Chapter 1 A Glimmering Star

A brilliant star appeared in the corner of the view, its sunlight weakened and filtered to protect the eyes of those on the bridge. Hao Ren used the data terminal to adjust the external monitor's lens, taking in the scene surrounding the star.

The so-called "Erem Planet" was long gone. The planet had been gradually dismantled into fragments thousands of years ago, and now it was a continuous series of space islands orbiting the original planet's path, like a string of fragmented, similarly sized pointed stones floating in space. To extract the last bit of resources from the planet's depths and to replenish the planet's dwindling energy cycle as much as possible, the elves had resolutely disassembled their entire planet, turning it into a fragmented state that could maximize the absorption of solar energy and accommodate more people. Only after the rock layers deep in the mantle had been dismantled and reshaped into these floating islands did they gain precious living space and, more precious still, a testing ground.

The space islands showed clear signs of artificial construction. Their main body was the planet's own rock, but around the islands were huge, artificial "hoops." These somewhat dim, artificial structures made of a material between rock and metal not only maintained the stability of the islands but also generated an energy shield to protect the land below. The energy shield itself could be used to filter sunlight. One side of the island was flat, while the other was a huge, ugly rock base. Between the uneven, upside-down mountains could be seen ancient and massive mechanical structures: the islands' power plants, gravity generators, energy stations, and material recycling factories. These mechanical structures were probably thousands of years old, and many parts were undoubtedly damaged, but their creators clearly no longer had the energy or resources to repair them.

"Those are our homes," Hilda said calmly, standing up and pointing at the image on the holographic projection. "Some of the islands far from the main residential areas are testing grounds. We used to test the space-time core and ultra-high-power magi-accelerators on them. If we hadn't dismantled the planet like this, we wouldn't even have found such testing grounds. Magi-accelerators need to be built on solid and massive foundations, which conventional space stations cannot support, and if an explosion occurs, it could even tear apart half the planet, so they can't be placed on the home planet. In the past, a generation of scholars tried to build a huge space platform to barely conduct such dangerous experiments, but a fusion reactor explosion caused the platform to crash, nearly destroying the ecology of the entire northern hemisphere. These experimental projects were suspended until the planet reshaping was completed and then restarted—but that was in the past. Now, the space-time core and magi-accelerator experiments have stopped. We really have no resources."

"Those islands with bright energy shields are ecological islands. Under the shields are ecological domes. We have preserved the planet-era ecosystem as much as possible, transplanting it into a huge artificial cycle system. These ecological domes provide us with precious complex organic matter and... also the only luxury that my people have left. Each Erem elf has fifteen days a year to rest in the domes, but no more. The carrying capacity of those domes has a limit, and as some key systems age, they are actually about to shut down. If they shut down, I'm afraid we will have to rely entirely on factory-synthesized materials to survive, and that will kill many people: The Erem elves are a slowly evolving race with a lifespan of a thousand years for healthy individuals. The rate of environmental degradation far exceeds our ability to adapt. Whenever an ancient facility shuts down, a large number of old elves... even middle-aged elves die."

"Those islands connected to each other by bright beams are residential areas. Most elves live on those islands. They are specially designed to consume the least energy, have the most stable cycle systems, and have more rational building plans. In other words... they can last longer. Most of the synthesis factories are on those islands, so even if other islands—such as the testing grounds—are accidentally damaged, these residential areas can survive as long as possible."

The spacecraft gradually approached the space islands in low-speed cruise mode. Hao Ren noticed that there were special individuals among the islands: they lingered on the edges of the island chain, dark and dull overall. The "hoops" on the edges of some islands were even damaged and missing, and the remnants of artificial buildings could still be vaguely seen on the islands, but the energy shields above the land had obviously gone out. The lands without a trace of light looked deathly still, like exhausted space rocks.

"What are those?"

"Deathlands," Hilda sighed. "We shaped these seemingly magnificent space entities, but that doesn't mean we have superb technology—these islands were built in a desperate, almost all-or-nothing way. The technology wasn't mature enough, and even the theories weren't perfect. Many islands have different structures, because the designers themselves didn't know which type of island could last longer. And many islands had defects from the beginning of construction, and they couldn't be repaired after they malfunctioned, so islands are constantly being damaged, extinguished, and then become like that."

Now even Lily had quieted down. She was even a little afraid of the strange sight before her. She tucked her tail between her legs, but her ears stood up straight: "What about the people on them?"

"Most of the time they can be rescued and transferred to other islands," Hilda nodded. "This will increase the ecological pressure on the other islands, so after each rescue transfer, a resource restriction bill will be implemented for a period of time, mainly restricting newborns and reducing per capita supplies. Some elderly people will also voluntarily enter the 'Prayer World,' allowing their bodies to accept euthanasia in order to free up space for other young and middle-aged people. There's no way around it, we have to let the entire race survive as long as possible."

"This place..." Hao Ren opened his mouth, and it took him a long time to figure out what to say. "It's more serious than I thought."

As an Earthling, a rookie inspector who hadn't had time to experience too many events, Hao Ren couldn't imagine how many incredible things were happening in the vast void. The disasters and doomsdays he had seen in various stories couldn't compare to this string of space islands before him. Before coming here, he had imagined how to help Hilda and her people—for example, by borrowing the Empire's World Gate system and his connections at the Kuiper Station to see if he could transport some supplies here, or buy some technology or spaceships from those Fearli Void Consortium merchants that didn't exceed the "Civilization Non-Interference Act" and give them to these Erem elves. As an inspector, he had a certain amount of "Imperial Ration Points" each month, but he hadn't used them yet. He had only heard that these ration points could be exchanged for extremely abundant supplies in the various civilizations of the macro-world, so he had come up with the above ideas.

But now it seemed that all his plans had to be revised.

These Erem elves couldn't be helped by just a little bit of supplies or a little bit of delayed technology.

"Your creativity and resilience are indeed commendable," even the data terminal couldn't help but say something. "It's just that you failed to discover the secrets of the faster-than-light engine—sometimes a fork in the technology tree will destroy a civilization, especially for races like yours with inherently limited conditions. As long as one technology fails to develop in time, there is often no chance to recover. I can see that you have worked very hard, but... in the end, you still failed."

Hilda sighed: "Yes, the last space teleportation experiment also failed."

When the Petrified Turtle approached the island chain, it obviously attracted the attention of the Erem elves. Hao Ren noticed that the communicator suddenly reported a large number of unknown contact signals. Some bright spots quickly emerged from behind several residential islands and approached the spacecraft rapidly. After the camera zoomed in, Hao Ren saw that they were triangular aircraft with rough edges and a glimmering gray-white metallic sheen. Bright runes flashed on the hulls of each aircraft, obviously different from the spaceships in general. Those should be spaceships made by the Erem elves, but unfortunately, they couldn't cross the long journey of tens of millions of light-years.

These gray-white triangular aircraft quickly came to the vicinity of the Petrified Turtle. Hao Ren slowed the spacecraft to almost a standstill, and the "small spaceships," tens of meters long, followed suit and stopped, without making any reckless maneuvers. The pilots inside must have been in a state of great shock and tension. The people on the bridge could even feel this emotion permeating through the cold space and several layers of the starship's armor.