Chapter 463: Chapter 463: Mounting

I think we are a group that can really turn nothing into something.

Originally, a thing that could be explained in a few words gradually evolved into a spectacle of playing rock-paper-scissors, drawing lots, and… err, searching for coins in the bushes during the discussion about the operation squad naming issue among the key upper echelons of the Empire.

Finally, Lin Xue was excluded from participating due to her prophetic abilities, I was forcibly appointed as the referee due to my political status, Big Sister declared non-participation, Lilina due to being a minor (let this girl pretend to be young all day!) was speechless, and the debate about “who we are” eventually ended smoothly with only Qianqian having a valid point.

“Now that the issue’s resolved,” I said with all sorts of subtle ravels to the Awakeners, “we are ‘Boundless Love Special Envoys’, here to save the world…”

Everyone: “…”

“Boss, is this some new entertainment program?”

After a long silence, finally, a short, chubby boy whose name I still can’t remember raised his hand but asked Artemis such a question.

The golden-haired girl who had already been petrified by the mind-numbing discussion among the Empire’s high-level officials slowly came to her senses, blinked, then waved at us: “You are the bosses, what you say goes…”

“Alright,” I nodded, “that settles it then. You already know our identity, and Artemis has informed everyone of our purpose. No matter how inconceivable it may seem, just know one thing: it’s all one hundred percent real. Now, the nightmare of this world is over, and you will soon be able to embrace a new life. That’s all I have to say.”

Despite what I said, most people still had a thick layer of disbelief. The world being “asleep” was already bizarre enough, but it’s something they had experienced firsthand, so they couldn’t help but believe it. However, a band of beings from another dimension, who were old acquaintances of their team captain, seemed even more like a fantasy. Everyone here wanted to end their current nightmarish life, but that’s exactly why they were reluctant to believe in this incredible redemption. They’d rather treat it as a new entertainment program arranged by Artemis, even if no one responded to it.

It’s like exiles stranded on a deserted island for decades when suddenly one day, someone says a boat will pass by tomorrow. Their first reaction is often not celebration but self-hypnotic doubt because everyone is afraid–afraid of the despair that might follow hope.

Their response now was within my expectations. Facing pairs of eyes full of anticipation yet forced to be somewhat skeptical, I didn’t intend to explain much but simply waved my hand: “Anyway, everything will end tomorrow, you can all disperse now.”

Having said that, regardless of everyone’s reactions, I simply led Qianqian and the others forward. Although the official start was waiting until the next day when Shadow City was ready, we still had plenty of work to do before that.

For the less than twenty survivors in the World Fragment, this was destined to be a sleepless night. The explosive news from Artemis left everyone half-believing, half-doubting. They wanted to believe, but didn’t dare to extravagantly cast that glimmer of hope on a story that seemed as elusive as myth, thinking that everything would be clear come morning. Hence, everyone spent the night in a mix of anticipation and anxiety.

We were also sleepless, but not out of worry; instead, we spent the whole day refining the entire plan. Monina had previously only given us a vague concept; this guy who had missed half a semester’s classes couldn’t possibly grasp too many specific technical details, and the evaporation of the World Fragment didn’t allow us to leisurely flip through materials and run experiments. Therefore, everything had to succeed on the first try, prompting us to gather under the natural light emitted by Alaya all night, scrutinizing any potential flaw in the plan for the next day–a task that left over two pounds of sunflower seed shells on the floor of the Chemistry Department’s activity room the next morning.

Thus, on the next morning, or rather, the next noon–after a chaotic and abnormally long 17-hour night had unfolded in this frenzied world, it was only when the first rays of dawn suddenly arrived that we realized the night had lasted far too long.

In any case, after daylight the next day, I noticed that everyone, including Artemis, was sporting huge dark circles under their eyes, while we, spared from such embarrassment due to our robust constitutions, just kept yawning incessantly.

Perhaps historians should record it this way, the world was reborn amid the witness of eighteen dark circles and a summoning of numerous yawns…

Everyone gathered on the open space in front of the old building, although, except for Artemis, everyone hypnotically convinced themselves that it was all just a leisure activity. Still, the Awakeners gathered here, expecting a miracle to occur.

“World, connecting.”

A sudden soft female voice echoed through the sky, momentarily calming the slightly noisy crowd. Everyone looked around bewildered, and then following my line of sight, focused their attention on the sky.

A creepy ice-blue color had rapidly approached from the horizon, like a fast-forwarded descent of nightfall. The originally normal sky and clouds were immediately assimilated upon contact with this blue color, losing their original details. It was only when the continuously advancing blue “sky” approached people’s heads that they finally saw its structure, a translucent honeycomb-like hexagonal structure of the sky curtain, much like an energy shield. This sky curtain was the latest result of research by Taville and Bubbles, but due to insufficient time, it was still a semi-finished product; in short, this was a mutant state of the Xyrin Host.

The informatization of the Xyrin Host–this was a skill often used by them for self-replication and emergency refuge, and only they possessed the talent to quickly switch from physical to informational states. Taville and Bubbles managed to make multiple hosts undergo informatization simultaneously, keeping themselves temporarily in an intermediate state of informatization. This was the basic idea behind the “Sky Curtain,” and now roughly thirty Xyrin Hosts had already unfolded their informatization at the edge of the World Fragment. The splendid blue “Sky Curtain” displayed in front of them could temporarily prevent the evaporation of the world and maintain stability when a large number of Xyrin Special Forces intervened in the World Fragment.

“Transmission successful,” the soft synthesized female voice still echoed in the sky. Now the entire sky was almost fully enveloped by that honeycomb-shaped sky curtain, “Landing craft will intervene shortly, please prepare the ‘Sky Curtain’ for impact.”

“Doesn’t this look spectacular?”

I mischievously approached Artemis, who was staring dumbfounded, and then suddenly spoke loudly.

“Ah!” The golden-haired girl exclaimed, also awakening Hu Wen and the others who were entranced. Faced with the incredible sight before them, no one could describe the feelings in their hearts. Finally, Hu Wen exclaimed, conveying everyone’s sentiments, “Have I fallen asleep?”

“Sizzles…” Like sparks ignited in a conduit, the blue grid sky suddenly underwent an unnatural distortion. A translucent massive object gradually emerged, resembling refraction formed by a water droplet on a grid paper. A specially modified shuttle pierced through the information barrier of the World Fragment, appearing before the onlooking crowd.

It was a small warship no more than five hundred meters long, quite compact compared to most Xyrin warships. To prevent the fragile World Fragment from being destroyed by severe impact, we could only open a very small spatial channel. The radius of the channel only allowed for such a small shuttle to enter. Although it was just a space channel with a radius of not more than a hundred meters, it still caused quite a vibration. The blue honeycomb sky barrier drastically distorted for a moment before it dissolved the vibration.

The anti-gravity device of the shuttle emitted a faint blue glow, slowly descending, hovering less than a hundred meters above the ground. The landing hatch in the middle of the warship silently slid open. The Special Forces who were tasked to come jumped from the warship, one after another landing before us.

One Silvia fell down, two Silvias fell down, a bunch of Silvias fell down…

Exactly fifty silver-haired slowpokes!

Of course, it wasn’t entirely slowpokes. Among these fifty identical clone girls, there was also a particularly conspicuous little girl. Her long black hair draped over her shoulders, her almost trademark white princess dress, and those cloudy emotionless beautiful eyes–a clone of Bubbles, she was the most crucial member of our action today.

“Raven, at your command!”

The silver-haired girl at the forefront dashing threw her long black cloak back and interrupted my marvelous fantasy about Silvia’s unification of the world with a crisp, clear voice.

“Cough cough… You all understand the mission, right?” I snapped back to reality and tried to adopt a serious expression as I addressed the Raven in front of me.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the Raven Captain nodded. “Enter the world management terminal’s ruins, establish an information link, and set up the Xyrin Nest along with the vines of the World Tree!”

“Mm,” I nodded and then looked around curiously. “Where are the assistants Dingdang made? Haven’t they arrived yet?”

“They’re here.” The Raven Captain smiled slightly and then fifty Ravens simultaneously made a move: reaching into their pockets.

It was a scene that knocked you out, fifty silver-haired individuals a bit slow off the mark, each pulling a lollipop out of their pocket, fifty lollipops each with a green-haired, green-dressed, green-winged Little One clinging to it, as if someone was shouting slogans, fifty Little Ones neatly and uniformly licking the “huge” Sugar Balls in front of them, utterly engrossed in the candy’s sweetness, even unaware of the stunned onlookers around them.

Very good, very powerful!

Dingdang, to what extent do you adore lollipops, that even these unintelligent energy avatars you produce treat their love for lollipops as a soul instinct?!

Casually, I picked up a “Dingdang Clone” from the Raven Captain’s hand, the little creature with not much thought still persistently licking the lollipop in its arms, completely unresponsive to the “earth-shattering” changes around it. However, I reckoned that if someone were to take that lollipop away at this moment, this inconspicuous little fellow would likely explode with the combat power of a tank brigade.

“When the energy avatars return, everything they’ve experienced will be transmitted back to their mother as a shared experience,” Lilina said out of the blue, finally shedding light on why these fifty Dingdang Clones were so vigorously devouring the candy–they weren’t even afraid of being sweetened to death!

Led by Lilina, the Ravens headed towards the gymnasium, while the shuttle carrying them hovered over the small plaza and gradually changed its attitude, its bow pointing upwards, like a metallic spire floating in the air.

Then, centered at the base of this “spire,” a hemispherical energy shield burst open in an instant, covering the entire small plaza. This shield wasn’t like the usual ghost energy shields of warships that emitted a pale blue halo; it was entirely transparent, like glass. If it weren’t for the distortion caused by light passing through the shield, an observer might not even notice its existence.

“Don’t leave the shield! The first shock will reshuffle this world fragment, and things outside the shield will be reassembled–you’ll be finished if you stay outside.”

Seeing Hu Wen curious about the shield beside him and about to step forward for a closer look, I immediately shouted to stop him.

“Moreover, the energy on the shield can immediately burn you to ash, stay away from it!”

Scared by my caution, Hu Wen immediately shivered all over and obediently stepped back.

“So… so amazing!” Ling Yin stuttered excitedly, “Are… are you really… from another dimension to… to save us?”

“No, I came here to rescue you all,” Lin Xue corrected seriously.

“I’m actually more interested in what those weird little things on the lollipops were…” Artemis seemed to have different concerns than the others. Her remarks might be dangerous though, you should be careful or God might bite you!

At that moment, most people were captivated by the spaceship hovering overhead. Even Artemis couldn’t help but stare, making me curious. After all, she had once stayed on a surreally advanced starship like the Barrier Star and was no stranger to such sights. So, why was she so surprised by a regular shuttle today?

I wonder how she would react when she soon sees the patrol fleet hovering over Shadow City.

Yes, Shadow City. This world fragment was about to connect with Shadow City.

We ought to thank Monina for her insight. Despite missing countless classes, she was quite knowledgeable about the World Management Terminal, courtesy of a certain Dark Goddess. When we discovered the ruins of a World Management Terminal, the “Host” gone, only its base left in that drafty half-plane, she proposed a solution that would not only terminate the contamination between worlds’ laws but also save this fading world fragment. It involved attaching the world fragment to Shadow City.

It sounded unbelievable, but our discovery of that half-plane, which once housed the World Management Terminal, made everything possible. Dingdang’s World Tree Temple, among the various versions of World Management Terminals, had the best adaptability and growth potential. It had the ability to sprout its own “branches” in another space. Utilizing this feature, Dingdang’s temple could generate an avatar in the half-plane of the world fragment. The Fallen Apostles had made a major mistake by not also destroying the base runes when they seized the World Management Terminal. This mistake gave us a significant advantage.

With the interference of another set of World Management Terminal, the current world fragment would partially achieve “completion.” It regained the ability to generate its own information, and its uncontrollable entropy changes would also be brought back under control. The main reason why the world fragment appeared “dead” was because of the freezing of internal information and the chaos in its self-evolution. With the regulation from the World Tree, everything would gradually become orderly. More importantly, according to Xyrin’s “Information Universe” theory, sufficient information equates to physical entities. As the world fragment gradually produced stable information evolution, the things inside it that had dissolved into mere information could even return to a physical state. This referred to Artemis and her comrades. As for those ghost citizens…

Although we wanted to save more people, unfortunately, their souls had already dissipated. If the current state of Artemis and others could still be considered as part of a recording, those ghost citizens were merely names left in the fuzzy memories of people; restoring them was utterly impossible.

This all depended on that surviving half-plane. Without the Operating System, even the best young man couldn’t operate a Gundam–yes, that was the principle…

Certainly, the intervention of the World Tree Temple only achieved completion within the internal part of the world fragment, a kind of software repair. We applied the perfect patch to the system, but leaving the host with its back panel open on a sandy beach in Hawaii under 30-meter winds to suck up sand was clearly stupid. The world fragment was still damaged; it lacked a World Barrier, and time wouldn’t allow Dingdang to construct a new one for it–truth be told, whether that little thing could create such sophisticated equipment was still unknown. Her repeated failures in Junior Creation Science had become a myth among the gods. As the interior gradually revived, the world fragment continued to evaporate in the Void. Relying solely on the World Tree Temple for internal adjustments was treating the symptoms, not the cause. Thus, Qianqian creatively suggested incorporating the world fragment into Shadow Space, an ingenious plan that left me speechless. Even more astonishing was that Taville declared it feasible!

Good heavens, an information bomb that had almost blown up the real world, could now reportedly be digested by Shadow City?

Would our Shadow Space get diarrhea?

“If Dingdang’s temple can control the laws of the world fragment, it can also rewrite them. We can slightly adjust the conflicting constants between the two worlds, making the world fragment harmless to Shadow Space,” Taville explained last night. “Moreover, we’ll construct a powerful Xyrin Nest in that half-plane, using the Xyrin Host’s formidable computing power to continuously correct the errors caused by information conflicts between the two worlds. It won’t be long before the Shadow Space and the world fragment can merge into one. With just a little time, we’ll reap significant benefits!”

A plan that perfectly integrates technology and mysticism; for the first time in my life, I felt genuine admiration for Qianqian’s directionless thinking ability! (To be continued. For further information on what happens next, please visit www.wuxiaworld.site, with more chapters and support for the author, support for genuine reading!)