by <unknown>
"Although it is not strong enough to conquer every human Sector as the star child claimed, the imperium has seized control of the vast area around the capital space zone of the Star Ocean Imperium.
"Also, judging from the information left by the star child, the imperium has experts at least in the Divinity Transformation Stage!
"That was the information a hundred and twenty years ago when the star child left for the mission.
"There is no telling how much progress the Imperium of True Human Beings has made after such a long time."
The star map in the dome was enlarged, highlighting an area where the stars were particularly dense. It looked like a nest of billions of fireflies.
Li Yao slightly frowned, but he was not very surprised.
The formidability of the Imperium of True Human Beings was within his expectations. There was no need to panic.
In the war against the Imperium of True Human Beings, they had the most marvelous weapon in the world, which was distance.
Both the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector were millions of lightyears away from the prosperous area of the Star Ocean Imperium. They were even further from the Empyrean Terminus Sector and the planet of Empyreal Terminus.
Long expeditions were the least sensible choices in the military. It was true that the Imperium of True Human Beings was strong, but how many soldiers the imperium could project to millions of lightyears away was a whole different matter.
Throughout history, many empires that dominated the world for the time had sent magnificent armies to attack the enemies that seemed to be insignificant, only to be defeated after the enemies stalled them with the advantages in terrain for years. Not only were the expedition armies destroyed, the empires also collapsed and fell into the abyss of destruction.
"Compared with the Imperium of True Human Beings," Professor Mo Xuan said, "we do not have many advantages, but the 'Star Prier's House' is our greatest advantage!
"Normal means of observation cannot be faster than light. When we see a world that is millions of lightyears away, we are in fact seeing the scenes in the world millions of years ago.
"But the observation magical equipment in the Star Prier's House can observe the spiritual waves in the fourth dimension through the basic particles below the ground and then infer the real-time status of a certain world even though the world is millions of lightyears away!
"It was through the Star Prier's House that we discovered the expedition fleet of the imperium."
Li Yao raised his eyebrow. "The Imperium of True Human Beings has sent out an expedition fleet?"
"Strictly speaking, we suddenly found very unusual spiritual waves in the prosperous areas of the Star Ocean Imperium that were jumping to the edge of the cosmos through incessant short-distance space jumps," Professor Mo Xuan said. "If the spiritual waves maintained their current trajectory, the Flying Star Sector was right ahead of them!
"Therefore, we concluded that they were the expedition fleet of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
"It was first detected two months ago. The timing is reasonable, too.
"The star child sent most of our coordinates to the Imperium of True Human Beings through the space gate, and the Immortal Cultivators of the imperium established a fleet in ten months and started an expedition!
"According to numerous calculations and estimations, judging from the current speed, the fleet will arrive in the Flying Star Sector in two hundred years.
"However, there are too many unpredictable factors in the universe. It will not be surprising if the fleet comes a hundred years early or late."
Li Yao scratched his chin and mumbled, "So, in a hundred to three hundred years, the army of the Imperium of True Human Beings will be upon us?
"But there is something that I don't understand. Why are they so slow? Can't they appear right in the Flying Star Sector with a super long-distance space jump? Won't they catch us off guard if so?"
Chapter 817: Doomed |
Before Professor Mo Xuan opened his mouth, Si Koulie replied, "That is because of you, Li Yao. You stopped the star child from sending our coordinates to the Imperium of True Human Beings. As a result, the Imperium of True Human Beings did not receive all the parameters of our location."
"Exactly." Professor Mo Xuan continued the explanation. "Based on our analysis of the space gate, the Imperium of True Human Beings now only knows that a world of human beings exists in a certain direction millions of lightyears away, which is far from enough.
"The universe is too big. Distance is our greatest weapon. Millions of lightyears mean that the journey will take them millions of years even if they are moving at the speed of light.
"An error, the breadth of a single hair, can lead you a thousand miles astray. If the expedition fleet of the Imperium of True Human Beings activated a super long-distance space jump without specific coordinates, even if they had 99.9% of the precise coordinates, as long as there was the tiniest error in the 0.1% of the coordinates that they were not sure about, they would likely jump to an unknown desolate world.
"A space jump consumes an astronomical amount of spiritual energy. It is even more so for an expedition fleet that can conquer a world.
"If they arrived in desolate worlds after multiple space jumps, they might run out of spiritual energy and get trapped forever."
Li Yao nodded. There seemed to be countless stars in the universe, but 99.9% of space was desolate. Only a tiny percentage of space was filled with spiritual energy and fit for the survival of living creatures.
Should a fleet lose its direction, it would be not unusual if it ended up stranded in a desolate world after multiple space jumps.
"Short-distance space jumps have two merits," Professor Mo Xuan explained. "Firstly, the precision of each jump is relatively higher. There will be fewer errors, and even if there are, they can be rectified before the next jump.
"Secondly, the starships can stop and refill their spiritual energy after every jump. They will never run short of spiritual energy or be too damaged to repair."
"Even with short-distance space jumps, the expedition can take hundreds of years," Li Yao said. "Can the Immortal Cultivators on board live such long lives?"
"By our estimation, the fleet of the Imperium of True Human Beings must be of an enormous scale. If their starships are the size of Heavenly Saints City, they can easily establish a micro self-circulating system. The Immortal Cultivators can training themselves and live as normal people do. They can even give birth to the next generation, too. The long time matters little for them.
"That was the usual approach during the Star Ocean Imperium when human beings expanded to outside worlds.
"In fact, the 'sect' system of the ancient Cultivators is kept to this day because of such a pattern of war, too.
"The universe is too boundless. It usually takes hundreds of years to explore a new world. During the hundreds of years, it is often hard for the expedition fleet to be directly commanded by the mother planet.
"Therefore, the expedition fleets gradually evolved into 'Cultivation sects', which maintained a certain degree of independence in their small world of the expedition army.
"In other words, the Imperium of True Human Beings must've sent out a 'Cultivation sect' to deal with the Flying Star Sector. It is even possible that the Cultivation sect has been promised many benefits. For example, the Flying Star Sector might be granted to the sect after it is occupied."
Li Yao thought for a minute and then asked, "Since we have found the territory of the Imperium of True Human Beings, can we launch a strike against the Empyrean Terminus Sector, the heart of the imperium? Or, if we don't launch the strike, can we teleport a starship or a person over?"
Li Yao was all ready for action. Passive defense had never been his style. Attacking aggressively was always his first choice!
Professor Mo Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "Distance is a double-edged sword. Just as the Imperium of True Human Beings ca
nnot lock onto our precise coordinates, we do not know the precise coordinates of the Empyrean Terminus Sector, either.
"If we perform a super long-distance space jump, maybe there is a 0.01% likelihood that we can teleport someone to the vicinity of the Empyrean Terminus Sector. With any luck, the guy will reach the Empyrean Terminus Sector after another five hundred or so short-distance space jumps.
"So complicated?" Li Yao secretly clicked his tongue. After pondering for a moment, he asked somewhat in confusion, "Since super long-distance space jumps are so difficult, how did different Sectors communicate with each other in the Star Ocean Imperium?"
"Before the Star Ocean Imperium, in the thirty thousand years reign of the demon race, they had established large-scale groups of star beacons in every Sector, which were essentially 'space gates'," Professor Mo Xuan said.
"When mankind rose again and the Supreme Emperor established his imperium, the space gates were furthered expanded. In the end, 'cosmic lighthouses' were constructed in every Sector to guide the starships.
"The technology to produce starships was much more advanced than right now, too.
"With the precise equipment, the guidance of the lighthouses, and the state-of-the-art starships, it was as easy as pie for people of the Star Ocean Imperium to cruise among different Sectors.
"Today, most of the space gates have been destroyed in the ten thousand years of war, and the star maps that marked the precise coordinates of all the Sectors are mostly lost, too. Our starships are not as advanced as the old days. Therefore, communication between Sectors is naturally a hundred times more difficult than in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium."
Li Yao nodded and thought everything through.
However, he was still wondering why Professor Mo Xuan was so worried and why the ambience was so weird. "Alright. In short, an expedition fleet of the Imperium of True Human Beings is coming at us right now.
"Thankfully, we have at least a hundred years, and two to three hundred if we are lucky, to prepare.
"I think the top priority right now is to reach out to the Heaven's Origin Sector first.
"The Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector are very complementary. If a large-scale collaboration is established between the two parties, both Sectors will definitely make significant progress in the hundred years to come.
"Professor Mo Xuan, did you say just now that the precise coordinates of the Heaven's Origin Sector have been determined?"
With a weird expression, Professor Mo Xuan replied, "You must bear one thing in mind. The primary usage of the Star Prier's House is not to look for other Sectors but to search for, analyze, and study the apocalypses.
"By Liu the Prier's definition, the so-called apocalypses are abnormal spiritual waves in the sea of stars that are unlikely to be generated naturally.
"Half a month ago, we observed such 'abnormal spiritual waves in the sea of stars that are unlikely to be generated naturally' in a location that is extremely close to the Flying Star Sector."
"What?" Li Yao had a creepy feeling. "Are you suggesting that the Flying Star Sector is faced with another apocalypse, professor?"
Professor Mo Xuan was silent.
Si Koulie sighed. "In the beginning, we were all shocked. It never rains; it pours. If we experience an apocalypse before the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings comes, the Flying Star Sector will certainly be doomed for all eternity.
"But very soon, we discovered that the intensity of the spiritual waves was much lower than the apocalypse five thousand years ago. It is likely a tactical 'minor apocalypse' instead of a world-blighting 'major apocalypse'.
"Also, the target of the apocalypse is not the Flying Star Sector, either. After brushing past the Flying Star Sector, it lunged at another Sector that is not far away from the Flying Star Sector.
"No. Not one but two Sectors that were melding into each other."
Li Yao opened his mouth but failed to come up with any comment.
The collision of two Sectors was a very rarely-seen phenomenon in the universe. The odds of such an occurrence were far lower than one billionth.
The two Sectors that were very close to the Flying Star Sector and gradually merging could only be the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector!
"A minor apocalypse is coming at the Heaven's Origin Sector?" Li Yao mumbled to himself.
Si Koulie coughed and said, "After we located the trajectory of the apocalypse, it was quite easy to trace back the origin of the apocalypse.
"After more than ten days of calculation, we inferred when and where the apocalypse first appeared preliminarily.
"It was launched from the Empyrean Terminus Sector, the heart of the Imperium of True Human Beings, almost one year ago."
Li Yao gasped. "Are you suggesting that the Imperium of True Human Beings launched an apocalyptic strike against the Heaven's Origin Sector?
"But why?"
Li Yao was dumbfounded, not because he was shocked that the Imperium of True Human Beings was able to launch an apocalyptic strike, but because he could not begin to understand why the Heaven's Origin Sector, instead of the Flying Star Sector, was the target.
"Our assumption is that it was because the Heaven's Origin Sector was too 'bright'."
Professor Mo Xuan finally calmed himself down and said, "Like I said just now, without precise coordinates and the navigation of star beacons, super long-distance space jumps are not feasible.
"However, the Heaven's Origin Sector is a special case.
"The Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector are currently merging. You may imagine that the two Sectors are crashing right now. The collision may not affect the living creatures of the two Sectors, but it will certainly emanate tremendous invisible particles and waves, which makes the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector a furiously burning 'torch' in the dark universe.
"If a certain 'stargazer' of the Imperium of True Human Beings observed our direction through the fourth dimension via a piece of special magical equipment, it is very unlikely that he will find the Flying Star Sector. However, it is likely that he will 'see' the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, which are crashing and releasing intense spiritual waves!"
Li Yao had an absurd feeling of 'being beaten without a good reason'. He was dazed for a long time before he managed to ask, "What is the purpose of the Imperium of True Human Beings' minor apocalypse?"
"If you stand in the shoes of the Imperium of True Human Beings," Si Koulie said, "everything will be logical and make perfect sense."
Chapter 818: Save the Heaven's Origin Sector |
"Imagine you are a general of the Imperium of True Human Beings. You are in a dark, obscure, perilous battlefield where there are high mountains that pierce into the sky, forests with all kinds of dangerous creatures, and bottomless swamps. Everything in the battlefield is covered by a dense war fog.
"Right now, a flickering candle suddenly illuminates the darkness on the horizon. It blinks and sends you a piece of information.
"You read the information and realizes that it is sent from a scout who you lost contact with a long, long time ago. He tells you that he has discovered a very valuable prey.
"However, before he tells you the specific coordinates, the environment he is in, and the status of the prey, the candle dies down, never to be kindled again.
"That was the situation the Imperium of True Human Beings was in."
Li Yao nodded, deep in thought. It was true that the star child was a scout and that he had been exterminated before he had the chance to send more information over.
Right now, the Imperium of True Human Beings only knew that there was a prey a certain distance away in a certain direction. Nothing more.
"As a general, you can summon a huge expedition army and assault the prey by way of 'parachuting'.
"But it is very clear to you that 99.9% of the places around the prey are mountains, swamps, abysses, and des
erts. Should your main troop 'parachute' to those places, they will be dead for sure.
"So, after careful consideration, you decide to let your expedition army walk and search for the prey the regular way by avoiding all the dangerous places.
"Although it will cost more time and effort, such an approach is much more safe. The army will certainly be not wiped out by nature."
Si Koulie's metaphor gave a detailed analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of the super long-distance space jumps and short-distance ones.
"However, just because a large-scale expedition army cannot parachute to the prey directly, it does not mean one or two soldiers of the special forces cannot go over, right?
"Before the army sets off, deploying special forces to the enemy's base and investigating the environment is a common tactic."
Li Yao realized where he was getting at. "Leader Si, are you suggesting that the minor apocalypse from the 'Imperium of True Human Beings' is like the 'special forces' who have come here for reconnaissance?
"But I'm rather confused. Can the apocalypses perform space jumps, too?"
"For the apocalypses that are the strikes a civilization launches toward another civilization, their attributes and appearances vary greatly and are quite unpredictable," Si Koulie replied.
"Every apocalypse is produced in a different way for a different purpose. Some of the apocalypses focus more on destruction, some highlight infiltration, and some are good at blockage. Isn't it quite normal that some apocalypses are fast enough to cruise beyond the speed of light?
"The apocalypses manufactured by the same civilization can be different, too. You wouldn't carry bullets with all the same attribute, would you?"
Li Yao immediately understood it. It was quite right. In the case of bullets, there were sniper bullets, armor-piercing bullets, frost bullets, incendiary bullets… Every kind of bullet had its own special use.
The category, characteristics, and uses of the apocalypses could only be a thousand or even ten thousand times more than those of the bullets.