This was a branch corridor near the Core Area of the Empire Admiral. Since most soldiers were waiting for orders at their standby posts during the fleet's jump, branch corridors like this were especially deserted. Yet I saw someone walking toward me.
She was a black-clad girl with long, straight golden hair, fair skin, deep-red eyes, and long black silk gloves. Her clothes did not look like an Empire soldier's uniform, but the small silvery-white metal tag hanging on her chest told me exactly who she was: Shilin.
"Shilin?" I hurried forward a couple of steps. "What are you doing here?"
The network ghost seemed to have been wandering around aimlessly. She was startled when she suddenly saw me, and the black-clad girl hopped back half a step like a little rabbit. "Ah... Oh, it's Your Majesty."
"Why are you spacing out again?" I noticed that she seemed rather odd. Shilin was usually a little absentminded, but as a collective consciousness with tremendous processing speed, she rarely got this distracted. On top of that, she had appeared aboard a warship heading for the frontier, which made it even more concerning. "Didn't we say you should avoid going outside whenever possible? This ship is headed for the Empire border. It's not safe for you there."
Only then did Shilin curiously look around, wearing an expression of sudden realization. "Oh, so I'm inside a spaceship."
I was speechless. Had this girl sleepwalked aboard?!
"I think it's fine," Shilin said with a cheerful smile. "My main body exists across the entire network. This body aboard the ship is merely an interface for interacting with the outside world. This tiny information focal point has less than a one-in-ten-thousand impact on my overall distributed state. As long as there's Empire network coverage, it doesn't matter