Him and their stars.

Chapter 2054 The Eighth King: A Mess

However, to be fair, considering that Little Grey can simulate most psionic phenomena, it wouldn't be surprising if she really did complete her upgrade in the virtual realm.

"The world woven by stars also has underlying logic in different dimensions. In our time, some scholars have proven that the universe has reached the tenth dimension, but others believe that the world can be deconstructed from another direction. Below zero dimension, there is still a world."

"...You're not going to tell me that the illusory realm is below zero dimensions?"

"No, I just thought that starting like that would sound more sophisticated. Actually, I'm just telling you that everything you see, hear, touch, sense, kill, and merge with—as long as it's not a singularity that doesn't exist in theory—contains information. In dimensions that are currently inexplicable, all the ramblings and extraordinary events are merely echoes of information. And I, my dear little brother Yu Lian, am not like you carbon-based monkeys obsessed with your bodies. My nanocells are just carriers; beneath the carriers lies information, and information is indestructible."

Yu Lian always felt that Xiao Hui's lines when trying to explain the virtual realm scientifically were different each time, but upon closer examination, they were actually quite convincing.

"The founders of the Queen Bee School extracted controllable genes from the invasive alien race, the 'Thorin Swarm,' which we defeated. Compared to the Spirit Guiding School, which focuses too much on the power of its individuals and lacks a unified, standardized evolutionary approach, they believed this was a more universal method. Even if they failed, all possible damage was under control. At least, the useless cosmic locusts were transformed into a very constructive new species that could become an ally of our civilization."

Yu Lian thought of the fact that insect swarms were very good at composting and purifying industrial pollution, and he couldn't help but believe it.

After a moment's thought, Little Grey said, "In a sense, the Queen Bee School can be considered a science, while the Spirit Guiding School is a humanities. Yes, all psychics are humanities students in a sense."

"That's really filthy!" Yu Lian almost exploded in anger.

Although he was used to the robot lady's sarcasm, he was still a little unaccustomed to the fact that her words this time did not include any "prohibited items".

As for Fei Fei's elegant and long eyelashes, they fluttered uncontrollably twice, appearing slightly unnatural. Clearly, she had also heard Xiao Hui's voice.

"After at least twelve fundamental cosmic times, the fused individual that both the Queen Bee School and the Spirit Guiding School sought to see has reappeared. What will her future hold..." Little Gray appeared beside Yu Lian, bringing its flawless face less than ten centimeters from Yu Lian's front, its large, golden-gray eyes gleaming:
"I'm curious!"

Yu Lian avoided the other person's face. But in reality, even without Xiao Hui's reminder, he had already made up his mind and said in a deep voice, "Meet at Chaomen α before March 20th."

Feifei glanced at her lover and her superior, and then stopped objecting.

Xia Li gazed at Yu Lian through her lord-like entity, even manipulating the ten-meter-tall giant to give Yu Lian an imperial-style military salute. Her will then faded away, and the expression of Lord 1412 once again lost its vividness, switching back to that indistinguishable model face.

"I am a special-purpose ship enhanced with decoy and reconnaissance capabilities. I obey your orders," the ten-meter-tall insect girl said in a monotone, unwavering voice. Then, she was pulled back to her nest ship by her slender tentacles.

Yu Lian gazed at the distant biological warship and couldn't help but ask, "So, did they succeed?"

"What did you say?"

"The Queen Bee School and the Spirit Guiding School of the Enlightened Ones, their goal should be the evolution and ascension of all people, right? And what about you? Little Grey, your school..."

“These are the prohibited items.” Little Grey put her finger to her lips.

Then, of course, comes the upgrade results of this "Silent Ship". Of course, we won't let the all-knowing, all-powerful, and extremely busy Little Grey personally introduce such matters.

In fact, the crew members on the ship have already submitted their reports.

Yu Lian had already seen the scene flashing past the porthole of the bridge, like fireworks exploding at a festival.

Hundreds of thousands of Bifang robots were marching in formation through the boundless starry sky. They precisely executed the bridge's commands, arranging themselves into a magnificent array. Then, their cold, metallic bodies suddenly lit up, bursting forth with dazzling, colorful light, instantly adorning this dark cosmic depths as if a grand festival had begun.

"This is?"

"Of course, we're conducting basic tactical drills. Sir, thank you for your wise leadership, thank you for the blessing of the Machine Spirit God, and thank you for the small but persistent research and efforts of our comrades. Our Bifang system has unlocked new functions. We can control them to conduct autonomous patrols to intercept all hostile acts against our ship! Now, our Silent Ship not only has six layers of shields, but also hundreds of thousands of loyal shield guards! These colored lights are the effect of them deploying their autonomous shields!"

Okay, let's leave the functionality aside for now, but the sound and visual effects are truly stunning. Imagine giving someone the middle finger in deep space during a fleet battle – wouldn't that be an excellent way to taunt them?

Just as Yu Lian was about to say something, he saw that the robots had already formed the two large characters "Long Live" in the universe.

"So, this is training?"

“Training. Of course, it’s training. But it’s also a celebration of your triumphant return… and the triumphant return of all of us,” Captain Nemo replied, standing at attention.

He then explained that while the commander and his wife were entering the underground palace, the other explorations were also progressing smoothly.

Led by Wayne, the Marines successfully located the vast hydroponic farm on the southern hemisphere of the planet. This was the Empire's agricultural laboratory on the Holy Land, comprising research departments and granaries, operating in a semi-automated manner. It was staffed only by researchers, farm workers, and a negligible number of security personnel.

Although it was a research base, the warehouse was still filled with a large amount of food.

Wayne readily accepted all of these offers. After all, it was no longer just the Silent Ship with 30,000 men, but an entire fleet of over 100,000. Energy wasn't a problem, since the flagship had unlocked the charging tower function, but food couldn't be produced automatically.

"Very good, I'll also start operating interstellar warships to requisition supplies."

Of course, their main target was actually the various high-quality grains cultivated in the environment of the Holy Land planet.

It is well known that a powerful cosmic hegemon must not only be a powerful industrial and military nation, but also a powerful agricultural nation. In terms of technological reserves in agriculture, the gap between the two superpowers and the rest of the world is even greater than that in military terms.

In comparison, the high-altitude sweet potatoes and barley that Yu Lian cultivated with spiritual energy were really just the beginning.

Of course, Wayne wasn't some kind of demon. He couldn't possibly have slaughtered a group of researchers and workers. He simply copied all the data from the lab under their grief-stricken gazes, then formatted the data, dismantling all the priceless research equipment to a point where even a true god couldn't restore it, before leaving triumphantly.

"Will the Empire's agricultural research be forced to halt for ten years as a result?" the subordinate asked, his voice filled with the satisfaction of revenge.

“Not quite, but even if we were forced to stop for a month, it’s still a victory. As long as we accumulate countless such victories, we can achieve a glorious triumph!” Wayne replied, seemingly cautious and humble yet still displaying boldness and a strong fighting spirit of victory.

Meanwhile, another group, led by Colonel Mina Walter, launched a fierce bombardment of the Imperial military animal farms located on the western grasslands of the continent.

Preliminary estimates suggest that over 50,000 military war beasts were killed in the more than 20-minute shelling.

The Galactic Empire is a heinous militaristic nation that loves to use military beasts to suppress slaves and civilians. They collect fierce, savage, and unintelligent beasts from all over the universe, but they are not lacking in obedience, and train them to be their henchmen.

Even if wild beasts were armored, they would naturally be unable to fight on the front lines, let alone participate in boarding battles. However, they were still very effective in suppressing ordinary working people.

Their cost-effectiveness is certainly inferior to that of robots, but the Empire sees it as a tradition, and a powerful deterrent. The war beasts of the Eight Great Kings system consist of ironbacked mastiffs and long-haired leopards; the aura of the sacred planets endows them with rare size, strength, and ferocity. Because they possess characteristics of both felines and canines, the warriors' bombardment will likely offend animal rights activists, but it will certainly give the Empire's oppressed people a chance to vent their anger.

"Since we're already here, any military target must be targeted. It's a pity this is a royal private estate; there aren't any arsenals or shipyards here," Colonel Walter said.

In comparison, how can a military animal farm not be considered a military objective?

However, their main task was still hunting.

Besides a multitude of vibrant wild animals, this planet also boasts the Empire's semi-automated farms and pastures. Various livestock roam freely here, developing healthy, nutritious, delicious, and juicy meat, providing the entire Empire with the highest quality protein and serving as a vital source of income for the Royal Merchant Guild.

Although the entire Kings Galaxy and even Dragon's Nest are considered the imperial family's private domain and are kept in their natural state as much as possible, it would be too lacking in basic elements if these planets were truly left to lie fallow.

The empire has a conservative and decadent part, but it is, after all, a military superpower that rules half the universe, and is certainly pragmatic.

In short, the warriors reaped a great harvest. They even managed to collect a considerable amount of dragon meat.

As for Brigadier General Eleanor Bonaparte, she and her old partner Colonel Ina Shirica, together, flew the Aurora Byte to the Zero Element Workshop at the south pole of the planet.

There are six known zero-element ore veins on this sacred planet. After being mined, they are all transported to this alchemy workshop for the first step of pre-processing.

As is well known, many zero elements are not stable in form and need to be roughly processed before they can be packed for interstellar transport.

The workshop supplies the Galactic Empire with at least 100kg of stable zero-element finished products every year, and sends them to the capital every six months. Now, the finished products intended for tribute have naturally been packaged up and taken away by Aurora all at once.

Then, this renowned cruiser swaggered around and sailed into the Northern Hemisphere. All the tombs were scattered across this vast and stable continent.

The warships would hover over each famous imperial tomb, open their cannons, and look down upon the magnificent imperial mausoleums, as well as all the emperors and princes.

A cruiser built by the Empire became a warship for Earthlings, yet it seemed to become a conqueror of the past emperors of the Empire.

And the drone will, of course, capture this scene and print out a high-definition image.

Before long, people all over the universe will see these magnificent group photos.

Eleanor and Ina were having a blast—no…working incredibly hard. They felt this was the most meaningful work they'd had since landing on this planet.

Everyone thought these photos would surely go down in history, and that they should be documenting Marshal Yu's flagship. However, even with such a prestigious opportunity, he still politely declined.

"Given the mass of the Silent satellite, its entry into the atmosphere might trigger some natural disasters."

However, this is somewhat of a forced explanation. Since the "mass disintegrator," that cutting-edge technology of the Silent One, could be used when passing through the gravity well, there's no reason why it couldn't be used when entering the atmosphere.

Yu Lian added, "More importantly, she is, after all, a creation of the Enlightened Ones, but Aurora is our own."

Captain Nemo suddenly realized: "I understand now. The Empire still hasn't been able to ascertain the true appearance of this ship. We need to be cautious. We can't reveal it prematurely."

Wayne agreed, adding, "After all, the Aurora was built by the Empire. Its presence here would be more humiliating to the Imperial devils than the Silent One."

Eleanor nodded slightly, her face bearing a hint of martyrdom: "Once these photos are released, Aurora will become the Empire's most hated target, right? Even more so than the Silent and the Fuxi. In the subsequent battles, perhaps Aurora can be used as bait."

"If the Aurora can clear the way for the Silent's advance, everything will be perfect."

"You're all right, but the biggest reason is still her name, Aurora. I'm not only going to have her photographed with the royal tombs, I'm going to have her be the first to bombard Dragon's Palace. So, from now on, Brigadier General Eleanor Bonaparte, please transfer your flagship to the Enterprise. Colonel Horatio Wayne, you too. The Lexington is your true home. Listen up, all of you, until I give the order, you'd better tone down your self-sacrifice."

Aside from the Silent One, the core of the remaining fleet is, of course, those three aircraft carriers.

Now, each aircraft carrier is equipped with more than 3000 Bifang units plus a high-performance command terminal system, which can greatly enhance the survivability, maintenance and damage control capabilities of the aircraft carrier and its aircraft.

In short, by the time Yu Lian returned from the underground palace, the Aurora had already completed its photo-taking mission with all the royal tombs. Under Eleanor's command, the warship had hovered beside the most majestic Oath Mountains on Kingsworld, and was positioned close to the side of the planet's highest peak, Corona Peak.

Ina was in charge of operating the light spear secondary cannon on the side of the ship and carving words on the highest rock face on the entire planet.

She had already finished engraving "General Yu Lian was here" and "Long live the free blue planet," and was preparing to engrave something like "Thank you for the invitation, Your Majesty the Emperor," when she received a message from the bridge to regroup.

Eleanor and Ina were slightly disappointed, but they wouldn't object. They had already received the Commander's order to carry out the follow-up work, and their intentions remained sound.

So everyone quickly returned with their spoils, leaving behind only a mess on the Eight Kings Planet.

The captain said, "If we stay for another 24 hours, we'll probably achieve even more results."

He certainly wasn't against any of Yu Lian's opinions; he simply felt regret.

That's the charm of this sacred planet. Normal living beings would feel a physiological attraction to such a planet.

"We must set sail immediately and reach Chaomen α before March 18th to prepare for the conquest of the Wanfan Star System and the heartland of the Empire," Yu Lian said.

After a brief pause, a surge of fervent passion immediately welled up in the captain's eyes.

He was about to salute Yu Lianli to express his determination when, outside the bridge window, the Bifang robots changed their formation again, and the colorful lights clearly bloomed in the starry sky as: "Celebrate! The Commander has ascended to godhood! Your Excellency the Commander is our eternal sunshine!"

Yu Lian could only put on his emotionless poker face again, while Fei Fei covered her mouth and almost burst out laughing, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

"I just want to tell the soldiers what kind of people are leading them," the captain said.

Yu Lian frowned, finally sighed, and lightly rebuked, "This is going too far during a major war."

He felt he should have been furious, but surprisingly he didn't get angry at all; he was so calm that it was frightening to himself.