Afterward, Li Qinwu's fleet arrived at Terra's outer perimeter and began another long wait in line.
They waited alongside thousands of pilgrim ships in Terra's core defensive zone, beyond Earth and the Moon.
The surrounding pilgrim ships were packed together, all sorts of messy vessels filling the surrounding space.
Some pilgrim ships were even more than ten thousand years old. After countless modifications over the years, they had been altered beyond recognition, making it impossible to tell what models they had originally been.
These ships underwent final inspections outside the outer layer of the final defensive ring and waited to be called.
Li Qinwu's warship group was also being inspected. Several thousand Arbites entered the Golden Road by Shuttle, carrying various instruments and conducting scans.
Li Qinwu let them inspect everything. All the blasphemous little trinkets, Dwarves, Silent Ones, and so on had been tossed into the Vault for storage anyway. They would not find a thing here.
The inspection took more than ten days. Finally, the head Arbites officer found Li Qinwu on the bridge and said:
"Sir, after a thorough inspection, the biological contamination and Warp contamination levels on your warships have both been found normal. You are now cleared to proceed toward Terra.
"Please keep your ship communications channels open. Once the pilgrims ahead of you leave Terra and your turn comes, we will notify you by broadcast to dock in a designated orbit!"
Li Qinwu glanced through the porthole at the densely packed thousands of pilgrim ships outside, and his heart went cold.
"Sir, may I ask how long we'll have to wait in line?"
The head Arbites officer held something resembling a traffic ticket receipt. He kept pressing it, and the device began printing out a slip with a buzzing sound.
"Terra has a permanent