Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1351: A Large Group

As soon as Sandora and I left the officer’s rest area, we headed straight to the research center to find Taville, who was preparing the next phase of the revival project. Her main body was personally responsible for this project, and the intel we received from Anses was evidently of great urgency. Thus, Sandora and I hoped Taville’s main body could help with the analysis, as it was said to outperform mass projection in dealing with particularly significant matters.

The mad scientist Taville temporarily set aside her work and joined us in her office. After listening carefully to Sandora’s report, this intellectually adept bespectacled lady fell into a long moment of contemplation, furrowing her brow deeply.

The little doll on my shoulder wriggled restlessly; she didn’t like the current overly serious atmosphere but knew she shouldn’t interrupt, so she wriggled to express her desire to go home. I placed the little girl on the ground and said, "Go home by yourself first; we’ll return later."

The doll-like girl nodded obediently, opened a teleportation gate, and left the room. Sandora gave me a slight smile, "This child is getting more and more obedient. I remember when she first came to our home; she was like a little berserker."

Taville thought for a moment, evidently without any leads, and looked at Sandora, "Majesty, what do you think that is?"

"Whatever it is, it’s definitely not an Abyss Gate," Sandora retracted her smile and put on an extremely serious expression, "From the scale, the form, or the initial mode of destruction, it doesn’t match the characteristics of an Abyss Gate. Our ancestors described it as something akin to a Space Rift: a measurable entity, presenting a normal geometric structure in regular space-time, rather than the geometrically transcending concept of an Abyss Gate. The nature of the rift is very similar to a tangible Space Rift; our ancestors said it sliced a star and a planet in half, not metaphorically, but literally as if a knife had done it. The Abyss Gate is a two-dimensional plane image, and as an image, it cannot physically slice through anything in three-dimensional space, which you know better than anyone."

"At first, I guessed it might actually be a Space Rift," Taville slowly expressed her hypothesis, "Perhaps some cosmic anomaly appeared in our Hometown World, producing a five-light-year-long rift somewhere, precisely leading to another place entirely contaminated by the Abyss. The Secondary Abyss emerging from the rift destroyed our Hometown World, which partially explains the scene our ancestors saw. However, this hypothesis has significant flaws; such a Space Rift..."

"Such a Space Rift couldn’t possibly cause the terrifying disaster our ancestors described," Sandora interrupted before Taville could finish, "Only the contamination power leaking from an Abyss Gate has the highest activity; if it spreads through an inter-world passage from another Abyss-stricken area, its harmfulness would be weakened to a fraction, and its transmission range extremely limited. With the technological prowess of our ancestors, it would have been entirely possible to completely demolish that section of space to seal the rift. According to Ancestor Anses’s description, the Abyss Power emerging from the five-light-year rift was intensely strong, with contamination close to the strongest Abyss Gate recorded in our history. So, it must be a direct passage to the Abyss Domain, a type of Abyss Gate... one we’ve never seen before."

"I will establish the relevant models and have the main host simulate the conditions for generating this type of Abyss Gate," Taville replied, "assuming it truly is an Abyss Gate."

"If it really leads directly to the Abyss Domain, perhaps we should give it a new name," Sandora said with a reluctant smile, "It’s something beyond any existing type of Abyss Gate, with extremely high harmfulness. Perhaps we should call it Abyss Giant Scar?"

I scratched my head, mumbling, "Anyway, I hope such a thing doesn’t appear a second time. The scope of its harm is quite terrifying—the ancestors’ Exile Fleet ran for hundreds of years and was eventually caught up with. How many universes do you think that rift polluted?"

"Who knows? It probably tore holes of that scale in more than one universe," Sandora sighed deeply, "The ancestors encountered numerous world fragments during their exile, most of them originating from different worlds, all destroyed by the Abyss. They roamed for hundreds of years without finding a single unpolluted stable universe... I suspect all these universes were destroyed by the same catastrophe, a scale of disaster absolutely unprecedented. If there’s any comparison, only the impact that led to the fall of the Old Empire can match it."

I remained silent; the two disasters were indeed similar: both were massive Abyss eruptions, both led to the destruction of multiple worlds. I even speculate that the Hometown World back then was much like the domain of the Fallen Apostle now. The disaster the ancestors faced nearly obliterated the Xyrin Civilization, while the disaster faced by the Old Empire nearly decimated the foundation built by the Xyrin Apostle over billions of years. It’s a kind of irony that leaves one powerless; Sandora must be feeling terrible right now—

Having fought for so many years, chased the Abyss in the Void for so long, believing that even if ultimate victory wasn’t attained, they had achieved glorious results. Yet fate played such a gigantic joke: history circled back over billions of years, and ultimately, everything returns to the starting point, the Xyrin struck again by the same enemy in nearly the same way... Moreover, the second strike was caused by the Xyrin Apostle themselves.

But Sandora only felt frustrated for a moment before pulling herself together, with that difficult-to-defeat calm and proud smile reappearing on her face, "The Abyss, they always have new tricks, but we will never fail—Taville, I’m leaving these matters to you. Give me a reply as soon as possible. Regardless of what it is, we at least need to know the appearance of our next prey."

"Yes, your will," Taville saluted respectfully, then hesitated a little. I could tell she had something to say, but it clearly wasn’t good news, "What is it?"

"Regarding Xyrin," Taville mentioned a name I hadn’t anticipated, "something has been up with her lately."

I thought of how Xyrin and Taville are currently "living" together—though from our outsiders’ perspective. Xyrin doesn’t really "live anywhere" in the real world; it’s just that her external interaction terminal is currently at Taville’s residence—the two have become quite familiar. Xyrin often goes to Silvia’s store to fetch snacks for Taville, while the latter cares a lot for the former (though sometimes the concern might resemble a scientist’s interest in their research subject). Sometimes, I wonder if another pair of lilies might bloom beside this bespectacled lady—but then again, I might be overthinking it.

"What could happen to her?" I shook my head, shaking off the aimless thoughts. At that moment, I truly didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation: because Xyrin’s ordinary personality and mundane daily life make it hard to remember her identity. It wasn’t until the next second that my eyes widened, "Oh crap, something happened to her?!"

"It’s not exactly an issue, but I feel she’s been quite uneasy about the ’Rift’ recently," Taville brought up her new roommate’s recent series of anomalous behavior, "Xyrin was originally quite afraid of the Rift, but lately, she seems to sneak off to observe the changes there whenever possible. When asked if there’s a problem, she always acts indifferent, refusing to say a word. That supercluster consciousness differs slightly in personality from ordinary Xyrin Apostles; she... is a bit too libertarian. I find it unsettling."

The Rift again, the Rift again—if we don’t solve that enigmatic thing soon, many won’t find peace!

"What about the progress on that intervention portal you were researching?" I asked halfway impatiently about Taville’s project progress. She showed an apologetic expression, "I’m sorry, my majesty, but the intervention portal still cannot operate stably. Completely blending an Outer World person’s soul and uploading it to the Xyrin Apostle’s Spiritual Network is truly dangerous. The latter is too immense; the super waves formed by billions of thoughts can easily wash away a single individual’s will. Apart from Xyrin herself, it seems that no consciousness can maintain self-awareness in such an environment. The latest test subject only lasted ten minutes..."

I was shocked, "...You didn’t already use a living person for experiments, did you?"

"Yes," Taville said matter-of-factly, "How can we understand this phenomenon without experimenting on living beings? But don’t worry, my majesty, the test subject I used was myself..."

Me: "..."

"A mass projection only occupies one thread, so even if it gets wiped into an idiot, it won’t affect the main body’s thinking. Plus, if we reconnect the mass projection with the main body, it can instantly regain consciousness. In such high-consumption projects, using one’s mass projection as experimental subjects is simply too appropriate," Taville said with a gleeful expression, "The only not-so-great part is seeing your own clone momentarily turn into a single-celled idiot, a bit embarrassing..."

Me: "..."

I feel like I can’t really communicate with this mad scientist anymore: turning schizophrenia into an active skill wasn’t enough, now she’s even developed a skill tree for it! Is this cute-eyed girl planning to have a kid with herself next!?

I reassured Taville to stay calm, not to rush, and to handle the current pile of scientific tasks steadily. Also, keep an eye on Xyrin, report immediately if anything goes wrong, and promised to provide some psychological counseling to that confused guy when time permits. After that, Sandora and I left the research center.

It’s probably a bit late for dinner now, so Sandora and I found a restaurant in Shadow City with plenty of bowls and a resilient owner to have a meal. We enjoyed a long-lost two-person world and a little date. We wandered around until nearly 3:30 in the afternoon before heading home.

As soon as we got home, I sensed something was a bit off about the surroundings.

There was no one in the living room; the house was quiet. Usually, at 3:30 in the afternoon, the fox girl would be sunbathing by the door, but now there’s no sign of her in the yard. The shoes in various sizes were neatly lined up in the shoe cabinet at the entrance: clearly, everyone had gone out.

Little Ghost should still be at home, as I could feel her presence coming from the direction of the basement. But at this hour, where did everyone else go? This doesn’t fit their biological clock, especially not that of the homebody Bubbles...

"Strange, where did everyone go," Sandora frowned, changing into her house slippers, and with a snap of her fingers, her clothes turned into a simpler home dress. She listened to the surroundings and suddenly nudged my arm, "Ah Jun, did you hear something from upstairs?"

I heard it too, a very faint sound coming from the east side of the second floor. It didn’t sound like the voices of people at home. If you listened carefully, it seemed like the sound of gentle waves washing over the beach—deep and soft, a quiet humming.

"Maybe Bubbles forgot to turn off the pile of game consoles in her room again." I said casually, thinking nothing major could be wrong at home. As I spoke, I absentmindedly reached for a grape from the fruit tray to put it in my mouth, but then... the grape in my hand vanished in a blink.

Stunned, I looked at my now empty hand and the grape stem in the fruit tray, confirming I wasn’t seeing things. So, I grabbed another grape and stared at it intently. The next moment, a green shadow shot out of the fruit tray; I barely saw what it was before the grape in my hand vanished again, leaving only a grape skin plopping onto the table.

At this moment, all the hand-eye coordination I honed from capturing Dingdang finally came in handy. Before that little green figure could dart back into the tray, I caught it in one swift move, finally seeing it was a palm-sized girl with the same light green hair as Dingdang but slightly shorter. She wore a beautiful green dress, different in style from Dingdang’s, but clearly, it was the Life Goddess’s favorite attire. The little creature had two pairs of wings as thin as cicada wings, fluttering vigorously. The owner of the wings used her toothpick-thin arms to push against my thumb, trying to extricate herself, while glaring at me indignantly. I brought her closer for a better look and... got bitten.

Luckily, I’d been hardened by Dingdang’s steel teeth attacks, or I’d have been quite startled by her bite on my nose. Carefully, using my other hand, I pried open the little girl’s mouth and set her on the table. "Are you Dingdang’s friend?"

"Lingdang!" The tiny maiden leaped lightly onto the nearby apple, puffed out her chest, and looked at me proudly. "The name’s Lingdang! I’m Dingdang’s friend! Who are you?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

So, the sisters Dingdang spoke of have finally appeared—I felt cold sweat starting to form on my brow. This first little scout of the Three-inch Ding had already transformed into an army of ten thousand in my mind. I mentally selected the Little One in front of me with the left mouse button, then Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V’d it ten thousand times, forming a vast ocean of people’s war in front of me, and finally wiped the cold sweat off my forehead. Extending a friendly and calm index finger, I shook hands with Lingdang, "I’m Chen Jun. You’ve probably heard the name."

"Wow!" Lingdang grabbed my finger and shook it twice. On hearing the name, she gasped, the wings on her back went stiff with shock, "You’re the Ah Jun Dingdang mentioned? So, you’re the brother of the Father God? You’re the Xyrin Emperor?"

I nodded, watching as Lingdang bounced several... centimeters away, pointing at me with a serious expression, "Lingdang bit you just now; you’ve probably forgotten that, right?"

Me: "..." Their personalities might differ vastly, but this lack of awareness is truly inherited from Dingdang...

Sandora and I couldn’t help but laugh, then tried to console the little one in front of us. However, I soon realized such consolation was unnecessary because ten seconds later, the Life Goddess known as Lingdang had already forgotten about it... She clambered into the fruit tray, struggled to pull down a grape, and before I knew it, only the grape skin remained in her hand. Then, Lingdang patted her belly, "I’m full... huh? Where did the people here go just now?"

Me: "You mean my family? They should have gone out, I think. By the way, why are you alone? The others..."

"Gone out?" Lingdang hopped around on the coffee table, "The sisters went out too? Didn’t they say not to go out carelessly? Lingdang was just diving into this big bowl to eat grapes. There were so many people here at that time..."

Hearing that, this little glutton actually got left behind because she was busy eating. Then I noticed she mentioned "sisters," so cold sweat started forming all over again—those Three-inch Ding have already arrived!

I recalled the noise from the second floor and dashed up the stairs.

Upon reaching upstairs, I could finally make out the buzzing sound. It was not at all the gentle waves and soft whispers I imagined, but rather the chirping of thousands of Little Ones from the room at the east end, possibly accompanied by the flapping of their wings. I reached the door, and as soon as I turned the knob, the noise inside the room fell silent all at once. Pushing the door open suddenly revealed a whole bunch of Three-inch Ding facing each other.

They were everywhere—on the table, bed, chairs, floor, windowsill, even the chandelier and clock, sitting, standing, or lying on every possible spot. The room was filled with a verdant sight, and it felt like I was in Inner Mongolia, faces all resplendent with the green light of the grassland under the sun—how long have these Three-inch Ding been holding a meeting here?!

I tried hard to find Dingdang among all the Slap Goddesses, while the little creatures were startled by the sudden door opening, freezing halfway in their positions, staring at me without blinking. Some of the airborne Little Ones even forgot to flap their wings and plopped to the ground, maintaining this bizarre silence for several seconds. Then, one unknown Little One suddenly reacted, issuing a tiny cry towards me, whereupon...

Immediately, I saw an avalanche of audible waves rushing towards me... (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)