From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 747 begins an "expedition" into the unknown depths of space.
Just as Sui Meng was about to turn around and leave to reunite with Halsey and the others, a sudden change occurred.

The space around him seemed to have all its light source instantly removed, plunging him into absolute darkness that would make ordinary people shudder.

This was not ordinary darkness, but an extreme darkness in which even the power armor's built-in multi-spectral observation system instantly failed, and the sensors transmitted a blank image.

?

Sui Meng immediately became alert, and his fighting instincts instantly rose to their peak.

Without hesitation, he held the crescent-shaped power spear horizontally in front of him, and the vast pure spiritual energy within his body erupted.

Boom!
A blazing golden flame of psionic energy rose from the tip and blade of the spear, like a miniature sun igniting in the absolute darkness, dispelling some of the darkness and making his majestic figure appear like a war god descended to earth.

The psionic flame not only brings light, but also has a powerful purifying and repelling effect on all filth and chaos.

If any evil being from the subspace, or similar to a divine seal, approaches, it will first be scorched by these golden flames.

However, the anticipated attack did not occur.

There were no nauseating whispers of chaos, no filthy aura that twisted life and bewitched the mind, unique to divine seals, and no attacks from any physical or energy entities.

There was only deathly silence all around, and one thing.
An indescribable, cold sense of emptiness.

Despite not sensing any direct malice, Sui Meng remained vigilant.

He maintained the burning of his psionic flames, a faint hum emanating from the joints of his power armor, his entire body like a taut bowstring, ready to unleash a devastating attack at any moment.

Amidst this tense standoff, change is taking place.

Countless tiny particles, shimmering with milky white light, emerged from the void like fireflies drawn by an invisible force, rapidly converging, weaving, and evolving in the space around him.

These particles quickly formed a clear, coherent dynamic picture, as if a silent holographic movie was playing out before his eyes—

He saw a vibrant, prosperous planet, completely different from Tavolantis, which was suspected to be the home planet of the Tavolantis.

What follows is a scene of planetary decay and a race embarking on a tragic migration across the sea of ​​stars in a massive fleet;
Next, we will arrive at the planet Tavolantis and build a magnificent underwater city in the ocean;

Then, in the deep sea, the double helix divine seal emitting a ghostly light was discovered, and the entire civilization entered a golden age of technological explosion.
at last.
It was a sudden catastrophe: twisted ghouls ravaged the city, a colossal flesh moon began to coalesce in orbit, and an ice age swept across the globe, radiating despair.
Even without Dr. Halsey or Cortana providing professional explanations, Sui Meng, a veteran of countless battles and witnessing the rise and fall of civilizations, quickly grasped the tragic outline of an advanced civilization's rise and its complete annihilation due to the divine seal, simply from these visual images.

As the historical panorama finished playing, the light particles converged once more, outlining a slender bio-image with three-fingered hands and a distinctive crown not far in front of Sui Meng—

A Tavorantis.

The image was incredibly lifelike. It faced Sui Meng and spoke, uttering a language composed of complex syllables and trills that Sui Meng could not understand at all.

But Sui Meng reacted very quickly, immediately using the shared view function of the power helmet to transmit everything he saw and heard back to Cortana in real time.

"Received the real-time audio-visual data stream transmitted by the original body."

Cortana's voice almost immediately rang out in Sui Meng's encrypted channel, "Unknown language pattern detected, calling the established language model for real-time matching and translation."
The translation module has started.

The next moment, translated Chinese subtitles began to appear line by line on the display screen inside Sui Meng's helmet.

Although some sentences sound slightly awkward and disjointed due to the initial establishment of the language model and cultural barriers, the core meaning is already clearly discernible:
[Later generations, listen to us, the people of Tavolantis]

[With their destroyed bodies, they convey a warning.]

[Beware the spiral mark; it is not a gift, but a trap.]

[All the prosperity of energy is illusory; it will eventually backfire.]

[We misjudged and paid the price.] etc.

Sui Meng read the subtitles intently, listening to the poignant and urgent tone of the image of Natavolantis. He understood that this was the last warning left by this vanished civilization to the intelligent life that discovered this place.

Immediately afterwards, the image of the Natavolantis raised its long arm and pointed in a certain direction of the cave.

Sui Meng looked in the direction it pointed and saw that the light particles there gathered again, quickly forming a star map that he had just seen, namely the cantilever structure of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which was clearly marked.

Cortana's translated subtitles are provided simultaneously:

[The source of the imprint points to the light beyond the river]

[Or perhaps the manufacturer exists.]

[However, we advise against going.]

[We cannot even contend with the moon, the corpse of its creation.]

[And what about its master?]

[The only way forward is destruction.]

At this point in the image, the image of the Tavoranthians seems to have gazed deeply at Sui Meng, their eyes filled with weariness, pleading, and endless admonition that have spanned millions of years.

Then, along with the surrounding star map, it flickered a few times like a candle in the wind before turning into countless points of light and disappearing into nothingness.

The absolute darkness surrounding them receded like the tide, restoring the previous scene of the deep blue crystal cave. Only the black information core remained, quietly suspended in the center, as if nothing had ever happened.

The cave returned to silence, but Sui Meng's heart was in turmoil.

Even after its complete annihilation, the Tavolantis civilization, in a way that defies comprehension, relentlessly issued the most direct warning to those who followed:
The divine seal is a trap, its source suspected to be beyond the Milky Way, and that source is an even more terrifying existence that even they felt they could not contend with at their peak.

This bloody and tearful warning, bought at the cost of an entire civilization, is so heavy it's suffocating.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, Sui Meng retrieved the so-called core, immediately turned around, and the heavy footsteps of the power armor echoed again in the empty passage as he quickly rejoined Halsey and the others behind him.

He succinctly conveyed the order to evacuate immediately.

Without any delay, the group, with the Vanguard Guard maintaining the highest level of alert and protecting the key personnel, quickly retreated along the route they had come from.

Passing through the museum that records both glory and warning, crossing the empty base of the central square, one finally returns to the long slope leading to the ground.

On the ground, the bitter cold persisted, while four Viking fighters, transformed into mechs, loyally guarded the area around the dedicated Thunderhawk gunship.

The crew quickly boarded the aircraft, the hatches closed, the engines started, and the Thunderhawk gunship rose into the air, breaking through the thin, frigid atmosphere of Tavolantis and speeding towards the Renwei Yonggu, which was hovering in orbit.
Back on the familiar and solemn bridge of the Renwei Yonggu, Sui Meng handed over the core to the technicians and immediately issued a series of orders.

"Navigator, set course, target—the area where Proxima Centauri's large device 01 is located, full speed ahead." "Order: the remaining fleet in the orbit of Tavolantis, continue with the original reconnaissance and recovery mission, priority unchanged, and make sure to search for all valuable information and items."

"Wu Ji, send an order to the 6th Company stationed in the 20 (Death Space) Solar System, instructing them to immediately weigh anchor and proceed to the large device 01 to rendezvous with the flagship. Do not fail to do so."

"Command confirmed and sent." Wu Ji's image flickered slightly, efficiently executing the command.

Shortly after--

Under the dim red light of Proxima Centauri, the magnificent ring structure of the large device 01 still floated silently in the void.

However, at this moment, its surroundings are no longer empty.

A massive fleet of over a hundred imperial warships of various types has been assembled, like a loyal pack of wolves, surrounding their alpha wolf and core.

Cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and a large number of auxiliary ships formed a well-organized battle formation. This was the Imperial Army 6th Fleet, which had rushed to the scene after receiving orders.

Just then, the even larger and more majestic silhouette of the Renwei Yonggu, like a moving mountain range, tore through space to reach the rendezvous point and merged into the core of the fleet without any doubt, becoming the undisputed flagship of this "expedition" fleet.

The atmosphere inside the bridge of the Renwei Yonggu was tense and focused.

Halsey and Cortana were standing next to the center console, in front of them several hard-light holographic screens displaying complex data streams like waterfalls and dazzling multi-dimensional physical models.

At the heart of the model is the structural diagram of the large device 01, where countless energy paths have been replanned and adjusted, all aimed at an unprecedented feat—

Using the immense energy of the rings, a stable passage was forcibly torn open to the Andromeda Galaxy, 254 million light-years away.

"A final verification of the Carson-Ryemann equations was performed, and a fine-tuning parameter based on the local gravitational constant was introduced."

"The efficiency of dark matter extraction must be increased by another 0.3%, otherwise the stability at the end of the channel cannot be guaranteed..."

Halsey spoke at a rapid pace, engaging in efficient communication with Cortana, who in turn assisted with a large amount of real-time calculations.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Finally, Halsey's furrowed brows relaxed. She turned around, her face radiating the pure excitement of a scientist achieving a major breakthrough, and said to Sui Meng, who had been standing quietly waiting:

"All parameters have been adjusted, the model has been verified, the energy guidance matrix has been restructured, and the intergalactic channel generation protocol is ready. All that's missing is the star to be used for 'ignition'."

"My child, we are ready to embark on this unprecedented voyage at any time."

Sui Meng's gaze swept over the final, extremely complex energy flow diagram on the main screen. Without any hesitation, he said in a deep voice:

"implement."

Upon hearing this, Halsey took a deep breath and nodded to Cortana.

Cortana immediately sent the final command packet to the control core of the large device 01.

"Initiate the 'Voyager' protocol. Target: Preset coordinate system G-7, execute the stellar material extraction procedure."

The next moment, the massive 01 ring of the device lit up again, but this time, the energy flow pattern was completely different from the previous purification pulse.

Instead of releasing destructive ripples, it was like a giant beast awakening, beginning to "breathe" greedily.

The fleet followed the large device 01 and made its first rapid "short-distance" jump.

When they emerge from the warp state, they find themselves in an unfamiliar star system.

A G-type star in its prime, radiating intense light, is like the heart of this galaxy, illuminating the several planets orbiting around it.

Without pausing for a moment, the large device 01 headed straight for the star.

As it approached, the hollow region at the center of the ring generated an unimaginably terrifying gravitational field, followed by an even more awe-inspiring "devouring".

The scorching plasma on the star's surface, like noodles being stretched by an invisible giant hand, formed a magnificent, surging flow of matter spanning millions of kilometers, roaring and churning.
Although there is no sound in a vacuum.

Forced to be stripped of its star body, it was continuously sucked into the "bottomless" ring center of the large device 01.

The star dimmed and shrank rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, its light seemingly being swallowed by an invisible giant mouth.

This process lasted only two hours. In the end, the once-glorious star disappeared completely, leaving behind a planetary system that suddenly lost its gravitational balance and began to fall into chaos and collapse.

On the surface of the ring of the large device 01, the energy patterns have become brighter and fuller.

This shocking and brutal scene was repeated eleven times in different galaxies over the next twenty-odd hours.

Twelve stars that once illuminated a region of the stars were annihilated, and all their matter and energy were converted into the ultimate fuel that propelled this unprecedented voyage.

When the final absorption was completed, the massive ring structure of the large device 01 resembled a satiated ancient giant, its entire body flowing with terrifying energy light that was excessively abundant and almost overflowing. Even the surrounding space was visibly distorted due to its enormous mass and energy.

Cortana's report rang out from the bridge: "All pre-emptive energy storage procedures complete, intergalactic jump. Final preparations complete."

All eyes were focused on the massive, energy-boiling device 01, and on the deep, unknown, and dangerous outer space ahead.

Inside the bridge, Dr. Halsey's fingertips traced a final arc of command across the control interface, and Cortana's prosthetic body simultaneously emitted a completed, ethereal blue glow.

At this moment, all data streams converge into a perfect execution instruction, which is then transmitted to the core of the large device 01.

In an instant, the surging torrent of energy on the outer edge of the ring changed direction, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, with seemingly endless energy frantically converging towards the void point at the center of the ring.

The space itself emitted a mournful cry, overwhelmed by the burden.

The space in the center of the ring began to twist and collapse, and then burst out with a supernova-like burst of bright white light.

This light is not "scattered," but rather, under the constraints of some existing physical laws, it condenses and stretches inward, eventually forming a dazzling light gate that spans the void and is large enough to allow an entire fleet to pass through.

Inside the door, ever-changing colorful vortexes seemed to compress all the starlight of the Milky Way behind this energy curtain, leading to the unknown Andromeda Galaxy 254 million light-years away.

Sui Meng gazed at this cosmic wonder forged by human hands, his eyes reflecting a vibrant light. Then, his command resounded throughout the entire fleet:

"All troops, listen to my command! Maintain formation, heading—extragalactic system!"

The Renwei Yonggu took the lead in turning its bow, its engines spewing out a deep blue tail flame, like a giant whale leading a school of fish, resolutely heading towards the radiant gate connecting the two star systems.

Behind it, more than a hundred warships of the Sixth Company followed in turn, the steel torrent slowly disappearing into the jump tunnel, dragging countless brilliant light trails in the distorted spacetime, and starting an "expedition" to the unknown deep space.
(End of this chapter)