novelones Chapter 256 Fragmented Map Merging, New Coordinates
Chapter 256 Fragmented Map Merging, New Coordinates
"Shadow... that damned traitor! He deliberately created chaos so that his hidden accomplices could steal the sacred artifacts the cult leader needed from the vault!"
"Pass on my order! Utilize all the sect's resources in the 'Edge of Chaos' star sector, at all costs, to find the Shadow!"
"I will place his soul on the 'Fire of Annihilation' and let it burn for ten thousand years!"
Thus began a relentless chase.
Su Chen, the real mastermind, has completely disappeared from the chessboard.
He was no longer a participant, but a detached, observing player.
He successfully tied his two greatest enemies to a chariot that was accelerating toward a cliff.
The hatred and suspicion between them will only deepen in the endless pursuit and counterattack.
This bought Su Chen, and also Earth, which is far away in the solar system, invaluable time for development.
In the silent cockpit, Su Chen placed two palm-sized, dark gold metal pieces side by side on the control panel.
It's time to uncover their true secrets.
After moving away from the Void Relics Market and confirming that there were no tracking signals.
Su Chencai stopped his spaceship in a desolate asteroid belt.
He turned the spaceship's automatic warning system to its maximum and then went into the cabin's lounge.
He had already arranged for Qianmian to rest. This loyal intelligence broker had been under immense mental strain during the operation and was now fast asleep from exhaustion.
Su Chen was the only one left in the entire cabin.
He took a deep breath and solemnly placed the two hard-won fragments of the map on a metal table.
The first piece came from the Shadow Auction House; he snatched it from Shadow.
The second piece, from the Void Relics Market, was a spoil of war he had seized by stirring up trouble and profiting from the chaos.
The two fragments are identical in material and style, with a dark gold metallic surface.
It is engraved with intricate and ancient star map patterns, with irregular gaps at the edges, like a jigsaw puzzle.
When Su Chen slowly pushed the second fragment of the map towards the first one, something miraculous happened.
The two metal pieces seemed to come alive, and the star patterns flowing on their surfaces began to emit a soft glow.
A peculiar attraction arose between them, not a magnetic force, but a deeper resonance originating from the level of laws.
"Click".
With a soft click, the two fragments of the map were perfectly pieced together.
The interfaces are seamless, as if they were originally one.
After being pieced together, the star patterns on the two fragments, like two converging rivers, quickly merged and recombined.
The previously blurry star map became clear. Countless stars, nebulae, and shipping lanes formed a more magnificent and complete map of the universe.
The new fragment is now the size of a dinner plate, and the information it contains is more than ten times greater than the previous two fragments combined!
"Prophet, scan this new map and compare it with our star map database to determine the final coordinates," Su Chen commanded.
"Command confirmed. Scanning... 3D modeling in progress... Comparing with database..."
The prophet's computing power was running at full speed, and countless star map data flashed through Su Chen's mind.
A few minutes later, the prophet came to a conclusion.
"Comparison complete. Authorized user, this map points to a unique and extremely dangerous region of the universe. On our star map, it is marked as—'Eye of the Storm'."
Eye of the Storm.
Information about this place immediately came to Su Chen's mind.
It was not a galaxy, nor a star field, but a colossal super cosmic storm composed of countless violent energies and distorted space.
The place is perpetually shrouded in spacetime turbulence, gravitational singularities, and energy tides; any matter that enters it will be easily torn to pieces.
In the publicly available danger zone ratings, the eye of the storm is listed as the highest level, "no-go zone".
It is known as "the graveyard of gods and the forbidden land of civilization".
Did ancient Earth civilizations actually set the next node of the "Ark of Creation" in such a place?
This isn't just well hidden; it's practically being placed in a certain death trap.
Just as Su Chen was pondering, the fused fragment of the map changed once again.
In the center of the map, the flowing star patterns gradually converged into a line of text that Su Chen was extremely familiar with.
It is neither the evil runes of the Star Eater Cult nor the Galactic Common Language.
Instead, they are square and upright, full of ancient simplicity and solemnity—the ancient Chinese characters of the earth!
Those words, as if traversing countless ages and carrying the will of the creator, were clearly presented before Su Chen's eyes.
"The reaper covets, the onlookers stand by, but beware the shepherd."
The short line of text made Su Chen's heart sink.
The Reapers, without a doubt, refer to the Star Eater Cult.
Su Chen already knew that they coveted the secrets of the "Genesis Ark".
The term "observer" is rather vague.
It could refer to other top civilizations in the Milky Way that remain uninvolved and observe from the sidelines, or it could have something else entirely.
But what made Su Chen's heart tremble the most were the last few words—"Beware of the shepherd."
Shepherd!
This is a completely new and never-before-seen term!
Moreover, the ancient ancestors who created this fragment of the map placed it alongside the "harvester" and used such a stern warning as "beware!"
This means that, in the eyes of ancient Earth civilizations, the threat level of the "Shepherd" was at least no less than that of the "Reaper"!
Su Chen had always believed that his greatest enemies were the Star Devouring Cult and the reborn individuals lurking in the shadows.
But now it seems that on the chessboard of this universe, there is a third force that he has never heard of before, which was regarded as a major threat by the ancient ancestors!
He looked at the heavy, fragmented map in his hand.
For the first time, I realized that the secrets I was encountering were far more complex and terrifying than I had imagined.
The "Genesis Ark" project may be targeting more than just the "harvesters".
Su Chen's expression was more solemn than ever before.
The starry sky was much darker than he had imagined.