Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

However, the temporary failure of the wide-area silence not only affected the natives trapped on the surface, but the ripples also touched a fleet group adrift in space.

Inside the flagship, the commander's chin tentacles insert into the control panel, receiving information from the monitors, and the thin membrane on his body surface bulges due to tension.

This fleet has been adrift in space for dozens of generations. Their home planet is facing destruction due to the abnormal expansion of the star. The ancestors used the limited interplanetary travel technology they had to build an escape fleet and hastily leave their home planet.

Over the long years, they have long since developed into true starship civilizations, with each ship being a mobile community where birth, growth, reproduction, and death all take place in these cold metal cabins. "Treading on the earth" is merely a legend recorded in ancient data.

For as many years as they embarked on their journey, science and technology stagnated. Without sufficient resources and a stable environment, scientific research could not develop effectively, and even existing theories could not be fully applied and developed.

Their sailing speed has never increased, so much so that for so many generations they have not been able to find a place to dock and replenish resources, and have been forced to keep moving forward in endless sailing.

The spare parts prepared at the start of the voyage had all been used up, so some ships were abandoned. After the fleet members were transferred, they were dismantled into new spare parts. The unusable empty hulls were left behind, becoming wreckage that would forever drift in space, waiting for their final demise.

Although the universe may seem vast, fleets still experience significant deceleration when passing through thin gas clouds. Therefore, they have to consume precious fuel to accelerate and correct their course after passing through these clouds.

They want to go to a new home, but they don't have the ability to significantly modify the environment. The planets that are directly suitable for their survival are too far away. Even the slightest deviation in their flight path will be magnified infinitely. They cannot fly past their destination, otherwise they will never have a chance to turn back.

They have detected a helium flash in their home galaxy, and all rebellious talk of returning has vanished. They can only move forward relentlessly, like refugees fleeing famine, with fewer and fewer members in their ranks, unsure if they will ever reach their new home.

"Signal source confirmed, not natural celestial radiation, stable frequency, with a clear logical structure, determined to be a product of intelligent civilization," the central system analyzed the signal content. Without reference semantic text, such deciphering would be futile, but as the commander of intelligent life, it could intuitively understand the meaning of these signals.

The commander's whiskers trembled slightly, prompting the central system to alert it to its physical condition. The silence of so many generations was broken. The strange, mixed signals were quite trivial, even seemingly casual conversations, yet they pierced the survival rules of the starship civilization like a sharp blade, proving that they were not the only ones in the universe.

"All ships, activate silence protocol," the commander directed the fleet through the internal communication network. "Shut down all external radiation sources, switch power systems to low power mode, and put weapon arrays into preheating mode."

The central system immediately sprang into action, extinguishing all visible light sources on the ship's hull, making these drifting ships appear like stones flying in the cold starry sky.

The laser cannon's charging indicator light flashed a dangerous red in the darkness. The fusion weapons entered the launch chamber, activating their most advanced weaponry, now aimed at the empty starry sky.

The fleet always spoke of the harsh realities of cosmic survival to warn future generations to maintain awe of the universe. They feared being exposed because these ships were so vulnerable in space, and destruction could strike at any moment.

This vigilance is fully activated the moment unfamiliar signals are received, and the commander must determine the source and meaning of these signals, even if the content is mostly trivial.

Thoughts begin to spread uncontrollably, and the first question that arises is whether they have been exposed, and why, after so many generations, these signals have suddenly been transmitted to them and can be understood without difficulty.

Has the other party already discovered us? If they are friendly, why are they only sending such trivial information? If they are malicious, is an attack already on its way?

If the other side is not hostile, and they discover us, will they assume we are benevolent, and will they assume we are benevolent? Could proactively sending out peace signals be misinterpreted, revealing our location and potentially hastening our destruction?

The technological gap is an even greater chasm that cannot be ignored. The other side can send signals to them, but they have no idea where these signals come from, like blind people groping around in the dark after hearing a sound.

These thoughts, like ever-growing vines, grew wildly in the mind. This tension could not even be contained. All the crew members were intelligent beings, and they received these signals just like the commander. Panic gradually spread throughout the entire fleet.

The intelligent system began to extrapolate various possibilities, constantly updating the simulation results, but no matter how it thought about it, it all pointed to the same despairing conclusion: any active choice could very well lead to destruction.

Just as the commander was about to issue an emergency evacuation order, a signal suddenly came in from the central system: "Abnormal energy detected! High-intensity unknown signal source detected!"

The commander's attention was focused on the information coming from the detection equipment. The alarming energy readings were like a storm erupting from a star in front of him, and the speed of the surge instantly broke the records accumulated over so many generations.

"Is it a weapon strike?" The question surfaced uncontrollably. The counterattack signal had been connected to the laser weapon array, and a single command was all it took to fire.

However, the expected attack did not occur. The high-intensity signal source swept past the fleet at a considerable distance, leaving the commanders with an unforgettable image.

A dragon skeleton, entirely silver-white, soared through the starry sky, its trail twisting space into peculiar arcs, as if a line had been cut through the fabric of the universe.

"What...is that?" the crew member operating the observation equipment asked, his voice trembling. Their heritage had never recorded such a massive life form.

The whiskers under the commander's chin suddenly relaxed, and the shadow that had been spreading like vines in its mind instantly collapsed. It realized a fact: the power of the being before it had exceeded the comprehension of its civilization. If the other party wanted to destroy this fragile fleet, it didn't need to be kind or malicious, just as a star wouldn't care if a comet it captured was vaporized into cosmic dust as it passed by.

Lin Ziming did notice the tiny, wandering fleet, but these ships were not his target; they were traveling too slowly and did not seem to be part of an interstellar civilization.

His attention remained focused on observing the changes in his own psionic energy. After completely devouring the Star Eater, the fire of death burned even more fiercely, like adding fuel to a fireplace.

With a flap of its wings, Long Ying quickly transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the deep starry sky. He left this star system and continued to search for traces of interstellar society.

The universe is so vast that most star systems are not even worth mining, and they are not marked on star charts. Perhaps they hold secrets from ancient times, but such a phenomenon is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Finding a star system with a base or planetary colony is equivalent to Lin Ziming finding an interstellar society, allowing him to access the current version of the star map.

After Lin Ziming left, the wandering fleet fell into a long silence until the energy peak on the detector completely disappeared, and then the visible light energy gradually recovered.

The commander was well aware that even without direct contact, this brief encounter would inevitably give rise to new ideas, thus completely changing the fate of the entire fleet, much like symbolic theory.

"Record the observation data, add it to the core database, and label it with the highest authority," the commander calmly issued the order. "Restore speed, correct the course again, and keep the destination unchanged."

The fleet's engines restarted, nuclear fusion radiation spilled from the nozzles, and this wandering fleet continued its journey into the depths of space, facing its destiny.

A fleeting glance from the dragon has become a new cultural beacon in this wandering civilization.