Chapter 447: Chapter 447: The Abnormal Shadow Space

“It sure has been a while since I enjoyed some leisure time,” I murmured as I lounged on a park bench, squinting my eyes contentedly in the warm morning sun and stretching lazily.

Two weeks had passed since the incident in the Kepulu Star Zone, and our group of idle Imperial Leaders had returned to their daily lives. Qianqian was back to her usual lively self, dragging a few kids around the city’s amusement parks and theme parks. Sicaro and his bunch of headache-inducing soldiers were still engaged in their stubborn skirmishes of siege and counter-siege. Big Sister and Little Ghost were experimenting with ingredients from Azeroth to master the art of making an authentic braised eggplant rice dish. And Sandora and I… well, as the Imperial Leaders, we really couldn’t indulge ourselves as carelessly as the rest, especially with the resurgence of the Fallen Apostles. Recently, we’ve been running to the Shadow Space almost non-stop, and of course, we were there right now too.

Surely taking a lazy nap in Shadow City doesn’t count as going AWOL, right? After all, even Sandora came over to play hooky…

The area we were currently in differed from the other neighborhoods in Shadow City. Although it appeared to be just another scene from a modern city, its distinct style from the surrounding districts was evidence of its uniqueness.

The replicated district of Academy City.

To imbue travelers from various worlds with a greater sense of belonging, Shadow City had established numerous unique districts. For instance, the district where the Misaka sisters resided had perfectly recreated a section of Academy City, including a bustling commercial street voluntarily managed by Imperial Soldiers on vacation and a middle school taught by Imperial Officers. The Misaka sisters lived here, went to school, and relaxed. According to the feedback from Misaka 10031, they were quite content with everything.

Meanwhile, far from here, neighborhoods such as the Stormwind City District, Silver Moon City District, and Orgrimmar District were also under construction. Residents from various worlds, including the Misaka sisters, were aware of each other’s existence. It is said that this city, nestled in the interdimensional rifts and gradually becoming a hub of the world, has been rumored across all realms as a fantastical existence akin to Fantasy Country. Although only those who are seen as legendary heroes in their own worlds have the privilege to come to this city “to serve the God,” with the sheer population of several races combined, these diverse Alien Districts are gradually bustling with life. Occasional visits by some Misaka sisters to Tauren villages or Silver Moon City alchemists teaching chemistry to the Misaka sisters were becoming an everyday affair. Under the management of the Imperial City Management Team (I really don’t know how Sivis came up with the idea to establish this organization in Shadow City), travelers with different ideals and cultures from various worlds exchanged interactions in an orderly fashion amidst wonder and amazement–an auspicious phenomenon.

Centred around the Empire, a colossal collaborative defensive system that spanned multiple worlds was taking shape. This was the true significance hidden beneath the joyous daily activities of the Shadow City. Although, for the time being, only Azeroth Salvation Army, Vedis Alliance (strictly speaking, an alliance of nations primarily led by the Vedis Goddess Sect, but perennially referred to as the Vedis Alliance since the Vedis Empire was the first to be chosen by the “Savior” and also the most powerful), and the Mage Corps from the Magic Prohibition World could be considered actual combat forces within our ranks, this rate of development was heartening. And what’s definite is that the Kepulu Clan and the Protos Clan, having lost their homes and now living under the Empire’s protection, will also become part of our imposing army once they recover, and their combat power is bound to multiply tremendously due to their large numbers.

Moreover, as numerous worlds gradually formed a collective defense system, even if the Fallen Apostles were to launch a full-scale attack, they’d have to weigh their potential losses carefully, wouldn’t they?

This is one of the reasons why we could still feel at ease, even as the threat of the Fallen Apostles escalates: unlike them, who had to develop covertly, our power was expanding at a staggering rate.

Ah, and special thanks to the unique attributes of Shadow City. This conceptual space born from projections has an incredible capacity to grow. As long as we have sufficient data and the computational power of the Xyrin Host Group, which acts as the city’s core, this space can continue to expand indefinitely. While it’s unclear if it can reach infinity, stowing away a Fantasy Country seems well within reach.

And within this increasingly fantastical city, there’s an even more astonishing character: the silver-haired lady blissfully sipping her orange juice next to me, who is Miss Silvia, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Crow Corps, in a certain sense.

Residing in the most inconceivable interdimensional city, surrounded by non-human creatures from all worlds, with mecha platoons thundering overhead occasionally, or even having the Queen of the Forgotten passing by her now and then–yet, she carries on with her life, oblivious and self-content in her little world of simplicity and happiness. She believes her city to be nothing more than an innocent, beautiful place where one can eat to their full and wear warm clothes, facing all the city’s anomalies with an inconceivable degree of slow-wittedness.

This girl… is as happy as a mole.

The above are Lilina’s original words, and I honestly don’t know what common ground exists between a former Fallen Apostle and a mole, but Silvia’s simple joy truly made each one of us envious.

Could it be that all Xyrin Apostles of the Mysterious system have easy maintenance characteristics? Let’s not even mention those mass-produced Ravens. Silvia is a simple fellow who can be happy all day long as long as she has a full stomach, and Alaya survives on…uh, she can even survive without photosynthesis. If Sandora, that glutton, could be half as easy to please, we could invest the savings in real estate.

“I always feel like you’re talking behind my back,” Sandora immediately cast a weird glance at me, then looked down and in an instant, annihilated the thin pancake in my hand, “Ah Jun, I want more.”

But you have already wiped out the thin pancake stand; you didn’t even spare their griddle!

“These grilled thin pancakes are quite famous here–” Silvia slowly finished her own pancake, drained the remaining fresh orange juice in one gulp, and while sucking on her fingers, she went into reminiscing mode, “Ah, right–there seemed to be thunder last night, and it was so loud that I didn’t sleep well, yet the weather forecast didn’t say anything about thunderstorms–”

Thunder?

I wordlessly looked at the sky, where the hardly visible dim shadow was fading. Thunder capable of creating space rifts, Silvia’s self-hypnosis ability really is formidable. No wonder Taville wasn’t worried at all that the explosions in the lab would cause Silvia, living closest to the site, to have any doubts. Has she reached the state of being cheerfully content even at world’s end?

According to the joint research of Lilina and Taville, Silvia has some form of psychological barrier, and although it’s hard to imagine a Xyrin Apostle with such issues, there’s no other explanation for Silvia’s current behavior.

She has crafted an illusory world for herself that we can’t understand.

It sounds like that kind of protective shell that is formed by extremely introverted people, but Silvia’s case is special. She is not introverted; on the contrary, she seems cheerful, and it’s not an exaggeration to describe her happiness as foolish. But deep inside, she stubbornly built herself a solid fortress, where everything is simple and beautiful, where everyone is innocently filled with kindness, and sunshine sprinkles on every aspect of life. She accepts everything she comes in contact with only after transforming it to fit that worldview. Hence, no matter where she is, this silver-haired slowpoke only ever sees a happy little world. Lilina believes it’s precisely this bizarre psychological barrier that makes Silvia’s reaction speed and filtering of external information so formidable: there’s a firewall between her and the outside world.

Well, although this reasoning is quite sensible, even Lilina, the psychology expert, admits that her strange reaction speed is more due to her own slowness…

“Hmm–Is there something on my face?” Silvia looked at me questioningly, then muttered to herself while slowly wiping the corner of her mouth, “Ah, it’s pancake crumbs–Right, where did that little pancake stall go?”

That stall packed up half an hour ago because its livelihood was eaten up by its own queen.

Lilina and Taville disagree on why Silvia has become this way. The latter explains from the soul characteristics of Xyrin Apostles, theorizing that Silvia’s spiritual body suffered a huge impact, and a part of it might have entirely vanished. The defect in her soul led Silvia to choose this mental self-locking mechanism as protection. Meanwhile, Lilina analyzed from a psychological perspective, suggesting that being slow-witted must be due to encountering something terrifying to the extreme. A nearly permanent psychological shadow destroyed the rationality of the once Bellavilla. The subsequently born Silvia is an alternate personality formed to protect herself. Of course, after huge trauma, the emergence of a “the world is forever wonderful” mindset is clearly inexplicable in psychological terms, and for this, Lilina expressed great interest in researching…

Regardless of the conflicting opinions of those two research experts, they agree on one point: don’t try to fix Silvia’s mental imperfection, no matter what. Even if Bellavilla’s soul is gone, don’t try to heal her out of pity. Otherwise, she will either transform into another Fallen Apostle or collapse from awakening some painful memory, and neither outcome is desirable.

“Oh–Mr. Chen, I also came across something quite strange…”

Even though nobody paid attention to her, Silvia could still let her thoughts wander all over the place on her own, but I still wanted to ask, “Is there really anything in this world that can make even you feel surprised?”

“Just a few days ago, when I went to the shopping district, I met someone who looked exactly like me–” Silvia said, as leisurely as ever, but her words immediately made me break out in cold sweat, “But she ran away quickly after seeing me… Did I have a twin sister or a younger sister before I lost my memory?”

“Sivis!” After having Sandora momentarily stabilize Silvia, I immediately connected with the deputy officer managing the city, “Where do the Ravens live now?”

“Reporting, Commander! They reside in the military barracks in the Central Zone,” Sivis responded right away.

“There’s been a bit of an unpleasant incident: You must strengthen the Ravens’ discipline. A few days ago, one of the Ravens wandered near the Magic Prohibition District’s shopping street and encountered Silvia!”

This sudden situation also made Sivis anxious, and she immediately began to check which Raven had run off at that time, while I refocused my attention back to Silvia…

Ugh, looks like I overreacted. The slow-to-catch-on Silver-haired seemed to have already forgotten about that matter.

Sandora shrugged helplessly at me, saying through our spiritual connection, “She doesn’t even remember what she just brought up.”

As Silvia’s soul clone, it was absolutely forbidden for a Raven to meet with its mother. According to Bubbles’ calculations, such stimulation carried nearly a thirty percent chance of causing mental turbulence in Silvia. Transforming into Bellavilla was impossible, but it can’t be guaranteed that she wouldn’t collapse into self-dissolution like she once did in Academy City. Therefore, we had issued a strict order to every Raven that under any circumstances, they must never come into Silvia’s sight. They all possess the ability to perceive their mother…

Wait, that’s not right. Every mass-produced Raven has the talent to sense the position of its mother, a spiritual resonance which is even more precise than a radar by thousands of times. How could a well-trained Raven, who absolutely obeys orders, fail to avoid on realizing that the mother was right in front of it?

You see, Silvia’s reaction speed is at a dunce level! Even if a Raven appeared in her line of sight, it would probably take her several seconds to realize it. Not just a Xyrin Apostle, even an ordinary person could turn and walk away in those seconds, right?

This means, under normal circumstances, a Raven would absolutely never come face-to-face with Silvia–unless the Raven did so on purpose. But the chance of a Xyrin Apostle violating orders… that’s just nonsense.

Sure enough, within a few seconds Sivis reconnected through the spiritual link and reported, “Report, Commander! The investigation is complete. The Raven encountered by Silvia is confirmed to be number 068 from the first batch, but…”

“But what?”

“Raven number 068 reported that she experienced a very brief space imbalance. After adjusting her position sensors, she found herself standing right in front of Silvia!”

I exchanged a glance with Sandora, who had been listening by my side, and we both saw a hint of shock in each other’s eyes.

“Sorry, Silvia, I just remembered Qianqian asked me to go buy soy sauce… take your time daydreaming, we’re out of here!”

“I’ll help Ah Jun get the soy sauce bottle!”

After leaving these two sentences behind, the two Imperial Leaders had transformed into a whirlwind, thunderously growing distant, leaving Silvia standing still in the wake of the roaring wind, finally murmuring slowly, “Ah, be careful on the road–where is everyone?”

Dragging Sandora along, we practically sprinted at supersonic speed to the control core of Shadow City, where a massive Xyrin Nest unlike any before stood. Once our Xyrin Hosts reached a certain number and several key technologies related to enhancing the efficiency of the hosts had broken through, this place had replaced the space’s original automatic control center. This pyramid, designed, constructed, and continuously modified and strengthened by Bubbles herself, was the most crucial place in the entire Shadow Space. It was located at the heart of the Shadow Fortress, heavily protected layer by layer. Inside its core, where the host slots were located, at least three Xyrin Hosts were always connected, precisely regulating the state of the entire Shadow Space. If anything were to happen to this space, this would be the first place to detect it.

When we heard Sivis’s report, our first thought was: Something’s gone wrong with the Shadow Space!

Space imbalance, a rather vague term, covers a variety of scenarios such as the sudden exchange of coordinates between two locations, the abrupt disappearance of parts of space, random teleportation within a small range, and so on. Regardless of the scenario, it implies partial loss of control over the spatial laws, and such a space imbalance occurring in a place like Shadow City that’s constantly under artificial surveillance means that the space was gradually slipping from our control–of course, maybe that sounded a bit paranoid, but…

If you lived in a nuclear power plant and suddenly heard a loud snap from next door, I don’t believe you could stay calm!

Knowing of our arrival, Sivis had been waiting at the gate of the Mother Nest. As soon as Sandora and I appeared, she hurriedly greeted us and, while leading us towards the Central Machine Room, reported the freshly gathered intelligence:

“…We’ve just completed a search of the Shadow City’s boundary system and found no traces of spatial integrity being compromised. However, according to probes sent all over, there indeed appear to be some anomalies within our management system, though most of them are so faint they’re almost imperceptible to humans. The most significant would probably be that space imbalance incident the Raven encountered… Since city operations recently prioritized military expansion, these potentially minor fault reports were suppressed until I was going through the Raven’s activity records just now and discovered…”

Following Sivis’s report, we had arrived at the central machine room of the Mother Nest. Star-shaped arrays of Crystal Prisms were spread around, allowing for simultaneous connection of over thirty Xyrin Hosts. What now unfolded before us was the spectacular sight of thirty-three Xyrin Hosts, all connected in a network with Bubbles at the center.

The computational power of this place must now be able to deduce the entire evolutionary history of the universe from the Big Bang to the present, back and forth, about a hundred times in a minute…

“Bubbles, how’s the situation?”

I stepped forward and knocked twice on the central Crystal Prism, awakening the little girl inside who appeared to be working hard but whom I still had every reason to believe was definitely running over twenty games at the same time.

“Ah, Daddy!” Bubbles opened her eyes and, seeing it was me, immediately pressed excitedly against the inner wall of the Crystal Prism, “We’ve just had a pretty big discovery!”

(Well then, I decisively ask for votes. Also, there’s someone in the forum who’s written an Empire fanfic, those interested could go take a look and let that person randomly abandon the…)(To be continued, for more details, please visit www.wuxiaworld.site. More chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)