Chapter 1,576 Hidden Things

The scale of this weird space building complex is about the size of the solar system. Although it is equivalent to a drop in the ocean compared with the surrounding special space areas, its absolute size is still considerable. Sandora controlled the spacecraft to drop a drop in the outer area. A large number of detection equipment then slowly moved into the interior of the building complex. As they continued to advance, strange phenomena began to appear.

"The space readings are not normal. There seems to be something hidden here, but it seems that it cannot be deciphered for a while." Sandora looked at the equipment in front of her and the panoramic view of the entire space building complex strangely, "Arjun, look, in There is a large blank space near the core area. There should be something here. Look at these, they are obviously peripheral buildings - but the inner buildings they guard are missing."

"You haven't discovered the function of this building complex yet?" I asked curiously.

"No, what has been discovered so far are facilities such as weapons platforms, warehouses and ports. These facilities can be seen in any space base. If this is just an ordinary space colony, it would be very disappointing. " Sandora slowly floated to the large data terminal and ordered to the ship's host computer, "Start analyzing the spatial structure here. There may be space cracks or something like this hidden here."

I looked at the holographic projection next to me, and I could clearly see the structure of the entire space building complex from here. It is a very classic multi-layered spherical space community, with more than ten floors of distinctive building areas from the inside to the outside, forming a It is like a spherical shell-like structure. The outermost building layers appear relatively sparse. The farther inward, the more buildings and the larger the scale. However, this rule is broken when it comes to the third-to-last inner building group: the final The core three-story building complex appears unusually sparse, with vast expanses of meaningless open space. In space, only alloy frames with unknown meanings and high towers and fortresses as auxiliary buildings can be seen. It is as if all the buildings in the city center have been wiped out out of thin air, but all the roads around the buildings and the door kiosks are left. Sandora is not needed It reminds me that something is wrong at a glance.

But those unusually empty areas were not covered in simple optical camouflage or anything like that, with the detectors cruising there several times. It was finally confirmed that there really was "nothing" there, at least it was empty in the sense of normal time and space.

Of course, Shandora has discovered that the space readings here are abnormal, so most likely the buildings here are hidden by some space cracks: this once again proves that the former owners of these buildings have technology that far exceeds that of the tree elves.

The engineering ship slowly patrolled in this unusually open area, waiting for the scattered probes to return more useful information. Sandora took this opportunity to slowly study the various energy readings permeating the space: "There are obscure Energy fluctuations. They come from 'vacuum'. They are the same level of energy as psionic energy, so they probably penetrated directly into the space blockade here. Hmm... there is actually psionic energy? Is there imperial equipment in the hidden things? Let me Let’s see what other forms of energy we haven’t seen before. The old empire has never recorded them. The race that escaped into this universe seems to have a very complex composition. Maybe it has something to do with the fourth and fifth exile fleets?”

It's not surprising to discover psionic energy. The tree elves are also the last dependents of the empire. Moreover, there may be other servants of the old empire who have escaped into this universe. Most of the equipment they brought with them contains psionic energy. This space ruin may be a facility jointly built by the exiled races. What I'm curious about is...could the Forge of the Gods refer to such a complex of buildings with unknown meaning? So far, I haven't found anything about it that is as tall as the words "Celestial Forge". The only special point is that some buildings are hidden. Maybe the key to the problem lies in those hidden buildings?

I was thinking and studying the images from the probe, and then a silvery-white metallic light suddenly came into view.

"Sandora, do you think this is an imperial facility?" I immediately patted the Sandora ball in mid-air, pulled the latter over and looked at the holographic projection in front of me together: the image had been zoomed in and enlarged. Located in the center of the screen is a long alloy building. This building has the typical silver-white + silver-gray shell with blue paint style of imperial facilities. However, the imperial military emblem is not seen. Perhaps the part where the military emblem is located is cut off. ——This long-shaped facility looks incomplete. One end of it disappears neatly into space, as if it has been cut by a sharp blade.

"Eighty percent... go over and take a look," Sandora took one look and made a decision, "Let the spacecraft work on its own, let's go there."

The onboard AI of this engineering ship can complete most tasks independently. Sandora left orders for it to continue to decipher the spatial anomalies here and scan every facility in the entire building complex. Then she pulled me (although she had no hands now) and teleported me to the vicinity of the long silver-white facility. By the way, we also brought a few autonomous machines in case of emergency.

This alloy building that looks rich in imperial style is three kilometers long, seven hundred meters wide, and three hundred meters high. Although there are some structural protrusions on the surface, the overall shape is still a very regular rectangular parallelepiped. One end of it (I will regard it as the end for the time being) is slightly constricted, and something similar to a loading and unloading gate can be seen on the end armor plate. There is also an armor plate that has cracked for unknown reasons, and a large amount of material is exposed from under the armor plate. Connecting bolts and crystallized pipes: This structure is used to physically connect to external energy sources and data systems.

At the other end of the facility there were clear signs of a cut, a neat and sharp diagonal cut. The scale of the entire facility may be larger than it looks now, and the other end of it may be a large building with a complex structure. Even the long metal structure in front of us is just a small part of the entire facility, but it makes no sense: this thing It seems that only a small section is left floating here for people to admire.

Yes, this is an imperial facility. Although there are still no military emblems or other conspicuous marks, the shell is made of Xiling's special extraordinary alloy, and the crystallized pipe network exposed under the metal shell is also a characteristic of imperial technology. . It's just that the energy in this building seems to have been completely exhausted, and even the aftermath in the energy veins has dissipated completely, so the familiar blue luminous grid cannot be seen on the armor plate, nor can the ghostly light it radiates be felt. Can fluctuate.

"When I first saw it, I thought it was a spaceship." I slowly landed on the surface of this alloy facility holding the Sandora ball. Several autonomous machines following behind quickly scanned the entire building in the air, "Speaking of which, I have never seen such a building before. The spaceship does not look like a spaceship, the turret does not look like a turret, and it does not look like a living module or energy group. .Not even a factory.”

"There is no identification mark. It can only be confirmed that it was made by the Empire, and the specific function cannot be determined until the scan is completed." Sandora's voice rang in my mind, and then she jumped in my arms, " By the way, why do you always hug me these days? Although I’m not unhappy... but why do you hug me more often after I turned into a ball? "

Me: "...It's chubby. I'm always worried that you'll disappear if I don't pay attention."

Sandora Ball: "..."

This alloy facility has been completely shut down. Naturally, there is no gravity environment. This is quite unpleasant: I still like the feeling of being down-to-earth. No matter how accustomed I am in the past two years, I still find the zero-gravity environment an annoying thing, but Sandora Ball is the opposite. She seems to prefer this kind of place where she can float around casually. After she struggled to get out of my arms, she kept floating in front as a "guide" - although neither of us knew what this thing was for. But Sandora seems to know where its entrance is.

"Arjun! Here!" Sandora's ball shook happily up and down a hundred meters away. "This is the entrance! If the shallow scan is correct, you should be able to directly enter the personnel passage here!"

I quickly floated over, and sure enough I saw a gate structure more than ten meters wide in the middle of the connecting section of the armored belt. Of course, due to the depletion of energy here, the gate could not be opened in the normal way, but this was not a problem. Sandora Ball changed again. She floated towards the groove at the top of the gate in a flat shape... I quickly pulled her back and directed the autonomous machinery coming from behind to cut the gate. By the way, I want to educate Her Majesty the Queen: "Queen, please pay a little attention to your image! Isn't this form of yours specially used for picking locks?"

When I mentioned the word "picking locks", I couldn't help but start thinking wildly: How great it would be if Little Crow and Little Bubbles were around at this time. They are a pair of naughty kids who can pick locks by sliding doors. They are evaluating this place. All the space blockades are for nothing... I haven't been tormented by those naughty kids at home for several days, and I still feel lonely. Is there any hope for me?

The charged armor that has lost its charging effect is just a super alloy with high resistance. After a moment of sparks flying from the engineering cutting arm of the autonomous machine and drilling and digging, a line that is enough to surpass others soon appeared on the gate. The metal of the passage wall was still glowing with a scorching red light, so I held the Sandora ball and flew directly in: below was a very spacious white corridor. Unfortunately it was pitch dark.

I was still planning to ask Sandora to provide lighting, but Her Majesty the Queen hit me on the head with quite contempt: "Brainless, it's not like there is no lighting equipment here. I asked the engineering ship to send a support submachine over. The energy network here seems to be No problem. It will probably be usable once the power supply is restored."

A hundred-meter-long, fat work boat separated from the engineering ship in the distance and quickly connected itself to this strange rectangular facility. The work ship carries a portable high-efficiency power furnace that comes in handy in this situation. Since we have confirmed that there are physical connection bolts to the crystallized pipe network at the end of this facility, it does not take much trouble to restore the lighting of the facility. Of course, we only Restore the lighting system and part of the environmental maintenance system of this facility - firstly, the external power furnace has limited output and cannot support the restoration of such a large building, and secondly, it is to prevent accidents. This place has been abandoned for tens of thousands of years, so we rashly There is a real possibility that it will explode immediately after the power is restored.

As the external energy came online, the lighting system in the corridor resumed work, and artificial gravity also appeared again. Although the atmospheric problem was not solved for the time being, it was at least much more comfortable than before. Sandora and I began to explore here curiously, and very soon I almost noticed a familiar phenomenon... none of the equipment here has nameplates!

There are no signs on the data terminals embedded in the wall, and there are no nameplates on the compartments on both sides of the corridor. Along the way, there is nothing that can indicate the "ancestry" of this facility. All signs indicate...

"The Abyssal Spirit is everywhere," I looked at a fixed data terminal embedded in the wall without a nameplate, and I couldn't help complaining about the cluster consciousness that lingered wherever it went, "I'm afraid this place It was also made by the Abyss Xiling. It seems that the tree elves ran away in two groups, and one of them followed Harlan's guidance. The other group might have had an accident and was later rescued by the Abyss Xiling - that It should be the time when she was not crazy yet. So this place is actually part of the Ark of Exile?"

There is no nameplate or any logo. This is the biggest feature of the equipment secretly manufactured by Abyss Xiling at the end of the old empire. So far, we have not found this feature in other empire creations. The Abyss Xiling created these things before it was completely contaminated. They were basically used to rescue refugees (the Abyss Xiling back then was not black at all. What a conscientious Virgin-type girl), so It’s not too surprising to find the creation of the Abyss Xiling in a universe that may be a place of exile. I just didn’t expect that guy to personally help the tree elves back then: Haran has no record of this at all. It seems that he and Shan Dora accidentally broke into an unsolved case from ancient times.

The world seems more and more interesting.

"It's hard to say whether it's the Ark of Exile, but it must be related to the Abyss Xiling," Sandora was trying hard to restart the data terminal in front of her. Many golden lines extended from her body and connected to the data terminal. She seemed to be trying to read this thing directly, but after struggling for a few minutes, she was disappointed. "Hey, there is no meaningful information at all."

"This place seems to be just a... peripheral device. The equipment log shows that this place is called the 'No. 3 Energy Conducting Long Bridge'. Do you know what it means? That is, this place is at best a device for conducting energy," Sandora The ball put away the golden lines on his body and slowly floated forward, "Long Bridge No. 3, which means there are also No. 1 and No. 2, as well as the possible existence of No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 89... But why can we only look at it? To this Long Bridge No. 3? And there’s only a small section left.”

I followed Sandora's "footsteps" and looked curiously at the unusually wide corridors on both sides: "Long energy-conducting bridge? Why don't I remember that kind of imperial facility has such a part? By the way, where are you planning to float to? ?”

Sandora didn't look back: "Go to the break. Doesn't one end of this 'long bridge' seem to be cut off? I feel like it's not as simple as a break."

The shape of this rectangular alloy facility is simple, and its internal structure is also simple and clear: we are in the central corridor of the "No. 3 Energy-Conducting Long Bridge". This corridor directly runs through the entire facility, and you can go straight to the end along it. You must still remember that one end of this ruins was cut off, right? Now Sandora and I are standing in this broken position, watching the corridor in front of us and the entire alloy frame outside the corridor being interrupted out of thin air, and the dark space is in front of us.

"What is this cut off by?" I marveled, observing the smooth and neat cross-section of the alloy wall beside me, and finally ran out and flew around with great interest, yes. It is true that nothing else can be seen outside. There should have been a rather magnificent Xiling building here. The kilometers of silver facilities in front of us are just a part of the building, and there is more than one such part. However, what can be seen now... is the only one called the "No. 3 Energy Guide Long Bridge." Even just a small fragment of the long bridge.

I suspect that the building did not really "disappear", but was also hidden by gaps in space and the like, just like the large and unusual open area here, which was right under my and Sandora's noses. It is now possible for me to stand on the surface of this building or merge into its wall (this is really a creepy sense of sight), but due to the spatial anomaly, it is as invisible as a parallel universe - speaking of engineering ships, what is the meaning of it? When can the space code here be cracked?

"God knows what's going on. The space encryption method here is very clever. It's even so clever... that it's on par with the old empire." Sandra Ball also curiously studied the stubble at the end of the corridor, and then joined me in space. Swirling in it, like a naughty satellite spinning around me, "The detector has discovered a large number of abnormal signals in the open area here, but each signal is encrypted, and these signals hide a folded space , we must interpret the correspondence between the coordinates of the folded space and the coordinates of the real world to understand what is hidden in this place... Well, you seem to understand this principle, right?"

I thought about it and decided to show that I understood it, otherwise I would definitely be taught science on the spot by Sandora for two or three hours. In fact, I can understand the general meaning. It’s not like I haven’t learned anything in the past two years.

"The scale of the building complex we saw is already very large, but its real secret is only the small area in the middle. This space, which is roughly the size of the sun, is hidden by a space sealing device that is still in operation. There are a lot of things, but they are actually worthless - they are just burial objects." After Sandora Ball was caught by me, she finally stopped circling, but lay comfortably on my shoulder and muttered, "I think this place Even if it's not the God's Forge, it's definitely of great significance - there are imperial facilities here. Arjun, you know, the imperial facilities, produced by Abyss Xiling, the coffin-level treasure that the tree elves brought here when they fled here, and it was also covered by a set of Such a tight space blocking device is hidden... what a secret it must be!"

I gently patted the Sandora ball that had once again softened into a mochi shape, and then suddenly discovered that beautiful blue patterns were rapidly spreading on the surface of the "No. 3 energy-conducting long bridge", and then...

The work boat connected to the intact end of the long energy-guiding bridge disintegrated silently.