Chapter 923: Chapter 923: There Is a Mutant Species in This World Called Naughty Kid—Misaka Included
Bellavilla suddenly asked to see the structural diagram of that Ruins World. This, of course, was not a problem. Sandora quickly found the last “panorama” of space scanned by shipboard probes before evacuating the Ruins World. This panorama wasn’t just a visible picture; it was actually an extremely complex mathematical model that basically depicted all the key macro information of the entire world. Understanding and reading this mathematical model requires extraordinary data processing capabilities and the Xyrin Apostles’ unique “data hard reading and writing thinking method.” Anyway, I couldn’t understand this “world snapshot,” but it was said that through this mathematical model, readers could even recreate the entire world out of thin air—though only on a macro level. The details of the world require almost endless data to describe, which is obviously meaningless for a Ruins World, and we didn’t leave that precise kind of record.
But even just a snapshot is enough to describe the basic structure of the Ruins World. Bellavilla stayed silent for more than a minute, slowly analyzing the mathematical model, and finally understanding the structure of the entire world. She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of praise.
“That kid… although mad, is also a mad genius.”
Seeing the confused looks on our faces, Bellavilla this time didn’t keep us guessing and started to explain briefly: “Perhaps it’s very incredible, but Visca ingeniously turned that area the size of a star system into a shield amplifier, and its scale is even measured in light years. See here, between the world barrier and the inner stable zone, there’s a thick Ghost Energy storm region, isn’t there? It’s called the Storm Ocean, but in essence, this is an energy system used to support shields. The three Ruins Planets are respectively located on three amplification nodes, and the ‘Holy Vault,’ which stores the deep-diving ship ruins, is located right in the center of these three amplification nodes. This forms a shield transfer system. The Holy Vault system left by Visca connects the shield generators of the wreckage with the three Ruins Planets and continuously releases the unique shield frequency of the deep-diving ship. This frequency would then resonate with the Ghost Energy Storm at the fringe. If I’m not wrong, this Ghost Energy Storm layer follows a pattern and amplifies the received shield frequency in equal measure, releasing it evenly to the outside, thus supporting a world barrier that hasn’t extinguished for seven hundred thousand years…”
“It seems that doing large-scale projects is a tradition among all the Xyrin Apostles.”
Regarding Bellavilla’s description of that light-year unit-sized shield generator—well, although it may not be completely accurate to call it that, I truly don’t know how else to describe that super system—I was nothing but shocked. Despite its scale perhaps not matching that of the Celestial System Fleet, the fact that Visca could build such a massive barrier from the remains after such a grievous defeat, preserving the world’s last fragment for seven hundred thousand years, can only be described as monstrous.
“As I said before, Visca is mad, but not stupid,” Sandora also smiled as she said this, “and don’t forget, Visca defected from the Empire alone back then. How much could she bring? In a near start-from-scratch state, she established an army. It’s hard to imagine how many roles she had to take on… Looks like we indeed underestimated that girl. But now, she seems to have settled into the role of a well-behaved little sis, doing nothing, just like a kept pet.”
I shrugged my shoulders, “I’d rather have Visca be a pet, and Pandora too. If the two of them could get into less trouble, that would be for the best. And I certainly don’t wish for Visca to have to replay the kind of life she had back then.”
“It was precisely with this world barrier that Visca successfully hid the Holy Vault,” Bellavilla spoke again, drawing our attention back, “The shield on the Abyss Deep Diving Ship is very special. To ensure the ship could survive long enough in the Abyss environment to collect data, this shield, apart from having the same tenacity and stability as the world barrier, has another characteristic, which is extreme inertia. It almost never actively releases any form of information to prevent excessive corrosion attraction in the Abyss environment. Therefore, unless you precisely know the coordinates of that Ruins World, you simply can’t find its location… The boundless void is infinitely vast, finding a specific grain of sand without knowing its coordinates among an infinite amount of sand is impossible. Furthermore, after the world’s apocalypse, its fragments would shift positions in the void. Even if Ocam tried to look back to the coordinates from when it was attacked, he wouldn’t find the Ruins World’s coordinates. You were able to find that space due to the help from the Divine Race. Their positioning of worlds doesn’t just rely on coordinates but also various ‘information nodes,’ such as the kind of life forms they’ve created, which serve as information nodes for determining coordinates.”
“So, by entering the Ruins World, did we end up destroying this disguise?”
Sandora thought very quickly. At this moment, she already understood why the Fallen Apostles suddenly located the positions of the Imperial Army and the remnants of the Abyss Deep Diving Ship.
“It should be,” Bellavilla said, pressing her finger against her brow, thinking as she spoke, “Without seeing the actual object, it’s hard to determine how strong the amplification system Visca set up is. But when you forcefully penetrated that world barrier, it surely disrupted its regular function. Even a small opening is enough for the information inside the world to leak out. The Fallen Apostle might not have been able to determine the coordinates of the Ruins World, but with the data left by Ocam during his lifetime, they would at least continuously scan the corresponding void frequencies, which is why you were suddenly attacked by them… I presume the enemy should originally wait a few more days and ambush the Imperial Army Fleet when you were preparing to return. This way, the success rate of their operation would be higher. But possibly due to Visca’s return causing the remnant starship AI in the Ruins Planet to become highly agitated, thus triggering the early activation of the Holy Vault, forcing the enemy to act prematurely, which gave you the opportunity.”
“Visca’s return led to the early activation of the Holy Vault?” Sandora’s eyes lit up, and she exchanged a glance with me: could this be the reason why all the disasters erupted as soon as we reached the Ruins World?
I remember the incidents in the Ruins World back then—the sequence of abnormal disasters: stellar fusion reactor shutdowns, cold airstorms, severe earthquakes, sudden early gate closure beneath the Great City, and even the eventual unexplained disintegration of the entire planet. Although a portion of the disasters existed before we arrived at the Ruins World, they evidently maximized in ferocity only after our arrival. This certainly couldn’t be explained by mere coincidence. We should have doubted it initially, but the surprise attack from the Fallen Apostle left everyone with no time to think. Only now, following Bellavilla’s words, did Sandora and I feel an epiphany: Could it be that Visca’s return unconsciously activated the Holy Vault!
“Now, perhaps another matter can be explained,” Sandora suddenly had a thought, leading to an epiphany, “Because the world barrier isolated the Abyss Deep Diving Ship debris, it prevented the Imperial Army and the Abyss Deep Diving Ship wreck from being located by the Fallen Apostle.”
One sentence from Sandora made everything click, and I finally remembered this crucial fact: “Because the world barrier is what kept that Abyss Deep Diving Ship hidden, wasn’t it?”
“Very likely,” Bellavilla replied to me, “If Ocam left behind a means to control the starship externally during its design, then the Fallen Apostle could access it. They will likely continue to scan the void for relevant frequency bands, even if they can’t find the coordinates of the Ruins World. So the moment you forcibly penetrated the world barrier from the outside, it disturbed its normal function for certain, making it possible.”
“Looks like this puzzle can only be confirmed by Taville,” Sandora said with a shrug, “Let’s leave the rest to Taville.”
“Alright then, that’s all I know, and it’s time I stopped,” Bellavilla parted ways with some simple formality, just as Sandora seized the moment to clear the empty plates from the table quickly, standing up as she patted her stomach. Bellavilla suddenly told me, “It’s the first time I’ve seen such an amazing eating speed from this fellow queen, who is as much of a glutton as I am,” showing herself to be, without a doubt, a quintessential example of the acid-tongued urchin tribe. Sandora wanted to exchange a few words with Bellavilla, but the final burst of momentum finally caused this girl to choke, and it wasn’t until this moment that it all made sense to us: it might have been Visca’s return that unconsciously activated the Holy Vault!
“In that case, maybe it can explain something else,” Sandora suddenly thought of another issue, “It seems like this mystery will only be confirmed by Taville.”
“Alright, that’s all I know, and now the rest should be left to Taville,” Bellavilla said as she tidied up the empty plates on the table with a quick teleport, patting her belly as she got up, “It’s about time for me to go back, and I saw the amazing speed of eating from this fellow gourmet queen of mine for the first time,” she suddenly said to me, referencing Sandora, who was hoping to counter Bellavilla’s words with her wide-eyed glare in the last few seconds but ended up choking in the burst.
“Ah—have you guys finished eating?”
Silvia’s leisurely voice sounded.
The soft tone suddenly drained Sandora’s momentum, and Her Majesty the Queen could only lower her head dejectedly to continue dealing with the remaining cake at a frequency of 50Hz…
After leaving Silvia’s small shop, it wasn’t noon yet, and according to the possible law of conservation of matter, I thought Sandora wouldn’t be calling for food again anytime soon. So, the two continued to wander around, while uploading the prototype ship blueprint obtained from Bellavilla to Taville. As expected, that crazy scientific researcher with glasses was very troubled about how to safely relieve the pressure from the wreckage, and our blueprint delighted her, even the steady scientist couldn’t help but exclaim in the spiritual connection.
I thought it best to remind Taville, who might soon be overwhelmed by “scientist’s enthusiasm,” so as we walked along the streets of the shopping district, I explained to Taville the historical secrets of that research ship, especially the issues regarding the blueprint.
“Don’t rejoice just yet,” I poured some cold water on the ecstatic Taville, “I’ve given you the blueprint, but it’s probably incomplete. As Bellavilla mentioned, the prototype ship blueprint in Ocam’s hands is only half complete, meaning the design you’ve received should only have half that is fairly complete, while the other half is just the structure diagram.”
Taville paused, probably comparing the data, then responded in a relaxed tone: “Yes, my Majesty, this blueprint indeed only has half the complete structural analysis, the remaining part is a framework diagram. But it doesn’t affect much; I am confident that with this half blueprint, we can find a safe way to relieve the pressure from the wreckage’s energy network—it just happens to be that half of the experimental wreckage. And if we’re lucky enough, we might even safely dismantle the other part of the wreckage. Generally, these energy network control valves are symmetrically distributed, and we already have the physical remains in our hands… With a bit more effort and precise scanning several times, then comparing with the blueprint, we can always find a way.”
“That would be the best,” Sandora said happily, “But this project is very special, remember, under no circumstances should any risky methods be adopted. I want all wreckage to be preserved a hundred percent safely, even if it takes twice the time to do so, understand?”
Though Taville is known as a science fanatic, she isn’t a science madman. In this matter, she’s very clear on what is of great importance, so she absolutely didn’t dare slack off in response to Sandora’s special instructions, promising to parse the blueprint and dismantle the wreckage in the safest way possible, then we ended the communication.
“Now, we finally have a significant advantage against the Fallen Apostle.” Sandora slowly walked beside me, twirling her golden long hair with her hand, “The deep diving ship’s wreckage is in the hands of the Imperial Army, not theirs. Perhaps we thwarted their attack once and indirectly foiled a series of their subsequent plans… As long as we unveil the deep diving ship’s secret earlier than them, we can lead in a certain domain.”
“Are you…” I looked at Sandora in disbelief, “Are you planning to rebuild that thing like Ocam?”
“Why not?” Sandora tilted her head with a mischievous smile looking over here, “Since it fell into the hands of the Imperial Army, can you watch as those wreckage and blueprints become merely a technological specimen?”
“But the function of this thing is too dangerous,” I knew Sandora was right, yet still filled with doubts, “Exploring the Abyss Gate is one of the Old Empire era’s mad plans; I think it’s best to stay away from such things.”
“We don’t necessarily have to follow the same path,” Sandora didn’t have a joking expression, “In fact, research on the interior of the Abyss has been a normal exploration that the Old Empire has been conducting for a long time, and even the Divine Race has helped in this domain, so the study is not mad, it’s just that the Abyss Deep Diving Ship created by Ocam was too advanced. And, you’re overthinking it, I’m merely rebuilding the starship, not necessarily planning to drive it into the Abyss Gate immediately—after the Old Empire’s lesson, I wouldn’t make the same rash mistakes. This starship more serves to let us understand from the side the environment inside the Abyss Gate… After all, Ocam and his collaborators must have gained deep understanding of the Abyss Gate during the construction of this spaceship, every design they made is a precious source of information for us. The Fallen Apostle is already in the process of replicating this thing, so even if we don’t act like them, we should at least know their general aim, right?”
“That’s good then.” I let out a sigh of relief, to be honest, when Sandora mentioned she wanted to rebuild that thing, my first reaction was that she also planned to restart those mad research projects from the Old Empire, hence the tension. But now it seems I was too sensitive, Sandora isn’t the type to recklessly advance, she makes decisions that may appear dangerous but never truly lets great dangers come in contact with her Empire; she knows her bounds.
While walking and chatting, the two had unknowingly reached the end of the shopping district, the originally less crowded but bustling street was even quieter now. I looked up, only then understanding why it suddenly quieted down around, the sign in the front read: Teaching area strictly prohibits noise, violators blowing horns will have their vehicles confiscated and will be fined to write Sister Misaka’s homework for a month—announced by the Wild Misaka Protection Association.
This is the university town, huh.
The gate of the Imperial Central Military Academy stood not far in the distance, magnificent like Heaven’s delivery room, from afar the honorary director Qianqian, honorary chairman Chen Someone, and honorary teaching director Lilina’s holographic sculptures can be seen, they are installed on a suspended all-weather projection launch platform, standing as a tripod at the school’s entrance. This egg-pain-inducing masterpiece was made by the Misaka Handmade Society a few months ago; reportedly they planned to manufacture an external holographic projection installed on low-altitude cruisers, to project commander images on the battlefield to boost morale and undermine enemy’s will. But later they found out that this idealized entity could merely function as a large floodlight, its effect not even comparable to playing the new version of “Princess Pearl” in front of the two armies, thus the plan was halted, and the three prototypes were conveniently turned into artwork and placed at the school entrance—having my sculpture used in such a stupid way and thrown on the street makes me melancholic.
What’s more distressing is that the second day after this sculpture installation, it collapsed due to floating device malfunction, sparking an academic discussion: Given Brother Emperor, Sister Qianqian, and Lilina lying straight together forming a triangle, what kind of triangle is it? A: Acute triangle, B: Right triangle, C: Machete triangle.
It proves that any school will have one or two joker-like students; their race is Naughty Kid genus Naughty Kid class Naughty Kid family. To date, no one knows which treasure raised this math question; hopefully, it wasn’t the cute Sister Misaka…
But this might be self-comfort, because everyone knows in the military academy, only the Sister Misaka would call the Xyrin Emperor Brother Emperor…
“Why do I feel a sudden chill just now?” As I was thinking about whether at some point I should wield the dignity of “Brother Emperor” to let those mischievous Misakas remove the three holographic sculptures at the entrance, Sandora suddenly nudged my arm and said in a low voice.
And almost as her words fell, in the corner of my eye I suddenly saw a small black-and-white figure bouncing out from the school gate. Taking a closer look, that 60cm mini height, silver-white butt-length long hair, Q version big head, and eloquent mischievous big eyes so different from the original’s style, even more important is the signature black gothic loli dress and the three-headed body proportions… It turns out to be a Q Mercury Lamp!
The military academy has always been the resident place for the Mercury Lamp Cute Army, the vast majority of three-headed Mercury Lamps live here, taking up the roles of school worker and guide, so seeing three-headed Mercury Lamps running around on this street isn’t anything unexpected. But what caught one’s attention was Sandora suddenly feeling a chill and the roll of paper in the Q Mercury Lamp’s hand. I waved from afar, wanting to call the other over, but unexpectedly, that three-headed doll took a glance over here and instantly exclaimed “Wow,” turned around, pulled out a light-speed skateboard, and tried to run away! (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian () to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)