Chapter 967: Changing Fate Trajectory

Chapter 967: The Shifting Trajectory of Fate

The meeting had dragged on for most of the day. After Talrokov had run through the various matters concerning the second phase of the exploration, they were finally drawing to a close. He tapped the table, his tone turning grave:

"One last thing. While you are out there exploring, keep a close eye out for any anomalous signals. Ever since the first phase began, factions smuggling themselves into the Shining World have been a common nuisance. We have taken all manner of measures and wiped out countless smugglers, yet some always slip through the net. If you discover any smugglers, you must pursue them."

The Shining World was still in its closed development stage, yet smugglers from numerous organizations remained an endless plague. Most of those present knew full well that these smugglers were largely troops from various star-cluster and super-star-cluster civilizations, or mercenaries hired by them.

Since the first phase's regions had already been fully explored, these smugglers had long since fled deeper into the unknown territories ahead, their whereabouts shrouded in mystery. The Empire had dispatched several pursuit squads deep into the unexplored zones, but to little effect.

In the Empire's view, the best way to deal with this phenomenon was simply to carry out the exploration plan step by step. Once the overwhelming momentum of the Empire bore down upon them, these smugglers would eventually find nowhere to hide.

After the meeting, representatives from the various allied factions took the proceedings back to inform their superiors, while a number of Beyond Grade A individuals lingered behind to exchange a few pleasantries.

After chatting for a while, Talrokov walked over and asked Han Xiao to step aside for a private word.

The two moved to one side, Han Xiao somewhat curious.

"What's the matter?"

"Can't I just have a chat with you for no reason?" Talrokov chuckled. "But I do have something to ask you. The Gao Lu Star Cluster borders the Luso Star Cluster, and your territory happens to connect the Gao Lu entry star gate with the border of the Luso Star Cluster. With its convenient transportation, it can serve as a long-term route for other exploring factions to pass through and transport supplies. Therefore, during the second phase of the exploration, some teams will borrow passage through your domain, and we would also like you to help transport some materials."

"No problem," Han Xiao agreed readily.

The Empire had allocated seven star systems to him, granting him absolute jurisdiction. Since the agreement had already taken effect, the Empire could not arbitrarily interfere in his territory without first consulting his opinion.

Given the circumstances of the second phase, opening the transportation network to allow other exploration teams to pass through would bring more benefits than drawbacks. This could lay an important foundation for resource circulation within his own territory. The more people who chose this route, the more it would become a habit, consolidating his territory's position at the core of the Gao Lu Star Cluster, while also helping to perfect the transportation network.

Undertaking the transport of supplies meant, to a certain extent, taking on logistical responsibilities, and no one was unaware of how lucrative logistics could be. During the first phase of the exploration, the Black Star Army's role was more that of a pathfinding vanguard, but now, in the second phase, with their own territory, their positioning began to shift towards a mix of logistics and pioneering, making their duties more diverse.

Having finished that topic, Talrokov suddenly lowered his voice. "Have you heard the news? The calls within the Empire to open up the Evolver Totems have started up again."

Han Xiao nodded, unbothered. "It doesn't matter. They can't reach me right now anyway."

The current disagreements among the Empire's high command regarding the Evolution Cubes could not temporarily affect his current standing. Over the past six years, no high-ranking imperial officials had targeted him, as they all knew that going after Black Star before a turning point emerged would be a futile effort.

"I know, but you need to be a little careful," Talrokov whispered. "I've heard that one of the candidates for the Emperor seems to want to gain the support of these opposition factions..."

Hearing this, Han Xiao immediately narrowed his eyes, a playful smile touching his lips. "You're telling me this kind of news? Aren't you afraid of being held accountable later?"

"Heh, I didn't mention any names, so it doesn't matter if I say it. Would you report me? Besides, the faction I belong to doesn't particularly appreciate his approach," Talrokov smiled.

Han Xiao suddenly understood, realizing that Talrokov was not only kindly reminding him but also coming with a political agenda.

The Imperial Emperor was chosen through a cultivation system; during the term of the current Emperor, multiple candidates for the next Emperor would begin to be groomed. These candidates were already high-ranking officials, each backed by different factions, and most would quietly accept their cultivation.

However, there could only be one Emperor, and everyone else was merely running in the race. Thus, some candidates who knew they had little chance of being elected, or those with immense ambition, might try to expand their own ranks and gain the support of more factions during their cultivation period.

In his previous life, Ulan Riel's term had ended not long after the Shining World storyline.

When a new Emperor took the throne, the grand framework of the Empire remained unchanged, but in the details, things would shift according to the new Emperor's style and personality, such as the methods to deal with competition, the strategies toward vassal civilizations, and the attitude toward Beyond Grade A allies, and so on.

The selection of the Imperial Emperor was decided internally. Except in extremely special circumstances, all allies would have no influence on the issue of the Emperor's succession, including the Beyond Grade A.

Therefore, for the candidates, gaining the support of different factions within the Empire was far more important than currying favor with Beyond Grade A allies. Although Han Xiao was somewhat surprised by the situation Talrokov described, he was not astonished in his heart.

After all, his target already had quite a few arrows stuck in it; a few more wouldn't hurt.

"Hey, a candidate is just a candidate. The current Emperor is not him," Han Xiao smiled.

"You're right, that's what I think too."

Talrokov nodded in approval.

After a pause, he changed the subject. "There's one more thing I'd like to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Regarding the legacy left behind by the Other God, how much do you know about it?"

Why is he suddenly bringing up the Other God... Han Xiao was somewhat puzzled.

"Hasn't his legacy been circulating throughout the universe for a long time? I'm not sure which aspect you're referring to."

"Heh, this matter actually has something to do with you... Do you remember that spatial coordinate you gave us back then, the one the Other God was looking for?"

At these words, Han Xiao's heart suddenly tightened, as if a thunderclap had erupted, and it took him a great effort to suppress his shock and suspicion.

That spatial coordinate was precisely the key to the World Tree left behind by the Other God!

Why would he suddenly ask about this? Could it be that the Crimson Dynasty had already researched something?

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice, "What results have you achieved?"

"I don't know, I'm not a researcher," Talrokov shook his head. "It's just that the special project team responsible for studying the Other God's legacy data seems to have some ideas about this set of coordinates. He happens to know me, so he asked me to find you and inquire about the situation back then."

After the Other God's legacy leaked, this set of spatial coordinates was hidden among the massive amount of legacy data, becoming quite inconspicuous. The project team would rather spend more time researching other legacy materials than waste time on this single set of wormhole data that had no records and led to an unknown destination.

However, after spending a few years and basically sorting out the various legacies of the Other God, the project team seemed to have set their sights again on the mysterious coordinates the Other God had sought to seize in the Broken Star Ring.

"...I just happened to discover that the Other God was looking for this data, and I don't know exactly what was going on."

Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, casually brushing it off and concealing the truth.

"Alright, then I'll just reply to my friend with that," Talrokov said, harboring no suspicions.

After chatting a few more words, Han Xiao finally deactivated the remote projection. His vision returned to his own room, and he secretly let out a breath of relief, his expression somewhat helpless.

...

After the meeting concluded, some time passed before the Crimson Dynasty publicly announced to the entire universe that the second phase of the Shining World exploration had officially begun. Under the gaze of the entire universe, more exploration teams poured into the Shining World.

Having experienced the first phase of the exploration, the Black Star Army was now well-versed in the process. They had long made all sorts of preparations in advance, and when the second phase arrived as scheduled, they began their operations with practiced efficiency.

The task assigned this time was to pioneer the Luso Star Cluster. There were many more exploration teams accompanying them, and the work of each faction was divided in a more detailed manner, appearing much more orderly.

When the Empire announced the start of the second phase, Han Xiao's main quest for the [Shining World] was also updated.

[[Shining World] Second Ring Completed]

[Your quest evaluation is: A]

[You have obtained 1.5 billion experience points, Random Reward x2, 1500 Empire Contribution Points, Blank Character Card x1]

[[Exploration Vanguard] Current Progress: 2/3]

[Third Ring Quest Updated]

[Quest Introduction: Complete the Empire's second phase of exploration]

[Current Exploration Area: Luso Star Cluster]

[Personal Exploration Points: 0]

[Total Exploration Points: 0]

[Current Evaluation: E-]

The third ring was to explore the Luso Star Cluster. Completing the quest was no problem; the main goal was to raise his quest evaluation as much as possible.

In this regard, Han Xiao was quite confident. Although there were many more exploration companions this time, his advantage of being familiar with the map was still useful. He might not get the S+ evaluation of the first ring, but achieving an A-level evaluation should not be difficult.

The legion's exploration troops had all been dispatched. Han Xiao's main body remained in the Black Star Palace, only sending a Sovereign clone leading a mechanical army to follow the exploration team to the Luso Star Cluster.

The group of graduates was shuffled and assigned to different units, setting off together to explore the new areas. Han Xiao specifically assigned Nilo and Mia to two different squads.

As far as he knew, the exploration on the Luso side would not encounter any unexpected troubles; it was the troops on the Guangchen Star Cluster side who would run into tough opponents.

Han Xiao was waiting for the situation on the Guangchen side to erupt, at which point he could toss Nilo and the others over there.

As for the scripts that could trigger Nero's quest, Grandmaster Han has already drafted over a dozen of them, refusing to rest until he has deeply wounded Nero's fragile heart and made him taste the very essence of despair and agony.

After all, Fordin is an expert in matters of the mind; even if he leaves psychological scars on Nero, they can be healed, allowing Han Xiao to torment the boy with a clear conscience.

...

The Shining World, the Stardust Cluster, at some remote frontier.

One of the Empire's exploration fleets had arrived in this sector and begun constructing a stargate on the spot.

Yet at this very moment, far beyond the reach of countless star systems, a group of beings were using specialized observation equipment to keep the exploration fleet's every move under close watch.

It was a conference room where a massive screen broadcasted live footage of the Empire's exploration fleet. Seated within were numerous crustacean creatures, resembling a horde of upright, gray crayfish—a native intelligent species of the Shining World, entirely outside the Interstellar Society, who called themselves the Künde in their own tongue.

Gazing at the fleet on the screen, everyone present fell into a heavy silence.

After a long while, the Künde leader seated at the head of the table finally spoke, his voice slow and measured:

"Everything has come to pass. The data from that crashed ship was true; there is more life out there in this universe. Our world... has been targeted by a group of aliens."

The assembly remained silent, their minds a tangled mess of turmoil.

For hundreds of thousands of years, the Künde had multiplied here, slowly cultivating their civilization. Ten thousand years ago, they embarked on the path of interstellar colonization, continuously expanding their territory and bringing one planet after another under their dominion.

Along the way, they had indeed encountered other intelligent species, but those beings were far weaker, all of them reduced to pets and slaves.

All along, the Künde had wondered if there existed even more powerful civilizations in the universe, yet they had never encountered one. Over these many years, they had brought numerous star systems under their control, their population numbering in the trillions, making them the most formidable civilization in this cluster.

However, the scope of their exploration was confined to the Stardust Cluster; the regions further beyond remained entirely unknown to them.

There was no Interstellar Society, no other civilization to communicate with; this place was an isolated island, a dark forest. The Künde had no concept of star systems or star clusters, and their technological tree was far from as comprehensive as that of the Interstellar Society. They had not unlocked stargate technology, their warp engines were outdated, and they could only endure the long interstellar voyages through cryogenic chambers.

To them, a journey that would take a single day in the Interstellar Society would likely require the Künde to spend over a decade slowly drifting through the void.

Yet all of this changed a few years ago.

The Künde present would forever remember that day, when a ship from beyond the sky crashed onto a colonial planet. It stored countless unprecedented advanced technologies and vast amounts of data on alien civilizations, plunging them into sheer shock.

—After hundreds of thousands of years, we have finally encountered the product of a civilization far more powerful than our own!

By studying the technology within, Künde science achieved a leapfrog development, mastering new technologies such as stargate construction, advanced warp engines, and applied-level quantum network communications.

However, accompanying this delight was an even greater terror, for the ship also recorded the existence of a powerful alien civilization known as the Crimson Empire.

The data revealed that the Crimson Empire was not merely a powerful civilization, but also a cosmic-level predator. They occupied star system after star system, hoarding resources, and any civilization they discovered was left with only two paths to choose from... destruction, or submission.

And the consequence of submission was that the civilization would lose all prospects for development, never again able to ascend to a higher level. All future potential would be stifled, forever unable to transcend their current state, reduced to eternal vassals.

The Künde had not failed to doubt the veracity of the data, but since the technologies were genuine, the authenticity of the information was thus assured. Alas, the ship contained only mangled corpses, with no survivors left to interrogate.

The ship's logs recorded that it was crewed by refugees fleeing the expansion of the Crimson Empire, declaring that the Empire was already drawing close to the Künde's domain. It also marked the Crimson Empire's possible routes of advance, leaving the Künde in a state of restless anxiety.

Furthermore, the archives detailed a super-long-range interstellar observation device. The Künde built it, assigning personnel to use the equipment day and night to monitor the coordinates where the Crimson Empire might appear... And a few years later, this data proved true, as an unknown fleet actually materialized in the starry expanse not far from their territory.

"The predators have appeared. What are we to do? Should we seek friendly contact, or strike first?" the Künde leader asked, his tone grave.

A high-ranking official slammed his hand on the table and declared resolutely, "We must never submit! We must prepare on two fronts: first, preserve the spark of our civilization and secure a retreat, sending them to find a new home; then, we strike first and attack before the enemy even discovers us!"

On the other side, someone disagreed, "They are too powerful; we cannot win. We might even face total annihilation. We must not provoke a war. I believe it is better to make contact..."

"Harbor no illusions! The only result of contact is submission. Are you willing to lose all future prospects and become someone else's vassal, just like the intelligent species we have enslaved?"

"Perhaps they are not predators at all, but a friendly civilization?"

"A friendly civilization? How did you even attain your position? Do not forget, when we encountered other intelligent beings, were we ever friendly? Can a truly friendly civilization even exist in this universe?! Do you want to surrender and let our entire species be enslaved?!"

"...But if we do not try, how will we know whether that data is true or false?"

"Have you gone mad? All those technologies were real, and you still doubt their authenticity?!"

The high-ranking officials with differing opinions argued fiercely, reaching a complete impasse.

Had it not been for that ship from the sky, under normal circumstances, far more people would have advocated for making contact with the aliens first.

But now the situation was reversed. Under the influence of preconceived notions, more high-ranking officials firmly believed that the arrival of this alien civilization was a calamity from the heavens, predators come to dominate their corner of the universe.

At this moment, a bizarre flicker flashed in the Künde leader's eyes. He slammed the table fiercely and said coldly:

"Enough arguing. I have already made my decision..."