I looked at Sandora’s body, altered by the Abyss, and felt particularly surprised by what she said: "Never changed? How co I feel you’re completely normal."
"That’s because you’re usually so careless..." Sandora sighed helplessly, "I’ve been in control of these Abyss powers from the start, unlike other Infected who start in a state of madness, so you didn’t notice — of course, I didn’t pay much attention to it either until recently, when so many things started happening. I beca more and more interested in the nature of the Abyss and then noticed by chance that my situation was different from others. You still rember, don’t you? The first ti we t, I showed you my Abyss powers..."
I quickly nodded: "Yes, at that ti you showed your claw as if showing off a new toy, left a very deep impression. It gave a fright back then too."
Sandora was sharpening her claws on the railing and rolled her eyes at : "What do you an ’show off a new toy’? I was just trying to be open... Enough about that. You probably didn’t have an accurate sense of the Abyss at the ti, so the impression might not have been strong. But I have always accurately recorded my body’s condition: The level of pollution was back then, is the sa now. I’ve been next to you for over five years, and there has never been a change. But others are different. Even those in the Abyss Independent Group who you haven’t t, but received regular purification in the spiritual network, showed a significant difference in pollution before and after contact with you... Don’t you find this strange?"
I looked at Sandora and curiously grabbed her claws to examine them: "It is a bit strange, but your situation has always been different from theirs to begin with. They were all mad at first, so the change was obvious after I purified them. But you had controlled the Abyss from the start, so there was no need for purification, naturally, there were no changes... By the way, your claws feel cool to the touch."
"Perhaps it’s a barely acceptable explanation," Sandora was evidently not convinced by such a simple explanation, she sounded disapproving, "But I think the situation is more complicated than that. Don’t forget, your purification ability isn’t just active, but also has a passive effect. Visca was crazy during the period right after we captured them, but slowly returned to normal after spending ti with you, which shows just being around you has an effect, regardless of ’need’. And purely from a theoretical perspective: you represent the Order side of the Void, the nesis of the Abyss. Theoretically, any Abyss, even the one I’ve suppressed, would be affected by you... Can you stop sniffing my claws? It’s kind of perverted..."
I let go of Sandora’s giant claw, looking particularly serious: "What’s perverted about kissing my dear wife’s hand—just a little hard, that’s all."
Sandora: "...Can you be more serious while we’re discussing important matters!"
"I get the issue you’re talking about," I raised my hand and pressed on Sandora’s hair, indicating she didn’t need to joke to relieve pressure, "Ultimately, the situation is: All Infected who have contacted show signs of improvent, except you, as if showing resistance, with no change in five years. Since the Abyss in you has been benign from the beginning and never lost control, we’ve always overlooked this issue... By the way, have you asked Taville to help check?"
"Of course, I have checked, but she’s a simple scientist, can only tell from data that everything is normal," Sandora retracted her Abyss Giant Claw, turned around, and leaned against the balcony railing, looking up at the starlit sky, "Feeling sowhat agitated, as if being isolated... Isolated is one thing, but isolated from you, you know how awkward that is."
I gently stroked her hair: "You could look at it from another angle, this proves our relationship is special, so we take the road less traveled..."
"That’s why sotis I envy your carefree attitude," Sandora sighed long, then turned her head and lightly bit my hand, before stepping towards the house, "Looks like you don’t know how your purification chanism works either, let’s investigate this later. I’ll go and get sothing to eat. Anwina, are there any snacks left in the kitchen..."
"Mistress, dinner will be ready shortly."
"I know, just to whet the appetite, bring so pancakes wrapped in bread, as a pre-dinner snack..."
Listening to Sandora and Anwina’s voices coming from the opposite of the balcony door, I could only chuckle softly, then, like Sandora earlier, leaned against the balcony railing to watch the stars, but there was another cloud of mystery in my heart: what exactly is going on with Sandora?
No one was curious about her situation before because examples of recovery after Abyss pollution were extrely rare, lacking enough instances to analyze and study, and naturally, no one could say for sure if Sandora’s situation was normal or not, but now things are different: More and more forr Fallen Apostles have begun appearing in the Empire, and even the Abyss Independent Group has beco established, providing us with ample instances for analysis, making Sandora’s anomaly stand out instantly.
Everyone who has suffered from Abyss pollution shows changes after contact with , even top warriors like Harlan and Bingdisi are no exception, but Sandora is certain her Abyss reaction has never decreased, nor has its activity lowered — of course, this may have to do with the Abyss in her being controlled, but as she said, things cannot be concluded so simply.
For so reason, I suddenly thought of the Abyss Xyrin, that haunting, omnipresent, all-powerful entity that seems to ddle wherever it wants: Could this have sothing to do with her!?
This might be a bit paranoid, but one thing not to forget: back then, the Revenge Army getting trapped in the Otherworld was a plan product of the Abyss Xyrin!
The Abyss Xyrin is a ticulous individual; this can be seen from her various self-rescue plans and their success rates: nearly every strugging Sky Zone of the Old Empire attempted self-rescue, and successfully implented plans consistently originated from the Abyss Xyrin. Every move she made seed flawless, even seemingly trivial details turned out to be significant in retrospect, so the existence of Abyss in the world where the Revenge Army was trapped might not be a slip-up?
I furrowed my eyebrows, retracing those ti points: After the Revenge Army got trapped in the Otherworld, they imdiately went to war with the local Abyss Monsters. At that ti, the Abyss Xyrin was releasing the Ark Fleet. During the following century, the Polluted Zone was progressively deteriorating, but it didn’t collapse all at once, aning at least during those hundred years, the Abyss Xyrin still had enough clarity to check if her plans were proceeding smoothly: if the Abyss encountered by the Revenge Army was an ’accident’, then she had a full century to fix it!
But she didn’t, Sandora and her soldiers were fighting fiercely on a primitive planet, supposedly a preserved fire seed, yet had to continually face the Abyss threat. If this wasn’t a planned oversight, then there’s only one answer: The Abyss Xyrin did it deliberately.
She needed the Revenge Army to encounter local pollution, and perhaps... she needed an infected Xyrin Emperor.
One point must be noted in this process: The Abyss Xyrin made this plan while ’clear-headed’, deciding on her own to rge such a vital fire seed with the Abyss before being corrupted!
Why would a ntally sound, absolutely loyal Xyrin Apostle make such a decision?
Of course, there are still so unexplained questions, like Sandora’s march plan being her own decision, taking a route through an Abyss-polluted world was also random, presumably beyond the Abyss Xyrin’s control... Wait, maybe not, what if those Abysses that Sandora faced back then were pre-planned?
As these speculations beca more profound, I felt a chill down my spine: Just what scale is that network ghost planning to play!
I shook my head vigorously, feeling I’d thought this problem too complex and deep, with many unverifiable speculations, wracking my brain would be futile, so I could only set it aside for now. Perhaps when I understand these matters a little more, I could discuss them with Sandora.
"Brother! Brother!" A joyful voice suddenly ca from below, I looked down and was t with a pair of sparkling red cat eyes, as Visca tugged hard on my clothes, swaying back and forth, "So you were here! What are you looking at, Brother?"
"Why have the cat ears appeared again?" Seeing this mischievous girl lightened my mood, I pinched her fluffy cat ears — ever since turning into a ow Star People on Haisenwood, she seems quite interested in cat ears, "Not looking at anything in particular, studying the stars, oh, and studying the moon, too."
Visca’s personality isn’t suited for pondering those complex problems, but if she knew what I was just mulling over, she definitely wouldn’t sit still. She’s the kind who wants to join in the fun even if she can’t help, so rather than wasting her effort, it’s better not to let her know for now. I casually made up a reason to divert her attention elsewhere.
It’s getting dark earlier this ti of year, and now the moon has already risen halfway up the sky. Visca and I were leaning on the balcony railing watching it for a while when she suddenly blurted out: "Brother, look how round I am!"
With a peculiar expression, I glanced at the moon in the sky: "...Yeah, it’s pretty round."
"Humans seem to have thrown all sorts of ss onto ," Visca murmured, frowning, "there are probes, a lunar lander, and even big footprints, especially that footprint; they want to preserve it as a cultural heritage forever. I want to clean up..."
Cold sweat broke out on instantly: "Please don’t! You know how much effort Earthlings put into this, right?!"
"But I need a bath," Visca looked up at , "Other people’s Glory Starships are usually put away, only mine has been hanging out for over seven hundred thousand years, it’s filthy now..."
I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead: "Your Planet Fortress already has a layer of rock crust on it, okay?"
"But there weren’t any probes originally," Visca scratched her head vigorously, it seed like the empathic superlink between her and the moon was acting up again, "It’s itchy! I don’t even know what kind of fuel Earthlings use, but it seems to leave behind a lot of residues, like it doesn’t burn cleanly..."
I felt like our conversation was veering into bizarre territory from which there was no return, so I quickly pinched Visca’s cheeks to distract her: "Alright, alright, when Earthlings are ready to extract Helium-3 from the moon, we’ll make a new moon to replace you, okay? You just hang up in the sky for a few more years."
"Extracting Helium-3?" Visca’s eyes suddenly lit up, "Oh right, Earthlings seem to have that plan... then forget about changing it, let’s talk after they’ve mined it."
This ti it was my turn to be puzzled: "Soone mining on you and you don’t mind?"
"The Helium-3 in the rock crust is so irritating, I’ve long wanted to get rid of it," Visca happily gestured, "I’ll just consider the Earthlings as polishing , with added massage..."
I was dumbfounded: "..."
Indeed, the topics Visca and I can discuss are only of this bizarre nature!
In the many days that followed, we finally welcod the long-anticipated peaceful and calm days.
The spaceship that had crashed on Earth seventy thousand years ago had been successfully transported to Shadow City, and all corresponding follow-up work was perfectly concluded. Several expert groups under Taville’s leadership conducted ruthless research on the spaceship—the basic process was disassembling it beyond recognition. Just as previously expected, this spaceship had no identification number, and none of the equipnt inside had labels or anything like that. It was just like the Ark Warren Field had once boarded; it was a "blank" Old Empire starship. Now we know that this "blank" state is a characteristic of the Abyss Xyrin’s creations—I believe if we encounter similar "blank items" next ti, we will quickly understand where they’re from.
But for now, I’d rather not co across these troubleso things: hasn’t the Abyss Xyrin brought enough vexations?
The situation on the border is normal as well, the new boundary line has stabilized, and the Abyss Independent Group is speeding up the construction of fortresses at several border points. Ever since the New Empire truly bordered the Abyss Zone, our demand for border defense has increased to a new level. Now not only do we need a large number of Defense Army troops, but also border sovereignty facilities capable of resisting forced jumps and a massive number of space fortresses—at minimum, they should be on the sa level as those turtle-shell-like fortresses seen in Fallen Apostles territory, and we need more of them. This is a heavy construction task, but Harlan is personally overseeing it confidently, assuring that the Abyss Independent Group can handle all the construction work, so there’s no need for Sandora and to worry too much. We just need to pile enough Imperial Defense Army troops on the border while the Abyss Independent Group is busy building bases.
As for the Abyss Zone... well, whether willing to admit it or not, the Abyss Xyrin seems quite "cooperative": the internal strife of the Fallen Apostles remains in a lukewarm state.
Several high-intensity remote scans conducted by the Empire and the Divine Race across the Abyss Zone yielded consistent results, confirming that there have been ongoing military skirmishes of various scales inside the Abyss Zone. If the guess is correct, it involves the New Army and Old Army still vying for leadership over certain local areas. These conflicts appear to have effectively distracted the attention of the Fallen Apostles (regardless of faction), resulting in a historical low in their activities in the border region, even with the New Empire building border fortresses in plain sight. Necessary reactions are still present though, like the barely noteworthy self-destructing drone attacks and provoking probe deploynts. It’s more like sending us ssages saying, "I’m still here, you know" rather than actually waging war...
The border troops intercepted so of the self-destructing drones and probes, ultimately confirming that these things originated from the "New Army": it appears the Abyss Xyrin kept her word, at least her troops didn’t co out causing trouble, and she seed genuinely focused on helping us hold down the New Army.
Yet the more harmless and trustworthy the other side appears, the more unsettled I feel: what kind of figure is the Abyss Xyrin, considering her vast array of plans from back in the day that could scare the life out of people, and her omnipresent silhouette... Could such a nearly phantom-like entity really have fallen to this state today?
I’m now even suspicious that the "division" within the Abyss Zone is part of her plan, a plan that might have been formulated as far back as seventy thousand years ago!
Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but whenever it cos to the Abyss Xyrin issues, I’m practically in a state of hyper-awareness...
In any case, the situation in the Abyss Zone looks greatly promising. Although not many Fallen Apostles have perished, they at least don’t plan to co out anyti soon. I’m just unsure how long this stalemate can last; based on the ways I’ve been swindled these past years, two years of peace could be possible, two days could be possible, or there’s an even higher chance they’ll greet with ten thousand troops at the empire’s gate bright and early tomorrow morning... such is life! These past five years of mine have pretty much been one long string of getting duped by them!
It turns out I really can’t enjoy a peaceful life for too long. After finally feeling relaxed at ho for a few days, an incident inevitably occurred.
This noon, while I was holding Little Baobao in the yard sunbathing, letting my thoughts freely expand in the warm sunlight, endeavoring to correct the little girl’s chaotic pronunciation and grammar habits (if Little Baobao-speak even has grammar), I was lazily like a salted fish, when an urgent communication from Shadow City echoed in my mind like a life-threatening alarm.
The urgent communication was from Taville, containing just one sentence: "A large number of unknown objects have been discovered within the Abyss Gate used for Deep Dive, suspected to be so wreckage cluster!"
The instant I heard this ssage, I knew that the information it brought might be no less significant than the division of the Abyss Zone—so much for my tranquil life, it’s screwed once again. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welco to vote for it on Qidian with recomndation tickets or monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian to read.)
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