Exile to the cemetery
The atmosphere inside the safe house instantly became extremely tense. Zero's playful expression vanished in an instant, his eyes sharpening. He quickly tapped a few times in the air, and a miniature spatial situation map appeared before him.
“Not a ‘hound’,” Zero quickly judged. “The ‘hound’s’ tracking method is more… domineering. This spatial disturbance is very subtle, with a hint of ‘spying’ and ‘infiltration’. It’s like… ‘space pirates’? Or ‘cleaners’ (in another sense) who specialize in scavenging in the void?”
"Space pirates?" The fox was taken aback. "How did they find this place? These coordinates are very well hidden!"
“It’s possible that the traces you left when you came were tracked, or it could be… that they came for it.” Zero pointed to the compass in Jiang Yu’s hand. “The legacy of the ‘Void Weaver’ is priceless to those guys who make a living in the void. It seems that the slight fluctuations we generated when we activated the compass to find coordinates just now still attracted some flies.”
Just then, a slight hissing sound came from the metal wall on one side of the safe house, followed by a clean, round hole being cut open as if melting. A bulky figure wearing a full-face helmet and wielding strange cutting tools nimbly slipped inside. Behind him were two other similarly dressed individuals, their movements practiced and skilled, clearly veterans of this trade.
"Target spotted! High-value unknown artifact confirmed!" The leader of the space pirates emitted a distorted voice through his helmet generator, his eyes greedily locked onto the compass in Jiang Yu's hand. "Hand over the item, and we'll spare your corpses!"
These space pirates' specialized equipment appears to be able to shield them from conventional detection to some extent, and they possess highly efficient space entry technology.
The "Dawn" squad reacted swiftly, immediately raising their guns and taking aim. But the space pirates were even faster; the devices on their wrists lit up, and a distorted force field unfolded, causing bullets to deflect.
"It's an advanced deflection field! Watch out!" the fox shouted.
Zero curled his lip: "What a nuisance." He flicked his finger, and an invisible stream of data shot toward the space pirate's force field generator. The force field immediately flickered violently and became unstable.
Jiang Yu didn't waste words. Time was precious; he didn't have time to waste on these small fry. In the instant of zero interference with the other party's equipment, he moved.
His figure flashed like a ghost, his cleaver not even drawn from its sheath, but he used the sheath to deliver a precise and swift blow to the helmets of the three space pirates, creating a sharp wind pressure.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three muffled thuds rang out, and the three space pirates were knocked unconscious and collapsed to the ground before they could even see what had happened.
"Done." Jiang Yu sheathed his sword, as if he had done something insignificant. But his brow furrowed slightly. The appearance of these space pirates meant their location had been exposed; this place was no longer safe. They had to leave immediately.
Zero inspected the space pirates' equipment and whistled, "Yo, it's the 'Shadow of the Void' guild again. These guys have a good nose, and their gear is pretty good too. Looks like we can't stay here."
He looked at Jiang Yu, his tone turning serious: "Brother, the plan has changed. Although the 'hound' has been lured away, the appearance of these flies means your hiding place is no longer secure. We must move out ahead of schedule."
"How do we get going?" Rock asked. "Without precise coordinates, how do we perform a hyperspace jump?"
Zero flashed a crazy smile: "Who said we were going to jump? We're hitching a ride!"
He walked to the center of the safe house and slammed his hands onto the ground. A powerful spatial energy, completely out of place in this technologically advanced dungeon, erupted! Instantly, an incredibly complex teleportation array composed of light and data streams lit up the ground.
“I secretly planted the foundation for a ‘one-time ultra-long-range random teleportation array’ under this safe house a long time ago, originally intending to keep it for escaping.” Zero chuckled. “Now it comes in handy! I set the target parameters to the approximate direction of the ‘Exile’ indicated by the compass, and then incorporated a bit of the spatial coordinate perturbation algorithm that I stole from the space pirate ship… uh, borrowed!”
"Wait! Random teleportation? That's too dangerous!" the doctor exclaimed.
"There's no other way! This is the fastest way to get away from our current coordinates and possibly get closer to the target area!" Zero shouted. "Should we stay and wait to be surrounded by more guys who are following us, or take a gamble and fight for our future? Buddy, it's your decision!"
Jiang Yu looked at the slightly vibrating compass in her hand, then at the uncertain teleportation array on the ground, and her eyes sharpened.
There was no better choice.
"Go!" He stepped into the center of the magic circle without hesitation.
"You've got guts!" Zero laughed and jumped in as well, shouting to the stunned "Dawn" team, "Friends, see you again someday! Or... would you like to join me on an adventure?"
Rock, Fox, and Doctor exchanged a glance, each seeing the resolve in the other's eyes. The ultimate truth of the Infinite Game may begin today.
"We'll go with you!" Rock roared, leading his team into the brightly lit magic circle.
A blinding white light engulfed everything! A powerful spatial tearing force swept through, and the safe house in the abandoned mine vanished instantly behind them. Jiang Yu gripped the compass tightly, feeling its increasingly clear direction amidst the chaotic teleportation.
This time, it was no longer an escape, but a proactive march into unknown and dangerous territory.
Their destination—the land of exile, the Eternal Exile!
The random teleportation process was far more painful and lengthy than using a stable channel. It felt like being on a small boat in a raging storm, being tossed around, and having your internal organs displaced. Even Jiang Yu felt waves of intense dizziness, not to mention the members of the "Dawn" team; the doctor had even started vomiting.
Zero's situation is the best. He seems quite comfortable with this chaotic space travel and even has the leisure to comment: "Hmm, the randomness is good this time. The perturbation algorithm is working. It seems we've really been thrown to the edge of the 'Exile'."
After an unknown amount of time, the nauseating tearing sensation finally subsided. The teleportation light faded, and the group found themselves in an extremely bizarre space.
There is no concept of up, down, left, or right here. It is as if you are in a void of space, but all around you are the wreckage of countless huge objects: broken interstellar warships, shattered continental plates, twisted city ruins, and even the skeletons of some indescribable giant creatures... All of these are like garbage, silently suspended in the cold void, forming an incomparably vast and desolate "cosmic graveyard".
Is this the Land of Exile? The Forgotten Starfield?
A suffocating sense of despair and a timeless silence permeated the void. The distant "stars" emitted a cold, deathly light, and the spatial structure was as fragile as glass, with occasional glimpses of tiny black cracks—dangerous spatial faults.
“We’ve arrived… or rather, we’ve arrived at the edge.” Zero observed his surroundings, his expression becoming much more serious. “The environment here is harsh, and the spatial rules are chaotic. Do not attempt long-distance teleportation casually, or you may be torn apart or thrown into some spacetime trap.”
Jiang Yu immediately took out the compass. The needle no longer pointed in a fixed direction, but began to tremble slightly, and then firmly pointed into the depths of this cosmic graveyard.
"There's a response! It's right here!" Jiang Yu's spirits lifted. The compass's resonance was clearer than ever before.
He attempted to fly slowly in the direction of the pointer, the others following closely behind. As they traversed this desolate graveyard, watching the various ruins of civilizations flash by, a sense of insignificance and awe arose within them. How many glories and failures are buried here?
After flying for an unknown period of time, suddenly, the compass needle began to vibrate violently, emitting a slight buzzing sound, the resonance reaching its peak!
Following the direction of the pointer, everyone looked ahead and saw a densely packed area of ruins. In the center of those ruins, the outline of a colossal creature gradually became clear against the void.
That's a ship!
A ship of unimaginable size!
Its style is ancient and peculiar, like a mixture of metal, crystal, and some kind of biological shell. The hull is covered with huge scars and the marks of time, and many places are broken, revealing the complex internal structure. It floats there silently, like a dead whale, exuding an ancient desolation and sorrow.
At the bow, several faded characters written in some ancient universal language could be vaguely seen. Zero squinted to make out their meaning, then slowly read aloud:
"Eternal... Exile... Ship..."
They found it! The legendary lost ark, the possible hiding place of the key fragments.
However, before they could feel happy, a strong sense of unease suddenly struck them.
Behind the enormous, hollow observation window of the "Eternal Exile," and deep within its damaged cabins, countless pairs of scarlet lights suddenly appeared! Dense and filled with malice, they all "looked" at the uninvited guests.
This ship is not unclaimed! It has "residents," and they seem extremely unfriendly!
A chilling killing intent emanated from the ghost ship, locking onto Jiang Yu and her group who had just arrived. This time, the challenge was no longer a dungeon boss or an invisible contamination, but an ancient behemoth filled with unknown dangers, alive (or rather, possessed by something).
The real adventure has only just begun.
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