Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Chapter 1404 72: The End of the π Mechanical Council

The permafrost layer of the polar region continuously descended, and upon breaking through to a critical depth, the frozen soil and ice layer suddenly gave way, plunging into the darkness below.

The trio halted their actions, using Tilan's phasing invisibility, slowly descended into that subterranean darkness.

There was no light here, but all three had certain night vision investigative abilities, allowing them to vaguely see the surrounding situation.

Deeper underground, a starship, broken in two, lay quietly. Above and around it, there were other metallic frameworks supporting it, seemingly built later for excavating the ship.

These frameworks still remained, although they had accumulated thick ice and snow over time, ultimately burying them beneath the ground.

Various mechanical bodies were fixed on these frameworks, their appearances varied, with some models even unfamiliar to Loloria.

"These seem to be very old models, possibly early creations, predating my conception." Loloria showed a strange expression.

"The facilities here are odd, many appear to have been built by the Thunder Wing Species, not typical of the Mechanical Council's style." She continued appraising the relics.

"However, I've never seen anything like this in the records of our species." Celestia shook her head, feeling both familiarity and unfamiliarity with these things.

"Let's take a look first." Tilan and the other two cautiously navigated through the darkness, trying to minimize traces of their movement.

There were many mechanical bodies that had ceased operation, corpses dead for countless years, as well as a few still functioning mechanical bodies, some left by the Thunder Wing Species.

After searching, the trio found nothing particularly notable, eventually moving slowly towards the broken opening of the starship, attempting to explore the ground.

"Be careful!"

As they entered the ship passage, a bullet erupted from the darkness, striking Loloria's raised arm.

"Bang—" Sparks flew from her arm, and Loloria used her other hand to counterattack, an intense beam shot like an arrow from her palm, hitting the enemy in the darkness and causing an explosion.

After eliminating the enemy, the trio cautiously observed their surroundings, realizing that destroying the enemy hadn't caused a large-scale disturbance, they relaxed and continued forward, raising a glowing sphere that illuminated the surroundings.

In a corner of the passage lay the mechanical body pierced by Loloria, about half human-sized, its body semicircular, magnetically attached to the passage wall, capable of rapid movement; rather than a combat unit, it was more an internal service robot.

"Wait a moment." Loloria approached the damaged semicircular mechanical body, scanned its internal structure, extracted the memory chip, and then inserted it into her wrist to read.

Soon, she extracted and analyzed the data, after five or six seconds, she removed the chip and returned it to the ground.

"This is a superluminal spaceship manufactured in the Fifth Epoch year 3702, by the organization 'π Mechanical Council'." As she spoke, Loloria's expression became awkward.

"The π Mechanical Council? Didn't it become extinct around the year 2900?" Celestia, a knowledgeable Silver Wings species, naturally knew that historical period.

"That's correct, but a small number of remnants persisted, they secretly managed to manufacture a spaceship capable of superluminal travel."

"Then when did this ship crash?" Tilan asked.

"It was March 28, 3705, the ship used Silver Heart Atomic Clock time." In fact, the current Rose Federation uses a similar time standard.

"During the crash, a strange turmoil occurred aboard the ship, resulting in numerous deaths among the members, ultimately out of 165 passengers, 161 died, with only 4 leaving alive."

"Turmoil? Wasn't it caused by external battles or the ship's own issues?"

"Yes." Loloria was also puzzled, but unfortunately, this mechanical body was merely a service robot on the ship, with limited records.

They explored further inside, seeing various ship rooms and facilities, some places had shrunken skeletons and traces of battle.

"We're probably not the first to salvage and explore this ship." Tilan cautiously picked up a bone, examining its composition and cause of death.

"Loloria, can you analyze if this skeleton belonged to ancestral humans or newborn races?"

"Yes." Loloria took it, her pupils emitting a faint light.

"It's ancestral human, which makes sense as the π Mechanical Council members were primarily ancestral humans." She returned the bone to Tilan.

The trio continued further inside, seeing the ship's dining room, rest area, combat room, crew bedrooms, etc.

"Some members died in their bedrooms, seemingly killed in their sleep."

"Some resisted but were shot through the head, not typical of mechanical bodies or newborn races."

"There was explosive damage here, it seems to have been an emergency cabin, storing escape equipment."

"Other mechanical bodies and corpses were present in the ship, but their times of death didn't match the crash time, clearly resulting from conflicts during a later salvage period."

"The original traces were easier to discern, that stage of battle primarily used bullets, not more advanced laser guns."

...

"Various traces indicate that serious infighting occurred among the ship's members, meaning π Mechanical Council members slaughtered each other, ultimately causing the ship's crash."