Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1508: Xyrin Will (Part 2)

"Seeing hope for the Empire’s rise from the Other Shore Civilization?" Sandora raised an eyebrow at the words of the Abyss Xyrin, "Are you saying they possess some superpower that can help you rebuild the Empire, or do they have some crucial resources or technology..."

"Neither. From my observation, the Other Shore Civilization doesn’t possess significant power, perhaps not even stronger than you. They merely have deep-diving technology far beyond ours," the Abyss Xyrin shook his head, "The key isn’t with them but in some information I’ve found on their spaceship—haven’t you noticed that materials from the Other Shore have a certain peculiarity?"

"I’ve noticed it long ago," I nodded, "The things from the Other Shore lack some ’attributes,’ we’re not sure if they’re immeasurable or what, but they certainly feel ’incomplete’—either they have no mass, or they shield gravity."

"If my research is correct, things on our side would appear the same way on the Other Shore—their civilization would be intrigued by the peculiar attributes of our materials, with many immeasurable properties. This is a dislocation phenomenon on both sides of the Abyss. Further research reveals this dislocation is not only applicable to the Order World but also to the Abyss environment. Of course, not every material can dislocate exactly, but those that do possess some wondrous properties. You’ve probably noticed the wreckage I’ve brought along this time—they are completely immune to pollution in the Abyss. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?"

I felt a thought flash across my mind like lightning, and I might have caught onto the Abyss Xyrin’s train of thought: "Are you saying... immunity!"

"You could say that," the Abyss Xyrin nodded, "When I first encountered the wreckage, I was astounded by their incredible properties and have since been trying to uncover why they’re immune to pollution. Initially, I approached it with conventional physical and chemical analysis, thinking this immunity stemmed from the microstructure of the materials or their information expression. But I soon realized my research path was too narrow; their immunity to pollution wasn’t due to their unique properties but for a higher-level reason—related to the structure of the Void."

I haven’t fully figured out what this structure is yet, but I am certain that neither the Xyrin nor the Divine Race knows enough about the Void. No one has realized it has another side... It’s a bit hard to grasp, but think about the four words ’Other Shore Civilization’ to roughly understand..."

I instantly caught on: "Are you saying... the Other Shore is another Void?"

"In theory, there shouldn’t be a concept of ’another Void,’ because the Void is infinite and supreme; its mere existence determines its uniqueness. But the properties exhibited by the ’Other Shore Civilization’ inevitably bring those words to mind," the Abyss Xyrin nodded, "So I used a second method to explain the phenomenon: based on different observation angles, the Void presents two faces, while it simply exists in such a straightforward manner, like a membrane. We are on one side, and the Other Shore Civilization is on the other. Due to different observation angles by the two, the Void exhibits completely different properties in their eyes, so everything linked to the Void also reflects anomalous properties: the Abyss, order, matter, time, space, and all connections between these entities appear completely different on both sides."

"So where is the Abyss? Or, in the model you’ve proposed, what exactly is the Abyss?" I couldn’t help but be curious, as the model proposed was highly intriguing. It views the Void as a membrane where Xyrin, the Star Domain, Huron, and other known civilizations are on the front side, while the Other Shore Civilization is on the back. The so-called "two sides" are naturally the two sides of the Void, yet there seems to be no place for the Abyss in this model: the Abyss, which should exist everywhere, evidently cannot be equated with the Void and must be excluded from the membrane. So should it be on the front or the back?

"The Abyss does not exist," the Abyss Xyrin’s remark was shocking, "If my model is correct, the Abyss, in a sense, does not exist—don’t rush to show that expression just yet, think carefully, is the Abyss a definite ’thing’? Or, aside from two-dimensional patterns and the Abyss Gate, those visible yet defy any real-world laws ’phenomena,’ can the Abyss be measured?"

"The pollution of the Abyss can be measured," Sandora thought of something and answered this question with great caution.

"That’s right, the pollution of the Abyss can be measured," the Abyss Xyrin exhaled once more in a human-like manner, "We’ve always been deceived by this concept: Abyss pollution is measurable, and each occurrence inevitably brings pollution. As a result, both the Xyrin and the Divine Race have equated Abyss pollution with the Abyss itself, leading no one to realize what the true essence of the Abyss is... It is something far more abstract than ’phenomenon’ and ’concept,’ a phase ’manifestation’ during the operation of the Void. Although it appears to exist, and we can even construct a deep-diving ship to explore inside it, are you really sure that beneath the Abyss Gate lies the essence of the Abyss?"

My mind was already a jumble of confusion, so I straightforwardly spread my hands: "Forget these complicated theories, can you provide a more intuitive example, something similar that’s easier to comprehend?"

"That’s quite simple," the Abyss Xyrin laid her hand flat in mid-air and gently waved it, creating a light gray light membrane out of nowhere, "Let’s assume this is the Void, with the real Void being much more complex; this example is simplified for understanding."

Sandora, Harlan, and I nodded in unison, indicating that it was easy to understand.

The Abyss Xyrin continued her explanation while tapping a few times on the light membrane, demonstrating its front and back sides to us: "This is the Primordial Void, where nothing has transpired—no worlds, no Abyss. You and I are the front side of this membrane, while the Other Shore Civilization is the back side. Note, it’s not ’on’ the front of this membrane, but ’is’ the front of this membrane. We must always maintain one point: apart from this membrane, nothing else exists—nothing beyond the Void. So let’s assume we’re two-dimensional creatures temporarily confined to this plane. Then we start creating worlds, just like this..."

The Abyss Xyrin gently touched the light membrane a few times with her fingertips, and each time her finger touched a spot, the membrane began to bulge, eventually forming small hill-like structures. "This is how it is; as these protruded parts evolve, view the Primordial Void as a zero-sum plane. These evolving parts’ information is no longer zero; they are positive numbers, represented on this membrane as peaks. Keep in mind: any evolution occurring on this membrane’s front can only produce ’positive numbers’; it can only increase, not decrease, much like the entropy in certain universes is a unidirectional development. The worlds now emerging are numerous, and you can see this membrane is no longer flat."

The light membrane in Abyss Xyrin’s hand had formed about a dozen protrusions, which she described as the Order Worlds we know.

"This is the Void and worlds as we see them on the ’front,’" the Abyss Xyrin made sure everyone was clear about the model in her hand, before suddenly flipping it over, "This is the Void and worlds as seen by the Other Shore Civilization."

The light membrane remained the same, but it no longer looked like a series of lofty peaks; to the Other Shore Civilization, the Void was a land riddled with chasms: it’s just this simple.

"My model at its simplest is like this," the Abyss Xyrin pointed to the holographic image floating in the air, "Our Order Worlds are ’positive,’ so the Order Worlds of the Other Shore Civilization are ’negative.’ Regardless of positivity or negativity, it is order. Of course, this is a simplified model that can’t explain everything; it still has considerable deviations from the facts. For instance, the model’s Order Worlds correspond one-to-one, where each peak emerging means a trough must appear on the backside of the membrane, suggesting that according to this simple model, with the emergence of the Xyrin Empire, there should be a ’Reverse Xyrin’ on the Other Shore. Yet this isn’t the case; from what I know of the Other Shore Civilization, no ’Reverse Xyrin’ or ’Reverse Star Domain’ exists. The actual Void isn’t so simple as a flat membrane, nor do its two sides correspond one-to-one. The only correlation lies in the amount of information: when a world or any entity with information amount X arises on the front, the back must produce information of -X. This information amount is the only correspondence, but what form it will take is uncertain."

Sandora nodded, "The zeroing nature of the Void; the total sum of information on both sides must be zero."

I also nodded: "The amount of information corresponds, but the objects do not match. I can understand that. It’s like two files of the same size, one can be .avi while the other could be .exe..."

"I find it hard to understand your analogy," the Abyss Xyrin looked over here, "but have you understood it?"

I awkwardly waved my hand: "Don’t worry about the details, the main thing is that now I know I don’t have to be concerned that the Other Shore Civilization has a twin of mine lost for years..."

"Actually, regardless of the discrepancy between the simple model and the real Void, as a Void Creature, you don’t need to worry about this," the Abyss Xyrin shook his head, "but that can be discussed later. Now, this model, you should understand it, right?"

Harlan, who hadn’t spoken much, suddenly spoke up: "Understood, this model does explain a lot of things, but how does it explain the Abyss phenomena?"

"Because this membrane needs to reset," the Abyss Xyrin pointed to the holographic image, "the zeroing of the Void requires not only that the worlds on both sides of the membrane have zeroed information in total, but also that they zero in form, restoring to the initial flat state: no matter the format of your files, they must be deleted. This is the ultimate zeroing. And the Abyss, simply put, is the implementation process of this ultimate zeroing, everything loops back to the origin: in this model, there is no place for the Abyss, it is merely a process..."

The Abyss Xyrin lightly touched the light membrane in the air, and it instantly returned to being flat.

"A process of smoothing the Void."

I opened my mouth and couldn’t help but say what was in my heart: "Why do I suddenly feel that the Void is so disingenuous?"

The three people in the room simultaneously gave me a strange look, Sandora blurted out: "Ah Jun, aren’t you being hard on yourself?"

The Abyss Xyrin cleared his throat to regain everyone’s attention: "Actually, this zeroing has nothing to do with being ’disingenuous’ or not. It is unrelated to morality; it’s just one of the properties of the Void. And since the Void contains everything, it keeps creating new worlds while zeroing, ’self-smoothing’ occurs alongside Genesis, so this kind of natural law-like thing we can disregard. In any case, I have now explained the relationship between the Void and the Abyss. As you can see, the Abyss both exists and doesn’t exist; if viewed as a noun, it certainly exists, but if you want to find its entity, or a place that can be called a ’nest,’ you might as well give up; the Abyss has no entity; it is just an ongoing process that doesn’t exist in this model."

Harlan couldn’t hold back and blurted out: "Then what exactly did the Deep-diving ship go through? Isn’t that the Abyss?"

The Abyss Xyrin seemed to have anticipated the question: "Imagine a fire breaking out in a building, and you run out from inside. In this process, are you running through flames or the fire itself?"

"The Deep-diving ship passed through ’pollution,’ not the Abyss," Harlan suddenly realized, then couldn’t help but laugh, "This comes off as sophistry, just a play on words."

"When things get abstract enough, debating them does look like a play on words," the Abyss Xyrin agreed with Harlan’s view, "but such is the fact. Under the Abyss Gate is likely some special ’space’ phenomenon in the Void. This ’space’ phenomenon can lead to the back of the Void, but it is definitely not a nest of the Abyss. So it’s best not to dwell on this too much, after all, I’m just proposing a possible model here. Whether what the Deep-diving ship traverses is the Abyss nest or just a path to the back of the Void is unimportant. What matters is - things on one side of the Void occasionally become completely immune to Abyss pollution on the other side, and that’s the crux of everything. Observing the same thing from both sides of the Void reveals starkly different attributes; this is true for Order World matter and the Abyss: the Other Shore’s Abyss is harmless to our Order World, and conversely, orderly materials from the Other Shore remain completely undamaged in our Abyss Gate, although not everything can circumvent this niche, but it at least points us in a direction. If we find a pattern in this... can you imagine how significant it is?"

I realized the main point had arrived: "If the Abyss is the process of the Void zeroing, then it works on both sides of the ’membrane’. According to your model, entities on the Void’s two sides can’t ’interpret’ each other, so when something from one side reaches the other side, it won’t be recognized by the Abyss because, for the Abyss, such a thing doesn’t exist... and finally, it bypasses this zeroing?"

"The exact middle process is still unclear, but this immunity phenomenon has already been a fact, hasn’t it?" the Abyss Xyrin nodded, "You should know, although the Polluters are in the Abyss Camp, even we can’t be immune to Abyss damage; that’s equally terrible for us, and throughout the entire Void, the only threat capable of posing a fatal danger to the Empire is the Abyss—once this trouble is permanently solved, the Empire will no longer face greater enemies than it. So, after learning this, I began studying how to utilize this discovery. I initially thought of replicating materials from the Other Shore on ’this side’, but soon those attempts all failed: materials from the Other Shore cannot be cloned, or rather can be cloned, but they will never display the attributes I want, so I shifted to a secondary plan..."

I finally sorted everything out: "You thought of bridge-building, a collective migration to the Other Shore?"

"That is just the first step, and the second step after migration is collective evolution. I will attempt to change the life forms of all Angel Envoys, so that the entire Race becomes completely immune to the Abyss—even if it is only immune on the Other Shore, that’s a massive advancement. Achieving the second step is very easy; changing material forms and attributes is simple technology. After the second step is completed, I will build a new sub-clan on the Other Shore based on the local ’Order’, even building another Xyrin Empire, and finally send them back to this side through the ’bridge’..."

"Thus they too would be completely immune to the Abyss on ’this side’," I widened my eyes, never expecting that the Abyss Xyrin was planning such a grand scheme, and the so-called bridge-building was just the first step, "You want to open the Void from both sides, establishing a mirrored Empire on each shore, so that going forward, the Xyrin Apostle will become a Race completely immune to Abyss pollution... Apart from battling other similar-level civilizations or destroying themselves, the Empire wouldn’t worry about encountering enemies; you’ve made the Empire’s greatest enemy ineffective!"

The Abyss Xyrin smiled: "At least it sounds feasible, doesn’t it?"

My thoughts began to race, and several unsolved mysteries started aligning: we had previously obtained several Black Shuttles, although they were also polluted by the Abyss, certain components remained surprisingly intact. Taville and other experts initially believed it was merely because of the "Other Shore’s" superior deep-diving technology, but now it seems this may be related to immunity; we also know there is an abnormal Order area at the "bottom layer" of the Abyss, beyond which the Abyss’s pollution rapidly declines. Now it seems this "bottom layer" might as well be the Other Shore, should one cross that boundary, then it’s no longer "submergence", but beginning to "surface" toward the Other Shore; Ocam’s theory of "pollution disintegration" back then might just be an illusion; the reality is that the closer to the Other Shore, the less sensitive its Abyss is to the Order materials from this side; I also suddenly remembered the illusions I "saw" each time I entered the "Divine Void" state, that perpetually undulating ocean, a surface trying to return to calm but never ceasing in waves... it very likely relates to the model conjectured by the Abyss Xyrin!

"Your conjecture may be right!" I suddenly looked at the Abyss Xyrin opposite, "I ’saw’ the true form of the Void." (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your votes, including recommendation votes, monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)