Twenty years later.
Earth Calendar year 4480.
With a ripple of spacetime fluctuations, a starship appeared amid the sparse nebular matter.
At the very center of the nebula was a tiny, brilliant-white point that gave off a faint glow.
It was a neutron star.
It spun at an astonishing speed, sending electromagnetic pulses into its surroundings at precisely equal intervals.
Like a broom, these electromagnetic pulses swept rapidly across the purplish-red nebula.
The modestly sized medium starship soon identified its target-a giant planet deep within the purplish-red nebula, its surface covered in thick armor.
The giant planet silently followed a regular circular orbit around the neutron star.
Powerful electromagnetic pulses intermittently "swept" across its incredibly smooth surface, causing no tangible effect, like a breeze brushing over a hill.
The [Tenth Empire], Homeworld Fortress.
Under Zero's remote control, the starship slowly approached the planetary fortress.
Once the starship successfully entered the planetary fortress's synchronous orbit, an electromagnetic message at a frequency of 1,420 megahertz arrived from within the fortress.
At the same time, not far from the starship, a faint orange-yellow glow emerged from the enormous fissure stretching across the fortress's surface.
The detection equipment then registered a fairly strong grand unified field.
Zero swiftly translated the electromagnetic message from inside the fortress into human text and displayed it on the enormous holographic projection at the Human Federation Academy of Sciences' Central Research Institute, over a thousand light-years away.
[Enroget Civilization, the Empire Homeworld Fortress welcomes you.]
Looking at the clear, luminous white text on the azure holographic projection, Lü Yongchang fell silent.
Several hundred years had passed. I almost forgot about that.
Human Civilization still had an alias registered with the [Tenth Empire] fortress!
After a moment's consideration, he typed a reply to [Ten].
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