In the base's conference room, where the alarm had just stopped, blue light from a holographic projection flowed across everyone's faces.
Lin Yi's knuckles turned white as he gripped the psionic fragment. The patterns on the fragment's surface seemed to come alive, glowing slightly with his heartbeat—it had just been pried out of the wreckage of the enemy's flagship and still carried the acrid smell of burning.
"Please sit down." He tapped the conference table, his voice three degrees deeper than usual.
Long Wu was the first to sit down, his battle sword clanging against the table, the blade still stained with dark green alien blood: "Boss, that last wave was nothing. If you ask me, we should just storm to the entrance of the Mother Nest—"
"Long Wu." Chu Yao's fingertips traced a data stream on the holographic screen. Her glasses reflected a cold light as she looked up. "Take a look at this first."
The holographic projection suddenly switched to a complex, overlapping star map, red and blue dots intertwined in a tangled mess. "This is the enemy energy fluctuation data collected over the past three hours," she said, pulling up a line graph. The highest peak resembled an inverted sword. "The vanguard's main ship's energy core only outputs 0.7% of their mothership's power."
Long Wu slammed his large hand on the table, making the teacup jump: "What do you mean?"
Were we just beating up a shoeshine guy?
"The more troublesome part is here." Chu Yao pulled up another blurry image—a sphere covered by black tentacles was oozing a viscous purple liquid. "The bio-pods of the Night Owl's Nest are active."
Based on comparisons with previously captured reconnaissance organism gene banks, these liquids may contain "interference-type symbiotes." She opened a report: "Upon contact with human skin, they release neurotoxins, extending the cooldown time of job-change participants' skills by more than 30%."
A collective gasp filled the conference room.
Whitebeard's forging hammer slammed down on his leg with a "thud," but he seemed oblivious, staring at the purple liquid on the holographic screen: "This thing... is much harder to deal with than the previous acid-corroding beast."
"So we need new weapons." Aizen, who had been silently stroking the silver pattern on his sleeve, suddenly spoke.
He pushed up his frameless glasses and took out a translucent crystal from his spatial ring. It shimmered with a faint blue light. "This is a 'Starfall Crystal' that I got from an interdimensional mineral vein. It can absorb high-energy particles."
If combined with Lao Bai's "Breaking Yuan Hammer"...
Whitebeard's eyes suddenly lit up. He reached out to take it, but then stopped in mid-air. He rubbed his rough fingertips against the stubble on his chin: "Little Blue didn't lie to me."
Can this crystal even break through that damn energy shield?
"I tested it with the lab's laser cannon three days ago." Aizen pushed the crystal to the center of the table. "A three-centimeter-thick meteorite crystal plate can weaken energy attacks of equal intensity by 65%."
Lin Yi rubbed his thumb against the psionic fragment, and suddenly felt a burning sensation in his palm—the patterns on the fragment were dazzlingly bright.
As he looked up, he saw Xuanmingzi's bronze lamp shaking violently, the lamp oil spilling onto the wooden table, where a ghostly green flame rose.
"Alright!" Long Wu slapped Aizen on the back, nearly knocking him into the holographic screen. "Once Old Bai finishes his new weapon, I'll lead the brothers to slaughter him seven times over—"
"Don't rush in yet." Lin Yi pressed down on Long Wu's shoulder, while his other hand drew a silver light trail in the air.
The power of spacetime condensed into a star map in his palm. "Although the reconnaissance bodies of the Night Owl's Nest have retreated, their space monitoring network is still intact."
"I'll use the 'Space-Time Rift' to plan a route for you, avoiding their thermal scans." He tapped his fingertip, and three shimmering paths appeared in the light band. "Choose the middle one. The rift's exit is at the ancient teleportation array in the Kunlun Mountains; there are people from the Reality Alliance there to meet you."
Long Wu stared at the route in the light band, then suddenly grinned: "Boss, that was a brilliant move!"
That batch of black iron last time was obtained from that broken formation—"
"Wait." Xuan Mingzi's voice was like a rusty gear. When everyone looked up, they saw that the old man's pupils were gleaming with an eerie gold. "They moved."
The flame of the bronze lamp suddenly rose three inches, making the wrinkles on his face appear as if they had been carved by a knife. "The 'Judgment Fleet' of the advanced civilization has arrived ahead of schedule." His withered fingers pressed against the table, causing the wood to crack instantly. "The originally calculated 72-hour buffer period... now there are less than 12 hours left."
The temperature in the conference room suddenly dropped.
Chu Yao's holographic screen went black with a "sizzle." She rapidly typed on the keyboard, her face pale as she looked up: "Energy monitoring networks show 13 strong gravitational fields outside Earth's orbit—completely different from the space jump characteristics of the advance team!"
Whitebeard suddenly stood up, slamming his forging hammer to the ground. Sparks flew onto Long Wu's trouser leg, but the latter seemed oblivious, staring at the gradually darkening sky outside the window.
Aizen pressed his fingers to his temples, suddenly gasping, "My spatial ring... is getting hot." He removed the ring, revealing dark red patterns on the metal surface. "This is a warning signal from an interdimensional mineral vein. The Mother Nest's bio-pods... have begun mass production."
Lin Yi stood up, and the fragment of psionic energy split in two in his palm, revealing the galaxy flowing within.
He could hear the wind howling through the spacetime rift, like countless war drums beating. "Chu Yao, redistribute all resources, prioritizing the forging department and the medical team." He looked at Whitebeard, "You and Aizen will move into the forging chamber tonight. The fusion of the meteorite crystal and the psionic fragments must produce a sample within eight hours." He then turned to Long Wu, "Set off now. I'll have the Shadow Guards of the Time-Space Legion scout ahead for you."
Long Wu grabbed his battle sword and was about to rush out the door, but halfway there he turned back, grinning and showing his white teeth: "Boss, when I come back with enough materials, we'll beat them so badly they won't even be able to find their mother nest!"
The door slammed shut, and the footsteps faded into the distance.
Chu Yao quickly typed on the keyboard, and when the holographic screen lit up again, a map showing the movement of supplies throughout the base unfolded before everyone's eyes.
Whitebeard ripped off his apron and tossed it into a corner, then strode towards the door, hammer in hand. As he passed Aizen, he patted him on the shoulder: "Little Aizen, come on, tonight I'll show you what 'Tempering Stars with Ten Thousand Fires' really means."
Aizen adjusted his glasses, and as he followed, the silver pattern on his sleeve gleamed faintly.
Only Lin Yi and Xuan Mingzi remained in the conference room.
The flame in the bronze lamp began to shrink, and the old man's pupils slowly returned to black. "They're more anxious than we thought," he said, staring at the psionic fragment in Lin Yi's palm. "Within it... there's the heartbeat of the Hive."
Lin Yi gripped the fragment tightly, and the galaxy within it suddenly accelerated its flow, as if trying to break free from his control.
The sky outside the window was suddenly filled with dark clouds, and a muffled rumble like thunder came from afar—not thunder, but a tremor that seemed to distort space.
"Teacher," Lin Yi suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse without him even realizing it, "If...if it really comes to the last step..."
Xuanmingzi interrupted him, his withered hand pressing against the back of his neck: "You must remember, you are not protecting a civilization." He looked out the window at the dark clouds, "You are proving that all lives that struggle for survival deserve to be remembered."
When the alarm sounded again, it was even sterner than before.
Chu Yao's voice boomed from the walkie-talkie: "Track monitoring network confirmed!"
Thirteen gravitational fields are being deployed; preliminary assessment indicates it is... a "Judgment-class" starship!
Lin Yi turned and walked towards the command platform, his military boots making a dull thud as they stepped on the ground.
He could feel the power of spacetime boiling in his blood vessels, as if it were about to burst through his skin.
The psionic fragments were burning hot in his palm, almost scorching him, but he gripped them even tighter.
A dark red light shone through the dark clouds outside the window, like a pair of open eyes.
In the far reaches of space, the black mother nest covered with tentacles suddenly began to tremble.
In countless complex eyes, the outline of the Earth is becoming clearer—this time, they are no longer content with merely probing.
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