Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1342: Secret

I had to work hard to convince Harlan that Silvia—or rather, Bellavilla—was not turned into her current state by me. Then I pulled him over to sit near the window, ordered some pastries and freshly squeezed juice made by Silvia. Harlan remained dumbfounded as he watched Silvia busily working behind the counter, until a plate of snacks was placed before him, bringing him back to his senses. I glanced at him curiously, "Are you familiar with Bellavilla?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Not particularly, when the Old Empire was still around, my Sky Zone was quite far from hers, so we didn’t interact much. It was only after she got polluted—you know, during our Fallen Apostles joint actions," Harlan said casually as he observed the exquisite desserts in front of him, "Although I don’t know her well, I know Bellavilla is a cold person, very cunning, sometimes even a bit harsh. In short, not easy to get along with. Compared to the one before me now... I still can’t believe what I’m seeing."

"She was like this when we brought her back," I began explaining the process of Bellavilla transforming into Silvia, taking a full ten minutes to explain everything, "That’s how it went, Bellavilla split into two personas, with the original persona asleep most of the time, Silvia controls the body. But lately, Bellavilla has regained some energy, she tries to help us train the Ravens and the Mysterious Side’s spellcasters’ troops. When she’s feeling well, she also helps out in the Heavenly Realm City."

"I can’t believe she did this," Harlan pointed at the pastries on the table, "No normal Xyrin Apostle could make such extravagant, meaningless things. I can sense that this person called Silvia is entirely different from Bellavilla, she doesn’t even have the consciousness of being a Xyrin Apostle. It’s unbelievable; nothing like this has happened before, a powerful Xyrin Emperor being wounded to this extent."

Harlan said that a normal Xyrin Apostle absolutely wouldn’t make what we see here, and I believe him, with Sandora’s cooking skills standing as evidence. As for Harlan’s lament, I’m rather indifferent: "I think Silvia’s current state is pretty good. Bellavilla admitted that Silvia is a persona she created to ’escape and rest.’ Silvia likes a normal life, is peaceful by nature, a bit lazy, and a little overly kind. I’ve never seen her get mad at anyone. Bellavilla has longed for this kind of life, and having the opportunity to rest isn’t bad either."

Harlan seemed thoughtful, perhaps unable to understand this mindset. He was different from Bellavilla; I could see an old Emperor still burning with fierce ambition, never experiencing the betrayal Bellavilla had. The latter was tired, thus hoping to live in a world without scheming and heartaches, in peace with her own life, while the former likely couldn’t accept such an ’escape.’ Sure enough, after thinking for a moment, Harlan lightly shook his head: "I don’t understand it, but that’s Bellavilla’s thought, and others can’t say anything about her decision."

"Actually, it’s pretty good; she also helps me with many things—if she’s awake." I chuckled, thinking it was just as well Harlan didn’t understand Bellavilla; I feared he’d also want to retire like her. If that happened, Sandora and I would suffer a great loss, working tirelessly to bring back such an old Emperor only to give him a retirement home. If Harlan truly spoke of retirement, I wouldn’t even have the heart to cry.

"Ocam’s betrayal..." After a few seconds of silence, Harlan suddenly sighed slightly, "Before he fell, he was a man strict with himself. Though he was a researcher, he had the backbone of a soldier. He was loyal to the Empire and his mission, somewhat absolute in his research field, but otherwise kind to everyone—hence the nickname ’Honest Man.’ Ocam was the most outstanding scientist I ever met, even after corruption, but I didn’t expect him to end up like this... that day’s cursed corruption turned us into monstrous beings..."

"You had a good relationship with Ocam?" Hearing Harlan’s understanding of Ocam intrigued me.

"Sky Zone 103, Ocam was my Chief Technician," Harlan raised his head, looked into my eyes, "also the finest scientist of the Old Empire Era, I thought you knew that."

I was instantly agape, and after a long moment, I remembered that I had indeed heard about these things: "I do know about it, but I hadn’t thought of it at the time—so, if you don’t mind, could you tell me about what’s happening ’over there’? I’m quite curious about the Fallen Apostles—you know, Bellavilla’s memory is already scrambled, and the other Fallen Apostles we’ve captured aren’t high enough level."

Harlan smiled and nodded nonchalantly: "Of course, no problem, but just to clarify: I might not know much more than Bellavilla does. As you mentioned the other day, our memories were tampered with. After the Abyssal influence faded, a lot of deep-seated memories were wiped away. All I retained were the inconsequential parts."

"After the disaster, the Order of the Old Empire was completely disrupted. Less than a third of the original Emperors and their High Order Apostles survived. Coupled with a long period of confusion, we were scattered, so the first thing ’that being’ did upon appearing was to reorganize the Fallen Apostles. ’It’ never shows itself but can control everything through the Apostles’ spiritual network. It used this irresistible force to re-divide our influence. Some Emperors’ strength was well-preserved, and they had more survivors under their command, thus becoming a few pillar-like military giants, governing several Sky Zones left from the remnants of the Old Empire—I am one of them. My Reset ability protected many military facilities during the disaster, and after the Chaotic Period ended, I became one of the strongest Emperors. The rest, who preserved their personal strength but had incomplete subordinates, were divided into two categories: those in a better situation became Faction Leaders of Independent Legions, forming their own factions, possessing legions and territories, but lacking Sky Zone level power, Bellavilla is one of them; those in worse situations could only become dependent on others. These Emperors or Generals suffered more or less personal strength damage, and their subordinates were nearly wiped out. They could no longer raise a legion, so they could only be hounds under military giants or Faction Leaders. They still retain the title of Emperor or General, but to be honest... these titles have no meaning anymore; ’that being’ judges the value of an Apostle by its standards, not caring if a former Emperor is arranged to serve under someone else as a Fleet Commander. It cares for nothing but the ’Great Work’, and it has never shown any emotional inclination. I even feel that ’that being’ isn’t a true personality... at least not one as explicit as yours or mine."

Of course not—I thought to myself. If my guess is correct, the ’being’ of the Fallen Apostles is the other part of the collective consciousness that split from Xyrin back then, a super lifeform born from the Xyrin Apostles’ spiritual network. This super lifeform has a drastically different way of thinking than ’outsiders’. It would never care for things in the real world, just like how Xyrin can’t tell the difference between dusk and dawn. Though Xyrin seems to have more human-like emotions than the ’being’ of the Fallen Apostles, at least Xyrin has emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and seems to like me and Sandora very much. While the Abyss version of Xyrin amongst the Fallen Apostles is entirely like a machine of rule without sentiment.

Harlan once again mentioned the Great Work, and of course, I was more interested in that. However, as anticipated, Harlan could only apologize with a wave of his hand regarding its content: he couldn’t answer what the Great Work entails; this part of the data is undoubtedly a core secret of the Fallen Apostles, one that’s deleted in the instant of Reverse Transformation completion.

"Actually, the kinds mentioned above are relatively fortunate," Harlan returned to the topic of relationships within the Fallen Apostles’ forces. "Even if you fall from an Emperor to a Commander, it doesn’t affect us much. After all, Xyrin Apostles have little concept of power, and even as Fallen Apostles it’s the same: we don’t need to pursue power. The truly unfortunate ones are those who completely collapsed but didn’t die in the disaster, and those who angered ’that being’ and were ostracized from the spiritual network..."

Harlan’s expression changed: "They are called ’Tearers’, succinct and clear, those torn from the community of Apostles. The Tearers were either severely injured during the disaster, to the extent that even after the Chaotic Period ended, they couldn’t regain consciousness, or even restore their forms, resulting in severely mutated individuals, or they were ’traitors’ kicked out of the spiritual network later, stripped of all authority. Tearers are shunned by everyone, unable to connect to the Total Network, viewed by former comrades as ’freaks’. Most Tearers perish quickly: they are often sent to execute the most hazardous tasks or act as pathfinders in unknown territories. They have no army to command, even if they did. Thus, they can only mingle with Abyss Monsters, driving Fierce Beasts and becoming Fierce Beasts themselves..."

"Like... Caesar?" I suddenly recalled the first Fallen Emperor I encountered. Now it seems that the Fallen Emperor, who couldn’t even maintain Apostle Form, was exactly like the Tearers Harlan described.

"He indeed was one of the Tearers, I heard he died heroically during pioneering missions in unknown territories," Harlan nodded, "it seems he encountered you. After Caesar died, no one even investigated his cause of death. In the Fallen Apostles’ community, his name was only mentioned when announcing the death list. You can imagine how pitiable a group the Tearers are. The corruption greatly changed our nature, if it were in the old days, we would never regard a former comrade in this way, even if he lost all his powers accidentally; we would have treated a comrade as an honorable veteran, but in the Fallen Apostles’ community, besides the targets ’that being’ provides, we’ve given up all emotions. Under this premise, individuals unable to contribute to the ’Great Work’ can be easily discarded, and everyone does so without hesitation."

Harlan and I sighed over this, but the past is gone, and there’s nothing to regret. I still brought up the border battle from the other day: "What really happened then? Everyone could see something was off about you; you and your army seemed like you were sleepwalking..."

"This is what I wanted to say," Hala’s gaze sharpened, "Sleepwalking—it’s a fitting term. During those days, my mental state was in complete chaos, I didn’t even know what I was doing. I could only be sure of one thing: it seemed like I and my army were used by ’that lord’ to carry out some plan, not on the reality level, but on the spiritual network level. The last thing I remember was that it transferred all our spiritual connection access points to an independent network segment and then opened this segment externally. After that, my memory was a complete mess."

I couldn’t help but lean forward as a vague guess flashed through my mind like lightning: "You said your spiritual link came into contact with something else? What did it feel like at the time?"

"You might not believe it," Harlan widened his mouth in a grin, "Do you know why I led all my subordinates to break out from the territory ’over there’?"

I shook my head to indicate I didn’t know.

"In a dazed state, I had something like an illusion," Harlan shook his head with a wry smile, "It was as if I suddenly realized I was surrounded by countless enemies. I can’t remember if I gave the order or what movements my subordinates had at the time. Anyway, it seems like we ’broke through’. At least we felt it was a ’breakthrough’. After leaving the area of influence over there, we temporarily lost our target, which was why we instinctively attacked the New Empire: it was the only thing we could find to do."

"You said you felt surrounded by enemies in the territory of the Fallen Apostles?" I quickly pieced together the fragments I had guessed, "Let me sort this out: ’that lord’ first isolated your spiritual link from the Total Network, then let your network come into contact with some external force. After that, all of you fell into a dazed state. Not long after, you had ’illusions’ where you thought the surrounding Fallen Apostles were all enemies, so you ’broke through’ and left the base. And after that—have you already lost contact with the spiritual network of the Fallen Apostles?"

Harlan nodded: "Actually, at the very beginning of that dazed state, I felt my connection with the Total Network weakening. After we broke out and left ’there’, the network connection was completely severed. So I ended up being a ’Tearer’ for a short while." Harlan said, giving a self-deprecating smile, then as if recalling some detail: "Oh right, thinking back now, the feeling of being dazed is somewhat similar to when you, uh, when the prodigal son returns, whatever..."

Me: "... This is such a serious topic; let’s not mention the name of that move. Just tell the story as it is."

"In any case, the two feelings are similar: a sudden mental chaos, not knowing where you are, confusion in judging friends and foes around you, and a repressed deep personality beginning to fight for dominance. Then comes the behavioral anomalies. If there’s a difference, it’s that when affected by your Reverse Transformation power, the process is faster."

Hearing this, I finally understood completely: the cause of Harlan’s massive invasion of the Empire was that he experienced an incomplete "Reverse Transformation". Initially, this Reverse Transformation merely caused him to break away and betray the Abyss Empire, and the subsequent invasive actions were subconscious moves made by Harlan’s army with no tasks to perform—no wonder that battle felt like a sleepwalking war.

So what brought about his Reverse Transformation?

Only Void Creatures possess the Reverse Transformation Ability, and since Harlan’s entire army was affected by something similar to Reverse Transformation, it is reminiscent of the New Empire’s technology to perform group purification on the Fallen Apostles using the spiritual network—coincidentally, Harlan’s subordinates also exhibited anomalies after ’that lord’ tampered with their spiritual link. Thus, there’s only one explanation: before Harlan and his army fell into ’sleepwalking’, they formed a spiritual connection with a Void Creature.

I recalled Harlan’s timing of the invasion of the Empire, inferred that his anomaly happened shortly before. During that period, only one event came to my attention: before departing for the Far Border, I inexplicably entered a Void Divine Travel state, during which a voice unexpectedly contacted me. That voice had an unknown origin. I initially thought ’it’ came from the civilization on the other side of the Abyss, but thinking back now, the Other Shore Civilization seems not yet capable of real-time communication. Moreover, the speech of that mysterious voice was peculiar—even though I’ve only sporadically exchanged words with the representatives of the other civilization, I could distinctly feel that the mysterious voice a few days ago was somewhat different from those on the other side.

Recalling the content of the conversation with that voice, some inexplicable things at the time gradually made sense: the voice had actually subtly hinted that it was not from the other side. Before ending the communication, ’it’ revealed an important piece of information:

To establish a connection with me, ’it’ lost many ’things’ in just a few minutes.

Initially, I naturally supplemented the theory that the civilization from across the shore needed to deplete astounding resources to communicate with us, but thinking now, this ’loss’ could refer to something else, such as—network nodes.

Due to establishing a super link with the Void Creature, the owner of that voice was impacted by the void power every second. Suffering such impacts, it lost none other than its own components: spirit nodes.

That voice is very likely what the Fallen Apostles call ’that lord’!

Harlan, seeing the changeable expression on my face, couldn’t help but be curious, "What did you think of?"

"If I’m not mistaken," I looked into Harlan’s eyes, "I know the identity of your ’that lord’, and not long ago, she proactively contacted me. Moreover, your and your army’s anomalies are related to that contact: she used you as a buffer to perform a direct continuous spiritual link with me lasting several minutes!" (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to cast your recommendation votes, monthly votes at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)