Even though it was a letter, it wasn't that simple. There was a large amount of messy information in the database. A rough table of contents showed that it contained research projects, flight logs, videos, messages and many other information. All of this information was sealed in an encrypted file. The signature of the file was Halland? Croix? Levalette?
We looked at each other in dismay. Sometimes, when faced with this kind of dramatic matter, even if we were already used to it, we still couldn't think of what kind of expression to use. This and Sandora? Kelvi? Ulysses' long name that had a bit of a classical noble temperament often appeared in the command's documents recently. Most of them were related to the analysis of the fallen apostle's military strength. Halland? Croix? Levalette, it was referring to the fallen emperor who had recently engaged in many intense battles with the Imperial Army. He had already caused us heavy casualties, Her Majesty Halland.
Green Star was actually saved by him several tens of thousands of years ago. It was also his general, Zadom, who sent the Green Star on a journey of escape at the last moment. Several tens of thousands of years passed like an arrow. History took a detour and connected the two once again from another direction. Zadom, the former general of the Empire who had personally brought up the rear for the Green Star and allowed the tree elves to escape, was now coming to destroy this planet.
I don't know what the two of them were feeling right now. They were already in a frenzied state of mind. Would they still feel sorrow?
"There's a problem with the information?"
The great matriarch saw us looking at each other with strange expressions and couldn't help but worry. What she was most worried about was whether or not the precious information had been damaged. The tree elves had spent several tens of thousands of years escorting this inheritance from the old Empire to the new Empire. If there was really a problem with the information, it would be a huge blow to them.
"No, there's no problem with the information. We thought of something else."
Sandora faintly replied. At the same time, she slightly shook her head at me. Don't tell them for now. The Tree Elves aren't ready to accept such a blow. This was the message I saw from Sandora's eyes.
"A scientific research project. There's only a name list, but no substantive content such as results. It's not scientific and technological information." Sandora began to read the information according to the table of contents. She put the letter left by Halland at the end so that she could study it without any distractions later. "Maybe it's to tell us what the last scene of the Old Empire's Project X was before it was completely ruined. The log was the log of the Green Star, and another part was the original route list. It seemed that this planet had deviated very far from the route. Video … I'll think about that later. Lastly, these are the messages. "
Sandora connected the message left by Halland to the holographic projection. The holographic device that wasn't working properly trembled a few times before the image stabilized. A tall and burly middle-aged man with a head full of lush brown hair, dressed in an imposing Imperial Army uniform, appeared on the screen. He was looking straight ahead, holding an Empire Command Knife with psionic flames floating around it. This attire was very familiar to the few of us — — it was the full attire that the head of the Empire would only wear on official occasions.
"No matter who it is, the person who has obtained and is able to read this information sends my greetings to you. I hope that you can preserve this information forever until it can be put to use." The middle-aged man spoke with a calm expression. "I am Halland? Croix? Levalette, the leader of the Xiling Empire. I hope that the person who has obtained this information can still remember this glorious name.
The fact that you are able to obtain this information in one piece means that these exiles have successfully escaped from the destruction circle, and their identification device has confirmed that you have the talent to come into contact with psionic energy, or you are related to the inheritance of the Empire. I personally hope that it is the latter.
To be able to come into contact with the exiles and pass the identification system of the exiled starship, the level of your civilization should be high enough. However, it is very likely that you still cannot understand what I am going to say next. This is not important. This is just a message.
The Xiling Empire is facing a crisis of destruction. This crisis is caused by ourselves. Its root and direct cause is the wrong direction of research on the Void and the uncontrollable explosion of the Abyss. I would like to give you a piece of advice: regardless of whether you have come into contact with these concepts, please remember one thing: control yourself. Under any circumstances, do not think that you have everything under control. The Void is more uncontrollable than you think.
If you have already come into contact with the Abyss — I do not know what you would call the latter, perhaps plague, calamity, or something else, but the following phenomenon can basically confirm it: their prime material realm is a two-dimensional plane of unexplainable structure. This plane would attach to any place, including the surface of stars, and these things would then spread rapidly. The initial Abyssal infection would cause those who came into contact with it to become violent, equipment working abnormally, and accidents would occur frequently. In the later stages, the Abyssal infection would cause physical constants to become chaotic, and disasters would escalate exponentially until even space itself collapses. It is a rapid and irreversible process. If you have come into contact with such things and luckily escaped, I can now tell you its name: the Abyss.
Please record the following and keep it until you come into contact with a civilization that understands it. Before we started those insane research projects, we had received abnormal signals from the depths of the Abyss. Yes, we had ventured deep into the Abyssal Gate. It was a routine research mission on Abyssal phenomena, and scientists had sent a new type of unmanned submersible ship into the Abyssal Gate. It had advanced to a location no one had ever reached, and after the ship was destroyed by the Abyss, the recording device was successfully sent back to the Prime Material Plane. The recording device showed regular and significant signals.
These signals were not sent into the Abyss through any channel from the Prime Material Plane, and we eventually ascertained that the information came from the depths of the Abyss. Whatever existed there, it was trying to contact the Prime Material Plane.
The signals left us confused and unsettled. The Abyss had never shown such attributes, and even the creatures of the Abyss with the ability to think had never displayed such logic or rational behavior. It challenged our long-held fundamental worldview, and caused the Empire to initiate a large amount of advanced research. We were sure of one thing: to know what was at the bottom of the Abyss, the only way was to investigate it. We built primitive submersible ships and various probes, hoping to contact the voice at the bottom of the Abyss again, but everything was slow. In the end, we decided to borrow the power of the Void … "
What followed was a period of history that we were familiar with. In fact, the Empire had already initiated Project X and began large-scale research on Void knowledge, and the information the scientists had accidentally obtained from the bottom of the Abyss gave Project X a shot of adrenaline. The incident that Halland mentioned was not the cause of Project X, but it was the fuse that caused it to go out of control. The Abyss was of unprecedented significance to the Empire, and it could be said that 80% of the Xiling Empire's existence was to fight the Abyss, and now that they saw the opportunity to crack the secret of their ultimate enemy, they immediately became excited. Projects in Project X that were originally suspended due to excessive risk were restarted one after another, and the Shiring Apostles, motivated by hatred and fighting spirit, became fearsome. At the same time, Chief Scientist Ockham used the forbidden technology of Project X to create the first and last Deep Submersible Ship. This starship was based on the original Deep Submersible Ship, and it took a hundred years of research and construction to complete. It was the most advanced Deep Submersible Ship in the Old Empire, and it was once close to a certain "critical point" calculated by the scientists. This critical point was believed to be the furthest distance that could directly communicate with the bottom of the Abyss. Although the Deep Submersible Ship did not cross the critical point in the end, it successfully sent out a communication from the deepest position. That was the highest level of communication that the Old Empire's technology could achieve at its peak. Under normal circumstances, it was probably enough to broadcast to thousands of worlds, but in the depths of the Abyss, no one could say how far the signal could travel.
For a long time after that, the scientists of the Old Empire waited at every Gate of the Abyss, hoping to receive feedback from the bottom of the Abyss and contact the mysterious source of the signal. During this period, the Old Empire completed many seemingly brilliant technological achievements, but when they realized that they could not be used at all, they shelved them. They created the Crimson Moon Cube and built a psionic starship to preserve the cube. They tried to control the direction of the Void's evolution, hoping to use it like psionic energy. In an inexplicable encounter, they even lost the Deep Submersible Ship. Visca was responsible for that, but there was no way to pursue it, because not long after that, the disaster happened.
The "letter" that Halland left behind not only contained his own audio and video messages, but also a series of video clips and various graphics. It seemed that when he left these messages, he tried his best to condense everything about the Empire into these short ten minutes. After the last video clip ended, his image appeared in front of us again. "There is not much time left. I hope that the civilization that obtains this information can preserve it properly and spread it as much as possible. It would be best if you can spread it to the Protoss's country — that is, if you already have the ability to talk to them. Right now, all our networks and external interfaces have been heavily contaminated by the Abyss, and the territories of the Empire have become a destructive circle of infection and poison. Any attempt to communicate with the outside world in this situation may cause the Abyss to spread, and even endanger the gods. Our only hope is these border planets that have not yet been infected, and they are about to set off now. There are thousands of copies of this information, and I hope that at least one in a thousand of them can escape the disaster.
Halland? Croix? Levalette, it's over. "
The message ended, and only messy blue and white lines were left on the holographic projection.
Sandora was silent for a moment, and turned to ask Tawil's holographic projection, "Tawil, have you finished downloading the information?"
"I have finished saving it. There is actually not much information," Tawil replied quietly. "This is just a message."
"Compared to a pile of technological information, I think this message is more valuable. How are the Tree Elves doing? "
"There are already people who have awakened, but their memories have stopped at thousands to tens of thousands of years ago — depending on the date of their hibernation. Right now, these Tree Elves who have just awakened are very uneasy. Yes, the commotion is very obvious, and they are not like the vassal races of the old Empire. My subordinates are currently gathering the awakened Tree Elves, and we are preparing to send them to the mother planet. Lord Gaia has activated two ecological domes, and they should be able to help them recover faster. After that, I am afraid that it will take some time for them to understand the current situation. "
"Sis, go over and help." I nudged my elder sister. "Those Empire soldiers are not made for this."
My elder sister agreed, and before she left, she ruffled my hair. Her doting expression made me feel helpless. Shallow Shallow lay beside me, and placed her head on my arm. Her large eyes looked around before looking at me. After a while, she said, "Ah Jun, I'm not in a good mood."
"With that, the timeline is basically clear." Sandora turned off the projection device and leaned back on the chair. She lifted her head and looked at the sky. "This is a new discovery. We definitely wouldn't have thought of it before … Before the Deep Submersible Ship appeared, someone received an active communication request from the inside, and that was how the Empire's Project X went out of control. The Dark Abyss … What exactly is there?"
I rubbed my temples as I connected the events in chronological order. In the end, I formed a clear line: During the Empire's heyday, the Shiring Apostles initiated Project X to study the Void. In the beginning, although the project was bold, it was still controllable, and the scientists maintained the necessary rationality. After that, a new type of probe that was used to explore the Gate of the Dark Abyss returned, and it brought back a message from the depths of the Dark Abyss. After that, the scientists and rulers of the Empire were encouraged and accelerated the progress of Project X, and all the projects began to develop in a more extreme direction. The use of black technology was allowed, and the Crimson Moon Cube was built. Then, Ockham built the Deep Submersible Ship in an attempt to establish contact with the signal source at the depths of the Dark Abyss. There must have been many similar experiments at the same time. After that, Ockham's research army was attacked by Visca's rebel army, and the Deep Submersible Ship was destroyed. It seemed that the Empire was never able to build a second Deep Submersible Ship after that.
Then came the cataclysm. The Empire was silent for tens of thousands of years, until one day in 1990, a naughty child with a runny nose heard a voice at the entrance of an alley. The wheel of fate continued to move forward, and it fell into the ditch without looking back.
Ten years later, the New Empire was established.
"I suddenly remembered something. Ten years ago, I encountered an Abyss, hmm, a phenomenon similar to the Abyss." I slowly tapped my temple as I recalled my childhood memories in the walls of the Church of Life. "At that time, I heard a voice. We have always thought that it was a message sent by Ockham's Deep Submersible Ship. After echoing in the Dark Abyss for tens of thousands of years, it suddenly emerged from an abyssal crack on Earth. Now, I feel that there is something fishy about it."
Sandora nodded. She had already thought of some facts. "According to your memory and the log we obtained from the Deep Submersible Ship, the two sentences are actually different. You heard a different version."
"So, it was not the Deep Submersible Ship's voice, but something at the bottom of the Dark Abyss responding to the communication from the Deep Submersible Ship. It was answering us."
"Unfortunately, it was tens of thousands of years too late." Lin Xue's tone was rather rueful.
"Now, it's their turn to wait for a reply." Sandora suddenly revealed a strange smile. "What is at the bottom of the Dark Abyss? At first, we thought that it only received the broadcast from the Deep Submersible Ship and amplified it before sending it back. But now, the situation is almost the opposite. They were the first to send the message, and the Empire was the one who responded."
"Hey, did anyone think of something else?" Shallow Shallow's mind wandered for a few minutes before she suddenly snapped out of it. Something incredible seemed to have appeared in her magical little brain again. "Project X appeared normally before the Old Empire received the message from the Dark Abyss for the first time. It was only after the probe brought back the message that everything went out of control. I think, could it be that Project X was already influenced by the Dark Abyss at that time … using that message. The Dark Abyss was hidden in that message, and it has been lurking ever since, slowly influencing Project X and those scientists. In the final experiment, the Void directly decayed into the Super Abyss. Perhaps it was the seed hidden in that message that finally sprouted."
When Shallow Shallow said that, I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but I felt that her tone was a little eerie.
What she said was believable, and that was that the Dark Abyss could really be hidden in that message and stored in the probe's database. Then, when someone else read the database, it would contaminate the Empire's scientists. After all, it could contaminate anything known, and no one in the Void could be a hundred percent immune to the Dark Abyss.
"That's impossible." Sandora shook her head. "Do you know how many security barriers there are in the Empire? If it really was hidden in that message, it would have been destroyed the moment the probe's data core was retrieved. Furthermore, it had been lurking in the mental network of so many scientists for so long. That's even more impossible. "
"But it was sent from the bottom of the Dark Abyss." Shallow Shallow reminded us. "No one has ever gone near that place. Who knows if the Dark Abyss would be cunning enough to disguise itself as a peace ambassador or something."
We felt goosebumps all over our bodies. Shallow Shallow, this little brat. Her brain was usually running off on a tangential path, but when she occasionally thought about a normal question, she could miraculously hit the nail on the head. If her guess was right, then the Empire back then was actually destroyed by a single message?
"Err, Your Majesty, I'm afraid I have something to report." Tawil's projection suddenly interrupted. Her main body was far away working on the database while this projection stayed here to report to us. "We have just found a message from the database. It was the message they received from the bottom of the Dark Abyss, and … it's the original."
In an instant, the atmosphere around us became even more chilling.
"There." Shallow Shallow raised her hand weakly. "It's in our hands now."
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