Xyrin Empire

(There are still double monthly tickets, so Apostles, don't let them expire—send them over quickly!)

The Old Empire did not have propaganda media, or rather, the traditional Xyrin Apostles did not understand what public opinion was, let alone what public orientation meant. Their special form of life meant they never required any motivational actions or free speech from the moment they were born. To a traditional Xyrin Apostle, their understanding of propaganda media was limited to a form of communication with a broader reach.

Thus, in the Old Empire era, the Xyrin Apostles never thought of controlling the thoughts of the races they ruled, nor did they care about shaping any "spiritual power." They relied on simple commands to convey their intentions and then used gunfire and supervision teams to ensure every servant charged into battle—consequently, when the Old Empire collapsed, all vassal races fell into disarray.

Sandora, of course, had already realized this issue. Since witnessing the immense success we garnered by controlling the minds of all civilians in the New Eden Federation through the dual powers of technology and religion, she has come to prioritize thought control over the vassal civilizations.

Without their own superluminal observational technology, the Mobra Civilization remained utterly oblivious to the fires of war spreading across the universe. Even if the ghostly flames had already burned stars to ashes on battlefields hundreds of light-years away, they would not know what happened within their lifetimes. Thus, Sandora ordered a large number of propaganda installations to be placed in all populated areas on the three main stars of Mobra, including city-spanning holographic projections, interactive war propaganda screens on every street corner, and the XLTV every evening at 7:30—Pandora applied for a five-minute slot for her recruitment advertisement, while the rest was raw battlefield imagery, portraying a real and brutal universe to the Mobrans.

These installations were set up about ten days ago, and the all-out war of the past two days has provided excellent and abundant material for them. They allow the Mobrans who still hold on to lucky thoughts to fully realize that the calm sky above is on the verge of becoming a blackened cinder.

Sandora believes this might allow the Mobrans to acclimate to war and the accompanying sense of fear to some extent. Her Majesty the Queen is somewhat obstinate in this regard, unaware of the enormous trouble her actions cause the Holy Pope. Sandora's logic seems to be: as long as they don't get scared to death, a bit more fear should make them accustomed.

I call it collapse therapy.

But these overwhelming propaganda efforts seem to have some effect. According to Uncle Zaku, who returned to the Mobra Main Star, people have gradually moved from initial panic to a state of numbness. The war atmosphere we broadcast has prematurely exposed civilians to the fear typically experienced on the battlefield. Besides causing several riots and bloody incidents at first, everything is gradually moving toward control. Ordinary people are returning to their work because they've finally realized how awful it is to starve before being killed by cannon fire. Occasionally on the streets, civilians discuss battles in outer space, although no one has dared to respond to Pandora's recruitment call (I estimate Pandora may never recruit a soldier through television in her lifetime. After all, how many of those nestled on the couch watching TV every night at 7:30 can actually wield imperial firearms?). But at least the common folk are no longer numbing themselves with prayers. The Pope also spares no effort in creating public momentum, striving to hypnotize and shape the Mobra Civilization into a race that continues courageously under the flames of war—though we hold reservations about his efforts.

As the Revenge Army breached our space fortresses one by one, their warships gradually advancing and merging into an unstoppable force, the Celestial System Fleet finally entered this world. Gaia found something in her that could expedite the teleportation process, allowing us to welcome that super fleet, which is several times larger than the Mobra Star System, an hour and a half earlier than expected.

Guiding the way was an outpost base situated ten light-years away (a customary name—truthfully, as the scope of the battlefield expanded, it has now been incorporated within the defensive line). Numerous Xyrin Hosts established a massive beacon system there and something barely qualifying as a World Gate. Of course, despite the "gate" in its name, it's not nearly as large as the Celestial System Fleet. That's akin to the 'Ministry of Culture' simply containing the word 'culture.' Strictly speaking, its function is similar to that of a signal amplifier, designed to enhance beacon signals and ensure the fleet's entry into this world doesn't result in structural dislocation due to its unprecedented information load. The Celestial System Fleet is equipped with an inter-world jump device and all it requires is a sufficiently powerful beacon. Over the past few days, we've been frantically building and charging this largest beacon in history.

The first to appear on observation was the Ghost Energy Death Star. This constant star battleship, glowing with dazzling blue light, tore apart billions of kilometers of space around it during teleportation. Even before its body entered this world, it had evaporated all the interstellar dust clouds nearby. Then, like a ghost (a truly enormous one), it emerged from the depths of dark space. According to an observation station positioned half an astronomical unit from the Ghost Energy Death Star, this terrifying giant has turned all celestial bodies within dozens of astronomical units into gas. Two minutes after the Ghost Energy Death Star took position, thirty Planet Battleships, serving as the escort fleet, appeared in the observation station's line of sight. Interestingly, these planet battleships actually teleported with the Ghost Energy Death Star as they were all concealed beneath the star's corona and chromosphere, mounted between the light ball layer and chromosphere. Although the ghost energy reactions on the light ball layer are more dangerous than the muzzle of the Galaxy Main Gun, Taville, drawing from previous experiences in simulating Bingdisi's Holy Light skill, improved the control mechanism of the Ghost Energy Death Star and devised a controllable "air bubble" structure. This bubble can exist anywhere outside the core controller of the Ghost Energy Death Star, providing an incredibly comfortable pod within the ghost energy vacuum zone—aside from the intense sunlight, of course—thus, our Death Star fortress is now equipped with a mounting function.

Now, the Celestial System Fleet has evolved from maintaining a constant star system state and moving slowly to possessing initial maneuvering combat capabilities. The newly added "air bubble" structure in the flagship Ghost Energy Death Star can accommodate starships as large as three times the size of Earth, while our largest starship is only about twice the size of Earth. By storing all the escort starships inside the "air bubble," the fleet can jump into or escape the battlefield at speeds two to three times faster than before. This is a crazy and limitless idea. Here's to Taville and her sensational research team.

"The Celestial System Fleet is expanding, and all escort starships will be deployed in place within thirty minutes."

The city host of General City reports on the latest situation of the Celestial System Fleet, and it has now become the top priority, with even the battle reports from various locations temporarily downgraded by one permission level. In fact, after the appearance of the Celestial System Fleet, the fires of war in various places stopped abruptly as expected. The intelligence collection department of the Revenge Army is even more sensitive than we imagined. They almost instantly discovered the Ghost Energy Death Star and made the wise decision to temporarily contract their army.

The holographic projection shows the huge and surging blue-glowing Constant Star Battleship. Against that dazzling blue background, some black small dots are gradually emerging; they are the Planet Battleships. The ground and near-orbit of the Planet Battleships are still anchored with countless Imperial Battleships and the Civilization Community's maintenance fleet, which also act as the escort formation of the Planet Battleships. Honestly, I think the Celestial System Fleet is a bit like those nested Porcelain Dolls. Look, the Dead Star Fortress is the flagship, its escort fleet is the Planet Battleships, and the Planet Battleships are the flagship of the secondary fleet, whose escort fleet consists of Eternal-class Mother Ships and the Civilization Community's fleet. The Eternal-class Mother Ships, in turn, are usually the flagship of the tertiary fleet, with a large group of Expedition Class and Frontier-class warships serving as escort formations. As for the Civilization Community—their fleet is even more chaotic, and the Integration Department has not been able to fully integrate their spaceships yet.

Such a massive and complex Super Fleet, if given to an ordinary civilization, no matter how excellent that civilization may be, would be completely unusable. It has become completely uncommandable. The number of combat units to mobilize in every maneuver would be enough to overwhelm the most elite commander team. Not to mention, do you know how many commands are required to safely release the starships and mother ship formations from the "air bubble" inside the Ghost Energy Death Star while maintaining high-speed rotation?

Enough to circle the Sun using size five font.

To control this war machine, which is a paragon of militarism, Sandora had to establish a separate command center specifically for it, located in the original command cabin of the white dwarf star at the Death Star Core. It is only with the collaboration of the most excellent group of warship commanders and ten permanently stationed Xyrin Hosts that the formidable power of this Super Fleet can be maximized.

The appearance of the Celestial System Fleet caused a tremendous commotion in Mobra. Those Mobrans who have not yet ventured beyond the Solar System might not fully understand what this concept means, but that doesn't stop them from being shocked by such an exaggerated fleet. They finally witnessed the true strength of the "Holy Sage"—even if it still doesn't match the Old Empire Era, but how could they possibly know that?

"The Revenge Army has halted their activities. Their fleet is retracting towards the direction of the ENN-77 Nebula, the galaxy closest to our Galaxy," about an hour after completing the deployment process, Sivis reported the latest enemy movements. "They might be assembling forces to confront the Celestial System Fleet."

"The enemy doesn't know that our Planet Battleships are all knock-offs."

I smiled at Sandora and said.

Of course, the Celestial System Fleet is strong, but I estimate it's not strong enough to sweep all the Revenge Army forces in this universe yet. In fact, aside from the overwhelming combat power of the Ghost Energy Death Star, the strength of those thirty Planet Battleships is quite average. A certain number of Eternal-class Mother Ships can cause devastating blows to them, but the Revenge Army obviously doesn't realize this. They are intimidated by the bluff side of the Celestial System Fleet.

"Let them continue to gather, it's not the right time to intercept," Sandora, who was well-acquainted with the Revenge Army's tactics, suggested, "They will definitely continue to surface more forces from Shadow Space, so have our spaceships guard all known space rifts and conduct conventional bombardment."

After assigning the next course of action, Sandora suddenly stretched and gave me a relieved look.

"Ah Jun, you can go back to rest now. The enemy won't act again in the short term."

"Aren't we waiting for them to gather enough forces to attack us again before we counterstrike?" I asked.

"Of course not. I know the Revenge Army's plan, in the shortest time, one or two days, they should send another probing unit over. The Ghost Energy Death Star can handle an army of that scale, and in the meantime, we must find a way to open the entrance to Shadow Space. I'm ready for Pandora and the others to activate the Glory Form again. If we can use the celestial system fleet to hold the enemy's main force, then conduct a hot restart within the Shadow Space... this war will be over."

Sandora finished speaking, with a fleeting melancholic expression on her face, but it quickly changed to a genuinely relaxed look.

"It's good for them, in bodies like these, let them rest in peace."

The day after the celestial system fleet was in place, the Holy Pope finally sent a communication. The content was mainly to express the maximum excitement a believer could show, and then brought good news: the Mobran people were finally inspired, they began to gather in the town squares overnight, praising the 'Holy Sage's' Invincible Fleet.

I suggested he stop these nonsensical acts and let the Mobra community restore normal industrial and agricultural production first. According to reliable sources, sixty percent of Mobra's farms are now growing weeds, and one-third of the factories were smashed nearly to bits during recent riots. I don't understand why people have this bad habit of smashing their things when they're upset—break dishes when arguing, destroy factories during riots. So you're not going to live when things calm down?

The celestial system fleet gave us a brief respite, allowing us to reorganize the fleets severely damaged during the comprehensive attack of the Revenge Army. The spaceship damage the Imperial Army faced is the most severe since the Imperial Recovery Era, with casualty rates of the Royal Guard, the main fleet, and Pandora's heavy units reaching thirty to forty percent. The only solace is the great role the newly mixed in Leader Bees played, often preserving soldiers' souls in critical times. A completely wiped fleet is not scary; as long as the Leader Bees can retreat, there will be a chance to regroup. Warships can always be produced, but experienced veterans and commanders cannot be replaced by fresh recruits from the production line.

This is also what makes the Xyrin Army so famous in the multi-universe campaigns: they never fear casualties. Even if all their ships are destroyed, as long as a few escape pods return, in the next engagement, you will still see many familiar faces on the battlefield. During the Empire's rise, many super civilizations fighting them were broken this way.

But while we can resurrect, so can the Revenge Army. Their troops also have Leader Bees. Therefore, both sides are now in a brief recovery period. Once the fleets are reassembled, countless ferocious elite troops will appear on the battlefield again.

The afternoon after the celestial system fleet entered standby, I was walking with Big Sister on the upper platform when Taville suddenly sent urgent communications. Well, at this time, any communication that reaches us is urgent.

Taville hastily summoned Big Sister and me to the research center. It's rare to see this usually calm and composed spectacled girl act so rashly. Intuition told me that a major discovery might have been made.

The deconstruction area was still bustling as usual, with two mysterious black containers placed far apart on two anti-gravity platforms, each connected with pipelines and non-corporeal energy flows that were dizzying at a glance, looking like two beetles wrapped in three-dimensional cobwebs. Between the two anti-gravity platforms was a new item, a transparent life support chamber, which, based on its appearance, I judged to be a new model designed by Taville herself. Inside the chamber lay a slender figure with shoulder-length golden short hair, Milia. Scanning beams roamed over her, occasionally emitting a soft beep.

Taville was personally recording the data of the life support chamber, rising to her feet only when Big Sister and I entered. Before I could speak, she hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, significant discovery regarding the containers."

As she spoke, she opened a holographic projection in the air beside her, showing images of two containers and Milia's portrait, with copious data rapidly refreshing underneath, while several static lines of data made my jaw drop.

"I tried having Milia repeatedly activate the containers and recorded the internal data flow during their operation. They utilized the Old Imperial Military's encryption mode, so it took until today to fully decipher them. These are embedded scripts located in an immutable storage area, here is a concise code which I suspect indicates the container's serial number. The container from Brown Earth Star is numbered two, and this one," Taville pointed to the black box Uncle Zaku brought, "is numbered three."

One obvious fact is this: there should be a one before the three and two...

"It means there's at least one more container," Big Sister speculated thoughtfully.

"An indicator container must exist," Taville nodded, "whether there's a fourth one or not, there should at least be a container numbered one; theoretically, that's the case."

"So why exactly did the Revenge Army make these containers?"

I voiced the question that had puzzled me for days.

"The answer might be found in this little girl," Taville turned to look at Milia lying in the life support chamber. "We conducted very thorough examinations and finally confirmed one thing, this little girl is a special life form similar to a Xyrin Host. She's in a state of information entanglement and no longer growing, and then... she's the Heart of the World in this universe, and artificially so." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to give recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)