The starship passed through a magnetic zone, jolting for a while before landing on the tarmac at the outer edge of the Abyss with the roar of its engines.
The cabin door opened, and the air that rushed in was damp, carrying the smell of rust and water vapor.
The town on the surface of the Abyss looked the same as ever.
Uneven slabs of blue stone stretched into the distance, flanked by ancient-style houses. Occasionally, a vendor's cry came from the street. Jiang Lijin stepped onto the slippery stone slabs and glanced around.
She walked down the gangway, familiar with the blue stone path beneath her feet.
Xiao Yi followed behind, its heavy metal tracks grinding against the road with a creaking, scraping sound.
(￣ェ￣)
"Host, the road conditions here are extremely unfriendly to my chassis. That Old Man Saien was too busy installing a particle cannon on me to add any off-road suspension. My track gaps are stuffed full of mud."
"Suck it up." Jiang Lijin didn't even turn around. "Complain again, and I'll rip off your tracks and swap them for that portable water purifier from Tinya."
Xiao Yi's holographic screen instantly switched to a docile smiley face, completely shutting up.
Tianque led the way ahead. The group passed through the noisy market and turned into a dark alley that never saw sunlight. At the end of the alley was a brick wall covered in moss.
Tianque stepped forward, bit her index finger, and pressed the oozing blood into the gaps between the bricks.
A dull grinding sound of gears came from inside. The brick wall slid open to both sides, revealing an elevator.
"Go on in. The path ahead isn't on the surface." Tian Yan stepped aside, making room.
The elevator began to descend, and the feeling of weightlessness lasted for five minutes. The cabin hit the bottom and steadied, then the metal doors in front slid open.
Jiang Lijin looked up.
What lay before her was a lost continent forcibly sealed underground.
An artificial dome emitted a faint glow. Beneath the dome were the remains of buildings—towering structures and streets preserved as they were before the apocalypse on the Blue Star. Thick vines coiled around the ruins, blanketing half the city.
Strangler vines.
Ten years ago, these plants had nearly destroyed the ecosystem of the Blue Star. But now the vines were all withered and yellow, their surfaces cracked and dried out, long dead.
"This is the continent that was forcibly folded." Tian Yan's voice echoed in the hollow underground space. "Back then, Seth cut away this space to preserve the last spark of hope, even taking the strangler vines with him. Luckily, without an energy supply underground, they withered quickly."
Jiang Lijin walked along the dust-covered streets. Along the way, she saw people in coarse cloth clothing, working among the ruins. When they saw Tian Yan and Tianque approaching, they stopped what they were doing, placed their right hands over their chests, and bowed their heads in deference.
No one spoke. No one gave Jiang Lijin, the outsider, a second glance.
"Thirty thousand people." Tianque's voice was hoarse. "That's all that was left of us after the calamity back then."
Jiang Lijin looked at the people among the ruins. She said nothing and quickened her pace.
Past the residential area, the ground began to slope downward. The surrounding broken buildings grew sparser, and ahead, metal walls appeared.
Half an hour later, an alloy gate blocked the way.
The gate had no handle, only a dark gray sensor panel. A red light blinked in the center of the panel.
"We've reached the restricted zone." Tian Yan stopped and pointed at the gate. "Seth is lying inside."
"How do we open it?" Jiang Lijin studied the gate.
"That's the problem." Tian Yan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "To keep the Empire from tracking us here, Seth added an extra lock before he collapsed. We've tried for ten years, but we can't open it."
Xiao Yi rolled forward, extending a mechanical arm with a data cable to plug into the panel. Data streams scrolled rapidly across the screen, then, after a few seconds, an alarm sounded.
"Beep beep beep—No good, it's a dead end!" Xiao Yi's screen turned into a red X. "The Empire Academy's encryption algorithm is tangled up with that psychic energy. Forcing it will trigger the self-destruct sequence and blow up Seth, along with a chunk of this underground city."
Jiang Lijin pulled a metal disk from her pocket—the one Chiron had given her before leaving.
"Let's try this." She stepped forward and pressed the disk against the sensor panel.
The disk glowed blue and clicked into the slot. The first layer of the Empire's encryption lock began to unlock, the panel's red light flickering a few times before turning green. Then a burst of psychic energy erupted from the panel, sending the disk flying.
Tian Yan shouted, "Damn! Seth's psychic barrier is rejecting anything external!"
Jiang Lijin caught the disk as it bounced back. The panel's red light came on again. She took a step forward.
She raised her hand and pressed it against the sensor panel.
"Boss, don't force it! You'll get backlash!" Tian Yan reached out to stop her.
Too late.
Jiang Lijin closed her eyes. The purifying psychic energy of a 3S-class female surged forth.
With overwhelming force, she crashed into the chaotic energy.
The psychic barrier that had stumped Tian Yan and the others for a decade crumbled under the pressure of Jiang Lijin's purifying power. The disordered energy was smoothed down, pacified, and dissipated into the air.
"Clank—"
The alloy gate rumbled as it slid open to both sides under the stunned gaze of Tian Yan and Tianque.
Tian Yan looked from the now-open gate back to Jiang Lijin, swallowing hard. The Empire Academy's lock—the dead end that had trapped them for ten years—was slapped open by her in one go.
Jiang Lijin pulled back her hand and shook her wrist, then stepped into the restricted zone.
The interior was spacious and empty. At the center, on a raised platform, sat a stasis pod. Its surface was covered in frost, with numerous tubes and cables connected to it.
Jiang Lijin climbed onto the platform and looked through the glass at the figure inside.
It was a middle-aged man with a weathered face. He bore some resemblance to Chiron—wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, graying hair at the temples. His eyes were closed, his brow furrowed. Even in stasis, he seemed to be in pain.
"He used spatial folding technology to save those thirty thousand people back then, draining his psychic energy dry." Tian Yan caught up and stood beside the pod. "His energy went haywire. We had no choice but to freeze him here."
Xiao Yi's mechanical arm pressed against the pod's exterior, and a green scanning beam swept over it.
"Beep—Target detected: energy disturbance in the body, mental sea damage at 98%," Xiao Yi reported. "Conventional medical methods are ineffective. Requires high-level female for deep psychic guidance. Conditions are strict: must be 2S-class or above..."
At this point, Xiao Yi's screen popped up with a thumbs-up emoji.
"Host, this is right up your alley. I doubt anyone else on the planet could handle this job."
Jiang Lijin ignored Xiao Yi and pressed both hands directly onto the pod's sensor area.
She released her psychic energy again.
This time, the power was soft and gentle, flowing through the tubes and cables into the pod, seeping into Seth's body.
As the purifying energy surged, the underground fortress's energy network resonated.
The dim overhead lights flickered and buzzed. The temperature around them rose, and the frost on the pod's surface melted into water droplets, pattering onto the metal floor.
Time passed slowly.
Cold sweat beaded on Jiang Lijin's forehead, her face pale. This deep-level repair was a heavy drain even for her, a 3S-class operator.
Just then, the same vast power that had appeared on the battlefield earlier surged forth again. In an instant, it cleared all her exhaustion and restored her to full strength.
She turned her head thoughtfully, only to see electronic fireworks blooming on Xiao Yi's screen.
"Host, it's the main brain! It's giving you a backdoor pass again!"
"Beep—"
At that moment, on the control panel of the hibernation pod, the faint red line that had been almost flat suddenly jerked a few times, then began to pulse steadily and forcefully, emitting a rhythmic vital sign alert.
With a hissing sound of escaping air, the seal locks of the pod's lid popped open, and the glass cover rose.
White mist of cold air billowed and dispersed.
Through the icy fog, Seth opened his eyes.
They were gray pupils, much like Chiron's, but surprisingly, those eyes held no trace of the dazed confusion common upon waking. Instead, they were exceptionally clear, even tinged with a barely concealed urgency and madness.
Seth sat up abruptly, disregarding his body's weakness, and tore off the various life-support tubes connected to him. Viscous nutrient fluid spilled onto the floor.
Seeing this, Jiang Lijin instinctively reached out to steady him.
The moment her fingers touched him, Seth grabbed her wrist instead.
He lifted his face sharply, staring intently at her. A flicker of disbelief crossed his gray pupils, quickly morphing into a kaleidoscope of complex emotions. His lips trembled as two hoarse syllables squeezed out from his throat.
"A... Jin..."
Hearing those two words, Jiang Lijin's outstretched hand froze midair.
Seth stared at her, his voice cracked.
"You are... A Jin?"
