Chapter 1574: In the Deep

The ship silently flew through the terrifying and mysterious cloud.

It was just as Asurmen had said. The “visitors”‘ arrival had stirred the ancient Denizens of the Stars from their thousand years of slumber. Even when the main consciousness showed no signs of awakening, localized materialization was happening. From the monitors and sensors outside, the glowing clouds continued to visibly roil and turn while incredible things would appear amid the mist from time to time. Sometimes, it was a domed buttress, sometimes a crystal point, but most of the time, what appeared were nondescript crystalline sections.

These crystalline sectors were not the real form of any part of the starship. They were a special sort of projection. The localized awakening resulted in the appearance of these “silhouettes” that should not have existed, creating a very bizarre scene.

“We should head to the heart of the clouds.” Asurmen’s crystal floated next to Hao Ren as he said in an unhurried pace, “Key structures should appear there, and there may be a chance to awaken this ancient warrior from his sleep.”

Vivian took a glance at the crystal. “You don’t sound all that assured.”

“Forgive me, but that is indeed the case,” Asurmen responded in a frank manner. “I have never encountered a Denizen starship of this structure. It must have been created after I entered Collow. This ship is using a frame that has never been used since ancient times… but based on my experience, the heart of the cloud will usually host the cognition crystal, so going in that direction should be the right way.”

“Hope you’re right.” Hao Ren nodded as he ordered Nolan to increase speed toward the center of the clouds.

The crystalline structures appearing from the light and clouds were now behind Nolan. After confirming that they are all weak “fakes” and crashing into them would not affect the ship, the shipgirl was now a lot bolder. She did not bother dodging anything that appeared before her and sped in a straight line toward her destination.

The Petrachelys was only about a hundred meters long; while the entire light cloud was thousands of kilometers long, the former was like a little bug traveling through the latter. Hao Ren even imagined that the Denizen starship had corridors and cabins spanning hundreds of meters wide. Although his inspector frigate was basically flying through these great corridors, the corridors and cabins were all hidden by the mist right then.

While it was hard to discern left from right in the mist, or any direction for that matter, based on the sensors’ data, the Petrachelys was already closing in on the heart of the energy structure.

The objects appearing in the mist had also changed, meaning that they were already close to a very special place.

The broken crystals and crystalline sections were no more as more complete and clearer crystalline structures started to appear. Sometimes, crystal hallways spanning hundreds of meters long with large domes appeared. Despite their edges being broken in places, the appearance and size of the structures were clearly way beyond those broken fragments around the belt.

“A much more complete reflection… It seems like the core contains more important and stable information.” Asurmen’s emotionless voice rang again. “But I have yet to detect this kin’s main consciousness or life at all. This is very strange.”

“So, he probably died in his sl….” Hao Ren was half-way through before Vivian gave him a biting pinch, and he immediately shut his big mouth. “Ahem, I meant to say, is this starship still ‘alive’?”

“He is definitely still alive. The localized awakening we saw on our way here is proof enough,” Asurmen answered. “But… I do not know why most of this starship’s energy has disappeared, and even part of the energy used to maintain his core is gone too, as though it was drawn away into some bottomless pit.”

“Energy loss?” Vivian’s expression became grim. “This is not a good sign… If these starships are guardians left behind by the goddess, their loss of energy is definitely bad news.”

“At the very least, the divine lockdown is still in effect in Star Cluster X, which means the entire defense system did not fully go offline. No matter what’s being kept or protected here, it’s probably still safe,” Hao Ren consoled Vivian.

As they spoke, the Petrachelys slowed down and more crystalline structures appeared in the mist outside. These solid “fakes” looked like the real deal, and the encompassing mist had also mostly faded away.

Nolan stopped before a massive crystalline wall. “Boss, can’t go any farther now. Should I blow a hole in it?”

As she spoke, the two sub-cannons at the front of the Petrachelys were deployed and aimed at the incredibly thick crystal barrier.

“You’ll punch through the entire place.” Hao Ren immediately stopped her before he turned to Vivian. “Seems like we need to head down.”

“I will come along.” Asurmen’s crystal floated up. “I am much more familiar with the operations of the Denizen’s starship than all of you.”

The ring around Asurmen’s crystal was meant to help with his mobility, so Hao Ren nodded in ascent. He then waved to the table beside him, and Lil Pea, who was playing with Lego immediately threw her toys aside and leaped into her father’s arm.

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Two people, a fish, and a ringed crystal prism… This oddball team then left the Petrachelys and entered the bright bizarre space.

There was no gravity or air, but there was an omnipresent light encompassing the entire area. This allowed them to see even without any lighting equipment. Hao Ren arrived before the wall that extended deep into the mist, and he held his hands out to touch it. That was the first time he had ever felt the crystal structure from the mist with his own hands, and the feedback told him that it was the real thing.

This was a layer of very tough material, and while the ship would turn it into dust if the ship collided into it, Hao Ren reckoned that the crystal was probably about as tough as granite based on the feeling he got. However, when compared to the real starship, granite-like toughness was probably fragile.

Besides, it was still considered a “fake” from the localized awakening. If it was real cabin material from the starship, it would probably be tougher than diamonds.

Vivian looked up and saw many straight as well as wide lines on the upper parts of the barrier. Those lines seemed to be formed from countless of crystal plates. She guessed that they were probably some kind of energy transference structures. Under normal circumstances, there would be lights going through the lines, but since that was just a “fake” reflection, the crystal wall did not glow, and it acted like an inert object.

With Asurmen’s reminder, Hao Ren and Vivian soon found an entryway into a deeper space.

The entrance was at the bottom of the barrier. It was a triangular door, and within it was a corridor over ten meters wide. The corridor showed how tremendously thick the barrier was.

To have such a layer of barrier, it was unquestionably a very important place.

After going through the pathway, Hao Ren came to a space that could only be described as “vast”.

It was a pyramid-like hall, and the structure was similar to the interior of Asurmen’s starship. That seemed to be the “style’ of the Denizens. Faint light circled the wide hall, making the hall look like it was covered in mist. Even the floor surface showed signs of roiling light clouds, and within the clouds, many types of crystalline structures, as well as unknown equipment, appeared from time to time, some without a proper solid form.

It looked like even at the core, the localized awakening was still limited. Based on Hao Ren’s estimation, about 70% of the hall had materialized while the other parts were still hidden by the mist.

For a place that was an incomplete reflection, its operation was definitely out of the question.

Everything there was inert like a stone carving.

Lil Pea popped out of Hao Ren’s arms; the zero-gravity environment had left her a little uncomfortable, and she disliked this lifeless place even more. The baby fish shook a little before she mumbled. “So dead…”

The little one had her own life hoop too. It had been created by Nolan in the lab. Using the life hoop allowed her to move around on her own there. It was just that Hao Ren did not allow her to run about.

Hao Ren patted the little one’s head. “Based on Asurmen’s description, we’re moving inside a massive living being.”

They had arrived at the center of the vast hall, and there was a crystal structure there. Its shape was similar to the cognition crystal back in Asurmen’s main body, but there was no flickering light in it.

Asurmen silently floated up to the side of the crystal. “This is the heart of the starship. If we can make contact with my slumbering kin, this is definitely the place.”

“But I don’t see any traces of life activities around here.” Vivian frowned as she tapped the inert crystal gently. “MDT, can you run a scan?”

The MDT was floating beside Hao Ren, and when it heard Vivian, it flew around the large crystal twice. Its conclusion sounded depressing. “Nothing. This is an empty shell of a ‘projection’. But it feels more solid than your normal ones. Nonetheless, the real structure of the hall is still hidden in the mist.”

Hao Ren did not give up as he scoured the hall again, using various ways to try to get a reaction. But alas, there was nothing.

He then started to wonder if he should start blowing the place up to wake the dead-in-sleep (he just did not want to let go of that idea) Denizen of the Stars?

In his arms, Lil Pea poked her head out again as she looked around curiously.

The little tot pondered for a bit before she seemingly had a bright idea. She pointed at the crystal core with her tiny hands. “Yaa!”

The little mermaid suddenly disappeared and used her demon-hunting fish ability to teleport onto the crystal.