Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1388: Funeral and Accident
Shadow Space, Mother Star Gaia.
To maintain the ecological environment on this artificially customized planet, it experiences the same seasonal changes as a natural planet. Currently, the Northern Hemisphere of Gaia is in the deep winter season, with cold air from the Arctic Circle crossing the Ice Ocean Belt and two narrow continental mountain ranges, bringing enduring cold winds to seventy percent of the Northern Hemisphere. As the largest body of water in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Sea is directly connected with the Arctic Ice Ocean Belt, with a continuous glacier stretching over a thousand kilometers from the Arctic Circle to the depths of the North Sea. This continuous glacier will last almost half of a Mother Star year from winter to the next spring, melting gradually when summer comes to the Northern Hemisphere, retreating back to the Arctic region. Now, it is the peak period of the glacier. Standing on the edge of the glacier, in front of you is an endless deep blue ocean, and turning back you see an endless "continent" of solid ice stretching to the poles, with a thousand-foot ice cliff beneath your feet that continually trembles as if ready to shatter at any moment. Countless giant icebergs floating near the glacier form a mobile archipelago that lasts for several months. Driven by ocean currents, they travel from the relatively warm depths of the North Sea to this thousand-mile glacier, consistently colliding with the solid ice cliffs below our feet. Each impact brings a mountains-and-earth-shattering tremor and a deafening roar, with the shattered ice swept into the air by the gale as if sprinkled like a blizzard. Occasionally, sharp ice pillars are dislodged from the main glacier, falling into the sea and stirring up massive waves, yet each collision still contributes to the glacier’s further growth. Impact, vibration, fragmentation, growth—the glacier stretching from the Arctic grows in such a breathtaking manner, waiting to reach its peak in half a month, when it will extend a hundred kilometers further until its forefront nearly overlooks the ecological control station on the North Continent.
And beneath the glacier, the ocean floor is slowly moving, with the modular planetary crust forming a weak yet stable vortex driven by power devices, preparing for an upcoming funeral.
The Imperial Royal Guard forms an escort formation on the glacier, creating a fan shape facing northwards, silently standing against the cold wind. Two rows of Royal Guard Boats with golden decorations line up in the air before the glacier, as if guarding an invisible pathway to the sky. A medium-sized transport ship is docked on the northern ice layer, with blue indicator lights from its anti-gravity device forming a hazy light mist in the evaporating moisture below it. A giant beam of light shoots from the front of the transport ship, cutting through the space between the rows of escort ships and disappearing into the sky’s end. Even during the daytime in the Northern Hemisphere, this beam of light dazzles in the sky.
At the glacier’s forefront, several hundred deep blue egg-shaped sealed cabins have been arranged—resembling a cemetery.
A small group of people stands ten meters behind these sealed cabins: me, Big Sister, Sandora, Harlan, temporarily coherent Bellavilla, and twelve other ancestors in ancient Xyrin military uniforms, all looking solemn.
These twelve are all—every resurrected ancestor stands here. This is all we managed to resurrect with Taville’s maximum effort, aided by countless Life Goddesses. Among them, the eldest is Anses, a white-haired elder, and the youngest is a couple who had just married before the Arc’s crash. Within the hundreds of sealed cabins before us are other Ark passengers who cannot be resurrected. Now all resurrection trials are over, and following our agreement with Anses, we prepared a funeral for those ancestors who cannot be revived: on the northern glacier of Mother Star Gaia.
The Xyrin Apostles have been away from home for too long, utterly unaware of the funeral rituals from their homeland era—as this information was not included in the original memories of their bodies. So today, the funeral is conducted under the guidance of Anses and other ancestors. Yet, it is indeed a continuous civilization; even a mortal civilization like the Xyrin people has simple burial rituals. The sealed cabins with ancestors’ remains have been set on the glacier’s edge—it’s time to bid farewell.
"In the name of the Mother Star and our ancestors, I, Anses, the last Captain of the Tenth Ark, bid farewell to those departing from our ship," Anses stands quietly at the front of the line, his not-so-young figure stands erect in the cold wind, and his deep, aged voice resonates over the glacier, "My crew, the helmsmen, mechanics, guards, navigators, and maintainers of the Ark, I am your Captain."
"You have been away from home for countless years, and the fire seed of our civilization, that started from the Mother Star and never extinguished in your hands."
"The Ark has traversed the Void, with no turning back. You, named under Xyrin, have endured countless hardships, never ceasing."
"Now, as your Captain, I announce that our brilliant civilization has continued, taking root and thriving in this remote, unfamiliar land, now a towering tree; everything we intended to preserve now stands proudly here, strong, vigorous, unafraid of challenges, indestructible; our name is still written and remembered in the Void by our descendants, resonating across millions of worlds; the wildfire blazes on, the storm cannot extinguish it."
"Yet the Abyss still exists, the enemies who destroyed our homeland remain, lurking in the Void’s depths, eyeing all Order Universes; our vengeance is unfulfilled, and the living remain ablaze with rage; the war against our mortal foes continues, spreading to every world."
"However, my crew, you needn’t worry, young soldiers have taken up ancestral weapons. Bearing the ancestors’ names, they now fear no war. The prolonged exile is over, the children are organizing counterattack campaigns, veterans, you can now retire in peace."
"My crew, the Ark’s engines have ceased, this long journey has ended."
"My crew, your tasks are complete, those hard years are gone."
"Here, you rest on the sanctuary of a new home."
"So now, disembark peacefully, my crew, the Ark’s mission is finished..."
"You are home."
All escort ships and all defense facilities on this planet sounded piercing enemy alerts, echoing across the entire planet. There were no military bands or elegies; the alert sounds from warships and positions served as the only farewell music needed by the Xyrin Apostles until the endless revenge wars cease. Timeless ages have passed, and countless near-extinction upheavals have been weathered, and this deafening alert remains unchanged since it first sounded fully on the Original Mother Star, eternally resonating in every heart bearing the Xyrin name, whether Xyrin People or Xyrin Apostles.
"Salute the ancestors, bid them farewell!"
As Sandora’s voice fell silent, the five existing Emperors of the Empire (including the Big Sister, a former Emperor) saluted, followed by hundreds of High-level Commanders on the glacier, and finally all Royal Guards present. The sealed cabins then detached from their bases amidst a roar, lifted into the air under the effect of anti-gravity devices, moved beyond the glacier, and finally slipped silently into the endless darkness below.
They will be carried steadily by the vortex to the ocean floor, forever entombed within Gaia’s thick Earth’s Crust; they don’t need graves or tombstones, only a resting place under the Xyrin name, untouched by the Abyss.
As the sealed cabins sank into the ocean, the blaring alarms diminished and gradually ceased, and the tilted light beam in the sky dissipated along with the alarms. Anses turned around, calm, or having just regained composure, the old Captain nods to us: "It’s over. Let them rest well this way."
"Shall I escort you..." Sandora began but was interrupted, as Anses waved her off: "No need, let us return ourselves, and don’t let any Guards follow—give us these old folks some room to be wilful."
The ancestors entered the Teleportation Gate back to Shadow City, the Royal Guards began to withdraw and teleport away. I exhaled deeply, suddenly shaking my head with a self-deprecating smile: "At first, I pondered whether I should be participating; I was thinking too much..."
"Why say something silly?" Sandora glanced at me, tilting her head slightly, "You’re standing at the very forefront of the Empire; you can’t indulge in such chaotic thoughts."
"I have to return to work," Harlan suddenly spoke up from behind, "The first Abyss Starport is about to launch its trial production, and I must personally oversee it. We can’t let our ancestors down."
"I’m leaving too, I’m leaving too," Bellavilla waved her hand, and as she spoke, a teleportation gate opened beside her, "I need to switch back and rest immediately. Tomorrow, I have to go to the Heavenly Realm City to discuss expansion plans with Orelia. I’m in trouble if I overexert myself."
In the blink of an eye, there were only three of the Five Emperors left. My sister was only nominally in charge and couldn’t manage affairs. Sandora and I exchanged a glance: "It seems everyone is full of energy—should we go check on the Executioner production line..."
Just as I was halfway through my sentence, an emergency communication suddenly entered my mind. It was Taville’s voice: "Your Majesty! Emergency! A major accident has occurred at the Deep Dive Test Port, and major facilities have been destroyed!"
Sandora and Big Sister naturally also heard this message. In an instant, the three of us were stunned. Meanwhile, Qianqian and others, who had just approached from not far away, saw the three of us standing there in shock and immediately began asking what happened: they hadn’t received a report.
"You all go back first," I waved to Qianqian and the others, "There’s a situation at the Deep Dive Port. Sandora and I probably need to make a trip."
"I’m going too," before Qianqian could speak, Lin Xue’s voice came from another side. The Miss had a very serious expression, "You remember why I stopped the next round of the deep-dive plan, right—this is the reason."
I suddenly remembered the incident not long ago when the deep-dive project plan was urgently halted by Lin Xue, feeling a chill in my heart, thinking thankfully that we had a Prophet. This accident really did happen!
According to Taville, the entire test port probably suffered heavy losses in the accident, and according to the schedule on the deep-dive project plan... these past two days should have been precisely when the deep-diving ships were continuously diving. Without Lin Xue’s warning a few days ago, we wouldn’t just be losing a port, but a far more difficult-to-construct deep-diving ship.
Qianqian actually wanted to come along too, but she knew she would probably just cause trouble in this kind of event, so she went home with the others: Although this girl was a bit hyperactive, she was also very sensible and obedient when it mattered. And so, Lin Xue, Sandora, and I went together to the high-level research center, where Taville’s original body awaited. Behind her were a small team of senior assistant technicians: the extremely efficient, bespectacled lady had already organized an accident investigation expert team before anyone instructed.
"Details can be discussed on the way," Sandora interrupted as Taville opened her mouth to report, "The test port is in the border region, and even the fastest Void Shuttle takes two hours to get there. Sivis has already prepared the spaceship, so let’s depart now."
Given that "deep diving" is an extremely high-risk experiment where any slight mistake can cause catastrophic pollution, the testing sites are always far from the Imperial Inland, and it’s ensured that the experimental universe doesn’t contain any life. Additionally, after the first deep-dive test, Taville further enhanced the project’s security measures: after the completion of the Deep Dive Test Port, the World Gate of the locale will be dismantled so that from the Imperial District to the experimental universe, direct teleportation is impossible, and only high-speed shuttles can travel back and forth. This is to prevent an outbreak of catastrophic accidents that might allow Abyss contamination to jump through the World Gate to all of the Empire.
This, of course, brings some inconvenience, but for the sake of safety, a bit of trouble is not a bad thing at times.
Soon, our expert team and Taville boarded the fastest Void Shuttle. In the shuttle’s passenger cabin, I finally found the time to ask Taville for details about the accident.
"The specific reasons are not yet clear. Everything happened too fast, and the frontline personnel barely had time to react," Taville frowned. Her painstakingly constructed test site was destroyed just like this, and the bespectacled lady was undoubtedly feeling terrible inside, "Three of my mass projections were also at the Test Port. One was destroyed in the incident, but the other two were transferred in time, so I could see the scene. The current situation is that the entire control center experienced continuous explosions from the bottom layer, which obliterated eighty percent of the energy supply systems and all control functions of the station. All six energy furnaces are offline, and due to the strong residual Ghost Energy Field, we cannot approach for now, so the situation within the furnaces is uncertain. Therefore, there’s also the possibility of another explosion, and Observation Towers One and Three are both offline, with severe damage to their lower structures and internal equipment completely unresponsive, making it almost certain that the towers are a total loss. Additionally, the cause of the explosion is unknown."
"How’s the casualty situation?" My first reaction was to ask this.
"It’s relatively optimistic," Taville took a breath, "Because this is a high-risk project, the resurrection facilities are the best. Soldiers and scientists who died on the spot are already in the resurrection queue. So far, only equipment losses are confirmed."
"What about the Abyss Gate?" After confirming there were no major personnel issues, I quickly asked the more critical question.
The structure of the Deep Dive Test Port is as follows: an Abyss Gate, held in stable suppression, serves as the centerpiece. Surrounding the Abyss Gate is a series of Energy Suppression Towers that completely lock down the Abyss Gate’s activity and confine it to a fixed dimension to prevent collapse. Then an observation and control center is set up near the Abyss Gate (the distance varies depending on the Abyss Gate’s scale and activity; currently, the critical point at the Test Port is one hundred kilometers). This distance is the "radiation critical point" of the Abyss Gate, within which the Abyss Power can directly affect everything as a ’radiation’ without needing a medium to contaminate. The control center determines gate stability by monitoring the drift and intensity at the critical point and issues adjustment commands to the surrounding Energy Suppression Towers. Meanwhile, the observation tower at the control center is the direct communication tower with the deep-diving ships. Considering there might be Abyss contamination in the information relayed back by the deep-diving ships, we do not allow them to connect directly with conventional communication networks. Observation towers with high-level protection and filtration functions serve as the only communication relay nodes.
Outside of this entire system, within ten light-years, no civilian facilities, unprotected military facilities, or unregistered military vessels are allowed, unless they are designated observation targets. Otherwise, only objects with special protection are allowed to approach the Abyss Gate. It can be said that the system’s level of protection is relatively high.
This is the basic structure of the Deep Dive Port. After the first deep-dive test, Taville made several improvements to this system, and now it has been finalized as such.
So what I am most concerned about now is whether the Abyss Gate is still stable: the core of this system is the monitoring station at the control center. The monitoring station’s equipment must now be offline, and has the Abyss Gate lost suppression, making it ready to explode at any moment?
Fortunately, the experts seemed prepared for this. One of Taville’s senior assistants leaned forward: "Your Majesty, no need to worry. The possibility of a sudden control center shutdown was considered during the initial construction of the Test Port. In addition to receiving control center commands, the Energy Suppression Towers around the Abyss Gate also have independent command modules and a low-power communication network. If the control center’s signal is interrupted, all Energy Suppression Towers will automatically switch to the highest alert state, suppressing the Abyss Gate to its limit. Each suppression tower is equipped with three independent power sources, allowing them to conduct basic negotiations without instructions. Even if half of the suppression towers were to be destroyed, the gate would remain safe."
"Moreover, you don’t need to worry about the control center issuing wrong commands before collapsing due to system malfunctions or the Abyss Power distorting these commands," Taville added a few more points, "Several sets of mutual verification protocols for the equipment were designed by me. The control center sends commands to the suppression towers simultaneously via different lines and codes. If two commands contradict each other or one fails to arrive promptly, the suppression towers will not respond. Theoretically, anyway."
"That’s good," I sighed in relief. "Let’s discuss the rest onsite—also, avoid saying ’theoretically’ at a time like this—it sounds unnervingly ominous."
Taville: "...Oh..." (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
