Zhao Chen immediately halted the order for the fleet's expedition to commence.

Order all interstellar warships to remain in place and stand by for the time being.

"What exactly is going on? Do you have any detailed information?" Zhao Chen looked at Lilith seriously.

The Crown Prince of the Starry Empire, the eldest prince, was killed in action.

This is no small matter!

Lilith said seriously, "I have sent people back to the Xiaolong Star System to investigate the situation, but it seems that the news has not spread within the Xingyao Empire yet, at least not among the general public."

And the interstellar fleet supporting the Starshine Faction from the Reef Starfield only presents a few fragmented accounts.

As she spoke, Lilith gave Zhao Chen a detailed report on the combat intelligence gathered by the T3 Silver Rat-class light interstellar stealth reconnaissance ship.

After listening, Zhao Chen roughly sorted out the points.

Because of the withdrawal of the Machine Race, a vast uncontrolled star system was left vacant in the areas where the three great empires originally bordered the Machine Race.

After a brief period of deliberation, the three great empires could not resist the temptation and each dispatched their interstellar fleets to occupy these star systems.

Although the Starry Empire, led by Governor Chu, believed that the withdrawal of the Mechanical Race was not a simple matter and should not be taken lightly.

But most people only look at the immediate benefits.

Even if there is some trickery involved, can you just stand by and watch those resource star systems be seized by the other two empires?

Therefore, the Starshine Empire also dispatched an interstellar fleet to carry out related plans, with Governor Chu leading the imperial army on the border to begin controlling those resource star systems.

Furthermore, the Starry Empire's high command also dispatched some people to assist Governor Chu.

This so-called assistance is actually just about getting a bigger slice of the pie.

After all, so many new star systems have appeared all at once, and those are all resources!

Among them is the Crown Prince!

The Crown Prince is the one who will become the King of the Starry Empire in the future. How could he not participate in such a great event as expanding territory and establishing merit?

He then led his royal fleet of three thousand ships to join Governor Chu's imperial fleet in related military operations.

Initially, there were no conflicts among the three imperial powers, since there were too many resource star systems to control, and everyone was only focused on taking over and arranging subsequent construction plans.

But this balance was soon broken.

Because of the conflicting interests surrounding this piece of the pie, a clash of interests began to occur.

The star systems controlled by the three great empires have begun to overlap, which raises the issue of demarcation.

At first, everyone verbally talked about peaceful resolution and common development.

But among the nobles of each family, there will always be a few who stand out and are not afraid to die for their own interests.

This led to friction, and even small-scale local wars broke out.

At this point, no empire could openly show weakness, for that would be slapping its own empire in the face.

As a result, the allocation of the remaining star systems has reached a stalemate.

Just three days ago.

The Crown Prince suddenly led his royal fleet and disappeared from his base. It was not until five hours later that the Imperial Fleet under Governor Chu made its routine contact with the Crown Prince's royal fleet.

At this point, they realized they couldn't get in touch and that something was wrong.

The nearest starship was immediately dispatched to investigate, and they discovered the royal fleet's base, but not a single starship was seen.

The whereabouts of the Crown Prince and his royal fleet are unknown.

This is extremely serious news!

Governor Chu immediately issued an order to dispatch all interstellar reconnaissance ships to conduct reconnaissance and patrols in search of the royal fleet.

After searching for five days, they finally found some clues.

But that was a result none of them wanted to see!

Zhao Chen looked at the only panoramic image in front of him. It was a cosmic star field, which ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) originally had no light because it was the edge of a galaxy.

But after several interstellar reconnaissance ships dropped flares, the area was illuminated.

This panoramic image was taken under these conditions.

Everywhere were the broken wreckage of interstellar warships, shattered hulls, bent interstellar battleship gun barrels, and interstellar destroyers blasted in two.

You can even see some corpses that are already dead.

The most horrifying scene was the wreckage of several massive interstellar warships.

Zhao Chen was very familiar with four of them.

T4 Borei-class heavy interstellar battleship!

The once majestic interstellar battleships have now become wrecked ruins drifting between stars, giving off a desolate feeling.

There was also the wreckage of an interstellar warship even larger than the T4 Borei, which floated in the star field like a 'ghost castle'.

The ship's length is at least ten kilometers!

The 'rubble' and 'bullet wounds' above all illustrate what it has suffered.

Although he had never seen this interstellar warship in person, Zhao Chen had a brief introduction to it in his Xiaolong Fleet database.

It is one of only two T4 interstellar warships in the Star Empire!

T4 Star Emperor-class medium-sized aircraft carrier starship.

Very little data is publicly available about it, because its active numbers are said to be less than one-tenth of the T4 Borei.

It is a T4-class interstellar warship developed and manufactured by the royal family of the Starshine Empire.

The first to be deployed were, of course, the royal fleet and the elite imperial fleet responsible for protecting the capital planet.

As for the Imperial fleets like those of Governor Chuhe, located on the border, the only way to acquire them is through purchase, and the prices are outrageously high.

Therefore, in the fleets under Governor Chuhe and the Imperial fleet, most flagships are T4 Borei, and T4 Star Emperor is rarely seen!

After all, while aircraft carriers and starships possess extraordinary combat power, they are also extremely expensive to build and require corresponding interstellar fighters and interstellar drones to form an effective combat force.

To date, the T4 Star Emperor has not fought a single decent interstellar war; he is more of a symbol representing the Star Empire's royal family.

Occasionally attending important ceremonies in some star systems.

Therefore, from its research, development, manufacturing, and service to the present day, it has never suffered any combat damage.

But at this moment, such an interstellar warship, which could very well cost five billion star coins to build, has actually perished in this uninhabited star field.

This is something no one dared to imagine.

Zhao Chen frowned as he looked at the intelligence report and muttered, "This is no small matter."

Moreover, Governor Chuhe arrived here immediately and took control of the area, conducting a detailed investigation of the battlefield ruins and the wreckage of those interstellar warships.

They discovered that all the combat recording equipment on all the interstellar warships had been completely wiped clean, leaving no trace of the attackers!

Lilith nodded and said, "Attack a crown prince and annihilate the royal fleet without anyone noticing."

I reckon the upper echelons of the Starry Empire are in complete chaos right now.