Chapter 289: Black Stone Obelisk

The refugees here are almost all widows of those who died in battle.

It's not that their husbands were all soldiers.

But during the long siege, few people know what occupations their husbands had before.

At least before death, they were regarded as warriors.

In the Dadian behind the corridor.

Inside a small room without a door.

Outside the door is a spacious area, filled with a dense crowd of refugees.

Several iron pots burn around, sending waves of meat aroma.

In the middle of those ordinary iron pots, which is also the exact center of the Dadian, the priests have erected a platform with whatever materials they could gather.

And they placed Xisi's "Eternal Warm Flame Pot" on the platform.

Only the holy pot, which in the cramped corridor could still transmit some heat, now moved to the Dadian that can hold hundreds of thousands of widows, has become a decorative item that offers more psychological comfort than practical effect.

If the iron pots have any real function, it is that when someone dies of freezing and starvation, the corpse finally has a place for a farewell ceremony.

The priests kneel around the holy pot, and for each corpse that is brought, they place it before the warm holy flame of the pot for a brief farewell.

After comforting the soul, they send the corpse to a relatively secluded spot on the other side.

Accompanied by the heavy thuds of the saber chopping, the refugees feel somewhat better when the meat is divided.

At least before this, they have done everything they could.

But compared with the huge number of people and the scarce fires, when the meat is handed to survivors, the overwhelming majority are gnawing cold raw meat.

Only some frail children or wounded can receive cooked meat.

"The High Saint said he doesn't need it."

Outside, a Battle Nun refuses the priest who brings the roasted meat.

After learning the general situation of this shelter, Xisi looks at Sakan, who is picking up a piece of Phosphorus and licking it.

The black of the Phosphorus, mixed with the black of the fire lizard, is now indistinguishable.

Although Astate can indeed eat Phosphorus directly when necessary, even with Astate's superhuman body, it is not advisable to use Phosphorus as a staple long‑term.

Seeing Sakan's licking and his firm refusal to eat flesh, Xisi can roughly imagine that Sakan has been consuming Phosphorus for an unknown length of time.

He even sees him so cautiously that even the Phosphorus seems unable to be eaten openly.

Glancing at Sakan, Xisi buries his head looking at the candle‑lit map.

It contains no technology at all; it's a purely paper map.

Xisi glances, then while scanning the map asks:

"You said this was already the fifth recovery expedition?"

Sakan carefully puts away the Phosphorus, nods silently:

"Yes, I arrived at the Alert Star during the second expedition."

"Doesn't that mean the Alert Star hasn't just fallen, but has been lost for a long time?"

Before Sakan can answer, the local Danika's face turns extremely grim.

"The Alert Star has been fallen for almost five years."

After speaking, Danika glances at the densely packed refugees outside.

Xisi finally understands how dire the Alert Star truly is.

Fallen for five years also means, in other words, five years without supplies, under siege!

As a world with no rear, a dead star, and the entire ground melted into glass.

Such a place can still, at present, find hundreds of thousands of refugees in some shelter.

That alone proves humanity's resilience in this world!

Even Sakan, upon reaching this point, looks at Xisi with considerable respect:

"Your people, if placed in another world, this place would have long since become a dead zone."

Xisi's face shows no pride; he simply continues scanning the map and asks:

"So that means we are currently in an enemy‑occupied zone far from the Imperial Control Zone?"

Sakan nods:

"Precisely, deep within the enemy‑occupied area."

Xisi finally can't help but frown, then after finishing the map, looks up at Sakan:

"Then why are the Dead Spirits still continuously sending troops to the surface?"

"The human survivors on the surface no longer have any ability to counter the space fleet."

The Dead Spirits have become living metal, which could also be called mechanical ascension.

Such a civilization should be extremely efficient in resource utilization.

Facing these few ground mortals who lack any counter‑attack or even survival ability, the Dead Spirits have no reason to continue pouring massive ground forces into a stalemate.

And while hearing Xisi's question, Danika explains.

She reaches out, pointing at a conspicuous black building on the map under the faint candlelight:

"Because the Dead Spirits seem to be building some large facility on the surface of the Alert Star."

"And the reinforcement troops that Sakan brings also bring the same news: the higher command demands us to destroy these facilities at any cost."

"And perhaps because of these facilities, the Dead Spirits, after seizing the Alert Star, have not continued using large‑scale weapons of mass destruction."

"Instead, they are deploying very small batches of troops for targeted elimination."

The facility Danika pointed to is one Xisi had just observed; although he had an idea at the time, only now, after Danika's explanation, does Xisi fully confirm it.

"These Dead Spirits actually intend to make the Alert Star the core node of a spirit‑driving dead zone!"

Xisi weakly complained as he opened his mouth.

The Spirit‑driving dead zone, as the Silent King's inaugural project to return to the galaxy, isn't merely hiding a little and turning a star sector into a dead zone.

That also requires massive construction, erecting black stone Obelisks on many planets.

And to maximize the black stone Obelisk's effect, core nodes must also be established in specific areas.

Alert Star, being a fortress world that links the Dark Side and the Holy Frontier, stores deep underground a great many black stone constructs left by the Dead Spirits long ago.

Now the Silent King intends to use those remnants to once again forge Alert Star into a core node that completely seals off the Dark Side.

Given that, the Silent King naturally does not wish to destroy Alert Star.

He only wants to understand this point, unlike Danika and Sakan, whose silence recalls the brutal battle when they assaulted the black stone Obelisk.

Xisi then glanced at the giant black stone Obelisk that the Dead Spirits had been laboring overtime to build, and at the black stone remnants beneath his feet that were continuously being restored by the tomb technicians of the Dead Spirits.

His gaze gradually grew vacant.

Because Xisi was certain that Alert Star was turning into a massive black stone planet, only one question remained in his mind.

"Black stone can suppress Subspace, but if the correct conversion is applied, black stone can also reverse‑amplify Subspace."

"And I can now Hundredfold Amplify my own Subspace divine power."

"Then if I reverse these black stones again......"

Xisi stared blankly at the map, then finally could no longer help but straighten his back:

"So is it amplifying my divine power after the Hundredfold, or directly amplifying my......"

"'Hundredfold' itself?!"