In the silent universe, starlight stretches eternally into the distance. Darkness fills every corner of space—empty and profound.
The dimensional space was faintly divided into two large sections. Everyone tacitly kept their distance from Lin Xiaohe.
“Xiao Hei, continue.”
“Alright.”
Lin Xiaohe knew that the Nine Dragons Carrying the Coffin was most likely triggered by herself.
But this kind of destructive power and deterrence that made no distinction between friend and foe—Lin Xiaohe didn’t plan to use it unless absolutely necessary.
She returned to the Judicator. It had also been damaged inside.
Hardy looked at her, wanting to speak but hesitating.
The good news: the great Sovereign Lord seemed to have unlocked an incredibly powerful cheat.
The bad news: this cheat made no distinction between friend and foe—it equally sent everyone flying.
“Sovereign Lord, the universe is vast and boundless. Sometimes you can’t encounter a single life form, and sometimes danger strikes without warning.”
“Some dangers can be predicted in advance and prevented—like a supernova explosion, where signs can be observed beforehand. Other dangers come completely without warning.”
“That one just now…”
Was it a predictable danger, or one that came without warning?
Lin Xiaohe said expressionlessly, “Without warning.”
Oh.
Hardy comforted himself. It’s fine. From what he could tell, there wasn’t a single civilization in this entire space that could beat the Nine Dragons Carrying the Coffin.
Worst case, everyone goes down together.
The dimensional space wall suddenly trembled. This kind of tremor was invisible to the naked eye, but every civilization could capture this anomaly through their own unique observation methods.
Hardy’s expression turned serious as he reported to Lin Xiaohe: “One minute ago, the magnetic fields of the planets within observation range briefly reversed. The duration was short—only 0.1 seconds.”
The Sui Star envoys also reported the same situation: “There’s a problem with the gravitational waves.”
At the same time, the Holy Monument countdown showed: [Collapse Progress 80%]!
Everyone knew the final trial was approaching!
Whether the dimensional space could withstand the universe’s collapse and become a Peach Blossom Spring would be left to time to witness.
Among the countless stars, in an inconspicuous corner, a silver warship revealed itself from the darkness.
Chu Huaizhi stopped at the outer edge of the controlled zone and sent a communication request to the Judicator.
Lin Xiaohe connected the communication. She wanted to see what Chu Huaizhi was up to.
“Let’s make a trade. I know your Judicator is running low on resources.”
The Judicator had been traveling through the Dark Domain for so long, and entering the dimensional space had consumed even more energy and resources. Even though the dimensional space was rich in resources, converting raw resources into high-grade, cutting-edge resources takes time.
What they lacked most right now was time. No one was sure how long it would take for the collapse progress to jump from 80% to 100%.
Lin Xiaohe glanced at the Judicator’s warehouse. All resource reserves had dropped below the warning line. “Alright.”
Both sides established trade rules. Each party would offer one chip, and pricing would be based on Lin Xiaohe’s body as the standard.
Lin Xiaohe’s body was priced at 10. The seller would price their own chip based on this. If the price was set at 3, the other party would need to fill that 3 with various conditions.
For each condition proposed, the proposer would first name a price. The buyer could agree or disagree. If they disagreed, both sides would negotiate again. If not interested, they could skip it.
When information is extremely opaque, this is the most time-efficient approach.
Chu Huaizhi: “I want Kailin Renault.”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes flickered.
Kailin Renault possessed one-quarter of a godhood, but that godhood was already within her. Chang Qing and the Aura people both knew about this.
Did Chu Huaizhi know?
Was he after Kailin Renault’s 1/4 godhood, or did Kailin Renault have other value?
Either way, let’s probe first.
Lin Xiaohe: “Value 8.”
Chu Huaizhi: “Agreed.”
He sent Lin Xiaohe a list of materials—rare materials and deep-processed materials that the Judicator needed but couldn’t obtain.
Lin Xiaohe handed the list to the Judicator’s team. The scientists and business team priced the materials based on these items, then selected the resources the Judicator lacked.
Chu Huaizhi truly lived up to his reputation as the man who scoured the entire Federation—his capital was extremely substantial.
Hardy and Chelmu were drooling as they checked off the resources they needed. The value far exceeded 8.
They had no choice but to painfully delete some.
Chu Huaizhi only glanced at the list and decisively agreed: “Deal. I want the Rock Tribe’s Source Body.”
Lin Xiaohe: “Not for sale.”
Nuwa grew anxious and urged Chu Huaizhi from inside the silver ship: “I need the Source Body! I can exchange information for it.”
Chu Huaizhi spoke again: “You might want to reconsider. The Source Body isn’t very useful to you. The Rock Tribe takes an extremely long time from gestation to maturity. Your use of the Source Body is simply to strengthen the Judicator’s durability. In such a short time, the Source Body’s effect on materials isn’t irreplaceable. We can provide materials with equal or even superior performance.”
“In the long run, the Source Body does have high value. But we may not have that long. Rather than holding onto something that will only yield returns in the future, it’s better to trade it for enhanced strength in the present.”
Lin Xiaohe: “What do you want the Source Body for?”
“That question is worth 1. Are you sure you want to ask?”
“Never mind.”
Nuwa couldn’t hold back any longer and took over the conversation: “I can provide you with a massive set of information. This information comes from this star domain—from so many powerful life forms and races since the Second Era.”
“I know the Judicator has Awakened ones too. But even as a participant in a civilization, an individual’s understanding of civilization and the current universe is merely a drop in the ocean.”
“The information I hold is different. If the number of Awakened is 600, the information I have is equivalent to 6 million. I don’t need to say more—you know what this information means. You could never obtain this from anyone else, not even the Aura people.”
As the first Aura person to enter the star domain, Nuwa indeed had the grounds to say this.
Lin Xiaohe: “Is there information about the Holy Monument?”
Nuwa: “…”
“We once attempted to enter the Holy Monument through unconventional means, and we did succeed. But the Holy Monument’s information compression technology far surpasses ours—we couldn’t decode it.”
Lin Xiaohe now had a clearer picture. The black figure she encountered in the Holy Monument last time was most likely the Aura people’s contingency.
The black figure wanted her to defect to the other three candidates for the Destined One. Was this Nuwa’s intention, or was it designed by the first wave of Aura people who entered the star domain?
Thinking of the system on her body, Lin Xiaohe believed it was most likely the second option.
The Aura people must have done something, wanting to seize the identity of the Seventh Era’s Destined One.
If she hadn’t given up her candidate status, once she obtained the Dimensional Crossing Ship, the Aura people could have completely controlled her body through descent.
When the most useful pawn voluntarily gave up candidate status, the Aura people had to settle for second best—hoping this pawn would become a subsidiary civilization and gain a sliver of survival.
Lin Xiaohe quickly analyzed the truth.
Nuwa and the later Aura people were not on the same side! She and Chu Huaizhi had been allies for a long time. If Nuwa and the Aura people were together, they wouldn’t have needed to do all this.
It was possible that the Aura people had split into many factions from the very beginning, or it was possible that Nuwa, after entering the star domain, couldn’t endure the long years and turned traitor.
Second point: after all civilizations entered the black hole, none could leave again. They could only pass through the Holy Gate, enter the singularity, and obtain the most core information and clues for survival.
Lin Xiaohe drew a sharp breath, a chill running through her entire body.
