Chapter 1 The Beginning

Hao Ren was taken aback by the data terminal's report. "Drone swarm? What did they find?"

"A group of drones from the L-B-35 exploration sequence discovered traces of what appears to be a primitive faster-than-light engine along their patrol route. Based on the dissipation of the traces, they were left behind decades ago."

Hao Ren immediately grew serious. "Decades ago? Are you sure?"

"All the information reported by the drone swarm has been rigorously calculated. It's unlikely to be wrong," the data terminal said, projecting detailed information from the swarm. "The swarm believes we may have found surviving refugees – the kind that still retain a high level of civilization."

Hao Ren watched the images projected by the data terminal with rapt attention. He saw a vast expanse of space, with unfamiliar nebulae and cosmic landscapes shimmering in the distance. Between these starlight points was a faint, twisted, discontinuous band. The band itself had no color, but it altered the surrounding light like a lens, making it observable. The data terminal explained the phenomenon: "Primitive faster-than-light engines propel spacecraft by altering the curvature of space. However, immature technology prevents these engines from restoring the spatial curvature near the start and end points of their journeys. Therefore, they leave behind twisted lenses like this after entering or leaving hyperspace. These lenses usually take decades or even centuries to dissipate on their own."

Hao Ren remembered seeing information about the pros and cons of primitive faster-than-light engines in other technical documents. He roughly knew about the "lens trails" that the data terminal mentioned. He also knew that in many lower-level civilizations, people would track target spacecraft based on newly formed twisted lenses—mercenaries and pirates were good at this. But the others present probably hadn't studied this aspect of things much.

Lili was surprised after hearing the terminal's explanation. "Wow, wouldn't flying around in ships with those low-tech engines turn the universe into Swiss cheese?"

"The universe is vast. You can't damage it with those primitive engines," the terminal swayed. "Isn't there a ring of space junk around Earth? Humans are still launching spacecraft into the sky. As long as you can solve the messes left by your predecessors with more advanced technology in the future, long-term problems are not a problem. It's a short-sighted idea, but many civilizations have come this way. However, lens trails caused by primitive engines are indeed troublesome, so civilizations that have just developed faster-than-light travel usually set some rules. For example, no spacecraft is allowed to enter hyperspace around the home planet, and they must use sub-light engines to travel to a certain safe distance before accelerating. Anyway, they always have a way."

Hao Ren was quite knowledgeable about this, so he only focused on the lens phenomena remaining in space. This was encouraging evidence. If these trails were really produced by artificial engines, it meant that at least decades ago, there were still relatively advanced surviving civilizations active in this universe!

Unlike civilizations like Holletta and Zorm, which were in a state of extinction or material annihilation, the civilization that left these lenses was capable of faster-than-light travel and operating in deep space!

Hao Ren felt a sudden surge of excitement. He asked somewhat impatiently, "Did you only find these trails? Can you lock on to where they went?"

"We've only found these trails so far. The L-B-35 exploration sequence just finished building a sentinel post. It operates millions of light-years away. It hasn't had time to carry out large-scale proliferation there, so it can only collect very little information. But more swarms have already jumped over from the nearest support node. After expanding the search range, we should be able to find some clues. Now we should hope that these lens trails are traces of jumping *out* of hyperspace rather than jumping *in*."

Nangong Wuyue couldn't immediately process such a profound question. "Why?"

Hao Ren explained, "If they're trails left behind when jumping out of hyperspace, it means that those ships are currently traveling at sub-light speed or lower, and can be directly observed in the material universe. They're easy to track. But if they're traces left behind when jumping into hyperspace, there's no telling where those ships are. They may have been traveling at faster-than-light speeds for decades. The search range will be astronomical, and we may not even be able to find them."

Nangong Wuyue thought for a moment, then lowered her head and continued eating. "I was just asking. You guys continue..."

Hao Ren paused, then turned to the data terminal with some concern. "What area is that L-something detection sequence operating in? Are there any traces of the First Born or other Guardians left in its vicinity?"

The terminal floated up and down slightly. "A star sector that was just added to the detection plan. The drones were originally sent there to find the original coordinates of the Purgatory planets. This was all an accidental discovery. No signs of First Born activity have been found in the area, nor have any other destroyed civilization remains. It can be considered a safe wasteland. If the refugees escaped in that direction, their chances of survival are high – provided they aren't tracked down by the Guardian Giants' black warships. Speaking of which, should we arrange a ship now? Shall we go take a look?"

Hao Ren stood up without hesitation, yelling as he moved, "Let's go, let's go, this can't be delayed."

Lili raised her head from her noodle soup bowl, still holding her noodle-wrapped chicken leg in one hand, looking pitiful. "Um, can you wait until I finish eating?"

Hao Ren: "...You eat. It's not so urgent that I won't even let you finish your meal."

So the husky girl immediately went from cloudy to clear. This girl's joys and sorrows were really easy to understand.

The data terminal quickly prepared the ship, so everyone didn't waste time. After eating, they set off directly for the drone frontier. This time, the people coming along were unprecedentedly complete: because it happened to be a time when everyone was free, everyone who was present simply came along, including the fish and the cat, and even Nangong Wudi and his wife.

Hao Ren remembered that Nangong Wudi and his wife also ran the family restaurant. He asked, "I'm going to wait there for at least three days this time, regardless of whether the drone swarm makes any progress. Is your family's restaurant okay?"

Elsa smiled and shook her head. "Business has slowed down since winter. There are mostly old people in the southern suburbs. It's also snowing these two days. Sometimes, the restaurant doesn't get ten people all day after the old people stop going out. We might as well rest for a few days."

Hao Ren thought about it. The Nangong family's restaurant was a scenic spot in such a godforsaken place as the southern suburbs. It was usually like an old cadre activity center, filled with old men and women who could sit for a long time with just a plate of peanuts. It wasn't really meant to make money. It was fine for the Nangong couple to rest for a few days.

Although he didn't know if going out on adventures with Hao Ren counted as "rest"...

Nangong Wudi also smiled. "And more importantly, we, as a couple, also want to get some exercise – being cooped up at home all day, watching the children running around outside, we elders feel bad about it."

Vivian immediately spoke up, "Just so you know, take me out of the kids group."

Lili looked at Vivian strangely. "You're finally being called young, and you're not happy?"

The idlers began chatting on the bridge. Seeing that there were no topics he was interested in, Hao Ren took this opportunity to connect to the drone swarm's database to see how the drone organization was doing at the destination.

He still remembered the scene when he released the first batch of drones two years ago – at that time, there were only a few dull, coffin-like primitive swarm modules. They departed from the Petrified Tortoise Rock Terrace and plunged into the cold and vast universe like ignorant worker bees, beginning to understand this indifferent world after the disaster as Hao Ren's eyes and ears. At that time, the drone swarm was so weak and isolated that Hao Ren could hardly imagine how far they could develop in two years. He even wondered if those lonely drones would encounter danger in the early stages of their mission and be consumed for various reasons before they could expand, and he formulated a lot of alternative plans and alternative plans for the alternative plans for this.

Like many new employees, he didn't have much confidence in his work ability at that time.

But today, those "worker bees" have become an extremely powerful force in this universe. Hao Ren's arrangement that day proved to be one of the wisest decisions he had made.

He opened the star map and saw countless light spots representing information nodes shining within a range of millions of light-years. Unlike the randomly distributed, chaotic natural nebulae, these light spots were neat, dense, and orderly, forming a huge matrix with a wonderful sense of symmetry and regularity.

This was an empire: the drone empire.