Chapter 395: Cracking the Pioneers' Labyrinth

"Well then, I don't want to waste time. I invite your leaders to come over for a cup of tea and have a good chat."

"We must be civilized."

"Tea?"

"Chat?"

The representatives of the Poison Liquid Civilization and the Fire Cloud Civilization were stunned.

They had never seen such a... strange way of communicating.

Moments later, on the spacious bridge of the Pioneer Ship, a temporary holographic conference room was constructed.

Qin Hao leisurely sat in the main seat, with a cup of steaming hot green tea from the Yanhuang Mother Star floating before him.

The representative of the Poison Liquid Civilization condensed into a stable solid-state humanoid form, his body covered in black liquid,

He cautiously took his seat.

And the representative of the Stellar Civilization, the flame giant named Panhuo,

chose the most direct method—through spatial projection, it materialized its ten-meter-tall massive form onto the bridge.

"Hmph! Playing tricks!"

As soon as Panhuo appeared, he let out a cold snort.

His massive fiery body emitted a terrifying heat wave.

The temperature was several thousand degrees.

But for Qin Hao and the others, it felt like nothing.

"I don't care which fifth-level civilization you come from; get out of this star sector right now,"

"otherwise, you will face the wrath of our entire Fire Cloud Civilization and the Laya Council!"

Saying that, an invisible powerful gravitational field emanated from Panhuo's body, pressing down on Qin Hao.

He intended to use this most direct method to give this seemingly frail 'organic being' a show of force,

to make him kneel publicly, thereby demonstrating the majesty of the Fire Cloud Civilization.

The other Yanhuang officers on the bridge all felt a heavy pressure, as if a mountain weighed upon them.

However, Qin Hao, at the center of the gravitational field, didn't even lift an eyelid.

He lifted the teacup and gently blew on the steam.

"Really impolite," he said softly.

In his view, this level of gravity control was like a child playing with mud.

"Since you don't know the rules, I'll teach you."

Qin Hao raised his eyes, looked at Panhuo, and then lightly snapped his fingers.

"Rule change: within this space, gravity acting on large flame lifeforms is reversed."

The moment his words fell,

"Boom!"

Panhuo's massive body, as if seized by an invisible giant hand,

was slammed toward the inner wall of the warship at a speed even faster than before!

The hard wall was dented with a huge indentation.

"Ugh ah ah ah!"

Panhuo let out a low, hoarse roar.

It was firmly pressed against the wall by an irresistible force, unable to move.

Its prideful gravity control ability, at this moment, became the shackles that bound itself.

Qin Hao leisurely took a sip of tea, then raised his head to look at the miserable sight on the wall, a smile appearing on his face.

"Now, can we have a proper talk?"

The Poison Liquid lifeform opposite, its bodily fluids surging violently, showed extreme shock and fear.

Panhuo on the wall also ceased his futile struggling, his roar turning into a pained groan.

It finally realized,

that it… seemed to have provoked a civilization it absolutely should not have provoked.

The atmosphere on the bridge became somewhat eerie because of that huge 'fixture' on the wall.

The representative of the Poison Liquid Civilization, the lifeform calling itself Poison Flow, was the first to break the silence.

Its bodily fluids had shifted from the previous black to a gray indicating humility and awe.

"Your... your supreme power makes us feel genuine admiration, O mighty one."

Poison Flow's voice, transmitted via mental undulations, full of flattery: "We, the Poison Liquid Civilization, are very willing to forge the deepest friendship with an exalted being like you."

It cautiously glanced at Panhuo on the wall, then continued:

"However, in the Laniakea Star Domain, there indeed exist some... ancient traditions."

this is not something we or the Fire Cloud Civilization can decide, but rather rules left behind by the far more ancient Pioneers Civilization.

"Oh?"

Qin Hao set down his teacup, seeming interested: "Go on, tell me."

To maintain order in the supercluster, any newly arrived or newly ascended high-level civilization,

if it wishes to obtain legitimate star domain ownership, public star maps, and eligibility to join the interstellar trade network, must pass a trial.

Poison Flow explained: "This trial is called the Pioneers' Labyrinth."

Panhuo on the wall also, at this moment, muttered:

"Exactly! It's the Pioneers' Labyrinth! It's a logic lock fabricated from higher-dimensional spacetime structure!"

Even if it is a sixth-level initial-stage civilization, unlocking it would still require hundreds or even thousands of years!

Its tone carried a hint of schadenfreude.

"No matter how strange your power, faced with the wisdom crystal left by the pioneers, you can only stare helplessly! I advise you to just..."

Qin Hao didn't wait for it to finish, merely glancing at it lightly.

"Too noisy."

The next second, Rockfire discovered it could not make any sound.

It was forcibly "muted" by an invisible force.

Qin Hao then turned his gaze to Poison Flow, a faint smile on his face: "A labyrinth? Sounds interesting. Where is it? Take me to see."

Poison Flow immediately projected a three-dimensional star map, marking a distant coordinate.

"The labyrinth's main body lies in the Neutral Star Region. However, we can perform remote operation here via projection."

Speaking, a huge, complex holographic projection whose internal structure constantly shifted appeared at the center of the bridge.

That was a standard four-dimensional hypercube, also known as a "regular octachoron".

Each of its "faces" is a three-dimensional cube, its edges and vertices,

connected and twisted in a higher dimension in a way incomprehensible to mortals.

It was like a super Rubik's cube designed by a madman, with countless possible combinations.

Poison Flow explained: "The test is to take its chaotic internal structure, rearrange it, and restore it to its original 'perfectly symmetrical' form."

The stellar civilization's Rockfire, though unable to speak, had on its face,

yet showed a human-like mocking expression, waiting to see Qin Hao make a fool of himself.

Qin Hao stood up and walked slowly to the front of that massive holographic projection.

He did not rush to act, merely observing silently.

And deep within his consciousness, the system was scanning.

【Detecting high-dimensional geometric logic structure……】

【Beginning to parse four-dimensional space string vibration model……】

【Logic gate path scanning begins……】

【Reverse-engineering the initial state of "perfect symmetry"……】

【Deduction complete! A total of (7.62×10^108) wrong paths, among which one is the correct path.】

【Correct solution generated!】

The whole process took less than a second.

Qin Hao's mouth corner slightly rose.

Even the system's power is beyond comprehension; if he had to calculate it himself, it would take a century.

"So that's how it is…… interesting. This so-called 'pioneer' indeed has a couple of tricks in dimensional mathematics. Too bad they lack a cheat."

He reached out, began making a series of dazzling motions in the air toward that holographic projection.

His fingers sometimes plucked, sometimes rotated, sometimes intertwined,

as if conducting a silent symphony.

The main body of the "Pioneers' Labyrinth" far away, billions of light-years, began to undergo drastic changes as he moved.