Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1392: Who Is Behind All This?

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The probe sent from the Other Shore Civilization has no significant difference in structural integrity compared to those manufactured by the Empire, except for its Abyss protection technology, which is a mystery to us, and its materials possess many inexplicable properties. Therefore, theoretically, such a device should not pose a threat to the control center.

No matter how fast it crashes in, it won’t matter; even exceeding the speed of light with infinite mass won’t matter—this is not a problem of speed, but of "levels": because our control center has a Ghost Energy Shield. The Ghost Energy Shield can indiscriminately defend against all external threats, as Ghost Energy’s position on the Void Ladder is equivalent to the entire world, therefore everything within the world would be weakened by the Ghost Energy Shield. Concepts like "speed" and "kinetic energy" are merely definitions within the universe’s scope, so even if this thing hits the platform at the speed of light, its speed will be burned away by more than half instantaneously, and then its body will also be burned away—even unable to pass through the first layer of the shield. Of course, it might use energy at the same level as Ghost Energy itself, which could negate part of the shield, but I don’t believe such a small probe could carry enough energy to melt through two layers of shields.

It would crash outside the control center rather than penetrate through all defenses, surviving nearly intact after detonating the Energy Core—but all this presumes our control center has the shield on.

"You said the defense system of the control center crashed before the explosion?" I stared wide-eyed at Sandora, thinking she should joke about something else: How could Imperial equipment have such a malfunction?

"I know you don’t believe it," Sandora shrugged, "but that’s what the system logs recorded, and it wasn’t human-operated. All the mainframes of the defense system simultaneously ordered to shut down the protection at the bottom layer of the platform. Without the shield, the Recharge Armor also depressurized, leaving the control center completely undefended for that brief period, and the ’Black Shuttle’ must have crashed in at that time. It encountered no obstruction, and once the Recharge Armor was depressurized, it was merely a bit harder metal, offering no more solidity against a fast enough kinetic impact than mundane matter, and I suspect the ’Black Shuttle’ also had its shield when it was powered on. Therefore, after mutual cancellation, our great platform was ruined, yet that thing remained unharmed."

I was left speechless, unsure of what to say.

I know about Recharge Armor. It’s widely applied to all things requiring heavy protection. Because no matter how sturdy a material is, its defense only manifests in its "solidity." Even if you get a piece of Neutron Star Material, apart from being very hard, it has no resistance, so the Xyrin Apostle employs more advanced Recharge Armor. By infusing Ghost Energy into high-affinity metals, every molecule of the armor plate is relatively fixed, simultaneously endowing the armor with energy resistance nearly comparable to the Divine Race’s Armor. This is Recharge Armor, the only valuable physical armor left at the Empire’s technological level (any other form of purely material armor would be obsolete, as mere matter can never withstand the might of a Ghost Energy cannon). But Recharge Armor can also be breached: if its energy field is turned off, or "depressurized," as it is usually called, then a piece of Recharge Armor, apart from being particularly hard, has no distinguishing features.

Pandora could even head-butt a hole into it—that girl’s forehead is recharged.

Therefore, it’s quite normal for Black Shuttle to penetrate four layers of armor. If its speed reaches a certain point, four layers of armor are as useless as four layers of cotton. If the Black Shuttle is coated with a layer of "Ghost Energy," the four layers of armor might as well not exist.

"Was it a simple system malfunction, or a staff setup error?" I frowned, puzzled by why the control center would automatically turn off the defenses in the Lower Zone, which seemed...almost like welcoming the Black Shuttle.

"Both are quite unlikely," Sandora turned around, slowly flying out while speaking in the spiritual connection, "The probability of a single system ’malfunction’ is less than one in ten million, and the chances of three redundant systems failing simultaneously are negligible in my view. Additionally, the Secondary Defense Mainframe in the Lower Zone has its own judgment capability; when receiving an order like ’abandon defense,’ it repeats it to the primary mainframe. Do you think the primary mainframe would send a faulty command twice to the lower system? As for a human setup error, that’s even less likely. Core codes for fortress-type facilities aren’t allowed to be altered freely; only Taville and the Defense Commander here have the privilege to rewrite these codes, not to mention the Xyrin Apostle wouldn’t commit such a low-level mistake—creating a system loophole causing the defense network to go offline? Ridiculous."

With such a heavy heart, Sandora and I quickly returned to the platform’s upper layer. Taville and Lin Xue were already waiting there. The latter couldn’t help looking a bit worried, but upon seeing me, she immediately switched to a broad, carefree smile. "Hey, the tough guy’s back—how does it feel flying around from the explosion?"

Instantly, I realized this Demi Immortal girl was probably watching me the entire time. Slightly touched yet incredibly embarrassed, I scratched my head, "Quite thrilling, quite thrilling..."

Taville’s reaction upon seeing the "Black Shuttle" was exactly as we expected; the bespectacled woman almost leaped two hundred meters high: Gravity on the platform was insufficient, and she momentarily forgot. Subsequently, a large group of Senior Assistant Technicians was summoned, who carefully transferred the few-meter-long black probe into a specially designated sample storage container, sending it to the research facility near the Deep Dive Port to await examination.

I could tell that Taville herself wanted to immediately follow and commence research, but Sandora stopped her: "Just send your Mass Projection. You and the Defense Commander here, along with the main designers of the Deep Dive Port, come over. We have a special situation that requires analysis."

Upon seeing Sandora’s extremely serious expression, Taville immediately saluted and left.

Soon, the Defense Commander of Deep Dive Port, along with a number of personnel who seemed to straddle the line between military and scientist, arrived at the temporary workstation under Taville’s lead. I say these personnel appeared to straddle military and scientist because they wore technician’s white uniforms but were more robust than most Imperial Soldiers, exuding a murderous aura despite their fierce appearances. I suspect these scientists might not advance across the battlefield bearing artillery slower than the soldiers—not surprising, considering they’re courageous enough to station themselves at the Abyss Gate for research. How did Taville cultivate so many scientists as mad as herself?

"These are the logs from the only remaining readable device in the defense system," Sandora uploaded the information she found to the public information link. "The platform was in a fully unprotected state before the accident occurred. I want to know if anyone noticed this."

The Defense Commander of Deep Dive Port was a male officer with a lean face and sunken eyes. As a very "special" experimental facility, it housed a considerable number of Defense Army members, and this officer was the highest commander of the local defense forces, as well as the only person besides Taville authorized to shut down base defenses using external code. If this situation had occurred to a soldier from a general Race, they might be trembling already, but the Imperial Officer was different; he simply recollected seriously, his expression unchanging as he shook his head. "Report to Your Majesty, no related records were found. All monitoring points reported normal conditions, no soldiers or scientists reported the base defense was offline before the explosion occurred."

Sandora nodded, "Understood. Now let me share my view: The problem isn’t just with the core mainframe, but also includes the monitoring devices throughout the area. Though those monitoring devices’ records have been destroyed, this is merely speculation. After the core mainframe shut down the base’s defenses, the monitoring system collectively malfunctioned, reporting ’normal base defense’ despite the Lower Zone defense being down, with all branch terminals throughout the base displaying the same. Therefore, the sentries didn’t immediately detect the anomaly."

"The defenses turned off were only in the Lower Zone, and it was turned off less than a minute before that black speck arrived," I interjected. "There’s certainly a connection—I’m saying, I think the situation is as if the platform was welcoming the Black Shuttle to deliver a hit. Sandora, do you think the system fault here was influenced by the Black Shuttle? Perhaps by the Abyss reaction that it carried."

When I found the Black Shuttle, it didn’t have an Abyss reaction on it. But this could be due to the Ghost Energy in the buffer lattice purifying it. We can’t say it didn’t carry the Abyss when it first crashed. I still remember that Ghost Energy vortex tearing open space—it was caused by the Black Shuttle while passing through the corridor. In retrospect, perhaps the residual Abyss Power on the shuttle disrupted the local space structure, pulling part of the Ghost Energy Reactor into the real world: the more I think about it, the more likely it seems.

"I also think so," Sandora pondered. "In fact, I believe the Black Shuttle is almost certainly linked to the base defense failure. It’s beyond coincidence now. But can such a small probe carrying Abyss Power really destroy the control center’s core?"

"Theoretically... such a scenario isn’t possible," Taville shook her head vigorously. She personally designed most of the station’s structure and control systems, and she wrote the Defense Core’s code herself. The bespectacled lady didn’t believe her carefully crafted system could have such a fatal flaw. "Not to mention the tightness and stability of the defense system, this ’malfunction’ itself doesn’t seem like the Abyss’s doing. The Abyss’s destruction is always blind, chaotic, and direct. It may directly cause shields to explode or armor to shatter, but it certainly wouldn’t precisely invade the server, rewrite programs, deceive the monitoring device, and disguise everything as an Energy Furnace runaway incident: the Abyss lacks this kind of thinking ability. Theoretically, that is."

"This issue won’t have an answer, at least for now." Lin Xue, who had been silent, suddenly murmured, quieting the scene. I eagerly looked at Miss: "Girl, did you see something?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Saw nothing," Lin Xue replied coolly. "I’ve just confirmed there are no clues around us. All valuable intelligence has been destroyed with the explosion, and this secret will remain hidden for a long time. Before it’s revealed, any accident investigation is a waste of time. Instead of wasting energy investigating it, let’s consider another situation: what if the control center’s defense system hadn’t malfunctioned?"

Both Sandora and I showed disappointed expressions: when the Prophet declares something will not have an answer, it truly won’t, as proven countless times. In this busy era of rejuvenation, Lin Xue’s predictions help the New Empire avoid detours and save resources, yet putting a major unresolved case aside feels frustrating—well, if she says not to think about it, we won’t. It’s not the first time this has happened, and according to Miss, the truth of this incident will be revealed in the future? If it doesn’t affect anything, waiting quietly is fine.

I focused my thoughts on Lin Xue’s hypothesis: "Suppose the defense system didn’t malfunction? The control center wouldn’t have had issues, of course."

"No," Sandora suddenly raised her head, "I understand Lin Xue’s point: if the hosts functioned normally, the Black Shuttle would have crashed against the Shield—this extremely valuable sample would have been lost without our awareness."

Miss smiled enigmatically: "That’s right, so is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"The control center can be rebuilt, and lost observation records and test data can be recovered anytime, but we can’t produce the Black Shuttle. The deep-diving ship has yet to reach the Abyss’s critical point. Which is more valuable..." Sandora said, glancing at Taville. "In this sense, we should perhaps be grateful for this accident."

Seeing the cautious expression on Taville’s face, I understood the scientific value between the Black Shuttle and the control center.

Sandora looked around, and finding no need to continue the meeting, she stood up: "Let’s follow the Prophet’s advice and put the accident investigation aside for now—still, we should organize all available information for future use. Taville, you will personally analyze and research the probe, and quickly repair the equipment here; the Deep Dive Plan can likely be restarted."

Saying this, Sandora and Taville both looked at Lin Xue, who nodded, indicating the disastrous incident she predicted had ended. Taville, still concerned, asked: "Mistress, will the control center malfunction again?"

"No, this is the first and last time," Lin Xue confirmed with a nod. "Though I can’t clearly see the cause, it happened because of the Black Shuttle, and it won’t happen again. The control center’s safety system is fine; you don’t need to worry."

Taville and the Deep Dive Port’s management left to return to their posts, leaving only me, Sandora, and Lin Xue in the large meeting room. Sandora rubbed her forehead; she seemed a bit tired: "This whole affair feels orchestrated—the Black Shuttle appears, the defense system crashes, the monitoring device fails... all interconnected to ensure the probe landed intact with us. I never believe in lucky occurrences, which inevitably reminds one of a conspiracy."

"Indeed, consider where that thing ultimately stopped—in those crystals at the middle section of the large platform," I agreed. "I only now noticed: without the protective buffer crystals, a small probe would surely have perished with the platform explosion, so the angle it pierced the platform simply felt divine."

A probe is fragile, even if it carries a Ghost Energy Shield and protected by mass effect of light-speed, it’s impossible to penetrate a space fortress’s walls while surviving. Even if the space fortress opened its gates and exposed the Energy Core, the probe would be destroyed when the fortress exploded, unless it was "fortunately" embedded within a protective layer: like the buffer crystal absorbing the explosion damage. Sandora is right; this chain of events is unrelated to accidental chance—it’s a carefully calculated "capture operation," and saying someone planned all this wouldn’t be surprising. Yet who could manage this? What’s the purpose of such actions?

The Xyrin Apostles have been ruled out, yet it can’t be the enemy’s doing—because clearly the Empire is the event’s beneficiary. If it were the Fallen Apostle’s style, they’d rather destroy what they can’t have than let it fall in our hands, unless their grand scheme was solely to trash a space station—but I recall the Abyss Xyrin isn’t supposed to be a differently-abled girl.

"In summary, today Taville will transfer the Black Shuttle to Shadow Space, where we can be at ease. This Universe may not be ’safe’ anymore; once back, I’ll have Leaving World Garden reset this world’s coordinates. I don’t want a Fallen Apostle group raid as the deep-diving ship is launched."

Though the system malfunction investigation has been postponed, at least the control center explosion investigation is complete. We’ve finished our tasks here and set out for Shadow City. Taville will follow after conducting some basic tests and processing on the Black Shuttle to ensure it’s harmless, as caution is necessary when transporting items to the Capital World.

The Deep Dive Plan, postponed almost half a month, was restarted. The new deep-diving ship was sent to Trial Port, where it will conduct a final startup test before the control center reconstruction there. Taville seems unusually confident in her newly designed ship—she implemented many breakthrough technologies and, taking advantage of the Deep Dive Plan’s temporary halt, installed high-tech modules generously supported by Harlan on the ship—these technologies from the Fallen Apostle were originally meant for their deep-diving equipment but were first applied to the Imperial Ship. No idea if the Abyss Xyrin anticipated this result.

Anyway, I always felt that thrashing Harlan into the Imperial Camp was one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done...(To be continued. If you enjoy this story, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)