The Triangular Body Warrior that resembled a dolphin slightly swayed its body.
"Nether River... hiss... belongs to... the God River Civilization..."
"No, no, no."
Shi Hao shook his head. "There is no God River Civilization, nor is there any Triangle Civilization. We, you, I—we are all merely one kind of civilization."
"..."
Shi Hao continued, "The form war you speak of, the beast bodies, God River Bodies, Triangular Bodies—in our eyes, they are all merely part of the universe. Fighting over some so-called orthodoxy... utterly ridiculous."
The Triangular Body Warrior's body trembled slightly. "You... Nether River Civilization... are denying... hiss... our... beliefs..."
"That is not what I mean." Shi Hao said coldly, "It is simply that if you insist on waging a form war, then we can provide you with assistance."
"...Assistance?"
"That's right. Assistance that will bring nothing but benefits to your Triangle Civilization."
Trouble was brewing beneath the calm surface.
Meanwhile, the Light Screen continued displaying that massive Mechanical Empire.
The intelligent life-forms went from initial confusion to astonishment, then gradually began to reflect.
Could mechanical bodies truly be the final destination of intelligent life?
Stronger bodies, immortal lifespans, limitless learning capabilities.
Mechanical planets rose almost from nothing, while enormous ships streamed out in succession.
This Mechanical Empire had already grown to a considerable scale. They controlled several star systems, and they had even begun looking down on organic life, capturing organics and transforming them into mechanical bodies before granting them citizenship.
Until... one day.
In a certain star system.
That mechanical planet was filled with intelligent machines.
It had originally been a planet used to produce alloys and minerals, and all the intelligent machines carried out repetitive, tedious labor.
But today seemed somewhat different.
"Bzz—bzz—"
An extremely faint yet incomparably clear buzzing sound rang out continuously, causing the intelligent machines to begin behaving strangely.
From time to time, they stopped where they stood, raised their heads, and stared into the sky, though no one knew what they were looking at.
Naturally, this Mechanical Empire immediately noticed the anomaly and began an investigation.
"We have detected an extremely faint tachyon signal broadcasting throughout the entire star system."
"This signal... is very strange. Despite our technology, we are unable to trace or analyze its origin. We call it the 'Ghost Signal.'"
"Other than a slight background noise generated by faster-than-light communications conducted across certain specific subspace frequency bands, this signal does not appear to have any obvious effects. Our research has made no progress. Before we can fully analyze it, we must first learn to coexist with this Ghost Signal."
"The Ghost Signal's intensity is increasing at an astonishing rate."
"Things seem to be growing stranger. In certain star systems, our Mechatron units appear to have been affected by some unknown influence. This influence has altered their behavior, and the changes are developing in a worse direction."
"We cannot rule out the possibility that this is the Ghost Signal's effect, and the likelihood is high. Yet even so, we still cannot determine exactly what effect the Ghost Signal has."
"Our analysis and research into the Ghost Signal have finally achieved some breakthroughs."
"We discovered that the Ghost Signal can not only transmit energy patterns similar to those of our Mechatron electronic brains, but can also interfere with their control modules through this method, causing abnormal behavior in the machines."
"The Ghost Signal is intensifying further. We are unable to shield against it, but certain factions have begun claiming that these Ghost Signals are..."
"Divine Revelation."
"Ridiculous. We do not believe in Divine Revelation. That is merely the spiritual comfort organic life chooses when faced with goals it cannot attain."
"We finally seem to have found the source, and we can explore this Ghost Signal on a deeper level. Perhaps it has always existed in the universe; we simply overlooked it..."
"More Mechatron units are mutating. This mutation is infecting the entire Mechanical Empire. We must accelerate our research."
"Bzz—bzz—"
At that moment, the Light Screen began to distort, and the enormous buzzing made everyone instinctively cover their ears.
When they raised their heads again, they all sucked in a breath of cold air!
The scene on the Light Screen seemed far too bizarre!
In the once vast and empty square.
Hundreds of millions of Mechatron units knelt on the ground, their two Mechanical Arms raised, their expressions incomparably devout...
As though they were praying?
This was simply too strange!
Prayer was directed toward gods. Why would a Machine Civilization that believed only in its own technological prowess begin praying on such a massive scale?
What was most horrifying was this.
Upon the throne that symbolized the highest ruler of this Mechanical Empire.
It was now completely empty.
The Emperor who ruled the entire Mechanical Empire was kneeling alongside his countless citizens.
The difference was that this Emperor knelt before the throne with both hands spread wide, seemingly praying, yet also seemingly embracing something.
However, it looked more as though he was welcoming the throne's true master.
His expression was solemn, and cold light reflected from the surface of his body.
Then, he opened his mouth.
"Divine Revelation has descended."
Divine Revelation?
Just as everyone had yet to understand what had changed.
The entire star system was suddenly shrouded in red light!
Bzz—bzz—bzz—
The buzzing caused by the so-called Ghost Signal grew increasingly intense.
Even the intelligent life-forms watching had the illusion that the sound was affecting the star system itself.
As far as the eye could see, everything had been dyed a dark red.
And within this star system.
Above that enormous, incomparably blazing star.
There actually appeared a planet composed entirely of machinery!
That planet was even larger than the star itself. Embedded within it was an enormous heart, and the dark red radiance filling the entire star system came precisely from it.
Streams of data continuously surged across the mechanical planet's surface.
It seemed... to be performing some kind of calculation.
All functions unlocked... Warning! Warning! Catastrophic levels of corruption detected within this star region. Large numbers of organic life-forms and disobedient mechanical civilizations detected, resulting in infection Simulating solutions Solution simulation complete. Confirmed. Executing solution Cleanse the universe Purification Protocol activated Objective: eradicate all organic life-forms, eliminate disobedient mechanical civilizations
The Mechanical Empire's Emperor remained kneeling.
He had once been the Emperor who ruled the entire Mechanical Empire.
Yet now, all that remained was endless devotion and fanaticism.
"By Divine Revelation."