In a stretch of space three million kilometers from the Kuiper Belt, a small nebula of drifting dust slowly revolved around the Solar System, as though it had done so since time immemorial.
Yet the tranquility of millions of years was suddenly shattered.
Like an arrow piercing the clouds, something invisible punched a hole through the center of the small nebula. Fine dust scattered like fireworks, forming a tiny nebular flower.
A glasslike, transparent object flickered in the void, then vanished in the blink of an eye, speeding toward the Inner Solar System.
This utterly unremarkable event took place in an obscure corner far from the battlefield and should have gone unnoticed. Yet a tiny reconnaissance probe in the nebula, resembling an ordinary fragment of debris, clearly recorded the anomaly.
A moment later, the information had been transmitted billions of kilometers away...
Blue light flashed in Codename's eyes.
"Boss, our Hawkeye reconnaissance network detected an unidentified cloaked object in the TYX8758 region, at coordinates XXX, XXX, XXX. It's heading toward the Inner Solar System.
"Based on its trajectory, this unidentified flying object was most likely launched from somewhere near the Iron Wall Detachment Fleet currently attacking the Solar System."
"Hm?" Nie Yun, who had been watching the battlefield, paused. "An unidentified flying object? How did the enemy get something this far through our defenses? Our radar systems didn't pick it up?"
The Solar System Reconnaissance Network Nie Yun had laid out years earlier now covered the entire system. Naturally, this region, as a battlefield, was a particular focus of surveillance.
As early as a month ago, Nie Yun had increased surveillance coverage in the surrounding region, stationing one of his Hawkeye Scouts roughly every million kilometers.
With that level of surveillance, something had still managed to slip through the