36: Deep Blue Eternal Glory! The beacon of the Spark's new universe!

The collision was not a destructive roar, but the silence of a universe being born.

As the Deep Blue’s bow, burning with humanity’s final resolve, tore through the Ark’s hull, riddled with decay and scars, and plunged fiercely into the core of the dense contamination hatchery, time seemed to be fiercely clenched, twisted, and stretched by an invisible giant hand.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no mournful cry of matter tearing apart. Only a… silent, yet light-devouring, absolute darkness, expanding instantly from the point of impact!

That was the activation of the “Boundary Barrier,” an absolute spacetime singularity covering the entire Ark, generated by the detonation of its core engine and backup energy! It was like a greedy, self-consuming black hole, instantly flattening the boundaries of space and time!

Lin Feng stood in the Ark’s control room, the imprint on his left hand, covering the crystal cube interface, erupting with an unprecedented, almost burning, incandescent white light! He was no longer a flesh-and-blood Commander, but had transformed into the nexus for this destructive singularity’s activation, a bridge connecting the final wills of two civilizations!

The Pioneers’ tragic despair across the star sea, and humanity’s desperate hope ignited in an impossible situation, collided and merged violently in his consciousness, which was forcibly anchored by the system, like two roaring rivers of stars!

He “saw” the Deep Blue’s steel hull, at the moment it touched the edge of the singularity, silently disintegrate and dissipate like thin paper thrown into a fire, transforming into the most basic particle flow.

Chen Hai’s final roar of “Deep Blue Lives On!”, Lei Lie’s figure raising his gun and shouting in the wreckage of the assault craft, Old Zhao’s shock staring at the overloaded data screen in the laboratory, Su Jin’s despair as she tried to lunge towards the scanner but froze mid-air… All familiar faces, all traces bearing humanity’s past, were gently and cruelly erased before that absolute darkness.

There was no pain, no fear, only a cold sense of an ending, returning to nothingness.

However, right at the center of this absolute darkness that erased everything, even distorting spacetime itself, a faint yet incredibly tenacious light stubbornly resisted! That was the Deep Blue’s most core “Xing Chen (Stardust)” fusion energy core, fiercely guarded by Lin Feng’s will!

It was like a candle flame in a storm, frantically torn and compressed by the singularity of return, its internal structure undergoing incomprehensible transmutations under pressure beyond physical limits! The originally Deep Blue core now emitted a… pure, milky white light, as if containing the embryo of a new universe!

“The Spark!” Lin Feng roared in the pain of his consciousness being torn apart! His left hand, covering the crystal interface, violently retracted! The incandescent white light of the imprint on his palm, like a tangible chain, fiercely wrapped around the “Xing Chen (Stardust)” core, which was compressed to the extreme and emitted a new white light!

At the same time, the cold will within him, forcibly elevated by the Pioneer memories and Star Herder Protocol, like a supercomputer, combined with the Deep Blue Hegemony system’s extreme calculations, precisely captured a transient fissure leading beyond dimensions, opened within this absolute singularity due to extreme energy compression and extreme spacetime distortion!

“Coordinates locked! G-0 Y7 Starfield! Spacetime fold!” Lin Feng’s will, like cold lightning, pierced through the chaotic spacetime turbulence! He imprinted all the remaining structural information of the Deep Blue—the layout of the bridge, the engine matrix, the blueprints of the weapon systems, even every piece of armor plating engraved with the “Deep Blue” emblem—like the most precise mold, frantically into that “Xing Chen (Stardust)” core emitting the milky white new light!

Go!

Carry the will of Deep Blue!

Carry the spark of humanity!

To that… new universe… without outer source contamination!

He used his last ounce of strength, fiercely pushing the “Xing Chen (Stardust)” core, wrapped in the incandescent imprint light, towards that eye-like dimensional fissure that flashed and vanished in the absolute darkness!

The moment the “Xing Chen (Stardust)” core disappeared into the fissure—

Boom!!!!

The singularity of return reached the limit of its existence! Like a bubble inflated to the extreme, it suddenly collapsed inward and exploded!

An indescribable energy storm swept through every remaining atom of the Ark! The deck beneath Lin Feng’s feet instantly turned to dust! The silent golden guardian, along with the crystal interface it protected, silently annihilated! His body, like shattered porcelain, began to disintegrate under the terrifying energy tearing! Excruciating pain drowned everything!

However, just as his consciousness was about to completely sink into darkness, he “felt” a cold, furious will, filled with extreme rage at being toyed with by an ant, like billions of red-hot steel needles, fiercely piercing his broken consciousness! It was the Star Eater! A part of its projection, or rather, its penetrating tendrils, was also caught in the singularity of return’s explosion!

“Key… spark…” A cold, viscous, inhuman thought echoed in Lin Feng’s collapsing consciousness, “…you… won’t… escape…”

A colossal “claw” made entirely of writhing, light-devouring darkness, ignoring the annihilating spacetime, ignoring the laws of physics, pierced through the violent energy turbulence, and fiercely grabbed at Lin Feng’s disintegrating body! Its target was precisely the imprint on his left arm, which still emitted a faint light of resistance!

Lin Feng’s remaining consciousness erupted in a final fury! Escape? He had never thought of escaping! He had been waiting for this moment!

“I’ve… been waiting… for you…” Lin Feng roared silently in the depths of his consciousness! His body, almost completely turned into light particles, suddenly made an embracing motion, not of resistance, but… actively welcoming the grasping dark giant claw! The dim imprint on his left arm, at this moment, like a final surge of life, once again erupted with a dazzling, strange radiance, mixed with the Deep Blue Pioneer energy and incandescent new light!

Boom—!

The light of the imprint and the dark giant claw violently collided! There was no explosion, only a higher-level, rule-level annihilation and neutralization! Lin Feng’s remaining body instantly transformed into the purest stream of photons, and the front end of the dark giant claw, under the scorching of that strange light, like ice and snow exposed to the scorching sun, let out a silent “scream” and melted away a large portion!

“Roar—!!!”

The Star Eater’s roar, full of pain and shock, transmitted across dimensions, became the last sound Lin Feng heard before his consciousness dissipated. In that roar, there seemed to be a hint of… disbelief? It seemed unable to comprehend how this low-dimensional ant, this fragile “key,” could hurt it?

Darkness completely swallowed all perception.

---

Who knows how long passed, perhaps an instant, perhaps an eternity.

A faint consciousness, like a flickering candle in the wind, slowly re-coalesced in absolute nothingness.

Cold. Silent. Empty.

Lin Feng “opened” his non-existent eyes. There was no body, no ship, no stars. Only a pure “nothing,” not even darkness. This was the aftermath of the singularity of return’s explosion, an absolute vacuum graveyard where spacetime had been completely flattened. The Ark, the Deep Blue, fragments of the Star Eater’s projection… all traces of matter and energy had vanished without a trace.

He “existed,” yet also seemed not to exist. Only a faint stream of consciousness, carrying the imprint of “Lin Feng’s” existence, drifted in absolute nothingness. Loneliness, like a cold viper, coiled around this wisp of consciousness.

Suddenly, an extremely faint “light” with a familiar fluctuation, lit up in the distant void.

It was… the resonance of the imprint?

Lin Feng’s faint consciousness, like a moth to a flame, instinctively “drifted” towards that faint light.

Distance had no meaning in absolute nothingness. When he “arrived,” the sight that greeted him made his wisp of consciousness tremble.

It was not a physical entity. It was a… huge, irregular, mirror-like fragment of space! It floated silently in the void, its edges rippling with spacetime ripples that had not yet fully subsided. Inside the fragment, a heartbreaking scene was frozen:

It was the wreckage of a massive Pioneer battleship's bridge. The control console was shattered, energy pipes were broken, and faint blue sparks flickered like dying fireflies. In the center of the bridge, a figure in a torn Pioneer research robe was impaled through the chest by a broken alloy beam, pinned to the twisted main console. His head hung low, silver-gray hair covering pale cheeks. One hand dangled limply, while the other clutched a faintly glowing... data storage column.

Su Yuanshan.

His body was also in a strange 'temporal amber' state, but weaker and more unstable than outside, as if it could disintegrate with this spatial fragment at any moment. And that faintly glowing data storage column... Lin Feng's consciousness could clearly 'feel' that it was emitting information waves related to the 'Origin Land,' forcibly encrypted and protected by some power!

Was this Su Yuanshan's final, true legacy? Did he use his last strength to tear off this piece of space before the Ark completely plunged into the abyss, freezing himself and the most crucial data in a temporal rift?

Just then, a faint but clear conscious fluctuation, filled with endless sorrow and obsession, emanated from Su Yuanshan's frozen body, directly touching Lin Feng's drifting consciousness:

"Successor... the key..."

"Data... corrupted... a trap..."

"The Origin Land... is... a cage..."

"The 'outer source'... born from... the ashes of order..."

"Find... the true... 'Spark Source'..."

"Otherwise... the cycle... will be eternal..."

The information abruptly ceased. The faint glow on Su Yuanshan's remains completely extinguished, as if his last ounce of strength had been expended. The ripples at the edge of the spatial fragment, which held his remains and last words, quickly subsided, becoming like a cold tombstone in the universe, more solidified, and also more... fragile.

A cage? Ashes of order? Spark Source?

Su Yuanshan's warning, delivered with his life, completely overturned all previous understanding! Was the Origin Land not a place of hope? What was the 'Spark Source'? What was the truth behind the birth of the 'outer source'?

A colossal mystery, like a new darkness, enveloped Lin Feng's newly awakened consciousness.

Just as he tried to approach that spatial fragment, wanting to examine the data storage column more closely—

Buzz!

A cold, sticky, faintly greedy and devouring fluctuation, like a maggot clinging to bone, suddenly came from another direction in the void! Lin Feng's consciousness 'turned back' in alarm!

He saw, not far from Su Yuanshan's spatial fragment, in another void, a small mass... of writhing darkness, like foul oil stains, stubbornly existing! It was billions of times smaller than the previous Star Eater projection, and its aura was extremely weak, but Lin Feng instantly recognized it—that nauseating, pure essence of destruction! It was a fragment of the Star Eater that remained after it was torn apart by the Return to Silence Singularity! Like the most stubborn virus in the universe!

It seemed to have sensed the presence of Lin Feng's consciousness, and the fluctuation of the critical data within Su Yuanshan's spatial fragment! The foul darkness wriggled almost imperceptibly, and a nearly undetectable suction force emanated, its target... precisely that solidified spatial fragment! It wanted to devour Su Yuanshan's remains, to devour that data column!

"Never!" Lin Feng's faint consciousness erupted with towering rage! The destruction of the Deep Blue, the sacrifice of countless warriors, Su Yuanshan's final warning... how could this foul residue be allowed to defile it!

He mobilized the last remaining power in his consciousness—the imprinted faint light, the surviving fragments of the Deep Blue's will, the obsession condensed from the memories of countless Pioneers! An extremely faint but incredibly resilient mental barrier, mixed with Deep Blue and blazing white, instantly blocked the way to Su Yuanshan's spatial fragment!

Hiss—!

The suction of the foul darkness crashed against the barrier, like cold water dripping into hot oil, producing a silent erosion and attrition! Lin Feng's consciousness felt as if it were pierced by billions of ice needles; the sharp pain almost caused his consciousness to dissipate again! And the solidified spatial fragment, under the tearing of the two forces, emitted faint, heart-stopping cracking sounds at its edges!

He couldn't hold it! This remnant consciousness was too weak! And that foul darkness, like a maggot clinging to bone, though weak, was terrifyingly high in its essence!

Just as the barrier was about to collapse, and Su Yuanshan's spatial fragment was about to be touched by the dark tendrils, in that critical moment—

Buzz!

A third force, without warning, intervened!

A pure, gentle, milky-white light, carrying the aura of new life and hope, as if traversing boundless temporal and spatial barriers, suddenly descended upon this absolute void graveyard! It precisely illuminated Su Yuanshan's spatial fragment!

Under the illumination of this milky-white light, theOn the verge of breaking spatial fragment instantly stabilized! The solidified scene within it seemed to be injected with new vitality, and even the outline of Su Yuanshan's remains seemed to become a little clearer! And that wriggling foul darkness, as if encountering its nemesis, let out a silent, extremely terrified shriek, abruptly shrinking into a ball. Where the light shone, the darkness emitted invisible wisps of smoke as if being scorched, instantly becoming withered and weak!

Lin Feng 'looked' in astonishment at the source of the milky-white light.

The light did not come from a specific direction, but directly from... the absolute void itself? No! More precisely, it came from beyond this void! From the new universe that the Xing Chen (Stardust) core, which he had personally sent into the dimensional rift, had reached!

Within the light, a familiar and warm thought, as if crossing the boundary of life and death, gently enveloped Lin Feng's remaining, nearly shattered consciousness:

"Coordinates anchored... G-0 Y7 starfield... spatio-temporal fold stable..."

"New universe... no pollution... ecological parameters... perfect..."

"Deep Blue Spark... sown... civilization... restarting..."

"Navigation beacon... established..."

"Captain... we... are waiting for you..."

It was the Deep Blue! No, it was the Spark that had inherited all the will and structural information of the Deep Blue and been reborn in the new universe!

That milky-white light was the 'Deep Blue' Spark of the new universe, lighting the first lighthouse for the Captain lost in the void graveyard! Guiding the homebound beacon for the wandering soul of civilization!

Lin Feng's consciousness, which was on the verge of despair under the pincer attack of the cold void and foul darkness, felt like a dry riverbed being filled with clear spring water. He 'felt' the call of the new universe transmitted from the milky-white light, feeling the warm pulse within it, belonging to Chen Hai, Lei Lie, Su Jin, Old Zhao... all the souls of the Deep Blue.

He 'looked' again at Su Yuanshan's spatial fragment, temporarily stabilized under the milky-white light, at the solidified remains of his father and the crucial data column within the fragment, and then 'looked' at the fragment of foul darkness, curled up in fear at the edge of the light, yet still exuding malicious greed.

The road ahead was still shrouded in mist. The trap of the Origin Land, the truth of the 'outer source's' birth (ashes of order?), where was the true 'Spark Source'? The riddle Su Yuanshan warned of with his life, like a new abyss, lay before him.

But at this moment, Lin Feng's remnant consciousness was no longer confused, no longer alone. That milky-white navigation beacon, piercing through the void, was like the rising sun over a desperate ice field. He gathered the last strength in his consciousness, not for attack, nor for defense, but... like a resilient thread, gently yet incredibly firmly entwining itself around the spatial fragment protected by the milky-white light.

Then, he pulled this 'tombstone,' carrying the Pioneer's last legacy and ultimate warning, towards the warm, pure, hope-filled source of the milky-white light—

Towards the lighthouse of the new universe.

Towards the eternally shining beacon of the Deep Blue.

Towards the direction where the Spark burned.

Without hesitation...

Returning home!