321: Chapter 321 The White Crystal Reacts

The moment the The Ark passed through the otherworld passage, everyone felt a slight tingling sensation seeping out from their bones.

It was not pain, nor was it discomfort, but a feeling as if they had been washed over from head to toe by something.

Qin Lin stood in the center of the spherical bridge, the transparent floor beneath his feet reflecting the unfamiliar starry sky outside the window.

The colors of the stars were wrong.

In the Solar System, stars were either white or had a faint tint of blue or red.

The stars here were colorful.

Emerald green, golden yellow, deep purple, azure blue—it was as if someone had scattered a box of gemstones across black velvet.

The bridge was silent for a few seconds, then Han Yurou's voice was the first to ring out, "Why are these stars colorful?"

No one answered her, because no one knew the answer.

The The Ark began to fly slowly, and the protective shield changed from light purple to transparent; it hadn't disappeared, but had reached a certain balance with the external environment.

Qin Lin pulled up the data from the Deep Space Scanning Array on the control console, and on the holographic screen, the star map within a few light-years around the The Ark slowly unfolded.

This was an unfamiliar galaxy; there was no Solar System, no Milky Way, and no celestial bodies he recognized.

But there was a star here, slightly smaller than the Sun, with an orange-red hue, and it looked much older than the Sun.

There were six planets orbiting it, the third of which was located in the habitable zone, with an atmospheric oxygen content of twenty-one percent.

"System, is there any intelligent life on that planet?" Qin Lin asked.

[Preliminary scan: No signs of intelligent life detected, simple plant and animal communities exist; Spiritual Qi concentration: High]

Qin Lin's gaze rested on the last three words.

Spiritual Qi concentration: High.

It was not air, not oxygen, nor any physical quantity from Earth.

Spiritual Qi.

Something that only existed in the Immortal Realm.

The The Ark had truly Transmigrated to a world with Spiritual Qi.

He was not in a hurry to land, instead letting the The Ark continue to hover in space.

The The Ark needed time to adapt to this new world, and he needed it too.

He adjusted the detection range of the Deep Space Scanning Array to the maximum, and dense data points popped up on the holographic screen; each light point represented a star, and each line represented a possible route.

In the depths of those light points and lines, there was a faint, intermittent signal, like some kind of energy pulsing.

He stared at the signal for a while, then turned off the holographic screen.

He turned and walked out of the bridge, returned to his room on the Third Floor, and closed the door.

From the outbreak of the apocalypse until now, from a broken RV to a deep space The Ark, he had rarely been alone.

It wasn't that he didn't want to; he just didn't have the time.

Now he had the time, and he also had a reason to be alone.

He walked to the bed, reached out, and pulled something from under his pillow.

A white crystal stone.

It was not the kind of crystal stone collected during the apocalypse, not an upgrade Materials, and not an energy source; it was the crystal stone that had appeared in his palm on the day of his Rebirth.

He had never seen it before the apocalypse, and he had never seen another one since.

He had kept it, carrying it with him everywhere—from the RV to the The Ark, from Earth to the starry sky.

The crystal stone was milky white, opaque, and smooth on the surface, like a polished pebble.

It was not a mineral, not a gemstone, and not any known substance.

The System had scanned it many times, and the conclusion was always the same:

[Unknown item, unable to analyze].

Now, this crystal stone was glowing.

It was not reflecting the starlight from outside the window, nor was it an illusion on Qin Lin's part.

It was glowing, emitting a soft, milky white halo from within, like a lamp dimmed to its lowest setting.

The halo pulsed slowly and rhythmically, like breathing, like a heartbeat.

Qin Lin cradled it in his palm, watching the halo. It had never glowed on Earth, not in lunar orbit, not in the asteroid belt, not on the planet with life, and not during the half-year of deep space travel.

Now, the The Ark had passed through the otherworld passage, and it had lit up.

"Could it be from this place?"

It had reacted the moment they arrived in the otherworld, leading Qin Lin to guess that perhaps it originated from here, or was at least related to this place. Otherwise, why had it shown no reaction before, only to suddenly react upon their arrival?

Qin Lin walked out of the room, holding the crystal stone in his palm.

He walked slowly along the corridor, his eyes fixed on the halo in his palm.

The pulsing of the halo was changing; the rhythm remained the same, but the brightness had shifted.

When he was at this end of the corridor, the intensity of the halo's pulse was slight; as he walked a few steps toward the other end, the halo brightened; when he stopped and took a few steps back, it dimmed again.

"Wait, is it related to location?"

Qin Lin stood still, looking up and down the corridor.

In front of him were the stairs leading to the first floor, behind him was the passage to the bridge, to his left were several bedroom doors, and to his right was a metal wall.

He walked a few steps to the right, and the halo dimmed; he walked a few steps to the left, and it brightened.

The nearest door on the left was the entrance to the Third Floor apartment; it was not the door to his room, but the entrance to the Third Floor itself.

He walked inside, but the brightness of the halo did not change significantly.

He continued walking inside, passing through the small living room, the study, and the walk-in closet.

The brightness of the halo increased bit by bit; with every step he took, the white light grew stronger.

By the time he reached the bedroom door, the crystal stone was already shining like a small light bulb.

Qin Lin pushed open the bedroom door and walked in.

The halo grew brighter, but the light of the crystal stone reached its peak at the center of the room. As he stood by the bed, the light of the crystal stone stopped intensifying and simply shone steadily and continuously.

He held the crystal stone high, but the light did not change. He squatted down, but the light remained the same.

He moved two steps to the left, and the light dimmed slightly.

He moved back to the right, and the light returned to its previous intensity.

It was not this room.

Qin Lin exited the bedroom, passed through the study and the small living room, and walked out of the Third Floor apartment.

In the corridor, the brightness of the halo dimmed slightly.

He stood in the middle of the corridor and looked left and right.

To his left were the stairs leading to the second floor, and to his right was the passage to the bridge; his gaze fell on a door at the end of the right-hand corridor.

He had never opened that door. When the The Ark upgraded to Lv8, nine new bedrooms had been added, which he had distributed to everyone; the room behind this door was the only one that had not been assigned.

Because it wasn't needed.

He knew exactly how many women and children were on the The Ark.

All the rooms were full, except for this one, which remained empty.

The number on the door was "015".

Qin Lin walked over and stopped at the door.

The crystal stone in his palm was dazzlingly bright, the light leaking out from between his fingers and casting a white glow onto his face.

He reached out and gripped the doorknob; the metal felt cold to the touch.

The door was unlocked.

He took a deep breath and pushed the door open.