16: Your nightlight is strengthening the optical computer.

Today, perfectly preserved mainframes are extremely rare.

These things cannot be built, cannot be repaired, and can only be dug out from grave mounds. For current human civilization, they are completely non-renewable resources.

The large, perfectly preserved mainframes at United University were all donated by the major signatory powers of the Order Alliance, one after another.

Some smaller polities now might only be able to gather a three-digit number of mainframes with the full strength of their nation.

And such an invaluable item appeared in the space outpost White Shark picked up, lying quietly before him!

Who put this mainframe in my house!

Oh, wait, I picked up this house too.

It feels like making hundreds of millions in an investment and then losing it all in an instant.

Forget it, think about something else.

When was this mainframe produced?

He looked for the emblem on the casing; it was a silver-white broken sword.

It was a relic of the Second Empire of Humanity, the polity that unified humanity during the fourth era.

White Shark recalled what was taught in university.

That short-lived polity, which only existed for over a thousand years,

regarded the Federation that governed during the golden age as the "First Empire" and inherited that era's foreign policy style.

It extensively and destructively developed relics from the golden age, indirectly accelerating the decline of human civilization.

However, while it governed humanity internally, it also rebuilt humanity's internal cohesion through certain extreme methods, re-establishing a deterrence against certain non-human civilizations that continues to this day.

Historical evaluations of it are mixed, both praise and criticism.

It administered a strong medicine to human civilization, which was heading towards death, at the cost of its own lifespan.

Although it's hard to say whether this accelerated or delayed humanity's demise—

A "click" sound brought White Shark back to reality.

Xi Hai inserted the interface provided by the night lamp into the cube.

"Reading..."

"Information received."

"Beginning decryption."

"Progress: 1%, 2%..."

... (night lamp strengthening the mainframe)

At this moment, in the shadow of the asteroid belt, within a certain fleet,

on the destroyers, the "Lord of the Desert".

"Salman, how long have we been sailing?"

Samir asked casually, then looked at the star map, picked up his personal terminal, and flipped through it.

Hmm, no signal.

By the way, do the rulers of this place they're in now force citizens to plant implanted personal terminals?

"I don't know, about ten standard hours."

Salman's casual reply came to his ear.

"Not there yet?"

"We have to wait a bit; the small celestial bodies in this star system are very dense, and there are quite a few places we need to navigate around."

Samir said boredly,

"Alright."

"The Second Emissary hopes we will initiate the sacred ritual on standard calendar July 5th, which is tomorrow."

"You'd better get those two torpedoes today."

Salman pushed the left engine power valve slightly, avoiding a high-speed asteroid drifting towards them, and replied,

"I know."

"I have my own rhythm."

"Desert Spirit Endures Forever."

Shrugging, Samir added,

"Desert Spirit Endures Forever."

... (The mainframe gave in, obediently facing north)

"Read complete."

"Deleted records have been restored."

The night lamp's efficiency was no joke; in less than five minutes, it successfully broke through the mainframe's boot-up defense mechanism—

The mainframe suddenly activated.

A port on top of the Little Night Lamp (which was the hard drive) opened, and a holographic projection began.

"Welcome back, Commander."

"It is now %&￥@￥%￥&..."

"Error!"

"Systemdisorder!"

"Instant key generation entered..."

"The 'Temporary Command Center 23337' log has been opened for you."

Then, a screen unfolded before him.

On it were arranged files:

"Heretic Execution Record 233.12.1"

"Heretic Execution Record 223.12.2"

"…"

Xi Hai scrolled down.

It was densely packed with execution records for "heretics" and "aliens."

He clicked on one of the archived videos.

In the footage, soldiers in powered armor picked up a dozen unprotected people and threw them directly into space.

Looking at the case file, there was only a simple line: "Colluding with foreign races, framing compatriots."

The next case file read: "Discriminating against compatriots, fawning over foreign races";

Opening another, wow, even more outrageous: "Actively allowing foreign races to pollute noble human genes"... After flipping through several more case files, the night lamp in his mind chimed.

"'Second Empire' tags unlocked: Extreme Racism (extreme xenophobia); Extreme Collectivism; Extreme Racial Purity."

"Commentary: Desperate living conditions bred extreme avengers. When humanity once again possessed the courage to face a lose-lose situation, it finally crawled back to its former position from the dining table."

Looking at these case files, White Shark's eyes were complex.

As a history student, he knew the motto of that dictatorial empire:

"Eternal infamy for the Empire, everlasting glory for humanity!"

This was the ideological imprint that extreme empire stamped on all its subjects within its jurisdiction.

It was also its last gift to humanity.

Meanwhile, Xi Hai was attracted by the night lamp's new changes.

"Time-Space Walker mission progress advanced."

"fourth era: 5%"

"night lamp has accessed the Civilization's General Network."

Then, this AI, which could even overturn a mainframe, suddenly crashed without warning.

However, in less than a second, it returned to normal.

"Please enter immersive learning after confirming environmental safety."

"I will briefly explain the current situation of human civilization to you."

It seemed the goal of this trip had been achieved.

Xi Hai turned around to White Shark and said:

"Alright, the data we needed has been extracted."

"Now, let's discuss your compensation."

"For ship damage, our side will compensate with a corresponding amount of resources or ships;"

"For building damage, we hope your side can propose a reasonable plan..."

Mid-sentence, Xi Hai suddenly noticed White Shark staring directly into his eyes, his expression becoming complex.

Suddenly, he uttered something that caught Xi Hai off guard:

"Excuse me, can I join you?"