Due to the special nature of the void, the concept of "territory" and "border" did not exist here. These two terms were only used to describe the region where the New Empire and the Abyss Empire intersected because it was convenient. In reality, this region did not belong to either the New Empire or the Abyss Empire. It was a "watershed" formed by a series of worlds without sovereignty. These worlds, the Empire, and the Fallen Apostles were all only a step away. Even the most difficult to move super-large starships in the void could jump from these neutral worlds to the Empire region or the Abyss region as long as their engines operated for a single cycle. As such, these universes that were sandwiched between the two warring sides were treated as the border between the two sides.
I did not know if I should sympathize with these worlds. They were like small villages that stood aloof from worldly affairs on the border of two superpowers that were at war. No, it was even worse than that. Not only were they small villages that were sandwiched in the middle, they were small villages that had no sovereignty and could be crushed by anyone. They did not receive the protection of the Empire, and it was impossible for them to receive the protection of the Fallen Apostles. As soon as the two colossal entities on either side suddenly clashed, this kind of world would be extinguished in the blink of an eye, just like the universe that we blew up at the borders of the Empire, ushering in the end of the world in the blink of an eye.
According to the plan, we first rushed to the fortress world at the very edge of the Empire. This was a purely garrisoned universe without a name, only a serial number. Almost all of the celestial bodies in this small universe had been modified into weapon bases and army teleportation gates. This was to ensure that when a full-scale conflict erupted, it would be able to resist the full assault of the Fallen Apostles' army and quickly mobilize the main forces from within its borders. Every major army had a fleet that carried out support missions here. Together with the reserve echelons and the Empire's defense forces that were permanently garrisoned here, this entire world could be viewed as a war machine with a radius of several tens of billions of light years. Most of the sentry posts set up around the 'conflict point' were provided by this stronghold world. The sentry troops that set off from here would instantly fall into the Fallen Apostle's line of sight. Of course, the Fallen Apostle's patrols and sentry troops would also be monitored here. Just like that, the two sides operated under the noses of their mortal enemies, maintaining a temporary "peace" under the security shackles that were so fragile that they were almost non-existent. Even such a suffocating "peace" was the result of the Abyss Special Combat Team risking their lives to infiltrate the enemy's rear to spy on intelligence, as well as the Empire Defense Army's countless border battles and local victories.
After staying in this fortress world for a short while, our group boarded a border transport ship along with the sentinel squad that was about to change shifts. After leaving the World Barrier, it was actually the same as leaving the last inch of the Empire's territory. Those sentinels were located in the depths of the Void, and almost had one foot in the Abyss Empire's sphere of influence.
However, we wouldn't really follow the sentinel squad to the sentinel station. According to the plan, everyone had to leave the transport ship before it reached its destination. Then, we would sneak into a prime material world along the way. That world was the 'treasure location' that God Father had marked out. Fortunately, this universe was considered one of the less' focused 'by the enemy, as it was relatively more inclined towards the Empire's side. Our movements basically wouldn't be exposed.
"I don't know how long the situation in this place can last." There wasn't much to see in the Void, and the process of simply waiting was rather boring. Icetis sat in her seat, spreading her wings and combing her feathers as she muttered, "The Fallen Apostles seem to have been quiet for quite a long time. Based on their activity patterns, the longer they stay quiet, the more evil tricks they're harboring. The next time they do something, it definitely won't be small."
I glanced at Icetis, but didn't reply. I wasn't sure if it was really due to the influence of the 'Schilling household,' but the way this female rogue spoke just now was completely like a Shiring Apostles. She probably didn't even realize that she was already treating the Empire as her home.
The commander of the sentinel squad was sitting not far in front of us. He was a veteran who had experienced many battles. He looked at the holographic image beside him and suddenly reported, "Your Majesty, the enemy's interception is about to appear."
The enemy's interception — this was also part of the plan. I stood up and prepared to board the assault ship with the others to 'welcome' the interception troops. We were currently close to the large sentinel station at the frontline. It was the perfect distance for both sides to throw bricks at each other. I patted the heads of Pandora and Visca beside me and casually asked, "How much firepower does the interception usually have? What kind of firepower do they have? "
"Self-destructing probes and self-destructing drones. We can't use conventional cannons in the void. These things that have their own Order Field and self-destruct upon charging over are the only effective weapons other than special battleships," the old sentinel captain replied in a strangely familiar tone. "Usually, the enemy will send three waves of harassment every time we arrive at this position. Sometimes, they will send four waves. However, those situations are rare. Then, the sentinel station will send an equal number of self-destructing drones over. They will do this once every three days. "
"How effective is this interception?" Icetis asked in a strange tone.
"There will be a portion of the sentinels that will die in battle, but they won't be able to break through the defense of the spaceship. The soldiers that die in battle will be revived in the resurrection facility of the sentinel station. So, in actual fact, we will only lose single-unit fighter aircrafts and assault ships. It is the same for the enemy as well. After all, the scale of the battle is too small. It is difficult for both sides to kill each other completely. "
A normal person would definitely find it hard to understand what it felt like to live on the frontline. In any case, I felt my scalp go numb just listening to him. At this moment, Icetis asked curiously, "Why hasn't the interception that you mentioned come yet?"
The sentinel commander revealed a doubtful expression. He kept looking at the holographic screen beside him and said softly, "Logically speaking, they should have appeared … The Fallen Apostle's concept of time is really a mess … Bridge, have you detected the enemy's interception firepower?"
A voice quickly sounded in the cabin, "No, the front is safe."
The sentinel commander thought for a moment and said, "Inform the sentinel station. This time, it is our turn to send out the self-destructing spaceships. The Fallen Apostle might have forgotten."
I was speechless.
I don't know what you guys are thinking, but I instantly thought of the following conversation:
"Enemy commander, enemy commander! This is the headquarters of the Imperial Army! We have already reached your defensive line. Where are the mines? "
"Enemy commander, enemy commander! This is the headquarters of the Empire of the Abyss! We are resting today. We did not send out any mines! "
"Enemy commander! Please correct your attitude! You are soldiers. Sending out mines is your duty! "
"Enemy commander! Please correct your attitude first! Who asked you to not send out any mines the day before yesterday? Our minelayer has yet to be repaired. How can we send out mines?! "
— That was basically the rhythm …
I didn't know if the Imperial Army's' reminder 'was effective. In any case, a few seconds later, a sharp alarm sounded in the transport ship. A group of orderly fields marked as enemy targets were rapidly approaching our fleet's orderly field. The Fallen Apostle's self-destructing interception had arrived.
We quickly teleported to the assault ship that was already prepared. We charged towards the enemy's self-destructing units that had barged into our fleet's orderly field. Then … we let the spaceships automatically retaliate while we 'worked hard' to be sunk.
Of course, leaving the transport ship and entering the prime material world would save us a lot of trouble. However, we might be discovered by the enemy and mistakenly thought that we intended to build a base in those sensitive areas. After all, this place was crowded with hundreds of enemy outposts. I really didn't dare to imagine how tight their surveillance would be. So, there was an additional step in our plan. That was to pretend that the Fallen Apostle had destroyed the Sentinel spaceships. In this place, the Sentinel spaceships of both sides were destroyed every day. It would not arouse any suspicion. The destroyed spaceships would lose their orderly field and fall out of the formation. Finally, they would fall into the prime material world in the form of wreckage. We would pretend that we were the wreckage.
In any case, from start to finish, we had to conform to the local daily situation. Only then could we achieve the greatest degree of disguise. In view of the special nature of this mission, we had to be careful.
After we fall into the world barrier, everything will be easy to handle. With the interference of this barrier, as long as we don't cause too much of a commotion, the few of us won't be discovered. In the end, the point of confrontation between the Empire's army and the Fallen Apostles is in the void. These few local universes … are really just lying there harmlessly. If it wasn't necessary, no one would be willing to waste firepower and let them take a hit.
According to the Sentinel commander, the effectiveness of the Fallen Apostles' intercepting firepower was often limited. So, if we wanted to sink them, we would need some skill. However, fortunately, we had a prophet. Under Lin Xue's guidance, we were always accurately hit by those self-destructing drones that were randomly bumping into each other. This was the first time that the missy had used her own power to specifically aim at the enemy's cannon. After the protective shield of the assault ship was marked red, the old lady wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and said to me, "… Too exciting!"
Then, the spaceship crashed.
In that instant, we left the spaceship and jumped into the prime material world.
From the looks of it, everything went smoothly. The Fallen Apostles wouldn't know that a group of incredible people had infiltrated this universe right under their noses. I took a deep breath. The feeling of having my feet on the ground felt really good.
"Oh, it seems like we have to start our search from here." Icetis stretched her body and retracted her overly conspicuous wings. "The scenery isn't bad."
We looked around and discovered that we had arrived at a place that was full of vitality.
The place where we had landed was an open area overgrown with weeds. The open area was surrounded by tall coniferous trees. The forest was so dense that we couldn't see the end of it. It looked like a rather large and dense forest. In between the shadows of the trees, we could see low shrubs growing wantonly. The shrubs, weeds, and the aerial roots of the giant trees seemed to have blocked all the paths in the forest. The forest ground was also covered in a thick layer of fallen leaves and rotten soil. This was clearly a place that was rarely visited by humans. We should be in the middle of a forest clearing in a coniferous forest.
I raised my head to look at the sky. The sky was blue and cloudless. The air in this place was unusually clean. Although it felt a little strange to breathe, it might be because the atmospheric composition here was different from Earth. It didn't pose any problem to us. After all, breathing had been a habit for me since a long time ago.
"The teleportation point was chosen by the scroll." Icetis took out the scroll that Father God had given us. It was currently glowing with a faint golden halo that was gradually dimming. "The clue should be on this planet. However, I didn't sense the aura of the Star Region Artifact. It seems that we will have to investigate carefully."
"It feels weird." Lin Xue shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked around. She muttered, "In the place where the Imperial Army and the Fallen Apostle are most tense, there is also a planet that looks like a national park. Tsk tsk. Why does it feel so strange?"
I smiled but didn't say anything. In fact, everyone could feel the strangeness in Lin Xue's words. Outside of this world, in the void that was almost a sheet of paper to us, the Fallen Apostle and the Imperial Army's outpost were facing off against each other. The two most terrifying monsters in the void were ready to erupt into an all-out conflict here. Any so-called 'peerless danger zone' was like a kindergarten compared to the 'void line of fire' outside. However, separated by a world barrier, in this universe where neither side dared to set foot in, everything looked no different from an ordinary world. There was even a planet overflowing with vitality here. Furthermore …
An unknown emerald green bird flapped its wings and flew above us, scattering a series of chirping sounds.
There was even a bird, a bird that was so excited and ignorant.
It was unknown what Icetis was thinking about. She suddenly smiled and shook her head. "So, sometimes ignorance is bliss. Shouldn't we go?"
"Let's first understand the situation of this place," I said as I took out Jingle from my pocket. The little bean was still alive and kicking when we first set off. Now, she had already curled up into a small ball and fallen asleep. Her daily routine was really in line with her style. The moment she arrived in another world, she didn't suffer from jet lag. I poked Jingle's stomach and cast a Wake Up Spell on her. "Jingle, check if there is anyone here."
Since we were in a sensitive area and we didn't know how sharp the Fallen Apostle's senses were, we didn't scan our destination before we passed through the world barrier. Now, we didn't know if there were any intelligent natives on this planet. Jingle's biological radar would come in handy at this time. In terms of scanning for life forms, the little bean was as smart as a probe.
"Hey!" Jingle sat up and realized that we had arrived at our destination. The little thing understood what I wanted her to do and immediately nodded happily. She flew to the trunk of the nearest tree. In a split second, I heard a rustling sound echoing through the entire forest. All the plants and animals were alarmed, responding to the Ruler of Life's inquiry.
"There is someone here." Jingle flew back nimbly and circled around in front of me. "There is a village outside the forest. There is a big city dozens of kilometers away and the capital is just a few hundred kilometers away. There is a huge lake on the opposite side of the planet. There is a three-headed snake over two hundred years old living in the lake. The three-headed snake said that it had a toothache. There is a small group of snow apes next to the planet's Antarctic Circle …"
I was speechless.
Although the little thing was still a mess when it came to summarizing things, I knew at least that she had completed the statistics of the entire planet's life forms in just a few seconds. I just didn't know if it included single-celled animals …
It would be great to know that there were natives on this planet. First of all, we were transported to this place based on the scroll that Father God had given us. The scroll had vague information about the Divine Equipment. So, the thing we were looking for might be on this planet. Secondly, it was a Divine Equipment, a Divine Equipment with a strong sense of existence. If there were inhabitants on this planet, they would most likely develop around the power of the Divine Equipment. At the very least, we would be able to find clues about the Divine Equipment from their culture or legends. Similar incidents were not uncommon. There was once a research team that had recovered the ruins of the Old Empire and discovered that the natives had built cities all over the planet with the psionic reactor as the center.
So, we walked out of the forest with a happy mood. Of course, I first asked Jingle about the general situation of the village outside the forest. At the very least, I could confirm that the natives of this world were also humanoid creatures. This was quite important. After all, this world was already at the "distant border" of the Star Field. The Protoss's information disturbance was weaker here, so the owner of this planet might not necessarily still be in human form. It was very likely that the primates of this world would be killed by their reptilian relatives before they could even walk upright. That would undoubtedly cause us some problems in communication. The further the world was from the Divine Realm, the more likely it was that strange life forms would appear. Although this wasn't absolute, the general trend was like this.
Fortunately, the information disturbance of the Star Field was quite strong. Jingle described the situation of the natives of this world to us. They should be similar to humans on Earth. In other words, they should be similar to the "standard human appearance" set by the Star Field. We didn't have to consider the problem of species communication.
It seemed that this forest was rarely visited by people. The soft rotten soil, fallen leaves, and all sorts of strange plants made the road difficult to walk. I suggested that we fly over, but Milady objected.
"Look at the clear sky, look at the primitive scenery, look at the trees, the grass, the moss, and the clean air of the City of Shadows. Why are you, a blockhead, so unromantic? Strolling with your girlfriend in a pine forest covered with fallen leaves is so romantic. You have to learn to enjoy life … "
Lin Xue's words made sense. However, I felt that she should first get off my back before saying all this. Milady really knew how to enjoy life!
"There are benefits to walking around." Icetis led the way in front. This female pervert seemed to be in high spirits. "Once you get used to it, you won't even be bothered to walk. If you don't believe me, you can release the angel in your head and let her walk a few steps."
I looked at the uneven road before me and estimated that Alaya would probably have to crawl all the way to his destination if he wanted to take two steps …
Pandora silently followed by my side obediently while Wiska and Qian Qian ran around crazily. These two brats were full of energy and kept running around, collecting things that they found interesting and showing them to me. At first, it was weeds and wildflowers. Then, there were wild fruits and stones. Then, there were all sorts of struggling birds and beasts. In the end, the two of them dragged a two-ton saber-toothed tiger (which looked like it) and shouted excitedly, "Brother (Ah Jun), I caught something fun! Ahhhhh!" I finally couldn't take it anymore and ordered the two brats not to run around and to follow the main group. It would have been fine if Sandora had followed us. The items that Visca and Shallow Shallow had collected could at least be used to fill Her Majesty the Queen's stomach. But now, what was the use of them carrying a saber-toothed tiger behind us …
Just as we released the tearful saber-toothed tiger, Jingle suddenly popped out from my breast pocket. "Ah Jun, there's someone."
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