Star Empire

Blood is flowing in countless void channels, and more Genesis explosions are exploding between adjacent beacon worlds.

The gaps between the beacon worlds are being cut and decomposed. They are like the piers of a bridge, and the more relay worlds laid out based on them are like the girders erected between the piers. They are enough to carry the express train. The mission of Tao allows the empire's ships to pass through the long chain of these worlds and travel to more distant depths of the void within an acceptable time.

Unlike the time when they needed to hide their existence to ensure safety, everything now is done in an open and bright manner. In the process of assuming the "main beam" of the bridge, not only was the imperial fleet protected throughout the process, but there were also "Sacred Music Praise", "Three Walls Separation", "Four Elephants Long Song" and "Dark Night Watch" near the bridge. "Wait for the Void Fortress to serve as a fixed guard platform. The emergence of these armed forces marks the external extension of the empire's internal order, and also demonstrates the empire's determination to expedition to the top of the wind.

When the empire's engineering teams were operating in the form of an expeditionary force on the void routes far away from the empire's territory, the empire's teams were also not idle around these routes. What the fleet deployed around the waterway needs to do is to pull things away from the waterway that may interfere with the safety of the waterway, such as worlds, world fragments, or order field debris.

The ships that make up these teams are all tug ships, and these tug ships have another name - plunder ships.

The "blood" of these ships is not "pure". Their original designs did not come from the Empire, but from the Empire's captures.

There was once a war that destroyed an imperial fleet that faced the fault zone, and it was that war that gave birth to the SCFLG-XM-27 Oceania-class anti-paraphysical environment battle fortress and the SCFLG-XM-28 Irusia The imperial special fleet, headed by the super anti-parametaphysical environment battle fortress, is specifically designed to target anti-parametaphysical environments.

However, the Empire gained more from that war.

After that war, the Empire noticed "special tow ships" among the wreckage left behind by that civilization. Ships that tow fragments of worlds containing anti-pataphysical environments are specially designed to directionally manipulate information and maintain their self-sustainability. The existence of this capability means that this type of ship is very suitable for towing large information bodies and can ensure that the towed information bodies are not damaged.

The Empire absorbed some of the technological ideas from these captures and created versions for its own use.

If you are inside or around the empire, this step is relatively not that important.

Within the realm of order under the Star Empire, worlds are arranged relatively densely, and world neighborhoods overlap with each other. In this case, the possibility of directional neighborhood interactions is diluted due to the roughly uniform environment in all directions. . Therefore, the possibility of abnormal cross-world activities occurring within the empire is very low.

In addition, all empires and worlds under the control of the empire are equipped with sovereign hubs. The sovereign hub continuously monitors all information flowing in and out of the world. Even if those low-probability events do occur, the sovereign hub can repatriate them in time or wipe out. Therefore, there is no need to worry too much about this issue within the empire.

However, in these void routes away from the empire, the situation is different.

A large number of actual observation records show that due to the greater influence brought by the world neighborhoods produced by the worlds located "in front of the channel" and "behind the channel", the world neighborhoods around these worlds are in fixed directions. Added up, this makes it easier to jump along the channel, but at the same time, it also leaves the "sides" of the channel exposed to the void.

Although the weakened world neighborhood weakens the possibility of causing cross-world phenomena, due to the weakening of the world neighborhood in this area, their "fortification level" will also be correspondingly reduced - which in turn will lead to external, brought Message bodies with world neighbors interfere more strongly with shipping lanes than expected.

Therefore, it is necessary to ensure a relative clearance state around the waterway. Otherwise, ships traveling in the waterway can easily be pulled away by the large information bodies around the waterway in a "crossing" manner - this may lead to the appearance of unexplored creations of the empire. In a world with civilization and intelligent existence, the relevant intelligent civilization will be affected, and it may also cause damage to the empire's creations.

What is certain is that no matter which of these things happens, it may lead to very troublesome consequences.

"The virtual information activities around this section of the channel are relatively frequent. The possibility of spontaneous genesis activities around the channel in the future is very high. A permanent protective casing should be set up for this section of the channel. The casing can refer to the previous construction. The "World Immersed Tube" is surrounded by the waterway to ensure temporary environmental stability, but some parameters need to be adjusted, and the joints need to be adjusted to ensure that the protective casing will not interfere with subsequent use of the waterway."

"The fire defense base stations in this construction section cannot be arranged completely according to the design drawings. The construction environment is different. If no changes are made at all, you see, these fire defense base stations may interfere with each other in this area. This area is very It might create a blind spot.”

"What? A sudden chain reaction? Highly active false information leading to out-of-control Genesis activities and earthquakes? I know, send me the data immediately! Didn't you conduct surveys beforehand? Everything was normal before? All frequency bands were Is that so? Okay, I understand, I understand, I will contact experts from other departments to conduct a joint analysis on this matter!"

"There are more than one layer of dark ring deposits in the world barrier sample obtained by the drilling team? Okay, I understand!"

"After joint analysis, it was decided to add a quadrant bend on the current channel to bypass the quadrant, in order to reduce the possible impact of the fault zone that may reoccur in the future. The scope of the channel diversion that needs to be carried out has been determined. In order to avoid the channel The ship is lost in the game, adding cross-quadrant navigation beacons and additional guidance worlds"

In Void Channel No. 852, which is located in the 15th quadrant, there is a figure that attracts particularly attention - 10-2-17-hu3477. He is an old senior who has been the Minister of Construction from the early days of the empire's expedition to the present. Although he no longer shouldered the management duties that this position might bear as a rotating individual a long time ago, his research on the construction itself has never stopped.

When he took the initiative to follow the fleet to a dangerous area far away from the empire to participate in the construction, people were worried about his safety, but they were also in awe and curiosity about the existence of this veteran who could be said to be a veteran in the field of empire construction - this What would it be like if an "old gentleman" who participated in the compilation of many original versions of imperial specifications personally participated in actual engineering construction activities?

But soon, people discovered that this old man seemed to be more approachable than they thought. Except that he looked cautious and serious when arranging projects or handling things, he usually gave people the impression of not being majestic, but kindly. And when the project is progressing smoothly and he is free, he will tell everyone stories - stories from two or even three trillion years ago, stories that he has witnessed or even experienced personally.

However, what is a bit strange is that this old man seems to prefer to run "outside". From the beginning, he chose the forefront of the opening section as his main work area, and as time went by As time went by, after longer and longer waterways were completed and opened to navigation, he began to choose to continuously move his "base" to more distant places, from the opening section to the construction section and even the maintenance section. And watching this old gentleman constantly changing his working environment, people gradually guessed what he was probably thinking——

Minister hu3477 may have really become an "old gentleman".

"So, after the construction project of this waterway has entered the final stage, you chose to board this Great Journey-class virtual point jump ship and go to the farthest point of the waterway, right?"

"Yes, your guess is correct. I feel that I am already a little old, so after strict inspection, I got the right to cancel myself, but before that, I still want to know and see some more things ." hu3477 answered the question raised by the operator sitting next to him seriously. At this time, he has become the focus of the ship's equipment operation room.

"I have compiled and archived all the cases I have handled, as well as all my personal experiences. These contents will be sorted and filtered and then flowed into imperial textbooks at different stages. I have intercepted a part of my soul. Sent to the future life cultivation department of the empire, that part of the soul contains my intuitive way of judging building construction issues."

If this part is worth using, then all new beings born in the empire in the future will have new innate abilities - the ability to predict and avoid dangers that may arise from problems related to building construction. "

"That's right." After listening to hu3477's indifferent dying confession, the operators in the operating room felt that the atmosphere seemed a bit solemn for a while.

"It doesn't matter. There is no need to be cautious in this regard. I have already made all preparations." hu3477 spoke in a very gentle tone, "Young people - yes, you are already determined veterans, but For me, I should still be able to call you that, right? Just go ahead and do it. Young people are full of vigor and vitality. The future of the empire is in the hands of young people and new lives, and old guys like us... Sooner or later he will have to leave."

"you"

"It doesn't matter, this is an undeniable fact. Although the life of the empire has a body that can theoretically resist the passage of time, the soul and mind of the empire are not yet fully prepared to face eternity. The change of the old and the new is It’s normal and it’s unstoppable.”

"I come from an era that can be called chaotic in your opinion. It was the earliest period of the chronology. At that time, the empire had just crawled out from the destruction, and everything was in a state of exhaustion. At that time , the permission system has not been sorted out yet, and management at all levels is close to a mess. There are even several ways to group unique soul identification codes, and each one is different from what it is now. Looking at it now, the last modification of the empire Were the unique soul identification codes a temporary measure implemented more than a trillion years ago to fight against the giant malicious metameme?"

"Yes, that's the reality."

"Old guys like us who have been active since the early days of the expedition, well... there are also older guys, such as many of our emperors. If you want to delve deeper into their stories, they may be traced back to before the establishment of the empire. .We have gone through a long time and experienced too many things. We have seen too much from a macro level. Deep in our hearts, there will always be some shadows that cannot be erased and will remain. Gradually expanding over time"

"Of course, I don't want to say that every "old man" will be like this, but what we can't deny is that among "old guys" like us, there will always be some who have accumulated so much shadow in their hearts that it has contaminated their lives. story, so that when faced with a comfortable and easy life, he would feel at a loss and feel unfit. In the end, writing off himself became their choice. Of course, I am one of them now."

"By the way, do you know why the empire has not continued the "Operation Grand Crusade" to open up routes?"

"Because too many resources are consumed, and if it continues, will the energy required in these projects exceed the empire's capacity?"

"Well, these two reasons are both correct, but there are some reasons that I think are more important." hu3477 continued unhurriedly.

"The first is that we lost time after the first few Grand Crusade operations - the beginning of the first Grand Crusade operations that coincided with the end of the war against the giant malevolent metameme. The giant malevolent metameme The emitted death light violently stirred the virtual information in the void, causing them to flow outward. If it were to sail far away at that time, the virtual point jump ship could use these "winds" to sail farther and faster."

"But after the fall of the giant malicious meta-meme, the outward accelerating virtual information was smoothed out at a very fast speed. The weather and time factors that could greatly promote the virtual point jump ship no longer exist. In the period after this If we want to conduct a similar voyage again in time, the price the Void Point Jump Ship needs to pay will be much greater than it is now. In addition, the initial voyage has basically covered the void routes that the empire has previously developed. The huge malicious meta-meme caused The damage has been repaired.”

"So the empire gradually shifted to maintaining waterways after a period of time, instead of always sending ships to open up these new waterways."

"However, there is the second most important point, which also proves what I said before." hu3477 became serious.

"That is, after several large-scale voyages, the number of veterans who volunteered to drive these virtual point jump ships that were destined to be unable to return and who could form a "death squad" has dropped to a very low level - that is to say, we have lost "People".

"You should all know how important voluntariness is. During the review, if you are not willing at all, you will be expelled immediately."

"At that time, among the first batch of veterans who sailed to the end of the wind field in the virtual point jump ship, many of them were able to guarantee their voluntary attitude because, like I said - before officially facing the giant malicious meta-meme, they had already Having suffered too much, their hearts and souls have been filled with gloom, and there is no new space left to welcome the light after the war."

"Some people finally choose such a path, and some people either have passed this stage, or they are unable to make such a choice because of responsibilities. But in any case, we should respect these choices made voluntarily. To respect, after all, birth, old age, illness and death are normal parts of the cycle of life. No matter which part it is, it is important and we need to face it——"

Before hu3477 could finish speaking, almost without warning, the huge flying wings and the giant container bay connected to these flying wing-like "Great Journey" class virtual point jump ships began to shake violently. !

"The attitude stabilizer is overloaded! The environment stabilizer is overloaded! The void engine is damaged and can no longer work normally! The output capacity of the entire ship's power group has been reduced to 30% of the design power. Four engines in the multi-variable power system have been damaged and cannot be started! Protect equipment! Protect Old gentleman——"

"No, no need, your mission is more important. It just so happens that such a violent vibration means that the ship has touched the boundary of the wind field. I have reached the farthest point, right?" hu3477 smiled slightly and stood up. , leaving the last words.

"Do what you have to do and leave the rest to me."

The operators, all the crew members on the entire virtual point jump ship, and all the crew members on other virtual point jump ships are watching what is happening here. In their eyes, the body of hu3477 seems to be Wrapped up by countless influences and countless lines, what those images show are frames of what this old man has experienced, and what those lines seem to point to is what this old man has experienced. Other possibilities for the future of seniors.

They all converge at the present moment, completely wrapping hu4377's body.

The next moment, a violent light enveloped the entire order field in an instant. The golden light was so powerful that the violent vibrations that could shake the virtual point jump ship were weakened to a considerable extent in a short period of time. , although the attitude stabilizers and attitude controllers inside the flying wings are still sending out a series of sharp and crazy alarms, the vibrations have fallen below the dangerous threshold and will no longer damage these ships, and these ships are still being consumed. After a long time, we worked hard to escort the equipment here.

The light dissipated. Faced with the order field that had returned to calm, and the intensity of activity near the order field that could be described as an exaggerated false information environment, the remaining people knew that they had arrived at the destination they needed to reach.

Without any more words, the veterans ended their memory of the "empire veteran" with silence and courtesy.

After this, they released the "cargo" they were carrying. The huge container cabin, which was already full of twists and scars, suddenly disintegrated. The container cabin itself quickly transformed its posture. They turned into a series of incomplete but still usable industrial modules. With their disintegration, the container cabin The cargo originally loaded also appeared.

With countless metal tentacles, its core component is like a battering ram with an additional larger heavy cone - it is a national ignition device. They are used by the empire to create branches of the world.

The industrial modules that had been deployed began to manufacture the most powerful power furnaces in large quantities. However, under the greedy extraction of the tentacles of the national ignition device that seemed to never be satisfied, these powerful power furnaces were drained again and again. . Countless energy veins flowing from the tips to the center are rushing in the behemoth's energy-guiding tube network, and they are filled into the behemoth's cannon bore. They were stuffed and stuffed.

Huge pressure wants to break through the blockade of the restraint structure, and the restraint structure uses this pressure to make itself stronger and stronger, more and more able to resist this violent wave of energy.

Circles of runes are set in front of the heavy cone-like main launcher. These rings are arranged in a strict queue to ensure that their centers are on the same straight line. When the restraining structure could no longer improve its resistance any further, the rune sets were finally fixed in place. They are almost compressed together, and "not far" in front of them is the extreme boundary of the solar wind field.

"--put!!"

At this time, it is the 3578 351 463 126th year of the Star Empire's expedition.

During this year, the void channel No. 852 of Quadrant 15 was connected in a line, and at the outer end of this line, a network spread along the boundary of the wind field has formed an orderly plane at the solar wind top. .