The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

Chapter 624 "Devour" You dare to spy on it?

The so-called "prophet" is essentially just a "humanoid terminal" extending from this giant, mushroom-shaped, bizarre creature!
She is the most terrifying being on this island, besides the dead giant tortoise king—the "parasite."

The moment Shen Ge saw through its true form, the humming on the platform abruptly stopped.

That "sacred" figure slowly turned its head, with a soft "crackling" sound coming from its neck—a gesture that defied ergonomics.

What appeared before the three of them was a face that was both extremely beautiful and extremely bizarre.

Her features were so exquisite that they resembled the most perfect creation of a god, and her skin was so fair that it was almost transparent. But her eyes were a pure expanse of starlight, without any pupils or whites.

It seemed to contain countless swirling nebulae and cold, distant starlight; anyone who looked into it would feel their soul instantly sucked into that endless cosmic abyss.

Alai and Ellie only glanced at it before their minds went blank, their spirits momentarily detached, and they stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning.

"You...can you see?"

A voice did not come from the "prophet's" mouth, but rang out directly in Shen Ge's mind.

The voice was neither male nor female; it was ethereal and otherworldly, carrying an inhuman, higher-dimensional indifference as if looking down upon lower-dimensional beings.

“You are special, outsider. You drank my ‘gift’ but were not assimilated by it. Your soul is so resilient that it seems out of place in this era.”

The "Prophet's" starry eyes silently "gaze" at Shen Ge, as if that gaze could penetrate his flesh and blood and peer into the deepest secrets of his soul.

“You carry the scent of the ‘outside world’… the scent of the ‘old era’… and even… a trace of… ‘their’ aura…”

"Tell me, outsider." The voice in my mind carried a subtle, almost imperceptible interest, like that of someone exploring a new and intriguing toy.

"Who are you? Where...do you come from?"

Faced with the "prophet's" soul-splitting scrutiny, Shen Ge's brain fell into an unprecedented sense of sluggishness, as if it had been forcibly slowed down.

His memories flashed back uncontrollably like rewinding film: the Rong City Special Operations Department building, the shattered dream world, the spreading fungal carpet, and the monster king whose flesh and blood "melted"...

This is more dangerous than any physical attack; once his memories are read, his greatest secret will be completely exposed.

At that time, he will completely lose all initiative and become a specimen for the other party's research.

Just as Shen Ge's mental defenses were about to be breached, the dormant strange energy within him suddenly erupted. An instinctive characteristic of "devouring," originating from the "ancestral strange cells," was fully activated, and it responded with the most brutal counterattack to any attempt to intrude into its territory.

boom!
An invisible, eerie energy, purely composed of the "devouring" characteristic, fiercely confronted the "prophet's" probing from the depths of Shen Ge's sea of ​​consciousness!

For the first time, an expression appeared on the "Prophet's" flawless face.

It wasn't pain, but rather an extreme sense of bewilderment and stun, similar to the feeling of a computer about to crash when it's under heavy load.

Her all-encompassing starry eyes suddenly paused, the swirling nebula within them even flashing briefly like "garbled code".

For the first time, the voice in my mind was filled with intense emotion: "Impossible...deep within your soul...what is that...it's an...abyss where nothing...can be seen..."

She tried to peer into Shen Ge's soul, but it was as if she had reached into a black hole.

Her mental energy was being frantically torn apart and devoured, and not only did she gain nothing, she was almost eroded by that primal, pure will to destroy.

The probing mental tendril retracted as if it had been branded with a hot iron.

Almost simultaneously, the dozen or so believers kneeling around him let out a muffled groan, and seven or eight of them even bled from all seven orifices and fainted on the spot. Their spiritual network connected to the "prophet" suffered collateral damage in this clash.

The entire "temple" emitted an uneasy, low hum due to this brief mental clash. The enormous eyeball on the dome also contracted violently.

Alai and Ellie snapped back to reality, panting heavily, their faces pale, completely bewildered by what they had just experienced.

"..." Shen Ge found it somewhat amusing. Although the "progenitor bizarre cells" in his body were not complete, they were at least half of the original cells.

The most primal power of "devouring"—you should be glad I'm not at the peak of the seventh rank right now, otherwise I could "devour" you whole without any problem.

The "prophet" regained her composure, but the way she looked at Shen Ge had completely changed. It was no longer a condescending scrutiny, but filled with apprehension, and even... a hint of barely perceptible fear.

There was a long silence.

The voice that had directly echoed in her mind did not reappear. The "Prophet" simply looked at Shen Ge quietly. In the depths of her eyes, which were like the starry sky, countless nebulae were slowly and disorderly rotating, as if conducting an extremely complex deduction.

Finally, she slowly raised her hand. It was a flawless hand, but her nails were a deep, dark black, as if they could absorb all light.

She didn't point to Shen Ge, but rather to the direction they had come from—the endless thick fog.

"The way you came." A new voice rang out. This time it came from her own mouth, her voice clear and ethereal, each syllable like a snowflake falling into one's heart.

“The mist… is both a ‘wall’ and a ‘cradle’. It can isolate the ‘outside’ and nurture the ‘inside’.”

Her words were slow and disjointed, as if she were stating some self-evident axioms that ordinary people could not understand.

“You… have awakened what is in the cradle. With… an echo that shouldn’t exist in your ship.”

Shen Ge didn't speak, but listened quietly.

He knew that now was not the time to ask questions. Faced with such an "unknown" existence, any proactive inquiry might expose his ignorance and cause him to lose the initiative.

However, he didn't understand a single word.

If he hadn't lost his powers, according to his past habits, he would probably be saying things like "Speak like a human being" or "Riddler, get out of Gotham."

“The ‘echo’ is searching for its source. In the ‘cradle’… there happens to be a ‘missing’ piece of the puzzle responding to it.”

The "Prophet's" face remained expressionless, but Shen Ge could sense that the mental pressure in the surrounding air had become much heavier.

“You must send the ‘echo’ back into the ‘gap’. Make the puzzle complete.”

Allais and Ellie were completely bewildered. They had no idea what the words "echo," "cradle," and "puzzle" meant, but a nameless fear gripped their hearts.

The feeling is like listening to two doctors calmly discussing your...terminal illness using medical jargon you don't understand at all.

"Why us?" Shen Ge finally spoke, his question simple and direct.

The Prophet's starry eye turned toward him.

“Because…only your ‘echoes’ are the only key recognized by that ‘puzzle.’ Any other voices that enter will only be crushed.” She paused, a hint of something indescribable creeping into her ethereal voice: “You…and it…come from the same place.”

These words made Shen Ge's pupils shrink sharply.

"trade."

The prophet gave him no time to think: "Help me fill that 'gap.' I will give you 'coordinates.' Coordinates that are absolutely 'safe' on this vast ocean."

Absolutely safe.

In this raging sea, these four words possess an almost extraordinary allure.

She didn't mention food and fresh water, because those were already taken into account; she directly offered a bargain that no navigator could refuse.

Shen Ge looked at her.

This deal is fraught with countless unknowns and deadly traps. What will her "complete puzzle" lead to? Will it bring some terrifying thing to a complete rest, or... will it allow something even more terrifying to be "born"?
And what kind of "safety" does she promise? Is it the safety of humanity, or... the safety of her kind?
There are no answers here.

It's like facing an abyss; you never know if jumping in will bring liberation or another endless fall.

"What...do we need to do?" Shen Ge asked his second question.

The "Prophet" slowly shook her head, her long silver hair swaying gently as if it were alive.

“I don’t know,” she said.

All I know is that when the key... gets close to the keyhole, it... turns by itself.

This abrupt, seemingly divine statement threw Alai and Ellie into complete confusion. They looked to Shen Ge for help, only to find that his face remained calm and composed.

"it is good."

Shen Ge softly uttered a single word.

The deal was struck, without a contract or oath.

At their level, language itself is an unbreakable rule.

The "Prophet" nodded slightly, then looked at one of the two white-robed guards who had been standing in the corner, as still as statues.

“Lead the way,” she commanded softly.

The guard bowed silently and then walked up to Shen Ge.

He stretched out his finger and gently tapped the air. A soft, firefly-like point of light flew from his fingertip and slowly hovered in front of Shen Ge.

“It will take you to the center of the ‘Cradle’.” The guard’s voice was equally deep and emotionless: “You must come out before it goes out.”

Shen Ge glanced at the flickering light. It was not only a guide, but also... a timer, a firefly version of an hourglass timer.

When its light source disappears, it means the timer has ended.

Shen Ge didn't linger. He led Alai and Ellie, who were still in shock and unease, and walked out of the "living" temple.

When they returned to the outskirts and saw Kyle and Roca again, the two boys immediately came up to them and asked what had happened.

Shen Ge simply shook his head, indicating that they would discuss everything later.

They untied the ropes and returned to "Ark One." Kyle and Roca immediately checked the bottom of the ship, and the strange threads had disappeared.

"Are we...really going?" Alai looked at Shen Ge, her eyes filled with worry. What had just happened in the temple had completely overturned her understanding of the world.

Shen Ge looked at the point of light hovering at the bow of the ship and nodded: "At present, this is the best choice. And I also want to see what she calls a 'vacancy'."

He didn't tell Alai and the others his suspicions and worries, because he knew that some fears, once spoken, would take root in everyone's hearts like spores, destroying their already fragile morale. All he could do was face it all alone.

Guided by the light, Roca took the helm, and "Ark No. 1" slowly sailed away from the edge of the tortoise shell, heading towards the center of the deeper and denser fog.

This time, the alluring illusions and mournful songs were gone. The fog grew thick and viscous, even carrying a faint smell of blood. The seawater was no longer its normal color, but a deep, dark green mixed with a hint of fluorescence.

They were like travelers in the veins of some giant beast.

As they went deeper, the guiding light began to dim at an extremely slow but irreversible pace.

When only a thin layer of light remained on the surface, the bow of "Ark No. 1" gently touched an invisible "wall".

With the bow as the boundary, all sounds, light, and even fog ahead seemed to be completely cut off and swallowed up by an invisible plane.

There, there was a pure void, devoid of any information, a void that even the word "nothingness" couldn't describe...

This is the center of the "cradle".

That piece of the puzzle, waiting for the key.

"Stop the ship."

Shen Ge's voice broke the deathly silence.

The anchor chain dipped into the dark green seawater, but it did not create any ripples, nor did it make a heavy sound as it hit the bottom.

Everyone gathered at the bow of the ship, holding their breath and staring at the strange area ahead.

It was there, less than half a meter from the bow of the ship. An invisible, straight "boundary" that seemed to divide reality.

On this side of the boundary, the fog flowed, the lights flickered, and the deck beneath their feet had a real tactile feel.
On the other side of the boundary, there was a pure "nothingness" that did not reflect any light or transmit any sound.

It is not like darkness, which at least can be illuminated by light.

"This is... a 'vacancy'?" Ellie's voice trembled uncontrollably. Faced with such a scene that violated the basic laws of physics, any courage seemed pale and powerless.

Shen Ge did not answer; he observed silently.

As the guiding light touched the edge of the area, its dimming accelerated dramatically, like a piece of melting ice, its life rapidly slipping away.

(End of this chapter)