As for why Linde came to this planet, that story goes back to some time ago.
Following the coordinates indicated by the first "Star Scale Ship," Linde traversed a long and lonely sea of stars before finally arriving at a star region marked on the star map as "potentially containing anomalous activity."
However, what appeared before him was not the terrifying lair of the evil god he had imagined, or the interstellar battlefield of fierce fighting, but rather... an unexpected emptiness and deathly silence.
Several long-extinguished, rogue planets, leaving only cold, rocky cores, drift slowly through the void like tombstones.
Under the sparse starlight in the distance, only some interstellar dust and small ice meteorite belts outlined the desolate contours of this star field.
The anticipated target—whether it be the stronghold of the evil god or some other noteworthy entity—seems to have already departed or is hidden very deeply. Even the guidance of the Star Scale Ship has become blurred here, pointing only to a general area.
“Coordinate deviation, or the target has moved…” Linde hovered in the void, his cold purple eyes sweeping over the desolate area as he calmly analyzed the situation.
Planets move, star maps become outdated, so it's not surprising that the ancient records of the dragon race contain errors.
In the vast sea of stars, accurately locating a potentially moving target is an extremely difficult task.
He sensed the star scale in his hand, its spiritual essence greatly diminished and its light dimmed. He knew that relying on it for a more detailed search was no longer realistic, and forcibly activating it would likely completely exhaust its power, affecting the rest of the journey.
After a moment's thought, Linde turned his gaze to the edge of this vast star field, to a pale yellow planet marked in the Star Scale Records as "barren and devoid of life."
Records show that the environment there is harsh and lacks high-energy resources, making it theoretically difficult for an intelligent civilization to develop.
But with his extraordinary perception, he could vaguely sense a faint, life-like ripple coming from that planet, even though the ripple was very primitive and tiny.
"Let's settle here for now, recover from the energy consumed during our travels, and at the same time, explore the actual situation in this star field. Perhaps we can learn some information that the Star Scales failed to record from the native creatures."
After making the decision, Lind no longer hesitated.
He concealed most of his aura, transforming into a shadowy figure barely visible to the naked eye, and swooped down towards the planet called "Chital" like a meteorite.
As they passed through the thin, dusty atmosphere, Lind frowned slightly.
The environment on the planet's surface was even harsher than he had perceived. The air was filled with an inert and slightly corrosive gas, the earth had an unhealthy yellowish-brown color, and the vegetation was sparse, mainly consisting of some huge fungi that emitted a faint phosphorescence.
However, to his surprise, as the altitude decreased, the information fed back by the [Deconstruction Halo] began to contradict itself.
"A regular network of paths was discovered... a non-naturally formed cluster structure... although the energy fluctuations are weak, they exhibit clear characteristics of social activity..."
Xinglin's records describe it as "barren and uncivilized," but what he is observing now is clearly the trace of a nascent primitive civilization!
There are deliberately trampled paths, nests with functional zones built using natural fungi and secretions, and even faint but orderly mental fluctuations can be detected—signs of intelligent beings communicating.
"Are the dragon records incorrect? Or... did this civilization arise after the records were made? Or did they evade the dragons' ancient detection in an extremely covert way?"
With a hint of curiosity, Linde adjusted his falling direction and plummeted straight down towards the place in this area where the mental fluctuations were most concentrated and the nest structure was the most magnificent—that is, the "Royal Palace" where the Insect King resided.
He needed to find a "local guide" to quickly understand the planet and whether anything unusual had happened in this region recently.
Thus, the scene that the King of the Qitar Insects and his subjects witnessed, a scene as apocalyptic, unfolded—an extraterrestrial demon pierced the dome, announcing his arrival with irresistible force.
At this moment, Linde sat cross-legged on the high platform of fungal rock, seemingly closing his eyes to regulate his breathing and recover the power consumed by the long interstellar travel. In reality, his enormous perception was like an invisible radar wave, spreading out from him to the entire planet of Qitar and even to the starry sky beyond the planet.
He first conducted a deep scan of the planet beneath his feet.
【Deconstructing the Halo】detailed analysis of the soil, air, water, and bioluminescent bacteria of Qitar.
The results confirmed that the planet was indeed resource-poor and had a low energy level. The fact that the Tar insectoids were able to evolve a rudimentary civilization there was largely due to their extreme adaptability to the harsh environment, and... their unique and highly efficient telepathic abilities.
This spiritual network tightly bound their society together, barely managing to overcome material deprivation.
"A primitive civilization struggling to survive in the cracks, threat level: extremely low." Linde reaffirmed his initial assessment.
Then, his perception began to extend upwards, breaking through the thin atmosphere of the star system and returning to that vast expanse of space.
He carefully sensed every ripple in the space and every fluctuation of energy, trying to find any clues related to the "extraterrestrial evil god"—those chaotic, distorted, and devouring residual energy.
However, the result was still a blank.
This star field is almost too clean. Apart from the cosmic background radiation and the faint energy flow from nearby stars, there is almost no powerful or unusual energy source, nor any obvious trace of spatial distortion or dimensional rifts.
It was as if the "abnormal activity" marked by the dragons had never happened, or perhaps it had not occurred here.
"Incorrect coordinates? Or have they erased all traces?" Linde pondered various possibilities.
He had already experienced the cunning of the evil god, so his ability to hide it so well was not entirely unexpected.
Just as he was about to focus his senses on analyzing the social structure of the Tar insect people, hoping to find some legends about the cosmic anomalies in their ancient oral traditions or mural records—
Suddenly, an extremely faint but strangely familiar "fluctuation" was detected by his highly sensitive perception, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake!
This fluctuation didn't originate from the stars, but rather... from the depths of the planet Qitar!?
Linde suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in his purple pupils.
This fluctuation... carries a cold, inanimate, highly structured information characteristic, and bears some resemblance to the "information cocoon" he encountered before, formed by the combination of the evil god's will, the remnants of the Zedo server, and abyssal energy!
Although it is fainter and more hidden, as if covered by layers of rock and the planet's own magnetic field, the sense of "alienity" at its core is hard to completely erase!
"Could it be... that they have a plan here as well?" Linde's heart sank.
He originally thought this was just an insignificant foothold, but he never expected that he might have accidentally stumbled upon another forward base infiltrated by the evil god, and on such a seemingly harmless primitive planet!
Were these Qitar insectoids themselves corrupted? Or is there an unknown secret hidden deep underground?
Linde's gaze fell once more upon the insectoid tribe below, still gripped by panic and stagnation because of his arrival, his eyes growing ever colder.
It seems that a deeper "communication" with this "Insect King" is needed.
He needed to know just how much these primitive crustaceans knew about the land beneath their feet.
The star scale that had guided him to this place was now lying quietly in his storage space, its light even dimmer than before.
The first exploration seemed to point to a mystery that was more complex and dangerous than expected.
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