Chapter 241-2: Natural Disaster Gathers Strength, Heavy Punch Online (2) |
Earth, high above the Atlantic.
A silver-white beacon spaceship tore through the clouds, descending from the sky at extreme speed.
The fuselage of the ship presented a fluid, teardrop-like curve. Its surface was covered with a layer of silver, scale-like armor that flickered with a faint blue glow during flight.
The front of the ship was as sharp as a spear. At the tail was a set of ring-shaped thrusters, with a fist-sized blue crystal suspended at the center.
Before long, the ship approached the target coordinates.
Ahead was a gigantic spatial fissure, like a wound that had ripped the sky apart, with unstable black twisted lines flickering along its edges.
Inside was a deep darkness.
As the ship neared the spatial fissure, the energy-guiding patterns on its hull flickered, releasing a layer of energy film.
It was like a protective shield, completely enveloping the spaceship and isolating it from the violent spatial energy around the rift.
At once, the scene in the feedback display changed abruptly.
The originally clear sky vanished, replaced by a chaotic void.
Here there was no concept of up, down, left, or right, only countless twisted rays of light and turbulent flows of energy.
The energy film released by the spaceship shone especially bright in the void, like a solitary lamp swaying forward in endless darkness.
The tail thrusters began to flash in a steady rhythm.
With each flash, a tiny beacon point was released.
Flying along and pulling a trail.
These beacon points were like stars, linking the signal layer by layer and relaying it back to Earth.
As the spaceship penetrated deeper into the void, the beacon points gradually formed a complex network, with each beacon point collecting spatial data.
The ship’s master control system transmitted this data in real time to Lunar Eclipse City, where it was analyzed through complex spatial algorithms.
Soon, a three-dimensional spatial chart appeared on the display at the Lunar Eclipse City Security Center, clearly marking the spaceship’s position.
A little over ten minutes later, a faint glow appeared ahead of the ship.
That was the spatial barrier of the target world, like a thin film of water emitting a soft halo.
At the instant the ship’s energy film touched the barrier, ripples spread across the barrier’s surface, and then it slowly split open a seam.
After passing straight through the seam, the spaceship successfully entered the target world.
What appeared in the display was a blurred scene of another world, accompanied by stuttering and flicker.
The spaceship shuddered slightly. The tail thrusters gradually went dark and began to disassemble and reconfigure.
A floating platform rapidly took shape, quietly suspending in the air, continuing to collect information on the small world.
Countless beacon points behind were still flashing, like a continuous, resplendent river of stars.
But just as the spaceship successfully obtained the spatial coordinate information and was preparing to carry out an in-depth investigation of the small world, the connection with Earth suddenly broke.
It was impossible to determine whether it had been destroyed or the signal network had been cut off in some way.
But for the Lunar Eclipse race, which had already obtained the spatial coordinates, it was of little consequence. The beacon spaceship’s mission was complete.
However, merely obtaining the spatial coordinates of the world where the invading force resided was not enough.
At this moment, the spatial device in Lunar Eclipse City started up. The No. 8 Governor donned a metal helmet and entered a spatial perception state.
Next, he would begin searching for Monster World’s coordinates.
Without Monster World’s coordinates, the spatial coordinates obtained by the beacon spaceship would lose their meaning.
Because the acquired coordinates were marked with Earth as the origin, they could not be used in Monster World.
How large the void was in concrete terms, the Lunar Eclipse race could not determine.
In a void environment of unknown size, the structure of coordinates was always judged with one’s own region as the origin and was only suitable for one’s own use.
You could understand the void as an infinitely large playground.
Earth represents A, the small world where the invading force resides is B, and Monster World is C.
A, B, and C stand at different positions on the playground, with no reference points between them and unable to see one another.
The Lunar Eclipse race controlling the beacon spaceship to obtain coordinates through a spatial rift could be regarded as A finding the straight line distance between B and itself.
At this point A takes out a phone and sends C a text message containing B’s position relative to itself.
But C has no reference to determine B’s exact location, so even with the coordinate information, it cannot be used.
The void is just such an infinitely large playground. The spatial coordinates used by each race are judged with their own world as the origin. They are all relative coordinates and cannot be used universally.
In the current situation, the Lunar Eclipse race took Earth as the origin and obtained the coordinates of the world where the invading force resided.
But Monster World also has its own origin and cannot use Earth’s spatial coordinates.
Since the void environment has no center or boundary, each world’s coordinate system is independent, with no common frame of reference.
To make the coordinates effective, Monster World must be found.
Then, when the No. 16 Governor in Monster World constructs the spatial teleportation array, he can take Earth as the reference point and, combining the coordinates of Earth and the world where the invading force resides, precisely determine the coordinates between Monster World and the small world of the invading force.
It is like C seeing A. Once it learns the distance between A and B, it can deduce its own distance to B.
—
After the spatial perception device started, it drew the No. 8 Governor’s consciousness into the void.
How to find Monster World in the boundless void was not difficult.
There were two ways to do it.
The first was that the seemingly boundless void actually had a definite spatial architecture.
It was just that surveying and mapping a void-environment map was tantamount to a myth for ordinary races and simply impossible.
But the library of Emperor’s Mound Village had materials on this.
The problem was that, in essence, a void map was not presented as a plane or three-dimensional image like a traditional map, but rather as a vast database composed of innumerable spatial nodes and other complex information.
This kind of information could not be depicted with pictures and could only be carried and observed by consciousness.
The amount of information contained in the near-infinite void was unimaginable. With the mental strength players had at this stage, not a single one could bear it.
One sweep of consciousness and it would explode.
So this method was ultimately abandoned.
The method adopted now was the second one, to directly search for Monster World.
It seemed difficult to find Monster World in an infinitely vast void environment.
But in fact it was not, because Monster World was too special.
In consciousness observation mode, the No. 8 Governor’s view was dragged into the endless void.
Innumerable world-bubbles flickered like stars, as if faint stars in the night sky.
Yet in this sea of stars, one existence shone like the sun, instantly drawing all of the No. 8 Governor’s attention.
This was precisely Monster World.
The light it emitted was utterly different from the other world-bubbles.
It was not a single hue, but woven from countless colors, like a gorgeous aurora blooming in the void.
Within the radiance was an energy fluctuation that made even his consciousness tremble. With each flicker, it pulsed outward rhythmically like a heartbeat, tinting the surrounding space with a faint glow.
Even across an incomparably vast distance, the No. 8 Governor could feel the oppressive force sweeping toward him.
It was as if Monster World’s light could pierce the void and directly touch his consciousness.
What shocked him even more was that Monster World’s radiance was not stationary, but rose and fell rhythmically like breathing.
Each expansion of light stirred ripples in the void, as though Monster World itself were a living organism, continuously growing in the void.
This was clearly why Monster World attracted countless forces to go there.
These forces could be roughly divided into four categories.
The first were those like the Lord of Ecstasy, the Ancient God race, Written Word, and the Ascension race, ambitious ones who sought to conquer Monster World and stand at the summit of the world.
Their greatest trait was that they brought their home world’s rules, and even fused the core land of their home world into Monster World.
They did not plan to return when they came.
Some among them even relished the process of contending with billions of races. Even if failure was the most probable outcome, they would not hesitate.
The second kind were forces like moths to a flame, deceived by Monster World’s splendid appearance into entering and being killed.
The third were forces whose mastery of spatial knowledge was insufficient, but whose native world had problems so they could only teleport blindly.
And Monster World, like a center of gravity within the void environment, drew in these blindly teleporting forces. Most were sent off on the spot by Monster World’s powers, turning into nourishment.
They could be called resource airdrops for Monster World.
The fourth were forces with puzzling self-confidence, like frogs at the bottom of a well.
The Skyfire hierophant king belonged to this type. The limitations of their environment made accurate judgment difficult, leading them to believe their race’s strength could dominate any world.
They descended upon Monster World with unrealistic ambitions.
As for the Battle Swarm and the terrifying Black Tide, they could also be classified as the first type, but in terms of combat power they were the apex of that first category.