In the center of the Forgotten Garden stands a silver-white pyramid structure, which is the Xyrin Nest we’re currently using. Unlike the Xyrin Nests that people typically see, this pyramid doesn’t have the alloy shell filled with high-tech texture or the sharp and straight energy veins. It looks more like a religious artwork, divided into two major parts. The upper part occupies two-thirds of the height, smooth and shiny, constantly changing its reflectivity under the daylight, seemingly having a living painting floating on its surface. The lower part takes up one-third of the pyramid’s height, decorated with complex golden reliefs and runes—not mere decorations, but functional features of the pyramid. I only know they have something to do with energy collection and reutilization. A significant difference between the Mysterious Side and the Technology Side in energy utilization technology is that the latter relies on the ’Paswell Ghost Energy Recharge System’ to concentrate and circulate the energy field within the building complex, while the former habitually covers every building surface with simple and easily replaceable runes to distribute this work throughout the entire base. Therefore, compared to the buildings of the Technology Side, mysterious facilities built by the Xyrin Apostles always look prettier: at least they have lots of fascinating ’patterns’ on their surfaces.

This brand-new building was designed and constructed by Orelia for Bubbles over the past few days. It is essentially a Mother Nest, but it adopts the external features of the Mysterious Side to directly utilize the data ports of the Forgotten Garden building complex. In the Crystal Hall at the core of the Mother Nest, Bubbles and Little Baobao are already prepared. There are two identical crystal prisms placed side by side here, and inside them is the peculiar ’mother-daughter’ pair. Bubbles has been working in there for several days straight, while Little Baobao just connected a few minutes ago. The latter is now curiously tapping the crystal wall before her and then looking at the people standing outside, giggling happily.

’Are you sure Little Baobao won’t mess things up?’ When Orelia and Audemus, the diligent employees of the ’Ao’ family (by the way, where do I get this term from?), went to check the conversion device, Bingdisi worriedly nudged my arm, ’I’m afraid what she wants to do most now is to pry her host slot loose and take it home...’

’There’s no problem after the connection is made,’ Sandora explained to Bingdisi, ’The surface personality of the Xyrin Host won’t affect the work state. Despite how Little Baobao looks, she’s completed many tasks.’

’Everything’s normal, the conversion stabilization value is within the optimal range,’ Orelia flew out from the nearby lattice room and landed behind us, ’The mixed-type Xyrin Apostle accepting the advanced connection is also ready. According to Her Majesty Sandora’s suggestion, let them lie obediently in the magnification node pods without executing any additional thoughts or commands.’

Sandora lightly touched the crystal panel before her, and with an almost imperceptible ’zzz’ sound, a set of holographic projections immediately appeared before everyone, prominently displaying an image of Sivis. Behind Sivis, hundreds of crystal prisms were neatly arraigned. This respectable female deputy officer didn’t wait for me to speak; she began to report proactively: ’Your Majesty, the Shadow City host array is ready, and all commanders who need to accept advanced connections have also synchronized with the magnification nodes.’

’I’m okay with my girl too,’ not far from the front left, Bubbles suddenly opened her eyes from within the crystal prism. Her voice reverberated in all directions of the Mother Nest Hall, and as she spoke, the entire Crystal Hall became dotted with shimmering lights. Little Baobao instantly became animated, jumping up and down in her host slot. Bubbles couldn’t help but glance at her daughter with a face of helplessness, ’I’ll synchronize with her first, or the child will tear this place apart.’

As soon as the words fell, Bubbles and Little Baobao quieted down simultaneously, especially the latter, whose transformation was particularly noticeable. One second she was an unruly little monkey bouncing about, the next she was like a Sleeping Beauty in deep slumber, only the ’goo ya goo ya’ sound in the spiritual connection public channel continued to echo endlessly...

’Five-minute preparation for Leaving World Garden launch.’

I glanced at the countdown numbers on the control panel and connected with Taville. Taville was now at the control center of the Leaving World Garden, personally overseeing to ensure that the entire massive system functioned without a hitch, or that any unexpected situations were promptly managed. From here, we could clearly see the condition within the control hall on the opposite side, with white-coated technicians standing at attention at each monitoring and operating terminal, like motionless statues awaiting the final command. Although I could never remember the names of the myriad research team members, every person in the image of that control hall, I could name them all, from left to right they were Taville, Taville, Taville, Taville, Taville, and Taville... Of course, it was the same from right to left.

Taville’s true form, leading her hundreds of mass projections, dominated the entire control hall. Her assistant team operated the peripheral equipment outside. Standing at the center of the image was, of course, the real Taville. Her expression was full of confidence: ’System five-minute countdown begins.’

Although I’ve gotten used to this highly competent technician sister routinely employing a vast array of mass projections to handle immense workloads, the sight of so many Tavilles standing together is still quite a visual impact. I almost gazed in admiration at the Taville army standing ready behind her before nodding and saying, ’The primary task is to ensure the safety of both worlds. Sandora and I do not demand that you succeed on the first try, but no losses are allowed.’

Taville smiled confidently, ’Please believe in my calculations, Your Majesty, it will succeed on the first go, logi...’

Sandora and I exclaimed in unison, ’No need to finish the latter half of the sentence!’

Ah, this sister’s catchphrase, if used at this moment, isn’t exactly auspicious...

’Final execution command for Leaving World Garden confirmed, system launch one-minute countdown,’ a soft, unruffled synthetic voice sounded in the hall, ’Shadow City host array connected and networked normally, pre-storage input stack initialized... New Xiang host unit connection normal, network integrated, pre-storage input stack initialized... all data amplification nodes sequentially called, one hundred sixty-seven key keys logged, key pre-read complete... Leaving World Garden launch code verification complete, system launch fifteen-second countdown, all operations irrevocable... system launch ten-second countdown, nine, eight, seven... three, two, one—execute.’

A progressively rising tone sounded in the Crystal Hall, quickly meshing into an array of rhythmic reverberations, like tuning forks struck along a narrow corridor, a unique sound when the Mother Nest operates at full power. From the bottom to the top, layer after layer of brilliant halos rose from the crystal prisms where Bubbles and Little Baobao were, gathering at their feet, then merging overhead, as if conducting a full-body scan. This process continued for nearly ten minutes before gradually calming down. The persistent sound dimmed into a soft, low hum of equipment operation. The halos on the two Xyrin Host entities remained, but no longer moved quickly. What was happening here was the only thing we could see directly, while information from other places could only be seen through the holographic projections in front of Sandora. Without any alarm messages, everything was running smoothly.

’System normal, proceeding as planned to the pure logic mode,’ Bubbles’ voice echoed in the hall, having transformed from a lively loli voice to a monotone mechanical drawl, ’Computational load at eighty percent, estimated completion time currently unknown, standby to activate the Mother Nest auxiliary heat dissipation system.’

Following closely, Little Baobao’s voice also sounded over the crystal hall broadcast: ’Goo ya, goo ya goo ya goo ya...’

Me: "..." Do you know how creepy it is to read out this series of meaningless notes in the same tone?

"I’ll leave this to you." Although I knew that in Bubbles’ current state, she wouldn’t respond to me with her usual laughably "enthusiastic attitude," I still looked at the crystal prism in front of me and said with a smile. The little girl in the prism opened her eyes and replied in a mechanical tone, "System load at 80%, overall load of the machine group at 82.5%, task can be completed smoothly."

The decoupling of concepts and the merging of the two worlds can be completed in an instant, but prior to that, about a day’s time is needed to redefine and compile all the involved information. It’s like merging two countries into one, which may only record a single moment in the history books: the year XX of the AD, when two countries became one. However, in real history, this process may have involved hundreds of years of adaptation and conflict; there are just too many things to fine-tune.

But for the two parts of the Mother Star, which have been apart for tens of thousands of years, this mere day of waiting is no big deal.

As the system load increased, Bubbles finally adjusted her logic response to the lowest level, no longer responding to any communication requests aside from direct commands. This newly built Mother Nest had also opened all additional energy discharge channels and cooling devices. When we left the Mother Nest an hour later, this building was already invoking more than 30% of the energy allocation of the entire Forgotten Garden. And this area is still a relatively light task part of the entire system. From this, it is known how massive the engineering task being carried out by this united system that spans two worlds and consists of over a hundred Xyrin Hosts, a set of Leaving World Gardens, and hundreds of advanced Angels’ spiritual network. Perhaps in the Old Empire Era, joint calculations of a similar scale were not uncommon, but in the New Empire, this is indeed the first time.

The comforting part is that the first attempt has been as smooth as expected so far.

"The load of the unit is already at 90%," Sandora had also directly connected herself to the Mother Nest, monitoring the work status of Bubbles and Little Baobao at all times, and simultaneously, she could use her idle computing power, as she said when we returned to a temporary command post near the Mother Nest in the Forgotten Garden, "That girl is really busy this time; it’s not easy to have such a high load on a Mother Host. Usually, she never used more than 80% of her computing power."

"Wow, Bubbles performs that well," I was a bit surprised, and also a little worried, "Isn’t there any problem?"

"Computing power is sufficient, information exchanges have entered a stable state without significant fluctuations anymore, and Gaia is also online, using all her available storage devices to serve as a redundant stack area for the entire network," Sandora gently tapped her forehead, "Additionally, there are a large number of Xyrin Apostles outside the network using their idle resources to provide auxiliary calculations for the Hosts. This network has an exceptionally strong fault tolerance. Not to mention... we have the Prophet, don’t we?"

As Sandora’s voice fell, I couldn’t help but glance to the side. Lin Xue was lazily lying on a long sofa with her eyes closed, appearing to be napping, but faint white halos could be vaguely seen swirling beneath her eyelids. Just like in every previous key operation, Miss Prophet was there to escort the entire mission. In fact, even the timing for the initiation of the Leaving World Garden was set after Miss Prophet had confirmed and re-confirmed the "auspicious day and good time." Nothing could possibly go wrong.

The temporary command post is a typical Empire Mysterious Side architecture, with several terraces extending towards the sky in the upper middle section. Since I didn’t have anything to do for the time being, I went to the highest terrace, looking at the building complex hidden in the cloud mist in a daze.

Despite the massive system running at full capacity behind me with a data throughput greater in a second than what some ordinary civilizations could create from birth to extinction, the world outside of this system remained as tranquil as ever. The newly named "Divine Country" was so silent that even the wind barely made a sound, as if everything I had initiated before was just an illusion. However, the phenomenal change in the world was actually happening continuously; right around me, everything I could see was undergoing recomputation. The fundamental mathematical laws they executed were deduced by the Mother Nest enveloped in light not far away. After additional information was added, this was reinjected into this world through the Leaving World Garden, resulting in the world’s "worldview" changing silently in ways you might not notice. I don’t know whether there will be any visible change in the exterior of this Heavenly Realm City once this is all completed, but it’s certain that for many people around me, their world will be turned upside down. It’s like if you always believed you were an unwanted orphan barely making a living in an orphanage, only to suddenly discover that you actually have at least two hundred relatives scattered all over the world, and you still have at least three oil fields in Saudi Arabia—wouldn’t that turn your world upside down? Well, maybe I shouldn’t let my mind wander at times like this.

"It looks so desolate." Just as I was lost in thought, a soft and somewhat naive voice suddenly sounded in my ear. I turned to find that Alaya had landed on the terrace without me noticing, with Sister Kite Orelia, always drifting faintly behind her. The former was staring blankly at the neighborhood below, with a hint of loss in her tone. Those wide white sidewalks, corridors decorated with gold edges and crystals, giant towers, and the cities in the sky—this grand architectural complex was almost devoid of people, yet it must have been very bustling at its peak. Perhaps you would see angels flying around or perched on walls everywhere, spellcasters’ groups marching in line, and Imperial Soldiers filling every corner of the city, living, assembling, shouting the Empire’s slogan, ready at any moment to blow someone’s brain out... Even though mixed with some strange things, what a lively and prosperous scene that must have been.

Yet now, this place looks like an empty city. Though all the buildings still shine as before, besides the worlds of the Divine Realm and fairy tales, you can’t find any city comparable in grandeur, it still feels dead. In the entire Heavenly Realm City, apart from our family, there are only three hundred high-ranking Xyrin Officers, half of whom are resting in hibernation chambers; less than seventy thousand former Royal Guards rescued from various ruins, which include magic statues and elemental guards. Yet, the entire Heavenly Realm City was once consolidated from all surviving facilities on the colonial stars of the Old Empire of Mother Star and the Capital Universe; imagine how much land per person that would mean. Even using you as the center, if a Xiali ran out of fuel from starting, you might still not meet a second upright being...

"It will be fine soon. Wasn’t Shadow City empty too at first?" I smiled, couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch Alaya’s wings. Thinking of Shadow City’s past scene, I really felt a bit sentimental about the fleetingness of time and the vicissitudes of life—initially, Shadow City was just like the current Heavenly Realm City, even more desolate and quiet. In that vast Dark Space, there was only a lone Ghost City. At that time, I had only three hundred commanders by my side on the entire Earth, and Shadow City was basically as its name suggests, an empty city accompanied only by shadows. Now, four years have passed; who would have thought that the empty city of the past would become a hub for thousands of worlds, known to countless people in the Macro World as the "Empire Capital" and "Miracle City"? Such a dramatic change at such a fast pace—how could it not evoke awe? This speed and enormous transformation could perhaps only be the miracle created by a race as unprecedentedly efficient as the Xyrin Apostles. But Alaya’s light smile emerged, nodding at me joyfully and pointing to the clouds in the distance: "Lord Brother, we’ll make this place lively again in no time, just like Shadow City."

No sooner had she finished speaking than we heard a noise coming from nearby, and a small figure of a girl in white robes came flying over the clouds. It was Sister Kite, who always appeared vague and blurry, hovering around. The former looked off into the street below with a hint of longing and a sense of loss in her voice. Those wide white paths, and corridors adorned with golden edges and crystal, once might have been populated with angels flying around or perched on walls, processions of spellcasters, and units of Imperial Soldiers bustling through these magnificent structures, living, gathering, and staying always ready to march out and crush whoever needed to be crushed, shouting their imperial slogans in these grand buildings. One could not imagine the vast number of things that needed adjustment. Imperial City occupied so much space that standing at its center and drawing a circle around one with a radius of cloud cover, even if you were the center with a Xiali car running from you until it ran out of fuel, you might not meet a second upright person; that’s true testament to its bustling life in the Old Empire.

"It won’t be long now. Shadow City wasn’t always this desolate either, was it?" Sandora said softly, with her gaze fixed far away. We also have the Prophet on our side."

As Sandora finished speaking, I couldn’t help but look to the side. Lin Xue was lazily lying on the long sofa with her eyes closed, looking like she was taking a nap, but beneath her eyelids, a faint white halo could be seen faintly flowing. Just like in every critical operation before, Miss Prophet was there to provide all-round protection for this action. In fact, even that moment of starting the Leaving World Garden before was a "good day and good time" that Miss Prophet had confirmed many times. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

The temporary command post is a typical architecture of the Empire’s Mysterious Side, with several terraces reaching towards the sky in the middle and upper parts. Since I currently had nothing to do, I decided to go up to the highest terrace and gaze absentmindedly at the buildings shrouded in the cloud mist across the skyline.

Although an unimaginably large system was operating at full capacity behind me, with its data throughput exceeding the total information some ordinary civilizations could create from their inception to their demise, outside this system, the world remained as tranquil as ever. Within the space now renamed the "Divine Country," silence reigned supreme; even the sound of the wind was barely audible. It was as if everything activated before was a mere illusion. However, the profound transformation of the world is actually happening all around me. Everything within sight is undergoing a subtle transformation, with their fundamental operations being recalibrated by that Mother Nest enveloped in light not far away, as additional information is infused into this world. As a result, without you even noticing, the whole world’s "worldview" subtly changes. Who knew what the world would be like for you once all this was done? It’s like thinking you’re just an unwanted orphan left to scrape by in an orphanage, only to suddenly learn you have hundreds of relatives scattered across the globe—that is, if you could still manage to not have your worldview turned upside down after discovering that you have at least three oil fields waiting for you in Saudi. Okay, maybe I should stop my mind from wandering during such critical times.

"It will be okay soon. Shadow City was once empty too, wasn’t it?" Alaya’s face showed a bright smile as she nodded at me with joy, pointing at the distant sea of clouds, "Lord Brother, we’ll make this place lively again, just like we did with Shadow City."

In those days, the once-empty Shadow City was even more desolate than the current Heavenly Realm City, yet in a few short years, it had transformed into a bustling metropolis—a miracle city of the New Empire, a true testament to the unprecedented efficiency of the Xyrin Apostles, like a flash in the visage of time, transforming it from an entirely vacant Ghost City within the vastness of Dark Space into a thriving Imperial City. Now, there were thousands of cities, just like Shadow City soon would be, all occupied, buzzing with life, and ready to face those left brain-bashed. Alaya beamed with a bright smile and nodded at me, pointing to the distant sea of clouds: "Lord Brother, we’ll make this place come alive again, just like Shadow City once did, right?"

"It will be alright, won’t it? Wasn’t Shadow City once deserted?" I said, feeling a tinge of worry mixed with a bit of admiration for Bubbles’ capabilities. "Wow, is Bubbles really that powerful?"

"Yes, her computational power is enough, and the data interactions have stabilized without major fluctuations. Gaia is also online, using all her available storage to serve as a redundant stack area for the entire network," Sandora gently tapped her forehead, "Additionally, there are substantial Xyrin Apostles using their spare resources for auxiliary computation support for the hosts; this network has an extremely high fault tolerance. Moreover...we still have the Prophet with us."

Looking at Lin Xue, who was lazily resting with her eyes closed on the long sofa, I couldn’t help but glance over. Under her eyelids was a faint white halo, vaguely shining. Just as in every critical operation before, Miss Prophet would be there to escort the entire mission. In fact, even that moment of initiating the Leaving World Garden was selected after thorough confirmation as the "auspicious time and good day." Nothing could go wrong.

The temporary command post is a typical Imperial Mysterious Side construction, with several terraces that reach for the sky at the top and center. Having nothing to do for the moment, I went to the highest terrace, watching the cloud-shrouded building complexes in a daze.

Despite there being an enormous system operating at full capacity behind me, its data throughput exceeding the total amount of information some ordinary civilizations create from birth to demise in just one second, the space outside this system remains exceedingly tranquil. In this place now renamed "Divine Country," it was as silent as ever; even the sound of the wind was barely audible. It felt as if all the things activated earlier were just an illusion. However, the transformation of the world was real, evolving right around me. Everything within view was being recomputed, its foundational mathematical laws extrapolated by that Mother Nest enveloped in light not far away, reintroduced into this world through the Leaving World Garden, leading to an unperceived transformation in the worldview. Who knew what this world would be like when all this was done? But okay, maybe I shouldn’t let my mind wander at times like this.

Alaya had suddenly landed on the terrace, with Sister Kite Aurelia, who was always floating vaguely, following her. The former’s eyes held a trace of dazed loss as she gazed at the vast expanse below. Those wide white paths, corridors trimmed with gold and crystals, once hosted crowds of angels flying around or perched on walls, spellcasters marching in order, and Imperial Soldiers occupying every corner of the city, living, ready to set out against whatever needing bashing at any moment. How many adjustments have to be made! You couldn’t imagine the vastness of the abandoned pillow between facilities on each surviving Colonization Star of the Old Empire Era. When you consider that, a place like this, "Divine Country," formed from the leftover facilities of all the colonized stars of the Old Empire, right now, it is sparsely populated even though more splendid cities could hardly be found anywhere outside of the Divine Realm and fairy worlds. Yet this place still feels lifeless. Apart from the three hundred or so high-ranking Xyrin Officers, some of whom are in hibernation chambers, the entire Heavenly Realm City is almost empty.

"It will recover soon. Shadow City was once deserted as well, wasn’t it?" I smiled, reaching out to caress Alaya’s wings a couple of times. I couldn’t help but feel a reminiscence of the fleeting nature of time and the changes in the world—originally, Shadow City, much like its name, was little more than a Ghost City amidst a vast Dark Space with only three hundred commanders to fill the void, just like now in the Heavenly Realm City built on colonies. Yet look how Shadow City, once desolate, transformed into a thriving hub of a thousand worlds in a short few years, now hailed as a "Miracle City" within the Macro World.

What an enormous transformation at such a rapid speed, primarily a miraculous feat created only by a race as efficient as the Xyrin Apostles could achieve. Aurelia, the Angel Kite, standing beside Alaya, seemed slightly at a loss, softly stating with a hint of surprise, "Nothing, just very... surprised."

"Won’t be long until this place, God knows, becomes vibrant again, Lord Brother," Alaya’s face broke into a gentle smile as she approvingly pointed at the distant sea of clouds, brimming with expectation.

I also couldn’t help but gaze at the wisps of clouds in the horizon. It was peaceful. Suddenly, the sound of familiar ethereal notes reached me, and I noticed Aurelia, who appeared lost in thought beside me, not having spoken a word since just a moment ago, and I curiously asked.

"It’s nothing, it is only that I’m quite... surprised," Today, Orelia’s voice seemed a bit different from the usual, "You’re too special, not quite like the monarch I envisioned..."

"Is that so," I chuckled, "I know. So from your point of view, do you think I’m qualified?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com) to support me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)