Sandora was earnestly persuaded by the whole family and finally didn’t really boil and eat that giant egg.

However, nobody could figure out how to deal with this "treasure" brought by Lin. In any case, I felt it was inappropriate wherever it was placed. Although I understood that Lin, being an oviparous creature (although she could supposedly turn viviparous if she preferred), would have this ability to lay eggs, it didn’t mean I could stay calm when I saw her carrying a giant egg several meters high walk by. Knowing that Little Crow secretly incubated eggs was shocking enough; now an even more astonishing one appeared—laying an egg was alright, but the size was outrageous, almost meant to scare people! Initially, I almost thought it was someone’s newly developed landing pod!

Obviously, the several meters high egg couldn’t be placed in the living room unless we planned to tear down the ceiling on the first floor and use the egg as an indoor scenic tree. It couldn’t be put on the roof either, though it wouldn’t crush the roof, but after all, this is my house! Can we not install weird decorations on someone else’s house?! Qianqian suggested we leave the giant egg in the yard, build a circle of chairs around it, plant some flowers and plants under the egg, and add a wide brim on top as a pavilion. Firstly, it would complement the fountain in the yard, and secondly, the egg itself glows and provides warmth in winter and coolness in summer with therapeutic effects within a radius of several meters. Not to use it properly would be a waste—although I admired Qianqian’s creativity, I rejected her idea.

Stop joking; having a quirky fountain at home is already bizarre enough, so what’s the point of adding a giant egg pavilion!

Surprisingly, Lin, the person involved, didn’t express any opinion from beginning to end. She just quietly listened behind everyone with her usual slightly shy smile, even when Sandora suggested boiling the egg, she remained silent. I couldn’t help but wonder if this pitiful pushover had been bullied to the point of foolishness, not knowing to stand up for herself—girl, say something! Aren’t dragons supposed to value their dragon eggs above everything else? Don’t various legends talk about mortals accidentally touching a dragon egg and being wiped out by dragons in a group? Although your dragon egg can’t hatch any offspring, it’s still a part of you, isn’t it? Isn’t any display warranted?

I pulled this pushover aside and asked her for half a day. Lin just shook her head with a soft silly chuckle, indifferently, "It’s okay, really, it’s not anything important, everyone’s happiness is what matters."

I was speechless and reached out to touch Lin’s forehead. "Girl, are you really foolish? I remember dragons value their eggs especially, or could it be that Dragon Gods are different from common Dragon Clans, with generally freer personalities?"

"An egg that can’t hatch isn’t important," Lin scratched her hair, "that’s what we think anyway. Outsiders seem to have a misunderstanding about Dragon Clans, thinking any dragon egg shouldn’t be touched. But actually, we only protect eggs that can hatch offspring. Divine System dragons and ordinary Dragon Clans think similarly on this matter. It’s not feasible otherwise; some species of common dragons in the Lower Realm lay eggs periodically even before finding a mate. What then? If these eggs can’t hatch or be discarded, should they pile up in nests? In time, they take up a lot of space, and dragon eggs never spoil, so stacking them for a lifetime is enough to build houses."

"I find our topic quite odd..." I was covered in cold sweat, ultimately deciding to discuss something more normal with Lin. "So how have you dealt with eggs before, or rather, what is the usual approach in the Dragon Clans? These things that are eternal and come as they are laid really are trouble when you think about it."

"Whatever, it can be handled in any way. Sometimes they’re discarded, but if the pattern on the egg is pretty, we collect them like shiny treasures. There are so many common Dragon Clans in the Lower Realm that I don’t know about all, but in the Divine Realm, dragons make crafts from them or use them for experiments... various experiments," Lin revealed a pure innocent smile, "I have three beautiful dragon eggs in my castle, two of mine and one from a friend as a gift. I can show you in the future. I seldom show others my treasure vault."

After thinking for a long time, I felt that some alien race lifestyles, placed in human society, could easily elevate to the level of performance art. This is cultural difference, my friends, cultural difference, do you get it?

At that moment, I suddenly remembered a sentence Bingdisi mentioned earlier and curiously glanced at Lin. "Speaking of... can Dragon Clans control egg-laying? Bingdisi seemed to mention that earlier."

"Some in the Lower Realms can’t, but Dragon Gods definitely can," Lin nodded vigorously, "If one cannot control such behaviors, it’s troublesome, especially disrupting things during battles."

"... then why did you suddenly decide to lay an egg? Is it fun or something?"

I actually wanted to directly ask her, "What motivated you to lay this egg," but thinking it might be impolite, I changed to a... um, still somewhat impolite question. This complicated question was difficult to ask properly! Can someone tell me how to solve this ultimate cultural difference issue?

Lin looked up at the sky and gave me a culturally different answer: "The weather is nice and sunny today. Being idle, I wanted to lay an egg to see. I felt good and thought I could produce a pretty egg..." As she spoke, she showed a slightly awkward expression, but not for any reason I imagined: "It seemed I didn’t perform well; the egg isn’t pretty."

Anyway, I felt this topic was no longer continuable.

Lin has already given us this giant egg, saying it’s to thank us for taking care of her and feeling embarrassed about mooching meals every day, so she at least wanted to show some appreciation. Let’s not consider the weird gift and the cultural differences it brings; after all, we can’t refuse something received in good faith, right? So, Big Sister accepted it. However, ultimately this thing didn’t serve much purpose—our family has very normal views (at least compared to certain others), and couldn’t bear to place Lin’s dragon egg in the living room like a Christmas tree or drill a hole in it as a boiler. In the end, this giant egg was hung on a newly built scenic tower in Shadow City, surrounded by a circle of spotlights resembling a Sword Tomb. Qianqian named it "Egg Tart (Tower)", a step towards making it an artistic piece, not disgracing its egg life...

Let’s hope Little Crow doesn’t specifically fly over and hatch the egg... it shouldn’t be the case, we emphasized several times that the egg couldn’t hatch.

On a side note, it’s amazing that the Shadow City citizens, upon hearing the origin of this giant egg, all expressed acceptance, and no one thought it conflicted with their values. I was highly curious about what exactly Shadow City achieved in its five years of spiritual civilization construction...but knowing that Qianqian, a human-shaped spiritual pollution emitter, was a titular leader in the Empire’s propaganda department, it all became quite explainable.

Just like that, time flowed by, daily events unfolded, sometimes mundane or surprisingly delightful, but often challenging to mainstream values, yet daily life persisted. However, Sandora and I couldn’t completely relax—because a major catastrophe waits for no one.

If it weren’t for the substantial spiritual power damage from that previous self-destruction, and the expert group needing time to assess the aftermath of the massive explosion, Sandora and I probably wouldn’t even have these few days of rest. Now, the rest period finally had to end: one morning, several reports from the Imperial Research Center and the Abyss Xyrin appeared simultaneously before Sandora and me.

This meeting place wasn’t at Taville’s research lab, or at the Imperial Command, but in the lab of the Abyss Xyrin.

It’s located on the reverse side of Shadow City. Presumably, everyone still recalls the structure of Shadow City: it is now a floating land on Gaia orbit, having far exceeded the concept of a "city" to be almost regarded as a small nation. The side of the floating land facing Gaia is the Positive • Shadow City, while on its reverse are rising mountains and massive inexplicable mysterious facilities, also termed the Reverse • Shadow City. This area at the back of the city houses the Imperial Court, heavy factories, and power generators. Very few Shadow City citizens were aware of its features, and even fewer occasionally visited due to work needs, but no one stayed long: the environment is unwelcoming to most ordinary Races, and the bizarre landscapes don’t provide comforting views.

And at the fringe of this "Reverse World" stood a newly completed building unlike any other facility in Shadow City: it bore a hexagonal shell structure, resembling a closed gymnasium, with Xyrin-style architecture paired with dark, ominous colorings, a harmless yet overwhelmingly oppressive aura constantly hovering around it. The patrolling aerial guard drones and visible guard tower towers warned every visitor of this building: Restricted Zone, keep out.

This facility is specifically prepared for the Abyss Xyrin and her subordinates (limited to researchers).

Initially, the Abyss Xyrin stayed in the research station, and occasionally her subordinates would be in Shadow City, mostly staying at the research station or other military areas. This arrangement worked for short periods, but when we realized that the Bridge Building project might require a longer collaboration, we had to consider setting up an independent work area for these "special visitors." It wasn’t out of rejection towards the Abyss Xyrin or her subordinates, nor due to any lingering suspicion (though some might still have concerns); the real important reason is that many Abyssalized devices can’t be placed together with other equipment, and the Abyss Apostle needs a specialized survival environment (not that they can’t adapt to normal environments, but rather that these environments can’t withstand them). After careful deliberation, we constructed a laboratory for them on the backside of Shadow City.

Although Abyss Xyrin herself can still operate in the front side of Shadow City, her subordinates typically reside on the city’s backside if they come over. They have no objections to this arrangement: the Xyrin Apostles are a pragmatic kind of life form, both parties understand that this setup isn’t due to rejection or malice, but simply because "it needs to be done." Thus, the "guests" from the Abyss Zone gladly accept the Empire’s arrangements.

The office of the Abyss Xyrin (though her life form doesn’t really need an office, we still set one up for her) is similar to Taville’s office, equally spacious and simple. If not for the dark red light flow visible through the alloy wall gaps and certain equipment, I would hardly recognize this room belongs to the "Fallen Apostle" (speaking of which, calling them "fallen" now seems inappropriate). Since it isn’t a research venue, there aren’t complex devices here, mostly holographic projection devices and antigravity floating platforms displaying samples. Present in the room are myself, Sandora, Harlan, Bellavilla, Abyss Xyrin, Taville’s main body, along with Xingchen and Hila, making it a gathering of leaders and experts, and we are facing a situation that’s driving everyone crazy:

The startup terminal seems beyond repair, and the Peace Core has significant issues too.

The central holographic projection displays various items: they are objects whose original forms are indistinguishable, resembling large cotton candy clusters, pale in color, neither square nor flat, emitting a faint white glow against the dark outer space background, akin to clouds floating in space. These white "alien objects" with a slight cotton-like material feel show noticeable signs of blurring at the edges, flickering like illusions, but their insides are incredibly solid, clearly revealing them as real objects.

These "tear clouds" number around a dozen, slowly switching on the holographic display, eventually listed together. Beside each tear cloud is a reference object, the Eternal-class mothership that I’m so familiar with, making one realize the true massive scale of those white light clusters.

Around each white light cluster are numerous indistinct groups of light points rapidly moving, while inside some, sporadic flashes of dark red or golden-blue erupt irregularly. Upon zooming in, I discern these points are engineering teams made of Divine Race, Xyrin Apostles, and Abyss Apostles, forming a joint expert group, desperately attempting to repair those white light clusters—the startup terminal.

This is what the Abyss Xyrin presents us with.

"I must say... the amount you used seems a bit excessive," Abyss Xyrin remarked, pointing at the scenes on the holographic projection, her tone sounding quite helpless, "Three void creatures are enough to obliterate anything potentially generated by the ’current bank,’ yet you added an Emperor-level Xyrin Apostle and countless high-power ’bombs.’ Look at the miserable state of the startup terminal; we had to scour the entire universe, even venture into the void to retrieve its remnants—some wreckage was directly assimilated into the void. What a earth-shattering explosion indeed. You literally blasted such a sturdy object from the Main Material Plane into the void!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"The situation was urgent at that time, fearing the quantity wouldn’t be sufficient. If the New Army succeeded, everything would be finished," I scratched my face awkwardly and couldn’t help but glance sideways at Xingchen and Hila. They returned earlier than Sandora and I; in fact, they were barely blasted far. These two Great Gods were only dazed in the void for half a day before flying back to the Divine Realm, "Speaking of which, you look quite well, huh?"

"Fairly well," Xingchen gently chuckled, "I pretended to be injured and lay at home for half a month, they didn’t let me review any reports. If Hila hadn’t failed to keep her act together and exposed us, I could have rested a few more days."

Me: "... Is it appropriate to speak openly about this?"

"There’s nothing inappropriate about it. Void creatures are inherently lazy, regardless of whether it’s a star domain or the Huron, they continue functioning without the two of us," Sister Hila waved her hand, "I’ve been away for so long, yet nothing has happened at home."

"In fact, the Divine Realm continues rotating without us, but a bit slower." Xingchen hastily straightened his expression, cautiously indicating he still works regularly, his choice of words extremely prudent...

Me: "..."

Bellavilla couldn’t hold back: "Could you three restrain yourselves, we’re discussing serious matters here?"

Once the three of us quickly sat upright, Bellavilla immediately rubbed his face with a chuckle: "Heh heh, teaching three void creatures a lesson all at once; I suddenly feel more powerful than I did back when I didn’t suffer from schizophrenia."

Harlan immediately shot a glare: "Can you restrain yourself while we discuss serious matters?"

Me: "..."

Ever since Bellavilla got schizophrenia, he seems mentally off-kilter.

"In conclusion, the startup terminal’s situation is as it is," the Abyss Xyrin, long accustomed to this scenario, quickly grasped the general temperament of the New Empire’s leaders and the two Divine Races, and once confirming we wouldn’t falter due to this, ceased worrying about it. Now, she merely waited for those who couldn’t resist babbling nonsense to quiet down before continuing, "Indeed, the situation at the time left no room for you to hesitate. Anyway... accept reality. Initially, I believed with the startup terminal’s unique form of existence, it could withstand any form of destruction. But now, it’s evident the void creatures’ power far exceeds calculations. The outer layer is manageable; it’s repairable with technical means, but the core is problematic... I crafted this core with many Hearts of the World; it’s an abstract and complex entity. Although it appears as material, you cannot synthesize it by any means. It lacks any physical structure; besides being visible and tangible, you can’t perform any scanning on it. Even though I created it, I have no understanding of its specific structure... Do you understand?"

"You don’t know its structure?" Xingchen looked at Abyss Xyrin in surprise, "Then how did you create it?"

"The process can only be described via formulas and mathematical methods; no physical counterpart exists, akin to when Earthlings hadn’t deciphered dimension mystery yet and encountered a formula describing a four-dimensional space-time. Earth’s mathematical tools could comprehend the formula, but they could never manipulate it in the real world. My situation is somewhat similar. The only difference is I at least know how to forcibly convert pure mathematical essence into reality, albeit barely so—we have far from enough understanding of the void; thus, when constructing the startup terminal, we know the effect without knowing the cause. I extensively used data from the opposite bank, but those data were inherited from the previous season of civilization, utterly unintelligible. Unable to decipher the principle, we are clueless about another path to the startup terminal... and time for the first path seems running short."

(The physical book is finally about to come out... Surely everyone knows how to group-buy through various channels, right?) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation. For mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)