Shirley, Gabriel and other new recruits walked into the Punishment.

Once all personnel have boarded the ship, the corridor begins to separate from the ship body, fold and be recovered to the edge of the port.

Immediately afterwards, the hull of the Punishment trembled slightly, and the engine nozzle at the stern was filled with blue light.

Finally, the giant fixed mechanical arm also began to be recovered, giving the entire battleship freedom and allowing the Punishment to sail out of the port.

Adjust the direction of the ship's bow, leave the star port through the air valve, and arrive at the gray desert on the moon's surface.

When it rises high enough away from the lunar surface...

Not far from the front of the ship, a vortex entrance with a diameter of four hundred meters was formed, mixed with faint blue light.

The Retribution quickly sailed into it, and only after the entire battleship entered the fault space did the entrance created by the jump engine completely dissipate.

Tranquility returned to the desert on the lunar surface, as if the Punishment had disappeared "out of thin air".

In the shimmering fault tunnel, the Punishment is heading towards the Epson 8 galaxy 450 light-years away.

Corridors inside the ship.

"Attention everyone, I am Miranda Matcha, the captain of the Punishment. This ship is expected to leave the fault space in 38 hours.

Also, the maintenance team, please go to the equipment room immediately. The robotic arm in Area 3 needs to be inspected.

Fighters, please immediately...

Ground staff..."

A female captain named Miranda came over the radio, saying a series of precautions in a cold tone.

Listening to the radio reminder, Shirley, who was holding her suitcase, followed a UNSC Marine wearing a desert-colored training uniform as they walked through this corridor.

Came to the door of a cabin.

The Marine stopped, turned around, and said, "Sir, this is your temporary cabin."

"Thank you. I'll just clean it up myself. Please forgive me, Corporal." Shirley thanked her.

"Yes. If you need anything, tell me, sir." The Marine nodded.

"Okay." Shirley responded with a smile.

After the brief conversation, the Marines walked away from here, and Shirley touched the terminal on the bulkhead.

The door unlocked by induction slowly opened, allowing Shirley to see the layout of the dormitory at a glance.

There is a fixed single bed, a desk, a chair, and a wardrobe for storing clothes and luggage. Opposite the cabin door is a small porthole.

Although the space is narrow and looks simple, it is a single sleeping cabin located close to the bridge and can only be used by lieutenant-level officers.

After all, the Paris-class is the fourth-lowest in terms of specifications among the battleships owned by mankind.

But Shirley said it was very good.

Before she became a supervisor, some of the tasks she had performed were much more difficult than this, so she was content to have a single room.

Enter the dormitory.

Close the hatch.

Shirley opened the suitcase, took out the thin crystal-like "laptop", put it on the fixed table, and then took out some changes of clothes and hung them in the closet.

After simply tidying up, she sat behind the fixed desk, lit up the computer's holographic screen, and prepared to read the company's recent important news and information.

The Punishment is equipped with a repeater, so that Shirley's personal electronic devices still have full network signals.

As soon as I pulled up the homepage of the company's internal website, the first headline that caught my eye was the report "Quantum communication has entered the trial stage."

See this.

Shirley touched the screen to open a column about quantum communications.

Reports show that the company's high-tech research team led by Wang Zhaofeng and the engineering department have built large-scale quantum communication relay stations in major colonies such as Reach, Xirou, and Jingsong.

Preliminary results of the trial show that the quantum relay station has successfully enabled true real-time communication between major colonies, and most importantly, the earth.

After that, the team led by Wang Zhaofeng will focus on the simplification of quantum relay stations and replace the old relays used by battleships as soon as possible.

At the end of the column, a photo of the research team is also attached.

Standing in the center is Wang Zhaofeng, who wears glasses and has an old face. He looks like he is in his fifties or sixties.

Shirley has never forgotten this "Mediterranean" doctor.

During the days of living in the brood, when her parents were busy studying the G virus, other researchers would help take care of her, including the kind old doctor Wang Zhaofeng.

Recalling the original moments, Shirley couldn't help but smile, and then swiped the screen to exit the column.

Continue browsing.

Most of the titles are "Reach will build a new flagship far superior to the Zeus class", "Arcadia's population exceeds the 3.5 billion mark!", etc. It seems that they are published by the editorial department or the news department in order to complete the performance.

Column report.

But Shirley just wanted to relax and kill some time, so she read them one by one with great interest.

remains?

It wasn't until more than ten minutes later that she discovered a report about ruins built by non-human beings.

The title is "Non-man-made ruins have been discovered in the Methrine Colony, and an archaeological team led by Laura Crawford is conducting excavation work."

Click in and take a look.

The photo at the top of the column is an aerial view of the excavation site.

The photo shows two tall metal pillars with dark gray outer walls standing in a lawn clearing in a dense forest.

The high pillar is like a long rectangular block, inserted vertically into the ground. If you look closely at the outer wall of the high pillar, there are regular gaps where blue light leaks out.

Engineers wearing orange exoskeletons, as well as the latest SCVs and engineering vehicles, set up a temporary camp near the high pillar.

The excavation has just begun, but it has already been discovered that there seems to be a larger metal facility beneath the surface.

After reading to the end, the editor of this column also reminded his colleagues, especially the intelligence agents scattered everywhere, to pay attention to whether the colonies also have similar ancient ruins.

"..."

Shirley frowned slightly after reading the report.

It is not surprising to find ancient ruins on the earth, but if they are found on a colonial planet, it means that the alien race that built the ruins perished and disappeared for some reason.

The company allowed reporting on the ruins of Mesrein to make all employees pay attention to their respective jurisdictions.

'After arriving at Epsom D, let's conduct a secret investigation.'

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Shirley thought to herself.

Swipe the screen to exit the column, and the content below is filled with trivial matters, interspersed with the company's newly promulgated or newly updated welfare policies.

The most mentioned thing is still "having more children".

Shirley didn't pay much attention to this, and she wouldn't think about it for the time being.

However, the population explosion that has lasted for more than half a century shows that the ideas of her and a small number of employees are contrary to the mainstream of the public.

Humanity's most advanced medical and biotechnologies have successfully increased the average life span, which is expected to be 185 to 200 years old.

If you are willing to spend a lot of extra money, the lifespan can be further extended.

Despite this, most Umbrella employees, as well as the people under UEG, still choose to have more children.

After all, in the current society, words such as poverty, famine, and disease have almost disappeared, and resources are approaching infinite for humans at this stage.

Thanks to the secret control of the White Queen and the government, prices and house prices remain stable, so people are willing to enjoy high welfare policies while making the entire human race more prosperous and stronger.

After reading the recent reports, Shirley exited the homepage of the company's website and opened the information and archives.

After some operation, the holographic star map of the Milky Way is brought up.

I saw densely packed stars and notes marked by the company, making a miniature Milky Way with different lights appear directly above the fixed table.

Somewhat dazzling.

Then Shirley stretched out her left hand, placed it on the Orion cantilever "below" the Milky Way, stretched her thumb and index finger outward, and made a magnifying motion.

Soon, the star map was enlarged by Shirley to the territory involving human beings.

She made another fist with her left hand to switch the star map to a flat map, which was convenient for her to view, and brief text information was also displayed on both sides.

View with floor plan and brief information.

The human territory is an irregular circle with the solar system as the center and a radius of approximately 450 light years.

Star systems within the scope, as long as they have terrestrial planets that meet the conditions for terraforming, have been set foot on by humans.

The total number is 304.

Even galaxies without suitable planets have been developed into star system-level mines by UEG and Umbrella, or private companies with long-term cooperation with the government.

If all colony and mining star systems are included, the total number reaches 610, and this number changes every once in a while.

You must know that after Umbrella used UEG to unify the entire human race, it indirectly or forcibly abandoned most of its bad habits and also developed some characteristics.
To be continued...