From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 742 Unveils the Secret Hidden for Countless Years

"."

Upon hearing Sui Meng's question, Halsey didn't say much, but simply turned his gaze to Cortana beside him.

A simple exchange of glances was enough to convey all the necessary instructions.

Cortana's blue holographic image nodded slightly, and then her gaze immediately refocused on the huge holographic star map in the center of the control room.

Her hands danced gracefully in the air, like a highly skilled, invisible conductor directing a vast symphony orchestra composed of massive amounts of monitoring data.

Countless shimmering streams of information surrounded her, intertwined, filtered, and compared, forming a magnificent data waterfall.

At the same time, her voice rang out in the control room, providing synchronized explanations for each of her operational steps, ensuring that everyone present could understand the logic behind this complex analytical process:

"Prioritizing the retrieval of all recorded data streams within the effective coverage area of ​​the pulse wave."

Screening parameters are set to focus on capturing natural energy fluctuation peaks from non-background radiation sources, anomalous gravitational disturbance signals, microscopic spatial folds exceeding known physical models, and any residual information radiation exhibiting characteristics of intelligent civilizations.

Her operation speed was beyond human comprehension; the information on the star chart changed rapidly like a tide, the lines connecting the constellations sometimes bright and sometimes dim, and the points of light representing different energy levels and signal types flickered like fireflies on a summer night.

"The initial wide-area screening has been completed. Based on the analysis of anomalous signal intensity, duration and spatial distribution patterns, a total of seventeen high-value galaxy coordinates with traces of advanced civilizations or persistent anomalous energy residues have been marked."

As she spoke, she highlighted the coordinates of several signals with the most prominent features in striking blue, and quickly retrieved related encrypted confidential files from the vast intelligence database, either from the core databases of the Earth Federation and the Unified Church that had been cracked or seized, for rapid cross-comparison and correlation analysis.

"According to the final dossier of the Earth Federation's top-secret file 'Project Prometheus,' and the core documents of the Unification Church's 'Relic Origin Tracing,' which are only accessible to bishops and above."

Cortana efficiently integrated fragments of information from different sources while clearly explaining them to Sui Meng, Halsey, and others:
"One of the high-priority coordinates that is repeatedly mentioned and has an unusually strong signal is located in a dim region at the edge of the Pegasus Nebula and was marked as Tavolantis by early Federation explorers."

Current long-range spectral and gravitational scan data indicate that this is an ocean planet with a volume approximately 1.3 times that of Earth, whose surface is completely sealed by a global ice sheet with an average thickness of over five kilometers, and which may contain a vast liquid water ocean beneath the ice.

Beneath that frozen abyss, another, even more ancient 'primordial divine seal' seems to slumber.

She skillfully retrieved relevant archival text fragments, enhanced and blurred deep space exploration images, and some scattered readings about the planet's unusual gravity and energy radiation.

"An ironic fact is that there is a huge, and potentially fatal, bias in the federal government's system of understanding."

Cortana's tone was calm, but her words were thought-provoking: "Based on incomplete information, they once believed that the divine seal was created by the ancient and advanced civilization of the 'Tavolantis'."

Archival records show that the Federation poured considerable resources into attempting to perform complex triangulation calculations using a weak quantum entanglement effect between the three incomplete red divine seals they possessed and replicated and the original divine seals discovered on Earth. Ultimately, they pinpointed the distant planet Tavolantis as their target.

At this moment, Cortana and Halsey exchanged a quick glance, and the latter nodded slightly, indicating that she could continue to make deeper and bolder reasonable speculations based on the existing fragments of intelligence and logical chains.

Cortana's image flickered slightly, as if its underlying processing core was running at full power, handling a massive number of possibilities:
"By comprehensively interpreting the information mentioned in the archives, and combining it with the basic characteristics of the divine seal that we have confirmed through practical experience and analysis—including its spiritual pollution, distortion of life forms, and its ultimate goal of 'aggregation'—we can construct a highly credible model of a civilizational tragedy."

The Tavorantis civilization, a once-glorious and intelligent civilization, also discovered the existence of divine seals at some point in time.

They may be tempted by the appearance of the divine seal, or by the prospect of 'unlimited energy' that they misunderstand, and try to use this unknown power to solve the energy crisis or other survival dilemmas they encounter in their own development.

This reckless act ultimately led to a catastrophic and uncontrollable outbreak of ghouls, whose once-proud social structure and military power rapidly collapsed under attack from within.

The very few remaining Tavolantis may have taken some extreme and desperate final measure in an attempt to stop the final 'union' ritual guided by the divine seal.

Judging from the 'global rapid freezing' phenomenon vaguely mentioned in the archives, they may have succeeded at the last moment—freezing the entire planet along with its threats in a self-destructive manner, but at the terrible cost of the complete annihilation of their entire civilization.

After listening to Cortana's clear and logical explanation, Sui Meng crossed his arms, his gloved fingers tapping lightly on his arm armor. After a moment's thought, he made his judgment:
"Regardless of whether Tavolantis is the direct source of the creators behind the Divine Seal, it is an extreme example of a planet that had deep contact with the Divine Seal and ultimately led to the complete destruction of an advanced interstellar civilization. It has immeasurable archaeological and threat assessment value."

Since the Earth Federation and the Unification Church have invested resources in research, they must have left behind a large amount of original research data, environmental records, and even some physical evidence there, either because of unforeseen circumstances or because they were unable to take them away in time.

Immediately dispatching a highly skilled reconnaissance team with multidisciplinary experts to this star system for preliminary reconnaissance may help us uncover more crucial information about the nature of the Divine Seal, its operational mechanisms, and even clues to the forces that may exist behind it.

This is far more efficient than blindly searching the Milky Way.

“I completely agree with your assessment.” Halsey nodded in support, her eyes sparkling with the light of scientific exploration. “That place is very likely an information node containing a wealth of lost knowledge, and may even retain firsthand information about fighting the Divine Seal that other civilizations that have been swallowed by the Blood Moon do not have.”

Just then, Cortana appeared to have completed another parallel deep data analysis.

She once again operated the massive star map interface, highlighting the coordinates of several other seemingly unrelated galaxies scattered across different spiral arms with a striking amber color that served as a warning.

When she spoke again, there seemed to be a hint of doubt in her tone:
"There is another potentially important situation to report, Primarch, Doctor. During the in-depth analysis of the feedback data from the pulse waves of the large device traversing the vast space, our sensor network detected a subtle, but not negligible, anomaly—"

When the energy leading edge of the pulse wave arrives at and passes through these specific galaxies, asymmetric attenuation and spectral distortion at specific frequencies appear on its energy characteristic spectrum.

This effect can be preliminarily categorized as the pulse wave being subjected to some unknown, localized 'interference' or 'modulation' during propagation.

She then pulled up a more detailed, magnified waveform comparison chart, displaying the smooth waveform in the normal propagation section side by side with the waveform that showed fine spikes and dips after passing through these galaxies.

"Based on our current physical models, in a near-perfect cosmic vacuum, and in regions where there are no massive gravitational sources or special spacetime structures such as wormholes or space foam, the propagation of pulse waves from large devices should maintain extremely high integrity and should not exhibit such clearly directional phenomena."

I have preliminarily ruled out possible contaminating factors from known natural celestial bodies within these galaxies, such as pulsars, black hole accretion disks, and dark matter clouds. Therefore, I cannot currently determine whether this is some unrecorded and ununderstood natural cosmic phenomenon, such as a unique distribution of interstellar medium, or...
This suggests that within these galaxies exist special environments, naturally occurring fields, and even, through physical mechanisms or technologies currently unknown to us, extremely subtle influences that could 'filter' pulses from large-scale devices. Or, more intriguingly, traces of some intelligent entity's activity may exist.

This unexpected discovery was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.

This means that in this universe that has just been "cleaned up," there may still be some secrets that they have not yet understood or even noticed.

"."

Upon hearing this, Sui Meng's gaze swept quickly between the amber-marked star system coordinates and the planet Tavolantis, and he had already made up his mind.

He turned to Halsey and Cortana and said, “We cannot ignore any potential clues. Cortana, synchronize the coordinates of these galaxies that are showing interference signals to the Imperial Army.”

Then he instructed Wu Ji: "Order the 3rd, 7th and 9th companies to each send a rapid reaction fleet, with cruisers as the core and supplemented by destroyers and reconnaissance ships, to conduct preliminary reconnaissance in these three star systems."

Mission priority: covert observation, collection of environmental data, assessment of the nature of anomalous signal sources, and avoidance of contact with any unknown forces unless absolutely necessary.

If any discovery is made, report it immediately; do not act without authorization.

He paused for a moment, his gaze finally settling on the coordinates representing the star Tavolantis, where potentially more direct and crucial information was hidden.

"As for Tavorantis," he emphasized, "I will personally lead my battle group there."

Our goal is to thoroughly search the planet and recover all research files, experimental data, and any physical evidence that may be related to the Divine Seal left behind by the Earth Federation.

We must understand what the Tavoranti civilization discovered and what led to their ultimate destruction; this may reveal deeper secrets behind the divine seal.

As soon as he finished speaking, Halsey stepped forward, his eyes sparkling with an almost childlike curiosity and the unwavering determination of a top scholar:

"Then I must be included in this archaeological expedition, kid."

Faced with the ruins of an ancient civilization that may be completely unfamiliar, and the mess that the Earth Federation may have left behind, you need the most brilliant scientific minds on site to make judgments.

Deciphering potentially non-standard information carriers and analyzing unknown technological creations cannot be solved simply by using bolt blasters and power armor.

Her tone carried an air of self-assured confidence; in the fields of archaeology and reverse engineering, she indeed possessed an authority unmatched by anyone in the empire.

Sui Meng had no objection to this; he nodded slightly.

"Of course, Doctor, your expertise is key to this operation."

We need you to decipher the message left by the Tavorantis and assess the value of the Federation's research. Valkyrie, coordinate arrangements to ensure Dr. Halsey's safety within the fleet and that the research needs are given the highest priority.

"Command confirmed, Primarch." The image of the warrior bowed slightly. "The battle group has entered the pre-departure preparation phase. Dr. Halsey's private laboratory and safe room are undergoing initial testing on the Human Might Forever."

Hours later, in the cosmic region of Tavolantis.

This was a deathly, cold space, where even the starlight seemed frozen.

An aging, faintly glowing red dwarf star weakly illuminates its galaxy, providing negligible heat.

The focus of the galaxy is the planet called Tavolantis.

It is a world ruled by extreme cold, with a vast planetary surface covered by endless white ice fields, the ice so thick that it can bury mountains.

Enormous glaciers, like twisted scars, are etched on the planet's surface, reflecting the starlight and making the entire planet look like a roughly polished, enormous, frozen marble.

There was little sign of cloud movement, no ripples reflecting light from the water, only an ancient, deathly stillness.

Even more chilling is the massive wreckage suspended in orbit around Tavolantis.

It was a twisted and completely dead "flesh and blood" celestial body, the remains of a blood moon.

Its once enormous body, which might have been writhing and radiating ominous energy, now appears as if all life and color have been drained away, presenting a dull, withered dark brown color, its surface covered with cracks and impact craters like a dried-up riverbed.

There it was, like the carcass of a colossal beast nailed to the graveyard of the universe, silently recounting the horrors that had occurred there, and the ultimate purification that had finally descended from the massive apparatus.

This region of space is like a tomb of civilization, filled with an ominous past.

In the midst of this deathly silence, the space not far from the planet Tavolantis suddenly began to distort violently.

The structure of reality, like a piece of cloth, was forcibly torn apart by an irresistible force, creating a huge rift that flickered with arcs of energy.

Immediately following, the bow of the Imperial-class flagship, the Man-Eternal, slowly emerged from the crack, followed by more than a dozen smaller ships, which were still enormous compared to the various ships in the Dead Space universe.

This small, elite fleet, centered around the Renwei Yonggu, was like a steel torrent crashing into a graveyard. The murderous aura it brought formed a stark contrast to the deathly silence of this star field.

The fleet maintained a strict alert formation, adjusted its posture, and began to circle the frozen, dead planet, as if examining an ancient coffin, preparing to uncover the secrets hidden for countless years.
(End of this chapter)