Chapter 253: Crystal Fragments

In fact, Yu Sheng still had many more questions in his heart, and he could feel that Baili Qing was concealing some more critical secrets: for instance, exactly how did this massive "anchor" of Border City control the entire Borderland at depth L-0? What were the specific operating mechanisms and construction processes of this anchor? For instance, in what specific aspects would excessively high and rapid technological development affect the stability of this "anchor," and what principles lay behind this? Furthermore, what state was the Borderland in before this "anchor" of Border City took shape...

After all, this city did not appear out of thin air; it must have had a process of establishment and perfection. Judging by the details revealed in Baili Qing's words, the Borderland must have once truly experienced a chaotic period where the average depth far exceeded L-0—could it be that there were human indigenous people in the Borderland back then? And did these indigenous people even find a way to use the "anchor" to pull their homeland from the deep layers up to L-0?

This sounded incredible, because a common sense known to all was that only at depth L-0 could rational races survive for long periods. If the Borderland truly had such a chaotic period with a depth exceeding zero level, then it would be impossible for a large number of humans to survive there.

He hesitated for a moment, but still decided to ask.

But facing his questions, Baili Qing only shook her head.

"Regarding the history before the establishment of Border City, the recorded parts are very, very few. Even the history for a period after Border City was established seems very chaotic. We seem to have rebuilt this place from a pile of ruins, but why it became a ruin at that time remains a mystery—perhaps, as many scholars speculate, that history was 'stuck' at the time point of the Second Singularity Outbreak. You should still remember the history of the destruction and rebirth of this world that I told you about.

"At the moment of the universe's rebirth, everything in the world was smashed and reorganized once, which led to many... 'historical legacy issues,' historical legacy issues in the literal sense.

"So this also indirectly gave birth to the 'Archaeological Association,' a group of scholars obsessed with archaeological research who acted in groups, eventually developing into a massive power entity. They constantly excavated in the most bizarre and unstable spacetime collapse points, trying to repair the missing histories of various races or find evidence of the existence of certain civilizations—the Bamosa people and the Senjin people are their largest shareholders, and the Special Operations Bureau, because it controls a large amount of information from other realms and possesses a huge trading platform and containment warehouse for strange objects, also maintains close contact with them."

Baili Qing stopped speaking here. She gazed somewhat absent-mindedly at the endless darkness outside the connecting bridge, her tone carrying a hint of emotion: "Tracing one's roots is the instinct of 'civilization.' The Archaeological Association is dedicated to finding the fragments of civilization left by the old world, and for many years has been searching for an ancient ruin complex they call the 'Lost Deep Lake.' Scholars in the Borderland have also been trying to repair the history before the establishment of Border City, wanting to piece together what this place we call 'homeland' looked like before... I am not an expert in this area, but I have always held these people in awe."

Yu Sheng listened silently beside her. He actually found it hard to feel any reality in what Baili Qing said because he was not a "person of the Borderland," but he knew he should respect this emotion. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a bit emotional—

He felt that the "Creator" who caused the "Second Singularity Outbreak"... had somewhat tacky craftsmanship.

Of course, he knew it was inappropriate to say this. After all, the entire universe has continued to exist to this day because of the Second Singularity Outbreak—just think of Anka Ela's homeland; it's gone. Compared to that, what more could one ask for?

While muttering this in his heart, Yu Sheng had already arrived before the massive cubic "building."

The gray-white concrete walls had no decorations, bringing a suffocating sense of oppression at extremely close range. A long connecting bridge led straight to one of the cube's vertices. The entrance gate at the end of that long bridge was actually very wide, even wide enough for two or three cars to drive in side by side—but in front of the entire cube, it still looked as small as a gap prepared for ants.

Yu Sheng found it hard to imagine how this thing was built in the first place, or how it managed to stay floating in this dark space; it was definitely another piece of "high technology" in the Special Operations Bureau's hands.

Under Baili Qing's lead, the gate opened, and Yu Sheng, carrying Erin on his shoulder, stepped into this "containment facility."

Before them was a spacious corridor, with sentry posts at regular intervals, sentry machine guns and detectors mounted on the roof, and surveillance equipment everywhere.

Fully armed reception personnel appeared. After exchanging a few words with Baili Qing, they silently led the way ahead.

All the way, Yu Sheng curiously observed this place.

He noticed that the feeling inside the entire containment facility was just like its appearance—huge concrete components, cold and hard lines, various surfaces lacking decoration. The colors of the building itself were almost only white and various shades of gray, to the extent that the black armor worn by the armed guards became the most eye-catching "color" here.

This cold, hard, and colorless feeling gave Yu Sheng a strong sense of déjà vu, but before he could open his mouth, Erin on his shoulder suddenly looked up and blurted out to Baili Qing: "This place has no color at all—just like you."

Baili Qing, however, did not mind the doll's somewhat impolite complaint. Instead, she explained with a flat expression: "'Color' is a medium for concealment and illusion. Some containment objects use color to transmit their power, or even use color to break free from control. This 'container' has been specifically reinforced against this type of containment object. As for you saying this place feels similar to me... it's just a coincidence."

"The Angel Fragment has a tendency to use color to break free from control?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.

"Not exactly. Currently, no tendency for 'escape' has been discovered in it," Baili Qing shook her head. "It's just that the protection level here is high enough, and it comes with a fully functional laboratory that can be activated at any time, so it was sent here."

While they were speaking, they had already stopped in front of a gray-white alloy gate. After a large number of tedious and rigorous identification and handover procedures, that gate finally slowly opened.

Inside was a structure similar to an airlock, with a second door on the opposite side.

But just as Yu Sheng was preparing to walk in, the reception personnel suddenly stepped forward to block him, then turned to look at Baili Qing. A somewhat muffled voice came from under the thick protective helmet: "Director, does the visitor need extra protection?" "No need," Baili Qing shook her head. "This fragment was brought down by him."

Through the thick protective helmet, Yu Sheng could not see the expression on the reception personnel's face, but he clearly noticed the other person's body stiffen. Then the other person just stood there stunned for two or three seconds before very unnaturally lowering his hand and stepping back two paces.

"Let me emphasize again, I didn't bring it down; it just didn't want to live..."

Yu Sheng muttered to Baili Qing, but the latter had already stepped forward: "I know, but saying it that way is convenient."

Yu Sheng pouted and followed her inside.

After passing through the second gate, the real laboratory finally came into view.

The lights were bright, but various places similarly lacked color. The spacious room was filled with many advanced pieces of equipment whose purposes were incomprehensible. In the center of the room was a complex circular platform. At the corresponding position on the ceiling above the circular platform hung a mechanical structure, the end of which seemed to integrate a large number of analysis and monitoring devices.

There were also several staff members wearing heavy protective suits waiting in the laboratory.

Yu Sheng's gaze passed over those staff members, and he immediately noticed the... "sample" placed in the center of the circular platform.

It was a piece of white translucent crystal, irregular in shape, about the size of three fists.

It lay there on the table, quiet and still, looking harmless to man and beast.

No mistake, one sentence, one release, one content, one look inside!

Yu Sheng suddenly felt that his earlier concerns told to Baili Qing were correct—just such a white translucent stone that looked harmless to man and beast, if placed by the roadside, truly no one would think it was debris fallen from the "Dark Angel." If some unlucky person with an innate constitution for courting death happened to pick it up automatically and forgot to turn it off, walking past might truly lead to casually shoving it into a pocket...

Of course, shoving something this big into a pocket casually would also be quite difficult; it would require a rather large pocket.

Yu Sheng curiously walked over. Under the gaze of several staff members around him, which was so tense it was even a bit terrifying, he stared at the crystal up close for a long time, then turned his head to mutter to the doll on his shoulder: "Can you tell anything from it?"

"What can you tell from this? It's just a rock," Erin shook her head. "There is some weak energy release... the intensity is not even as good as the two chickens Hu Li raises."

A researcher, hearing the doll on Yu Sheng's shoulder suddenly speak, instinctively looked over here with some shock, but quickly withdrew his gaze and nodded to Baili Qing: "We indeed detected that this crystal is continuously releasing weak energy fluctuations outward, and its readings have remained quite stable over the past few hours, but the intensity of this 'radiation' is very low and basically harmless to humans."

Baili Qing nodded: "Anything else? What other discoveries are there currently?"

"There is also... this, which is its strangest characteristic." As the researcher spoke, he took a tray from a container on a nearby lab bench and handed the contents of the tray to Baili Qing.

It was another piece of crystal fragment—its texture and color looked very similar to the large crystal on the circular platform, only the luster was slightly dimmer, and the volume was only the size of a little finger.

"What is this?" Baili Qing asked.

"Secondary crystal," the researcher explained. "It was 'transformed' from the mother crystal. The fragment before your eyes was just a rock rich in silicon dioxide half an hour ago."

Baili Qing's expression became serious.

"Are you saying... it assimilates surrounding matter?"

(End of this chapter)