Chapter 197: Starfire Forged Sword, Thorns of Defense

The countdown to the Doctor’s flagship’s approach rang like a death knell through the silent ruins. Fifteen standard hours! A cold, despairing chill nearly froze the air. Behind the gate, in the sealed chamber, the harmonious cycle of stardust crystals and a mysterious sapling emitted a warm glow of milky white and emerald green—the only beacon of hope in this land of despair.

Lingna stood before the open gate, her gaze darting rapidly between Lin Mo’s faint core on his chest, Liyana’s sleeping face, and the source of hope within the chamber. Zero’s alarm rang cold and shrill: “Spatial lockdown… complete… physical Tuwei … success rate… below 0.01%… only solution… activate… stardust crystals… attempt… enhance Lord Lin Mo… or… generate… energy barrier… delay time…”

Enhance Lin Mo? Or generate a barrier? Lingna’s heart pounded. Lin Mo’s core was so weak—forcefully flooding it with massive energy would be like detonating a bomb! Generate a barrier? But how long could it hold against the Doctor’s true form?

“Wrench…” Lingna’s gaze fell on the broken but still standing robot beside her, “Can you… connect to the hub… any remaining defense systems? Anything… usable!”

Wrench’s lone electronic eye flickered; its mechanical arm pointed to a shattered control console in the corner of the hall. “...Partial… wiring… functional… energy… insufficient…”

Insufficient energy! The key was still energy!

Lingna snapped her head toward the stardust crystals in the chamber. That vast, pure power… if… if it could be safely channeled…

Her right arm’s crystal hummed uncontrollably; the chaotic energy within stirred at the lure of the pure stardust, the engraved runes glowing faintly. But Lingna forcibly suppressed the urge to devour—last time, the lesson from the Spirit Source Crystal had been too painful. She needed a medium, a “vessel” capable of safely carrying and guiding the stardust’s power!

Her gaze swept the chamber, finally settling on the young green sapling growing symbiotically with the stardust crystals. The thorned crescent patterns… the mark of the Spirit Court… Liyana’s legacy…

A mad idea flashed through her mind like lightning!

“Zero! Analyze the sapling! Can its roots… serve as… a natural conduit… for energy? Connect… the stardust crystals… to… the hub’s… defense nodes?” Lingna’s voice trembled with desperate urgency.

Zero’s console immediately focused its scanning beam on the sapling. “Sapling… structure… contains… highly ordered… natural energy… roots… exhibit… superconducting properties… compatibility… with stardust energy… extremely high! Theoretically… feasible! But… risk… sapling may… not withstand… overload…”

Feasible! Even a single thread of hope!

Lingna no longer hesitated. “Wrench! Lead the way—to any functional defense nodes! Zero! Calculate the optimal… energy transmission path! Prepare… to channel!”

Wrench emitted an affirmative electronic tone; its lone tread groaned as it struggled to turn, moving toward the shattered control console. Zero’s data stream cascaded like a waterfall, computing the most efficient energy route.

Lingna took a deep breath and stepped into the chamber. Warm, pure energy enveloped her, slightly easing her fatigue and wounds. Carefully avoiding the sapling’s fragile stems and leaves, she gently pressed her crystallized right arm onto the vibrant emerald soil beneath the stardust crystals—where the sapling’s roots were thickest.

“Guide me… protect us all…” Lingna whispered inwardly, no longer attempting to devour, but focusing all her will on “channeling” and “resonance.” The emerald veins within her arm’s crystal glowed faintly, echoing the thorned crescent patterns on the sapling’s leaves. Simultaneously, she strained to recall the sensation from the Spirit Court’s stone hall—when Liyana had guided the array’s power: order, acceptance, unceasing life.

Hum—

The instant Lingna’s will, the ordered veins within her crystal, and the sapling’s ancient natural will resonated together, a transformation erupted!

The stardust crystals’ light instantly softened and obeyed! No longer scattering, it became a concentrated stream of milky-white energy, flowing swiftly yet gently down the sapling’s emerald roots! The sapling’s leaves swayed gently in the torrent—not destroyed, but thriving, their patterns coming alive, shimmering with emerald radiance!

Vast stardust energy, perfectly transformed by the sapling’s roots and preliminarily channeled through Lingna’s arm’s ordered veins, became a relatively gentle yet boundless torrent surging through her body toward her left arm! Her left arm was instantly wrapped in milky-white light; she felt as if her arm had become a pure conduit of energy!

“Now, Lingna! Target… defense node!” Zero’s electronic voice rang out!

Wrench had already torn open the shell of the shattered console with its broken mechanical arm, revealing several broken but still partially connected thick energy conduit interfaces. “...Here!”

Lingna did not hesitate. She plunged her left arm, wrapped in stardust light, straight into the interface Wrench indicated!

BOOM—!!!

Like a star-river breaking its dam! Vast stardust energy surged through Lingna’s body, transformed and channeled by the sapling, then blasted through the broken wiring into the Prism Hub’s long-dead defense network!

Hum! Hum! Hum!

The entire ruin seemed to awaken! Remaining energy nodes lit up one by one! Broken energy pipes erupted with blinding arcs of electricity! A few surviving emergency lights on the hall’s ceiling blazed with blinding white! Even more shocking—along the ruined edges of the hub’s core zone, several half-buried, twisted, and deformed automatic turret carcasses groaned as gears engaged, their barrels slowly lifting, charging with a deep blue glow!

A wobbling, unstable energy barrier, woven from debris and glowing with stardust light, formed like a vast, hole-riddled light cocoon, barely encompassing several hundred meters around the central hall! The barrier’s glow flickered erratically; many sections were thin as glass—but it existed!

“Barrier… generated! Strength… C-class… unstable… estimated… duration… less than… Doctor’s arrival time…” Zero analyzed rapidly, its data stream carrying a hint of resignation. This barrier could only delay—not stop.

Lingna swayed, the glow on her left arm fading slowly. Channeling such vast energy—even with the sapling as a buffer—left her mentally drained, her vision darkening in waves. But as she gazed at the faint yet persistent stardust curtain above, and at the dim indicator light on Wrench’s mechanical arm signaling the activated defense system, a bittersweet warmth swelled in her heart. At least, they had bought some time!

“Lingna!” Elly’s figure appeared like a ghost at the hall’s entrance. New wounds marred her body; her face was pale, but her eyes remained sharp. “Lower hangar… escape vessel… destroyed! Only… discovery…” She pointed into the ruins, “A… heavily damaged… but… engine core… seemingly intact… small… stardust-driven… experimental platform! Designation… ‘Starfire’!”

Starfire? Stardust-driven? Lingna and Zero’s gazes instantly brightened! Could it be…

Elly added quickly: “Platform… buried… under… massive debris… exterior… inaccessible… interior… unknown… energy… depleted…”

Hope! Another faint glimmer! But buried… energy depleted…

Lingna’s gaze returned to the stardust crystals in the chamber, still emitting their soft glow. The crystals’ light had dimmed slightly. The sapling looked weary, its leaves drooping.

“Energy…” Lingna’s voice was hoarse. The barrier needed energy to sustain. Starting the “Starfire” platform would need even more. How long could the stardust crystals last? Could the sapling endure a second energy extraction?

As everyone pondered how to allocate this precious energy—

BOOM—!!!

The entire Prism Hub debris shuddered violently—as if struck by an invisible hammer! The newly risen stardust barrier shrieked, its glow flickering wildly, thinning instantly!

Zero’s alarm pierced the air: “Warning! Suffering… long-range… energy strike! Barrier strength… plummeting to D-class! Source… Doctor’s flagship!”

“Detecting… multiple… landing craft… detaching from flagship… breaching… atmosphere! Target… this zone!”

“Estimated… ground contact… time… less than 10 standard hours!”

The Doctor’s strike came faster and harsher than expected! The final countdown had begun!