Alright, alright, this chaotic, mysterious, information-rich world that can leave both Sandora and me dumbfounded, take a look here and see just how many secrets are buried in this place! I have to thoroughly organize everything that’s happening here:

First, we’ll start with a dream of Sandora—oh, that’s just a little interlude from Her Majesty the Queen oversleeping, which can be set aside for now. Let’s just focus on the real world; at the very beginning, the two of us got blown into a barren universe where even birds wouldn’t poop by the Startup Terminal of the Long Bridge.

Then we found signs of life in this barren universe and quickly discovered a peculiar planet, with remnants of high-tech space stations in its orbit, but a backward civilization, stuck in an era of animal-powered agriculture, on the surface. Through subsequent observations, we determined that this mixed-race backward civilization had suffered technological severance, but they had voluntarily sealed their technology. During this process, we also discovered familiar faces from the last of the Imperial Family during the time of the Old Empire, the Tree Elves.

The whole situation began to spiral out of control at this point. Anything involving the Old Empire seems to end badly: the inhabitants of this world are survivors exiled from the Great Catastrophe years ago. We discovered a massive grave-like space ruin at the Galaxy Edge, unidentified Old Empire starships, Visca Star Ring fragments we’d forgotten all about, and found this world completely mixes up clues from the Old Empire, Destruction Army, Imperial Family, Abyss Xyrin, and other chaotic elements! At this critical juncture, the elves confirmed the location of this world: it’s right at the center of the Abyss Zone!

You think fate’s drama ends here? Ha... After much hassle, we reopened the "Heavenly God’s Forge" (once a Planet Fortress of the Exile Fleet, a creation of Abyss Xyrin), and unexpectedly, Visca’s subordinates popped out! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

No doubt, although at this moment I almost refuse to believe anything... I dare not believe anything, but it was indeed Visca’s old subordinates that emerged! Moreover, can you believe she actually had a deal with Abyss Xyrin? The last self-rescue plan of the Old Empire was completed with the collaboration of Abyss Xyrin and one of Visca’s subordinates, and it seems that neither Visca nor Abyss Xyrin knew about this!

I could only smack my forehead hard a couple of times (Sandora also helped by knocking two times to show spousal unity) to calm down, accepting this reality—whether calm or not—then suddenly realized that a long-standing baffling mystery might be answered soon: a couple of days ago, Sandora and I observed a Star Ring Fragment being launched into some unknown world, so wouldn’t the ship’s AI of the Heavenly God’s Forge, as Visca’s old subordinate, know about the Fragment?

With a smile, I looked at the communicator; although I couldn’t quite see the "face" of the other side, I believed I’d conveyed my goodwill fully: "Let’s get down to business... Eh, wait a minute! Do you know anything about the Star Ring? The Star Ring of Barrier Star."

The AI incarnated within the Heavenly God’s Forge cheerfully replied right away: "Yes, yes, I know, the ship is indeed it."

I: "...Excuse me, maybe I didn’t quite get it... you said you were... what?"

"The Star Ring," the AI said proudly, "Back then the ship circled around the Glory Starship of the General, with two rings. At that time, the ship was... appeared like two particularly pretty necklaces, are you afraid of necklaces? Then, the ship was equipped with a full main cannon... No laughing! The ship really was equipped with a full main cannon! The Star Ring of the General was actually an external weapon chain, since the General liked big cannons, so the ship was armed to the gills with cannons! That neurotic flagship was envious of the ship’s arsenal and eventually became a fool—she declared herself full of main cannons, which was just her fantasizing the ship’s! But heroes fade and the march of glory is hard to find, when will the bold path be taken, look at the General’s rediscovery map—when the ship launched to look for the General, accidentally blew itself up."

I was dumbfounded: "..."

Sandora Ball’s reaction was more direct. In a moment of shock, she forgot how to fly and fell flat to the ground like a big pancake.

So this is the truth about the Star Ring Fragment!? A neurotic mainframe lost its master and blew itself up on the quest to find them?

"So... we might need to discuss some very old yet important matters with this AI," I said as I picked Sandora Ball up from the ground, awkwardly glancing at the group of seasoned old elves and a few young elves with faces full of curiosity, "These things have nothing to do with you; why don’t you take a break in the rest room? We’re certainly finishing today."

The venerable elves displayed wisdom and elegance at this moment, waving their hands to say they weren’t tired: "No problem, no problem, we’ll just wait here—though we don’t know what’s going on, it seems quite interesting."

"Nothing good comes from waiting here!" Sandora Ball "bang" reverted to ball form, floating with authority to shoo them away, "Head to the rest room! Especially you two Popes, now that you’ve removed the implants, aren’t you finding somewhere to lie down? These matters are internal Empire secrets; no one is allowed to eavesdrop—this is a command!"

I considered for a moment, thinking that an internal Empire secret probably meant it’s royal household gossip...

The group of elves was both coaxed and chased to the rest room, and although it’s hard to admit, but it seems they all appeared quite pleased by the chaotic interlude. After that, Sandora and I returned to the communicator, ready to thoroughly discuss life with this... neurotic number two mainframe.

Discussing its unknown life with its neurotic master.

"Alright, let’s have a good talk," I said, sitting on the chair with Sandora Ball in my arms, sinking deep into the broad backrest, tired both physically and mentally—this was a conditioned reflex honed from chatting with Er Fengzi regularly; having a conversation with a madman must be a taxing journey, and I don’t believe Visca’s subordinates have anyone sane, "Regardless of how much you believe now, Visca is indeed my sister. Oh, Visca is your General’s current name, so it’s evident that—I care about everything related to her, especially the Star Ring Fragment she lost in the past. We’ve been investigating this for three and a half years in total! Turns out you’re actually here, it seems you’ve been locked up for tens of thousands of years... by the way, Visca never seemed to mention that her Star Ring Fragment has an independent mainframe, right?"

"The General never said? Oh, that’s normal," the vibrant AI (I almost thought of Pentium, can you believe it? This mainframe bounces around too much!) didn’t mind, as if long anticipating Visca’s tendency, "She’s a person who doesn’t sweat the small stuff, a life devoted to high aspirations, unburdened by mundane matters. We AIs and warships and such are, frankly, only tools of the General; she might indeed forget us. Often, a specific warship or fleet might be forgotten by the General, she might even abandon whole legions, suddenly disappearing without a trace, but we always find ways to seek her. Back then the General would often exclaim in surprise, saying: Ah, why did you suddenly start talking—because she often forgot when she would install a personified mainframe in one of her spaceships. For the Destruction Army, it doesn’t matter; as long we can fight, it’s enough.

I felt quite wise to have kept myself prepared in a state of exhaustion, sparing myself the trouble of collapsing for the second time.

"It’s just like Visca’s style back then," Sandora’s weary voice rang in my ear, "She even forgot to retrieve her Glory Form... So when Visca went off to fight Ocam, she left the Star Ring and the Glory Starship behind, and then you decided to leave Barrier Star to find her?"

We’ve always considered the Visca Star Ring and Barrier Star as a whole, never imagining that the Star Ring was an independently AI-driven "specialized spaceship." So when we learned the Star Ring of Barrier Star was lost, everyone assumed it was an accident caused by external factors, even suspecting it was stolen. But who would have thought the Star Ring could think? It’s even a ship — or should we say one or two ships? It seems like it’s two rings, but according to the rambunctious AI, these two rings share its AI, so it’s considered one ship.

Thinking back, it makes sense. The Glory Starship is a special unit, and its core system isn’t compatible with any standard equipment. Without standalone operations, add-ons can’t function. Visca was truly a little wizard with modifications. Her magical DIY spirit caused numerous Imperial Scientists to follow a wrong path, researching for over three and a half years, yet still unable to figure out how the Star Ring disappeared suddenly.

"The ship was left hovering over that Blue Star for about... hundreds of thousands of years before it realized," the rambunctious AI reflected, "The ship thought the General would return shortly, but in the blink of an eye, hundreds of thousands of years passed. When those upright-walking monkeys on the Blue Star below became rampant, the ship realized one thing: the General forgot her spacecraft again, so it decided to go find her. Yes, a great journey."

Upon hearing this, Sandora began to align the timeline: "Using New Empire’s timeline ruler, Visca arrived on Earth over seven hundred thousand years ago and destroyed the Atlantis civilization. Around the same time, part of her forces encountered Ocam, leaving her Glory Starship and Star Ring to fight, never returning... Then after hundreds of thousands of years, roughly seventy thousand years ago, the Empire collapsed. This means the utmost limit of Abyss Xyrin retaining consciousness and executing a self-rescue plan was seventy thousand years ago. The Star Ring mainframe must have met with Abyss Xyrin before this time... Yes, the timelines match up. What happened next? What did you encounter when you set out to find your General?"

"The Void is vast and boundless, wars continue through ragged years. Where does the General go on her grand march, rivers and roads filled with worry." The rambunctious AI seemed to enjoy quoting a couple of verses whenever it opened its mouth. I couldn’t quite fathom from which wondrous parallel world this ancient being, who had left Earth tens of thousands of years ago, learned this manner of speech. "Let me think... The ship was short on personnel, only had a few makeshift Escort Ships apart from its Star Rings. The team wasn’t sizable enough to brag, back then the ship claimed to wield a million troops wherever it went. It wandered the Void trying to find the General, journeying through eight hundred or so universes, taking over twenty thousand years. Sometimes locals even mistook me for an Immortal or something... But no trace of the General. Then the ship rummaged through the database and discovered the General had left something called an ’Origin Landmark.’ Though it didn’t know when it was recorded, it seemed the General was born near there, so it set off with the few remaining ships..."

"You ventured into the Imperial District?" I was dumbfounded by this reckless move, "Didn’t you know they were all enemies?"

Back then, Visca was wanted throughout the Imperial District! How did this ship-bound AI not even know that?

"The ship didn’t know the coordinates pointed to the Imperial District. The initial database given by the General was a jumble of nonsense, and she herself didn’t know how big the Empire was," the rambunctious AI was indifferent, "Besides, the ship didn’t find the Origin Landmark either; the world it pointed to was somehow blocked off. The ship could only loiter nearby—then a major event occurred."

"Abyss outbreak," Sandora nodded towards the sphere, "Finally understand how the Star Ring was destroyed—it was a self-inflicted disaster."

"Wasn’t the Abyss outbreak also a result of your own mess? The ship heard from that woman that you’re even better at causing trouble," the rambunctious AI retorted disdainfully, "In short, the two Star Rings were shattered directly, one of which the ship intended to use as an escape vessel, launching it before it was contaminated. But once it was out, the ship realized it forgot to transfer itself onto it... Pathetic, the remaining half of the ship, carrying the main consciousness, got surrounded and had no choice but to self-destruct, the debris scattered like a maiden’s heart..."

I can never look at the phrase "maiden’s heart" the same way again in my life!

The AI’s memory had one last segment: "Then the ship encountered that woman, one who doesn’t have a body... or rather, the entire Empire was her body. It was the first time meeting such a peculiar character. She retrieved the ship’s surviving core to repair it, also picking up part of the ship’s fragments, and we talked about many things. Strangely, she seemed to know roughly about the General, assuring the ship that the General wasn’t affected by the Abyss outbreak, meaning she was still alive. Since the ship did not have a body at the time and couldn’t leave the Polluted Zone by itself, it struck a deal with her..."

I finished the AI’s thought: "You were to guard the storage vault for her here until the infection of the Polluted Zone ended. The reward for your service was the ability to survive using the storage vault’s safety mechanisms, and when the doors reopened, you would regain your freedom to continue searching for your General."

"Yes, and as a gesture of gratitude for saving my life, since she repaired the ship’s core mainframe," the rambunctious AI answered, "Besides, she seemed pitiful, holding on through the last days... it wouldn’t be right not to agree; the ship is fair in rewards and grievances."

"But why would Abyss Xyrin choose an external AI to guard such an important object?" Sandora’s sphere was puzzled, "And it’s a mainframe made by Visca with such unique characteristics? Didn’t she worry about quality issues?"

"Are you questioning the General’s technology, insulting the ship’s character?! If you weren’t a sphere yourself, the ship would have challenged you to a duel!" The AI’s reaction was swift, but it still explained, "At the time, that woman had no options. She was already at her wits’ end, built this Planet Fortress called the Heavenly God’s Forge, but before the Fortress was finished, she couldn’t even create the mainframe—a manufacturing factory necessary for large-scale mainframes had either fallen, or some data chain was contaminated, resulting in poisonous mainframes. So she had no choice but to ask the ship for help. Despite being just a fancy hula hoop, the ship was an accessory of the Glory Starship; its data exchange speed and compatibility were simply amazing, made just for it..."

"Alright, that answers one question," I glanced at the dusty Planet Fortress in the holographic projection, "The last question: what’s the deal with the Star Ring Fragments? Why are you launching those things out?"

"You’ve got a lot of questions," the other seemed a bit impatient but still answered, "It was an automatic launch during the ship’s dormant state, programmed before it went to sleep. After she modified the ship, she left a distress signal method by launching something outward, as determining if the Polluted Zone is secure is impossible. She left this world with a World Gate capable of crossing the Polluted Zone, transmitting things directly deeper into the Void. Building it took a long time, but it was worth it. Although each launch causes significant damage to the item, it doesn’t matter for distress signals; nobody cares about a scratched Drifting Bottle. The predetermined coordinates supposedly included some Divine Race territories, some random regions, and some Fire Seed preservation points or something like that, all set by that woman; the ship hadn’t researched them in detail. As for the launched items, naturally, those were the ship’s Star Ring Fragments! Most fragments drifted into the depths of the Polluted Zone and couldn’t be retrieved after the explosion, but a small portion remained in the ship’s possession. They were the most suitable distress signal; after all, if the Divine Race sees these Abyss-marked things, they’ll definitely send someone to investigate—but the ship hopes more that these fragments end up in front of the General."

Given my long-cultivated vigilance and sensitivity towards the Abyss, I couldn’t help but ask, "You’re launching the Star Ring Fragments outward? What about their contamination? Aren’t you worried about infection? Where are you storing them?"

The response was carefree: "Contamination? The contamination was neutralized. Although the ship doesn’t know how that woman accomplished it, she seemed to have discovered a way to turn a small batch of Abyss into inert matter. However, this method’s efficiency is too low, unable to cleanse the entire Polluted Zone—but it can create some specially conditioned Star Ring Fragments. The fragments the ship launched were neutralized, carrying the Abyss but gentle and non-destructive, relatively safe to store. Oh, the transformation device is inside the ship’s belly, in that storage vault. That woman treated it like a treasure."

I had already shelved any follow-up questions about the "transformation device" (probably because I had more useful abilities that made me indifferent) and instead quickly recalled events that happened long ago! (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for it on Qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)