Chapter 749: First Contact

East of the light curtain, the Chen dynasty's Bei Jing.

Inside the core chamber of the Absolute Ridge Observatory, the atmosphere was different from before.

On the surface of the hovering potential-energy light ball, a rapidly expanding, stable crimson-gold light region was now clearly reflected.

At the center of the light region, the two characters "Responding to Heaven" shone brightly.

At the edge, the inscription of the era name "Vast Martial" appeared faintly.

Zhang Cheng stood before the light ball, gazing for a long time.

"It's done."

He said softly, his tone carrying an indescribable complexity.

"The spark has become a prairie fire."

"The state name 'Ming', era name 'Vast Martial'... matches over eighty percent with the 'Variable Main Trunk' model His Majesty deduced in his youth."

Behind him, Zhao Lao Nian rubbed a strange-iron walnut, grinning.

"This kid, his moves are pretty swift."

"Compared to what we thought, it's at least five years faster."

"The Iron Crow Army over there is probably startled too."

Zhang Cheng nodded.

The monitoring data showed that at the moment the state name "Great Ming" was established, the dark-energy reactor in the Liao East direction exhibited obvious power fluctuations.

That was a reaction of being "startled".

"His Majesty has an order."

A messenger hurried into the chamber and handed over a sealed letter.

Zhang Cheng unfolded it and quickly skimmed.

The content was simple:

"Reopen the channel, send a congratulatory message and a second-level warning."

"Explicitly mention the concept of 'History Keepers'."

"Intensity: spare no load."

Zhao Lao Nian came over, took a glance, and clicked his tongue.

"A second-level warning... are we about to pierce that layer of window paper?"

"Not exactly piercing."

Zhang Cheng placed the sealed letter in a potential-energy flame beside him, watching it turn into blue smoke.

"Just tell them the enemy has a name and a purpose."

"So they don't bump around like headless flies."

He turned toward the operations team.

"Recalibrate the pinhole channel, target: the Forbidden City area of Responding to Heaven."

"Payload preparation: first segment, congratulatory message on the founding of the state; second segment, basic definition and threat description of 'History Keepers'; third segment, supplement of dark-energy node characteristics."

The operators quickly acted.

Inside the light ball, three strands of potential-energy flow of different colors began to coalesce.

Crimson-gold, pure white, deep blue.

Each corresponding to the three segments of information.

This time the potential-energy flow was more substantial and thicker than ever before.

"Channel stability?"

"Eighty-five percent, good."

"Western energy field interference?"

"The dark-energy reactor fluctuates violently, but no directional shielding has formed yet. A new dark-energy source point is activating in the Wide Peace direction, possibly causing local scattering of the transmission path."

"Expected signal integrity upon arrival?"

"... optimistic estimate, not exceeding forty percent. The second and third segments may suffer severe distortion."

Zhang Cheng fell silent for a moment.

"Send."

The light ball gave a slight tremor.

Three intertwined strands of potential-energy flow shot out and plunged into the pinhole.

On the monitoring crystal, the ripples shook violently, but did not become a tangled mess as before.

The potential-energy flow surged forward like three swords, forcibly piercing the chaotic energy background and advancing westward.

"Penetrated the first interference zone!"

"Signal strength down twenty percent!"

"Entered the dark-energy scattering zone... strength decline accelerating!"

"The second-segment signal shows distortion!"

The monitor's voice was urgent.

Zhang Cheng stared intently at the crystal.

The pure-white ripple representing the second segment of information was being "dyed" by the surrounding blue dark-energy, its edges beginning to blur and twist.

"Inject backup potential-energy to maintain structure!"

"Yes!"

Additional potential-energy surged in from the strange-iron plates on the four walls, barely stabilizing the white ripple's form.

But the information it carries is inevitably losing precision.

"History Keepers" as this core concept might be preserved.

But its specific description, its relation to the Iron Crow Army, and even the nature of its "system virus"...

Probably by the time it reaches the other side, it has turned into incomprehensible fragments.

"The third segment of information has reached the designated coordinates above!"

"We are attempting to break through the atmosphere and the surface energy field..."

"Intercepted!"

The monitor's voice suddenly rose sharply.

"It's the Iron Crow Army's active defense mechanism!"

"It's capturing our signal!"

On the crystal screen, a viscous, seemingly alive deep-blue dark energy suddenly protruded from the Liao East direction, like a giant hand reaching for that strand of deep-blue energy flow representing the characteristics of the dark energy node.

The two are similar in color, but their nature is completely opposite.

At the moment of collision.

There was no sound.

But on the monitor crystal surface, a burst of glaring white spots exploded!

"Signal lost!"

"The third segment of information...... has been contaminated and swallowed!"

Zhang Cheng's face sank.

"What about the first two segments?"

"The first segment of congratulatory message...... has reached the air above the Heaven's Response region! It is spreading!"

"The second segment of warning...... was affected by the collision's aftermath, its structure damaged, but the core fragments are still falling!"

"Landing point?"

"Cannot be precisely located; the coverage area...... is approximately Heaven's Response City and its surroundings within thirty li."

"Enough."

Zhang Cheng slowly exhaled a breath.

At least, the "seeds" of the congratulatory message and warning have been scattered.

As for what might grow from them......

It all depends on how the people on that land interpret these extraterrestrial, fragmented and indistinct "revelations".

At the same moment.

Heaven's Response, Purple Forbidden City.

Inside the Hall of Military Glory, Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) was reviewing memorials.

Suddenly he felt his heart jump for no reason.

It seemed as if something lightly brushed past his sea of consciousness.

Extremely slight, yet impossible to ignore.

He raised his head.

Outside the hall, the sunlight was fine, nothing unusual.

But immediately after, a faint yet clear "warmth" came from the northern horizon without any sign.

That was not temperature.

But rather a kind of...... indescribable "sense of recognition"?

It seemed as if, in the dark depths, a distant and vast existence cast a glance upon this newborn capital.

And softly spoke a word:

"Congratulations."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) sprang to his feet!

"It's them!"

"Beyond the light curtain!"

Almost in the same instant, another utterly different "feeling" followed close behind.

Ice-cold.

Viscous.

Full of malice.

It seemed as if the gaze of some non-human entity had firmly locked onto him.

A fragmented, distorted, noise-laden "information" fragment was forcibly shoved into his perception:

"...... guard...... ian......"

"...... script...... correction......"

"...... cleaning...... tool......"

"...... destruction...... source......"

The fragment flashed and was gone.

The chill it brought, however, seeped deep into his marrow.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) held onto the imperial desk, steadying his somewhat dizzy body.

"Your Majesty?"

The eunuch attending nearby sensed something amiss and stepped forward to support him.

Nothing.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) raised a hand to stop.

He closed his eyes, striving to catch the lingering fragments of perception.

"Congratulations."

This is a congratulation.

Congratulations from the eastern allies.

And what comes after……

"Guardian"?

"Script"?

"Qing" is a tool?

And finally—"Destroy Source"!

He suddenly opened his eyes, sharp light bursting from his gaze.

"Summon Liu Ji!"

"Immediately!"

Moments later, Liu Ji hurried over.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) concealed the details of what he had just sensed, only roughly informing in the terms of "celestial omen perception".

Liu Ji heard this, his face drastically changed.

He quickly walked out of the hall, gazed up at the celestial signs, and swiftly calculated with his fingers.

After a long while, he turned back, his tone filled with an unprecedented solemnity.

"Your Majesty."

"I, your subject, also just felt a palpitation; the stellar omens are dark and unclear."

"Now hearing Your Majesty's words, that icy malice is surely directed and intentional, certainly not natural."

"In those fragmented maxims, the words "Guardian", "Script", "Qing as a tool"—upon reflection, they are extremely terrifying."

He lowered his voice.

"If my understanding is not off……"

"The Northern Qing bandits, and even the dark yin energy behind them, seem to be upholding some predetermined "story" or "track"."

"And we, the Great Ming, are the variable in this story that must be "corrected" or "erased"!"

"Destroy Source……"

Liu Ji's eyes flashed with sudden understanding.

"Could it mean that to break this situation, we must destroy its root? The core of the spreading yin energy?"

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) slowly nodded.

This coincided with his speculation.

"The congratulatory message is warm, the warning cold."

"One friend, one enemy, the boundary is clear."

"Pass the order down."

He walked back to the imperial desk, his voice decisive and resolute.

"All military garrisons and outposts in the northern border, raise alert level to the highest."

"All research at the Investigation of Things Institute concerning yin energy, strange metal, and energy neutralization is to be classified as top secret and pursued with all effort."

"Tell Xu Da……"

He paused.

"We can begin drafting a plan for "point extraction and source tracing"."

"Target: Liaodong."

"Timing, awaiting my decree."

"Subject, I will obey the decree!"

Liu Ji gave a deep bow, then hurried off to make arrangements.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) stood alone in the hall, gazing toward the northeast.

The icy perceptive fragments have already dissipated.

But that phrase "Destroy Source", like a red-hot brand, is burned into his consciousness.

The allies sent congratulations.

They also sent the most deadly warning.

And……

A path perhaps fraught with thorns, yet possibly the sole road to survival——

"The key to breaking the situation."