Actually, I had already discovered that my greatest strength wasn't my ability to fight, nor was it my ability to save the world, nor was it my ability to turn any serious matter into a sitcom. In fact, it wasn't even my ability to raise a glutton queen who could devour the heavens and a bunch of girls who could destroy the world. It was …
Instead, it was constantly being plagued by trouble and never getting tired of it.
Alright, that would be too shameful. Can I remove the word 'never getting tired of it'? There's so much trouble every day. How stupid do you have to be to be happy? In any case, I can't be happy.
The short message sent by Void reconnaissance ship 8355, which lasted less than seven seconds, had been analyzed over and over again. The Schilling mainframe of the command had searched every pixel and every syllable, including the low noise that could be mixed in the background and the reflections of certain areas on the screen. She had used this simple but effective method to collect information in hopes of finding out what happened to Void 8355 in the last second before it lost contact. The technicians had also checked the signal strength of the message during transmission. It was said that such clues could help them find out if there was a high information level interception like a Void Barrier nearby when the ship sent its last message. If there was a Void Barrier around the wreckage when the spaceship sent its last message, then even if the barrier was in a hidden state (such a trap would not expose itself before the trapped prey activated the Void Portal), the message sent by the spaceship would still have a slight waveform distortion. This was the experience of the Empire's soldiers who had lived through years of war.
However, the chances of obtaining useful information were very low. According to the current situation, Void reconnaissance ship 8355 had lost contact with headquarters before it could react. Before that, there were no signs of an enemy attack nearby, and when it disappeared, the ship itself was not attacked. If the loss of contact was due to an attack, then I could only say that the enemy was overwhelming.
Sandora had ordered the release of three Void probes. These probes had now entered the Void and were fine-tuning their information signature to slowly approach the last 'location' of Void 8355 before it lost contact. This process was similar to tuning an old-fashioned radio. You would carefully press the button until its variable capacitor overlapped with a certain channel, and then you would receive a signal. For a traveler in the Void, that meant they had arrived at their destination.
Although all types of probes had excellent stealth abilities, they still chose to approach the 'crash site' with great caution and maintained a 'distance' of one unit from each other. In the Void, the conventional understanding of distance was meaningless. The distance between the probes was actually the difference in their information signature, and a difference of one unit could ensure that they would not be ambushed by the enemy at the same time. It could also ensure that when one of the probes was attacked, the other two would have a chance to send back information.
However, as everyone waited with bated breath, the three probes passed through the 'coordinates' of Void 8355's crash site one after another. When they entered the Void's irregular waveform, they returned with a fruitless report.
"The target is blank. No wreckage of the void reconnaissance ship found, and no signs of battle in the void domain," a junior officer in charge of tracking the probe reported loudly. "Probe preparing for second sniff …"
"Second sniff complete. Target blank. No wreckage of Void reconnaissance ship found. No wreckage of Void reconnaissance ship found."
"How could such a huge ship disappear into thin air?" I turned to look at Sandora, who was still frowning. I suddenly guessed, "Could it be that it was smashed too badly and instantly assimilated by the Void?"
"Impossible." The one who answered me was not the Queen, but Icetis who suddenly teleported over. This formidable female gangster chewed on a potato chip without any self-awareness as she stuffed the remaining half a bag of snacks into Sandora's hands. "I know what your Void reconnaissance ship is. It can be said to be one of the most difficult things to destroy among the conventional spaceships you have created. A small spaceship that can travel freely in the Void. Just the thought of it gives me a headache. It doesn't have any weapons, but it is extremely slippery. It is like a fish in the Void, and within a thousandth of a second of being attacked, it can jump into the 'coordinates' and escape the battlefield. And that thing seems to have some sort of core …"
Sandora glanced at Icetis with a strange expression. "Multi-characteristic core. That is the escape pod of the Void reconnaissance ship."
"Yes, a multi-characteristic core. It is a strange thing that will not be injured on the first strike no matter what kind of attack it receives. That is because it is constantly under three mutually contradictory mathematical descriptions. All attacks that can cause actual damage are destined to be unable to destroy its three states at the same time." I did not expect Icetis to be so logical when talking about the Empire spaceships, even though she had always claimed that she was a person who could not do anything about Schilling's advanced technology. "So, no matter what situation the Void reconnaissance ship is destroyed in, it will at least preserve an escape pod."
"Then, isn't it invincible?" I spread my hands, my expression a little confused. "Even the Eternal Mothership doesn't have such a configuration, right?"
Icetis glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. "Everyone has their own specialties. You are so awesome, but you still can't catch Little Bubble!"
I looked up at the sky and laughed. Then, I suddenly thought of something. "Say, you are a Protoss, right? How do you know so much about our spaceships?"
Icetis' expression instantly changed. She said awkwardly, "Of course, I often come into contact with Sandora when we are messing around …"
"Every time she comes to my territory, she causes a lot of trouble," Sandora said in a different way. "If she forces me into a corner, I will send a fleet to hunt her down."
I broke out in cold sweat after hearing that. Just listen, hunt her down … Icetis thought about how much of an enraged person she was back then, for her best friend to even say the word 'hunt her down'. Of course, we can also sigh at the way high-end people communicate. Usually, bad friends in university would at most reveal each other's secrets and secretly eat some buns. But did these two ladies in front of us directly hunt her down back then?
After thinking for a while, I decided not to look into how Sandora had sent a fleet to hunt down Icetis back then. I felt that anyone who thought about this question for too long would be infected with the Pandora virus.
"Icetis is right." Sandora dealt with the packaging of the potato chips quickly, her eyes glowing. "The Void Reconnaissance Spaceship is a top-notch special service spaceship that can survive in any extreme situation. Other than being intercepted by the Protoss army or being surrounded by a large group of Empire fleets, there is no external force that could make it disappear in an instant … I feel that it wasn't attacked, but it was … eaten by something?"
Sandora said uncertainly. I felt that the half a packet of potato chips had played a huge part in her thinking.
Under Sandora's instructions, the three Void Probes shuttled back and forth a few times around the coordinates where Spaceship 8355 had disappeared, but to no avail. We began to think hard about what clues we had missed. Alright, it was Sandora and Icetis who were thinking hard. After thinking for a few minutes, I realized that I really wasn't cut out for this.
By then, the big sister had rushed over after hearing the news. She had even brought along Pandora and Visca, who were fully equipped with firearms. The two of them appeared in front of us like Terminator models, each carrying a cannon that could be used to build a bridge across the sea as they disassembled and reassembled it.
The two of them were certain that the Empire Sentinels had been attacked.
"The spaceship disappeared, but the probes didn't find anything." The big sister understood the situation in detail and began to analyze it carefully. Then, she said slowly, "I have a stupid idea."
We all looked at her.
"Send another spaceship over," the big sister said solemnly. "Of course, this time, there will be no crew. Find a reconnaissance spaceship similar to the missing spaceship and fly it to the coordinates of the accident in autonomous mode. Then, repeat all the operations of the previous spaceship before we lost contact with it. The three probes will watch from a safe distance. Although we might not be able to find the first spaceship, at least we will be able to see how it disappeared."
Sandora nodded. "It is worth a try. Recently, PL-15 has uploaded a lot of information about the Vengeance Fleet. Tawil has modified many of the ship's automatic control systems based on the information, including the two 'Needle' -class Void reconnaissance spaceships that are about to be commissioned. Let them do it."
Just like that, the 'stupid idea' that the big sister had mentioned was unanimously agreed upon by everyone. Then, I realized something to my dismay. My big sister had used fifteen seconds to come up with a plan, but I had actually gone off topic in the three minutes I had spent thinking about what to eat for dinner. Although this might mean that I and Shallow Shallow really looked like a couple, if I were to continue on this path of going off topic, the best outcome for me would be to spend the rest of my life in a psychiatrist. Look, it has only been a few seconds. What am I thinking about?
"Ah Jun, what's wrong?" The big sister asked curiously when I didn't speak for a long time. "Is there anything wrong with this idea?"
I thought for a moment. "Do you think a psychiatrist can cure a simpleton?"
Everyone was speechless.
Sandora pinched the back of my waist forcefully and ordered the second reconnaissance spaceship to depart immediately.
The efficiency of the reconnaissance spaceship could be described as being able to ride on a horse. Not long after Sandora gave her order, the highly automated spaceship that had just been commissioned had already entered the void and approached the coordinates of the first spaceship that we had lost contact with. However, as there was no one on board, there was a limit to the degree of self-discipline of the spaceship. The spaceship's mission was only to act as a pathfinder. Under the command of the ship's mainframe, the ship shut down the information correction engine and began to reduce the power output of the propulsion system. At the same time, it released probes and activated all kinds of active and passive detection devices. So far, everything was normal. The three void probes had locked onto the ship from a safe 'position' (This position was easy to understand. In fact, there was no distance between the three probes and the second ship. They were observing each other like we were watching a live broadcast from thousands of miles away on TV. They were close in terms of information, but it was not the case in terms of geographical location). The three void probes had locked onto the ship, and the data showed that it was operating well.
The few of us, including the female gangster Icetis, became solemn. We held our breaths as we looked at the image that was transmitted back to us. The streamlined silver-white spaceship that looked like some kind of plant seed opened up its information shield to repel the assimilation effect of the surrounding void powers. It looked as though it was shrouded by a layer of rippling water screen. Then, right before our eyes, it disappeared into thin air …
Yes, it disappeared into thin air!
There were no signs at all. It wasn't attacked, it didn't jump away, and there wasn't a void tear that suddenly appeared to drag it into another world. The reconnaissance spaceship had suddenly disappeared in an absolutely abnormal manner. It was like a light bulb that had a bad connection. It suddenly flickered and then completely merged into the endless darkness of the void.
The three void probes sent back a piercing alarm at the same time. The low-ranking officer in charge of commanding the probes reported loudly in the hall, "Reporting, Sir! The target has disappeared. Tracking has failed! "
My sister, Sandora, and Icetis exchanged glances. Not far away, Pandora and her sister, who had been continuously dismantling a large pile of firearms, stopped what they were doing and put away their treasures in tacit understanding. "There's no way to fight. We can't find the enemy."
"There's definitely something there."
Sandora crossed her arms and frowned as she watched the slow-motion recording of the second spaceship disappearing. "Turn off the engine, release the probes, turn on the radar … Which step activated the hidden trap there … The reconnaissance spaceship shouldn't have been destroyed, but it doesn't seem like it was sent to another world either … Both spaceships didn't send back any distress signals, which means that something is blocking the signal transmission …"
While Sandora was muttering her own guess, my sister had already thought of something else. She looked at Icetis and used her signature soft but irresistible voice to ask, "You have sent scouts there before, right?"
Icetis nodded. "Yes, they have been there for more than a thousand years. They were almost marked as having died in the line of duty."
I quickly added, "If I were Father God, I would first lock myself up for a thousand years if I met such a son."
Icetis immediately poked my arm. "If that's the case, all the houses in the God Realm will have to be turned into detention rooms. We are too insensitive to time. Some serious cases can even forget to come out of the detention room. In the end, the officers will have to invite them out."
I immediately felt a sense of longing for such subordinates. If Sicaros could also throw himself into the detention room and forget to come out, how much effort would I be able to save? The Town Security forces that I could save would be enough to turn Gaolao Village into Manhattan in three days …
Then, Sandora and my sister knocked on my head and Icetis's head with a knife-hand. Then, they shouted in an exasperated tone, "Be more serious!"
The difference was that Sandora was strict with Icetis, while my sister showed me a loving gaze that I didn't dare to resist but enjoyed. I had seen this gaze for twenty years, and I could never get tired of it.
"They haven't fallen for it even after a thousand years, which means that the thing hiding here is useless against the Protoss," my sister analyzed logically. "Also, the Void Probes haven't disappeared, which means that it is highly possible that only things with a certain amount of energy or volume will be swallowed. Icetis, you are an expert. Will such an invisible pit form after a world is destroyed?"
"You suspect that after the world was destroyed, it turned into a pit that can swallow psionic units?" Icetis understood what my sister meant. "I've never heard of it. The Protoss and the Shiring Apostles have different powers. If that world was destroyed by the Schilling fleet, only its destroyer would know the situation …"
As we said that, we looked at Visca. The latter was squatting on the ground drawing little people with chalk. Noticing our gazes, he immediately lifted his head and smiled at us innocently.
"Of course, there are times when the Destroyer doesn't know the situation."
Icetis hung her head dejectedly.
"Let's inform the Garden of Death." Seeing that everyone was silent, I raised my final opinion. "It is already an abnormal situation. I reckon that it would be useless to use conventional investigation methods."
Everyone agreed. I finally came up with a constructive idea. Heh!
As a Law-level facility, the Garden of Death system was rarely used. Most of the time, we only needed it for its super powerful spying ability. As the core of a world fragment that was almost assimilated by the void, the Garden of Death was "born" with the ability to easily penetrate the void to collect information. Its observation equipment had two components. One was the large circular square in the center of Avalon, which acted as the information operating terminal. The other was directly modified from the semi-void boundary of the world fragment, which was the predecessor of Avalon. This component was permanently fixed in the void, existing in an incomprehensible state. It was like countless tentacles or roots that extended into the void. With the help of these tentacles, the interference that the Garden of Death received when monitoring the information from the depths of the void was infinitely close to zero.
The other function of the Garden of Death, which was to perform limited rewriting of the laws of the universe on any target across worlds, had only been used a few times. This ability was indeed very powerful, even more so than our recently captured "Warsong" planet fortress (which was still being repaired. Of course, I doubted that Tawil intended to repair it before he completely dismantled it). Unfortunately, its use was too limited. Have you ever seen a street fight where two Iron Fist rocket launchers were fired at each other?
For these various reasons, the very important Imperial Army equipment, the Garden of Death, was in most cases even less well-known than the ordinary border troops. Many of the servants had only seen the name of this thing in the enlistment manual, and the manager of the Garden of Death, the 1.7-meter version of Artemis, had become the most idle of all the managers of the armory.
So when she heard that the Garden of Death was about to be activated, Artemis practically skipped in front of us. Her face was plastered with small pieces of paper. Of course, this was not fun. What was fun was that the unicorn she rode over also had a few small pieces of paper on its face. You know what kind of dry humor this was. She played poker with a mount and lost …
I began to wonder how weird the daily life of the idlers in Avalon was.
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