The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Just the Dyson Cloud or other astronomical projects we've built around a common G-type yellow dwarf star would typically have a total scale and number of 10 to the 16th to 10 to the 19th power, with a minimum of tens to hundreds of trillions of Dyson Cloud components. If any of these steps required human involvement, we wouldn't need to build the entire project."

[Dyson Cloud's self-replication and proliferation components have been deployed...exponential growth has begun.]

【Violent stellar coronal mass activity detected】

[Prepare to lower the orbit and capture heavy elements from the stellar coronal mass ejection]

As a Titan ship dedicated to engineering and construction, the Creator is larger than the Salem, with a long axis approaching 30 kilometers.

"Unlimited exponential growth is a terrifying but interesting thing." This is how Noshalin commented on the Dyson cloud components, which are self-replicating units with mass-energy conversion capabilities.

The Dyson Cloud components that were launched into the low orbit of the star began to synthesize replicas of themselves on the side facing away from the sun at a speed visible to the naked eye, using von Neumann self-replicators the size of elementary particles. Then, the separated and replicated second batch of Dyson Cloud components began to quickly replicate the third batch of Dyson Cloud components, just like the first batch of Dyson Cloud components that were launched. Then, the fourth batch, the fifth batch... The Dyson Cloud components with self-proliferation capabilities began to replicate and proliferate themselves exponentially in the low orbit of the star. After 60 self-replication cycles, their number will be large enough to block most of the light from the two red dwarf stars in the galaxy. By that time, the six small artificial stars will have entered a new orbit planned by humans, orbiting the binary red dwarfs in a nearly perfect circle that is almost impossible to exist in a natural state.

While an artist on Sky Star was creating freely, the Iserlohn Fortress in another universe was not so peaceful. Siegfried Gilphias, carrying the mission given to him by Reinhard, came to the Iserlohn Corridor on his own ship. However, this time, he did not come here to lead the army to attack again, but to negotiate a ceasefire with the allies.

"I admire your battlefield strategy and superb tactical skills." During the negotiation, Gilfias expressed his admiration for Yang's military talent in defeating Reinhard and his subordinates several times.

"No, I'm just a man who was forced to put on the armor at the critical moment. I'm just better at escaping with everyone else."

"Your Excellency, you don't have to be modest as you have been able to lead the fleet to escape unscathed from countless famous imperial generals and remain invincible under extreme disadvantages." Gilfias noticed a photo hanging in the conference room. The photo seemed to be the rings of a gas giant planet, but the special thing was that the rings of the gas giant planet in the photo seemed to be composed of countless translucent cubes.

"What an interesting piece of art! Is this a painting by an artist from the Alliance?"

"It's undeniable that it's indeed a work of art, but... unfortunately... the Alliance doesn't have an artist qualified to create something like this."

"Oh? How do you know? It's just a fictional artwork. Even an officer or soldier in your army with a bit of artistic talent could create something like this after some training, right?"

"Because this isn't some imaginary or fictional art painting. Do you know where this work came from?"

"It was given to us by the owners of the alien spaceship that appeared on the battlefield in the Isiel Corridor. It's not some fictional artwork, but a photo taken on the ground."

"It shows a piece of art created by several artists from that civilization. It's called the Rubik's Cube Ring."

"It's said to be built around a gas giant. Each cube in this photo is a standard ice block with a length, width and height of 200 kilometers. There are at least hundreds of millions of such ice blocks surrounding the gas giant, forming an artificial star ring."

"This is really... a way of creating art that I've never thought of?"

"According to what they revealed, artworks of this scale and size were not uncommon in their civilization. They liked to use planets and even stars as canvases and raw materials for their creations, shaping the stars in the sky into the shapes they needed."

"Can the hands of intelligent beings reshape the stars?"

"If you're asking about humans, I can only answer that I don't know, but at least they might be able to do it."

"If you are lucky enough to meet them again, perhaps you can seek the answer to this question from them."

…………

After several hours of negotiations, Yang and Siegfried, representatives appointed by the Alliance government, signed the armistice agreement. A series of prisoner exchanges will be carried out later. During decades of war, both the Alliance and the Empire captured many soldiers and officers of the other side. During the negotiations for the signing of this temporary armistice agreement, both the Alliance and the Empire agreed to release each other's detained enemy prisoners. Subsequent work will be carried out at the Iserlohn Fortress, a transit station, and both sides will conduct a prisoner exchange ceremony and work in Iserlohn.

"Although it is generally a good thing to allow captured soldiers to return home, but..." Yang leaned on the sofa in the dormitory and tapped the coffee table in thought.

"Admiral? Is there something wrong here?"

"Julian, if we simply release prisoners of war from both sides, there's no problem. However, if we release too many prisoners at once, it could pose a risk."

"The number of prisoners of war released by both sides this time is as high as 60. The Empire will release nearly 30 Allied officers and soldiers captured in the past decades of war, and the Alliance will release more than 20 Imperial prisoners of war."

"If there were intelligence officers or instigators with ulterior motives among these 60 prisoners, it would be a huge problem."

"Given the methods of Grand Duke Rogdan Ram, I would be surprised if he didn't mix some intelligence agents who planned to take advantage of the situation and infiltrate the Allied countries among the released prisoners of war."

"In that case, aren't these people very dangerous?"

"However, the Alliance can also manipulate the Imperial prisoners they release, allowing intelligence personnel mixed in with these prisoners to infiltrate the Empire, obtain more intelligence, or, if necessary, sabotage the Empire from within."

"But the Empire could do the same thing. If both sides truly intend to cease hostilities, this mutual infiltration and sabotage of intelligence will likely only stop there. However, if public opinion in my alliance changes in the future, or if the Empire launches a new attack on Iserlohn Fortress, these infiltrating intelligence personnel and agitators will spark a terrible civil war on both sides."

"In that case, why did you agree to sign the prisoner exchange document?"

"While it's uncertain what the future will hold for Alliance public opinion, right now, a significant portion of the Alliance population, already disinterested in the war, simply wants to see their husbands, sons, and relatives who went missing or were captured by the Empire as soon as possible. Ultimately, disagreeing with the prisoner exchange wasn't an option from the start."

"As for the intelligence officers and instigators who may be mixed in among these prisoners of war, we can only hope that the Allied Powers will be more cautious."

.........

Yang Weili was indeed right. Both the Empire and the Alliance had mixed some instigators and intelligence personnel into the released prisoners of war. However, neither Reinhard nor the Alliance intelligence department, which was already short of talent, planned to use these insiders for the time being. Reinhard was still consolidating and carrying out large-scale reforms on the internal affairs and economic system of the Empire he had just seized, and had no intention of launching a new round of military offensive against the Alliance for the time being. The Alliance was also affected by the attack on Heinessen and years of war. The people no longer had the will to fight a war. They only hoped to live a stable life and see their husbands and sons released by the Empire or other relatives and friends who had been missing for many years as soon as possible.

However, the fact that both the Alliance and the Empire had no intention of fighting again did not mean that no one wanted to continue to provoke a war in order to gain more benefits from it. Yang Weili guessed that among the prisoners of war exchanged, some intelligence personnel would sneak in, but even he did not guess that among the exchanged prisoners of war were not only intelligence personnel from the Empire and the Alliance, but also several assassins and fanatics from the Earth Church. The current ceasefire between the Alliance and the Empire was not in their interests. Only by keeping the Empire and the Alliance in a state of war could they further control and intervene in the economy of the Alliance and the Empire and the spiritual gaps of the grassroots people through the invisible black hand of Feisha. However, now that the Alliance and the Empire remain in a state of armistice, it will inevitably hinder their development and attempts to interfere in the politics of the Alliance from within. In the near future, as a Congressman Jessica Edward, whose public support in the Alliance political arena has been growing by leaps and bounds, has suffered several failed assassination attempts by unidentified persons. What makes Jessica and the Alliance security department feel strange is that these assassins who tried to assassinate Congressman Jessica always leak information from somewhere inexplicably the day before the assassination, so that they are caught before they can launch the assassination attempt on Congressman Jessica. What worries Lebeiro and others is that these arrested assassins almost immediately tried to commit suicide by any means after being arrested, including taking poison, jumping off buildings, and banging their heads against walls. Until now, no useful information has been obtained from these seemingly unrelated assassins. These failed assassination attempts against Congressman Jessica seem to be just sporadic personal actions of extremists who have no connection with each other.

…………

A secret meeting is taking place in a secret base of the Earth Alliance.

"It seems the current autonomous lord of Feisha is showing a tendency to be a little disobedient?"

"Wouldn't it be better to handle it like the last time?"

"This guy, Lubinski, seems to be very alert. He knows that if he dares to betray us, his fate will be the same as the previous Dominion Lord."

"Give him another good beating," said the hooded Earth bishop who led the secret meeting.

"If he dares to ignore our orders again, then just..." The Archbishop stationed at the Alliance Base on Earth raised his right hand and silently made a gesture of slashing his neck with a knife.

"As for the alliance, after we lost our partner, Treunicht, shouldn't those present explain why so many assassins we sent out were inexplicably arrested due to intelligence leaks?"

Hearing the Archbishop's words, the expressions of several people present froze, and they hurriedly explained to the Archbishop: "Bishop, you know our loyalty. It is definitely not us who leaked the information. We will definitely find the traitor."

"Then go investigate. After finding the traitor who leaked the information, get rid of Councillor Jessica as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

"Also, in a month, the Alliance will hold a prisoner exchange ceremony with the Empire at Iserlohn Fortress. Are our people ready?"

"Of course, Archbishop. We will disguise ourselves as Imperial prisoners of war and soldiers and assassinate Yang Wenli at the prisoner exchange. If Yang Wenli, the Alliance hero who fought in the Battle of Asti and captured Iserlohn Fortress, is killed at the Imperial prisoner exchange, the people of the Alliance will be outraged. Then, the war between the Alliance and the Empire will have no choice but to continue."

"Alright, only if the Alliance and the Empire continue the war can we further control human society. As for Yang Wenli, since we can't control him, we have no choice but to get rid of him."

After the secret meeting ended, the high-ranking members of the Earth Church who were present dispersed and left in twos and threes. What they didn't know was that their entire meeting process, the identities of the people and all related information, and even their every move, were under the surveillance of others.

The nebula probe decomposed itself into a pile of molecules invisible to the naked eye, and penetrated all the protective facilities in the stronghold like a speck of dust without any hindrance. The alarm devices and sensors in the stronghold did not even detect the nebula probe that was decomposed into a molecular scale. The probe monitored the entire meeting at a close distance, scanning and recording every cell of every person present, every bit of information stored in the electronic equipment in the stronghold, and even every carbon molecule on the paper documents present.

The reason why all the recent assassination attempts against Councillor Jessica by the Earth Church have failed is not because there was a traitor within the Earth Church who leaked the information, but because every action they took and even every word they said was under surveillance. The news about the assassination attempt on Councillor Jessica that the Alliance Security Department recently received was also the result of the Nebula Probe. The reason why the Alliance Security Department could not ignore the early warnings of the assassination information against Councillor Jessica was because the intelligence was too detailed, even to the extent of the identity information of the assassins, the assassination methods used, the time and place of the attempted assassination of Councillor Jessica, etc. This overly detailed information even began to make the Alliance Security Department suspect whether the sender of this information from an unknown source could be the mastermind behind these seemingly unrelated assassination plans?

The Earth Church, which attempted to stir up a new bloody storm, would never have expected that this assassination would truly sweep the Earth Church into the dustbin of history.

Chapter 250 Assassination Incident (6000 words)

A month later, the prisoner exchange day of the temporary armistice between the Alliance and the Empire

For the officers and soldiers of Iserlohn Fortress, the biggest change in the fortress in recent days is the arrival of many transport ships responsible for transporting prisoners of war from the Empire. In the past few decades between the Empire and the Alliance, although the Alliance was more often the passive defensive party, the Empire's several large-scale failed attacks on the Alliance also allowed the Alliance to capture many Imperial soldiers, giving the Alliance the qualification to sign on an equal footing.

A large number of prisoners of war gathered in the Iserlohn Fortress, and it was inevitable that there was a mixture of people. For example, among these so-called prisoners of war, there were a small number of Imperial officers and soldiers who had been successfully turned while being prisoners of war, a small number of intelligence personnel, and several unknown Earth Cult assassins who were disguised as Imperial prisoners of war. They planned to assassinate the commander of the Iserlohn Fortress and Yang Wei-li, who was regarded as a hero in the Alliance, at the prisoner exchange ceremony. If possible, it would be best to kill the Imperial commander who came to participate in the exchange ceremony as well, completely ruin the prisoner exchange ceremony, and provoke conflicts between the Empire and the Alliance and a new round of war. If Al Fashil, Asti and the hero Yang Wei-li, who captured the fortress and covered the retreat of the main force of the Alliance fleet in the subsequent expedition, were killed by the "Imperial assassins hidden among the prisoners" at the prisoner exchange ceremony. The people of the Alliance will surely be outraged, and the ceasefire agreement between the Alliance and the Empire will become a piece of waste paper. The surging public opinion will make the war continue, and the Earth Church, the behind-the-scenes force, will also gain more benefits from it.

If Feisha is temporarily afraid to get involved for some reason, the Earth Church, as the actual controller behind Feisha, finds that it can no longer command Feisha's cunning black fox. Without Feisha's assistance in using the economy to influence the empire and the alliance, the Earth Church has no choice but to take action itself and let assassins disguise themselves as imperial officers and soldiers to kill the alliance hero Yang Weili, in order to intensify the alliance's public opinion in a short period of time and provoke war.

However, the Earth Cult, which believed that it held the fate of all mankind in its hands, never imagined that its plan had been exposed from the very beginning. As long as the assassin dared to act, the means left by a certain alien lady hidden around them would be activated.

…………

A bomb was sneaked into the Iserlohn Fortress by an Earth assassin who had sneaked onto a transport ship. He and several accomplices hid the bomb temporarily, intending to use it to kill Yang Wei-li and the Imperial Army commander who came to exchange prisoners at the prisoner exchange ceremony two days later.

"No matter how powerful Yang Wei-li is, he's still a mortal. Mortals will die. I wonder what expression he'll have before he dies?"

In the cell, several assassins who had sneaked in from Earth were holding a secret meeting when the Allied soldiers in charge of guarding them relaxed their vigilance. In the floor compartment under their beds were the bomb and several pistols. If the plan to assassinate Yang Weili with the bomb failed, the remaining people had to ensure that they would kill Yang Weili or the other senior commanders of the Ishelton Fortress and the Imperial Army generals present.

Everything is ready to go. Several assassins who have received good training in suicide attacks are very confident about the success rate of this assassination. They firmly believe that they can complete the mission under the protection of the Lord.

…………

Two days passed in a flash, and it was the day of the prisoner exchange ceremony. On this day, Reinhard appointed Siegfried as the representative to conduct the prisoner exchange ceremony with Yang Wei-li, the commander of the Iserlohn Fortress.

In the hangar where the prisoner exchange was taking place, a white line was drawn on the ground. The Alliance officers and soldiers captured by the Empire who walked down from the Imperial transport ship docked in the spaceport lined up on one side of the white line, while the Imperial prisoners of war stood on the other side of the white line.

After a series of brief ceremonies, the commanders and representatives of both sides appeared. Yang Wenli and Siegfried each held the personnel list and roster of prisoners of war from both sides and walked to the two sides of the white line. Siegfried Gilfias always had a sense of awe for this opponent who had defeated many of his colleagues head-on on the battlefield several times. It was his luck to meet such an opponent.

The two signed their names on the roster as representatives of the Empire/Alliance and officially began to exchange prisoners. The prisoners from both sides of the white line also began to cross the white line one by one according to the personnel list and return to the welcoming team of their own camp.

Since most of the participants on both sides of the ceremony were unarmed prisoners of war, there were almost no guards on the scene except for Schunkob and Julian who were responsible for accompanying Yang Weili. On the other side, Siegfried, the imperial side, in order to show his goodwill, did not deploy too many armed guards at the prisoner exchange ceremony, which instead gave several assassins mixed in with the prisoners an opportunity to take advantage of.

There was a sudden commotion in the originally orderly prisoner exchange queue. A man in imperial military uniform pushed aside other prisoners and a guard at the edge of the queue, and rushed desperately towards Yang Weili who was standing aside. He pulled open his shirt, revealing a bomb hidden inside his clothes.

"Oh no! What is this!" Xian Kou's sharp eyes caught sight of the bomb under the clothes of the man rushing towards him. He immediately realized that this man's target was Yang Weili, but it might be too late to draw his gun and shoot to stop the other party from detonating the bomb. As a front-line fighter who had fought on the battlefield for many years, Xian Kou immediately pounced on Yang Weili and Julian who had not yet reacted, trying to stand in front of them.

At this moment, the assassin disguised as an imperial soldier shouted "Long live the empire" while pressing the bomb switch tied to his body.

A green beam of light shot out from the shadows in the corner of the hangar wall and accurately hit the bomb on the assassin's body. Then, in the incredulous gaze of the people present, the assassin's body began to decompose into powder, along with the bomb on his body. The Gaussian fission ray's effect of decomposing matter at the atomic level directly decomposed the unfortunate assassin and the bomb tied to his body into a pile of harmless atoms.

Seeing the assassin's body being decomposed into powder with the most shrill scream they had ever heard, the people present reacted one after another. Yang and Julian had been pinned to the ground by Senkob, and several guards in charge of security raised their guns and pointed them at the assassin who had turned into ashes on the ground and the source of the green beam of light in the shadow of the corner.

"Da, da, da." The footsteps sounded from the shadows in the corner.

A familiar figure and voice appeared in front of Yang Weili and Siegfried. A girl with long, conspicuous purple hair was holding a strange gun that emitted a green light.

"What's going on?" Xian Kobu asked as he helped Yang up from the ground.

"Obviously... I saved you." replied Kalisi, who was holding a small Gauss disintegrator.

"You were almost blown away by a bomb just now."

"Thank you so much for saving my life, but... the assassin just now was... shouting..." Senkob cast a doubtful look at the imperial personnel present.

On the other side, Siegfried, who was too far away to react in time, came to his senses and realized that no matter what, he needed to explain it clearly. Otherwise, the incident of the Imperial prisoners of war attempting to assassinate the Allied commander during the prisoner exchange ceremony would be extremely serious.

"Admiral Yang, I hope you will believe me. We are also...hmm?" Siegfried had just stepped forward when he suddenly noticed with his sharp eyes that several people in the crowd seemed to have reached into their clothes and taken something out.

Seeing that their companions' assassination attempt had failed, several assassins immediately started their backup plan. They took out the laser pistols that had been hidden in their shirts and pointed them at Yang Weili and Siegfried. However, Schneider, who had just relaxed his vigilance after the assassination attempt, had no time to react. Just as the assassins were about to pull the trigger, several more green beams of light came from the seemingly empty space in mid-air. Except for one of the assassins, all the others were hit by the beams and their arms holding the guns were decomposed into atomized powder along with the guns in their hands.

The only remaining assassin who was not blasted into pieces by the Gaussian fission ray, in less than 0.1 millisecond before he pulled the trigger, Kalisi's body made of nano-mechanical aggregate flashed to his side with a reaction speed nearly a thousand times faster than that of humans, pulled out the single-molecule knife hidden behind her back, and cut off his arm holding the gun with one blow.

The blade, which was only a single layer of molecule thick, passed through the muscles and bones on the assassin's arm without any hindrance. The wedge-shaped blade cut off his arm without any hindrance along the blade, which was only a single layer of molecule thick. The bones and muscles connected by conventional chemical bonds were cut open like a piece of paper in front of the blade, which was only a single layer of molecule thick.

When the assassin wanted to pull the trigger, he found that his arm had lost all feeling. Finally, his whole arm flew out with blood splattering.

"Ah...Ahhhhhhhh!" The assassin screamed in pain when he realized that his arm holding the gun was chopped off, covering his broken arm that was splattered with blood, while Kalisi, who swung the knife to cut off his arm, did not even get a drop of blood on her body.

In mid-air, several white spherical drones were released from their optical invisibility. The armed guards from both the Empire and the Alliance present looked at these suddenly appearing drones in amazement.

"You'd better stop the bleeding for him... and don't think about committing suicide. The thing in your mouth is no longer effective." Carlisle looked coldly at the assassin who was enduring the severe pain of a broken arm and still trying to bite the cyanide poison capsule hidden in his molars to commit suicide.

"Don't waste your energy. It's very difficult to die in front of us."

"Damn it, why is there no effect?" The Earth Cult assassin who was lying on the ground covering his still bleeding broken arm cried out in despair. He had clearly bitten the cyanide capsule hidden in his mouth, but he was still safe and sound except for the severe pain caused by his still bleeding broken arm.

"Cyanide, as long as the molecular chemical formula of its components is slightly changed, it will be decomposed into a bunch of harmless chemical elements. So don't waste your energy, Earth Cult assassins disguised as Imperial soldiers, with your limited skills, you'd better forget it."

"You! How could you?

"I'm curious why I know you're an assassin from the Earth Cult?"

"It's simple. In front of us, nothing in your brain is a secret to us."

"Earth Religion?" Siegfried and Yang Weili both looked surprised.

"These guys are assassins and death squads trained by the higher-ups of the Earth Church, lurking within the Alliance, with the sole purpose of launching suicide attacks and terrorist attacks. They plan to disguise themselves as Imperial prisoners and assassinate Yang Weili, the commander of the Alliance's Iserlohn Fortress, during a prisoner exchange ceremony. If possible, they also want to eliminate the Imperial representatives participating in the prisoner exchange, thereby intensifying the conflict between the two sides and public opinion, thereby prolonging the war."

"As for this guy and his accomplices... at 4:22 PM twenty-seven days ago, they received an order from the Archbishop of the Earth Church stationed in the Alliance. They forged identities and infiltrated the prisoners of war being exchanged between the Empire and the Alliance. They were looking for an opportunity to assassinate Yang Wenli and the Empire's representatives, and they were determined to make everyone present believe that it was the Empire's doing."

"Am I right?" Carlisle tilted her head and looked at the assassin who was already a little panicked after his identity and purpose were revealed.

"How could you possibly know this? We, Mingpeng, clearly destroyed all the call records and equipment!"

"Destroyed communication equipment? You mean this?" Like a magic trick, Kalisi produced a handheld communication terminal from thin air, shaking it between her index and middle fingers. The familiar style and appearance of the communication terminal made the assassin, who had already lost one arm, look even more terrified.

"This...this...is impossible...impossible! I clearly remember smashing it with my own hands and throwing it into the fire until it turned into charcoal! This must be fake! You must be lying to me!"

"Your method of destruction? Even if we break it down into a pile of molecules, we have a way to completely restore the information terminal and the information inside."

"What you call destruction is simply changing the fundamental particles that make up its material existence into a different state. All you need to do is restore all the fundamental particles that make up it to a previous moment."

The assassin could no longer hear what Carlisle said. He had fainted due to excessive blood loss. The allied guards beside him quickly began to treat his wounds and provide first aid.

"Remember to keep this guy and this thing as evidence later." So Carlisle threw the communicator used by the assassins to communicate with the higher-ups on Earth and another data storage device to Julian beside her.

"Huh? Oh!" Julian opened his hands and caught the communicator and data storage device thrown from mid-air.

"Admiral Gilfias, I'm sorry to bother you. It seems that there are some problems with the personnel screening on our side." Yang, who had just escaped from danger, laughed it off, easing the awkward atmosphere on the scene.

"Is it possible that there's something wrong with your personnel screening? Let me see... there are quite a few intelligence officers among the prisoners at the scene?" Carlisle glanced at the prisoners of war from both sides who were in a commotion over the assassination not far away, and said casually.

Mentioning this, Siegfried and Yang Weili's hearts began to rise again. They had both thought of this before the prisoner exchange began, but they had not said it out loud. There was a high probability that some of their own intelligence personnel and those who had been turned against them would be mixed in with the prisoners being exchanged. As representatives of both sides, Yang and Siegfried were wise not to point this out. The atmosphere became a little awkward when the alien lady, who was their savior, pointed it out.

"Forget it. It's none of my business who you put in the prisoners of war exchange. I'm just here to get rid of the guy who deliberately creates conflicts and deaths for no reason, and by the way... deal with some other things." Carlisle put away the monomolecular blade in her left hand and turned her gaze to Yang Weili and Siegfried.

"Do you want to know about an alternative future for yourself? Or perhaps, a possible future for your civilization?"

A few days ago, Fortuna Galaxy, Tianyan Star Ring.