Of course, "close" here was a special concept. Just like in the Void, distance could not be measured in the Abyss. It was not that this property did not exist, but the value was very chaotic. It was like a map with messy and constantly changing scales that were difficult to observe. Therefore, in the Gate of the Abyss, one could only rely on one's own perspective to determine the "distance". The deep-submersible ship had the ability to "self-interpret", so we could rely on our own mathematical model to measure the distance to another entity. However, if you were outside the deep-submersible ship, what you saw might be completely different. You might see that the deep-submersible ship was thousands of miles away from the debris, or you might see that the two had just brushed past each other, or you might not even see anything. Everything was chaotic and random.
Of course, this was just a digression. For the people in the deep-submersible ship, the wreckage was just drifting closer and closer as usual.
"There doesn't seem to be anything unusual, but I can't tell what it is." Anthus focused on the image from the monitor. Even though the wreckage was quite close, the monitor was still affected. This was the most advanced information scanning device we could create, but the image it sent back was still distorted. Fortunately, it did not affect the viewing.
I also looked at the wreckage curiously. They were obviously man-made objects, with a luster between metal and plastic. There were a lot of them, and their sizes varied. The largest could be hundreds of meters long, and the smallest should be only a few meters in size. The messy wreckage looked like it was torn apart by an explosion, but for some reason, it did not drift away. Instead, it maintained a relatively dense formation. The wreckage was very close to each other, and the relative distance seemed to remain the same, as if they were frozen at the moment of the explosion. It looked like a snapshot.
The surface of the wreckage was painted black, with red or light yellow stripes. Except for the traces of peeling off the edge of each piece, the paint was basically in good condition. This was incredible. Looking at the wreckage in such good condition, I almost wondered if it was the Abyss outside. Were they not afraid of erosion at all?
"The target has no energy response, and the information outflow is maintained at a very low level. There are basically no signs of activity," an ancestor reported quickly while looking at the equipment in front of him. "Slowly approaching … There is no abnormality in the target."
"This thing reminds me of the stuff created by the Fallen Apostle," I muttered. "It's all black and red. Where did this aesthetic come from? Driving a ship in black into space, aren't they afraid that it will disappear when the lights are turned off?"
"Only the paint is similar. Judging from the style of these fragments, they don't seem to be the creations of the Fallen Apostle," Anthus said without looking up. "And it seems that the civilization on the other side has sent things in the same color. I think this must have drifted over from the other side."
"Currently, the creations that we have received from the other side are basically black shuttles. There are also some fragments that floated along with the black shuttles," I muttered. "The black shuttles and fragments have been tested before. Other than their unique physical properties, they are no different from ordinary materials. Without any protection, they will also rapidly disintegrate when faced with the abyss. However, the fragments in front of us don't even have a shield around them … Could it be that the technology on the other side has improved so much that they don't even need shields?"
"Isn't it still a wreckage? Maybe it's just that their material science is more advanced. "Anthus smiled and turned to look at me." Based on our previous analysis, the technology of the other side shouldn't be … Why do I feel like you're pointing your head at me? "
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I spun around on the spot to let him confirm that I couldn't see the other side of the black faceless man's face. Then, I grumbled, "The back of the head is the back of the head. I don't even know which side is the front and which is the back after I transform, okay? Right now, my field of view is 360 degrees with multiple depth of field. It took me a lot of effort to get used to this form back then. If you keep complaining like this, I won't be able to find my bearings, okay?"
Anthus laughed awkwardly. By then, the Deep Submersible Ship had reached the edge of the wreckage. The sound of the ship's mainframe releasing a small detector interrupted our conversation. I looked at the holographic projection in the center of the main control room and saw a few shiny round balls floating towards the largest piece of wreckage. Those little balls were the special detectors that the Deep Submersible Ship carried.
Everything in the abyss had to be specially made because once it left the Deep Submersible Ship, everything outside would be lethal. So, even the few small detectors had to be equipped with triple refresh shields. Even so, they could only be used once. Due to the limited power of the miniaturized shields and the energy limit of the detectors, these gadgets could hardly be brought back in one piece. So, when Anthus released the detectors, he couldn't help but show a pained expression. "These things are precious. We can't mass-produce them."
The controller in charge of the salvage crew reported, "The first piece of wreckage has been scanned. No suspicious signs found. Prepare to tow it to the garage. This is a high-risk operation. All teams, pay attention to the warning system. If anything happens, immediately abandon the tow mechanism and the garage."
"Garage pre-activated. Shield power increased to maximum. Laying down a shield near the target … Starting tow."
The surface of the hundred-meter-long wreckage was covered in a layer of halo-like substance. It was the detector's disposable shield to reduce the possibility of the Deep Submersible Ship being contaminated during the recovery process. The shield could only last for a few minutes, so the next operation could not have any accidents. At the same time, the shield system of the Deep Submersible Ship was also increased to the maximum. This way, it could purify foreign objects when they approached the Deep Submersible Ship. Just as the controller said, the next operation was a high-risk operation. Not a single step could be sloppy.
Retrieving an unknown object from inside the Gate of the Abyss into the Deep Submersible Ship was a high-risk operation second only to turning off the shield. Although Tawil had designed this function for the Deep Submersible Ship and compiled a set of safety procedures in theory, we had never done this before. The Black Shuttles were all captured after they left the Gate of the Abyss, and other equipment that needed to be retrieved inside the Gate of the Abyss were obviously not of "unknown origin". Retrieving the wreckage in front of me was the first time since the start of the New Empire's Deep Submersible Project. I noticed that everyone had a serious expression on their faces. A tense atmosphere permeated the main control room.
My Void Domain had already covered the entire Deep Submersible Ship. In theory, nothing should go wrong, so I was relatively relaxed.
Everything went smoothly. The first piece of wreckage was pulled into the Deep Submersible Ship's shield by the traction beam. After a preliminary purification, it arrived at the garage. After that, it would undergo a second purification in the garage before finally being placed in the isolation room of the garage. The mainframe of the Deep Submersible Ship monitored the contamination readings throughout the entire process. After the second purification was completed, it finally gave a conclusion: the target was indeed safe.
"Alright, let's retrieve the remaining pieces in one go." Anthus let out a sigh of relief. The atmosphere in the main control room also relaxed. After that, the tractor started to run at full power, and the rest of the detectors were released. With the experience from the first time, it was much easier to retrieve the rest of the debris. I looked at the image on the monitor and asked curiously, "Can all of the debris fit in there?"
The wreckage in front of us looked quite large. It was basically an oblate debris belt with a radius of more than ten kilometers. If we were to put all the debris together, it would probably not be much smaller than the Deep Submersible Ship that we were on. Although the Deep Submersible Ship's garage had a space expansion module, due to the unique environment of the Abyss, the space-expansion, phase distortion, coordinate engine, and other devices on the Deep Abyss were all limited to very low power in order to reduce the pressure on the Deep Submersible Ship. Therefore, I was very worried about whether the wreckage in front of us would be able to be moved in one go.
"It shouldn't be a problem." Anthus smiled in relief. "Tawil upgraded the Deep Submersible Ship again a while ago. He added a small garage and slightly adjusted the parameters of the space expansion module. It should be easy to take care of these things."
I nodded and began the boring process of waiting. After that, there was basically nothing for me to do … Speaking of which, it didn't seem like I had anything to do in the beginning. I was here to act as a safety catch. If the wreckage was in danger, I would open the main engine in time to ensure that it would be safe. The salvage process required professional knowledge, but I couldn't do anything. Apart from chatting with Anthus occasionally, all I could do was wait in boredom.
But just when I thought that nothing would happen after that, an operator suddenly pointed at the surveillance image sent back by the probe and exclaimed, "What is this?"
I quickly looked up and was stunned by what I saw on the screen: a person.
Yes, you're right, I'm right. It's a person, a tall and slender girl. She had black hair and a black dress, and her skin was pale. She stood harmlessly in the middle of the screen, and she was smiling at the camera!
Do you know how creepy I was at that moment? I hadn't felt this creepy in a long time, ever since I encountered a bunch of scammers from the Imperial Army five years ago. Now, I wasn't afraid of encountering supernatural phenomena in any strange environment. I wasn't afraid of a cold body passing through my body when I was sleeping alone at night, because I had Anveena at home. I wasn't afraid of a lamp suddenly lighting up in a deserted room at night, because Jingle often slept in my room, and I wasn't afraid of suddenly seeing someone else's face in the mirror. The mirror at home was a magic mirror that I had gotten from the Realm of Gods, and I had to endure it even if it made me act in a pornographic film when I looked in the mirror. In short, I had gotten used to all kinds of strange phenomena, and I had once thought that my nerves were so strong that I was almost petrified. But at that moment, I suddenly realized that there were even more strange things in this world, and there was no end to them.
I saw a person in the Gate of the Abyss! And according to the equipment, it was a 'normal person' who didn't have any high-energy reactions! She didn't have a shield around her, and she didn't have any equipment on her. She was only wearing a black dress that looked like it would cost at most eighty dollars. She stood in the middle of the spaceship wreckage with a harmless expression, and she even smiled at me!
"Ding …" I muttered to myself. Then, I quickly clapped my hands. "Check the monitor and communication link. See if there's a different channel. Maybe it's just the female host of the Shadow City's 8 pm talk show …"
It was obvious that my logic was a little messed up, because everyone knew that the most famous talk show in the City of Shadows only started after 9 pm, and the host was a goblin … Speaking of which, did I make it even more confusing by mentioning this?
"The surveillance and communication links are normal, the telemetry system is normal, and there are no signs of contamination in the spaceship's main computer." The operator quickly checked all the equipment on the spaceship, including the basic data of the spaceship's main computer. Because this was the Abyss, if the main computer of the spaceship was contaminated, there was a high chance that it would malfunction. Naturally, this included sending back such a strange scene. But the results of the inspection showed that the mysterious woman outside was real, and the spaceship itself was not malfunctioning.
"Could it be that we are hallucinating?" Anthus couldn't help but mutter.
"No." I glanced at him. "I saw everything. Theoretically, I shouldn't be hallucinating. You guys wait here, I will go and take a look. "
After saying that, I teleported out of the deep submersible ship while maintaining my Void Form. It was best not to remove my transformation before I could confirm that the other party was harmless. Plus, the deep submersible ship was filled with poisonous wreckage, and I still had to keep my Void Domain to ensure my safety.
The moment I arrived outside the Chaos Abyss, the unique and unpleasant aura of the Chaos Abyss flooded towards me. It was as if everything around me was hostile towards me and was trying to attack me. I knew that this was the so-called natural opposition between Order and non-Order. However, the density of the Chaos Abyss here wasn't high enough to be a fatal threat to me, which was why I ignored the terrible environment around me and focused my "vision" on the wreckage not far away from me.
This time, I didn't use the Deep Submersible Ship's monitor but used my own spiritual power to observe. The mysterious figure was still standing there with a smile on her face, looking harmless.
I silently observed her for a while and suddenly felt that the face was vaguely familiar. After searching through my memory for a few seconds, I finally remembered where I had seen this face before. Not too long ago! The spaceship that had crashed on Earth seventy thousand years ago! This was the face in the image left behind by Abyssal Schilling.
Looking back, in the border war more than half a month ago, we had accidentally encountered Abyssal Schilling … It was also her!
The other party was Abyssal Schilling!
"Attention, this is an emergency. Inform the Deep Submersible Harbor Force to be ready to destroy the gate at any time. I will think of a way here. Tell Sandora not to send anyone here. Abyssal Schilling has appeared! " I quickly informed Anthus through the mental connection. Then, without waiting for a reply, I hung up the communication and focused all my attention on the figure not far away.
I didn't realize who she was at first because I didn't expect to meet Abyssal Schilling in a place like this. It could even be said that I wouldn't have reacted immediately if I met her anywhere else. If you suddenly met a hairy monk while buying groceries at the supermarket, the first thing you would do would be to post on Weibo and find a camera. You would never think that the Victorious Fighting Buddha had personally descended to the mortal world to buy tofu pudding for Buddha Tathagata. Inertia was a scary thing.
More importantly, Abyssal Schilling's appearance would change from time to time just like Soft Schilling. Although Soft Schilling seemed to maintain the same appearance most of the time, Abyssal Schilling would also change her appearance. That was why, no matter if I met Soft Schilling or Abyssal Schilling, I had never seriously remembered their faces. I couldn't remember them …
Abyssal Schilling and I looked at each other across a pile of rubble. We were facing each other in silence. Facing the former Supreme Ruler of the Fallen Apostles, I instinctively raised my guard. At the same time, I made up my mind. Given her slyness, I had to make sure that if she didn't move, I wouldn't move. If she moved, I would move all over my body. I couldn't let her guess that we were ready to destroy the gate.
But after staring at each other for a while, I suddenly recalled something. Abyssal Schilling didn't seem to have any combat abilities, right?
She was just an internet ghost. Just like Schilling, she was a pure consciousness. Although she was powerful, that was only reflected in her calculation abilities, leadership, and subordinates. In terms of "combat" … without her terminal, she wouldn't even be able to speak to people in the real world. So, why was I acting as if I was facing a great enemy? Taking a step back, even if I acted as if I was facing a great enemy, I wouldn't be able to hit her. At most, the thing in front of me was just an interactive terminal. I couldn't see any of the Fallen Apostles' fleets around me. So, no matter how much I raised my guard, I wouldn't be able to hit her.
At this thought, I suddenly realized that I had basically been an idiot for the past two minutes …
At this moment, Abyssal Schilling was still maintaining her smile from afar. From start to finish, she didn't move at all. She didn't take the initiative to speak either. She only waved at me when she saw that my gaze finally fell on her. She looked so calm and collected. If you didn't consider the surrounding atmosphere or her identity, you would have mistaken her for a high school classmate who was greeting you from across the road.
To be honest, I was at a loss as to what to do in this situation. I had no idea what I should do in this situation. Fight her? I didn't have a target. She was just a shadow. Greet her? It felt too strange. After all, with our position and the surrounding environment, this wasn't the time to ask each other what they had for lunch. Ask for help? That was even more unreliable. Could it be that I called for a large group of people to stay here and stare blankly with me? As for turning around and leaving, that was even more ridiculous. However, I felt that if I really turned around, I would definitely be able to stun Abyssal Schilling. She definitely wouldn't have expected me to play my cards like this …
I tried to get closer to Xi Ling. I decided that it didn't matter what was going on. I had to figure out what the other party wanted to do first. At the same time, I felt a little depressed. If this fellow appeared, then so be it. Why did he have to stand so far away and smile like a fool at me? She should at least take the initiative to tell me why she came.
In the end, just as I thought that, I heard a voice in my spiritual world.
"You are finally willing to come closer. The interference here is really strong. Long time no see. How have you been?"
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