Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 386 - 031. Valkyrie Fortress

Chapter 386: 031. Valkyrie Fortress

If she truly killed herself, would Li Aozi feel sad?

Probably not, for she was nothing, and despite Li Aozi’s clear dislike, she had stubbornly clung to him.

She lifted her hand and covered her head, her pale hair taking the shape of feathers, cascading down to the ground like a waterfall.

—Such a self was utterly despicable.

’Secret...’

Her transformation was all the Secret’s fault.

It was Gaia from the Secret Society, constantly calling and tempting her, that had turned her into such a hideous monster.

She called herself a ’Tailor,’ a noble Senator.

But Gaia never mentioned—becoming a citizen of the Secret meant sacrificing a ’price.’

In the cold and terrifying black desert of the Outer World, when she was confused and struggling, the Secret extended a helping hand, a lifeline.

Since it saved her life, paying a little price as compensation seemed understandable.

But was this price... too heavy?

’Confidence.’

As a ’Tailor,’ Gaia had taken away her quality of ’confidence.’

Perhaps she should not have resisted, should not have gone against the ’Sailor’s’ orders, should not have voluntarily left the reach of the Secret Society.

She should have obediently been Gaia’s daughter, integrated into the large family of the Secret, and helped the Secret Society to invade and slaughter, devouring more civilizations, gaining more sisters and brothers.

—But could she really accept such an outcome?

’I don’t want Li Aozi to know that kind of me.’

She knew about the Forged Society and the pseudo-humans, and also knew that Li Aozi’s friend had died at the hands of the Society.

If Li Aozi were to dislike her, if Li Aozi knew she was a Society Citizen...

No.

Better to die unseen—no, if she died, then Li Aozi would lose a treasure of great significance. Would he hate her then, ’Truly useless, dying on her own before she could be useful, without considering anyone else’s feelings’?

That kind of ending, absolutely not.

But what should she do?

The person known as ’Yawen Heskixin’ was dead, but as a ’Tailor,’ ’Yawen Heskixin’ was still alive.

One day, the Secret would come for her, just like the ’Sailor’—the man who had evaded the Secret for countless years, Igor Matthew, who had even fled to the Azure Star, only to be found by the Secret in the end.

What should she do?

Run away, she couldn’t.

Fight, that was impossible. She could never defeat the Society. Even the process of turning into a monster due to the loss of control of Ether Blood was out of her control. Perhaps she would frequently find herself in this state in the future.

In light of this, perhaps the only thing she could do was to use her remaining time before the Secret found her to help Li Aozi as much as she could.

Help this poor, lonely boy who acknowledged ’Yawen.’

Yawen thought to herself.

A moment later, she saw the energy sphere being reactivated,

"Safe travels, dear Li Aozi."

Yawen bowed her head low and receded into the darkness.

——————————

Whirr!

Li Aozi tore through the teleportation energy sphere, with the "Armor of Leoz" and "Dominance Mode" already activated on his body. After emerging from the teleport node, he lightly flicked his body into space and began to accelerate for flight.

In the distance, the Eye of the Galaxy Starfield was still erupting in gunfire—however, since he could see the golden streamers and bursts of high-energy rays, it meant that he was likely watching a battle from several years ago.

Interstellar civilizations and Narrative-Level Civilizations differ; the speed of information dissemination remains limited to the speed of light. But for any inch of land in a Narrative-Level Civilization, they share the same stroke of sunrise and sunset.

The overbearing Narrative-Level Civilizations need not worry about the effects of light speed on time; within their range of law modifications, territories are like a spread-out map, a two-dimensional world. They can directly modify the territories from the three-dimensional space.

Li Aozi’s target was clear: he sped along flight path D-9090-Sl at sub-light speed, passed through two enormous stellar bodies, and using their gravitational slingshot, continually increased his speed until, reaching one-sixth of light speed, he had arrived at his destination.

—The Valkyrie Fortress.

This was an immensely large interstellar fortress, a spherical hollow design generating gravity through its own centrifugal force rotation; its pale exterior easily confused with asteroids in the cosmos, but the fortress itself carried a powerful Mind Transmission Institution capable of direct psychic communication with all life forms within a 3-light-year radius.

The Valkyrie Fortress served as one of the few lawless zones in the Layer Abyss, with a radius of 590,000 kilometers, plus a star harbor stretching over 10 million kilometers, it was always ready to welcome any force and any species of giant beasts for rest.

As an independent power, the Valkyrie Fortress was stuck in a starfield where three Narrative-Level Civilizations intersected, yet this place caused no conflicts of interest and instead became a universally recognized Barbaric Lands.

Not because the three Narrative-Level Civilizations were compassionate, but because the Valkyrie Fortress was located within the Kebo Star Cluster—poor.

Poor as in "truly fucking poor."

Never was there a place that couldn’t be drained of its resources by Narrative-Level Civilizations; the entire Kebo Star Cluster had only grasped the sun.

Only that this last sun was gradually turning into a red giant, but once changed, everyone’s life still managed to go on.

One day, this red giant star suddenly disappeared.

Literally disappeared.

There were rumors that Redd Gold of the "Soul of Plunder" had stolen the red giant star, causing residents of the Kebo Star Cluster to furiously condemn Redd Gold at the Interstellar Alliance for taking away their resources essential for survival.

It was also because of this that one of the Narrative-Level Civilizations, the "Union Group," took the initiative to build the massive Valkyrie Fortress for them to dwell and operate in.

This was considered by the public to be a rare act of kindness from the "Union Group."

—Bullshit.

As far as Li Aozi knew, this narrative was absolute nonsense. Redd Gold stealing the sun might be true, but the "Union Group" constructing Valkyrie Fortress was purely to establish a lawless black market to help reduce their own costs associated with deportation of criminals, human experiments, hiring labor, and transportation of sensitive goods.

Furthermore, half of the fortress’s controlling rights were held by the mercenaries of the "Union Group." After being turned into a free port area, Transcendents from Layer Abyss to Border Abyss all came here to dock, rest, and trade, and just the taxes alone made a killing for the "Union Group."

Narrative-Level Civilizations are always like this, you think they are absent, without any influence in certain places, but perhaps these are precisely the places spun out by Narrative-Level Civilizations.

"Identification-CBZ-114, you are rapidly approaching our location, please state your purpose and proceed with registration."

A gentle voice immediately resonated at the bottom of Li Aozi’s heart.

"I am Leozi, from the Crystal Tower Civilization. I intend to seek political asylum and use your interstellar routes. I have the identity documents of an Interstellar Civilization Citizen, which according to the statutes of the Interstellar Alliance, allow me to apply for a temporary residence right."

Li Aozi replied briskly, using his spiritual power to present his identification.

"Understood, we have received your document’s psychic embodiment. Please proceed to Harbor 514-1919-810 for docking, where we will carry out identity verification and authorization procedures."

"Choosing Valkyrie, that’s the philosophy of life."

"Welcome to Valkyrie Fortress, we wish you a pleasant stay."