Him and their stars.

Chapter 2094 Strolling in the Garden
As the Pilgrimage began its final charge, an ancient warship from another generation easily deviated from its charging trajectory.

The Silent Ship, which is not much shorter than the long Yuanlong in the distance, looks like a giant whale swimming in space, but at this moment it is as agile as a petrel.

A faint, almost imperceptible halo of light emanated from the entire silver-white hull, causing its massive body to suddenly change. It then turned at a sharp angle that defied the laws of physics, nimbly and swiftly deviating from its original impact trajectory.

By the time the Imperial soldiers at the fortress command realized what was happening, she had already drifted far away.

"She's...she's left the yellow zone? She's retreated?"

On the bridge of the Yuanlong, an officer who was staring intently at the screen shouted out unconsciously.

Why is that? Is she scared?

"...I would like to think that's possible, but it's probably impossible."

Perhaps due to interference from quality signals and visual illusion, the crew members on the Yuanlong did not notice that the ghost had disembarked from a dragon boat; they only saw her movement.

They clearly saw that this ancient behemoth, which had haunted the entire empire for half a year, had made an elegant turn that completely overturned their common sense.

"This is practically a dance of gods!"

"As expected of the Enlightened One's relic! I hope she can truly stay away from all dangerous areas from now on."

"Yes, we just want to hold on firmly!"

The officers and soldiers on the fleet exchanged these thoughts, which sounded particularly unambitious and listless. If they were proper Imperial Guard members, these remarks alone would surely have earned them punishment from their superiors. However, those present were all proper Imperial Guard officers and soldiers; they were normal, and they were pragmatic.

Even this idea proved extremely naive in subsequent developments.

Then, the ghost ship, which had already completed its turn, did not flee the danger zone at full speed as everyone had hoped. Instead, it continued to turn, pointing its bow toward the Imperial fleet, and suddenly began to accelerate.

Her posture was almost provocative.

Even if the Empire is forced into a state of "no troops available," it still has nearly 300 soldiers, a sizable capital fleet, and the Titans in command. No matter how demoralized they are, surely they can't be defeated by a single ship?
Even the most invincible ghost.

Isn't this too insulting to the glorious Imperial Army?
Amidst the gritted teeth and bewildered fear of the Imperial Army's crew, a chilling energy once again gathered at the bow of this slender, ghostly ship, at the reflector port that had just created a firepower vacuum in Fortress C.

It was still an almost imperceptible colorless high-dimensional energy, and there were still no dazzling sound or light effects. There were only occasional optical ripples, but the people of the Empire, who had suffered countless losses, were terrified.

"Fire! Fire immediately!" General Parosson shouted.

"No, Commodore Teach's light fleet is at six o'clock."

The admiral then realized that he had obeyed the orders of the fortress and dispatched a squadron to put pressure on the ghost ship at close range. If he could drive it away from the danger zone with a barrage of torpedoes, he would have accomplished his mission.

But who could have imagined that a giant ship of the enemy could actually perform a fancy drift right in front of him? And even more unexpectedly, his own torpedo fleet actually hindered his firing range.

This obstacle will certainly only be for a very brief moment, but it will be fatal.

This brave imperial light fleet suddenly became prey.

"Scatter! Scatter now!" Brigadier General Teach's voice echoed through the communications channel, sounding somewhat miserable and panicked, probably due to the distortion caused by communication interference.

"Scatter! His target isn't just us!" General Parosson also gave his order.

It's too late.

The ghostly ship, still maneuvering, seemed to pause for a fleeting moment. Then, an even thicker and more violent arc of high-dimensional electricity, more powerful than when it bombarded the fortress, tore through the sky and swept towards the oncoming Imperial light fleet!
The destructive energy surge instantly engulfed the two light cruisers at the forefront.

Their shields and armor remained standing, but the hull convulsed violently under the violent injection of electric arcs. The internal energy lines overloaded and exploded, spewing out scorching flames and thick smoke that tore through the armor from the inside, finally stopping the shields from continuing to operate.

Thus, after these two counterintuitive events, the warships instantly transformed into two enormous space fireworks, blooming silently before quickly fading away.

The four destroyers following closely behind didn't even have time to evade before being swept away by the fully dissipated energy shockwave. Their fate was even more tragic, like mosquitoes being slapped squarely by an invisible giant hand, instantly shattering into countless burning metal fragments.

In fact, the destroyers also experienced the counterintuitive unfolding just now, but because the pace was too fast, no one saw it clearly.

Tragically, after the electric arc's charge, none of the six destroyed warships survived.

Fortunately, the remaining light warships, though all sustained some damage, at least survived.

However, what was even more shocking and terrifying was that this terrifying surge of high-dimensional energy was far from over! Like a pack of hungry predators, after easily dispersing this light fleet, its main force continued to rush towards the Abyss Dragon further behind!
It was as if, for the electric arc, the previous few small boats were merely appetizers and desserts; now it was time to move on to the main course.

"Begin evasive maneuvers! Maximum power shields!" the captain shouted from the bridge of the Yuanlong.

“There’s no need!” Admiral Parosson interrupted him. His short body was like a reef with only one corner showing. It looked inconspicuous, but even a tsunami couldn’t wash it away.

"Shields are useless, and it's too late to dodge! On my command, fire all the light spears!"

The officers and soldiers carried out the orders. Faced with the ghost, they were becoming increasingly dispirited, even lacking courage, but at least they still possessed the obedience and professionalism honed through countless trials.

The massive hull of the Abyss Dragon stood still, once again unleashing a deadly purple beam of light towards its distant target. Its shield generator operated smoothly, almost serenely.

Then, they calmly awaited the arrival of the electric arc, which emitted a blinding light.

After traveling millions of kilometers, the high-dimensional energy spread over a wide area, affecting Yuanlong and the four battlecruisers and six heavy cruisers around it.

At that moment, all the warships seemed to flash with blinding light under the illumination of the electric arc, as if they had been blasted into a frozen state before their eyes.

"Boom—!" The crew members on the Titan even heard the explosion up close.

However, the explosion only affected a few unimportant compartments on the outer side.

Amidst the intense explosions and frantically flashing lights, the bridge received its report: "Four compartments destroyed, three damaged, and 681 crew members have lost contact and life signals."

Although the Yuanlong was hit directly, and the electric arc had penetrated into the ship, the damage was ultimately manageable.

In comparison, the battlecruiser Diamond Golem next door was in a much worse state. The violent energy shock shook the entire giant ship violently, as if it had been struck by an invisible giant hammer and was left in a dazed state.

Her shields were still functioning, yet a series of explosions erupted inside the ship. The lights on the exterior of the hull flashed wildly, like screams of agony, and sparks-filled shockwaves burst forth from the seams of the armor, like blood flowing from a severe wound.

It was obvious at a glance that although she wasn't destroyed on the spot, she had suffered enough serious injuries to keep her in the dock for a year and a half.

The other three battlecruisers also suffered considerable damage, but the Diamond Golem was the most severely damaged.

But she survived.

Admiral Paroson stood still, watching as the beam of light he had unleashed finally crossed the vast sea of ​​stars and struck the swaggering Silent.

This creature certainly looked like a giant whale striding proudly, as if the entire cosmos was merely its hunting ground. But even such a behemoth would surely fear a harpoon.

Surely He can't be immortal?

"Hit! All three shots hit!" Admiral Parosson heard the roar of the gunnery officer on the Abyss Dragon. The latter almost cheered.

This desperate attack, which embodied the resolve of all officers and soldiers, ultimately did not miss!
"This is my last Ripple! Break it!" Admiral Parosun muttered to himself in a voice almost only he could hear.

But then, the reconnaissance department gave a report that nearly scared everyone out of their wits: "The enemy, the enemy ship is still there, and there has been no explosion."

She was unharmed?

“Monster…” Someone’s voice, trembling with sobs, broke through the deathly silence of the communication channel. It was a low, mournful sound, almost like a groan.

However, after the brief chaos, they could still see a flickering red light burning on the Ghost's smooth, silver bow.

“Look, she’s still injured! She’s not immortal! She can be defeated! Even in a head-on battle, if we work together, she might not be able to defeat our entire fleet!” Admiral Paroson said.

A subtle cheer suddenly erupted from the bridge, sounding somewhat forced.

To be honest, in this situation, not cheering would feel oppressive, but cheering would be a bit awkward. It's really a difficult situation to handle.

When did the mighty Imperial Army stoop so low as to cheer over such a small "victory"? The short Imperial general was naturally conflicted, but considering that this was also what he wanted to see, he was speechless for a moment and could only force out an awkward but polite smile.

The Imperial fleet, having regained some morale, launched a salvo towards the Ghost. But by then, the elegant warship had already readjusted its course. Bathed in the clear moonlight, its silver hull once again distanced itself from the fortress and leisurely sailed into deep space, far from the battlefield.

In reality, she was not slow at all, but now she gave the impression of arrogantly and cruelly trampling on the last remaining pride of the Galactic Empire.

However, the Imperial Army had no time to feel ashamed. They finally belatedly detected the gravitational signal of the Dragon Ship Pilgrimage, but by then, half of the Imperial's special warship, a masterpiece of occultism, had already sunk into the liquid metal coating.

If it were an energy shield, it would be highly likely to be directly pierced by a large-mass solid, but the fluid metal layer exists precisely to prevent such impacts.

But now, this "ocean" of protection, composed of trillions of tons of fluid metal, is like a fragile film that has been easily pierced.

"How could it have been penetrated? This is illogical!" Admiral Paroson finally lost his composure and couldn't help but shout. To be fair, several events today had already overturned his understanding, and Hong Wen was already considered calm by now.

The adjutant replied, "A message came from the fortress: the magnetic field of the fluid metal layer resonated with the Pilgrimage. It's...it's the metal layer opening on its own. Yes, Chenxiao Fortress automatically identified it as one of their warships, and even turned on the signal lights to actively guide it into port!"

"...They've been stolen for so long, haven't they changed the IFF code yet? Someone should be shot! Quickly shut it down manually!"

"They're working on it, but it's too late. The Pilgrim is too close to the fortress."

"She has entered the fluid metal layer and is accelerating towards the C-1 dock in area C!"

"We've lost contact with the Chenxiao Fort command post. Yes, it's internal communications interference!"

"Commander, there's a high-energy reaction at 4 o'clock... uh, it's the Earth fleet. That small fleet has launched sub-light-speed missiles at us! There are about 200 to 250 of them."

The Imperial fleet officers and men were momentarily stunned. They couldn't even handle a single ghost, let alone dare to provoke them with a mere thirty small boats; it was an utter humiliation.

However, while the provocation of that small fleet circling at the edge of the galaxy can be ignored, what about that ghost ship?
She has already distanced herself from us.

At this moment, the Imperial Army, which clearly had an absolute advantage in troop strength, actually felt the awkward dilemma of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

“Someone will be shot! Someone will be fed to the dragons! The fortress should not make such a mistake!” General Paroson roared.

In reality, the general was somewhat wronging someone. Even if the Imperial Army was corrupt, it wouldn't be so blatantly ignorant. Although they didn't publicly acknowledge that the Pilgrimage had been captured, they understood that the next time they met, the dragon ship might truly be their enemy, so they naturally updated all their friend-or-foe identification codes well in advance.

However, just as the terrifying "magic trick" of turning ships into life threw the imperial officers and soldiers on Chenxiao Fort into a brief state of chaos, the fortress's central control terminal also received a signal: a "friendly ship" requesting to enter the port.

The request was approved at lightning speed, as efficiently as passing through an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) gate on a highway.

Then, the outermost layer of the silver metal "ocean" in Zone C of Chenxiao Fortress slowly slid apart to both sides, just like the Red Sea that had been separated, revealing the fortress itself hidden beneath the fluid metal.

Within that metal curtain wall surrounded by thick armored walls and fixed turrets, there was a gate that was not yet closed.

Behind the lock gate, there was the brightly lit main dock of Area C, where many ships under maintenance and transport boats were docked!

"Quality readings are stable! Signal is stable! This is our ship! The terminal has identified it as our ship!"

"Enemy ship! It's an enemy ship! Open fire! Manual fire! Manually close the hatches and metal decks!"

"No! It's too late."

"They're coming in!"

Yu Lian, familiar with the passageways inside the fortress, listened to the various shouts coming from the fortress command center and shrugged: "But I'm already inside."

"So, Fish, why are you so familiar with this place? How many times have you been here?" Fei Fei asked, crossing her arms behind her.

Compared to the leisurely stroll of the Silent Ship, the two of them seemed more like they were taking a walk.