Mr. Si

Like a wounded beast, the Night Owl plunged headfirst into the dense rubble of the asteroid belt, dragging an unstable energy trail. The violent turbulence sent loose objects flying around the bridge, and the alarm lights flashed an ominous red.

"The shield energy remains at 17%! The engine is overloaded! We can't get rid of them!" Ahmet's voice was almost distorted in the noisy alarm. His fingers tapped frantically on the console, trying to stabilize the spacecraft.

Hong Feng held the steering wheel tightly, his lips pursed until they turned pale, and his green eyes were fixed on the ever-increasing and diversely shaped space rocks in front of him. "Damn, are these guys really that good? They chased him all the way from the 'Ark' to here!"

Behind them, three heavily modified pillagers, painted in sinister colors, pursued them relentlessly like sharks scenting blood. Intense energy fire repeatedly grazed the Night Owl's shields, sending ripples of energy ripples through the air. These weren't official IGEC troops, nor were they station guards. Instead, they were the infamous "Blood Skulls" pillaging group active in the asteroid belt. Clearly, someone had paid a hefty price for their lives—or, more accurately, for Shao Wei's.

Shao Wei leaned back in the passenger seat, his face pale and his eyes closed. The combined exertion of forcibly summoning strength to resist the explosion and the previous exertion had taken a tremendous toll on his body. Beneath his torn suit, icy blue light patterns flickered, as if painstakingly repairing the damage. He took no part in the controls, nor paid any attention to the pursuers behind him, as if the life-or-death crisis outside had no bearing on him.

His consciousness was sinking into a cold deep ocean.

It was not his own sea of ​​consciousness, but... a dead and broken realm that he touched through some remaining connection that he himself had not yet fully understood.

There was no light, no sound, only endless, cold nothingness, and some vague memories floating like star fragments.

This is the period.

It wasn't the living Si Qi, but the final echo of his annihilation, left in the world. The final explosion triggered by the "Original Blood" didn't seem to completely erase any trace of Si Qi's existence. Instead, it maintained a final, one-way connection with his "twin" partner in an extremely weak, almost quantum entanglement manner.

He "saw" what Si Qi felt at the last moment.

Not fear, not pain.

It's a kind of... calmness that is almost liberating.

A sense of relief that "it's finally my turn."

And, a deep regret that cannot be expressed in words.

That regret was like an icy needle, piercing Shao Wei's frozen heart.

Why?

Why is it liberation?

Why...why would there be regrets?

Was it because of those three years of missed time? Was it because of those unresolved, perverse emotions? Or was it because of... something else?

Just as he was trying to capture more information from the shattered light and shadow—

"The port shield has been penetrated!!"

"Avoid! Avoid quickly!"

The scream of the kestrel and Ahmet's scream brought him back to reality!

A heavy bomb from the plunderer narrowly grazed the Night Owl's left wing armor, leaving a hideous burn mark! The ship tilted violently, lost its balance, and spun towards a huge, mountain-like asteroid!

"It's over!" Gu Zhixing closed his eyes in despair.

At the critical moment, Shao Wei suddenly opened his eyes!

Deep within those ice-blue eyes, it seemed as if stars were spinning madly! He didn't touch the joystick, but instead placed his hand directly on the spacecraft's main console!

A cold and powerful mental force, like a flood bursting through a dam, forcibly intervened in the control system of the "Night Owl"!

"Warning! Illegal access!"

"System overload!"

The ship's AI sounded a shrill alarm.

But the next second, the Night Owl, tumbling out of control, was forcibly straightened by an invisible giant hand! The engines spewed out a stream of dark blue ions far beyond their design limits, and at an almost impossible angle, it brushed the edge of the giant asteroid, narrowly completing the turn! The massive overload caused the spacecraft's structure to groan in a jaw-dropping manner!

"I... fuck..." Hong Xun looked at the extremely thrilling data curve on the screen, cursed, and looked at Shao Wei as if he was looking at a monster.

This isn't even a top-tier Alpha anymore! What kind of mental power is this?! Directly interfering with physical systems?!

However, the backlash from forcibly controlling the spacecraft also caused Shao Wei to groan, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth again, and his hand pressing on the control console trembled slightly. The stars in his eyes dimmed, and his face turned even paler.

"No! They are biting too hard! We can't survive to get out of this asteroid belt!" Ahmet looked at the rapidly decreasing energy of the shield and engine readings, his voice full of despair.

Shao Wei raised his hand, wiped the blood, and cast his gaze on the star map. His sight passed over the "Blood Skull" plundering group that was in hot pursuit, passed over the dense asteroid belt, and landed on a dark star field beyond, marked as "heavy radiation zone, unknown risk" and without any navigation beacons.

That place, known as the "Silent Graveyard," is a restricted area that even the most desperate looters and explorers dare not venture into. Legend has it that the spatial structure there is unstable, filled with deadly radiation and unknown gravitational traps.

His fingertips lightly touched the area representing death.

"Go here."

His voice was hoarse, but it carried an unquestionable determination.

"Are you crazy?!" Hong Xun cried out, "That's a 'cemetery'! If you go in, you're doomed!"

"If you stay outside, you'll be dead." Shao Wei turned his head, his icy blue eyes staring directly at Hong Xun, "If you go in, there's still a glimmer of hope."

His eyes were calm, yet carried an indifference that came from someone who saw through life and death, as well as a kind of... certainty that seemed to be following some kind of guidance.

Hong Falcon looked into his eyes, then looked at the artillery fire behind him that was getting closer and closer. He gritted his teeth and yanked the joystick: "Damn it! I believe you this time! Hold on tight!"

The engine of the "Night Owl" roared as if on the verge of disintegration, dragging its broken hull, it rushed without hesitation towards the absolute darkness where even the starlight seemed to be swallowed up.

The three plundering ships chasing after them suddenly slowed down and turned at the edge of the "Silent Graveyard". Furious communication flashes and warning shots broke out on the ships, but in the end they did not dare to go beyond the line and could only watch the broken ship being swallowed by the endless darkness.

Upon entering the confines of the "Silent Cemetery," all external sensors instantly failed, leaving the screen a blur of garbled text and snowflakes. The spacecraft, as if plunging into a sticky mass of gelatin, plummeted in speed, and communications were completely severed. Only the dim emergency lights inside the spacecraft and the faint hum of the instruments indicated they were still alive.

"Navigation failed! Power output is unstable! Where... where are we flying?" Ahmet's voice was filled with fear.

No one can answer.

Shao Wei closed his eyes again. He released his control of the spaceship, letting it drift and glide through the strange darkness. His mind once again sank into the cold deep sea connected to the reverberation of the Siqi period.

This time, he no longer tried to capture the broken light and shadow of memories.

But... trying to convey a message to that dead and silent nothingness.

A calling.

A call that carried with it all his will, all his pain, all...unspeakable emotions.

No sound, no form.

There is only a pure, directional thought, like a stone thrown into the boundless darkness, expecting... even the slightest echo.

Time seems to have lost its meaning.

I don't know how much time has passed, a few minutes? A few hours?

Just when Hong Shun and the others were almost driven crazy by the absolute silence and the unknown——

Shao Wei, who had been keeping his eyes closed, suddenly shook his body!

He suddenly opened his eyes!

An incredible light burst out from those ice-blue eyes!

He "heard" it!

It wasn't a sound, but a kind of... coordinate! A clear spatial coordinate with a familiar, cold aura suddenly appeared like a beacon in the void he perceived, representing the reverberation of the Siqi period!

At the same time, the spacecraft's external sensors suddenly jumped, capturing an extremely weak but stable space beacon signal! The source of the signal was exactly the coordinates Shao Wei had sensed!

"Turn left 17.3 degrees, dive -8.1, full speed ahead!" Shao Wei's voice trembled slightly as he directly reported the parameters.

Hong Xun did it without any hesitation!

The "Night Owl" adjusted its direction and headed towards the location indicated by the beacon, diving into the deeper darkness of the "Silent Cemetery".

After flying for about half an hour, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in the endless darkness ahead.

The light was getting closer and bigger.

Finally, the scene before their eyes made everyone on the bridge hold their breath—

It's not a planet, nor is it a space station.

But a ship.

An incomparably large, ancient and strangely shaped interstellar spaceship, made entirely of some dark silver metal, its surface covered with veins that seemed to be naturally formed and resembled ice crystal patterns...

It silently hovered in the dark vacuum, without any power output or light, like a giant beast in the cosmos that had slept for eternity. The aura it exuded was ancient, desolate, and filled with a majesty that shuddered the soul.

And on the hull of the giant ship facing them, a familiar, ice-blue family emblem reflected a faint light under the illumination of the spacecraft's searchlight.

That is... the emblem of the Si family!

But it wasn't the Si family emblem Shao Wei knew. This emblem was older, more complex, and had a symbol in the center he had never seen before, resembling entangled stars.

"Where...is this place?" Gu Zhixing muttered to himself, completely shocked by the scene before him.

Shao Wei did not answer.

He just stared at the huge ship and the unfamiliar emblem of the Smith family.

His heart was beating wildly in his chest.

Si Qi's final, regretful echo... the coordinates that led him here... this sleeping giant ship bearing the ancient emblem of the Si family...

All the clues seemed to point to a possibility that was completely beyond his imagination.

He pushed his chair away, stood up, walked to the porthole, and looked at the huge ship that was so close.

In those ice-blue eyes, unprecedented waves surged.

This period...

What exactly did you leave behind?