Chapter 712: Black Star… Phenomenon?

When Yu Sheng uttered the word “plan,” even Bai Liqing couldn’t quite suppress the twitch at the corner of her pixelated eye.

“I’m suddenly a little curious—what exactly was your original plan?” She looked at Yu Sheng’s eyes with a hint of suspicion.

Yu Sheng was an open and honest man. “I didn’t have a plan.”

Bai Liqing: “…”

The small doll, who had been drifting off in a daze on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, suddenly jerked her head up. “I sense murderous intent!”

Bai Liqing took a deep breath.

“Let’s talk about that ‘ball’ outside first,” the humanoid dragon said, her tone a little stiff. “You really have no idea how it appeared?”

“I really don’t,” Yu Sheng waved his hand. “But I can tell you what happened in the planet’s core and how the two Bridges established a connection. Right—two Bridges. One was the ‘Eden Gate’ built by these cultists, the other was the ‘legit Angel version’ I swiped last time after our battle at the Omen Temple…”

Yu Sheng didn’t hold back. He immediately recounted everything that had happened after he fell into the planet’s core—including the origin of that “Holy Seat” and the Shadowless Skeleton, as well as how he had used the mechanisms of the Bridge and the Eden Gate to completely devour both the Holy Seat and the Shadowless Skeleton.

Of course, he omitted a few technical details—like how he had died instantly on the first round.

After all, there were quite a few people here, and not everyone had gone through the blood-receiving experience like Bai Liqing had.

While Yu Sheng was talking, Hong gradually found it impossible to ignore the gaze fixed on her.

Enduring the slight burning sensation on her skin, she looked up and saw the “ Living Saint ” who had come with Yu Sheng tilting her head and staring at her, bold and curious.

Memories of their encounter during the Star Gate battle surfaced, and Hong frowned slightly, feeling awkward. “Is something the matter?”

But the glowing psychic creature simply ignored her, continuing to stare fixedly without a word.

“She thinks you look familiar,” Luna suddenly spoke up.

“We met at the Star Gate,” Hong said, her expression a little uncomfortable. “But at that time, she wasn’t as… spirited as she is now.”

As Hong finished speaking, the “artificial angel” beside Yu Sheng suddenly moved. Her translucent light wings gently fluttered, and she slowly floated over to Hong, extending a hand.

Hong hesitated for a moment, then looked up and saw the girl’s face—much clearer than in her memory—wearing a warm, expectant smile, still holding out her hand.

Hong understood the meaning.

She, too, broke into a slight smile and gently reached out her hand. “I’m glad to see you’re safe and sound…”

Both Yu Sheng and Bai Liqing heard a faint sizzling sound from nearby. The next second, Hu Li’s ears twitched, and she sniffed. “What’s that burning smell?”

Immediately after came Bai Liqing’s exclamation: “I swear, you’re an undead creature, and you went to shake hands with a living holy light?!”

“I took precautions! I didn’t think her grip would be that strong—hey, don’t move, don’t move—the skin’s cooked, it’s cooked…”

“Should I just cut off your hand? With your constitution, it’d be faster to grow a new one than to slowly recover like this.”

“Don’t be crazy—let’s get back to business. I’ll be fine in a bit.”

Yu Sheng watched the unexpected stir in front of him, stunned. Especially when he saw Bai Liqing teasing someone with that subtle tone for the first time, it suddenly dawned on him that the usually cold-headed Special Services Bureau chief actually had a fairly rich social life and personal relationships.

Meanwhile, the newly recruited “Angel Miss” drifted over dejectedly, hovering beside Yu Sheng with a somewhat downcast look.

Aileen stood up, stretching hard to pat the other’s arm. “Oh, it’s not your fault. This little trouble of yours is nothing—next time I’ll tell you the story of the Blackstone Research Station…”

The little doll had some skill when it came to comforting people.

Fortunately, there was at least one reliable person on site. Bai Liqing walked over and forcefully steered the conversation back on track. “So, in summary, the fact now is that there’s a ‘Black Star’ hanging in space, and the only thing we can be sure of at the moment is that its appearance might be connected to the establishment of the two Bridges—and that it’s still stably positioned at the Eden Gate’s location, hasn’t disappeared.”

Listening to Bai Liqing, Yu Sheng’s expression turned serious, and he nodded slightly.

“This thing, Senior Yuan Hao encountered it before. According to him, the appearance and disappearance of the Black Star have no warning signs, and its operating mode and essence are impossible to probe. At the time, he suddenly ran into it and then inexplicably got thrown back into the real universe—this is the first time we’ve witnessed the entire process of its appearance…”

As he spoke, Yu Sheng pinched his chin and gradually furrowed his brow.

Numerous scattered memories and clues swirled and connected in his mind, and many earlier conjectures about the Black Star now began to come together.

He not only recalled the adventures that Old Handsome had told him about but also remembered the scenes of the Black Star he had seen in some visions before.

Then, he recalled another crucial clue.

It was at the end of the Bridge crisis, in the ruins of the forgotten Omen Temple, when the Bridge was collapsing and shattering—the Black Star had briefly appeared above that lost space.

Yu Sheng mentioned this.

“Right, I remember that scene too,” Bai Liqing immediately nodded. She had been there as well. “At that time, it appeared for only a very short while, appearing out of nowhere and vanishing just as suddenly, with no detectable aura or energy fluctuations.”

Aileen sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, arms crossed, muttering, “Then it was a Bridge… now it’s a Bridge again…”

Hu Li’s furry, pointed ears suddenly twitched.

“Benefactor, do you think the Black Star that Senior Yuan Hao saw back then is the same one we’re seeing now?”

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“We watched this Black Star ‘pop out’,” the fox girl said seriously. “Strictly speaking, it was ‘generated’ on the spot from nothing when the Eden Gate reached a specific state, not ‘transferred’ from somewhere else. Before, we always thought the Black Star teleported onto us instantly, but this time, can we actually rule out the ‘teleportation’ process?”

Yu Sheng blinked. From the fox girl’s bright, golden-red eyes, he seemed to understand her line of thought.

“You mean… the Black Star might not actually be a definite, independently existing celestial body?”

“Mm, I’m just guessing,” Hu Li’s cluster of large tails swayed. “What do you think—could the Black Star actually be a ‘phenomenon’? It isn’t moving around; rather, when conditions are met, it appears in this universe, and when the conditions are insufficient or the environment sustaining the phenomenon changes, the phenomenon naturally fades away.”

The bridge fell silent for a moment as the group exchanged glances, until Yu Sheng murmured softly, “Damn, that actually makes sense…”

The fox girl continued her serious analysis: “That would explain why even a powerhouse like Senior Yuan Hao couldn’t sense the Black Star’s ‘movement’—because it isn’t a moving celestial body at all; it’s a naturally occurring and fading phenomenon. It would also explain why so many civilizations in the universe have never observed the Black Star’s existence, never found where it usually hides—because it really doesn’t exist normally; it only appears briefly when conditions are met…”

“And now we can basically confirm that one of the fundamental conditions for this ‘phenomenon’ is the Bridge…” Yu Sheng followed the thought. “So when Senior Yuan Hao encountered the Black Star back then, was it also related to the Bridge? But there was no Bridge back then… 3,700 years ago, the old Bridge had already collapsed, and the Heresiarchs’ Eden Gate hadn’t been built yet…”

“Why don’t we just call that Old Handsome over to take a look? Isn’t he a veteran victim of the Black Star?” Aileen suddenly had a bright idea. “Oh! Right, we’ve also got a second-hand scientist—call her over too. She’s a veteran victim of the Bridge…”

Yu Sheng’s expression turned odd as he listened to the little thing’s idea. “What you’re saying makes sense, but why does everything sound so awkward coming out of your mouth?”

Aileen wobbled happily. “Just tell me—are they veterans or not?!”

By this time, Yu Sheng had already pulled out his phone.

He first called Senior Yuan Hao’s border communication account.

The phone rang for a while before the connection went through. Yu Sheng put the phone to his ear, but before he could speak, he heard a howling wind on the other end, along with distant, chaotic rumbling.

Then, after another two seconds, Old Handsome’s voice came through: “Ah, hello? Is that Daoist Yu Sheng? What can I do for you?”

Yu Sheng instinctively swallowed the words he had meant to say, frowned, and asked, “Did you go down the mountain to party and run into a red confidante again?”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Yuan Hao immediately denied. “What going down the mountain to party? That was yesterday!”

Yu Sheng: “… Then what’s going on with you right now?”

“… Today is day two of A’ning’s pursuit of me.”

Yu Sheng: “…

He covered the receiver with one hand and turned to explain to the others, “Old Handsome got caught by his confidante again.”

Then he lowered his hand and continued talking: “We’re in the Darkflow Star Sector right now. There’s something I need your help with.”

A clap of thunder roared over Yuan Hao’s end, and the old handsome man’s voice sounded almost tearful: “Over here, the situation is critical—I need help! I just passed by Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain, and my two junior brothers locked the mountain gate array—I can’t get in!”

“We’ve got a Black Star here,” Yu Sheng interrupted calmly. “A fresh one, just popped up. If you come late, it might disappear.”

“… Daoist Yu Sheng, wait a moment. I’ll head back to Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain right away. Come pick me up at the Cloud-Watching Platform.”

“Didn’t your two junior brothers lock the mountain gate array?”

“… Call Yuan Ling first and put in a good word for me.”