Chapter 202: Shadows Beneath the Stardust Wasteland

A cold sensation rose from beneath her body—the particular chill of black sand mixed with fine metallic shavings. The biting cold seeped through her tattered clothes into her skin, forcibly dragging Xiang Lingna back from the hazy abyss of half-consciousness. She coughed violently a few times, her throat parched with a dry, rusty taste of dust and blood; every breath pulled at the aching pain that permeated her entire body. Her vision gradually cleared, revealing an utterly unfamiliar scene.

The sky was a deep, almost eternal ink-blue, with no sun or moon, no familiar stars—only countless fine particles of dust suspended in the air, emitting a soft, milky-white glow, as if an immense river of stars had been crushed and evenly splashed across the heavens. This was the Sea of Stardust, the drifting star realm that Brother Lin Mo had spoken of. The faint glow of the stardust provided the only illumination sufficient to see by, yet it made everything appear more hazy, eerie, and unreal. The cold wind wailed like a ghostly specter, weaving and howling across this dead, barren wasteland, sweeping up the bitterly cold black sand and stinging faintly against her face.

She struggled to sit up, and her right arm immediately sent a tearing, excruciating pain through her. Looking down, the dark-purple crystalline arm that extended to her shoulder now bore cracks that seemed deeper than before she had lost consciousness; the chaotic flow of light within had grown abnormally dim, with only a few emerald-green veins—originating from the sapling—still stubbornly radiating a faint vitality. The sharp pain made her gasp and suck in a breath of cold air, and memories surged into her mind like a tide—the Doctor's world-shattering giant hand, the wrench's tragic self-detonation, the annihilation shockwave that erupted within Priestess Liyana, Brother Lin Mo's final awakening, and that utterly insane death-leap that used a spatial collapse as its driving force…

"Awake?" A cold, hoarse voice spoke nearby, carrying a weariness that could not be concealed.

Xiang Lingna turned her head and saw Sister Ai Li kneeling on one knee not far away, tightly binding a vicious wound on her own ribs with a strip of cloth she had torn off—still relatively clean. The edges of the wound were blackened, the vicious mark left by shadow erosion, horrifying to behold even under the faint stardust glow. Sister Ai Li's face was ashen, her lips pressed tightly together; every movement caused fine beads of cold sweat to seep from her forehead, yet her ice-blue eyes remained sharp, sweeping the surroundings with the vigilance of a hawk. Beside her, Priestess Liyana lay quietly, eyes tightly shut, her breathing faint but relatively steady; the dark-purple crystals on her forehead and chest had fallen silent, as if the earlier frenzy had never occurred.

"Sister Ai Li… your wound…" Xiang Lingna's voice was terribly parched.

"I won't die." Sister Ai Li's reply was brief and forceful. She tied a knot with force, the pain causing the corner of her mouth to twitch, then stood up, her gaze casting toward the distance. "Can you move? We have to leave here immediately."

Xiang Lingna followed her gaze and saw Lin Mo's back. He stood atop a massive, twisted piece of metallic wreckage some ten meters away, gazing up at the sky filled with drifting stardust; his upright posture was like a pine rooted in the ruins. The intense radiance that had erupted from absorbing the stardust crystals had been drawn inward, but a deep and powerful aura still spread slowly outward centered on him, giving an inexplicable sense of security. Zero's console hovered at his side, its pale-blue scanning beams sweeping across the desolate, lifeless terrain around them again and again like searchlights, emitting a nearly inaudible hum.

"Zero, status?" Lin Mo did not turn around; his voice was steady, carrying a calm that came after enduring a tremendous upheaval.

"Environmental scan ongoing." Zero's electronic voice still maintained its logic-supreme calm, but seemed to carry a hint of weakness from insufficient energy. "Atmospheric composition: nitrogen 78%, oxygen 15% (below habitable standard), argon and trace inert gases 5.7%, radioactive dust and unknown particulates 1.3%. Warning: prolonged exposure to current oxygen concentration and radiation environment will cause irreversible damage to the physiological functions of standard carbon-based lifeforms."

"Surface temperature: currently minus 12 degrees Celsius, and continuing to drop. Geological structure: primarily silicate rock strata and high-strength alloy wreckage. Multiple high-intensity energy residual signals detected; attribute analysis… close to ancient elven technology, but mixed with strong stardust radiation characteristics."

"Life-sign scan: extremely faint, non-carbon-based life reactions detected, sparsely distributed, activity patterns unknown, not yet classified as a threat. Warning: high-intensity, non-natural spatial fluctuations detected in low orbit. Characteristic code match 98.7%… reconnaissance craft belonging to the Doctor's fleet. Quantity: three. Orbital altitude continuously decreasing; estimated to enter atmospheric reconnaissance range in 1.7 standard hours."

Every report from Zero made the atmosphere Become Heavier by another degree. Oxygen deprivation, low temperature, radiation, unknown lifeforms, and the Doctor's reconnaissance craft about to pounce down like hunting dogs! They had just escaped one desperate situation, only to immediately fall into another perilous, unfamiliar dead zone.

Lin Mo leapt down from the wreckage, landing beside Xiang Lingna and Sister Ai Li. His gaze swept over the cracks covering Xiang Lingna's right arm and the blackened wound on Sister Ai Li, his brow tightly furrowed. "Can you hold on?" His question was concise, yet carried a Heavy and Solemn concern.

Xiang Lingna gritted her teeth, braced herself on the ground with her still-functional left hand, and endured the sharp pain as she struggled to her feet. "I can!" She could not become a burden at this moment.

Sister Ai Li merely nodded silently, hoisting the unconscious Priestess Liyana back onto her shoulder. Her movements remained steady, but Xiang Lingna could see the faint trembling of her arm muscles as she forcibly endured the pain.

"We have to find cover immediately, to evade the reconnaissance craft's scans." Lin Mo's gaze turned toward the distant, massive shadows undulating like crouching beasts—the wreckage of an ancient elven ark. It lay silent across the horizon under the faint stardust glow; its outline still allowed one to discern a massive bridge, a broken keel, and countless metallic structures jutting out like the roots of giant trees. Its scale was beyond imagination, like a sunken mountain range of metal. "Go there! That's our only chance, and it may hold what we need."

There was no time to hesitate, and no other choice. The four of them (plus the hovering Zero) immediately began their arduous trek. The black wasteland was littered with jagged metal fragments and sharp, crystallized rocks, making walking extremely difficult. The thin air made every breath a luxury, the lungs burning painfully. The cold wind scraped like a blade, stealing what little heat the body had.

Xiang Lingna stumbled along, the sharp pain in her right arm and the weakness of her body causing her to nearly fall several times, only to be firmly steadied by Lin Mo's arm reaching out beside her just in time. The warmth from his palm carried a reassuring heat—not mere body temperature, but the energy naturally radiating from refined stardust power, which slightly dispelled the chill within Xiang Lingna.

Zero's console flew at the very front of the group, its pale-blue scanning beams constantly adjusting direction to avoid certain areas on the ground with abnormal energy reactions. "Large structural depression detected three hundred meters ahead; suspected impact crater or entrance passage. Recommended as an initial hiding point."

The group's spirits lifted, and they quickened their pace. The closer they got to the ark wreckage, the more they could feel its enormity and the heart-palpitating silence emanating from the distant past. A faint, peculiar smell—something like ozone mixed with metallic rust—began to permeate the air.

Just as they were about to reach the edge of the massive depression Zero had mentioned, Zero suddenly issued a rapid, low-pitched alert: "Warning! Rapidly approaching non-carbon-based life signals detected! Quantity three! Extremely fast!"

Almost the instant Zero's words fell, three short figures darted out from behind a twisted piece of metallic wreckage to their side-front!

Their bodies reached only about Xiang Lingna's waist in height, and were entirely composed of a translucent, gray-crystal-like texture. Their surfaces were rough and uneven, refracting the faint stardust light and appearing bizarre and otherworldly. Their "limbs" were short and thick, ending in hard, chisel-like crystalline structures. They had no distinct head; only a cluster of flickering, intermittently bright and dim, milky-white halos condensed above their bodies, which seemed to be their sensory organs.

These small crystal creatures were extremely fast, bouncing and leaping across the rugged ground like marbles, emitting crisp "clack-clack" sounds as they charged straight toward the group! The flickering halos about them seemed to carry an intense curiosity… or rather, a wariness and rejection toward outsiders?

"On guard!" Lin Mo barked in a low voice, stepping forward to shield Xiang Lingna and Sister Ai Li—who was carrying Priestess Liyana—behind him. The faint stardust radiance around him began to flow, and an invisible pressure radiated outward.

However, the three small crystal creatures seemed completely unaffected by Lin Mo's pressure. They charged to a spot a few meters from him, then suddenly stopped; the halos on their bodies flickered violently, emitting a high-pitched, ear-piercing noise like fingernails scraping glass!

Immediately after, their short forelimbs slammed violently into the ground!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The ground before the three instantly split! Dozens of sharp, gray crystal spikes—like earth spikes—erupted violently from the black sand, forming a dangerous obstacle zone! These crystal spikes glittered with a cold, deadly light, clearly extremely sharp!

Extremely aggressive! This was their warning to outsiders!

Sister Ai Li's eyes went cold, and she instinctively moved to set Priestess Liyana down to launch a counterattack, but was stopped by Lin Mo raising his hand.

"They… don't seem to have killing intent, they're just trying to drive us away." Lin Mo stared at the small creatures still clacking and flickering their halos in place, his brow slightly furrowed. He could sense that the energy cores of these small creatures were not powerful; it was more an instinctive defense.

Zero's console rapidly scanned: "Target analysis: silicon-based lifeform, temporarily designated 'Crystal Cluster.' Energy reaction weak, structural strength moderate. Behavior pattern: territorial defense. Recommendation: evade rather than annihilate; their energy fluctuations may attract orbital reconnaissance."

"Go the other way!" Lin Mo decided on the spot, not wanting any complications at this moment.

The group immediately changed direction, skirting around the crystal spikes and the three hostile little Crystal Clusters, moving quickly toward the opposite edge of the depression. Seeing them retreat, the Crystal Clusters did not pursue; they merely stood in place, the flickering frequency of their body halos gradually slowing. After emitting a few short, triumphant-sounding clacks, they nimbly hopped back behind the metallic wreckage and vanished.

This was only a minor episode, but it made everyone's hearts heavier still. This wasteland was not only harsh in environment, but also home to unknown native creatures that seemed to possess a strong territorial awareness over the ark wreckage.

At last, they reached the edge of the massive depression. It looked like a giant impact crater, or perhaps the edge of a breach torn open in some part of the ark's hull. The walls were steep, and looking down there was no bottom to be seen—only a thick darkness, like the open maw of some great beast.

"Stable structures and… faint atmospheric circulation signals detected below." Zero reported the scan results. "Probability of artificial construction traces as high as 87%."

This might be the only hiding place. Lin Mo took the lead, sliding down the steep, rubble-strewn crater wall to scout the way; Sister Ai Li, carrying Priestess Liyana, followed closely; Xiang Lingna gritted her teeth and followed; Zero hovered at the rear on alert.

The crater wall was harder to climb than imagined, with loose stones constantly tumbling down. Just as Xiang Lingna was carefully making her way down, the cracked crystalline surface of her right arm—upon approaching an inconspicuous black metal plate embedded in the rock face—caused the few emerald-green veins within to suddenly, without warning, flicker ever so faintly.

At the same time, a blurred, broken electronic synthesized voice, as if traversing endless time and space, sounded directly in the depths of her chaotic mind:

【…Key…fluctuation…detected…damaged…welcome…】

The voice cut off abruptly, like an illusion.

Xiang Lingna froze, her steps halting, as she stared at the black metal plate in shock and uncertainty. It looked utterly ordinary, blending in with the surrounding rock.

"Lingna? What's wrong?" Lin Mo's concerned voice came from below.

"N-nothing." Xiang Lingna shook her head, suppressing the stormy waves in her heart, and continued downward. Was it an illusion? Or was this ark wreckage… truly calling out to her?

Just as they struggled down to the bottom of the crater, the moment their figures were about to be swallowed by the darkness, high above, three reconnaissance craft with ferocious designs and dark-purple markings slid silently into the atmosphere like ghosts. Their cold sensor scan beams, like searchlights, began sweeping across this dead, black wasteland again and again.