I don't know if it was expected or surprising, but we didn't get attacked.
The Empire's fleet jumped into the KN-22D world. There was no fierce artillery fire, no heavily-guarded fortress array, no gravitational traps or warp disruptors, not even the slightest bit of communication interference. What welcomed us was empty, cold space, and an ancient star system that seemed to have no signs of life at all.
"Deep space telemetry found the Fallen Apostle's military base," the intelligence officer reported loudly from the commanding seat. "But all the bases are in a state of silence, no active targets found, and the soul detection response is zero."
"Abandoned?" Sandora frowned. "Expand the telemetry range to the entire universe, release the spy probes, and don't let go of any suspicious places, including space folds and abnormal gravitational focus points."
I looked at the empty universe. Like most of the worlds in the Abyss, its basic rules were not "friendly" enough. There were few stars and celestial bodies, and I didn't know if it was natural or if the intense Abyss activity had caused the original celestial bodies to self-destruct. But the environment here could be considered a blessed land in the entire Abyss. At least there were some formed celestial bodies and relatively regular material activity, just like the star system that the Empire's fleet was docked in. Although its sun was not very stable, and the planetary orbit's speed fluctuated abnormally, it was still a celestial body, and it was always good to have something in the field of vision.
More accurate telemetry results soon appeared in front of us. There were seven large military bases in this universe, and countless small outposts and garrisons. There were also two galaxies that looked like heavy military bases. It could be said that this was a border world with high military power, even higher than what we had predicted. The only thing was that there was no one here.
"All the military bases are in a state of silence, with minimal energy response and no signs of soul activity. It's like an abandoned ghost city that operates automatically." Sandora looked at the reports sent by the junior officers. "The spy probe is passing over the nearest military base … it's not being attacked or interfered with."
The image sent back by the probe was projected. Its current position was an artificial star system 140,000 light years away, and it was passing through a large Fallen Apostle spaceport at low speed. On the image, we could see neat rows of small warships, twinkling spaceport buildings, rotating stargate calibration rings, and the silhouette of an Eternal-class mothership at the edge of the image that looked like a large monster. The scene was silent, and we could only see these things slowly moving in our field of vision. The probe removed its camouflage under our remote control, and it even released an obvious identification signal. However, the deathly silent military base remained silent, as if they didn't even have the interest to destroy the probe.
More spies poured into the star system, and after a detailed investigation, they finally came to the conclusion that this was an abandoned base, but for some reason, all the systems in the base were still running, as if the personnel in the base were still working normally.
"Move the fleet over and prepare a ship for me," Shadora ordered simply. I looked at her in surprise. "You want to go there personally?"
"You're planning to go in person anyway." Sandora looked at me like an old married couple. "Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? It's fine. It's just an unmanned base. Being too cautious will make us look petty. "
The fleet soon arrived at the unmanned base. It was a star system with four artificial planets, and the orbits of the celestial bodies were neatly filled with spaceports, factories, military stations, and comprehensive orbital stations. Just these space facilities alone were more vast than the land that humans had ever set foot on. It was impossible to explore such a vast area with just a few people. Our main goal was to go over and see what was going on with this base. A large batch of spy probes had already surged in ten minutes ago, so the structure of the base had been ascertained. We knew that it was located in the northern hemisphere of the second planet, and it was a highly militarized city. Speaking of which, was there anything in the territory of the Fallen Apostles that wasn't militarized?
The Royal Fleet hovered in the orbit of the second planet, and the fleet was surrounded by the various orbital stations of the Fallen Apostles. Looking at the spaceports and factories that were almost within reach, he couldn't help but mutter in the public channel, "This is the first time in my life that I've brought a fleet to be next to these dangerous fellows. It feels so strange."
Even though the dark space buildings were empty, they still gave off an unpleasant feeling of oppression. It was enough to show how bad of an impression the lunatics of the Abyss had left.
"It's just some unmanned cities." Sandora didn't seem to mind. "If you really feel uncomfortable, you can get the fleet to move further away from them, but make sure that all the main cannons of the fleet are locked onto these space buildings. I don't believe that the Abyss Schilling would really hand these things over to us."
At that moment, a high-pitched voice suddenly cut into the public channel, "Speaking of which, what should we do with this ship?"
I didn't need to look at the avatar to know that it was Lunatic Two. She was the one with the most problems out of all the mainframes on the ship.
"This ship is too big, and it's not suitable for me to stay in the orbit of a planet like you guys. I'm not going to be a companion to a planet that doesn't even have a radius of five thousand kilometers," Lunatic Two shouted in the channel. She was two astronomical units away from us, and because the Warsong was too big, she couldn't come to the orbit of the second planet to join in the fun with the Royal Fleet. "This ship has to find a place to dock too!"
I looked at the structure of the star system and said, "Then, you can go to the side of the star. This star was created by the Fallen Apostle, so it might be a military base. If you stay next to it, it will be the same as monitoring it."
Lunatic Two was a little disappointed when she heard that there was no war to be fought. However, when she thought about how she was wantonly tossing and turning in the enemy's base, she cheered up again. The huge Warsong brought the Avengers in its orbit and collectively jumped to an orbit that was only 0.3 astronomical units away from the star. As she rotated, she turned on the external unencrypted channel and greeted the other four artificial planets created by the Fallen Apostles in the star system, "How are the planets outside?" "Planets in the fourth orbit, please let me see your tumbling atmosphere!" "Planets in the third orbit, please sway to your heart's content!" "My surname is Chen, and I'm very happy to come to your base! Planets in the first orbit, please let me see your passionate North Pole!" "How are the sun over here? My surname is Chen … "
At that moment, I felt that Lunatic Two's brain really didn't need treatment. She thought that the mainframes of the other starships were the same as her.
We boarded the shuttle and left the fleet. After a calm and uneventful journey, we passed through the empty Fallen Apostle orbital stations in space. Then, we plunged into the thin atmosphere of the second planet and arrived above the capital city in the northern hemisphere.
This huge city was built on a plain. The Fallen Apostle had already precisely customized the entire planet, so the surface of the planet was basically filled with such plains and 'mountain ridges' that seemed to have been cut out by machinery. The shuttle slowly circled above the city, taking in the panoramic view of the entire city. Normally, I rarely had the opportunity to observe the place where the Fallen Apostle lived at such a close distance. In the end, after observing it for a while, there didn't seem to be anything special about this place. The architectural style was no different from that of a normal Schilling city. It also had the same orderly layout and the city's main roads that could be seen at a glance. I was very familiar with the facilities on the surface, and I could almost name all of them and their uses. Apart from the fact that most of the buildings' main colors were rather gloomy, I felt that the Fallen Apostle's settlement was no different from the Empire's colony.
"Do the villains in your mind have to wear a cloak, have a stocky build, and look at the moon every night? Do they have to live in a cave?" Icetis glanced at me and snorted disdainfully at my habitual thinking. "Haven't you heard that the Demon King also has a private life? When you see the Fallen Apostles wearing clothes, you should know that they usually worry about whether or not they should tuck their long johns into their socks …"
I said, "… The Fallen Apostles don't wear long johns, do they?"
Icetis said, "… I am just giving you an example."
"Alright, alright. If the two of you have the time to study these deranged things, why don't you save your energy and head out to scout the way?" Sandora slapped my and Icetis' shoulders. "There is a landing pad below. Let's land."
The shuttle landed smoothly on an open landing pad. It was the first time in my life that I had set foot on the planet where the Fallen Apostles lived. Although the surrounding scenery wasn't too surprising, I was still quite excited. With this kind of excitement and novelty, I took a deep breath. The air in this broken place was really thin. I almost couldn't catch my breath. Furthermore, the atmosphere of this planet definitely didn't contain any oxygen!
Sandora closed her eyes and spread out her spiritual power. The special talent of a Soul Snatcher allowed her to detect the enemy faster and better than any life detection device. But even so, she still found nothing. "The entire planet is empty. Did they really leave?"
Bryndis took out her Meteor Hammer Bible from her dimensional pocket and gestured at a psionic obelisk in the distance. "Do you think if I smash that thing, will it attract a few ambushers?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes at her. "You can give it a try."
As soon as he said that, I heard a 'hu' sound piercing through the air. Bindis' brick bible flew out of his hand and turned into a ray of golden light. Then, there was a huge explosion that shook the earth and the mountains. The tower in the distance slowly collapsed. Speaking of which, Sis Bing's bible didn't just deal kinetic damage. When it hit its target, it could also produce a shockingly powerful holy impact. There was a compliment that said, "The Sky-Flipping Seal is like thunder, but it is not as powerful as Master Bing's Meteor Hammer." This sentence didn't make much sense and was just a rhyme. In short, Icetis had used her unprecedented power to blow up a psionic obelisk a thousand meters away just to see if there were any ambushers there.
I gawked at the scene. I couldn't help but jump. "You really came?"
Icetis shielded her eyes with her hand as she watched the smoke dissipate after the collapse of the obelisk. She turned and rolled her eyes at me. "Nonsense. I am a person with an ID. Do you know that I will do what I say?"
"Didn't you get an ID for two dollars and one fifty from Sicarro?" Sandora said and walked forward. "It seems that there is really no one here. I scanned that there is a command post in this direction. Let's go there and take a look. Icetis, put away your meteor hammer. If you throw it around again, I will join hands with Ah Jun to beat you up. Do you believe me? "
"This is a bible. It is a very serious thing. Do you know that?" Icetis said that but she still put away the weapon that could smash a crater if she threw it. Speaking of which, she also knows that the thing in her hand is a bible and not a Sky-Flipping Seal.
After walking for a while in this city that was built by the enemy, I realized that there were some differences between this place and the colony in the Empire District. Other than the ubiquitous dark red hue, there wasn't any civilian or "living activity" here.
The Fallen Apostle didn't need any entertainment that wasn't related to battle or "great cause". I had heard from Halland that the days in the Abyss District were even more boring than the days in the old Empire District. Looking at this city that didn't have any other buildings other than factories and barracks, I could finally understand the feelings of the former Fallen Apostle. I was afraid that even Pandora wouldn't be able to accept living in such a lifeless place. After all, that little war maniac liked to eat sweets or draw a bunch of 1.2 meter high contour lines on the pillars by the side of the road. I reckoned that the Fallen Apostle didn't even have such an extracurricular life.
"This place feels eerie," Qian Qian followed closely behind me. Looking at the empty buildings around us, she couldn't help but mutter, "Back then, when the Shadow City was first built, it looked like this too."
"Everyone has left, but the buildings are still operating." Sandora pointed to a small facility beside her. It was a crystal spire that was only a few meters tall. It was used to provide additional energy for the surrounding buildings. It was still operating as usual. The surface of the crystal was glowing with faint red ripples. When I got closer, I could even hear a low buzzing sound. The surrounding buildings were almost the same. All of them were operating as usual. It was as though the city was still bustling with people and vehicles just a second ago.
"When the Empire's fleet teleported to this world, they didn't detect anyone leaving from this place," Sandora said thoughtfully. "So, the garrison of this universe should have been evacuated before we came here … There's no way to explain this. A border world shouldn't be emptying its army under any circumstances. Even if the people were evacuated, it would be too abrupt. The facilities in the city haven't even been shut down in time."
"Why are you still thinking about the empty city at this time?" Icetis said disapprovingly. "They have already opened the world barrier and handed over the sovereignty of the entire universe. Is there anything stranger than this?"
We quickly found the 'command center' that Sandora mentioned. It was a place that looked no different from the surrounding buildings.
"I can sense a large amount of information flowing towards this building. It also has the most backup energy circuits in the entire city," Sandora said as she opened the door of the command center. "Oh … it's just as I thought. They even removed the security system."
Pandora and Visca immediately took out two Pillar Cannons and ran in. After a while, Visca ran out again. "Brother, there's no one inside! All the equipment in the hall is on! "
The command center, like all the other buildings that we had encountered, was in a state of normal operation. When we walked into the building, the first thing we saw was a brightly lit and unusually spacious hall. A group of public data terminals lined along the wall showed the standby screen. Sandora went up to the data terminal and operated it a few times. She whispered, "The standby time has been more than half a month … This means that the people here have been evacuated half a month ago."
"At that time, we didn't have a plan to march into the abyss." Bryndis also tried to fiddle with the MDT for a while. After realizing that he could not figure it out at all, he stopped. "Half a month ago … I think they attacked the divine realm in those few days, right?"
"There is an 80% chance that this world was left behind by Abyssal Schilling," Sandora said. "In other words, she has already made arrangements. When the 'new army' of the fallen apostles attacked the Divine Realm, she left such a strange place at the border … What is she trying to do?"
Just as I was about to voice my opinion, I heard an ethereal female voice in the hall. "Guess what I want to do?"
Everyone was shocked by the voice. Pandora and Visca were the first to react. They instantly summoned a large number of floating cannons, but they couldn't find the source of the voice even after aiming for a long time. Sandora was already in combat mode. Icetis had also put on her Valkyrie armor in a burst of holy light. I frowned and looked around. Suddenly, all the holographic projections in the hall were flashing.
In the buzzing sound of the equipment speeding up, the holographic images on standby screen switched one by one to the image of a strange woman. She was wearing a very ordinary black dress, with black hair and black eyes. Her long hair reached her waist, her face was very ordinary, and there was a faint smile on the corner of her mouth.
We had never seen this face before, but the other party's identity was obvious. Sandora frowned and looked at the largest holographic projection in the hall. "Abyssal Schilling?"
"Nice to meet you for the first time." Every Xi Ling in the hall looked at us with a smile. Then, 'their' gazes fell on me and Bryndis. "Oh, it's not entirely the first time we meet. The new Emperor and this sister from the God race, we meet again."
"What are you doing?" I looked around. Apart from these holographic projections, I didn't see any ambushes or self-destruct countdowns. "Speaking of which, you were finally killed by your own people?"
"Can you not say such things with such a happy expression?" Abyssal Schilling was the same as the last time we met. Even in the strange atmosphere, she maintained a calm and chatting tone. She looked at Sandora's battle stance and Icetis's Valkyrie armor. Finally, she looked at the floating cannons in the hall. "Why are you acting like you are facing a great enemy? You should know very well that these things can't destroy a network consciousness — unless you can wipe out all of my nodes. "
Sandora dispersed the abyssal flames on her indifferently. "How many nodes do you have left now … Alright, we are already here. If you have anything to say, just say it."
"Oh, it's nothing too important." Abyssal Schilling looked unhurried. "I'm just reminding you that it's time to retreat."
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