Alien Hotel.

Chapter 697 Observation
This was the first time Yu Sheng had ever encountered "borderland geography" other than Baili Qing's, and it was under circumstances he had never imagined.

The girl who called herself "Red" looked even younger than Baili Qing, and her appearance was so sickly and thin that it almost made people suspect her health problems—but all of this seemed to be just an appearance. Yu Sheng was almost certain that she was an "alien species" other than humans, and most likely a kind of immortal race like Baili Qing.

This was not only because of her extremely low body temperature, her almost stopped heartbeat, and her inhuman aura, but also because of a certain... aura that she occasionally exuded when she spoke.

A certain air of experience and long-held high position.

Hong was also familiar with the members of the inn. Although it was their first meeting, she could accurately call out the names of everyone around Yu Sheng, which showed that she had been paying attention to Yu Sheng and his group for a long time.

This was within Yu Sheng's expectations—he knew that he and his group from the inn had caused quite a stir, and it would be unusual if the directors from the border region didn't pay attention to the inn. He just hadn't expected...

Well, it seems the "human resources" of the border area council isn't as high as he imagined...

Baili Qing's gaze suddenly fell on Yu Sheng's face, scanning him up and down with some suspicion, as if she could see through the thoughts in Yu Sheng's mind, but she swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

Hong then steered the conversation back to the main topic: "Now let's talk about the intelligence you have—we urgently need firsthand information on the 'Holy Realm' and the 'Gate of Eden'."

Yu Sheng quickly composed himself and spoke with a serious expression: "To put it simply, there are two major problems right now. First, there is a suspected energy reaction from a second Gate of Eden beneath the Holy Realm, but we cannot find its exact location. Second, the problem of the 'Shadowless Skeleton' has not been resolved, and that thing may be the real mastermind behind the Cult of the Holy Spirit."

He paused for a moment, and Hu Li quickly added, "When we passed through the 'Gate of Eden,' we encountered the leader of the secret order who was presiding over the ceremony. The priests there called him 'Holy Seat.' Halfway through the fight, the 'Holy Seat' disappeared, which is also very suspicious."

“Holy Seat…” Hong frowned slightly. “I have already reviewed the information you sent to Baili Qing before. Now you suspect that the ‘Holy Seat’ may actually just be a puppet controlled by the Dark Angels?”

“It might even be part of the Dark Angels,” Yu Sheng nodded. “We found some clues in the ‘time trap’ formed by the Gate of Eden, which are very likely traces left by the first group of Hermit cultists who landed on this planet hundreds of years ago—at that time they were not yet the ‘Hermit Order.’ Judging from the traces they left behind, they were more like a group of somewhat extreme pioneers, but when they landed on this planet, they had already begun to be influenced by some kind of ‘voice’…”

Yu Sheng then recounted his experiences from his first attempt to approach the Gate of Eden until now to the "Border Geography Expert" in front of him, along with some of his own thoughts and conjectures.

Hong initially wore a calm smile as she listened, but by the end, she unconsciously frowned.

"...So, if the notebook you found was left by this current 'Holy Throne,' then he may have been influenced by the voice of the dark angels for centuries..."

“Enough to 'pickle' a person from the inside out,” Eileen sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulders, arms crossed, nodding seriously. “It could even 'replace' a person entirely—almost like a derivative of the Dark Angel, the kind where tentacles sprout from its mouth as soon as it opens its mouth.”

Yu Sheng frowned and turned to look at the little thing on his shoulder: "Your analogy is good, but can you use a different way of describing it? Don't forget that you yourself are also a half-dark angel who has been promoted."

"What more do you want from my limited vocabulary!" Eileen retorted confidently. "You, a novelist, couldn't have 'Holy crap' the first time you saw a stargate?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

But Red didn't seem to care about the little doll's wonderful analogy. She just kept frowning, her "gaze" looking past the huge observation window not far away, seemingly fixed on the lush planet floating in the dark space.

The unified fleet's orbital bombardment of the entire Secret Order homeworld continues, and warships are still continuously jumping into the battlefield through stargates.

However, this battle, which seems to have been decided, is not likely to end so quickly.

The resistance from the "Holy Land" was exceptionally fierce—as the home planet of the Hermitage, this seemingly harmless garden planet was actually almost a fortified fortress. Every large city and industrial complex on its surface was protected by powerful fortress shields and a forest of anti-air forces. According to the last radar scan, there were complex and impenetrable underground barriers beneath those cities, and even larger fortress structures were hidden inside the planet, each one a tough nut to crack.

In addition, there is also the battle in orbit—although the spatial shock that erupted when the stargate was transmitted destroyed a large number of defense nodes in the sky above the planet, many space defense platforms and armed satellites survived the great impact. Moreover, there are also mobile platforms on the far side of the planet moving towards this side along their orbits. These surviving space defense forces are highly motivated and fight almost as recklessly as the "Generation Guard" force in the stargate, and have already caused considerable damage to the unified fleet.

In fact, if it were just these resistance forces, Hong was confident that she could take down this fortress planet with the fleet she brought. After all, she had conquered even tougher fortress planets before. In the most difficult battle, she even spent twelve years heating up the atmosphere and oceans of a planet until the warlord group occupying that planet surrendered voluntarily in a devastating global weather disaster. The space dominance brought by the fleet's occupation of the orbit and the stargate next to it were the source of her confidence. Now, unless the "Holy Realm" could jump and escape the entire planet, she couldn't think of any other way for those cultists to win this battle.

But the hidden Gate of Eden and the mysterious, obscure angel introduced unacceptable variables into the whole affair.

“We must find out where those cultists are hiding things as soon as possible,” she said, turning her head slightly. “Ah Qing, we need to conduct another more comprehensive planetary scan of this planet—this may require your ‘eyes’.”

“Understood,” Baili Qing nodded. “I’ll go prepare for the ‘connection’.”

She then nodded to the group of people, greeted them, and turned to leave the bridge. Baili Xue quickly followed her.

“This ship is equipped with a powerful planetary scanning array, and with A-Qing’s power, we should be able to find the location of that ‘Gate of Eden,’ or at least its general direction,” Hong turned to look at Yu Sheng, “but the key is the ‘Shadowless Skeleton’ connected to that gate…”

“Leave this part to me. Just find the door and give me the coordinates,” Yu Sheng said immediately. “This planet is so big, your radar will be much more effective than me slowly groping my way there.”

“Hmm,” Hong nodded gently, then seemed to suddenly remember something and quickly added, “Oh, right, there’s one more thing. Ah Qing and I think you might… be interested.”

Yu Sheng asked with some curiosity, "Oh?"

“At the Hermitage’s border, when I was fighting the Stargate defense forces,” Red said slowly, “I encountered a ‘living saint’—maybe the one you met before. But his condition was a bit… off.”

Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows: "...Something's not right?"

"It was in an unstable state. When it appeared in front of me, it killed all the Hermits present and then... tried to share a handful of candy with me."

Yu Sheng: "...?!"

Luna, who had seemed to be in a daze the whole time, suddenly turned her head.

……

Deep within the Mass Effect, a special compartment known as the "lookout room" has been activated.

A deep hum echoed through the vast cabin. A ring-shaped psionic amplifier floated high in the air, its surface shimmering with a hazy light. Beneath the transparent floor, countless crisscrossing cables and crystallizing pipes converged toward the center of the room and coalesced on a platform in the very center.

On the platform sat a chair—a “throne” that seemed out of place on the futuristic spaceship.

It is cast from pure white metal and decorated with numerous reliefs featuring dragons. The armrests are meticulously sculpted into the shape of dragon claws, and the high backrest is made into the shape of a majestic, roaring dragon head. The huge, almost unnecessary seat even has a pair of decorative dragon wings installed behind it—the dragon wings extend from both sides and then close in front of the "throne," resembling two majestic screens.

This extravagant, ornate, and ostentatious throne stood high in the room, illuminated by a beam of light shining from the ceiling, exuding an ostentatious aura.

Bai Liqing stood in front of the platform, her eyes trembling slightly.

From the moment she entered the room until now, every step she took forward was weary and heavy.

"...The red color was intentional," she said with a stern face.

“Yes, she admitted it when you asked her last time,” Baili Xue’s eyes circled around her ears, creating a 360-degree surround sound effect. “She originally planned to build a stereotypical cave for you in this room, and pile half a ton of glass marbles next to the chair, saying she wanted you to sleep in something sparkly—because you loved sparkly things when you were little.”

"……Shut up."

"I don't have a mouth."

Bai Liqing took a deep breath.

Baili Xue immediately fell silent.

Then Baili Qing sighed softly again, and finally walked with even heavier steps towards the "throne" that was specially prepared for her and designed by Hong herself.

"Come on, let's 'see' what secrets this planet holds."

(End of this chapter)