Chapter 179 Activating

Feeling his arms suddenly empty, Hao Ren was startled. Then he saw the flash of a short-range space jump and the little mermaid clinging to the crystal not far away. She floundered for a moment in the weightless environment before finally mastering the trick of maintaining her posture. Grabbing the crystal with her little arms, she waved her tail vigorously in Hao Ren's direction. "Papa~~"

"Don't run around!" Hao Ren said as he flew over. "Didn't I tell you to be good when you're outside…"

But at this moment, the little mermaid had developed a great interest in the crystal. She hugged a protrusion on the large crystal cluster and patted its surface with her tail, her face full of excitement. "Wake up, wake up! My papa is calling you~~ He's been calling you many times just now!"

Perhaps Hao Ren, Vivian, and Asuman had been circling the hall, trying to awaken the giant ship, which caused the little one to misunderstand. She really thought there was a person "sleeping" here.

Vivian couldn't help but shake her head and smile at this scene. "Dou Dou, come back. You're mistaken. You can't wake it up like that…"

Before she could finish, she saw a circle of colorful light rippling from the spot where Dou Dou's tail had struck the crystal cluster.

Immediately afterward, this halo rapidly covered the entire crystal cluster at an astonishing speed and suddenly expanded, sweeping across the entire hall.

A low humming sound suddenly rang out. The areas of the hall swept by the halo quickly surfaced with a luster representing energy filling. The ubiquitous shimmering lights and mist disappeared instantly, replaced by various crystal-formed devices and room structures. Countless crisscrossing crystal arches condensed above the pyramid-shaped hall, dotted with sparkling lights!

And in the crystal cluster that Dou Dou had patted, a cluster of light, shimmering like the starry sky, composed of numerous light spots and gas clouds, gradually brightened.

Hao Ren was halfway there when he froze, unable to resist the urge to smash his head into the crystal. "This actually works?!"

The dormant spaceship, which hadn't responded no matter how they messed with it, woke up after being patted twice by Dou Dou?

"Papa, Papa, I woke him up!" The little mermaid didn't realize how earth-shattering her actions were. She was just happy with her success. After the hall lit up, she immediately jumped back into Hao Ren's arms with a short-range teleport, excitedly patting her tail. "You can wake him up with two pats!"

"I almost smashed this thing just now…" Hao Ren muttered to himself. Then he suddenly reacted and quickly called out to Asuman, "Asuman, hurry! Your compatriot has woken up. Quickly ask him what's going on here!"

"I'm already doing it—" Asuman Crystal was already floating beside the crystal cluster, emitting several blurry bands of light that connected itself to the "mind crystal." The flashing frequencies of the two crystals gradually synchronized, with stars seeming to swim in the light bands. However, Asuman gave an unexpected answer, "Strange… I still can't connect to the main consciousness of this compatriot. There's only emptiness in this mind crystal…"

"Still can't connect?" Vivian also flew over, frowning after hearing Asuman's words. "Isn't it awake already?"

"In your terms as physical beings, the body has woken up, but the spirit doesn't know where it's floating," the light on the surface of the Asuman Crystal flickered. "I feel that his consciousness has gone far away, taking most of his mental energy with it… Only the material level has been revived."

Hao Ren had a cold sweat on his forehead. He couldn't help but think of the unconscious First Born on the Executor's homeworld, feeling a strange similarity between the two. "Why is brain death so popular with things from the X-cluster… Could there also be a divine crystal that smashed into the depths of this Star Citizen spaceship?"

"We haven't detected any similar energy reactions along the way," the data terminal shook its body. "Of course, it's possible that a divine crystal penetrated this Star Citizen spaceship and disappeared into the depths of the universe."

At this moment, various crystal devices in the pyramid hall had begun to operate. Although only a small part of the light cloud structure had awakened, the operation of these devices didn't seem to be affected at all. Hao Ren saw holographic projections that seemed to be data reports appearing on some prisms, while images of the outer universe were displayed above some crystal platforms that were taller than half a person.

Hao Ren suddenly thought of something and quickly grabbed the data terminal, throwing it towards the nearest crystal prism. "Read the data from these devices—quick, while this place is still stable. These automatically running things might have recorded something!"

The data terminal flew towards the prism with a whoosh, shouting as it flew, "Can't you be a little more careful with high-tech products?!"

This guy must be missing the feeling of being cared for when Hao Ren first got him—and deeply regretting refusing his offer to put a screen protector on him…

But despite the complaints, the terminal knew what was important. After flying over, it immediately began to scan and analyze the devices that were constantly projecting data reports. It also tried to establish a connection with the data processing center in the hall (if it existed and was still usable). A few seconds later, it started shouting loudly, "Buddy! This data is very chaotic. It's like the system is offline and the processors at all levels are running on their own and piecing things together randomly. Less than ten percent of the information is actually useful!"

"It's better than not being able to read anything at all," Hao Ren's heart sank, but he was also somewhat relieved that the trip wasn't a complete waste. "What is there?"

"Sorting…" the data terminal said, projecting constantly refreshing data and text in mid-air—compared to the chaotic and garbled screens on the crystal prisms, this translated and corrected information was significantly less, but also clearer and more accurate.

The terminal's voice continued, "The data records are very old. The newest record is three thousand years old.

"After that, the entire system entered a more thorough state of dormancy, and even the automatic recording functions of the facilities at all levels failed.

"Our drone's last exploration of this place and its destruction weren't recorded either.

"Among the preserved data, some are observations of the universe, and some are fleet scheduling logs that we can't make heads or tails of. The place names and fleet numbers on these logs are all unfamiliar to us, so we can only save them and sort them out slowly when we get back.

"Here's some interesting information—"

The data terminal highlighted a portion of what looked like logs with a striking background and pushed it to Hao Ren.

"...combat zone xx...breakthrough, protection barrier nodes 77 to 175 failed, invading forces...entering phase two, inner zone has been sealed off, all units transfer energy to xi-35-155 sequence...temporary barrier...

"...last call ended, confirmed that the throne is still...invading forces are blocked at the temporary barrier...energy transfer completed, unable to call command center, repeat, unable to call...all units enter dormancy..."

This was an incomplete and fragmented piece of information. Hao Ren and Vivian were confused at first. They exchanged a glance, and Hao Ren speculated, "This looks like a report about a battlefield?"

Vivian nodded slightly. "If these Star Citizen spaceships and the X-cluster's network of divine power are both defensive measures left by the Creator Goddess, then these 'battlefield reports' probably refer to a group of invaders breaking in, and it seems they've already caused extremely severe damage."

Hao Ren's gaze fell on the holographic projection in mid-air. He stared at one sentence in particular: "All units transfer energy to the xi-35-155 sequence. What does that mean?"

Vivian's eyebrows twitched. "Are you saying that these spaceships entering dormancy…"

"Asuman said that a lot of this spaceship's energy and main consciousness are missing," Hao Ren said. This was what he had naturally thought of. "I believe the 'light cloud structures' we observed elsewhere in the X-cluster are in a similar situation. If… Asuman, let me confirm this with you first. Do Star Citizen spaceships have the ability to remotely transfer energy?"

"Indeed, they do," came the affirmative answer from the Asuman Crystal. "This is also one of the important bargaining chips that allowed our race to survive in the age when the Lord of Pandemonium ruled the universe."

Hao Ren nodded. "If they have this ability, it's easier to explain. I feel like my speculation is probably correct: This is an important place left by the Creator Goddess. The divine power blockade and the Star Citizen spaceships are all guarding it. After the Creator Goddess fell, a group of invaders must have attacked this place, and their attack was very sudden and fierce. The situation even deteriorated so quickly that all the Star Citizen spaceships didn't have time to rush to the battlefield and the defense line was about to collapse, so they had to remotely transfer all their energy to the front line in a short period of time. That's why there are so many starships in a dormant state scattered throughout the X-cluster."

Vivian's expression became serious. "I think we need to find this battlefield immediately."

"That's obv—" Hao Ren was halfway through his sentence when the light in the entire hall suddenly dimmed.

Immediately afterward, all the running devices in the hall let out strange howls one by one. The walls and floor of the hall, which had been solid, also surfaced with large masses of flickering light mist. The surrounding lighting flickered on and off as if there was a sudden problem with the power supply. In a matter of seconds, everything here returned to the way it was when they first arrived.

Dou Dou jumped out of Hao Ren's arms and bounced to the mind crystal, patting it with her fish tail. But this time, there was no response to her call.

"That was probably the last bit of energy stored here," the data terminal carefully lifted the little fish baby back. "Although I don't know what happened, Dou Dou activated that little bit of energy—it wasn't really waking up the starship."

The little mermaid crawled into Hao Ren's arms, a little dejected, curling up into a small ball. A child's mood really changes in a blink.

"This isn't your fault. You've already done great," Hao Ren gently rubbed the little one's head and looked at the data terminal. "Did you record all the data?"

The data terminal swayed its body up and down. "I've recorded everything I could read, even the garbled data that I can't parse yet."

"Then it's not a wasted trip," Hao Ren forced a smile. "Let's go back and share the information with everyone and discuss our next move."