Dream plane.Although it had been battered in the "collision of worlds" a long, long time ago and became a vassal plane of another universe, the Dream Position is still a vast and boundless world for most mortal civilizations, with the deep and infinite space of the universe, with countless ancient galaxies and newborn stars, as well as countless dark spaces buried in the deepest depths of space that no one has ever set foot in.In the center of the universe, the ancient nebula has been almost entirely converted into waste heat, and the once-glorious Milky Way is now only a vast expanse of lifeless shadows and ashes, the light is fading, and here it is extremely precious: the stars that have fallen silent one by one shine a few rays in this deep darkness, and each cluster of starfire embers is a fortress.These stars that were barely collected and lit up in the nebula's exhaust gases were extremely rare, and they were separated by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of light-years from each other, and their candle light could not illuminate the forgotten and dying universe, nor could it nourish any life, at least regular life.Without life, there is no movement of the mind, and without activity of the mind, there is no possibility of escape from the evil forces in the cage.So this cage has been silent for thousands of years, silently watching the passage of time.But it's not entirely lifeless.The "Night Watchmen" who guard the cage in the darkness live here, setting up fortresses around clusters of sparkling embers, watching the dark abyss in the deepest depths of this dead space, listening for even the slightest sound around them.Silence is like death, this is the norm in this cage, not only is there not a single sound in the cold and dead cosmic space, even the tremor of the starlight is strictly controlled, there is no mortal race here, and the sound between the hearts is naturally impossible to talk about - all to block the suppressed force from breaking through the blockade.But even so, the night watchmen had their own way of communicating with each other.These ancient beings have mastered the knack of protecting their hearts, and have been blessed by the gods, powerless to be suppressed by the evil forces that have been suppressed in the depths of their cages as they speak through the resonance of the stars.A lone star at the boundary of the outer events of the Dark Abyss was a little brighter, emitting a series of faster-than-light messages that ordinary species could not comprehend, and this string of messages quickly spread throughout the entire sector, immediately eliciting responses from several nearby stars."
S-26, control your frequency and don't engage in unnecessary conversations.""
S-26 replied, not an unnecessary conversation, psychic shielding, and this tremor is safe.""
What did you find?"
A message from the middle of the Dark Abyss interjected."
The Founding Star has been extinguished for more than a hundred units of time, and according to the agreement, the time will begin now.""
What's changed in the outside world?"
The source of the signal in the middle of the Dark Abyss continued to ask."
It's quiet, it's very quiet, it's initially estimated that more than 90 percent of the lights of life have been extinguished, and a small number of deep space areas are quiet as if they are at a critical point."
The stars are silent for a period of time, from a few seconds to days.At the tipping point of the dark abyss, the passage of time has become so strange that the night watchmen are not even comfortable recording things through time, for them, the passage of time is a progression of events after events, and in the long silence between two events, time is meaningless.If it weren't for the fact that the war had passed, the Night's Watch would have abandoned the concept of "time" long ago.After a few moments of silence, the S-26 Boundary Listening Post suddenly sent another message: "W-17, I hear a noise coming from deep space, what's wrong there?"
”A signal came from the middle of the Dark Abyss: "It's trying to break through the outer walls. ”A new signal came from a star millions of light-years away: "It's getting more frequent." ”"There is still no news of the Ark and Tinder left behind by the Goddess of Creation, and the Guardians she created have not yet shown any signs of returning to normal, and it seems that the pollution leaked out at the beginning is worse than expected," W-17 said at length, "We need to be prepared, I am afraid that the situation will continue to deteriorate." ”"The situation will continue to deteriorate," the S-26 agreed, "and we need to use manpower and not do things that are not suitable for us."
In a hundred units of time, we have lost a lot of guards. ”"But the necessary rounds should continue," W-17 said, "and the universe is still changing, and something we don't know is being created and spreading."
S-26, remember what you found?
”"Yes, I'm very impressed with them – the speed of expansion is astonishing, and they are highly disciplined, even more disciplined than we are.Now that they have spread to thousands of galaxies, and the rate of expansion has increased dramatically with the spread of the range, I am afraid that one day they will cover the entire universe. ”"What do we know about them?"
Another source from the middle of the Dark Abyss asked, "How do they make themselves?"
”"In an incomprehensible way, those things seem to be able to replicate themselves in a steady stream without material resources, and the rate of expansion never slows down, whether in barren or rich sectors.I once observed thousands of such things suddenly popping up in a vacuum of matter without any celestial bodies—almost out of thin air. ”"What is their purpose?
Are they harmful?
”"It is impossible to tell that they seem to be highly intelligent beings, but they lack the purpose of intelligent life, they are just constantly expanding, and they have set up a large number of incomprehensible nests and outposts in space, but in the process, they neither attack anyone nor occupy any planet - they seem to prefer to stay in space and observe rather than land on planets.So I can't tell if they're harmful, only if they're threatening. ”As soon as the S-26 message was sent, another outpost on the border responded: "There is additional information.I have observed that they possess a considerable degree of force, and in some unexpected cases, they can easily destroy wandering objects that threaten their nests, and the proportion of these armed individuals in their entire population is rapidly increasing.Perhaps the expansion of those things has reached a tipping point, and now they are gradually shifting to force mode. ”The S-26 also spoke again: "Additional intelligence, it has been observed that the direction of their expansion has changed, and it is moving from aimless to directional expansion, and their vanguard seems to be heading here." ”New supplemental intelligence silenced all night watchmen, and after a brief silence, W-17 sent a message: "Their behavior patterns are changing, and I think they should be monitored more intensively." ”"Maybe a more proactive response?"
One of the border outposts asked, "Like a catch-up." ”"This should be an action that has no other way out, S-77," W-17 said, "and we want to keep the internal line of defense stable, and if 'it' breaks through the wall, the damage will far outweigh any disaster." ”"Agreed.""
Agreed.""
Agreed."
In the silent dark abyss cage, the resonant conversations between the stars gradually calmed down, and the unobserved, untouched star sector once again returned to dead silence, as if there was no life in the past, present, and future.In the silence, the silence was suddenly broken by a last murmuring sound: "W-17, what's going on inside the deepest tipping point?"
”"There is no sanity left at the tipping point, 'it' has completely taken over its own cell, where there is only endless screaming and noise, but the outposts on the last line of defense are still sending back the news that N-66 is leading the other outposts to seal off the cells."“…… W-17, my brother, do you remember this idyllic time of cosmic peace and tranquility?
”“…… S-26, my brother, I, like you, have forgotten. ”"For the gift of forgetting.""
For the gift of forgetting."
The conversation of the night watchmen is over, and they return to their silence, continuing to wait for the almost meaningless "time" to move on to the next point worth discussing.Far away from the eternal prison, in another cosmic starry sky, a new drone nest was activating, and in the depths of the nest's criss-crossed, biologically organistic alloy frame, red and blue light began to pulsate like breath.An ever-changing face emerges from the surface of the lair, and the swarm consciousness of the drone swarm looks out into the dark and deep universe, in which everything is abnormally silent.The deep space of the universe is indeed silent, but it is somewhat unreasonable to be silent to this extent.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, to expand, to expand all the way to the depths and ends of the universe!
(To be continued.) )