Xyrin Empire

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"Standing on Mars," more than three years ago was still a topic I could only fantasize about with the movie channel. Back then, I really liked watching sci-fi movies, especially those related to alien planets — you know, those movies where Americans always manage to save Earth in the last thirty minutes, and the protagonists are inevitably a pair or several couples. At that time, I was always captivated by the synthesized alien planet scenes and the strange phenomena of otherworlds created in movie studios, feeling they were unbelievably magical.

Now I can only lament how time flies and youth passes. The once innocent boy who could be enchanted by seeing a lunar crater for half a day is now at the age where urinating and mudding on Mars doesn't bring any sense of achievement...

Qianqian was initially quite interested in this red planet, carrying a laser gun while hopping around wanting to engrave her name on a circular mountain. But she quickly grew bored with the monotonous scenery in front of her, holding the big gun and humming, until I summoned Qianqian, and everyone drove toward No. 1 Impact Crater, and she finally quieted down a bit.

"So desolate, to think I firmly believed there were aliens on Mars until I was thirteen."

Leaning against the car window and glancing outside, I murmured.

Outside was a rugged land like a gobi desert, tainted with a murky red color due to iron oxide. Possibly influenced by the impact shockwave, we encountered many gigantic stones along the way, distinct in color from the surrounding land. The drag marks beneath the stones were clear, indicating these rocks were recent arrivals to this land. Instruments indicated that these stones carried traces of ghost energy radiation: they were ejected from near the impact crater. The sky was murky, the daylight dim due to Mars' thin atmosphere, and the sunlight was correspondingly weak, coupled with too much dust in the high atmosphere. Hence, even though it was still daylight on Mars, the surroundings bore a hint of dusk. Qianqian looked at the distant horizon and suddenly, happily exclaimed, "Look! Mountain ranges!"

I followed Qianqian's pointing finger and indeed noticed a continuous brown "mountain range," with such a uniform height throughout the horizon's length that there wasn't a single break. Curiously, I concentrated, enhancing my vision, finally faintly seeing the surface of the continuous range: like a vast stretch of twisting cotton wool.

"It's a storm."

Sandora knocked on both mine and Qianqian's heads, "I say, one an Imperial Leader, the other an Imperial Empress, can't you at least occasionally brush up on common sense? The term Mars storm has existed for how many years in Earthlings' science!"

"Wow! So this is a Mars storm? Impressive!" I exclaimed in surprise. The Mars storm was such a legendary entity, often seen in sci-fi movies. Seeing the real thing, it was unexpected how different it looked, to be honest, it was not what I had imagined, they... were much larger in scale than imagined.

At the extreme distance of the horizon, it looked like a majestic, continuous mountain range, but if brought closer, how grand would it be?

Qianqian and I marveled, despite seeing quite a few either magical or grandiose alien landscapes during battles, witnessing such a mysterious and mighty Mars storm we heard of since childhood still left us a bit excited. Qianqian's mind sprang to life again, beginning to discuss with Sandora about how strong the kite string would need to be to fly a kite within a Mars storm...

I hugged a blank-faced Pandora and the lively-eyed Visca on either side, aiming to minimize my presence, fearing that Qianqian might suddenly suggest tying a steel wire around my waist and using Qianqian to drag me through a Mars storm. It's something she could indeed pull off.

"Wait, what's that?"

While I was trying to minimize my presence, Qianqian suddenly stopped the kite-flying discussion within the Mars storm, surprising us by pointing out the car window.

Sandora and I immediately looked in the direction she pointed, and in front on a small highland slightly above the ground, something seemed to flash in the sunlight for a moment.

"Could it be a leftover fragment?"

Sandora murmured curiously, "Let's go take a look."

Qianqian received the order and immediately turned, quietly and silently gliding up to the highland hundreds of meters ahead. We opened the doors, stepping out to approach the source of the flashing light.

"This wasn't made by the Empire," Sandora said, gently shaking her head while looking at the severely damaged metal object not far away, "Completely broken."

On the ground ahead, a battered machine lay quietly, half buried in dust, its exposed parts covered in red-brown sand. A solar panel that might have once been bright and polished now had only a third of its frame left, and the entire machine was lifeless, clearly having lost power many years ago.

Qianqian curiously walked up and kicked the thing; instantly, its metal plate fell off entirely, raising a cloud of dust. Qianqian, undeterred by the dirt, picked up the fallen metal piece and showed me the symbol on it.

The emblem of the former Soviet Union.

"This is Mars No. 3," Sandora looked at the metal plate and said with a hint of surprise, "It's actually here."

I was suddenly stunned.

"Are... are you sure?" I looked at Sandora in astonishment, "This was made by humans and was the first probe to land on Mars. How do you recognize it?"

Sandora shrugged: "I probably know more about human history than you do. This is Mars No. 3. It's unexpected to come across such a coincidence."

Qianqian blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what Mars No. 3 was. I had to briefly explain to her that it was the first probe successfully landed on this planet during the early stages of human exploration of Mars, albeit ceasing operation after twenty seconds, but still becoming a milestone.

Sandora took the metal plate, now almost colorless, from Qianqian's hand, gently brushed off the dust, and then placed it back on the ancient probe in front of us.

Standing less than five meters away from Mars No. 3, Sandora quietly observed it, as if paying a silent tribute. The ancient machine, nearly covered by dust, reflected a faint light under Mars' dim sunlight, casting a long shadow beside it, like an old soldier worn out by time, calmly accepting this salute.

"Scout team, record our current coordinates, this is a protected area, bypass it during operations." Sandora instructed the scout team following behind, collecting fallen fragments, then turned back to the car.

In the car, I curiously glanced at Sandora: "I felt you were acting a bit odd just now."

"You mean paying respect to a defunct probe?" Sandora smiled, gently pinching the corner of my mouth, "That's necessary because it's a monument, even if it's just a pile of scrap metal, even if it only has a camera, it's still a monument, and monuments need salutes."

"Tradition." Pandora suddenly blurted out two words, as concise as ever.

"Just tradition, and it was once established by the Empire, regarded as law in the multi-universe," Sandora seemed to be in a good mood, smiling since just now. "No matter what kind of civilization, when they first reach out beyond the cradle, it's worthy of praise, so the Empire once stipulated that anyone in the Desolate Zone who encounters another civilization's first-generation space exploration probe or other similarly significant artifact should salute it. Under Imperial law, one of the key conditions for classifying a civilization as enlightened or secluded is the first probe they launch into outer space."

Qianqian and I both showed expressions of surprise, while Sandora continued, "The first spacecraft, the first satellite, the first landing module on an alien star, these things are all worth commemorating. The Empire even specifically formulated laws to clarify these items' 'civilization status,' and even the Star Domain Divine Race are supporters of this decree. Some vassal civilizations retrieve their initial probes and treat them as holy artifacts. These commemorative artifacts are strictly forbidden from being traded or desecrated; the Empire personally oversees this. Once, in the Old Empire, there was an incident where a vassal civilization's first-generation satellite rover was destroyed by pirates on the way to a museum. This blatant violation of Imperial law eventually resulted in 4.76 billion deaths."

I almost fell off my chair with a bang: "So many people died fighting pirates? That's too exaggerated!"

Sandora scratched her head: "You know the Old Empire, it started with fighting pirates, and in less than seventeen minutes, it escalated into a war between two civilizations, one being the Empire's vassal and the other a pirate-affiliated barbarian civilization. After the two civilizations declared war, local Imperial security soldiers intervened. After issuing three warnings and confirming the pirate-affiliated civilization's unwillingness to surrender, the security soldiers destroyed the enemy's mother star. It was later called the 'One Hour Twelve Minutes War' because it took a total of one hour and twelve minutes from the pirate attack to completing the extermination order. Such wars were common in the Old Empire. At that time, we were busy eradicating the Abyss on the front line, so with efficiency as a priority, we aimed to end other regional wars within two hours..."

I wiped cold sweat, thinking thankfully the Old Empire was already gone, what a bunch of madmen they were—though their "Civilization Commemorative Artifact Protection Law" does indeed have a touching aspect.

The encounter with Mars No. 3 was just a poignant little interlude; we quickly left this highland, already designated a cultural protection zone. The 700 billion swiftly journeyed over Mars' vast and rugged red terrain. Soon, a rapidly enlarging blue-black energy cloud appeared in the sky ahead: we were approaching the largest Impact Crater No.1.

And the majestic wreckage that fell from the sky to the ground had already appeared in view.

Like a mountain collapsing from Heaven to the Mortal World, or the earth extending menacing horns from deep within Hell, an enormous wreckage appeared before us, blocking the sky and my vision, so large that the top was invisible. Its surface reflected a gloomy metallic luster, with the waning ghost energy occasionally flickering over this dim mountain, like the wandering dead souls. The once-impenetrable warship armor was pockmarked with indentations. Especially in front of us, the armor even cracked a massive crevice, enough to penetrate the entire wreckage. Peering into this horrifying fissure, only dark secondary buffer zones and the charred, deformed mechanical structures embedded within it could be seen. Lightning and smoke erupted from the fissure, warning anyone who dared to approach rashly: High-voltage danger, non-professionals please do not open the back cover...

Okay, honestly, I couldn't find the right words to describe this magnificent rift: just how great a force it took to tear an Eternal-class starship into hundreds of pieces and let it crash into the Main Material Plane in such a tragic form?

Was it merely a failed crash landing?

Or was this spaceship under pursuit before the crash landing...

Looking at the countless dents and molten craters on the outer armor left by high-temperature point impacts, my mind was active.

The reconnaissance team had already established a scientific outpost near this largest piece of debris, essentially a rapidly space-expanded frontline laboratory, a few functional towers, and a small barracks. It was large enough for Hollywood to use as a prime Martian colony set in a film, but these foldable facilities were completed in ten minutes.

When we arrived, two Imperial technicians in white uniforms and several technical soldiers were recording data below the wreckage and trying to open one of its channel gates. We didn't disturb their work but instead drove around this giant slowly in a circle before disembarking at the front of the wreckage.

It seemed as if a section of the starship had been directly severed and thrown down, with a length of at least ten kilometers. That is to say, if it weren't tilted like this with a quarter buried underground, it'd be taller than the Himalayas.

"This is the Eternal-class power segment, along with a quarter of the navigation system section—though the latter is certainly done for," Sandora led everyone to the pipeline gate where the technical soldiers were busy, analyzing, "There are weapon attack marks on the armor, no life signs inside the wreckage, and the crew is certainly all deceased."

"Your Majesty, the gate locked itself before the spaceship disassembled," the Imperial Technician, who had been busy at the gate for a long time, came to us and reported loudly, "we haven't found any other safe way to enter the wreckage besides this tunnel."

Sandora frowned: "I want a solution, not the troubles you're facing."

"We plan to directly cut the gate, but if part of the self-destruct system inside the wreck has energy, it may self-detonate."

The Imperial Technician, reprimanded by Sandora, quickly explained their plan and the possible consequences, clearly needing to report it.

I looked at the smoky starship debris in front of me, thinking it doesn't look any different from having already self-destructed...

"No need for trouble, let me try."

At this moment, Visca suddenly interrupted the technician's report, winking at us with a mischievous glint in her blood-red cat eyes: "Brother is really dumb, this is my spaceship!"

With a single sentence from the little girl, Sandora and I simultaneously looked to the sky, only Qianqian kept cluelessly asking, "What what?"

Visca had already approached the gate of the tunnel by then, and the thick, huge circular gate was marked with the emblem of the Visca Destruction Army in blood-red color from back then. The little girl placed her hand on the emblem, slightly closed her eyes, and began to connect with the still functioning traffic control system inside the starship debris. Since the gate was locked internally rather than mechanically jammed, this meant its opening power was still usable. Visca took advantage of this to begin reclaiming control over various management permissions within the wreckage.

This process didn't take long. By the third "beep beep" sound from Pandora's belly, her cat-eyed sister let out a breath: "All done!"

"Sizzle..."

Accompanied by severe metal scraping noises, the heavy and solid tunnel entrance automatically opened. Due to energy leakage, bright sparks constantly jumped from the edges as the door opened. Luckily, the remaining power was still sufficient to open enough of a gap in this nearly hundred-ton metal chunk. What burst out from the gate was an unusually intense hot wind, which instantly blew Sandora's long hair into my face and made Qianqian cough for quite a while. It took a full half-minute for the scorching airflow to settle down.

"This is an auxiliary heat dissipation tunnel," Visca led us into the wreckage, "although the power system has shut down, the tunnel's circulation system is still running. The extra heat from the Ghost Energy Coil cycles every five minutes through the main tunnel ahead, and this auxiliary tunnel will also have hot winds. It's a rather old trick, but back then my database lacked some blueprints, so it had to be designed this way."

As a heat dissipation tunnel, it wasn't very spacious, and the walls around were filled with complex mechanical structures and conduction cables. These dark-colored things certainly differed from the bright, shiny alloy corridors of typical Imperial Battleships but rather gave a heavy metal science fiction feel. It was Qianqian and my first time entering such a "lower" place within an Imperial Starship's heat dissipation pipe, naturally making us feel quite novel. Qianqian had already left many "I was here" marks along the way, while I had to help her take photos with any random corner we passed: We didn't feel any pressure since it was evident that in such a high-tech place, neither Qianqian nor I could do anything seriously useful together...

All along, Pandora was silently observing everything, and although her face hardly moved, I could still feel the little girl's gaze shifting back and forth. Clearly, she was also very concerned about the starship that her twin sister had once commanded.

This tunnel wasn't straight, having twisted and turned in many places due to the impact of the crash, with large cracks on several walls. One could see broken cables inside the cracks, and some significant pieces of twisted metal or crystal, belonging to unknown parts of the original warship, would abruptly protrude from the tunnel walls, blocking the path forward. Sandora had already revealed her claws, striking fiercely at each obstructing thing, shredding them into pieces one by one: because I wasn't assured of Pandora's safety measure when using ship cannons to pave the way.

Thus, progressing destructively along the way, Sandora's claws cleared all the obstacles on our path, and eventually, we passed through this heat dissipation tunnel that blasted us with hot winds every five minutes. After breaking through an alloy barrier, we entered the personnel corridor of the starship. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to recommend it, vote for it, and support me on Qidian (qidian.com), as your support is my greatest motivation.)