93: Navigation debris and star map completion

After successfully dispersing the "Void Glimmer" attack, the Expeditionary Fleet continued to navigate through relatively stable hyperspace lanes for dozens of hours. Sun Zheng and the crew did not dare to relax in the slightest, remaining vigilant for any new threats that might emerge. The Order Resonance Network brought by the keystone acted like a lighthouse in the dark; although its sensory range was limited, it could at least provide early warning of powerful sources of chaotic energy.

Finally, the navigation system emitted a notification tone: "Approaching the first preset navigation Beacon point."

The energy turbulence outside the viewport gradually weakened, and a relatively stable spatial node appeared ahead. As the fleet slowly exited hyperspace and returned to normal space, the sight before them caused everyone's heart to sink.

This was not the safe harbor maintained by a Guardian Beacon as expected, but a dead void. There were no stars, no planets—only sparse interstellar dust and cold asteroid fragments glinting with a frigid luster under the faint light of a distant, dying red dwarf.

"Beacon signal... has disappeared," the Sensor Officer reported, their tone carrying confusion and unease. "Scanning the area. No active energy sources or artificial structures detected."

"Expand the scan range! Look for any anomalies!" Sun Zheng ordered. The information left by the Watcher elder clearly stated that several Beacon points for guidance and resupply existed along this route. The disappearance of the first Beacon was definitely not a good omen.

The fleet fanned out from the navigation point coordinates, conducting a meticulous reconnaissance.

A few hours later, the pathfinder reconnaissance ship transmitted a discovery: "Commander! A large amount of metallic wreckage has been found on the edge of the Asteroid Belt surrounding the coordinates! Initial assessment... these are ship fragments! The style... is similar to the Guardian Civilization!"

Sun Zheng's heart stirred. "Investigate immediately! Stay safe!"

The fleet approached the wreckage field. Countless fragments of varying sizes, glinting with a dull metallic luster, floated in the void. Some larger pieces of wreckage still bore the faint outlines of streamlined hull structures and peculiar geometric patterns, consistent with the construction style of the Lunar Ruin and the ancient ship in the Asteroid Belt. Clearly, a fierce battle had taken place here, and one or more Guardian ships had been destroyed.

"The wreckage is spread across a vast area and is severely damaged; it seems to have been instantly torn apart by some powerful energy," the Engineer analyzed the data. "No signs of life detected, and no traces of recent activity. This battle must have happened a long time ago."

"Try to recover data logs from the wreckage," Sun Zheng commanded. These remains were likely the Beacon itself, or perhaps a Guardian vanguard sent to the Seed Vault; they might have recorded vital information.

The technical team dispatched engineering robots to scan and carefully cut into several relatively intact core components. The process was difficult, as most storage units were damaged, but after several hours of effort, they finally recovered a fragmented data stream from a severely charred black crystal plate.

Once the data was parsed, it was projected onto the main screen. It was an extremely blurry video recording of a battle:

In the footage, an elegantly designed Guardian warship (similar to the 'Frontier Patroller VII') was engaged in a fierce battle with several hideous unknown enemy vessels emitting purple-black energy. The style of the enemy ships was completely different from the Scrin; they were more abstract and distorted, as if composed of pure shadow.

The Guardian warship fought back valiantly, its order beams clashing violently with the enemies' shadow energy.

Suddenly, an indescribable, massive Shadow Tentacle—seemingly coming from the abyss itself—tore through space and instantly pierced the core of the Guardian warship! The ship disintegrated in a silent explosion.

At the very end of the footage, a brief frame was captured: at the source of that massive Shadow Tentacle, a giant, eye-like purple-black vortex was faintly visible. In the center of the vortex, there seemed to be a reflection of... a familiar nebula? It was the nebula where the Seed Vault was located!

The footage cut off there.

The bridge fell into silence. This footage revealed a terrifying fact: a long time ago, Guardian forces had attempted to reach the Seed Vault but were intercepted and destroyed by a more horrific existence—likely a force directly dispatched by the void whisper! Furthermore, the enemy seemed to have known the location of the Seed Vault for a long time!

"Commander, we also parsed an encrypted star map data set from the energy residues of the wreckage," the head of the technical team reported. "After decryption, this data has filled in some of the blank areas of our existing star map, marking several potential... 'shortcuts' or 'hidden lane' entrance coordinates. These lanes seem to bypass some known dangerous sectors, shortening the voyage."

Blessings and disasters often come hand in hand. The destruction of the Beacon brought bad news, but the star map data found in the wreckage could become a new source of hope.

Sun Zheng looked at the newly marked coordinates on the star map, his gaze sharp. The more the enemy wanted to stop them, the more it proved the importance of the Seed Vault.

"Analyze the stability and potential risks of these hidden lanes," he ordered. "At the same time, increase our vigilance. The enemies who destroyed the Beacon might still be lingering nearby, or... they left behind Watchers."

The Expeditionary Fleet paused here briefly to repair minor damage caused by the hyperspace turbulence and the recent reconnaissance, while carefully studying the newly acquired star map data.

Ultimately, Sun Zheng made a decision: to choose a hidden lane marked as relatively stable that would significantly shorten the voyage and continue forward.