Chapter 1 Small Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace Approaches

The small Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace nimbly approached the black warship silently floating in space. The latter showed no trace of its original imposing manner. It floated in the cold, dead darkness like a dying behemoth, its surface occasionally bursting with bright electric arcs and balls of light. In the middle of the black spaceship, the sail-like crystal plates had been completely stripped away, and a huge wound almost tore the ship in half. Around the wound, one could still see the red-hot metal that had not completely cooled down, and inside the crack, some gates and stop-loss mechanisms that had not had time to fully close: these stop-loss facilities were trying to block the ship's atmospheric leakage, but the wound was too large, and they didn't do much. A large amount of gas and fine debris spewed out of the black spaceship's several cracks, like spurting blood.

However, Hao Ren was not worried that the gas leak would cause the brain monster in the spaceship to die. He had tested the monster's physical fitness and found that it could survive in the space environment for a long time. The black spaceship's airtight measures were probably just to increase comfort, or due to the brain monster's physiological habits when it was a giant.

"The enemy ship's energy network is in disorder. It is initially determined that its artillery has lost its ability to counterattack, and the possibility of self-destruction has been ruled out," the data terminal carefully checked the data. After all, the black spaceship still had certain technical strength. If it tried to take them down at such a close range, a civilian spaceship like the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace might not be able to escape unscathed. "This unit has found a route. Enter from that crack. Below is a large corridor, which should be the central axis passage of the spaceship."

"Lao Wang, Vivian, Lily, and Uncle Wudi, come with me to explore the way." Hao Ren quickly selected the personnel. He wasn't just picking them randomly: Izhaks and Vivian were absolute combat forces, able to attack and defend. Although Lily sometimes chickened out, she was also very desperate when she really fought, and she was unambiguous when it came to "protecting her master" (no mistake). As for the last one, Nangong Wudi, his combat effectiveness as a demon hunter with incomplete inheritance might not be strong, but he was an experienced old hunter. His keen observation and the hunter's intuition that had almost become a skill would be very useful, especially when exploring such unknown things.

The others also knew that suitable people should be sent on this occasion, so they had no objection to Hao Ren's arrangement. Only "Gun" rubbed against Hao Ren's arm: "Come back soon, and then take me home soon..."

She was a little scared.

Hao Ren nodded and led a small group of people away from the bridge. After a while, they had arrived on the surface of the black warship through the hyperspace ejection device.

The crack torn open by the psionic cannon fire lay in front of the group. It didn't seem like much from a distance, but when Lily got closer, she realized that it was big enough to throw a house in. The black metal near the crack curled and stretched into space, and bursts of airflow mixed with metal debris continued to spew out of the hole. Lily carefully stood firm in the airflow and stretched her head to look down: "The lights inside seem to be still on."

"It seems that there is still some energy supply in the spaceship," Hao Ren checked the shield capacity and, after confirming that everything was correct, took the lead in flying down against the airflow with his spear. "Everyone, be careful and follow closely, and don't touch anything around you."

They carefully walked through a cluster of broken metal, and soon passed a large number of damaged pipelines and support frames near the crack. A semi-closed gate appeared in front of them. The mechanical device above the gate was not completely damaged, but some parts might be stuck. It was shaking and trying to block the corridor. Izhaks stepped forward to support the gate to prevent it from falling suddenly, and the others entered the interior of the spaceship in single file.

A super wide and huge corridor stretched out in front of Hao Ren. The corridor was crooked, and the metal plates in some places had fallen off. The lights above the corridor were still miraculously working, allowing people to see everything inside clearly.

"There is a weak gravity," Hao Ren found himself falling down and finally landed lightly on the floor of the corridor, but it was not comfortable to stand because the gravity field in the corridor was tilted, at least forming a thirty-degree angle with the ground. "The gravity generator hasn't completely shut down... This perspective is really uncomfortable, and it makes me dizzy to see things. Everyone, pay attention to the direction of gravity under your feet. The system here is broken, and the magnitude and direction of gravity may change at any time, so don't be caught off guard."

Lily said that she wasn't worried about this at all: because she couldn't react to anything that happened normally...

"Was this broken by us?" Not far away, Vivian saw a messy internal space through a large hole on the side of the corridor. A large number of old and messy pipelines and mechanical devices were intertwined, and their tattered appearance had been abandoned for a long time. "It doesn't feel like the effect of artillery fire."

Hao Ren judged: "Well... it's not damage caused by artillery fire, and the opposite side can't see the breach. This should have been broken from the beginning. It seems that this ship has not been completely repaired, and the brain monster should have been forced to take off early because it saw that the situation was becoming more and more out of control."

Vivian touched her chin: "No wonder the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace solved it so easily. I said, after all, it's a spaceship that can easily destroy Aioi."

Hao Ren curled his lips: "Anyway, we got a bargain, which is a good thing."

"The brain monster should be able to sense us coming in—if he's still alive," Izhaks reminded everyone, "Don't drop the protective crystal."

Everyone checked the status of the protective crystal and then continued to move forward cautiously. The size of this spaceship was surprising. If they explored aimlessly, it would be difficult to find the brain monster in time, but the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace was scanning the entire spaceship from the outside. It provided navigation for the exploration team inside the spaceship, letting everyone know which direction to go. Now that the spaceship's system had been destroyed, and the brain monster was probably seriously injured, there was no more interference that could stop them from catching him.

After walking for a while, Nangong Wudi suddenly stopped. His eyes glowed with a faint light. In the special hunter's vision, he saw a faint phantom floating in front of the corridor. The phantom was swaying, and one could vaguely see that it was a human wearing a robe.

"What's wrong?" Hao Ren noticed Nangong Wudi's movements and turned his head to ask.

"There is a soul staying here, but it is very weak, and only hunters can see it," Nangong Wudi reached out and took out a few rune cards from his arms. "Take them. These runes can enhance your perception of the soul, and you can also see him."

Izhaks didn't take it: "I don't need it. I can see souls. This is my professional field."

After Hao Ren took the rune cards, he did see the figure standing in the corridor. He looked at the translucent shadow in astonishment, and finally recognized who it was from the other person's simple robe and the characteristics between his beard and hair: "Pope? Are you still here?"

The soul wandering in the black warship was none other than the Pope who had sacrificed himself to stop the global electromagnetic storm!

But the Pope, now turned into a soul, was a little different from when he was alive. He looked older, and his body was severely hunched. Even if he was just a soul, he still showed the appearance of being old and dying. After seeing Hao Ren and his party appear in this place, he was stunned for a while. It seemed that becoming a spiritual body had affected his thinking, but in the end, he still remembered who these people were. Hao Ren heard an old voice directly in his mind: "You can actually come here... The foreigners are really not simple."

"Pope, why are you here?" Lily blurted out, "Aren't you dead?"

"Dead? Oh, oh right, that's true," the Pope nodded slowly. "I can feel the goddess is summoning... It seems that I don't have much time left here. This is really an incredible place, so vast, so exquisite... There are too many truths and secrets in the world, it's a pity, I don't have time to study these things anymore... But I think the goddess will let me see more..."

Hao Ren saw that the Pope's figure was slowly fading, and quickly seized this last bit of time: "We're here to catch that monster, do you know the situation here?"

"He's in front, beyond that big door," the Pope raised his almost transparent finger and pointed to the end of the corridor. "But don't call him a monster. We mortals owe him, owe the goddess. I don't think I'm qualified to beg for his forgiveness, but you... you foreigners, maybe you can talk to him."

"Owe him?" Hao Ren was stunned for a moment, but just as he was about to ask something, the Pope's figure had completely dissipated, leaving only a sentence echoing in everyone's minds: "The goddess is calling me... Goodbye, foreigners..."