The spaceship silently traversed the strange and mysterious cloud.
Just as Asurmen had said, the intrusion of the visitor had partially awakened the ancient denizen of the stars that had been asleep for thousands or even ten thousand years. While the main consciousness of the latter showed no signs of awakening, the partial reconstruction of information was still happening. On the image sent back by the external monitor, the shimmering clouds were constantly rolling and spiraling, and from time to time, some incredible things would appear in the clouds. Sometimes it was an arc-shaped arch beam, sometimes it was a crystal cluster, but most of the time, the things that appeared were just crystal cross-sections that could not be identified.
The crystal sections were not the true form of any part of the Denizen of the Stars' spaceship, but a projection of it in a special dimension. The partial awakening caused these 'silhouettes' that should not have appeared in the three-dimensional space to appear, forming all sorts of strange and bizarre scenes.
"We are going to the center of the cloud," Asurmen's crystal floated beside Hao Ren as it said slowly. "There may be some key structures there, and there may be a chance to awaken this ancient warrior."
Vivian glanced at the crystal. "You don't sound so sure?"
"I'm sorry, but it's true," Asurmen said frankly. "I have never seen a spaceship of the Denizens of the Stars with this structure. It must have been created after I entered Collow. This spaceship uses a structure that has never existed in the ancient era. But based on experience, the core of the cloud is always where the Thinking Crystal is, and heading in that direction is always the right choice."
"I hope your judgment is correct." Hao Ren nodded as he ordered Nolan to speed up and fly towards the center of the cloud.
The crystal structures that kept emerging from the light and cloud were left behind by Nolan. After confirming that they were just fragile "fakes" that would not affect them even if they were smashed, the shipgirl was much bolder. She no longer dodged anything that suddenly appeared in front of her and flew almost in a straight line towards her destination.
The Petrachelys was only a few hundred meters long, but the glowing cloud spanned over a thousand kilometers. The Petrachelys was as insignificant as a bug as it passed through the Petrachelys. Hao Ren could even imagine that the Denizen of the Stars spaceship had corridors and cabins that spanned hundreds of meters, and his inspector's ship was flying in between those corridors. But now, all of those corridors and cabins were hidden in the mist and light.
While it was difficult to tell the direction in the mist, but the data from the detector showed that the Petrachelys was gradually reaching the center of the energy structure.
The things that emerged from the mist had also changed, as if indicating that they were very close to a special place.
The broken crystal clusters and discontinuous crystal sections were no longer visible, and in their place were crystal structures that were getting more complete and clearer. Sometimes, there were even crystal corridors that were hundreds of meters long and vast domes. While the edges of the crystal structures were still uneven, the scale and completeness of these structures were undoubtedly far greater than the "fragments" at the edge.
"A more complete reflection. It seems that the core area does indeed store more important and stable information," Asurmen's crystal said in an emotionless voice. "But I still can't sense the main consciousness of this compatriot … I can't even feel a trace of life. This is too strange."
"So it really didn't sleep to death …" Hao Ren was halfway through his sentence when he was pinched by Vivian. He quickly shut his mouth. "Ahem, I mean, is this dormant spaceship really 'alive'?"
"It's definitely alive. The partial awakenings we saw along the way are the evidence," Asurmen replied. "But … for some reason, most of the spaceship's energy has disappeared. Even the spiritual energy used to maintain the stability of the core area has disappeared as well. It's as if it has been extracted and sent to some bottomless abyss."
"Energy loss?" Vivian's expression turned serious. "This is not a good sign … If these Denizens of the Stars are the guardians left behind by the goddess of creation, then the loss of energy is definitely bad news."
Hao Ren comforted Vivian. "At least the divine blockade in Star Cluster X is still active, which means that the entire defense system is not offline. No matter what is locked or protected here, it should still be safe."
As they spoke, the Petrachelys slowed down, and more crystal structures appeared in the haze outside the spaceship. These "replicas" were so complete and real that even the haze seemed to have dissipated.
Nolan slowed down to zero in front of a crystal barrier. "Boss, we can't go in anymore. Should we open a passage?"
As she spoke, the two secondary cannons at the front of the Petrachelys peeked out from under the armor plate and aimed at the seemingly thick crystal barrier.
"You will penetrate this place." Hao Ren immediately stopped the shipgirl and exchanged a look with Vivian. "Looks like we have to go down."
"I'll go with you." The Asurmen crystal floated up as well. "I'm more familiar with the operating mechanism of the Denizens of the Stars than you are."
The Asurmen crystal had a ring on it to make it easier for him to follow, so Hao Ren nodded in agreement. He then waved at the counter beside him, and Lil Pea, who was hugging a few Lego bricks on the counter, immediately threw her toy aside and jumped into her father's arms.
Two people, a fish, and a crystal prism with a ring on it. Such a strange combination left the Petrachelys and entered the strange space filled with a faint shimmer.
There was no gravity, no air, but there was a faint glow everywhere. The advantage of this was that they did not need any lighting to see what was going on around them. Hao Ren came to the crystal barrier that extended into the light mist. He reached out his hand and gently touched it to feel its texture. This was the first time he had really touched the crystal structure that emerged from the light mist with his own hands. The feedback of touch confirmed the substance of this thing.
It was a very hard material, and while the spacecraft could easily turn it into dust when it crashed into it, Hao Ren confirmed that it was as hard as granite. But compared to the real structure of a starship, even granite could only be described as fragile.
This was a "fake" formed by partial awakening. If this was the material of the real Denizens of the Stars' cabin, it would be harder than diamond.
Vivian looked up. She saw many straight and wide lines on the upper part of the crystal barrier, and the lines made the barrier look like it was pieced together by countless crystal plates. She guessed that the lines were some kind of energy transmission structure, and under normal circumstances, there should be light flowing on them. But everything here was just a "fake", so there was no light on the crystal wall, and it looked like a dead object.
With Asurmen's reminder, Hao Ren and Vivian quickly found the entrance to the deeper space.
The entrance was at the bottom of the crystal barrier, and there was a triangular door. Beyond the door was a corridor that was more than ten meters long. This corridor showed the astonishing thickness of the crystal barrier.
With such a thick layer of barrier, there was no doubt that it was a very important place.
After passing through the corridor, Hao Ren saw a space that could only be described as "vast."
It was a pyramid-shaped hall. The structure of the pyramid-shaped hall was similar to most of the cabins in the Asurmen, and it seemed like this was the "architectural style" of the Denizens of the Stars. The hall was shrouded in light dust, and with the vast space, the entire hall seemed to be shrouded in mist. Even the floor of the hall appeared to be covered in rolling light clouds, and in the rolling light clouds, various crystal structures and unknown equipment appeared and disappeared. Some of them did not seem to have a fixed form.
It seemed like even in the core area, the "partial awakening" was limited. According to Hao Ren's visual estimation, only 70% of the structure in the hall was in a solid state, and the rest was still shrouded in the light fog.
Of course, it was impossible for such an incomplete place that had materialized from an illusion to function.
Everything was in a state of stillness, like a group of stone sculptures.
Lil Pea poked her head out of Hao Ren's arms. The lack of gravity made the little guy a little uncomfortable, and the lifeless atmosphere made her dislike it even more. The baby fish gently arched her head twice and muttered, "It's so lifeless."
The little guy also had her own life-support collar. It was a modified model that Nolan had made in the lab. With the help of the life-support collar, the little guy could move around on her own, but Hao Ren did not allow her to wander around.
Hao Ren stroked the little one's head. "According to Asurmen, we are moving in the body of a giant creature."
They came to the center of the vast hall, and there was a large crystal structure there. It was similar in shape to the "Thinking Crystal" that Asurmen's body was in, but there was no flickering light in the crystal.
Asurmen's crystal quietly floated to the side of the crystal. "This is the center of the entire spaceship. If we can really establish contact with our dormant compatriot, this is the only place."
"But I don't see any signs of life here." Vivian frowned and gently tapped the lifeless crystal with her hand. "Can the MDT analyze anything?"
The MDT had been floating beside Hao Ren. It flew up and circled around the large crystal twice. Its conclusion was rather depressing. "I can't read anything. This thing is just an empty shell of a 'projection'. It's just more realistic than ordinary projections. But the real structure of this hall should still be hidden in the mist."
Hao Ren did not give up and searched around the hall again. He tried various ways to stimulate the thing in the hall, but it was still to no avail.
He began to wonder if he had to blow up the place to wake up the Denizen of the Stars who seemed to be in a deep sleep (he just could not get this idea out of his head).
In his arms, Lil Pea poked her head out again and looked around curiously.
The little one thought hard and seemed to have an idea. She then reached out to the crystal cluster not far away. "Ah!"
The little mermaid's figure instantly disappeared. Using the demon-hunting fish's talent, she directly teleported to the crystal cluster.
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