Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 795 - 401. A moment lasts a thousand years

Chapter 795: 401. A moment lasts a thousand years

"Damn it, after this fight, there’s not a single trophy to be gained!"

Gio Zieou complained.

Although the operation was more efficient than expected, He always felt something was off.

The knights of the Kingdom Parliament, their remaining forces should still number at least in the tens of thousands, yet not even a shadow was seen.

Imperial soldiers excitedly landed on the shore, mounted their horses and vehicles, heading towards the city. As they passed each gathering point, the empty and desolate villages and towns caught them unprepared.

"Captain, there doesn’t seem to be anyone here."

"The food and well water are fine, checked and non-toxic."

"It’s not a scorched earth strategy; not even a single field mouse is visible."

At first, people thought the villagers had given up resistance and fled to the towns, so the army advanced and attacked the large cities.

However, facing still-empty streets, leaving behind only lifeless silence, the Imperial soldiers were utterly bewildered.

They had no idea what to do, as if a punch was thrown, landing on cotton, the strength completely absorbed, and now they didn’t know what to do next.

Especially at their highest level, Gio Zieou found the scene absurd.

But the instincts developed from years of warfare made Him feel that things were not that simple.

Gio Zieou walked through the city streets, carefully sensing the surroundings. Soon, He reached the same conclusion as Leoz:

"Life is extinct..."

Gio Zieou mused, He couldn’t make sense of the situation. So, He let his subordinates take over the towns for the time being.

The Empire’s soldiers, both confused and excited, took over the city’s facilities. However, under the Church’s strict rules, they did not touch the civilians’ property. Instead, they opened the local lord’s storages, and after determining there was no poison, indulged greatly.

A full day passed without any issues.

Gio Zieou couldn’t help but doubt himself:

"Am I being paranoid?"

Speaking of which, that guy Leoz hasn’t responded either; where on earth is he?

The more Gio Zieou thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Ever since the landing operation started, whether it was the sudden suicide of Melissa, the empty towns, or the disappearance of Leoz, everything became exceedingly mysterious.

Even more troubling was that despite searching across this last piece of land, He still hadn’t found the whereabouts of the ’Seed.’

Turns out, the two of them busily established a church, helping mortals do a rebellion and nation-building game of house. Aside from helping the locals unify the Empire, His mission this time was not achieved at all.

It’s simply relief aid...

Gio Zieou was very vigilant, He stayed in the Hyland Pearl Province for a full five days, without missing any information, yet there was not a single change.

The Void’s erosion seemed to have stalled.

The entire Dragon Satellite was like falling into amber, completely stagnant, seemingly unchanged for millions of years.

On the sixth day, Gio Zieou remained stationed in the Hyland Pearl Province. The entire day passed calmly without any incidents.

He sat in the main seat of the Divine View, calming His spirit, which for the deities on the Pathway of [Destruction] could be understood as the mortal’s sleep or rest, accelerating tissue repair, preserving the porcelain-like skin, making it more resistant to corrosion and radiation.

Gio Zieou could be considered a beauty-loving god, carefully maintaining His porcelain-like body.

After a round of spiritual maintenance, Gio Zieou stood up from the ground, looked up at the horizon, the bright sun still hanging in the sky.

’Another day has passed. I don’t have much time left.’

Gio Zieou felt a bit helpless, He stood up, stepped outside the door, ready to continue searching for news about the Seed.

But what He saw next startled Him.

When He pushed open the palace doors — what spread before Him was a bustling sci-fi metropolis!

Neon lights flashing, airships shuttling, magnetic levitation railways circling the city, influencers holding selfie sticks casually strolling through the streets, dressed daringly, completely unlike anything within the Divine Right-ruled Dragon Guard Empire.

"...What is this?"

Gio Zieou retreated, closed the door, His mind was intensely bombarded for a moment.

"Is it an illusion? It must be an illusion; such a time span would last at least a thousand years!"

He comforted Himself, reopening the doors.

The next moment, a magnificent purple mushroom cloud blossomed on the ground not far from His palace.

"...Ah?"

Gio Zieou’s facial wrinkles stretched into a straight line, after a long while, He finally reacted.

He quickly retreated inside, waited a few minutes, then reopened the doors.

The next moment, what spread before Him was a ground made of alloy, with a cold sky suddenly shimmering, as interstellar fighters jumped into the atmosphere, those extremely non-aerodynamic constructs calmly landing in front of Him under anti-gravity technology.

The spaceship slowly opened, releasing light-cast stairs, two humanoids entirely made of synthetic substances slowly descended, bowing to Gio Zieou:

"Welcome to your awakening, Your Excellency Gio Zieou. The Dragon Satellite Federated States is honored to witness this moment."

"What time is it now?"

Gio Zieou asked calmly, already unfazed.

The synthetic humans smiled slightly and said:

"It’s been 15,200 years since you liberated the Hyland Pearl Autonomous Region — oh, it’s the Hyland Pearl Province. Of course, for you, this was just a small nap."

Gio Zieou fell silent. He raised His head to look at the perpetually purple sky, the confusion in His heart finally resolved.

"An instant of ten thousand years... Inherent Time Domain."

Gio Zieou murmured:

"Oh ho, so I’ve been tricked."

"The Hyland Pearl Province back then was simply a trap to lure me in."

"No wonder the deaths were so clean... These Kingdom guys directly sold the planet to the Void!"

Now, He was faced with a very dire problem:

He was now in the 6th narrative, within the inherent time domain of the Void natives.

Once He left this inherent time domain, it was equivalent to directly stepping into the third layer Zhou Yuan.

Moreover, this body would endure the erosion of tens of thousands of years once leaving the inherent time domain. He’s not a mortal, without a lifespan limit, but translating this, it’s like each part of His body instantly working for tens of thousands of years.

The mechanical energy generated alone... would be enough to exhaust this body.

In other words, Gio Zieou realized a pathetic fact:

He was imprisoned.

Moreover, the whereabouts of the ’Seed’ could not be traced, within the inherent time domain, He had no idea what the reality was.

He could only wait in the third layer of the Starry Abyss until a familiar person came to retrieve Him someday.

Or wait until the Mother of Lai Anding grew impatient and forcibly severed His link with the Starry Abyss.

No matter the outcome — Gio Zieou knew clearly that His mission this time had already ended.

"By the way, where exactly is that guy Leoz?"

He turned to ask the two synthetic humans:

"Do you know where Leoz is?"

However, the two synthetic humans were at a loss:

"Your Excellency, who is Leoz?"

"My right-hand man, during the founding of the Dragon Guard Empire, He was beside me."

The two synthetic humans looked at each other, exchanged information, then turned to Gio Zieou and said:

"Your Excellency, there is no information about Leoz in the database, nor any record."

"In that case — do you know about the High Table or the Fermi Research Institute?"

"There’s no information in the database, according to our historical records, it was you who authorized the empire’s first legion to capture Hyland Pearl Province and unify the planet."

Gio Zieou stood still.

In an instant, numerous pieces of information flashed in His mind, scattered fragments connected together, forming a complete line of clarity:

Leoz had been hiding His identity from the start, letting Him serve as the face of the church, gathering a large amount of faith.

No matter the time, He always stayed behind the scenes, never flamboyant.

Leoz completely disappeared during the last battle, without any sign.

Everything indicated that Leoz had pushed Him out to be a scapegoat.

And now, Leoz must have already left — no, probably never entered the inherent time domain at all!

He knew everything.

"...Have you already resorted to anything for the sake of efficiency?"

Gio Zieou said through gritted teeth:

"Leoz — did you deceive me again!?"