The Baizhu Autonomous State was now a composite civilization, officially advocating the Pathway of the Sovereign and its associated industries. The mainstream of the Layer Abyss was always the Pathway of Fine Artistry and the Pathway of the Destroyer, so Li Aozi had also absorbed a good number of immigrants from these fields. However, to nurture their market and employnt, one would have to wait for a hundred years or so.
To bring Baizhu Star back to the production capability and status it once held during the era of the Scholarly Faction economy, they had to either open up completely, accepting the infiltration of foreign capital into their now fragile market, or take proactive asures to accumulate raw resources.
For the sake of Baizhu Star, Li Aozi had already spent considerable funds at hand. In reality, the revenue brought by the Spirit Maggot was nearly exhausted, and he needed to quickly find new channels of inco.
Being a selfish person, Li Aozi did not wish to share his belongings with aliens, so he chose the latter.
Three months after the expedition plan was ford, the first fleet completed its training. A total of 30,000 combat personnel, 20,000 engineers, and 40,000 logistics support personnel and workshop employees were sent to the March Lily Fortress, beginning to adapt to operations in the cosmic environnt.
It was only then that Li Aozi announced the reopening of space routes that had been closed for a long ti. The cargo ships accumulated over the years eagerly set sail, flying the flag of the Baizhu Autonomous State to various parts of the Starry Abyss. Nearly forty percent of them were accompanying the fleet to provide along-the-way supplies for the military.
The first expedition’s direction was toward the southern side of Pulsar-127. Li Aozi did not participate in leading the team, and the fleet’s composition was also very simple: twelve old-model ard cargo ships, and an old cruiser serving as the flagship.
Li Aozi did not let the dia extensively report on the first voyage because this seemingly modest fleet had a sowhat experintal nature, intended as a stone thrown to test the waters—the first expedition fleet was that very stone.
Even the fleet did not have a designation number; an "X" (experintal nature) was added in front, collectively referred to as the X-Fleet. The soldiers and officers under its command even joked about themselves as the ’White Mouse Brigade’ and ’White Mouse Camp.’
Despite this, the morale among the officers and soldiers was not low.
Besides the fact that the players were naturally cheerful and sunny boys who enjoyed themselves, another reason was that their ship had 50 Epsilon Stage (5) Growth-armored Vanguards from Li Aozi.
These Growth-armored Vanguards, perfected by Li Aozi over many years, could completely be used as combat vehicles.
Moreover, unlike chas, the Grow-armored Vanguards could perfectly disguise themselves as organic planetary entities when not transford; tal detectors could not detect them at all (since blood vessels were made of high-molecular composite materials).
These Growth-armored Vanguards, combined with the players’ immortality, could challenge Zeta Rank (6) Earthbound Deities in crucial monts. If the opponent isn’t strong enough, they might even retreat calmly.
If they encountered a Zeta Rank... there was no need to panic.
Because Li Aozi had placed his Biochemical Center on board, where his personal gene sequence was also stored.
In critical situations, Li Aozi could directly have the Biochemical Center clone an incarnation Growth-armored Vanguard. As a Star Realm Echoer, he could remotely command the actions of the clone using gravity waves.
He could even descend his consciousness there—though if the distance was too great, it might take about three to five days given his strength.
If he couldn’t make it in ti? No problem; there were five whole Sequential Arcane Energies installed. In an ergency, if Li Aozi couldn’t get there in ti, the X-Fleet could swiftly and forcefully activate a type of virus to block the equilibrium system of the Growth-armored Vanguard, letting the internal genes go berserk.
At that ti, the incarnation would turn into a pure Zeta Rank (6) frenzied beast, destroying a planet before disintegrating itself, leaving no genetic information behind.
Ultimate weapon?
For non-interstellar civilizations, a Zeta Rank was the best ultimate weapon.
Due to the extre cruelty of this chanism, this ultimate thod was given a code na within the X-Fleet: Divine Aberration Switch.
In such an environnt, the X-Fleet carried the entire hope of Baizhu Star and silently ventured into the uncharted regions of the Dark Star Domain.
Ti continuously passed, and people seed to slowly forget about past events, returning to their calm lives.
Li Aozi conscientiously dealt with administrative affairs. As he pondered over small matters like what crops to plant in agricultural zones or whether to abolish school district houses, the Chief Engineer of the expedition center, Thomas Edison, suddenly sent a ssage:
"Your Excellency the President, the X-Fleet has encountered sothing strange that you must see."
This great engineer, who ca from a refugee background and was forrly an Epsilon Stage chanic, was very grateful and respectful of Li Aozi. Every ti they t, he insisted on calling him ’Great Benefactor’ and spent at least 20 seconds praising Li Aozi in three languages.
Now, however, he had sent just a brief ’Your Excellency,’ making Li Aozi imdiately aware of the severity of the situation.
"Get straight to the point."
As soon as Li Aozi’s words fell, the data was transmitted. While he was reviewing it, Edison summarized the situation in one sentence:
"All data anomalies indicate: the X-Fleet has discovered a nascent Void creature."
"A Void creature, huh? That’s normal; that place is prone to harboring filth and waste. Check the developntal stage. If it’s in the embryonic stage, send soone to the core to destroy it. If it’s nearing the juvenile stage, then destroy the entire planet with it."
Li Aozi was not surprised. After all, in version 4.0, their main adversary was Void creatures.
In version 4.0, players experienced for the first ti the terrifying power from the lower levels of the Starry Abyss—the Border Abyss.
Narrative Number 6—The Void Kingdom
In so sense, the Void was almost one of the most terrifying existences in the Starry Abyss.
As a Narrative-Level Civilization, occupying an entire layer of the Starry Abyss, this civilization maintained a constant hostile attitude towards other Narrative-Level Civilizations.
The Border Abyss was an odd place.
Border represented cyclic and continuous motion, and this cycle was actually a ’0,’ containing everything but representing nothing.
Zero was everything and also void.
The curse of the Border Abyss, unlike the ’distortion’ of the Layer Abyss, was ’desiccation,’ making your soul increasingly deny its own existence, gradually fading physically, and potentially losing certain chanisms or concepts due to the curse.
For example, ti, life, death, freedom, nation, identity, reproduction...
This unique environnt gave rise to a narrative distinct from other Narrative-Level Civilizations—the Void.
The Void. It was the root of nihilistic thought in all universes and dinsions.
Their grand narrative blueprint was ’everything is nothingness,’ hoping for the entire Starry Abyss to step into annihilation and remain permanently in a state of void.
The more void they beca, the more they existed strongly, giving the Void creatures a terrifying trait—the ability to evolve.
Void creatures could actively rise higher or dive deeper into the Starry Abyss depending on the environnt.
They had no unified thought, yet would spontaneously support the Void.
Among them, powerful individuals would send out projections to both the deeper and shallower layers of the Starry Abyss.
Thus, you could see Void creatures on any layer of the Starry Abyss.
Before Li Aozi’s transmigration, there were three entire versions focused on fighting the Void. In fact, he rembered clearly that he was in the Void’s ho—the Border Abyss—right before his transmigration.
The Border Abyss was a perilous place, but when dealing with Void creatures, as long as they weren’t Great Monarchs, Devouring God’s Chosen, or Observers, Li Aozi wasn’t afraid at all.
"By the way, what kind of Void creature is it?"
Li Aozi asked, calm and composed.
His luck had been pretty good lately, and in his mory, there weren’t any high-rank monsters around that area.
Surely, barely three months into the journey, Layer Abyss wasn’t going to spawn a Great Monarch on him, was it?
"The computer is verifying, please hold on..."
After a few seconds, Edison solemnly said:
"Void Overlord."
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