Although the Divine Race is also monitoring the Fallen Apostle’s movents, conducting remote surveillance in the Void is quite difficult, and the Abyss Zone doesn’t border the Star Domain. Thus, it’s usually the Empire that first learns of the Fallen Apostle’s activities—like now.
Father God saw the change in my expression and imdiately guessed what was going on: "What? Is sothing happening back at ho?"
"The Fallen Apostle seems to be making a move, and this ti, they’re targeting the Imperial District," I said, floating towards the exit, "Looks like I’ll have to go back early this ti."
Father God and I quickly left the Divine Realm "Base," and then, at the Central Square of the Brilliant Divine Court, we bumped into Bingdisi, who had rushed over after hearing the news. She looked like she just woke up, and Lilina was idly wandering outside. Also, Dingdang had just co out of the Supre Life Goddess Temple. Of course, Ice Dad and Ice Mom were also there with their daughter.
Bingdisi rushed at like a starving tiger, grabbing my arm and shaking it vigorously: "Chen! Hurry up and take away!"
Though I was panicking, her sudden dramatic action made forget about my anxiety. I looked at Ice Dad and Ice Mom behind her and then at the miserable face of the female hooligan, and broke into a sweat: "Do you have to be so dramatic? They’re your real parents..."
"I’d rather have been a free gift when they bought furniture..." Bingdisi had a look of utter despair, "They nagged the whole night."
Ice Dad and Ice Mom just chuckled at their daughter’s antics, looking relieved, while Ice Mom nudged Ice Dad’s arm and whispered, "I told you they had a spark. See, the girl really shows her true feelings under pressure..."
Ice Dad nodded in deep agreent. Bingdisi finally exploded: "I can’t take this anymore! Mom, Dad, you’re treating your daughter with a spy’s ntality—Was I really a gift with furniture?"
I set Bingdisi aside to let her continue to joke around with her lively parents, and then turned to Lilina. This fake Loli was simply on a publicly funded tour. Since yesterday, she has been wandering among several temples of the Brilliant Divine Court. With Father God’s consent, no one stopped her, and I hadn’t seen her all night. I had no idea where she stayed.
"We need to head back early," I patted Lilina’s head, "The Fallen Apostles are stirring again. This ti, their target seems to be the Imperial District. Are these guys having a ’decorative self-destruction competition’ or what? They’re afraid the Empire and the Divine Race won’t unite against them... By the way, where’d you go last night?"
Lilina rubbed her eyes and then wiped her face on my pants: "It’s rare for to get a chance to visit, so I went to the Dark Temple."
I tugged on her ear: "Why would soone from the Life God System visit the Dark Temple to observe? Who would believe that! You might as well say you went to the Light Temple; at least I’d believe you were studying photosynthesis."
Lilina, hopping up and down, pleaded, "Boss, I swear, Boss! I went to learn cooking. I heard everyone in the Dark Divine Race is talented at it..."
: "...You might as well say you went to join in the fun!"
Fortunately, I had urgent matters to attend to, so I didn’t have ti to deal with this unruly fake Loli further. Otherwise, her actions alone would be enough to ground her for half a day. I pinched Lilina’s cheek, then caught Dingdang flying towards and tucked her into my pocket, before looking towards the Father God Temple in anticipation: "We’re still missing soone. Why hasn’t Little Light co out? I’ve been calling her for ages."
Speak of the devil, at that mont, the little girl burst out from the temple entrance... actually, it looked more like she shot out while riding a small black cat. That girl was on Cynthia’s back; her usually cold face now bore a rare expression of excitent. Cynthia, in her black cat form, was sprinting towards us with the doll girl. They looked like a mismatched combo: though the doll was small, she was over ninety centiters tall, making her a bit big for the black cat. As she sat on Cynthia, her gothic dress draped over and almost fully covered the cat, leaving just a small cat head peeking out. From a distance, it looked to like the doll was floating over the ground with a furry cat toy attached to her dress...
The unruly duo quickly reached us, and I grabbed the back of the doll’s collar, pulling her up to hold her: "Didn’t I say not to bully your big sister?"
The little black cat rolled on the ground and transford into her human form, unexpectedly sharing the sa excitent as the doll: "Not bullying, not bullying—I find it quite fun. Jiali always sleeps in late in the morning, so there’s no one to play with at this hour."
The little doll nimbly climbed onto my shoulder, then noticed Uncle Kuwayin not far away. She hastily switched to the farther shoulder, shaking my head vigorously: "Blockhead, we’re leaving so soon? We only stayed for two days!"
I, slightly surprised, patted the little girl’s legs: "Aren’t you usually uninterested in everything? Why the change this ti?"
The doll awkwardly pointed at Cynthia: "This guy is rather interesting. How did I not notice before..."
"Normally, very few people play with Cynthia," Father God gently chuckled beside us, "Aside from Jiali, there aren’t any children like Cynthia in the Brilliant Divine Court. I never expected these two little ones to get along so well."
I shrugged one shoulder like soone with Parkinson’s—the other shoulder had the little doll perched on it, so I dared not move: "There are usually few people who can play with this girl, with all her prickly temperant. I’m surprised she finally found a playmate." Then I slightly tilted my head to ask the little girl on my shoulder: "How about staying behind? After all, the Divine Realm and the Shadow Space are directly connected. Opening a Space Gate only takes about an hour of energy prep. You can co ho whenever you want."
The little doll seriously considered for a mont, then clutched my hair, shaking her head: "No."
I noticed she said "no" instead of "unwilling," realizing this little one was actually quite thoughtful—my curiosity piqued: "Why ’no’?"
"This Teleportation Gate links the capital and the Divine Realm; it’s a special channel for official duties. It’s not for frivolous use," the little doll replied earnestly, "I heard from Xiao Xue that a more convenient public channel will be built in the future. I’ll use that when it’s ready."
Thoroughly surprised, I turned my head hard to look at the little one on my shoulder: "...When did you beco so sensible?!"
As soon as I said it, I knew I’d put my foot in my mouth. Sure enough, the little girl on my shoulder imdiately burst into anger, hugging my head and pulling with all her might, her voice loud enough for the whole square to hear: "Why am I not sensible! Why am I not sensible! So what if I’m not sensible!"
While grabbing the doll girl’s arm, I retorted: "Your last sentence changed the aning entirely."
The little doll mulled over her last sentence, and continued tugging on my head: "Why care about grammar! Why care about grammar! Care about grammar for what!"
This little girl’s three-stage retort is indeed becoming more and more masterful.
It took quite a while to calm down the shoulder girl, thinking to myself how everyone really grows up over the years. Back then, this ill-tempered doll who was reckless and wilful now understands the bigger picture. Then I looked up and awkwardly smiled at Father God: "Sorry for the commotion."
Father God watched us with amusent, nodding with a look of "I understand" on his face: "No worries, it reminds of Jia Di when she was little... Well then, you go handle your business first. If things get serious, notify us imdiately. If the Fallen Apostles really intend to go head-to-head now... then we may have to act early, even at a loss."
I glanced at Father God: "Logically, they shouldn’t push things to such an extent... In any case, keep ready on your side. I know the expedition can’t be delayed, but if things truly worsen, be prepared: those madn never act logically."
"I naturally understand," Father God nodded. anwhile, the teleportation gate in the square was adjusted and opened a pathway directly to Shadow City. I took Bingdisi, who already got another scolding from her parents and was looking utterly dismal, tucked Lilina under my arm like a coat rack, and stepped into the gate.
Sure enough, Sandora was waiting with her people on the plaza outside the World Tree Temple. As soon as I ca out, I saw her standing with Sivis not far away, and behind her were Big Sister and a fair number of high-level command officers, along with other folks from ho. I took the two little girls off and quickly walked up to Sandora: "What’s the situation?"
"It’s still uncertain whether it’s really an enemy attack. The Fallen Apostles’ movents are extrely bizarre," Sandora’s expression was one I’d never seen before, a mix of seriousness, confusion, and surprisingly so helpless laughter, "they seem to be... having a ltdown."
"A ltdown?" It was the first ti I saw Sandora looking so helplessly amused when discussing a serious topic, "How are they having a ltdown? Are they dancing the figure-eight as they approach our borders?"
"Can’t you hold off the sarcasm for such a serious matter?" Lin Xue walked over briskly and gave a light punch, "The Fallen Apostles are having a ltdown, and so of the future snapshots I’m seeing are having a ltdown too. It looks like it might relate to sothing spanning a huge ti fra. Overall, it’s impossible to predict accurately. Are you tired? If not, let’s head straight to the Command Center; you’ll see what’s going on for yourself."
Before I could speak, Bingdisi stretched her arms and started complaining: "I’m tired, I’m tired, exhausted from the journey from the Divine Realm to here, can’t we first..."
"Exhausted my ass," I turned to glare at Bingdisi, "The teleportation took three and a half seconds in total, of which you wasted three seconds tidying your hair at the gate. Hurry up, don’t forget you’re also a nominal Imperial Officer."
"Damn it, just a nominal Clan Leader title, and I’ve truly sold myself to the Empire." Bingdisi grumbled, but still dutifully followed the main group.
Anwina took the little doll ho first, while the rest of us quickly made our way to the Command Center.
In the largest war eting room, everything was ready: senior staff officers and all general-ranked officers on standby in Shadow City were present. Bubbles was personally online providing data support as the conference servomotor. Each seat around the multilayered ring table was equipped with a small holographic device displaying complex diagrams and a visualized map of the Void’s color codes. We waited until everyone got seated, then Sandora nodded to Sivis standing in the room’s center: "Go ahead and outline the situation."
Sivis activated the holographic equipnt in the room’s center, and a large swath of mobile color blocks appeared mid-air: it was a representation of the Void’s configuration, sothing I’d seen many tis. It couldn’t truly describe the appearance of the Void (as the Void has no form), but it was convenient for visualizing the configurations within it.
"This is the Imperial District," Sivis pointed to the light blue area on the diagram, then gestured to the swaths of dark red beyond and the light golden area a bit further, "This is the Abyss Zone, and finally, this is the Divine Realm. This diagram was drawn according to the latest update from Void Scanning. Aside from minor deviations in so universes, it is generally quite accurate."
Subsequently, the holographic scene flashed, zooming into the segnt where the Imperial and Abyss Zones were "closest", adding dense annotations and small color codes. Sivis pointed to a sector of the Abyss Zone: "This is the first unusual gathering that the Abyss Independent Group’s frontline units risked their lives to scan, it’s an assembly of about four to six legions of Fallen Apostle fleets suddenly at the border region."
I leaned forward slightly: "Heavy troops along the border, isn’t this a sign of preparing for war?"
"That’s what I thought at first," Sandora shook her head beside , "but as soon as I started deploying our troops to prepare for battle, the enemy suddenly ran off to other places."
My voice elevated involuntarily: "Ran off to other places?"
"The specifics remain to be clarified," Sivis explained, "our intelligence units can’t get too close to the Abyss Zone, so even with assistance from the Leaving World Garden System, it’s hard to see exactly what’s happening inside the Abyss Zone. What we can confirm is that this batch of enemy troops assembled at the border suddenly moved in multiple information offset directions. Initially, it seed they were retreating to the Abyss Zone’s interior, but soon after, these fleets’ signals scattered chaotically."
Movent within the Void is asured by "information offset", modifying one’s information index and increasing similarity between oneself and the target area’s information traits to approach other orderly targets. This is the only way to "move" in the Void. The amount of information offset can be viewed as the "distance moved", though the direction of offset is more complex, having nothing to do with actual "direction". It’s a descriptive term only valid with a reference fra. If a unit within the Void’s jump is a group behavior (aning it, and others jumping simultaneously, are all heading toward the sa target), then it doesn’t have any "information offset direction".
This information is to help understand what Sivis is saying—though I suspect many will end up even more confused reading it.
The inexplicable gathering and sudden dispersal of the Fallen Apostles’ fleet naturally reminded people of their recent aggressive attacks on the Divine Race’s territory—with the commonality being erratic behavior.
"Could it just be a last-minute change in plan before the war starts, realizing the severity of their actions and so retreating?" Big Sister ventured, but Sandora wasn’t very convinced: "Unlikely. Even if it were a change, a battle plan of this scale shouldn’t be handled so frivolously. If it were truly a retreat, it shouldn’t be this disorganized. Harlan, you have experience, what do you think happened with this sudden gathering and withdrawal?"
Harlan, as one of the three acting Emperors of the Empire (no need to na those who don’t do or can’t do anything, right?), took on increasingly important roles, leading the Abyss-side Imperial troops, building the Abyss Independent Group, assisting with all Abyss and Fallen Apostles-related research projects, and serving as the top consultant on Fallen Apostles and chief strategist on any military action involving the Abyss Zone. Consulting Harlan about strange movents from the Fallen Apostles is definitely the wisest move.
But this ti, even Harlan looked baffled: "Honestly, I can’t quite figure it out either... I can’t tell what they’re up to, and I can’t recall any Emperor from the Abyss Empire whose acts are in this peculiar style. First of all, this is definitely not a normal military maneuver: Initial troop assembly seed fine, but their subsequent retreat was obviously chaotic, with major units withdrawing in a crisscross manner. So might have clumped together during inland withdrawal. It’s laughably mismanaged; neither a Xyrin Apostle nor a commander from an ordinary Race would make such a ss, right? Also, based on teletry data from frontline investigators, two small units ran back and forth several tis in the border area, neither patrolling nor fulfilling any military purpose, more akin to headless flies."
With "going to be a High-level Commander one day" credentials, Xiao Xue murmured from the officers’ seats: "With actions on this level, whoever is in charge is fit for the firing squad for a good couple of weeks."
I glanced at Xiao Xue in the officers’ seats, who stuck her tongue out playfully at a distance, then looked at Lin Xue sitting a seat away from and quietly asked: "Can’t you foresee what’s happening with these troops?"
"The interference is too strong, don’t count on it," Lin Xue shrugged, "consider the Void barrier; if I could see through that, then what’s the Leaving World Garden for?"
"Besides this gathering and withdrawal, did the Fallen Apostles engage in any other odd activities?" I asked Sivis.
"Yes," Sivis nodded emphatically, "they repeated this process again thirty minutes later..."
I was dumbfounded and finally cursed: "Damn! Do they think this is a Spring Festival celebration for us?"
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