Chapter 1 Aftermath

After ending the divine power connection, Leah jumped down from the altar. While playing with a strand of hair that hung in front of her chest, she muttered to Hao Ren, "Speaking of which... do you think the standard holy icon I gave them should be a little more dignified?"

Hao Ren thought about the "standard holy icon" that Leah had taken half a day to pose for before finally settling on it, and commented from the bottom of his heart, "Seriously, I can't imagine what you were thinking at the time—were your sanity points averaged out by meeting with Corvus 12345 last time?"

Leah immediately looked worried. "Then... should I resend them a classic version? I had a very classic promotional photo back in the day, holding a silly staff, standing on a seashell, with several halos behind my head—although I always thought it was silly, it was very popular back then."

Then she muttered again, "I mainly feel that after experiencing a slumber and rebirth, there should be a new atmosphere, and now the Dream Plane is in dire need of rebuilding, everyone may need a more energetic goddess to boost morale or something..."

Hao Ren slapped his forehead. "Aren't you afraid that some extreme fanatics will see your approachable image and have their morale collapse?"

Leah was greatly disheartened. "Then I should probably switch back."

But at this moment, Vivian suddenly opened her mouth: "Actually, I think it's okay not to switch. You can choose to take the idol route—what's that saying? To save the world of blah blah blah, so-and-so decided to stand up and become an idol..."

"That doesn't even connect, and those are old memes," Lily interrupted Vivian, "But I also think it's okay not to switch. An approachable image is good. And if you change photos with the Pope again, it's even easier to collapse your persona..."

Hao Ren waved his hand, stopping them from dragging the topic further and further away. "These are all trivial matters. Let's get down to business. By the way, was that the last wave of divine power broadcasts just now?"

Leah sighed. "There aren't many survivors. There are only a few planets that can be broadcasted to. The natives on the other ecological planets can't even walk upright yet. Holletta is the last one."

"Hmm... the Tanagus-Drom people just left the virtual ark two years ago, and they are still a semi-rationed society with a high degree of organization, so there won't be any trouble; the Glorious Sect of Holletta has a very strong influence, and they can guarantee order themselves; although the social reconstruction process on Aioi is not very high, they only have the population of one ark ship, and now they have just developed to the size of a few cities, plus there is an armed satellite array I left in the sky above Aioi, so it's easy to take care of them; finally, there are the Agents... they don't need to worry about it, they are almost a fully militarized race, and they have network thinking, probably the most stable of the bunch," Hao Ren stroked his chin and counted them one by one, "The remaining primitive ecological planets are directly protected by the armed satellite group, so that's all arranged."

"Let the mortals fight for their own world," Leah breathed a sigh of relief, "Whether they can survive or not depends on themselves."

A series of heavy footsteps came from not far away. The towering gates of the World Tree Temple opened to both sides, and the huge body of Loken, King of Kings, as if carved from rock, appeared at the gate: "Mother, the Dark Abyss sent the last communication. The Lord of Mad Whispers has completely broken through the middle defense line. The Night Watcher troops will abandon all outposts and withdraw from the prison according to plan."

Leah nodded and turned to look at Hao Ren: "We're going to the Watch Fortress."

In the dark and deep space, a huge space fortress quietly floated among the stars.

They had a clear drone hive style—construction began based on floating celestial bodies, with metal parapets and connecting frames extending from the celestial bodies, slowly forming various functional facilities and nests. Between the large nests, thick fortress connecting walls were built, and drone turrets and enhanced fortress shield generators were neatly arranged on the surface of the connecting walls. Countless drone sub-units and drone carriers shuttled between these facilities, busy and silent.

But the scale of this fortress complex was far greater than that of any normal drone hive—it had built far more defensive facilities than the hive standard. Compared to drone hives that were more inclined towards proliferation and expansion, it was clearly more inclined towards defensive functions. The countless shield generators and fixed turrets gave people a strong impression, making one can't help but think that it was a solid nail, and after being firmly nailed to the position, it could block any storm.

This was the Watch Fortress, the legion facility closest to the Dark Abyss region. It was extremely close to the "horizon" of the prison, so that standing on the observation platform of the fortress, one could directly see a piece of darkness like ink surging in front of them, bringing a sense of oppression and suffocation that almost swallowed people.

The name of the Watch Fortress came from this.

Behind the Watch Fortress, countless fortress complexes similar to it were anchored in the depths of space. Mass-produced Annihilation Lances and countless drone turrets were all pointing in the same direction, quietly waiting for the moment when the "prisoner" escaped.

The Petrified Tortoise Rock Platform detached from the warp space and landed smoothly next to Control Tower One of the Watch Fortress. Through the connecting bridge extending from the control tower, Leah and Hao Ren and his party boarded the observation platform at the top of the control tower.

The "horizon" of the Dark Abyss, which isolated any flow of information, was surging in front of them. Although there were actually millions of kilometers away, it still gave a sense of being close at hand.

The metal gate above the observation platform opened silently, and a mass of liquid metal slowly descended from it, wriggling to form the interaction interface of the drone swarm consciousness. The constantly changing face looked in the direction of Hao Ren, and an inorganic voice came from deep within the liquid metal mass: "It has been thirty minutes since the Night Watcher troops sent their last signal. There are still no new signals being sent."

"The Night Watcher troops destroyed all information nodes before withdrawing, and will turn off all their interaction functions," Leah explained, "They want to maximize the control of their information exchange with the outside world, in order to reduce the pressure of the 'event boundary'."

"Every information exchange, even every fluctuation of thought, will become the carrier of the Lord of Mad Whispers," Loken's voice came from above and behind, rumbling like thunder, "So the Night Watcher troops will never send any information during the withdrawal process."

"But even so, the Lord of Mad Whispers' 'boundary instinct' will still track them down, and chase after them relentlessly when they cross the outer defense line," Leah looked at Hao Ren, "So we have to be prepared..."

"Deal with the derivative bodies that leak out when the Night Watchers withdraw... right," Hao Ren nodded slightly, "Don't worry, the drones are always on standby, and all the turrets on this fortress are ready to fire."

Vivian asked curiously: "When will they be able to withdraw?"

Leah closed her eyes, and after a moment, she said softly: "Fifteen minutes... if they can't get out, they will never get out."

Hao Ren glanced at the drone swarm consciousness, which automatically started the response plan without any orders: "The fortress guns are ready, and the Annihilation Lances are entering the charging state."

The vast war machines of the "Watch Fortress" began to operate. One shield generator after another switched from the maintenance state to the wartime activation state. A water curtain-like energy barrier rose along the boundary of the fortress complex, enveloping the entire area, and on the surface of those towering alloy parapets and connecting towers, one turret after another rotated and lifted from its base, adjusting its muzzle to point in the direction of the Dark Abyss.

As the energy meridians lit up one by one, the turrets, large and small, surged with deadly light.

In the very center of the fortress complex, four special "buildings" slowly rose under the impetus of the thrusters. Their rectangular shell "collapsed" like building blocks, and quickly assembled into a glittering energy array. Surging energy jumped between the metal and crystals, forming a structure that was several kilometers long and looked like a lance.

That was the finally finalized mass-produced Annihilation Lance—after the actual combat test in the world of La Hreihen, these powerful super cannons were proven to have fully met the design standards. After further optimization of the energy pipelines and program adjustments, they were installed in every fortress around the Dark Abyss. There were four of them here at the Watch Fortress, and behind the defense line, there were thousands of Annihilation Lances ready to fire.

The "event horizon" (or "horizon") of the Dark Abyss was quietly surging. That pitch-black "membrane" locked everything on the other side in the information black box. After the Night Watcher troops destroyed all the information nodes, the outer coalition could no longer know any changes in the prison. Everything could only be judged by the Creator Goddess's grasp and deduction of the various facilities she left behind.

A black starship from the Guardian Legion was cruising around the outside of the Watch Fortress. This starship, which was specially used to monitor the Dark Abyss, was continuously transmitting data and reports back to the control tower:

"There are three minutes left until the 'horizon' opens. No phenomena have been observed, and no information fluctuations have been observed."

"A trace amount of Mad Whispers contamination has infiltrated. The infiltration has not reached the warning value."

"There are two minutes left until the 'horizon' opens. The Mad Whispers contamination infiltration is intensifying... We still have not received a signal from the Night Watchers."

"This ship will activate the enhanced antenna. Please prepare all listeners to resist mental contamination."

Hao Ren frowned, looking at the dark curtain in the distance, while Lily was muttering to herself as if talking to herself: "Turn off all perception and communication, and pass through the entire outer defense line in the Dark Abyss... Woogu... It's like a deaf-blind person challenging a battle royale... It feels so scary just thinking about it..."

"Those Starry Sky People can do it," Leah said lightly, "They have been holding on in the Dark Abyss for so many years, and they have long been accustomed to this 'silence'."

Vivian sighed softly: "They used silence to exchange for tens of millions of years of life and prosperity in this universe..."

The communication from the "Sentinel" interrupted her exclamation: "There are fifteen seconds left until the 'horizon' opens... Information fluctuations have been observed! It's a signal from the Night Watchers! Warning, Mad Whispers contamination is pouring out in large quantities! Derivative bodies have been observed! Visible to the naked eye!"

On the surface of that pitch-black "horizon", a magnificent ocean of light was gradually rising.