Xyrin Empire
Chapter 516: Anxious Lin Xue

Chapter 516: Chapter 516: Anxious Lin Xue

Sharing idle computing resources into the communication network and utilizing massive computing power to tackle research projects or overall improvement in the understanding of the world beyond its current civilization level wasn’t alien to the Xyrin People. It could even be said that this type of sharing went hand-in-hand with the development and glory of the Xyrin Empire, bestowing an almost bug-like talent, allowing an otherwise unremarkable, even somewhat naturally foolish Race to develop at a breakneck pace, endowing them with powers comparable to those of gods.

There’s a universally accepted theorem across civilizations: the primary element of development is the transfer of knowledge and exchange of information, representing the maximum speed and degree of development a Race can achieve. Earthlings escaped primordial existence through hieroglyphics, welcomed the dawn of civilization with affordable paper and books, and entered an era of explosive growth through global information exchange, powerfully proving the importance of information interchange in the process of civilized development. On this point...

From the day they were born, Xyrin People had already entered the era of the Internet, eliciting envy, jealousy, and hatred from others!

During a casual chat, Sandora once told me a legend that circulated among them: the first Xyrin Person accidentally discovered that when electricity flowed through a suitable conductor, it generated a great deal of heat. The next day, the entire Xyrin Race was using electric heat cutting machines. Although this story might be exaggerated, it vividly illustrates the terrifying power of unrestricted information sharing.

However, this talent, enviable though it may be, is useless for other Races and could even be disastrous. Rapidly developing civilizations often veer off course. The common problem for most ordinary Races is that their ambition and destructiveness spiral out of control with the rapid increase in power, leading them to forget their limits and challenge the unchallengeable. Only the Xyrin People, a Race with a singular focus on conquering the Abyss and expanding their territory, managed to never stray off path, though this only holds for self-destruction among the Xyrin People; for those weaker Races extinguished during the Empire’s expansion, we can only express our sympathy.

The research model of the Xyrin People usually goes like this: one or a few Xyrin Apostles specializing in research serve as the core, outlining research objectives, current status, and challenges. These are then categorized; creative parts are handled by researchers, pure calculation and logical inference by the Xyrin Host, and parts needing massive trials and simulation calculations are uploaded to the information network completed by the idle computing resources of the Xyrin Apostles on the current link. The research process can require as few as a few hundred people or as many as hundreds of millions of Xyrin People across an entire planet synchronously finishing a challenge that requires the entire Race’s astounding computing power to break through—like challenging the barrier of laws.

According to the "Magic Cube Core" information that Taville extracted, the intelligence received was just like this: to chase the Void and directly harness the ultimate energy, the Empire initiated a project code-named X. Participants in the project encompassed ninety percent of the Empire’s Xyrin Apostles, nearly all of them.

Sandora had clearly also experienced that project, and she remembered the situation vividly, yet...

"No final product appeared; I can confirm that completely," Sandora said firmly once more, "Our information was completely shared, and I even had the Emperor’s unrestricted access. If someone in the Empire really did create an advanced Energy Furnace like the Giant Moon based on the research results at that time, I would have definitely known."

"But this thing seems to be..." looking at only a cubic block a few meters on a side that was left of the Giant Moon Core Components, I too was puzzled, "Wait, Sandora, about when did that project happen?"

"The timeline is completely jumbled now, who knows how many years ago," Sandora said with a bitter smile shaking her head, "But... while I was trapped in that Nameless world, the project was still progressing... wait!"

Sandora’s voice suddenly stopped, then she took a sharp breath, apparently realizing an astounding possibility.

I felt my hands tightening: "This, very likely, is the Empire’s last creation before it fell into slumber, or at least the closest creation to that time point that we’ve discovered so far."

"I’ll do everything in my power to unveil its secrets," Taville also realizing the importance of the situation, promptly connected to his command link, "Seventh Research Team and subsequent teams take note, project TL-153 is to be elevated to top priority, fully decrypt what the Magic Cube..."

Just at that moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly rang out in the research hall, followed by a girl’s voice: "Wait!"

The sudden sound in the hall cut off Taville’s command, and I turned in surprise toward the source, just in time to see Lin Xue rushing over, covering her eyes.

"Miss Xue? What brings you here?"

"Ah Jun, don’t try to forcibly crack the magic cube, never do that!"

I was startled by Lin Xue suddenly bursting in, and her unusually excited behavior even made me overlook her intimate use of the name "Ah Jun." Only Sandora slightly furrowed her brows, but soon she focused on the hand Lin Xue was holding over her eye, asking in amazement, "Lin Xue? What happened to your eye?"

"I’m fine!" Lin Xue vigorously shook my shoulder with her free left hand, "Wood, don’t forcibly crack the magic cube, even if it means giving it up, just don’t..."

I didn’t pay attention to what Lin Xue was about to say next but instead forcefully pulled her hand away from her right eye.

Bright red blood shimmered with an unnaturally blue luminescence flowing slowly from her eye socket. The girl’s eyes, originally animated, now emitted a white light like a glowing piece of glass, and inside one could vaguely see strands akin to hair expanding with energy sparks; these sparks even burst out of her eye socket, their nature indecipherable, but it was clear her eyes were gradually being damaged by this energy.

"Medical Soldier!"

"I’m fine!" Lin Xue gripped my shoulder tightly, "It’s just an overuse of my abilities, a minor injury to the blood vessels in my eye... Never mind that, Wood, there’s something very dangerous inside this magic cube, and forcibly cracking it will release them... No, I know what you want to say, but they’re not from the Abyss; no amount of guards will help, it’s something the Xyrin People themselves came up with, and they can’t control it... not yet; we will find a way, but it requires time, we can let Taville slow down the progress, just be extremely cautious, and if possible, let only one research team analyze it—it won’t activate it, or maybe we should abandon this thing..."

Lin Xue’s words were somewhat disjointed, but Taville had now understood, and after receiving confirmation from my glance, she nodded obediently: "Following your will, although this might mean we can’t crack the magic cube within a year, but... a million years have passed, a year or two doesn’t matter."

Satisfied by Taville’s promise, Lin Xue’s blood-drenched right eye sparked with an even brighter light again, then she grinned and whispered, "Okay, see, it’s safe now."

"Are you still using your abilities?!"

I could hardly resist forcibly freezing Lin Xue’s superpowers; since it was a danger even the Xyrin Apostles couldn’t withstand, she was still trying to probe it, even turning herself into this state, this girl...

That’s reckless!!

"It’s okay," Lin Xue, having lost control, forcibly closed her right eye and then leaned down, resting on her knees and gasping heavily, "Don’t worry, Wood, Miss here is quite capable, I have my limits."

"Can we call the medical soldiers now?" I asked while supporting Lin Xue’s shoulder, but my Spiritual Connection had already sent a command to summon the medical team.

"Whatever, it’s just a couple of bottles of eyedrops anyway!" Lin Xue countered stubbornly, but the shocking streak of bloody tears on her pretty face made me decisively ignore this obstinate Miss’s bravado, almost forcibly placing her in the medical cabin brought by the Medical Soldiers, leaving only one statement: "No matter what you saw, listen, we’ll talk after you’ve recovered! I am your boss, and this is an order!"

Lying in the medical cabin, Lin Xue looked a bit dazed, then she oddly smiled, raised her hand, and cheekily said, "One last question: Wood, can I not use this medical cabin?"

I hopelessly looked at the innocent Taville: "Look at your Genova style! Is a flip lid no longer a coffin?"

Two medical soldiers carrying the constantly protesting Miss Lin disappeared from our sight, leaving me and Sandora wordlessly looking at each other.

I couldn’t recall how many times this had happened, Lin Xue appearing in such haste, reminding us of the disaster that someone’s carelessness among us was about to bring, but this time, she had gone so far as to hurt herself. I truly had no idea what she must have seen.

"We definitely caught something big this time," I said with complex emotions twisting within me, turning my head, gazing at the disassembled cube that was slowly spinning mid-air, "but I’m not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse."

"As long as Lin Xue is around," Sandora sighed softly, "the Magic Cube might contain the last record of the Empire’s dormant secrets, but at the same time, it might also be sealing something dangerous inside. Lin Xue might have wanted to warn us about this—Ah Jun, shouldn’t you go and check on her?"

"She’ll probably kick me out," I scratched my head, recalling how I had just launched Miss Lin into the medical cabin using a series of supersonic karate chops.

Sandora stared at me intently for a moment, making my skin crawl, then sighed helplessly: "I really don’t know why I am... forget it, where’s my mind? After Lin Xue recovers a bit, don’t forget to thank her. Let’s go back for now, I don’t want to look at this cube any longer."

"Following your command," Taville bowed solemnly, "analysis of the Magic Cube Core will be scheduled at the lowest priority. Before we access the core data, we will consult the two Emperors."

The events of today were so sudden. Whether discovering that the "Magic Cube" might contain records of the Empire’s dormancy or Lin Xue’s unexpected intrusion, it was all incredibly unexpected and slightly overwhelming. Sandora seemed annoyed by the cube now, and I felt pretty much the same. After briefly reviewing several ongoing research reports from Taville, we went back to Shadow City.

My heart remained somewhat troubled; perhaps I was not mature enough to treat significant issues with the nonchalance of a long-standing leader like Sandora. The matter of the Magic Cube and Lin Xue’s warning kept swirling in my mind. After notifying Sandora that I would return later in the evening, I started wandering aimlessly through the streets of Shadow City.

The lonely streets allowed me to gradually calm my mood.

It indeed was a desolate city.

Strolling through the city streets, I couldn’t help but express such sentiment.

Although there were already ten thousand Sister Misaka’s living as permanent residents, numerous subordinate commanders residing at various city nodes, and various world residential districts had been established, occasionally visited by heroes from Otherworld, for a "city" that initially was planned to base millions and whose area later expanded five to six times, this number of residents still seemed too small.

Just look, there’s not even a single vendor in these hidden corners.

However, as I passed a certain crossroad in the western district, I serendipitously encountered two Sister Misaka’s who had decided to go shopping, which finally lent some interest to my otherwise boring stroll.

"Hey, Misaka."

With a warm smile, I waved at them from afar. They seemed to be planning to cross the street, waiting for the traffic light to turn green—even though there were no cars around now.

Although the two girls were still dressed in Toukan Platform uniforms, which hardly ever changed (in fact, it was the clothing they were most comfortable in), and their expressions remained stiff with identical night-vision goggles on their heads, I carefully noticed their differences. The girl on the left wore a quaint star-shaped hairpin, while the girl on the right wore a bracelet, which she probably exchanged from some unscrupulous Imperial Soldier’s hands. Although it was just a small decoration, it still brought me a slight surprise.

It seemed that the Misakas were gradually developing a sense of "humanity."

"Ah, it’s Brother! Misaka 10915 greets Brother with a feeling of surprise and joy."

But they hadn’t made any progress in how they spoke...

"Out shopping?" I curiously looked at the two girls in front of me, who were holding large shopping bags stuffed with everything messy from insecticides to coke, filling two big pockets.

Although it still looked a bit deserted, most parts of Shadow City had plenty of shops and pedestrian streets. Even next to a bustling commercial street there was often an uninhabited blank area, and these places were still the favorite haunts for the Sister Misaka, they would occasionally go on shopping trips, which gave them a faster sense of normal life than letting the Imperial Soldiers arrange everything for them.

"Yes, to complete this week’s practical homework! Misaka 10915 proudly showed the bag in her hand to Brother."

"Practical homework? Assigned by the school?" I showed an interested expression.

The school that Sister Misakas attended was named "New Century Gospel Gundam Saving the World Good Youth Imperial Comprehensive Top Military Academy" by Qianqian, but for reliability, it was usually referred to as the "Imperial Military Academy." Since Qianqian served as the honorary chief instructor, the school’s educational philosophy was "to let every teenager over 14 drive a Gundam, and every elementary school loli learn SLB and fly at two miles per second." Of course, aside from these nonsensical things, it was just a normal school with complete facilities (full set of Xyrin Equipment) and a terrifying teaching force (even temporary trainee teachers had to be Imperial instructors or heroes from various races).

Thinking this way, the Sister Misakas really should make students around the world green with envy, even occasionally seeing a Tauren Chieftain and a Dwarf King arm-wrestling in physical education class; ordinary people would have to fail many calamities and still face the risk of transformation to encounter such an experience.

However, I really hadn’t expected that those guys would also assign homework.

"It was homework assigned by a teacher who habitually calls himself a Duke, on how to make a ’cactus’ bomb using insecticide and soda cans, Misaka 10915 spoke again before Misaka 11325."

"Because the fragments of the soda can form radioactive needle clusters the moment the bomb explodes, it’s called a ’cactus’ bomb," Misaka 11325 finally found a chance to interject, hurriedly adding.

Me: "..."

Are there spies from the Pandora Sisters infiltrated into the Academy Council? For the healthy growth of the Misakas, I had suppressed the impulse of Visca personally going to teach.

As a guardian, I naturally couldn’t ignore this kind of incident, who knows when more than ten thousand Misakas would actually become terrorists setting off Starlight Bursts in Prototypes, thanks to those warmongers. Luckily, this sudden incident temporarily diverted my attention, and after finding that senior war trafficker teaching students to make bombs in junior high and resolving a bit of social crisis, I had almost forgotten about the Magic Cube issue.

The evening was still lively, but Lin Xue, who usually freeloading meals, was missing; she was probably still sleeping in the medical cabin. Although it was quieter without the always noisy Miss, to be honest, I did miss her a bit.

I wonder if Lin Xue’s family would be worried—probably used to it by now, a daughter always out on secretive missions must have long hardened her parents’ nerves against anything.

Hopefully... that girl doesn’t run into any trouble. (To be continued, for more please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters available, support the author, support authentic reading!)