The Mechanical Civilization laboratory in the heartland of Gear Time-Space had recently acquired several batches of very unusual goods.
They were neither the overbearing specimens from Destruction Time-Space that sent monitoring needles jumping wildly the moment one approached, nor the bizarre materials from Evil Swamp Time-Space that carried obvious Emotional Pollution.
These things were very quiet—quiet to an excessive degree.
The first to arrive before Saine was a semi-translucent gray crystal.
The gray crystal's outer layer had been sealed three times by the Mechanical Civilization. Within lay a gray seal left by the Decayed Civilization, along with a magic-energy isolation film added by the Evil Tide Civilization.
This specimen had come from Final Silence Time-Space.
More precisely, Envoy Jimin had represented Final Silence Time-Space in a limited transaction with the Mechanical Civilization through that special passage in the Dead Silent Dimension.
"Outer-layer rule activity is 7.3% of normal Higher Dimensional Plane materials."
"The interior still possesses a stable source circulation."
"No active contamination detected."
"No obvious hostile intent detected."
A string of data from the Sky Net Central Hub was projected before Saine.
Standing beside the Laboratory Table, Icarus swiftly placed the next specimen into the analysis chamber.
It was a peculiar fragment of rules, like bone yet also like stone. Its surface bore neither cracks nor signs of decay, yet when it landed in the mechanical arm's palm, every mechanical component that touched it slowed by half a beat.
It was not a malfunction.
Its activity had been suppressed.
Saine stared at the flickering data before him for a long while before reaching out to tap the edge of the Laboratory Table.
"Interesting," Saine murmured.
The third specimen placed into the experimental chamber was a handful of gray-white fine sand.
Viewed separately, this fine sand was not much different