Xyrin Empire
Chapter 581 ...People?

Chapter 581: Chapter 581 ...People?

"Hmm? Where’s your so-called Queen? Why hasn’t she come to meet me in person!"

Looking at the group in front of her, decked out in various military garb yet clearly none being the Queen of the Free Kingdom, Sister Jier’s eyebrows all but shot up, chastising them with no concern for their dignity.

Why are we so sure that Queen Gotaque isn’t among these people—I can only say, if any of these oddballs turned out to be Her Majesty, my view of the world would’ve definitely crumbled.

"Don’t mind her," I waved my hand and shoved Sister Jier to the back, "She’s our babysitter here—but she’s right, where’s your Queen? She’s been absent thus far, and now she still doesn’t show up at this crucial moment, doesn’t it seem a bit insincere?"

It’s not like we’re not discontented, the Federation Army has fought bitterly through thorns and blood to help the Free Kingdom reclaim the lost territories and dispel the pirates to save the Queen. We had just managed to repel the ferociously advancing Imperial Fleet with a mere militia ship. Yet, that so-called Queen couldn’t even bother to show her face. Would satisfying someone’s curiosity kill you?

Curiosity, immense curiosity, in a Kingdom where not a single important figure but just a bunch of flowers and grass is printed on universal currency, I’m extremely curious about this never-seen Queen.

Just now a flat-chested lass, all shiny in gold, wearing ancient armor utterly unsuitable for modern combat, and with an arrogantly unbearable tone, had given the officers a piece of her mind. Then out comes a chap in clothes with no distinguishing features, akin to Passerby A at a street stall, tossing the golden shiny lass ten meters away. The group of Kingdom officers who had been ready to draft an official letter of thanks were taken aback, feeling a massive communication barrier with these folks in front of them.

In any case, they were clueless as to who the leader of this life-saving Interstellar Force really was. Concealed in integrity for the greater mysteries, hidden in the excitement for the minor ones—most of the time, it’s truly hard for strangers to identify who’s in charge during a first meeting.

That’s when you see the alternative use of a racial talent, with a bunch of human-like beings clueless about whom to talk to, let’s bring in a spherical lifeform... yes, a spherical lifeform. Since a while ago, I have been curiously observing behind the tired faces of these Kingdom officers, where a very conspicuous thing was floating, a large round ball.

Initially, I thought it was some sort of mechanical device, but it wasn’t long before they proved to us that in the Great Thousand World, there’s nothing you won’t find. It’s not just headless Xingtian; even aliens that are all head exist.

Completely resembling mercury with a seemingly fully reflective surface, roughly a meter in diameter, its body devoid of features such as facial projections—this is the "alien life form’s" characteristics. "It" floated between us and the Gotaque officers, bobbed up and down slightly in what seemed to be a bow, then a voice that sounded mechanized rang out, "Thank you very much for coming to our aid with your fleet, you have saved Gotaque. I am the Grand Chancellor of the Kingdom, Bieberu."

...So this is the advantage of being the Race. Faced with a ball, you have no idea where its front side is. You don’t have to worry about figuring out who the real authority is, as soon as it speaks up, everyone on our side feels like it’s addressing them.

Just as I was about to respond to this particularly intriguing Prime Minister, a dark shadow whooshed by my side. Taking a closer look, Qianqian was enthusiastically fiddling with the spherical entity floating mid-air, amazed and exclaiming, "Ah Jun, Ah Jun! Is this ball also an alien? Why does it look like that? Hey Ah Jun, it’s got the insignia and ribbons of Gotaque painted on it! Hello alien, is this your uniform? How do you eat? Are you wearing clothes? We had a thing called the Main God back home that looked just like you, though now it’s turned into a gourd shape..." Suddenly, Qianqian clenched her fists and knocked on the surface of the big ball. "Wow, so hard, alien, are you a silicon-based life form?"

The event was so unexpected that none of the attending royals and dignitaries had time to react. By the time I remembered to pull this nutty lass back, the once shiny silver ball had turned to lead grey.

"Uh, this is a misunderstanding!" Hoping to preserve friendly relations, I hastily explained, "That’s her unique way of greeting, um... you’ve changed color, are you alright?"

"Ah, no worries, changing color is a normal phenomenon," To my surprise, the rotund Prime Minister didn’t seem the slightest bit angry, "It’s also our way of saying hello."

Me: "..."

"Since we don’t have the unique extendable organs common among your irregular races, thought waves, coloring of the body surface, and slight collisions are the usual means by which our Sikiieron race expresses goodwill. The collision just now reminded me of home..."

I can’t even imagine what kind of social structure this weird race that relies on bumping into each other to communicate affection has. Is it something like billiards?

Reaching out again, I awkwardly pulled Qianqian, who had been using Bieberu’s reflective shell to fix her hair, into my arms and said to the other party, "I want to see your Queen; surely she won’t refuse to meet even the person who saved her life, right?"

"Ha, got it clear," Sister Jier muttered disinterestedly from the side, "This so-called Queen, despite being the one rescued, now puts on airs, expecting this King to personally make an appearance? Or do you think that your lousy warship is so reliable that you can’t even trust this Palace of the Sky?"

"...When did this become your place?" I smacked Jier on the head, flattening even the tuft of hair that was second only to Saber’s in length.

Golden Pica’s sharp tongue had been disrespectful time and again, and even the always polite Gotaque officers showed displeasure, but Bieberu merely emitted a pleasant metallic clinking from within and managed to pacify them.

No wonder he’s the Grand Chancellor; he can even function as a wind chime.

"I am very sorry, Her Majesty has also sent me to convey her apologies for not being able to come and thank you all in person," Bieberu’s rotund body inched a bit closer to me, seemingly finally determining who was in charge of the conversation here, then grumbled, "The situation with Her Majesty is special, she cannot leave her throne easily. If you trust us, a visit will make everything clear—Her Majesty invites you to enter her hall, which was also her initial purpose for coming here."

"Alright, I’ll go take a look."

Without giving others a chance to respond, I immediately agreed as soon as Bieberu finished speaking.

"Hey! Aren’t we selling ourselves short here?" Sister Jier immediately sprang to life and rushed over, "You might not care, but as a... as a ser... servant, it’s a blow to this King’s dignity!"

"A nanny’s dignity, you say?" Medusa, who had nearly been killed by that foolish Golden Pica before, teased, and immediately, chaos ensued.

Ignoring the Heroic Spirits who could only make a mess when they were idle, I left Reynolds in charge of the flagship and led a group of Imperial High Level onto the skybridge connecting the two spaceships. No one worried about the other party playing any tricks, knowing full well that in this big family, even the little girl who was only one meter twenty tall had the strength to push over an entire planet; Reynolds and the others weren’t afraid of any accidents happening.

As for me, I was extremely curious about that Queen who had always refused to show herself. Was she a severe introvert, or perhaps, was she incomparably beautiful?

Inside the Queen’s flagship, it didn’t seem as grand and spacious as it appeared from the outside. Instead, it resembled a tightly secured but slightly claustrophobic bunker. Moreover, all the passageways here were lined with orderly parallel ridges, and above the entrances to the passageways, other than the main ones, were arches. Structures like the veins of a plant ran through every junction we passed, giving the impression that the interior of the Queen’s flagship was like a massive plant vascular system, or perhaps... a loofah?

Why did I think of that.

"Unlike any technological style of Jetas, this place looks like the internal structure of some kind of giant plant after it has withered," Sister said in a hushed voice as we were led by Grand Chancellor Bieberu to the fast channel that leads straight to the command center, "I’ve already uploaded it to Taville, to see if there are records of this technology system in the Imperial database."

"Let’s try our luck, since so far all the data we’ve uploaded haven’t matched any existing records..."

"This channel can lead directly to Her Majesty’s throne," our conversation was interrupted by the Grand Chancellor, as a big silver sphere hovered at the entrance to the hallway before us, "Stand on the blue glowing floor, and you can cover these several kilometers in one minute, without worrying about acceleration – this is a technology we learned ’from the Shepherds’ after paying a high price for it."

I actually saw a proud "expression" on the face of a sphere – was it showing off?

And this technology "learned from the Shepherds" – if I’m not mistaken, this should be the vector canceling field used in the high-speed launch channels of Xyrin battleships that allows projectiles to accelerate to one third the speed of light instantaneously and without inertia? Then, this contraption is quite a grand knock-off.

With such a snide remark in mind, we stood on the knock-off version of the Xyrin Launch Channel, and instantly, a trail of blue light took us straight to the command center.

At the end, we stopped in front of a hexagonal prism floating in the middle of a spacious gravity field, connected and anchored only by the pathway we were standing on.

The spherical Grand Chancellor quietly hovered before the prism, and without any apparent action from him, a spacious doorway appeared on the prism out of nowhere, dark and inscrutable inside – it instantly reminded me of the word "home."

"Please come in, Her Majesty has been waiting for a long time."

After entering this strange "throne room" or control center, we felt gravity again, making it clear that this prism had its own independent artificial gravity device. Although I found this design somewhat bothersome, perhaps it was for security considerations.

As the entrance behind us closed, a faint sound of electricity gradually rose in the dark space, and the pitch-black "throne room" suddenly brightened, finally revealing this mysterious place before us.

The floor was as smooth and polished as obsidian, without any gaps or protrusions, a style commonly seen throughout the entire Queen’s Fleet. Below it seemed to lie numerous energy lines, with points of light scurrying underneath the obsidian-like surface like fireflies, creating a scene reminiscent of a circuit board. The room was extremely wide and its ceiling was out of sight – it seemed that, apart from its outer shell, the entire prism was this massive room with a hundred-meter edge. Here, we saw none of the luxurious royal decorations we had envisioned, no armed Royal Guards standing in formation, not even any furniture. In the vacant room, there was only the immense "throne" at the center.

A black Steel Throne, surrounded by countless pipelines, fixed to the ground. All the wandering lights from before converged at the base of the throne and flowed up along the energy lines. The backrest of the throne extended upward, splitting and deforming, ultimately forming a massive pipeline system that was astonishing – like a plant sprouting innumerable branches from its roots. An overwhelming amount of pipes stretched out, disappearing into the unreachable heights of the room. Straining my eyes, I could see moving light points above, but they were too far to see clearly.

Sitting atop this massive and bizarre throne was a simply dressed girl.

Her wheat-colored hair gently cascaded in front of her chest; her gray-blue pupils reflected the image of the people entering the room. Her lips slightly pursed, as if deliberately frozen to hide all emotion. Her demeanor was elegant and beautiful yet utterly lifeless. Describing her as a girl felt almost excessive; she was more akin to a child, yet she was that profoundly mysterious Queen, the subject of endless speculation.

Since we had all been observing this strange room just a moment ago, no one had managed to speak with "Her Majesty the Queen," who thus quietly observed us for nearly a minute. During that time, her expression never changed, and I even suspected she hadn’t blinked once. This girl, donning a plain gray-white dress, sat on the throne like a Cinderella out of place. Her entire being exuded a sculptural quality, causing one to wonder, "Is this a living person?"

Looking at this eerie, silent Queen and glancing down at Pandora, who was only about 1.2 meters tall, I suddenly smirked and bent down to push Pandora to the front.

Time ticked by, second by second. Qianqian lay on the ground chasing after those light spots while Big Sister yawned widely. Visca rummaged through my pockets for candy, and I was timing Pandora, who seemed a bit perplexed. However, without a direct command, she naturally entered standby mode, silently facing off with the Queen.

"You guys, what are you doing?"

Seven minutes passed when suddenly, a monotonous, synthesized mechanical voice echoed from all directions. The Queen, seated on her throne, remained as still as a sculpture, seemingly fused with her seat. Clearly, though, it was her speech resounding in the room.

"Pandora, you’ve won!"

Feeling utterly bewildered myself, I ruffled my little sister’s hair and handed her a lollipop, happily declaring the news.

Before Big Sister could even release her yawn, she nearly threw her back out: "What are you up to, Ah Jun? Can you get any more boring?"

"Beep beep, beep beep." Pandora continued her confused state, her tummy making beeping sounds.

"Incomprehensible behavior," the motionless Queen announced, her voice filling the room, "I apologize for addressing you in this posture, but I must sit here. Otherwise, the entire fleet will fall into disarray."

"Disarray?" I paused, "Isn’t the Queen’s Fleet (whatever its pompous original name was, let it drift with the wind) entirely unmanned... Could it be just a bluff for boosting morale?"

"Artificial intelligence is not as inaccessible a technology as some might think," came the emotionless voice from the air, like an answering machine—press a little arrow, and up pops a bunch of text, "But relying on artificial intelligence to control an entire army, and even having it combat Shepherds, is enormously challenging. The peculiar Sikiieron Race (that would be the Grand Chancellor) may have bizarre forms but can create advanced AI systems with their spiritual power and control over electromagnetism. However, numerous defeats have proven that these systems are no match for the Shepherds in battle. The Queen’s Fleet has been under my absolute control since its inception. You’re correct; the idea that the Queen’s Fleet could stand against the Shepherds with AI alone has been a sham from the start."

Holy smokes, how advanced is her micromanagement? The Queen and Bubbles are terrifyingly similar creatures! Is your APM over a hundred thousand or what?

Of course, she couldn’t see the assortment of expressions scrolling across my face, nor did she understand why. The Queen wasn’t finished speaking yet: "Many facts have proven that the AI possessed by the Shepherds has reached, or even far exceeded the level of human commanders. The Queen’s Fleet must set an inspiring example in this aspect, or else the morale of the Free Kingdom would crumble."

That’s right, the Shepherds... The Empire’s AI was so formidable. That woman nearly became omnipresent on the internet, making national servers tremble every time she logged on. That time, she nearly led Baidu’s servers to conclude that the global internet population had surpassed twenty billion. One rampage on a forum almost upended the human internet.

But who would have thought the Queen’s Fleet held such a secret? It’s truly unexpected. Moreover, the information revealed by the girl on the throne has caught our attention even more—a puzzling and mysterious relationship involving the Shepherds, the Free Kingdom, and the warfare-engulfed universe. And the breakthrough seemed to lie with the young Queen before us.

"Hey, it looks like we’ve got a lot to talk about today. You seem very eager, even in a hurry, to share many secrets with us," I casually pulled out my eternal divine artifact from my Personal Space—a multipurpose, Interstellar Alloy-made stool for spectators of home travel or arson. As I plunked down and drew the other ladies into our spectator group, I continued, "Don’t be surprised, that’s just how we do things where I’m from—do you mind telling us your name, Your Majesty? As a gesture of sincerity."

The girl on the throne looked on calmly, and a slow hesitant voice came through the air, "Name... it has been a very long time since I’ve used it. For countless years, my name has only been ’Your Majesty.’... But if you truly need such a designation to be comfortable, then please use this—Andovain Fina Ovega Populus Sadornfandi Massaviella Lanrolanla Miaoergaishi Turlenso..."

Should I go grab a couple of drinks first? (To be continued. For further developments, please log on to www.qidian.com. More Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)