Chapter 181: Embers of the Hub, Stardust Returns

Cold, deathly still, saturated with the smell of ozone and scorched metal.

Lingna's consciousness was like sinking to the bottom of a pitch-black, icy sea, unable to feel her body's existence; only a faint glimmer of light wavered in the depths of her soul—that was Lin Mo's stardust will, guarding her last vestige of being.

She did not know how long it had been when a cold touch roused her from her deep coma. She struggled to "open" her perception, and what met her "gaze" was a scene of wrecked metal ruins.

She was lying on a pile of twisted, deformed metal pipes and shattered electronic components. Above her was a ruptured dome flickering with electric sparks; a few strands of dim light, filtering in from somewhere unknown, illuminated the surroundings. The air was thick with the smell of rust, burnt residue, and… a faint tang of blood. This place had clearly been through a brutal devastation.

The Prism Hub… core region? But utterly unlike the futuristic metropolis core brimming with precise technological elegance in her memory, this place looked more like a junkyard trampled by some giant beast. Massive server arrays leaned at crazy angles, trailing bluish smoke; coolant pipes had burst, pooling into sticky puddles on the ground; holographic projection equipment lay shattered and scattered everywhere.

The cocoon of chaotic light that had wrapped her was gone. She tried moving her fingers—a tearing, searing pain shot through her, but her body truly existed! No longer an illusory perception! She struggled to sit up and looked down at herself.

Most of the charred, carbonized skin had peeled away, revealing beneath it newly grown skin with an unnatural pallor and faint dark-purple patterns. At the stump of her right arm, there were no longer energy tendrils; in their place was the embryonic form of an "arm" condensed from dark-purple energy, translucent as crystal, yet radiating a cold, annihilating aura. Inside her body, that newly born chaotic power had not vanished, but lay dormant like a sleeping volcano in the depths of her meridians—faint, yet extraordinarily condensed, carrying an unprecedented sense of "mastery."

She had survived. She had survived the smelting of the Sacred Tree Core and the Doctor's killing blow, sent back to the Prism Hub by High Priestess Thalande at the cost of her own life.

"Brother Lin Mo…" Lingna called softly, a hint of dread in her voice. She could feel that the wisp of stardust light Lin Mo had used to guard the core of her consciousness had grown extremely faint, as if it might go out at any moment. The fusion with the Sacred Tree Core and the final eruption had cost him far too much.

Just then, a weak, intermittent electronic synthesized voice drifted from deep within the ruins, laced with the hiss of static:

"…Detected…biological signal…Lingna…identity confirmed…"

"…Energy signature…high-dimensional chaos…annihilation variant…threat level…recalculating…"

"…Hub core…damage level 89%…energy reserves…3%…defense systems…offline…"

"…Zero…primary consciousness…logic core…damaged…attempting reboot…"

It was Zero's voice! But no longer in that cold, precise tone from before—instead, filled with chaotic static and a halting, feeble quality.

Lingna followed the sound, stumbling past collapsed metal supports and broken conduits, until she reached the remains of a relatively intact control console. The main screen of the console was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, but still stubbornly flickered with a faint blue glow. On the screen, Zero's silver-haired girl holographic projection was extremely unstable, like a TV picture with bad reception, flickering in and out of existence; the pale-blue data streams that composed her body were also intermittent.

"Sister… Zero?" Lingna's heart tightened at the sight of Zero's condition. The Prism Hub had clearly suffered a devastating blow from the Doctor after she left! Was it retaliation for Zero's earlier "Paradox Spear" interference? Or to cut off Lingna's retreat?

"Lingna…welcome…back…" Zero's projection struggled to focus, her inorganic eyes looking at Lingna as data streams flickered wildly, seemingly analyzing her current state. "Your energy…state…peculiar…database…no match…Lord Lin Mo…life signal…faint…attached to you…"

"The Doctor…he destroyed this place?" Lingna asked in a hoarse voice, looking at the surrounding ruins.

"Negative…Hub damage…primary cause…internal overload…" Zero's projection wavered. "Executing…hyper-dimensional data interference protocol…Paradox Spear…attacking the Doctor…logic core…suffered unknown…annihilation countermeasure…logic conflict…triggered…core meltdown…"

A barely perceptible note of "confusion" and "frustration" crept into Zero's voice. Her most powerful logical weapon had actually been countered by the Doctor in a way she could not comprehend, and had gravely wounded herself in the process! For an absolutely rational AI, this was undoubtedly a tremendous shock.

"Sister Ai Li… Glorna… Priestess Liyana… what about them?" Lingna asked urgently.

"Information…insufficient…" Zero's projection flickered. "Before hyper-dimensional interference…cut off…final image…Elven Glade…suffering…large-scale…corrupted legion…siege…Sister Ai Li's signal…once briefly…active at…edge of battlefield…others…unknown…"

Sister Ai Li was at the Elven Glade? Lingna's heart tightened, but at least it meant she was still alive! Sister Liyana… recalling the final collapse of the Sacred Tree Core, Lingna's heart sank.

"Warning…" Zero's voice suddenly became urgent. "Detected…high-dimensional space…tracking beacon…currently…locking onto this coordinate!"

"Beacon source…signature code…the Doctor!"

"Estimated…lock-on completion…time…less than…3 standard hours!"

Lingna's whole body stiffened, as if plunged into an ice cave! The Doctor's pursuit… had come this fast?! In the Prism Hub's current state, there was no way they could resist!

Despair closed in once more. She had just barely escaped with her life, her power had yet to recover, her only sanctuary had become ruins, and the Doctor's shadow hung over her like a persistent ghost…

"Analyzing…escape routes…" Zero's projection ran calculations frantically, data streams boiling over. "Plan A: Activate…backup jump engine…target: random plane…success rate: 7%…failure consequence: spatial disintegration…"

"Plan B: Infiltrate…deep-layer data ruins…hide…success rate: 18%…the Doctor possesses…high-level clearance…will eventually be discovered…"

"Plan C: …"

Zero's voice suddenly paused. Her projection abruptly turned toward another small, dust-covered, relatively intact screen on the control console. On the screen was displayed a file marked "Top Secret/Incomplete," its title clearly reading—"Project Ark: Stardust Sanctuary Concept Diagram."

At the center of the image was a design for a small space station, suspended in the sea of stars, composed of countless intricate geometric structures. At the station's core was an energy source radiating a soft stardust glow. A line of small text below the design read: "…Utilizing Lord Lin Mo's stardust crystallization properties…establish a small sanctuary independent of the Myriad Worlds Network…isolate all tracking…"

"Plan C…" Zero's projection turned to Lingna, and in those inorganic eyes seemed to flash a sliver of extremely faint, distinctly "human" light of resolve. "Activate…Lord Lin Mo's…residual stardust…"

"Combine…with the newborn chaotic energy…inside you…"

"Using the Hub's…residual energy as fuel…"

"Forcibly construct…a temporary…Stardust Sanctuary!"

"Success rate…incalculable…risk level…annihilation-grade…"

Lingna looked at the sanctuary design radiating stardust light on the screen, and felt the chaotic power dormant within her and Lin Mo's faint yet tenacious stardust will.

Construct… a Stardust Sanctuary? Using her and Brother Lin Mo's power?

She raised her head, looked at Zero's projection filled with uncertainty, and on her scorched face, for the first time, appeared an expression that mingled exhaustion and fear, yet was incomparably resolute.

"Tell me… what do I need to do!"