Barren Star – Chapter 73
by Little PandaTaboo.
This base of the Demon Phantom had remained undiscovered by outsiders, thus maintaining its integrity. However, the data inside was encrypted in multiple layers, and the He family member most skilled in this art had died midway. The control center of the entire laboratory was like a sleeping beast, and no matter how the He family tried to manipulate it, they couldn’t seize control access.
Nevertheless, the searching He family members made some discoveries. In a room on the east side lay two decomposing corpses wearing white lab coats, with marks of mechanical attacks on their bodies, blood holes in their chests, and dried blood stains on the floor. He Chao speculated they had turned on each other, and fighting his nausea, he retrieved a thin notebook from one of the corpses—an experimental record. One of them had maintained the habit of using paper and pen.
However, the handwriting in the experimental records was messy and had several corrections. He Chao studied it for a while and could only make out scattered words.
“August 19th, found… mask. Testing… active… unknown energy.”
“October 13th, taboo… immortality.”
He Chao took the experimental notebook and walked toward the laboratory’s center, where he observed the golden mask on the ugly monster’s face through the protective barrier. The mask was rectangular with diamond-shaped eye holes and a prominently raised nose… but strangely, it was only half a mask, as if someone had forcibly broken it. He Chao stared at it for a while, and suddenly grotesque visions appeared before his eyes, twisted and strange. His eyelid twitched, and he forced himself to look away, turning his back to the monster. After taking a deep breath, he said, “The Demon Phantom’s mental attacks are related to the monster in this experimental base.”
“Chao-ge, we found a warehouse full of potions,” one of He Chao’s cousins ran over excitedly, holding one in his hand. The red test tube seemed to be filled with fresh blood, gently swaying and leaving a faint red mark on the transparent tube wall.
He Chao frowned: “How did you get it out?”
The cousin froze, scratched his head and said: “It wasn’t locked.”
He Chao responded absent-mindedly: “Let’s study it first.” He didn’t trust the unregulated potions from the Demon Phantom space pirates.
Compared to the “inheritances” in other rooms, He Xingyun was clearly more interested in the monster and the golden mask. After gazing at it for a long time, hallucinations would appear, similar to the space pirates’ mental attacks. He Xingyun didn’t plan to replicate the technology exactly as it was; he believed his team would be stronger than the Demon Phantom space pirates.
“We need to cut some tissue samples for research.”
“But without access to the central system’s permissions, we can only rely on force to break through the protective barrier.”
He Chao listened to the conversation, his brows furrowing deeper. He glanced at Zhang Yi, and after pondering for a moment, spoke gravely: “Father, this power likely involves taboo, and it’s not suitable for us to possess.”
“What’s unsuitable about it?” He Xingyun replied dismissively, waving his hand, “Now that we’re wanted by Da Xia, there’s no need to care about those laws anymore. Your Sixth Uncle knew about Black Sea, but he fell into Da Xia’s hands. Da Xia’s people will come here sooner or later. We must acquire higher levels of power to have the confidence to stand against Da Xia.”
One look at He Xingyun’s expression told He Chao he couldn’t change his mind, so he could only sigh inwardly and hide his concerns. Although He Xingyun attempted to break the protective barrier by force, they still made other necessary efforts. While technicians with some knowledge of network keys worked on cracking the control system, other He family members scattered to gather whatever resources they could find. Unfortunately, the supplies and star currency left behind by the space pirates weren’t much, at least not enough to satisfy He Xingyun. These resources weren’t even enough to equip one-third of an armed force, let alone a full one.
Several days later.
The He family members withdrew from the underground base, planting explosive charges on all sides. When the bombs detonated, the thunderous explosion shook heaven and earth, echoing through the clouds. A thick smoke rolled in the wind, spreading across several li [1 li = 500 meters or 0.31 miles] in the blink of an eye. Since forceful entry in the laboratory might cause the entire base to collapse, after calculating the protective barrier’s strength, He Xingyun decided to first destroy the entire building with artillery shells, then dig out the test platform enclosed by the protective barrier.
“Hehe, lulu.” Strange sounds emerged from the dense smoke.
An eerie scene unfolded!
Crimson streaks appeared in the smoke, like pairs of blood-red eyes. The monster that had been lying in the protective barrier slowly crawled out, its body twisted like rotten mud. Yet regardless of its body’s condition, the half golden mask remained firmly fixed above.
“It’s alive? How can chunks of flesh move?” He Xingyun’s eyelid twitched, but he didn’t take it seriously. He gave a cold laugh and waved his hand, commanding the He family’s mecha warriors to fire energy cannons at the monster. The monster was caught in the explosive flames and slammed onto the ground with a thud, its body writhing frantically, its “hehe” sounds becoming more piercing and terrifying. He Xingyun also summoned his mecha, though compared to the elite warriors, he had little talent and could only perform simple movements in the mecha. He slowly approached the monster, attempting to cut off a piece of flesh tissue. The sharp energy sword sliced through the monster, and a piece of flesh quickly fell amid its agonized screams, but strangely, the wound healed instantly.
He Xingyun’s spirits lifted at the sight.
This self-healing ability was beyond even Da Xia’s advanced technology!
He Xingyun’s mind raced with excitement, his nerves thrumming with energy. He controlled the energy sword to test the monster again and again, discovering that even when its head fell to the ground, a new one would grow. However, what grew was the body, not the head. He Xingyun’s attention fixed on the golden mask, and he had a premonition that this unique ability came from it. If so, the monster itself wasn’t of much value. He Xingyun reached for the half golden mask with trembling hands, in such an excited state that he didn’t even hear the shouts behind him.
“Thump-thump-thump—” His heartbeat thundered in his ears as He Xingyun swallowed hard, possessed by a single thought: “Got it!” He stepped back, jumped out of the mecha’s cockpit, and pressed the golden mask against his face.
“Father!” He Chao’s expression changed drastically, his eyes filled with terror.
He watched helplessly as new trunks grew from He Xingyun’s body, twisting and piling together, gradually merging. At first, a human form was still visible, but slowly, only a head could be distinguished. By this point, how could He Chao and Zhang Yi not understand this thing’s strange nature? He glanced at the monster, now just a pool of blood after losing its mask, then at the completely monstrous He Xingyun, made a decision, and roared to the He family members: “Run!”
The monster trapped in the protective barrier had been in a weakened state, but He Xingyun was different. His eyes flowed with a greedy, bloodthirsty light, and though his body was enormous, it moved as swiftly as an arrow. Everything it touched would automatically stick to it, becoming part of its body. Flesh, mecha skeletal structures—it quickly grew to the size of a small mountain.
“Taboo…” Zhang Yi’s face turned pale as he controlled his mecha to flee. He had always followed Da Xia’s laws and knew that taboos were not to be touched. But only when facing a “taboo” directly did he understand how terrifying it truly was.
“The devoured mecha have become its exoskeleton, and energy shells are blocked by it—we can’t cause any damage!” He Chao’s face turned ashen as he cursed. Now that he himself was prey, he naturally couldn’t worry about others.
Faced with this incomprehensible, horrifying situation, the He family’s first thought was naturally to leave “Black Sea”—what did it matter to them what happened to this planet? However, just as they were flying away, Da Xia’s fleet pursuing the He family arrived.
On Mountain and Sea Star.
Ning Buyi was inspecting the newly built city, which compared to Aurora City with its complete infrastructure, looked like a wasteland. If Mountain and Sea Star wanted to become like other developed planets, it would need at least a million people to join. Of course, the current Mountain and Sea Star couldn’t accommodate that many people yet—that was a matter for the future.
“Da Xia is gradually getting on track. When the time comes, we can contact Xia Sang and launch the ‘Mountain and Sea Million Pioneer Project’,” Ning Buyi thought for a moment, then added, “We’ll need to cooperate with Beast Star too. They’ve contributed significantly to Mountain and Sea Star’s current state.”
Hua Zhuoyu followed behind Ning Buyi and smiled, raising her eyebrows: “Whatever you decide is fine.”
Ning Buyi gave a light snort and stretched. The outskirts of Mountain and Sea Star were once barren, with hurricane-driven sand and dust blocking the sunlight, but as plants took root, the environment improved considerably. Though dust storms still occurred, the terrifying extreme storms of the past rarely appeared anymore.
“I think retirement days are coming soon,” Ning Buyi winked. The first batch of seeds had been sent to Beast Star and Da Xia. Once they grew, the greening value in the Mountain and Sea Atlas would increase, and she could use these values to purchase previously unlocked species to send to Beast Star and Da Xia Imperial Star. There would be nothing more to worry about.
Hua Zhuoyu hummed in acknowledgment, then suddenly looked down at her light brain. She had received a communication from Lu Zhiwei, and her expression immediately changed.
“What’s wrong?” Ning Buyi keenly noticed Hua Zhuoyu’s emotional shift.
Hua Zhuoyu said: “Something’s happened on Black Sea Star!”
“Hmm?” Ning Buyi had no impression of Black Sea Star.
Without saying more, Hua Zhuoyu enlarged the image Lu Zhiwei had sent, pointing at the golden spot atop the massive, mountain-like body, her brows furrowed seriously as she said: “It’s that half Divine Authority Mask!”
In the Da Xia Imperial Capital.
Although Xia Sang had fully taken over the empire’s power, she hadn’t officially been crowned queen, and thus remained in her princess residence.
She stared at the blurry image before her, lips tightly pressed together. No explanation was needed—the word “taboo” naturally surfaced in her mind.
“The target is on Black Sea Star.”
“According to He Chao, that mountain of flesh was transformed from He Xingyun, and the key lies in the golden mask.”
“Most of our squad that entered Black Sea Star was lost. Once touched by the flesh mountain, they were assimilated, becoming part of it. However, some warriors escaped death. Their common trait was having taken Elpis, with no dark pollution residue in their bodies. Therefore, we speculate that the flesh mountain’s absorption uses dark pollution as a bridge. Further experimentation is needed.”
Ying Jingqiu reported the Black Sea Star situation to Xia Sang with meticulous attention to detail. Only after finishing did she raise her eyes to gaze at Xia Sang, waiting for her decision.
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