Star Empire

"I see, then I understand." Kriz nodded, "By the way, Your Majesty Vidoville, I want to ask, I saw something..."

"Then, let's take action now. Let's set off." Kriz was interrupted by Vidoville before he even finished speaking, and this closed pocket of time and space quickly disintegrated. The darkness was dispelled, and the starlight radiating extraordinary power once again illuminated the place.

"...Your Majesty Victorville? It's strange, it feels very blurry here..."

…

"Each unit reports the overall statistical results!"

"Confirm that all void survey radar array groups are operating in good condition!"

"There is no error in the communication network structure and the current communication status is good!"

"The cross-quadrant information format modulation equipment is operating normally, and the equipment operating bandwidth and redundant bandwidth meet regulatory requirements!"

"All targets are in normal working condition, the target group itself has good stability, the environment around the target is stable, and the purity of the environment meets specification requirements. It can accept high-intensity narrative exploration and maintain stability."

"All backup equipment groups and target groups are normal!"

"The emergency rapid response forces under the Department of History have been dispersed throughout the testing area and are in a state of war preparedness."

"A void channel control order has been issued for the test area. All information objects not required for the test must leave the relevant area before the mandatory clearance time. During the test, any information object that enters the warning range will be destroyed. This test No further advance warning will be given.”

"All defense equipment and mobile combat forces have been deployed!"

Countless orders shuttle through the empire's network, jumping between nodes, sending requests and orders to where they should be executed.

The void survey radars deployed throughout the empire are connected at this moment. Their story focuses on different targets, which take many forms in nature - a decorated battleship, a scarred old man, a worldline repository, an ancient world, the remains of a long-dead civilization, ancient fragments kept in a laboratory, records The space-time structure that is blurred by dreams, the strange materials that are corroded and riddled with holes, the remnants that gradually evaporate in the void, and even the emperor of the Starry Empire...

These beings are called together, and these beings will be spliced ​​together into a goal - a goal that can represent the Empire.

Fleets and fortresses are on standby, and they need to do their best to protect the irradiated targets from contamination. The powerful flow of information spans the distance between worlds, across the deep valleys between veins, across the chasm between branches, across the isolation between quadrants, and converges at the center of the empire like blood flowing back from the body to the heart—— Blazing sun in the void.

"This is really...a huge amount of work." When the complex network of blood vessels across the void was displayed in front of Kryze, he couldn't help but admire. "It's really beautiful to have information sent out from so many sources and still be clear across such vast distances..."

"Is this the Void Fiery Sun, the core of the empire? However... the information sent from all over the empire does not converge directly on the Fiery Sun, but on..." Kryz's eyes came into contact with the Fiery Sun Order Field. outer barrier. He felt that his gaze could not penetrate directly. He waited quietly for a while. After a brief contact and recognition, the Lieyang Order Field released its gaze on him, allowing the development line of the story to continue to deepen.

Kriz was not surprised by this. His eyes followed the countless information links extending from all over the empire and finally landed on a device that seemed to be a terminal. The information flow extending from all over the void was purified and enhanced by relay equipment. Then it was directly bombarded on this huge terminal equipment without any modification.

There is nothing wrong with this in itself. After experiencing the baptism of endless knowledge brought by the initiation, Kryze is already familiar with the empire's basic concept of "high-end equipment requires only the simplest combination and use." As long as the assembled equipment set can meet the requirements, it doesn't matter whether it has a gorgeous shell or a beautiful appearance, for this kind of one-time creation assembled to perform special tasks.

What he cared about was the terminal's unparalleled size, its complex and twisted shape that might make one feel seriously uncomfortable just by looking at it, and the thick and sad story entangled with it.

"Your Majesty Victorville, this is..."

"Its name is 'Monster'. It deserves its name, right?" the figure next to Kriz replied. "This thing was originally built as a makeshift communications array during a campaign against the Fault Zone early in the Crusade Era."

"...We built it when the situation in that massive counterattack improved slightly. We hope that people fighting on the front line can use this thing to safely communicate with their relatives and friends who remain in the "rear area" that has not been affected by the war. Get in touch. It helps relieve stress on the Empire and ease the stack of negativity.”

"We made it very strong, but due to an accident, a second explosion of the fault zone occurred on the battlefield that had stabilized, and a large number of lives fell. The tragedy caused by the second explosion of the fault zone will be revealed when the abnormality arrives, The tragedy was broadcast to the entire empire when the device lost control due to the surge in traffic."

"this……"

"This thing has never been damaged. Since this creation that appeared due to special conditions has strong enough performance, we have been repairing and improving it. It has also played a role many times in subsequent history, but you You should be able to think of it - how much better can the environment that requires the use of extreme equipment born in extreme environments be?

"Before this, every time it was used and repaired, it was soaked in tragedy and blood. Fortunately, this time... that is not the case." Vidoville patted Kerry, who was still in a daze. Zi's ​​shoulder: "Come on, considering that you are not very familiar with all this, the final step of choosing "how to look" needs to be decided by yourself."

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask about these situations..." Kriz saw that the giant facility that looked like a huge head covered with beards and furry hair seemed to be entangled with some rather weird information flows, but he still couldn't wait to ask. The direction of his gaze suddenly changed - Vidoville interrupted his inquiry again.

"...Wow." Before he had time to express doubts about being repeatedly interrupted, Kriz was shocked by the sight around him that he had never seen before: in front of him was the endless white land that was boiling. Countless blazing white "pillars of fire" rise from the earth. Some of them will fall into the embrace of the earth again, and some will continue to extend or collapse after bending into huge prominences.

Whenever such a scene occurs, Kriz can feel the "wind" blowing around him. These seemingly absent “winds” all point to the boundary of the order field. They pass through the warm and thick but calm space-time structure here, pass through the stars with neat grid-like boundaries on the dark zenith, cross the boundary between void and order, and enter the endless dark abyss...

"Wait, stars?"

Kriz took a closer look, only to find that there were countless pairs of eyes looking at him - what kind of stars were these? He had seen such a scene before when he was observing the Zenith constellation of the branches of the world, but everything here It was the ultimate enhanced version of what I saw at that time: this was the fleet of the Guards of the Void Fierce Sun!

"Hissssssssssssssss!" Kriz gasped for a breath of solar wind when he found himself in the public eye, which made him choke and cough violently.

"Ahem...huh? Your Majesty Vidoville, what can I do for you..." Kriz suddenly felt something tapping his shoulder. From the feeling, it should be His Majesty Vidoville, but when he took a closer look, , he discovered that a black "high wall" had appeared behind him at some point. What touched his shoulder was the very edge of this high wall.

"Kriz, you asked before about assigning tasks to you so quickly, how to ensure that both parties trust each other and whether it is safe. Everything here is part of our answer. After you start working, deploy here fleet and we will monitor you and maintain safety - we have the ability to do that."

"'Maintaining security'... I understand." With just one glance, Kriz could see that there were many other things hidden behind this piece of information, and he could not see them directly at the moment. If so... they should have some kind of shielding control imposed on them.

"Overtones..." Kriz gradually discovered that this "overtones" seemed to be related to the previous inquiry that he was interrupted twice... No, not only, the interruption of the inquiry was the most intuitive thing on the surface. Performance, behind these things on the table, there are some looming contents. The specific content of these contents is not sure, but it is certain that they have two characteristics-disorderly and numerous.

It seems like... His Majesty Vidoville may be avoiding talking about something that is best not mentioned even a word?

…

"If you look closely, you can't tell what this is. It's much bigger than the earth. Your Majesty Victorville, isn't it bigger than the Zenith of the World's Branches?" Kriz looked at the floating sky above him. The pair of flying wings behind him asked "loudly".

After standing on the surface of the "monster", there is no need to describe the size of the "monster". Its surface was originally filled with countless twisted pipes and veins, and they were tangled and tangled together. From a distance, the appearance of this creation seemed to have nowhere to go. However, when standing on it, even the smallest place was The twisted tumor had now turned into a smooth land that could not be seen to the edge.

"Yes, that is indeed the case." Familiar words sounded in Kriz's heart. "After all, this is not a mass-produced creation. The 'monster' is a special product created under extreme conditions. Over hundreds of millions of years, many extreme environments have given birth to this extremely special extreme creation."

"The link has been connected. But Kriz, you need to complete this last step of the conversion process yourself - this "monster" formerly a temporary communication array itself was not designed and built for personal use, so it cannot be directly As a personal device. It's up to you to decide how you want to make the information in the array available to you."

"Hmm..." Kriz stood up and flew around this behemoth with countless sides of land. His hands gradually transformed into solid white light. While pulling the "raw materials" needed for creation, he was searching for the "eyepiece" that suited him in his mind.

"The eyepiece...ah, I have it. Your Majesty Victorville, is this all right?"

"Yes, as long as you like it." Victorville, who was suspended next to the "monster", saw the white light lighting up from one side of the giant communication array and quickly extending outward. The white light soon appeared on the bearded giant. A "funnel" condensed on the head - to be precise, it was a telescope shaped like a funnel. The objective lens of this telescope is directly connected to the communication array whose long axis exceeds tens of millions of light years, and the eyepiece end is as large as an ordinary handheld binoculars.

"The interpreters are already in place. All void survey radar station information capture records are started simultaneously!" At the same time as Kriz was in place, Vidoville's order was also spread to the entire narrative network. On the surface, Kriz is the only one who can look back at history and analyze the mysteries of the past, but this is not the case. Outside of Kryze, in the bases of countless void survey radars, there are more people silently recording every fluctuation captured by the radar.

Kriz blinked slightly, and a beam of white light appeared in his eyes. This beam of white light enters the eyepiece and objective lens, is intensified almost crazily by the monster's huge and terrifying body, and is then broadcast to all void survey radars.

After this white light is diluted, it is so weak that it is almost invisible when flowing on the radar's transmitting antenna. But for Kriz, when these weak white lights focus on the target, his eyes are enough to see through the thick history beneath their appearance.

"Your Majesty, most of the content initially shown seems to be related to daily life. Do they need to be analyzed?"

When his eyes focus on the huge target that can be called the "Empire" and is composed of countless items, most of the information contained in the billowing cloud of information released by the target is activated by the white light. The story is not about those magnificent battles and special years endowed with various meanings, but about the peaceful and trivial lives of countless lives in the empire for hundreds of millions of years.

Countless lives of various forms awakened from chaos and came to reality. They came into contact with the world and understood the world. As their footsteps continued to expand, their horizons gradually spread outward from their homes.

The vast majority of these encounters resulted in nothing happening. Life and existence pass each other by, and most of their shared experiences are buried in the depths of history.

But there are also some lives and beings that are close enough to each other that they remember each other and start living together in ever-changing forms. Under the sudden impact of this information, Kriz suddenly realized that the numerous "big events" he had seen and heard about... were actually very far away for countless lives in the empire... …

"No, these stories are too trivial and complicated. Kriz, I need you to start analyzing from the very beginning of history with questions." Vidoville's answer stopped Kriz from thinking, "Currently, we hope that with your help The power of re-tracing some of the historical mysteries and analyzing some details that we cannot determine on our own. What you need is to pay attention to the historical backbone of the empire."

"Yes, I understand."

Kryze adjusted his focus. When he fine-tuned his abilities, countless void survey radars made corresponding adjustments according to his movements. Sharp gazes emitted from his eyes, and after amplification and diffusion, these gazes covered all the void survey radars. They began to penetrate into the depths of the "target", spanning countless layers of historical traces left on the "empire" by countless events over hundreds of millions of years, and heading towards the longest and most basic background.

"Fuzzy protection detected...Apply for access, submit permission proof-level task certificate...The access environment and visitor status calibration is completed, the current reality stability and access format calibration is completed, the self-protection system stability calibration is completed, and micro-destructive detection is performed ——Confirm that the calibration system is working properly. Start receiving a copy of the original information..."

"Copy?" Kriz suddenly noticed this somewhat strange focus: even with such an aggressive analysis operation, a considerable part of the data given to him for analysis was still a copy, rather than the original information that was suppressed deep in the "stratum" .

If you also consider the countless thick protective layers that were unlocked when your eyes penetrated into the "stratum", these structures slowly condensed into a relatively clear sentence in the heart of Narrative Singularity:

"These defenses cannot guarantee that the past historical foundation of the empire is absolutely indestructible, but they can guarantee that if any enemy wants to harm the empire in such an opportunistic way, they will pay the same price as if the empire went to war head-on."

"ah"

As the gaze continues to deepen, the most chaotic and complicated scenes have been overcome. Following the reverse absorption of a dazzling white light, the black clouds began to retreat into the void, and the territory of the empire quickly curled up. Not to mention the branches of the world, even the structure of the world's veins disappeared from the screen.

Kriz continued to look toward an even more ancient era, and the area marked by purple and gold in the void continued to shrink as if it was being eaten away by the darkness of the outside world. After experiencing a long period of darkness and loneliness, the picture suddenly distorted. Finally, Kriz's sight stopped in a seemingly ordinary starry sky - it seemed that this was the "starting point".

"Your Majesty, we have traced back to the predetermined location. What are the current doubts that require detailed inquiry?"

“Analysis of the Autonomy of Civilization and the Autonomy of the Environment in the Last Five Billion Years of the Commonwealth Era.”

"The independence of civilization and the independence of the environment in five billion years?" Kriz frowned secretly. Although he could read what the star emperors behind him wanted to ask, this first question was too much. Too broad. No, that's not right.

Kriz soon understood why Vidoville asked this question, and why his previous impression of the starry sky was that it "looked very ordinary": he saw threads among the stars, countless and looming silk. Such threads exist in every imperial world that I have traveled to: they are the manifestation of the world circuit at the information level when it is controlling the world. However, these threads are not purple or gold, but black!

Looking along these black threads, Kriz found their source in the deepest part of the world - a black celestial body that looked like it had been forcibly squeezed and spliced ​​together by several lava planets. This celestial body had a huge The blood red "Σ" emblem.

Apart from the emblem, the entire celestial body is made of a material that looks very smooth, like obsidian glass. This black celestial body is like the heart of the world, and those black threads are the network of blood vessels that communicate between the heart and the body called the world. Every time the black celestial body beats, it will pump massive amounts of information into the entire world, spreading from the obscure and profound underlying protocol layer to the practical application layer that is within reach.

Everything in the world, whether it is the vast stars or the civilization or civilization relics attached to the stars, everything is just a puppet in the hands of this dark heart.

Kriz shook his head slightly. Even though this was a scene that had disappeared hundreds of millions of years ago, Kriz still felt disgusted. Fortunately, this feeling of disgust does not affect his sanity. He convinced himself to continue to "keep an eye on" the black fortress, which seemed different from his imagination. ,

According to what I know, Σ creations were all polluted due to a terrible explosion of death, and all of them released a disgusting smell in every sense of the word because of the pollution, just like It smelled the same as before. But now, the "dark star" reflected in his eyes did not exude such a smell. Even if you look closely, this fortress still has a vague sense of solemnity and heaviness.

But this feeling could not change Kryze's attitude towards it. The eyes of Narrative Singularity once again noticed something strange: I had previously thought that everything in the environment was a puppet on the strings of the Dark Star Fortress, but in fact, that The fortress itself is equally empty and wooden. As his eyes jumped, the progress bar that could be dragged at will changed its appearance. In Kriz's eyes, it seemed to be transformed into time passing at high speed.

The emptiness and dullness of that fortress could no longer be increased. It may have long ago become an empty body without a soul and consciousness, and it only relied on some kind of instinct to operate the world.

"At present, it seems that the year used here is different from the main axis evolution year in the current macro sense. If it were that time, this should be a scale year defined by certain activities in the world."

Kriz said to himself. Due to the ability to refresh these changes at a very fast speed, the changing trends that were originally hidden in time and difficult to detect from within were also pulled out of the original story by Kryz's ability - the Dark Star Fortress that controls the world. Not only the wisdom and soul, but also its own power seems to be constantly being withdrawn. This change will not harm the Dark Star Fortress itself, but as the Dark Star Fortress's ability to intervene in the world and its ability to adapt to the world continues to decline, everything in the world begins to become fixed and patterned.

Stagnation began to force those "people in the painting" to constantly think of ways. They exhausted their wisdom and even imagined that they could "find another way" on the road to development. But what they did has been unable to achieve new results. Although the Dark Star Fortress has weakened and lost its ability to innovate, it still controls the world. It uses the methods written in the underlying protocol to pull up the Skynet that covers the starry sky and prevent itself. The content for which you are responsible is out of control. Although time flies, it is immortal and does not care about this. Everything just needs to be faced passively until——

The world barrier was damaged for the first time.