Xyrin Empire
Chapter 568 Lin Xue’s Brilliant Strategy...

Chapter 568: Chapter 568 Lin Xue’s Brilliant Strategy...

"Space transmission halted, all department statuses are good, Plane Connection Driver is now shutting down, Engine Group Three is preparing to exit silent running mode, Victory is always with us."

The main computer on the Imperial Admiral had finished the final broadcast of the navigation phase, and then there came a burst of noise that we had never heard before on the bridge.

"Clearly, we are experiencing interference from an information barrier," I tapped on the control crystal in front of the Commander’s seat, "How is the Communication Tower doing?"

The main Communication Tower was a large complex located in the middle of the left arm of the Imperial Admiral, serving dedicated command and battlefield headquarters functions. As a non-combat flagship, communication was vital, but the burst of noise that just echoed through the bridge indicated that this communication center might already be out of commission—normally, it should have been receiving communications from the rear fortress at this time.

"Glory to you, Your Majesty," the holographic projection in front of the seat materialized the image of the Commander stationed in the Communication Tower area, a gaunt middle-aged man, "Inter-fleet comm-links are all normal, but all communications with the Shadow Fortress are silent. The tower group’s main hardware are undamaged; however, all memory storage containing world coordinates and Imperial space-time network data have been wiped by an unknown force. Also, we have lost the communication protocols with the Holy Temple Army. I am afraid it will take a long time to repair."

"Hmm, we’ll wait patiently. I will reestablish contact with the Shadow Fortress as soon as possible."

After ending the communication with the Communication Tower, I stood up from my seat.

It seems this was the situation Lilina had encountered after she entered this world—first, the strange information barrier blocked communication with headquarters, and then all the space coordinates and upper-level protocols stored in the spaceship were wiped during the inter-plane transfer. With the contact devices equipped by the Holy Temple Army, it was impossible to rebuild the communication network under these circumstances.

"Sakura, how are you feeling?"

I turned and asked the purple-haired girl sitting beside me, whose strength had waned.

Even though Sakura had been enhanced into an elite unit like the Crystal Saint Mother, her actual body remains somewhat fragile (compared to those Xyrin Apostles), and she wasn’t used to super space-time transmissions as she did not often travel around with us.

"It seems wise to have left Senior Emiya behind after all...ugh..." Sakura winced with a pale face, "’Super Long-Distance Fuzzy Coordinate Transmission’ really feels worse than passing through the World Gate. It might take a long time to get used to it."

I laughed awkwardly. Since we could not know the conditions within this world, pinpointing the location for space transmission was impossible. Therefore, when transferring across planes, the ship’s main computer could only randomly choose an empty expanse of space to dock—a bit of a severe shake indeed.

Since Sakura was busy retching, she couldn’t focus on transforming into a wireless router to help us restore communications. Taking advantage of the gap, I signaled to Qianqian and Big Sister, waving at them casually while pulling out three small cloth packets from my pocket...

Heh heh, Lin Banxian. Relying on your prediction ability, playing ’brilliant stratagems’ like Zhuge Liang, huh? And what was that about opening it three days after the transmission was completed? Talking all mystical—it’s just that, you already knew everything.

"Ah Jun, are you planning to open them now and prove Lin Xue’s ’three days later’ claim wrong?"

Big Sister came over, immediately seeing through my intentions, and leisurely pointed it out.

I didn’t mind and nodded openly. Here, let me add that I always felt something fishy about Liu Bei being given such stratagems; if it were me, I would have ripped them open the moment Zhuge Liang turned his back—everyone has curiosity.

That’s why, I insist that when Zhuge Liang handed those pouches to Liu Bei, he knew all along that the guy would peek!

"Could it be that Lin Xue already knows you would sneak a peek ahead of time?"

Usually slow-witted, Qianqian also had a rare moment of insight this time. However, regarding her guess, I just mysteriously shook my head.

"That girl definitely knows I know she knows I would sneak a peek, and logically considering, I definitely wouldn’t fall into this trap, so opening them now is indeed unexpected to her!"

"But what if Lin Xue knows you know she knows you know she knows you’d sneak a peek?"

Suddenly, a crisp questioning voice sounded overhead from Little One.

My face stiffened: "But maybe she knows I know she knows I know she knows I know she knows..."

Nonchalantly, Little One persisted: "And maybe she knows you know she knows you know she knraarrghhh...ouch, bit my tongue again!"

I’ve lost all desire to retort to this Little Thing, who, whenever confused, declares that she’s bitten her tongue and acts cute. But come on, her point seems quite reasonable, right? What if Lin Xue really knows I know she knows I know she knows... If you don’t mind the verbosity, I could loop this line for thirty more rows.

But then, why am I even wrangling a Prophet on this? Does this skirmish have any value at a penny? I feel just like Dingdang, brainfart enough to vow to beat the Dragon God in an arm-wrestling contest.

Right then, disregarding any hesitation, amidst Qianqian’s curiosity, Big Sister’s teasing demeanor, and Dingdang sneakily peeking with her head down, I solemnly opened—the No.3 cloth pack labeled awkwardly.

Feels like I’m struggling under the hand of fate, doesn’t it?

Inside, a small note, which Qianqian couldn’t wait to pull out and read aloud, "Wood, you did sneak a peek ahead as expected. Also, Qianqian, your finger is covering a line!"

Everyone: "..."

What a brutal precision in prediction. Prophet Lin, aren’t you a bit too much fussing over such trivial matters when you could be bringing down China’s lottery system for good?

Qianqian scratched her hair and sheepishly continued reading the line covered by her finger just now: "Please open the second pouch now~~"

I sighed and then opened—the No.1 labeled cloth pack, heck, since when do I obey that crazy girl’s commands?

Inside the first cloth bag was still a small piece of paper, and once again, Qianqian snatched it away. The paper had a bold line that said, "Told you, you should have opened the second one~~~"

There was also a silly smiley face drawn on it, only slightly better than what Big Sister could manage.

I sighed again and opened the second one. Might as well play along—I wanted to see just how boring that girl could get.

To my shock, she really had something even more trivial: Inside the package labeled ’2’ was another note, "Hehe, Wood, you haven’t thrown away the first sachet, have you? Actually, I wrote the words inside its lining..."

Frustrated and on the verge of tears, I looked up, "Damn it, you can’t just mess with people like this... It’s becoming as convoluted as Baidu..."

Completely speechless, I picked up the original sachet, turned it inside out, and there, the tone of the message shifted suddenly, almost catching me off guard, "Have all Imperial battleships and Imperial soldiers engage their Phase Stealth and hide near uninhabited celestial bodies. Temporarily switch to using ships from the New Eden Federation. I’m not quite sure why, but should be clear very soon."

"What’s wrong, Ah Jun?" Seeing my expression suddenly shift from annoyance to seriousness, Big Sister quickly snatched the ’sachet’ and furrowed her brows at the message.

"We’re supposed to hide the Imperial Fleet," I casually threw the other two cloth bags—which were just Lin Xue’s pranks—to the side, "That girl probably received some kind of metaphor—ship-based AI, recompile Imperial units, search the vicinity for suitable uninhabited celestial bodies."

"The main computer understands. The Super Space-Time Probe has returned with information. A high-brightness Red Giant Star, hidden within a strong radiation cloud, has been detected 1.53 light-years ahead on our static trajectory. No life-bearing planets were found nearby. Shall we dock?"

"Hiding inside a Red Giant Star?" I smirked, "Sounds intriguing—Sakura, how’s your recovery going? We might need to brace for a slight jolt."

The Crystal Saint Mother immediately waved her hands miserably, "I think I’m going to be sick again..."

After letting Makoto Sakura rest a bit, I issued the order for the fleet to set sail. All Imperial ships, following Lin Xue’s instructions, had now engaged their Phase Stealth, leaving only a cluster of battlecruisers from the Federation Government Army and Protos Carriers visible within the observable range, which was quite disheartening for the Pandora Sisters who had planned to sweep across the stars with a fierce army.

The ship’s AI scanned the Red Giant Star, a voluminous and brightly shining aged star in its degenerative phase, billions of times the size of the sun. Data indicated that the aging star could have been a massive ’sun’ that had swollen after millions of years of core burning. It stood as a solitary wanderer in the cosmos, with no accompanying celestial bodies detected nearby—at least, none that hadn’t been devoured by this tyrant. What awaited us in this desolate zone of the sky was only a vast and expanding dim hot nebula and a gradually cooling red giant star.

Of course, as the fleet approached the Red Giant Star, what appeared before us was no longer a simple celestial body but an endless crimson sea. A celestial entity billions of times the size of the sun meant that its edges were imperceptible, even from hundreds of millions of kilometers away—and the Imperial Fleet had directly jumped to a position less than two million kilometers from this star, plunging us into a world of deep red.

Even with the imaging systems aboard the spacecraft dialed down the external brightness, the bridge was still bathed in a sea of fires through the holographic projection.

The surface of the Red Giant was a thin cloud of hydrogen fuel, looking like a boiling broth topped with a layer of magnificent flames. Thus, Makoto Sakura and her Heroic Spirit Guard leaned on the bridge’s railing, watching the live holographic projection in front of them, gasping in waves like a choir.

They hadn’t seen the truly breathtaking aspect of the Red Giant Star. In truth, no matter from which angle, the limited human eye couldn’t capture the full splendor of this cosmic giant. But just the view of this red world was already enough to astound them.

I suddenly remembered a little secret I had learned from a casual chat with Pandora previously; her Helium Flash actually had something to do with the formation principle of a Red Giant Star.

The balance of a star is maintained by the interaction between its immense gravity and the fierce outward impact of the nuclear reactions at its core. However, when a star reaches its late stages and runs out of fuel, this balance is disrupted. Due to the lack of fuel, the impacts from the core nuclear reactions rapidly weaken. Under the effect of gravity, the star begins to collapse. As the collapse progresses, hydrogen elements that were initially not involved in the burning on the star’s surface will, due to the high pressure and high temperature, start nuclear fusion. This release of energy at the surface further intensifies the collapse process, eventually reaching a frenzied state. Some stars with appropriate mass may evolve into black holes, while others might take a different extreme. Due to the heavy elements sinking under the influence of gravity, these stars generally possess a massive helium core at this stage. These deposited nuclear fuels, which did not burn during the star’s prime, start to fuse at a temperature of a hundred million degrees just before the star dies out. Unlike the slow burning over billions of years, this process is extremely swift, igniting the entire star’s core like Lightning and causing it to explosively expand during the collapse, eventually forming a Red Giant Star. This ultra-high-speed helium fusion is known as a Helium Flash—or in my terms, a Loli Lion Roar.

Of course, Pandora’s Helium Flash can’t compare to the explosion of a Red Giant Star; her tragically short height of 1.2 meters can’t possibly contain a sun in mid-explosion. She merely used Ghost Energy to simulate that process, with the power reduced by countless orders of magnitude. After all, one is a stellar explosion of several megatons of nuclear fuel amassed over eons, and the other is just a burst of laser that Shorty can shout out in a few seconds. If the latter’s power could compare to the former...even Xyrin Apostle wouldn’t play it that way.

"The probe detected a forming White Dwarf Star inside this Red Giant Star. The Imperial Fleet will establish a ring-shaped base around it, serving as our outpost in this universe. Meanwhile, they will also try to establish a connection with Lilina. It’s likely that the Holy Temple Army’s communication system has been formatted. We’ll have to try their possible current encryption bands one by one to restore contact with that natural darkness," I clapped Makoto Sakura on the shoulder, pulling the still astonished girl back to reality, "Stop staring; this planet is not just pretty—it’s dangerous too. The Federation Army’s spaceships have limited Ghost Energy; they won’t last long on a Red Giant Star. Let’s head to Light of El."

Although I didn’t know what Lin Xue was up to, countless bloody stories tell us that not listening to the Prophet at a critical moment could lead to severe losses—Arthas’s father is a solid proof.

Light of El was the last to evacuate during the Kepulu catastrophe and the first to receive Imperial Technology enhancements among the Protos Holy Mother Ships. This ancient spaceship, running for centuries, brimmed with the pride and mighty aura of the Protos’s glorious times. After being fitted with numerous Imperial Tech components, it could arguably be one of the most powerful ships in the New Eden Federation now (excluding the "Zero" type Planet Battleships gifted by the Empire for colonization and energy treasure). Although it couldn’t defeat a Glory-class or similar out-of-league warship, it was almost comparable to an Eternal Level. This massive disc-shaped space fortress was protected by several layers of powerful Ghost Energy Shields, within which was a military "town" founded around a huge Spiritual Crystal. The most conspicuous structure in this town was a cylindrical building pulsating with even greater energy than the central Spiritual Crystal, a Ghost Energy Generator esteemed as a temple by all Protos Warriors—graciously provided by the Empire as a friendly gift.

I really wanted to criticize this Protos decision of building the command center on top of a Ghost Energy Generator. Isn’t this like bungee jumping on a nuclear bomb—it’s ridiculously absurd?

"If all your creations suffered from energy leakage, then there probably wouldn’t be any safe equipment throughout the entire universe," I strongly questioned, but Reynolds, who personally presided over this operation from the Federation’s side, merely laughed, "However, establishing an outpost inside a Red Giant Star, and treating it as nothing unusual, really broadens my horizons."

"Fair enough, but what about you and Zeratul, the two Supreme Speakers of the Federation accompanying me to war. Don’t you have political affairs to manage?"

As soon as I finished speaking, Zeratul’s deep, hoarse voice rang out from beside me, "Great Mentor, if you, as the Imperial Leader, personally lead expeditions, we should do likewise..."

I broke out in a sweat right there and then. For those in the know, Zeratul was simply stating the truth; for those not, it sounded like he was mocking me for always leading the charge myself, which nearly squashed me under Lin Xue’s pressure...

Coughing awkwardly twice, I quickly changed the subject, "Speaking of which, Sakura should be ready by now, right?"

I was addressing Medusa, who nodded almost imperceptibly, "Sakura has switched to her Crystal Saint Mother form and is currently tuning the resonance with Avalon. We’ve started receiving intermittent information from Shadow Fortress."

Translated, that meant Sakura had installed the antenna and was now dialing up.

Sakura’s efficiency was indeed commendable. About fifteen minutes later, as the Federation Fleet had used a super space-time jump to move away from the Red Giant Star and entered an asteroid belt, we finally restored contact with Shadow Fortress. The first message we received, obviously penned by Lin Xue, read in bold, "The king of heaven commands over all land." Without a second thought, I responded with, "Responding scholars all around..." At least it rhymed.

Communications established through a Crystal Saint Mother naturally had limited bandwidth. Although it wouldn’t lag like watching a movie, I still had to give up my personal calls for military communications. Since Sakura was on the Light of El, this Protos Holy Mother Ship became the communication beacon of this universe. Positioned at the core of the Red Giant Star, the Imperial Admiral used this Holy Mother Ship as a relay to continuously upload massive amounts of cosmic constant data to Shadow Fortress. Simultaneously, we were rapidly downloading the void coordinates sent from Shadow City, trying to restore the fleet’s star map that had been wiped clean. This process took over two hours, and the bandwidth of Sakura’s uploads and downloads peaked at 5TB/s. The brutal internet speed almost made me choke, yet Sandora kept complaining about how slow the server was...

"Girl Lin, can we talk now? What exactly are you up to?"

While waiting for the star map to be restored, I finally had the chance to inquire about the mysterious plots she had up her sleeve. (To be continued. To find out what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, where Chapters are updated frequently, supporting the author and legitimate reading!)