Xyrin Empire
Chapter 433 - Chapter 433: Chapter 433 Black Sun

Chapter 433: Chapter 433 Black Sun

What is the infamous Blade Queen Kerrigan most fearful of?

I’ll tell you, it’s a little loli barely a meter tall, with the intelligence of a three-year-old, whose teeth are fully grown and can’t even talk properly…

I have to face this issue: Little Baobao, as a Xyrin Host, seemingly has moments of teething during her development process. Or maybe it’s for some other reason. Anyway, Little Baobao is now somehow drawing closer to her Mom Sandora in certain aspects, such as using her teeth rather than her eyes as the first sensory organ to analyze things she catches. Little Baobao’s intense curiosity, mixed with the childlike trait of enjoying biting things, eventually gave birth to an existence even the Insect Race Dominator fears: Steel Tooth Little Baobao v1.0!

In short, she’s a mischievous kid who could surreptitiously circle to your back and suddenly take a crunch at your bone wings…

Little Baobao has an inexplicable enormous curiosity about the two pairs of bone wings on Kerrigan’s back. Their allure to her seems to rival that of a whole shiny crystal. Perhaps their novelty in this dull place piqued her interest…

Nevertheless, in just a couple of days, Kerrigan had to regrow her bone wings up to four times. And each time, she could only suppress her anger without uttering a word. As for the culprit, aside from being forcefully brushed several times a day, remains at large, frolicking in every nook and cranny suitable for hide-and-seek on the Imperial Admiral.

“Alright, alright, let’s shift our focus away from your unfortunate bone wings,” I said, holding back my laughter and trying to ignore the hanging Little Baobao at Kerrigan’s back, swinging left and right with her movements, “How much progress have you made in regaining control of the Insect Race?”

“The process is almost complete, but there’s still a small portion outside my control,” the Blade Queen decisively gave up on her bone wings that had just regenerated at half-past nine that morning, resignedly and cringingly watching a certain little girl twist them around crunchingly, “The evolution of that Shadow’s self-awareness exceeded my expectations. Maybe it’s because of the rapid increase in the number of the Insect Race that caused the superbrain to evolve too quickly. Although I eventually succeeded in assimilating that part of the spiritual power that was mine to begin with, ‘she’ has left me with a not too big, not too small problem–The Insect Race in Ilsa have been cut off by ‘her’. Now they’re about to produce a new Dominator and then forever escape from my control. Perhaps I should leave that planet to you, to continue demonstrating the Empire’s might by throwing it into the sun–that would be the most fitting end for them.”

“I will destroy the entire Insect Race, but not now,” I said with a nonchalant shrug, recalling Lilina’s analysis: Kerrigan’s mental state is very strange; she seems to be swaying between humans and the Insect Race. She thinks with human logical reasoning, yet positions her ultimate behavior with the value system of the Insect Race. Sometimes she prioritizes the interests of the Insect Race as if she truly is a complete member of the Insect Race, but more often, she is thinking of her own interests, using the entire Insect Race as a chip for her own gains.

Just revert back to your human self already, having such a schemer by your side is way too troubling even if she can’t make any significant moves.

“The entrance to the Holy Land is just ahead; please have your fleet halt,” said Zeratul, who had been maintaining silence and subtly distancing himself from Kerrigan, suddenly interjecting while casting a glancing look at the Blade Queen.

The massive Imperial Fleet came to a rapid halt with its unique coordinate positioning system, releasing a probe that began installing space probes nearby.

“Don’t worry, I have no interest in your Holy Land; I’ll take my sentry duties seriously,” Kerrigan responded disdainfully to Zeratul’s indirect glance, “Strictly speaking, our two Races are effectively serving the Xyrin Empire now. At the very least, you should display some Protos honor in this matter.”

“No, Protos is not subordinate to the Xyrin Empire. I stand here only in a personal capacity, while you… should be the least trustworthy one…” Zeratul’s tone was deep and forceful. Though slow, each syllable carried an undeniable weight.

“Oh? Is this the ‘Divine Race’s’ final dignity playing tricks?” the Blade Queen retorted sarcastically, “Then why is the whole of Shakuras running around at the behest of a single command from the Xyrin Emperor, seeking out clues? Is that not a display of submission?”

“The Insect Race’s minds are filled with nothing but commands and obedience, but we are more deeply committed to justice and belief. We are acting for the justice of the entire star zone!”

“Enough!” Sandora interrupted the increasingly volatile conversation between the two sworn enemies impatiently. Whenever these two bitterly opposed individuals came together, Sandora inevitably had to use her own authority to make them shut up, “Zeratul, I’m not interested in your disputes! Zeratul, where is this ‘Holy Land’ you speak of? Is it just this vast universe?”

Indeed, in the direction of the “Holy Land” mentioned by Zeratul, we saw absolutely nothing. The vast emptiness of space, devoid of any visual references. if this was supposed to be the so-called Holy Land, then the Protos natives had quite the headache–surely there should be some kind of beacon?

“Indeed, the Holy Land, but it’s the Dark Holy Land…” Zeratul’s voice trembled faintly, “Strictly speaking, our Holy Land has disappeared ahead of us. There used to be an ancient Xel’Naga Holy Spaceship built there, a massive ship that has moved autonomously for tens of thousands of years under the influence of a power we yet don’t understand. We treated it as a mobile Holy Temple, but not long ago, that Holy Land disappeared right here… Ahead is the final boundary–your star maps are much more precise than ours–there is a boundary there blocking everything, the most complete Shadow Territory, conventional methods are totally unable to observe its existence… We paid a great price here, many excellent warriors charged headfirst into that place in search of the missing temple and never returned, while others merely approached and were completely brainwashed by a sudden ‘Revelation,’ nearly becoming madmen who are hostile to everyone… They are still following the guidance of sages, but unfortunately, it’s likely they won’t be free of control until the ‘Revelation’ is completely erased, and until now, we still can’t observe any anomalies in this space–we initially speculated there was a spatial distortion here, but later found that the space here is extremely smooth.”

“No, it’s not that it can’t be observed, it’s that you don’t have the method,” Sandora pulled up the warship’s scanning results, “A place negated, the ultimate void, second only to the Endless Void.”

Space is inherently void, but that spherical space was even more void: not only was it empty, but it also lacked the cosmic background radiation and various microwaves that are everywhere else in the universe. There was nothing there, even gravitational scans were interrupted by it.

And what’s worse, this blockage was unobservable from the outside; it had a peculiar overlay of space on its surface, twisting any observational method to the other end. Thus, in front of the conventional scanning systems, this place appeared as a normal area; even the highly advanced Protos radar couldn’t see the truth of this place–hence many Protos detection teams were devoured by this invisible Abyss.

But the Xyrin Battleship’s scanning system wasn’t afraid of this. It possessed the legendary third perspective…

That is, it observed from an even higher dimension, setting its radar view to every coordinate within a half light year around the warship, observing every dimension, then comparing data to map out the contours of that peculiar space.

“It looks like a… sphere…” Qianqian curiously observed the massive object appearing in the holographic projection, yet she hesitated, and then, as the space became increasingly clear and bright in the scan, she suddenly exclaimed, “Wait… Ah Jun, doesn’t it look like a… sun?!”

“It doesn’t just look like one, it is a sun!”

Sandora furrowed her brow and confirmed Qianqian’s guess.

On the space scene reconstructed by the scanning system, a huge globe hung suspended in the universe–this was the appearance of the eerie space that Zeratul called the “Dark Holy Land.” As we zoomed in, we could clearly see that the edge of this black sphere was continuously undulating and spewing out fire-like substances, sometimes with enormous fireworks erupting thousands of kilometers high. Due to the sphere’s absolute “blackness,” we couldn’t see if its side facing us was also burning with flames, but that was almost certain without even having to think about it.

From this angle, it resembled paper cutting–a sun-shaped paper cutting.

A burning black fireball, a Dark Sun; it had devoured the Protos exploration teams and an ancient Xel’Naga spaceship, and who knows what else it had swallowed in the far distant past. The universe is so vast; a sun in this boundless void is even less noticeable than a lentil.

“Black Sun…” Zeratul’s voice was deep and tinged with fear, “I have witnessed the birth of a dark constant star… but now, I think I have finally faced the ultimate darkness and void of the universe, the true Black Sun…”

“No, it’s not empty,” Sandora shook her head, “it’s just indescribable in this world.”

“Sandora, do you know this phenomenon? How does it come about?”

Although I couldn’t understand the otherworldly mutterings exchanged between Sandora and Zeratul, I still grasped one thing: Sandora knew what the Black Sun (which I could now confirm–that strange space was indeed a sun that exhibited absolute unobservability) was all about.

Sandora gently brushed aside a lock of fallen golden hair and said, “This phenomenon is quite rare, but the Xyrin People had already encountered such things. The Black Sun is just one of the manifestations of this phenomenon; it could also be a Black Planet, a Black Race, or even… a Black Star System. There are many reasons for their appearances, and we have discovered at least one hundred and seventeen conditions that can lead to the emergence of the Black Existence, none of which is good news.”

“What exactly is it?” That was what Zeratul was eager to find out–this existence, the Dark Paper Cutting in space, filled him with a sense of unease that arose from his soul.

“I can only talk about their commonality: Black Existence was once normal. This Black Sun, long ago, could have been a normal constant star, full of brilliance and passion. It might even have nurtured life unique to itself, but its laws were changed, clumsily so.”

“Why does matter exist in reality? How do your Protos scientists view this question?” Sandora suddenly shifted the conversation mid-sentence.

Zeratul was momentarily taken aback but replied, “Because reality exists around matter.”

What an intriguing belief–that’s the worldview of the Protos Natives?

“Very close,” Sandora said with an approving smile, “but not quite complete. Matter exists in reality because it can be acknowledged by reality, defined by it. Both we and the Divine believe such… entities to be the embodiment of laws.”

“The existence of laws is the sole criterion that defines existence. They are used to describe, define, and prescribe change and concept. These elements intertwine to compose existence, much as an array of parameters in a virtual world defines a virtual entity. Now here’s the question: What would happen if some of these parameters were deleted?”

At this point, Zeratul was deeply fascinated by this magical theory, and even the Blade Queen, who had always kept her distance from him, had drawn a little closer. Ah, it seemed that she had no choice but to regrow another set of Bone Wings later, given that Little Baobao was still hanging onto her.

“Vanish from reality? After it has lost its… Laws?” Zeratul ventured, his eyes shimmering like those of a curious child in pursuit of knowledge.

“No, it would become that which you see before you: Black Existence.”

“This constant star experienced the greatest catastrophe that could exist in the world. It might not have been damaged at all, but it lost something vital: the integrity of its laws. An indescribable entity becomes ostracized by the world, very much like an unrecognized pendant turns into a question mark on the information screen of a fighter jet. The world cannot understand this sun, but it cannot ignore its presence either. Thus, self-protection protocols kick in, and the world delineates an exact Data Stack Area. All indescribable and erroneous data are banished here. That constant star is still burning alone, in a way that can no longer be understood by any means. What we see as the Black Sun is actually not the star itself, which can no longer be described, but the safe zone created for this star. However, for ease of understanding, typically both are considered overlapping and equivalent–does that make sense to you now?”

“I really should have taken my computer science level three exams more seriously…” I said earnestly, then quickly added before Sandora could bare her teeth in a scowl, “But I think I’ve more or less understood–so, is that space an absolute Void?”

Sandora slowly shook her head and revealed a smile at me, “Ah Jun, ‘Void’ is also a concept. There are no concepts there. Strictly speaking, we should call it ‘unidentifiable.'”

I turned my gaze to another holographic projection system, which displayed the unprocessed view of outer space–a swath of pitch black, void, and desolate.

The Black Sun was there, quietly burning, but no one could perceive its existence. In any describable dimension, that space was smooth and intact, and nobody could see the bottomless Abyss hidden beneath it.

“What’s inside the Black Sun?”

After the initial shock, the Blade Queen quietly asked.

“To you, it’s hell, a world that cannot be described by laws, where everything happens or does not happen randomly, life is defined as death, molecules are defined as energy, you move backward in time, or worse: you are directly designated as having never existed. However, the crew of the Imperial Admiral are not afraid of these. Our spaceship, along with the entire Xyrin Race, has been set as an ‘existence absolutely independent of chaos,’ a result of our ancient accomplishments.”

Sandora’s words were not finished, that was a result of our ancient accomplishments, but now we are no longer able to reproduce that glory.

I didn’t know how the original Xyrin People had done it, modifying their entire Race at the level of laws, making the whole Race into beings that were never affected by paradoxes. It might also include some eternal agreement with the Divine Race, but more likely is that they had researched a self-consistent law that allowed the entire Xyrin Race to adapt themselves, which was beyond my imagination.

The Imperial Admiral slowly began to accelerate, together with its massive fleet, moving towards the direction of the Black Sun–a celestial body more than a hundred times larger than the star that Earth orbits (at least it was a celestial body before it was turned into this). We couldn’t see its existence, but the spaceship’s detection systems, with multidimensional imaging technology, outlined the shape of this zone. We were now approaching its shell, and in front of a constant star, the massive size of the Imperial Admiral was as insignificant as a moth nearing a wall.

Of course, this moth was much more powerful.

Although our technology is still in a state of incompleteness, the efforts of the Xyrin People in the Ancient Era have left a stunning legacy. At least, we could easily enter this area that, in theory, does not permit any order to exist.

After confirming the existence of the Black Sun, the Blade Queen became even more resolute in her decision not to enter. Not to mention whether Zeratul would allow a Queen of the Insect Race to approach its Holy Land (although that Holy Land might have already been torn apart by the wrong laws), the consequence of losing her leadership over the Insect Race by entering the Black Sun was enough to deter Kerrigan.

She stayed outside the Black Sun, clinging to the cold outer shell of this dark constant star (strictly speaking, the universe’s safe space to contain the star), volunteering to act as a sentry, which in reality meant returning to a monitored state: an entire Expedition Class heavy Escort Ship squadron was watching her.

And with her were Reynolds and his full team. Although they were very interested in this miraculous “cosmic celestial body,” they followed our arrangements, staying outside the Black Sun with the Blade Queen, which also served as another layer of monitoring for the latter.

Zeratul, on the other hand, moved forward with us, using a method that sounded incredibly improbable: I issued an order in my own name to temporarily grant Dark Templar Zeratul the status of an Honorary Citizen of the Xyrin Empire.

I know this sounds quite incomprehensible, but just with that command, Zeratul gained the ability to move within the Black Sun at that moment: he became immune to the chaotic laws of the Black Sun.

The power of laws, so formidable–of course, now all we had left to use was this Iron Rice Bowl Law Power left by our Ancestors…

(To be continued. If you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)