Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1486: An Encounter Within Expectations

Chapter 1486: Chapter 1486: An Encounter Within Expectations

It’s hard to say whether it was expected or a surprise—we were not attacked.

The Imperial Fleet jumped into the KN-22D world without facing fierce counter-fire, no heavily-guarded fortress arrays, no gravity traps or jump disruptors, not even a bit of communication interference. What greeted us was the empty, cold space and an ancient star system that seemed completely lifeless.

"Deep space telemetry shows a Fallen Apostle military base," the intelligence officer loudly reported from the command seat, "but all the bases are in a state of silence, no active targets detected, and the soul detection response is zero."

"Abandoned?" Sandora frowned, "Expand the telemetry range to cover the entire universe, release the intelligence probes, and don’t miss any suspicious areas—including space folds and abnormal gravity focal points."

As I looked at this empty universe, like most worlds in the Abyss Zone, its basic rules were not "friendly," scattered stars, sparse celestial bodies. It’s unclear whether this was its natural state or if intense Abyss activities caused the original celestial bodies to self-destruct. However, the environment here should be considered a blessed place within the entire Abyss Zone: at least it still has some formed celestial bodies and relatively regular material activities. Like this star system where the Imperial Fleet is currently stationed, although its sun is unstable and the planetary orbital rotation speed has some abnormal fluctuations, at least this counts as a celestial body. Having something visible in the field of view is always good.

More precise telemetry results soon appeared before us: this universe has seven large military bases, countless small outposts and stations, and two star systems that appear to be heavy military-industrial bases, making it a border world with a high military weight, higher than we predicted. The only situation here now is—there are no people.

"All military bases are in a state of silence, with the minimum level of energy reaction, no signs of soul activity, like a ghost city that continues to operate automatically after being abandoned," Sandora remarked as she looked at the reports from junior officers, "The intelligence probe is passing over the closest military base... No attack or interference encountered."

The footage sent back by the probe was projected. It’s currently 14 light-years away in an artificial star system and passing slowly through a large starport of the Fallen Apostles. The footage shows small warships neatly arranged, starport buildings with flickering lights, revolving star gate calibration rings, and the shadow of an Eternal-class Mother Ship at the edge of the frame like a gigantic specter. The scene was silent, with these things slowly drifting in view. Under our remote control, the probe revealed itself, even actively sent out a prominent identification signal, but the dead military base still maintained silence, not even bothering to destroy the probe.

More intelligence probes flooded into the star system, and after a detailed investigation, concluded: This is an abandoned base, but for some reason, all systems in the base are still running, as if the personnel were working normally just moments before.

"Move the fleet closer, then prepare a ship for me." Sandora gave the brief order, and I was immediately surprised: "You’re going over personally?"

"You were planning to go personally anyway," Sandora replied as if we were an old couple, looking at me, "Like I wouldn’t know what you’re thinking. It’s nothing, just an unmanned base, being overly cautious would only make us look petty."

The fleet quickly arrived at the unmanned base, which is a star system with four artificial planets. The orbits of the celestial bodies are orderly, filled with starports, factories, barracks, and integrated orbital stations. Just these space facilities alone are more expansive than any land that humans have historically set foot on. It’s impossible for just a few people to explore such a vast area thoroughly. Our main objective is to check out what’s going on at this base. A large number of intelligence probes had already flooded in here ten minutes ago, so the base’s structure has been mapped. We know its hub is located in the northern hemisphere of the second planet, a highly militarized great city—speaking of which, is there anything in the territories of the Fallen Apostles that’s not militarized?

The Royal Fleet hovered in low orbit of the second planet. Around the fleet were various orbital stations of the Fallen Apostles. Sivis looked at those starports and space factories that seemed almost within arm’s reach and couldn’t help but grumble on the public channel, "It’s my first time leading a fleet this close to these dangerous guys; it feels incomparably strange, really."

Even though those dark space structures are now empty, they still bring a sense of oppressive discomfort, which is enough to show how bad an impression the madmen of the Abyss Zone have left on people.

"They’re just unmanned cities," Sandora said indifferently, "If you really feel uncomfortable, you can have the fleet stay away from them, but make sure all the main cannons of the fleet are locked onto these space structures. I don’t believe the Abyss Xyrin would really hand these things over to us."

At this moment, a high-pitched voice suddenly interjected into the public channel, "What about this ship!"

I didn’t need to look at the avatar to know it was the Er Fengzi; among all the shipboard mainframes, she had the most quirks.

"This ship is too big, and just like you, it’s not fit to stay in the planet’s orbit. This ship is not going to be a satellite for a planet with a radius less than five thousand kilometers," Er Fengzi grumbled on the channel. She was two astronomical units away from us, as the War Song’s massive size meant she couldn’t join the Royal Fleet in second planet’s orbit. "This ship also needs a docking place!"

I checked the structure map of the star system: "Then go orbit the star for a while. This star was made by the Fallen Apostles, and it might also be a military base. You staying beside it is equivalent to monitoring it."

Er Fengzi was momentarily downcast upon hearing there was no battle, but realizing she was in the enemy’s base camp, she soon cheered up again. The massive War Song Planet Battleship, accompanied by her orbiting Revenge Army Fleet, collectively jumped to an orbit only 0.3 astronomical units from the star to begin orbiting. While orbiting, she opened an unencrypted public channel, greeting the other four artificial planets constructed by the Fallen Apostles in the star system: "Hello planets outside?" "Fourth orbit planet, let me see your rolling atmosphere!" "Third orbit planet, swing yourself!" "This ship’s name is Chen, nice to cause havoc at your base—let’s see the passion of your North Pole, first orbit planet!" "Hello, sun over here? This ship’s name is Chen..."

Suddenly, I felt that Er Fengzi’s brain really didn’t need treatment—she thought other shipboard mainframes were like her.

We boarded a shuttle and left the fleet, peacefully navigating through space among the abandoned Fallen Apostle orbital stations, before plunging into the thin atmosphere of the second planet, hovering over its capital city in the northern hemisphere.

This large city was built on a plain: the Fallen Apostles had precisely customized the entire planet, so the planet’s surface was mostly such plains with seemingly mechanically cut "mountain ridges." The shuttle slowly circled over the city, capturing its entire view. Normally, I don’t often get a chance to witness so closely the place where the Fallen Apostles live, but after some observation, this place seemed nothing special: the architectural style was almost indistinguishable from a normal Xyrin city. It had the same orderly layout and easy-to-see city main roads. I’m familiar with those facilities on the surface and can almost name them and know their purpose, except for the rather somber main color of most buildings. I felt that the gathering points of the Fallen Apostles seemed no different from the Imperial Colonies.

"Is your idea of a villain that they must wear capes and cloaks, with broad shoulders, roar at the moon every night, and live in caves?" Bingdisi glanced at me, mocking my habitual thinking, "Haven’t you heard that demons also have private lives? When you see the Fallen Apostles wearing clothes, you should know that they also worry whether to tuck their long johns into their socks..."

Me: "...The Fallen Apostles don’t wear long johns, do they?"

Bingdisi: "...I was just giving an example."

"Alright, alright, you two can study these insane things later. Save your energy to scout," Sandora slapped both mine and Bingdisi’s shoulders, "There’s a landing platform below. Let’s land."

The shuttle landed steadily on a spacious landing platform. For the first time, I set foot on the residence planet of the Fallen Apostles. Although the surroundings weren’t particularly surprising, I was quite excited. With this excited and novel feeling, I took a deep breath—only to find the air here was so thin that I almost choked, and this planet’s atmosphere definitely contains no oxygen!

Sandora closed her eyes, extending her spiritual power. Her special talent of Soul Taker allowed her to discover enemies better and faster than any life scanning equipment, but even so, she achieved nothing: "The whole planet is empty. Have they really left?"

Bingdisi pulled out her Meteor Hammer Holy Scripture from her personal space, gesturing at a distant Ghost Energy Obelisk: "So, do you guys think if I smash that thing, it might lure out some ambushes?"

I rolled my eyes at her: "You can give it a try."

As soon as I said that, I heard a "whoosh" near my ear, and Bingdisi’s Brick Bible shot out of her hand, transforming into a streak of golden light, followed by a thunderous explosion that shook the ground. The distant tower slowly collapsed. I must say, Ice Sister’s Bible not only causes kinetic damage; when it hits a target, it generates a Holy Light Shock with astounding power. As a saying goes: Sky Flipping Seal echoes like thunder, but can’t compare to Lord Bing’s Meteor Hammer—this doesn’t mean much; it’s just for rhyme’s sake. Anyway, with unprecedented decisiveness, Bingdisi blew up a Ghost Energy Obelisk a kilometer away just to see if there were any ambushes in the area.

I watched this scene, dumbfounded, and finally couldn’t help jumping up: "You really went for it?"

Bingdisi shaded her eyes with her hand, watching the smoke and dust settle after the obelisk’s collapse, and rolled her eyes at me when she heard my words: "Nonsense, I’m a person with an ID card; I keep my word, you know."

"And that ID card was made by Sicaro for two bucks fifty," Sandora retorted before stepping forward, "Looks like this place is really empty. I scanned a command post in this direction; let’s check it out. Bingdisi, put away the Meteor Hammer. If you throw it around again, Ah Jun and I will team up to beat you, believe it?"

"This is a Bible, a very serious thing, you know?" Bingdisi said, but still put away the massive instrument capable of creating a crater with a throw; she seems to know she has a Bible in her hands, not a Sky Flipping Seal.

As we walked through the city built by the enemy, I noticed there were indeed some differences compared to the colonies within the Imperial District: in addition to the omnipresent dark red tone, there was no trace of any civilian or "livelihood" elements here.

The Fallen Apostles need nothing related to life entertainment without the ties to combat and their "great cause." I once heard Harlan say that life in the Abyss Zone was even duller than during the Old Empire era. Seeing this city, which had nothing but factories and barracks, I finally understood the feelings of that former Fallen Apostle—living in such a dead place might be unacceptable even for someone like Pandora. After all, that little war maniac likes to have some sweets or draw meter-high lines on roadside pillars in her spare time, whereas Fallen Apostles probably don’t indulge in such pastimes.

"This place feels eerie," Qianqian followed closely behind me, unable to resist muttering as she looked at the empty, cold building complexes around us, "Shadow City was like this when it was first built too."

"Everyone’s gone, but the buildings are still running." Sandora pointed at a small facility nearby; it was a crystalline spire only a few meters tall, used to provide additional energy broadcasting for surrounding structures. It was still running, the surface of the crystal shimmering with faint red ripples, and a low hum was audible up close. The surrounding buildings were pretty much the same: all in normal operation, as if bustling with life and activity just a moment ago.

"The Imperial Fleet didn’t scan anyone leaving when they transmitted to this world," Sandora mused, "So the garrison in this universe should have been withdrawn before we came here... this is inexplicable; a border world should never be completely evacuated under any circumstances, and even if personnel were withdrawn, it seems too abrupt: the city’s facilities haven’t even been shut down."

"Why are you still fussing over an empty city at this point?" Bingdisi said dismissively, "They opened the World Barrier and handed over sovereignty of the entire universe; anything stranger than that?"

We quickly found the "command post" Sandora mentioned, a place that didn’t seem different from the square buildings around it.

"I sense a large data stream heading towards this building, and it has the most backup energy lines in the city," Sandora said as she stepped forward to open the command post’s door, "Oh... just as I thought, they’ve even canceled the security system."

Pandora and Visca immediately pulled out two massive cannons and charged inside, only for Visca to run back out moments later: "Brother, there’s no one inside! The equipment in the hall is all on!"

The command post was in a normal operational state, just like all the buildings we encountered. As we entered the building, the first thing we saw was an exceptionally bright and spacious hall. A series of public data terminals along the wall displayed standby screens. Sandora stepped forward and operated on one of the terminals, murmuring, "The standby time has exceeded half a month... indicating that people here evacuated over half a month ago."

"At that time, we hadn’t even started the operation plan to advance into the Abyss Zone," Bingdisi mimicked her, fiddling with a data terminal but soon giving up in frustration, "Half a month ago... wasn’t that around the time they attacked the Divine Realm?"

"There’s an eighty percent chance this universe was left by Abyss Xyrin," Sandora pondered, "which means she set this up as soon as possible. While the Fallen Apostles’ ’New Army’ attacked the Divine Realm, she left this strange place on the border... what on earth is she planning?"

Just as I was about to share my thoughts, a clear female voice echoed out of thin air in the hall: "What do you think I want to do?"

Everyone was taken aback by the voice. Pandora and Visca reacted first, instantly summoning a large array of Floating Cannons, but after aiming around for a while, they couldn’t pinpoint the source of the voice. Sandora had already entered combat status, and Bingdisi donned her Valkyrie Armor amid a Holy Light display. I frowned, glancing around, noticing that all the holographic projections in the hall were beginning to flicker.

Amid the sound of rapidly accelerating equipment, those holographic images, previously showing standby screens, switched one by one to reveal the image of an unfamiliar woman: dressed in a plain black dress, with black hair and eyes, long hair almost to her waist, and a rather common face marked with a faint, playful smile.

We had never seen this face before, but the identity of the person was self-evident. Sandora frowned as she looked at the largest holographic projection in the hall: "Abyss Xyrin?"

"First time meeting," each Abyss Xyrin in the hall smiled at us, then "they" fixed their sight on Bingdisi and me, "Oh, not quite the first time meeting: New Emperor, and this sister from the Divine Race, we meet again."

"What are you up to?" I glanced around, not spotting any ambushes or a self-destruct countdown, "Speaking of which, did you finally get taken out by your own people?"

"Could you not say such things with a cheerful expression?" Abyss Xyrin responded in the same calm tone as when we last met, maintaining a peaceful chat even amid an eerie atmosphere. She looked at Sandora’s combat stance and Bingdisi’s Valkyrie Armor, then finally at the multitude of Floating Cannons in the hall, "Is it necessary to be so on guard? You know well enough that these things can’t destroy a network consciousness—unless you wipe out all my nodes."

Sandora dispersed her Abyssal Intense Flames nonchalantly: "How many nodes do you have left... alright, we’re here now. Just say whatever it is you have to say."

"Oh, it’s nothing too important," Abyss Xyrin replied unhurriedly, "just a reminder that it’s time for you to retreat." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)