Chapter 1,475 Before the Storm

This is a branch corridor located near the core area of ​​the Imperial Admiral. Since most of the soldiers were waiting for orders at the standby position during the fleet jump, this branch corridor seemed particularly deserted, but here I saw a person facing me. Come by yourself.

It was a girl in black with long straight blond hair, fair skin, dark red pupils, and long black silk gloves on her hands. From her clothes, she did not look like an imperial soldier, but seeing the silver hanging on her chest I knew who it was by the small white metal sign: Xi Ling.

"Xiling?" I quickly took two steps forward to meet him, "Why are you here?"

This Internet ghost seemed to be wandering aimlessly. She was also startled when she saw my sudden appearance. The girl in black jumped back half a step like a little rabbit: "Ah...oh, it's His Majesty the Emperor."

"Why are you still distracted?" I found that the other party's behavior seemed a bit strange: Xiling is usually a little careless, but as a cluster consciousness with super high processing speed, it is quite rare for her to be distracted to this extent, plus she Appearing on such a warship heading for the border makes people even more concerned. "Didn't you say try not to run away? This ship is going to the empire's border, and it's not safe for you there."

Xiling then looked around curiously, with a look of realization: "Oh, it turns out this is inside the spaceship."

Me: "..." Did this girl sleepwalk in? !

"I feel okay," Xiling looked at me with a smile, "My main body is on the entire network. The body on the spaceship is just an interface for interacting with the outside world. This small information focus is very important to the whole network. The influence of the distribution state is no more than one ten thousandth, and as long as there is an empire network coverage, it will be the same wherever I am."

What Xiling said makes sense. It seems that I still use the real world way of thinking to imagine the life of such an Internet ghost. However, I am still very curious: "Don't you usually stay with Tavel in the Shadow City? Today Why are you wandering here?"

"I don't know," Xiling shook his head honestly, "I suddenly wanted to come out and take a look. Then I directly downloaded the interactive interface to this place. Just now I was wondering where this place was. It looked really different from Shadow City. "

"Suddenly want to come out and take a look?" I looked at the girl in black who seemed to be confused in front of me suspiciously, and I always felt that something was not right. When Xiling saw my expression, she began to nod vigorously in this direction: "Yeah, yeah , I just suddenly wanted to come out and take a look..."

I quickly stopped her: "Okay, okay, my hair is thrown in my face... Since you want to come out and have a look, you can go around as you like, but don't leave this ship. In addition, you have to get the Imperial Admiral first." Download the zoning map of the ship and the walking rules for each time period. This is the general flagship, don’t you know it just like at home?”

Xiling nodded happily. Then he wandered off like a wandering spirit, humming an unknown tune and not knowing where to go.

I watched the strange girl disappear at the end of the corridor, and suddenly I had a doubt in my mind: Could this guy's abnormal behavior be related to the convulsions on the fallen apostle's side? Or...is it related to the problem with Abyss Xiling?

I don’t blame myself for being so sensitive and suspicious. The main reason is that we are in an extraordinary situation now. There is obviously a big mess on the side of the fallen apostles, and the Xiling and the Abyss Xiling are from the same source. The rift on the Internet has already proved it. These two Internet ghosts who should have been completely separated actually still maintain contact. Now Abyss Xiling may have lost control. I am very worried that this impact will spread to Xiling.

When I thought about it, I immediately lost the interest in relaxing, and quickly turned around and returned to the bridge. Shandora, who was controlling the situation in the hall, saw me returning to the officers' platform with a serious look on my face, and immediately came up to me curiously: "What's wrong? My face is so serious."

"I met Xi Ling," I said as I patted Lilina, who had rubbed against my lap. "Her situation is a bit strange. She is wandering around the spaceship in a daze. I suspect that she also sensed the fallen apostle. There’s chaos happening around here.”

Shandora Bingxue is smart, so of course she immediately thought of what I meant: "Are you talking about the fact that she has the same origin as the Abyss Network?"

I nodded and told Sandora all my guesses and all the details of my encounter with Xiling. The latter thought for a moment and then shook his head: "We can't restrict Xiling's activities. You and I are her activity points, so we can only let her continue to wander on the spacecraft... But she is very obedient. Since you said it If she is not allowed to leave the Imperial Admiral, then she should not run around. As for whether she was inspired by the Abyss Xiling... This is not sure, it may be possible, but as long as you hang on the Internet, Xiling will It is equivalent to being protected by a firewall. If Abyss Xiling really dares to come into direct contact with Xiling, it will be a disaster for the fallen apostles."

"Actually, you don't have to worry too much," Sandora paused and added, "Xiling is right. What is active in the real world is just one of her interactive interfaces. Her own distribution will always be the entire network, even if If there is any problem with the interactive interface, at most some nodes are temporarily malfunctioning. Xiling’s vitality is probably as strong as the entire new empire, so don’t worry too much about this."

"That's the only way," I smacked my lips rather helplessly, "Why am I surrounded by a bunch of uneasy guys... Xiaoxue, please help dad with his fortune-telling."

"Dad, you have to respect the profession of prophet, you know," the naughty kid king not far away stretched out his face from the back of the chair, "Now we are very close to the abyss area, we can indeed see something... I hope It seems that the spirit was really attracted by the abyss area, but it is harmless. If you don’t commit suicide on this trip, you will have a smooth journey. As long as you don’t die, you will live forever, so don’t worry.”

I exhaled, and after half a second I reacted and jumped: "Aren't you talking nonsense!"

Xiaoxue reacted so quickly. As soon as I shouted a few words, she slipped into Shandora's arms with a squeak and said, "Second mother, help me!"

Although it was really annoying to feel that the lawless naughty kid dared to talk nonsense on such occasions, it seemed that thanks to the naughty kid’s interference, the little sense of uncertainty in my heart quickly disappeared. I looked up In the command seat below, just when I was about to ask how long it would take to arrive at the station, I heard a steady and gentle broadcast from the ship's host computer: "Attention all units, the last jump has been completed. This ship is about to enter the material world. All ships The leaders are ready to report their respective situations... Countdown to entering the material world: 10. 9, 8..."

Following a not-so-obvious vibration, the spacecraft's void engine module was shut down, and the starship's drive mode was switched to a coordinate-like engine used for navigation in the material world. A dozen control seats under the command hall, which were on standby throughout the entire process, entered. After entering the work mode, various departments began to report the situation and exchange information. Sandora opened the independent holographic device on the officer platform, and the scene outside the spacecraft appeared in front of everyone.

This is a border world, very close to the abyss. Like all border worlds, this universe located on the edge of the Mountain of Swords and the Sea of ​​Fire is a complete military fortress. There are no civilian facilities or colonies in the entire universe. Most of the celestial bodies and mass-dense zones in space have been cleaned up to prevent them from becoming springboards and "hotbeds" for abyssal pollution. The remaining celestial bodies have become imperial bases or transformed into large weapons carrying platforms. The place where the fleet is parked is the largest military port area in the universe. It is located on the edge of a dark yellow dense cloud. It consists of four defensive planet fortresses, an artificial star, and thousands of large and small objects orbiting these celestial bodies. It consists of a small starport and a heavy factory. The nearby space cloud with a radius of hundreds of thousands of light-years is still undergoing violent star-making activities. The higher energy level and active fusion reaction make it appear very bright. If you are far enough away, you will find It looks like a shiny space marshmallow but because the military port area is right next to the cloud. The air mass in space cannot be as dense as the "fog" in the popular imagination, so when we are within the cloud range, we will only feel that part of the space is emitting an abnormal dark yellow sheen.

The Royal Fleet is anchored in the high orbit of the planet fortress at the outermost edge of the artificial star system. After a series of military maneuvers, the current 1st, 4th, 6th and 7th fleets, plus several other waves of reserve echelons that were previously filled to other remote outposts. A total of nearly seven legions of troops have been gathered in this universe. The large-scale fleets are parked above the four planet fortresses in the artificial star system (another two echelons are on standby at another star port farther away). Now they are just waiting for an order to go to the front line. For the first time in history, a large-scale battle was launched against the territory of the Fallen Apostles.

And we are just waiting for the best time to come.

Watching tens of millions of starships gather in front of you is certainly a very exciting thing, but in the past two years, I have become more excited, and now I have experienced the storms and waves, so I am not shocked by honor or disgrace. I looked at the busy but orderly command hall below, and turned to ask Sandora: "It seems that the servant fleet is not needed this time."

"Everyone has their own responsibilities." Sandora's face was calm. I found that the more she was on the eve of a large-scale war, the more calm and indifferent she appeared. "The servant army helps patrol and defend or fight for the imperial army." It is indeed good to manage some second-line battlefields, but this time we have to rush directly into the abyss area, and it is difficult to convert the quantity of the slave army into quality. If they are contaminated by the local environment and become enemies, it will be a bigger trouble."

Bingtis is also sitting on the officer's platform, and like us, she also has a set of holographic devices and tactical analyzers in front of her, but I guess this female gangster can also use them to watch movies. Nothing else: she was poking around with her God-standard crystal terminal, keeping in touch with the frontline troops of the God Realm.

"The current battle order on the front line is a fierce exchange of fire with the fallen apostles. It will be as chaotic as possible." Bingtis noticed my gaze and took the initiative to report the situation without waiting for others to speak. "It went smoothly at the beginning. The scattered small armies of fallen apostles seemed to have been broken up. Those sporadic fleets were easily wiped out, but the enemies quickly reacted. Currently, the protoss army is encountering large numbers of reorganized fleets, and the fallen apostles Strategic weapons similar to the Garden of Death or high-level star battleships should also be activated. Frontline reports say that the various rules and cosmological constants on the battlefield have become very weird, and are changing towards an environment that is increasingly unfavorable to the Gods."

"It's a star battleship, similar to the Warsong," Sandora immediately judged. "It takes chance to build something like the Garden of Death. The Fallen Apostles probably don't have it on hand. If all the star battleships are on the scene, it seems that the enemy will pay attention. I was really attracted to it.”

My sister immediately asked: "Then when should we take action?"

"How many troops have the Gods invested so far?" Sandora looked at Bingtis.

"This... the calculation of the combat power of the Protoss is slightly different from that of your fleet. It may not be easy to convert the military strength directly. You can think that it is roughly equivalent to the military strength you have gathered here now. Well, it should be slightly stronger, but not There is a huge difference. This is already the limit of the forces we can mobilize without affecting the expedition plan or weakening the defenses of each world."

I was a little surprised: "So there are only so many? Is the impact of the expedition plan so great?"

Bingtis waved his hands: "What do you think? If it weren't for the expedition, we could have ten times more troops than we do now! Every time the gods go on an expedition, they will clean up all the void areas they can reach. The scale is so big that it can scare you. , but now there are quite a few expedition teams that have set off, and those that have not set off are also making preparations. You can’t let Father God throw the soldiers who are going to the battlefield tomorrow into another battle in advance today, right?”

I nodded repeatedly while listening, and at the same time I was secretly surprised by the power of the Gods. Sure enough, only the Xiling Apostles from the old empire could pull out an army of similar size to the Gods. Although the new empire is developing rapidly now, compared with those old rich men, ...Sure enough, the gap is still quite big.

Of course, these words must be heard by God the Father. The other party must still happily say: "The gap is not big, I will catch up after working hard for a while..."

Shandora didn't have so many thoughts. She was just thinking about the march. After thinking for a while, she shook her head: "Wait a moment... The fallen apostles are only attracted to it now, but they have not been trapped yet. They are very It’s easy to get back on defense and wait.”

Sandora was waiting for an opportunity, waiting for the troops mobilized by the fallen apostles to the other side of the front to be completely tied up by the gods, and then launch an attack from this side. In this way, we can break through the iron wall in the abyss area as quickly as possible at the minimum cost, but we can't say when this time will come: it may only take an hour or two, or we may need to wait a day or two, but no matter for how long. As long as we can achieve the result of directly attacking Huanglong, everything will be worth it.

I looked at the mighty imperial fleet on the holographic image, and suddenly raised my head and looked at Sandora: "We can scan to the abyss area, and the fallen apostles can also scan to the imperial area. They should know that we have sent additional troops to the border , you should at least be prepared, right?"

"Of course, they are just not sure of the specific number: I made the Garden of Death cover the void route in the Empire area as much as possible. Therefore, the number of fleets that the fallen apostles can scan should only be about half of the actual number," Sandora said nonchalantly. Xiaoxiao, "Actually, it doesn't matter whether they can scan it or not. If I were the commander of the Fallen Apostles, I should have thought that the Empire would stab me from the side the moment I started the war with the Gods. But even if they knew about this knife, they wouldn't know it." It's just that we can't avoid it. Neither of the warring parties are fools. Whatever plans the other side has in mind, their respective commanders will more or less think of them, especially when we are facing a group of guys who know the empire's tactics well... The wait now is just In order to force the fallen apostles to choose to give up a front due to the situation: either they will be defeated by the gods, or they will be defeated by the imperial army, there is no choice."

I looked at Sandora's figure. All her attention was now focused on the holographic projection in front of her. The shimmering light emitted by the projection device floated on her face, sketching for me the profile of a war song princess who was not distracted. .

Sandora's meaning is very clear: she is not worried about the fallen apostles knowing about the actions of the imperial army, because the situation has reached this point, and the fallen apostles have few choices. They can watch the imperial army and the gods in their own eyes. They gathered separately on the two borders, but they could only hold one of them. According to the plan of Father God and I, the Protoss with strong continuous combat capabilities are responsible for putting pressure on the enemy, and the Imperial Army is the one responsible for breaking through, so we have to Waiting here, when the pressure brought by the Gods on another battlefield reaches the limit, the fallen apostles will have to give up the defense line on this side.

The situation seems to be going so smoothly that it is somewhat unexpected. I find it hard to believe that the fallen apostles could fall into such a dangerous situation so easily. It is obvious that in the past few years, they have become so powerful that even the new empire can't breathe.

Just because of the several suicide attempts and convulsions in the past two days, is this huge abyssal empire about to bring trouble to itself?

"Arjun, what are you thinking about?" Sandora's voice suddenly sounded from not far away. I woke up suddenly and expressed my uneasiness and confusion.

"Indeed, I'm thinking about this too," Sandora nodded. "If we can really defeat... no, even if we just cripple the enemy, I will feel that this is too unreal. They shouldn't be so easy. Defeat, just because they once had the name of 'Xiling', they should not lose so easily. So they must be careful, even if they break through the barrier of the abyss, they must not get carried away."

Xiaoxue closed her eyes and rested on a seat not far away, and no longer answered anyone's questions. She seemed to be accumulating energy, or maybe she saw a future route that was not stable enough, so she needed to reduce her "high position" as much as possible. "Observer" activities to reduce the probability of future collapse. Lin Xue often falls into silence suddenly and ignores anyone, so I am not too worried about Xiaoxue's condition.

As long as she doesn't raise any alarm, that's good news.

Of course, there is also a possibility that this naughty kid really fell asleep...

We didn't wait too long. Just a few hours later, Xiaoxue suddenly opened her eyes: "It's time to leave."