Chapter 154 Leviathan, the Colossal Beast of Deep Space

Boulder Starfield.

It is not as pleasant as its name implies; in reality, it is just a graveyard left behind after stars exploded.

Countless meteorite fragments, hundreds of kilometers long, tumble chaotically amidst magnetic storms, and the radar screen is filled with static.

The hull of the "dragon sparrow" emits a faint humming sound under the scouring of the magnetic storm.

"In this godforsaken place, even if you threw ten thousand tons of gold into it, you wouldn't be able to find a trace of it in half an hour." Lin Yuan sits in the command chair, playing with a piece of high-energy ore emitting a faint blue glow in his hands.

Academician Wang complains in the communication channel: "The magnetic field intensity has exceeded the limit by three times; this old man's dentures are about to be sucked out of his mouth. Commander, if we fire the main cannons in a place like this, the ballistic deviation could send the shots all the way to Centaurus."

"We won't use the main cannons." Lin Yuan throws the ore into the delivery port next to him, "We are here to fish. If such a large piece of high-energy bait is thrown down, as long as that beast isn't dead yet, it will be able to smell it."

"Boss, that is a top-tier energy source worth twenty million points. Are you sure that 'Starry Sky Behemoth' will be interested in this thing?" gaia's holographic projection squats on the dashboard, chin resting in its hands.

Before Lin Yuan can speak, the entire warship shifts violently sideways by dozens of meters.

Alarms blare instantly, but it is not the piercing, long wail; instead, it is a low, groaning sound caused by system overload.

"It's here." Lin Yuan stands up.

In the two o'clock direction ahead, the originally dense meteorite belt seems to encounter an invisible giant hand, being roughly pushed aside to both sides.

A pitch-black shadow, large enough to obscure half the star map, slowly pokes its head out.

That is the Leviathan.

If one must describe it, it is like a rotten giant whale that has been soaking in water for hundreds of millions of years, with a body length approaching two thousand kilometers.

Its skin is not flesh and blood, but several layers of semi-biological, semi-metallic armor, with purple high-energy rays spewing from the gaps.

In front of this behemoth, the three-kilometer-long "dragon sparrow" is like a flea at the feet of a giant elephant.

"The detector has exploded." gaia's voice is rarely serious, "Its mass has caused a local gravitational collapse; that is a living galactic scavenger."

The Leviathan opens its abyssal maw, and before the high-energy ore can even land, it is sucked into its stomach.

It seems dissatisfied with this "little flea" that disturbed its sleep, emitting a low-frequency roar visible to the naked eye.

Transparent ripples spread through the void.

"Crack!"

The two frigates responsible for flank security look like soda cans crushed by immense force; their armor plates instantly fly off, and their power cores explode directly into two balls of pale white sparks in the vacuum.

The soldiers inside didn't even leave behind any last words.

"Elder Chen, increase the distance!" Lin Yuan grabs the helmet next to him, "Charge the main cannons; let's test how thick this beast's skin is."

Chen Weiguo orders in a deep voice from the command console: "Dongfeng-X main cannon, full power, fire!"

A crimson energy beam spans the void, accurately striking the Leviathan's flank.

However, the attack, which is enough to level an asteroid, only produces a few sparks upon contact with that layer of horny armor.

"Failed to penetrate." gaia reports the data, "Damage rate is 0.0001%; it didn't even singe a single hair on it. This defensive capability exceeds the scope of carbon-based lifeforms."

"That's just scratching the surface." Lin Yuan snorts coldly, "I knew the main cannons wouldn't be effective."

He turns and walks towards the reserve cabin.

"Lin Yuan! What are you going to do again?" Chen Weiguo shouts through the projection.

"Going inside its stomach to take a look." Lin Yuan has already climbed into the cockpit of the "xingtian demon god", "For a beast like this, the outside is all shields, but the inside is definitely a pile of mush. Old Wang, prepare to cover me; if I don't come out in ten minutes, take the team and retreat; don't stay here and become its snacks."

The mech's engine roars, and Lin Yuan turns into a dark golden meteor, plunging straight in along with that powerful suction at the moment the Leviathan opens its mouth for the second time.

Black. Utter darkness.

The moment he enters the Leviathan's esophagus, the mech's various sensors start reporting errors frantically.

The mucus here is highly corrosive, and the titanium alloy armor is hissing. Through the eyepiece, Lin Yuan sees the surrounding inner walls wriggling; it is not flesh and blood, but circles of mechanical gears covered in barbs.

"This beast has been modified." Lin Yuan grips his heavy sword, rushing deeper along the constantly contracting cavity, "gaia, can you locate the core?"

"The interference is too strong; we can only go by feeling. Careful, your 'fishhook' has grown bugs on it."

As soon as the words fall, thousands of parasitic creatures with sickle-like limbs several meters long crawl out from the folds of the inner wall.

These things look like arthropods, but their movements are so fast they leave afterimages, hacking frantically at the mech's back, sending sparks flying everywhere.

"Get lost!"

Lin Yuan activates Void Affinity, the mech disappears in place for 0.1 seconds, and then the heavy sword creates a circle of golden sword light in the air.

A dozen parasitic beasts are cut in half, but the liquid sprayed is not blood, but scorching hot machine oil.

"Interesting, even the parasites are semi-mechanized. Is the Titan Civilization planning to raise this thing as a mobile fortress?"

He hacks and slashes all the way, advancing a full two hundred kilometers.

The surrounding temperature is getting higher and higher, and a deafening roar comes from below.

That is a "heart" with a diameter exceeding one thousand meters.

But this heart is not red; it is a huge, polyhedral structure emitting devastating golden light. It is connected by countless thick biological fiber optic cables, and with every beat, it transmits terrifying pulses throughout the giant beast's body.

【Ding! Key core detected: titan Energy Conversion Matrix (SSS-rank).】

【Description: This is the source of life for the Leviathan and also an external energy station for the titan arsenal.】

Lin Yuan smiles, a somewhat cold and sinister smile.

"Found it; this is the real big prize."

Around the heart, dozens of huge guardians are waiting in full battle array. These guys look like miniature versions of the Leviathan, holding destructive beams in their mouths.

"I don't have time to play hide-and-seek with you."

Lin Yuan directly unlocks the power limit of the mech.

He takes out that "dimension-reduction grenade" he brought back from the black market from behind him.

"I originally wanted to save it for the Mechanical Papacy, but since your heart looks so arrogant, I'll christen it with you first."

He does not detonate it directly; instead, he uses his Void Affinity ability to synchronize the grenade's fuse with the mech's mental network.

The mech leaps up, avoiding the guardians' beam encirclement, and the heavy sword stabs fiercely into the group of fiber optic cables on the heart's surface.

"Collect!"

Lin Yuan activates the system's most primitive and unreasonable function.

【Forced Collection!】

In the past, it could only collect scrap metal, but in this close-range contact, combined with the divine power within Lin Yuan, the system logic begins to arrogantly rewrite reality.

That huge polyhedral matrix begins to tremble violently.

The fiber optic cables connecting it snap one by one, spraying large amounts of energy sparks.

The Leviathan lets out a shrill wail outside; its body, nearly a thousand kilometers long, rolls wildly in the meteorite belt, shattering countless star rocks.

"Come here!"

Lin Yuan's eyes turn red, and his Void body operates at overload.

The light shines brightly.

One second later, the huge heart that originally filled half the space disappears into thin air.

【Ding! Collection successful, points increased by 5 million, obtained titan-rank energy core.】

The moment it loses its power source, the surrounding wriggling mechanical tissues instantly stiffen.

The Leviathan's massive life signs begin to plummet rapidly, and its skin, which was originally glowing with purple stripes, dims inch by inch.

It dies very quickly.

For this kind of forcibly modified creature, once it loses its core, it cannot even maintain its body balance.

Lin Yuan pilots the mech and climbs back out from the giant beast's gradually cooling esophagus.

The people on the "dragon sparrow" outside are already stunned.

That starry sky demon, which just a moment ago ignored all main cannon attacks, now lies like a hollowed-out piece of dead wood, floating quietly in the cold vacuum.

"Commander, did you... eat it?" Academician Wang's voice is trembling.

Lin Yuan doesn't answer; he stares at the giant beast's abdomen, which is beginning to crack open.

The giant beast's corpse does not rot and turn into ashes like ordinary creatures.

On the contrary, due to the loss of energy suppression, some kind of massive structure within its body begins to forcibly burst through that layer of thick horny skin.

"Crack—snap—"

The crisp sound of metal breaking spreads across the frequency.

The Leviathan's flank slowly splits open from the inside.

What is revealed is not internal organs, but a giant gateway over a hundred kilometers high, made of pure white crystal.

On the gate surface, two ancient titan characters shimmer with a metallic luster:

【Anvil】.

Lin Yuan pilots the mech to hover in front of the gate; the door slowly opens, revealing neatly arranged war machines capable of destroying a galaxy inside.

"Old Chen, Old Wang."

Lin Yuan looks at the endless assembly line behind it and exhales a long breath.

"Let the brothers enter the field."

"The second expeditionary army of Great Xia has new equipment."