Lin Xiaohe had barely stepped out of the Dark Domain when she ran into six Sui Star envoys. They were standing guard like gate gods at the border between the Dark Domain and the Sixth Star Ring, right in front of the stardust wall she had once drawn.
Seeing Lin Xiaohe emerge, they hastily waved their hands and rushed to clear things up: “We absolutely did not cross the stardust wall by even a single step!”
Lin Xiaohe paused mid-stride.
These Sui Star envoys actually hadn’t left.
“What are you doing here? Lying in ambush for me?”
“No! How could we possibly have such thoughts?” The Sui Star envoys had been thoroughly terrified by the nothingness of the Fifth Star Ring.
Lin Xiaohe’s presence was imposing as she pressed further: “Why did your Sui Star civilization come to our territory?”
“We cannot say, nor can we speak it out. This is a secret engraved within our very bodies.”
Lin Xiaohe: “Between Jörmungandr and Anidam, who is stronger?”
“Jörmungandr is somewhat more powerful, but he is currently being held back by a native divine tree here, which hampers his accumulation of strength. Anidam has the help of [Nüwa], so he should have a slight edge.”
Lin Xiaohe didn’t feel comfortable leaving them in the Dark Domain, worried they might cause trouble for Jiuzhou Star. In an tone that brooked no refusal, she said: “You’re coming with me to the First Star Ring.”
The six Sui Star envoys exchanged glances, then fell in step with Lin Xiaohe: “Aren’t you afraid we might join forces with Anidam against you?”
“Not afraid. If it comes to that, I’ll just turn you all into nothingness as well.”
The Sui Star envoys thought to themselves… What a ferocious chosen one!
Lin Xiaohe clasped her hands behind her back and took a step forward.
The next second, she furrowed her brow.
Something had changed in the cosmos! A very subtle, hard-to-describe change.
She slowed down and carefully sensed this minute difference again, but still couldn’t pinpoint where the change lay.
At the same time, she noticed the Sui Star envoys’ unique interstellar navigation technique.
They transformed their physical forms into the shape of ships, but instead of using fusion propulsion or spatial-jump warp drives, they moved as if gliding across ice—graceful and smooth.
Lin Xiaohe asked curiously: “What is this technique of yours?”
“Sui Grain Sailing.”
“Hm?”
The Sui Star envoys were quite deferential toward Lin Xiaohe.
After all, strength was what truly mattered, and the powerful enjoyed privileges.
At present, in this star sector, there weren’t many with bigger fists than Lin Xiaohe.
At the very least, these few of them definitely couldn’t beat her.
“Our Sui Star civilization discovered that there exists a subtle flowing network in the cosmos, similar to the meridians of living beings, formed by gravity and fundamental particle fields. We call it the Cosmic Sui Veins.”
Lin Xiaohe nodded inwardly.
When she had used her spiritual power before, she had once taken advantage of a web-like network in the cosmos. Perhaps this was what they called the Cosmic Sui Veins.
But she had only used the Sui Veins to expand her “field of vision” and couldn’t travel long distances through them like they could.
The Sui Star envoys’ travel speed was no slower than Lin Xiaohe’s: “These Sui Veins are the optimal paths for the natural flow of cosmic matter and energy, usually connecting massive gravitational sources like stars, nebulas, and black holes. Ordinary cosmic civilizations cannot perceive them, but through tens of thousands of years of observation and spiritual science, we have been able to accurately map and utilize them.”
This was a navigation method unique to their Sui Star civilization.
They were quite proud to be able to impress Lin Xiaohe with it.
One of them said with a hint of smugness: “We have stayed in this star sector for a very, very long time—longer than the Federation humans. I dare say no civilization knows the Sui Veins of this sector better than we do.”
“There’s a Sui Vein node ahead, at the outer edge of a star’s gravitational field. When we get there, we’ll unfurl our unique resonance sails and emit extremely subtle gravitational waves and particle streams to synchronize with the Sui Vein’s natural frequency.”
Lin Xiaohe focused her attention, ready to observe how the Sui Star civilization made use of the Cosmic Sui Veins.
The envoys, eager to build a good relationship with Lin Xiaohe, quickened their pace and arrived at the Sui Vein node.
“Huh?! Why can’t we synchronize frequencies? That shouldn’t be! Third Brother, come give it a try—did I remember the frequency wrong?”
“What a waste of space, messing up even that. Move aside. Let me try. Hmm?!! Why has the frequency changed?!”
Third Brother was deeply shaken.
This was something with a probability of zero.
According to their many years of observational summaries and experiments, within a fixed star sector, the Cosmic Sui Veins might change due to energy flow—for instance, when the Zerg Great Tomb suddenly emerged from the Holy Gate into the sector, it had caused changes to the Sixth Star Ring’s Sui Veins.
But the frequency of the Sui Veins themselves never changed!
Seeing the six Sui Star envoys looking solemn and grave, Lin Xiaohe asked: “What does this mean?”
Third Brother was completely thrown off—this was all beyond their calculations!
“It shouldn’t be like this! How could this happen!”
Lin Xiaohe frowned and said in a firmer tone: “Speak clearly. I hate riddles!”
Third Brother visibly deflated, and even Lin Xiaohe could sense his panic and fear.
“Since the day this star sector was born, the fixed frequency of the Sui Veins has always had a range. It’s like a human heartbeat—no matter how slow, it can never become zero. But now, the fixed frequency of this node has fallen outside that normal range, which means… the laws of this star sector have changed.”
“If we think of this star sector as a local bubble, with its own physical rules and spatiotemporal laws within it, then as long as those laws remain unchanged, the Sui Veins will have a fixed frequency.”
By reverse inference, if the frequency has changed, then the laws have changed.
Why would the laws change?
Either the local bubble is dying, or the local bubble is colliding with another cosmic structure.
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes flickered: “You mean, the great apocalypse is coming soon? And this time, it’s not a physical annihilation, but a complete change in the very laws themselves?”
“Yes! But I don’t understand either—there was still time left, we had calculated it all. Why would the apocalypse come early?! It doesn’t make sense! There’s no reason for it!”
Lin Xiaohe: “You haven’t even figured out what the apocalypse of the Seventh Epoch actually is, so how can you be so sure about when it will arrive?”
The Sui Star envoys were clearly falling into panic and confusion. The early arrival of the crisis made them question whether their civilization truly understood this star sector at all!
They disregarded everything else, no longer wanting to go to the First Star Ring to watch Lin Xiaohe’s showdown with Chu Huaizhi.
Now, they only wanted to inspect the major Sui Vein nodes—this was of vital importance to them!
Lin Xiaohe cast them an unreadable glance, then stopped pressing them.
After leaving that star’s gravitational field, Lin Xiaohe decided to try entering the fourth dimension with both her body and consciousness together.
This time, she succeeded!
With the Source of Life stationed in the Holy Domain, Lin Xiaohe’s physical body traveled through the fourth dimension.
In the past, even with wormholes, it would have taken several months to cover such a distance, but through the fourth dimension, Lin Xiaohe made it in less than a day.
However, this kind of maneuver consumed enormous amounts of energy—even Lin Xiaohe had to exit early.
But the moment she emerged, she was stunned by the sight before her.
