Chapter 148: The Secrets of the Abyss
Li Mu immediately pricked up his ears.
Wang Longcheng began to explain at length.
According to Huaxia’s current research progress, combined with the limited information known from other countries, the Abyss truly is not a single world!
Up to now, at least nine different Abyss worlds have appeared.
What does “different” mean?
It means there are very clear distinctions in plant and animal species, climate, terrain, and so on.
In Huaxia alone, there are already four different types of Abyss worlds.
Take the Abyss world beneath Ironhand City, for example. It is dark, barren, and deathly still. Mutated creatures are slaughtering and devouring one another everywhere, as though the entire Abyss were like that.
But the Abyss environment beneath Linyuan City is completely different.
Once you enter the Abyss there, you find yourself in a world full of birdsong and fragrant blossoms.
The light is stronger, and there are more plants and animals.
There are mountains, swamps, forests, lakes, all sorts of strange secret realms, and powerful monsters as well!
But in truth, it is even more dangerous than the Abyss beneath Ironhand City. As people expand outward, they discover more high-level monsters and more resources there.
As for the Abyss beneath Bloodpool City, it is the same type as Ironhand City’s.
And in some other Huaxia cities, the Abysses have actually produced semi-humanoid monsters!
They possess intelligence, organization, and the ability to act collectively.
There have even been zombies and zombie beasts and the like, while the Abyss environment itself is filled everywhere with buildings meant for human habitation.
There is also another kind of Abyss where monsters are extremely sparse.
But every single one of those monsters is terrifyingly powerful and possesses all kinds of formidable abilities.
A team of humans at the same level usually finds it extremely difficult to deal with even one.
The Abyss adjacency problem humanity has been researching has been carried out between same-type Abyss worlds like those of Bloodpool City and Linyuan City.
As for exploration between an Abyss like Ironhand City’s and one like Linyuan City’s, that has long since been shelved.
Because the experts believe that those two types of Abyss do not exist on the same layer at all, so there is simply no possibility of them adjoining.
And in places like Linyuan City and Bloodpool City, if you descend through the two different Abyss entrances, the maps you explore cannot be used interchangeably.
A coordinate point you enter from in one Abyss entrance can never be used to run through the Abyss and arrive at the coordinate point of the other entrance. The whole thing is chaotic and irregular.
And it is precisely this sense of “spatial distortion”
that led the experts to conclude one thing.
The Abyss is made of many different Blue Star-like civilized spaces that have been “grafted” onto Blue Star!
And the grafting is extremely fragmented, or rather, only portions of those spaces were grafted on.
Because when the Abyss first erupted, the sky collapsed, the earth split, and monsters poured out of the Abyss entrances.
Humanity stabilized the situation with modern firearms.
At that time, Profound Rank monsters were extremely rare.
If the rate at which Profound Rank monsters appear today had been the rate at which they invaded humanity back then, humanity would have been wiped out eight hundred times over already.
Back then, humanity had no Profound Rank experts. In the eyes of Profound Rank monsters, missiles would have been nothing more than snacks.
When humanity first drove the monsters back into the Abyss, monsters of the First, Second, and Third Grades made up the overwhelming majority.
And after entering the Abyss, humanity’s first reaction was to find some way to seal it off.
Only after several decades of development following the resurgence of spiritual energy did they dare to begin descending deeper to explore.
Even then, monsters of the First, Second, and Third Grades were still the majority.
As humanity developed faster and faster, as Martial Artists grew stronger and stronger, and as the Abyss was pushed deeper and deeper, Profound Rank experts began to appear and gallop through the Abyss.
And then, around ten years ago, the Abyss seemed to “level up” all at once!
The numbers of Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Grade monsters, as well as the number of Profound Rank monsters, surged dramatically.
That development caught humanity’s experts completely off guard!
Large numbers of Profound Rank experts and high-level powerhouses fell inside the Abyss.
And the space of the Abyss itself also seemed to expand strangely by a great margin. Places humanity had already explored changed their very appearance.
The common people only pieced together scraps of rumor from the fragmented information brought back by independent Martial Artists.
They came up with stories like “Abyss distortion” and the like.
There was a burst of panic, and then it passed.
But in truth, that period was called “Stage Two” by Abyss experts.
It was a major turning point for humanity.
It was as though the Abyss expanded and upgraded alongside humanity’s growth.
The stronger humanity became, the stronger the Abyss became as well.
And according to the experts, as more and more Earth Rank experts appear among humanity,
and as humanity explores more and more of the Abyss, the Abyss is on the verge of entering “Stage Three.”
At that point, the Abyss will reveal more of the original appearance of those spaces, and opponents that are even more impossible to defeat will appear.
After all, this is one civilization on Blue Star fighting against many different civilizations.
And it is not impossible that true “Abyss Humans” may appear in Stage Three.
By the end of it, Wang Longcheng said with a sigh, “In truth, there is another very important reason for sending you there.”
“Look at our military district in Ironhand City. When we carry out missions outside, we don’t often run into independent Martial Artist groups.”
“That’s because the exploratory permissions we open to independent Martial Artists are relatively limited.”
“But Linyuan City has three times our population.”
“And independent Martial Artist participation in that Abyss is very high.”
“There are many powerful consortiums and family forces there, and they control a huge amount of Abyss resources.”
“The roots of power are tangled together, and disorder is everywhere.”
“The Abyss-Suppressing Army, the great families, and the financial powers have always existed in a delicate state of balance.”
“If you come into contact with that sort of contest earlier, you won’t be so passive when you run into it later.”
Li Mu nodded.
“I understand. But if I get drawn into conflict with those families,” “the way I handle things may be more aggressive than you imagine.”
Wang Longcheng burst out laughing. “Ha! If you weren’t aggressive, would you still be you? I trust your sense of proportion.”
Li Mu smiled without saying anything.
My sense of proportion is a bit excessive.
Those clans and consortiums might need to learn how to endure it.
Li Mu stayed at home for another full day the next day.
It was not until the morning of the third day that he finally set out.
Ironhand City and Linyuan City were roughly two thousand kilometers apart.
If he used the Somersault Cloud, Li Mu could make the trip in at most an hour.
But Li Mu had never ridden a long-distance airship before, so he decided to take one.
The airships in this world were driven by spiritual energy, and were much more flexible than airplanes when it came to ascending and descending.
Zhang Zhiwei and Lu Chenfeng stayed behind at Tiger Roar Camp to help Song Chuhe deal with the handover matters.
Wang Yinhuan had already returned to the Research Institute the day before to report back.
So Li Mu traveled lightly and alone.
He paid, boarded the airship, and immediately felt that it was much more spacious inside than any airplane.
It was divided into three levels.
The bottom level was economy class, the middle level was business class, and the top level was luxury class, with each passenger getting an exclusive sofa-style seat.
There was also an entertainment area and a high-end dining area in the middle.
Naturally, Li Mu had bought first class.
At nine in the morning, the airship took off on time.
Once airborne, it flew extremely smoothly, and quite a few people were already walking around.
Li Mu got up as well and walked over to an unoccupied observation window, looking down below.
He could not help thinking that he ought to fly more often in the future.
Looking down over the city and wilderness under the sunlight was far more comfortable than flying around inside the Abyss, and he did not have to worry about colliding with flying monsters or the Abyss ceiling.
Just then, Li Mu’s phone rang.
The call came personally from the deputy commander of Wanren Military District.
He was a genial middle-aged man who asked with a smile whether Li Mu had already departed and what time he was expected to arrive.
Li Mu gave him a time, saying it would be around two in the afternoon.
The deputy commander said someone would be arranged to meet Li Mu at the airship exit.
Li Mu hung up and went back to admiring the scenery below.
Once they left Ironhand City behind, the land below became wilderness.
Monsters occasionally appeared in the wilderness as well. Although they were quite rare, they still had to be cleaned up regularly by independent Martial Artists.
No one knew whether some Abyss entrance in another country had failed to keep watch, or whether the Abyss monsters had come up through some other route.
In any case, they did appear from time to time, and no matter how much one killed them, they never vanished completely.
Fortunately, their numbers were small, and their strength was not particularly impressive, so they posed little real threat.
But that also meant the population had to be concentrated in the cities built around Abyss entrances.
There were no villages or towns out in the wilderness. Humanity had become highly concentrated in population centers.
Just as Li Mu was enjoying the view, someone who looked like a nanny led a little girl of six or seven over to the window as well.
The girl was too short to reach it, so the nanny lifted her into her arms.
The moment the little girl saw the scenery outside, she instantly became delighted, laughing and squealing in excitement.
Since the window was shared space, Li Mu shifted toward the corner a little when he saw they had come.
To his surprise, after leaning against the window for a while, the little girl tilted her head and noticed Li Mu.
She reached out and shoved at his head. “Go away. Go away.”
Li Mu froze, then looked at her in confusion.
“Little one, does Uncle really look that scary?”
“Go away. I want to look by myself. You’re not allowed to look.”
Her voice was still tender and childish, but the words she spoke were shockingly selfish.
Even as she spoke, she kept trying to push Li Mu away with her hand.
When she saw that Li Mu merely avoided her hand but still did not leave the window, she immediately began throwing a fit.
She shouted loudly at the nanny, “Make him go away, go away! I want to look by myself! I want to be the only one here looking!”
What she meant was obvious. She did not want anyone other than herself standing at this section of the window to enjoy the scenery outside.
The nanny looked at Li Mu awkwardly, unsure how to speak.
Just then, a richly dressed woman hurried over.
With one hand, she anxiously reached out to take the girl into her arms, while asking with obvious concern, “Oh, Tangbao, what’s wrong? What happened?”
The moment the girl saw her mother, a sudden sense of grievance welled up in her.
As soon as she was gathered into her mother’s arms, she let out a loud wail.
Pointing at Li Mu, she cried, “Mommy, he bullied me! I don’t like him! Hit him!!”
The richly dressed woman instantly glared viciously at Li Mu.
She glared for a full two or three seconds, then even cast a glance to one side.
Silently, with her lips, she mouthed two words at Li Mu:
Get lost.
Her eyes and bearing were full of lofty, commanding arrogance.
It was as though she did not want to reveal her shrewish side in front of her daughter, so she expected Li Mu to know his place and move on his own.
After silently cursing Li Mu, she turned back to her daughter with a smile, already preparing to enjoy the scenery outside with her and coax her into laughing again.
Li Mu stared at her in confusion.
“If you want someone to move, the least you can do is ask politely. I might’ve given you the spot.”
“But instead you glare at me with those damned dog eyes and start ordering me around. Who do you think you’re talking to?”