The wordless silence was chilling.
Lei Ting’s silence was always linked to high-speed cognition. He spoke quickly: "The construction of 'Xihe' predates our full integration into the Star Net, and its manufacturing technology belongs entirely to humanity."
Therefore, if this wasn't a case of someone tampering with Xihe over the years in a way that monthly inspections couldn't detect... then it meant a more powerful technological force was restricting the flow of information on an incomprehensible level.
This aligned with Lei Ting’s conception of the danger level of the current situation.
"Sun Star," Valianna asked with a hint of inquiry, "you don't seem surprised by this?"
"Do you know how many plans I’ve made for the Federation's future?" Lei Ting asked back, seemingly out of nowhere.
Valianna was momentarily dazed, but she followed the subtle thread of anxiety in her heart and cooperated. "How many?"
"One thousand six hundred," Lei Ting said. "And one thousand four hundred of those include at least three different types of 'Civilization Seed Voyage' plans."
"..."
For a moment, Valianna was so shocked she couldn't maintain her composure. Her eyes betrayed her thoughts: *Surely it hasn't come to that...* and *I never heard that you suffered from such extreme paranoia...*
Lei Ting shook his head. He knew that the people in this world who could understand him were likely few enough to count on one hand, and the one he most wanted to communicate with was someone he couldn't talk to much because of their respective positions.
"Crater 900 only sent this one message. It wasn't until eighteen days later that the 'Watchtower' observation system spotted those fungi. During that interval, every attempt we made to establish stable contact with Crater 900 failed. They seemed to be in a location with massive interference..."
Valianna rubbed her brow in frustration.
"In Susanna’s initial report, their status was actually described as 'Killed in Action,' which was an error... I’ll let her explain the specifics herself. Can you let her in?"
Lei Ting glanced toward the door.
Susanna’s current level of cybernetic modification was so high that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a robot with a human brain. As for things like internal neural implants, she had been fully equipped with those from the very beginning.
He closed his eyes slightly and said, "No. Before we discuss anything further, I... need to rest for a moment. Please, suit yourself."
As he spoke, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his levitation chair, pretending he was about to take a short nap. However, his brain, recently nourished by vitality agents, was still racing. While processing distant information, he briefly reflected on his own behavior.
*When a person's hormones can be remotely regulated, her emotions no longer belong to her.* He had always known this truth.
Therefore, he hadn't taken her previous verbal attacks to heart. Because they were evidence—evidence that the enemy was close at hand.
In Lei Ting’s perception, a heavy sense of negative emotion directed toward him had been growing in his adjutant Susanna’s heart. Setting aside common human nature, that emotion itself actually contradicted her superpower.
For a power to be called "super," it was naturally extraordinary, transcending nature and the weight of the self. Susanna’s ability was in a constant state of activation; for her emotions to experience such growth and agitation was highly abnormal.
Lei Ting had seen this abnormal change long ago. However, he couldn't alert the enemy...
He had to treat every matter in this struggle with extreme caution. The most fundamental part of that was ensuring the enemy didn't realize they had been discovered, just as he did with every word and action now.
Thus, even for the operation of replacing the Star Net base stations, he had fabricated the excuse of "conveniently controlling the flow of internal Star Net information." Afterward, he had stirred up a series of issues requiring public opinion management, turning the entire affair into a story about a "self-aware bastard who stopped pretending and prepared to rule with an iron fist."
Before this, he had spent three years pretending to be an ignorant fool, another year performing the realization that the enemy was not just in the internal intelligence system but also on the Star Net, and another year diligently learning more relevant knowledge...
...And he had ruthlessly left Susanna to her fate, even though she was clearly being remotely influenced by a certain force, allowing her to become what she was now.
This was a choice the version of him from even earlier would never have made.
And he had committed many such acts of turning a blind eye to the "fall" of something...
Consequently, a heavy sense of guilt constantly haunted his soul. Being near Ebenhella used to bring him some comfort, but now, even Ebenhella had become a part of that guilt.
Lei Ting felt he was both hypocritical and cold-blooded.
What he had told Ebenhella in the "Droplet Garden" was true. He wasn't dead. He had simply changed.
To most outsiders, everything he did looked like "aimless, unprincipled" chaos, but he knew that there was a massive pit ahead, and humanity could not avoid falling into it.
To achieve a "smooth landing in this war," the needs of every individual could be ignored.
Including his own.
No—it should be said, especially his own.
Lei Ting shifted his gaze. "I know you didn't just come here to say that," he said. "There are other issues with this information."
"Yes. Look."
Valianna expanded the light screen in front of her, opening a comparison interface for Lei Ting. On the left was the video footage; on the right was a star chart simulated by AI calculations.
The video was covered in thousands of tiny markers, each with a corresponding number. To an ordinary person, it might take three or four days of intense concentration to find the problem.
But Lei Ting frowned after a single glance. "The stellar orbits."
"Yes, the stellar orbits," Valianna said.
She tapped a red marker in the center of the right screen labeled 'Camera Position,' shifted the perspective there, and pointed in the direction the video was recorded.
There was a planet, nearly half of its matter already converted into crystals. However, it didn't have a crystal shell enveloping the entire planet, nor was it parasitized by space fungi.
Furthermore, after adjusting the time to the period when the video was recorded and sent, any comparison revealed that the positions of some celestial bodies in the background of these two planets differed significantly.
"This video was indeed recorded by Crater 900’s shipboard AI, but aside from that tag, all the automatic recording information that should be there has been erased," Valianna said. "So, it doesn't actually have an original file creation time..."
Her voice dropped as she leaned forward, whispering, "...But through comparison and calculation, if this footage is real, it should have appeared in—December 4018."
Twelve years into the future.
Lei Ting’s brow furrowed as he fell into deep thought.
A hypothesis made his mood incredibly strange: in this universe where "time travel" was indeed possible... could Crater 900 have gone twelve years into the future and sent back such a short, cryptic message across time?
No, that wasn't right. With him in the Human Union, it was impossible that they wouldn't have reclaimed their lost territory twelve years from now...
Moreover, in the future seen by 'Gaze' back then, was there any mention of 'Crater 900 in 4018'?
"We pulled the files for Crater 900, Wan Huan, her subordinates, and almost everyone else connected to these things, but we found no issues—at most, we caught a few spies," Valianna said, spreading her hands. "The case is at a stalemate. We can't find any more information."
"I understand." Lei Ting nodded. "The fleet is to return."
"...What?" Valianna was stunned.
"I said, the First Legion fleet is to begin its return journey. My power will show you the way. You need to go and guard a certain place." As Lei Ting spoke, he sent a set of coordinates to Valianna.
Valianna looked even more bewildered after browsing them. "The 'New Solar System'? That... that isn't a battlefield."
Indeed, the 'New Solar System' was not currently a battlefield.
...But if Lei Ting’s hypothesis was correct, it likely soon would be.
"Don't ask so much. Execute the order," Lei Ting said.
Valianna didn't quite understand, but since Lei Ting’s current identification tags included the startling title of 'Acting Chairman,' she stood at attention and saluted. "Yes, sir!"
As the words left her mouth, both of their expressions turned a bit strange. Technically, Lei Ting was still the 'Vice Commander'...
"So, when are you going to take over as 'Commander'?" The 2.4-meter-tall woman curled her lip. "Please, you're only one empty title transfer away from it now..."
This time, Lei Ting didn't dodge the subject as he had in the past. Instead, he nodded and said, "You can transfer it whenever you like."
Previously, he hadn't succeeded her mainly because this Commander was far too free-spirited and war-hungry. If he released her from her responsibilities, she would probably wander off to the dangerous enemy rear with a squad of super-powered mecha pilots within a few days...
But now...
"Hmm??" Valianna’s face lit up. she didn't ask why his attitude had shifted so drastically. "The man who holds the 'New Sun' is finally willing to be promoted? Excellent. We’ll need a bit of a ceremony for this..."
"Whatever," Lei Ting said casually. "I won't see you out. Also, tell Susanna to come in."
"Fine, our dear Commander-to-be." Valianna clapped her hands and walked out the door.
A short while later, Susanna entered the room with a mechanical, marching gait.
From her mental fluctuations, Lei Ting clearly sensed her deep regret over her previous emotional outburst. He had no desire to investigate what elements composed that regret, nor did he want to bring up the past. He simply said, "Susan, come look at something."
As he spoke, in the brief half-breath it took for her to look up in confusion, he manually manifested a player with no network interface.
Then... he removed one of the three data cards hanging from his belt pouch and inserted it.
***
