The research ship had reached the bottom of the eye of the storm. There was a powerful and chaotic energy field here, and unsurprisingly, there was a strong Abyss reaction here.
The power of the Abyss and psionic energy mixed together, maintaining a fragile but seemingly never-ending dynamic balance as long as it wasn't broken. The result of two extremes of Order and non-Order clashing with each other was like a tenacious anti-virus software running into a virus that was hiding in the background. Both sides forced each other into an endless loop, and the scene before us was this completely uncontrollable energy storm. The self-purification ability of psionic energy caused it to repel the Abyss, and the Abyss constantly caused psionic energy to show the same chaotic tendencies as itself. The end of the world had destroyed everything orderly in this universe, and only these two things, which were beyond the scope of the world's understanding, were still fighting endlessly after the end of the world. The research ship's shields had reached their peak, and we were now struggling to advance through the storm. Due to the severe spatial distortion, the ship's path was no longer "flat" that could be explained by mathematical laws, so we were advancing very slowly. Not only that, none of the warp devices could be activated. But overall, everything was going smoothly. The damage to the spaceship from the energy field at the bottom of the storm was controlled to an ideal level. This type of research ship was specially designed to work in dangerous environments, also known as the Frontline Fortress Laboratory. After sacrificing weapons and tactical systems, it had an abnormally reliable defense. Also, that mad scientist Tawil had a crazy attitude and installed a specialized shield for submersible ships that had just completed mass production on this research ship. This was a great help. The greatest threat to us at the bottom of the storm wasn't the rampaging psionic energy, but the active Abyss. Without a targeted shield, ordinary spaceships wouldn't be able to last long here. This was also why I had chosen to have Research Ship No.2 descend. It was the only research ship that had been specially modified, and it seemed that a thorough plan had worked.
"There seems to be a small problem with the fourth shield generator. Its strength is fluctuating by more than 3%. Replace the spare units. The ship's self-repair system has been activated … The situation is improving. The mainframe has strengthened the monitoring of all shields to prevent infiltration."
"This is the lower reactor. We have switched to output mode. The energy grid is increasing. It is estimated to last for 30 minutes."
"This is the third propulsion team. The alarm has been lifted. We can accelerate again."
"This is the R&D Division. We have successfully retrieved the sampler probe and are currently analyzing the structure of the energy field in the bottom zone of the storm."
The command hall of the research airship was bustling with activity. The information in all levels of channels was refreshed at a dazzling speed. The holographic images around the hall mostly showed the outside of the airship. The dark-red storm was now almost in a chaotic state. Dark clouds that made people feel disgusted would occasionally appear. In some images that flashed by, there were even strange pure black two-dimensional patterns. All these signs indicated that we were approaching the Gate of the Chaos Abyss. To be more precise, we were approaching the "final restraint zone" where the Gate of the Chaos Abyss and the storm came into contact. After passing through this restraint zone, the research airship would escape from the storm. However, we would enter an even more dangerous place: the "harbor" where the old Empire had conducted deep diving, which might have already become some sort of Gate of the Chaos Abyss.
However, the people present were basically very relaxed, and there wasn't much pressure. After all, we had two Void Creatures overseeing us, and one of them was an unknown Level. Level Elite. As an Level Elite. My Father God was quite interested as he observed the work being done in the command center. He then exclaimed to me, "It looks quite impressive. You've actually created a special defensive shield against the Chaos Abyss so early on. Back in the day, we spent … well, it should have taken a long time before we had a Divine Art with similar functions."
"Godfather, don't underestimate those so-called scientists in the research center." A beautiful loli with silver hair that touched the ground and blood-red eyes paced to and fro as she looked around. She didn't forget to mutter, "Those fellows are basically lunatics. They don't play by the rules at all. As long as it's something that you can think of, they're willing to research it seriously. I don't know what they don't dare to experiment. I remember seeing Tawil's report on Chen's table once. In order to research the dynamic equilibrium extremity of the Gate of the Chaos Abyss, they smashed planets near the Gate of the Chaos Abyss by the dozen. When the Gate of the Chaos Abyss explodes out of control, they cut off a piece of the contaminated area and threw it into the void. That's how they accumulated their data …"
Godfather was stunned. "… What if it explodes?"
"They destroy the entire universe. After all, there's no one in the research center. Those scientists who aren't afraid of death basically don't count themselves in the list of potential casualties. If they retreat, they write a research report. If they die in there, they wait for someone else to write a research report. At the same time, they can write a research report themselves. They think it's a good deal …"
I finally couldn't take it anymore and pressed down on the head of this big "loli". "It's not that exaggerated, alright?"
She slapped my hand away and stared at me with her blood-red eyes. "Either way, it's about the same. I really admire them. Their spirit of not caring about their lives is just as awesome as mine. Also, don't touch my head. Do you think you can treat any woman below 1.3 meters tall as your own loli? Don't you know that the person standing in front of you is a mature woman? "
I was speechless. I almost forgot that this person in front of me, who looked like she was only half a Jingle taller than Pandora, was actually a female pervert whose chest armor was so thick that it almost defied logic. Her mouth was full of vulgarities and she even dared to smash the door of the Pantheon temple with a meteor hammer. I still couldn't accept this setting!
"Say, how long do you intend to play?" I glanced sideways at Icetis, who had shrunk herself, and was using her hands and feet to climb onto the chair. "Also, why didn't you shrink the length of your hair according to the scale?"
Icetis' ankle-length hair was basically her trademark. Apart from being very eye-catching, it was also one of the few feminine traits of this female pervert apart from her chest armor. In my memory, only Ola had hair that was as long as hers. Yep, there was also a naturally naive bishop named Laura. Normally, it would be somewhat pleasing to the eye. But now that Icetis had shrunk to this size and her hair hadn't shrunk at all, it was rather comical. The floor was wiped exceptionally clean by her, and her hair kept getting tangled up in all sorts of things because it was dragging on the floor …
"What do you know? Don't you think my beautiful hair is very seductive?" Icetis used her hair to wrap herself up like a dumpling, leaving only her head outside. "Do you believe that I can slap you to the point that you can't take care of yourself with my rotation speed of 7200 km/s?"
I was speechless. So, in the mind of this female pervert, this was how seductive was interpreted?
Based on my estimation, Icetis should have fallen into a new state of frenzy. She had countless frenzy modes, and the one in front of me might be one of them. Under normal circumstances, no one would be able to stop her at this moment. Even my father would only chuckle at the side, so it was better for me not to bicker with her. Also, how should I put it, even though her temper was a little explosive, Sister Icetis in her loli form was quite interesting. It was unexpectedly comical, especially when Shallow Shallow took the opportunity when she wasn't paying attention to go to the back of the chair and tie this female pervert's hair together with the chair …
At the end of the day, Sister Icetis was just a little dumb. She didn't walk the same path as Shallow Shallow, this kind of weird girl who could destroy half the sky with a flash of inspiration …
At this moment, the synthesized voice of the ship's mainframe rang out in the command hall, diverting my attention away from the enraged female pervert and the carefree young lady who was laughing without a care in the world (I also attracted their attention at the same time). "Attention, this ship has reached the critical point. There is a high level of Abyss pollution in front of us. The ship's stability system has decreased. All personnel, prepare for level 2 impact resistance. Impact is imminent — 3, 2, 1, crossing the boundary!"
At the same time as the voice of the broadcast ended, a violent tremor swept through the entire hall.
This was an impact caused by the intense Abyss pollution suddenly affecting the ship's stability equipment, causing the system to go haywire. From a technical point of view, it was a phenomenon that couldn't be resolved or prevented. However, the ship itself was equipped with equipment that could withstand such an impact. Thus, the impact would only last for a few seconds. After that, the ship would be able to adapt to the environment and activate and reset various protective equipment in response to the pollution. Very quickly, the violent tremors gradually subsided, and the sirens in their ears also gradually weakened. The various flashing red devices returned to normal after a few self-checks. The crew in the ship began to work as if nothing had happened. The ship's mainframe began to report the damage caused by the direct crossing of the contaminated area: light damage, a set of redundant shield generators overloaded and burned, and the number four propulsion unit shut down, but it quickly restarted. A high-level technician reported to us, "We have safely crossed the critical point. This ship is now in the absolute polluted zone. The defense system is on full power. The entire ship has entered the highest security control mode."
"Reaching here is equivalent to having one foot in the Abyss." I sat up from my chair. The shrunken version of Icetis next to me smashed a brick on her chair into pieces. Her silky silver hair was tossed around like seaweed. "Look, it really is the Abyss Gate!"
On the holographic screen that showed the actual scene outside the airship, a pitch-black, circular shadow occupied nearly three-fifths of the area. It was so dark that even darkness itself seemed to be devoured by this shadow. This was an active Dimensional Gate of the Chaos Abyss. Outside this "Dimensional Gate", we saw ancient psionic suppression equipment. Arrays of psionic towers floated around the Dimensional Gate of the Chaos Abyss, firmly confining the latter's contamination in … yep, most of it was confined in the shadow. This was the scene less than a few hundred meters below the research ship. Above the research ship, a huge dark red vortex spun crazily, almost sticking close to our shields. The chaotic energy that emanated from the vortex triggered layers of unpredictable light curtains on the research ship's shields. Just looking at this scene for a few seconds made one feel an unprecedented sense of oppression and fear of being swallowed. The current location of the research ship was in the extremely narrow collision zone between the energy storm and the Abyss Gate. This area was less than a kilometer thick. All the dynamic balance was centered here. After the end of the world, the remaining fragments of the universe were maintained by this mere thousand-meter thick balance.
"Oh, it looks like the stability isn't optimistic." An arrogant and domineering voice sounded in my ear. I turned to look and the first thing that came into view was a pair of seven-foot … female hooligans. Alright, it wasn't that I wasn't mentally strong, it was just that this b * tch was too eye-catching. The big loli who used her hair to wipe the floor with her mouth full of vulgarities and jumping up and down was gone. It was replaced by this big-breasted domineering woman who could wear an evening gown and fight with people on the streets. I was stunned. "Ha, you changed your appearance again?"
"There's definitely something wrong with your girlfriend's brain." Sister Bing tried to change the topic. Then, she pointed at the Gate of the Abyss that was displayed in the holographic projection. "Look, the equipment that your Empire installed back then is still working."
Around the Gate of the Abyss, in the chaotic space, the most obvious thing was the large number of neatly arranged towers. They were the suppression towers that the scientists of the Empire who were stationed in this universe had set up for their deep diving experiments. Half of them had been extinguished, destroyed, or even collapsed, leaving behind only a single pedestal. However, the remaining suppression towers were still working miraculously. No one could explain how these ancient facilities could still function after tens of thousands of years. More importantly, tens of thousands of years after the destruction of the Empire. Perhaps their special security level had allowed them to escape the disaster that had swept through the Empire's mental network.
"Oh …" Shallow Shallow dragged her voice. "It looks similar to the towers that Tawil had installed beside the deep submersible harbor. It should be the real deal, right? Should we dismantle one and bring it back? Tawil would love it. "
I nodded. "Dismantle it!"
This was one of the reasons why we were here. Among the most important research projects in the Empire, the Deep Diving Project was undoubtedly the most important one. Other than investigating the details of the Old Empire's Deep Diving Project, our main goal here was to see if there were any old Empire facilities that we could dismantle and bring back for research. The New Empire's Deep Diving Equipment was an emergency replica created by Tawil based on the blueprint of the Deep Diving Ship. Our main technology tree had yet to be fully restored, not to mention the Deep Diving Technology, which was something that the Old Empire had yet to fully understand. Therefore, when we heard that the Protoss might have discovered a Deep Diving Project test site in the Old Empire, other than Sandora and I, Tawil was the most excited. She submitted a research report and follow-up project application that was more than thirty thousand words long. In summary, it could be summed up in one sentence: Dismantle everything that can be dismantled.
Unfortunately, there were not many valuable things left in this world. The workstation was basically an empty shell. At most, we could collect half a ton of sand and let Tawil try to see if he could sift out the EN-166 sample from it. As for the rest, we could probably dismantle two suppression towers next to the Gate of the Abyss.
A few groups of specially-equipped engineering probes rushed out of the research ship's ejection port and rushed toward the nearest abandoned psionic suppression tower. These engineering probes were the upgraded variants of ordinary autonomous robots. They used the 'three-skinned face shield' similar to the deep submersible ship against the abyss, but due to extreme miniaturization and power limitations, the effect was certainly not as good as the mothership. As soon as they left the protection of the research ship, the probes began to burst into sparks and entered a state of continuous damage. The sparks were partly due to the overload of the probes' shields, and partly due to the influence of the abyss, their parts were gradually self-destructing. But this was normal. Only the core of these little robots could be reused, and all the peripherals on them were single-use equipment. After all, those things were in direct contact with the abyss.
"From the scene, the Gate of the Abyss must have exploded once." I pointed to the psionic suppression towers on the screen, which were obviously destroyed by an internal explosion. "These towers self-destructed, but the suppression towers did not have a self-destruct function. But the Gate of the Abyss should have been suppressed before it could completely explode. The remaining suppression towers were successfully restarted. It's a pity that the spaceport during the deep dive has been destroyed. Otherwise, we might have been able to find some more useful technical information. "
"Well, today's harvest is big enough." Icetis sat on the console with her legs crossed. "That EN-166 is not enough for you? I just want to go back, take a bath, and sleep — "
Just then, the voice of the ship's mainframe suddenly interrupted the female rogue. "Warning, the engineering probes are under attack. I repeat, the engineering probes are under attack."
"What's going on?" I immediately poked my head out of the officer's console and asked loudly. The team in charge of monitoring the engineering probes immediately sent their surveillance footage to the officer's console. The person in charge sounded confused. "Your Majesty, the … autonomous robots have been attacked by this thing. Should we prepare to fight back?"
The footage of the engineering probes being attacked appeared. A group of us immediately gathered around and were dumbfounded at the same time. There wasn't the enraged Abyss that we had expected, nor were there the sentry cannons that had gone out of control or the probes that had self-destructed. There was only a crooked, tattered … autonomous robot, or something that looked like an autonomous robot. It looked to be three times bigger than the probes that it was attacking. There were traces of repair and modification all over its body. A normal autonomous robot would have a round body and a variety of symmetrically distributed working arms, but this one looked like it was pieced together from three or four autonomous robots. This strange thing had signs of damage all over its body. Two of its working arms were broken, and the paint on its body was completely blurred. Even the core components in its body were faintly discernible. This thing was now "attacking" our probes. Two of its working arms had beam blades that were used for low-energy cutting, and they were patiently slicing at the shields of the probes next to it. This kind of low-energy cutting blade had no effect on strengthening shields, but it was unfazed. It continued to "fight" leisurely. Its remaining working arms weren't idle either. They were rhythmically hitting the other autonomous robots that were trying to get closer to the suppression tower because of the mission objective. It looked like … it was using a fly swatter to deal with armored vehicles.
Everyone was speechless.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
