I think no one would guess what’s happening in the deepest part of the Spiritual Network, yes, no one.
The highest leader of the New Empire, the highest leader of the Fallen Apostles, two people who should be archenemies under any circumstances, are now sitting face to face, without tension, without conflict, chatting as if it’s a normal day.
I don’t even know how this situation ca to be or how to quantify this inexplicable "harmonious atmosphere." It seems from the start the initiative was never in my hands; I was completely taken by this baffling event, finding no reason or opportunity to take the initiative, and before I knew it, the situation beca what it is now.
The Abyss Xyrin is sitting just a few ters away, an unbelievably close distance for rival factions, while Bingdisi continues to calmly play her "guard" role. She’s still in her armor, standing solemnly to my side rear. She doesn’t need to do this; after all, the term "guard" is sowhat playful. She should be my partner, but in this case, Bingdisi has decided to provide with so sort of "presence support" in her way. Have you ever seen this self-assured female hooligan behave like this, standing properly like a Martial Arts Maiden behind soone? I honestly feel touched.
"Chen, if you have any ideas, I can confidently take that girl’s integrity in three parts with a brick within a second..."
Bingdisi said quietly through Spiritual Connection.
: "..." I need to clarify that all the touching monts apply only when this hooligan doesn’t speak.
"Do you know where this place is?" As I was struggling to find a topic, the Abyss Xyrin on the opposite side started casually.
"We call this place a ’Rift,’ a Black Barrier Zone in the Spiritual Network that cannot be explored," I said as I observed the movents on the opposite side, giving a sense of unpredictability; her utterly non-hostile attitude was simply too strange.
"A Rift..." The Abyss Xyrin showed a barely noticeable smile, "Very apt. But I call this place a ’Breakage Zone,’ a na that sounds almost the sa—so I guess those two words, ’Rift,’ must have been told to you guys by that little girl on your side. It seems we share the sa taste."
I was very curious: "What kind of place is this exactly?"
I thought this question wouldn’t get an answer since it might be related to the Fallen Apostles’ secrets, but unexpectedly, the Abyss Xyrin was more frank than I imagined: "The na should give it away, right? Breakage Zone, the place where your network and ours are cut off. Even an outlander Emperor should know that your new network and the Abyss network were originally one in the Old Empire Era—the Fifteenth Day Zone cut it, but even so-called conceptual schism left traces at the fracture points; the nodes, detached, still record the mapping relationship during connection. But due to the conceptual schism, the target of the mapping can only be an empty value, forming the Breakage Zone. I wonder if this answer is clear to you?"
I was astonished for a mont, suddenly realizing: "You know about the conceptual schism of the Fifteenth Day Zone?! You knew from the very beginning..."
"No, my mory is based on network data, so the mory about the Fifteenth Day Zone was also obscured for a long ti due to the conceptual schism," the Abyss Xyrin watched with a half-smile, "I should thank you. You lifted the isolation state of the Fifteenth Day Zone, restoring those mories for , though it’s a pity I didn’t discover the anomalies in the data sea instantly. Otherwise, it would have been a good ti to launch a strong attack..."
She only recently restored all the records about the Fifteenth Day Zone, but her words also revealed a more significant piece of information: well before the Old Empire’s fall, the highly secretive conceptual schism plan of the Fifteenth Day Zone was already known to the Abyss Xyrin!
"It’s nothing strange," the other side didn’t seem to mind revealing these secrets, "You know, a long ti ago, before the Empire split, I was the highest consciousness on the network; all secrets of the Sky Zone were laid out unguarded before . I could unhurriedly browse through all the plans made by the far-sighted Emperor. The conceptual schism was under my observation until it took effect. I know more than you can imagine."
I managed to remain calm, yes, what she said isn’t strange—I’ve just mixed up her current state in the Abyss Camp with the Old Empire. Over seventy thousand years ago, the Abyss Xyrin before was still one with the Xyrin of the New Empire. She was once the prestigious cluster consciousness of all Angel Envoys, a great life entirely untainted and had the highest network authority, thus knowing the conceptual schism secret of the Fifteenth Day Zone was not unusual. The Xyrin at that ti would absolutely not have thought of doing anything harmful to her compatriots—and by the ti she could do harm, the conceptual schism had erased many of her mories, only recently lifting that state. I can only be thankful that she didn’t detect the abnormalities in her database right away upon returning to the Heavenly Realm City. The New Empire’s Magic Energy Troop could only develop in the fortunately obtained stable environnt.
"According to what you say," I slowly pondered, "after the network split, their mapping relationships beca tangled, creating a result like physical isolation. But this Rift—or should I say Breakage Zone—though having a Black Barrier effect, is clearly connected, and how does that explain..."
"I connected them," the other side smiled, the smile as accurate and elegant as a mask, "Strictly speaking, it’s my and your efforts connecting them—a powerful Void Creature, your soul is the most destructive force I’ve seen. You can even ignore the effects of conceptual schism, and while sheltering the Fifteenth Day Zone, you expanded your power into the Imperial Main Network, which should have been entirely isolated on the other side. This power you expanded was fortuitously acquired by , maintaining my self-consciousness for tens of thousands of years, waiting for my transformation to finish. And your power also left the sa mark on the broken points of the networks, allowing to reconnect these two originally separated networks using the faint link between these two marks, then find an opportunity to reclaim my other half of the nodes... It’s just a pity, although I successfully established the connection, the Breakage Zone still erged like this, where the Black Barrier inhibits data exchange, and my great plan... got blocked by a Firewall.
I was dumbfounded, taking a while to sort through the deeper aning in the Abyss Xyrin’s words: this Rift...
Could it be sothing I caused back then?
I recalled the situation of the Fifteenth Day Zone: Sister was the Emperor of the Fifteenth Day Zone back then. She separated the Sky Zone Network and Imperial Main Network into two parts before the Abyss attack and used an extre thod, the conceptual schism, to protect the entire Sky Zone from the information level. After that, the nodes cut between the Sky Zone Network and Imperial Main Network theoretically beca completely unconnectable.
Then, Sister’s past life found my past life, and we cooperated on a sowhat unsuccessful world-saving operation...
According to the Abyss Xyrin, the power of the Void Creature bypassed the barrier ford by the conceptual schism: the Breakage Zone between the Sky Zone Network and Imperial Main Network was virtually non-existent to the Void Creature. Back then, my barely controlled power surged into the Abyss Domain, where the Fallen Apostles resided, through this channel with limited bandwidth...
The power of the Void Creature left an indelible mark at the breakpoints of the two network parts. Later, the Imperial Main Network evolved into the current Spiritual Network of the Fallen Apostles, and the Sky Zone Network of the Fifteenth Day Zone split into two parts, one on the Technology Side, and the other on the Mysterious Side (you probably rember that back in my large-scale operation, my biggest mistake was not distinguishing these two parts, resulting in power too scattered and leading to failure...). They eventually beca the backbone network of today’s New Empire.
And the Abyss Xyrin did very little: she rely connected the originally sa source marks of those two parts. The Rift is her catalyzed phenonon, but essentially, this is the "legacy" I left behind...
"Oh my, you seem quite surprised," the Abyss Xyrin comnted in a factual tone, "it was all left by you, this Breakage Zone is one of your legacies from those days."
"So, the reason for the ’Black Barrier’ effect in the Rift is the mischief of the Void Creature’s power," Bingdisi couldn’t help but speak, "The Void Creature blocked this passage, and without the protection of the Order Field, the information in the network was consud here."
"That is only part of the reason. The main reason is... after such a long ti of isolation and our side’s tens of thousands of years of transformation, the basic protocols of the two networks are no longer compatible. Unless one of us is willing to completely compromise and enter the opposing camp, the Black Barrier will likely never be lifted..."
"Are you sure it’s okay to tell all this?" I suddenly interrupted the Abyss Xyrin. This eerie atmosphere was indeed too strange, "Aren’t we considered archenemies—why does it feel like you’re not worried at all?"
"It’s a deadly enemy, oh, and the logical reasoning conclusion is indeed that," the other party was indifferent, "That doesn’t affect talking to you, it’s quite boring here, reality is even more boring, and anyway, what I’m telling you isn’t of much value, you know more and can’t do much... As for tension? Are you saying you or that little girl next to you planning to take action? Trust , it’s not very aningful, you know the form of my life, simple power is aningless to , the one in front of you is just an interface."
Bingdisi snorted and put away the teor brick in her hand: She had been holding that thing to act cool, but it now seems the Abyss Xyrin is fully aware of the situation: We can’t possibly eliminate a cluster consciousness on the network, unless the two of us can unleash a willpower equivalent to the sum of billions of Fallen Apostles’ thoughts, not even if we brought Father God over, this is not sothing that re strength can solve.
So even if Bingdisi really smashed three segnts in an instant with a brick... At most, we’d only smash a single interface.
I looked down, in this dark space, apart from the three people conversing, there’s nothing to see, there naturally is no ground, I understand the feeling of being grounded is just like the continuous falling just now, rely an illusion, fabricated by the other party for convenient dialogue: The other party clearly understands this place a lot, at least knows how to create virtual sensations here.
We are in the Black Barrier, standing amidst the echoes of power I once left behind, but obviously I’ve lost the ability to control this fragnt of power: they have coexisted with this network for seventy thousand years, now they are part of the Rift, if forcibly removed, might destroy the network connection with the Fallen Apostles, but more likely kill millions of Imperial soldiers: they are my warriors, citizens, even family, it’s a choice that can’t be practically executed.
And even if the Rift were destroyed, I’m worried the Abyss Xyrin would find another way to establish connections: before the arrival of Xyrin (clumsy version), the other party had been researching here for a long ti, if she truly established another connection after the Rift disappears, we would have no ans at all. So things must be guarded against.
The Abyss Xyrin probably knows what I’m thinking, but she only quietly watched, surrounded by a kind of atmosphere I couldn’t understand, causing for a mont to have the illusion she wasn’t an enemy — I shook my head sharply, flinging the nonsense thoughts away, and seriously looked at the person opposite: "What exactly is your goal?"
"You don’t need to know," the other party shrugged, "Of course, I won’t tell you such things, we are enemies after all."
"Beyond this Black Barrier, is the Fallen Apostles’ network, right?" Bingdisi said beside.
"But you cannot cross it, just as I can’t reach your side," the Abyss Xyrin looked into Bingdisi’s eyes, "You have experienced it just now, haven’t you? Coming down from the Breakage Zone is an endless road, this balance point is the only channel where our two sides can directly communicate. Actually, it’s a good thing: Here, the two-part networks partially share, you don’t need to worry about being impacted by the vast consciousness sea of the Abyss Empire, and I don’t need to worry about losing my network nodes, here, I can use local resources to complete the exchange, otherwise, long-term connection with the Void creature is not a good idea: last ti I suffered quite a loss."
"Harlan was indeed your throwaway pawn," I sighed, "You are quite ruthless to your own people."
"Who knows, he was indeed hard to control, but... so things are always quite helpless, just like now, your visit of these two uninvited guests," The Abyss Xyrin stood up, seed already sowhat annoyed, "Honestly, chatting idly here solves nothing, I still have many things to do, like destroying the world."
I noticed Bingdisi beside was briefly agitated, but she cald down, then I also stood up, feeling there were still many things I wanted to say to the person opposite: The other side seems a rational individual, can be communicated with, unlike most Fallen Apostles being so mad, but I just can’t understand why this Abyss Xyrin is so devoted to destroying the world. This unexpected conversation is truly precious yet a bit caught off guard, had I known we’d encounter such a nesis in the Rift, I should have prepared an interview manuscript starting yesterday...
As if she completely guessed what I wanted to say, the Abyss Xyrin suddenly laughed: "I have no hostility towards you and your New Empire."
Bingdisi and my expressions were like this: ○_○!
"No hostility?! Are you out of your mind?" The hot-tempered Sister Bing couldn’t control herself first, "No hostility while you’re pissing people off everywhere? No hostility while your army and the Imperial Army are fighting until brain matter spills? No hostility yet you can destroy the world one by one? No hostility..."
"You aren’t a Xyrin Apostle," the Abyss Xyrin coldly looked at Bingdisi, "You are a God, a God appearing here is already quite bizarre, I can completely regard you as air, so, quiet."
Sister Dabing had never suffered such provocation: "Quiet your ass! I’ll flatten you nine inches above the navel with a brick..."
I reached out and restrained Bingdisi, turned to face the opposite: "I can’t trust your claim of having no hostility, you’ve given quite so hassle."
"Just needed to do so," the Abyss Xyrin didn’t even glance at Bingdisi, "I don’t have hostility towards you, the war between you and stems from certain necessities, objectives, needs, execution — opposite to that, anything contrary doesn’t count as contradiction, just screen it away."
I was speechless on the spot, suddenly realizing I was facing a kind of chanical logic.
According to this, the Empire and the Fallen Apostles would have to fight forever unless the Abyss Xyrin can give up her "goal" and doesn’t continue to destroy the world. But this sounds ridiculous: I wouldn’t believe re rhetoric could cause such a steadfast cluster consciousness to change her plans executed for so many years. If words were useful, then what would we need warships for — Visca had said so.
"Maybe we’ll et again soti — on the battlefield," the Abyss Xyrin waved and turned toward the dark, "I’ll shield the gateways around here, talking with you was good, but it’s aningless and wastes ti."
This unfathomable being, smilingly uttering words of "no hostility", and then smilingly making a declaration to continue the war in front of , I was already totally clueless of her logic, only the last sentence faintly ca after she disappeared into the darkness:
"Tell the ’Xyrin’ on your side, if wanting to approach the Breakage Zone, just lower the priority of your node index process — but there’s nothing fun here anyway..."
All returned to silence.
"What the hell is all this about?"
In the silence that lingered for a while, Bingdisi finally couldn’t hold it, she looked toward the direction where the Abyss Xyrin disappeared, seed full of anger knowing not whom to vent to.
I’m even more confused: What I experienced in dozens of minutes just now had a bigger information load than all the events encountered in the past month combined, now that weird being left, only then I got a chance to slowly chew on the little information she disclosed, the more I thought the more I sensed what’s hidden behind this matter is unimaginable, after considering for a while, I felt I couldn’t figure it out, thus waved Bingdisi over: "Whatever it is, let’s go back first, this issue... probably needs to be discussed with Sandora before making any decision." (To be continued. If you like this work, please co to the starting point (qidian) to vote for recomndations, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian to read.)
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