286: The Whisper of the Silent Stone

The "movement" of the black crystal was not a physical displacement, but rather more like a long-dormant existence adjusting its eternal posture ever so slightly within the endless darkness.

In Excellence's "emotional observation" vision, this polyhedron known as the "stone of silence" presented a deeply unsettling quality—it didn't lack "color," but rather resembled a miniature, greedy "void," ruthlessly devouring and annihilating all projected emotional spectra—whether it was the panic-stricken dark red of the surrounding environment, the tranquil azure of the pure core, or the tense, vigilant orange-yellow of their own—leaving behind only a conceptual, absolute "nothingness."

And at this moment, a ripple, so subtle it was almost imperceptible, appeared at the edge of this "void."

The color of that "ripple" was indefinable, neither black nor white, as if it were a wave stirred up by the disturbance of primordial nothingness, transcending the limits of human visual comprehension.

The moment this silent "ripple" spread, Excellence's psychic Perception issued a violent warning, as if pierced by an ice pick! Danger! The essence of this thing was far more terrifying than the description "a stone that absorbs sound"!

"Warning! High-dimensional information disturbance detected! Internal activity readings of the unknown entity are skyrocketing exponentially!" The detector in Stardust's hand emitted a series of sharp, distorted wails, all monitoring curves on the screen hit their limit values simultaneously, and then it fell completely silent with a faint "crackling" pop and a wisp of acrid smoke.

Even the highly integrated personal terminal on her wrist instantly glitched, data streams poured out like garbled code, and the system temperature alarm blared shrilly.

"Careful! This thing is wrong—" Excellence's warning was cut off by the sudden mutation.

In the center of the altar, a layer of viscous, seemingly living liquid shadow began to flow across the smooth surface of the black crystal.

Immediately following, a circle of "ripples," visible to the naked eye and resembling absolutely transparent water waves, centered on the crystal, spread silently yet irresistibly in all directions.

Wherever the "ripple" reached, sound was "erased."

It wasn't isolation or attenuation; the fundamental concept of "sound" was forcibly "deleted" from this area by some higher-level rule power.

The roaring of rocks crumbling under immense pressure, the soul-trembling psychic screams transmitted through the strata from the distant "eye of suffering" that had fallen into madness due to the destruction of the anchor, the humming of energy decay occasionally emitted by the wreckage of the purification array, and even the gurgling sound of their own blood flowing, the dull drumbeats of their heartbeats, the hissing of airflow as their lungs expanded and contracted... all vibrations and Perceptions belonging to the category of "sound," the moment they touched that circle of ripples, returned to a deathly, unnerving void.

This silence went far beyond the physical realm.

Excellence could clearly perceive that the weak psionic background radiation ubiquitous in the air, the "sounds" of various residual energy fluctuations, and even the subtle "humming" of the spatial structure itself were ruthlessly "muted" upon stepping into this domain.

This was a deprivation of the richness of "existence" itself, a "deficiency" that felt uncomfortable at the genetic level, as if one had been instantly thrown into the most desolate, empty corner of the universe.

Stardust's lips were opening and closing rapidly, clearly analyzing and conveying information, but Excellence heard only a vacuum-like silence.

He could only judge from the rapidly flickering data stream light in her gray eyes and her furrowed brows that she was dealing with this phenomenon that defied common sense.

"Absolute silence... Rule-level field!" He could barely read these words from her lip movements, accompanied by her gestures, "Preliminary determination as... shielding conventional information and energy transmission... effect on strong conceptual existences... unknown!"

Just then, the black crystal changed again.

It slowly levitated from the ancient Resonance stone altar, as if it had lost its weight, and hung quietly in mid-air.

Deep within its pitch-black surface that devoured all light, a tiny, almost hallucinatory "light" quietly emerged.

That "light" was not a stable light source; its color and form were constantly changing, sometimes like a distant nebula, sometimes like a deep eye, and sometimes as if it were merely a complex, unreadable projection of a data stream.

It existed in the unfathomable depths of the crystal, yet it also seemed merely to be a reflection from a distant place.

Almost at the same moment the "stone of silence" levitated and expanded its "absolute silence" force field, the violent anger and destructive impact from the "eye of suffering" high above in orbit, which was enough to crush an ordinary person's soul, collided with an invisible yet absolutely dense wall.

The moment it touched the edge of this deathly silent domain, it was completely blocked and dissipated!

Even the spatial turbulence that was enough to warp the structure of reality, caused by the "eye of suffering" tearing through space in its madness and attempting to force a descent, strangely calmed and smoothed out after spreading into this silent domain, as if it had never happened.

This small area covered by the power of the "stone of silence" seemed to have been "cut" out of the crisis-ridden, crumbling reality, becoming an eerie, isolated, soundless sanctuary, or rather—a cage.

"Is it... protecting this area? Or just... protecting itself?" Excellence's heart was full of doubts, and his unease not only failed to diminish but intensified with this overly powerful "protection."

How could a stone that was legendarily only capable of "absorbing sound" possess such an inconceivable "silence" authority that was almost like a domain rule?

It could even temporarily contend with the rage of the "eye of suffering" that originated from a high-dimensional existence?

"Look at the Resonance core!" Stardust could not make a sound, so she could only point to the clusters of huge, sky-blue pure crystal clusters beside the altar with extremely agile gestures.

Just after the "stone of silence" levitated and released its force field, those pure Resonance cores, which had originally only emitted a soft glow, seemed to have been injected with some kind of intense stimulation, suddenly erupting with unprecedented, azure brilliance that felt like the condensed pressure of the entire deep sea!

This light was no longer gentle and tranquil, but full of agitated, surging "emotion"—in it, there was excitement, deep sorrow, endless attachment, and a trace of... relief, as if it had finally waited for something after a long passage of time.

This surging azure light formed a blinding, almost binary oppositional confrontation with the "silence" power emitted by the "stone of silence" that devoured everything.

The azure light tide, as if it had a life of its own, tried to gently wrap, penetrate, and soak into the black crystal, like an embrace after a long separation.

However, the absolute silence field of the "stone of silence" stubbornly "refused" all light, all energy fluctuations, and all "information" that attempted to be transmitted.

Two forces with diametrically opposite natures, yet potentially equally high levels, unfolded a silent yet thrilling confrontation above the ruins of this ancient earth core.

No, not completely silent.

In Excellence's "emotional observation" vision, he could "see" a more subtle picture: the azure light was not homogeneous; it contained countless tiny, sparkling "points."

Each "point" was like a fragment of pure memory, filled with warm and firm positive emotions such as "longing," "protection," "promise," and "recollection."

These light points, like a swarm of Firefly in a summer night, rushed one after another toward the "stone of silence," eager to touch, eager to communicate.

However, the moment they touched the edge of that absolute "silence," they dimmed and dissipated silently, like sparks thrown into a void, leaving only a fleeting emotional aftertaste.

Meanwhile, the constantly changing, indescribable faint light points inside the "stone of silence" did not seem to be without response either.

Its flickering frequency changed slightly, transmitting a mixture of "colors" that was extremely complex and difficult to interpret—in it, there was bottomless "loneliness," "bondage" as heavy as a mountain, "waiting" that spanned an unimaginable river of time, and even... mixed with a trace of extremely faint, yet truly existing "apology" for the azure light before it.

"Are they... trying to communicate?" An almost absurd yet persistent thought seized Excellence.

This stone... or the thing inside the stone, possessed consciousness?

What was this silent "communication," which might have spanned hundreds of millions of years, trying to tell?

"The ground! Commander, look at the ground!" Stardust's attention was drawn again, and she pointed quickly to the translucent gelatinous ground around the altar.

As the azure light and the absolute silence field collided and merged at the edge, on that special ground, patches of blurry, glowing patterns and strange characters began to emerge, as if written by an invisible pen!

Those characters were by no means the modern characters of the "echo" civilization; they were a more ancient, more abstract, and pictographic symbol full of natural imagery.

Excellence's visual assistance system (although severely interfered with by the silence field, basic image capture remained) and the auxiliary analysis transmitted by "White Elder" through the spiritual link barely pieced together some intermittent information fragments:

"Watch... until... the end..."

"Use... pure... Resonance... as... prison..."

"Imprison... darkness... of the deep sea..."

"key... stone... is here..."

"Contract... still exists..."

"Do not... awaken..."

"...the last..."

These broken, flickering patterns, like candles in the wind, were like an ancient record completely buried by time, now briefly activated and revealed to the world under the rare Resonance of the pure Resonance core and the power of the "stone of silence."

"This is a piece of history deliberately sealed away," the voice of "White Elder" pierced directly through the silenced medium and sounded in the depths of Excellence and Stardust's consciousness.

The aged voice carried unprecedented gravity, "About this 'stone'... about the threat called 'darkness of the deep sea' (undoubtedly pointing to the 'Heart-Devouring Demon' or similar existences), about 'sealing' and 'watching'... 'key stone'? Could this 'stone of silence' not be a simple wonder, but some kind of... 'key' to a seal, or a 'core' that maintains the seal?"

"'Contract'? 'The last'... what?" Stardust was recording every fleeting pattern with full concentration, her brain running at high speed, trying to piece together a possible narrative logic before they disappeared completely.

But this information was too broken, and it was flickering faster and faster, fainter and fainter.

Clearly, this "imaging" could not last and was rapidly fading as the delicate balance of the two forces changed.

Just as the patterns were about to dissipate completely, the brightness of the unpredictable, faint light point inside the levitating "stone of silence" suddenly increased!

A "thought," although still intermittent, was much clearer than before.

It did not act through sound, but directly on the deepest level of their souls, forcibly "imprinted" into the consciousness of Excellence, Stardust, and "White Elder," who was maintaining a deep link through a drone:

"Final... ly... came..."

"Sands... of... time... are... running... out..."

"Take... me... away... from... here..."

"Go... to... the... fringe... of... the... 'source sea'..."

"Open... that... gate..."

"Otherwise... devouring... will... arrive... all... things... shall... end..."

This thought seemed to come from the end of time, full of endless exhaustion, deep anxiety, and a kind of loneliness and sorrow that was almost tangible and enough to drown the stars.

It had no clear direction, but Excellence could clearly feel that the main "focus" and "expectation" of this thought fell heavily on... himself.

Was it because the power of "Order" he carried resonated with it? Or because he was the only "variable" here not branded by the "echo" civilization?

"'Fringe of the source sea'? 'That gate'?" Excellence's mind was shaken.

This was not just a stone with consciousness; it seemed to know the concept of the "source sea"—the mysterious place believed to be the origin of all psionic energy and information in the universe!

It demanded to be taken away to open a certain "gate"?

Otherwise "devouring will arrive, all things shall end"?

Did this "devouring" refer only to the furious "eye of suffering" outside? Or did it refer to some... larger, more ancient, more indescribable end?

"What exactly are you? Where is the 'fringe of the source sea'? What is the 'gate' to be opened?" Excellence focused his spirit, trying to convey his questions to the inside of the black crystal.

The "stone of silence" did not give a direct answer.

Instead, that thought became more urgent, even carrying a plea that was almost desperate:

"Quick... 'It'... the real... 'It'... is about to... sense... it..."

"My... power... is about to... run out... the seal... is loosening..."

"Take... me... away... while... everything... is... still... in time..."

"Use... your... 'Order'... to touch... me... that is... the only... 'bridge'..."

While the thought was being transmitted, the range of the "absolute silence" force field covering the surroundings actually began to slowly shrink inward, visible to the naked eye, with the "stone of silence" as the center!

It was as if the power contained within this mysterious crystal was rapidly decaying, or perhaps it was actively retracting its power to prepare for some action?

As the silence force field shrank, the "sounds" of the outside world surged back into the area like a tide—that was the even more frantic and violent roar emitted by the "eye of suffering" due to the complete destruction of the anchor (although weakened by distance and strata, it was still heart-stopping), the continuous dull roar emitted when the spatial structure of the earth's core finally disintegrated, and the call from Evelyn on the communication channel, full of electromagnetic noise but unable to hide her urgency:

"Com... mander! Spatial... rift... expanding... rapidly! 'Anchor of Order'... shield... overload!... Hold on...! Must... evacuate... immediately! Repeat! Evacuate... immediately!"

It was a critical moment!

Although the main pollution source had been purified, the consequences triggered were like opening pandora's box.

The "eye of suffering" had fallen into complete madness and would stop at nothing to descend and destroy.

The "Anchor of Order" in outer space, which had just fought side by side with them, was supporting the crisis alone, fighting for a slim chance of survival for them.

And before them, this "stone of silence," which called itself a "key," was associated with the "source sea" and the "end," and exuded ominousness and sorrow, was sending out its final, dangerous cry for help.

Should he follow the original plan, immediately take Stardust and "White Elder" to evacuate, rendezvous with the "Anchor of Order," and escape from this planet that was about to be swallowed by destruction and chaos?

Or... listen to the plea of this "thought" of unknown origin, full of unknown dangers, and take the risk to touch and take away this stone that might be associated with universe-level secrets or might be the fuse for the end of the world?

"Excellence, decision time." Stardust looked at Excellence, her eyes still maintaining the calmness of ice crystals, but her slightly quickened speech and tighter jawline exposed the immense pressure she was also under.

"Remaining here, the physical risks and time costs have exceeded the critical threshold. But that object..." Her gaze swept toward the suspended black crystal whose force field was contracting, "...contains an extremely high level of information, with both potential value and potential risk being inestimable. Its connection to the Heart-Devouring Demon and the source sea might touch the core edge of our mission, or even... go deeper."

"This thing... is ominous," White Elder's voice echoed in Excellence's mind, carrying the deep anxiety of a wise man discerning hidden dangers. "Though its intent is sorrowful, its essence is one of ultimate stillness and annihilation, the antithesis of all 'activity' and 'existence.' To rashly connect with it is like reaching into an abyss with bare hands, fearing it will backlash with its essence of silence, leaving the spirit and soul utterly extinguished. Yet the 'devouring' it warns of, with its magnificent and terrifying aura, does not seem like an empty threat. The choice here is no longer about the gain or loss of a single location or star; it likely concerns... a much broader balance."

Go or stay? Leaving this stone here means it will either be discovered and seized by the enraged eye of suffering (the consequences of which are unimaginable) or be buried forever along with these subterranean ruins. Taking it away means bringing a "variable" that cannot be understood, cannot be controlled, and may be linked to a cosmic-level danger along with them, sailing into the unknown deep space.

Excellence's gaze shifted between the black crystal and the containment device in Stardust's hand. In his ears were the intermittent but jarring alarms from Evelyn, and in his mind echoed White Elder's warning and the stone's sorrowful plea. He could almost see, above the orbit, the figure of the Anchor of Order struggling to weave through the purple-black rifts and psionic storms; he could feel the despair of countless echo beings on the planet's surface, trembling behind the final barrier.

"Take it!" Excellence suddenly raised his head, a flash of Sharp Light in his eyes, as if he had made a determination that transcended personal safety. "Whether it is a key or a disaster star, leaving it here only leads to the worst outcome! What it knows might point directly to the root of the Heart-Devouring Demon, or even involve the secrets of the source sea! We must take this risk! Stardust, prepare for the highest specification containment! Old White, maximum output on the mental barrier, prepare to withstand the impact! I will establish the connection!"

"Understood." Stardust's response was without a hint of hesitation. With dazzling speed, she retrieved from the depths of her tactical backpack a specially made containment unit, only the size of a fist, yet shimmering with the luster of multi-layered composite energy seals. This was the most extreme contingency container prepared before departure for entities potentially encountered that possessed high-dimensional information pollution characteristics.

"Guard your spirit, all things are void!" White Elder only gave a stern warning. The hovering drone instantly retracted its light, and all energy was diverted to construct a dense defensive barrier against information and soul impacts, wrapping layer upon layer around Excellence's mental core.

Excellence took a deep, slow breath, as if to turn the foul and dangerous air of the earth's core into fuel for his decision. He mobilized the power of Order at his brow, letting that silvery-white radiance no longer manifest externally, but instead covering his body and the surface of his consciousness like the most precise armor. He reached out, his fingertips steady and without a tremor, probing toward the suspended black crystal whose silence force field had shrunk to only encompass the outline of its body.

The moment his fingertips were about to make contact with that cold, smooth, jet-black surface that seemed to want to devour even the concept of "touch"—

"Tha... nk... you..." That intermittent thought came through clearly one last time—not a sound, yet it seemed to carry a sigh of relief spanning endless time, as well as a boundless sorrow buried deep beneath it.

Immediately after, contact occurred! "Boom—!!!" There was no sound, no light explosion, but in the deepest part of Excellence's consciousness, it was as if billions of stars were born and extinguished simultaneously! It was not a physical impact, but a devastating tsunami on the level of information, concepts, and even existence! Countless shattered, bizarre, and completely incomprehensible images, symbols, sounds (perhaps not sounds), thoughts, fragments of knowledge, historical shards, and even "Perception" of certain indescribable existences... like a torrent of information from the beginning of the universe, poured into his mind in an unreasonable, crazy, and brutal manner!

He "saw": a boundless, writhing "darkness" filled with hunger and malice (billions of times deeper and older than the eye of suffering!)... slowly "breathing" in some indescribable dimension.

He "heard": not through hearing, but directly perceived, the "silent screams" of infinite beings in ultimate pain and despair, transcending the scales of time and space.

He "felt": a "will," so vast that galaxies seemed small, cold, indifferent, yet possessing a pure greed for "existence" itself, casting its "gaze" (if that could be called a gaze) from the depths of an unreachable void toward a distant direction...

He "understood" (or rather, was forced to accept) some fragmented words and concepts: "the watchers," "ancient cage," "immortal contract," "ripples of the source sea," "the gate's 'keeper'," "the price of betrayal," "eternal slumber," "the last... sentry"...

There was also a scene so grand it froze the soul: a vast, boundless, slowly rotating "structure" composed of countless black crystals similar to the stone of silence, cold and dead... Was it a "continent"? Or some cosmic-level "device"? Somewhere on the cold surface of this "structure," a tightly closed "gate," with an indescribable shape, seemingly composed of "refusal" and "isolation" itself, stood silently.

Finally, there was a lonely, tiny "figure" (relative to that grand structure) that seemed to have been standing before the gate for billions of years. The aura of that "figure" was of the same origin as this stone of silence, yet older and more exhausted. It had its back to the perspective flooding in, and then, extremely slowly, it turned around...

Excellence only had time to "see" half a "face"—not a face made of matter, but rather a contour woven from "void," "loneliness," and "long-term duty" that could not be understood by mortal vision—before a torrent of information, unbearable and mixed with the weight of vast time and the cold of boundless solitude, completely breached the dikes of his consciousness!

"Ugh—ah!!!" Excellence let out a painful roar as if his soul were being torn apart. He was knocked backward as if hit by an invisible giant hammer, stumbled a few steps, and then knelt on one knee, vomiting a mouthful of blood tinged with silver light! His complexion instantly turned ashen, veins bulged on his forehead, cold sweat poured out like paste, his pupils were unfocused, and his vision was filled with frantically flashing, incomprehensible phantasms and symbols! The influx of information was too much, too cluttered, and too far beyond the limits of his current life form's understanding. The negative emotions and crazy whispers contained within were like billions of poisonous thorns, piercing deep into the fibers of his consciousness, almost completely shattering and drowning the self-awareness of the being known as "Excellence"!

"Commander!" Stardust's reaction was lightning fast. She didn't go to support him, but immediately aimed the specially made containment unit she had prepared in advance at the stone of silence, which was flashing wildly and trembling violently due to the contact.

Inside the containment unit, the preset multiple constraint force fields, dimensional anchoring locks, and information firewalls activated at full power, forming a powerful and precise capture field that instantly enveloped the black crystal. The crystal resisted instinctively, its surface rippling with a final "silence" wave attempting to spread, but perhaps because it was weakened after pouring out so much ancient information, or perhaps because Excellence's power of Order had established a temporary, fragile link with it at the moment of contact, or perhaps... it was already waiting to be taken away. The resistance lasted less than 0.1 seconds.

With a faint "hum," as if space itself had been tamed, the stone of silence was steadily sucked into the containment unit. The unit's outer cover instantly tightened and sealed automatically, and the internal layers of energy damping and psionic shielding matrices were fully activated. The external indicator light flashed rapidly from a frantic red, finally stabilizing at an unsettling, eerie green that represented "forced containment complete." The unit's shell warmed slightly, then cooled rapidly; held in the hand, it transmitted only a constant, sub-ambient cold, as if holding a small piece of solidified deep space.

"Containment... complete?" Stardust quickly checked the status readings of the containment unit, confirmed that all seals were stable, and then immediately turned to Excellence. She supported his violently trembling shoulder with one hand, while her other hand had already injected a high-efficiency neural stabilizer and psionic supplement into the injection port on the side of his neck. White Elder's drone also immediately approached, showering a denser golden rain of light to assist in sorting, soothing, and suppressing the violent turbulence of information in his mind.

Excellence gasped for air, his throat making a sound like a bellows. With the help of the medicine and White Elder, he managed to forcibly suppress and seal those terrifying information fragments that were about to burst his head into a temporary "quarantine zone" deep in his consciousness. The sharp pain eased slightly, but a deep sense of fatigue, as if his soul had been stained with a layer of cold ash, along with the ominous premonition revealed by those fragments, weighed heavily on his heart. He glanced at the seemingly calm containment unit in Stardust's hand; through the specially made observation window, he could see the pure black crystal inside, now like a funerary object in the deepest tomb, with no movement whatsoever.

"Go... quickly... leave here!" Excellence's voice was frighteningly hoarse, every word sounding like it was ground out on sandpaper. He braced himself against Stardust's arm and struggled to stand straight, feeling his limbs and bones crying out in protest, his brain still aching faintly. With the stone of silence contained, the final "silence" force field completely dissipated, and the "noise" from the outside world flooded in with doubled volume—the roar of the collapse was like the death wail of the earth, the insane roars of the eye of suffering, which seemed close at hand, shook dust from the rock walls, and Evelyn's communication was almost drowned out by the noise, leaving only the sharpest fragments: "...rift!...descending!...cannot stop!...run!"

Having lost the subtle balance supported by the power of the stone of silence, the few pure sky-blue Resonance cores dimmed completely, as if they had exhausted their last strength and fallen back into slumber. The ancient patterns that had briefly appeared on the ground left no trace. Only that solitary Resonance stone altar still stood on the edge of the collapsing ruins, like a silent tombstone, witnessing the scene that had just occurred, which transcended mortal understanding.

"Evacuation route recalculated! The original entrance has completely collapsed! Large-scale stress cracks detected in the side rock mass, heat readings soaring from behind, suspected upwelling of mantle material! The only way out—upward, at a seventy-degree angle, weak rock layer, approximately forty meters from the nearest stable structure! Suggest using remaining high-explosive cutting and directional energy impact to force a path!" Stardust's speech speed was at its limit. At the same time, she had firmly fixed the containment unit to her waist, her special rifle raised in her hand again, her eyes sharp as a knife, scanning the constantly falling boulders and opening fissures.

"Go that way! Open a path!" Excellence did not hesitate, forcibly suppressing all discomfort, his eyes reigniting with a flame of determination. He took one last look at the area being swallowed by magma-like dark red material and collapsing rocks, and looked at those few dimmed pure cores—they were the true roots of the echo civilization. Hopefully, after this catastrophe, the "deep sea echo" of this land could one day become clear and resonant again.

White Elder's drone rushed first toward the rock wall position marked by Stardust, a high-energy cutter extending from beneath its body, jetting out a scorching white beam. Excellence gathered the remaining power of Order in his body, every bit of which carried a stinging sensation, compressed it all into his fist, and with all his might, punched the rock wall that had been cut with web-like cracks!

"Order Collapse: Path Opening!" "Boom—!!!" A roar far more violent than any before, mixed with the screech of shattering rock and energy venting! The already fragile rock wall was blasted open into an irregular hole. Behind it was not a passage, but a natural rock crevice that tilted upward, narrow enough for only one person to curl through, filled with dust and the choking smell of sulfur, but it did indeed lead to an unknown upper space.

Without the slightest hesitation, Stardust nimbly crawled in first, followed closely by Excellence. White Elder's drone retracted its structure and squeezed into the crevice like a shuttle to cover the rear.

Behind them, that massive subterranean space, having lost all support and balance, met its final doomsday. Dark red, scorching material surged out from the fissures like a fountain, devouring everything. And above the planet's orbit, the eye of suffering, having lost the restraint of the anchor and fallen into ultimate madness, had its projection solidified to the point of almost having texture. A despairing, purple-black space rift spanning tens of thousands of kilometers was slowly opening behind it, and a terrifying aura, as if capable of devouring stars, permeated from it. That dark purple crystal spaceship, the Anchor of Order, with multiple damages to its hull and its psionic light flickering uncertainly, still stood like an unyielding reef, weaving and dodging through violent energy tides and space debris, using precise and lethal "Order" psionic pulses to strike the edges of the rift again and again, attempting to delay the unstoppable arrival...

Underground, a desperate upward escape; in space, a brutal delaying defensive battle. The doomsday scenes on both screens were playing out simultaneously.

And right inside that cold, special containment unit at Stardust's waist, the black crystal known as the stone of silence, under multiple seals, had fallen into absolute stillness.

Only in Excellence's mind, those forcibly suppressed, bizarre, and ancient information fragments filled with cold loneliness and ominous premonitions, like icebergs sinking into the deep sea, were temporarily hidden but existed, vast and dangerous. They were like seeds from an unknowable age buried in the soil of consciousness; no one knew what kind of flowers they would eventually bloom into or what kind of fruits they would bear.

Where exactly was that "gate" that had been mentioned?

What was it that "it" truly needed to sense?

And their scarred ranger, carrying this dangerous secret, what unknown, perhaps even darker deep space would it sail toward?