268: Overt Conspiracy

The Ghost Ship traversed steadily within the subspace tunnel formed by warp travel, outside the window, bizarre, rapidly retreating distorted light and shadows resembled an overturned palette of paints.

Inside the bridge, however, was a scene of tranquility.

Li Xue凝 was calmly directing twelve Royal Guards to check for any damage the ship might have sustained during the recent thrilling escape, and to cool and maintain the warp engine, which had just completed its extreme operation.

Their movements were professional and efficient, clearly accustomed to such situations.

Meanwhile, Su Lei went alone to the quiet room in the deepest part of the ship.

In the center of the quiet room, the Purgatory Key, which had just been retrieved through a series of twists and turns from the hellish battlefield, floated silently in mid-air.

Su Lei extended his hand, and his Divine Soul power, like the gentlest trickling stream, reached towards the Key.

However, as his Divine Soul power slowly permeated, dissecting its internal structure layer by layer like the most sophisticated probe, the Key's internal structure was clearly presented in his Sea of Consciousness, like a star map being peeled back in layers.

Its core was not some profound technological creation, but a highly concentrated energy singularity constructed from pure space and Seal Law.

And surrounding this singularity were billions of coordinate information points, as tiny as cosmic dust yet incredibly clear.

Each coordinate represented an independent prison space, completely sealed and isolated from the main material Universe.

Evidently, this Key was the only key to control the legendary mobile interstellar prison, Purgatory.

Everything seemed to be consistent with the intelligence reports.

However, just as Su Lei's Divine Soul power attempted to delve deeper into analyzing those coordinate information points to precisely locate Purgatory in the real Universe, an extremely subtle yet utterly malicious curse force, without any warning, retaliated from the depths of those coordinate information points' Souls!

That curse force was like the most venomous viper lurking in the darkness, silent and without any trace, intending to follow Su Lei's extended Divine Soul and penetrate his Soul Origin!

"Hmph, as expected, there's something fishy."

Su Lei let out a cold snort; he had anticipated this.

The Soul Core in his Sea of Consciousness, which had fused the foundational elements of two civilizations, vibrated, and his Divine Soul power, mixed with the purifying fire of the Soul Flame, instantly crushed the curse attempting to infiltrate.

The sneak attack was easily resolved, but Su Lei's brows furrowed.

The curse was not an independent trap.

The moment it was crushed, it had fulfilled its mission, activating the core Law on the Key.

This was not the work of Star Lord or a third-party force, but an eternal Seal set for this Key by Purgatory's creator, an ancient civilization that had long since vanished.

This was an open conspiracy.

Any creature attempting to use the Key to locate Purgatory would have its Soul reverse-locked by the prison core's most primitive banishment Law the moment it touched the coordinate information.

Thereafter, the creature's Soul would transform into a beacon, emitting an irresistible aura in endless darkness and hunger.

Once he used the Key to open the spatial gate to Purgatory, billions of ancient prisoners within the prison, consumed by hunger and madness, would follow the scent of the beacon and attack him and everything around him at the first instant.

This was a death trap designed from the outset to prevent internal collusion and violent crack.

The Key is in your hand; you can open the door to the treasure trove, but you will also be the first sacrifice torn apart by the unleashed hounds.

"What a clever method."

Su Lei retracted his Divine Soul power, his expression grave.

He had to admit that the ancient civilization which designed this trap possessed wisdom and decisiveness far beyond imagination.

This curse could not be circumvented; its root was not some energy or rune, but a fundamental Law deeply bound to Purgatory itself and the Key's function.

To use the Key, one must accept its rules.

It was like lighting a match; one must accept its Law of burning, heating, and ultimately turning to ash, unable to simply desire the burning without the heat.

What to do?

Su Lei kept scratching his head, pacing back and forth, feeling extremely anxious.

To face the first wave of impact from billions of ancient Vicious Beasts, already driven mad, the moment the spatial gate opened?

Even with his current strength, facing an endless, fearless enemy, he would only be left with the outcome of having all his power exhausted and eventually being torn to shreds.

Su Lei fell silent.

The crown of wisdom's computational power operated in his mind; countless plans were generated, simulated, and then rejected one by one.

Forcibly cracking it would cause the Key and coordinates to collapse together.

Finding a substitute: the curse locked onto the Soul Origin, which was unique; no Puppet or Clone could replace it.

Borrowing external help: the moment the spatial gate opened, he would be the sole target of all prisoners, the only light source in the darkness; any helpers would be engulfed by the frenzied beast tide, unable even to get close.

This was a dead end.

In the quiet room, time flowed by.

After an unknown period, Su Lei's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

Since all conventional approaches were unresolvable, why not do the opposite?

Since I am destined to become that beacon, that most delicious bait, why not turn this beacon into a deadly trap tailor-made for all prisoners?

A plan formed in his mind.

He would turn the tables, becoming the hunter holding the bait, waiting for the prey to take it, in this death hunt.

Days later, the Ghost Ship returned to the Indomitable Spear space station, located in Earth's synchronous orbit.

Su Lei's return caused no ripples; apart from Dean Li and a few other core high-ranking officials, no one knew what kind of storm their Supreme Governor had just stirred up on the edge of the solar system.

Su Lei handed the Ghost Ship over to Dean Li, who had been eagerly awaiting it, asking him to lead the Academy of Sciences' top team in reverse engineering research.

Subsequently, he took Li Xue凝 and the hot potato of the Purgatory Key into the core super laboratory of the Indomitable Spear.

This laboratory was designed by him personally, integrating the technologies of Earth, Valkyrie, and the crown of wisdom, three major civilizations.

For the next three months, Su Lei disappeared from everyone's sight.

No one knew what he was doing in this laboratory, which represented the pinnacle of human civilization's technological achievements.

They only knew that during that period, the entire Indomitable Spear space station's energy consumption reached an unprecedented peak.

Countless rare Materials from Earth and the Valkyrie Empire were sent into that laboratory, which was designated as the highest forbidden zone, like flowing water.

Su Lei, like a focused artisan, combined the vast knowledge from the crown of wisdom with his boundless imagination.

He used Law as a carving knife, the Soul Flame as a furnace, and those Materials from different civilizations as ink, engaging in a mad act of creation.

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