Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

Chapter 113 The Pilgrim Civilization

Lin Ziming soared through the territory of the Hamborghini Alliance, burning down all the fleets and fortresses that attempted to resist.

He sowed destruction throughout the star system, a purge that seemed endless.

He had been wandering this star system for some time, destroying one colony after another belonging to the Covenant, just like the destruction he had brought to the Pirate Alliance. No matter the technological level of his opponents, the only thing that hindered him was the efficiency problem caused by the passage of time.

The territory of the Homborian Consortium was so vast that even civilizations that wanted to dismantle and annex it would have to wait a long time to erode it.

Those bustling interstellar cities and vibrant habitable planets are now nothing but scorched earth. Souls are like weights on a scale, being moved and selected, and then the innocent among them are absorbed into the sea of ​​souls within Lin Ziming.

In the intervals between destructions, Lin Ziming would always encounter other civilizations invading the Covenant's star system. He realized that since he brought destruction to the core territory of the Covenant, this star system had become a piece of meat to be slaughtered in the eyes of countless civilizations. They flocked to it, trying to completely kill this old rival and then take a share of the spoils from his corpse.

Lin Ziming didn't care about these civilizations' invasions. His target wasn't these opportunistic gamblers. The fleets that were invading the Alliance always regarded him as a plague-like threat. When they detected the signal of Lin Ziming's appearance, they immediately fell into extreme panic.

Lin Ziming could often sense their panic through his psychic abilities. Watching the warships that had been firing at the Alliance defenders turn around and flee towards the edge of the star system, ignoring the enemy attacks they were still suffering, made him feel like he was witnessing an absurd drama unfolding.

After initially encountering the fleet composed of aquatic species, Lin Ziming also encountered a peculiar will, an intelligent machine civilization with Gestalt consciousness.

Lin Ziming was no stranger to this form of civilization. Even in his time, this kind of civilization was quite common. Those life forms composed of machines and programs always took efficiency and logic as the highest criteria, abandoned the interference of individual will, and only retained some semi-autonomous leaders.

When this intelligent machine fleet detected Lin Zimo's presence, their reaction was always faster and more decisive than that of the fleet led by the organic beings. Without any hesitation, they retreated at full speed in the opposite direction from Lin Zimo.

"Interesting," Lin Zimo thought to himself. This pure rational judgment reminded him of the hive mind. He wondered how the freed bee colony he had banished was doing in the galaxy, and what would happen if human civilization encountered them.

Instead of pursuing the retreating omnic fleet, he continued his destruction across the Covenant territory until he encountered a third fleet invading the Covenant.

This fleet was completely different from the previous two. Lin Ziming deliberately slowed down his flight speed and carefully observed them.

Their ships resembled clusters of deep purple nebulae drifting slowly through space, their outlines blurred, as if formed from pure psychic energy rather than metal. When starlight shone on these ships, they refracted a rainbow of light, as beautiful and ethereal as a dreamlike illusion.

Lin Ziming was curious about this rare civilization. He had seen many civilizations since he was awakened, but this was the first time he had encountered a civilization outside of human civilization that had devoted all its energy to the path of psionic energy.

When the psionic fleet detected Lin Zimo's presence, they did not retreat. Instead, the deep purple nebula-like ships began to slowly adjust their formation, arranging themselves into a complex pattern in the starry sky.

The pattern seemed to contain some ancient symbolic meaning, and Lin Ziming could feel the respect and—worship—in it.

"Great being," a psionic communication came from the largest nebula in the center of the fleet, like a grand chorus of countless lives in perfect harmony and solemnity, "We have finally met you."

Lin Ziming stopped flying and hovered in the starry sky, watching the strange fleet. Psionic communication represents communication at the level of consciousness, and the emotions it contains are real. It is a complex emotion mixed with awe, excitement and fanaticism, as if a devout believer has finally found the god he worships.

"Who are you?" Lin Ziming felt they should be able to withstand his will, so he responded through psionic energy, "What are your intentions?"

"Great being, we have no intention of hindering you," the voice, like a chorus of thousands, rang out again, saying with trepidation, "You may call our civilization 'Pilgrims,' a civilization striving to seek the true meaning of psionic energy. We express our highest respect to you, and hereby presume to request—permission to worship you."

"Offerings?" Lin Ziming's fiery eyes flickered slightly. "You want to offer offerings to me?"

The pilgrims' communications were filled with barely suppressed excitement: "Your magnificent spiritual power—that profound and pure aura of death—is a realm we have sought for countless years but have been unable to reach. In our faith, you can be called the embodiment of the spirit, the first true psychic deity we have encountered in the real universe."

Lin Ziming remained silent for a moment. The fact that an interstellar civilization he had never met wanted to worship him as a god on their first encounter made him feel both curious and wary.

"You...do you worship many gods at the same time?" Lin Zimo asked.

"Yes, a great being," the pilgrim answered honestly. "In our belief system, all things in the universe possess animism, and spirituality casts a faint shadow upon life. We are dedicated to collecting religious beliefs from different civilizations to build a pantheon," seeking true spirituality among countless faiths.

"The gods you worship," Lin Ziming continued, "are they from subspace?"

The pilgrims' voices were devout and reverent: "Praise be to your wisdom, Subspace, which is the highest heaven in our eyes, is the dwelling place of the spirits and the abode of the gods. We establish a connection with the gods through special rituals, offering them faith and sacrifices, thereby receiving their protection and blessings."

Lin Zimo understood the meaning of the "gods" mentioned by this civilization. They were not real gods, but probably some powerful entities from the subspace.

This civilization must have discovered that those entities receive the power of faith to strengthen themselves, and it appears to have established a complete faith system, forming a stable symbiotic relationship with the entities in the warp.

Lin Ziming recalled the method the Pirate Alliance had once used, using bombs and sacrifices to break the veil between the real universe and the warp, summoning entities known as "demons".

That method was crude and dangerous; a slight misstep could lead to disaster. The civilized method before us, on the other hand, seemed more mature and safer.

"Can't you go through the veil?" Lin Ziming asked. "Why don't you just enter the subspace directly?"

'

The pilgrims were clearly terrified by this statement, saying, "No, it is a great being; we dare not do such a thing."