Chapter 1 The Universe Overseers

The universe overseers of the three great civilizations had their backs to the tree, possessing vast resources. Finding a group of bottom-tier scavengers was not difficult at all.

The process went smoothly. To summarize the procedure, it can be described as: identity record matching - location tracking - inter-provincial descent - knock on the door for inspection - everyone, put your hands together and squat against the wall.

The operation was smooth and flowing, the professional level was extremely skilled, and it looked like it had been done hundreds or thousands of times.

In the scavenger's small spaceship, Harrison and his party squatted against the wall, trembling and afraid to breathe. The Guanghui Federation uniforms on these universe overseers dispelled all their desire to resist.

In the bottom of interstellar society, even a small soldier of the three great civilizations was an existence that absolutely could not be provoked. Without the size of a top-level force, daring to offend the three great civilizations was like lighting a lantern in the outhouse, looking for shit.

"W-what do you want? We... we are law-abiding interstellar citizens."

The short surveyor's upper and lower mandibles chattered, the rhythm like a fast board.

The Guanghui Federation overseer moved a chair, sat in front of the group, leaned forward, exuding a sense of oppression in terms of momentum, and said coldly: "Don't you know what crime you have committed?"

What crime have we committed?

Everyone looked blank, and hurriedly racked their brains to recall whether they had any illegal activities in peacetime, feeling uneasy.

The short surveyor suddenly shuddered and hurriedly opened his mouth: "I... I confess!"

"Oh?" The Guanghui Federation overseer turned to look at him, squinting and said, "Tell me, what is the crime?"

"Y-yesterday, I anonymously hacked into the paid database of a local adult entertainment channel and secretly downloaded thousands of erotic... ahem, those kinds of movies, I am guilty! I repent!" The short surveyor stammered.

The captain suddenly realized: "No wonder you stayed in the room all day yesterday..."

Halfway through his words, he suddenly stopped. Everyone turned to look at the short surveyor's unwashed clothes, moved their nostrils, and immediately looked disgusted, uniformly moving a few steps away from him.

"..."

The Guanghui Federation overseer's facial lines were as hard as steel, but upon closer inspection, one could see that the corners of his mouth were faintly twitching.

Be serious, I'm interrogating!

"Are you provoking me? Do you think I'm joking with you?!"

He glared and pulled out a gun to put it against the short surveyor's head, wanting to give him a lesson and scare him. However, he paused, pulled the muzzle a little further away, and didn't dare to touch the short surveyor's skin, for fear of contaminating his pistol.

"D-d-don't, don't—" The short surveyor peed himself both psychologically and physiologically, his whole body shivering like a sieve, and his whole body went limp.

Harrison was also scared, and quickly said: "This overseer, we are law-abiding, peace-loving, and never kill or set fires. We only excavate ownerless relics. I really don't know what crime we have committed."

"Humph." The Guanghui Federation overseer didn't intend to make things difficult for this group of people. He retracted his weapon, released the virtual projection of the triangular device, and said solemnly: "Not long ago, you excavated this unknown civilization relic and sold it at an auction, but it was intercepted by space pirates midway. Those space pirates opened this safe device, but a cosmic-level energy explosion occurred. That's why I'm here."

Harrison's heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, something happened!

My intuition was right, this thing is not simple, and it has brought me subsequent troubles!

But he was not annoyed. Instead, a sense of excitement and excitement arose from the bottom of his bones, a strong curiosity surged, and he couldn't help asking:

"What was inside it?"

"It's not clear yet, we are thoroughly investigating the specific impact."

At this time, the captain couldn't help but ask: "Wait, we have already sold this thing, and we didn't open the device. What crime have we committed?"

"That's right, we are innocent!"

"You can't wrong good people!"

Everyone immediately clamored, appearing indignant.

"Shut up."

The Guanghui Federation overseer said coldly:

"The items you dug out of the ruins are highly risky. Because of you, a new disaster may occur in the universe. Not to mention anything else, it is completely no problem to sentence you to a crime of endangering public safety. It's enough to make you spend the rest of your life in prison!"

Hearing this, everyone immediately shrank back, all lowering their heads, focusing on counting the ants on the ground... although there were no such creatures on the spaceship.

The Guanghui Federation overseer snorted: "However, if you cooperate with our work, we can not pursue your unintentional mistake. We need to go to the relic site to investigate. We need you to lead the way and also check your flight logs. Do you have any objections?"

"No objection, no objection. It's our honor to work for the Guanghui Federation! I am the mechanical expert of this ship. If there is anything you need help with, please feel free to order me. Don't treat me like a human!"

Seeing that the situation was not as serious as he imagined, the short surveyor breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly used the skills he had honed over countless days and nights, and began to lick skillfully, striving to provide good service.

"This..." The captain hesitated, "Are we going to have a criminal record this time?"

The Guanghui Federation overseer didn't take it seriously. "That's for sure, but you don't need to care about it. As long as you turn in the things you dig up to the state in the future, there won't be any problems."

Everyone: "..."

Turn it over to the state? Are we really going to change our careers and become an archaeological team?!

Too much, this is simply grabbing our weakness to threaten us, wanting us to compromise? Dream on! We will never accept being recruited!

—Unless the Guanghui Federation pays us a salary.

After reaching a consensus physically, the group led the way and soon brought the Guanghui Federation overseer to the barren planet where the triangular device was excavated, and found the previous coordinates.

Harrison pointed to the detection screen and said, "It's here. There used to be an unknown civilization relic similar to a military base here, but it collapsed when we left. Here is the previous drilling video..."

The Guanghui Federation overseer nodded, asked his subordinates to land, took out more advanced detection instruments, and tinkered with them for a while, but his expression changed slightly.

He didn't expect that the detection results showed that there were no anomalies in the rock layer, only soil.

This didn't make sense. Even if the relic collapsed and was buried underground, there should still be traces. However, in the pictures of these advanced detection instruments, there was no relic existing under the rock layer at all.

"Are you sure this is the place?" The Guanghui Federation overseer frowned.

"That's right, you've seen the flight log, it's here." Harrison also looked surprised.

Such a magical scene aroused his curiosity again. He couldn't understand how the relic could disappear out of thin air.

Could it be that they only had a dream when they came to dig things, but the unearthed device was a real thing, which was strange everywhere.

Just as he was thinking about it, the Guanghui Federation overseer next to him seemed to have thought of something, his face changed, and he muttered to himself:

"This phenomenon, could it be the interference of high-dimensional information state with reality..."

Harrison was about to turn his head to ask, but he saw the Guanghui Federation overseer abandon a few people, ran to the side, and hurriedly reported to his superiors.

Seeing the other party's extremely serious expression, Harrison had a bad premonition. It seemed that the seriousness of the problem exceeded his imagination.

...

On the other side, the Covenant Organization base.

Luo and Fei received a notice and came to the dim palace again to meet the Oathkeeper.

"You're here?"

In mid-air, the figure of the Oathkeeper floated, looking down and speaking lightly, his tone carrying a sense of森然 (senran - cold and ghastly).

His words carried strong mental fluctuations with a sense of oppression. Luo and Fei paused and were surprised.

The two had known the Oathkeeper for a long time and knew his behavior better. This performance was obviously angry, which hadn't happened for a long time.

The two couldn't help but look at each other, communicating with their eyes.

Luo (questioning eyes): Boss's mood doesn't seem right?

Fei (blinking eyes): Maybe the deal with Black Star didn't work out.

Luo (frowning): This shouldn't make the boss angry, there must be another reason.

Fei (curious eyes): What's the reason?

Luo (rolling his eyes): ...Do you think eyes can explain such complex content clearly?

Fei (squinting eyes): Makes sense.

The two exchanged glances for a while, then lowered their heads to salute the Oathkeeper and asked, "Leader, what's the matter?"

"Black Star knows our secrets!" The Oathkeeper's angry voice echoed.

"What?!" The two were shocked and panicked.

Could it be that the last sneak attack caused Black Star to find clues, leading to the leakage of organizational information?

If that's the case, then the two of us are guilty of being incompetent!

The boss specifically called us over, could it be that he wants to punish us? That's right, that must be it!

The two thought they understood the boss's attitude, panicked, and did not dare to hesitate at all. They lowered their heads in fear and took the initiative to admit their mistakes: "This is all our fault. We have made a big mistake, leading to the leakage of organizational secrets. Please punish us!"

The Oathkeeper glanced at the two, softened his tone, and said in a deep voice:

"Don't misunderstand, your actions have nothing to do with this matter. Black Star has long known about the existence of our organization."

Hearing this, the two couldn't help but look at each other in confusion.

It wasn't us who leaked the information, so who could it be? Obviously, the last time was the first intersection with Black Star, have we had dealings before?

At this time, the Oathkeeper's cold voice sounded.

"Don't guess, there's a mole in the organization!"

"That's impossible!"

Luo was shocked, with a look of disbelief, and said anxiously: "The leaker will inevitably suffer the backlash of the Flame of Souls, who can withstand it?!"

The Flame of Souls is also a primal Esper Ability. As the name suggests, the ability is related to souls and spirits. The Oathkeeper is the host.

This Esper Ability is an expert in manipulating souls. It's very dangerous and ranks on the ultra-high-risk Esper Ability list. One of the abilities can prohibit the target from revealing specified messages. The Oathkeeper uses this ability to prevent anyone inside the organization from leaking secrets. Once someone wants to forcibly leak relevant messages, not only will they suffer backlash, but the Oathkeeper will immediately know. That is how the Covenant Organization has been able to remain secret and survive to this day.

He uses the ability of the Flame of Souls, driven by his peak Super-A Grade, to produce an extremely terrifying effect. Even Luo and Fei, two powerhouses who have entered the Super-A Grade, cannot bypass the monitoring of the Flame of Souls, and leaking secrets will also be backlashed.

So the two did not believe that anyone could betray the organization.

"Whether you believe it or not, the fact is the fact. Black Star called out my identity in one breath. I foolishly thought that the other party didn't know about the existence of the Covenant Organization. This matter must be investigated thoroughly!"

The Oathkeeper's tone was stern and he shouted:

"Someone must have used special methods to bypass the blockade of the Flame of Souls and transmit intelligence to the outside world. Moreover, this person's status is not low and must be a cadre within the organization. It is not yet known whether they are a core member."

The two's expressions also became serious. This matter concerned the survival of the organization, and they could not take it lightly.

"Leader, what do we need to do?"

"You two are my trusted core members. In principle, I believe in you, but everything is based on prudence. I need to read your memories. Are you willing?"

Luo and Fei were immediately embarrassed. Although the two had not betrayed, any Esper Ability user would instinctively resist others intruding into their brains.

However, sensing the increasingly unstable mental fluctuations around them, the two swallowed a mouthful of saliva. In order to show that they had a clear conscience, they had to nod their heads with difficulty in agreement.

The next moment, the Oathkeeper raised his hand slightly, and two flames with colors like the starry sky spurted out and landed on the two of them.

The two immediately sensed a unique mental fluctuation entering their brains. They looked at each other, gritted their teeth, and took the initiative to release their mental barriers, without any defense, allowing the Oathkeeper to easily and freely enter.

Memories were quickly read by outsiders, and scenes from childhood to adulthood flashed before their eyes. Their brains produced slight stabs of pain, and the two gritted their teeth and endured the Oathkeeper's mental probes rummaging around in their brains.

After a long while, the mental probes in their bodies were finally withdrawn by the Oathkeeper with satisfaction.

"Very good, you have not disappointed my trust." The Oathkeeper nodded and said in a deep voice: "The task of finding the mole is entrusted to you. I allow you to thoroughly investigate all organizational cadres. Report any suspicious personnel to me, and I will read their memories. Before the mole is found, we will temporarily stop all activities and go into hiding."

The two were silent, nodding to show their acceptance of the task. They felt that their brains, which had been ravaged, were still faintly aching, and couldn't help but sigh secretly in their hearts.

It seems that the leader is really angry this time. Even we, his confidants, are treated like this, let alone other cadres...

The two could foresee that the organization would be in chaos during this mole-hunting operation.

...

The explosion of cosmic-level energy could not escape the cosmic monitoring buoys set up by advanced civilizations. This thing is like a camera all over the universe, used by advanced civilizations to monitor the situation in their jurisdiction. Eyes are planted everywhere.

However, the qualifications for setting up monitoring buoys generally belong to civilizations, and private forces rarely obtain permission.

In the Ancient Star Desert, the Black Star Legion's branch had no power and naturally had no right to set up monitoring buoys. Han Xiao couldn't immediately detect the sudden phenomenon of cosmic-level energy surging from a long distance away.

The overseers of the advanced civilizations reacted quickly and were secretly taking action to investigate the source and impact of the phenomenon, but they basically gained nothing, and did not know what changes this energy explosion would cause.

At the same time, in the invisible quantum network world, the information packets released from the triangular device were spreading rapidly in the Ancient Star Desert Star Field.

These information packets have incredible camouflage, bypassing most intelligent firewalls, quietly infecting one quantum network node after another, spreading and diffusing like a virus, but temporarily not showing any abnormal reactions, simply lurking down.

Only a very small number of ultra-high-intensity intelligent firewalls can discover information packets, such as the main intelligence of some advanced civilizations. Once discovered, the information packet immediately activates the self-destruct program, self-destructs and deletes itself, and also marks this impenetrable firewall, and other information packets will no longer come to take risks, as if a program to avoid the strong and seek the weak had already been set up.

As the infection range expands, the efficiency of transmission also increases geometrically. In the quantum network, transmission is not limited by distance. Without anyone knowing, the massive quantum network nodes in the Ancient Star Desert Star Field are infected.

And at a certain moment, an information packet spread to a quantum node and encountered the strongest intelligent firewall it had ever encountered. As soon as it entered the periphery of the node, it was scanned out, and the information packet immediately self-destructed.

However, at this moment, surging data streams poured out from the node, wrapping the information packet. When it had self-destructed sixty to seventy percent, the remaining fragmented information was intercepted in a flash of lightning.

The next moment, these data streams converged into a figure.

Meynison's virtual soul looked at the floating wreckage of the information packet in front of him, with a curious expression on his face.

"Hmm, I've never seen this data structure before... What is this thing that actually came to invade my branch base?"

—

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