The Toberu are an advanced race with high attainments in both space and spectral technology, and we are all the more convinced of this after we discover that the in-orbital portals they use are almost as powerful as the Empire's short- and medium-range teleportation systems, and are powered entirely by spectral energy.

Although there are many people who associate the Zerg with negative images such as barbarism, ruthlessness, lack of moderation, extreme expansionism, and so on, and many people think that the Zerg are only good at developing biotechnology - such as their own biceps - and are not suitable for high-tech research, in fact, this "conclusion" based on racial impressions is a very unreasonable prejudice. Whether or not a technological civilization can be developed will not be decisively related to the appearance of a race, but will depend on their historical process and the environment of the world. Toberu is a striking example. They are a typical swarm race, with a centralized structure similar to the insect kingdom, and have produced a variety of super-evolutions adapted to the environment, but their most powerful is still science and technology, and they are very harmonious with other races.

They are even the most high-tech members of the Exile's fleet - and the only ones who have retained most of their original skills. After the exiles finally settled into a new home in this universe, all races invariably chose to continue to use the Toberu technique, which had matured and been adapted to all races, as the core technology of their own world. For example, the spacedock we passed by when we came, as well as the buildings on the colony below, were all built with the Toberu technique. Well, at least 80 percent of the time.

Such a person has a special talent. And in terms of the social structure of the race, it is also more suitable for civilizations that face the cruel cosmic environment and various evolutionary challenges, if they hadn't suffered that disaster back then, and Enron has developed so far, they must have made unlimited achievements, although because they were not like the Apostles of Xiling, because they developed the two technical systems of the mystery department and the technology department at the same time, they can more easily grasp the truth of the world, but a race that can control the ghost energy itself has the foundation to become a super civilization.

When teleported to the Planet's Governor's Mansion through a space teleportation device made by the Toberu Zerg. I couldn't help but have the above thoughts. It's all too easy to feel like you're surrounded by different manufacturing processes, weird but effective system architectures, and black machines with a kind of sleek, rounded exterior like an insect carapace, imbued with the ghostly energy I'm most familiar with. The Toberu High Zerg is the only race I've ever seen, other than the Spiritual Empire, that can use spectral energy as a daily energy source and apply it to their own. The other races may also have some ability to harness the spectral energy, but they have never been able to make corresponding progress, with the exception of Toberu, whose civilization is full of similarities with the technological development of the Apostle of Hilling, except for the huge difference in appearance.

It is precisely for this reason that Sandora and I regret that such a race has never been able to join the Imperial camp.

Shandora had been thinking about how to completely dispel the exiles' fear of the Empire, so that the two could be freed from their previous suspicions, so that the Zerg such as Toberu and the High Zerg, who were rare to traverse the entire void, could join the army of the new Empire. Originally, we thought it might take two hundred years of effort—that's the average lifespan of a member of the Combined Fleet of Exiles, and both Sandora and the team of experts agreed that it would take at least a generation on the Exiles' side to settle their suspicions—but now, I suddenly felt that I might be facing an opportunity: if I could find a team of refugees who had completely lost contact with the Fourth Fleet hundreds of years ago, I might be able to inspire a significant number of exiles to join the Imperial side. And not, as it is now, only a few radicals who are considered "heretical" among them have a favorable opinion of the Empire. …,

Guided by Kim and Tolulu, as well as a small group of Toberu soldiers, we arrived on the newly established capital of the exiles, and came to a city called "Kairudak" (in fact, Kerudaq is also the name of the planet, and the Toberu and other Zerg used to use the name of the planet to directly name the capital of the planet). The city is the "capital" of the planet and the administrative center of the exiles. As we took the intra-atmosphere shuttle to the seat of the "Parliament", we were all curious to observe this alien city with its unique style. The most striking thing is the style of the buildings in Toberu, which look like spore plants with swelling ends, all of which are tall, the lower part is an elongated (relative to the whole building) and smooth black "umbrella handle", like a tower, and the upper part is swollen to form irregular spheres of different sizes and shapes, and countless such buildings make up the main body of "Kairudak", like a spore city. And all kinds of small vehicles used for intraplanetary transportation shuttle around the "waist" of these buildings, busy and orderly. Due to the special form of the Toberu buildings, the semi-empty area of the city "Kerudak" is quite spacious and suitable for the transportation needs of civil aviation equipment.

Of course, there are many buildings of different styles that can be seen in the city, but they are few in number and are more like decorative embellishments.

Along the way, Kim and Tolulu chatted with us with great interest, and the main topic was to introduce them to their sizable city, which was clearly the proudest home in their eyes, despite all the weird buildings in my opinion. And it just so happened that we had a strong interest in the progress of the construction here, so the conversation started smoothly. I think that's what the "council" meant by sending these two ordinary young soldiers, who had little authority, to act as "envoys", and their task was mostly to chat with the leaders of the empire. Perhaps the "council" had learned about the habits of the rulers of the new empire through various channels, and she therefore knew that it would be easier to gain the favor of our group by sending two acquaintances to greet us in such a situation where it was impossible to greet us with a guard of honor. She was right.

However, we have never mentioned to Kim and Tolulu the specific things they have come to discuss with the Council - that is, the news that the Fifth Combined Fleet may still survive. This is what we had communicated with each other during our previous correspondence with the "Council", and the matter of the Fifth Fleet is still a secret within the exiles. In addition to the "council" and some high-ranking officials, there are only those technicians who have received the signal, and Jin and Tuolulu are not of sufficient rank, and of course they don't know anything about it. They only knew that the head of the empire suddenly came to visit in person today, and their task was to come to receive them, but they did not know what the head of the empire would discuss with the "parliament". It's also wise not to ask too much.

"The sky over the city is blocked by these big round balls, but the lighting is not affected." My sister looked curiously at the scenery outside through the porthole, and couldn't help but talk to herself. "And such a big building, supported by a thin pillar, looks quite sturdy."

"Light. Entering the lower level of the city, the light is evenly distributed through the refractive field, and throughout the city, "Tuolu, who was sitting next to us, waved his thin forelimbs and introduced us, "with or without gravity equipment, without support, the building itself ......"

"Ahem, I'll explain," Kim saw as we looked more and more confused. Waved his hand to silence his companion, "First of all, you probably know what's going on with the lighting problem, just add a light deflection system." In addition, all of these buildings have their own weight-free equipment, so they are not afraid of falling down - the thin pillars below are not used for support. Just connect the device. The main body of the city is the spheres above, and everyone lives in them. ”…,

"I didn't notice this inside your Star Battleship at the time," I looked at the "Spore Buildings" passing by outside, and felt that the Great Thousand Ages Realm was really strange, "but it seems to be very different from the buildings I saw at the time. ”

"That's the shelter, this is home." With a smile on his face, Kim made no secret of his happiness, "The houses in the shelter are all very low, and there is no such aerial structure, because the space there is too precious, and it is different here. Kairudaq is a very, very big city now, and a lot of people live here, but today is the day of the diffusion, and after the diffusion, the city will not be as crowded as it is now - by the way, you have to look at that, it was the most spectacular time over the city......"

Kim suddenly mentions a term that feels unfamiliar to us: diffusion, but before I could ask for details about it, a Toberu Zerg soldier suddenly walked into the cabin and told us that we had arrived at our destination.

The final destination is the "Parliament Building", a giant sphere supported by a thin pillar only a few meters in diameter, and the buildings built by the Toberu Zerg are somewhat homogeneous in terms of their infrastructure, as if all the buildings are distinguished only by the bulging sphere on the upper floor. The parliament building is a bit taller than the surrounding buildings, and the top half of the top sphere has a symmetrical octagonal "lid", which is what sets it apart most. The shuttle docked on a small platform at the bottom of the sphere, and Kim and Torolu didn't seem to have permission to go in, so they said goodbye to us outside, while we were led inside the "building" by a team of Toberu soldiers. In the end, it was the female officer who had led us in the first place, and when they saw us, they gave us a very stiff military salute - not the Imperial salute, but their own, and the exiles did not join any of the imperial ranks, so they did not need to salute us.

"The council is waiting for you. It was a secret meeting, and nearly half of the government officials were kept in the dark, so please forgive me for the inconsiderate reception. The attitude of the female officer this time was many times better than the first meeting, although it was obvious that she was a little unnatural, but this was mostly out of nervousness and apprehension, and there was no longer much hostility. My sister nodded kindly to her, and we walked into the hall together.

We were greeted by an empty, perfectly symmetrical polygonal metal room, exactly the same room as the one where we first saw the "Parliament", and when we walked into it, everyone immediately remembered the first time we entered the command center of the exiled fleet and listened to the "Parliament" tell the darkest black history of the Empire. But this time it was a little different from the last one: when the lights began to flicker around us and the "council" gradually emerged from the air, several large chairs appeared behind us: it was nice, and the furniture was prepared this time.

A female voice with multiple metal echoes echoed through the air: "I hope you don't mind this humble hospitality, your arrival is sudden. I didn't have time to prepare - we were supposed to send someone to report it, but I didn't expect you to come in person right away. ”

This time is much more humane than the last reception......

"Forget it, you know we're not used to this—and you aren't used to it," I said, waving my hand at the woman in fancy dress floating in the air, and sat down casually, "Let's talk about the current situation." ”

"Yes, first of all, that's the signal we received." The conglomerate of thought that appears before us in the form of projections opens up other projection equipment in the hall. What appeared before everyone's eyes was a video clip that had been distorted to the point where the content was completely invisible, except for the sound signal that seemed to be in better condition, and the sound had been processed. The recognizable snippet sounds fairly clear: "...... The Fifth Fleet has been ...... No one has ever arrived at the ...... Under attack...... Symbol of the Empire...... Unrecognizable enemy, we are alone...... It has retreated, and it can hold out for a while. Whether or not anyone can still receive this frequency...... This is the most cowardly communication attempt.........,

The "council" showed us a signal that was only a few tens of seconds short, and then it began to play on a loop.

"Sounds chaotic," Sandora said, pointing her arm to the messy imagery, "The footage appears to be from the time of the battle, but it's too blurry." ”

"This is the clearest version," the Council shook its head regretfully, "we received this last communication in the early hours of this morning, and then lost contact with the other party again, and until now, there is still a noise on the channels where this information has been searched. We made twenty-seven reverse calls with our strongest communications device. But I don't know if the other party received the signal. ”

"That is, the news of the Fifth Fleet has been completely lost now......" Sister looked not very optimistic about the current situation, "this message is likely to have been sent before—I've heard that you've received the same signal for three days in a row, so this should be an automatic broadcast, and the first time it was sent is likely to be a long time ago." ”

"That's the worst judgment." The council nodded, "So the council is weighing how to make this event public, or how far it should be made public." The news of the Fifth Fleet means a lot to us, but now the announcement is likely to be debilitating. ”

"Xiaoxue." I thought about it, turned my head to look at the girl sitting next to me, and the other party replied, "Snoring~~"

"You can sleep at this time!" I was going to go away in an instant. Pinching the other party's face and pulling it to both sides, Xiaoxue suddenly waved her hand and shouted: "Ah, it hurts, it hurts~!" Dad, I didn't sleep, I didn't sleep! I just did a divination for the Fifth Fleet—"

I was stunned for a moment, and I suddenly didn't know whether to believe this girl's words, because Lin Xue really told me before that when she prophesied an extremely vague target, it felt like her soul was out of her body, and it was easy to enter a state of trance, and the outside world looked as if she was asleep. It's just that Lin Xue generally doesn't snore when she makes this kind of deep prediction......

Xiaoxue's eyes rolled quickly, and she quickly changed the subject before I could speak: "The Fifth Fleet is safe for the time being—but it hasn't escaped the hunt yet. I saw that the targets of my prophecy continued to blur over time, which should be the reason why they were being hunted down - if we failed to rescue them effectively, of course. ”

The "council" looked at us suspiciously, and I pointed at Xiaoxue: "Her words are credible, this is the prophet." ”

"It's ...... Incredible ability," the council seemed to look a little surprised, but her tone was still the same as stating the facts, and then she stopped dwelling on the question that she couldn't understand for the time being, "Then according to your words, the Fifth Fleet still has a chance." They should be trying to escape from the attackers, the enemy is strong, but clearly does not have the ability to restrain the Fifth Fleet and annihilate it all. It's just that we haven't found a way to help the Fifth Fleet yet. ”

"They may have reached the depths of the Void, and their coordinates are unknown to send reinforcements, communication is lost, and their condition cannot be confirmed...... Well, the only thing that can be done at the moment is to re-establish contact, and we want to determine the status quo of the Fifth Fleet. Sandora immediately judged the current situation, and then turned her eyes to the "Council", "Open your communication port, tell us the pattern of information when you communicate with the Fifth Fleet, and we will use the Garden of the Dead system to search for that signal." ”

The "Parliament" seemed slightly surprised, probably not expecting the Empire to come to the rescue so easily: the inertial impression of the Empire by exiles is not so easy to change. Then she fell into a short silence, I felt that I could not let her hesitate on this issue, and took the initiative to speak: "Now is not the time to worry about the problem of psychological barriers, the Fifth Fleet is attrition every moment. Anyway, you've all settled in the empire, so you're not so jealous of us, right? ”

"No, I beg your pardon, but the Council is not hesitant on this issue," the Thinking Aggregate woman apologized to us—in a completely flat tone, "but suddenly there was a little sigh: the communication protocol within the Combined Fleet was originally formed to keep the Emperor's equipment secret, but now it needs to rely on your Empire's technology...... It's really dramatic. ”

"More on the drama," Sandora stood up, "I've just arranged for the system transition, when are you going to be ready here?" (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )