Chapter 113: Silent Echo

The milky-white light of the spherical space automatically shifted to a soft, dusk-like hue. The twelve crystal beams had long vanished into Deep Space, leaving only slowly drifting light points on the wall and… a long wait.

"How long does a reply on the Stardust Network take?" Zhang Yang sat cross‑legged on the floor—if this smooth, glowing surface could be called a floor. He was trying to cut a compressed biscuit into six equal pieces with his pocket knife, ritualistically.

Kaiwen leaned against the central pedestal, data streams reflecting off his glasses: "Based on the residual crystal resonance, it takes three days for the message to reach the nearest relay station, processing is unknown, and another three days to return. At least a week."

"A week?" Zhang Yang's hand trembled, biscuit crumbs floated up, drifting lazily in micro‑gravity, "We just sit here in this glowing egg for a week?"

"You can study the knowledge in the wall." Han Qing's voice came from the side. He had already touched the wall and now closed his eyes to digest the incoming information, his brows slightly furrowed, "The Stardust Civilization's 'holographic memory transmission' is highly efficient, but… it requires mental filtering. Too much information."

Su Yu sat on the edge of the platform, legs suspended. She looked at the yellowed photograph in her hand, her fingertips lightly brushing Chen Mo's sister's smile. The baby's face was a bit blurred, but the eyes were bright.

"He never mentioned his family," she whispered.

Hui Jin drifted over at some point—within the spherical gravity field, a gentle push lets one move slowly. The old man hovered beside her, the Pure Fire staff laid across his knees: "Some people hide the heaviest things deep inside. It's not distrust, it's fear that once spoken, the walls will crumble."

Makusi was examining the wall's material, his remaining hand tapping the luminous surface, producing a strange resonance: "This thing doesn't feel like metal, not like stone… it's a bit like bone? Warm."

"A bio‑matrix composite," Kaiwen replied, eyes bright, "Self‑repairing, energy‑conductivity twenty times that of Luo Ya alloy, and theoretically it can 'grow'. If we can figure out the principle…"

"First figure out how to get out," Wang Hu said gruffly. He had been studying the exit of this space—the vertical passage was overhead when they arrived, but now it was just a smooth dome.

Aili, the young technician, suddenly pulled a small box from her backpack: "Um… I brought some real coffee beans. Borrowed from a Qiming City warehouse. If we have a small heater…"

Ten minutes later, the scent of coffee drifted through the spherical space. This simple, old‑world luxury visibly relaxed the tense atmosphere.

Zhang Yang smacked the coffee in his portable cup—careful not to let the liquid float away—and sighed contentedly, "Now that's something. Drinking instant nutrition in a glowing egg is just miserable."

"So the boss left the notebook here," Kaiwen said, sipping his coffee and looking at the pedestal, "because only those who reach this place deserve to know those things? Like his family?"

Su Yu carefully slipped the photograph into a close‑fitting pocket: "He left the 'choice' to us. Whether to ask that question, whether to bear the consequences of knowing the answer."

She paused: "And… he believes we can take care of each other, even if he's not here."

The air was quiet for a few seconds. The coffee aroma, the drifting light points, the soft illumination—all gave an unreal sense of peace.

"I remember," Han Qing suddenly spoke, eyes still closed, "when the Pure Land defense squad was first formed, Chen Mo set a rule: at the end of every mission briefing, leave thirty seconds to talk about something 'outside the mission'. It could be hometown weather, someone you miss, even a dish you want to eat."

He opened his eyes: "He said that if you don't come back, at least the teammates know you're a living person, not a mission number."

Makusi nodded: "Good rule. Our 'Iron Anvil' has something similar—before a mission, each person leaves a 'last word' for someone nearby to keep. Not formal, just the thing you most want to say."

"What did you say?" Aili asked curiously.

The veteran was silent for two seconds: "'Tell my daughter that dad's star is watching her graduation ceremony from the sky.'"

A simple sentence. Enormous weight.

Su Yu clenched the pendant at her chest. The metal's edge dug into her palm, bringing real pain. She suddenly recalled Chen Mo's final recording line, "Getting to know you all is the thing I'll never regret in this life."

Not "saving the world," not "completing the mission."

It's "getting to know you all."

"Energy reading fluctuation." Kaiwen suddenly set his coffee cup down, looking at the wrist detector, "It's not coming from the wall… it's external. Above the vertical passage."

Everyone's actions halted.

Han Qing instantly entered a state: "Intensity? Type?"

"Very weak… like extremely attenuated… shadow‑energy residue." Kaiwen pulled up data, "It's seeping through the passage wall, but most of it is filtered by the 'cradle' energy field here. Like ink dropping into clear water, it's diluted the moment it contacts."

Hui Jin stood, the Pure Fire crystal on his staff glowing: "The influence of the Door of the End has already seeped to Earth?"

"No." Su Yu also stood, her True Knowledge Vision passively triggered, capturing those invisible energy threads, "It's not direct erosion. It's a 'mark'. Like blood splatter reaching far away."

She looked up at the dome, as if she could see the sky through eight hundred meters of rock.

"When Chen Mo inserted the 'key', the energy shock partly 'rebounded' across the entire solar system. Very thin, but… present. Like throwing a stone into calm water, the ripples travel far."

"So 'they' will know an anomaly occurred here," Han Qing summarized calmly, "but it will take time to locate. Like a shark smelling blood, searching the vast ocean for its source."

Inside the spherical space, the coffee scent still lingered, but the temperature dropped sharply.

Waiting was no longer just waiting. It became a countdown.

At that moment, Aili suddenly pointed at the wall: "Look! Those light points!"

The previously random drifting light points began to gather orderly, forming a rotating Star Map before everyone. At the center of the map, a coordinate flickered—not the Door of the End's location, but a completely unfamiliar region.

Below the Star Map, text made of light points emerged—not Luo Ya script, not any known language, but its meaning flashed directly into the mind:

【Reply received. Stardust Network relay station #117 confirmed.】

【Question 1: 'Door of the End' coordinates total three locations. Sent to crystal memory bank.】

【Question 2: Closure method unknown. Recommendation: seek the 'Gatemaker'.】

【Additional info: an 'anomalous mark' detected in the solar system. Recommend immediate cleanup to prevent tracking.】

【Cleanup tool unlocked. Touch wall's third sector to obtain.】

【Good luck.】

The light‑point text flickered three times and vanished.

Kaiwen was the first to rush toward the wall's third sector. Su Yu and the others followed closely behind.

In the sixth hour of waiting for the echo, the echo arrived.

It also brought three new coordinates, a crazier target—to find the possibly non‑existent "Gatekeeper".

And… a timed bomb that must be dealt with immediately.

Su Yu touched the wall's third sector, and a new stream of information surged in—technical blueprints for purifying the "anomalous mark". Not complex, but they needed to return to the surface at once.

She turned, looking at her companions.

Coffee time was over.

"Let's go." Su Yu said, her gaze shedding a moment of softness, becoming sharp again, "We'll clean our own backyard first."

"Then," she looked at the light points that began moving again, as if responding to the unseen Stardust Network, "we'll ask who actually built that damned door."

The lift platform began to rise.

Above, beyond eight hundred meters of rock, the invisible shadow mark was silently seeping into Earth's atmosphere.

And they were ascending against gravity to complete the last "household chore" Chen Mo left behind.

The real expedition, the next stage truly begins.