Azure Star, inside the War God Cathedral of the capital, the teleportation gate is already open, and now Dingdang Five are bidding farewell to the "children." Monina and Eva chatted for a while in whispers, and finally decided to leave some sort of farewell gift. She reached into her bosom and searched for a while before pulling out a small pendant: "Here you go, Eva, take this as a souvenir. Who knows when we’ll be back next time."

Eva immediately displayed a look of surprise and joy, carefully taking the seemingly ordinary pendant as if cradling a rare treasure in her chest: "Lady Goddess, thank you for your gift, I will definitely cherish it..."

Lei’s mustache was quivering with excitement: "Oh, today is truly a glorious day, the church has gained another epic holy artifact!"

Without a doubt, even though the pendant was casually pulled out by Monina, Lei had already decided to treat it as a holy church relic, and sooner or later, that pendant strung with cotton thread would be reverently placed within the Holy Hall by the believers of Azure Star, worshipped by thousands. The big words "Glass Factory No. 5" on the base of the pendant would shine brightly under the sun of Azure Star.

Having spent plenty of time with the Divine Clan Five, these things no longer surprise me. Religion is such an odd thing, possessing an incomprehensible magnifying effect on the timeline. A mundane or even ridiculous beginning, when magnified by time and faith, always turns strange and bizarre, just like the pile of scrap metal dug up from Europe during those days when Little Crow had an upset stomach. Now, it has become the sacred relic of the Crow God Sect and is said to be usable only by top-notch knights during demon eradication missions. But in reality? Prior to Little Crow using those scrap metals to sharpen her beak, those swords parked in the marketplace were sold by weight.

Monina’s gesture of leaving Eva a keepsake immediately reminded Yelsen and the others. Several gods without much on-the-ball demeanor began fumbling about, looking like they wanted to leave something as well. Yelsen said while rummaging, "Wait a second, I’ve got something good here—no wonder Monina is smart, she thinks it through. It’s not like we visit often, so we should leave something behind. Ah, found it!"

Finally, Yelsen pulled out a keychain, Lin took off a bracelet from her wrist, and Uncle Kenser pulled out a blank diary from his bosom (probably meant for grocery bookkeeping?), and the three immortals handed these items all at once to Eva: they knew, no matter whom these gifts were given to, they’d end up being treated as holy relics by the church, so it’s more convenient to directly hand them to the church’s Holy Girl.

From my observation, these soon-to-be worshipped holy relics originally came from the Yiwu Small Commodity Wholesale Market, which means, from a certain standpoint, the Yiwu Small Commodity Wholesale Market has taken a solid first step on humanity’s long march to conquer the Otherworld...

Several big shots from the religious realm were eagerly accepting these "god-given items," each with smiles as bright as if they were celebrating a holiday. I truly wanted to tell them, these things in a place called Yiwu are sold by container loads, but I thought better of it. The people of Azure Star aren’t fools; they could probably tell the true nature of these gifts at a glance. However, that doesn’t stop them from worshiping a bunch of glass beads and notebooks as divine relics. That’s religion, blatant religion. They worship not the material but the idol behind the material. I again remembered Yelsen’s point: "The divine artifact is divine only because it was used by gods," an undebatable truth. Let the facts speak: isn’t Longinus, at the core, just a wooden stick with an iron tip?

Finally, all eyes shifted to my shoulder, where there sat a fellow who is one of the five main gods of Azure Star: Dingdang. This little thing always watched with curious eyes at all before her, swinging her little feet in mid-air. Only when her four teammates directed their gaze at her did she belatedly point to her nose and say, "Oh, does Dingdang need to prepare a gift too?"

Bingdisi snorted to the side: "Of course, since you came all this way, you’d leave something for the children before leaving, how else do you call yourself God."

"Oh." Dingdang nodded, then sported an exceptionally conflicted and distressed look, seeming to gather much resolve before rummaging from her personal space. Moments later, unsurprisingly, she pulled out a lollipop: to her, this was the best thing.

"Hmm–" Dingdang held up the lollipop, continued to feel conflicted, continued to be distressed, continued hesitating, then quickly retrieved it, peeled off the candy wrapper, took a big bite, then handed the lacking lollipop to Eva, "Here, this is the best that’s coming from Dingdang..."

For the first time, Lei was dumbfounded, freezing for a while: "Goddess... this... this is quite difficult to store..."

The god-given gifts must be stored as holy artifacts in the Holy Land. How does one store a lollipop? It wouldn’t make it past the first summer without melting. Upon explaining to Dingdang, the little thing burst out in a grin, and openly in front of everyone, "crunch crunch," bit the sugar ball off and handed the remaining sugar stick to Eva, speaking indistinctly: "Here (take)!"

Everyone: "..."

Once again, the holy relic collection of the church was freshly updated in terms of its lower limit!

Lastly, Joe, Lei, Eva, and others were all waved away by Yelsen, leaving only an extremely elderly person in the cathedral aside from our group—he was the Pope, Mu, Yelsen’s spokesperson in this world. Unlike Lilina, who was like a complete new-money golden king, this was a man who’s worked for his god for two hundred years. Clearly, Yelsen valued this old man greatly and allowed him to stay last, also tasked him to organize the altar once the teleportation gate closed.

In front of the War God’s statue, Yelsen patted Mu’s elderly shoulder, despite looking like he’d become quite shapeless and could easily pass for Yelsen’s great-great-grandfather, Yelsen was truthfully giving directives to a kid: "Now I’ll be heading back, there are still many scarred worlds ahead waiting for me to save."

We were beside trying hard to not ruin things, already undergoing enormous moral torture.

"Lord, will you return to this world?" Mu, a ferocious two-hundred year-old elder who could wildly run from Fourth Ring to the city center, at this moment, lowered his head and hunched his shoulders like a child with expectation yet fearing a letdown. He was Azure Star’s most respected pope, yet in front of the War God, he remained the wild lad from two hundred years ago who fought in the welcoming god team at the temple, creating such a ruckus that he collided with a divine throne. The War God is eternal, no matter how long the time passes, the War God remains majestic, while the wild lad personally pardoned by the deity dwindles on, flipped over by time in their two meetings. My mind sparked such a peculiar insight that despite Yelsen’s unreliability being deeply entrenched in my thoughts, I persevered without ridiculing 123: meanwhile, continuing with immense moral torture. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Perhaps I’ll return, but it might be many years later. Gods do not excessively interfere with worldly affairs, especially in worlds like this," Yelsen calmly said, implying that considering Mu’s mortal lifespan, likely he wouldn’t be there for that. Thus, the elderly regretfully bowed his head, but Yelsen seemed to hesitate again, deciding to share some news with him: "Do you remember the words in the code?"

——Concertedly teach and embody, temper your soul, thus could elevate this being and transcend the mundane. Mu, it’s been two hundred years, you’ve done well all this time. In the coming days, you will finish the final stretch of your work. After fulfilling your duties, come to my country, where your place will be." Right after finishing the sentence, I hear Yelsen blaring in the spiritual connection public channel: "Oops, couldn’t help but tell this guy ahead of time. Originally planned to surprise him after he’s passed!"

Me: "..." Could you please not make the ascension to the Divine Country upon the Lord’s call sound as mundane as getting a second-level pay raise?

Perhaps it was either because of his old age or because what his lord said was too unexpected, but Mu froze for a good five or six seconds before coming back to his senses. Then, as expected, he got so excited he was trembling all over. Yelsen was still regretting why he was so loose-lipped, and seeing this, he decisively waved his hand to interrupt what the old master was about to say and looked him straight in the eye: "Remember the words in the Bible; what you face is not only ascension but also greater burdens and responsibilities, and you will have to be responsible not just for one Race, but for many worlds and countless lives. You haven’t even touched the starting point yet, understand? Go back and work hard."

"Yes, yes," Mu nodded repeatedly. Yelsen, standing beside him, had a satisfied smile on his face. This scene reminded me of my resolve to study hard on my first day of elementary school when I listened to my elder sister, although it seemed that the old master in front of me was much easier to teach than I was back in the day...

After leaving Azure Star, everyone else went straight home, but Sandora and I still had to make a detour to another place.

The universe where the Fourth Fleet is located, Capital Star Kerudak. Sandora and I, along with a group of administrative experts and Command Center officers from Shadow City, once again returned to this planet.

It was truly unexpected back then when I set out from Kerudak; I thought it would just be a quick, convenient trip through the Void, like stepping out for a quick errand. The Council was eagerly waiting to welcome their old friends back. However, Sandora and I ended up being away for so many days, with numerous twists and turns along the way. Perhaps I really am a man with a Halo, constantly attracting trouble could quite possibly be a passive skill of mine.

This visit to Kerudak was markedly different from the last one, the most notable being the "friendliness." Last time we were secretly received by the Council, and the ordinary citizens of Kerudak didn’t even know that the Imperial people had arrived on their planet. Moreover, among the senior officials of the Fourth Fleet, there were quite a few who were wary of us. But this time, Sandora and I received an official welcome: on one hand, it was the complete acceptance by the Council and the senior executive group of the Fourth Fleet. More importantly, they were no longer worried about possible public unrest caused by the Imperial military presence on their Capital Star—at least, the positive development of the broader environment was evident.

The Royal Shuttle carrying Sandora and me arrived directly in front of the Parliament Building, escorted by several small Escort Ships. Due to the unique nature of Tobelu-style architecture, the temporary parking platform in front of the Parliament Building is a crescent-shaped platform parallel to the building’s spherical midsection, suspended in mid-air thanks to anti-gravity technology. On either side of this platform were Fourth Fleet officials, as well as some people who seemed to be public representatives: they wore no uniforms, so I could only guess they represented some civilian organizations. Surrounding the anti-gravity platform were projection subtitles welcoming Sandora and me, visible from any tower ball building top around the Parliament Building. Compared to otherworldly events where I’ve been dragged to attend, this welcome was inconspicuously modest in scale and ceremony, yet the thought that it was a gesture of goodwill from the exiles towards us, even such a low-key reception, was touching.

"It’s truly not easy," I couldn’t help but remark to Sandora as the shuttle slowly approached the platform, "Just seeing this public banner of welcome feels harder to come by than winning ten consecutive battles against the Fallen Apostles."

"And we still have a long way to go," Sandora smiled slightly, feeling good but not overly optimistic about the present situation, "Look, there’s a restricted area in the periphery, sentries on the rooftops of distant buildings, and the scale and composition of the welcoming scene are clearly carefully selected. We can only say that the Fourth Fleet’s officials can now openly engage with the Empire, marking the early stages of diplomatic normalization, but on a societal level, they have far from reconciled all their differences. Once the Fifth Fleet completes its emergency repairs and arrives in this universe, the situation should improve further. Cocogina is expected to work towards easing relations between the exiles and the Empire."

I understood what Sandora was saying. It was just that a series of events related to the Fallen Apostles or the Abyss Bottom brought me significant psychological pressure. A sense of urgency grew increasingly intense during these days, constantly making me feel like there wasn’t enough time, wishing everything could be done at once. Yet, every single thing I faced required time, a lot of time; there’s fundamentally nothing that could be done all at once.

I looked into the distance, seeing countless shadows swaying on top of the high Tower Ball buildings outside the restricted area. Those are likely civilians of the Fourth Fleet. Although most of them had never seen an Imperial battleship a year ago, they grew up under the shadow of the "Imperial Butcher," a generation curious about the appearance of the Imperial battleship that had overshadowed countless generations.

At that moment, Sandora gently squeezed my hand, indicating that our shuttle had docked.

On the parking platform, a semi-transparent female figure, accompanied by several senior officials, approached us. She was the highest ruler of the Fourth Fleet, the Yunade Council. With the unique and peculiar manners of the Yunadeans, she welcomed Sandora, me, and the Imperial Soldiers behind us: "I believe the Council can personally consider you as friends now."

"This truly didn’t come easy," I laughed heartily, expressing what was on my mind before cutting directly to the main topic, "The Fifth Fleet is undergoing repairs in another military world; their ships were in poor condition. But fortunately, I successfully completed the mission. Not a single ship was missing, and everyone safely arrived."

The Council nodded slightly: "We have already communicated with Captain Cocogina and understood the situation over there. Knowing that an old friend is safe and sound is genuinely the best thing we’ve encountered in tens of thousands of years."

Sandora and I came over primarily because we ran into an unexpected incident back then, which caused plans to be shelved — the Fifth Fleet’s reception preparations, the arrangements for the Fourth Fleet, and other tasks were all put on hold due to this. Now that we’re back, it’s necessary to collaborate with the Council to arrange everything promptly. Another reason was to assess the results of the public opinion campaign we initiated following my sister’s proposal.

Well, it turns out the public opinion campaign was indeed very effective. Because we set out with great fanfare to rescue the Fifth Fleet, the greatest result now is that preliminary official communication between the Imperial side and the exiles has been established. Furthermore, as the Fifth Fleet is to be stationed in this world, we might just take this opportunity to help them build colonial facilities and a giant starport under the pretext of aid. Although Sandora and I don’t have immediate plans to station a permanent army in this universe, after "aid construction," a tacit supporting relationship between the exiles and the Empire will already be established.

More importantly, during this process, the new citizens of the Fourth Fleet will get used to living with Imperial Soldiers in their midst. Changing exiles’ views of the New Empire, this habit-forming process is more important than anything.

During our discussions in the reception hall of the Parliament Building with the Fourth Fleet’s management, Sandora and various specialists conducted most of the negotiations. I was mostly a background figure oscillating between "What are you talking about?" and "What are you talking about now?" Only when the situation of the Fifth Fleet was brought up could I join in the conversation: regarding this, I had some understanding because, back then, the entire fleet was carried along "inside of me," and I almost scanned every ship using my spiritual power.

According to a more detailed report from Cocogina, the condition of the Fifth Fleet was extremely poor. Almost no ship was intact, and even after emergency repairs in the Civilization Community, they could barely remain functional. As the Fourth Fleet hadn’t yet managed its situation, the burden of the Fifth Fleet had to fall to the Empire, prompting the Council to make a difficult decision:

She hoped to acquire a batch of colonization stars that could be put into use in a short time.

Precisely what Sandora and I anticipated. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for recommendations or monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)