The council vanished midway through its words, right in front of both me and Sandora, only to reappear several seconds later, flickering incessantly. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned: "Um... are you alright?"

"It’s fine," the council replied with a calm expression, "My data mainframe is on the planet. The interference my extension experiences on the network won’t affect the mainframe. The data volume of the Yunade Aggregation is too enormous, and we don’t have advanced mass projection technology like yours. If I want to appear at the remote nodes of the network and interact with the material world, I can only use this approach that demands extremely high bandwidth and environmental requirements..." Blink, vanish, reappear, the council continued, "... extension technology."

Cocogina looked at this long-lost partner, reunited at last: "Actually, you didn’t need to use an extension to come here. With regular projection, wouldn’t you still be able to see the situation on-site?"

"But I wanted to personally ’touch’ that thing, to know what kind of thing brought such a disaster to you," the council smiled faintly, casting a glance at Cocogina’s elusive face, "Interacting with the material world is my only joy..."

Three seconds later, the council reappeared before us, looking earnestly at Lin Xue: "Um... could you turn off that little device in your hand? Although you find it no big deal, it significantly affects our still fragile network."

I glanced at Miss Lin and found her engaged in an interstellar data terminal connection battle with Bubbles: Immediately, I realized what had caused the frequent and abnormal interferences since earlier, and I felt deeply apologetic towards the council.

At this moment, the orbital cart, relying on tractor beams to transport personnel between the space station and the large spaceship, smoothly reached its destination. We felt a slight vibration beneath us, and then the portholes beside us opened, revealing the inside of the spaceship.

The group stepped outside, where many staff members were already welcoming us, with a substantial portion inevitably casting glances at Sandora and us. How should I put this? Although communication between the Empire and the Exiles is heading towards normalization, it hasn’t yet changed the fact that Imperial People are considered rare by the Exiled Colonists. Our presence in front of them inevitably aroused curiosity.

"Wow, this looks... like such an ancient spaceship." Lin Xue raised her head, looking around and couldn’t help but murmur. According to the history of the Exiles that we knew, this Colonial Giant Ship should have been completed when the Exile Fleet set sail, a relic of tens of thousands of years. We couldn’t deny that it’s a grand giant spaceship. If Earthlings saw it, they’d probably be stunned, yet it’s undeniable that it’s already old and decrepit. The alloy surface of the docking port inside the ship showed severe wear and tear. Although this special metal never rusts, the relentless toll of time had left it visibly damaged. The vast docking space was unevenly lit, with some areas even shrouded in darkness. Local artificial gravity had at least a five-degree deviation, making it uncomfortable, and it seemed like the air circulation here had entirely stopped. The low air pressure wasn’t suitable for living creatures, and most of the on-site staff were wearing special fully enclosed work suits: only a few were probably from a race capable of surviving in low-pressure and oxygen-free environments.

"The Ankah Series is the oldest model of Colonial Giant Ships, which had many design shortcomings due to inexperience at the start of its construction. No one anticipated its ecological system would need to be maintained for such a long time," Cocogina said, floating ahead to lead the way. Although this Spiritual Being had humanoid limbs, it seemed unaccustomed to walking, more like a wandering ghost. "On top of that, our technology on Ghost Energy was still not proficient at the time. Ankah 5 experienced several incidents, and its ecological system was the worst among all the giant ships. When it escaped, only a sixth of its refuge cabins were still habitable. But compared to Ankah 6, which disappeared into the depths of the Void due to a Ghost Energy reactor runaway incident hundreds of years ago, it was actually quite fortunate."

What can I say, whenever I interact with these exiled colonists, I always find myself in awkward situations now and then. Even though there’s no ill intent on their part and there’s no need for me to take all the blame, when awkwardness arises, it’s still awkward. It’s probably just the way I am—like a true literary youth, even swearing involves parallel sentences...

The Ankah 5’s long axis stretches over a hundred kilometers, and the ship’s passages are complex and convoluted. Walking to the target warehouse in the middle section of the giant ship is out of the question. However, due to malfunctioning transmission devices on the spaceship, we had to take a small shuttle to get there. Passing through the airlock of the Upper Layer, we traversed a large plain attached to the Isolation Chamber wall (this plain, initially intended as a residential and ecological zone, had turned into a wasteland due to toxins and pollution. Through the portholes, one could only see abandoned urban ruins, charred earth, and some twisted remnants of plants), then flew through a seemingly accidental great rift in the Second Level Lockdown Wall, entering the ship’s complicated network of cnannels. Finally, after crossing a small town near a cooling core that still had faint lights, we reached the warehouse where "that thing" was stored.

On the way, I saw a starship, more like a steaming wreck of a spaceship than a Colonization Ship. The level of desolation in those overlapping ecological zones, transport networks, and concentrated living quarters was shocking. I couldn’t imagine how they survived in such an ecological environment during the last few hundred years of their exile. The most regretful sight was the large hole in the center of the Second Level Lockdown Wall, reportedly ripped open during an incident involving a Ghost Energy leak. Two material synthesis factories and a small residential area near the rift were instantly turned into powdery crystalline substances, with the leftover contamination still not cleaned up. The residents near the contaminated zone back then had nowhere to go, forced to live in refuges perilously close to deadly dust—these were all things Cocogina recounted during the journey. He seemed well-versed in every accident that had occurred on each Colonization Ship of the Fifth Fleet.

I’m not sure if the dilapidation we saw along the way had moved Sandora, but she didn’t look well. When the shuttle arrived at the destination, she said quietly, "Ah Jun, I have an uneasy feeling."

"Indeed, the situation with the Fifth Fleet is really..."

"No, that’s not what I mean," Sandora’s voice sounded in the Spiritual Connection, "It’s something else, causing me to feel very... uneasy. Maybe it’s an intuition that something’s going to happen."

I glanced at Sandora with puzzlement and then suddenly realized: As someone who has witnessed history spanning tens of millions of years (perhaps even longer?) and encountered far more moving events than this with the Exiles, an Imperial Empress as composed as Sandora wouldn’t lose her composure from seeing an abandoned ecological ship. Clearly, that’s not possible.

Just as I was about to inquire further, Cocogina suddenly spoke up, "That’s it over there."

Sandora waved her hand gently, signaling not to worry about her, before pulling me to jump off the shuttle.

In front of everyone was a large, severely deformed, and damaged metal structure, its material and function completely indistinguishable. Approximately ten meters in length each side, it stood with the air of a small building. Its surface was covered in twisted metal plates, revealing protruding jagged mechanical remnants from beneath. All of its parts were pitch black in color, though it’s unclear if it was originally like that or turned that way over time. I’ve sensed no notable energy reaction inside it, although there was a slight radiation and Secondary Energy presence, but certainly not to the level of being "alive." It resembled a heap of scrap metal salvaged from a battlefield. If there was anything remarkable, it would be just how hideous this lump of alloy was.

"Uh, you say... you guys accidentally discovered this thing, and then the Melowa People attacked?"

I looked at Cocogina suspiciously, suddenly feeling the situation was a bit ludicrous: I originally thought I would see some treasure, like humming yet indestructible Imperial high-tech garbage, but to my surprise, what appeared in front of me was just a ten-meter cubed iron lump lacking any high-energy response inside. Furthermore, upon examining the mechanical structures exposed under the damaged alloy shell, I found them to be extremely crude in design. Not only did it pale compared to Imperial Technology, but it didn’t even seem from the same era as the Fifth Fleet’s ships. Although my technical knowledge is not top-notch... alright, I admit my expertise is lacking, but seeing high-tech gadgets often, I’ve developed a certain discernment in the field. Judging by appearances, this cubic wreck is a remarkably old and outdated product — incredulously, much of its internal circuitry was still connected using mechanical latches!

"History... so ancient it defies identification," Miss Lin reached out to touch the thing’s exterior, then clicked her tongue immediately, "Who knows when this was made. Under normal historical progression, it’s the kind of relic that should have vanished long ago."

"It’s just a guess right now," Cocogina seemed to make a shrugging motion or maybe just a wave, "A statistician stumbled upon this matter by chance. This unidentified object was initially discovered outside the World Barrier, during the troubleshooting of a malfunctioning node. It was lodged in the base of a watch station; later, the maintenance crew sent it to the research department, attempting to analyze its origin, and just days later... those Melowa People showed up. This unidentified object, along with the research data, was packed and sent aboard the ship."

"It’s hard to prove that the Melowa People were attracted by this thing," I frowned.

"But they pursued the Ankah 5 tirelessly, using almost half of their forces trying to intercept the ship. Yet, at critical moments, they seemed hesitant, as if they feared damaging something," Cocogina’s three eyes lit up simultaneously, showing his emotional excitement. "So we’ve been suspecting that there’s something on Ankah 5 that caught their attention. We started organizing personnel to inspect all registered cargo on Ankah 5, missing not even a single nail. Finally, we found this only inexplicable... cube."

Cocogina’s description finally made Sandora and me take this matter seriously. It became clear that the Melowa People’s intentions were obviously aimed at Ankah 5’s cargo, but just for such a cube? 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Did you not find any other suspicious items?" I looked anxiously at Cocogina’s blurry figure.

Cocogina spread his hands: "All the cargo transported by Ankah 5 has a list. Except for this cube of unknown origin, the rest are resources produced on our homeland planet in the past two hundred years. Those things are even less likely to be the culprits attracting the Melowa People. And although this cube appears ordinary, it contains a secret we cannot explain at all: It appeared outside the world barrier, meaning before we discovered it, it had already crossed the void."

"But it doesn’t have the structure for void navigation," Sandora frowned, her gaze falling on the cube’s twisted, broken outer shell and the complex mechanical structure exposed beneath. "No engine, no order field shield generator, insufficient energy level... Thus, it was either thrown into your world by a larger carrier ship, attracting the Melowa People, or it’s a part from a massive spaceship that had an accident in the void and ended up with you just by coincidence..."

Which also attracted the Melowa People. Regardless of how you look at it, the Fifth Fleet got caught in a serious crossfire this time. So now there’s one last question: What exactly did the Melowa People see in this cube?

I reached out to tap on the metallic exterior of the cube, and as a result of exerting too much force, a severely corroded piece of metal fell off. Picking up the fragment and squeezing it lightly, I found it had the weakest strength of any interstellar alloy I’ve ever seen—comparing it to other high-strength alloys made by cross-world civilizations. Of course, compared to those ordinary civilizations still trapped in their own universe, the technology content of this cube might be quite advanced. After a simple evaluation, I concluded: the material of the object is just ordinary, the level of technology is uncertain, but it certainly can’t compare to the Empire and isn’t more advanced than the Melowa People, who practically learned all their skills from the Empire. Internally, there’s no special energy reaction, preliminarily ruling out the possibility of a treasure hidden inside the iron shell. I turned to look at Sandora: "Should we get someone to disassemble it and see? It’s so broken already, we probably don’t need to worry much about protection methods, inside is probably a mess."

"I..." Sandora’s reaction was strange. She had been staring at that cube thoughtfully all this time, and as she spoke, she seemed to be thinking about other things, "I’m not really sure... But looking at it, I have an inexplicable feeling of familiarity..."

"Be careful when dismantling," I was about to further inquire to Sandora when Lin Xue suddenly spoke, "There seems to be something inside... Let me take a look."

Miss Lin said, stepping forward to place her hand on the cube’s surface, her eyes glowing faintly white as she entered Prophet mode. I squeezed Sandora’s hand a bit worriedly, only to find that Orelia on the other side was also reacting unusually: she, like Sandora, was staring at the cube in a daze, her wings behind her subtly moving, completely entranced.

"Kite? Kite?" I called out to Orelia, "What’s wrong with you?"

"Your Highness..." She snapped back to her senses, her wings trembling slightly, "Ah, sorry, I was distracted."

"Both you and Sandora are behaving strangely," I frowned, "Everything alright?"

"I don’t know," Orelia exhaled deeply to regain her usual calm demeanor, "I might have the same feeling as Her Majesty Sandora, looking at this cube, and suddenly feel an inexplicable sense of warmth... Your Majesty, please don’t be misled by the appearance of this cube, perhaps we need to handle this with caution, it seems there is a reason it attracted the Melowa People."

By this time, Miss Lin had completed her scanning work and leaned over with a peculiar expression: "Wood, this is a coffin."

Sandora and I both gasped, and Lin Xue continued: "A coffin, or perhaps a tomb, I can’t see more, you know, I’m a Prophet, not an X-ray machine. We should let the research center intervene, bringing in the finest dismantling equipment they can find, and make sure nothing inside is damaged. At the core of this cube, there’s a broken energy node that requires particular attention. In several different timelines, dismantling failures were triggered up to a dozen times solely due to this energy node."

I immediately contacted Shadow City, organizing a team of the most skilled technicians to come over, and per Lin Xue’s suggestion, we decided to conduct an on-site dismantling of this mysterious cube to enhance the success rate.

The Council and Cocogina, aware of the progress made in the situation, acknowledged the need for a quiet environment, ordering non-essential personnel to leave the scene, keeping only themselves after Sandora’s consent. Soon, the expert team dispatched from Shadow City arrived at Ankah 5 with full equipment, surprisingly led by an acquaintance: Victor, or Tokvi, or Ketovi, or Kevito.

Right, he’s in charge of the dismantling work on the Black Shuttle, and currently, all of Shadow City’s demolition experts are under his command.

"Your Majesties, Mistress, Tokvi reporting!" The dark-skinned senior technician saluted Sandora, Lin Xue, and me, then his eyes fell on the enigmatic cube. Sure enough, his reaction mirrored those of Sandora and Orelia: entranced, contemplative.

"Your Majesty, this is?" The senior technician was utterly confused, "There’s a strange sense of familiarity, as if I’ve seen it somewhere before."

"This is a coffin," I exhaled, then quickly pointed at Lin Xue, "Right, she said it." (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)