Lei Ting had never craved anyone’s understanding.
In this sea of stars, for those who were weak, "understanding" certain knowledge or specific individuals was not a boon, but a crushing burden.
People understanding him would not help them live better lives. Him providing explanations would not grant them a brighter future.
So, he would not explain. They would not understand.
Let it be this way—treading an unknown path pointed out by a stubborn, paranoid, and conceited bastard...
Toward the future at the end of that road.
***
A piercing alarm nearly tore through the council chamber.
A man was dead, right there in their midst. The lights flickered as a grayish-white flower with crimson edges bloomed and scattered, born from a soft, dark-red mist in the air.
From within that chaotic core, a small device, similar to an implanted neural link, flew out unscathed.
It had originally been nestled against the man’s brainstem, looking like an ordinary internal unit. Even the highest-grade security scanners had failed to detect any issues with it. It even possessed its own surface-level operating system and a Star-Net registration code; it truly could be used as a legitimate implanted neural link.
However, the moment it was powered down, the internal structural activity—far exceeding normal levels—had caught Lei Ting’s attention.
And once he noticed it, everything about it, much like its owner’s thoughts, could not escape his analysis.
Lei Ting held out a hand, watching the tiny instrument fly into his palm. The cut-resistant material of his soft glove and the sharp angles of his gauntlet framed it, as black-gold and blood-stained silver light reflected off one another.
Then, under the radiance of a golden glow, the device disintegrated in his hand.
Beneath the facade of an ordinary computer lay a micro-monitor of extremely complex construction.
Though the material was a lightweight metal, the overall design leaned toward the smooth, flexible curves typical of biotechnological civilizations, as did the manufacturing techniques...
This was a spy.
Lei Ting tilted his head slightly, displaying the red-blinking monitor and every blood-stained detail to the assembled council. "Does anyone care to offer an opinion on this?"
"..."
After seeing the object clearly, the council members, who had been about to speak, lowered their heads. It was impossible for them not to recognize that the thing did not belong to the Human Federation.
So, a Federation Councilor among them had a monitor from another civilization installed in their brain?
In an instant, one of the reasons to question "Solar Star" vanished. They even had to damn well thank him.
In the eerie silence, Lei Ting turned the monitor over. He directly stripped portions of metal from the floating tables and chairs around him, molding them within his golden radiance into high-tech components.
Then, the parts automatically assembled into a device. He removed his own external neural link, extracted the data reading, voice synthesis, and Star-Net interconnection modules, and installed them into this machine he had hand-crafted in front of everyone.
As the psionic energy conversion component was plugged in, a green indicator light flickered to life.
Lei Ting tossed the unused energy conversion components back into his "City," placed the monitor into the device, and closed the hatch.
Next came a wait of about five minutes.
The tall man, clad in armor as always, sat in his chair with a solemn and upright posture. Meanwhile, some of the cleverer people in the council began to mimic his stance, and this group in turn prompted the others to sit up straight and formal...
Finally, amidst this profoundly solemn scene, the nameless device Lei Ting had fashioned emitted a "beep," signaling it had finished its task.
Though it didn't even have a display panel, Lei Ting reached out and took Yvondel’s intact neural link from the side. After a moment of adjustment, he projected a peculiar waveform.
It was the hidden communication channel between the monitor and the outside world.
"Military Information Security Department, analyze its source," he commanded.
Among the councilors, two leaders from the military’s IT departments quickly began their duties. This shift caused a stir among the others: to be honest, if "Solar Star" ordered everyone present to work on the spot, a good portion of them would immediately expose just how lacking their practical skills were...
Lei Ting didn't even spare them a glance.
"The Council does not support idlers," he said. "Transfer your councilor permissions. You know what needs to be done."
"..."
Who would willingly give up the power in their hands? Several councilors wanted to slam their desks in protest, but the moment they tried to exert force, they were staggered by a sudden surge of pressure. They could only sit obediently, heads bowed low.
There was no choice; even a spine reinforced by technological means could not withstand the terrifying pressure of this psionic suppression.
"Once," Lei Ting said.
He stared at the waveform as if he were merely counting the number of peaks passing by, but everyone knew he was counting how many times certain people could disobey before their lives ended.
No one present was a fool. They didn't want to test how many numbers came after that "one," nor did they want to become a biological firework like the man whose remains were now scattered across the room.
Power and interests, usually as heavy as mountains, could be briefly set aside under the threat of death and the soul-crushing pressure that made one’s spine and legs go weak...
But even so, someone raised a question.
"Lord Solar Star," Yvondel said in a deep voice, not actually feeling much pressure himself, "are you planning to succeed as Speaker?"
Some councilors were visibly shocked by his audacity, while others inwardly sneered at Yvondel: anyone well-informed knew that this man’s stance had always been extremely close to Solar Star’s.
"..." Lei Ting silently glanced at the old fox.
"No, that is not the case," he cooperated. "Power and status are not my desire."
"Then your current actions..."
"I am acting in the role temporarily, but I remain the Vice Commander of the First Legion." As Lei Ting spoke, he emphasized the word "Vice." "The Speaker has no objection."
"Is that so?" Yvondel played along, then added, "Vice Speaker Apton Angye, when you met with the Speaker earlier, did he say anything?"
—*When the hell did I meet the Speaker?*
Angye silently looked into his former mentor’s eyes, which glowed with a blue-violet light, and answered expressionlessly, "Yes. Due to health issues, the Speaker’s authority is temporarily transferred to Solar Star. 'Sky River' has a record of this as well."
—*And when did Sky River get a record of this?*
Lei Ting looked at the hollow socket of Angye’s eye, covered by a purely mechanical patch. With a thought, he quickly coded the corresponding message into a distant external device connected to the Star-Net.
"Of course 'Sky River' has a record," he said, using gestures to match the keyword commands as he opened Sky River’s interactive panel. "Correct, Sky River?"
"Yes, Administrator Solar Star," Sky River replied in a heavily inhuman, synthesized mechanical voice. It pulled up an authorization document that looked more real than reality itself, even bearing the Speaker’s official seal. "This document was entered 137 hours, 46 minutes, and 12 seconds ago."
Yvondel and Angye were stunned. *What? There’s actually a sealed document??*
But a second later, they realized the catch: 137 hours ago, Angye was definitely not in the council hall. At that time, he had just finished handling matters related to the Kang family and was helping them hide information about a secret research lab...
In that moment, a chill ran down both their spines, and the cold sweat they had just dried began to pour again.
What did Solar Star know?
Lei Ting stared at the retro-style red seal on the document for a moment before waving the projection away.
As expected, the "Speaker"... or rather, "Gaze," truly had transferred the permissions to him. He didn't know when this total transfer had occurred, nor did he know how the "Project Gaze" controlled this procedural change.
Of course, he had a suspicion: perhaps all of this was closely related to the "Gazer" within the "Spirit's Depths."
"Report, Solar... uh, Your Excellency Speaker!" The two men responsible for tracing the monitor’s signal suddenly shouted. "We borrowed Sky River’s computing power and traced the signal through tens of thousands of proxy hops...
"...It originated from the direction of the Ring World!"
An uproar broke out among the councilors. Someone cried out in alarm, "The Ring World? Could it be the Collective?"
"Silence," Lei Ting commanded. In the next second, his voice was the only sound in the chamber. "The internal structure of the Ring World is complex. Do not mislead the judgment."
"...Yes." The person fell silent and bowed their head.
Lei Ting disconnected the link between Yvondel’s neural link and the device. He turned to the two councilors who hadn't let their technical skills rust, his tone softening slightly. "Take it away and analyze the other data. There will be more work assigned to you next..."
"More work"?
From the two members of the Military Information Security Department to Yvondel and Angye, nearly everyone smelled a thick scent of blood in those words.
In the next instant, they clearly felt a massive, invisible force emerge, like a mountain collapsing or a tsunami rising. The sunlight-like golden energy in all directions grew even more brilliant, and for a moment, everyone lost control over their own bodies.
The metallic elements within them were paying homage to the arrival of their true sovereign.
In a flash, the golden radiance spread across the planet. On the now completely artificial Capital Planet, even the wind seemed to freeze for a heartbeat.
A majestic pressure enveloped everything on the planet. Simultaneously, tens of thousands of beings from various races screamed in terror as the metallic elements within their bodies crushed parts of their physiological structures. Various glowing monitors and controllers were violently extracted, flying toward the Council.
During this, a tangible power surged within that golden light, spreading outward to begin a psionic scan that reached as far as it possibly could.
And the will contained within it—through the skeletons built of metal and the flesh reflected by psionic feedback—truly, for the first time, began an "inward scan" of the Federation’s core.
This "inward scan" was inevitably high-profile to the extreme. Fear, horror, and even grief spread through the crowds.
Though under the control of a power far beyond ordinary imagination, no tragic disaster occurred during this shocking expansion.
But when the golden radiance covered over 7.5 billion kilometers of interstellar space within the star system, and when a figure draped in a hundred billion specks of stardust locked eyes with the gaze at the end of that light from afar, everyone understood—
An unknown and dangerous new era had arrived.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 环世界 | Ring World | A massive artificial megastructure or region. |
| 综合体 | The Collective | Likely referring to a specific faction or civilization (The Complex/Collective). |
| 内观 | Inward Scan / Internal Inspection | A term for deep observation, here used for a massive psionic/technological sweep. |
| 凝望 | Gaze | Referring to the Speaker or a specific entity/project. |
| 凝望计划 | Project Gaze | A mysterious project related to the Speaker's authority. |
| 凝望者 | Gazer | An entity residing in the "Spirit's Depths." |
| 第一军团 | First Legion | The military unit Lei Ting belongs to. |
| 军事信息安全部 | Military Information Security Department | A division of the Federation's military. |
