Chapter 1 The Oversized Spaceship

Because the space-time engine of the Colossus-class Turtle Ship could only be applied to itself and couldn't cover extra space like a dedicated barge, Hao Ren could only temporarily leave the golden giant ship here, letting the autonomous machines study and slowly repair it. In any case, it was impossible for the ship to start itself: the data terminal had confirmed that the golden warship's main control system had suffered severe physical damage. Below the control hall, a section of the facilities had disappeared as if swallowed by a black hole. That should have been accidentally damaged when Vivian opened a portal to leave this place.

Hao Ren instructed the Colossus-class Turtle Ship to deploy several autonomous machines and a production module onto the golden giant ship's surface. These automated devices would attempt to repair the spaceship and complete a comprehensive survey after everyone left. Since there was no technical information about the Infernals in the database, the autonomous machines would probably completely dismantle the damaged parts of the golden giant ship and replace them with new ones. Because writing compatible protocols simultaneously required a little more time.

Hao Ren watched the autonomous machines and production modules automatically deploy on the Colossus-class Turtle Ship's bridge and casually said, "We can go back first. After this spaceship is repaired, it will automatically go to the Core Research Station to dock. The data terminal should have set its host already."

As soon as he finished speaking, a blue light flashed on the bridge, and the data terminal returned from the golden giant ship's control center. It nimbly climbed onto Hao Ren's shoulder, clamoring, "Huh? Did you just mention this humble one?"

Hao Ren reached out and pushed the noisy brick away from his ear, "Is everything done?"

"Oh, yeah, all set," the data terminal said smugly, bouncing in place. "This humble one has completely rewritten the ship's host. Now, except for the engine group and the main power furnace, which can't be started, the ship is completely under control. Don't believe me? Look—"

As it spoke, the terminal floated into the air, issuing commands like a remote control. The golden giant ship's external lights immediately responded to its control, "See, I told it to turn on the headlights, and it turned on the headlights. I told it to activate the shields, and it activated the shields. I told it to open the hatch, and it opened the hatch. I told it to ignite, and it…"

The illuminated grids at the rear of the golden warship flickered randomly for a while, and then all the lights on the ship went out at once.

"Oh, it crashed—this humble one forgot that this thing's engine is offline," the data terminal said awkwardly, shaking itself. "Small problem, just restart it."

Hao Ren looked at the inexplicably excited data terminal with a strange expression, "You seem to be in a good mood. What's up?"

"You can tell?" The data terminal happily somersaulted in the air, its tone rising an octave. "A spaceship! A brain-dead spaceship! A spaceship that can't move on its own! Can't this humble one become its host openly and legitimately? With this thing, this humble one doesn't have to fight with Nolan for a slot anymore!"

The bridge suddenly fell silent. Nolan, who had been concentrating on checking her power unit, looked up with a strange expression, "You know that you usually steal that position?"

Hao Ren looked at the data terminal's excited appearance and couldn't speak for a long time. He thought that it was worthy of being a product with a brain defect from the production line. This guy was obsessed with being a warship host, wasn't he?

The data terminal was still happily clamoring, "Although this ship is technically primitive, it's still a warship! No matter what, it looks quite impressive on the surface! The most important thing is that this humble one has finally proven one thing, that is, as long as the belief is firm, a PDA can evolve into a warship host…"

The brick babbled on and on by itself. Lily couldn't help but poke Hao Ren's arm, "Landlord, has it caught a virus?"

Hao Ren showed a grinning smile, "Hehe, it's okay, it's just crazy."

The terminal wasn't finished yet. After a while, it suddenly rushed to Hao Ren and said, "By the way! This humble one has to give this ship a name! What do you think of calling it the Patian? To commemorate this humble one's first successful evolution… If you don't like it, call it the Hao Ren, but you have to paint this humble one on the hull of the ship…"

Hao Ren finally couldn't bear it anymore and grabbed the noisy thing and stuffed it into his portable space, "This is research material, you idiot!"

The data terminal's voice continued to echo in his mind, "It's okay, research materials can still fly. This humble one is very pragmatic…"

Hao Ren covered his forehead, wishing he could smash his head against the console, "Why doesn't such high-tech stuff even have a power button!"

After Izhaks waited for Hao Ren to finally subdue the data terminal (at least on the surface. As for how noisy the thing was in Hao Ren's mind, that was another matter), he coughed lightly to attract everyone's attention, "So, are we just going back like this?"

Hao Ren patted his head, ignoring the endless chatter in his mind, and looked up at the holographic projection in front of the console.

The probes released by the Colossus-class Turtle Ship and several drones that came to support it had completed a rough scan of the distorted nebula. No active targets were found within the scanning range. As Lementusa said, after the interstellar barrier was broken, all the rebels and guardians had gone to the last line of defense of the Origin Star. All that remained in the Surun Gate star system was a scorched and barren battlefield.

Such a vast battlefield, of course, might still hide other clues. At least a large number of weapons and equipment from both sides of the battle could be salvaged here, and there were also small strongholds and ecological planets once built by the guardians in other parts of the distorted nebula (although those planets had all been burned down). These remnants were all worth exploring, and through them, the respective civilization forms of the guardians and the Infernals could be restored.

Hao Ren nodded to Nolan's holographic image, "Connect me to the drone swarm."

A moment later, a constantly changing face appeared on the holographic projection of the console. It was the collective consciousness of the detection drone swarm. As the drone swarm continued to grow, this collective consciousness also became smarter and stronger day by day. It now even went to the Empire's data network to collect news materials that interested it, or filmed interesting phenomena it accidentally discovered during its expansion and posted them on public channels. Occasionally, it would also have heated discussions with other drone swarms working in the universe. But in any case, as long as Hao Ren called, it would appear immediately.

"Hello," the collective consciousness greeted Hao Ren in a calm synthetic voice. "The swarm is awaiting orders."

Hao Ren nodded and pointed to the star chart next to him, "Increase the detection priority of the Surun Gate. I want you to build a drone hive in this place and explore this star system as an important relic, focusing on restoring the civilization forms that have appeared here. If you find any special relics, send them to the Core Research Station."

"The swarm understands. Also, do you need to build a forward laboratory? Setting it up inside the drone hive can improve research efficiency."

"Do whatever you think is best," Hao Ren scratched his head. "You're growing up fast. You can judge basic construction matters yourself."

After receiving the order, the collective consciousness began to direct the mother ship "nesting" near the Surun Gate to this star system. Next, the nearby drone swarms would regard the Surun Gate as their new home. They would build a large drone base in the depths of this distorted nebula and excavate and salvage all the artificial relics in this star system according to Hao Ren's order.

Hopefully, those fragmented spaceship wrecks and scorched planet dregs really had the value to justify such a large-scale action.

Finally, Hao Ren set up several construction units and a space-time beacon on the ruined planet Surun. Although that planet was completely destroyed, it was at least a relatively stable foothold compared to other parts of the distorted nebula, and there was a slight possibility of reconstruction and salvage. Therefore, Hao Ren decided to treat Surun as a "small station," just like he did in Tanagrus.

Of course, it was unlikely that this planet would be able to recover like Tanagrus. It would probably only be possible to build a ground station.

After issuing the repair order for the golden giant ship, arranging the drone swarm's plan to nest locally, and setting up the base on the surface of the planet Surun, Hao Ren finally confirmed that he had done everything he could do in this place, and then announced the return.

They first had to return to the Core Research Station to settle the rebel prisoner that Lily had captured by mistake.

The prison system there would have a use.