Chapter 201: Star Dust Remnants, Ark Wreckage

No sound, no light, not even the sensation of weightlessness—only a terrifying tearing force, as if an invisible giant hand had seized her and hurled her violently outward. Xiang Lingna’s consciousness, like a solitary boat in a furious space current, was torn, crushed, and spun, leaving only a single stubborn resolve—to protect her companions—to hold her together.

Time lost all meaning. It felt as if eons had passed, yet also only an instant.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heavy impacts and bone-chilling cold jolted Lingna out of chaos. Her body felt as if it had been torn apart and reassembled; every bone groaned, and the crystal in her right arm sent searing pain through her—cracks had deepened. She struggled to open her heavy eyelids.

Before her was no longer the cold metal ruins of the Prism Hub, but a… unfamiliar world shrouded in starlight dust.

The sky was a deep ink-blue, devoid of sun, moon, or stars—only countless tiny particles, emitting a soft milky-white glow, drifted everywhere, like a frozen river of stars—the hallmark of the Star Dust Sea. Faint light illuminated the land: a desolate plain littered with massive metal debris and crystallized rock. Cold winds howled, whipping up radiation-laced, icy sand.

She lay on a relatively flat surface covered in black gravel. Not far away, Ali knelt on one knee, coughing violently, her blood staining the black sand with startling vividness; the shadow- Qinshi wounds on her ribs and shoulder appeared even more grotesque under the starlight dust. Liyana lay silently beside Ali, still unconscious, but her complexion was no longer ashen, and the crystals on her forehead and chest had grown still—as if the space storm had severed the Doctor’s remote suppression.

Lin Mo stood nearby, facing away from them, gazing up at this alien sky. The intense glow from his starlight crystal had receded, yet his upright figure still radiated a powerful starlight pressure, like a divine pillar anchoring the sea. Ling’s control console hovered beside him, its pale blue scanning beams sweeping the surroundings with a faint hum.

“Where… are we?” Lingna pushed herself up, her voice hoarse and dry.

“Star Dust Sea… Nomad Zone… X-7 Resource Planet…” Lin Mo turned, his face still pale, but his eyes deep and sharp, as if holding entire star oceans. “The space jump… succeeded… but the Hub… disintegrated.” He gestured to the scattered metal fragments around them—remnants of the Prism Hub’s core chamber. The largest piece lay dozens of meters away, still bearing the imprint of the vault door.

“Cost…” Ling’s electronic voice echoed, tinged with the tremor of survival, “Space collapse… consumed… 97% of energy… Hub fragments… completely annihilated… Coordinates… Star Dust Sea X-7… confirmed… but planetary environment… scan results… hostile… atmosphere… oxygen levels low… radiation… moderate… unknown… life signals… weak…”

Hostile environment… unknown life signals… Lingna’s heart tightened. They had escaped the Doctor’s grasp—but now they had crashed into this alien zone, with no future in sight.

“Brother Lin Mo… your power…” Lingna looked at Lin Mo, then at her own cracked right-arm crystal.

“Temporarily stabilized.” Lin Mo walked to Lingna’s side, knelt down, and gently brushed his warm palm over the cracks in her crystal. A pure, gentle stream of starlight energy flowed in—cooling, soothing—the pain eased slightly. “Starlight crystal power is immense, but it requires time to assimilate. You… did well, Lingna.” His gaze held approval—and a faint, almost imperceptible tenderness.

Lingna’s nose stung; tears nearly fell. She turned to Ali: “Sister Ali… your wound…”

“I won’t die.” Ali gritted her teeth, binding her rib wound tightly with torn cloth, trying to stem the black blood seeping out—but the shadow- Qinshi spread like a living thing, slowly creeping forward. She looked up at Lin Mo, her cold eyes asking: “What’s next?”

Lin Mo stood, his gaze fixed on the depths of the wasteland. “Ling detected weak life signals… and…” He raised his hand, pointing toward the horizon. “There… strong energy residues… and… massive… metallic structures… their signature… highly similar to ancient Elf Ark engines!”

All turned to follow his gaze. On the horizon, bathed in starlight dust, a colossal, mountain-like silhouette loomed—clearly not natural rock, but the ruin of some immense construct! Its design matched precisely the thorn-metal engine wreckage deep within the Elf King Court ruins!

“Could it be… a complete… Ark wreckage?” Ling’s electronic voice trembled slightly.

Hope! New hope! If ancient Elf technology remained intact here, perhaps they could find a cure for Liyana, purge Ali’s shadow- Qinshi , even repair Lingna’s right arm! Perhaps even a way out!

At that moment, Ling’s control console blared an urgent alarm: “Warning! Detected… high-energy… space fluctuation… origin… low planetary orbit! Signature… matches… Doctor’s fleet… reconnaissance vessel!”

Lingna and Ali’s faces turned instantly ashen! So soon?! The Doctor’s pursuers had already arrived?!

Lin Mo’s eyes sharpened instantly; starlight energy surged through his body. “Prepare for battle… or… infiltrate!” He stared at the massive Ark wreckage silhouette on the horizon. “Go there! That is our… only… chance!”

The group forced their weary, wounded bodies to rise, leaning on each other. Ali hoisted Liyana onto her back; Lin Mo supported the frail Lingna; Ling’s console hovered, alert. Under the faint starlight dust, their figures cast long shadows across the desolate black plain—tiny, insignificant ants, trudging toward the distant Ark wreckage, like a slumbering ancient beast.

Behind them, on the horizon, a sinister violet glow—like the eye of death—appeared in the star-dust-filled sky, and… rapidly expanded!

In this moment of desperate tension, Lingna’s cracked right-arm crystal, as it neared the Ark wreckage, flickered—faintly, almost imperceptibly—along the emerald veins within, remnants of the Elf sapling. Simultaneously, an extremely faint, ancient-sounding electronic voice echoed, broken and fragmented, within her mind:

【…Detected… key… signature… and… damaged… guardian… unit…】

【…Ark… wreckage… ‘New Oasis’…】

【…Welcome… home…】