Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1488: Retreat

After the battle ended, we were supposed to "pull" the conquered worlds into the Imperial District, but Sandora made a bolder decision: she wanted to establish a new defense line right there, turning the four conquered worlds and a few adjacent universes they could control into a new frontier, which would permanently change the map of the New Empire and the Abyss Zone.

"The Planet Fortresses we brought can defend on the spot. Let them establish colonies and defense fortresses in these worlds," Sandora explained her plan. "We anchor these universes so they stay where they are, and the Abyss Zone will directly border the New Empire—without the Void as a barrier."

Except for Qianqian, who said she didn’t understand anything and therefore wasn’t surprised, we were all stunned, and Bingdisi spoke openly: "Hey Sandora, think it through. This way, the Empire and Abyss Zone will have a dozen additional ’fire lines’. Just one jump is needed between worlds; anyone can just pick up a brick and start a fight."

"I know, and I didn’t make this decision impulsively," Sandora nodded calmly. "With the accumulated strength over time, the New Empire is capable of maintaining multiple such fire lines, and fortunately, the Fallen Apostles don’t have the extra energy to cause trouble, making this the best time to establish a border zone. Indeed, the New Empire will border the Abyss Zone, but there are benefits too: we can monitor the Fallen Apostles more easily and verify whether the Abyss Xyrin is adhering to her promises."

"Seems like you all don’t trust me much." The voice of Abyss Xyrin suddenly came through, and I looked around to see her image reappearing on a nearby data terminal. Bingdisi was stunned: "Whoa, you didn’t leave?"

"I am a network consciousness, omnipresent as long as I’m connected, so coming or going doesn’t matter, I just didn’t open my interaction interface temporarily. Until you shut down this universe’s Sovereignty Hub, I am always..."

"Bang!"

Bingdisi casually threw a Bible, smashing the data terminal to pieces: "Well, now you’re not here."

Abyss Xyrin’s image appeared on another data terminal: "Don’t react so strongly. Aren’t we at least half partners for now? At least, I’ve no intention of troubling you for now."

Bingdisi swiftly grabbed another Bible (I really didn’t know how many Meteor Hammers she had modified): "Say one more word and I’ll tear this place down completely. We’re negotiating secrets, understand?"

Abyss Xyrin looked at Bingdisi earnestly: "If it’s truly confidential, would you discuss it openly in my base?"

Seeing Bingdisi genuinely about to tear the place apart, I quickly reached out to stop her: "Hey stop, don’t smash it, this place is already Imperial property, okay? You’re breaking my stuff!"

Bingdisi shrugged indifferently: "No problem, smashed a tower outside just now... no compensation needed, right?"

Me: "..."

It seemed even Abyss Xyrin found this uninteresting, leaving us with a final word before she departed: "Just don’t continue to disturb me, I don’t care what you plan to do. Also—looking forward to meeting again."

"What does she mean?" Bingdisi asked confusedly, "Why does she always say such things without a beginning or end?"

I ignored her, only pondering how Sandora’s plan, once implemented, would impact the situation—pushing the Imperial Border directly into the Abyss Zone and permanently solidifying it would undoubtedly forever change the dynamics between the Fallen Apostles and the New Empire.

We can imagine the Imperial District and Abyss Zone as two separate "webs", with the nodes being individual worlds, and the lines connecting them representing direct passages with a jump count of "one". Before today, these two webs were completely isolated by the Endless Void, and any reconnaissance or attack had to be conducted by fleets crossing the Void.

There are mainly two ways to travel from one world to another: direct jumps, and opening the Order Field to travel to other universes conventionally. Before today, the only means of transit between the Imperial District and Abyss Zone was the second method, even for the Twin Star World sandwiched between both zones, there was no way to jump directly through the Void.

In previous border disputes, we would "drag" the universes seized from Fallen Apostles into the Imperial District, completely rewriting the World Barrier to cut them out from the Abyss Zone’s "web" and integrate them into the Imperial map. This was equivalent to capturing nodes from the other web without changing the isolation between both webs.

But Sandora recently decided not to do this. She intended to maintain the original coordinates of these newly occupied border worlds, building Imperial fortresses and World Gates on site—that is, establishing our own Sovereignty Hub.

From now on, the two isolated "webs" will connect, and the nearest points between the Imperial District and Abyss Zone will no longer require prolonged journeys, but only a jump with an information offset of less than one hundred percent—if the information offset needed by the Void Engine at once is less than one hundred percent, then the spaceship doesn’t need to enter the Void, and can directly jump from one universe to another, which is known as "jump count of one".

This is a complete change in the dynamics, its profound significance is self-evident, yet its distant impact remains unclear. As for its immediate impact, just as Sandora and Bingdisi described: the good news is that we can more easily observe the happenings within the Abyss Zone and attack the enemy more conveniently. The bad news is identical, from now on the Fallen Apostles and Imperial Army will be in a state where anyone can pick up a brick and fight... Bingdisi’s metaphor is really too rustic.

Previously, we never considered letting the Abyss Zone and the Imperial District border each other directly, for at that time the Empire was weak, and the Void served as our safety barrier. But now Sandora seems to find the circumstances ripe, deciding to change this situation.

"Do you really think this is okay?" I glanced at Sandora uneasily, "The Fallen Apostles are quite aggressive, typically they initiate attacks."

"I’ve considered it for a long time, don’t worry, there won’t be a problem," Sandora chuckled. "Indeed, they are aggressive, but they also know when to attack and when to hold back. Moreover, as long as we lock down the World Barrier, it won’t be easy for the enemy to attack."

"That’s good then," I shrugged, "After all, you’re the expert now."

We left the empty command post, again seeing the lifeless abandoned city outside. Yet my mood was quite different: when I first arrived, this was still the territory of the Fallen Apostles, and now it’s a "welcome gift" from Abyss Xyrin to the Empire. Who could have imagined the amount of information in between? Our distrust of Abyss Xyrin leads us to push her every move toward conspiracy theories, but what kind of conspiracy could she have by gifting this universe to the Empire?

I wasn’t the only one puzzled; others were pondering this too. Sandora, observing the intact city buildings, mumbled almost to herself: "She said she conducted an experiment using this universe, trying to see how to safely communicate with Void Creatures... Ah Jun, she seems quite afraid of you, doesn’t she?"

I gave a strange look not knowing how to respond: "Honestly, I’m a bit afraid of her... You can have me fight against anyone, but dealing with a character who speaks seven parts truth and three parts lies, constantly changing and full of crafty tricks, is truly challenging. Speaking of which, she wouldn’t have planted a Doomsday Bomb here, would she? Waiting for us to move all the bases in before blowing them up..." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"What’s the point of that?" Sandora rolled her eyes, "She would lose a world and all these bases here, what would she gain?"

"Disgusting," I gazed at the city’s skyline, "The mind of an Abyss Xyrin is like an advanced math textbook: visible but incomprehensible..."

As I was saying this, I saw a plume of smoke rising in the distance—it was the Ghost Energy Obelisk that Bingdisi had just blown up with a brick. I pondered for a moment, considering that everything here was technically Empire property, and finally couldn’t help but pat Bingdisi on the shoulder: "The cost of this tower will be deducted from next month’s allowance."

Bingdisi was left speechless, then jumped up: "Since when do I need you to give me an allowance!?"

"Nonsense! Go rummage through your personal space yourself; did you buy all that clutter with your own money?"

Bingdisi thought for a second and came to a realization: "Oh, I’ve been freeloading for so long that I forgot, thought I was at home..."

Me: "..."

"Look on the bright side, it’s actually a good thing," Bingdisi said nonchalantly, patting my shoulder, "With my looks and figure, I could easily become the world’s richest just by flashing a smile, and it’s just a tower. I’ve broken far worse things before; don’t take it too hard."

It’s the first time I’ve been comforted in such a manner!

This grand offensive has ended, both in terms of battle results and the actual state in the Abyss Zone, further advancing is unnecessary, but our military operations are far from over: after the offensive ends, we’ll have many tasks remaining, starting with clearing the "New Frontier" of any leftover enemies.

The Imperial Army directly controls four worlds, using these four as nodes to interfere with other universes, effectively sealing off all secondary nodes: no reinforcements can enter, internal people cannot evacuate, even world parameters can be controlled by others. A small force can conquer such a world, which is why we establish these "Fortress Worlds." These fortress worlds are like firewall nodes on the border; they are jump nodes that prevent nearby nodes from sealing off other universes—if they fall into enemy hands, the entire line collapses.

With the "roadmap’s" help, the Imperial Army controls the most valuable nodes. Next, we clear the adjacent universes that have been sealed—we don’t need to personally intervene in these wastelands with little to no troops stationed.

"Are we really just heading back like this?" In the command hall of the Imperial Admiral, Bingdisi leaned back in her seat, smacking her lips and wearing a somewhat unsatisfied expression, "Feels like an anticlimax..."

"We’ve done all that was possible, now we just wait to see what the Abyss Xyrin plans," Sandora closed her eyes, slightly tired, "I feel she’s... different from before."

Lilina, who’d been lurking somewhere, suddenly emerged. Always inclined toward a conspiracy theory, the scheming Pope nodded her head, analyzing: "So, the Abyss Xyrin made a deal with you, she’ll hold off the New Army with the Old Army in the Abyss Zone, guaranteeing they’ll be ’honest for a bit,’ and in return, she’ll let these border worlds go, and the Imperial Army withdraws, not to interfere with her ’great endeavor’... Now we know her ’great endeavor’ is building bridges, which was unexpected. Boss, what do you think will happen if she finishes the bridge?"

"No one knows yet, but she wants the Abyss Empire to rise, which is hugely troublesome in itself," I sighed, "This withdrawal is actually a reluctant decision. If there were other options, we wouldn’t let the Abyss Xyrin continue her plan. Even without negotiations, the result would’ve been similar—in the Abyss Zone, given the enemy numbers plus the possibility of Old and New Army restructuring, the Imperial Army needed to pull out anyway. It’s also a way to earn a favor... not sure if the Abyss Xyrin understands ’favor’."

As I spoke, I, like Sandora, closed my eyes in exhaustion, sinking into my seat to think.

I still remember my strategy against the Fallen Apostles: never let them succeed. But with the Abyss Xyrin this time, we’re essentially letting her return to her schemes. It’s a compromise, though indeed the only choice, leaving me somewhat uneasy—was this "collaboration" ultimately good or bad?

Bridge building... what does it mean for the Fallen Apostles, that they’re willing to proceed at any cost?

Such questions remain unanswered for now, but one thing is clear: we must continue to strengthen ourselves, as we navigate this tightrope-like standoff, we absolutely cannot fall behind.

"Boss, not in a good mood?" Lilina saw me feigning sleep with my eyes closed and climbed over my legs, "Boss, let me cheer you up, stop overthinking, will you?"

I opened one eye, seeing Lilina almost face-to-nose, I reluctantly patted her head and put her aside: "Thinking about national affairs here, trying to do some serious work, don’t interrupt."

"To lead the overall situation, sometimes you have to take detours," Lilina clung to the armrest of my chair, "As long as we maintain the strategic advantage, temporary and localized compromises are acceptable. This time, you let the Abyss Xyrin carry on, but in return, the Empire has gained a period of stable development. You’ve just reshaped the competitive landscape from military conflict to an arms race, and now we even know what the Fallen Apostle’s ’great endeavor’ is, so as long as we gain ultimate control before they finish their bridge..."

I looked at the little one-meter-nine figure in surprise: "You’ve thought it through."

"I was just rambling earlier but now I’m out of words," Lilina jumped back onto me, "Boss, hug me! You like loli—hey, boss, you can’t do this! Put away that sinful basket... at least let me face up!"

After dealing with Lilina, my mood improved greatly, thinking how this troublesome fake loli at least has this much good: she’s really good at lightening the mood... especially when courting death.

Even knowing she’s just trying to jokingly lighten the atmosphere, I’m grateful for her effort, yet once that basket action started, it’s become a reflex—it’s impossible to stop!

As the Empire Army’s military actions neared completion, the Divine Race’s front also began to wrap up.

The Abyss Xyrin obviously visited the Divine Race generals for a "negotiation," but the Divine Race’s withdrawal was spurred by both the Empire’s retreat signals and their own assessments: the Fallen Apostles’ counterattacks became increasingly fierce, Abyss Zone legions began to assemble, the Apostles’ border fortresses were strong as ever, these reasons made the Divine Race’s military commanders decide it was time to pull back. Just as the Abyss Xyrin told us in "negotiations": it’s not time for a definitive battle yet, neither the Divine Race nor the Empire has the power to crush the Abyss Zone in one blow, advancing further would only increase casualties, withdrawal is inevitable for both the Divine Race and the Imperial Army.

Yet this war has completely changed the Void’s dynamics and marked a grand victory for us: the Imperial Army captured a considerable chunk of the Fallen Apostles’ border worlds, though few, each crucial nodes, we’ve built fortresses right under their noses, marking the new Empire’s formal stand-off with the Fallen Apostles. Meanwhile, the Divine Race, having seized vast territories, significantly confined the Fallen Apostles’ activity range, and set numerous warning points facing the Divine Realm in the Abyss Zone—this setup ensures no more worries for the Divine Race’s upcoming expedition.

The Abyss Zone has suffered a tremendous blow—though not entirely eliminated, at least for a long time the Fallen Apostles will behave, coupled with the Abyss Xyrin’s promise of cooperation... let’s hope she truly keeps her word.

Perhaps I can finally relax for a few days. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)