Chapter 1,542 Former Enemies

From the ultimate goal, the new army and the old army are actually the same: both groups are trying to build bridges.

And if we purely look at the ultimate goal of "weakening the Void Cataclysm", there seems to be no difference between the new army and the old army no matter who succeeds: as long as the bridge is successfully built, the imbalance on both sides of the Void will drop to within the critical value, and the Void will The cataclysm will occur in a milder way (although it will still be accompanied by a large number of doomsdays, but at least it will not cause mass extinction, and many worlds can be preserved). This is why the new empire decided to put aside its past grievances with the Abyss Xiling Reasons to build bridges together.

There is only one difference between the new army and the old army, and it is this difference that makes it impossible for us to make the slightest compromise with them: the radicalization of the new army. They have elevated the "imperial interests" to such a level of paranoia and distortion that they try to ensure the empire's top-of-the-pyramid status by annihilating all life except themselves, and even the gods are among their targets.

The New Army will not share the Void Bridge with anyone. They will not allow civilizations other than their own to successfully build the bridge. These lunatics will do whatever it takes to become the first super civilization to successfully build the bridge, and then they will use the Void The special nature of the long bridge allows for offensive and defensive operations, permanently cutting off the possibility of other civilizations building bridges, including the super civilization on the other side.

The Abyss Xiling is obviously much gentler: she is willing to share the knowledge of building bridges with other civilizations. In order to ensure that the long bridge is built faster, she is even willing to contribute all her achievements and equipment and facilities. Perhaps she has been from the beginning. Foreseeing the consequences of the Long Bridge in the Void being completely controlled by one civilization, she early promoted the alliance of the Abyss, Empire, Star Territory, and Huron, so that even if we only built one long bridge, this bridge would belong to the four parties. Unless the four major forces are stupid enough to engage in internal strife at this juncture.

Abyss Xiling is willing to talk about the special properties of the Void Long Bridge, which at least proves that she has no intention of monopolizing the long bridge. Of course, she cannot monopolize the bridge. When the launcher is turned on, there must be four races (the Abyss-shaped Xiling apostles can be regarded as the fourth race) ) are there, and this startup terminal is not activated instantly. It takes a period of time to connect the two sides of the strait, and then it will take a period of time to slowly distort the structure of the void (this is the conclusion analyzed by Tavel and other experts themselves, and can be guaranteed to be true and reliable). In this process It is impossible for Abyss Xiling to monopolize the long bridge under our noses through small actions.

But now there is still a question: the construction of the bridge needs to be started jointly by both sides of the strait. Any failure to respond in time will cause the long bridge to collapse. The final result will be the total destruction of the Σ civilization, and even affect the "fulcrum world" on the other side. It is impossible for the New Army not to know this.

Is there any way they can circumvent this "synchronous startup" limitation?

"I have also thought about this issue. There are many possibilities. Maybe they will deceive the Star Ring Federation on the other side by hijacking communication signals. They will trick the other side into cooperating with them, and then rush over to invade. In this way, the Star Ring Federation will be completely defenseless. It’s time to capture the launch terminal on the other side, but this possibility is very low. We have always maintained contact with the ancestors on the other side. The encryption methods used by both sides are difficult to crack, so the new army should not be able to contact the Star Ring Federation," Abyss Xi Ling heard my question and started thinking about it. She also thought about this issue very carefully. "The second possibility is that they can really bypass the "synchronous start" restriction. Maybe they have made a huge breakthrough in bridge building technology... But this possibility is even lower. The technical basis of the new army and the old army is the same. , just a few months. It is impossible for them to break through to this extent. Then there is only the third possibility... They may have created a perfect deep-diving ship."

"The perfect deep-diving vessel?" I raised my eyebrows, probably understanding what this meant.

"It can dive deep to the other shore without damage or with low damage. It has a huge and stable space container cabin for transporting the start-up end, and a set of powerful energy devices. After arriving at the other shore, it can supply energy to the start-up end, so that they do not need to With the cooperation of the super civilization on the other side, they only need to launch a launcher to the other side in advance. Even the process of debugging and synchronization can be omitted. This process is like the early space portal, sending another 'door' to the target location in advance. , then open the doors on both sides and start teleporting. It is obviously easier to build a perfect deep-diving ship than to circumvent the restrictions set by the void."

"The deep-diving ships built by our four races can only float to the other side by chance, and the success rate of floating over is only one percent. Even if it floats over, there will only be one core cabin left." I touched my chin, "The New Army Can you have such high technology?"

"Maybe they just need a breakthrough, maybe they found some clues in some ancient databases, such as Occam's research data back then," Abyss Xiling knocked on his head. Although it was just a quality projection, She would also refer to her memory bank in this way, "When Xinjun and I split, we each inherited the original entire set of databases, but there were inevitably omissions in this copying process, especially when the split was about to be completed. We and 'she' instantly have a sense of selfishness and regard each other as an enemy. In this case, we will subconsciously interfere with the database copy to prevent the other party from inheriting complete knowledge. Some data should be torn apart at this stage. I and 'She' can only inherit half. Now I can still find a lot of fragmented data in my database. I believe that the other half of the data is in the hands of the other party, but I will never know what I have forgotten. This is a death cycle."

The self-division of Abyss Xiling has always been something we can't figure out. It's not that we don't understand why, but we don't understand the process. It is difficult for creatures in the real world to understand how a swarm consciousness rooted in the network can copy itself and make the two copies have subtle differences in personality. Of course, we can generally regard it as copying and cutting of data. , but I believe that the specific process is definitely more complicated than that, and may even involve things like chaotic thinking. Neither Tavel's theory nor Bubble's calculations can simulate this process. Therefore, we are not sure how many similarities and differences the commander-in-chief of the new army has with the Abyss Xiling, nor do we dare to infer the original results based on the current Abyss Xiling. There is almost no accurate connection to what the character of the first-generation Abyss Xiling is.

Now based on the new information from Abyss Xiling, we have determined one more thing: she and the commander of the new army may not even have the same memory bank.

This can also explain why Abyss Xiling, who is supposed to know everything, cannot tell what the deep-diving equipment in the hands of the New Army is like: even for her, the memory bank is not omnipotent, and defects or turmoil in the entire network will also hurt this view. A seemingly immortal super consciousness.

"It's still unclear what trump card the new army has. In short, everything is estimated according to the worst-case scenario," Sandora pondered for a moment before making a decision. "We assume that they have really created a perfect deep-diving ship. And they have already The other launcher is placed in a certain universe on the other side... So now as long as they can successfully open the launcher on this shore, we have absolutely nothing to do with them, is that right?"

"They won't be able to activate within seven days," Abyss Xiling said with confidence. "On the one hand, my army has not been completely expelled from the Serenity Core. On the other hand... I also made some small tricks in the activation terminal. The Serenity Core The same goes for the deep dive port, these 'special arrangements' will cause intruders a lot of trouble."

It seems that even with a relatively docile personality, Abyss Xiling's cunning and thoroughness have not slowed down at all. Sandora and I felt much more at ease after hearing her words.

at this time. The Imperial Admiral's shipboard host suddenly sounded a broadcast: The fleet had arrived at the border. The several-hour voyage ended so quickly. Everyone who was immersed in discussions and thinking seemed to have ignored the passage of time.

Oh, one person didn't ignore it: Qianqian, when I turned to look at her, this girl actually had a one-meter-high paper crane in front of her. How boring was this girl just now? Speed ​​up the time and stack this thing, girl, have you eaten too much?

The Imperial fleet docks in orbit of a dark brown artificial planet that serves as the sovereign hub of this frontier world. We saw many familiar things above the Sovereign Hub: a thick fortress that seemed to be stacked with multiple disks, as large as a space city, and exuding full momentum.

This is exactly the kind of turtle shell fortress that the Imperial Army encountered when they attacked the Abyss. Shandora felt that their design had many advantages worth learning, so after the war, the empire's technicians created this replica based on the cracked fortress blueprint. Although it was a replica, its performance did not decrease at all. It's just slightly weaker than the original version in terms of absolute destructiveness, which is unavoidable: normal psionic energy itself is less destructive and less explosive than abyssal psionic energy, but it is better at being stable and easy to control. This makes the shield of the replica fortress more powerful and stable, which can also make up for the lack of offensive capabilities.

And the current frontier universe is also one of the spoils of the first "Total War", the heavily guarded world that the Imperial Army first conquered. Now it has been rebuilt, adding a large number of fortress facilities and becoming the border defense node of the empire.

A set of huge halo devices spread out a light-minute away from the sovereign hub. The twisted and mysterious halo reflected the scenery of another universe. Opposite was a dark red starry sky: the abyss area, but the territory of the abyss Xiling.

"I have helped you choose the best route. All the routes you pass along the way are controlled by the old army and you will not encounter interception." Abyss Xiling uploaded a jump route map to the navigation system. The expression on his face suddenly looked a little strange. "Would it feel strange to use the World Gate in the Abyss Zone to travel?"

I looked at the door to the world displayed on the holographic projection and raised the corners of my mouth slightly: "I really never thought about it before, but we have all formed an alliance anyway. Let's cooperate well this time."

As soon as I finished speaking, the shipboard host reported that another group of troops was entering the material plane. I quickly turned to look at another set of holographic projections, which showed the space scene on the other side of the sovereignty hub: deep and dark space rippling in the universe. There were ripples of light, just like the endless aurora condensed into the sea and floating in space. Along with the ripples of light, there was an army that was completely different from the "starship + space station" style.

There were a large number of towers and palaces floating in the air, interspersed with many flat boulders that looked like floating islands. And between these things that didn't look like space weapons in any way were fast-moving star field soldiers: the Protoss The army is coming.

The number of this army is difficult to determine, because the gods are accustomed to improvising various things on the battlefield to fight. They can create millions of elemental creatures and other things with a wave of their hands, and I have many combat units. I don’t know whether it counts as a building or a military unit. I can only see that their brilliant square array covers a considerable area. The monitor turned its sight 180 degrees and couldn’t find its boundary. Just judging from the size of the array, It looks like this is no less than the Imperial Army.

And this should be only part of the Protoss army, and the other part is preparing to attack the far reaches of the abyss area on other fronts.

Xingchen said that he would send all the troops that could move in the Star Territory, and it seemed that he was sincere. This is obviously determined to penetrate the abyss area.

I turned to look at the group of five protoss men not far behind me. Kense and the other four had already stood up and were preparing to report to the protoss battle formation, while Bingtis, the old god, was leaning on the seat with his eyes closed and concentrating. They have completely entered the state of "empire officers working full-time to make a living", but none of these five are the most amazing. The most amazing thing is...

I lowered my head and looked at my breast pocket. Dingdang was popping out his little head sleepily. The little thing looked around and found that there was no sign of food in sight, so he yawned and went back.

I took out this little thing that almost turned into a rice bug. Remind her of the situation at hand.

"Oh, yes," Dingdang was confused for a while before she realized what was happening. She hummed and climbed onto my shoulder, waving to Kense and the other four team members, "Assemble! Assemble!"

The four protoss stood in a row in front of me in a flash. Although they were tall, short, fat and thin, they still showed the full momentum of warriors at this moment. Their usual carefree appearance could not be deceived. Even if the Dingdang team After all, they are also veterans who have experienced countless battlefields!

Dingdang looked at his four men with satisfaction. Then he looked up at the battle formation of the gods on the holographic projection, and finally said something very informative: "Hey... Father God said that there are a few of us... just let us serve as guards beside Ajun."

Everyone: "..."

Bingtis couldn't help but screamed strangely next to him: "I'll go...did the old man really say that?"

"Well," Dingdang nodded, "I just told Dingdang directly through telepathic communication."

I was just about to say how could this be such a child's play. But he soon calmed down: it was actually nothing. For such a large-scale joint operation, the temporary deployment of a few soldiers can be said to have no impact on the overall situation. Although Dingdang and the others are "real gods entering society" with clergy and world management authority, they are different from each other. A loser character. They are still equivalent to a group of super soldiers... they can be placed anywhere.

I looked up at the protoss army that was still emerging from the aurora ocean. The auras of Xingchen and Sheila were constantly coming out of that glorious ocean, and then I turned to look at the Dingdang team next to me. The expressions on their faces were still as heartless as usual, and they suddenly felt that it was not easy for Father God to develop the Star Territory to what it is today...

However, my sigh did not last long. The system broadcast quickly interrupted everyone's thoughts: the world gate is ready.

This gate to the world, which is close to the sovereignty hub, has a special nature. It is not directly connected to the interior of the empire area, but directly leads to the abyss area. It is the product of Sandora's "territorial reshaping" plan. This gate is now activated for the first time. Unexpectedly, it was opened under the active navigation of the abyss area... It is really unpredictable.

The beginning of the "journey" is safe. We will pass through the ruling area of ​​the Abyss Xiling and head to the war zone under the escort of those Abyss Legions. A dense blue glow emitted from the force field grid. The moment the coordinate-like engine started, the large battleship shook slightly like a reflection in the water. Then the huge starship began to accelerate, and the small and medium-sized frigates followed like a dense school of fish. Giant waves generally follow the mother ship. The first fleet entered the world gate first and sent back all safety signals, and then other forces began to enter in sequence.

The Protoss troops also have to rush to the battlefield through these world gates. Although they also have the equipment and unique methods to travel through the world, since there are ready-made facilities here, there is no need to build additional Protoss world-crossing gates.

The moment the Imperial Admiral crossed the gate of the world, the little crow twisted in his seat excitedly and let out a cheer of "Gah". Along with this not-so-pleasant chirp, the picture from the external monitor was violently distorted and shaken. , and then calmness gradually returned, and an unstable world filled with dark red spectrum appeared before our eyes.

There are not many types of worlds in the abyss, and they are basically at two extremes. They are either extremely desolate, with the entire universe filled with noise and primitive energy, but no material-rich areas can be found, as if chaos has been eliminated, or there is abundant matter and The celestial body system, but everything is too active, the celestial body system is chaotic and the material order is on the verge of collapse, and there are very few normal worlds outside these two extreme environments. The universe in front of us obviously belongs to the second situation: there are twinkling stars and nebulae like the Great Wall of Space in the field of vision, but most of the stars are in the shape of a diffuse halo. The stars are too close together, as if evolution has failed and there is no solid form. Then Large swaths of nebulae are bright red or orange, and some bright lines can be seen in them like spider webs. They are out-of-control star-making movements: Although several basic values ​​​​of this universe can support the material system, they do not Not very reliable.

The external monitor turned to the rear of the fleet. What we saw was a world gate similar to the previous entrance, but the overall appearance was disturbing black and red. The world gate was surrounded by large space facilities and star ports. Fallen Apostles ...Or in other words, the fleet of the Abyss Apostles is neatly arranged in space, like a group of dormant monsters.

Then they woke up from their slumber and naturally came to the flank of the Imperial Army to take on the task of protecting them.

We were once mortal enemies, but now we are advancing and retreating together...