"The looping broadcast contains only two parts.
"I've translated them into our language."
Liu Zhi's expression grew complicated. Then he displayed the translated content on a virtual screen in the command cabin.
"Humility, honor, sacrifice, valor, compassion, honesty, justice, spirituality."
"I swear to treat the weak among my fellow beings with kindness.
"I swear to bravely resist all enemies.
"I swear to fight against all wrongs.
"I swear to fight for my civilization to the very end.
"I swear to help my fellow knights.
"I swear to treat my friends with sincerity.
"I swear to remain faithful to the one I love until death."
Looking at the content displayed on the virtual screen, everyone aboard the Sky Peng Horizontal fell silent for a moment.
"What is this...
"Some kind of exhortation from the Rune Civilization?"
Shi Zunhou scratched his head.
"Perhaps it's the spirit of the Rune Civilization," Wu Baiyi mused.
"They went to great lengths to seize control of some communications equipment and loop these two... exhortations—or perhaps statements of their civilization's ideals.
"What was the motive of those Rune Civilization survivors?
"Who were they broadcasting this to?
"Outsiders—to warn them that this was Rune Civilization territory?
"Cthulhu Beast's minions—to try to awaken their self-awareness?
"Or Cthulhu Beast—to express the Rune Civilization's defiance?"
Mingzhi Guangxiu fell into thought.
"Perhaps they were actually broadcasting it for themselves," Gao Luanqin said pensively.
"Imagine it: your parent civilization suffers a catastrophe, becoming 'the breeding ground of an Old One,' and teeters on the brink of extinction. The entire civilization is reduced to a tiny handful of survivors barely clinging to life.
"What a despairing and terrifying situation that must be.
"The survivors who bear that despair and terror and still remain within Rune Civilization's territory to keep fighting are undoubtedly heroes of