Chapter 1551: Night Moon 3.7 (565)

"Screw Gum looked at Black Tower's receding back as she kept moving forward: 'Black Tower, you should understand: the Galaxy will not stand by while a genius sacrifices herself—I am no exception.'"

"Black Tower's steps suddenly halted."

"She tilted her head slightly to glance at Screw Gum, the shadow of her hat brim obscuring her expression, revealing only her fair jawline and a slight upward turn at the corner of her lips."

"'Don't say such boring things. That's why we came here, isn't it? To find 'De Miu Ge,' that lost key. I have no interest in being a Savior. I only want to win—to win over 'Zandal,' and over the Machine Head.' Black Tower finally turned around, her gaze fixed on him, 'Now—I only care, are you willing to stand by my side?'"

"Screw Gum bowed elegantly: 'Of course. It's time to board, you go first.'"

"'Let us clean up this place and see what 'De Miu Ge' truly is. I hope this matrix is tidier than the junkyard where Emperor Three Generations was born.'"

"Mistletoe carried the two forward continuously; after passing through a long tunnel, the scenery behind them made even the experienced Black Tower unable to help but have her pupils tremble."

"'This...'"

"All that could be seen was debris, metal fragments, and shattered storage arrays floating everywhere. Massive components were misaligned, diagonally inserted into the void, with their cross-sections revealing dense pipes and various lines. Everything had come to stillness, like an explosion frozen at the moment of destruction."

"'Black Tower, this space... has been thoroughly polluted by some kind of energy.'"

"'I know. We are thinking the same thing.' Black Tower couldn't help but mutter, 'Zandal, you actually dared to do this to your own 'graveyard'...'"

"Suddenly, a semi-transparent barrier appeared ahead of the spaceship."

"'What is that ahead?'"

"'It's a Fourteen-Row Algebraic Formula Barrier. Used for 'isolation,' not defense.'"

"'In other words, the 'door' of the Great Tomb, right? Then I insist on seeing where the door handle is.'"

"'I have detected several independent signal sources, with data structures similar to the barrier. Hypothesis: we can hack into the Terminal, activate reverse computational power to launch an attack.'"

—

Spy x Family.

"'Is Black Tower Lady preparing to sacrifice herself?'"

"Lloyd felt a vague unease in his heart—this was the script from when the Astral Express headed to the Ocean Star Planet. Black Tower becoming Emperor Three Generations embarking on a bloodbath across the Galaxy?"

"No, that should be impossible... Even if Black Tower had prepared to sacrifice herself, things would not simply happen this way. Now the Astral Express travels along a 'correct' path, following Ailiou's script, and this ending is certain to avoid Black Tower's downfall."

"'Father, this place...' Anya tugged at his clothes, raised her hand, and pointed to the grim state within the De Miu Ge Matrix, '... did an explosion happen here?'"

"'It looks like Zandal conducted explosion experiments here... no, I should say he destroyed the Memorial Core's Inner Layer of the Scepter without hesitation to kill De Miu Ge, truly a madman. But this degree of destruction... how did he manage it?'"

"'It seems Zandal also wields a weapon of immense power.' Yuri said with a cold face, 'If he uses the weapon that strangled De Miu Ge against the Galactic Alliance, the Alliance will likely be utterly destroyed.'"

"'However, if war truly breaks out, Zandal certainly won't use those weapons—because Iron Tomb itself is the ultimate war weapon, even the war weapon that ends all 'war.'"

"'The war weapon that ends all 'war'?' Yor looked doubtfully at Lloyd, 'Does Iron Tomb really have such an effect?'"

"'Of course, as long as it succeeds in coronation, it will annihilate all life in the universe, down to the smallest unit of war, 'human,' and naturally there will be no more war.' Saying this, Lloyd felt a bitter pang in his heart, 'Speaking of which, compared to Iron Tomb, I suddenly feel the Company's weapons that casually destroy planets are all refined and elegant, even feeling underpowered—if only they could be stronger, more numerous...'"

"'Don't forget, in the Envoy conflicts, the Virtual Number Pulse Cannon was no different from fireworks.' Yuri reminded coldly, 'Don't place too much hope on the Galactic Alliance's artillery—it's likely the weakest force in this conflict.'"

—

"'Borrowing strength to counter strength, traditional but effective. Navigation to the nearest one.'"

"The two arrived at the nearest Terminal; after reversing computational power, the artillery fired a purple light beam toward the barrier."

"Seeing the barrier showed not even a hairline crack, Black Tower frowned slightly: 'Almost no response, indeed not as optimistic as hoped.'"

"'Single-point output power is only one-third of the required amount. Logic: we need more Terminals for joint attack, then locate the next target.'"

"'Any other discoveries?'"

"'Regarding the cause of this ruin: I found no logs, 'Zandal' erased all records. But in the loop, I discovered some... noteworthy 'scars.' Screw Gum paused, 'High-energy radiation, Virtual Number Internal Energy Pollution—based on my knowledge, only one phenomenon fully matches these descriptions.'"

"'Stop with the proper nouns, Screw Gum. That thing only has one name... Star Core.'"

"'Conclusion confirmed: 'Zandal' detonated a Star Core solely to thoroughly 'cleanse' the Scepter System.'"

"'So the so-called 'manual strangling' was actually this. To transform the neurons of intellect into a relay for the 'Destruction' iteration, he had no choice but to excise it...' Black Tower raised her head, scanning the floating architectural debris around her, 'The lifeform named 'De Miu Ge' was originally the computational target of the Scepter.'"

"'A reasonable hypothesis. 'Chang Ye Yue' calls it the 'Original Intelligence Seed,' which also supports this view. 'The First Cause of Life'—this was δ-me13's original responsibility, abandoned after, yet its solution continues. Although the value of this problem lies in the process of solving, not the answer itself...' Screw Gum shifted tone, 'Does this mean the hope of finding De Miu Ge has vanished?'"

"'No, in my view, quite the opposite.' Black Tower from the passage, 'This shows Zandal is helpless. He cannot control De Miu Ge, just as he cannot control the Machine Head, and can only exhaust every means to erase its existence.'"

"'Unfortunately, it still left traces.'"