Chapter 195

The instant Xiang Lingna’s crystal palm touched the charred rhombic interface, there was no earth-shattering explosion, no surging torrent of energy. Time seemed to freeze for an instant.

Immediately afterward, a cold, vast, galaxy-like torrent of complex information surged along her crystal arm and slammed into Xiang Lingna’s mind! It was not language, not images, but pure spatial coordinates, dimensional parameters, energy node schematics, and… countless shattered fragments of will, filled with despair and defiance!

【Coordinate locked… Star Sea… Third Arm… Wandering Star Region…】

【Dimensional parameters… offset… stability… critical…】

【Core furnace… overload… structural collapse…】

【Escape… must escape… for the… seed…】

【Warning! Spatial anchor… subjected to… unknown erosion… erosion source… pale…】

【Engine… failed… Ark… falling… Wang Ting… farewell…】

Countless chaotic coordinates, icy alarms, and desperate cries exploded in Xiang Lingna’s mind! She felt her skull stuffed inside a spinning, broken engine—pain so intense her vision darkened, nearly knocking her unconscious! This was the final recording of the ancient elf ark engine’s wreckage! The lament of Wang Ting’s destruction!

Meanwhile, the crystal on her right arm erupted with unprecedented light! Dark purple, emerald, and milky white flows spun wildly, compressed—those engraved runes ignited like activated circuits, blazing with blinding radiance! Within the crystal, the emerald speck originating from the new sprout of the dead tree now served as a stabilizer, struggling to guide the chaotic influx of spatial information, attempting to sort and integrate it!

“Ughhh—!” Xiang Lingna collapsed to her knees, clutching her head, screaming in agony. Her crystal arm burned like a red-hot iron; sparks flew violently where it connected to the interface! The entire thorned metal wreckage trembled slightly, emitting a low hum, while the starlight liquid on the platform churned violently as if boiling!

On the other side, Ai Li was locked in a desperate battle! More and more monsters surged from the starlight liquid—formless, composed entirely of viscous starlight; physical attacks had little effect, only precise energy beams could inflict damage. The shadow blades were elusive and impossible to defend against! Ai Li bore new wounds, her movements growing sluggish. She stood firm before Li Yana, like an unyielding rock.

“Lingna! Hold on!” Zero’s electronic voice carried rare urgency; the console unleashed full firepower, launching precise azure beams at the starlight monsters to relieve Ai Li’s pressure. “Information stream… is… stellar coordinates! Engine… attempting… to reboot anchor!”

Reboot the anchor? Xiang Lingna caught the key amid the pain and chaos! The wreckage was pouring coordinates into her—trying to make her… reposition? Activate this abandoned portal?

That thought was a spark in the darkness! Fighting through the agony threatening to split her skull, Xiang Lingna ceased passively absorbing the information stream. Instead, she focused all her will, cooperating with the emerald speck in her crystal arm, attempting to “understand” and “lock onto” the most central, most stable set of spatial coordinate data within the flow!

【Star Dust Sea… Third Arm… Wandering Star Region… Unknown Planet… Energy signature… stable… faint… Star Dust… resonance…】

Star Dust? Resonance? Brother Lin Mo’s Star Dust power?! Xiang Lingna’s spirit surged! The endpoint of this coordinate emitted an energy signature identical to Lin Mo’s Star Dust core! Could this be a clue to Lin Mo? Or… his very body?

Hope acted like an adrenaline shot! Xiang Lingna bit her tongue—pain sharpened her focus! She abandoned sorting all the data, instead directing her entire will like a drill, stabbing fiercely into the coordinate set radiating the faint Star Dust resonance! Guiding the wild chaotic energy in her crystal arm, mixed with the emerald speck’s orderly force, she violently “imprinted” it upon the core of the thorned metal wreckage!

“Lock it… NOW!!!”

Whrrrrm—!!!

Xiang Lingna’s crystal arm blazed with sunlight-bright radiance! The entire thorned metal wreckage shuddered violently! The charred rhombic interface at its core flared to life! A concentrated emerald beam, woven from countless tiny thorn runes and mingled with Xiang Lingna’s chaotic starlight aura, shot skyward, striking the “starfield” above—the cluster of azure crystal formations!

The crystal cluster, struck by the beam, ignited like a lighthouse, exploding in brilliant blue light! The glow flowed and converged across the dome, finally projecting at its center a rotating, elliptical portal composed of pure starlight—just wide enough for one person to pass through. Within the portal, bizarre scenes flickered: a ruin shrouded in Star Dust radiance!

“Spatial gate… stable! Target… locked! Duration… unknown!” Zero’s voice trembled with excitement.

Success! Xiang Lingna collapsed, exhausted; the glow of her crystal arm dimmed, the heat faded, yet the runes seemed deeper, more etched. She stared at the rotating star gate, hope swelling in her heart. Brother Lin Mo… might be behind that door!

“Ai Li! The gate’s open! Go!” Xiang Lingna struggled to her feet.

Ai Li saw the hope too. She took a shadow blade to her shoulder—a wound deep enough to see bone—and exploded forward, driving back the starlight monsters, snatching up Li Yana from the ground, and sprinting toward the star gate!

“Go!” Ai Li reached Xiang Lingna’s side, gesturing for her to enter first.

Xiang Lingna did not hesitate—she stepped into the rotating star gate. The familiar spatial distortion washed over her.

Ai Li followed close behind, carrying Li Yana as she plunged into the portal!

Zero’s console entered last. As the portal vanished, she seemed to catch, deep within the churning starlight liquid, a massive silhouette formed of pure starlight flickering briefly—a wave of ancient, weary intent: 【…guard… the seed…】

The star gate flickered several times, then shrank rapidly and vanished. The crystal cluster above dimmed; the platform fell silent once more, the starlight liquid only gently rippling—as if nothing had ever happened.

Seconds later.

Whrrr!

A far more terrifying, colder annihilation will—like a world-ending storm—violently tore through the crumbling energy barrier above the stone chamber and descended upon this wreckage space! The Doctor’s true will had finally arrived!

But here, only cold wreckage, rippling starlight, and silence remained.

【Escaped?】 The cold will swept across the entire space, laced with fury at being deceived. Finally, it fixed upon the center of the platform—the lingering energy trace left by Xiang Lingna’s crystal palm: a faint trace of chaotic energy… and a set of forcibly imprinted spatial coordinates, pointing clearly to the distant Star Dust Sea!

【Star Dust Sea… Wandering Star Region…】 The Doctor’s will captured the coordinates; his cold intent carried a mocking, all-controlling amusement. 【So… they fled there. Perfect. I shall reclaim the key… and the final vessel… together.】

The terrifying will receded like a tide, leaving only a dead relic behind.

Far away, in the unknown Star Dust Sea’s Wandering Star Region, within a ruin shrouded in Star Dust radiance, a faint spatial ripple spread. Three ragged figures and a hovering console tumbled onto the cold metal floor.

Xiang Lingna struggled to lift her head. Before her eyes: the familiar, battle-scarred, broken dome; massive server arrays toppled and askew; the air thick with the stench of burnt wiring and ozone.

Prism Nexus! They had returned here!

“Zero… sister?” Xiang Lingna called weakly.

Zero’s console floated upward, scanning the surroundings; its electronic voice carried a tremor of survival: “Location confirmed… Prism Nexus… outer edge of core zone…”

Ai Li gently laid Li Yana down, leaning against a broken metal support to catch her breath, tending to her several gruesome wounds—especially the shadow corruption on her ribs and shoulder, leaving her pale.

Xiang Lingna stared at her right arm’s crystal. The crystal now covered her shoulder; the engraved runes appeared more complex, profound. Within its flowing chaotic light, the emerald vein was clearly visible. Even more heart-pounding: in her mind, the Star Dust coordinate imprinted from the ancient engine’s wreckage now pulsed with a faint, persistent resonance—the source seemed to lie… deep within the Prism Nexus?

Is Lin Mo really here? Or… only his residual power?

At that moment, Zero’s alarm sounded again, more urgent than ever:

“Detecting… hyperspace fluctuation… origin… coordinates: outer edge of Star Dust Sea Third Arm… signature… matches… Doctor’s fleet!”

“Estimated arrival… in this star system… in less than 72 standard hours!”

Xiang Lingna and Ai Li’s faces turned instantly ashen. The Doctor… had followed them so fast?! They had barely escaped one ruin, only to fall into a larger trap? Was the Prism Nexus… a temporary refuge—or another meticulously laid trap?