Chapter 154: Shadows in the Federation: Lin Yun’s Secret Investigation

Within the cosmic current leading toward the Solar System, a passenger ship drifted steadily along with the flow.

Inside a first-class suite, Lin Yun sat on the bed, surrounded by more than a dozen floating virtual windows packed with dense data.

One of those windows displayed a woman’s photo along with her personal information.

She was breathtakingly beautiful—her looks rivaled Mu Qingxue’s and left people utterly speechless.

Wearing a crisp white lab coat, she was focused intently on some kind of experiment.

At the edge of the interface, a section detailed her identity…

“Lin Shuying”

“Federation Year 145 – Federation Year 182”

Official documents revealed almost nothing about her, not even more than her name and the dates.

But who was Lin Yun?

The most outstanding young scientist of the Human Federation—and the creator of both Artificial X Particles and the Gene Enhancer.

Her abilities and level of clearance far surpassed what was available to ordinary people.

So digging into a little more sensitive information was hardly a challenge for her.

And so…

A nearby virtual panel now revealed a trove of additional files.

Lin Shuying was a legendary figure, once even hailed as the Federation’s Chief Scientist.

The craziest part? She’d earned that title at just twenty-two.

Yes—she was even younger then than Lin Yun was now.

But years later, in Federation Year 182, Lin Shuying suddenly vanished—never to be seen again.

She’d been a household name at the time. A sudden disappearance like that, paired with the Federation’s total failure to dig up any trace of her…

It was sure to stir up public anger at the government, maybe even spark wild conspiracy theories—definitely not something the authorities wanted.

So the president at the time decided to cover it up.

They announced to the public that Lin Shuying had died of exhaustion in the middle of her research.

Sure, the excuse was flimsy, but at least it offered an explanation. There were doubts, of course, but as time passed, everyone gradually forgot.

So why was Lin Yun so interested in someone who’d disappeared decades ago?

She’d gone as far as setting up a fake identity and sneaking off to Earth’s sphere without telling her parents.

The answer lay in that vial of blood Lin Yun had secretly drawn from Lin Yu earlier.

Her research into Lin Yu’s blood had turned up all sorts of anomalies, prompting her to pore over volumes of data.

And soon, all the evidence and theories started to point in a single direction.

That’s right—the trail led straight to Lin Shuying.

It left Lin Yun wondering if her father’s origins were somehow tied to this mysterious woman.

For starters, Lin Yu’s genes showed major structural differences from average humans. And those odd traits…

Were practically identical to ideas Lin Shuying had once theorized about.

What’s more, the time Lin Yu was born lined up perfectly with the moment Lin Shuying disappeared.

Not to mention that her father had always been an orphan.

And then—this was the most crucial point—

Even now, no one in the Federation could say for sure whether Lin Shuying was alive or dead. They couldn’t even find so much as a single trace of her.

This wasn’t the olden days—how could someone just vanish without a trace?

It was as if Lin Shuying had been wiped from existence itself.

Meanwhile, Lin Yun could clearly remember how her father would often wake up from the same recurring nightmare.

She’d once asked him what he kept dreaming about.

So years ago, Lin Yun had heard a story from Lin Yu—though at the time, she’d thought nothing of it. Only because of this latest research had she traced the thread all the way back, until she saw Lin Shuying’s photograph.

Lin Yun was certain—Lin Shuying was exactly the woman her father had described all those years ago.

There were just too many mysteries knotted together.

But for now, all of it remained just her own speculation—she didn’t have any hard proof. So Lin Yun decided not to share any of this with Lin Yu yet. Instead…

She’d investigate personally—traveling to Earth’s sphere to uncover the truth.

——

Half a year later.

Federation Year 229.

The Houyi Battlegroup of the Sixth Fleet, along with Fleets One through Six, streamed through twin cosmic currents and arrived at Tianyuan IV.

This place clearly had advance warning—following Tuoba’s orders, they simply ignored the sudden fleet appearance. Which suited Lin Yu perfectly.

Three months after Sixth Fleet’s arrival…

The Ziyang Empire’s fleet also broke through the currents, emerging at Tianyuan IV.

For this ambush, their confidence was sky-high. Based on intel from Sadik, Tuoba seemed completely unaware of Ziyang Empire’s move, with the main Totran forces now committed at Okka.

But they were just a bit too late. By the time they got there, the Totran Kingdom had already breached the system more than ten days prior.

This meant Tuoba had lost any hope of sealing the current’s entrance for absolute defense.

Currently, both sides were locked in a standoff over Okka.

Totran had sent in two main army corps, close to 8,000 warships, while Tuoba could marshal only a little over 6,200 ships.

And Sadik, deep in the inner system, was pinned down too—beset by a dozen rebel factions, he remained holed up, unable to act.

That’s why the Ziyang Empire’s campaign here had become the decisive variable.

It was also the only battlefield of the three without a defending garrison.

At least…

That was what the intelligence suggested.

So, from top commanders down, the Ziyang fleet treated their incursion into Tianyuan IV like a military parade rather than an invasion.

After all, to them, Tianyuan IV was practically a ghost town.

But…

When they finally arrived, they realized—

They were dead wrong—spectacularly so.

Tuoba had left a garrison at Tianyuan IV. Not a huge force—even less than a thousand ships.

But these weren’t standard warships. Their enemy was using energy weapons, laying down a ferocious crossfire at the current’s mouth.

The Ziyang fleet considered counterattacking, but—

It was almost pointless.

The defenders’ encirclement lay 120,000 kilometers from the current’s entrance. Their own railgun shots took an excruciatingly long time to arrive.

But that was only part of the problem. The real killer was—

Yes, some of their railgun rounds did hit the defenders, but the effect…

Was close to nothing—certainly not enough.

After ages and tons of ammo, they finally managed to dent a few enemy warships, only for those tough ships to have enough time to…

Shuffle the damaged ones safely to the back.

In summary…

After thirty minutes, wave after wave of Ziyang warships arrived—only to be wiped out in batches.

And the defenders?

So far, only three warships had been damaged—not a single one lost outright.

If you were only counting destroyed ships—not the wounded—

Then after half an hour, the casualty ratio was an absolutely ridiculous—

Zero to one hundred and fifty!