Chapter 401: Undercurrents Surging

After being transformed into a Force Body, Elton could never betray Li Yu.

But before seeing Li Yu's true body, he did not know what kind of "great mountain" loomed over his head.

As the aftershocks of the battle around them dissipated, noises gradually drifted over from the distance. It was likely Black Market members coming to investigate what had happened here.

Elton buried his doubts deep in his heart and vanished from the scene.

...

Within the base, Li Yu opened his eyes. Bursts of sharp pain immediately pierced his forehead; it was the consequence of severely depleting his Mental Power.

Massaging his brows, he took out the Virtual Glasses and put them on, discovering that he only had about 17% of his Mental Power remaining.

'Looking at it this way makes things much clearer...' Li Yu muttered.

...

Sandstorms swept across the earth, cloaking everything in a hazy veil of dust and grit.

The squad members of the White Death Resistance Army were setting up various mechanical instruments.

The graceful Della operated the complex equipment, the Micro Hard Drive inserted into it:

"The coordinate location should be right here in the Subterranean Cavern of this planet."

A short squad member who looked like a Goblin manipulated another screen for a moment before frowning and saying, "The survey map is out, but something doesn't seem quite right."

A complex Subterranean Cavern was displayed on the screen, extending in all directions. At a glance, it was quite large in scale.

"This looks like it was artificially excavated; it doesn't seem like a natural karst cave..." The Goblin squad member's doubts deepened. "Could the entrance to Gensokyo really appear in a place like this?"

"Anything is possible. Let's dig and see first," Della said calmly. "Have the spaceship deploy the Multi-functional Drill Machine. We're going down."

"Why deploy a drill machine? Let me handle it! I can get it done in one punch!" Yodel hollered loudly, rolling up his sleeves and preparing to get to work.

"Scram!" Della's face darkened as she roared, "If you throw a punch, the whole planet will be gone! How are we supposed to investigate then!?"

Yodel froze for a moment, then laughed awkwardly. "That seems to be true..."

The spaceship passed through the high-altitude sandstorm, hovering a hundred meters above and dropping down a Multi-functional Drill Machine.

Its outer armor was covered in colorful, wild graffiti, resembling an Interstellar Drifter Aesthetic.

The group boarded the drill machine. Following the indications of the Detection Radar, they broke through the soil and dove all the way down, rapidly approaching the Subterranean Cavern on the map.

Because these underground ruins had existed for so long, tectonic shifts had made their structure extremely unstable, meaning there was a general risk of collapse.

While drilling into the earth, they also had to reinforce the surrounding rock layers to avoid a sudden cave-in.

Whoosh!

Soon, the tip of the drill machine finally penetrated the rock layer and entered an open space.

All the squad members stepped off, turned on their searchlights, and observed the surrounding environment.

This place was a subterranean cave bearing the marks of artificial excavation, with a height of about seven or eight meters.

At the end of the cave stood a massive, brass-colored Mechanical Altar.

"Is that the entrance to Gensokyo?" Yodel asked, pointing at the metal altar.

Even though she had long anticipated her Boss's IQ, Della still felt somewhat speechless and said:

"Gensokyo is a Half-Dimensional World. Why would a physical object like this be used as an entrance..."

"Moreover, that's an altar. Boss, how on earth did you associate it with an entrance?"

"Oh... so that's how it is..." Yodel said thoughtfully.

The Goblin teammate trotted over, took out an instrument to scan the metal altar, and muttered:

"It's well-preserved, without many signs of rusting. It's made of a high-strength alloy material. The exact time of its existence is hard to estimate."

"According to the rough detection results, the synthesis technology for this material is very high, but there's no matching material record in the database..."

Hearing this, everyone's expressions grew even more puzzled. Someone had built this altar here, and the civilization level of those who constructed it was not low.

"Della, I feel like something isn't right," someone said in a low voice, frowning as they examined their surroundings.

"Don't worry, you have me! You can explore with peace of mind!" Yodel roared with his loud voice.

This time, Della did not retort. Although her Boss's intelligence was questionable, his muscles were the real deal, providing a full sense of security.

"Let's explore the surroundings first and deal with that altar last," Della instructed.

Someone walked up to the altar, wiped off the dust on it, and had the Translator read the text inscribed there. The result was unrecognizable.

"There's no record of this kind of text in the database..."

"This place wasn't built that long ago, yet it uses an unrecorded script. It looks more like the Runes from the Radiant Council..."

The group chatted while exploring but found no danger. Eventually, they all gathered around the Mechanical Altar.

In the center of the brass-colored Mechanical Altar, a square prism about three or four meters high was embedded in a groove. It was completely transparent and smooth as a mirror.

It looked somewhat like a crystal material, but scans showed it was a metal. On one of its faces, there was an embossed section featuring a display screen, which was currently pitch black.

"Is there any Energy Reaction?" Della asked.

"Let me see... Hmm, absolutely none. The energy inside is probably depleted." A teammate looked at Della:

"Should we try it?"

Della hesitated slightly. Ever since they found this hard drive in an important base of the Aura Civilization, they had embarked on the journey to find these coordinates.

Gensokyo was extremely important to them. As a Resistance Organization, they did not have the profound foundation of the Reformers.

However, their style of action was very radical, which resulted in them being severely encircled and suppressed.

Once they found Gensokyo and possessed that mobile base, they would be almost invincible.

But having reached this point, she vaguely sensed that something was amiss. Everything here reeked of strangeness; it didn't look at all like a coordinate location where Gensokyo would appear.

Yet they had gone through untold hardships to arrive here. If they just left like this, she would be very unwilling.

Thinking of this, she looked at Yodel not far away. The majestic Yodel also looked at her and nodded calmly.

"Don't worry, I've got everything covered."

Even though she was speechless at this unreliable Boss, warm currents couldn't help but surge in Della's heart at this moment. She took a deep breath:

"Connect the Energy Core! Prepare for injection!"

Many members quickly sprang into action. Some directly pulled an Energy Conduit and connected it to the body of a certain Mechanical Cyborg among them.

Although they seemed few in number, this kind of task couldn't employ too many people to begin with. These people were all core members of the White Death Resistance Army, possessing impressive strength!

The Energy Conduit lit up, transmitting energy into the Transparent Crystal within the brass altar, and the area around the altar also lit up with a faint glow.

The unknown text inscribed on it radiated brilliance, projecting in mid-air and swirling around the entire altar in an exceptionally magnificent display.

As the energy increased, the Transparent Crystal slowly floated up, emitting a dazzling light.

Boom!

A blinding Light Beam shot out from the altar, piercing through the heavens and the earth, rushing straight into the Starry Sky.

The crowd looked at that thick Light Beam, their faces reflecting pale light, and then their pupils violently contracted.

"Not good!"

They saw that the heaven-piercing Light Beam seemed to have hit something it couldn't break through. It actually folded back down, and it was even thicker than before!

Right at this moment, a figure flew across the sky. Waving a thick arm, he forcefully altered the direction of the returning Light Beam, causing it to disappear into the Starry Sky.

That Mechanical Cyborg also cut off the energy supply, and the Light Beam shot from the Mechanical Altar gradually dissipated.

Everyone's expressions were solemn. Seeing this, they realized that things were quite wrong.

"Let's go!" Della acted resolutely and vigorously, immediately preparing to lead everyone away.

Yodel, who had just landed, was still a bit dumbfounded, not knowing what had happened.

"Why are we suddenly leaving? Aren't we looking for Gensokyo anymore?"

Since he had just helped everyone avert danger, Della patiently explained:

"There's a problem with this place, and there's a problem with those coordinates. There must be something unusual behind this."

"Ah?" Yodel's brain circuits couldn't quite keep up. He scratched his head and asked, "What's the problem? Wasn't that Light Beam just now the key to opening Gensokyo?"

"How many times have I told you? Gensokyo is a Half-Dimensional World. It can't be accessed through other..." Della suddenly paused mid-sentence. She abruptly turned her head to look at the Mechanical Altar, her expression changing continuously.

"Haha, I guessed right, didn't I?" Yodel looked at the contemplative Della, feeling somewhat happy.

"If you guessed right, then this matter is even more troublesome..." Della sighed. "A faction capable of opening Gensokyo actually left the 'key' here..."

The expressions of the other teammates weren't looking too good either. Only Yodel blinked and said straightforwardly, "No matter how much trouble there is, I can break it with one punch..."

Della shook her head and said, "You aren't invincible yet, otherwise we wouldn't have traveled millions of miles to come here."

"Let's go. We'll wait and see what happens next..."

The group left the area. Regarding that brass altar, Della hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn't touch it in the slightest.

Not long after they left, a figure suddenly appeared there, using a voice only he himself could hear, "Yodel... you all shouldn't have gotten involved."

...

On the surface of a certain Barren Planet, a bare-chested fellow was bound and kneeling on an execution platform, at his last gasp, unable to move.

His current condition was extremely poor. There was a certain kind of energy within his body that was constantly destroying his regenerating cells, maintaining his heavily injured state. He had essentially lost all combat capability and could not break free from his restraints.

And above this Barren Planet, there were two figures sitting upright on Hovering Metal Seats.

They raised their wine glasses, spaced about a meter apart, looking down at the bound prisoner below.

Li Yu downed the liquid in his wine glass in one gulp. Looking at the person beside him, he teased, "Why does Your Royal Highness Titus have the mood to invite me to watch the execution of a criminal today?"

The person below was a heavy criminal of Return Star, and an Execution Ritual was about to be carried out on him right now.

Quite a few camera lenses were floating around, broadcasting the event live. Such protagonists were rare; most prisoners were executed in silence.

Criminals like this were generally involved in major crimes, or their own influence was very high, which was why the execution was broadcasted externally.

On one hand, it was to make an example of someone; on the other hand, it was also to promote the prestige of Return Star.

"Just watch..." Titus shook his head, taking a tiny sip of the liquid from his wine glass.

And in front of the criminal, the remote projection of an official stood before the cameras, loudly reading from a prepared speech.

The content of the speech was declaring that person's crimes. This guy's status was not low; he was the Commander of the Flamingo Fleet, a fleet of several thousand ships, and he himself was an A-class lifeform.

The first charge was the crime of treason against civilization, followed by the trafficking of military materials, bribery, and endangering public security...

There was a string of over a dozen charges, but the later ones were all harmless—which high-level official didn't have a bit of that?

The most important ones were still the first two. It was precisely because of those two charges that he was now going to be executed.

"No matter how high your status, no matter how strong your strength, if you harm the fundamental interests of civilization, there is only this one end." Only then did Titus speak, his words laden with profound meaning.

Only then did Li Yu realize that this was Titus's ultimatum.

Obviously, this Highness believed he had a handle on Li Yu and had victory firmly in his grasp.

"I admire you. You are a rare talent. I also understand that you have no sense of belonging to Return Star, but I don't care about that..." Titus looked down at the person below.

That guy was roaring something, roughly along the lines of—

"I have bled for Return Star..."

"I want to see Majesty Digor..."

And other such words.

"A sense of belonging is too illusory. I can give you benefits. Enter my command, and I can let bygones be bygones." Titus coveted Li Yu.

Even now, he could still offer the condition of "letting bygones be bygones."

Of course, handing over the Heart of the Titan was definitely the unspoken subtext.

If Li Yu was truly driven into a dead end, he might consider it, but right now he just shrugged and shook his head, saying, "Your Highness, the execution isn't over yet..."

At this time, the declaration of crimes had reached its end. That official looked awe-inspiringly righteous as he said in a deep voice:

"...In response to the above crimes, the Supreme Court of Return Star has decided to erase Sanchez Pente's vital signs. To be executed immediately!"

Having said that, the remote projection disappeared. And not far away, a Main Ship-class battleship was already prepared. Its Energy Circuits deployed, and the Main Cannon began to charge, filling with piercingly bright light.

Rumble—

In the next moment, world-destroying energy surged forth, filling every inch of sight!

A brilliant light bloomed on the surface of the planet, closely followed by the formation of a dazzling semi-circular mass of energy that expanded rapidly, kicking up dust at the edges of the light dome.

When the energy mass expanded to its limit, the massive ball of light instantly contracted into a single point, then exploded violently, leaving the area completely empty.

And the entire planet now looked like an apple with a bite taken out of it.

As for that criminal, not even his corpse remained.

"Good shot!" Li Yu praised, then shook his head, half-joking and half-serious as he said, "If you want to execute me, this one shot isn't enough."

Hearing this, Titus furrowed his brows deeply, his voice involuntarily growing heavier, "This is your last chance!"

"Hehe..." Li Yu chuckled twice, his eyes like an ancient well without ripples. "Then I can only thank you for your kind intentions."

After saying this sentence, Li Yu disappeared from his seat. He had also come as a projection, leaving only Titus alone to look at the "apple" below.

(End of this chapter)