261: Chapter 263 Exploring the Edge of the Universe, Discovering a Wall

The luan niao starship's flight speed had already been pushed to its limit.

Ahead lay an expanse of unknown deep space, where the star map showed a vast area of emptiness.

The light points on the radar screen winked out one by one, as if an invisible hand were snuffing out the lights of the universe one by one.

"Interesting."

Jiang Chen sat in the captain's chair, still twirling that string of alien prayer beads he had scavenged from somewhere, his eyes calm as water. "Have we reached a dead end in the universe? Why is there not even any gravitational fluctuation?"

In the command cabin, the atmosphere was as tense as a violin string about to snap.

Academician Chen Shuyin stared at the terminals constantly refreshing with alarm messages, her originally fair fingers now pale from the force of her grip.

"Jiang Chen, something isn't right."

Her voice was low, carrying an unconcealable wariness. "According to gravitational lensing observations, there is an extremely abnormal distortion of light one million kilometers ahead of us."

"It's not the kind of distortion caused by stellar gravity, but rather a... fault line that has been forcibly severed."

"It's as if..."

She paused, took a deep breath, and then spat out the chilling hypothesis:

"It's like the 'ceiling' of our universe."

"A wall?"

Jiang Chen stood up and walked over to the giant holographic projection.

It was a three-dimensional model constructed from data transmitted back by countless sensors.

At the edge of the galaxy, there was indeed a gray, cold void completely devoid of any matter. It looked like a massive scar spanning the entire field of view.

It wasn't a spatial collapse, nor was it a black hole, but a seamless... wall.

"Damn, this is interesting."

Jiang Chen walked to the porthole and looked out through the layers of energy shields.

Although to the naked eye, it was still just darkness outside, the feeling of being "constrained" was incredibly real.

It was like a goldfish trapped in a fishbowl; although it could see the world outside the window, the moment it bumped into it, it would feel the cold rebound from that layer of transparent glass.

"luan bird, reduce speed."

"Probes, get me close and take a look."

"I don't believe there's a place in this universe that I, Jiang Chen, can't go."

The warship slowly decelerated.

The massive hull turned gracefully in deep space; those ferocious secondary batteries now seemed somewhat powerless.

After all, you cannot open fire on a wall.

When the warship was only tens of thousands of kilometers away from the "wall," everyone felt a repulsion from the depths of their souls.

That was a repulsion originating from the dimensions.

The ship's armor plating vibrated violently, as if resisting the incomprehensible force ahead.

Academician Chen Shuyin's voice rang out on the channel, laced with a desperate hoarseness:

"Jiang Chen, don't get any closer!"

"This is some kind of rule-based barrier. If we force our way through, the entire warship will be instantly compressed into atoms!"

Jiang Chen didn't listen.

He narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in his gaze within the dim command room.

"Zhao Gang."

"Here!"

"Prepare two 'Xuan Nv' unmanned fighter jets."

"Boss, what are you doing?"

"Equip them with the high-frequency resonators we dug up from the Wasteland, and ram them straight into that wall!"

"I want to see if this wall is made of paper, or if it truly has an indestructible body!"

The fighter jets roared out.

Those two drones, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, transformed into two brilliant meteors under Jiang Chen's will.

"Boom—!!!"

They struck the invisible barrier with precision.

There was no flash of fire, no explosion.

Only a ripple like water waves spread out in the void, and immediately after, those two advanced fighter jets, costing hundreds of millions, were like a handful of sand submerged in deep water, silently "swallowed" up.

They didn't even trigger the slightest resistance.

"..."

The entire command room fell into a deathly silence.

Zhao Gang swallowed hard, looking at the empty radar screen, his voice changing pitch:

"Boss, this... this is too bizarre!"

"Our fighter jets didn't even make a sound, and they're just gone?"

Jiang Chen didn't speak; he stared intently at the big screen.

The shockwave from the impact just now, although swallowed by the wall, had left a trace of an extremely minute... crack at the edge where the ripples spread.

It was tiny. Even thinner than a strand of hair. But it did exist.

On that gray "ceiling," due to the violent impact just now, a tiny opening had cracked open.

A wisp of extremely faint, yet heart-palpitating purple light, carrying an otherworldly aura, was leaking in through that opening.

"Found it."

A playful arc curled at the corner of Jiang Chen's mouth.

He turned to look at Academician Chen Shuyin, that fanaticism belonging to an "explorer" flashing wildly in his eyes:

"Since there's a crack, it means it's not invincible."

"And look..."

He pointed to that wisp of purple light, his expression turning somewhat strange:

"Why is the energy frequency of this thing exactly the same as the trash I picked up in the Wasteland...?"

"Old Chen, it looks like we can not only go home but also pay a visit to the neighbors."

"What on earth are you trying to do?" Academician Chen Shuyin took a deep breath. Her intuition told her this crazy boss was about to pull off some earth-shattering stunt again.

"What am I doing?"

Jiang Chen put on his spacesuit helmet and checked the folding dagger at his waist and that pile of unused spicy strips.

He looked back at Academician Chen Shuyin, smiling with a rogueish look:

"Of course, I'm going to see if there are any 'higher-level leeks' on the other side of this wall!"

"If I don't die, I'll come back and bring you a souvenir."

"If I accidentally die..."

Jiang Chen pulled the lever of the airlock and waved at the terrified Zhao Gang:

"Then I'll have to trouble you to take good care of the little ones for me."

"After all, I've only just started being a father."

Having said that, he leaped forward.

His entire body transformed into a rapidly flying afterimage, crashing straight toward that crack.

"Boom!"

He slammed into the crack, but instead of being erased, he was like a drop of water merging into the ocean.

His figure instantly vanished from everyone's sight.

Leaving behind only the slowly healing crack, flickering with a deadly purple light against the pitch-black cosmic background.