Watching Lin and her Amazon Warrior-like Pope chatting away, I suddenly remembered something seemingly unrelated to the current situation—after returning from the Haisenwood-Ridemoon Twin Stars, we saw a publicly sent message in the Imperial Communication Network, blessing the Foolish Big Guy and his friends.

That matter seemed quite insignificant, and honestly, it has nothing to do with now, if you insist on knowing why it suddenly came to my mind, it’s a bit convoluted: first, seeing Lin and the Amazon Warrior chatting reminded me of her other followers, thinking of the other followers brought Soya to mind, thinking of Soya reminded me of the Twin Stars, thinking of the Twin Stars brought up that little thing from not long ago—you see, my mind jumps in such an unusual way, if you put a stone before me, I might end up associating it with anything, this is probably one key reason why Qianqian and I are so in sync: my associations paired with her creativity, tell me, is there a more harmoniously matched pair in this world?

At that time, Sandora and I didn’t think much when we found that odd network-wide message, just assumed it was some bored broadcaster accidentally choosing the wrong channel, turning a blessing meant for a specific person into a network-wide message, but now suddenly recalling it, seeing the Abyss Xyrin before me, a thought struck me: "Right, Abyss Xyrin, there’s something I want to ask you."

"Speak," the Abyss Xyrin said succinctly.

"The Twin Stars... you know the place, Haisenwood-Ridemoon, right?" I looked into her eyes, "Originally near the Abyss Zone, a rather desolate world, it was a buffer zone between the Imperial District and the Abyss Zone, later... ahem, later that world collapsed, split into fragments."

I suddenly recalled that the Red Moon-Haisenwood World was ultimately snuck away using my Time Stealing method, so it was a bit awkward to mention at the end, but the expression on the Abyss Xyrin’s face didn’t change a bit, maintaining that ever-knowing smile: "Oh, that’s what you wanted to say... actually, wasn’t it you guys who did that? Stealing a universe from right under my nose, quite a rare move."

I nearly choked on my drink: "Cough... you noticed?"

"Actually, it was only after you managed to transport all the fragments back," the Abyss Xyrin looked at me with a faint smile, "Originally, I wouldn’t pay attention to such an inconspicuous matter, but some outposts conducting regular scans caught something unusual: after that universe was torn apart, a lot of fragments were generated, but all fragments drifting towards the Abyss Zone showed no signs of life, and the large fragments heading towards the Imperial District initially looked normal. However, upon closely calculating their drift process, I found traces of human guidance. These signs couldn’t just be blamed on probabilities... but by the time I realized, most fragments had already entered the Imperial District, rushing in to seize them would surely lead to a full-scale war. You know, in order to ensure the smooth continuation of the grand plan, I don’t want to stir up too much trouble either."

I was somewhat stunned, never expecting that the meticulously planned and costly Time Stealing scheme of mine would have a flaw, discovered so quickly by the Abyss Xyrin, but amid surprise, I was a bit relieved: though it was noticed, the entire plan was still successfully completed, the Abyss Xyrin didn’t find out something was wrong until all fragments were transferred, so in a way, she still lost out a bit: and you know how hard it is to make such a calculating character suffer a loss.

"Could it be that message was really sent by you?" I shook my head to refocus on the original question, "I remember the exact wording was... ’Greetings to the Foolish Big Guy and his friends’, yes, exactly that sentence."

I thought that even if the Abyss Xyrin admitted it, she would keep some mystery, but surprisingly she nodded straightforwardly: "Yes, I sent it."

"It was really you!" I almost jumped up on the spot, "You know about the Haisenwood-Ridemoon matter?"

Various thoughts were rapidly spinning in my mind, primarily about how much this Abyss Xyrin knows: The Twin Star World was always the fire line between the Imperial District and the Abyss Zone, in the stalemate neither dared to start a conflict or be the first to establish an outpost on that Material Plane, hence the situation in that universe should have been unknown to both sides. Before I led a group to carry out the mission, the Imperial Army didn’t even know there was life in that universe, let alone that it had a Twin Star System called Red Moon-Haisenwood—yet the Abyss Xyrin knew?!

According to what the other party said, during our mission in the Twin Star World, her attention was always elsewhere. It wasn’t until the Imperial Army secretly moved the World Fragment that she realized something was wrong with that universe. After that, she certainly couldn’t invade the Empire’s information network, so she must have known the story of the Foolish Big Guy at a time even earlier... before we set out for the Twin Star World.

"I’ve been observing that world for a hundred years," Abyss Xyrin said with a smile. "It wasn’t until you pushed the outposts bit by bit to my border that I gave up that place... After all, that universe didn’t have much special value, using it as a buffer line at the border was just right."

I understood immediately: The New Empire has only been established for five years, but the Abyss Zone had resumed activities hundreds of years ago. Therefore, it is quite normal for Abyss Xyrin to have known about the Twin Star World a hundred years ago, and our establishment of border forts around the Twin Star World happened just two or three years ago... No wonder she knew the story of the Foolish Big Guy and others.

"You even have this peeping hobby?" I looked at Abyss Xyrin with a strange expression. "The ruler of the Abyss Zone, spying on a group of natives fighting life and death on their planet? And you didn’t wipe them out..."

"Why should I take action?" Abyss Xyrin looked more surprised than me. "Their world is useless to ’Da Ye’, and the mortal civilization of that universe poses no threat. Destroying them would be a waste of time."

I: "...Okay, I forgot about your ’principles’. So you’re saying you knew the story of the Foolish Big Guy and others from the start, and observed it for more than a century until two or three years ago when you shifted your focus... Why do I feel this is so weird?"

As I spoke, I didn’t know how to describe my feelings, because what Abyss Xyrin did once again went beyond my impression of her: As the ruler of the Abyss Zone, a tyrant boss who commits every evil deed in other places (at least in the eyes of many ordinary races), she did not harm a tiny group of mortals close at hand, did not dispatch troops to occupy that universe, nor disturb a single flower or leaf there (of course, she also did not provide any help). She just calmly spied from the sidelines, and for over a hundred years at that. This feeling is... indescribable. If you must find a similar example, think of Satan crouching down to play with children.

What’s even more unbelievable is that after discovering the Twin Star World had been intentionally stolen, this quirky-tempered character didn’t fly into a rage but instead sent the Foolish Big Guy and others a message that was half a condolence and half a farewell!

"Is this strange?" Abyss Xyrin smiled at me. "Do you think I should dispatch troops to burn down everything I discover, leaving no survivors anywhere? Or do you doubt that I would spare a small mortal civilization?"

I didn’t say anything, but my expression certainly implied agreement.

Abyss Xyrin propped her chin with her hand: "I said before, I have only one goal, which is ’Da Ye’. Acts of world destruction to extract the Heart of the World all serve this goal; other matters don’t interest me. Do you think I enjoy conquest? No, quite the opposite: Every war consumes a vast amount of my computational power, which could otherwise expedite the ’Bridge Building’ plan. Therefore, I hate waging war against anyone. If only they didn’t resist... Oh, I won’t talk about this anymore, just slightly change your perception of me, I am rational, not a madman who kills for the sake of killing."

"Uh..." I was a bit embarrassed because I always inadvertently forgot about Abyss Xyrin’s "rational" side, and even forgot her strict logical thinking style, mainly because her way of thinking is so unorthodox compared to normal people. "Okay, I know you are rational. But why were you observing the Twin Star World? Aren’t you uninterested in other matters?"

"Just wanted to see how far they could go," Abyss Xyrin’s eyes turned this way, but her gaze seemed unfocused. "When I discovered that Twin Star System a hundred years ago, I became interested: it’s theoretically a place that should have been destroyed by the Abyss long ago. Its civilization level is far from capable of opposing the Abyss, yet it miraculously survives. Although the situation worsens year by year, it never completely collapses. Originally, I should have brushed aside such trivial matters, but its survival probability is so minuscule that it’s incalculable... so I became intrigued. I began to observe the Twin Star System, even sending some agents to study their civilization’s history, and was surprised to discover that it not only resists the Abyss but has been struggling for more than two thousand years... This is something entirely beyond calculation. I simulated all parameters of this civilization, and no matter how I maneuver or precisely distribute combat power, I couldn’t achieve the same, which made me very curious. I wanted to know how they did it and wanted to see how much longer they could hold on. Over these hundred years, the Foolish Big Guy and his friends became my main subjects of observation: they are evidently the key to that civilization’s endurance, yet these people are just a group of flawed mortals, with imperfect willpower—how could this not pique interest? And observing them is not merely a personal curiosity, but also research into how the Abyss and civilizations evolve. You know, Fallen Apostles too can be eroded by the Abyss, so any form of Abyss resistance is valuable to us."

"So, what was the result of your observation?" I asked with a slightly curious smile.

"In the end, if you hadn’t showed up, I would have figured it out soon," Abyss Xyrin’s voice was unexpectedly a bit resentful, "Your development speed is so fast, in the blink of an eye, you’ve pushed the border right to my doorstep, so I had to temporarily give up that spot. After all, it’s just a rather insignificant observation point, there are many things more valuable than it, you can have it."

"It’s precisely because you measure everything so accurately that you’ll never understand how Red Moon-Haisenwood survived," I shook my head, "But I’m still curious how you managed to send that message to the Imperial network... In theory, the Abyss Zone network and the Imperial network are completely isolated, no matter how advanced your technology is, you shouldn’t be able to breach it. Do we have a vulnerability in our network?"

This question absolutely needed to be clarified. As soon as I knew that it was Abyss Xyrin who sent that message the other day, I started to feel uneasy: although we are in a cooperative relationship now, the Empire and the Abyss Zone are still in opposing factions, how could Abyss Xyrin have the capability to broadcast something on the Imperial information network? If there’s a breach, that’s trouble!

Of course, Abyss Xyrin knew what I was thinking, she shook her head: "Don’t think too much, if I could invade your network, I wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble to ask for help? That broadcast was just a timed transmission, the message was actually sent out not long after you blew up the Universe—The impact of the Doomsday was enough to cause considerable interference to your border outpost, taking advantage of this interference to shout a word to you doesn’t take much effort."

At this point, Bellavilla finally brought Abyss Xyrin’s dessert over. I leaned over to take a look and was very relieved to find that the plate did not contain anything like a wrench. It seemed Bellavilla’s dissatisfaction with Abyss Xyrin hadn’t reached the level where she would abandon her principles: if she had the same personality as Lilina, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything that appeared on the plate.

Abyss Xyrin curiously looked at the food in front of her, cautiously pinched a piece of crispy biscuit and put it into her mouth, chewing, I hurriedly asked beside her: "How does it taste?"

Abyss Xyrin’s mouth was stuffed, but that didn’t affect her speaking at all: "What taste? I don’t have that function."

Me: "..."

This guy hasn’t even installed a taste library! Just how frugal is she with her own calculation power...

"Then where should I put the stuff in my mouth?" Abyss Xyrin asked as I didn’t speak, "Moreover, what’s the point of eating? Chewing them up won’t provide me with energy."

"Throw it into Other Space!" Bellavilla grunted and pushed Abyss Xyrin’s plate of desserts in front of me, "You can have it, I knew giving her this stuff would be completely wasted—you don’t understand this boring guy, but I understand her fully."

"I don’t get it," Abyss Xyrin threw the thing in her mouth into some unknown Subspace, then wiped off the biscuit crumbs from the corner of her mouth and said methodically, "This was a meaningless thing to begin with. I’m going back to the lab. I’ve already said goodbye to Bellavilla, I should go back to work, Taville is still waiting for me."

She left those words and stood up, pushed her suitcase towards the door without giving anyone time to respond. By the time I snapped out of my daze, that person and her suitcase had already walked out of the store.

"Look, a boring person," Bellavilla pointed a finger in the direction Abyss Xyrin left, "You don’t have to bother making her act like the others in Shadow City because her worldview is exceptionally steadfast. Getting this guy to adapt to the atmosphere around you is even more difficult than getting Pandora to calmly face her height issues..."

"Bang—Clatter..." Another strange noise from the corner interrupted Bellavilla. This time it was a clumsy Raven knocking over the refrigerator: that girl might have been trying to use the Ice Cone Skill to make Lilina a cold drink, and now the latter is frozen together with the fridge.

"Hmm, even harder than getting these idiots to learn how to use home appliances," Bellavilla waved her hand, "Too dumb, can’t even use such primitive equipment, even I can learn it."

I looked at Bellavilla in astonishment: Being the Raven King, is it really something to be proud of that you know how to use a fridge and oven?

"Chen, are you free?" Uncle Kenser came over at this time, "Come over, I need to tell you something."

I saw a slightly serious expression on his face, knowing that something was up, so I got up while asking: "What’s going on?"

Kenser led me to his table, Lin moved aside to make space, I pulled a chair from the neighboring table, sat down, and at the same time, the two Popes on the opposite side of the table politely stood up to greet, but I hurriedly stopped them: never mind the white-bearded gentleman’s lumbar disc, the Wheel Battle Axe on the Amazon female warrior’s back looked quite daunting, and since there wasn’t a weapon rack next to the counter, she kept carrying the axe on her back, I was just worried that this fierce warrior lady would accidentally poke through the ceiling of the little shop...

Although this little shop was already almost due for a renovation thanks to those two Ravens who screw up everything and a troublemaking Lilina...

"This is a document sent by the Pantheon a while ago," Uncle Kenser pulled out several scrolls from his Personal Space, "Also included are my own observation records and the kids’ organized notes, and lastly, these are notifications just transmitted by the Pantheon..."

I quickly waved my hand: "No need, just tell me directly, I get dizzy looking at Imperial files anyway."

Uncle Kenser seemed to just remember that he and I aren’t part of the same system (people who’ve lived in the Imperial Capital for a long time seem to have this trait, easily forgetting which side they originally belong to), he smiled awkwardly and put away all those scrolls: "Well, according to the instructions from the Pantheon and observation results, the recent collective failure of the world management system indeed wasn’t a routine event, although it can’t be explained theoretically, it’s likely related to the Void apocalypse."

Me: "... What?"

"Void Apocalypse," Uncle Kenser repeated with a serious expression, "That’s the conclusion from the Pantheon, just announced a few minutes ago. I’ve also compared the observation records organized by the young ones with the data from the Pantheon, it’s indeed correct..." (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)