If someone were to look at the current state of the Fifth Fleet, and happened to be someone with a slight awareness of physics and military basics, they would surely jump and curse. The reason is nothing other than these giant starships are now "piled" together in a way that is quite unscientific and unreasonable, making one even suspect they are all already scrapped junk, dumped in some corner of the universe, and only due to universal gravitation have they formed such a massive cluster. Battleships several hundred kilometers long are jostling together, with distances between them even only a hundred meters at times. Due to shape issues, large battleships leave quite a bit of space between each other, so those small spaceships gather inside without even leaving that space, like little fish and shrimp hiding in the shadows of coral reefs. The accumulation of such a massive amount of large battleships has created enormous gravitational chaos, so all spaceships dare not make a rash move, otherwise, they would instantly collide and collapse into a ruins planet. All battleships with gravity control functions are now connected to a large data network, coordinated through a single main computer, to ensure that the delicate gravitational environment of this supermassive array does not collapse — should that thing collapse, its destructiveness to the most central ships would absolutely be comparable to a gravity weapon strike + saturation bombing.

Cocogina was right. If the enemy were to attack now, let alone a counterattack, they wouldn’t even have to move; they would take out half of themselves first. Using Sandora’s words, these battleships are now "tangled together like a chaotic ball of yarn, without any benefit except being tightly entangled." However, for us, the tight entanglement is the only condition we need.

"Is supporting such a large-scale Void Domain a problem?" Sandora had already parked the shuttle at the fleet’s core position, and beside it was Cocogina’s flagship: Haydon III. The shuttle’s main computer was already connected to the Haydon III Battleship, with all systems mounted to a network to ensure that subsequent transfer can occur under complete synchronization. Sandora was then finally confirming the range of the Order Field of the Fifth Fleet, now highly compressed, with a frown, saying, "Still going beyond expectations, you have never expanded your Void Domain to this extent... engulfing the entire fleet, it’s too difficult."

"Whether it’s difficult or not is up to me to say, I think there shouldn’t be a problem," I looked at the data on the holographic screen, comparing it with the Void boundary detected through my spiritual sensing to determine to what extent I need to expand, "Besides, there’s no choice now, right? Cocogina definitely won’t abandon his men, he’s already thrown those unmanned cargo ships outside the Order Field, now we must protect the remaining ships. And look at how they are doing their utmost — I have never seen such giant spaceships dare to pile up like building blocks in my life, you say, once they reach their destination, how on earth are they going to be unpacked?"

Sandora rolled her eyes at me: "...Don’t think about all that nonsense, surely there’s no problem, start the expanding. I’ve set the system to commence the collective jump in five minutes, before that if there’s any situation you must speak up immediately, I’ll halt everything at once, understand?"

I nodded, starting to change my form, becoming that residual thought of pure black naked faceless man — I’m really damn sick of this form, and recently I discovered something, maybe before solving whether I have a face, I should first consider getting myself some clothes, at least something that looks like clothes... If it really doesn’t work, then I’ll thicken, enlarge and deep-dye the black fog on myself, referring to Orelia might be a good choice...

"Cocogina, confirm that all starship engines have started the countdown," Sandora, with a mischievous grin, pinched me, then turned her head, her tone switching to one of lofty nobility, smoothly like a swap of themes, "You must ensure absolute synchronization in the jump, once someone leaves the Emperor’s protection, they will surely perish without a trace in such a spanning transmission. Additionally, the Void Domain has already expanded, check if any starships are exhibiting unusual phenomena, report immediately if there’s any situation, you have four minutes."

"Countdown normal, all engines are handed over to the clock-synchronized communication system for unified maneuver, absolutely no delay error." Cocogina’s voice seemed to carry tension too, because he knew that the entire Fifth Fleet’s fate would be determined at an instant four minutes later, how many instants in life would be as significant as the one four minutes later?

On the communicator, his battleship’s control panel behind him was also a scene of bustling activity, Fifth Fleet’s officers and technical personnel repeatedly confirmed the system status, and constantly monitored the suffusing situation of the Void Domain within the Order Field, many faces bore expressions of incredulity, exclaiming while completing tasks at hand with unprecedented novelty.

Cocogina also conveyed his astonishment to us: "This is the second time in tens of thousands of years that I’ve been so shocked by something — the first was when facing those mad Fallen Apostles, this time it’s facing such a gentle Void. An unprecedented phenomenon, the Void Domain diffusing inside the Order Field, directly contacting every spaceship, even penetrating all shields and armor, pervading around us... I can feel myself residing in an environment I’ve never encountered before... difficult to comprehend, impossible to analyze, many sensations beyond logic lingering at the spiritual boundary — thankfully only the Allen Spirit Clan is particularly sensitive to this surreal feeling, otherwise, our engineers might not even be able to work. This is the real Void, but all of our sense of order remains intact, I can still see, still hear, if it were possible, I’d really like to understand the reason for this."

"It seems the Void Domain has the greatest impact on energy body creatures," Sandora seemed to wear a smile, looking at Cocogina through the communicator, "Your state now is somewhat excited."

"Oh, yes, I know, I found that," cocogina calmed down quickly under Sandora’s reminder, "Primarily it’s because this sensation is extraordinary, Allen Spirit Clan is a race extremely sensitive to external information changes, though the Void environment suffusing the Order Field strives to simulate an ordered side, I can still feel a lot of supra-logical things. It seems these mystiques aren’t directly comprehensible by a mortal’s mind, I can feel them, yet not glean any meaningful information."

"So you should feel fortunate, choosing to believe in our goodwill was the right decision," Sandora leaned back against the seat’s backrest, revealing a calm smile, "I don’t know if you realized, actually as long as my partner is willing, the gentle Void Domain enveloping the entire fleet right now could instantly become a true void, he can control everything within his power range — don’t be nervous, that won’t happen, I’m just saying it to eliminate the last bit of insecurity. Now, prepare for the jump."

As Sandora’s voice faded, the system entered a fifteen-second countdown, Cocogina was too busy to focus on anything else, directing all attention to the device before her. I glanced at Sandora — assuming I had eyes, she gave me a faint smile: "I scanned the entire fleet with my spiritual connection, there are many spiritual sources in a state of intense unease or even paranoia. If we don’t calm them down with a strong dose in the last few seconds, some fools might really cause trouble."

I shrugged, said nothing, and the system prompt sounded just right: "System countdown, five seconds left, four, three, two, one, engines activated!"

What seemed like an instant to others was infinitely stretched in my view. After the jump started, that familiar dizziness hit again, but with the previous experience, I regained control of my will almost in the blink of an eye and realized I had indeed re-entered the state of Return to Void. A clear, rising female voice rang in my spirit world as expected: "Oh, you’re back again? Hopping around so much, are you alright?"

"Sister Hila... I’m busy."

"Oh, say hi to Xingchen for me." Hila muttered a word and gracefully went offline. I didn’t have the energy to keep exploring the marvelous Void "scenery" here, because a profound fatigue stemming from the depths of my soul had come as inevitably as scheduled.

It was just like that first transformation into a Void Creature, releasing the domain to its maximum range and finishing a fight with Bingdisi. Physically, there would be no exhaustion, yet I felt all my power slipping away like water from the soul. I knew this was because my Void Domain was spread too wide, causing them to inevitably assimilate and merge with the true void environment upon contact. Every bit of fusion equates to a bit of power consumption from me. At such a time, I astonishingly had the leisure to let my mind wander off in the wrong direction because I wonderfully thought of a bar of soap falling into a basin of water, and I was that soap...

I am the soap, the ice block, the sugar cube, the Cold Relief, anything that dissolves when thrown into water. What Sister Hila said was true, appropriate walks are beneficial for physical and mental health, but soaking too long could lead to nervous breakdowns. Right now, I truly had a nervous breakdown... weakened to the point that I was actively kicked out of the Return to Void state. My vision blurred, the dizziness vanished instantly, and I found myself back in the shuttle’s cockpit, met with a pair of sea-blue pretty eyes blinking in front of me, and that golden hair taking up almost all of my viewpoint. The girl’s warm breath brushed against my cheek, tickling me a little.

"Sandora, you scared me, why are you so close?"

The sea-blue eyes blinked, finally giving a little more distance. Sandora had a look of relief mixed with a touch of lingering fear on her face: "The jump has ended, but you didn’t react for a long time. I was a bit worried."

"Ended?" I laughed happily but soon found that smiling without a mouth is a technical task, so I removed the Void Form and added a silly grin, "How’s the fleet? Did it arrive safely?"

Meanwhile, I began checking my physical state. Well, as expected, the body itself certainly would have no damage, but the spirit was immensely exhausted, the soul weary, that profound sense of powerlessness felt just like being fully hit by Bingdisi’s Wang Ba Fist in those days. However, there was a silver lining; all the training and learning over such a long time finally paid off, my spirit had adapted to high-intensity consumption, so I didn’t feel as weak as I probably did last time, and my expended power was recovering rapidly — maybe I wouldn’t need to lie in the Medical Cabin after returning. About this issue, I think it’s necessary to formally mention, the designer of the Medical Cabin being a scientist is fine, but having scientists also use and maintain medical facilities seems a bit odd, especially when our family occasionally ends up in the Medical Cabin unexpectedly, and the attending physician turns out to be Taville. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl, the way the Glasses Sister looks at us lying in the Medical Cabin is like she’s looking at fish on the chopping board when cooking...Definitely drifted off.

"Well, the fleet’s in good condition, even a bit better than expected, not a single spaceship has fallen behind," Sandora’s expression was somewhat subtle, "it’s just that some ships drifted slightly within the tolerance value, resulting in local collisions and mergers. Luckily, there were no casualties. They’re busy in space trying to untangle the fleet now, entwined like a ball of yarn. Untangling it would be quite a technical task. However, in other areas... we seem to have had a little accident."

I suddenly got nervous, "Accident?"

Sandora pointed at the holographic screen in front of the console, "See for yourself, we seem to have ended up somewhere unknown."

That’s when I noticed, the display in front of the console no longer showed the complex graphs of Void navigation, instead showing the outside view of the shuttle. We had already broken away from the complex "junkyard" of the Fifth Fleet and should be docked near the fleet array. The screen showed giant starships in the distance reassembling, forming a loose formation as per the standard starship lineup rules. On the other half of the screen, there was a blue planet suspended in the deep dark space, with a sea-land distribution on its surface that was quite unfamiliar. It was clearly not Earth.

Nor was it the intended destination: Kerudak Star.

"I just calibrated the star map to confirm we’re outside the Empire’s territory. This universe isn’t registered, not even in the Macro World," Sandora frowned, "which means we’ve arrived at a completely unlocatable place."

"Oh my, how could there be such a large deviation..." I stared dumbfounded at the unfamiliar planet below.

"Actually... it’s not entirely beyond expectation," Sandora didn’t seem too pessimistic, "such situations were anticipated. After all, carrying the entire Fifth Fleet for such a large-scale jump, all unexpected situations were considered. Now we can confirm that although we haven’t entered the Empire, we seem to be headed in that direction, just for some reason, the jump’s positioning went wrong... we might be stuck at some fork, but we’ve definitely shaken off those Melowa ships."

"In any case, the Fifth Fleet is temporarily safe," I thought quickly, Sandora was right, even if there was an unknown glitch during the jump, at least our general direction shouldn’t be wrong. Now that we haven’t entered the Empire, we should be somewhere nearby. However, disconnected from the Imperial Data Network, we can’t check the fleet’s current coordinates to know where the fleet has arrived. The first thing is to restore communication with Bubbles’ side, "Can the communication system still work?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"The equipment isn’t broken, but it needs a bit of time to adjust," Sandora shrugged, "Possibly also a result of the jump failure, our current communication devices are being flooded with disordered information, essentially crashing. But you can try spiritual connection."

"Spiritual connection?" I was taken aback, "Can it still work?"

"Mine’s already cut off, I can’t reach Bubbles and the others, but maybe you can," Sandora tapped her forehead, "Remember? Your power barely weakens in the Void, maybe your spiritual connection can reach someone."

Sandora’s reminder made me recall this, so I temporarily focused my mind, searching for the Spiritual Imprints deeply etched in my soul, those of Qianqian and the others, and attempted to send a message. It was challenging because all communication equipment at hand was already done for, and I couldn’t use the Imperial Network to enhance the spiritual connection. In this situation, Sandora simply went offline, but me?

Sandora was right; my power hardly diminishes in the Void, and perhaps the fleet really isn’t too far from the Empire. After attempting communication multiple times, I seemed to faintly feel a response.

"Wood! Wood! Is it you?"

After focusing my spirit to the limit, I finally heard the voice from the other side, this unique "nickname" that no one could replicate, that’s right, it was definitely my Miss.

Actually, I had already guessed before that in this situation, the easiest person to establish contact with would definitely be Lin Xue, followed by Xiao Xue, because their respective abilities happen to enhance this kind of super-logical communication.

"It’s me, it’s me, thank goodness, finally connected—we’re fine."

"...I haven’t even asked yet, well, as long as you’re fine," Miss on the other side evidently let out a big sigh of relief, "You bastard, you almost scared me to death, you know that... where the hell are you now!"

Listening to Miss’s blunt venomous tongue, somehow, I felt a warmth in my heart. This stubborn guy, the latter half of her sentence... even had a crying tone to it.

"We should be outside the Empire, not too far away, but we’ve exceeded the range of Sandora’s spiritual connection support, the exact location is unknown. There are no reference points here, Sandora is calibrating the communicator, maybe by then we can reposition. Don’t worry, things here are fine. Oh, we are currently orbiting a planet that seems to be a life-bearing terrestrial planet. The automatic navigation probably locked onto the nearest life-bearing planet as per the predetermined rules and mistook this place for Kerudak."

Lin Xue paused, through the leaked words I knew she was communicating with the expert team, then she spoke again, "I really don’t know which corner of nowhere you ended up in. Based on the condition of the spiritual connection, we can’t ascertain, you didn’t come through the regular channels, so the positioning system can’t recalibrate using the usual steps... ah, looks like I have to go lie in that casket set... you dead wood!"

Me: "..." (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)