’s route back then was completely opposite to the now New Empire’s territory. If the Fifth Fleet had taken that route, they might not be able to return for thousands of years). The ’distance’ between the Fifth Fleet and us may be farther than the entire territory of the Empire now.

If it were within the Empire, due to World Gates connecting various worlds, even the longest Void Navigation could almost be achieved immediately. But outside the Empire, in the absence of World Gates and relying on spacecraft to jump piece by piece, the time consumed is incredible. I pulled up the Void Territory Map compiled by Taville and input the Fifth Fleet’s coordinate signal into it, trying to find a closer route—this territory map isn’t what people ordinarily imagine as a "map" or some other graphical interface. It’s a tabular representation composed of countless annotated dots because it’s impossible to determine the position of anything in the Void, naturally making it impossible to draw a map-like Void Territory Map. Every dot representing a world in this table can only indicate its relative position to the Capital Universe through "information offset," and beneath the Fifth Fleet’s dot, I could only see a long string of numbers, followed by a series of ellipses...

I even suspect it might take them years to reach the Imperial Border.

"For now, proceed with the planned route of retreat. I’m thinking about how to allow you to cross this distance without delay," Sandora pressed her index finger against her chin, seemingly having a thought, "perhaps there really is a shortcut... Give me some time."

"Who exactly is pursuing you? Are they... the vassals of the Old Empire?" Big Sister clearly couldn’t help technically, so she could only ask about other issues we were just as concerned about.

"It’s them — those lackeys," Cocogina’s voice carried irrepressible excitement but soon calmed down, "I don’t know who they are, but it’s clear they are the ’Old Empire’ vassals you mentioned. We saw something resembling the Crystal Crusader Emblem on their ships, but... I think you would be interested in these images, as they don’t quite match the typical Imperial markings."

Cocogina said this as he sent over a set of images, seemingly taken on the battlefield in a high orbit. The background mainly consisted of massive, fragmented ship debris, and on one side of some images, the planet’s edge could be seen, blurred due to high-speed movement. I couldn’t distinguish which belonged to the Fifth Fleet and which to the pursuers. The most striking feature in these images was some spacecraft with arched exteriors and large golden paintwork; these opulent-looking golden rounded warships appeared to be the pursuers that Cocogina mentioned. Big Sister zoomed in on the clearest of these images, and finally, we found what appeared to be the Imperial Crusader Emblem on the prow of these warships—but strictly speaking, it only looked like a Crusader Emblem.

The prototype of that emblem was evidently the Imperial Army Emblem, but its color had changed from blue to light gold, and the sharp crystal spikes had been modified into crescent-shaped arcs. In the background of the emblem, two crossed scepter patterns could be seen.

The entire mark seemed somewhat incongruous to me, while Big Sister frowned deeply: "How did they change the Imperial Army Emblem like this?"

"They altered the Imperial Army Emblem unauthorizedly... A normal Servant Army would never do such a thing; it’s a great taboo." Sandora emerged from her contemplation, looking surprised at that mismatched golden mark. I then felt a tug on the hem of my garment.

Looking down, it turned out to be Pandora.

It must be said, the presence of this girl is too low. Even though she’s with us, because she remained silent throughout, it’s as if she was ignored like a porcelain doll sitting in the corner — her presence isn’t even as high as her sister’s — Visca’s attempt to dismantle parts from a nearby data machine ten minutes ago got her ordered to sit quietly on a chair without causing trouble, and everyone was wary of her, presence was high.

"Brother, those ships... I recognize them!"

Under my curious gaze, Pandora finally spoke, as always, concise and to the point, "Melowa People!"

I thought for a moment and patted Pandora on the head: "Can you say two more words?"

"Fifteenth Day Zone, Servant Army, Melowa People!"

Everyone fell silent — well, everyone who knew what the Fifteenth Day Zone was fell silent.

I processed for less than two seconds and finally reacted, calling the Chief Scientist on standby online: "Taville, immediately search the database for information on the Melowa People in the entries added after the Conceptual Disjunction."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Taville replied, and within seconds, vast amounts of data began spewing out like a geyser on the holographic screens surrounding us. Clear images and textual data from the Old Empire’s archives meticulously listed intelligence about this "Melowa People" Old Empire vassal, with sleek-looking warships covered in gold trim occupying over fifty percent of the footage.

"Melowa People, the vassal race of the Old Empire’s Fifteenth Day Zone, one of the Empire’s oldest vassal races, having survived the Age of Great Expansion and all its wars. Their overall strength is the highest among all vassal races of the Old Empire. After the Old Empire’s collapse, all information on them has been lost, provisionally deemed extinct."

The synthesized voice of the system read aloud a brief introduction on this race.

Sandora slowly shook her head: "No... they are still alive, and... may have already betrayed us." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly votes on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)