Chapter 6: The Abyss
[Teleportation begins, destination: Void War Zone · Main Command Post.]
A flash of teleportation light appeared. Whether it was an illusion or not, Su Xiao felt that this teleportation by the Void Tree was somewhat stronger than before. It seemed that the Star Realm had already begun to be eroded by the power of the Abyss, causing some changes in the teleportation certification.
When the teleportation light faded, Su Xiao found himself in the Great Gathering Place? Looking around, it was different from the Great Gathering Place. It lacked that absolute sense of security from extreme certification. This place was cylindrical in shape, with a hundred-meter-tall, cylindrical giant device in the center. Most of the device was made of metal, with some positions made of transparent material to facilitate observing the internal operations. This was the most core [Abyss Purification Device] of the entire Star Realm.
Since the beginning of the Abyss Campaign, the Abyss would begin to invade the Star Realm. The only thing that could slow down this invasion speed was the [Abyss Purification Device].
Looking around, the area was about tens of thousands of square meters. There were four main gates—east, south, west, north—and over a dozen side doors. Although there seemed to be many entrances, from the outside, this place was a massive, dark-iron-colored fortress. When needed, all entrances would be sealed, entering an emergency defense state.
The surroundings were bustling with people. Contractors, Death Rangers, Hunters, Battle Angels, and others, all dressed differently, were heading to their respective defensive positions. If one were to overlook from above their own base camp, around the main base fortress, there were a total of ten buffer defense lines. Behind each line was a vanguard fortress. These defenses tightly protected the main base fortress.
The aerial defense was equally formidable. A total of five floating island fortresses were positioned above. In total, fifteen external fortresses tightly enveloped the main base fortress.
As for where the enemy was, once the campaign started, everything in sight would be the enemy. And one must never think that the enemy this time was just the Lord of the Abyss. The Abyss/Element had no distinction between good, evil, enemy, or self. They had existed far longer than the Star Realm. It was very likely that the opposition and mutual nourishment and transformation between the Abyss and the Elements, after billions of coincidences, gradually formed the Star Realm.
The enemy this time was the entire Abyss. When the Abyss suppressed the Elements to the limit of imbalance, then the darkness, spawning, sedimentation, and other characteristics of the Abyss would continuously evolve and strengthen.
Moreover, the current Lord of the Abyss was ambitious. It was no longer satisfied with the supreme throne within the Abyss. It wanted to place this throne at the pinnacle of the Star Realm. Everything would belong to the Abyss, everything would be under its control, and it would completely annihilate the previous Lord of the Abyss.
One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, let alone the throne of the Abyss. As long as the causality of the previous Lord of the Abyss existed for one day, the current Lord of the Abyss could not break free from the Supreme, even if it had reached the extreme of the Supreme Realm. But the Abyss throne beneath it did not fully belong to it, so it could not completely mobilize the entire Abyss, allowing it to take that crucial step.
The goal of the Abyss faction was clear and cruel: destruction. How could their own side win? The answer was defense in the early stage, counterattack in the middle and late stages.
First, they had to withstand the first few waves of the Abyss faction's assault. This was very difficult. After successfully resisting the initial advance of the Abyss faction, the second phase could begin. The [Abyss Purification Device] would operate at full power, purifying the [Abyss Energy] that had surged into the Star Realm, ensuring that their core battlefield and at least three main battlefields were advantageous. In these areas, they would drive the Abyssal creatures back to the [Boundary Zone] between the Abyss and the Star Realm inside the [Abyss Gate].
After that, they needed to establish a total of four [Abyss Purification Devices] in the [Boundary Zone]. The power of these four [Abyss Purification Devices] was more than a hundred times greater than the core [Abyss Purification Device] at the Void base camp. The amount of Space-Time Power consumed was astonishing.
The reason for doing this was to drastically reduce the concentration of Abyss power around the Star Realm. This would cause the concentration of Abyss energy contacting the Elemental Layer to plummet. This would give the already precarious natural Elemental Layer a chance to convert the low-concentration Abyss energy it contacted into natural elements.
Once the Elemental Layer grew strong enough to withstand the invasion of Abyss energy, the Abyss Calamity would naturally end. With a sufficiently thick and dense Elemental Layer enveloping it, the imbalance between the Star Realm's elements and Abyss power would quickly recover. Thus, their side would declare a great victory.
The problem was that establishing four [Abyss Purification Devices] in the Boundary Zone between the Abyss and the Star Realm inside the [Abyss Gate] was an extremely difficult task. Not to mention the immensely powerful Lord of the Abyss within the Abyss, even those [Ancient Abyss Existences] were a huge threat.
Therefore, in the early and middle stages of the campaign, they must try to reduce the number of [Ancient Abyss Existences], at least eliminate more of those willing to obey the commands of the current Lord of the Abyss.
Achieving this only gave them a slight chance. The real difficulty was that once they went to the [Boundary Zone] to establish the four [Abyss Purification Devices], the personal arrival of the Lord of the Abyss would be a catastrophic disaster. Therefore, while establishing the four [Abyss Purification Devices], someone must charge into the Abyss to face the Lord of the Abyss head-on.
As for whether the Lord of the Abyss would descend upon the Star Realm, this was unlikely. The Tuanzhang was in the Void. The Lord of the Abyss was indeed powerful, but the Tuanzhang had soloed the previous Lord of the Abyss. Setting everything else aside, the deterrent power was there.
Furthermore, the current Lord of the Abyss really didn't need to appear in battle. As long as the Abyss Campaign continued, the Star Realm faction's Space-Time Power would eventually run out. But Abyss energy was inexhaustible. Unless they performed large-scale, rapid, high-intensity purification in the critical area, the Boundary Zone, no matter how much Abyss energy the Star Realm faction purified, the Abyss Gate would spew out just as much.
Holding the line in the early and middle stages was key. Who would face the Lord of the Abyss in the later stage was even more critical.
Su Xiao walked towards the main command room. Inside this base camp, which resembled a military fortress, Su Xiao saw a familiar face along the way—Solomon. They nodded to each other and parted ways. Both were taciturn individuals; a nod was already a gesture between old friends.
But not far ahead, Su Xiao saw three familiar figures—Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei. Given their strength, they certainly wouldn't be assigned to the core battlefield. The three were here to be responsible for detecting energy ores at the base camp.
Indeed, the Void Tree had transferred this base camp here and performed relevant certifications, but that was all. The subsequent maintenance and repair after attacks would be provided by the various Paradise factions with resources, while Contractors, Workers, etc., would repair them using their own abilities.
Consequently, seventy percent of the Workers had come to the main base fortress. In fact, all major Paradise factions had Workers, just under different names.
The moment Hao Mei saw Su Xiao, she instinctively turned to flee, but suddenly remembered this was a Void Tree-certified base camp. So, she nudged Yueshitu.
"Hmm?"
Yueshitu was still a bit dazed. When she saw Su Xiao, she instinctively wanted to give up resisting and limit Molei's suicidal tendencies. Yueshitu was most afraid of pain.
Compared to Hao Mei and Yueshitu, Molei put her hand on her hip, grinned, and said, "Oh my, isn't this Bai Ye? Hehe~, it's the certified zone, you know."
Molei's meaning was clear: this was a certified area, no matter how much she acted up, she couldn't break her legs. The next second, Molei received a prompt:
[Prompt: You have been temporarily forcibly conscripted into the reinforcement squad by the Overlord unit · Kukulin Bai Ye. You must jointly reinforce the main battlefield areas that subsequently face defense crises.]
Molei's expression immediately changed from cheerful to gloomy. Yueshitu and Hao Mei, who were in a long-term team state with her, automatically joined the squad. Both were stunned.
"Bai Ye, I was just joking, hahaha, look at you, taking it seriously."
Molei put her hand on her hip, laughing "hahaha." A moment later, the Apocalypse Three Sisters listlessly followed behind Su Xiao.
Pushing open the door to the main command room, quite a few Hunters or Death Rangers of the Supreme Peak rank were already there. The room, hazy with smoke like a fairyland, indicated that they had been having heated discussions here about how to face the battle and had negotiated reinforcement issues for the various main battlefields.
Take the Ten Thousand Races Realm, for example. This would undoubtedly be the main battlefield with the least pressure after the war started, bar none. The rise of the Ten Thousand Races Realm was precisely the last-ditch effort by the major forces of the Star Realm to resist the invasion of the Abyss. By then, the major forces of the Ten Thousand Races Realm would certainly exert great effort. In fact, Starfall City was simply the garrison base camp there.
To be more precise, Starfall City was now located underground, with the defensive fortress of the Ten Thousand Races Realm above it, along with several surrounding vanguard fortresses.
In contrast, the Supreme Peaks stationed on the Wind Sea Continent felt bitter in their hearts. Of the dozen or so Supreme Peaks present, ninety percent were assigned to the Wind Sea Continent. This was, of course, not all the Peak Contractors of the Wind Sea Continent, just a portion.
When it came to the number of Supreme Peaks, among the six major Paradise factions, except for the recently revived Dawn Paradise, the other five Paradises had quite a few. At the very least, the number of Peaks in a single Paradise completely overwhelmed the combined total of the major forces in the Star Realm. This was even considering that, in the last Abyss Campaign, over ninety percent of the Supreme Peaks from the major Paradise factions had died, while the rest had vanished without a trace.
Moreover, after that, Reincarnation Paradise and Dawn Paradise had also fought a Paradise War. However, considering that many Elemental Peak seats were occupied by the Supreme Peaks of the Paradise factions, and the Paradise factions had ample resource acquisition channels and a mature, diverse power system, having this number of Supreme Peaks was not surprising.
"Everyone, since things have come to this, let's stop here for now. How about you talk to Bai Ye? He's the captain of the strongest reinforcement squad now, even if the reinforcement squad is just him alone."
As soon as the Tuanzhang said this, the crowd, who had been indignantly demanding more Peak Contractors, fell silent. Not to mention that this person had a fearsome reputation, if the defense line really was on the verge of collapse later, they would still need his reinforcement.
The group of Peak Contractors either greeted Su Xiao, smiled, or at least nodded. They left one after another. The Tuanzhang, sitting behind the desk, leaned back in his leather chair, let out a long breath, and said:
"I suddenly understand the difficulties the old man had back then. I shouldn't have treated him that way. This seat is really hard to sit in."
The Tuanzhang picked up a cup of hot tea, took a small sip, exhaled steam, and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the endless defense lines, the vanguard fortresses standing in the distance, and the mechanical guards on standby in the sky.
Su Xiao sat down opposite the desk. Molei and the other two exchanged glances and obediently sat side by side on the sofa diagonally opposite the desk. The three of them realized that this was a gathering of big shots. If not for Bai Ye bringing them, they probably wouldn't have encountered such a scene in their lifetimes.
Just then, the door to the main command room was pushed open. A tall figure with striking features, wearing a light red gown and metallic high heels, entered the office like a queen. It was Battle Angel · No. 001, the Logistics Chief for this campaign, Tailier.
Tailier's aura was quite imposing. Her gaze first swept over the Tuanzhang, seemingly letting out an almost imperceptible light scoff, then looked at Su Xiao, nodding at him with a serious, polite nod. Her gaze swept over the three little ones on the sofa, ignoring them.
"I thought I was coming to see who, but it's the No. 001 Hunter of Reincarnation Paradise."
Logistics Chief · Tailier sat down with a queenly aura. The Tuanzhang remained silent. Su Xiao took a sip of tea without changing his expression. The three little ones on the sofa widened their eyes slightly, their pupils subtly dilating, as if they were ready to witness some juicy gossip about the big shots.
The rumor that the strongest Battle Angel was the Tuanzhang's old flame had been circulating outside. Tailier's current tone suggested a story far more complex than just being an old flame. It seemed they had indeed been together for a while, then separated due to some incident, and hadn't seen each other for some time, hence Tailier's attitude.
"Let's get down to business."
The Tuanzhang spoke. Hearing this, Tailier looked at the three little ones on the sofa and said, "What are you three doing here?"
"Uh, well~"
Molei grinned, showing her teeth. Tailier smiled helplessly. Of course, she knew Molei. This silly girl wasn't strong, but she frequently appeared on the [Apocalypse Paradise Annual Silly Ranking].
"I just joined Bai Ye's reinforcement squad."
Molei said, her smile becoming even brighter. According to the law of smile conservation, the smile on Logistics Chief · Tailier's face gradually faded. She looked at Su Xiao:
"Is this... true?"
"Mm."
"Are they your support? They don't have any support abilities. Oh~, I didn't expect that someone as serious as you would like someone as silly as Molei. How peculiar."
"With the three of them, I can get four shares of reinforcement rewards."
"Don't you dare!" ×2
Logistics Chief · Tailier and the Tuanzhang spoke almost simultaneously. The former was warning, the latter was clearly telling him not to do this. Moreover, the Tuanzhang knew very well that Bai Ye was indeed capable of doing such a thing.
Hearing the Tuanzhang's tone, Logistics Chief · Tailier's expression changed slightly. She tentatively asked, "Bai Ye, how much Void Tree Reputation do you have now?"
"130."
"Mm~, a bit low, but still decent."
"It's not 'a bit low,' he doesn't have ten thousand at all. He only has 130 points of Void Tree Reputation."
The Tuanzhang's words made Logistics Chief · Tailier look at Su Xiao again. After looking him up and down, she asked, "How did you become the captain of the strongest reinforcement squad?"
"My strength is passable."
"Mm, alright, you've convinced me."
Logistics Chief · Tailier was genuinely convinced by this matter.
The Tuanzhang pondered for a moment, then said, "Now you're the moneybags. Moneybags, give us an attitude. How high a supply quota can you give Bai Ye?"
"Not too high."
"It must be high."
"Oh?"
Faced with the Tuanzhang's firmness, Logistics Chief · Tailier tentatively asked, "So, at the final moment, Bai Ye is the one going to the Abyss to deal with the Lord of the Abyss?"
"Of course it's him. Who else? Me?"
The Tuanzhang finished speaking and laughed himself. He had indeed been there before.
"Then who's clearing the path this time?"
"Bai Ye doesn't need anyone to clear the path for him."
"Is that so? At most 10%, can't be more. And it's only after he advances to Supreme that I can complete the application. You know, I'm the Logistics Chief. I have the right to expend resources, but not the right to freely allocate them."
"30%."
The Tuanzhang started negotiating for Su Xiao's share, just like the old man who sat here before had done for him.
"How will the Abyss Purification Device be maintained?"
Logistics Chief · Tailier had many things to consider. In other words, apart from the core war zone, she could factor in the quotas for other main war zones.
It seemed that Logistics Chief · Tailier only had the authority to expend resources from Apocalypse Paradise. However, in the total resources of their side this time, Apocalypse Paradise accounted for 68.5%, while Reincarnation Paradise accounted for about 10%. In contrast, the overall quality of the strong and mid-to-low rank Contractors in the Reincarnation Paradise faction was higher than that of other Paradise factions, even several times higher. This was largely related to the generous task rewards Reincarnation Paradise gave its Contractors.
As for why Apocalypse Paradise was so rich, it was not only due to Apocalypse Paradise's initial certification system but also because its Contractors were indeed skilled in resource development and operation.
Take the Ten Thousand Races Realm, for example. It was indeed certified by Reincarnation Paradise initially, but the actual resource system certification was outsourced by Reincarnation Paradise to Apocalypse Paradise.
To put it more simply, if the Ten Thousand Races Realm were certified and operated by Reincarnation Paradise, it would produce at most 30 units of resources per month, and it would cause corresponding consumption to the world resources of the Ten Thousand Races Realm itself. However, if operated by Apocalypse Paradise, it would produce at least 180 units of resources per month, with very little consumption of the Ten Thousand Races Realm's world resources.
Of course, when comparing the combat power of their respective Contractors, Reincarnation Paradise was definitely the strongest. Just consider the combat power value of Su Xiao and the Tuanzhang.
"If we can't win, it doesn't matter how long the Abyss Purification Device is maintained."
As soon as the Tuanzhang said this, Logistics Chief · Tailier had nothing to say. Seeing this, the Tuanzhang delivered the finishing blow:
"You can't imagine what it feels like to charge into the Abyss. Endless darkness and Abyssal creatures..."
The Tuanzhang didn't continue, because Tailier had already conceded.
After confirming other matters, the tripartite negotiation ended. Logistics Chief · Tailier stood up and left. After she was gone, the Tuanzhang sighed and said, "I suddenly feel that dealing with this woman wasn't much easier than my last charge into the Abyss."
After speaking, he sighed again. To be honest, since he had known the Tuanzhang, the number of times he had sighed today combined was more than all previous times put together.
"Speaking of which, Bai Ye, any advice?"
The Tuanzhang said half-jokingly. Hearing this, Su Xiao thought for a moment and said, "I have a friend, sort of an emotional expert."
"Oh? Who?"
"Green Gillian."
"?"
The Tuanzhang looked at Su Xiao silently. Su Xiao stood up to take his leave, and the three little ones quickly followed.
Obviously, this was a rare moment of relaxation before the war. Once the Abyss Campaign started, anyone could die, including Su Xiao, who would later challenge the Lord of the Abyss. The probability of the Lord of the Abyss descending upon the core battlefield or main battlefields was indeed low, but it wasn't impossible.
Just as he left the main command room, Su Xiao felt a power surge within him. He came to his nearby rest room, authenticated it with his Reincarnation Mark, and walked into the approximately fifty-square-meter room. Having such a rest room in such an important fortress was already quite good.
[Prompt: All your Supreme main attributes have reached 40 points. You can choose one of the following [Supreme Rank · Supreme Passives] to enhance yourself.]