Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1277 - 486: The Epitaph Written by the Doomed for the Living

After sending off Hua Yuelan, Ren Zhong sat alone in the office for a moment.

He had once imagined that once he lost resurrection, he would inevitably face the scenario of having to say goodbye to those around him, one by one.

He had done quite a bit of psychological preparation.

This preparation was mostly successful.

He knew from the very beginning how difficult this path would be.

But when the moment truly came, he still felt somewhat caught off guard.

But this was only the beginning.

Another more practical and personnel-intensive issue lay before Ren Zhong.

He had to select 750,000 people for the task.

Not one or two, but 750,000.

Back in Starfire Town, Ren Zhong was once enraged when the census officer could decide the life and death of tens of thousands with a single sentence.

But now, at this point, he realized how naïve he had once been.

Liu An was just one of the countless Imperial Earls, but because of his single malicious thought, he dug a pit that the fleet needed 750,000 lives to fill.

And this seemed like just the beginning.

The Mechanical Empire had amplified Source Star’s evil countless times over.

How absurd.

This journey home was marked by blood at every step.

Counting the Mother Empress Ship battle and the accidental damage to reconnaissance ships, transport ships, and armed ships along the way, along with those who unfortunately perished in experimental accidents, and those who worked tirelessly on the ships throughout their latter years and never rested, the sacrifices of the fleet were immense.

Ren Zhong rubbed his temples.

"I must get used to it."

Six hours later, Ren Zhong stood up and went to the mobilization department overseen by Xiao Xingyue.

Xiao Xingyue was once the rising star of the Telekinesis Master agency under the Association, later became the leader of the Ren Group’s secret audit department, and then took on the role of head of the legal department upon joining the fleet.

Although she had always had issues with Ren Zhong and spent most of her time in cryogenic sleep, she never shirked her responsibilities when it came to her work.

When Ren Zhong arrived at the mobilization department, Xiao Xingyue was leading her team in the final personnel selection with the assistance of Sun Ai, who was posing as "the Net."

Six hours ago, after Ren Zhong and Hua Yuelan had agreed on a plan, he had already announced the new conscription order to all members of the Reconnaissance Army.

The Reconnaissance Corps still had five major military departments, with the total scale of reconnaissance ships having risen to three million, and a total membership of thirty million.

The warriors of the Reconnaissance Army still operated on a rotational basis. Due to armament upgrades, "Eye" reconnaissance ships now had higher performance and firepower, demanding more from the crew members. Most reconnoiters were elite, enjoying higher treatment than ordinary shipborne soldiers.

Correspondingly, the casualty rate of reconnaissance ship crew members was much higher than that of ordinary shipborne soldiers, but the intention of new recruits to join the Reconnaissance Corps remained high.

Especially the Third Reconnaissance Army, which had suffered the most severe casualties, was instead the most popular.

Even though the military management department raised the selection standards and thresholds for reconnoiters, it still could not dampen the enthusiasm of the young people.

The main crew members of the Special Service Workship consisted of two groups: one was pure technical personnel managing core technologies, selected by Hua Yuelan and Chen Qiao from within the Artificial Intelligence Institute, with a total number of 50,000, one per ship.

The other group consisted of technical soldiers, to be selected internally from within the Reconnaissance Corps.

The internal selection model clearly informed the warriors of the Reconnaissance Corps in advance that this was a task with almost certain death but was extremely important, concerning the life and death of the entire fleet, before allowing the warriors to volunteer.

Before the announcement, Xiao Xingyue had actually asked Ren Zhong. She thought it unnecessary to state the sign-up requirements so clearly, and unnecessary to fully disclose the danger of the task. After all, all workship intelligent controls and communications were completely under the control of "the Net," and under normal circumstances, were remotely controlled by it, so it would suffice to tell the personnel inside the workship this was a special task.

All information exchange would be completed under the control of "the Net," and onboard personnel had no right to access specific information. They wouldn’t even know their specific flight path. In the vast universe, trying to use the naked eye to navigate, figure out where they were, and where the main fleet was, was absolutely unrealistic.

But Ren Zhong rejected Xiao Xingyue’s suggestion.

He said, "Although theoretically it’s possible to keep everyone in the dark, letting them unknowingly walk to their deaths, since in the face of a dark energy explosion there would be no way for information streams to transmit the message out, and it seems there’s no risk of leakage. But I don’t think so. I’ve already lied once in the Source Star cleanup operation. The same thing must not happen a second time. If we deceive these people into dying without clarity, the moral tribunal of my heart will judge me again, and torture me."