"Data verification complete. Coordinate comparison successful. Spatial Anchor identified."
"Automatic verification device detected, model code PT-332. Verification format conforms to Federation standards."
"Identity credentials submitted—composite code identification complete."
Beyond Segmentum Tempestus, more than fifteen light-years from the Milky Way, the vast fleet of Titan Ships gradually began to decelerate.
This region was already a considerable distance from the Imperium's borders.
Yet as soon as Iax approached the region, he discovered that the fleet had entered the coverage of a wide-area quantum network.
After he actively connected to the quantum network, a verification request was relayed to the fleet.
Iax quickly submitted his underlying string code and successfully passed verification.
But there was no response anywhere on the network.
It was as though the quantum signals from moments earlier had been an illusion.
There were no access ports, no data tracking, and no content displayed.
Only a sourceless automatic response remained in the system log, stating that identity verification had passed.
In the optical view, only a solitary planet drifted nearby against a brilliant backdrop of space. In reality, however, those glittering stars were more than a hundred thousand light-years away—their light came from the Large Magellanic Cloud.
This strange situation clearly did not match the information he had previously obtained.
This should have been the last stopping point before the Men of Gold led everyone out of the Milky Way.
The resources of a single planet clearly could not support the construction of an enormous super-mothership.
If the vessel was only this size, it would not qualify as "super" by Iax's standards.
As the Titan Ships continued to approach, a transmission suddenly echoed through the empty quantum network.
"The Master Control System is offline. Please load an Intelligence Core of model MCTCI-III or higher to restart."
Iax immediately confirmed that