Following this unreliable guy through a long crack, their vision suddenly opened up completely at that moment.
The main structure of the Deep Abyss finally revealed a tip of its iceberg to them.
It wasn't until this moment that Ren Yi realized the area they had been in before was merely an inconspicuous small sector on the edge of the Deep Abyss.
Presented before them was a terrifyingly massive pit, too vast for words to describe.
Just how large was this pit?
The giant crater that had served as the source of the Red Tide when they first fell was like the Moon compared to the Earth when measured against this main body of the Deep Abyss.
They were currently standing at a position roughly at the "waist" of the entire pit.
Looking down from the edge, the immense curvature even created the illusion that one was gazing down at the interior of a planetary surface.
The edges of the giant pit were funnel-shaped, rapidly narrowing as they descended into the extreme depths.
Yet at the very bottom, one could still see several tunnels that were relatively narrower but infinitely dark and deep, their ends nowhere in sight.
Like the tentacles of a giant beast, they extended infinitely toward the even deeper core of the planet.
"We've reached the Main Vortex," the man in the black trench coat muttered from ahead.
Evans didn't speak; instead, he subconsciously tilted his head back and looked up.
Upon seeing what was above, his brows immediately knit together tightly.
Ren Yi followed his gaze and extended his perception upward.
Logically, with such a massive pit, one should be able to see the Wasteland's iconic sky and that S-002 watching the world from above.
But at this moment, the space above was pure, deathly darkness.
The massive opening of the entire Deep Abyss... had actually been completely sealed off!
Evans whispered in surprise, "The Mouth of the Abyss... has been plugged?"
Ren Yi pushed his perception to its limit, directly ignoring the layer of thick darkness.
Soon, at the junction where the "ceiling" met the surrounding massive rock walls, he captured countless dense, magnificently scaled industrial mechanical structures.
Those massive gears, alloy load-bearing rails, and hydraulic pumps were braced against the rock ceiling above, dead-welding the entire top of the Deep Abyss shut.
"Heh, you noticed?" The Sword-man in front turned his head and gave a somewhat mysterious, knowing smile.
"'Pops' suddenly issued a direct order a few days ago. He mobilized almost all the labor from the bottom of the Deep Abyss to close the Mouth of the Abyss."
"Now, not even a mosquito can fly in from above."
Storms of shock surged within Ren Yi's heart.
A roofing project of this scale was practically reshaping the landscape! The amount of labor mobilized must have been astronomical.
Did "Pops" really manage such a massive project so easily?
Furthermore, with it completely sealed off and no communication with the outside world, could the People of the Abyss truly achieve self-sufficiency?
As for the reason for doing this, it wasn't hard to guess.
It was likely a precaution against that mad Lord of the City from the City of the Sky Lake sending another "Heaven-and-Earth-Ending Bomb."
Wait.
Ren Yi was suddenly taken aback.
He, Evans, and Wu Erhun should be the only three survivors of the entire nuclear explosion. It was almost impossible for anyone to have sent word back before them.
So, how did "Pops" know the Wilderness had been subjected to a nuclear cleansing?
More importantly, he seemed to have known long before the nuclear bomb even descended.
Ren Yi shifted his attention back to the present.
Speaking of which, if the opening of the Deep Abyss toward the sky was completely sealed...
Then... where did that faint, pale white halo that filled the entire massive main body of the Deep Abyss, both before and now, come from?
That was definitely not sunlight.
Ren Yi's perception rapidly spread downward.
Finally, at the bottom of the giant pit—near the area where those narrow tunnels continued further down—he found the source of the light.
It was a colossal orb of light radiating a blinding white glow.
Because their current position was at the "waist" of the Deep Abyss, the light in this place... was actually shining from the bottom up.
What was even more shocking was the area surrounding that white orb of light.
Countless magnificent buildings, constructed from a mix of dark gray stone and alloy, were densely packed and spread out in layers around the orb.
Those buildings possessed an extremely rugged, hardcore wasteland technological feel. Massive energy transmission pipes connected to the central orb like blood vessels.
Ren Yi noticed that these buildings had been subjected to extremely precise calculations during their initial design.
Closed passages and shadow zones with unique structures had been intentionally left between them to perfectly shield the core's light.
Between those stone buildings and passages, many "People of the Abyss" wearing crude protective suits could be seen moving about busily.
This organization... this construction...
An somewhat absurd but extremely fitting term popped into Ren Yi's mind:
【A low-budget Dyson Sphere?】
Just as Ren Yi was reeling from the shock of this grand engineering project at the bottom of the Deep Abyss...
As his perception touched that central orb of light, a brand-new file suddenly jumped into his mind without any warning:
【Anomaly File: S-009】
【Alias: Pale Heliocenter, Pearl】
Note: This Anomaly was contained by the Sky Eye Organization approximately three hundred years ago, but was subsequently lost. It currently belongs to the "People of the Abyss."
【Physical Description】
In its normal state, this component appears as an amorphous high-energy orb of light approximately 47 meters in diameter.
Its core temperature is constantly maintained at around 5500°C, but it decays rapidly outward, with the surface maintaining a temperature of only about 100°C.
In its normal state, it continuously radiates broad-spectrum electromagnetic waves and thermal energy.
【Anomalous Properties】
1. Spontaneous Light and Heat: S-009 possesses spontaneous light and heat characteristics that do not comply with the Law of Conservation of Mass.
Without external interference, its radiation range can cover a radius of several kilometers. The specific wavelengths of light it emits can effectively suppress the activity of low-level Anomalies.
2. Maintenance Requirements: Experiments have shown that a miniature high-dimensional gravitational collapse fault exists within S-009.
To maintain its high-power light, heat, and energy output, an Anomaly (of any serial number) must be fed into its core at regular intervals (typically every 30 standard natural days).
The fed Anomaly undergoes "annihilation," but per the 【Anomaly energy cannot be completely destroyed】 principle, it will reappear after a period of time.
【Utility Potential Assessment】: Extremely High.
If a matching "energy collection structure" can be built for it, this Anomaly could theoretically supply energy almost infinitely.
However, given the harsh conditions of its Anomaly consumption and its uncontrollable divergence, it can easily cause large-scale thermal radiation disasters.
————
After finishing this quietly refreshed file, Ren Yi glanced once more at the "Pale Heliocenter" below, which was encased in layers of stone buildings.
A "Sky Eye Organization containment object" stolen three hundred years ago. A perpetual motion furnace that must "eat" an Anomaly every month.
Yeah, right. "Lost"—for such a rigorous file to use such a vague term, there's definitely something fishy going on.
It was absolutely stolen.
Rate on N.U.
