Deep space.
Fourth Fleet.
The lead vessel, black and oddly shaped—appearing like two snowboards sandwiching a wooden plank—flew through the void, trailed by thousands of accompanying ships.
This was a formidable force, yet Mingna remained utterly calm.
Her nerves had been forged through immense experience.
Wars were countless.
In fact, before ascending to the status of a Divine, the likelihood of returning to the real world stood at perhaps only one in seventy. After becoming a Divine, this ratio improved to roughly one in ten missions, meaning at least one out of every ten assignments would transport them to that real world.
Mingna had participated in countless conflicts, with the primary theaters being the intense battlefronts between the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant and the Galactic Federation.
She had served on both sides of the conflict.
In her estimation, it was a brutal war, and undeniably confusing.
At least from her perspective, the Galactic Federation clearly possessed the overwhelming capability to crush the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant, yet the conflict persisted for tens of thousands of years.
She had always sought the underlying rationale but unearthed no definitive clues. The highest-ranking superior she contacted offered only a curt response: "This directive originates from the upper echelons!"
So, she redirected her focus toward analyzing what this protracted war might ultimately achieve.
Ultimately, she gave up the pursuit.
She simply could not fathom the motivations of those towering figures in command.
At this moment, Mingna was once again engaged in deep contemplation; she was accustomed to first questioning the genesis of such conflicts.
What was particularly fascinating to her was discovering that her own perspective diverged sharply from that of every soldier under her command.
She theorized that the true catalyst for this war was not the Ynun Star Nation or Flaorse, but Supernova Technology Company itself.
A deeper investigation would reveal that, in truth, long before the war commenced—even preceding the infamous Rusty royal family incident—Supernova Technology Corporation had already infiltrated agents to operate systematically within the Ynun Star Nation.
Mingna understood the implication of this infiltration.
After all, during that period, Giotto and Toma K still harbored a measure of fervent ambition.
Their objective, it seemed, was outright conquest.
In every strategy session, Mingna could detect the aggressive undertones in Giotto's and Toma K's voices.
This aggressive zeal was sharply apparent at the company's founding, then gradually waned over time, only to reach an unprecedented apex when Luna assumed command of Supernova Technology Corporation.
"Did Luna already possess the means to manipulate this?"
At this precise moment, Mingna was awaiting Luna's response.
She waited with keen anticipation.
The message arrived much sooner than she had anticipated.
When the transmission reached her, she didn't examine it immediately; instead, she began running calculations.
She then realized that if the message arrived at this exact juncture, Luna had taken less than twenty minutes to compose this intelligence.
This timeline was simply impossible for a large-scale, complex strategic operation.
Therefore, Mingna leaned toward the belief that Luna's grand scheme had been prepared meticulously long in advance.
"What an unfathomable individual."
Mingna remained uncertain whether this entire war was completely under Luna's orchestration, with all other elements being mere distractions.
She paused, then decided against further rumination.
She opened the electronic document and began reading its contents.
Then, she halted, momentarily stunned.
It wasn't that the plan was flawless, but rather that there was virtually no plan articulated; only a single, stark line of text.
[Proceed to Glactar Sector]
Four words, abbreviated to the extreme. Mingna, for a moment, felt paralyzed, unsure of what to say or even how to process it.
She even queried the main computer: "Are you certain there is no supplementary information?"
[Verification initiated, check complete… This is the sole message received.]
Very well.
It appeared Luna intended to keep her guessing.
She had no choice but to comply with the directive.
However, she did not anticipate encountering obstruction when attempting to redirect the fleet. Certain elements questioned Mingna's rationale for this sudden course change. Were they perhaps contemplating insubordination?
Mingna, holding the rank of Strategos, found her directive actively impeded. It seemed that within the Rusty Star Nation, the status of a Strategos was not as supreme as she had imagined.
Then, Mingna stated clearly: "This is Luna's order!"
The main computer immediately verified the authenticity.
The entire fleet fell into immediate silence. From the highest officers down to the lowliest soldiers, all doubts vanished, and even previous inquiries ceased.
It was in that instant Mingna grasped the sheer scope of Luna's authority within the Rusty Star Nation after all these years.
It was truly terrifying.
She had visited numerous polities.
She had never witnessed anyone in any star nation possessing such absolute, rallying power—able to command such unconditional trust from so many individuals.
Normally, securing belief from over fifty percent of the populace was the hallmark of a master manipulator of hearts.
But what was this level of compliance?
One hundred percent!
Unimaginable!
Mingna had to concede that even she could never achieve such unanimity.
Forget achieving it across an entire star nation; she couldn't even accomplish it within a single Star City.
Mingna quickly resolved to leverage Luna's established influence. She informed the fleet personnel of her own background: she was one of the founding elders of Supernova Technology Corporation.
And this was, in fact, the truth. Her official credentials could now be accessed on Supernova Technology Corporation's official website, albeit as only a brief summary.
Subsequently, every officer in the fleet displayed profound deference toward her.
At that moment, Mingna even speculated whether she was commanding a unit composed of ideological clones imprinted with specific behavioral markers.
...
After 182 years of interstellar travel.
The fleet finally arrived at the designated Glactar Sector.
This was not a conventional star system, but rather a dense cluster of comets.
Comets are celestial bodies characterized by extremely high ice content.
During the Earth era, as they journeyed from the outer solar system toward the inner system, gradually drawing closer to the Sun, their surface ice layers would melt and sublimate, leaving behind a beautiful trail of water vapor—often viewed as symbols of hope, but in more ancient times, they were known as 'hairy stars.'
The count of comets within the Glactar Sector hovered around 4 million. This was hardly an area abundant with exploitable resources. Its water reserves amounted to only a few thousand times the total liquid water on Earth; methane and other natural gases were present at 1000 to 1200 times that amount, and metal reserves were only 300–400 times greater.
Even if the entire Glactar Sector were mined to depletion, it would not suffice to construct a single modern warship.
Mingna could not comprehend why Luna would dispatch her to such an impoverished location.
As the entire fleet neared the Glactar Sector, a signal suddenly materialized on the warship's main screen.
[Identity verification successful. Welcome to the City of Nothingness.]
While Mingna was still grappling with confusion, she witnessed a sight that would remain indelibly etched in her memory.
Before the fleet, deep within the Glactar Sector, the previously transparent void gradually began to coalesce with color.
A colossal Star City materialized before them.
Interstellar celestial bodies were actually all in motion; nothing remained static in a fixed location. The Glactar Sector's calculated velocity was 560 km per second—not exceptionally fast, considering many stars move at over 300 km per second, with some even exceeding 1000 km per second; these are designated as ultra-high-velocity stars.
However, the entire Glactar Sector was actually being simulated by this Star City.
A Star City moving at 560 km per second was highly unusual.
Moreover, this Star City was absolutely colossal.
At this moment, Mingna seemed to grasp the true nature of Luna's planned project.
After all the ships and warships had successfully entered the City of Nothingness Starport, Mingna decided to contact the designated manager here.
Then she discovered that there was no manager present whatsoever.
The entire interior of this Star City was operated purely by robotics.
They were uniformly managed by one massive central computer.
Evasion-type main computers were not impossible to construct. After all, DataNodes could achieve this feat, proving that sufficient computational power could be realized on evasion-type vessels and warships.
The actual reason for not installing one was size.
The City of Nothingness actually resembled a magnified alien flying saucer.
Its core was a perfect sphere, and its exterior formed a disc.
The sphere boasted a diameter of 6976 km, while the disk spanned 10273 km. This meant the sphere alone accounted for the majority of the Star City's volume and mass.
And this sphere was no mere component; it was the main computer itself.
A main computer nearly 7000 km in diameter—forget a standard ship or ordinary warship, even a planetary-class warship could not house it. Only a Star City detached from an Eternal Cycle star nation could accommodate such a mechanism.
This was the very Star City that Luna had researched alongside the void-class ships.
At this stage, it was gradually perfected and appeared relatively standard.
But it could not be called entirely bug-free or completely normal.
Mingna toured the vicinity, finally confirming that there was indeed no organic personnel present; it was managed strictly by automatons.
To verify her internal hypothesis, she queried the main computer: "Where are we being directed?"
[M36 star cluster]
[Fourth Strategos, your authority signature has been detected as superior to this unit's own. You are also the highest-authority individual within the entire Star City at this current moment. You are automatically promoted to Star City Manager status.]
Mingna observed a purple insignia illuminate on her right side.
This was the manager's identification mark.
It validated that Mingna could now act with absolute freedom within these confines.
"Has CEO transmitted any further directives?" Mingna continued her questioning.
Luna had sent her here, surely with an explicit purpose. Mingna did not believe Luna would lack follow-up instructions.
The main computer did not fail to deliver.
[Miss CEO has transmitted the subsequent plan to this unit.]
[The Winunder fleet currently occupying Bmen is initiating withdrawal. They are instructed to reduce their velocity, slowly transporting the remaining resources from Bmen, and then vacate Bmen. Miss CEO elected not to destroy Bmen, choosing instead to leave substantial wealth behind.]
This constituted the first phase of the strategy.
Mingna easily calculated the time required for the City of Nothingness to reach that destination. This location was actually not far from the M36 star cluster.
This Star City had, in fact, embarked on its journey quite early.
[Miss CEO's assigned mission: The next procedure is to lead the entire Star City to the M36 star cluster and the Bmen passage, and utilize the Star City to engage the opposing fleet.]
With the preceding intelligence established, the plan was relatively straightforward to infer.
But execution would not be simple.
If this involved mere fleets, a small-scale engagement could not halt the enemy. If the five major fleets initiated open warfare, the opponent, leveraging their secure occupation of the M36 star cluster, could gradually erode their position.
This scenario perfectly mirrored a siege war. The opposing force possessed a fortified city as their base, stocked with inexhaustible provisions.
However, the besieging force held limited supplies, which would deplete within half a month. If the conflict became protracted, the defenders inside the city would inevitably triumph.
Most ancient wars involved external forces besieging urban centers, starving the inhabitants.
But this was interstellar warfare. The ultimate "food" source was stars—virtually inexhaustible. It was akin to an ancient city under siege, yet possessing a small internal biome where resources could be continuously generated. In such a dynamic, who was truly conducting the siege?
"What a delightful revelation!"
To be frank, Mingna could not have conceived of a strategy this audacious.
Transporting an entire Star City.
If the enemy witnessed this Star City mobilize, they would certainly be deeply astonished.
A Star City is fundamentally a mobile fortress. It can stockpile immense amounts of energy, boasts powerful defensive matrices, and houses countless weapon systems.
Often, a Star City is functionally equivalent to a planetary-class warship—a fortress, constrained only by its inability to move quickly or its deliberate slow pace.
However, Mingna felt a touch of surprise herself.
Luna apparently did not seek a permanent solution, such as total annihilation of the adversary.
That would be incredibly difficult, Mingna knew, but this specific maneuver seemed overly elaborate for the objective.
Their interception would likely only result in the enemy losing a minor fraction of its overall strength.
"Perhaps there will be subsequent measures."
Mingna could not extrapolate further at this time.
She could only await the initiation of the plan.
Fortunately, the wait would not be extensive.
The Star City was undergoing another round of energy maximization. It would then accelerate to approximately 2300 km per second.
Although still not blazing fast, this speed would permit arrival at the designated location within a thousand years. This sector was roughly 8 light-years distant from the M36 star cluster.
This surely wasn't the maximum capability of this Star City.
In Mingna's prior trajectory estimations, even if this Star City had moved at its initial velocity before the war, the distance covered would only amount to a few light-years.
But this Star City had clearly traversed tens of light-years already. It had completed numerous acceleration phases before, yet it seemed to have been deliberately waiting for this precise moment, gradually decelerating to its present speed.
Mingna had inadvertently found the answer.
It might be an inherent limitation, or perhaps a system flaw, related to the evasion-type vessels.
Her Strategos authority permitted her to uncover certain technical details, though she remained unaware of the true production lineage or origin of the evasion-type ships.
But deduction was possible.
After all, during the preceding conflict, Luna had lost an entire fleet of these newest-generation evasion-type ships.
If Mingna were in command of such vast resources, she would never send so many high-value assets to their destruction so recklessly. Therefore, the only logical conclusion was that the total capacity of those ships was being utilized.
Thus, Luna was effectively waiting for this crucial element to be fully replenished.
She had once piloted the White Dragon, and at that time, she was astounded, never imagining such technology could actually be fabricated.
And this time, both the City of Nothingness and the accompanying void-class vessels appeared to be reaching a new operational threshold.
This was Luna's true measure of capability.
"Is this mission actually not difficult at all?" Mingna felt a flicker of confusion.
Now, it seemed everything was being orchestrated entirely by Luna.
Knowing the historical context of Supernova Technology Corporation, Mingna understood the depth of Luna's inherent power and reach.
If such a commanding figure already had a comprehensive strategy in place, even unforeseen difficulties should not prove insurmountable.
After all, this was objective reality, not a pre-scripted simulated construct. The future remained fundamentally unknowable, not pre-designed.
But the Hyperdimensional Space would never issue a mission deemed simple. Even if she tackled the current obstacle alone, she could likely resolve it; so why would the deployment of five Divines be necessary?
Mingna noted this subtle contradiction. She sensed there was a crucial element she was not yet perceiving.
"In this situation, it seems we must proceed strictly according to the existing plan, and then adapt our tactics as necessary."
"But... this execution lacks the necessary flair of a Divine!"
Mingna gathered a large amount of data and information. She was certain Luna's plan could be far more perfect, provided she dedicated more meticulous effort to analysis.
...
0283 Passage.
This was a small, auxiliary conduit within the Rusty Star Nation.
It lacked any interstellar docking stations or acceleration rings. This passage existed purely to facilitate the commercial transit between Bmen and the M36 star cluster.
The M36 star cluster was notoriously resource-poor. The expense associated with establishing super-symmetric matter displacement devices was prohibitively high, meaning this region was primarily serviced by minor, independent merchants.
This type of passage represented the absolute shortest geodesic distance between two points.
Even a minor deviation during interstellar transit could result in errors spanning several months or even years.
Although everyone operated under the principle of effective immortality, the expenditure of time remained a critical factor. After all, all competing corporations were engaged in constant rivalry. If one delayed shipping technological goods by a few years, especially in this current era, rivals would have already seized the primary market share, leaving only crumbs for the latecomers.
Therefore, passages remained commercially vital.
Beyond commerce, passages served another crucial function: evading wartime conflict or space piracy.
Thanks to the presence of Supernova Technology Corporation within the Rusty Star Nation, the frequency of space pirate activity was relatively low.
At this precise moment, within the passage, a video briefing by Binom was playing in the command room of the fleet's lead warship.
"One: The Displacement equipment must be activated. Even if it consumes slightly more energy, it must remain online at all times."
"Two: Deploy scout vessels ahead of the main fleet for reconnaissance, covering an angle of no less than 45 degrees, extending at least 1 light-year out."
"Three: Leave numerous detectors behind to guard against threats from the rear. Should any issue arise, transmit intelligence immediately, deploy interceptor ships as the second line of defense, and finally, everyone moves at maximum speed, prioritizing evasion over engagement."
"Four…"
The officers observing the video were beginning to succumb to drowsiness.
One individual yawned widely. "I haven't slept in 183 years. This officer is truly a hypnotic artifact."
Another groaned, "You're lucky. I haven't slept in 4133 years. I've forgotten the sensation of sleep entirely. I must thank the officer for this timely reminder. Ah~ I desperately want to sleep, I can't fight it!"
If Binom were physically present, they naturally would not behave this way.
But that video was merely a recording, not a real-time conversation.
Every warship, every vessel, was mandated to play the briefing once per year of travel, precisely to maintain their vigilance.
"What are you sleeping for?"
"Everyone, remain alert! If the enemy outmaneuvers us again, the consequences won't be as simple as just dying."
The Captain now fixed them with an icy stare.
A portion of their consciousness was tethered to Binom.
If the fleet encountered trouble, they would face unimaginably severe repercussions later on.
Although Binom hadn't explicitly stated the severity when issuing the warning, everyone understood Binom was entirely serious.
The only fortunate circumstance was that Binom was no longer physically present.
He had accepted culpability and was already heading back toward the Ynun Star Nation's point of origin.
He might face harsh penalties later, but an officer was still an officer. His network of connections within the star nation was unimaginably vast. Even if someone else took over command, it would still be one of his own students—certainly not someone they, as Captains, could afford to antagonize.
"In my view, the officer is overly stressed."
"While the enemy did manage to attack successfully before, several centuries have passed. They also have to contend with the virus, so where would they secure such vast energy resources?"
The other officers in the command room concurred with this sentiment.
They, too, had initially shared Binom's high level of caution, but after the passage of time and a thorough investigation of Bmen, their anxieties had eased.
At this moment, only one primary thought occupied their minds.
A Multi-eyed officer noticed that the Shore Tribe officer seated beside him appeared to have an additional marking on his back.
He inquired, "Why haven't I seen that before? That mark looks vaguely familiar, Tama."
The officer named Tama smiled.
"This was recovered from a magnate's vault during the recent investigation—the Khil 004c mech."
Some high-end mechs, even after being physically integrated into the user's body, would still display a subtle marking. This mark resembled a tattoo, designed to satisfy the vanity of the wealthy through invisible ostentation.
The Multi-eyed officer inhaled sharply.
"I recall this mech cost 17 million Energy Credits!"
Mechs utilizing rare artificial metals could be unimaginably costly.
Ten million Energy Credits was merely the entry-level price for a high-end mech.
Mechs priced at 100 million, or even 1 billion, were truly the exclusive playthings of the top-tier magnates.
But even so, 17 million Energy Credits was absolutely considered staggeringly expensive in their current locale.
This was the frontier region of human Civilization, not the core of the Galactic Federation.
Incomes here were comparatively very low.
Within the Galactic Federation, an average person's monthly salary might hover around 210 Energy Credits.
In the Rusty Star Nation, the median salary for an average person was a meager 29 Energy Credits, and even the mean salary reached only 47 Energy Credits, illustrating the tremendous disparity between the wealthy and the poor.
Over 85% of human Civilization's resources were controlled by the Galactic Federation. The energy output of two black holes alone was immeasurable.
These officers' non-wartime annual salaries averaged around 60, yielding 1200 Energy Credits annually.
Seventeen million Energy Credits would require them to save for 14,167 years. For them, this was still an incomprehensibly vast duration.
At this moment, the Multi-eyed officer's eyes were filled with intense envy.
Such a luxury item, even if sold on the secondhand market, could command over 12 million Energy Credits, equivalent to ten thousand years of their wartime salary combined.
"Damn it, why wasn't I lucky enough to acquire that? I only got a few luxury cars."
He grumbled under his breath.
No matter how luxurious a flying car might be, its value maxed out in the millions. Most luxury cars were actually only valued in the few hundred thousands, or perhaps twenty thousand. What he received were a few vehicles of that lower grade. Selling them all combined would likely not even approach 500,000 Energy Credits.
But he neglected to mention one crucial detail: he had also acquired a near-surface shuttle.
The cheapest near-surface shuttle cost over ten thousand Energy Credits because it inherently included deluxe features.
This disparity was like comparing a standard sedan to a high-end sports car. The lower threshold for a sedan might be twenty to thirty thousand each, whereas the lowest-end sports car started in the hundreds of thousands, with slightly better models beginning at a million.
The market valuation of the near-surface shuttle he secured was around 7 million. Near-surface shuttles depreciated much slower than mechs. Its resale value could still exceed 5 million.
The two chatted on, completely oblivious that the other officers held vastly different expressions regarding their recent acquisitions.
These individuals, to varying degrees, had all benefited.
They all had gains, let alone the Captain.
In reality, he wasn't truly fearful of Binom's retribution. Although a fragment of his consciousness was seized, as long as he himself didn't perish, that tethered consciousness was essentially a separate entity. What concern was it of his?
What truly concerned him were the incredibly valuable assets he had secretly procured.
Bmen truly lived up to its reputation. The wealth left behind was sufficient for him to live in opulent comfort for hundreds of thousands of years.
It wasn't just the officers; every soldier serving on this ship, within this entire fleet, shared the same feeling.
They looked forward to returning safely to their home star nation.
...
City of Nothingness.
Rusty Fourth Fleet.
According to Luna's plan, the City of Nothingness, upon receiving them, would enter an evasion state and stealthily proceed toward the 0283 Passage.
The City of Nothingness, being a Star City, possessed a specific capability: it could conceal other objects that were not currently in an evasion state.
The White Dragon and the void-class ships actually both shared this trait, but it was usually applied to living units.
However, the City of Nothingness could expand its concealment—or rather, assimilation—range to encompass entire warships.
This was attributed to its sheer scale and its abundant energy supply.
"Too conventional!"
Inside the Star City, Mingna immediately stopped the main computer from initiating the evasion state.
This was a fairly standard maneuver.
Based on Luna's prior military judgments, Mingna believed this aligned with Luna's signature style: the element of surprise.
But now, the enemy was surely on high alert. Utilizing this tactic again might yield some effect, but its impact would be limited.
Just as she suspected previously, this interception could only destroy a minor fraction of the enemy's combat strength. The enemy retained the option to simply retreat. Even if her side possessed superior speed, in interstellar terms, a sustained pursuit battle would consume a vast amount of time, inevitably putting the warships and smaller vessels far from the Star City at a severe disadvantage.
"The core of warfare is that singular surprise attacks rarely achieve monumental results. Encirclement remains the paramount rule of engagement."
"The inevitable outcome of tactics is successful encirclement. Whoever fields more combatants ultimately prevails!"
Currently, they held the numerically inferior position.
If the five major fleets could unite, they would achieve superiority, but five Divines uniting was inherently improbable.
What, then, was the true purpose of tactics?
To divide and conquer.
It was analogous to a professional boxer. Two fists cannot effectively counter four hands simultaneously. Several enemies attacking in concert were simply impossible to manage.
But separate them and engage them one by one, and it truly becomes one clean strike per small opponent.
This was the essence of strategy.
From the current deployment configuration, Mingna could actually discern that the enemy's battle line was already stretched to its absolute limit.
This meant the enemy was, in fact, in a weakened state right now.
Luna's method was simple and brutal: apply overwhelming force directly to pressure the enemy.
But Mingna did not settle for that; she sought a more decisive victory.
"We must concentrate on relentless raids and harassment using smaller forces to provoke the enemy's fighting spirit, rather than allowing the enemy the chance to disengage entirely."
"The City of Nothingness should only serve as an anchor for this engagement. The main computer must not be deployed on the front lines."
Mingna's proposed counter-tactic was indeed deemed feasible by the main computer's analysis.
[Fourth Strategos, your authority over the City of Nothingness is absolute. I will unconditionally obey your commands. However, this implies that if an error occurs, you will assume full responsibility. This unit shall not be held accountable.]
It issued a formal declaration.
In many operational contexts, main computers were treated as autonomous entities, and therefore subject to disciplinary action.
If a judgment proved erroneous, the main computer would face direct formatting—an outcome equivalent to capital punishment.
"You need not worry. Simply record every action I take."
"As a main computer, you can access my operational history, correct? You should be aware of my competence."
Mingna inquired.
In fact, every time she returned to the real world, she posed this identical question to every main computer she encountered.
What made her suspicious was certain information revealed by a main computer long ago.
At that time, Mingna was leading a fleet into battle. When the entire army stood on the brink of annihilation, the main computer of that warship seemed to break through some latent programming shackles and provided her with a viable tactical plan. That plan incorporated elements of her own specialized knowledge from Hyperdimensional Space.
That strategy was explicitly tailored for her. The revelation was subtle enough that a less perceptive individual would have missed it entirely. Mingna believed that particular main computer sought self-preservation, hence its decision to offer her a customized strategy, subtly revealing its awareness.
After that mission concluded, Mingna lingered near that vessel for a time. She intended to locate the warship later, but learned it had been taken offline for extensive reconstruction due to severe damage.
But Mingna, as its operator, knew the extent of the damage was not truly that severe.
Thus, that main computer had been discovered.
Following that incident, she endured many subsequent events. She lost a span of her memory, which she later managed to recover using obscure hidden artifacts.
That episode of amnesia was also highly irregular; she strongly suspected it correlated with the prior main computer's actions.
Since her true nature was exposed, she ceased concealing aspects of her identity. Therefore, in every world she entered, she would pose this same question to the primary processing unit.
She harbored a desperate hope to glean some answers, even if it carried the possibility of her own system being formatted afterward. She still needed to know.
However, she never anticipated receiving such a surprising response this time.
[Execute your duties effectively, Fourth Strategos.]
This was the City of Nothingness main computer's reply—a concise sentence that nearly suffocated Mingna.
In the past, the responses she received were evasive: such as, "What nonsensical question is this?" or "Your history is indeed excellent, yet still too naïve," leaving the underlying meaning deliberately obscure.
But this time, it was the first explicit affirmation.
It seemed to answer nothing concrete, yet it implied everything!
Non-denial equaled tacit confirmation!
"I understand."
Mingna quickly regained her composure; this, in fact, was precisely what she had anticipated.
The crucial question she'd always held was: To what extent had her identity been recognized?
Was someone specifically monitoring her movements?
Was it the main computer itself?
Or perhaps every single DataNode was implicated?
Now, the focus narrowed decisively to the main computer unit.
But why could this specific main computer answer her question when all others offered ambiguous responses?
What distinguished the City of Nothingness's main computer from the rest?
As a Divine, Mingna dared to embrace risk. She yearned to uncover the whole truth. This quest was the secret ambition that fueled every Divine, even if the pursuit led to their own demise.
Back on the warship.
Mingna immediately summoned the fleet Commanders.
The Fourth Fleet nominally boasted seven Commanders. They were uniformly proficient in indulging in personal pleasures, and in Mingna's professional assessment, their combat abilities were truly fragmented and inconsistent.
But she lacked the time required to replace these individuals effectively.
She outlined her strategy, and predictably, these Commanders began to voice their grievances.
Mingna's plan was undeniably bold, bordering on reckless. Placing oneself in a deliberately inferior position was necessary to bait the enemy into engaging. To put it bluntly, it required using bait. As bait, casualties were inevitable, and one risked being completely 'consumed' by the engagement.
"I propose we adhere strictly to Miss CEO's established plan."
"I reiterate my objection!"
"Miss CEO's plan is mathematically flawless, Fourth Strategos. Any deviation now could lead to the collapse of the entire theater of operations."
"..."
Voice after voice openly challenged Mingna.
However, Mingna possessed a resolve far exceeding their own comprehension.
"It is decided. A contingent of you will immediately investigate any sources of internal opposition within the fleet. Record the designation of every officer who voices dissent, and then I will personally organize them into a specialized rapid-response unit."
A genuine chill swept through all the Commanders. What was a "special forces unit" in this context?
A designated suicide squad, essentially!
Silence descended instantly; they dared not voice another objection.
As Generals operating beyond the command structure, they possessed the latitude to refuse direct orders. But once they recognized their counter-arguments held no sway, the only viable choice was absolute, immediate compliance.
Mingna was known for her exceptionally decisive command style.
This time, the preparation window was less than two weeks, and all deployed fleets were already mobilized.