The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

"You really made me search high and low."

"Venerable Yi Jue."

With a bit of barely suppressed grinding of his teeth, the voice came straight from the black totem pattern on the other side of Su Qi's arm.

Yi Jue was the title of the Venerable from Evil Town, and each Venerable naturally had their own prefixes and titles.

Su Qi's eyebrows quirked slightly.

"Brother Apostle?"

To be honest,

this call caught him somewhat off guard.

But,

thinking about it carefully, there seemed to have been several attempts to contact him before, but he was either in Paradise, in the dueling grounds drenched in Black Rain, or in the forbidden lands of Nihility... all without signal.

Now that he finally had a connection, the other party had caught the timing and descended abruptly, not even giving him the option to answer or not.

It was somewhat unexpected.

But,

Su Qi was after all a professional. He smiled slightly, "Lord Apostle, I always have my own things to do, sometimes I slack off, or don't want to answer calls after work; that's perfectly normal, isn't it?"

But the Apostle didn't take notice of Su Qi's playful words, and instead, his voice carried a hint of hoarseness and indifference, "What exactly have you been doing? Without a reasonable explanation, I will have to issue an Apostle's judgment and deal with you severely."

Although Venerables had great potential and countless possibilities, those not serving the Abyss Church and engaging in activities against the Church's tenets would naturally be dealt with by an Apostle.

So,

it was necessary to know... what exactly had Su Qi done?

"Sigh."

Su Qi chuckled, "All this seriousness makes it seem like I committed some grave mistake."

"People die for wealth as birds die for food, and I aim to be the strongest Venerable."

"Of course then, I have to do something towards that goal."

The Apostle frowned, "What have you done."

The fact that he began responding to Su Qi's question meant he was already influenced by Su Qi's words, shifting from questioning Su Qi to diverting his attention.

"I'd love to say it's a secret..."

Lord Apostle spoke pointedly, "I'd still advise you to disclose it..."

Su Qi, squinting his eyes, had many thoughts running through his mind. He was never one to be passive, and would instantly turn any disadvantage to his advantage.

And now,

it was clear the Apostle had taken an interest in his recent words, and Su Qi intended to get something out of it.

"It's like this, I discovered... the Mechanical Dimension..."

With these words, Su Qi distinctly felt some changes in the Apostle's breathing.

A Venerable was like an artist about to debut, and Apostles were like agents sent by the Abyss Company, who obviously knew more.

"Shattered machinery, collapsing Mechas.... strange energy..." Su Qi picked and chose pieces of his experiences to share, embellishing with some fabricated details.

The Apostle fell into a long silence.

Then, it spoke slowly,

"Are you saying that, in the void you are traversing, you have found traces of the Divine Machinery Kingdom and discovered a strong and strange energy aura... which is why you have been pursuing it."

Su Qi clicked his fingers, "As expected of Lord Apostle, clear and logical, instantly grasping the essence."

"You said too much; a few words would have sufficed."

The Apostle took a deep breath.

At this very moment, it was no longer concerned about Su Qi's previous lack of contact, but was completely focused on the content just mentioned by Su Qi.

After all,

this matter was... very, very significant within the Church.

"Where did you discover these traces?" the Apostle asked directly, his voice deep.

Su Qi inwardly smiled slowly; had he not just hooked him? Although the Apostle had yet to reveal a single word, it was obvious... they knew of the Divine Machinery Kingdom's destruction, and perhaps... there were some connections.

He replied calmly, "Well, as for my personal opportunity, even an Apostle isn't really obliged to know, right?"

With the information squeezed from Venerable Yi Jue, Su Qi more or less understood the tasks expected of a Venerable, and had a decent grasp on many things.

For example, this one: apart from the fixed resources provided by the Church, the growth of a Venerable's power and independent actions formed by personal will generally wouldn't be interfered with by the Church.

They also knew... that for these top-tier potent potential users, no restraint meant the best growth.

The Apostle's expression darkened slightly, its tone hesitating slightly, "This matter..."

"What's that?" Su Qi's tone held a hint of interest, "Is there a secret?"

The Apostle finally began to speak slowly, "Normally, this should at least... be known only to the Venerable who control the master totems, but now I didn't expect that you've discovered the traces."

"I can reveal some to you."

"Under the arrangements of the Master and some other beings... we are taking something beyond your current understanding, with the Divine Machinery Kingdom being only part of it."

"And what you're searching for, unique to the Divine Machinery Dimension, is also one of the Church's current objectives..."

Su Qi narrowed his eyes, "What is it?"

"Unlimited Energy!"

At the appearance of these words, Su Qi's eyelids imperceptibly twitched, not so much in surprise but rather because he didn't expect that they were also searching.

And,

"The Evil God and some other beings..." Su Qi narrowed his eyes. He didn't know if it referred to the God of Chaos or others, and the secrets of the Abyss were far from being fully dug up, revealed.

In the confrontation between the Gods Palace and the Abyss, what was the situation like, and what exactly did the Outer Gods, Terminators represent?

And the Ancient Paradise... the young man with black hair, and so on.

All of this,

he knew virtually nothing about at present, because most of it was probably already buried in the vast, unreachable Old Days.