Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

Countless stasis chambers are neatly arranged in the gene bank, like a silent forest of steles.

Each stasis chamber contained a life sample from various parts of the galaxy. Karen's gaze swept over countless stasis chambers marked with different race numbers, finally landing on one of the inconspicuous ones.

With tan skin, black hair, and coarse linen clothing, the static field completely froze his vital signs, leaving him unharmed even after so much time had passed.

That's the race.

Karen stared at the figure inside the stasis chamber, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.

This seemingly ordinary race constitutes the absolute majority of the Undead Dragon's Soul Sea, and the subsequent investigation by Captain Rex further proves that this civilization is one that He would care about and even protect.

In Karen's view, the only way for the Foundation to survive and find a backer in the chaos of the Humboldt Covenant losing its ruling power was to surrender to the Undead Dragons.

The individual captured by the expedition driven by the bounty is Karen's only stepping stone. He will send the innocent abducted individual back to his home planet, express his sincerest apologies and desire for peace to that nascent interstellar civilization, and offer his respect and determination to surrender to the undead dragon that sheltered them.

Karen, with the highest authority, issued an instruction to the bioinformatics database system: "Transfer this sample with this number to my ship and maintain a stable stasis state."

Even as the rebellion raged on, as the supreme commander, Karen would personally lead his troops to the star system inhabited by that race, to confront the great being who held the power of death.

He didn't know if the Undead Dragon would accept his surrender, or if it would unleash its destructive wrath because of the Foundation's previous offense, burning him and the entire ship to ashes in the sea of ​​stars.

Karen had no choice but to accept this situation. From the overlords of other star clusters to her old rivals within her own galaxy, they were all sharpening their knives. In this chaotic world of collapsing order and raging war, the Foundation had to survive.

"Lia," Karen's voice trembled slightly, "immediately prepare the diplomatic fleet, according to the highest standards of protocol."

"Commander-in-Chief?" Leah was stunned for a moment, clearly not understanding. Karen was no longer the diplomatic envoy who needed to run around for the Foundation, but the supreme commander of the rebels. Now was the most critical moment of the civil war. What diplomatic mission required Karen to go there personally?

"Commander, this is too risky!" Upon learning that Karen was going to see the Undead Dragon, Lia said urgently, "The fighting at the front is intense right now; you cannot leave the command center!"

"Risk?" Karen chuckled softly, her smile serene. "In the current state of the Foundation, is there anything more dangerous than fighting against the Undead Dragons? The fate of the Humborian Consortium is right before our eyes."

He turned around, looked at his anxious confidant, and said calmly, "My mind is made up. The general offensive plan at the front will continue."

From the moment he raised the banner of rebellion, he would either ascend to the pinnacle of power within the Foundation, leading the entire civilization onto a completely new and smooth path, or he would perish in the flames of war alongside those decaying old fogies, utterly consumed by the wrath of the undead dragons.

It was still the same shuttle-shaped flagship that had met the Undead Dragon before. This time, it didn't even bring any escort ships. It needed to show that the nascent civilization its sincerity. It wasn't there to start a war; it was only there to convey a desire for peace.

Karen brought with her the latest detailed star map, expressing her willingness to share sensor data with the nascent civilization. She also brought the common communication protocol of interstellar society to help this civilization, which had just entered the interstellar age, integrate into interstellar society.

The orders were issued methodically, and the flagship completed the preparations for departure at top speed. "Target star system coordinates have been entered. Departure confirmed. Initiating faster-than-light jump procedure."

The flagship slowly sailed out of the anchorage, drawing a graceful arc in the starry sky, before entering a faster-than-light jump state and disappearing into the deep sea of ​​stars.

Outside the porthole, distorted light and shadow and a rapidly passing starry river stretched out before Karen calmly gazing at the scene outside, recalling the first encounter with the undead dragon. Who would have thought that things would turn out this way?

The more he recalled the dragon soaring through the starry sky, and the black-red flames that consumed everything when the City of a Thousand Stars was destroyed, the deeper his awe for that great being became.

Until the warp drive shut down and the flagship entered sub-light speed cruise mode, Karen walked to the porthole and looked at the monoplanetary system in front of her.

At the center of the galaxy, a prime-aged, yellowish-white star emitted a warm and steady light. Karen took a deep breath. "Approach the target planet, and slow down."

After the delay caused by the speed of light limitation, humanity's deep space monitoring network immediately detected the signal from the unfamiliar ship, and this alert was presented to Howard.

"Reporting, General! An unidentified ship is crossing the comet belt."

"The Earth-Moon orbit defense platform has entered a state of maximum alert, and all on-orbit weapons are ready to fire at any time."

Before this unprecedented contact, Howard calmly issued the order: "Activate emergency plans at the colony bases and mining stations, recall all non-military ships, and send research vessels to find nearby asteroids for shelter."

Extraterrestrial civilization.

This is the first time since the dawn of human civilization that we have truly observed artifacts created by an intelligent civilization from another galaxy.

All of humanity's imagination, speculation, fear, and longing for the starry sky over countless years have come true at this moment.

Many humans have always believed that they are alone in this sea of ​​stars, the only intelligent race. They have never found any conclusive evidence of the existence of other intelligent life, so much so that the discovery of any conditions that could give rise to life would cause a stir within their civilization.

However, now, an alien ship from a distant starry sea has suddenly appeared at their doorstep.

When he once looked up at the stars, just like countless children have pondered, Howard wondered if other intelligent life existed in the universe, and what the first contact between humanity and extraterrestrial civilizations would be like.

But he never imagined that this day would come so quickly and so unexpectedly.

What weighed heavily on Howard's mind was that the level of technology displayed by the other side far exceeded the current scope of humanity. Their sudden and discontinuous appearance outside the galaxy must be some kind of faster-than-light technology, while humanity had not yet left its true home, that thin nebula that shrouded the star system.

Just then, the ship hovering on the outer edge of the galaxy suddenly sent a communication signal to the entire galaxy, carrying fluctuations of psionic energy.

The power of this psionic communication is very high, enough to cover an entire star system. However, what puzzles Howard is that even he can achieve this level of psionic power, which is no less than the use of even more powerful electromagnetic waves for communication in the interstellar era, rather than the gravitational waves or neutrinos as speculated.

"Greetings to the intelligent civilization born in this galaxy. We are a diplomatic mission from the Boros Space Foundation, here with the purest goodwill."

"Our purpose in coming here is to return a fellow citizen of your civilization and to establish formal diplomatic contact with you, opening the door to peaceful exchanges between our two civilizations."

The first receipt of a message from extraterrestrial life evoked complex emotions in people, and countless thoughts erupted throughout human civilization like a volcanic eruption.