Chapter 689: Growth

Yu Sheng's sudden push on the door startled Luo, but fortunately, after so many similar experiences, she had gained some resistance; this time she didn't fall off her chair—though Momo, who was beside her, let out a "Meow!" and immediately dove under the nearest table, leaving only her tail sticking out, trembling.

Luo reached under the table and pulled Momo out, then looked up with wide eyes at Yu Sheng and his group standing in the doorway. In the last instant before the illusory door vanished, she could still see the desolate alien landscape on the other side.

"Boss, you… forget it," Luo started to say, then swallowed the rest of her words. "What's the situation over there? That planet…"

"That place is indeed the Sacred Ground, but it's the Sacred Ground of the Holy Calendar year 11XX—I'm now suspecting that the Eden's Gate has disrupted the time structure of that planet," Yu Sheng said quickly. "And just now I tried several more times; no matter how I opened the door, I could never reach that planet at the correct time…"

Luo's eyes widened as she listened, then she waved her hands vigorously: "Wait, wait, wait—say that slower. What do you mean you can't reach the planet at the correct time? What exactly did the Eden's Gate disrupt?"

"Time," Huli's voice came from the side. She had already shifted back to her human form, using her tail to help Yu Sheng brush the dust off his clothes as she spoke. "It should be a time anomaly caused by the Eden's Gate. The power of the 'Boundary Bridge' is preventing us from approaching that gate—this might be some kind of automatic defense mechanism…"

Then she and Yu Sheng explained the full situation on that strange "wasteland planet" to the golden-haired elf in front of them, with Eilin adding a few remarks here and there. As they spoke, Luo's expression grew increasingly solemn.

"I later tried opening the door into the Sacred Ground from other 'directions,' or opening the door right there in the spacetime anomaly to see if I could return to the normal timeline—no use," Yu Sheng said. "It's like… let me think how to put it… hmm, like a deep well with smooth walls. At the bottom of the well is a certain day in Holy Calendar 11XX. Every time we try to go to the Sacred Ground, we fall into that well, and no matter which direction we try to escape, we always come back to the bottom…"

"A time well…" Luo frowned deeply, her eyes shifting rapidly as if she were thinking frantically. "Time… wait, time? I think I've got something!"

Luo suddenly stood up, startling even Yu Sheng, who was still talking beside her. Then she turned and rushed toward a nearby large data terminal, frantically searching through it as she spoke rapidly: "So that's it, so that's what was missing… I knew something was off about the Boundary Bridge. The operational flaw of Zoldark Blackstone, operational flaw… right, right, right, here are the relevant records. The data is incomplete but enough…"

Yu Sheng had never seen Luo in such a state, but clearly she had made some major discovery, so he just watched from the side, not daring to disturb her. Only when Luo seemed to have finally found the information she wanted and waved at him did he step closer and ask: "What's the deal? Did you think of something…"

"It's the original flaw of the Boundary Bridge. The reason the 'Descent' failed three thousand seven hundred years ago," Luo said, her eyes gleaming with an unusual light. She eagerly pulled up some data stored in the Blackstone station's database and displayed it to Yu Sheng, not bothering to check if he could understand it. "Time and space—back then, the Boundary Bridge lacked a 'anchor' in time, which caused it to lose control during the Descent into the Borderlands, and even punched through the previous 'era' of the Borderlands, leading to the epoch-shifting event…

"Yes, three thousand seven hundred years ago, the Boundary Bridge not only tore through the space of the Borderlands but also its time. It's hard for me to explain to you exactly how that happened; it's… even an event that can't be fully described in natural language. A 'supra-system event,' yes, that's what it is…

"I already noticed something off while studying the Zoldark Blackstone, but I didn't have a powerful enough energy source to simulate the complete operation of the Boundary Bridge, so I could never pinpoint the root cause. Those Hermetic cultists filled that gap. Their Eden's Gate, though unstable, was actually on the right track…

"Damn it, how could those cultists get it right… Just by guessing? No, that's unlikely. They must have had access to some other source of knowledge…"

Yu Sheng stood there dumbfounded. Luo's rapid, rambling explanation washed over him like endless waves, but it seemed separated from his brain by a thick barrier—he didn't understand, couldn't even absorb it.

Yet another strange "feeling" was growing in his consciousness—things that seemed to have been dormant in his memory were now awakening bit by bit.

Above the terminal, a holographic projection flickered: formulas, numbers, text records, and colorful graphics. These things writhed, spiraled, decomposed, and recombined in Yu Sheng's field of vision…

He saw a towering tree standing in a wilderness, its roots stretching from the past into the present, and from the present into the future. Its branches reached toward the sky, extending from this world to the old world, and from the old world to the other side.

The words and symbols constantly refreshing and recombining on the holographic projection transformed in his sight into the roots, branches, and leaves of that giant tree, then into a roar in his mind, howling across the sky of the soul's wilderness, all the way to the edge of the land.

In the soul's wilderness veiled by the chaotic sky, nameless tall grasses rippled like waves in the wind. The golden-haired girl knight woke from her prayer, stepped out of the quiet room, walked onto the balcony, and looked toward the garden of the cathedral.

She saw that the brass knights had also gathered under the corridor, all of them looking up.

The giant crystal tree covering the entire cathedral was emitting a soft chime, pleasant like wind chimes, like the song of the legendary field spirits under the harvest moon.

Then the crystal tree began to emit a faint, gentle glow. The unstable cracks drifting among its branches began to grow again. Distant starlight poured through the cracks, dyeing the crystal canopy into patches of starry veils, like heavy fruit hanging from the branches.

At the terminal, Luo suddenly came to her senses. She quickly calmed down from her excitement, stopped rambling, and said apologetically: "Ah, s-sorry, boss, I got carried away… I should be helping you figure out how to get past that time barrier…"

Yu Sheng waved his hand. "You've already helped me solve it."

Luo: "…Huh?"

Yu Sheng took a light breath, raised his hand to rub his forehead as if trying to quiet the noisy knowledge swirling in his mind, then smiled. "The Eden's Gate's defense system is also part of the Eden's Gate."

Luo: "…Huh?"

Yu Sheng knew it was hard to explain what he had just seen and understood, so he just waved his hand, then pulled out his phone from his pocket.

He dialed Bai Liqing's number.

As soon as it connected, without waiting for the other side to speak, he said: "The star gate will open soon. Be ready."

On the other end of the line, Bai Liqing was silent for two or three seconds, then her tone was as calm as ever: "Have you already found the Eden's Gate?"

"Not yet. The situation has changed a bit. That gate is trickier than expected. I suspect it's already in some kind of operational state, which prevents us from approaching it through normal means. So I need you to start earlier," Yu Sheng said. "I need you to put enough pressure on those cultists so they'll be forced to bring the 'catalyst' into contact with the gate ahead of schedule—that way, it will 'reveal' itself before me."

"…Got it. I understand."

With that, Bai Liqing ended the call without asking further questions.

"That steel-faced monotone is pretty straightforward," Eilin remarked, then immediately looked at Yu Sheng's phone nervously. "You hung up, right?"

Yu Sheng laughed, reached out to pat the little doll on the head, then casually pulled open an illusory door in the air.

The moment the door opened, the time barrier took effect again. His chosen coordinates were the Sacred Ground, and the scene beyond the door was still the barren wasteland of Holy Calendar 11XX.

But Yu Sheng stepped through. "Let's go. Time to throw some heavy stuff at the 'root' of the Eden's Gate."

At the same time, the Borderlands Unified Fleet was already in standby in high orbit above Withering Silence. The news that the operation was about to begin spread rapidly through the command chain to every ship. Soldiers and commanders who had been preparing for this war for many days were waiting for the moment the gate would open.

In the command hall of the "Mass Effect," officers were busily confirming intelligence reports from various ships and accurately transmitting the orders from the flagship to every end of the enormous fleet.

Hong stood on the high platform at the back of the command hall, eyes closed, "looking" at the busy scene below.

"This really gets the blood pumping," she said softly, with a faint smile. "It feels… kind of nostalgic."

A voice came from behind her: "Are you sure you can still get your blood pumping? You only have one heartbeat a day…"

Hong turned around, turning her back to Bai Liqing beside her. "She's your own sister. You deal with her."

"Xue, get off of Hong's back."

"Oh."

A pair of illusory eyes floated over to the railing nearby and began sneaking peeks around in a shifty manner.

"Nervous?" Hong tilted her head slightly, looking at the eyes on the railing.

"What do I have to be nervous about?" Bai Lixue's voice was only audible to Hong and Bai Liqing. "I'm just going to watch the excitement…"

"That's good," Hong said softly, her voice gentle. "This time, it should be quite lively."

"Detection of a massive spatial fluctuation! All ships, attention! Massive spatial fluctuation detected—a spatial rift is forming!"

Consecutive alarms blared. Everyone in the command hall instinctively looked up. At this moment, Bai Liqing suddenly remembered that day—the day Yu Sheng first opened a "door" in the Borderlands, the piercing alarms that had rung through the entire Special Operations Bureau building.

It felt like something that had happened not long ago, and yet it also seemed like a long time had passed.

A faint smile even appeared on her face.

Beyond the massive observation windows, in the deep, dark void of space ahead of the Unified Fleet, a rift of astonishing scale was slowly tearing open. Beyond the rift, one could faintly see a huge star gate structure on the other side of the passage, along with streams of energy light surging within the gate.

Engines ignited, and the fleet surged forward.

(End of chapter)