by Chen Ran
Zero jumped up from the metal wings on the ground. It looked light and thin, but it could support Zero's weight. Zero followed the metal wing up, and gradually, the body of the flying ship came closer and closer to him.
As he drew closer, Zero could see that there were many intersecting patterns on the surface of the ship. These engravings were not clear, and were only slightly lighter than the color of the ship's hull. If one did not look closely, they would not be able to see them clearly.
He tapped the side of the boat with his hand, but it was not as cold and hard as normal metal. Instead, it was a bit elastic. This was something he had not expected. As everyone knew, no matter what the purpose was, the forging process of metals was always done to remove impurities and to increase the density so that the tougher it was, the better. However, this aircraft seemed to be made of soft metal, which was not suitable for flying purposes. High air pressure can cause them to bend and deform, causing damage to the aircraft.
Judging from the technology displayed by the aircraft, the hull should not be as simple as soft metal. It may be another more advanced material, both elastic and useful for flight. Zero reached out and pressed his hand to the hull to see if he could crush the metal. Unexpectedly, when his palm touched the outer wall of the airship, a suction force locked his palm onto the metal body of the airship.
A wonderful thing happened.
With the zero palm as the center, a blue light lit up under his palm. The blue light was as soft as the light of dawn, and it quickly followed the countless patterns on the ship and began to spread. Light flowed like water along the hull like mercury, but soon the entire craft was lit. Its streamlined body was shrouded in a hazy blue light, as if it was a galaxy stretching across the universe. It was magnificent!
Zero could not help but be stunned.
However, the blue light disappeared just as fast as it came. After about 2 seconds, the blue light in the engraving on the hull began to shrink. This was also a beautiful scene. Millions of blue rays of light flowed back into the zero palm within the inscriptions. It was as if the zero hand was controlling the light!
When all the light disappeared, Zero was still in a daze. But the flier vibrated slightly, and then there was a soft thump in its belly, as if the flier's entrance had opened.
Zero jumped off the metal wing. He opened his palm and found a faint red color. He looked down at the bottom of the airship. Some parts of its body were stuck in the rock stratum, so there was about a meter of space between its abdomen and the ground.
On the ground, there was a faint blue shadow falling from a circular opening in the belly of the airship. It landed on the ground, leaving a blurry shadow.
Zero never thought that he would be able to open the entrance of the aircraft. The blue light that covered the body of the ship seemed to be some sort of authority recognition system. However, Zero had never seen such an aircraft before, but he had the right to enter. He did not know what the identification system of the aircraft was based on to be open to zero.
In Zero's opinion, he was more willing to believe that the aircraft's identification system had malfunctioned.
He crawled to the bottom of the entrance and looked up. At the entrance that was nearly a hundred meters wide, there was a rippling blue light pattern that separated the inside of the aircraft from the outside. It looked like some kind of inspection device, and after a moment of hesitation, Zero reached out and peered into the blue light. The blue light pattern was empty, and Zero did not feel anything amiss. Just as he was about to jump into the air, a huge suction force came from the blue light patterns and sucked him in.
After Zero's figure disappeared within the aircraft, there was suddenly a flow of metal that was like liquid at the edge of the entrance. They quickly sealed the entrance, and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal. It looked no different from the other metal parts of the airship. The airship had become a perfect whole again.
Chapter 152 - Diary
When Zero opened his eyes, the cold feeling was fading.
He stared blankly for a moment, then untied the sterile bandage that had been tied to his body. When he passed by that layer of blue light just now, Zero could clearly feel the life force deep within the cells in his body being stimulated, which allowed his old wounds to quickly recover. And after removing the bandage, the wound left on his chest by the Parkland's killer's spear not long ago, had more than half recovered.
A layer of pink film had already formed on the bullet hole of the wound, and the muscle tissue within was constantly squirming, while new fibrous tissue was currently filling up the wound. With his physique, it would take at least three days to heal this kind of penetrating injury.
He was deep in thought.
This layer of blue light was not as simple as a purifying system. It also contained the ability to stimulate the energy of living cells, thereby allowing humans and other living beings to maintain their vitality. This was like a war drum for the soldiers who were about to leave for the battlefield, and this airship was a battleship!
The interior structure of the aircraft was also very unique. It did not have a metallic exterior, but rather, the interior was more like the interior of some creature.
The space where Zero was was located was similar to an elevator. Although he did not feel the shock, he still had a feeling that he was heading upwards. The walls of the "elevator" were uneven and looked like the skin of living things. In this layer of skin, Zero could see the faint blue light flowing through the energy channels. It was like a living creature's blood vessel. Upon closer inspection, the four walls would rise up and down slightly, which made Zero feel strange.
Now, Zero was sure that the spaceship had some sort of energy storage system. So only after the identification system had been put in place and the entrance opened up did energy in the vehicle continue to operate. From the intermittent flow of blue light from the energy tank, it could be seen that the beautiful light energy was the energy source of the aircraft. However, its light was so weak that it seemed to be lacking in reserve energy.
A slight vibration came from beneath his feet, and Zero knew that the elevator had stopped. Following that, a layer of light appeared on the wall facing Zero, just like the layer of light at the entrance of the aircraft. Thinking that would be the exit, he stepped into the light pattern. After a moment, he was standing in another part of the flier.
Zero looked back. After the blue light faded away, the wall facing him was still the same as before. He could not see any gap, but he had actually come here from a sealed space. In other words, the light patterns on the ship were similar to teleportation abilities, allowing people to directly ignore matter and arrive at a designated space.
Although the teleportation of the perceptual domain could also do this, what was in front of him was not any ability, but technology.
Zero thought that it was related to the technology of optics and space transportation. It was just an entrance, but it already involved technology that humans could not use right now. He believed he wouldn't be surprised if there was anything strange in this aircraft.
Right now, he was in a space that was similar to a passageway, with no end in sight. Only a faint blue light could be seen flowing through the energy slot on the wall, carrying the blue light from the starting point. When they arrived at this large space, the undulations coming from the walls became even more intense. It looked like the inside of a creature's body, not an airship.
This phenomenon reminded Zero of the metal wings of an aircraft. It seemed that not only did the flying device use biomimetic technology, but it also applied to the interior of the ship. From the current situation, light energy and bionics were the two most common uses of this unknown civilization.
These two things were the ideal technologies for the new era, because they represented zero pollution.
Unfortunately, even if Zero was not an expert, he knew that it would take a long time before he could up
grade his technology to the same level as this airship.
According to the information in his memory, Zero aimed at the front end of the 'U' shaped flier and started moving towards the intestinal passage. The blue light on the walls flashed continuously, causing the light on Zero's face to flicker. Within a few steps, Zero saw a figure lying on the left wall.
His heart skipped a beat, and Zero immediately walked over.
Without a doubt, this was a person.
Although his body was taller and stronger than any other species in the modern world, the skeletal structure of his skull was extremely similar to that of a human's. Zero saw the sphenoid bone, frontal bone, occipital bone and other skull structures, as well as orbital, nasal bone and modern human structures. The only difference was that there was a crystal embedded in the skull's forehead.
The crystal was elliptical in shape, showing a fine and numerous hexagonal crystal pattern. However, the crystal had already cracked and with a light touch, it turned to dust. However, within the ashes, a cold feeling came from the fingers that touched it. This feeling was very similar to the blue light engravings that he had passed through. In other words, this crystal could be used to store energy.
Judging from the hole that appeared after the crystal scattered, this thing didn't look like an artificial graft, but some sort of natural organ.
On the tall skeleton beneath his feet, there was something similar to a tactical suit. The clothing was creamy white, and there was a fragment of hard bone on the chest, shoulders, and knees to protect it. These bone armor were embedded with round crystals. From the dark blue splotches on the clothing to his chest, there was an even larger crystal embedded in the center.
It was the size of a zero fist and had a diamond-like cube structure. It was also dark blue, and looked like a blue diamond.
The clothes worn by the man were close-fitting, and there were no signs of any stitching or stitching on his skin. It was as if he was wearing a second layer of skin.
Using his rank 2 strengthening strength, he was able to feel the astonishing tenacity of the clothing. This meant that it was not easy to damage.
If he were to wear this outfit, it was estimated that he would not need to purchase new tactical suit for a long period of time. Unfortunately, Zero didn't know how to take it off, much less how to wear it. On the other hand, the crystal on the skeleton's chest attracted a lot of interest. Even if it didn't have any uses, just selling it like a gem would be a huge amount of money.
So Zero reached out and grabbed the crystal, trying to get it out. Unexpectedly, the moment his fingers touched the crystal, he felt the stone shrink. Zero couldn't help but be shocked. He thought, could it be that this crystal had already rotted as well?
However, the crystal in his palm glowed with a faint blue light. Following that, the bones of the tactical suit began to flow like water along with the milky white material. They all shrank back into the dark blue water-like substance. Soon after, the water lines also shrank back, all of them shrinking back into the crystal stone in his palm.
As a result, the bones that were initially covered by the tactical suit were completely exposed to the air. Very quickly, the skeleton caved in and turned into ashes in the blink of an eye.
On the other hand, the crystal in Zero's hand glowed with a stronger blue light. The crystal with a certain degree of hardness wriggled in the blue light and liquefied into a mercury-like substance. It then covered Zero's body like a living being. The speed at which it spread was so fast that Zero had just formed the thought of resistance. The blue liquid had already covered Zero's body, excluding its head.
Following which, the same crystal appeared on Zero's chest. The rest of the body began to solidify, forming a thin, leathery substance. Similarly, bone armor shaped like armor formed on the chest, shoulders, and knees. When the color of the skin on the body changed from dark blue to milky white, but unique four dark blue lines extended towards the crystal on the chest. The tactical suit appeared on Zero's body, just like the corpse on the ground.
Before he could rejoice that he had obtained an even better set of tactical suit, a screen of light immediately appeared in front of him. The screen of light floated before Zero's eyes. After a moment of blankness, images began to appear before Zero's eyes.
This was a vast universe, the dark blue space was filled with galaxies. Zero couldn't recognize this scene at all. One thing was certain, this wasn't the Milky Way where Earth was located. They could not see even half a familiar star, and what appeared on the screen was a planet that none of them knew of.
In the old days, Saturn was the furthest week humans could explore. And in the new era, facing the cruel test of Earth's vile environment, as well as the existence of the cotton thick radiation cloud in the sky, humans simply didn't have the strength to explore the secrets of outer space. Therefore, the space distance that humans could explore was limited to about 10 astronomical units or, if converted to meters, about 1.5 billion kilometers.
This was already a terrifying number. However, from the various bizarre galaxies displayed on the light screen, the space that it presented had exceeded the limits of what was known by zero. Zero didn't know which space on the display screen it was in. He only knew that the spacecraft he was on was not simple. It could be a space exploration ship.
The places it had been to far exceeded the records of the current world. It was a space that had yet to be explored by humans. What Zero saw now should be something similar to a sailing diary.
The light screen quickly skipped over meaningless scenes. When the image was fixed, the zero pupil narrowed.
A terrifying scene appeared in Zero's eyes.
Chapter 153 - Devouring
The screen showed a dead planet. No, maybe only half.
Half of the planet's body had already disappeared. The entire body of the star was filled with a gray color. Countless star dust constantly leaked out from the planet, and then it began to disperse into the universe, as if it was the blood of planets scattered everywhere.
There were dark, cloud-like substances circling above the planet. In the midst of the black clouds descended many pillars of light. They were like tentacles that drilled into the planet, and within these pillars of light, sparkling blue spots constantly rose. They followed the cloud pillar and were sucked into the black cloud, as if they were the blood essence of a vampire.
A wave of understanding arose, those blue spots of light were the energy essence of the planet. And that black cloud looked like a devil eating the planet.
Eat it!
When Zero realized that he had used such a human-like word to describe this phenomenon, he couldn't help but be stunned.
Within the hologram, the scene changed once again.
For some reason, the black cloud suddenly withdrew the antennae that were reaching into the interior of the planet. Following that, it began to writhe nonstop, as if it was a gigantic ferocious beast turning its body. Countless lights burst out from the cloud, as if a ferocious beast had opened its eyes. Although it was just an inorganic scene in the light screen, Zero still felt his heart palpitate. A distinct prickling sensation could be felt on her skin. It was a sign of danger.
He had never thought that he would one day feel danger from certain scenes. But now, the danger signal was so clear that he almost shouted the word "run" to the observer in the light screen.
In the image, the dark cloud fruit seemed to have its own thoughts. It looked like a ferocious beast that had found its prey, and actually let go of the planet that had eaten half of its prey and floated towards the image.
It gave birth to a feeling of chills.
From the moment it let go of the asteroid and prepared to attack its new prey, this cloud-like object seemed to possess a certain amount of intelligence. Zero doesn't know what it is. Is it some intelligent alien life form? Or was it just a catastrophic substance?
He only knew that the speed of the black cloud seemed to be very slow, b
ut in reality, it was extremely fast. However, in the blink of an eye, the area within the light screen had become a little larger. Following that, Zero heard all sorts of random sounds and roars that didn't mean anything.
The scene changed again.
This time it showed the interior of the ship. The light screen used a first-person view to look at the tunnel where Zero was. It was clear that the owner of the screen was the corpse on the ground, and what Zero was looking at was a record from an unknown period of time.
Soon, they reached the end of the passageway. After a burst of dazzling blue light, the screen showed a room similar to the one used by the spaceship. Dozens of tall humans were busily working in the operation room. The owner of the view appears above the ground in a position similar to a platform.
There was only one seat on the high platform, and a man's figure appeared behind the wide chair. As if aware of the presence of his host, he swiveled his chair, and the man was dressed in the same blue and white. The chest and the rest of the body were encased in the same crystal. The only difference was that in that distinctly European face, there were three diamond-shaped crystals glowing with a brilliant blue light.
Seeing this, Zero was shocked. These humans were much taller than the rest of the humans, and he was sure that they were once inhabitants of Earth. He just didn't know what era they were from, but no matter what, the scene in front of him had told him that in the history of Earth, there was once a civilization that had advanced technology. And humans living in this era already had the ability to explore the space outside of the Milky Way!
In the video, the man who seemed to be the captain and the owner of the camera were speaking in a language that he did not understand at all. In front of the high platform, there were three screens, one big and one small. In these three screens, the black, cloud-like substance had already approached and began to extend out from within like tentacles.