"I might have spoken to 'that lord' of yours," I said to Halland as I woke up from my memories.
The old Emperor in front of me widened his eyes when he heard that. His expression froze as he stared at me. Just as I was about to punch him, Halland finally reacted, "You said that you've been in contact with 'that lord'?!"
I sighed. I suddenly felt that the person in front of me was probably the most unlucky person I knew. "In fact, before you invaded the Empire's border, which was probably when you and your army suddenly lost their sanity, I had been in contact with an unknown person. I only heard her voice. At first, I thought that she came from another place. It wasn't until you provided some information that I realized that she might be your boss behind the scenes. That voice traveled through the void and spoke to me for a few minutes … or maybe even longer. When I entered the void, I couldn't sense the flow of time. That voice said a lot of inexplicable things, mostly that she was interested in me. I also remembered that she mentioned something at the end: In order to communicate with the Void Creatures, she was suffering losses at every moment. If the losses she was talking about were you guys, then everything could be explained. "
Halland didn't have much information. He still didn't know that the boss behind the Fallen Apostles was actually a collective consciousness. Thus, he was a little baffled by my deduction. He raised his doubts, "How can you be sure that the voice is' that lord '? Is it just because the time is close? Or is it just because my army showed signs of having a direct mental connection with the Void Creatures not long ago? "
"Do you know that the 'lord' that you speak of doesn't actually exist in the real world?" I threw out a heavy question.
As I expected, Halland was stunned. "What do you mean? You said that 'there' is currently being controlled by a spiritual being? "
"It's even more unbelievable than a spiritual being. Many races that have mastered information network technology have created similar life forms, but the apostles have created the most powerful one," I said. Suddenly, I snapped my fingers and said, "Schilling, come over here."
Schilling was everywhere. As long as there was a place covered by the Empire's information network, it was the super consciousness's backyard. She could hear all calls to her within the network's coverage, and she could also upload and download herself to any place in the network's coverage. In fact, it was a little inaccurate to say that Schilling was "everywhere". Strictly speaking, her main body was the entire area covered by the network, and there was no concept of "being" or "not being". Schilling's main body was as large as thousands of worlds, and we, the creatures of the real world, lived under her "shadow". Rather than saying that she teleported to a certain place, it would be more accurate to say that she chose a coordinate in her "body" and created a temporary interface in front of us, the creatures trapped in the real world.
Every time Schilling appeared, she would change her appearance. Her slow response to the real world caused her to forget how she looked like. Basically, she would forget how she looked like when she slept. From this point of view, the small tag that Shallow Shallow prepared for her was really useful. Without this thing, I might not have been able to recognize that the girl in front of me, who looked like a foreign princess, was Schilling.
"Her name is Schilling," I pointed at Schilling and introduced her to Halland. "In theory, she is the same lifeform as the boss behind the Fallen Apostle, but she is slightly weaker and is under control. Schilling, this is Halland. You should have her information. "
The blonde girl gave a military salute to Halland happily, but her tone was not as serious as her military salute. "Hello, I know you. You are node HF-35S1-S57-CXEE15. Halland? Croix? Your Majesty Levalette, welcome home. I am Schilling. " After greeting her, the young girl's attention quickly shifted. She happily ran to the counter and called out to the silver mole. "Sylvia! I also want dessert! I want the black one with chocolate on it. Tawil likes it! "
There should have already been people who realized the greatest difference between Schilling and ordinary apostles: She might salute the emperor, but that was because someone taught her to do so, as well as because of a certain order. However, in her own perspective, there was no difference between all apostles. To her, Halland was first a string of numbers and letters as a node number, second was the name of a real creature, and finally, she was Emperor Schilling. The reason for this was simple: The 'network node' of the Shiring Apostles was the only one that wouldn't change as their authority or power increased. The only significance of this node to Schilling was that it provided an 'AND/NO' gate. She couldn't distinguish the difference between the countless nodes that made up her. An LCD TV that cost over ten thousand and a table lamp that cost a few tens of thousand, their plugs were basically a few pieces of copper and a lump of plastic. With this explanation, it was easy to understand …
I turned to Halland. "Did you feel anything?"
"I … am not too sure …" Halland stared at Schilling's back in a daze. "I can't feel her identification information. She should be a Shiring Apostles, but her identification code isn't open to anyone? Her authority is even higher than the emperor's? "
"It requires some technical means to access Schilling's identification code. You can't read it directly. You don't have that much processing power. Her body is scattered throughout the entire spiritual network." I waved at Schilling, who was waiting for the snacks to be ready. I called her over. "Do you know how to send documents to ordinary apostles through the network? Try to send something to Halland. Anything will do. "
Schilling thought for a while and sent the price list from Sylvia's shop. Halland's expression changed as expected.
"Do you usually receive instructions from 'that lord' using this kind of coding and forwarding rules?" I asked.
Halland nodded slowly. "For a moment, I even thought it was … This kind of coding and transmission method is unbelievable. It completely bypasses the existing communication protocol. There's no way to trace the source of the information, and there's no way to find its forwarding track. It's as though the information comes from the Shiring Apostles' network itself and not from a specific sender."
"Schilling is a collective consciousness. She is indeed the spiritual network itself. The 'lord' that you speak of is also one."
I explained everything about Schilling to Halland. After understanding this unique life form, he naturally understood why his old boss needed to sacrifice a large number of spiritual nodes to communicate with the Void Creatures. Finally, our topic returned to 'that lord'. "So, according to my judgment, the boss behind the Fallen Apostles treated you as consumables or buffers in order to communicate with me. She is essentially just a spirit individual living in the network. If she doesn't create an interactive interface like Schilling, she can only communicate with the outside world in a completely unprotected form. You can imagine what it would be like if all the firewalls in the spiritual network were to be turned off. The information disturbance of the Void Creatures is a fatal poison to the will of the Abyss. I believe that in just a few minutes of communication, the 'Abyss Faction Schilling' on the other side had almost used up all the nodes she used as buffers — in other words, you. She ended the communication in a hurry. "
Halland was stunned for a while. Suddenly, he smiled bitterly and shook his head. "So that's the situation. We've actually been controlled by our own spiritual network? Well, that makes sense. If you view her as the consciousness of the Shiring Apostles, she does have the right to do so. "
The old emperor was somewhat self-deprecating. I didn't continue on this topic. Now, I could basically confirm that the one who suddenly contacted me was the ruler behind the scenes of the Fallen Apostles. Now, I was faced with an unprecedented unsolved mystery.
Why did she do that?
I thought about it and felt that the other party definitely wasn't looking for me for psychological advice …
"I can't give you an answer to that." Halland heard my doubts and spread her hands helplessly. "I can only say that the 'Lord' definitely has her own plans. Everything she does has a goal, but no one knows what exactly she wants to do. She only gives orders. We can occasionally deduce some plans from these orders, but most of the things, only the 'Lord' herself knows."
"No matter what, sacrificing one of her military giants and her entire army just to communicate with the Void Creature for a few minutes doesn't seem to be worth it." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as I shook my head. "This is the highest appearance fee I've ever received in my entire life …"
Halland gritted her teeth and looked at me. "Your appearance fee is mine!"
I replied, "… Alright, let's not talk about this. In any case, you were betrayed by your own boss. However, I feel that the Chaos Faction's Schilling isn't an idiot. Even if she betrayed her teammates, she should have gotten a good price for it. What do you think she gained from talking to a Void Creature for a few minutes?"
Halland reached out her hand and drew circles on the table. It was as though she was using this small action to help her think. "If you think about the worst, she might have been able to temporarily hack into the Empire's network to steal information or try to understand the weakness of the Void Creature. If you think about the worst, she might have used this connection to leave something in the Empire's network or in your spiritual world, like a spy program."
I blinked. "Why is it only bad and worse? There's nothing else?"
"Of course there is." Halland laughed. "There's still the worst —"
"… I feel that you're a little pessimistic."
Halland waved her hand nonchalantly. "Being pessimistic is a good thing. You can only prepare for the best if you think about the worst. The worst situation would be: 'Milord's' plan is close to succeeding. Her plan doesn't require too many people to stay behind. So, some of her disobedient subordinates will be thrown out to be sacrificed. You can imagine that on the battlefield, an army that is about to return home after a victory would casually throw away the surplus ammunition and temporary reinforcements. This is common sense. "
I immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Halland was right. Apart from the worst and worse, there was also the worst thing. If the Chaos Faction's Schilling felt that she had the upper hand and completely didn't see the Empire as a threat, then sacrificing a few million nodes wouldn't be a big deal!
Halland seemed to be a hardliner in the circle of the Fallen Apostles. That was why she was treated as a sacrificial pawn by the Chaos Faction's Schilling. How should I put it? Using a line from a chuunibyou, I have already forged a kingdom of heaven. Only the most loyal servants can follow me. Halland obviously didn't meet the standard.
There was still room for dealing with the worst situation and even worse situation. But if it was the worst situation, it would be too late to do anything. The Fallen Apostles' "great cause" was just around the corner!
"The above are all guesses," Halland consoled me. "Although I can't remember the details of the" great cause, "I have a feeling that it won't be realized so soon. In my memory, our operations regarding the" great cause "have been stuck in a stalemate for a long time. 'Milord' seems to be trying to break through some technical bottleneck. Until I left, there were no signs of a breakthrough in this technical bottleneck. Furthermore, I clearly remember that she had other plans after the Protoss's expedition began. Although a thousand years is short, there are still many things that can be done."
I grimaced in pain and waved my hand. This was truly the rhythm of things falling from the sky. "Alright, let's end this topic here. Let's put the situation with the Fallen Apostles aside for now. Now, let's talk about you. What are your plans for the future? "
"Plans?" Halland was stunned for a moment. Then, she smiled and nodded. "You want me to do something, right? You're the leader here. Tell me. "
"Then I'll say it clearly. The Abyss Apostles within the borders of the Empire have already formed an organization. I need an experienced supreme commander. Visca is out of the question. She can't even be bothered to command her own army of generals. Her personality is completely like that of a child. That's why I want you to help me manage the Abyss Independent Regiment. The size of this regiment is roughly equivalent to a regular main army. There are also some miscellaneous units that we have seized from 'the other side'. I can tell you clearly that their organization is in such a mess that even I can't bear to look at it. It's a complete and utter mess. "
I directly explained the situation of the Abyss Independent Regiment to Halland. In any case, he would definitely notice the problem as soon as he took over. Instead of making him anxious at that time, it would be better to give him a heads-up now. When communicating with the Shiring Apostles, there was no need to beat around the bush. They wouldn't fall for it.
I waited expectantly for Halland's reaction.
"I've thought about it." Halland deliberately paused for a few seconds before saying unhurriedly, "If I'm not wrong, I will still bring my former soldiers when I return. They should have all been taken away from me by you, right?"
I said, "… That's a good summary."
"Such a big detour …" Halland's expression was a little subtle. However, he still nodded happily. "I agree. Is there anything better than letting an old general lead his former soldiers?"
I let out a long breath. I stole a glance at Sylvia, who was humming a tune behind the counter and wiping the table. I thought to myself, They're both emperors, but why is there such a huge difference in their sense of responsibility?
After that, we talked about Halland as the supreme commander and the position of the Abyss Independent Regiment. First, I explained to him the current ruling structure of the Empire. Due to various reasons, the new Empire temporarily stopped implementing the old Empire's celestial system. There was only one celestial region in the entire Empire, and it was jointly governed by all the emperors and supreme generals of the Empire. Secondly, we followed the old Empire's military council system. The Empire's head of state, the supreme generals, and the lower-level advisors formed the Imperial Army. They commanded the armies according to the authority tree. The Shiring Apostles who were the supreme generals and above had their own armies. For example, Pandora and Visca's General Guards, Sandora and I's Royal Fleet, and so on. This army was the only one commanded by a corresponding commander. Other than that, the regular armies of the Empire were under the command of the military. The emperor still had the highest authority, but in the absence of the emperor's orders, the army commanders could mobilize their own troops in an emergency.
Halland would retain the emperor's authority, but he would be responsible for fewer things. He would focus on the construction of the Abyss Independent Regiment, as well as the construction of territories for the Abyss Apostles. Now that the latter was established, I felt that it was time to create a universe suitable for them to live in in the Empire. After all, the Abyss troops had a special "nature." If they were to stay with normal races for a long time, they would inevitably affect them. This wasn't something that could be controlled by humans.
In short, these things that were about to be built independently needed a clear person in charge, and this person had to have enough authority. Halland was quite suitable.
"I thought that I would be able to relax a little and become an army commander or something." Halland seemed a little regretful when she heard my arrangements. "So you're also responsible for building your own house?"
"Don't even think about retiring." I chuckled dryly. "In theory, there are currently five emperors in the Empire, including you. But look, Belavilla is schizophrenic for twenty hours a day. The rest of the time, she only cares about training magical girls. My sister has already removed the emperor's authority. She prefers to stay at home and take care of the children. The only ones who are truly in charge are me and Sandora. If you remove the emperor's authority, three-fifths of the members of the new Empire's Emperor Council will go on strike …"
"… Although that's not wrong, why does your 'three-fifths' statement sound so strange?"
"If your entire clan only had three people, sooner or later, you would also be able to master the technique of using numbers as a point of contention."
“？”
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.
