Chapter 1 The Secrets of the Vault

With Vivian's bloodline activated, the secret repository left behind by the Goddess of Creation finally opened without any incidents. The good news was that there was no "divine word" runaway event like with Zhao Xi this time. However, the things that came out of the repository were even more perplexing than divine words.

It was a colossal metal sphere.

All Hao Ren saw was a behemoth with a diameter of five hundred meters floating above the Spirit World Clock Tower. Despite the distance, he could still feel the immense pressure emanating from it. The behemoth was spherical, with a pale golden metallic luster, and red and bright blue patterns on its surface. Its structure was incredibly complex, as if pieced together from countless metal components. However, the shapes of those components were not fixed. As the sphere floated in the sky, each part of it constantly moved and rotated, causing the surface to change every moment. Some of these changes defied the laws of physics, which could only be possible if the components had the ability to infinitely transform. While the surface was changing, Hao Ren caught glimpses of the inner structure through occasional gaps and openings. He saw countless rotating golden wheels and strangely shaped mechanical devices. The inside of the sphere was even more complex than its surface.

This bizarre metal sphere, which looked like some kind of super-tech product mixed with advanced magical device, floated hundreds of meters above Hao Ren's head. Although it was constantly in motion, there was no mechanical roaring sound. Hao Ren only heard a series of pleasant, crystal-like chimes surrounding him, which added to the sphere's holiness and mystery.

"Check for divine energy," Hao Ren said, finally remembering what he should do after being stunned for a while.

The data terminal immediately emitted a blue ray of light onto the sphere, as if determined to crash. But this time, it suffered no impact: "High-intensity divine energy detected, originating from the Goddess of Creation."

"Alright, so this is the relic the Goddess of Creation went to great lengths to preserve," Hao Ren said to Vivian with a strange expression. "It's for you… but I'm guessing you don't know what it is either?"

"Of course I don't," Vivian said, shaking her head with a wry smile. "Before I met you, I didn't even know who the Goddess of Creation was."

Hao Ren sighed. "I thought you'd see this thing and suddenly have a flash of memory, unearthing half a ton of ancient secrets. Isn't that how it always goes in novels?"

Vivian just rolled her eyes, speechless.

After a moment, the others, who had scattered to "avoid danger," flew back. Everyone looked up at the behemoth floating above the Spirit World Clock Tower. "Gollum" stayed nervously at Hao Ren's feet, occasionally looking up at the sphere and meowing in a threatening way, arching its back high and puffing its tail straight up like a stick.

"What exactly is this…?" Bai Huo finally asked after a long silence. "Our holy land was hiding something like this."

"Before it became your holy land, it was the Goddess of Creation's home," Hao Ren said, glancing at her. "We don't know what it is either, so I've decided to go take a look."

Lily suddenly jumped up. "Wow! I just remembered I haven't had lunch yet, I'm going back to eat…"

Hao Ren grabbed Lily's tail and dragged her back. "Always chickening out! Come here, you have a good nose. Maybe we'll find something if we go up together."

Lily thought for a moment. "Is it too late for me to catch a cold?"

Normally, the husky would chicken out, but she definitely wouldn't shrink back in this situation. She had an incredibly strong curiosity and love for causing trouble, the kind of person who would rush forward to face a great danger and only start to chicken out when death was at her doorstep. She would run up to a mountain of knives and a sea of fire to take a look before running back—but last night, she was really scared by that "divine word." The divine power left an indelible impression on her mind, and she lacked the courage to even take a look. Of course, Hao Ren knew this, but he still wanted to drag Lily along because he was sure that there was no runaway divine power inside the sphere.

It only had pure divine attributes, and its power source definitely wasn't divine power.

Hao Ren led Lily and Vivian to investigate the giant sphere, along with Bai Huo. As for Gollum, she could stay on the platform and continue "meowing"—Dou Dou always needed someone to watch over her. The little guy was too active, and Hao Ren didn't dare let the fish-child study the sphere that looked full of unknown dangers.

The group flew to the top of the Spirit World Clock Tower. Vivian and Bai Huo could use magic, Hao Ren used his space maneuvering skills, and Lily used the propulsion device Hao Ren lent her. They arrived next to the sphere. The closer they got, the more Hao Ren felt its enormity. The constantly moving metal structure was like a living wall of steel, complex, exquisite, and magnificent, dazzling the eyes. Lily nervously grabbed Hao Ren's sleeve, cautiously preparing to tuck her tail between her legs at any moment, and muttered, "This thing looks so grand… it looks bigger than your ship."

"I don't know if it's bigger, but it's definitely fatter," Hao Ren joked, while speculating on the sphere's purpose. "What did the Goddess of Creation make this for… is it really a spaceship?"

"The eldest son is a sphere after adulthood, the Creation Engine is said to be a sphere, and now she left a sphere as inheritance to the bat... how much does the Goddess of Creation like spheres," Lily continued to mutter. She had this habit, no matter how scared she was, her mouth would never shut up. "Well, the Goddess of Spheres is finally done for..."

Vivian frowned. "The goddess must have left this for me for a reason, but she should at least tell me what to do."

Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "Could it be that she planned everything, went to great lengths, detonated the temple, arranged the hyperspace vault, and created the divine blood descendants, only to forget to leave a user manual?"

Vivian didn't say anything, but slowly circled the sphere, trying to discern any clues from the constantly changing complex structure.

The countless complex structures on the metal sphere continued to operate silently, constantly changing the surface while maintaining the shape. Irregular pale gold blocks moved on the shell like living things, and huge metal wheels rotated endlessly inside the sphere. Sometimes Vivian would see bright orbs of light flashing through the gaps in the sphere—she didn't know if it was the sphere's energy core or something else, or if it was an ancient spirit responsible for maintaining this mysterious device.

She reached out to the sphere, trying to focus her mind and imagine that it would respond to her bloodline power. Finally, she released a drop of blood onto the sphere, but this time there was absolutely no reaction. Although her divine blood could activate the door to the hyperspace vault, it clearly had no effect on the sphere.

This thing must have another way to control it.

"The bat doesn't seem to know what to do at all," Lily whispered, poking Hao Ren's arm.

Hao Ren shrugged. "What are you talking about, she's never seen this thing before."

"You know what I'm thinking?" Lily asked mysteriously.

"What?"

"Maybe the bat originally knew," Lily said, pointing to her head, "but her brain—you know, she just forgot."

Hao Ren was stunned, then suddenly felt that this seemingly outrageous possibility was actually the most reasonable!

"Damn, if that's the case, it'll be a huge problem," Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "The Goddess of Creation left something crucial in Vivian's mind, but because of the latter's amnesia, the most important thing was forgotten by Vivian?!"

"Look, the Goddess of Creation wouldn't just leave her daughter a sphere for no reason, she must have left something else. Since it's not in this vault, the only possibility is that it was originally left in Vivian's mind."

While Hao Ren and Lily were muttering, Vivian had already circled the huge sphere.

She found nothing.

Then Hao Ren and the others also circled the sphere, also finding nothing.

Hao Ren even dragged Lily around, forcing her to act like a police dog and sniff for any abnormal aura on the sphere, but there was no progress.

The data terminal's scan of the sphere showed that it was a complex and precise device, with the function of information processing or acting as the control center of another larger system. However, due to its incomplete structure and the fact that it was not fully operational, the data terminal could not explain the specific purpose of this thing.

They studied it for a full hour. Fearing that they would damage the sphere's function or trigger some unexpected setting, Hao Ren suppressed the idea of forcibly opening the device and observing its interior. During this time, "Gollum" left on the Spirit World Clock Tower was almost asleep from "meowing," and Lily had actually fallen asleep.

Progress came at this moment.

After some observation, Hao Ren suddenly became interested in some special structures on the sphere. These structures were a series of grooves evenly distributed along the sphere's waistline. Although many components on the sphere's surface were constantly running, these grooves remained unchanged, looking like interfaces reserved for other devices. Hao Ren initially thought that these grooves were interfaces, such as pipeline and cable interfaces—because the data terminal mentioned that the sphere was like a component of a larger system. But he soon realized that the grooves were more suitable for putting other things in.

The grooves were ten meters in diameter, perfectly circular, with a cylindrical structure in the center.

"Do you think… the golden discs might fit in here?" Hao Ren murmured hesitantly.