33: Ark! The coordinates of the deep space tombstone!

The Central Command Hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Lin Yue's faint but thunderous cry of 'Ark,' and his gaze, fixed on Lin Feng before he fell unconscious again, were like cold hooks, seizing everyone's hearts. On the screen, the images of the seven major base representatives were frozen, a mix of shock and bewilderment. The flame that had just been ignited by the 'Shepherd Star Plan' seemed to have been doused by a basin of ice water from the abyss of deep space.

Lin Feng's resolute expression instantly froze, leaving only a cold solemnity. He strode to the main control console, his fingers a blur on the virtual keyboard, his voice as sharp as a blade: "Medical Bay! Highest level neural monitoring! Lock onto the residual fluctuations of his consciousness! Su Jin! Old Zhao! Come here immediately!"

The commands rained down like hail. Su Jin and Old Zhao practically burst from the crowd, their previous composure gone, replaced by the terror of facing an unknown abyss.

"Chen Hai, stabilize communications." Lin Feng didn't even look up. "Tell the global representatives that coordinate analysis will take time. The Deep Blue Watcher fleet is to enter Level One alert, defense arrays fully deployed, scan radius extended to maximum! Report any abnormal energy fluctuations, even a 0.001% deviation from background radiation, immediately!"

"Yes, Captain!" Chen Hai's voice was taut with unprecedented tension. He immediately turned to the communication console, speaking rapidly to calm the chaotic global channel. The twelve colossal Deep Blue Watcher ships, suspended above the Arctic ice abyss, had their ethereal blue patterns on their hulls glowing intensely, and invisible detection beams, like giant tentacles, swept every inch of dark space beyond Earth's orbit.

Su Jin and Old Zhao had already rushed to the main control terminal beside Lin Feng. The screen was simultaneously displaying a waterfall of real-time data from the Medical Bay—Lin Yue's electroencephalogram was like a raging storm, countless chaotic peaks wildly jumping, interspersed with extremely faint, yet precise, coded pulse sequences at specific frequencies. These sequences were being furiously compared against the 'origin mark' database that Su Jin had brought back from the Antarctic Ruins.

"It's coordinates!" Su Jin's voice trembled with excitement, her fingers flying across the virtual keyboard, bringing up an extremely complex multi-dimensional spatial model. "Not conventional stellar coordinates! It's… it's 'spacetime wrinkle' markers left by warp travel! He… he carved the coordinates into his neural synapses!"

"Spacetime wrinkles?" Old Zhao gasped, a cold shiver running down his spine. "That requires… that requires his brain to constantly endure the tearing sensation of spacetime distortion! This madman… no, this pain…" He looked at the curve on the screen representing Lin Yue's pain index, which was almost redlining, and the rest of his words caught in his throat.

"Analyze it!" Lin Feng's voice was unyielding, his gaze fixed on the continuously calculating model. "What do you need?"

"We need the complete energy model of the 'origin mark' as a reference frame! We need… we need an instantaneous energy burst from the Antarctic Ruins' main control core as a calibration signal!" Su Jin spoke rapidly. "Only for an instant! Only one chance! If we fail, these neural pulse sequences will be completely destroyed by the pain!"

"Deep Blue!" Lin Feng immediately ordered. "Connect to the Antarctic Ruins' main control core! Prepare a maximum power instantaneous energy pulse! Target: calibration signal!"

"Connecting… Ruins core responding! Energy charging initiated!" The engineering department's voice came through.

"Su Jin, prepare!" Lin Feng's gaze shifted to the Medical Bay's monitoring screen. Lin Yue was convulsing in pain on the life support platform, energy currents beneath his skin writhing like dying vipers. "Old Zhao, lock onto that coordinate model! Once calibration is complete, I want its position precise to the quantum scale!"

"Understood!" Beads of sweat trickled down Old Zhao's forehead as his hands danced across the virtual control console, countless complex algorithm windows opening in layers.

In the Command Hall, only the hum of instruments and the suppressed breathing of the crew remained. The global communication channel was temporarily muted; the representatives of the seven major bases could only watch the extremely tense operations on the Deep Blue.

"Energy charge 100%! Calibration signal ready!" The engineering department reported.

"Reference frame model loaded! Neural pulse sequence captured and locked! Countdown 3 seconds!" Su Jin's voice was taut.

"Coordinate model stable! Ready to receive calibration!" Old Zhao's eyes were wide.

"Fire!" Lin Feng's voice was decisive.

Boom—!

An invisible, yet immense energy that made the entire Deep Blue ship tremble, instantly traversed space, injecting into the distant Antarctic ice sheet below! The ethereal blue crystal of the Antarctic Ruins' main control core suddenly erupted with unprecedented brilliant light!

Almost at the same instant!

"Received calibration signal! Model correcting!" Su Jin shrieked.

"Neural pulse sequence stable! Coordinates… coordinates are out!" Old Zhao's voice cracked with elation!

On the main screen, the chaotic multi-dimensional spatial model was instantly smoothed, stretched, and positioned as if by an invisible hand! A clear, ethereal blue glowing coordinate point was precisely marked on the vast cosmic star map! Its position was far from any known human star map, deeply embedded in the desolate void beyond the Milky Way's spiral arm.

However, just as the coordinate point was lit up—

Hum… hum… hum…

The lights on the Deep Blue's bridge suddenly began to flicker violently! A piercing, eerie noise, like countless fingernails scraping metal, erupted without warning from all communication channels, and even from the ship's metal structure! On the main screen, around the newly located coordinate point, space began to violently twist and fluctuate, like water disturbed by a thrown stone!

"Warning! Detecting ultra-high intensity quantum interference! Source… source is that coordinate point!" The radar officer's voice trembled with horror!

"Deep Blue Watcher fleet reporting! Large-scale spatial distortion detected in the direction of the coordinate point! Readings… readings are exceeding instrument limits!"

"Captain! Medical Bay reporting! Lin Yue's internal 'outer source' mental imprint activity… skyrocketing exponentially! It's currently impacting the suppression field!"

"It's responding!" Lin Feng's pupils contracted, a cold chill instantly enveloping his entire body. "It knows we've located the 'Ark'!"

"Captain! Look at the coordinate point!" Old Zhao cried out.

Above the ethereal blue coordinate point, space was being violently torn as if by an invisible giant hand! A suffocatingly vast, indescribable shadowy outline was slowly 'permeating' from the distorted spatial rift! It wasn't matter; it was more like a condensed, writhing mass of absolute darkness that devoured all light! Merely its projected presence caused the Deep Blue's main screen signal to violently distort, emitting a mournful cry of overload!

A cold, viscous mental pollution, filled with endless hunger and a will to destroy, as if spanning billions of light-years, instantly impacted the deepest consciousness of everyone present! In the Command Hall, technicians with weaker wills clutched their heads, groaning in pain, and some even fainted on the spot!

[Detecting ultra-high-dimensional entity projection! Energy signature: 100% match with 'outer source' entity!]

[Provisional name: 'Star Eater']

[Threat Level: ████ (Annihilation Class)]

[Warning: Its very existence is twisting local physical laws! Spatial stability is rapidly decreasing!]

"Star Eater…" Lin Feng fiercely resisted the mental pollution that threatened to freeze his soul, staring at the writhing, nauseating dark projection on the screen. It had no eyes, no limbs, but Lin Feng could 'feel' a cold, indifferent 'gaze,' like one observing ants, piercing through space, precisely landing on the Deep Blue, landing on… him! That gaze carried a hint of… curiosity? And a deeper, all-consuming greed!

"It… it's watching us…" Lei Lie's voice trembled with unprecedented fear, his gun-wielding hand shaking.

"No!" Lin Feng's voice was like a wounded beast, filled with the fury of being utterly provoked. "It's looking at the 'key'! Looking at its prey!" He abruptly pointed in the direction of the Medical Bay. "It's looking at Lin Yue! Looking at the coordinates of its host! Looking at the 'Ark' we just located!"

As if to confirm his words, the dark projection named 'Star Eater' slowly, as if in slow motion, moved a fraction towards the ethereal blue coordinate point—the location marked 'Ark.' Just this slight movement caused the curve representing spatial stability on the main screen to instantly plummet below the red line!

"It's trying to… cross space! Directly manifest at the 'Ark'?!" Su Jin's face was pale.

"Stop it! Deep Blue Watcher fleet! Target—spatial distortion point! Full saturation fire! Interfere with it!" Lin Feng roared!

The main cannon arrays of the twelve Deep Blue Watcher colossal ships instantly lit up! Ethereal blue and pure particle beams, like spears of judgment tearing through darkness, fiercely shot towards the distorted space! However, firepower capable of destroying planets, upon hitting that writhing dark projection, was like a mud ox entering the sea! The beams were twisted, devoured, only stirring a few imperceptible ripples on the dark surface, and instead made the spatial distortion even more violent! The projection's movement speed seemed to… increase slightly!

"It's useless! Our weapons… they can't harm it!" The weapons officer screamed in despair.

"Use that!" Lin Feng's eyes flashed with a cold light, pointing to an icon on the main console that had just unlocked and was flashing a dangerous red—one of the core modules of the 'Radiance of Origin' blueprint! * * "Dimension Disruption Cannon"! * * Based on the 'origin mark' and the precursor core energy, theoretically capable of interfering with the spatial anchoring of high-dimensional entities!

"Charge! Maximum power! Target—spatial distortion core!" Lin Feng's voice was filled with a desperate madness!

From deep within the Deep Blue's hull, a dull roar of energy, like an ancient behemoth awakening, emanated! In front of the bow, a colossal annular device composed of countless complex golden patterns slowly extended, and at its center, a blindingly bright energy singularity, a mix of ethereal blue and golden light, coalesced!

"Fire!"

Whoosh—!!!

A beam of indescribable color, seemingly composed of pure spatial rifts, shot silently towards the writhing darkness!

This time, there was a reaction!

The 'Star Eater's' projection suddenly froze! The writhing dark surface violently churned as if boiling! A provoked, even more terrifying will to destroy surged back like a tsunami! The Deep Blue's shields flickered wildly, and the ship's hull emitted a grating metallic groan! The main screen was instantly covered in static!

"Report damage!" Lin Feng steadied himself amidst the violent tremors.

"Shield energy plummeted to 40%! Hull structure lightly damaged! Dimension Disruption Cannon overloaded! Cooling system collapsed! Cannot be used again within 24 hours!" The damage control officer's voice was tearful.

The cost was immense!

But the effect… the static cleared from the screen, and the spatial distortion seemed… to have stabilized somewhat? The 'Star Eater's' projection's movement had been forcibly interrupted!

However, before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, an even more terrifying scene unfolded!

From the writhing dark center of the 'Star Eater' projection, which had been struck by the Dimension Disruption Cannon, a… 'mouthpart' suddenly opened? There were no teeth, no tongue, only a swirling, light-devouring absolute void! A stream of energy, black as ink and utterly silent, like a breath from hell, instantly traversed space, not shooting towards the Deep Blue, but precisely hitting one of the Deep Blue Watcher frigates!

Silently.

That colossal frigate, built with precursor technology, along with any faint intelligent consciousness that might have existed within it, didn't even explode. Its hull, like metal thrown into concentrated sulfuric acid, began to 'dissolve,' annihilate, and vanish from the point of impact, its material structure defying physical laws, silently! Within seconds, a kilometer-long giant ship completely turned into nothingness before the horrified eyes of all who watched! Not a single trace, not a single energy fluctuation remained!

Absolute obliteration!

"Deep Blue Watcher 07… signal… lost…" The radar officer's voice was like a dream, filled with incomprehensible terror.

"It's… devouring…" Su Jin's voice trembled from the depths of her soul.

The 'Star Eater' projection seemed to writhe 'satisfactorily,' and its opened 'mouthpart' slowly closed. Its cold 'gaze' once again swept over the Deep Blue, over Lin Feng, carrying an indifference akin to a human crushing an ant, and then… slowly, steadily, it began to move again towards the 'Ark's' coordinates!

This time, its speed of movement was noticeably faster than before!

"It… it's adapted!" Old Zhao's face was ashen.

"It's warning us…" Lin Feng's voice was terribly low. He looked at the location where the giant ship had vanished on the screen, at the dark projection that had begun to move again, at Lin Yue's body struggling in pain in the Medical Bay's monitor. An unprecedented cold fury, mixed with bone-chilling coldness, burned wildly in his chest!

Passive defense was a dead end.

One attack had resulted in the annihilation of a Deep Blue Watcher ship.

And the 'Star Eater's' goal was crystal clear—to devour the 'Ark' and completely sever the root of humanity's counterattack!

Time had become the most deadly poison. Every second delayed, the 'Star Eater' drew closer to the 'Ark,' and human civilization moved one step closer to ultimate destruction!

Lin Feng suddenly looked up, his eyes devoid of confusion, leaving only a resolute light like a supernova explosion! He snatched up the communicator, his voice like rolling thunder, exploding in the dead silent Command Hall, and through the still-open global communication channel, reaching the ears and hearts of every survivor:

"Deep Blue, listen up!"

"The final phase of the 'Shepherd Star Plan'—'Operation Dawn'—is to be initiated ahead of schedule!"

"The 'Radiance of Origin' is to immediately enter the final assembly sequence! All resources, prioritize its supply!"

"All global bases! I need all your scientists, engineers, and warriors! 72 hours! We only have 72 hours!"

He took a deep breath, as if to inhale all the coldness of the entire universe into his lungs, transforming it into fuel:

"After 72 hours, whether the 'Radiance of Origin' is complete or not…"

"The Deep Blue Fleet will set sail!"

"Target—"

"The far side of deep space!"

"The 'Ark'!"

"We will stand before that deep space tombstone…"

"And with the 'Star Eater'…"

"Fight to the death!"

Silence. Then came a volcanic eruption of responses, surging from within the Deep Blue, and from communication channels in every corner of the globe! Fear was overwhelmed by a stronger will to survive and anger! Despair was ignited by a desperate madness!

"For humanity!" Lei Lie was the first to roar, his fist slamming onto the control console!

"For survival!" Chen Hai's voice was strained!

"For the future!" Su Jin and Old Zhao's eyes burned with a scientist's frenzy!

"Deep Blue Forever!!!" In the global channel, countless voices converged into a single roar!

Countdown, 72 hours! The spark of human civilization would make a desperate gamble before the deep space tombstone, against the darkness that devoured stars!