Chapter 317: Ruin Protocol, Galactic Truth

Qin Hao faced that humanoid light‑shadow, and the air seemed to solidify.

The suppressive pressure emanating from a life‑level weighed heavily on Qin Hao's shoulders.

Finally.

The light‑shadow spoke.

Its way of speaking was strange; it did not vibrate the air but projected the information directly into Qin Hao's consciousness.

"Strange intruder, you need not be nervous."

"I bear no hostility."

Hearing this, Qin Hao's vigilance did not relax a iota; he summoned his spiritual power, trying to reverse‑analyze the composition of the light‑shadow, but found his spiritual power to be as futile as a mud cow entering the sea.

"Are you the intelligent steward of this ruin?" Qin Hao asked back using the same consciousness‑communication method.

"Steward?"

The light‑shadow seemed to be grasping the meaning of the word; its vague head tilted slightly.

"You may understand it that way. My creators call me the 'Guide', and I have been here… waiting for a very long, very long time."

"So long that I can no longer count how many revolutions the Milky Way Galaxy has made."

The Guide's answer confirmed Qin Hao's conjecture.

"My creators' civilization, in the dictionary you can comprehend, is called the 'Star Language Civilization'."

Qin Hao felt a stir in his heart.

Star Language Civilization.

He had never seen those four characters in any Empire archive.

"Star Language Civilization… is it a Fifth-level Civilization?" Qin Hao asked tentatively.

"Fifth-level?"

The Guide repeated, and its information stream carried a hint of reminiscence,

"In the twilight of a civilization, we might be rated as a Fifth-level advanced civilization.

We once ruled dozens of galaxies; our steps once measured star realms far beyond your reach."

That single sentence made Qin Hao's heart miss a beat.

Rulers of dozens of galaxies?

What a concept!

To such a colossal entity, the Milky Way Galaxy probably does not even amount to an unnoticed grain of sand.

And such an advanced civilization has actually collapsed.

"Then why are you… here?"

Qin Hao asked the most crucial question, "Why have you become this… broken form?"

The Guide's light‑shadow dimmed slightly.

An indescribable sorrow flowed through the information stream, almost making Qin Hao feel it himself.

"Because of war."

"We encountered an enemy we could not resist, a terrifying existence that devours civilizations."

"All our technology, all our weapons, lost meaning before it. Our proud fleet, under the enemy's assault, became like a sandcastle, easily erased by the tide."

The Guide's narration was calm, yet Qin Hao could sense the bottomless despair of those years within it.

"The Star Language Civilization suffered defeat after defeat, its territories continuously eroded, countless stars turned to ash."

"In the end, only the last fleet, carrying the final spark of our civilization, fled in desperation.

We traversed endless darkness and finally arrived at this unfamiliar galaxy called the Milky Way Galaxy."

Qin Hao felt his breathing grow heavy.

He could fully imagine the scene: a once‑great civilization that spanned hundreds of thousands, even millions of light‑years,

now reduced to a seed fleet, drifting alone through the star‑sea.

"Did your enemy chase you here?"

"No."

The Guide negated his speculation.

"But it is close. To prevent the flames of war from reaching this newly‑born galaxy teeming with newborn civilizations,

and to completely cut off any chance of the enemy tracking us, the surviving members of the Star Language Civilization made a decision."

The Guide's light‑shadow turned toward the viewport, looking at the profound darkness, at the supermassive black hole that devours everything.

"They exhausted all the remaining resources and energy of the civilization, burning the lives of all survivors."

"Using this supermassive black hole as a core, they built a massive blocking matrix that covers the entire Milky Way Galaxy."

Qin Hao's brain buzzed.

Blocking matrix?

"The blocking matrix you speak of is the 'Final Barrier'? The outer region that caused the two great Empire fleets to be completely annihilated, the 'spatial stagnation' zone?"

"Yes."

The Guide gave a confirming answer.

"The Final Barrier, or the 'spatial blocking matrix', is the Star Language Civilization's ultimate masterpiece, and also the legacy… and shackles we left for this galaxy."

"It has two functions."

"First, it completely isolates the Milky Way Galaxy from all external contact. Any faster‑than‑light travel, any inter‑galactic communication cannot penetrate this shield.

It will erase the Milky Way Galaxy from the universal public navigation charts, turning it into an unobservable island, thereby hiding our coordinates."

"Second."

The Guide paused for a moment, as if choosing words.

"Prevent civilizations inside the Milky Way Galaxy from venturing into that cruel outer universe before they have sufficient strength."

"Avoid them…… coming into premature contact with a despair‑inducing enemy."

Qin Hao was completely stunned.

The so‑called death forbidden zone, the so‑called civilization prison, is actually an ultra‑massive protective shield?

A fifth‑level civilization, expending its last strength, held up a protective umbrella for all nascent civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy that has lasted hundreds of millions of years.

"Then…… what about the Star Language People who built all this?"

"They have all passed away."

The Guide's information flow carries an irreconcilable sorrow.

"At the moment the matrix was activated, their lives reached their end. This fortress is their final home, and also their shared tombstone."

"And I, as the guardian of this tombstone, have but one mission: to wait."

"Waiting for a later civilization that can rely on its own development, break through the spatial viscosity blockade, and reach here—to inherit the legacy of the Star Language Civilization and this harsh truth."

The Guide's light and shadow turned back toward Qin Hao.

"This wait has lasted hundreds of millions of years."

"You are the first."

Qin Hao opened his mouth, but found he could not utter a word.

The first in hundreds of millions of years.

This title is too heavy, heavy enough to make him feel suffocated.

At this very moment, the Guide's humanoid light and shadow began to become unstable.

Countless golden light points detached from it, converging into a brilliant data flood that pierced the hull of the Void Wanderer and surged straight toward Qin Hao, seated in the command chair.

Qin Hao instinctively wanted to resist, but the Guide's information flow arrived first.

"Do not resist, accept it. This is the complete technology tree of the Star Language Civilization, and it is all we have."

"This is the necessary step for you to advance toward the stars."

Hearing this, Qin Hao pondered for a second, then allowed that massive data flow to surge into his mind.

Innumerable arcane symbols, complex formulas, and unimaginable creation blueprints flashed through his consciousness.

That was the complete fifth‑level technology tree of the Star Language Civilization.

From the most basic material theory, to the space‑folding engine, to applications in higher‑dimensional spacetime…

Encompassing all things, profound as the sea.

No one knows how long this process lasted.

When the last golden light point merged into the database, the Guide's light and shadow had grown extremely dim, as if it might extinguish at any moment.

"The legacy has been delivered."

"My mission is also nearing completion."

Its information flow became intermittent, full of fatigue.

"Remember my warning, latercomers."

"Before your civilization reaches the height we once attained……"

"Never attempt to lift the blockade."

"Never…… leave the Milky Way Galaxy."

Qin Hao came to his senses and urgently asked: "What exactly is the enemy out there?"

The Guide's light and shadow flickered violently.

"I don't know……"

"The creators erased all concrete information about the enemy. This may be their design; they do not want this fear to accompany your growth."

"I can only tell you…… it is an…… existence that feeds on 'civilization'."