"What? The Stone of Truth?"
Hearing Ying Yue's words, Ye Feng was surprised.
"Yes!"
Ying Yue nodded, walked up to Ye Feng, and pointed at the pattern directly in front of them. "The first side pattern, the Starry Sky Warship, is a subject of much debate. One of the more plausible theories is that it depicts the scene humanity saw when they first reached the edge of the solar system. The specific content is unclear..."
"The second image on the Stone of Hope records the suffering of the angels... said to be related to a war with demons... the angels' plight..."
As she spoke, Ying Yue walked to the second side.
"Ying Yue, are these patterns... things that actually happened?"
"An angel, bound by thorny chains inscribed with runes around its feet... hung upside down... its wings broken and tattered... and pierced by many weapons like swords and blades..."
Perhaps due to her previous interaction with Ling Xi, Xiao Xiao, upon hearing that the second pattern was real, couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"Mmm!"
Ying Yue nodded slightly, her expression tinged with sadness. "...The angels would rather commit suicide than be captured... Some things in this world are more terrifying than death... It's just a pity that sometimes, even suicide is a luxury..."
Hearing the sadness in Ying Yue's voice and seeing her forlorn expression, Ye Feng for a moment felt as if she wasn't an AI, but a real person...
At this point, Ying Yue had already reached the third side of the Stone of Hope. She raised her head slightly and said, "This pattern is said to be called the Choice of the Gods... The cup is called the Holy Grail... and the book's nature is unknown..."
Hearing this, Ye Feng and Shen Yun Yao exchanged glances, both seeing the speculation in each other's hearts: that book was highly likely to be the Book of Dark Gods...
"The fourth pattern is..."
At this moment, Ying Yue, who had walked to the fourth side, spoke again.
"What, there's a fourth pattern?"
Upon hearing this, Ye Feng immediately took three quick steps to Ying Yue's side.
"The Stone of Hope does have four patterns. How could you..."
Looking at Ye Feng's astonished expression, Ying Yue seemed quite puzzled.
Ye Feng didn't respond. He looked up and saw that the fourth pattern depicted a figure whose face was unclear and whose physique wasn't particularly imposing.
The figure held a sword-like weapon and was slowly walking on a road...
On the ground behind the figure lay several corpses, and further behind the figure were ruins of buildings...
"This fourth pattern records the twilight of the gods. Those ruins are the divine temples, and that blurry figure is the legend of humanity, the God of War!"
Meeting Ye Feng's questioning gaze, Ying Yue slowly explained.
"No way..."
Ye Feng was extremely surprised, as the altars or Stones of Hope he had seen before in the Goblin Kingdom and the Human Forbidden Zone did not have a fourth pattern.
It now seemed, just as he had initially suspected, that it had been deliberately removed...
"Big Brother, this Stone of Hope doesn't have a black sheep's head at the very top!"
At this moment, Xiao Xiao's voice rang out.
As she spoke, she shone her flashlight towards the uppermost part of the Stone of Hope, as the light there was very dim...
"The Stones of Hope you saw before were likely modified for other purposes?"
Ying Yue had clearly deduced something from the expressions of Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao.
"Modified?"
Ye Feng looked at Ying Yue with a hint of confusion.
"Yes!"
Ying Yue nodded. "There is more than one Stone of Hope from beyond the heavens, said to hold the ultimate secret of the entire Angel civilization. Not just one faction has obtained a Stone of Hope, many people have studied it, and many have reaped rewards..."
"It is said that some people modified the Stone of Hope to guide the power of demons!"
"And the Stone of Hope before us is the most original, the most genuine, uncorrupted Stone of Hope..."
Ying Yue explained quickly.
"Is that so?"
Ye Feng frowned.
"Zzzzz! Chi la!"
"Boom ~ Bang ~ Keng ~"
At this moment, a harsh crackling sound of lightning erupted, and the space where Ye Feng and the others were suddenly tilted and shook violently. Numerous objects fell to the ground, emitting a series of dense clattering sounds.
"This is bad, someone has used spatial power, making the already unstable space even more volatile!"
"You must leave here quickly!"
As soon as the shaking subsided slightly, Ying Yue's anxious voice rang out.
"And there are many invaders outside... I will activate the self-destruct sequence shortly to eliminate as many invaders as possible."
"Follow Horus Guardian Unit 1 to leave here!"
Ying Yue closed her eyes and was silent for a moment, then spoke again.
"Ying Yue, regarding this original Stone of Hope... is there a high probability that other major powers possess such original Stones of Hope?"
Ye Feng looked at Ying Yue with a serious expression.
"The database contains no such records. If any exist, they are in a modified form..."
"And modified Stones of Hope share a common characteristic: the fourth pattern is either absent or corroded by something, making it unreadable!"
As her voice faded, a flash of light appeared in Ying Yue's hand, projecting three square holograms, depicting various modified Stones of Hope.
As Ying Yue had said, the modifications to the Stones of Hope were bizarre, and the modified versions lacked the fourth pattern...
"Even if I don't initiate the self-destruct sequence, the Ark of Civilization won't last much longer."
"Alright!" Ye Feng pondered for a moment and nodded. A flash of light emanated from his hand, and he directly collected the several-meter-tall Stone of Hope into his spatial warehouse. At the same time, he retrieved the Stone of Hope with the sheep's head that he had obtained earlier in the secret chamber of the Human Forbidden Zone.
"Ye Feng... You... You already have a Stone of Hope?"
Seeing this, Shen Yun Yao was utterly astonished.
"Yun Yao, there's no time to explain. Xiao Xiao, come here too. When we go out later..."
...
After Ye Feng gave Xiao Xiao and Shen Yun Yao some instructions, he quickly ran towards a passage, with Ying Yue leading the way.
They were not heading back towards the door they had entered through, but towards another exit, as Ying Yue had informed them that the entrance was blocked by unstable spatial rifts...
"Zzzzz! Chi la!"
Another crackling sound of lightning, and the entire control core area shook and tilted again. This time, the tremor was far more violent than before.
Ye Feng and the two women had to stop in their tracks, grab onto something, and steady themselves.
Before the shaking had even fully subsided, Ye Feng and the two women began to run again, following Ying Yue.
"Big Brother, there's light ahead, it's the exit!"
After running for a while longer, passing a corner, Xiao Xiao suddenly exclaimed with joy.
Ahead, not far away, was a rather large opening, with vast amounts of sunlight streaming in.
Ye Feng nodded slightly and continued to run forward.
"Stop!"
As they were running, Ye Feng, who was at the forefront, suddenly halted and extended his arms to the sides, blocking the two women.
...