Chapter 507: Mechanical Celestial Body

In the dark, silent void, Lin Xian’s consciousness drifted in nothingness.

As if time had been fast-forwarded, the shattered stars and giant-dimensional fragments had long dissolved into the cosmic stars, gone without a trace—leaving only that colossal, dark-red divine head, like the most solemn monument in a cosmic graveyard, slowly and eternally decaying in the freezing vacuum, radiating a chilling aura of demise.

“A metal die?”

Lin Xian was utterly certain—the fleeting, icy metallic gleam that had flashed past near the divine head was no hallucination; his consciousness now felt as if shaken by an earthquake, utterly unable to process what he had seen in such a short span.

Gravitational lens, planetary giant, dimensional fragments, divine head, and that terrifying beam of light…

What exactly was it?

Was it connected to his ability link, or had he glimpsed some other entity?

He wanted to shout, to act—but could do nothing; he had seemingly lost his body, lost his self—this sensation was excruciating.

At this moment, Lin Xian even entertained a thought: if this state persisted unchanged, wasn’t he effectively eternally imprisoned in this deep cosmic void?

Lin Xian tried to sense his mechanical heart—but received no response.

“What’s going on…”

He couldn’t even perceive the passage of time, yet he had a strong conviction: this brief span was far longer than ten hours!

Then he suddenly remembered his Black Star Forge—after all, it too was a skill linked to his consciousness; could it serve some purpose?

Lin Xian’s consciousness sank—and suddenly, it felt as if he had entered a bubble exceeding the speed of light; countless stars transformed into threads, and in the next instant, his vision revealed a massive dark-red planet, his consciousness plummeting toward a region near its orbit.

As his consciousness slowed, a black dot appeared in the previously empty space, then rapidly expanded—a colossal mechanical celestial body, growing ever larger in the deep void, began to dominate his view; he saw a vast mechanical aperture.

Black Star Forge!

Lin Xian’s consciousness surged inside; the Star Dome passage rotated, and all his manufacturing sequences remained frozen in place.

“It really connects to the Black Star Forge—how could such a colossal mechanical celestial body be linked to my consciousness, becoming my awakening skill?”

At this moment, Lin Xian finally became certain: his mechanical ability was undoubtedly some kind of special “creation,” with no relation whatsoever to dark energy mutations; thus, mechanical consumption and mechanical creation were not divine powers—this was far more likely the manifestation of a highly advanced mechanical civilization, and he was merely its operator.

Yet a greater question arose: who had placed the Black Star Forge here? And who had “bestowed” this power—capable of shaking the stars—upon him?

With lingering suspicion, Lin Xian attempted to guide his consciousness through the Black Star Forge; now, his awareness seemed freed from prior constraints, able to fly deep into its interior for inspection.

Descending further, his consciousness pierced through streams of energy fundamentals, like entering the vessel of a mechanical celestial body; after an indeterminate time, his vision suddenly cleared—a scene of staggering awe appeared before him.

Countless colossal metal structures, like the fossilized bones of primordial beasts, interwoven and extended, forming a celestial core of terrifying scale; its interior appeared designed according to a cold, Jizhi -efficient aesthetic—coarse alloy trusses measured kilometers in diameter, countless mechanical arrays, fine as scales, stretching endlessly to the horizon.

As if ten of humanity’s grandest steel metropolises had been compressed, twisted, and welded into a sealed metallic planet! Its diameter was surely hundreds of kilometers—or perhaps a thousand? Lin Xian’s consciousness strained upward, seeking a macroscopic view, yet could not discern its base; at the very center of this mechanical celestial body’s “core cavity,” floated an apparatus of astonishing precision—apparently some kind of core.

Four beams of energy extended horizontally in four directions; within the central region, minute substances seemed to be streaming downward through the core.

“Ding Director was right—everything theological can be explained by science. Now perhaps I can understand why I can consume countless machines and create matter ex nihilo…”

Lin Xian’s consciousness seemed to sigh: “But if this is what I observed during my lattice evolution, does that mean my mechanical heart is inseparable from the Dark Civilization? Is it itself a manifestation of Dark Civilization’s power?”

“Damn it!” Lin Xian was struck hard by this conclusion: “Then my Black Star Forge… could it really be… the Dark Civilization’s legendary ‘mother ship’?!”

Lin Xian was startled by this thought—he desperately sought alternative possibilities, yet his rational mind grew increasingly panicked by this terrifying hypothesis; if his guess was true, then all his prior beliefs—raising the mechanical heart’s level, crafting weapons beyond human technology to fight the Dark Civilization—sounded like a joke.

The very foundation he believed set him apart from all other adepts might actually be the enemy’s core?

Controlling the Southern Gate to exterminate the Corpse Drivers

The Great Ocean God suddenly shifted targets

The Descent Faction’s strange attitude toward him

Could this be the truth Xiahuaoling had always wanted to tell him?

“No! Impossible!”

Lin Xian’s consciousness surged upward—his mind in chaos. He recalled Chu Yan’s words about high-ranking defectors; if his hypothesis was correct, then all his hopes and ambitions were a farce—humanity had no chance of resistance. Facing such a collapse of belief, joining the Descent Faction wouldn’t be betrayal—it would be the correct choice: embracing a new civilization.

The more Lin Xian thought, the more terrifying it became; his heart refused to accept this truth—but the more he rejected it, the more previously inexplicable events surged forth, striking him like hammer blows.

“The mechanical celestial body shares the same origin as me—so I could transform Radio Station 1542 into a heteromorphic cube?”

“So my mechanical heart can convert dark energy into mechanical source points?”

Lin Xian even conjured a more horrifying idea: that the materials and mechanical source points he gained through consumption were, in some way, scanning Earth’s technological structures for the “Dark Civilization,” refining them for their “mother ship” and deepening their understanding of human tech—and that upgrading his mechanical heart was merely self-iteration?!

“No, no, no!”

At this moment, Lin Xian plunged into frantic self-doubt and belief collapse; he felt his consciousness growing uncontrollable, blurred, careening chaotically through the energy beams of the mechanical celestial body, as if falling into an icy sea.

Consciousness plummeted abruptly!

Through cold, thick nothingness…

Through the flickering blue electric arcs of interlocking gears…

Through rivers of dark-purple light flowing along solidified energy conduits…

Through countless mechanical production lines…

Just as Lin Xian’s consciousness lost all control, about to be flung out of the Black Star Forge into the endless cosmic void, he suddenly locked onto a direction within the Star Dome passage.

In that direction lay the area where he stored his mechanical creations and other items—and in a corner of that area rested a lead box.

Inside it lay the metal die!

“The giant was shattered—this object must be human-made, meaning my earlier hypothesis of a third party’s existence is highly plausible!”

Lin Xian’s consciousness ceased dissolving—like a drowning man grasping his final straw—this thought struck with thunderous force, cleaving through the chaos and despair in his mind.