The Only Chance

"This is our civilization's archive."

After the two sides agreed to cooperate, Xu Lanxin had the AI Ayla copy data onto a USB drive for Chen Xia. It contained the history of the Star Spirit Clan's civilization, its principles of honoring agreements, its rules for dealing with other civilizations, and information on the Void Predators.

Strictly speaking, after enslaving Xu Lanxin, Chen Xia had no need for any of it. Still, he accessed the data through his Technology Watch.

Broadly speaking, nothing seemed wrong.

According to the records, the Void Predators numbered only a few million, but their civilization was highly advanced.

The data included images of black warships filling the sky as they swept across Tavia and destroyed it.

Through the spacecraft windows, he could see the blue Sedeans inside.

From the records of their civilization, the Star Spirit Clan appeared to be a people who took their word seriously. They had originated in a forest tribe thirty thousand years ago and, after a long period of development, eventually came to occupy all of Tavia.

Their civilization had also gone through cycles of division and reunification before becoming a single nation governed on a planetary scale. After it was destroyed, its people fled into the stars aboard seven Starships.

The other six Starships all carried complete archives of Star Spirit Clan technology, preserving the embers of their civilization.

Once Chen Xia was satisfied that nothing was amiss, Xu Lanxin took him on a tour of the Starship.

Their first stop was the residential district.

It was the city Chen Xia had seen when he first entered.

Skyscrapers, parks, and rivers were all there, yet not a single person could be seen. Only maintenance robots moved silently through the streets.

"This residential district was prepared for ten million citizens. It