Xyrin Empire-Chapter 158 - : The Research Center in Shadow City

Chapter 158 -158: The Research Center in Shadow City

After a lot of persuading, we finally stopped Anwina from carrying out her sixth major cleaning of the day, and then my sister suggested we all head to Shadow City to see how the assembly of that knockoff space-time sensor was coming along.

Originally, we had hoped that the mighty Divine Race would have spatial coordinates for the Azeroth, which would have saved us a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, Dingdang recently got word from the Divine Realm that our plane is too remote, and Azeroth hasn’t even been filed in the World Management Center. The Divine Race knows about its existence, but… the only way they know about this world is through NetEase’s official website…

Should I… faint?

Anyway, due to the unreliable Divine Race, we still have to find the spatial coordinates of Azeroth ourselves… The only silver lining is that with Dingdang—this little guy popular in the Divine Realm—on our side, our battles in Azeroth might be a bit easier. After all, Divine Race Reinforcements are no joke.

Speaking of Shadow K City, ever since Pandora established this illusory space to house the commanders, I seldom visit that fascinating place. One reason is that I’m really busy in the real world and can’t get away. More importantly, I’m still a bit uncomfortable with this eerie projection world…

Yeah, quite uncomfortable…

...

Walking on these familiar yet deserted streets, I once again felt that surreal sense of being in a dream.

The city is K City, where I grew up, and I’m all too familiar with every blade of grass and each street. Yet the whole city feels so weird, not just because of the occasional towering Xyrin structures among the buildings, nor just because of the eerie silence and desolation of the city, but also because of the vast distortion this space brings as a false world.

This perception is mysterious; it’s like being in a lucid dream where everything around you, no matter how real it appears, feels off.

When we entered, it had just gotten dark in the real world outside, but it was already deep into the night in Shadow City. A huge, somewhat exaggerated moon hung in the sky, covering one-fifth of it. The strange patterns on the “moon” were clearly visible—a product of Bubbles’ quirky sense of humor. Ever since watching a few peculiar animated films, this homebody who had no hobbies other than gaming began to take a liking to creating bizarre graffiti art in the sky of the Shadow World. She even set up a twisted force field in Shadow City and arranged realistic scenes like “The Curse,” “The Ring,” and “Zero Butterfly”…

I’ve always been quite tolerant of this recluse whose presence is even weaker than Pandora’s. Whatever she wanted to do, I usually went along with her, unless she tried to teach Little Baobao to paint “art” on her room walls…

A bunch of us walked under the dim streetlights, with the huge and dizzying moon above, and a ghost girl glowing faintly next to me, the silence around us as grave-like as it gets. Lights were on in the adjacent towering buildings, but not a soul was in sight. In this eerie atmosphere, I felt that those so-called ghost house exploration games seemed as warm and harmonious as a spring meadow…

Luckily, we had almost got used to it…

The day-to-day management of Shadow City is the responsibility of Pandora’s deputy officer, Sivis—forgotten that name? Then you must remember Pan Lingling, the long-haired beauty who was once nearly elected president of a certain country and then became my homeroom teacher, right?

Since I left school, Sivis immediately quit that meaningless job and started to dedicate herself to managing affairs in Shadow City. After all, it’s a base with a substantial presence of High Order Xyrin Apostles. Without a Military Governor to oversee it, who knows how much chaos those Xyrin Officers, who fear nothing, could cause.

Sivis lives near the city center of Shadow City, right next to the core computer that monitors the entire space. Due to the area’s importance, it’s been transformed into a tightly secured military fortress. You can see alert towers everywhere and Xyrin Soldiers patrolling, the ground completely covered with a shapeshifting metallic alloy capable of transforming into sharp spikes at any time. Above the fortress, small, lightly armed Mechas patrol the skies 24/7. With security this tight, I bet even a fly would get bombarded if it tried to get in…

But really, is such tight security necessary in a projection space where enemies supposedly can’t enter?

“Absolutely necessary,” Pandora said with a serious look, “we must never underestimate the enemy’s strength—even if they seem as insignificant as ants.”

…What scale of hypothetical enemy have you conjured up in your head, you little war-monger!

Just as I was left speechless by Pandora’s militaristic spirit, Sivis, who had just heard of our arrival, hurried over.

She snapped to attention and gave us a standard Xyrin military salute, loudly declaring, “The glory of the Empire be with you! Great Emperor!”

…Do you know how weird it feels to see a former gentle teacher transformed into a steely Xyrin Officer?

After awkwardly returning the salute, I immediately waved my hand and said, “Alright, alright, you know I don’t like all that. Just greet us the usual way…”

“Oh… have you eaten?”

“…Yes…”

Exchanging such greetings at the door of this imposing and oppressive military fortress made everything feel even stranger…

It seemed that it didn’t matter which race it was; an inspection by senior leaders was always a momentous event, especially when it included figures like the Imperial Leader, Star Domain God, and the highest military commander. Such inspections were even more exceptional.

In less than two minutes, Sivis informed me that all staff and related equipment in the research center were ready… Such speed was probably only achievable by the Xyrin Apostles, who could be directly controlled by higher commanders through mind control.

Walking through the alloy corridors filled with the scent of future technology, Sivis elaborately explained the achievements the Xyrin Technicians had made in the recent period.

But to call them achievements might not be entirely accurate; it would be more appropriate to say they were technology that had been reclaimed.

The technological prowess of the Xyrin Empire at its peak was formidable. Back then, the Empire had even researched methods to instantaneously obliterate entire worlds to extract their energy. But now, such terrifying technology no longer existed, and related documents had vanished without a trace due to the fragmentation of the Empire’s data network. What the Xyrin Technicians were doing now was figuring out how to utilize existing resources to reintroduce these crucial technologies that had been lost.

The Space-Time Sensor was among the most important.

The technology of Super Space-Time Jump had always been the Xyrin Empire’s most prized and widely used technology. It was this technology that allowed the Xyrin Empire’s influence to spread across countless planes, like that of the Divine Race. But now, a critical part of this technology was missing: the unfamiliar space scanning technology. Without this, we could no longer purposefully explore new worlds and were restricted to limited travel within known worlds. For the Xyrin Technicians, accustomed to the continuous discovery and exploration of entirely new worlds, this was as painful as being blinded.

Unfortunately, observing other worlds through the Ethereal Sea, let alone the Endless Void, was no laughing matter. No matter how skilled the technicians were, they could not recreate such a miraculous technology in a short time.

When we arrived at the largest research “room,” the knock-off Space-Time Sensor that was less than sixty percent complete was presented before us.

To be fair, it was a truly magnificent and massive device. Its body was a hexagonal pyramid, with the larger end up, suspended upside down above a vast void in the center of the research “room,” with a total length of at least two hundred meters. The surface of this giant hexagonal pyramid was covered with components complex enough to make one dizzy at a glance—this was because the device was incomplete and had not been fitted with an outer shell.

Fleeting, dim lights flashed through the gaps between the complex components. The technicians were testing some key energy circuits within. This behemoth’s energy consumption was astonishing, so it adopted the Xyrin Empire’s most common high-output method—an Other-Space Energy Reactor. By setting up a massive energy module in a different space-time and using a space interface to transmit the immense energy output to the consuming device, it effectively reduced the device’s size in real space and prevented potential disastrous consequences should the super energy core be damaged. However, this type of device also had downsides, namely, its complexity. After all, a space tearer had to be installed at the end of every key energy pipeline, and such things were trillions of times more complex than simple plugs and sockets…

Are you dizzy yet? Because I certainly was when Pandora first explained all this stuff to me.

“The main body of the Space-Time Sensor is actually fully operational, but the problem is we still can’t provide it with a stable scanning probe.”

I nodded gravely and then gazed solemnly at the enormous device.

“Did you understand?” Qianqian suddenly exclaimed.

My expression remained serious: “… No…”

A vein bulged in Sandora’s temple: “… If Lin Xue were here, she would definitely mock you to death…”

Sivis stifled a laugh and switched to an easier-to-understand explanation: “That is, you can think of this thing like a microscope. Now, we’ve assembled a robust and durable frame, but unfortunately, we can’t craft the lenses…”

… Ah, the most crucial part was missing.

“How is Lin Xue’s ability? I heard the last experiment was very successful?”

“Yes, even our Apostles, who are best at energy perception, are no match for Lady Lin Xue’s power. Furthermore, the resonance between her energy wave length and the device is quite good. She’s the perfect candidate for the ‘lens’ role, but…”

“But what?” I noticed hesitation in Sivis’s expression and asked out of curiosity.

At the same time, suspicion began to form in my mind.

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Could it be that the device would have significant negative effects on the human body? It made sense, after all—its interior was filled with high-energy radiation. Perhaps Xyrin Apostles wouldn’t mind, but Lin Xue was still human. No matter how strong her spirit barrier was, it had its limits. I knew her character well—stubborn to a fault. She would spare no effort to fulfill a promise made to a friend, even at the risk of getting hurt, and would try to cover up any injury with a brave front. Although we always bickered, we were friends after all. She might really risk radiation damage without telling us, just to keep her promise…

As Lin Xue’s image grew in my mind, Sivis finally picked up a charred component from the side counter and said, “Lady Lin Xue always tinkers with things during experiments… We’ve already burnt out four control cabins…”