Human Federation fleet base.
As always, under Zero's control, the space factories churned out starships, weapons, and ammunition, contributing everything they could toward pushing the Human Fleet past the ten-million mark.
Patches of faint shadow appeared in the gaps between the space factories' deck plates.
No, it wasn't just the space factories!
These shadows appeared inside starships and planetary fortresses!
Even the Earth and Fuxi had similar shadows inside them!
As though they had received some signal, these shadows, which had lain dormant for nearly ten years, suddenly began to move!
Whoosh!
These shadows, so much like stains on the surfaces of objects, raced through the starships, slipping deeper inside through every available gap!
Their targets were identical: nearby data ports!
The Earth.
After the successful development of the Fuxi Tachyon Computer, the Earth's Central Computer had been downgraded to a secondary computer.
It housed the weak artificial intelligence One, which primarily handled routine affairs aboard the Earth.
Still, this was a starship's core area. Even after its unfortunate downgrade, the defenses around it had barely been weakened.
A visible patch of shadow suddenly appeared on the deck outside the Central Computer and raced toward its enclosure at tremendous speed!
More than a dozen high-definition cameras captured the scene immediately!
With almost no delay, piercing alarms rang out aboard the Earth!
The Earth's Command Center.
[Warning! Unknown intrusion detected in the Earth's Central Computer area!] [Warning! Unknown intrusion detected at the Human Federation Integrated Space Factory!] [Warning! Unknown intrusion detected aboard Fuxi!] [...]
In a single instant, hundreds upon thousands of warnings erupted across the Command Center's enormous Holographic Projection!
Live camera feeds then appeared before everyone.
Watching that familiar gray shadow cling to the deck, bypass every sealed door, rush straight into the computer room, and