From the archives, we finally learned that the inhabitants of this universe are not native: they were rescued from another collapsing world hundreds of thousands of years ago by a Xyrin Apostle referred to as the "Great General". The bizarre star we observed burning like a bomb in the sky over this planet, and the energy collection technology mastered by the locals, were all things left by the Great General. After searching with the keyword ’Great General’, Sandora found the Xyrin Apostle revered by the locals, akin to a Legendary Leader — a rather familiar figure.
"I think... this figure looks familiar," I said sowhat tactfully. The Great General in the image was wearing a black hooded cloak, appearing very small amidst a group of Imperial Soldiers in black heavy armor — to be frank, the Great General’s height was basically parallel to the hips of those Soldiers around. This image seed hurriedly captured, as if the General didn’t have the leisure to pause and pose for her followers to admire. Despite her face being obscured in the shadow of the hood, her pair of blood-red, faintly glowing eyes were unmistakably striking.
"Isn’t this Visca?" Sandora clicked her tongue, as she had just snapped out of her astonishnt, "Look at those emblems: the mark of the Visca Destruction Army is precisely this bloody triangle. And yes, there was one at the entrance when we ca in."
I initially thought the bloody triangle at the entrance was purely coincidental: after all, it’s a very common shape. When Visca designed her emblem back then, she must have casually drawn a jagged figure and used it, without any embellishnt or anti-counterfeiting designs. But now the situation was confird: that triangular mark belongs to the Destruction Army.
This world was visited by Visca back in the day, and even its residents were brought here by her... but that girl has completely forgotten about it. Now she’s just hanging out on the Imperial Admiral, full of curiosity along with everyone, researching when this universe might completely extinguish. Back then, when she saw a group of local natives collecting energy from EOP-03, she was just as amazed as everyone else — such a muddled first half of this cherished sister’s life.
"We’ve really made a major discovery this ti," Sandora muttered after a brief daze, then quickly started to search for more data in the database. The projections on the terminal screen shifted as rapidly as scenery outside a car window as she sought the entire set of historical records of the local civilization, as well as Visca’s activities in this world back then. Vega fidgeted slightly with unease, expressing her surprise in her own way: Visca’s haphazard and bewildering past is quite known among the High Order Xyrin Apostles, and no one anticipated such a history from that girl. The Asida twins, however, didn’t show much surprise. They were engaged in — oh, silently exchanging glances; I prefer to believe they were expressing astonishnt in their private channel, as they’re hardly noticeable without showing a bit of surprise. It seems I led these sisters out simply to admire the view.
However, perhaps the passage of ti was too long, or perhaps this information is stored elsewhere and not connected to the network here (I have every reason to believe that the native inhabitants of this world know how to grade information access to their network), Sandora found limited information. We could only ascertain that this ’Heisen Tribe’ has had a recorded history of over a million years. Like many other super-long-lived civilizations, they’ve experienced various crises and several discontinuations — with enough ti, anything could happen. The timing of this race’s birth wasn’t exactly fortunate; it could be said they are quite a tragic civilization: when the first pioneer of the Heisen Tribe tried draping animal fur over themselves, their universe was collapsing inward from the edges: you might think of them as children born on the Titanic.
"A collapsing universe is also a type of world’s end, and a chronic one at that," Sandora mused over the databooks, unable to resist sighing, "When a universe’s lifespan approaches its end, the strength of its world barrier diminishes, because during the course of its evolution, the generation, annihilation, and transformation of various information accumulates ’junk information’. This junk usually consists of paradoxes or ’peculiar products’ beyond the current worldview. Unless there’s a Star Domain Divine Race’s world managent system or the Empire’s Mathematical Rate Device performing regular clearing, this junk information won’t disappear. They’re like useless strings piling up in mory that cannot be deleted; once the mory overflows, the world barrier begins collapsing inward under the pressure of the Void. This collapse process can last millions to tens of millions of years; this ’Heisen Tribe’ is certainly a greatly troubled species, born in the final stretch before the universe’s doom."
"Actually, there are quite a lot of such unfortunate species," Sandora added after a mont, "The universe is generally vast, so natural collapse takes a long ti — long enough for lots of new lives to erge within it — and they rarely develop Void Navigation Technology in ti. Well, the Heisen Tribe seems rather lucky in that case; at least they’ve successfully escaped, sent to another world that’s nearly at its end — only slightly better than the original..."
I think Sandora should probably stop explaining, the more I hear, the grimr it sounds...
Concerning the "world barrier overloading and eventually collapsing due to continual accumulation of erroneous information," this is how I understood it: imagine a civilization mastering ti travel technology but failing to grasp the Empire’s world managent technology, unable to clear their universe’s cache. Then, when countless naughty kids from this civilization go back in ti to kill their grandmothers, the universe would soon collapse — Sandora quite enjoyed this analogy, finding it very characteristic of .
"The Heisen Tribe eventually developed to a point where they could achieve superluminal jumps and head towards the edge of the universe with their civilization," Sandora found a turning point in the historical records, "Look, events here begin to clarify, and the details are more precise. The pioneers ventured into deep space to search for other intelligent beings in the universe. They didn’t find any neighbors within their star system but remained convinced that a civilization similar to their own must exist deeper in the universe."
"However, soon they discovered that this world was desolate, and the Pioneer Team disappeared at the edge of the universe shortly after."
"The pioneering era lasted less than ten years, and the deep space detectors sent back terrifying facts: the universe was collapsing rapidly. The furthest reaches of the universe that the detectors could see were like the Shattered Islands, with space fragnts where dark currents surged, filled with bizarre natural phenona beyond the understanding of scientists, and destructive storms that could not be asured, calculated, or resisted. Beyond them lay indescribable things that technology and logic could no longer identify. Scientists of the Heisen Tribe realized their world was collapsing, and the collapse rate was slightly slower than the speed of light—in an era when observation technology hadn’t broken the superluminal barrier, no one discovered this shocking fact."
"When the universe began to collapse, the Heisen Tribe was born, and as this civilization was just about to step out of its own doors, the storm was already approaching their walls," Sandora gently shook her head. "I thought there was nothing noteworthy about this world’s native civilization, yet I didn’t expect them to have such an extraordinary and rare history. It was ntioned here that the Grand General appeared during the ’Broken Era.’"
The text materials on the projection began to show a large number of pictures, including spaceships and emblems that I was familiar with, and the small figure finally occupied most of the archived pages.
"When the Heisen Tribe discovered they couldn’t resist that storm, and the entire universe was collapsing from all directions, while none of their flying devices could possibly cross the shattered border, they fell into a century-long chaos. But this chaos was quite interesting—" Sandora’s "reading speed" was extrely fast. While I was still busy searching for Visca’s tiny one-ter-tall figure among the soldiers, Sandora already processed all the information with her ntal core, and she simply took on the task of delivering a concise explanation. "Normal mortal races would fall into chaos quickly, resorting to a series of blind, frenzied self-harm or futile ’self-preservation’ when faced with such a hopeless and incomprehensible disaster. I’ve seen many such civilizations. But this Heisen Tribe—they started frantically researching those broken borders, halting all activities of the entire race, compressing the sustenance supplies of each citizen to the bare minimum for survival, and they concentrated more resources than theoretically possible to manufacture billions of detectors and exploratory ships within a century, dashing into the fragnted frontier like moths to a fla."
"...Madn..." Vega couldn’t help but mutter, "This is pointless without a clear direction."
"But for a mortal race, this was their limit," Sandora smiled, "Mortal races at the lower stages of civilization facing the Void, completely unable to see a direction, so any effort they make is comndable, at least they didn’t wait to die. As for this Heisen Tribe, although a bit crazy... well, according to records, in a century, their suicidal charge towards the frontiers led to a threefold reduction in the entire population, and aside from spacecraft manufacturing technology, they essentially abandoned all their cultural achievents, which was a catastrophic civilization interruption... well, their spirit is still comndable."
So ultimately, it’s their spirit that deserves praise.
"The Grand General appeared towards the end of the ’Broken Era,’" Sandora continued reading the material, "She and her powerful army erged from the far side of that indescribable sea. Initially, the Heisen Tribe naturally assud this fleet was the mastermind behind the devouring of their world, which makes sense: the Destruction Army just happened to jump in from the Void, while the Heisen Tribe’s world was almost swallowed up by the Void, so Visca was initially regarded as the Demonic King of Destruction by the Heisen people."
: "..." Actually, I think the identity of "Demonic King of Destruction" is quite fitting for Visca’s past behavior. I still find it incredible that she could take action to save people. Did she actually end up saving this Heisen Tribe? And being worshiped by them as an Immortal for hundreds of thousands of years?! Is this a joke!
"The Heisen Tribe launched a fearless charge against this black fleet," Sandora said with a strange expression, "The material records this charge in one sentence: all the spaceships were hung on the Grand General’s flagship."
: "...hung?"
Why use such an odd expression?
"Well, that’s how it is in the original," Sandora waved her hand, "Visca wasn’t right in the head back then, you know that. Her flagship was even crazier. Who knows, she might really have tied soone’s spaceship to the deck with a rope. Anyway, let’s continue reading."
"After the battle that couldn’t really be called a battle was over, the Great General completely dismantled the Heisen Tribe’s combat capabilities. She then stayed on the Heisen Tribe’s howorld for a month. During this ti, the collapse of the universe miraculously stopped. The Great General didn’t communicate with any leaders of the Heisen Tribe. She seed completely uninterested in the local people’s thoughts, but she was busy every day, sending her fleet here and there across the universe. The Heisen Tribe soon realized that the Great General had not co to destroy this already fragnted isolated world; she was trying to repair the shattered space border and even managed to expand the universe once more."
"But the Great General’s attempts failed, and the universe would still be dood. So she decided to leave, taking all the Heisen Tribe’s people with her. No one knew the thoughts of this powerful being from a distant land, but she seed to have decided to save the last of the intelligent beings of this world. The ancestors protected Heisen, and the tribe followed the General Fleet across the Naless Sea, eventually reaching a peaceful new world. The Great General handed over this unprecedented vast universe to the Heisen Tribe under her protection, which left the tribal leaders stunned with its imnse generosity. After a brief stay, the Great General embarked on her glorious expedition once more, leaving the Heisen Tribe with an imnse material wealth akin to an entire universe, promising to return soday to take the reborn and thriving Heisen Tribe with her... That concludes the ancient history, and the modern history follows, but I doubt you’re interested."
Sandora turned off her data terminal and looked at , "So, what should we do now?"
I wanted to contact the leader or a governnt representative of the Heisen Tribe. Since they had interacted with Visca long ago, now seed like a good ti for the Empire to openly et them. After all, we’ve suddenly intruded into their universe. Now that our bases and positions are established, giving them an explanation is necessary. However, the ruling center of the Heisen Tribe doesn’t seem to be on this planet. This location rely attracted us due to EOP-03. It appears to be just a regular colonization star, with its dense population being its only notable feature. So finding the leader might still require so investigation.
I felt it was better to go back and talk to Visca about this first, to find out what actually happened back then. To be honest, I was shocked to learn that Visca had once done sothing as glorious as saving an entire civilization as a Savior. Have you seen her do anything good since she was born or since I’ve known her?
Also, confirming this matter with Visca first could prevent awkwardness when the Heisen leader shows up. It’s not very polite if they warmly welco us with bows, and Visca responds with, "And who might you be?" while chewing on a candy stick...
"I think let’s head back to the flagship," I said, glancing at the Asida Sisters, signaling them to prepare for teleportation. This ti, we wouldn’t take the shuttle; direct teleportation seed more convenient. "Sandora, got any plans?"
"Oh," Sandora nodded, "I’d like to have another al... "
Everyone: "..."
Due to Sandora’s "plan," we ended up delaying for another half-hour on this planet before heading back. Although this trip didn’t encounter any twists and turns, amounting to a peaceful "outing action," we were quite pleased with the outco. We unexpectedly learned a piece of Visca’s history and discovered an ancient Race closely linked to the Xyrin Apostle. I have every reason to believe there is more of Visca’s legacy in this world: equipnt or technical data she might have forgotten in her bewildered state, which has inadvertently preserved a valuable asset over turbulent hundreds of thousands of years.
Additionally, I feel this strongly confirms sothing: although Visca’s origins aren’t precisely orthodox, at her core, she’s still a Xyrin Apostle. Look at her incredible talent for leaving non-degradable waste everywhere...
Vega was extrely disappointed she didn’t get to chop up anything on this journey. I’m guessing she anticipated an epic battle even before setting off. Like any battle-hungry Armored Scorpion, she hoped every mission would return with shattered enemy skulls and layers of scars across her armor. I nearly wanted to stop midway at an asteroid belt to let her whet her blade and relieve Scorpion Sister’s itch for action. Truth be told, I admire Vega’s warrior vibe. The wild charm of a dominant lady is quite attractive; I just wish her ambitions didn’t require assassins targeting first. Scorpion Sister, simple-minded as she is, never considered that as a bodyguard, her only trigger to act would be if an assassin pops out with "Who’s the dog emperor? See take your head..."
Forget it, forget it, not worrying about Vega’s hard-headedness, that’s a constant. In any case, the first thing I did upon reaching the Imperial Admiral was to call everyone to the eting room, while Qianqian excitedly and curiously bounced around, and Sandora connected the copied data to the eting room’s projection equipnt.
Visca stared blankly at the projection showing her figure, with records of her deeds appearing. Seeing her forr soldiers occupying half the screen, she scratched her head, "Brother, brother, that cloak looks familiar."
: "..."
Sandora and I suddenly realized sothing: Visca’s past chaos and her current mory errors were beyond hope, seeking her confirmation was a complete waste of ti.
Nevertheless, we could ask soone else. I imdiately connected to the communicator with the Capital World, calling out the Revenge Fleet’s main flagship— that Mad AI, since the repairs of the Revenge Fleet weren’t complete, she hadn’t accompanied us this ti.
"Hello, this ship’s surna is Chen, who is it on the other side?" A lazy voice ca from the communicator, it seed the Mad AI found life boring with no battles to fight.
I didn’t waste any words with her, directly sending over the visual data: "You’re an AI, your mory shouldn’t be problematic, do you have any impression of this screen?"
Er Fengzi was silent for a mont, then let out a sharp screech: "Hey, isn’t that the General! Let rewind the footage, my mory bank is in perfect condition... Oh, I rember, it’s a very old affair, I’m in that scene too."
Er Fengzi was referring to the most iconic part of the data: Visca leading a group of Soldiers standing prominently in the center of the image, with a vast alloy fortification behind.
"You see those armored plates at the back? That’s the belly button of my ship back in the day!"
Er Fengzi pledged with utmost confidence. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welco to vote with recomndations and monthly tickets at Qidian, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.)
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