Chapter 1171 Dark Abyss

Dream plane.

Although it has been severely damaged in the "collision of worlds" a long time ago and turned into a vassal plane of another universe, the Dream Plane is still a vast and boundless world to most mortal civilizations, with profound and boundless cosmic depths. In the sky, there are countless ancient galaxies and new stars, as well as countless dark spaces buried in the deepest part of space that no one has ever set foot on.

In the center of the universe, the ancient nebulae have almost all been converted into waste heat. The once glorious Milky Way is now only a large expanse of lifeless shadows and ash remnants. The light is fading, and it has become an extremely precious thing here: stars falling into death one by one. There are a few rays of light dotted in this deep darkness, and each cluster of sparks and embers is a fortress. These stars that are barely collected and lit in the nebula exhaust gas are extremely rare. They are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of light-years away from each other. Their candlelight cannot illuminate this forgotten and gradually declining world. Even entering the deep space of the dead universe cannot nourish any life, at least conventional life.

Without life, there would be no movement of the mind, no activity of thought, and there would be no possibility of escape from the evil forces in the cage.

So this cage remained silent for thousands of years, watching the passage of time in silence.

But it's not entirely devoid of life.

The "Night Watchers" who guard the cages in the darkness live here. They set up fortresses around clusters of sparks and embers, monitoring the dark abyss in the deepest part of this dead space, and monitoring even the smallest details around them. Make some noise.

Silence as dead as death is the normal state of this cage. Not only is there no sound in the cold and dead space of the universe, but even the trembling of the stars is strictly controlled. There is no mortal race to survive here, and there is no way to talk about the resonance between the souls. Starting - everything is to prevent the suppressed force from breaking through the blockade. But even so, the night watchers also have their own way of communicating with each other.

These ancient beings have mastered the art of protecting their own hearts and are blessed by the gods. As they speak through the resonance between stars, the evil forces suppressed deep in the cage are powerless.

A lonely star located at the edge of the outer event of the Dark Abyss became slightly brighter, sending out a series of messages at super-light speeds that were incomprehensible to ordinary species. This stream of messages quickly spread throughout the star region and immediately triggered several nearby stars. Stellar reply.

"S-26, control your frequency and don't engage in unnecessary conversations."

"Reply from S-26, it is not an unnecessary conversation. The mind has been shielded. This tremor is safe."

"What have you discovered?" A message from the middle of the dark abyss came in.

"It has been more than a hundred time units since the founding star went out. According to the agreement, the time will start now."

"Has there been any change in the outside world?" The signal source in the middle of the dark abyss continued to ask.

"It's quiet, very quiet. It is initially estimated that more than 90% of the life lights have been extinguished. A small number of deep space areas are as quiet as if they are at a critical point."

The stars were silent for a while, which could be just a few seconds or several days. At the critical point of the dark abyss, the passage of time becomes very strange. The night watchers are not even used to recording things through time. For them, the passage of time is the progression of one event after another. Between two events, In the long silence between, time means nothing.

If it weren't for the purpose of recording how long the war had passed, the Night Watchers would have abandoned the concept of "time" long ago.

After a period of silence, the S-26 border listening station suddenly sent out another message: "W-17, I heard noises coming from deep space. What's the problem there?"

A signal came from the middle of the dark abyss: "It is trying to break through the outer wall."

A new signal comes from a star millions of light-years away: "More and more frequent."

"There is still no news about the ark and fire left by the goddess of creation. The guardians she created have not shown any signs of returning to normal. It seems that the pollution that was leaked was more serious than expected," W-17 said abnormally He said for a long time, "We must be prepared. I'm afraid the situation will continue to deteriorate."

"The situation will continue to deteriorate," S-26 agreed. "We must cherish the use of manpower and stop doing things that are not suitable for us. Within a hundred time units, we have lost many guards."

"But necessary inspections should still continue," W-17 said. "This universe is still changing, and there are things we don't understand that have arisen and are spreading. S-26, remember what you have discovered. Something?"

"Yes, I'm impressed by them - they're expanding at an astonishing rate and with a high degree of discipline, even more disciplined than we are. They've now spread to thousands of galaxies, and the rate of expansion increases dramatically with the extent of the spread. Ascension, I am afraid that one day, they will cover the entire universe.”

"What do we know about them?" asked another source from the middle of the dark abyss. "How do they make themselves?"

"In an incomprehensible way, those things seem to be able to continuously reproduce themselves without the need for material resources. Whether in a barren star area or a rich star area, the expansion speed never slows down. I once observed that in a celestial body without any matter Thousands of those things popped up out of the vacuum—almost out of thin air.”

"What is their purpose? Are they harmful?"

"It is impossible to tell. They seem to be highly intelligent beings, but lack the purpose of intelligent life. They are just constantly expanding and setting up a large number of incomprehensible nests and outposts in the universe. But in the process , they neither attack anyone nor occupy any planets - they seem to be more interested in staying in space and observing than landing on planets. Therefore, I cannot judge whether those things are harmful, I can only confirm that they are a threat."

S-26's message had just been sent, and another outpost on the border also responded: "There is additional information. I have observed that they have a considerable degree of force. In certain accidents, they can easily destroy threats. Wandering celestial bodies in their lairs, and the proportion of these armed individuals in their entire group is rapidly increasing. Perhaps the expansion of those things has reached a certain critical point, and now they are gradually switching to force mode."

S-26 also spoke again: "Additional information, it has been observed that their expansion direction has changed. They are changing from aimless expansion to directional expansion. Their vanguard seems to be heading here."

The new supplementary information silenced all the night watchmen. After a short silence, W-17 sent a message: "Their behavior patterns are changing, and I think they should be monitored more."

"Perhaps a more proactive response?" one border post asked, "like an attack."

"This should be an action taken when there is no other choice, S-77," W-17 said. "We must ensure the stability of the internal defense line. Once 'it' breaks through the wall, the harm will far exceed any disaster."

"Agree." "Agree." "Agree."

In the silent cage of the dark abyss, the resonant conversations among the stars gradually calmed down. This star area that was not observed by anyone and had never been set foot in was once again dead silent, as if there was no place here in the past, present, or future. There is no life in general.

And in the silence, the last whisper-like low sound suddenly broke the silence: "W-17, what is the situation in the deepest critical point?"

"There is no sense left in the critical point. 'It' has completely occupied its own cell. There are only endless screams and noises, but the outpost on the last line of defense is still sending back news, and N-66 is leading Other outposts cordon off cells."

"...W-17, my brother, do you still remember this pastoral era when the universe was peaceful and peaceful?"

"...S-26, my brother, I, like you, have forgotten."

"For the gift of forgetfulness."

"For the gift of forgetfulness."

The conversation of the night watchers ended, and they returned to silence, continuing to wait for the almost meaningless "time" to enter the next point worthy of discussion.

And far away from this eternal prison, in another starry sky of the universe, a new drone nest is gradually starting up. Deep in the crisscrossing alloy frame of the nest, which looks like biological tissue, red and blue The colored light began to pulse like a breath.

An ever-changing face emerged from the surface of the nest, and the collective consciousness of the drone swarm looked into the dark and deep universe. In that darkness, everything was abnormally silent.

The deep space of the universe is indeed silent, but it is somewhat unreasonable to be so silent.

After a moment of thinking and calculation, the cluster consciousness issued a series of new production expansion plans.

It has only one mission: to expand, continue to expand, and continue to expand into the depths and ends of the universe!