In terms of ultimate goal, the New Army and the Old Army were actually the same: both were trying to build a bridge.
Moreover, from the perspective of the ultimate goal of 'weakening the Void Cataclysm', it did not make a difference whether the New Army or the Old Army succeeded: as long as the bridge was built successfully, the imbalance between the two sides of the Void would be reduced to a critical level, and the Void Cataclysm would occur in a milder manner (although it would still be accompanied by many apocalypses, at least it would not lead to mass extinction, and many worlds would be preserved). This was also why the New Empire and Abyssal Schilling had decided to bury the hatchet and build the bridge together.
There was only one difference between the New Army and the Old Army, and it was this difference that made it impossible for us to compromise with them: the extremes of the New Army. They had elevated the 'interests of the Empire' to a level of paranoia and distortion, to the point that they attempted to destroy all life except themselves to ensure the status of the Empire's pyramid, and even the Protoss were among their targets.
The New Army would not share the Void Bridge with anyone, and they would not allow any civilization other than themselves to build the bridge. These lunatics would do anything to make themselves the first super civilization to build the bridge, and then they would use the special nature of the Void Bridge to attack and defend, permanently cutting off the possibility of other civilizations building the bridge — including the super civilizations on the other side.
The Abyssal Schilling, on the other hand, was much gentler: she was willing to share the knowledge of building the bridge with other civilizations, and to ensure that the bridge was built faster, she was even willing to contribute all her research and facilities. Perhaps she had foreseen the outcome of the Void Bridge being completely controlled by one civilization, which was why she had long ago facilitated the alliance of the Abyss, the Empire, the Galacticus, and the Huron Empire. That way, even if we only built one bridge, it would belong to the four factions, unless the four factions were stupid enough to fight amongst themselves at this critical juncture.
The fact that Xi Ling from the Abyss was willing to reveal the unique characteristics of the Void Bridge proved that she had no intention of monopolizing the bridge. Of course, she couldn't monopolize it either. When the activation terminal was activated, all four races (the Xi Ling apostles could be considered as the fourth race) would be present. Furthermore, this activation terminal wasn't instantaneous. It required a period of time to connect the two sides together. After that, it would take a period of time to slowly distort the structure of the Void (this was the conclusion that Tawil and other experts had come up with. I can guarantee that it's true and reliable). During this process, the Xi Ling from the Abyss wouldn't be able to monopolize the bridge under our noses through petty tricks.
But now, there was another question: building the bridge required both sides to be activated at the same time, and if either side did not respond in time, the bridge would collapse, and the end result would be total annihilation like the Σ civilization, and even the 'fulcrum' on the other side. The New Army would not be unaware of this.
What method did they use to bypass the restriction of 'synchronized activation'?
Perhaps they hijacked the communication signal to deceive the Federation of Rings on the other side, tricking them into cooperating with them. Then, they would charge over and invade. This way, they would be able to occupy the Void Bridge when the Federation of Rings is defenseless. However, the possibility of this is very low. We have been in contact with our ancestors on the other side, and the encryption methods used by both sides are very difficult to crack. So, the New Army should not be able to contact the Federation of Rings, "the Abyssal Schilling pondered after hearing my question. She had thought about this problem very carefully." The second possibility is that they really can bypass the restriction of 'synchronized activation'. Perhaps they have made a huge breakthrough in bridging technology … but the possibility of this is even lower. The New Army and the Old Army have the same technological foundation. It is impossible for them to make such a breakthrough in just a few months. Then, there is only the third possibility … they might have created the perfect deep submersible ship. "
"The perfect deep submersible ship?" I raised my eyebrows. I had a rough idea of what she meant.
"It can dive to the other side without any damage, and has a huge and stable space container to transport the Void Bridge. It also has a powerful energy device that can supply energy to the Void Bridge when it reaches the other side. This way, they don't need the cooperation of the super civilization on the other side. They only need to send a Void Bridge to the other side in advance, and they can even skip the process of debugging and synchronizing. This process is just like the early teleportation door. They send another 'door' to the target location in advance, and then open the doors on both sides to start the teleportation. Compared to bypassing the restriction set by the Void Bridge, it is obviously easier to create a perfect deep submersible ship. "
"The deep submersible ship that the four races created together could only float to the other side by luck, and the success rate is only one percent. Even if it floats to the other side, there would only be one core cabin left." I rubbed my chin. "Does the New Army have such advanced technology?"
"Maybe they just need a breakthrough. Maybe they found some clues in some ancient database, such as Ockham's research data back then." Abyss Schilling knocked on her head. Although she was only a projection, she knew how to use this method to refer to her own memory. "When the New Army and I split, we each inherited the original database, but the copying process was inevitably flawed, especially when the split was about to be completed. 'She' and I instantly developed a selfish consciousness and saw each other as enemies. Under such circumstances, we would subconsciously interfere with the database copy to prevent the other party from inheriting the complete knowledge. Some of the data should have been torn at this stage, and 'she' and I could only inherit half of it. Now, I can still find a lot of fragmented data in my own database. I believe that the other half of the data is in the other party's hands, but I will never know what I have forgotten. It is an endless loop. "
Abyss Schilling's self-splitting has always been something that we do not understand. It is not that we do not understand why, but we do not understand the process. It is difficult for the creatures in the real world to understand how a collective consciousness rooted in the network duplicates itself and allows the two duplicates to have subtle differences in personality. Of course, we can generally see it as data copying and cutting, but I believe that the specific process is much more complicated than that, and it may even involve chaotic thinking. Neither Tawil's theory nor Bubble's calculation can simulate this process. Therefore, we dare not determine the similarities and differences between the New Army's commander and Abyss Schilling, and we dare not use the current Abyss Schilling to reverse engineer the personality of the first Abyss Schilling. There is almost no accurate corresponding relationship.
Now, based on Abyss Schilling's new information, we have confirmed one thing: she and the New Army's commander may not even have the same memory bank.
This also explains why Abyss Schilling, who is supposed to know everything, could not tell what the New Army's deep diving equipment was like. Even her memory bank is not omnipotent, and the entire network defect or turbulence will also hurt this seemingly immortal super consciousness.
"It is still uncertain what the New Army has in their hand. In short, everything is based on the worst case scenario," Sandora pondered for a moment and decided. "Let's assume that they have really built a perfect deep submersible ship and have placed the other activation port in a universe on the other side. Now, as long as they can successfully activate the activation port on the other side, we will not be able to do anything to them. Is that right?"
"They won't be able to activate it in seven days," Abyss Schilling said confidently. "On one hand, my troops have not been completely expelled from the Core of Tranquility, and on the other hand, I have also tampered with the activation port, as well as the Core of Tranquility's Deep Submersible Harbor. These 'special arrangements' will be very troublesome for the invaders."
It seems that even though Abyss Schilling has a rather docile personality, her cunning and meticulousness did not diminish at all. Sandora and I felt much more at ease after hearing her words.
It was then that the mainframe of the Empire Admiral suddenly announced: The fleet has arrived at the border. A voyage of a few hours had ended so quickly, and everyone who was immersed in their discussions and thoughts seemed to have forgotten about the passage of time.
Oh, there was one person who did not forget: Shallow Shallow. When I turned to look at her, the lass had already placed a one-meter-tall paper crane in front of her. Just how bored was that lass just now? Stacking this thing with time acceleration? Did this lady eat too much?
The Empire's fleet docked in the orbit of a dark brown artificial planet. This artificial planet was the Sovereign Hub of this frontier world. In the sky above the Sovereign Hub, we saw many familiar things: a heavy fortress that seemed to be stacked with many disks, as large as a space city, and exuded an imposing aura.
This was the tortoiseshell fortress that the Imperial Army encountered when they attacked the Abyss. Sandora felt that there were many advantages to learn from their design, and so after the war, the Empire's technicians created these replicas based on the decrypted fortress blueprints. Although they were replicas, their performance did not decrease at all, but their absolute destructive power was slightly weaker than the original. This was unavoidable: normal psionic power was inherently less destructive than abyssal psionic power, and its explosive power was also weaker, but it had the advantage of being stable and easy to control. This made the replicas of the fortress' shields stronger and more stable, and it could be considered as making up for the lack of offensive capabilities.
And now, this frontier universe was one of the spoils of war from the First All-Out War, the heavily-guarded world that the Imperial Army first conquered. Now, it had been rebuilt, and after adding a large number of fortress facilities, it became the Empire's border defense node.
A huge halo device unfurled a light-minute away from the Sovereign Hub, the twisted and mysterious halo reflecting the scenery of another universe, and on the other side was a dark red starry sky: the Abyss, but it was the territory of Abyssal Schilling.
"I have already chosen the best route for you. Along the way, you will pass through the territory controlled by the Old Army, and you will not be intercepted." Abyssal Schilling uploaded a map of the jump route to the navigation system, and his expression suddenly became a little strange. "Using the World Gate of the Abyss to travel, doesn't it feel weird?"
I looked at the World Gate displayed on the holographic projection, and the corner of my mouth slightly curled up. "I have never thought about it before, but since we are already in an alliance, let's cooperate well this time."
As soon as I said that, the ship's mainframe reported that another army was entering the material plane. I quickly turned to look at another set of holographic projection, which showed the scene of space on the other side of the Sovereign Hub: layers of light rippled in the deep, dark space, as if endless auroras had condensed into a sea, floating in space. Along with these light ripples, an army with a style completely different from the "starship + space station" appeared.
It was a large number of towers and palaces floating in the air, mixed with many flat boulders that looked like floating islands, and in between these things that didn't look like space weapons, there were Star Domain soldiers shuttling back and forth: the Protoss Army had arrived.
The number of this army was hard to determine, because the Protoss was used to creating all kinds of things on the battlefield at the last minute to fight. With a wave of their hand, they could create millions of elemental creatures and other things, and I couldn't even tell if many of the combat units were buildings or soldiers. I could only see that their brilliant phalanx covered a considerable area, and even the surveillance camera couldn't find the boundary of the phalanx. Just from the scale of the phalanx, it seemed that this was not any less than the Imperial Army.
And this should only be a part of the Protoss Army, and the other part was preparing to attack the distant borders of the Abyss on other fronts.
Xing Chen had said that he wanted to send all the available troops from the Star Domain, and it seemed that he was being sincere. It was obvious that he was determined to penetrate the Abyss.
I turned to look at the five Protoss cops behind me. Kenser and the other three had already stood up and were preparing to report to the Protoss Army, while Icetis was resting on her seat with her eyes closed. She had completely entered the state of 'Imperial Army Officer – Professional Idler'. But these five weren't the most amazing, the most amazing thing was …
I lowered my head to look at the pocket in front of my chest. Jingle's head popped out with sleepy eyes. The little one looked around, and when she realized that there were no signs of food in sight, she yawned and went back into her pocket.
I took out the little one that had almost turned into a rice worm, and reminded her of the current situation.
"Oh, that's right," Jingle came back to her senses after being in a daze for a while. She huffed and puffed as she climbed onto my shoulder, and waved at Kenser and the other three teammates. "Gather up! Gather up! "
The four Protoss flashed and stood in a neat row in front of me. Although they were all tall, short, fat, and skinny, in that instant, they displayed the full aura of a warrior. I couldn't be fooled by their usual sloppy appearance. No matter how bad Jingle's team was, they were veterans that had experienced countless battles!
Jingle looked at her four subordinates with satisfaction. Then, she lifted her head to look at the Protoss Army on the holographic projection. She said something that was very informative, "Sigh … Father said that we won't be needed … He said that we can just be bodyguards by Ah Jun's side."
Everyone was speechless.
Icetis couldn't help but exclaim, "D * mn … He really said that?"
"Mm," Jingle nodded. "I used telepathy to tell Jingle directly."
Just as I was about to say that it was such a child's play, I quickly calmed down. Actually, it really wasn't a big deal. For such a large-scale joint operation, the temporary transfer of a few soldiers could be said to have no impact on the overall situation. Although Dingdang and the others were "society-type professional True Gods" with Divine Domains and world management authority, due to their personalities, they were equivalent to a group of super soldiers … They could be deployed anywhere.
I raised my head to look at the Protoss Army that was continuously emerging from the aurora ocean. Hoshi Chen and Hilla's auras were continuously emanating from the radiant ocean. I then turned to look at Jingle's team beside me. Their expressions were still as carefree as usual. I suddenly felt that it wasn't easy for Father to develop the Star Field to where it was today …
However, I didn't sigh for long. Very quickly, the system broadcast interrupted everyone's thoughts: The World Gate is ready.
This World Gate, which was located right next to the Sovereign Hub, had a special nature. It wasn't directly connected to the interior of the Empire District. Instead, it directly led to the Abyss District. It was a product of Sandora's "Territory Reshaping" plan. This was the first time this World Gate had been activated. I didn't expect that it would be activated by the Abyss District's active navigation system … Life was truly unpredictable.
The first part of the "journey" was safe. We would pass through the Abyss District's territory and be escorted to the war zone by the Abyss Army. The force field grid emitted a dense blue glow. The moment the quasi-coordinate engine was activated, the large battleships trembled slightly like reflections in the water. Then, the large starships began to accelerate. The small and medium-sized frigates followed the motherships like a dense school of fish following a huge wave. The First Fleet was the first to enter the World Gate and sent back a signal that everything was safe. After that, the other squadrons began to enter the World Gate.
The Protoss troops also had to use these World Gates to rush to the battlefield. Although they also had their own equipment and unique methods to travel between worlds, there was no need to build another Protoss World Gate since there was a ready-made facility here.
The moment the Empire Admiral passed through the World Gate, the little crow wriggled its body in excitement and let out a "caw!". Accompanied by this not-so-pleasant caw, the image from the external monitors distorted and shook violently. Then, everything gradually calmed down. An unstable world filled with a dark red spectrum appeared in front of us.
There were not many types of worlds in the Abyss. Basically, they were in two extremes. One was extremely barren. The entire universe was filled with noise and primordial energy, but there was no abundance of matter. It was as if chaos had been removed. The other was an abundance of matter and celestial systems, but everything was too active. The celestial systems were chaotic, and the order of matter was on the verge of collapse. There were very few normal worlds outside of these two extreme environments. The universe before us clearly belonged to the latter. There were twinkling stars and nebulae that looked like the Great Wall of space. However, most of the stars were in the form of a diffuse halo. The stars were too close together, as if they had failed evolution and had no solid form. The large nebulae were bright red or orange, and there were bright lines that looked like a spider web. That was the out-of-control movement of star creation. Although the few basic values of this universe could support the matter system, it was not very reliable.
The external monitors turned to the rear of the fleet. What we saw was a World Gate that was similar to the previous entrance. However, it was an unsettling dark red. Around the World Gate were large areas of space facilities and spaceports. The fleet of the Fallen Apostles … or rather, the Abyss Apostles were neatly lined up in space like a group of dormant monsters.
After that, they woke up from their slumber and naturally came to the flank of the Imperial Army to take on the role of guards.
Once enemies that would not rest until one of us died, but now we advance and retreat together …
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