Xyrin Empire
Chapter 510 Too Thrilling

Chapter 510: Chapter 510 Too Thrilling

The fierce energy storm raged beside me, and even though it couldn’t harm me, it was still terrifying. Before my eyes was a vast expanse of crimson, huge flames appeared out of nowhere, then swept across wildly. Amid this rampaging storm, a mysterious bright yellow energy sphere flickered in and out of sight, agile beyond measure, just like Sicaro who vowed never to surrender during a city management siege...

Damn it, why am I even thinking about that old bastard!

It had been more than ten minutes since I started plummeting towards the surface of the Red Moon, yet my body was still rapidly descending. This eerie celestial body had a stable gravitational pull, which thankfully spared me the trouble of doggy-paddling through a sea of plasma—okay, I admit I was curious.

"Jeez, just how thick is this energy barrier?"

Although I had already used the surrounding energy to boost my speed to ten times the speed of sound, after such a long journey forward, all I could see was chaotic crimson, making me even doubt whether the entire giant moon was entirely made up of these seas of energy, and it made me a bit impatient.

The main thing was that infinitely traveling through such a hellish place was really psychologically stressful!

No sooner had my complaint ended than a swath of green light, starkly different from the surroundings, flashed before my eyes. The next second, a soft body appeared in my embrace.

"Eh? Little Thing, how come..."

I exclaimed in surprise. Little One, who had been happily burrowing into my collar and enjoying the surfing ride, suddenly switched to Divine Form, almost throwing off my balance which made me cry out in shock. But before I could finish my astonished remark, Dingdang...um, Dingdang unexpectedly leaned in and pecked lightly on my lips.

"Now Ah Jun won’t complain anymore!"

Dingdang said innocently, as if she had just accomplished a great feat.

I was laughing and crying as I hugged this silly Goddess who understood nothing, raising my hand to knock on her forehead: "Who taught you that?"

"Dingdang learned it from Sandora!" the green-haired girl happily proclaimed, then gently tapped her own lips, "But it’s strange, I used to kiss Ah Jun a lot before, why do I feel a tingling on my lips after transforming? Ah Jun, let’s try one more time!"

"Stop kidding around!" I lightly tapped on Dingdang’s head, laughing and crying, "I need to stay focused in such a dangerous place."

Though Dingdang was an undead Life Goddess, the violent energy around us was still not something she could withstand alone. Therefore, my Energy Control Talent was now working together with Dingdang’s Divine Power Shield to resist the surrounding storm. The latter’s shield seemed to need no effort to maintain, appearing whenever Dingdang felt threatened. But as a luckless mortal, my skills required guidance.

But, that moment of cool touch, surely made one reminisce—cough cough, this isn’t some lewd thought, but rather a perfectly normal reaction.

Just like Dingdang said, although she used to frequently show affection to me, kissing and such were almost routine. But after all, the difference between three inches and one meter sixty is huge, and the feelings between these two sizes are completely different.

But reminiscing aside, when it actually comes to romantic feelings, upon reflection, I found absolutely none on my part. Dingdang’s inherent sacred aura... believe it or not, she truly possesses this quality now; it seems capable of purifying all whimsical thoughts. Even now, holding this warm soft-bodied girl, I don’t develop any evil thoughts. If I must say, it feels like holding Little Baobao while sleeping, nice to the touch without any obscene thoughts.

"Ah Jun," the girl in my arms suddenly spoke, "you can relax your protection over Dingdang a bit, the Divine Form of Dingdang is quite formidable. The energy attacks here aren’t likely to harm Dingdang easily."

So, she transformed to make things easier for me?

Moved by the little one’s act of care, I still wanted to say, if you stayed in my pocket as Little One, I’d be even more relaxed...

After an indeterminate amount of time, the chaotic light and shadows in front of us finally began to stabilize, suggesting that we had passed through the Giant Moon’s active energy layer and were gradually approaching its stable core. A few minutes later, a silver-white crystallization shell riddled with evenly spaced holes appeared before us, confirming our speculation.

Dingdang gently released her arms from around my neck, tightly gripped my arm, then closed her eyes, "Ah Jun, Dingdang is ready!"

I rubbed her head, then slightly reduced our speed, aimed for one of the larger holes in the crystallization shell, and charged in without hesitation.

A world of its own.

There was no stronger energy assault than expected, nor were we attacked by any automatic defense systems. After passing through what was evidently the core protection shield made of crystallization shell, we found ourselves inside a calm and slightly dim spherical space.

The crystallization shell we had just passed through was opaque from the inside, with countless holes connecting it to the external energy sea, allowing the orange-red light to pour in. Inside the shell, there seemed to be a photon deflection field, softening and dimming the otherwise intensely glary light in an instant, and thus distributing the light evenly inside the spherical space in a most comfortable manner.

This space was not large, with a radius calculated to be less than one kilometer. Such a powerful celestial body, yet its core control area was just this small—it was quite unexpected.

And in the very center of the spherical space floated our objective: a continuously transforming and reassembling cube, much like a magic cube.

"Is this the Giant Moon’s... control hub?" I looked at the peculiar device operating on its own, "It doesn’t seem like it could possibly house an energy core, and this thing—it’s really different from ordinary Empire equipment."

The cube or magic cube before us had sides about a hundred meters long. Its structure was very similar to human magic cube toys, but its transformation logic completely disregarded conventional physics. It seemed like each piece could be reorganized ignoring structural mechanics—a huge artificial celestial body, several times the volume of the moon, and its core control unit was just this small; it was simply unimaginable.

Of course, if the Giant Moon was just an energy furnace, and its primary energy generator was located in Other Space, perhaps this magic cube was indeed the only core.

"Ah Jun, there doesn’t seem to be any energy interference here." The girl-form Dingdang had been curiously poking around the "magic cube," and suddenly she realized something, and loudly reported.

"Hmm? Really."

I was startled, then indeed discovered this phenomenon I had initially overlooked. Under the interference of thousands of kilometers of energy seas, could the Giant Moon’s core actually communicate with the outside world?

"Sandora, Sandora, can you hear me?"

Curiously, I tried to connect with Sandora through the spiritual connection. The state of this connection had been very poor due to the disruption of the Giant Moon’s extreme energy. Although we could still feel each other’s presence, conversation had been impossible. However this time, almost as soon as I spoke, Sandora’s voice came up in my mind, "Ah Jun! I heard you! What’s the matter? Your signal has recovered all of a sudden, have you left the Giant Moon?"

"No, I’m in its core," I roughly described my current location, "There’s no energy interference here, unbelievably calm. I have a magic cube-like object in front of me that looks like a control center. I’ve already figured out its energy operation pattern. It won’t be difficult to stop it, but I’m quite curious about the principles behind this thing."

The fact that the Giant Moon’s core could communicate with the outside world with zero loss despite the thousands of kilometers of energy shield led Taville to believe it was due to a self-filtering mechanism at work. This meant that the Giant Moon was not designed as a mere energy reactor from the beginning; it presumably also had the capability to be remotely controlled from the outside, which might explain why the thing went rogue: its external controller was broken.

With the interference gone, Taville, already unceasingly fascinated by this marvelous object, could not miss this rare opportunity for research and immediately requested to share my sensory perceptions to jointly observe the peculiar magic cube device.

"Unheard of, unseen," was Taville’s first remark upon seeing the magic cube, "The Empire actually built such a thing? Our past technology is truly astonishing..."

"What exactly is this for?" While I closely examined the unceasingly refreshing characters and data on the surface of the magic cube, following Taville’s directions, I asked with curiosity.

"It looks like a series of energy conversion devices; it’s quite strange. It extracts Void Energy and transforms it into Ghost Energy, then converts that to Anti-Ghost Energy, and back to Ghost Energy. There are even more, more complex and seemingly pointless energy transformations involved, all revolving around Void Energy. After these transformations, not a single bit of energy is used effectively; it just keeps supplying energy to the Giant Moon, merely increasing its size... My lord, since you have analyzed its energy operating patterns, could you try activating these little cubes one by one?"

It wasn’t difficult. Following the flow of energy I perceived in the Magic Cube, I started activating the independent little cubes at high speed. Immediately, the entire cube started transforming in a certain pattern. Meanwhile, a surprised voice rang out through the Spiritual Connection from Taville: "The radiation wavelength of the Giant Moon has changed! My lord, please..."

"I say, I’m afraid your research has to be put on hold," I suddenly interrupted Taville, who had already entered his Scientific Monster mode. "It seems like this Magic Cube has broken."

I only played with it for a little while, so how could it suddenly break?

The enormous Magic Cube in front of me crackled with dazzling energy sparks, and chunks of metal — clearly not meant for fireworks — fell off the surface of the Cube, revealing a crystallized core underneath. If someone now told me this was just normal mechanical wear, I’d instantly slam a brick into their face!

"Ah Jun, Ah Jun! It’s going to explode! It’s going to explode!"

The funky Goddess, who had been busily climbing around inside the Cube, immediately transformed back into her form of Three-inch Ding and decisively dove back into my collar, whimpering, "Let’s get back, quick! Hurry back!"

Did this fool forget why we came here?

"Taville, is there anything else you need to instruct? If not, I’m going to forcibly shut down the Magic Cube Core!" I swallowed nervously but maintained my composure as I looked at the Cube filled with warning windows, though I was ready to flee at any moment.

"Please retrieve the black crystalline cube from the Magic Cube Core; it should be the data center. No other requests!" Taville spoke hurriedly and then added, "Please be very careful, as the Giant Moon might collapse at any moment during the forced shutdown. According to my calculations, without the core’s support, this collapse will not result in an outward explosion but an inward collapse. So, no matter what, prioritize your safety, and if necessary, even if you have to abandon this world, do not take risks!"

"Rest assured, I know my limits. That’s it, I’m going down... cough cough, wait for my good news."

After cutting off external communications, I focused on the disintegrating Cube pouring out energy ceaselessly. The first thing that caught my eye was its core—the black cubic crystal.

As this crystallization was stored in my Personal Space, the Cube’s collapse swiftly intensified, with the evenly distributed light in the sphere flickering. In an instant, the crystallized sphere above us was covered in shocking red cracks, clearly indicating that the force field meant to withstand external pressure had lost control with the shutdown of the Cube.

Outside this barrier, there existed an energy storm capable of instantaneously annihilating the entire Imperial Fleet—even a solar explosion or a Supernova Explosion couldn’t compare!

Concentrating my spiritual power to its utmost, I precisely sensed the remaining energy channels of the Cube, using my ability to fabricate those now dysfunctional energy flows. I then weakened the corresponding cube entities in order from high-level to secondary energy—a task not too challenging but made difficult due to the Cube’s rapid changes, leaving me covered in cold sweat within just two minutes.

Yet, a significant portion of the Cube still flickered with dangerous energy sparks, and even the deactivated cubes vibrated continuously, threatening to reactivate.

Dingdang also grew anxious but dared not disturb my focus. She transformed into her Divine Form and gently wiped the sweat from my forehead, her Life Energy expanding in layers to help me fend off the energy corrosion I could no longer handle myself. This wasn’t something Dingdang excelled at, and soon, the Little Thing’s face also broke out in fine beads of sweat.

But I can’t abandon this world, like Taville said. Damn it, I won’t let the world end on my watch!

Time ticked by. The operational speed of the Cube finally began to slow, but the energy storm within the spherical space grew ever stronger. The crystalline outer shell had essentially become redundant; the interior space churned tumultuously with the same intensity of energy as the "sea of fire" outside!

When I entered, my own abilities made these red energies seem trivial, but now, with less than ten percent of my energy to spare, these violent energies could break through my Spiritual Shield at any moment... Luckily, the Magic Cube had nearly come to a halt.

This is your final struggle!

"Buzz—"

The last sound that echoed in my ears was the humming of equipment shutting down; the colossal Magic Cube finally dimmed completely. At the same time, the entire spherical space disintegrated amidst a deafening sound of shattering.

"Little Thing, run!" Without explanation, I grabbed the young girl beside me, pulled her into my arms, and randomly chose a direction to charge out at a mad speed.

Some say that in the face of crisis, humans can always tap into their great potential, and I truly believe that. Our speed was definitely much faster than when we had entered!

Before us were bizarre trails of energy akin to flames, more tumultuous and fiery than the magma beneath the earth’s surface, even more terrifying than the sunspots on the sun’s surface. If not for my talent in energy manipulation and my enhanced body, I would have turned into plasma immediately in such an environment. Knowing this danger, I increased our speed to an unprecedented extreme, but those minutes still felt like years.

When a dim view of outer space finally appeared before us, I almost cheered—damn it, I’m definitely not playing this game again, it’s too thrilling!

"Ah Jun! Dingdang sees a small spaceship over there!"

Sharp-eyed Dingdang suddenly shouted, snapping me back to reality. Following Little Thing’s pointing finger, I indeed saw a small Imperial Ship not far to the front left.

A Shuttle? Wasn’t that what we rode in? Shouldn’t it have crashed into the fiery sea on the Giant Moon’s surface by now?

Despite the confusion, I changed direction and quickly rushed toward the mysterious shuttle. Below us, the surface of the Red Moon was a scene of madness, collapsing inward without energy, but before that, it would surely radiate energy one last time.

"My Sovereign, you succeeded!"

"Taville?! Why are you here?!"

I entered the shuttle without obstruction, and to my surprise, the person in front of me was someone I never expected: the mad scientist, Taville.

"I’ve been waiting here," the bespectacled lady said calmly with a nod.

"Waiting here?" I repeated in surprise, "What are you doing here? Didn’t the entire Imperial Fleet retreat? Why are you still here?"

"Waiting for your safe return, or to follow you in death." Taville’s tone was matter-of-fact, yet it carried two chilling words.

"Then follow me in death?!" I was stunned for a moment before I grasped the meaning, "Are you insane?"

"It’s merely my duty," Taville spoke indifferently, "The one who suggested that you go deep into the Moon Core was me. Therefore, if something happened to you, I am obliged to be the first to follow you in death. After calculations, this position was the optimal distance."

"What about Sandora? Does she know?" I asked, puzzled. Why didn’t that girl stop him? Are all Xyrin Apostles this stubborn?

"I did not inform Lord Sandora about this matter; it was my own decision."

Looking at the serious-faced beauty in front of me, who seemed as if she was just making a choice on a multiple-choice question, I broke out in a cold sweat: "Scientists are terrifying, truly!"

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