svetikya Page 220
Page 220
“It was one of the earliest guardians of the ‘Nursery of Time’ and a staunch supporter of Dr. Camilla.” Xi nodded. “We ‘Remnants’ have maintained intermittent contact with it, but in recent eras, the ‘Nursery’ has been sealed off too tightly by the Observers, and we haven’t heard from it for a long time.”
She looked at Lin Ye, her eyes becoming complicated: "Dr. Camilla's 'spark'... I didn't expect it to actually still exist. I thought it was just a faint tale of hope circulating among the 'remnants'."
"You know about me?" Lin Ye asked eagerly.
“I know some things, but not all.” Xi walked to the control panel, skillfully operated it a few times, and brought up some vague data. “In the ‘Remnant’ archives, there are scattered records about Dr. Camilla’s defection with the ‘Spark’ and some ‘Foundation’ fragments. We have been trying to find the whereabouts of the ‘Spark’, but the Observer’s monitoring of the main timeline is too tight, and countless attempts have failed. Unexpectedly, the ‘Spark’ came to the edge of the world on its own.”
She turned to Lin Ye and said, "The coordinates you deciphered are those of 'Hope Outpost,' the last secret outpost established by Dr. Camilla. But it lost contact many years ago, and we suspect it was discovered and destroyed by the Observers."
Lin Ye's heart sank: "Lost contact?"
“It’s just a suspicion.” Xi changed the subject. “But since the ‘Primordial Foundation Stone’ is guiding you there, there might still be a chance. The ‘Foundation Stones’ can sense each other. If there are still fragments there, perhaps something can be reactivated.”
"Can you take us there?" Trunks asked.
Xi hesitated for a moment: "Sailing on the 'Sea of Nothingness' is very dangerous. Even I can't guarantee absolute safety. Moreover, the Observers' 'cleaners' and patrols are likely still searching for you nearby."
She glanced at the foundation stone in Lin Ye's hand, then at Lin Ye himself, seemingly having made up her mind: "However, the appearance of the 'Fire Seed' and the 'Founding Stone' may be the opportunity that the 'Remnants' have been waiting for. I can take you to try your luck, but you must obey my commands completely."
"As long as you can lead us to the answer, we'll listen to you without a problem," Lin Ye readily agreed.
Vegeta crossed his arms and grunted, but didn't object. Android 18 nodded slightly.
“Okay.” Xi put her helmet back on. “Follow me. My spaceship, ‘Star Shuttle,’ is outside. We must leave as soon as possible; our coordinates here may have been compromised.”
She walked towards the airlock first. Lin Ye and the other three followed closely behind.
Boarding the streamlined, silver spaceship "Star Shuttle," the interior space was not large, but its layout was ingenious and efficient. Xi sat in the pilot's seat, her hands flying across the control panel.
"Hold on tight, the voyage on the 'Sea of Nothingness' is much more exciting than you can imagine," Xi said, pushing the control stick.
Like a nimble fish, the "Star Shuttle" plunged into the colorful and perilous chaotic void outside the window, instantly disappearing into the bizarre energy vortex.
Shortly after they left, another menacing black warship bearing the Observer's insignia quietly appeared near the abandoned outpost.
Chapter 476: The Void Route and the Echoes of Hope
The "Star Shuttle" sped through the bizarre "Sea of Nothingness," the familiar starry sky no longer visible outside the window, but rather constantly twisting, stretching, and compressing streams of colorful energy and shattered fragments of space. The spaceship sometimes lurched violently, and sometimes seemed to stand still, giving the user an extremely eerie sensory experience.
Xi was completely focused on controlling the spaceship. Her skills were superb, and she always managed to narrowly avoid those deadly energy vortexes and spatial rifts.
"Where exactly are we flying to?" Vegeta frowned as he looked out the window at the dizzying scenery. This environment, which he couldn't directly deal with with his power, was making him somewhat irritable.
“In the ‘Sea of Nothingness,’ direction and distance are relative concepts,” Xi explained without turning her head, her fingers rapidly adjusting the navigation parameters. “We need to proceed along a relatively stable ‘ancient route,’ a route pioneered by the early ‘Sowers’ and known only to a very few ‘Navigators.’ Even so, it is not absolutely safe.”
Lin Ye could feel the foundation stone in his hand getting slightly warm, as if it had resonated faintly with something in the distance. "The foundation stone is reacting, and its direction seems to be in line with our course."
“Good.” Xi’s tone was slightly more relaxed. “This means that there may still be some structural remnants of ‘Hope Outpost,’ or at least one ‘Foundation Fragment’ still in operation. Hang in there, we’re about to enter the most dangerous section of the route… ‘Echoing Labyrinth.’”
The words had barely left his lips when the scene before the spaceship abruptly changed. Countless enormous, shattered, mirror-like fragments of space floated in the void, reflecting countless images of the "star shuttles" and the astonished expressions of those inside. These reflections were not static, but constantly shifting, as if foreshadowing countless possible futures.
"Hold on tight!" Xi shouted in a low voice, and pushed the control lever sharply.
The "Star Shuttle" instantly plunged into this mirror labyrinth, weaving and refracting through the fragments at incredible angles. The scenery outside the window shifted wildly; sometimes you saw another version of yourself fighting, sometimes you saw the horrific scene of a spaceship exploding, and sometimes you saw a peaceful scene... The mix of truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, greatly interfered with your perception and judgment.
"Don't look outside!" Xi warned sternly. "These 'echoes' will disturb your mind! Guard your mind!"
Lin Ye immediately closed his eyes, gripped the foundation stone tightly, and felt the faint, real resonance to solidify his direction. Trunks also closed his eyes, relying on the Variable Engine to stabilize himself. Vegeta cursed under his breath, forcibly suppressing the frustration rising in his heart from the reflections of those failures. Android 18's mechanical eyes flashed incessantly, seemingly rapidly analyzing and filtering out false information.
The spaceship darted left and right through the maze, and fine beads of sweat appeared on Xi's forehead. Clearly, the journey here was a great test of her mental strength and skills.
Suddenly, a huge shard of mirror crashed into us. The reflection in the shard was no longer of the spaceship, but of the Judge's hideous face and the massive energy blade he swung down!
"It's fake!" Xi gritted her teeth, and instead of dodging, she accelerated towards the fragment!
Just before they collided, the mirror shards rippled like water, and the "Star Shuttle" passed through unscathed, revealing a clear view before them. They had escaped the "Echoing Maze"!
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"What was that just now...?" Trunks asked, still shaken.
“It’s the most common trap in the ‘Echoing Maze’… Fear Echo.” Xi wiped her sweat. “It reflects your deepest fears, tempting you to change course. Once you deviate, you’ll be lost forever in the depths of the maze. Only by firmly believing in the course and ignoring your fears can you get through.”
She glanced at the navigation system: "We're almost there. According to the 'Star Shuttle's' detection, there's a faint, structurally stable signal ahead... but the energy reading is extremely low, almost extinguished."
After the spaceship flew for a while, a broken outline gradually emerged in the void ahead.
It was a small space station, but severely damaged. Less than half of its main structure remained, with broken metal frames and exposed pipes floating silently in the void, devoid of any light, like a vast space graveyard. Only in the core area of the space station could one occasionally detect an extremely faint, almost imperceptible energy fluctuation.
“‘Hope Outpost’…” Xi’s voice carried a hint of sorrow, “As expected… it still turned out like this.”
The resonance of the foundation stone in Lin Ye's hand became clearer, but it also conveyed a sense of sorrow.
The Star Shuttle slowly approached, carefully avoiding the floating debris. They flew into the space station through a huge breach.
The interior was even more horrific, marked by the battle everywhere. The walls were covered in scorch marks and explosion craters, and many passageways were completely blocked. The air had long since leaked out, leaving a cold and deathly silence.
"Let's split up and search." Xi parked the spaceship in a relatively spacious hall. "Be careful, there might still be an automated defense system left by the observers here, or... something else."
The four split up to search. Lin Ye followed the cornerstone's guidance and headed towards the core area where the resonance was strongest.
He traversed several broken passageways until he arrived at a severely warped alloy door. A familiar groove on the door matched the shape of the foundation stone in his hand. The control panel beside the door was completely burned.
Lin Ye tried to put the foundation stone into the groove.
hum...
The foundation stone glowed faintly, and the remaining energy flowed into the gate. The gate emitted a sickening metallic creak as it slid open a crack to either side with difficulty.
Behind the door was a relatively intact circular hall. In the center of the hall was a platform, on which floated a white crystal, only half the size of the one Lin Ye held in his hand, with an extremely dim light... another fragment of the foundation stone.
Below the platform sat a long-dehydrated human skeleton. The skeleton wore an ancient uniform similar in style to the Judges' but in white and gold. It clutched a data storage device tightly in its hand, its head bowed, as if it were merely asleep.
Lin Ye slowly stepped forward. The foundation stone in his hand resonated more strongly with the fragments on the platform, and a faint white halo illuminated the entire hall.
He noticed a line of text engraved at the feet of the remains, made of some durable material:
"Here lies Camilla, the sower. May those who come after her inherit hope, not despair."
Lin Ye stood silently before the remains, his heart filled with mixed emotions. This was Camilla, the one who gave him the Variable Engine, sent him away, and left behind the "Spark." In the end, she couldn't escape the Watchers' pursuit and perished here.
He took a deep breath, bowed slightly to the remains, and then carefully removed the data storage device.
Just then, the cornerstone fragment on the platform suddenly shone brightly, and a soft beam of light was projected onto the wall of the hall, revealing a blurry image left behind by Camilla before her death.
Camilla in the video looks tired but her eyes remain firm; she seems to be recording something in a hurry.
"If anyone can find this place and see this message, it means that Project 'Spark' has not completely failed... Those who come after, please remember that the power of the Observers is not invincible. Their system is built on 'absolute control,' but that in itself is their greatest weakness... The 'Fragments of the Foundation' scattered across different timelines are the key to dismantling their power... Find them, unite all the oppressed... 'Return' is not about returning to shackles, but about creating... true... freedom..."
The video abruptly ended there, and the light from the fragments completely went out, turning them into ordinary crystals.
Lin Ye silently picked up the energy-depleted fragment and placed it together with the foundation stone in his hand. Although the fragment was completely drained of energy, their physical contact still slightly accelerated the recovery speed of the foundation stone in Lin Ye's hand.
He looked at the data storage device in his hand, which might contain crucial information left by Camilla about the locations of other Keystone fragments or the weaknesses of the Observer.
Just then, Xi's urgent voice suddenly came through his communicator: "Lin Ye! Come back quickly! The Observer's patrol has spotted us! A Judgement-class warship is approaching!"
Lin Ye's expression changed, and he immediately grabbed the memory and the two foundation stones, rushing out of the hall.
A new crisis has arrived.
Chapter 477: Navigating the Maze
When Lin Ye rushed back to the lobby where the "Star Shuttle" was docked, Vegeta, Android 18, and Trunks were already there. Everyone's expression was serious.
"What happened?" Lin Ye asked as he strode toward the control panel.
Xi stared intently at the radar screen, her fingers flying across the control panel. "It's the signal source that tracked us before! They must have set up monitoring nodes near the outpost ruins. We were locked on the moment we activated the energy system here!"
She turned to let Lin Ye see the monitor; a striking red dot was rapidly approaching their position.
“What’s coming is a ‘Judicator’ class warship,” Xi added, her voice tinged with obvious tension. “It’s more than ten times more troublesome than the single-man Judicator fighters we’ve encountered before.”
Through the observation window, a jet-black, menacingly designed warship could be seen emerging from the void. It was at least three times larger than the "Star Shuttle," and the massive energy cannon at its bow was already gathering a terrifying light.
"Can we shake it off?" Lin Ye asked in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on the approaching warship.
“It’s almost impossible to completely shake off the Arbiters in the ‘Sea of Nothingness,’ they are highly resistant to spatial interference here.” Xi’s hands moved quickly across the control panel. “But we can use the environment to our advantage! Everyone, hold on tight!”
The "Star Shuttle" started up instantly, its engines humming low, and the spaceship darted out of the base like a startled fish. Just as they left, a thick beam of energy grazed the wreckage of the outpost, instantly vaporizing a large section of metal.
"Hmph! Annoying flies!" Vegeta glared at the warship hot on his heels, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "If this crappy place weren't limiting my strength, I would have blasted it to smithereens by now!"
Number 18 calmly analyzed the battle situation: "The enemy's firepower far exceeds ours, and we have no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation. We must rely on flexibility and environmental advantages."
Xi piloted the "Star Shuttle" into a dense asteroid belt... These were not real rocks, but obstacles formed by chaotic energy bodies and space debris condensed in the "Sea of Nothingness".
"Hold on tight! It's going to be very bumpy!" Xi warned.
The spaceship nimbly navigated the asteroid belt, sometimes making sharp turns and sometimes using larger asteroids as cover. The "Arbiter" warship behind it appeared much more cumbersome, but relying on its powerful shields and firepower, it directly smashed through the asteroids that blocked its path, its energy cannons constantly bombarding it, forcing the "Star Shuttle" to change direction repeatedly.
Trunks stared anxiously at the shield's energy readings: "This can't go on! Our energy is being depleted much faster! The shield has already dropped to sixty percent!"
Lin Ye stared at the intricate cluster of asteroids ahead, when suddenly a brilliant idea struck him: "Let's go to the 'Echoing Maze'! The environment there is complex, and its larger size makes it even more difficult to navigate!"
Xi's eyes lit up: "Great idea! Everyone hurry up!"
With a sharp turn, the "Star Shuttle" shook off another energy barrage and rushed toward the "Echoing Maze" it had passed through earlier.
The Arbiter warship followed closely behind, clearly not intending to let them go.
Once again, they plunged into the "Echoing Maze," where countless mirror-like fragments of space reappeared. Xi concentrated all her energy, piloting the spaceship through the maze, occasionally using the mirror reflections to create illusions.
The "Arbiter" warship also rushed in, its massive size immediately becoming a disadvantage. Countless shards of mirror struck its shields, creating ripples that, while not immediately breaching its defenses, severely disrupted its sensors and navigational stability. Its energy cannons often hit false reflections or were deflected in unknown directions.
"It works!" Trunks exclaimed in delight, "Its attacks can't hit us at all!"
Vegeta snorted coldly: "Don't be too happy. A warship of this level can't possibly be that weak."
Sure enough, Xi stared intently at the screen, her expression still grave: "The commander of 'The Arbiters' isn't stupid; they'll find a way to deal with it soon... in three minutes at most!"
The instant she finished speaking, the "Arbiter" warship changed tactics. Several launch ports opened on both sides of the hull, releasing dozens of small, agile drones!
These drones swarmed like bees, seemingly equipped with more advanced sensors that could distinguish between real and fake "echoes" to some extent. They surrounded the "Star Shuttle" from different directions and used dense energy rays to block its path.
"This is troublesome!" Xi maneuvered the spaceship to perform a series of difficult evasive maneuvers, and the energy shield was constantly being hit, flickering erratically.
Vegeta slammed his fist on the bulkhead: "Shoot these annoying things down!" He turned to Number 18, "You to the left, I'll go to the right!"
Android 18 nodded and quickly opened the firing ports on the side of the spaceship. The energy cannon fired precisely, instantly destroying several drones. Vegeta also gathered ki blasts and fired them outwards through the firing ports. His attacks were much more powerful, often clearing out a small area with a single shot.
However, there were too many drones, and they were extremely agile, so the two attackers could not completely stop them from getting closer.
The "Star Shuttle" kept getting hit, and the alarm sounded more and more urgent.