Dream plane.

Although it has been severely damaged in the "collision of worlds" a long time ago and turned into a vassal plane of another universe, the Dream Plane is still a vast and boundless world to most mortal civilizations, with profound and boundless cosmic depths.

In the sky, there are countless ancient galaxies and new stars, as well as countless dark spaces buried in the deepest part of space that no one has ever set foot on.

In the center of the universe, the ancient nebulae have almost all been converted into waste heat. The once glorious Milky Way is now only a large expanse of lifeless shadows and ash remnants. The light is fading, and it has become an extremely precious thing here: stars falling into extinction one by one.

A few rays of light are dotted in this deep darkness, and each cluster of sparks and embers is a fortress. These stars that are barely collected and lit in the exhaust gas of the nebula are extremely rare, separated by tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

Facing each other at a distance of one hundred thousand light years, their candlelight cannot illuminate this deep space of the universe that is forgotten and gradually entering death, nor can it nourish any life, at least conventional life.

Without life, there would be no movement of the mind, no activity of thought, and there would be no possibility of escape from the evil forces in the cage.

So this cage remained silent for thousands of years, watching the passage of time in silence.

But it's not completely devoid of life.

The "night watchmen" who guard the cages in the darkness live here. They set up fortresses around clusters of sparks and embers, monitoring the deepest dark abyss of this dead space, and monitoring even the smallest details around them.

Make some noise.

Death-like silence is the normal state of this cage. Not only is there no sound in the cold and dead space of the universe, but even the trembling of the starlight is strictly controlled. There is no mortal race living here, so there is no way to talk about the resonance between the souls.

Everything was done to prevent the suppressed force from breaking through the blockade. But even so, the night watchmen also had their own way of communicating with each other.

These ancient beings have mastered the secret of protecting their hearts and are blessed by the gods. When they converse through the resonance between stars, the evil forces suppressed deep in the cage are powerless.

A lone star located at the edge of the outer event of the Dark Abyss became slightly brighter, sending out a series of messages that exceeded the speed of light and were incomprehensible to ordinary species. This message quickly spread throughout the star area and immediately triggered several nearby stars.

Stellar reply.

"S-26, control your frequency and don't engage in unnecessary conversations."

"Reply No. S-26, it is not an unnecessary conversation. The mind has been shielded. This tremor is safe."

"What have you discovered?" A message from the middle of the dark abyss came in.

"It has been more than a hundred time units since the founding star went out. According to the agreement, the time will start now."

"Has there been any change in the outside world?" The signal source in the middle of the dark abyss continued to ask.

"It's quiet, very quiet. It is initially estimated that more than 90% of the life lights have been extinguished. A small number of deep space areas are as quiet as if they are at a critical point."

The stars were silent for a period of time, which could be only a few seconds, or it could be as long as days. In the critical point of the dark abyss, the passage of time became very strange, and the night watchers were not even used to recording things through time. For them,

From a human perspective, the passage of time is the progression of one event after another. In the long silence between two events, time is meaningless.

If it weren't for the purpose of recording how long the war had passed, the night watchmen would have abandoned the concept of "time" long ago.

After a period of silence, the S-26 border listening station suddenly sent out another message: "W-17, I heard noise coming from deep space. What's the problem there?"

A signal came from the middle of the dark abyss: "It is trying to break through the outer wall."

A new signal comes from a star millions of light-years away: "It's happening more and more often."

"There is still no news about the ark and fire left by the goddess of creation. The guardians she created have not shown any signs of returning to normal. It seems that the pollution that was leaked was more serious than expected," w-17 said abnormally

He said for a long time, "We must be prepared, the situation may continue to deteriorate."

"The situation will continue to deteriorate," S-26 agreed. "We must cherish the use of manpower and not do things that are not suitable for us. In a hundred time units, we have lost many guards."

"But necessary inspections should still continue," w-17 said. "This universe is still changing, and there are things we don't understand that have arisen and are spreading. S-26, remember what you have discovered.

Something?"

"Yes, I am impressed by their astonishing expansion speed and high degree of discipline, even more disciplined than us. Now they have spread to thousands of galaxies, and the expansion speed has increased sharply with the spread range.

I'm afraid one day they will cover the entire universe."

"What do we know about them?" asked another source from the middle of the dark abyss. "How do they make themselves?"

"In an incomprehensible way, those things seem to be able to continuously reproduce themselves without the need for material resources. Whether in a barren star area or a rich star area, the expansion speed never slows down. I once observed that in a space without any celestial body,

Thousands of those things suddenly appeared out of the vacuum, almost out of thin air.”

"What is their purpose? Are they harmful?"

"It is impossible to tell. They seem to be highly intelligent beings, but lack the purpose of intelligent life. They are just constantly expanding and setting up a large number of incomprehensible nests and outposts in the universe. But in the process

, they neither attack anyone nor occupy any planets. They seem to be more interested in staying in space and observing than landing on planets. Therefore, I cannot judge whether those things are harmful, I can only confirm that they are a threat." -26's

Just after the message was sent, another outpost on the border also responded: "Additional information. I have observed that they possess a considerable degree of force. In some unexpected incidents, they can easily destroy strays that threaten their nests."

Celestial bodies, and the proportion of these armed individuals in their entire group is rising rapidly. Perhaps the expansion of those things has reached a certain critical point, and now they are gradually turning into a force mode." -26 also spoke again: "Supplementary

Intelligence has observed that their expansion direction has changed, from aimless expansion to directional expansion, and their vanguard seems to be heading here."

The new supplementary information silenced all the night watchmen. After a short silence, W-17 sent a message: "Their behavior patterns are changing, and I think we should increase the intensity of monitoring them."

"Perhaps a more proactive response?" one border outpost asked, "such as an attack."

"This should be an action taken when there is no other choice, S-77," W-17 said. "We must ensure the stability of the internal defense line. Once 'it' breaks through the wall, the harm will far exceed any disaster."

"Agree. Agree. Agree."

In the silent cage of the dark abyss, the resonant conversations among the stars gradually calmed down. This star area that was not observed by anyone and had never been set foot in was once again dead silent, as if there was no place in the past, present, or future.

There is no life in general.

And in the silence, the last low-pitched sound suddenly broke the silence: "W-17, what is the situation in the deepest critical point?"

"There is no sense left in the critical point. 'It' has completely occupied its own cell. There are only endless screams and noises, but the outpost on the last line of defense is still sending back news, and N-66 is leading

Other outposts cordoned off the cells."

"...W-17, my brother, do you still remember this pastoral era when the universe was peaceful and peaceful?"

"...S-26, my brother, I, like you, have forgotten."

"For the gift of forgetfulness."

"For the gift of forgetfulness."

The conversation of the night watchers ended, and they returned to silence, continuing to wait for the almost meaningless "time" to enter the next point worthy of discussion.

And far away from this eternal prison, in another starry sky of the universe, a new drone nest is gradually starting up. Deep in the nest's crisscrossed alloy frame that looks like biological tissue, red and blue

The colored light began to pulse like a breath.

An ever-changing face emerged from the surface of the nest, and the collective consciousness of the drone swarm looked into the dark and deep universe. In that darkness, everything was abnormally silent.

The deep space of the universe is indeed silent, but it is somewhat unreasonable to be silent to such an extent.

After a moment of thinking and calculation, the cluster consciousness issued a series of new production expansion plans.
Chapter completed!