Based on basic knowledge, the Abyss' destructive effect on all things was unconditional and unrestrained. The Abyss itself was such: it was not material, energy, or any form that could be described by the concept of the world. It appeared as a two-dimensional pattern in pure observation, and was usually accompanied by a black polluting substance (smoke, dust, or anything else that looked like it). The black "substance" was essentially not any material, but a pure optical phenomenon. Since the Abyss had destroyed the fundamental rules within a certain range, it caused various optical rules to be distorted, and in the end, it produced an effect similar to "unobservable", thus creating the black cloud-like "thing". Based on the same principle, the two-dimensional pattern that the Abyss presented was also an optical phenomenon and not a real existence.
However, very few people knew that the pure Abyss actually didn't have any 'killing' properties.
It sounded odd since the Abyss had destroyed innumerable worlds, and its destructive power had always been the greatest calamity in the Void. In everyone's common sense, the Abyss should be something with "lethal" power. Of course, it was not wrong to understand it that way, but in the eyes of the more professional Empire scientists, the Abyss was not lethal, but a "guide".
The Abyss had never directly destroyed anything, and everything that infected the Abyss would eventually destroy themselves: they would self-destruct on a macroscopic level, and gradually disintegrate on a microscopic level, starting with a visible calamity until the invisible microscopic particles disintegrated, energy dissipated, space and time became chaotic, and the order of the universe was non-existent until the World Barrier began to digest itself, and the entire world was consumed by the Void: a typical abyss-corrupted apocalypse. The entire process was caused by the Abyss, but every step of the process was the "self-destruction" of the infected, which was why we would say that the Abyss was not lethal, and that it was merely guiding the infected world to "commit suicide".
Although this explanation sounded a bit unreasonable, in order to find out the essence of the Abyss, sometimes "research" was just such unreasonable and pointless things. Of course, only the Schilling Masters would be so stubborn. For us mortals, it did not matter if the apocalypse was suicide or homicide.
In a classical universe like the capital world, the Abyss's destructive power was that the entropy of the universe would soar to its limit in a short period of time, and the entire world would fall into chaos and heat death. The world would become a pool of stagnant water in thermal equilibrium and gradually be consumed by the Void. In some worlds with different universal rules, the Abyss would manifest as the misplacement and absence of certain fundamental constants, or the disruption of energy circulation chains, time axis distortion, dimensional drop, and other disasters. In short, no matter where, if the Abyss invaded a regular world, then all things in that world would not be able to resist: they would collapse from the very foundation of their existence and enter death. When the Abyss infection was relatively mild, some stubborn mortal races could hold on a little longer — such as the Gemini Star civilization sphere that we had just left. But no matter how the natives of that universe resisted, no matter how long they could hold on, and even if they eventually eliminated the trace of contamination in their own universe, their resistance to the Abyss would be zero. This would not change.
Ordinary races could rely on human lives to pile up, rely on strategies to save themselves, rely on bravery and sacrifice to prolong the life of their race, but these would not change the fact that the mortal world had zero resistance to the Abyss. Mortal matter would be infected the moment it came into contact with the Abyss, and even if your spirit could hold on a little longer, your body would slowly collapse according to a strict timetable. The only exception was the Abyss of Inertia, which was still a mystery to this day. We knew very little about the latter, so we will not discuss it for now, as long as we know that the Abyss of Inertia was a relatively mild Abyss.
At present, there were only four known natural resistance to the Abyss: the Shiring Apostles, who possessed an extremely high stability of Order due to their transcendence from all worlds and Void Quadrants, which made them resistant to the Abyss; the Galactic Protoss, who were on the same level as the Abyss and worlds due to the Void Stairway, which made them resistant to the Abyss; the Huron Protoss, who were on the same level as the Galactic Protoss; and finally, the Fallen Apostles, who had become some kind of strange "symbiotic body" after being infected by the Abyss. Their life form had already collapsed, so they had high resistance to the Abyss, and so far, the Fallen Apostles had higher resistance to the Abyss than the other three.
But now, we seemed to have found the fifth group: the Schilling Apostles, the ancestors of the Shiring Apostles.
According to Halland and Tawil, all the ancestors had displayed extraordinary resistance to the Abyss — in fact, using "resistance" to explain what happened to them was a little inappropriate. Under certain conditions, they were almost "immune" to the Abyss, which was completely unheard of!
The biggest difference between resistance and immunity was whether one would receive actual damage. Against the Abyss, resistance would only reduce the contamination, from fatal to non-fatal, from severe to mild — but no matter how much it was reduced, the contamination would still occur, and even if it was reduced to the level of a sneeze, it would not truly disappear. Immunity, on the other hand, was a completely different situation: it would completely nullify the contamination, as if it had never happened. Even if this "immunity" was only effective under the extremely low concentration of the Abyss, it was still fundamentally different from resistance.
What happened to the ancestors now seemed more like a kind of primary immunity: they did not show any discomfort after coming into contact with a safe dose of the Abyss (relatively safe, that is, the kind that could be saved on the spot). After leaving the sample and having their bodies purified, a full body examination showed that there were no signs of disease or collapse in their bodies: it was as if they had never come into contact with the contamination.
Sandora and I quietly listened to Tawil and Halland explain the series of discoveries to each other in silence for a long time. This fact was a little strange, and I had to let my brain work for a while to catch up. Sandora reacted faster. She softly exhaled and said, "Tawil, you should have some guesses, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Tawil nodded slightly. "At present, it is still not certain what the reason for the ancestors' immunity to the Abyss is based on, but regarding the cause of this' immunity 'phenomenon, I think it may be related to the contamination in our homeworld."
I thought for a moment. "You mean, like the Fallen Apostles, they were also infected by the Abyss, but they did not know it?"
If this was true, then the current ancestors were actually a kind of symbiotic body. They had the same resistance as the Fallen Apostles, but their form of resistance was more advanced, reaching the level of immunity — how could this not explain?
Right, there were no remnants of the Abyss on the ancestors' bodies, and there were no traces of modification, which was very different from the situation of the Fallen Apostles.
As expected, Tawil also shook his head. "The probability of infection is not high, because there are indeed no traces of the Abyss on the ancestors' bodies. However, the contamination in our homeworld must have changed the life form of the ancestors, allowing them to safely coexist with a low concentration of the Abyss. I have carefully studied the various observation readings of the ancestors after they came into contact with the Abyss sample, and the results show that the Abyss is in an inactive state. It is as if they did not realize that a 'prey' that can be contaminated had appeared in their territory, or …"
"The Abyss thinks that they are one of their own," Sandora suddenly finished the second half of Tawil's sentence, which he could not say directly.
The bespectacled lady paused for a moment, then nodded gently. "In theory, yes."
"I want to know the limits of this immunity." Sandora lightly tapped the table with her index finger. "What will happen if the limit is exceeded?"
"The test is too dangerous, I did not dare to take this risk," Tawil answered honestly. "I can only make an indirect inference based on some observation data. The ancestors can live safely without directly coming into contact with the Abyss Gate without using any protective equipment, and they will not leave any traces of infection afterward. Even if they exceed this immunity limit, the ancestors still have an unusual resistance. The speed at which they are infected by the Abyss is very slow, and once they leave the contaminated area, the collapse process caused by the Abyss will immediately stop. In theory, yes. "
This time, it really could only be "in theory" — Tawil did not dare to really use the ancestors for these fatal experiments. The above conclusions were all indirectly inferred by her observation data.
At this time, I suddenly thought of something. "Speaking of which, how did you discover this in the first place? Uh … who would dare to let the ancestors come into contact with the source of the contamination? "
Tawil hurriedly explained, "Of course we did not do such a dangerous experiment. We accidentally discovered the ancestors' immunity to the Abyss. As you know, the area around the deep submergence port is a dangerous area. No matter how strict the protection is, there will be a certain degree of radiation pollution around the Abyss Gate. The entire experimental base will inevitably be exposed to the polluted environment. Therefore, every person involved in the project needs to have their body checked every once in a while and undergo purification and neutralization treatment. The Shiring Apostles use psionic energy, and because the ancestors have a weak body, they use the milder holy light to purify them. But not long ago, when we summarized and organized the historical data, we found out that the ancestors' contamination readings were always zero. In the process of working in the low-contamination area, they have never been infected. This situation has never been seen before. In theory, it is impossible for an individual to have zero contamination in a contaminated area. "
"Why didn't we find this before?" I asked curiously.
"The automatic equipment for individual purification only sets a danger alarm." Tawil spread her hands. "It will only be activated when it detects that the contamination exceeds the limit. Other than that, if the contamination is too low or no contamination at all, it will not be regarded as an 'abnormal signal' because no one would have thought that this would happen. In theory, yes. "
I nodded in understanding. My mind seemed to recall something that had happened recently, but the thought quickly disappeared. My attention was still on Anthus. Immunity to the Abyss — even if it was only at a low level, it was already an unprecedented miracle. Let's not talk about how it happened, let's look at the effect of this talent: the ancestors were natural-born Deep Divers.
"This is quite ironic," Anthus said with a wry smile. "The Abyss destroyed everything we had, but now we have become its' affinity '. The Abyss and the Schilling people are supposed to be enemies, but now the Schilling people are the only species that are not contaminated by the Abyss … I don't care what the reason is. Let us join the Deep Diving Project. If we don't have enough skills and knowledge, we can learn and train. I know you won't find anyone more suitable than us old bones for this mission."
Sandora furrowed her brows. I knew that she was having a fierce battle in her heart. Emotionally, she would not let the ancestors take any risks, especially when there were only about ten of them. However, rationally, she had to admit that the ancestors were the most suitable candidates for the Deep Diving Project. Even though the converted Fallen Apostles had resistance, no matter how high their resistance was, they could not withstand fixed damage. Only the ancestors, who were immune to the Abyss within a certain range, could maximize the success rate of the Deep Diving Project.
Let's imagine a situation like this: the Deep Diving Ship malfunctioned, and the Abyss started to affect the ship's internal structure. The first to go down would be the ship's fragile control system, and the Deep Divers would have to rely on manual control to get the ship out of the danger zone. A normal operator might not be able to last longer than the ship's control system, but the ancestors could maintain absolute consciousness before the contamination reached its peak. In this situation, they would be the only crew that could survive and complete the mission.
I knew the Shiring Apostles' way of thinking, so even though Sandora was conflicted, I knew what decision she would make. As expected, after some consideration, the Queen slowly but firmly nodded. "Alright, I agree."
I already knew the ancestors' stubbornness. Their stubbornness was comparable to the modern Apostles, so I nodded in agreement. "I agree as well. But you can't board the ship immediately. First, you have to undergo training. Then, you have to let the other diving teams do a few surface trials to ensure the ship's safety before you dive."
Halland was the last to nod. "I agree as well. Also, leave the manned test of the deep submergence ship to my people. Those guys have been training for the deep submergence for a few days, and they are all full of fighting spirit. I can't let them board the ship in the end. "
Tarver saw that the three leaders had all nodded in agreement. "Then, Your Majesties, if all three of you have agreed to this, I will arrange for deep diving training and surface trials."
I thought for a while. I felt like I had missed out on someone.
Sandora had the same thought as me. She looked up and rolled her eyes. "Are you talking about Sylvia or Belavilla? Both of them together are only half the votes. The former is simple-minded and the latter is basically useless. "
Halland nodded with a subtle expression. "Actually, I am quite envious of her. She doesn't have to think about anything. She is so happy."
"You also want to live a life where you don't have to think about anything?" I glanced at Halland. "It's simple. Let Sandora cook a meal for you. You won't have to think about anything after you eat it. Or, I can go to the Star Domain and find a trash called Qian Yuhao to chat with you. I can guarantee that your mind will be blank for three days."
I didn't expect the talkative Dragon God to be so famous that even Halland had heard of him. He immediately shrunk his neck. "You are too conservative. My mind was blank for four days."
Then, I found out that Halland had personally gone to the Star Domain during the era of the old Empire in the name of exchanging technology. At that time, the person in charge of the Star Domain was that trash. After so many years, Halland still remembered the incident clearly.
At this time, Sandora couldn't stand it anymore. She coughed and said, "Uh-huh. We are not discussing this, right?"
I immediately sat up straight and didn't dare to continue talking.
That was all I needed to know about the deep submergence project. I estimated that I would have to wait for a while before I could carry out the next dive. In order to ensure the safety of the manned voyage, the No. 2 deep submergence ship needed to undergo a series of tests and minor repairs. A few days ago, the ship had revealed quite a few problems during the trial. Tarver's next task was to improve the ship's performance and safety as much as possible based on current technology. I believed in the bespectacled girl's ability.
Sandora and I didn't want to go back to the reverse engineering laboratory to meet with another Tawil. So, we simply asked about the reverse engineering and trial production progress of the King's Landing battleship.
"These projects are progressing very quickly." Tawil looked proud when he talked about these. "Her Majesty Halland brought most of the blueprints of King's Landing. Together with the research results we have obtained in the past two years, I am ready to try to build our own King's Landing battleship. Also, as for reverse engineering... With the ready-made blueprints, reverse engineering is not really necessary. My main goal now is to make concessions and miniaturize the large equipment on King's Landing, and then install it on other active spaceships. Practice has proven that this approach is very effective. In theory, yes. "
"Actually, we already have the King's Landing battleship." I suddenly thought of something and turned to Halland. "We have to thank the Empire's Logistics and Transportation Commander. Actually, I suddenly feel that I have captured you a little too early. If you could have lasted two more years in the Fallen Apostle camp, maybe the new Empire's King's Landing and the real planet battleships would have been established..."
Halland, "... Didn't we agree not to use this as a topic?"
"The King's Landing battleship that Her Majesty Halland brought has been incorporated into the Royal Fleet and the First Army, but this is only a temporary arrangement." Tawil maintained a meticulous expression even when we were joking. She pushed her glasses and explained seriously, "The battleships of King's Landing that have been modified by the Abyss require special industrial infrastructure to be maintained. Putting them in the same battle formation as normal Empire starships will bring a lot of inconvenience to the logistics, and this is not something that can be solved with technical means. It is a problem of process. So, we still need to build the standard version of King's Landing as soon as possible. The super battleships that Her Majesty Halland brought will eventually be incorporated into the Abyss Independent Regiment. "
Halland smacked her lips and after thinking for a long time, she concluded, "... I am still a logistics commander. The main purpose of the things in my hands is to transport them back and forth for you!"
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