A bright electrical spark shot out from the outer shell of the central control station, and spread rapidly outwards along the massive pipes that resembled mountain ranges, looking like a crack of light suddenly tearing through the night sky. The flash was far away, so at first only Hao Ren and a few others with exceptional eyesight noticed it, but soon the commotion spread: after the electrical spark faded, thick smoke billowed out from deep within the central control station, and even larger flashes of light continued to light up around the buildings surrounding the control station, even ordinary people could see what was happening in the distance.

To the residents of the intra-ship city, it was as terrifying as the end of the world going up in flames.

Screams and shouts came from a tower on the city wall, and then spread like a plague, causing a commotion throughout Hearthstone City. Residents inside and outside the castle ran outdoors, looking at the distant flashes of light and thick smoke in panic. Children were so frightened that they cried, and adults knelt down to pray for the stability of the world. Accompanying these disturbances was the ensuing blackout.

The intra-ship city, which had been illuminated by lights, seemed to have been splashed with ink, plunging into darkness in patches from the central control station outwards. Bright electrical snakes leapt across the dark earth, each leap causing a wider range of power failures. Low, muffled thuds came from the ancient equipment hidden deep within the city. In the face of the power surge, the old relays and fuses began to burn out in large numbers. Soon the blackout spread to Hearthstone City, and Hao Ren saw the square outside suddenly turn pitch black, and the residents of the city were enveloped in great fear.

An extremely terrified voice shouted loudly in the darkness: "The world is extinguished! The world is extinguished!"

Lily's eyes emitted a faint golden light in the darkness. She was startled at first, but quickly reacted: "The reactor's collapsing!"

Without saying a word, Hao Ren grabbed Vivian and Lily and ran outside, with the Nangong siblings following closely behind. Soon everyone arrived at the square outside. By this time, the blackout had spread to almost the entire intra-ship city. After running continuously for ten thousand years, this old and滄桑 (cāng sāng - vicissitudes of life) refuge was plunged into such a terrible darkness for the first time. The closed space of more than one hundred kilometers was filled with cold darkness, and the panicked voices of the crowd made those inside feel dizzy. Now there was only a little bit of light left in this space—those lights came from high above, they were the emergency lights on the ancient transportation pipes that ran through the sky. They barely outlined a little bit of the space like stars. In the darkness, someone couldn't help but kneel on the ground, worshiping those remaining "starlight", crying and praying for a god to relight the world—then these kneeling people were trampled to the ground by the chaotic crowd, letting out heart-wrenching screams.

At this moment, several lights suddenly appeared on the upper level of the Hearthstone City fortress (old factory), which finally made the crowd quiet down a little. Several armored noble knights appeared on the top of the castle, with bright mining lamps hanging on their chests, constantly scanning the crowd below with beams of light. Willie's father, the serious city governor, stood in the highest place and shouted loudly: "Quiet! No running around! Wait for the lights to come back on! Anyone who causes trouble will be killed without mercy!"

Whether it was the lights on the knights' chests that brought courage, or the people's fear of the governor's power, the order in Hearthstone City was finally barely maintained, but there were still constant whispers of crying and prayer from all parts of the crowd. Outside Hearthstone City, the chaotic sounds from afar could be faintly heard—it seemed that the governors of other city-states were not as able to quickly control the situation as the one here. In the darkness, Lily and Vivian's eyes were particularly good. They quickly found Willie, who was running around in the crowd like a headless fly, so they quickly called the young man over in a low voice.

Willie stumbled to Hao Ren, and at first glance he saw Lily's shining eyes in horror, and almost screamed, but fortunately he remembered that these were a few terrifying guys who "knew witchcraft", so he forcibly swallowed the exclamation, and instead asked in a low voice: "What the hell is going on? Is it really your witchcraft?"

"We didn't do anything," Hao Ren waved his hand, "It looks like this world's 'heart' has finally become overwhelmed. Tsk, I was thinking of figuring out your social connections first, but now it looks like it's more appropriate to repair the machine first..."

Willie: "?"

At this moment, a low buzzing sound suddenly came from far and near, and something else seemed to be starting up deep underground. Then the intra-ship city in the darkness reappeared with light, and electric lights lit up like stars, dispelling the darkness.

However, Hao Ren noticed that not all the lighting had been restored. Compared to before, only about half of the lights on the streets were lit, and even those that were lit were not as bright as before. Some of the unlit lighting facilities may have been burned out in the blackout just now, and the remaining reason... most likely because the spaceship had now switched to backup power.

Ordinary people couldn't think of these things, they were just overjoyed at the regained light. People cheered loudly, praising the miracle of the world being relit, and Hao Ren and his party became the most special few in the cheering crowd: they seemed calmer than anyone else.

"Is it all over?" Willie looked at the surrounding situation in confusion, he was still a little unable to react.

"No, I'm afraid it's just the beginning." Hao Ren shook his head and looked at the central control station in the distance. He decided to put all the miscellaneous questions aside and go there to see what was going on first.

But at this moment, a young soldier ran over from the direction of the castle. He ran straight to Willie: "Willie, the governor is looking for you."

Then the soldier turned to Hao Ren: "You are the wandering knights, right? The governor has also invited you."

"Us?" Hao Ren was stunned, "Why?"

The young soldier shook his head: "I'm just acting on orders, the governor will tell you the details."

Hao Ren glanced at the "Ancestral Furnace" in the distance, which had almost completely dimmed. Considering that this was a super-huge refuge ark, the backup power inside should be able to last for a long time, so he nodded and agreed to the governor's invitation.

The group and Willie were taken into the castle and came to a large conference room on the third floor of the castle. The very serious castle governor was already waiting here, and there were several other people sitting beside him, one of whom Hao Ren recognized, was Scholar Olo.

The previous blackout seemed to have also affected the inside of the castle. The lights in the conference room seemed a little dim, and only two chandeliers were emitting light. After seeing Willie and others push the door in, the castle governor nodded coldly, and then tapped the table: "Then I'll get straight to the point. Just now, the royal city sent a message that an incomprehensible change has occurred in the Ancestral Furnace. Fire and light exploded from the furnace chamber, so the king has summoned all high-level scholars to go to the royal city to discuss matters. In addition, given the anomalies that occurred just now, the four kingdoms have reached a temporary ceasefire agreement, so scholars from the other three kingdoms will also go to our royal city to discuss matters. Scholar Olo is the representative of Hearthstone City, and I have decided to send my son to lead a small team of warriors to carry out the escort mission."

Hearing the castle governor's words, some people at the scene began to discuss. Everyone knew that the governor's son Willie was a weak soldier—he was afraid of fighting, his swordsmanship was terrible, and he would run away as soon as he saw blood. Compared to wielding swords and spears, this young man preferred to stay in his room reading and painting, so when they heard that Willie was going to be responsible for escorting the scholar to the royal capital, they immediately felt very strange. Willie himself was equally surprised, he opened his mouth and stammered: "But... but Father..."

"Willie," the castle governor suddenly stood up, pressing his hands on the table, "If you have even a little bit of noble honor, you should say 'Yes, sir!' at this time!"

Willie shrank his neck, and finally mustered up some courage: "Yes, sir."

The castle governor nodded: "Very good, this is your last chance to redeem your reputation."

Others seemed to have some objections, but the governor gave them a look, and all doubts disappeared. Hao Ren finally seized the opportunity to ask: "So, what did you call us here for?"

"Guests," the expression on the castle governor's face softened a little, and he said with appropriate etiquette, "I'm very sorry to make a request of you, but I hope you can join Willie's escort team and help us safely send the scholar to the royal city."

Hao Ren was thinking about going to the Ancestral Furnace to find out what was going on, and was worried about how to communicate with those guards who had lost their ancient knowledge and become ignorant brutes. He was overjoyed at this time, and quickly nodded: "Of course, we were just about to go there... um, should I ask why you chose us?"

"You have helped my son once, and I believe you are trustworthy," the castle governor looked very sincere, "And the knights of Hearthstone City have to guard against the barbarians of Iron City-State coming to attack despite the ceasefire. We have limited manpower and cannot organize enough people to escort the scholar for a long distance."

Hao Ren nodded, he didn't mind what the castle governor actually had in mind: "Oh, okay, we'll make this trip."

"Thank you very much, you will receive appropriate remuneration after you return," the governor seemed to smile, and he turned to Scholar Olo, "Scholar, before you leave, please explain the current situation to everyone."