After the brief surge of delight, everyone's attention gradually shifted to another important piece of information.
[Tenth Empire]
"That should be the name of this advanced civilization, right?"
Fang Xu murmured in awe, "Calling themselves an empire... this civilization must be a force to be reckoned with!"
Lü Yongchang nodded silently.
Heavy was the head that wore the crown.
Not every civilization could bear the title of empire.
Human civilization, for instance, could still only present itself to outsiders as the Milky Way Pan-Human Federation.
Of course, if they were shameless enough and unafraid of trouble, they could always give themselves a grandiose title.
But clearly, this advanced civilization, which had mastered spatial weapons and strong interaction material, was unlikely to be the sort that sought empty prestige.
"Then..."
Next, Fang Xu asked a chilling question.
"Where did they go?"
The moment those words left his mouth, a deep chill crept up everyone's back in the Command Center.
"..."
After a brief silence, Lü Yongchang replied quietly, "First, we can rule out war."
"Judging by its exterior, the ruins are intact. There are no visible signs of damage caused by war."
That did nothing to ease the chill in their hearts. If anything, it deepened it.
For an advanced civilization with such technology to abandon its own homeworld...
With war ruled out, Lü Yongchang struggled to imagine what could have driven them away.
One mystery after another slowly took shape in everyone's minds.
"Let's keep going." After a moment's thought, Lü Yongchang issued his orders. "Have the fleet withdraw 0.1 light-years."
"Once the fleet reaches the target area, have the research robots approach the gate and transmit an electromagnetic message to it."
"As for the message..."
"We'll use the grand unified theory again."
Outside the ruins.
The research fleet,