"Earlier, I suspected that there was a Mechanical Thought Body within the Empire."
"Is it the Thought Body left behind by the previous examiner?" Yang Ming asked softly. "Your three teachers mentioned it occasionally before, but they didn’t continue, as if something unpleasant happened."
"I don’t dare to think too much about it either."
"Giving the examiner a parasitic Mechanical Thought is a tradition of the Intelligent Mechanic Dusk’s legacy assessment. I can give you some hints. The way you interact with me will, to some extent, determine whether you can pass the assessment.
"Of course, this kind of hint is allowed because I now trust you unconditionally.
"The original civilization of the Intelligent Mechanic Dusk reached an awkward state ultimately. They pursued higher civilization levels and the universe’s ultimate truth, then ran wildly on the path of mechanical ascension, only to be trapped within the machinery, unable to find new things in this field anymore.
"Innovation, surprises, mutations, fluctuations beyond the plan... these factors became the ultimate desire of high-level civilizations like the Intelligent Machines.
"Therefore, the Intelligent Mechanic Dusk hopes its successors will be natural life forms, stepping into high-level civilizations as natural beings.
"The accompanying Mechanical Thought Body is the solution offered by the civilization that created the Intelligent Mechanic Dusk."
Yang Ming smiled, "I had thought about most of this before. Now I only care about one thing."
"What?" Lyu asked softly. "Are you afraid that Levi is still alive?"
"Levi is probably already dead," Yang Ming replied, "unless he used the method of mechanical ascension to keep the Thought Body alive. It’s still unknown if this Thought Body could be considered Levi Sherman. What I care about is the relationship between you and the previous examiner’s accompanying mechanical thought."
"Uh, sisters?" Lyu pondered while pinching her chin, "probably like cousins."
Yang Ming’s eyes lit up as he asked, "Do you think she can provide us with help?"
"I didn’t feel kindness from her, but I didn’t feel malice either," Lyu was uncertain. "Should I try to contact her?"
"No, for now, let’s not approach the Emperor Star Circle. First, find a way to investigate this thing, preferably clarifying its state."
Yang Ming’s mind was racing.
"Later, we’ll put on an act. Get me some special effects makeup to make it look like I’m heavily injured and put into a medical chamber.
"The Empire suffered significant losses in this battle and will certainly not let the New Federation off easily. This will inevitably trigger a political storm within the Milky Way, so we’d better hide and watch the situation unfold.
"Moreover, I need to find Po Suo and must act secretly. The Empire definitely wants to capture Po Suo alive.
"Faking an injury is the best choice."
"Yes, boss, I’ll arrange it immediately," Lyu smirked slightly, "I was just unprepared last time. If it happens again, although my computing power is inadequate, I wouldn’t be so easily kicked out of the Emperor Star Circle network."
"Of course," Yang Ming gave a thumbs up. "My Lyu is invincible."
Lyu was a bit embarrassed, turned her head, and disappeared, leaving behind a little starlight.
Yang Ming picked up the access terminal and opened the popular Imperial websites.
Sure enough, Imperial propaganda was desperately promoting the "Invincible Fleet’s victory over the Sixth-Rank Peak Queen," with the battlefield scenes edited into clips.
The queen ultimately escaped, leaving Yang Ming quite contemplative.
There was no unbreakable energy shield, only insufficiently large artillery caliber.
The warp fortress’s Constant Star Cannon.
Now that’s what you call a sense of security.
A few minutes later, Lyu brought messages from Hera.
The queen had fled, but the anger of the Insect Swarm had not subsided. The Space Worm Clan remembered this event and vowed to make humanity pay a hundredfold.
—This was the message transmitted by the queen to the insect swarm within the Milky Way, and Hera received a copy too.
This fact made Yang Ming feel a bit exasperated.
The Space Worm Clan acknowledged Hera as a ’human-form queen.’
No wonder living with Hera drove the insect swarm insane enough to send in the Fake Mother Insect to rescue her.
Currently, Hera had returned to the base.
With the help of Lyu and 026, Yang Ming applied extensive injury makeup on himself, displaying severe burns and patches of baldness, and lay unconscious in the medical chamber.
This scene was sent to the Military Department and the Supermodified Organization by the ’White Ghost Assistant.’
Speaking of the cost of sick leave.
When Yang Ming was done with this matter, the Empire had already commenced a nationwide broadcast; the Empire’s highest commander and the royal elder princess were scheduled to deliver a televised speech in half an hour.
In other words, half an hour later, it would be determined whether the Milky Way would enter an era of full-scale war or continue peaceful development.
The Empire’s casualty statistics had been released.
It was a death toll that was unacceptable from top to bottom throughout the Empire.
In the current insect swarm, six Administrative Stars suffered direct attacks by the Insect Race; three were nearly annihilated, with death tolls exceeding 350 million.
Three Administrative Stars suffered varying degrees of destructive impact, with death tolls exceeding 170 million.
What the propaganda didn’t mention was that these six Administrative Stars were selectively abandoned by the Imperial Military Department.
In reality, there was no choice; when sacrifices had to be made, the Military Department could only prioritize interests.
The abandoned planets had the smallest populations among all the assaulted Administrative Stars; they were about to be removed from the ’main Administrative Star’ sequence, with much of their surfaces as urban ruins, low industrial output, and severe pollution, having little intrinsic value.
Civilian casualties exceeded 520 million; this was equivalent to the extinction of a minor Galactic nation.