Xyrin Empire
Chapter 599: The Eve of the Star War

Chapter 599: Chapter 599: The Eve of the Star War

Sakura was the most important member of our mission this time. Although she wasn’t involved in direct combat and didn’t have the capacity for it, her role as a wireless router determined her special status. Our communication with Shadow Base and the allocation of subsequent troops relied entirely on her bandwidth. So when Sister R nervously mentioned that Sakura was having some kind of problem, everyone was instantly on edge.

The subsequent events proved that worry leads to chaos, even for an expressionless ancient Heroic Spirit like Medusa.

"What’s going on with her?"

Watching the Crystal Saint Mother, who was visibly rolling on the ground in comfort, I felt my temples twitch. Honestly, it’s not scary seeing girls rolling on the ground; there are always a few at home who get bored and roll around, but if a "girl" who’s several meters tall with a several-meter-wide base and weighs over seventy tons (due to the surprisingly dense Ghost Energy Crystal) starts rolling, it is somewhat horrifying.

Twenty meters away, I initially thought it was an earthquake.

"Sakura has been involuntarily like this since just now; isn’t that a serious issue?"

Sister R looked like she was about to die of worry, almost as if she would throw chains herself to tie up her platonic friend if we didn’t intervene soon.

"Wow!"

At that moment, Miss Crystal Saint Mother, who was rolling, finally noticed our group of spectators. She let out a cry of surprise and, amid the clattering sound of crystal friction, returned to mid-air, then looked over here, very embarrassed.

"What happened to you," I frowned and looked up, "did you infect Qianqian?"

Scratching her head, she produced a tinkling sound: "Um...actually, this planet seems to resonate with the body of the Crystal Saint Mother. I just tried resonating with it, and suddenly, I couldn’t control it anymore. It felt like I was soaking in a hot spring~~~"

That sounds much more serious than just a hot spring bath, doesn’t it?

However, Sakura’s words also piqued my curiosity, particularly that of Taville on the Light of El, whose communication followed immediately: "Subordinate reports that a few minutes ago, the signal strength from Shadow City was boosted tenfold. Has something happened to the Crystal Saint Mother?"

Signal? Boost?

I immediately sensed that something incredible was about to happen.

"Rider, Saber, come help dig a hole and bury Sakura! Let’s do a little experiment!"

Everyone: "..."

Although we didn’t actually bury anyone, the experiment truly took place, and the outcome was exhilarating.

When the resonance between the Crystal Saint Mother and Crystal Peak began, the signals from Shadow City were instantly strengthened by at least tenfold. Observing this, Taville noted that the entire planet had almost turned into an unprecedentedly huge antenna!

Bubbles, responsible for signal modulation, kept asking me if the Crystal Saint Mother had achieved super evolution. She had been complaining about slow internet speeds not just for a day or two, so naturally, she was extremely excited to find that signal strength had increased tenfold.

The ability of Crystal Peak Planet to enhance the communication capabilities of the Crystal Saint Mother was something nobody had anticipated. Because we had someone with a fervent spirit of exploration, so-called "crystalized quartz" crystals had been studied. Their properties were simple— they were sensitive to spatial distortions and thus could be used in super-space-time engines as the core for precise spatial polarization correction. However, enhancing communication, especially cross-world communication, was not believed to be in their nature. The only possibility, then, was that the enormous volume and special stellar structure of Crystal Peak caused the crystal ore to undergo a qualitative change from a quantitative one, endowing the entire planet with antenna-like functions.

Faced with such a miraculous phenomenon, Taville simply pushed up his glasses: "Science is endless!!"

I, however, delved deeper into this unexpected discovery. Intuitively, the signal enhancement feature of Crystal Peak should not be our primary focus of interest— there must be even greater uses, like...

In contemplation, a vague plan gradually formed in my mind.

About amplifiers and antennas.

I arranged for a few more battlecruisers in orbit to join those landing troops and tens of thousands of Mercury Lamp dolls. Then I connected with Fina, also linking with the Red Giant Base, instructing them to secretly transport a batch of builders and technicians here.

After connecting with Fina, the forever-impassive young queen appeared before us, her backdrop the usual spacious hall lined with piped corridors and her throne in midway, her eyes unblinking. I always felt using live video to connect with Fina was a colossal waste — a photo placed before the camera would’ve done just as well: she never budged.

"Hello, friend, I’ve heard of your victory— most spectacular. The Kingdom is elated by this," she began, spouting what sounded like a pre-calculated official message, inducing me to snicker internally: surely, the common people were elated, but her ministers must have mixed feelings about the Federation Army now.

"Fina, there’s something I need to discuss with you," I carefully phrased, knowing full well she’d likely not oppose anything I articulated directly. Yet personally, it still felt slightly intimidating, "This Crystal Peak Planet of yours, I’d like to borrow it for a while..."

Fina didn’t even hesitate: "Of course, friend, if that’s what you wish."

Her prompt agreement, even though anticipated, caught me off guard. Then Lilina quickly jumped up, grabbed my neck and choked: "Ah! Boss! What have you done to this girl?!"

You dare let out even a word of what you just imagined? I guarantee the entire book would have to be censored immediately!

"Your agreement is amazingly prompt," I struggled to pull Lilina off my neck and tossed her aside, bundling her together with a Mercury Lamp who had started pulling at her own hair. Then, somewhat troubled, I looked at Fina, "How will you explain this to your ministers? Crystal Peak... when the Federation Army came to help you reclaim it, they were already full of doubts, and now we’re about to openly occupy this place, aren’t you afraid of being ousted?"

"I’ll handle everything," Fina’s voice remained mild yet was filled with absolute confidence, "Crystal Peak was never occupied by the Federation. You were merely helping us guard it when the Free Kingdom’s military was insufficient."

...I realized then, this is something Americans do every few years on Earth.

Except there, it’s Uncle Sam forcibly "protecting" your territory, while here, it’s a queen willingly asking for it. A leader like Fina, not only sold out by her people but also helping to count and bank the money. Racial imprints, truly too frightening.

"Your operations are about to begin, aren’t they?"

Fina fell silent for a few seconds, then suddenly took the initiative to speak, "I’ve noticed her communication frequency has entered the highest level of encryption. This queen, while often lacking common sense in most situations, is virtually a boss when it comes to military and political aspects. I don’t know where she got the scent from, but now she has become aware of it."

"Twenty-four hours from now, we will be taking active strikes against the rebels across the universe. The main forces in the Southern and Northern Sky Zones should have received your encrypted message, right?"

"Yes, the major powers in the Southern and Northern Sky Zones are aware that the Imperial Army has entered this universe. They are still skeptical, but your military actions will prove everything. During the war, they have promised to maintain absolute silence—sorry, I’ve done my best, but no race dares to fully resist the Shepherds, nor dare confront the Imperial Army. Staying silent is already the limit of what they can do."

"It’s fine, I didn’t expect much of them anyway."

I said nonchalantly, though feeling somewhat regretful.

The races of this universe have been thoroughly intimidated by the Shepherds. Even now, with a power as formidable as the Imperial Army to exterminate the Shepherds, they only dare to silently observe. They might resist a little when attacked by the Shepherds, but the idea of full-scale war is unthinkable to anyone except Fina, who has already turned her elbows out too far.

Initially, if all of them had united, they would have been a formidable force. But, being battered by the Shepherds until now, they are merely loose sand, barely managing not to further stir trouble during a full-scale war.

"Such sorrow for their misfortune and anger for their lack of resistance, how pitiful," Lili muttered as she suddenly popped out of the recycling bin, standing beside me with the demeanor of a know-it-all elder, shaking her head, "Ah, if only they would convert to the teachings of Lady Goddess... Boss, may I go and proselytize?"

"You mean, join the faith or kill the whole family, right? I’ve heard it from the Private Piracy Group."

I glanced at her sideways, and she immediately showed a very conflicted expression, twisting her small hands around for a long time before finally raising her head pitifully and saying, "But it’s really effective~~"

...Girl, that’s an illness that needs to be cured.

After greeting Fina, I also started my own plan: to plant Sakura at the northern pole of Crystal Peak.

I know this sounds bizarre, but it’s also pretty much the fact. For the Crystal Saint Mother, the best way to increase her resonance rate with Crystal Peak Planet to the maximum is to merge with it. We spent nearly a day and countless nano-assemblers to achieve this feat. Even Taville said, the Emperor has truly unleashed all the creativity he accumulated over the past twenty years (her exact words, that research girl with glasses really doesn’t know how to speak). Eventually, we constructed a spiral tower entirely of ultra-high strength α gemstones at the south pole. The tower itself has remarkable hardness and absolutely zero energy loss. Standing like a modem between heaven and earth, it allows the Crystal Saint Mother to fully unleash this part of her energy to enhance the signal strength, while she herself was placed at the top of the tower, away from any possible disturbances caused by crystal grounds. Around the tower, we temporarily established numerous guard towers, ensuring that not even a fly could pass without being hit by a couple of thousand shots.

When this temporary structure was completed, all of us gathered at its base.

"It’s magnificent..."

Even Mercury Lamp, faced with this grand cluster of architecture established within a day, had to utter such admiration.

The surrounding ground was not flattened but still maintained the most primitive fractured appearance of this planet’s crust, making the crystal-clad ground appear like a vast frozen expanse. The gradually dimming sky seemed to be swallowed by darkness. The towering spiral tower, like a sharp ice peak, stabbed into the gloomy outer space. Surrounding this frozen peak were endless dark defensive works, all around somber and silent, as if a foreboding cold wind was blowing. There I stood, shoulder-carrying Mercury Lamp, hand-holding Pandora and Visca, followed by Qianqian and Big Sister, with Lilina standing ahead and surrounded by a circle of ferocious heroic spirits. Such a lineup filled me with tremendous spirit, so I took the lead with large strides: "Let’s go! Time to defeat the Witch Demon King!"

Instantly, everyone around me collapsed.

"Really, it looks exactly the same," Lilina staggered to her feet, looking at the towering Lingyun Tower ahead that looked just like the Frozen Throne due to its design, "Should we call Sylvanas over to build an Undead Fortress beneath it?"

... The Dark Queen will be desperately looking for you.

Named the Frozen Throne Communication Tower... Hmm, actually, it’s named the Crystal Peak Communication Tower... Damn it, it has nothing to do with the Frozen Throne!! It’s just the Crystal Peak Communication Tower!

Anyway, after setting this thing up, the first thing I want to do is contact Sandora to have her transfer her spiritual power over.

"System overload maximized, excessive module activated, signal input to Earth’s crust, star resonance begins."

The main control computer at the temporary base dryly reported the operation status of this huge antenna, and in front of us, blue-white energy sparks were gradually floating up the massive crystal spiral tower. A sensation similar to a mild electric shock slowly crawled up our bodies; then, as the night fell and dimmed the base, large halos began to appear, floating like mist, filling the surrounding buildings and forming an energy vortex on the tower.

There’s absolutely no need for an Undead Fortress; it has completely turned into the Frozen Throne, and considering its functions, this thing is truly the Frozen Throne now!

"Hum hum... Hum hum..." A deep sound began to surge from all directions, but this had to be an illusion. The surface of Crystal Peak had no atmosphere; sound couldn’t travel. The humming wasn’t coming from the air but from deep within each person’s spirit.

"Connection complete, the star is releasing the signal, testing effective range... Results returned, analysis, Soul Stealer Beacon has radiated to 0.2 light-years, 0.35 light-years, 0.5 light-years... Effective radiation stops, decay radiation calculation in progress, the current star system is under the control of the Soul Stealer Beacon."

"Sandora, how does it feel?" I didn’t even use a spiritual connection; I merely released my spiritual power into the air, and Sandora’s thoughts came from all directions, "This is really a great device, Ah Jun. I don’t need to exert any effort at all to extend my spirit so far in another world, and the strength is unbelievable. If those damn stars weren’t causing trouble, I think I could even control a larger area!"

"Wow, boss, I’m starting to worship you!" Lilina scratched fiercely at her itchy spots, "But there’s a problem, after activating the beacon, the whole planet started to glow because of the charging, isn’t this like screaming for the prey to run away?"

"We can usually turn it off... Little Light, scratch my back..." As long as Sandora wasn’t busy eating, the Soul Stealer Beacon could be activated within minutes. Any intelligent creature entering this star system wouldn’t withstand the brainwashing power of this device; even Meow King is weak compared to my Glutton at home, "Now, our task is to pretend to divert attention, withdraw the main forces from Crystal Peak. Gusta will definitely not give up on such a strategic location. They will send more troops here, and those Gusta soldiers we let escape will exaggerate the defensive strength of Crystal Peak, then fun begins."

"As soon as their spaceships complete the jump, they will immediately become our slaves; all intelligent creatures entering this star system are doomed," said Lilina with a very happy smile on her face. "The controlled Gusta Army only needs to return with a message ’Crystal Peak has been occupied by us, please send all troops here,’ and then what’s left is to watch the fireworks, heh... he he..."

With a "smack," I accurately struck Lilina on her forehead with a knife hand hit, pulling this severely corrupted Lady Priestess back from her pitch-black personal reality; there were still a few three-foot-tall Scouts here, what if they learned bad habits?.

"But this thing is really powerful," Big Sister stood beside me, looking up at the spiral tower that was faintly emitting light, "The whole planet has turned into an amplifier to brainwash all intelligent creatures within the star system, indeed an incredible creation. I heard people say you were hastily gathering builders and technicians to research something, I thought you were up to something, so I dragged Quanquan along..."

"Warning, energy system unexpected overload, main amplifier circuit offline, excessive module offline, planetary resonance stopped, signal interrupted."

Suddenly, the voice that burst into the information network interrupted Big Sister’s speech, and the halo around us also gradually dimmed. The brightly shining earth returned to being dim, and the pitch-black space replaced the brilliant ’aurora,’ marking the breakdown of the largest antenna in history that couldn’t withstand the energy needed to drive the entire planet.

"Well, it looks like Taville will be busy these next few days."

I shrugged my shoulders, regretfully looking at the dimming Frozen Throne.

And while Crystal Peak was gradually being transformed into yet another boundless weapon, the fires of war across the universe had already begun to light up; the Shepherd’s hundreds of supervision teams suffered an unprecedented simultaneous attack that night. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)