Chapter 1048: Chapter 1048: Do You Want to Go Home?
The secret behind Medivh’s ability to traverse the Void was uncovered: she has a fascinating affinity with it.
It’s incredible, even inexplicable: the Void itself does not exhibit any inclination. It neither repels nor attracts anything, treating entities that are not part of it with indifference. By general consensus, traversing the Void safely involves sheer perseverance, either by continuously adjusting the informational state around oneself (a method commonly used by the Divine Race) or by expending energy to release a shield (a technique of the Xyrin Apostles). Essentially, it’s a matter of sheer endurance. However, Little Crow’s method of wandering through the Void differs from that of the Divine Race and the Xyrin Apostles.
"Look at her now, it’s as if she’s enjoying herself."
Watching Medivh merrily flitting about in the Void environment, Sandora couldn’t help but speak in an awed tone.
This is the test field located in the "boundary region," which is part of the research center. The Shadow City’s research headquarters is not just a building within the city; it has a highly complex spatial structure. In several key locations, there are space-time hubs leading to various Other Spaces, and these hubs even connect to desolate universes or transitional zones at the edge of the World bordering the Void. Such deep corridors marked with special warnings are often visible in the research center. Following these corridors, one might have no idea where they could end up—perhaps on an isolated island amidst the blue sea and sky, on the surface of a desolate alien planet, or even stepping directly into the universe. Currently, we are in one of several specially extended areas within the research center, where the spatial coordinates are a virtual coordinate. It doesn’t reside in any fixed or known location; it’s, in fact, a buffer zone between Shadow Space and the Void.
Establishing a fixed test field in such a buffer zone is not easy, even more challenging than navigating the Void. The concept of the "border between the world and the Void" is inherently unstable. In reality, anything describable isn’t allowed to maintain this "neutral" ambiguous state. At this boundary, entities with sufficient stability become immediately absorbed into the ordered world, entering material space, while those less stable dissipate into the Void, assimilated into its basic informational elements. The "boundary region" test field is forcibly establishing a neutral zone on this knife edge. In this position, you’re neither part of the ordered world nor worried about falling into the Void. As long as you can endure a certain indescribable sense of reality peeling away, you can observe the different scenes on both sides of the World Barrier in a stable manner for a long time. Most of the time, this place adheres to the rules of the Main Material World, facilitating the unfolding of various experimental activities filled with advanced technology.
Taville adjusted the environment of the test field to have a Void tendency, allowing Medivh to roam freely outside while we stayed in a carefully protected observation station, marvelling at the sight of the giant crow flying freely.
I once flew over the Void on Lin’s back, so I know that enormous golden dragon has the ability to soar in the Void environment, but essentially, Lin is utterly different from Medivh. The former requires forming a zone of mathematical stability around itself to protect itself when crossing the Void, while the latter... The space within a large area around the big bird is inherently a safe zone. It seems that during this process, she wasn’t doing anything actively; rather, the Void Domain suddenly became orderly several hundred meters around her.
Taville couldn’t use any existing theory to explain this phenomenon, so in the end, we had to bring in a supposed expert: Rogue Goddess, Bingdisi. Before I knew it, I had inadvertently taken "Rogue Goddess" as Bingdisi’s title...
Bingdisi was called to the observation station, where we observed together for a while. Then she pondered for a bit and finally looked at me, asking, "Chen, tell us how you operate when moving within the Void."
"My actions in the Void?" I was admittedly a bit stunned. There’s that saying that the most familiar things are often the easiest to overlook. Bingdisi suddenly brought up this question, and I couldn’t immediately answer. After seriously recalling for a while, I caught a trace, "It seems to be no different from my usual activities. By the way, I haven’t felt any difference between staying in the Void and floating in the cosmic space. I mean, in terms of body sensation, nothing feels different. The dissonance of the Void environment is a bit there, but aside from that dissonance, it feels quite similar to drifting in outer space."
Bingdisi and Sandora exchanged glances, sighed, and said, "Do you know how we feel in the Void environment?"
"Uh, I think I understand what you mean..." I suddenly realized.
"That’s right, you’re a Void Creature, your life essence originates from the Void," Bingdisi nodded, "To put it bluntly, you are the Void itself. Therefore, as long as you control your ’dissipation’ process, you don’t need to consume anything to survive in the Void environment. As far as I know, Father God also possesses this ability, as does King Huron. The three of you are among those who can survive in the Void without any consumption. Aside from you three, there are another four I know of who can do the same..."
"The Four Main Gods?" Sandora immediately responded.
"That’s right, the Supreme Life Goddess, Dragon God, Dark Goddess, and Light God were directly influenced by Father God and promoted. It’s said that they can also traverse the Void freely without any consumption or taking any defenses, and the Void wouldn’t harm them. That’s always been a somewhat ambiguous concept for me, but now I think I’ve seen an instance of it: Medivh’s situation is definitely like that of the Four Gods. Although she’s not a Void Creature, she has obtained the same ’exemption’ as one."
The giant crow Medivh was still freely roaming outside in the test space, floating around joyfully, utterly unaware of how shocking the place she was in was. She flapped her wings, though in this environment, flapping wings produced no propulsion, so she essentially just spun in place. Even so, she seemed delighted as if she was having the time of her life, occasionally craning her neck towards the observation station as if inviting the people inside to come out and play with her.
"Now I’m considering something else..." Bingdisi looked at a few of us deep in thought, and suddenly turned her gaze to Sandora and her sister, "Why don’t you go out for a while?"
Sandora and her sister were taken aback, "Ah?"
"When you go out, you’re always in a spaceship. It seems like it’s been long since you’ve been exposed to the Void environment on your own. Even when you did occasionally, it was under Chen’s protection," Bingdisi looked at Sandora with a smile, "You understand what I mean."
Sandora nodded with understanding, looking at Bingdisi, "Perhaps Ah Jun’s influence had long been showing in us, but no one ever noticed?"
"After all, none of you would casually take a stroll in the Void, right? That’s something even most of the Divine Race wouldn’t dare to think of."
Volunteering herself to be the first to ’test,’ Sandora stepped outside because she was the most experienced and knowledgeable among the group. In the past, she had ventured into the Void, although she had never spent extended periods there nor discarded all protection as she did today. Even if something happened, her strength was sufficient to allow her to return unharmed, so I agreed to have her go outside first.
"How does it feel?" Bingdisi inquired via Spiritual Connection, Sandora’s voice sounding quite amazed, "It’s... amazing. I don’t feel like I’m in the Void environment. In fact, the space around me is normal, and all mathematical laws are still functioning normally."
Without waiting for Sandora to report, we could see from the equipment that the area around her was an Order State. This Order State wasn’t actively formed by her; instead, the Void itself became orderly upon contact with her. Just like what happened with Medivh.
Soon, my sister and Qianqian went out for a test round too, and later, Pandora and Visca joined them, followed by Bubbles, who jumped out holding her daughter after hearing the news. A lively group of people frolicked outside, with backstrokes, breaststrokes, and freestyle swimming... All spinning in place, of course, since there was no water.
By the time I regained my senses, the originally solemn experiment had turned into a paradise for this large family, and Bingdisi looked at the enthusiastic crew and sighed wistfully, "Goddess, I’m so envious it hurts."
"Ahem, aren’t you going to explain this to me?" I felt like I might have grasped a bit, but couldn’t clearly pinpoint the exact reason: had the people around me already been quietly ’changing’? Is it a result just to be able to stay in the Void like this? Why?
Bingdisi glanced at me, hesitated for a moment, and then whispered, "Do you really want to listen?"
I thought for a moment and then suddenly got angry, "Are you looking down on my intelligence!"
Bingdisi shrugged, "With your reaction speed, does it even need looking down upon? Okay, okay, let’s stop joking around. I’ll explain it simply: you know, the Void is the Source of All Things. It contains everything, both describable and indescribable, so at the same time, it also presents as an absolute ’zero.’ You could say it has everything, or you could see it as having nothing. In short, it itself cannot present any understandable ’Order State,’ because in any situation, an ’Order State’ means it’s no longer pure but instead has attributes and inclinations. But Void Creatures are the only exception. Do you think you have order?"
I thought for a moment, "I suppose so, I have quite a few principles."
Bingdisi looked stunned, "I really shouldn’t have talked to you about such high-end stuff... Anyway, just remember this, Void Creatures are the absolute ’Order State,’ and in the Multi-universe, there’s no more real or higher-end ’instance’ than you three. Our Divine Race speculates this way: the Void contains everything, and therefore it first includes a concept of ’absolutely not showing any inclination or Order State,’ and since there’s this concept, it should also include a concept of ’must show inclination and Order State,’ and you are the manifestation of the latter. Father God said, Void Creatures should be born to fill the lack of basic attributes of the Void, something that contains both ’existence’ and ’non-existence.’ ’Existence’ must be isolated, which is you and your two relatives. Therefore, you can generate order as a Void. Hmm, you didn’t understand, right?"
I glared at this person who’s mouth just wouldn’t stop, "Now I can beat you up, you know."
"That’s just bullying a girl," Bingdisi waved her fist at me, she even dared to call herself a girl... Hmm, seems she’s not wrong, "Alright, now let’s get to the point, Void Creatures are the form of acknowledging order while maintaining the original attributes of the Void (I spent a long time trying to break this sentence properly in my head), so in other words, order is right by your side. Now the things closest to you are being influenced; to estimate this influence range, it seems like it’s just your home’s yard, so this range is ’by your side.’ That silly bird, and your numerous daughters, your numerous sisters, your... okay, I can’t continue, anyway, these people have already been tainted with this attribute: the manifestation of Void’s order."
"So the result is..." I looked outside, "We can swim freely in the Void?"
"Not in the Void," Bingdisi looked at me with great meaning, "It’s by your side. These people are solidified. Did you know a name, called ’God’s side,’ which means standing next to God? Your family and that crow are, wherever they walk, their attribute is already ’God’s Side.’ This concept transcends all definitions of distance, beneath their feet is your ’beside.’
I pondered for a long time and decided not to continue questioning these issues...
Sandora was not as addicted to playing outside as the others; she returned quickly, with a happy expression on her face, and cheerfully said, "So that’s it, our changes have already begun, but no one has noticed at all."
"Who could have known you’d mutate in this direction first?" Bingdisi shrugged, "What happened to Chen He and you guys only happened once in countless ages, on Father God and the Four Main Gods; even Father God himself does not remember that history, so we are starting from scratch now. But I’m curious, didn’t you feel any physical change? Look at that Silly Bird, her change was massive!"
Sandora frowned, looking perplexed, she smiled: "I’m quite curious too. I thought if I ’ascended’ under Ah Jun’s influence, I would at least obviously notice some physical change, but apparently, our changes have nothing to do with tangible things. Hmm, affinity to the Void, or exemption ability, this in the strictest sense is still Ah Jun’s power, it should be equivalent to a permanent effect he applied to all of us—a buff, as Bubbles usually calls it, which is quite fitting here. So perhaps we will undergo some other changes in the future."
"Who knows," Bingdisi mumbled, "If your theory is correct, then you guys basically haven’t changed at all, it’s just Chen’s power spreading to you. Ugh, this issue is too headache-inducing, I won’t think about it, when I have time I’ll go ask our Boss, maybe she knows something." I was stunned, "You have a Boss? Whoa, she must be some big shot!"
"Supreme Dark Goddess, who else did you think?" Bingdisi looked at me displeased, "I only acknowledge that leader."
I chuckled, "Only that leader? What about Father God?" Bingdisi stuck out her tongue, "He counts as a parent..."
Regarding this kind of transformation happening to the sisters, there’s still a lot to study, it’s not a job that can be completed in a short while. Sandora is now most concerned with three things: first, is the ability to be immune to the Void’s influence a change they themselves have generated? Second, has everyone at home been influenced in this way, even including weaker individuals like Sayaka and Anwina? Third, what’s for lunch today?
After deliberating for a while, Sandora decided to put the first two questions aside for now...
We brought Medivh—who returned home after a physical examination and reverted to a little girl form (the process was like this: the Big Crow regurgitated Little Medwin, then strode back to its Other Space...)—back home and found that the little girl named Vanilla, who appeared last night, was already awake and was sitting in the living room chatting quietly with Anwina.
Anwina gave Vanilla a bath and dressed her in clothes similar to Medivh’s. As the saying goes, clothes make the person, and with such a makeover, the little girl instantly turned into a completely different person from the soot-smeared country bumpkin she was last night. Her temperament was... just like Medivh’s. Alright, I admit I really don’t know how to describe the temperament of a flat-chested middle-schooler. The only one with any discernible temperament at this age that I can recall is a guy named Bai Jing Heizi, who had a bizarre Halo with a radiation range of over twenty meters that could be called temperament...
"Hey, looks like you had a good rest," I waved to Vanilla, then watched Medivh joyfully hop into Anwina’s arms and said to the latter, "Your daughter’s healthy, it turns out she’s quite advanced in her Super Evolution."
Anwina’s face flushed red with embarrassment, "Master, could you please not continue with this topic?"
Vanilla stood up a bit shyly, then looked at us in amazement as we poured out from the Teleportation Gate in the living room, well, amazed rather than shocked, which suggests that space gates aren’t something unimaginable to her? I guess in her world there must also be something similar to teleportation magic.
"Um, um... hello." The little girl didn’t even know where to put her hands, so she awkwardly bowed, making me laugh involuntarily, "Why so suddenly nervous like this, you were fine last night, weren’t you?"
Vanilla smiled sheepishly, seemingly realizing she might be overreacting. Her eyes involuntarily drifted towards Medivh, appearing to want to greet her. In this unfamiliar place, Medivh seemed the only presence she could rely upon. I called Anwina over, "Did you tell her about the situation at home?"
Anwina nodded, "I did, but she didn’t seem to quite understand—she doesn’t even know what’s beyond the earth, let alone the Multi-universe."
I nodded in realization, all within my expectations, then sat next to Vanilla and asked as kindly as possible, "So, do you want to go home?" (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian () to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)