Shadow Space, Mother Planet, Gaia.
In order to maintain the ecological environment, this custom-made planet also had the same seasonal alternation as a natural planet. Currently, the northern hemisphere of Gaia was in the middle of winter, where vegetation was withering. Cold air from the Arctic Circle passed through the Arctic Ocean Annulus and two narrow continental mountain ranges, causing a constant cold wind to blow over 70% of the northern hemisphere. As the largest body of water in the northern hemisphere, the North Sea was directly connected to the Arctic Ocean Annulus. A continuous glacier that was thousands of kilometers long extended from the Arctic Circle all the way to the depths of the North Sea. This continuous glacier would last from winter to spring for nearly half a year on the mother planet. It would only gradually melt after the northern hemisphere's summer arrived and shrink back to the Arctic region. Now was the peak of the glacier. Standing at the edge of the glacier, there was a boundless deep blue ocean in front of him, and what he saw when he looked back was a boundless ice continent that stretched all the way to the extreme. Below his feet was an ice cliff that was shaking nonstop, as if it would collapse at any moment. Countless huge floating ice near the glacier formed a moving archipelago that could last for months. Under the influence of the ocean current, they set off from the warmer depths of the North Sea all the way to this thousand-kilometer glacier, continuously crashing into the solid ice cliff beneath our feet. Every impact brought about a tremor and a loud roar, as if the shattered ice was swept into the air by the strong wind, splashing out like a snowstorm. Occasionally, sharp icicles would fall from the large glacier and fall into the sea, causing a huge wave, but each impact still brought greater growth to the glacier. Impact, tremble, shatter, grow — this glacier that stretched from the North Pole to here grew in such a thrilling way. After half a month, it would completely reach its peak. By then, it would extend another hundred kilometers forward, until the very front of the glacier could almost see the ecological control station of the northern continent from afar.
Under the glacier, the bottom of the ocean was slowly moving. The modular planet's crust was driven by a power device, forming a weak but stable whirlpool to prepare for the upcoming funeral.
The Royal Guards of the Empire lined up on the glacier, forming a fan shape facing the north, silently confronting the cold wind. Two royal guard ships with golden decorations lined up in the air in front of the glacier, as if they were guarding an invisible path to heaven between them. A medium-sized transport ship was anchored on the northern layer of ice, the blue indicator light projected by the anti-gravity device forming a hazy light fog in the water vapor directly below it. A huge light beam shot out from the front of the transport ship, passing through the air space between the two guard ships until it disappeared at the end of the sky. Even though it was daytime in the northern hemisphere, the light beam was dazzling in the sky.
At the very front of the glacier, there were hundreds of dark blue egg-shaped sealed pods lined up. At a glance, it looked like a graveyard.
A small group of people stood about ten meters behind the sealed pods: me, my sister, Sandora, Halland, Belavilla who was temporarily awake, and twelve solemn-looking ancestors dressed in ancient Schilling military uniforms.
These twelve people were all the ancestors who had been resurrected. Not a single one of them was left standing there. These were all the ancestors that had been resurrected after Tawil had done his best and taken all measures, with the help of countless Life Goddesses. The oldest among them was a white-haired old man like Anthus, and the youngest was a couple — they had just gotten married before the ark crashed. And in the hundreds of sealed pods in front of us were the other ark crew members who could not be resurrected. Now that all the resurrection experiments had ended, we had followed our agreement with Anthus and prepared a funeral for the ancestors who could not be resurrected. It was to be held on the northern glacier of our home planet, Gaia.
The Shiring Apostles had been away from their home planet for too long, and they knew nothing about the funeral rituals of their home planet. This information had not been inputted into the original body's memories, so today's funeral was carried out under the guidance of Anthus and the other ancestors. But after all, we were still a civilization of the same origin. Even the mortal Schilling people had a very simple funeral ritual. Now that the sealed pods containing the ancestors' remains were placed at the edge of the glacier, it was time to bid them farewell.
"In the name of our home planet and our ancestors, I, Anthus, the last captain of the Tenth Ark, hereby bid farewell to my compatriots who are about to leave this ark." Anthus stood quietly at the front of the line, his body no longer young but straight in the cold wind. His deep voice echoed throughout the entire glacier. "My crew, the helmsman, pilots, guards, navigators, and protectors of the ark, I am your captain."
"You have left your homeland for countless years. The spark of civilization has set sail from our home planet, and it has never been extinguished in your hands.
The ark has crossed the void, and there is no turning back. You who bear the name of Schilling have experienced countless hardships and have never stopped.
Now, as the captain of the ark, I will tell you that our glorious civilization has survived. It has taken root in this distant and unfamiliar land, and now it has grown into a towering tree. Everything we once wanted to preserve now stands proudly here, strong, healthy, unafraid of challenges, indestructible. Our names are still written by our descendants, and they are engraved in the void, echoing across millions of worlds. The prairie fire has been ignited, and no storm can extinguish it.
But the Abyss is still there, and the enemies who once destroyed our homeland are still there. They lurk in the depths of the void, eyeing all the universes of order. Our vengeance has not been avenged, and the anger of the living cannot be quelled. The war against our mortal enemies continues, and it has spread across all worlds.
But my crew, you need not worry. The young soldiers have taken up the weapons of their ancestors. They carry the names of their ancestors on their backs, and now they fear no war. The long exile is over, and the children are organizing a campaign to fight back. Veterans, you can now leave in peace.
My crew, the ark's engines have been extinguished, and this long journey is over.
My crew, your work is done, and the difficult years are over.
Here, you are at the resting place of your new home.
So now disembark in peace, my crew. The ark's mission is complete …
You are home. "
All the frigates and all the defense facilities on the planet's surface rang a shrill alarm. The alarm rang across the entire planet. There was no military band, no dirge. The sirens of the warships and positions were the only music that the Shiring Apostles needed before the endless war of vengeance ended. Hundreds of millions of years had passed, and there had been countless tumultuous inheritances that had almost been wiped out. This deafening alarm was the only thing that had never changed. From the first time it was blared on the primordial mother planet, it had resounded in the hearts of every Xi Ling person, regardless of whether they were Xi Ling people or Xi Ling apostles.
"Salute the ancestors, and send them off!"
The moment Sandora spoke, the current five emperors of the Empire (including the former emperor's sister) saluted at the same time, followed by the hundreds of high-ranking commanders on the glacier, and finally all the royal guards at the scene. The airtight cabins broke away from their fixed bases with a loud roar, and rose into the air with the help of the anti-gravity device. They arrived outside the glacier, and then silently fell into the endless darkness below.
They would be safely brought to the bottom of the ocean by the whirlpool, and forever buried deep in the thick crust of the homeworld, Gaia. They didn't need graves or tombstones, they just needed a place to rest in the name of Schilling, undisturbed by the abyss.
The roaring alarm weakened the moment the airtight cabins fell into the ocean, and gradually stopped. The slanted beam of light in the sky dissipated into the air as the alarm stopped. Anthus turned around, his expression calm, or perhaps he had just regained his composure. The old captain nodded at us and said, "It's over. Let them rest well."
"Do you need me to send you …" Anthus interrupted Sandora halfway through her sentence. Anthus waved his hand at her and said, "It's fine. Let us go back on our own, and don't let any guards follow us. Just treat it as giving us old fellows a chance to be willful."
The ancestors walked into the teleportation portal to return to the City of Shadows, and the royal guards retreated and began to teleport away. I let out a long breath, and suddenly shook my head in a self-deprecating manner. "At first, I was wondering if it was appropriate for me to join them, but I was thinking too much …"
"So, what kind of nonsense are you talking about?" Sandora tilted her head and glanced at me. "You are the one who stands at the forefront of the Empire. You can't have such messy thoughts."
"I'm going back to work," Halland, who was walking at the back, suddenly said. "The first Abyss Starport will be in trial production in a few days. I have to personally supervise it during this period of time. I can't let the ancestors down."
"I'm leaving too," Belavilla waved her hand, and opened a teleportation portal beside her. "I have to switch back to rest immediately. Tomorrow, I have to go to the Celestial City to discuss with Alleria about the expansion. It will be troublesome if I overexert myself."
In the blink of an eye, there were only three emperors left. Among them, the elder sister was still a figurehead who couldn't manage anything. Sandora and I looked at each other and said, "Looks like you're all full of energy. Should we go to the executioner's production line to take a look …"
Before I could finish my sentence, an emergency communication suddenly appeared in my mind. It was Tawil's voice. "Your Majesty! Emergency! A major accident has occurred at the Deep Submergence Starport. The main facilities have been destroyed! "
Sandora and the elder sister obviously heard the message too. In an instant, the three of us were stunned. Shallow Shallow and the others, who had just come to greet us, saw the three of us standing there in shock. They immediately asked what had happened. They didn't receive the report.
"You guys go back first." I waved at Shallow Shallow and the others. "Something happened at the Deep Submergence Starport. I'm afraid Sandora and I have to make a trip there."
"I'll go with you." Before Shallow Shallow could speak, Lin Xue's voice came from the other side. The missy looked very serious. "Remember why I stopped the next round of the Deep Submergence Starport? This is the reason."
I suddenly remembered that the Deep Submergence Starport had been urgently stopped by Lin Xue not long ago. I felt a lingering fear in my heart. I was lucky that I had the foresight. The accident really happened as I expected!
From what Tawil had said, the entire Deep Submergence Starport had suffered heavy losses. According to the schedule on the Deep Submergence Starport … the next two days should be the time for the Deep Submergence Starship to dive continuously. If it wasn't for Lin Xue's warning, we wouldn't have just lost a Deep Submergence Starport, but a Deep Submergence Starship that was even more difficult to build.
Shallow Shallow actually wanted to come with us, but she knew that she could only cause trouble in this kind of situation. So, she went home with the others. Although this girl was a little energetic, she was very obedient at crucial times. I, Lin Xue, and Sandora arrived at the highest research center. Tawil's main body was waiting there, and behind her was a small team of assistant technicians. The extremely efficient bespectacled lady had already organized a team of accident investigators before anyone ordered her to.
"Let's talk about the details on the way," Shadora interrupted Tarver just as he was about to report. "The test port is at the border area, and the fastest Void Shuttle will take two hours to get there. Sives has already prepared the ship. Let's depart now."
Since the Deep Submergence Starport was an extremely risky experiment where the slightest mistake could lead to catastrophic contamination, the experiment had to be conducted far away from the interior of the Empire, and it had to be ensured that there were no other lifeforms in the universe. Apart from that, after the first Deep Submergence Starport, Tawil had further increased the project's security measures. After the Deep Submergence Starport was completed, the local World Gate would be dismantled, and it would be impossible to teleport between the Empire and the universe. Only high-speed Void Shuttles could be used to travel. This was to prevent the Abyss from contaminating the World Gate in the event of a catastrophic incident, and then jump to the entire Empire through the Gate.
Of course, this would bring some inconvenience, but for safety's sake, sometimes a little trouble was not a bad thing.
Soon, we boarded the fastest Void Shuttle with Tawil's team of experts. Only in the shuttle's passenger cabin did I have the time to ask Tawil about the specific details of the accident.
"The specific cause is still unclear. Everything happened too quickly, and the frontline personnel did not have time to react." Tawil frowned. The Bespectacled Lady was definitely upset that the Starport she had painstakingly built was destroyed just like that. "My three mass projections were also at the Starport. One of them was destroyed in the accident, and the other two were moved in time. That's why I was able to see the situation at the scene. The current situation is that there was a series of explosions from the bottom of the control center. The explosions destroyed eighty percent of the energy supply system and all the control functions of the station. All six energy furnaces are offline, and because the remnant psionic energy field is too strong, we can't get close at the moment. That's why we can't rule out the possibility of another explosion. Observation towers No.1 and No.3 are offline, and the lower floors are severely damaged. The internal equipment is completely unresponsive, and we can't rule out the possibility of another explosion. Also, the cause of the explosion is unknown. "
"What about the casualties?" That was my first reaction to ask.
"It's still optimistic." Tawil let out a sigh. "Because it's a high-risk project, the resurrection facilities are the best. The soldiers and scientists who died at the scene are in the resurrection queue. The only confirmed loss is the equipment."
"What about the situation at the Gate of the Abyss?" After confirming that there were no major problems with the personnel, I quickly asked a more critical question.
The structure of the Deep Submergence Harbor was like this: The main body was a suppressed Gate of the Abyss. Surrounding the Gate of the Abyss were a series of energy suppression towers. These energy suppression towers completely locked the activities of the Gate of the Abyss and confined it to a fixed dimension to prevent the Gate of the Abyss from collapsing. Then, an observation and control center would be built near the Gate of the Abyss (depending on the size and activity of the Gate of the Abyss, the distance wasn't fixed. The current critical point at the Starport was a hundred kilometers). This distance was the "radiation critical point" of the Gate of the Abyss. Within this critical point, the power of the Abyss didn't need to pollute through a medium to directly affect everything with its "radiation". The control center would detect the drift and strength of the critical point to determine the stability of the Gate of the Abyss and issue an adjustment order to the surrounding energy suppression towers. At the same time, the observation tower in the control center was also a direct communication tower with the deep submergence ship. Considering that the information sent back by the deep submergence ship might be contaminated by the Abyss, we didn't allow the deep submergence ship to directly connect to the conventional communication network. The observation tower, which had a high degree of protection and filtering functions, was the only communication relay node.
Outside of this entire system, no civilian facilities, military facilities that weren't specially protected, and military ships that weren't on the registration list were allowed to exist within ten light years, unless they were originally used for observation. Other than that, only things that were specially protected were allowed to get close to the Gate of the Abyss. It could be said that the entire system's degree of protection was quite high.
This was the basic structure of the deep submergence port. After the first deep submergence experiment, Tawil had made many improvements to this system, and now it was finalized.
So, the thing that worried me the most at the moment was whether the Gate of the Abyss was still safe. The core of this system was the monitoring station in the control center. Now that the equipment in the monitoring station was definitely offline, would the Gate of the Abyss lose its suppression and explode at any time?
Fortunately, it seemed that the experts were already prepared for this. One of Tawil's senior assistants leaned forward and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. During the early stages of the construction of the test port, the possibility of a sudden shutdown of the control center was taken into account. The energy suppression towers around the Gate of the Abyss, in addition to receiving orders from the control center, also have their own independent command module and a set of low-power communication network. If the signal from the control center is interrupted, all the energy suppression towers will automatically switch to the highest alert state, suppressing the Gate of the Abyss to the limit. All the suppression towers are equipped with three sets of independent energy sources, and they can communicate with each other without any orders. Even if half of the suppression towers are destroyed, the gate will be safe. "
"In addition, you don't have to worry about the control center issuing wrong orders before the collapse of the system, or the power of the Gate of the Abyss distorting these orders," Tawil added. "I have designed several sets of protocols for the equipment to verify each other. The control center will send orders to the suppression towers through different lines and codes at the same time. As long as two of the orders are contradictory, or one of the orders does not arrive in time, the suppression towers will not respond. In theory, yes. "
"That's good," I breathed a sigh of relief. "Then we'll talk about the rest when we get to the scene. Also, don't say that in theory, it sounds weird."
Tawil, "… Oh …"
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