Deep Dive Test Port, Control Center - Monitoring Group.

In the outer space outside the control center, one hundred and twenty-two sets of antennas pointed towards the Abyss Gate. More numerous than these antennas, relay stations and Abyss Communication Arrays operated day and night within that dark gate, forming a seamless communication chain. Despite the high cost of signal loss, they maintained constant monitoring of the "world" below the gate, not daring to miss even a second.

Today marks the seventh day of complete disconnection with the deep-diving ship. Like the previous six days, the only thing returned from the antennas were noises, with no decipherable, ordered information appearing. The Abyss Gate seemed like a chaotic vortex, with not a glimpse of vitality at the bottom.

Nevertheless, the High Order Xyrin Angel responsible for the communication and monitoring systems diligently stayed in the monitoring group’s work area, focusing all her attention on the equipment before her. Even though the interference signals constantly streamed into her ears, this silver-haired, golden-eyed female angel dared not relax for even a moment—especially when all she recorded for these six days was noise.

Based on the "submergence" speed of the deep-diving ship and a rough calculation of the Void model, if the ship survived, it should have long reached the other shore and sent back information. The only reason it hasn’t sent back information is either complete destruction of the ship or, though it reached the other shore, ending up in a barbaric Void lacking Super Civilization.

Xyrin Apostles are not disturbed by negative emotions; even the most basic soldiers can resist various emotional and psychological abnormalities (unless attacked by special beings like Soul Takers or Mind Attackers). But even with their resilient spirit, the possibility of the ship being completely destroyed and all ancestors perishing still saddens them.

"Sizzle—"

As a high-level researcher, the Xyrin Angel was not disturbed by the slight frustration in her heart; she merely frowned, relegating the negative thoughts to another process in her mind core, while the main process kept focusing on the monitoring equipment.

"Sizzle—"

It seemed some ordered signals emerged from the monitoring equipment, but they were quickly covered by noise. When searching again, nothing was visible, with only a bunch of seemingly meaningless lines and randomly organized garbled text in the history records.

"Sizzle—"

Just as the Xyrin Angel was about to switch monitoring channels and temporarily forget the brief anticipation, that short signal appeared once more, more distinct than before. The recording system displayed a continuous, repeating small curve within a certain range. "Sizzle—sizzle—," the repeated ordered signal sounded like a thundering tap directly on the mind core!

Signal! Ordered signal! It’s an ordered signal from the other shore!

The enormous emotional impact seemed to break through the threshold of rational thought, but it was just a momentary illusion generated by the mind core. The officer maintained calm immediately; neither did she cheer ecstatically nor call her comrades or superiors when the situation was unclear. Following protocol, she instantly connected with the control center’s main host to upload these brief signals there, using the latter’s powerful computing power to translate these short codes. Afterward, she adjusted a third of the one hundred and twenty-two antenna sets to concentrate on the frequency band where the signal was received, tracking the signal source with one-third of the control center’s monitoring power. Not feeling it sufficient, she added fifteen more antennas—thus the signal appeared clearer within the monitoring system.

This may not be the ancestors’ message; it could likely be just a call from the other shore, as they have been doing this all along, and this might merely be by chance. Without confirming the ultimate truths, no conclusions can be drawn. It’s a professional quality required of a technician, so after doing everything, the Xyrin Angel wisely remained calm, merely waiting for the host to return the decoded information.

The wait didn’t last long, yet it felt like a whole year. Accompanied by a soft system prompt, the decoded message appeared on the holographic projection in front of her, merely a few succinct words but removing all doubts from the Xyrin Angel:

"We are still alive."

Sandora and I were awakened by urgent communication at half past four in the morning. Along with us, my sister and Qianqian were also roused, and certainly, Lin Xue must have received this life-like "alarm" at her home too, for I sensed a burst of irritation in the spiritual connection: the wake-up grumpiness of a Miss woken abruptly before getting enough sleep.

However, soon no one had any complaints about this emergency communication, for the deep dive port relayed a message: the ancestors are alive!

Even taking the fastest Void Shuttle from the Imperial Capital to the deep dive port requires a few hours, and since it wasn’t necessary for us to personally attend any experiments, the big family awakened from sleep went directly to the Shadow City Research Center, connecting through the data network to the deep dive port monitoring group, requesting them to transfer the signal over.

Upon our hurried arrival at the Deep Dive Project Department, Harlan and Abyss Xyrin were already waiting, while Taville’s main body was tuning a set of equipment in the central hall.

Harlan didn’t say a word, merely raised his hand pointing to the nearby holographic projection upon our arrival.

The holographic projection contained only one sentence: "We are still alive."

Beneath this sentence were numerous data and charts, indicating the signal transfer strength, reception routines, encoding methods, etc., along with location of the information source and various data required for reverse transmission. Though I couldn’t completely understand, I knew they were key components derived from decoding this short message, enabling contact with the other shore.

"Just this one sentence?" Sandora frowned, looking at Abyss Xyrin while Taville, busy with equipment operations there, let the second expert on site speak.

"Yes, broadcasted for a total of three minutes, with only this sentence as the content," Abyss Xyrin nodded as she stood by a large box with fast-moving red lights and a clear humming sound from within. Evidently, she was in high-speed computation mode: her main body wasn’t here. During such calculations, it was actually the Abyss Zone’s spiritual network at work, and this box’s current state was the result of massive data exchange. "The actual broadcast length should be longer, but interference from the Discontinuous Belt affected communication quality, letting your antennas only receive the information for three minutes, and due to inadequate antenna strength, information sent from here may not reach the other shore, where they don’t know if the signal is received here, thus possibly terminating the broadcast anytime. Antenna strength and Discontinuous Belt interference... truly an irresolvable problem."

I didn’t dwell on Abyss Xyrin’s lament, hastily inquiring as Taville seemed to conclude his work there, "What now? Can we still enhance reception strength? Filter interference?"

"All antenna sensitivities have been upgraded to the maximum. Bubbles has also established a host array for filtering interference, so reception issues should be resolved soon. But antenna strength... single-machine strength is difficult to further increase due to current technological limitations. Theoretically, it’s this way."

Qianqian couldn’t resist shouting, "What to do then?"

"Increase quantity, multi-point broadcast, channel overlap to enhance communication quality. Though such accumulation won’t fundamentally improve broadcast strength, it can tremendously enhance broadcast clarity. This enables Abyss Critical Layer relay stations to work at higher power, easing decoding on the other shore," Taville swiftly explained. "Subordinates have already activated communication systems at several backup deep dive ports; the Star Domain also hastens to connect their exploration stations online. Broadcasting at several Abyss Gates simultaneously will surely bring improvements. Theoretically, it’s this way."

"However, there is no direct link between the communication networks of the Divine Race and the Empire. Using trans-dimensional connections requires an intermediate translation process, which itself is a form of loss, reducing network synchronization," Abyss Xyrin spoke, "This could affect the outcome... Moreover, the signal format of the Divine Race’s detection station is fixed and may slightly interfere with the signals broadcasted by the Empire, increasing the load on the relay station. Wait a moment, I have a deep dive port in the Abyss Zone. I can start broadcasting from there, it only takes a few minutes to sync."

"Using the broadcasting station in the Abyss Zone..." I paused, feeling a bit strange, "Couldn’t have imagined this in the past."

Sandora was lost in other thoughts, but she lifted her head just then and said, "Hmm, using the broadcast point in the Abyss Zone is a good idea and can greatly expand the channel, but there’s a problem: Isn’t the network in the Abyss Zone absolutely isolated from the Empire Zone? How would we synchronize? Such a multi-point broadcast must be synchronized to be effective. Although the Divine Race’s data network needs translation with the Empire Data Network, they are at least connected."

My brain almost involuntarily wanted to add: Why can’t it be mobile?

But considering that saying this might get me bitten to death by Sandora, I didn’t dare to speak.

"Isolation is to prevent me from being purified, so as long as purification is avoided..." Abyss Xyrin glanced at me, then shrugged, "Of course, I know you would certainly not agree to let Void Creatures leave the Empire Network, so there’s a compromise: isolate the data chain of Deep Dive Port from your Total Network and synchronize this part of the data chain with the Abyss Zone network. After broadcasting the information, restore the network and use the power of Void Creatures to eliminate any possible contamination that might have seeped from the Abyss Zone. Although the steps are a bit cumbersome, a Xyrin Host with enough computing power can execute this process. All you need to do is take a bit of risk and trust: are you willing to open your Deep Dive Port data chain to the Abyss Zone?"

She might have thought Sandora would hesitate, but the latter decisively nodded: "Alright, no problem."

Noticing Abyss Xyrin’s surprised expression, Sandora smiled: "The Abyss Zone has been showing sincerity all along; we can occasionally show some trust too. Besides, it’s just the Deep Dive Port... Even if there’s a problem, with the current power of the Empire, we can always build several new ones at any time, and there are a spare double-digit number of Abyss Gates."

This time Abyss Xyrin had no further objections. I noticed her figure darkened considerably, and the large box behind her emitted a brighter red glow: she was likely mobilizing resources from the Abyss Zone.

This network transfer is not a physical operation, but a data computation based on a virtual environment. By pointing a portion of the telemetry antennas to several specific coordinates in the Abyss Zone and having a Xyrin Host conduct calculations on the network, a temporary data exchange platform could be established. Thus, everything was completed quickly: all the Deep Dive Ports in the Empire Zone and the deep diving facilities in the Abyss Zone were temporarily connected into one, forming a high-power broadcast system within ten minutes.

After the new system was set up, Taville solemnly took a few deep breaths, as if needing this to calm her emotions despite being a Xyrin Apostle, and then with a serious expression, sent the pre-edited message through this huge multi-point broadcast system to the "bottom layer" of the Abyss Gate: "This is the Xyrin Empire, message received, please respond."

We still didn’t know how much of a data exchange this fragile communication path could withstand, so we didn’t rashly send images or audio but sent a simple text, which also included a "dictionary" that can self-decode, prepared for a kind of translation program on the other side, assuming they use a similar translation program.

Based on the previously received information from the other civilization, the other civilization should be able to understand this self-decoding principle, and considering multiple layers isn’t a bad thing.

Then began a long and torturous few minutes of waiting. The message had been sent, and next, all the antennas located in the Empire Zone and the Abyss Zone would continuously broadcast this message to the other side. All we could do was wait: with no sufficient effective detection methods, no referential "send-receipt" method, nobody knew if the message successfully reached its destination, nor did anyone know how long the "communication delay" in that peculiar structure dividing the two sides was. Until the reply arrived, all we could do was wait.

"This is the Star Ring Federation, message received, greetings to the Xyrin Empire."

A line of text suddenly appeared on the communicator, with a special mark under "Star Ring Federation," indicating that this term was used as a "stand-in name" for mutual understanding and communication rather than an on-the-spot translation or transliteration with precise meaning based on decoding rules.

The text trembled on the communicator, as if suggesting that those on the other side were equally excited when sending this message.

Countless Epochs of effort finally greeted the dawn at this moment... Connected!!

"Hooray!!" Qianqian couldn’t contain her excitement and cheered out loud first. Influenced by her, even the usually reserved sister couldn’t help but be filled with joy, and soon everyone was cheerful. However, Taville and the experts present still maintained their composure: though their eyes were also shining brightly, they didn’t let it affect their current work.

"Alright, alright, there will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate later," I had to press down Qianqian’s head to calm this energetic girl down. Holding her while she bounced, I turned to Taville, "Inquire about the ancestors."

Taville, having adjusted the "dictionary" again based on the messages from the other side, determined the optimal signal format for communication with the other civilization using previously collected information and the data provided by Abyss Xyrin, then sent the second line of text: "We are aware of matters related to ’bridge building,’ and we currently have a scientific investigation ship caught in a turbulence and lost contact. Is it with you?"

Following the message, there was another period of silence. Three minutes later, something appeared on the communicator. Looking at the time, I mentally noted: three-minute delay, with a small portion occupied by relay and information re-encoding consumption. Plus, the time distortion effect in the Abyss environment, these factors should be technically compensable. The rest is probably the "hard delay" across the Void’s two sides, but how long is this period? One minute or two minutes? Can it be resolved through technical means?

The communicator displayed a line: "The ship is severely damaged, but the core is preserved, and the crew aboard is safe."

"Phew—" I breathed a sigh of relief. Although I’d previously seen "we’re still alive," getting a more reassuring answer let my heart settle back down completely.

Next, Taville started sending messages one by one, delivering our most concerned questions in the most concise way to the other party, a process that was maddeningly slow: each sentence had a delay of several minutes!

To those who had grown accustomed to the convenience of the Empire Data Network, this was unimaginable, and even those used to Earth’s rudimentary internet would not accept such a tortoise-paced interaction. However, this was the only way for "our side" and "the other side" to maintain dialogue. We, the High Order of the Empire, gathered around the communicator, in front of the Empire’s finest scientists, using the most advanced communication equipment in the Void (assumably the same for the other side), conducting arduous communication where it took minutes to exchange just a few sentences using the simplest current information encoding.

We dared not send too much information at once because, based on the calculations of signal noise, exceeding a specific threshold could burn out the relay station located at the Critical Layer: our sole reliance for communication with the other side. If it were destroyed, who knows when the next one could be installed? We certainly couldn’t have another "incident."

"This feels like a bunch of aliens in Power Armor squatting in a cave trying to start a fire by rubbing sticks," Qianqian’s creative imagination never ceased to amaze, as she proposed an analogy novel yet exquisitely apt, "Can the ancestors survive on the other side?"

"I think it’s not a problem," I casually replied while watching Taville laboriously communicate with the other side, "The materials here aren’t 100% incompatible between sides, and the other civilization is also a super civilization. We both found ways to deal with the Black Shuttle and the debris of the depth-diving ship from the other side. It shouldn’t be too difficult for them to sustain a few survivors."

This difficult communication continued for several hours. We finally more or less understood what happened after the deep-diving ship lost contact. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to cast recommendation tickets, monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)