Collapse Iron: Cosplaying the Near-Death Star, but with a full destiny.

Li He kept walking, his clothes fluttering in the wind.

"It's quiet there."

He led the black swan through several intricate alleyways, the surrounding noise gradually fading away.

The strong aroma of meat and rouge was also dispersed by a cool breeze.

The scenery before my eyes changed once again.

It is no longer the horror of flesh and blood, nor the bizarre and eerie spectacle of a ghost market.

What appeared before the black swan was a...

Extremely normal, extremely ordinary, even somewhat rudimentary...

A courtyard from the Tang Dynasty.

Blue bricks and gray tiles, shaded by green bamboo.

A small pavilion sits in the center of the courtyard, with several banana trees planted beside it.

The wind blew, and the banana leaves rustled, conveying an indescribable sense of desolation and loneliness.

This place is like a corner forgotten by the entire flesh and blood world.

It is a pure land that exists apart from madness.

"This is......"

The black swan was somewhat surprised.

In the depths of the chaotic and fearful memories of the planet, there is still such a well-preserved area full of classical charm.

"This is Changgu."

Li He pushed open the half-closed wooden door, which creaked softly.

"That is... my place of residence."

Step inside.

The furnishings here are extremely simple.

A slightly worn wooden table, a few bamboo chairs, and a bookshelf filled with thread-bound books.

A huge wine jar sat in the corner, the air filled with a faint aroma of wine and ink.

But the most eye-catching one.

It's those words hanging on the wall...

That was no ordinary calligraphy.

Each piece of calligraphy seems to have a life of its own.

The pen strokes are sharp as knives, penetrating the paper with force.

The ink stains were not dry; instead, they looked like freshly spilled blood, still flowing slowly and radiating a chilling pressure.

"Dark clouds press down on the city, threatening to crush it; armor gleams in the sun, like golden scales."

Black Swan only glanced at the poem, but felt a wave of fierce, warlike energy wash over her.

She seemed to see thousands of troops arrayed below the city walls, the dark clouds that blotted out the sun, and the thunder that was ready to strike from behind them at any moment.

"The desert sands are like snow, and the moon over Yanshan is like a hook."

This calligraphy exudes a chilling aura. The crescent moon seems to leap off the paper and slit the throat of the viewer.

What truly terrified the black swan was the image right in the center.

"If Heaven had feelings, it too would grow old."

These seven words.

Every word seemed to be made of tears and blood.

It is more than just a poem.

It is a kind of...

A questioning of fate.

An indictment of Heaven.

Despair at the relentless passage of time...

The black swan stood before these words, unable to look away for a long time.

She could sense that the power contained in these verses was even greater than anything she had seen in the ghost market.

This is a manifestation of the spirit, the strongest defense line deep within the heart of the star.

Li He walked to the table without disturbing the black swan's observation.

He picked up a ceramic pot from the table and poured two cups of tea.

"This place is simple, there's not much to offer in terms of hospitality."

"Only this cup of bitter tea can relieve fatigue, and also... refresh the mind."

The black swan came to its senses.

She walked to the table and sat down. Looking at the clear, bright tea in front of her, she couldn't help but feel more respect for this "Poet Ghost".

In such a crazy world, to be able to protect such a pure land and to write such breathtaking verses.

This in itself is a miracle.

Thank you.

The black swan picked up its teacup and took a small sip.

The bitter taste spread across her tongue, but it invigorated her spirits.

"So..."

She put down her teacup and her gaze fell on the two bamboo scrolls in Li He's hand.

"Now, can we reveal the answer?"

Li He nodded.

His expression turned solemn.

In those eerie green eyes, a ghostly light flickered.

He stretched out his hands and pressed down on both ends of the bamboo slip.

"The secret of Zhulong, and the past of that planet."

"They are all here."

As he slowly applied pressure with his fingers.

The black cloth was untied.

The bamboo slips are on the table...

Spread it out little by little.

The bamboo slips were slowly spread out on the rough wooden table.

These were no ordinary bamboo slips; each one had an almost sickly pale color, as if it had been polished from the ribs of some giant beast.

The bamboo slips were not connected by silk threads, but by tiny, dark red blood vessels that were still pulsating slightly.

As Li He's fingers gently brushed across the surface, the blood vessels constricted sharply, and the bamboo slip emitted a teeth-grinding friction sound.

"Watch closely."

Li He's voice was low and deep, carrying a chilling aura that seemed to emanate from a grave.

"This is... the truth of that world."

hum-

There was no light.

Or rather, the light itself was swallowed up by some deeper darkness.

The black swan felt the scene before it distort, and the originally simple Changgu hut collapsed instantly, turning into countless scattered ink stains.

The ground beneath my feet disappeared, replaced by a heart-pounding feeling of weightlessness.

When her vision refocused, she found herself floating in a...

In the deep sea.

But this is no ordinary ocean.

The water here is so viscous it seems to be alive. It oppresses the black swan's senses; every breath feels like inhaling liquid mercury.

There was no light source around, only the faint bioluminescence of distant organisms, outlining some huge and distorted silhouettes in the darkness.

"This is......"

The black swan tried to speak, but found that its voice could not travel through the water.

But this did not prevent her from understanding the scene before her.

Because a vast, ancient stream of information poured directly into her mind.

Planet 4546 (Code Name)

[Environment: Fully covered by ocean]

[Depth: Over 10,000 meters on average]

This planet is like a giant, blue teardrop, hanging at the edge of the universe.

Its surface has no land, only endless waves.

Beneath those waves lies a deep, dark world, so profound that even sunlight cannot reach it.

Right in the deepest part of this darkness.

A pair of eyes slowly opened.

Those were a pair of enormous, golden, vertical pupils, like searchlights.

Immediately afterwards, a colossal creature emerged from the shadows of the abyss.

It's too big.

It was so large that even a black swan, a creature accustomed to seeing interstellar behemoths, felt a suffocating sensation that arose instinctively.

That was a dragon.

Or rather, it is a giant deep-sea creature that looks remarkably like a dragon.

Its body is long and winding, covered with thick, metallic blue scales.

Each scale is the size of a house, with edges as sharp as knives.

....................................