Elegy from Another World

Having learned a painful lesson from the internal invasion, Noreljon's attitude towards the J-311 world became exceptionally tough. No longer satisfied with mere deterrence, he would regularly travel to that world under the guise of "security checks" to patrol the gathering place of angels and demons. Once he discovered any individuals he deemed a potential threat to the Dreil—usually those whose eyes still held hatred or resentment—he would ruthlessly cripple their combat capabilities, employing methods that could be described as cruel.

This oppressive rule naturally provoked a strong backlash, especially from the hardline demons led by En-Dasdu. During one of Noriljon's "inspections," En-Dasdu, having reached his limit, led his demon followers in a challenge. However, faced with Noriljon's overwhelming power, their resistance was futile and quickly crushed. Seeing that all was lost, En-Dasdu decisively led his remaining forces away from the settlement, disappearing into the vast wasteland of the J-311 world.

Noreljon viewed En-Dasdu's escape as a great threat, convinced he would seek revenge. He ordered the remaining angels and demons to hand over En-Dasdu and his followers within a specified timeframe.

The deadline had arrived, and Noreljon descended once more, his massive metallic body exuding a chilling oppressive aura. "Time's up. Where are you?" His crimson electronic eyes swept over the trembling survivors.

The leader, forcing a smile, replied, "Lord Noreljohn, we...we really can't find him. The wasteland is too vast; they're intentionally hiding..."

"Can't find it?" Noreljohn's voice suddenly rose, filled with impatience and anger. "Is it that you can't find it, or are you deliberately covering it up?!" His huge metal hands clenched so tightly they creaked, clearly preparing to punish him.

"Wait!" Eh shouted urgently, a resolute glint flashing in his enormous single eye. "We might have other clues! We can... we can make amends!"

"Oh?" Norelljon paused, then said sarcastically, "What clue? What trick are you up to now?"

At that moment, the countless eye rings of the Sharingan Velvet beside them slowly rotated, emitting strange fluctuations of mental energy: [We have discovered a... strange ark. It is almost invisible, yet contains immense energy.]

Noreljun scoffed, "Bullshit! How do you know there's an Ark and energy in something you can't see? You're just trying to distract me!" He didn't believe a word of it.

Eh, quickly explained, "Lady Noreljon, please believe us! The Sharingan Velvet's vision is extraordinary; it can perceive subtle traces and energy flows that ordinary people cannot detect. Just like... just like us now, even though we are far apart, it can still 'see' you repairing the external damage to the Drei."

"Eh," he said, was only half true. The Sharingan Velvet did possess extraordinary sensory abilities, allowing it to observe engineering activities on the hull of the Dresden from a certain distance. However, due to the network beacons inside the Dresden, it couldn't see anything inside the ship.

Norel remained skeptical, his enormous electronic eye fixed on Eri and the Sharingan Velvet, trying to determine if this was yet another trap.

Seeing that Norelljohn didn't believe him, he gritted his teeth and made an even bigger concession: "If you don't believe me, I can personally go back with you as a prisoner! If the clues are false, you can do whatever you want with me! I just ask that you give us another chance!"

Seeing the desperate look in Eileen's eyes, Noreljon hesitated for a moment. A world guide willingly becoming a hostage—that was no small matter. He finally scoffed, "Hmph, coordinates!"

The Sharingan Velvet immediately transmitted a complex set of spatial coordinates.

Norrell noted down the coordinates, and although still not entirely convinced, she sent the message to me via encrypted channel: "Lysia, those guys from J-311 provided coordinates, saying there's some unseen ark with a lot of energy. It sounds like nonsense, but that one-eyed guy (ugh) is willing to be a hostage. Send a drone to check it out."

When I received the message, I was overseeing the welding of a critical structure. I was cautious about this sudden "Ark" intelligence, but adhering to the principle of not overlooking any potential clues, I still dispatched a high-performance unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to the designated coordinates.

Upon reaching the target airspace, the drone immediately initiated a full-spectrum scan. The result was as Norelljohn had predicted—empty. Data from various sensors indicated that it was pure void, with only occasional, inexplicable, weak signal artifacts appearing, resembling occasional sensor interference.

"So there really is nothing here?" I stared at the transmitted data, somewhat disappointed. Following its pre-programmed sequence, the drone began to approach the coordinates, preparing for closer on-site reconnaissance.

However, just as the drone was about to reach the precise coordinates, an accident occurred!

boom!

A dull thud was transmitted through the sensors! The drone seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall; its fuselage shook violently, and the alarm sounded instantly!

Holy crap! I jumped up from the control panel, staring intently at the seemingly empty airspace in front of the drone on the screen. There really was something there! A massive, invisible object that could perfectly evade conventional detection!