Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1441: Plans for the Future

The strange unmanned reconnaissance ship had already been collected by Visca into her personal space, prepping it to be taken back for the experts at the research institute to dismantle and study. Meanwhile, due to the Ghost Energy radiation caused by the spaceship’s crash, the surrounding crash site was marked with conspicuous light beacons. We’ve notified Edwin to temporarily designate this area as a restricted zone, strictly forbidding any personnel from approaching. Once we reach the Imperial District, we’ll dispatch professionals to handle the pollution here, thus temporarily concluding this matter.

However, the confusion it has brought to everyone is far from over. An autonomously navigating unmanned spaceship suddenly trespassed into the World Fragment. This Fallen Apostle ship neither launched an attack nor transmitted any alarm messages back. The only thing it did after appearing was to be shot down by Alaya. The behavior of this ship is baffling, and throughout the event, there are unexplained aspects everywhere. Fallen Apostles don’t do meaningless things, so what’s their purpose in sending such a ship our way? Are they indicating that they are already aware of the Imperial Army’s actions?

Then why didn’t they move to intercept this World Fragment? Visca didn’t even see a single enemy ship.

But these things can’t be figured out by mere contemplation; perhaps after returning, only when the experts and scholars produce an analysis report can there be some clarity. Now, I have only one thought—which is to end this nerve-wracking drift as soon as possible: the closer we get to the Imperial District, yet still remain in the Fire Line territory, as long as we’re within the operational range of the Fallen Apostle’s fleet, we can’t consider ourselves safe.

After the world was torn, our communication with the Border Defense Center was restored. Several border outposts are monitoring the situation after the cosmic Doomsday. For now, aside from that strange unmanned spaceship, everything seems normal: ninety percent of the Universe, torn apart by Abyss and Void together, has been reverted back into data units under the impact of Void Backflow. The remaining ten percent of the cosmic space exploded into thousands of fragments, scattering everywhere. One-third naturally drifted towards the Fallen Apostle’s territory; one-third drifted toward Imperial District, and the final one-third disintegrated directly into Void shortly. Over a dozen "Exile Arks," including ecological planets, mixed in thousands of spatial fragments, slowly approached the Imperial District, continually swallowed by Void unstable structural fragments, also some deviated from the "course" fragments possibly colliding with other world fragments intercepted and destroyed by the Imperial Army: this has to be a feigned gesture, the Empire here must also show an urgent and impromptu response.

The Fallen Apostles and the Imperial Army erupted into several small-scale skirmishes near the border outpost. The enemy’s advance forces were already in place and had a bout with the Imperial Defense Army, yet as I expected, due to the recent collapse of the Material Universe, the combat environment couldn’t be sustained, and eventually, both sides halted at a moderate friction. The Imperial Army didn’t send their large corps into a full-scale operation, while the Fallen Apostles tacitly stopped reinforcing their troops. This is because conventional fleets can’t directly engage in Void combat; they must rely on Order Fields or the Material Universe to establish a battleground; and now with the Material Universe disintegrated, they can’t expect large-scale battles relying solely on their own Order Fields. Order Field’s range is limited, and large warships have no room to maneuver—a single barrage could easily take out a swath of your own side while both combatants have to particularly cooperatively maintain the Order Field to prevent it from collapsing suddenly; small ships can only itch around the enemy’s fortress warships, and they must be careful not to fly too fast possibly crashing into the Void... In summary, depending on Order Fields for combat without a battleground is likely to develop into a rather awkward situation; this is why brawls in bathhouses are always fewer than street fights, it demands more than just courage...

We returned to the Northern Fortress, where things have slightly calmed down: due to the recent unexpected events disrupting setups, Edwin’s publicity campaign had to end prematurely. But the initial goals have already been achieved, the key message "Goddess’s Purification of Dark Moon" has been disseminated, reducing the panic effect caused by Doomsday while also laying the foundation for the two planets to regain peace soon; the Gods personally purified and pardoned Dark Moon people, coupled with the centuries of previous peace as a buffer, there shouldn’t be much psychological resistance from the Surface People in re-accepting their Dark Moon brethren.

A group directly headed to the top tier of the fortress, to the Church Army’s base there to meet Edwin and Soya. Last time we came, we sneaked in concealed, but this time, we could enter openly. It seems Edwin has instructed ahead; we reached that stone fortress unimpeded, along the way attended by personnel wearing black priest robes or white Church Knight robes for assistance, yet everyone knows we actually know the way so... we walked faster than those guiding us; when we reached the fortress hall, a High Order Monk leading us in the hall curiously commented: "You guests seem very familiar with the fortress, are you regulars of His Holiness the Pope?"

I could only awkwardly brush this off: "Well, been here before, been here before..."

The fortress hall was still the same place as the previous meeting with Edwin and Soya, and like last time, idle individuals were cleared away, not even guards were at the doors. In that vast hall, only the Old Pope and a paralyzed sister awaited the crowd. This scene felt somewhat familiar.

"Yo, spotted you just now, pretty impressive up in the sky." I waved to Soya, realizing after these couple of days that Soya isn’t as hard to interact with as she appears on the surface; she’s actually quite approachable, her aloof demeanor merely resulting from her paralysis.

Soya struggled to express a smile that’s as sharp as granite edges: "It was merely a performance aiding Lady Goddess, we often partnered like this over two thousand years ago, somewhat used to it now."

My gaze then shifted to the Old Master beside her, Edwin, this super elderly figure who has reincarnated for over two thousand years had been staring somewhat dazedly since we entered, curious about us with undisguised amazement. I couldn’t resist asking him: "Old Master, what are you looking at?"

Edwin hesitated briefly before expressing in a tone and expression I’m very familiar with a very familiar word: "God?"

Reflecting such overflowing incredulity.

I couldn’t resist hopping angrily, shouting at him: "Ding-Dang! Can’t you avoid having this reaction every time? I’ve been an Immortal for five and a half years; could you at least respect my profession? Who stipulated that an Immortal can’t wear counterfeit shoes and street clothes and take a grassroots approach!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Nearby Lin Xue hurriedly comforted me: "Wood, don’t be like this, normally Void Creatures aren’t considered Gods, Father God isn’t a God either, and Qianqian only recently became a God for less than half a week; I don’t even have my license yet..."

Our conversation interrupted further thoughts; Edwin’s bemusement turned into full-on bewilderment, though Soya adjusted more quickly due to prior interactions with our family. This Dragon Sister understood that these so-called Gods are actually a bunch with personalities excessively laid-back to the point of being carefree; she nodded toward me, tone still respectful: "What should we do next?"

"Just wait," I sighed, "soon this world fragment will slowly drift into the Imperial District; someone there will meet us. Fragments will be integrated into a New World fully compatible with the universal constants, and you can start your new life without Abyss, without civil wars, no more need for tearful farewells for world-saving endeavors; as long as you don’t mess things up yourself, smoothly developing to the outer space stage won’t be an issue. But from now-on you’ll witness a brand new starry sky, all knowledge related to constellations will become obsolete—this is something you need to find a way to explain to your people."

Edwin finally came to his senses, hurriedly spoke beside: "I already have a plan—just say that during the Goddess’s battle with the Demon, the sky was injured, thus resetting every celestial body’s position in heaven and earth..."

I gave this old guy a deep look, thinking if he doesn’t go to Earth and become an expert it’s a waste of talent; given this mind and reaction speed, it’d make him at least a weekly regular on unscientific programs...

"Good that you have an explanation, those other ecological planets are a total mess; we still have to dispatch dozen batches of ambassadors there to explain why all celestial bodies are gone then replaced by new ones," I sighed deeply, "this is definitely the largest collective relocation ever... perhaps we should just establish a moving company within the Servant Army, specializing in battlefield relocations..."

Qianqian immediately nodded vigorously beside, every time I have such whimsical ideas we find ourselves in harmony; hard to say if that’s some kind of sorrow.

At this moment, a sacred white light suddenly appeared in the center of the hall, interrupting our conversation, the white light slowly condensed into a human shape—a beautiful girl with wings on her back, Alaya has returned.

Amidst elusive sacred songs, the Dull Cat Angel slowly descended to the ground, then spread her wings, straightening her arms as she swayed, adjusted her posture, self-proudly smiled at me: "Lord Brother, I managed to stand!"

I: "..." Is this fool aware of her legendary ability to trip on flat ground?

"Goddess!" Edwin was startled upon seeing this holy figure, and like a spry young man despite being in his seventies or eighties, he bounded over to Alaya, dropping to his knees immediately. "You’ve worked hard. Please forgive me for appropriating your name for the past two thousand years..."

Soya quietly approached, whispering to us, "Edwin is under a lot of psychological pressure. He feels it’s disrespectful to let a mortal rashly assume the name of a Goddess. This guy... how should I put it, he’s been modeling his sister as a deity for these two millennia, but that divine artifact signifies the existence of a true God, which has given him quite the pressure."

I nodded to show my understanding: If you picked up a police uniform on the street and started directing traffic, you’d definitely feel uneasy inside; Edwin would surely have an issue if he didn’t feel any psychological pressure from it.

However, this old man clearly hasn’t grasped the intricate relationship between Star Domain Xyrin Divine Artifacts yet. He probably thinks that anything with wings belongs to the same Heavenly God family. Explaining this would be tricky, so I simply stepped forward to help Alaya lift the old man up. "There’s no need to be nervous, old man. If it were in the past, you might have had some legal responsibility, but now Antier’s divinity has been recognized by the True God, and you four have played no small part; rest assured, no one will blame you."

"I still can’t believe it," Edwin’s wrinkles all bunched up on his face, "You admit Antier’s divinity? Of course, I’m happy about that, but... can a mortal really cross this line?"

"That’s your own assumption," I smirked. "The Immortals can’t wait for a bunch of suckers to handle business for them. You think becoming a God is great? Clocking in, requesting leave, writing memos for business trips, even getting a pay raise requires passing exams for hundreds of years. I know someone who still hasn’t passed her professional certificate exam; she’s still earning probationary wages with only a primary school diploma..."

Dingdang poked her head out from my pocket, curiously looked around, then retreated back in: this little thing didn’t even realize I was just talking about her...

Edwin was left dumbfounded by my words, while Lin Xue muttered under her breath, "You’ve fallen in love with shattering and rebuilding people’s worldview, haven’t you?"

I shrugged silently: I had to unleash my grievances from having my worldview shattered back then onto society...

By now, several hours had passed since the Universe’s tear. Based on the previously estimated timeline, this World Fragment should have already crossed the most dangerous critical area and was gradually entering the buffer zone controlled by the Imperial Outpost. Although this area had not yet escaped the Fallen Apostle’s interception range, it was now within the range for openly receiving support from the Imperial Army. The Fallen Apostles wouldn’t dare storm this distance recklessly to intercept us. If they did, the Imperial Defense Army would have ample reason to launch a full-scale counterattack to push the enemy out.

"This time, it’s really over..." Edwin sighed deeply while I was pondering, "From now on, we can reunite with those foolish barbarians, right..."

"You can reunite for as long as you want. The Foolish Big Guy has a new identity, he’s no longer the Dark Moon Lord," I glanced at Edwin, suddenly curious, "By the way, do any of you have future plans?"

"Me?" Edwin was momentarily stunned, then revealed a complex smile, "Saying it might be embarrassing... I want to find an isolated place, preferably a quiet little village by the mountains, open two acres of fertile land, and farm."

Everyone: "..."

"Going to farm?!" I envisioned a grand plan, never expecting that old man’s life plan to be to find a mountain village and farm. "After saving the world, you plan to go home and become a farmer?!"

"That was my original plan," Edwin’s wrinkles relaxed, his smile was relaxed and genuine, as if the simple and unadorned side of the young farmer from two thousand years ago had returned, "Saving the world... I’ve finally understood how much weight those four words carry to be spoken. It took me two thousand years to grasp a truth. Soya often said I was a naive fool. Turns out she wasn’t wrong. Anyway, peace is within reach now, and my wish back then is somewhat fulfilled, so I’ll return to farm my own land, thinking back, those were my happiest days."

I looked at this aged human; continuous reincarnations may have brought his physical youth back time and again, but clearly, the burden of this world has left his heart utterly exhausted. I still remember how Soya described Edwin from more than two thousand years ago: a passionate young farmer filled with unrealistic fantasies, an overaged adolescent. But now, the old Pope in front of us, wielding great power and having effectively ruled the Haisenwood Planet for the past two millennia, no longer shows any trace of his past self — time and trials change a person. The only solace is that Edwin’s conscience and his stubborn dream of "saving the world" have stayed true to his core. Though this old Pope may have deceived a world, orchestrated multiple world wars, by our standards, he is still worthy of being called a hero.

Or as Sandora would call, "a warrior."

No matter how it ends, the world has been saved, and the old Pope can finally lay down this nearly breaking burden, find a suitable place to hideaway, and tend to the countryside, cultivate the fields. This might be a good thing for him.

"Soya, what about you?" I turned to the taciturn Paralyzed Dragon Sister beside me, "What are your plans?"

"I don’t know..." Soya sighed softly, "My home is in Dragon Mountain, but only the graves of my kin and a ruined palace remain there. These years, I tried to hypnotize myself, to think of myself as human. I took up every kind of human job, even hard labor and guarding, all to forget I was part of the Dragon Clan and to live alongside other races... But in the end, I found it was all self-deception; I can never become another race... So I’ll probably continue to wander like before, just like back then wandering around aimlessly. After all, I rarely returned to Dragon Mountain, this time I can try convincing myself the Dragon Clan still exists, just that I haven’t gone back to reunite with everyone."

Soya shrugged slightly: "Honestly, it’s quite nice this way, I’ve always enjoyed living freely."

I understood her feelings well: loneliness is like a bloodless knife. If someone doesn’t get it, just imagine: one day, all the humans in the world are gone, and you’re left spending the rest of your life with a bunch of monkeys, you definitely wouldn’t fare better than Soya...

"Remember Bingdisi’s promise to you," I had already vaguely guessed Soya’s plans before, but a thought suddenly struck me, "Everything will be fine. Cheer up, once we safely arrive at the Imperial District, I’ll introduce you to someone."

Soya looked at me puzzled, but I intended to surprise her, so I said nothing, merely letting out a deep yawn, then stretched: "No questions now, it’ll take at least one more night to reach the Imperial District, I need a nap—haven’t really rested for two or three days."

Edwin arranged quarters for everyone within the fortress, and we peacefully passed our last night in this world. I suppose when we open our eyes tomorrow, we’ll be home. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)