Capítulo 1040: Chapter 1040: Taville Unable to Rest
I don’t know if our deep diving plan this time can be considered a complete success—actually, we have already achieved the original goals: conducting a deep dive, testing the performance of the prototype model of the deep-diving ship, collecting data from the Abyss Deep Zone to build a more powerful deep-diving ship, obtaining more than two effective databases, and safely exiting the testing field—now these objectives are all accomplished, but an unforeseen situation is that we lost a potentially advantageous test universe.
This loss is bearable and does not affect the overall gains of the deep diving plan, but knowing it was the Fallen Apostles causing trouble makes us feel a lump in our throats; Sandora is especially angry and has already dispatched triple the troops to guard every Abyss Gate used for research within the Empire’s territory to prevent any Fallen Apostle from suddenly emerging from these gates. However, beyond this, she has no other means: currently, the Empire does not have the capability to form a fleet that can fight in the Abyss Domain.
After resolving the possible contamination of Abyss Power on ourselves (it felt like we just strolled through a heavily infected area), the three of us went to the Shadow City Headquarters, where everyone was already waiting. In the officer’s lounge, I saw Qianqian lounging lazily on the sofa, humming softly. She exhibited no awareness of being the Imperial Empress. In such a serious military premise, she blatantly played with a doll in front of several guards at the door. The doll was fiercely resisting, trying to prevent Qianqian from putting strange little clothes on her, scattering feathers everywhere. Well, the doll was Mercury Lamp.
“Ah, Ah Jun… hey…”
Seeing us coming in, Qianqian’s eyes immediately lit up. One second she was lazily lying on the sofa, the next she jumped up to rush into my arms, but unfortunately, as soon as she got up, she stumbled and fell sideways. Mercury Lamp, just escaping from the clutches, was instinctively grabbed by Qianqian’s ankle and went crashing down to the ground with her. The little doll was shocked, desperately flapping her wings behind her, trying to fly up while blushing and calling out for me to help: “Help… help… she’s heavy… come manage your wife!”
I quickly moved forward to help Qianqian up, meanwhile rescuing Little Light. The doll-like girl, still unsettled, sat on my shoulder for a moment before flying into Big Sister’s arms, glaring at both of us. Qianqian smiled apologetically: “Ah-ha, seems like my legs are still a little weak…”
Always full of energy, like she just consumed twenty kilograms of stimulant alongside chicken blood, Qianqian now appeared genuinely fatigued, even pale. I could feel she was not exerting any force when resting in my arms, simply collapsing onto me—where did she get the energy earlier to torment Mercury Lamp? Is bullying the daughter an effortless skill?
“Why did it end up like this? Where’s your restraint?” I cautiously laid the girl in my arms down on the sofa, where she simply rested her head on my lap and closed her eyes, preventing any chance of reproach, “Are you hurt?”
I was very worried; what Qianqian accomplished today was unprecedented. To suppress a runaway Abyss Gate alone is something even High Order True Gods must consider whether they can emerge alive from. Even though Qianqian’s unique ability enabled her to undertake such nearly impossible tasks, she had to bear significant pressure and risk. Was she harmed when the Abyss Gate collapsed?
“I’m fine,” Qianqian completely ignored the gazes of others around her, snuggling comfortably in her lover’s arms, not bothering to open her eyes, “Ah Jun, did you forget? I’m the master of time, the Abyss Gate erupting as fast as it does cannot surpass the smallest unit of time. To me, it’s just a series of static frames, and I’ll always find the opportunity to retreat safely. I’m just experiencing severe mental exhaustion as the destructive power of that thing is immense, even time can be polluted by it—I had to continuously create new time vortexes to make the Abyss Gate jump between two time points, ah-ha, it’s quite fun, it’s my new move, let’s call it Exhaust You Without Responsibility-3000, how about that? Create two time points, and a target can keep repeating between them. I can also choose whether the target retains or doesn’t retain changes each time it repeats, like the AB repetition… whew, this method was forced out while suppressing that gate… I’m a bit sleepy now… I’ll nap for a bit…”
As she spoke, Qianqian’s voice gradually lowered until it was completely replaced by slight snoring sounds.
I’m left with no response by this girl who swings between talking and doing, only able to awkwardly look up and smile at those around us. Bingdisi thoughtfully nodded: “I discovered that when she’s with you, Qianqian never considers the surrounding environment. Her world must be small, at most centered around you within two and a half meters.” Whoa, what’s with this precise data!
“I guess that’s about right,” Big Sister softly smiled, poking my arm, “maybe to Qianqian, Ah Jun is roughly her world. As a child, she would frequently be left for our family to care for, growing up together with Ah Jun. Over time, it’s become a habit to reveal her true nature when around me and Ah Jun…”
“Ahem, let’s discuss the Abyss Gate matter,” I scratched my head awkwardly, feeling embarrassed about Sister mentioning these things, “and also the Fallen Apostles. They appeared below our testing site, this needs to be analyzed thoroughly.”
Sandora envyingly glanced at Qianqian and murmured, “You just change the topic,” then she became serious, “Now it’s speculated that those ships are not an exception. The engineering team saw three ships of the Fallen Apostles beneath the Abyss Gate, clearly forming a squad. This included an armed warship, a communications auxiliary ship, and a scientific survey ship, with the survey ship being unmanned. The other two ships we aren’t sure if they’re in the same state. Additionally, we don’t know if such a squad has other combinations. It seems that these three ships’ mission should be a survey—this is my judgment. In most cases, if a team includes a completely non-combat unit specifically for surveying, then the team’s role is definitely research…”
“Why?” Lin Xue didn’t immediately understand and asked offhand, before Sandora could reply, Xiao Xue, hugging Lin Xue’s shoulders, exclaimed, “Hey, Mom, think about it, you only hear of presidents going out with a couple of guards, who has ever heard of guards going out with a couple of presidents?” The sharpness of her speech had traces of her mother’s style.
Sandora nodded, “That’s exactly the logic; a military-purpose squad won’t carry a drag like a survey ship—of course, sometimes we’ll bring combat engineers, that’s a different situation.”
Suddenly, I thought of that magical Big Beard which should be classified as a military unit…
“If it’s a survey team, their configuration is clearly much superior to ours: the Fallen Apostles already have the ability to build varied ships adapted for the Abyss environment and perfectly control them. Previously, the engineering team reported that the ship they destroyed carried many high-power antenna arrays, which should be used for linking with the mainland in the Abyss. It might even be a prototype of some fleet communications hub. The Fallen Apostles might form an Abyss Fleet, and this is an extremely alarming prediction. Moreover, we should all remember that the Abyss is interconnected—consider the Abyss as an enclosed and dark sphere shell, with the ordered world on the sphere shell surface, and the Abyss Gates as holes appearing randomly on the shell. As long as the technology for precise positioning and long-range communication within the sphere shell is mastered, the Fallen Apostles have the ability to suddenly burst from any hole, attacking any world they have coordinates for. And such a surprise assault cannot be intercepted halfway, even if we know their plan—it is currently impossible to prevent the opening of Abyss Gates.”
“Is there really no technology to actively open the Abyss Gate?” Big Sister suddenly asked, causing the atmosphere to drop.
Sandora was very solemn: “If the Fallen Apostle has truly mastered this technology, that would be terrible… They would become just like the Abyss, freely opening gates in any world to destroy and plunder… I don’t want to see such a horrible scene.”
“Allow me to share my thoughts; their technology should still be very immature at present,” murmured Sivis from the doorway, still appearing as she always does in her clean and sharp high-ranking officer uniform, forever looking astute and capable. “It might not even be up to the standards of the New Empire yet.” Before we could question that surprising judgment, she proactively explained: “Based on the engineering team’s report, the three enemy ships appearing on the other side of the Abyss Gate are inferior in size and capability to the Empire-made Abyss Workship, only reaching the level of a Light Assault Ship. This seems not a design choice but a technical limitation. The most obvious feature is that they need a dedicated antenna platform to handle the communication for the ship group, a small ship devoid of any offensive or defensive capability, carrying dozens of high-power antenna towers to maintain communication between the other two small ships and the base. Isn’t this design quite cumbersome? In the Abyss environment, ship coordination is very difficult; an increase in distance exponentially intensifies Abyss interference, akin to sailing in a storm. The small ships are at constant risk of capsizing, and even a crucial unit like the communication array can be easily destroyed. The optimal choice should be to build warships capable of withstanding mighty storms, housing communication, weaponry, and various support facilities in a highly secure environment. This is not merely giant shipism, but the common sense one should have when resisting storms.”
“So, are you saying the Fallen Apostles cannot produce larger Abyss ships?” Sandora looked into Sivis’s eyes. “Indeed, your analysis makes a lot of sense. I have a habit of considering things in the worst direction, and it seems this time my assessment was overly pessimistic.”
“Necessary vigilance is still indispensable,” Sivis stated solemnly. “Following your orders, I have positioned heavy forces around all Abyss Gates within our borders, and the Leaving World Courtyard System has also intensified surveillance to promptly warn of any newly formed Abyss Gates within our borders. Another reason behind my judgment is news from the research institute; the Taville Chief has preliminarily determined that the enemy ship samples brought back have a technological bottleneck, and there seems to be no sign of the Fallen Apostles breaching this bottleneck yet…”
I: “… Is it just me, or is her efficiency a bit too high?”
“You must understand scientists’ enthusiasm for their work,” Sivis forced these words out after holding back for a while. “Two hours are more than enough for Taville to disassemble anything within a kilometer radius into eight pieces.”
At this point, everyone probably sighed in relief in unison, knowing that the Fallen Apostles hadn’t suddenly risen as Sandora expected, undoubtedly putting everyone at ease. However, Sandora’s concerns still need attention: as a seasoned strategic master, it’s her habit to treat any potential issues with the worst assumptions. Taville found that the Fallen Apostles are stymied by a technological bottleneck, which doesn’t mean this bottleneck will exist forever. Someday, the Fallen Apostles might overcome it, and by then, we might indeed be facing a terrifying legion that maneuvers within the Abyss Domain, ready to launch surprise attacks on the real world through Abyss Gates.
“We should focus more effort on the Deep Dive Plan and its subsidiary projects,” Sandora frowned and said, “At the very least, I don’t want a repeat of the Fallen Apostles breaking into our test field while we remain clueless. We should at least be able to monitor the conditions inside every Abyss Gate within our territory in real time. This task is assigned to the Research Center; our technology in this area is nearly a blank slate. I hope to see a solution soon, even if only a conceptualization.”
“Your will.” Sivis instantly saluted and then exited.
“It seems that the technological paths of the Empire and the Fallen Apostles in the Abyss Domain have diverged into two entirely different directions,” Big Sister mused, “but I don’t know whose path is more correct. Currently, it seems that the Fallen Apostles’ progress is a bit reckless. Their Abyss Ships can dive in their homeland yet cruise into Empire territory, which, even at a Shallow Layer, is quite a test of technological prowess. Whereas our deep-diving ships and Abyss Engineering Ships lack such long cruising capabilities but excel in other aspects. They can be larger and appear to have higher shield capacities, right?”
Big Sister isn’t an expert in this field and was just casually expressing her thoughts at this moment. Truly, no one knows how Fallen Apostle’s Abyss Technology will develop, but as individuals who have been corrupted by the Abyss, they undoubtedly have an advantage over the Empire in this area. At the very least, their ability to dive from their homeland all the way to the Empire territory is quite alarming.
I speculate that their long-term diving in the Abyss is mostly due to their special protective technology, namely the layer of Abyss Mist enveloping their ships. This mist consumes less energy compared to the Empire’s “Three-layered Face Shield,” and it fundamentally prevents being attacked by mist vortices in the Abyss. Meanwhile, the ship’s body itself can blend with the Abyss environment, drastically reducing energy consumption during navigation — this is just my guess, supported by the theory that “those with no morals blend into Shadow City easier, and the bespectacled uncle moves faster by Erli Bridge”…
The Fallen Apostles using Abyss Mist to provide Abyss Resistance to their ships is intriguing but seemingly has a significant flaw: these ships appear to lack strong defenses against other forms of attacks, or the Fallen Apostles haven’t bothered to defend in that aspect at all. The temporary bombs assembled by Big Beard even flipped two ships upside down. Since they’re completely integrated into the Abyss environment, once a Fallen Apostle’s Abyss Ship’s shield is breached, it immediately collapses, first being half-deadened by its own Abyss Mist. Bingdisi’s plan to penetrate the ship’s power unit with a Brick unexpectedly blew the entire ship up, which was unforeseen.
Whether this technology is valuable to us can only await Taville’s analytical report.
Awards were given to Big Beard for decisive judgment and resolving a potential crisis (though it turned out not to exist) in this incident. I consider him a talent, particularly in ordnance technology; Big Beard himself admits to having more interest in studying bombs and cannons than the Abyss Theory. Thus, I suggested to Taville that this guy lead a new ordinance research group to study weapons usable in the Abyss environment. This project doesn’t sound tough because damaging targets in the Abyss isn’t hard per se, proven by Bingdisi’s Brick. But it is indeed a challenging topic: in the Abyss environment, all destructive activities become unpredictable, and although weapons can certainly achieve destructive effects, it’s completely out of control. Conventional attacks might be magnified tenfold by the Abyss environment, better if landing on the enemy’s head, but more likely on one’s own head – firing a shot could mean blasting half of yourself away. Don’t think that various shields against the Abyss can offer peace of mind; as proved in fact, in an environment that defies all logic, no shield proves entirely reliable. The Engineering Ship’s sudden loss of two Escape Towers in normal operation is solid proof. Later detailed investigation confirmed that the Escape Towers on the Engineering Ship weren’t attacked by the Fallen Apostles during disassembly. They were irrecoverably damaged when launching a set of Induction Beacons. The process of launching Induction Beacons requires destroying two sets of disposable locking gates on the Engineering Ship believed to have been affected and amplified by the Abyss, resulting in the destruction of the vessel’s Escape Towers.
How the Abyss still managed to affect the Engineering Ship’s Escape Towers through a protective shield, even causing destructive interference with the ship’s escape, remains unclear. The Taville team has organized experts to re-examine both the Engineering Ship’s initial blueprints and those of the prototype Deep-diving ship, hoping to pinpoint any overlooked areas. This is likely another significant task, and Taville has abandoned her vacation once more — I had originally promised her and her team a few days of rest after the current projects ended, but with one task following another and the Fallen Apostles’ relentless advancements in the Abyss Domain, it seems this promise will be left unfulfilled once again.
Taville, on her part, is indifferent; she enjoys work, especially the joy of harvesting results after tirelessly overcoming challenges, but I still feel a bit remorseful.
In this episode, Big Beard was commended for his decisive judgment and for resolving a potential crisis (although it later turned out that the crisis did not exist). I believe he is a talent, especially in the field of ordnance technology. Big Beard himself admits he has a passion for researching bombs and artillery, so I assigned him to lead a new ordnance research group. Their focus will be on developing various weapons that can still be used in the Abyss environment — this project sounds straightforward because destroying targets in the Abyss isn’t a problem, as evidenced by Bingdisi’s Brick. But in reality, it’s a challenging subject: in the Abyss environment, all destructive actions become unpredictable, and while weapons will necessarily cause destruction, it’s uncertain who will be affected —fire a shot, and there’s a good chance you’re the one to get blasted in half. Don’t assume that various opposing shields will keep you safe; in an environment that doesn’t play by any conventional rules, no shield is that reliable. The sudden failure of two Escape Towers on the Engineering Ship in normal conditions is proof. Subsequent detailed checks found that the Escape Towers were destroyed incidentally during the launch of the Induction Beacons. The process of launching the Induction Beacons required destroying two one-time locking gates on the Engineering Ship; the destruction process was believed to have unintentionally affected and magnified the impact by the Abyss, consequently disabling the Engineering Ship’s Escape Towers.
In this episode, with his prompt judgment and resolution of a potential crisis (though ultimately, it was overestimated), Big Beard was credited with a commendation. I see him as a talent, particularly in ordnance technology; Big Beard himself also confessed his enthusiasm for researching bombs and cannons, which is why I proposed forming an ordnance research team under Big Beard’s lead with a research focus on developing various types of weapons that can still function in the Abyss environment—this project may sound easy because damaging targets in the Abyss isn’t difficult per se, as Bingdisi’s Brick demonstrates, but in practice, it is a significant challenge. In the Abyss environment, all destructive actions become unpredictably uncertain, and while weapons indeed can achieve destructive effects, it’s entirely out of control. The likelihood is high that the damage boomerangs onto oneself—launching a strike risks blowing oneself half away. Do not assume that having various opponent-resistant Shields means one can rest easy; the reality shows that in an environment that doesn’t follow the normal rules, no Shield is entirely dependable. The case where an Engineering Ship suddenly lost two Escape Towers under normal circumstances is an undisputed proof. Later thorough checks confirmed that the Escape Towers of the Engineering Ship weren’t attacked by the Fallen Apostles but were co-destroyed when releasing a set of Induction Beacons. The process of launching the Induction Beacons required obliterating two sets of disposable locking gates on the Engineering Ship, which is believed to have been influenced and amplified by the Abyss environment, ultimately compromising the escape function of the Engineering Ship.
Taville, however, doesn’t seem to mind. She loves working and enjoys the joy of reaping results after working tirelessly to solve problems, though I always feel a little sorry.
As the event unfolded, Big Beard, who showed decisive judgment and resolved a potential crisis (that later turned out to be non-existent), was commended. I consider him to be talented, particularly in the field of ordnance technology. Additionally, Big Beard himself confessed to having a keen interest in researching both bombs and artillery, which is why I proposed forming an ordnance research group under his leadership. Their research direction would involve various weapon systems that can still operate within the Abyss environment — although this project appears simple since damage to targets in the Abyss is automatically enhanced, proven by Bingdisi’s Brick, it actually represents a challenging topic: in the Abyss environment, all destructive actions become uncertain, and while weapons indeed cause damage, the outcome is not always predictable for who gets affected— firing a cannon might result in you being blown to smithereens first. Don’t think that having a range of impenetrable Shields means you can rest easy; experience shows that in an environment playing by no set rules, no Shield is fully reliable. It’s evident after detailed tests that the Engineering Ship’s Escape Towers, under normal circumstances, were suddenly compromised during the launch of the Induction Beacons due to the Abyss’s interference and magnified effects that inadvertently damaged the escape system.