I suggested going shopping with Sandora in Shadow City not just to relieve boredom but to check on the progress of several main projects: mass production and commissioning of Executioner-class spaceships, the progress of the Deep Dive Plan, reverse engineering of the Conqueror Starship, and the Seventh Legion’s developnt. These projects are the main tasks of the New Empire currently. Going out for a few days, whether short or long, I figured there might be so new progress. Of course, another reason for going out with Sandora is to spend so quality ti together: it’s been a long ti since we’ve had such a mont alone together. Although the lively atmosphere at ho is joyous, I must admit that these naughty kids are truly destroyers of a couple’s private life...
The blueprint for the Executioner-class spaceship has been issued to various starship factories, supervised one-on-one by the Xyrin Host to accelerate production. The first batch of spaceships produced has been sent in batches to the six legions and the Royal Fleet except for the Seventh Legion (the Seventh Legion belongs to the Mysterious Side forces). Of course, the number of new warships each legion receives is not large, but these spaceships are rely for the commanders of each legion to familiarize themselves with their performance and prepare new tactics and strategies to cooperate with such new warships in the future. Naturally, when fully commissioned, they will be prioritized to the Royal Fleet and the important units of the First and Sixth Legions.
What I care about most is the Deep Dive Plan. When I left, it coincided with the trial voyage of the second-generation deep-diving ship, and it’s a sizable regret for not to witness that personally. I heard from Sandora that the trial voyage went smoothly, and the subsequent two subrsions exceeded targets. So, as soon as I left the Command Center, Sandora and I rushed to the research center to find Taville.
It’s worth ntioning that at the Command Center, besides Sivis, Taville welcod Sandora and . The latter appeared as the technical advisor and chief researcher of the new warship, and in the Deep Dive Project Center at the research institute, Taville still received us, this ti as the technical advisor for the Deep Dive project and chief researcher of the deep-diving ship. I estimate that when Sandora and I go to the reverse engineering laboratory later, Taville will still be there, then as the director of the Conqueror reverse engineering project... This matter shouldn’t be delved deeply; otherwise, there’s too much to criticize and it might choke us up. Has Taville, this workaholic, ever reached a limit of energy?
The Deep Dive Project Center occupies an entire floor of the research institute, divided into several departnts, including the technical group for deep-diving ships, various deep-diving equipnt developnt and production groups, Abyss research groups, Deep Dive information compilation and analysis centers, integration offices, and a vast array of teams whose nas I can and can’t understand. The reason for such division of labor is that the Deep Dive Plan itself is an extensive undertaking. It requires the Empire’s most advanced energy supply, shield technology, communication array, sensors sensitive enough to function normally in the Abyss environnt without being infected, and even requires technical support from the Abyss Technology provided by the Fallen Apostles. These components combine to form a deep-diving ship, and the collected data needs an additional team of experts dedicated to researching the Abyss for specialized analysis. This plan spans nurous high-tech fields and demands all expert teams work in perfect harmony with other teams. It’s not an easy task. I’m quite fortunate to have a chief scientist who can treat schizophrenia as an active skill. Taville is the group leader and office director for all the project groups ntioned above...
Sandora and I went straight to the integration office of the Deep Dive Project Center. When we opened the door and entered, we found two other people: a serious-faced, square-faced uncle, Harlan, and a gray-haired but vigorous old master—Ancestor Anses.
I didn’t expect these two to be here. It seems they are discussing matters related to the Deep Dive. Anses is also one of the staff mbers of the Deep Dive project, which is why he is present. Thinking about how Sandora and I were listening to Taville’s report on the new spaceship commissioning at the Command Center just ten minutes ago, while this spectacled lady was simultaneously holding a eting with these two and directing work in more than a dozen other departnts, I can’t help but admire: Schizophrenia is indeed a useful ability. Taville has everything fulfilled on all fronts, now just short of dating herself.
"Yo, busy, I see," I greeted everyone in the room in my usual down-to-earth manner (of course, if you say I’m not serious, I’ll acknowledge it too), finally resting my gaze on Taville, "Hmm, ten minutes have passed, and we’re eting again."
Harlan smiled and nodded at Sandora and . Taville and Anses stood up and saluted us together. According to etiquette, an ancestor saluting a descendant seems odd, and at first, Sandora firmly rejected the ancestor’s salute. But now Anses has officially returned to duty as a "soldier" and hopes to act according to the standard Empire authority system, so he salutes the rulers of the New Empire—Sandora can only accept it now. After all, for Xyrin Apostles, the authority system takes precedence over personal feelings.
"The work status of the second deep-diving ship seems pretty good?" Sandora and I sat opposite Taville, and I asked the question I was most concerned about, "Is there any new discovery inside?"
"The dive was deeper than last ti, but because the ’space concept’ in a purely Abyssal environnt is vague, we don’t yet have an accurate way to asure how far the deep-diving ship has traveled, so for now there’s no precise unit to describe how deep the subrsion has reached," Taville shook his head slightly regretfully. "There are indeed new discoveries, but all within the previously estimated range: as the dive goes deeper, the pressure on the deep-diving ship increases, the chaotic factors in the Abyss accelerate the deterioration of the ship’s shield, and the most extre dive was no exception. It seems we are still far from the critical point detected by that deep-diving ship from the Old Empire era, let alone reaching that unusually calm zone of the Abyss. Additionally, we discovered an unsettling situation..."
I had anticipated the situation Taville ntioned before, but now that she was specifically ntioning an ’unsettling situation,’ it imdiately made tense. I frowned, "What’s going on?"
"We found that the Abyssal environnt has two peculiar features: ’non-uniformity’ and ’discontinuity,’ and so far we can’t explain or avoid these conditions," Harlan glanced at Taville and then turned to explain to and Sandora, "The Abyss Apostle is more familiar with what’s behind that gate, so I’ve recently been involved in this project, and during the last deep dive, I witnessed that dangerous situation firsthand: as the deep-diving ship descended, the pressure it received increased. This upward trend was stable initially, but after reaching a certain critical point, the curve chart transmitted back from the equipnt began to drift, suddenly rising, suddenly dropping, and even breaking apart. Just like this—"
As Harlan spoke, he presented a holographic projection in front of and Sandora. Setting aside the complex tables and continuously updated data, the most attention-grabbing part of this image was a steadily declining curve.
"The curve represents the shield residue of the deep-diving ship. The shield on the deep-diving ship is constantly eroded in the Abyssal environnt. Each ti the shield is refreshed, its residual stability and ghost energy strength beco the shield residue. The higher the shield residue, the safer the ship. When the deep-diving ship stays at a fixed position, its shield residue also becos a fixed value, and as the subrsion ’depth’ increases, it’s natural for the shield residue to continuously decrease, forming a curve graph," Harlan pointed at the chart and explained to and Sandora (though it was probably more specially intended for my understanding). "Here are three horizontal lines representing three critical values. Being above the first critical value ans the shield residue is very safe, and the ship’s energy circulation will produce sufficient sustainability, allowing it to stay in the Abyssal environnt indefinitely. Above this critical value, the shield residue is slightly dangerous, and the ship must use most of its energy to repair the shield, but it can still perform tasks steadily. Exceeding the second critical value indicates serious danger; the shield refresh needs to reach its limit to ensure safety. Each ti the shield residue accounts for almost only ten percent of full load, essentially aning the shield might extinguish at any ti. In this situation, the deep-diving ship can only perform a brief mission before it has to imdiately surface, or the system will overload. The third critical value implies the ship is dood — the shield refresh can’t keep up with the pollution rate, the residue drops below zero, and each new shield that refreshes will carry Abyss reactions, making the value even negative. Under these conditions, the deep-diving ship’s structure starts suffering pollution, leaving no possibility of return, only able to continue executing a short task before completely collapsing. In the last mission, the curve above the first critical value was normal, and in the stretch between the second and third critical values... See for yourselves, it shook like a broken line, even consistently showing rises."
I looked at that curve graph of great significance, where it stably declined with a very smooth range between the highest point and the first red warning line. After crossing the first warning line, it stabilized for a considerable distance, yet at a certain mont afterward, this smooth curve began to tremble abruptly, with unsteady rises and drops, and by the ti it approached the second critical point, it trembled as if it were in the late stages of Parkinson’s.
"Deep in the Abyss, there’s a discontinuous belt that changes constantly and is unevenly distributed. The Old Empire records we found initially didn’t ntion this," Taville shook her head. "If the Abyss is viewed as a multi-layered deep sea where each layer has different concentrations, then the boundaries between these layers are not fixed. They drift at any ti and may even reverse suddenly: the pollution suddenly decreases, then suddenly increases, and then decreases again, forming that sharply shaking segnt on the curve graph."
Sandora imdiately realized the dangerous aspect of this situation: "So, the deep-diving ship, after reaching a certain depth, might ’misstep’ into a dead end?"
Taville nodded seriously: "That’s right, after the deep-diving ship reaches its design limit ’depth,’ the situation becos extrely dangerous. In theory, it can work at that depth, but the Abyss might drift at any ti, and this drift is unpredictable. Our equipnt may not respond in ti and could be swept into a whirlpool of destruction, with almost zero chance of escape. Theoretically, that’s the case."
This was a situation never encountered during the first deep dive and posed a huge challenge, aning the practical working depth of the deep-diving ship must be far less than its design strength: otherwise, the ship would constantly face the possibility. I was watching the curve graph, where the most severe trembling spots almost looked like random scribbles, unsettling at a glance: "This fluctuation range should have a rough limit, right?"
"Basically, it won’t exceed five percent of the shield’s full value," Taville exhaled, "but we can’t rule out the possibility of more unstable discontinuous belts appearing in the deeper parts. Our understanding of the Abyss’s deep layers is too limited, and the Old Empire’s records also lack docuntation in this regard..."
I glanced at Harlan, who was deep in thought nearby, and suddenly rembered sothing: The first generation Deep Diving Ship was designed by Ocam, and Harlan used to work for Ocam. How could Harlan not know about the existence of this discontinuous belt?
"I really don’t know," Harlan said, spreading his hands upon hearing my question, "I’m also puzzled about how this happened... I participated in the Old Empire’s deep dive project back then; although I never inquired about technical details, I at least read those reports. No one ever ntioned any discontinuous belt. Such a significant situation couldn’t be concealed if it occurred."
Sandora rubbed her temples, seemingly thoughtful: "Then there are only two explanations: first, the discontinuous belt is not a widespread phenonon. We still don’t understand what kind of ’space’ structure exists inside the Abyss, so it’s quite possible the Deep Dive Ship we created happened to charge into a dangerous zone; second, the discontinuous belt is not a long-term phenonon. There might not have been such a thing during the Old Empire period, and it appeared in the Abyss only after the New Empire was established. If the second hypothesis holds, our understanding of the Abyss might need to be overturned..."
"Is the Abyss also evolving?" Harlan glanced at Sandora.
"At least it’s not ’dead’," Sandora said, seemingly unintentionally touching her right arm, where she sealed her Abyss Power, "We always thought the Abyss Gate had only one form, but now we know the Abyss Gate that destroyed the Hotown World is different from all known Abyss Gates. We always thought there’s nothing in the Abyss, but now we find its bottom layer is rather peaceful... All these challenge our common sense. So, I don’t mind having my common sense overturned once more: the Abyss is likely evolving, growing, changing, appearing static on the surface but possibly reaching a certain cycle internally."
I was creeped out by Sandora’s theory, yet I couldn’t deny the possibility, and I simultaneously recalled the scenes observed during the first deep dive experint: weird "cloud" structures inside the Abyss and areas with high pollution concentration. Now it seems that was also a kind of "nonuniformity." Though it’s hardly comparable to the "discontinuous belt" observed now, such nonuniformity had already made us suspect so kind of "transition" occurring within the Abyss at the ti...
Perhaps, as Sandora suggested, the Abyss isn’t "dead"; it’s continuously changing and might be approaching a certain cycle.
"Let’s leave it at that for now. Observe the discontinuous belt situation closely and understand its patterns as best as possible. We can’t do more until our study of the Abyss advances further," Sandora gently tapped the table and then looked at Taville, "Hurry up with building Deep Diving Ship Three. If the current ship ’missteps’ into the Abyss Bottom, at least we’ll have a spare on hand."
Taville nodded, then pointed to Anses, "Your Majesties, there’s one more thing..."
Listen to this address, ’Your Majesties’ — besides Taville and Anses, the other three on site were all Emperors. Such a grand scene is probably only possible in the miraculous politics of the Xyrin Empire.
"Old Ancestor, what else do you have?" I looked up at Anses, only for Taville’s words beside him to almost frighten to death: "The ancestor wishes to join the next survey team for a manned deep dive."
Cold sweat dripped down my forehead as I grabbed Anses’s arm and shook it vigorously: "Old Master, this is not what we agreed on before! Didn’t we agree to only watch the excitent from the outskirts?!"
"I’m not acting on a whim," Anses patiently waited for to finish shaking before smiling and speaking, "I know we can be a bit stubborn and cause you so trouble, but there’s a reason for this situation."
"A reason?" I couldn’t help but look at Taville, "What’s going on?"
"Let explain," Harlan suddenly interjected, "First of all, you know that Apostles who have been polluted have greater resistance to the Abyss, right? Those of us who were once Fallen Apostles can remain clear-headed for long periods in highly concentrated Abyss environnts. Although Fallen Apostles aren’t completely immune to the Abyss’s destructive power, our resistance is almost at a semi-immune level compared to ordinary creatures. Therefore, the first batch of planned manned deep dive mbers are us, the ones who have been converted back."
I nodded, knowing this. The Diving Ship Two, built by Taville, is already capable of manned voyages. Although not perfect, it’s more than sufficient for short-term missions, so we naturally prepared a deep-dive team to start manned experints once all tests were complete. Initially, the candidate mbers for this deep dive team were ordinary Xyrin Technicians, but Harlan proposed replacing them with those High Order Fallen Apostles (forr Fallen Apostles) he brought, for a simple reason: Fallen Apostles have high resistance to the Abyss. Even if a ship malfunction or an internal purification system flaw occurs, their survival chances are very high.
Could the Ancestor’s desire to participate in manned experints be due to "resistance"?
Seeing my facial expression, Harlan knew I had guessed sothing and simply nodded: "Resistance. We’ve unexpectedly discovered that the Ancestor’s resistance to the Abyss even far exceeds that of the Abyss Apostle. In Abyss concentrations below two standard units, they can even touch the pollution source directly without any protective gear. Usually, pollution of that intensity would be fatal to mortals."
Sandora and I were dumbfounded. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re invited to cast recomndation votes or monthly tickets on qidian to support it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian to read.)
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