Chapter 1 When Night Falls

Whenever night falls and the silver moon hangs high, standing on the land of Holletta reveals a night sky drastically different from Earth. Two round moons, one large and one small, hang in the sky, scattering silver light, and on the moon known as the "Main Moon," the most striking feature is always an irregular red patch.

That is the old site of the legendary lunar city—in ancient times, the magic empire used incredible technology to send humans into space, and the mortals of that time even had the ability to build cities and factories on the moon. In those years, the moon was as prosperous as the earth, with vast fields, towering magic towers, and large transfer stations or spacecraft landing platforms transporting passengers between the earth and the moon day and night.

However, when the world-destroying disaster struck, the moon and the earth suffered the same fate. The surviving ancient books of Holletta record the terrible scenes seen by the stargazers on the surface at that time: more than a dozen small red dots suddenly appeared on the moon, and then these red dots expanded rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. The outlines of the cities on the lunar surface were quickly swallowed by red, like melting cheese. The entire moon turned blood red until it slowly faded away after several days, and the final patch of scarlet left behind was the Great Red Spot. People firmly believe that the Great Red Spot is the same thing as the Lake of Blood of Beinz.

However, whether the red patch on the moon is another Lake of Blood will have to wait until someone goes up there to see.

After saying goodbye to Becky, Hao Ren and the others did not choose to teleport directly back to the Alamanda Outpost. Instead, they released the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace in an uninhabited wilderness, and then set off for the planet's large satellite—the Main Moon.

The vast space is dark and boundless, and the stars of the Dream Plane are as numerous and brilliant as in the real world. Among those brilliant galaxies, there are countless small worlds that have once nurtured life waiting to be discovered. After his thinking became broader, Hao Ren, while piloting the ship in space, thought of many things that he had never actively considered before. He looked at the twinkling stars and realized that finding all the planets seeded by the First Seed in such a vast universe was almost impossible. He had to find some kind of shortcut or rule—perhaps this would allow him to reconstruct the drifting route of the First Seed in the universe tens of millions of years ago, or even deduce the location of the Goddess of Creation.

"It's so quiet," the Data Terminal, stuck on the spaceship's console, suddenly said with emotion, "Deadly quiet."

Vivian looked up: "What's so quiet?"

"This universe," the Data Terminal activated the communicator panel, "Look at these channels, there's only our own signal. All types and frequencies of local communication channels are barren, electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, quantum communication, subspace interference... All channels are silent. You can't feel it, but this unit feels like it's floating in a desert. The whole universe is quiet, with only a few dying oases—like Holletta, they don't even have the ability to transmit their voices outside their solar system."

"The quieter it is, the more unsettling it is. This shows that all civilizations with the ability to enter the space age have probably become extinct, otherwise the entire universe wouldn't be so silent," Hao Ren shook his head and took out a foot-long silver-white metal can from his dimensional pocket. Inside it was a tissue sample taken from the Holy Coffin, "Lily, take this to the lab, the server host there is ready."

Lily ran out holding the can, while Vivian looked at Hao Ren: "Actually, you want to replicate the First Seed, right?"

"Uh... you saw through it?" Hao Ren scratched his hair, "I thought I was pretty thorough in front of Bishop Auberon."

"Come on, those things you and the Data Terminal made up might fool bumpkins, but they can't fool me—it's not like I don't know what electromagnetic waves are. As long as you can replicate the same frequency, who cares if the signal source is carbon-based or silicon-based," Vivian curled her lips, "You collected these samples definitely to study the First Seed."

"But if I said it directly, Bishop Auberon probably wouldn't be so willing to cooperate with us, let alone let us extract samples," Hao Ren smiled, "The First Seed is equivalent to the Goddess. We don't know how low their bottom line is in this regard, so it's better to avoid it if we can."

"But do you think the First Seed is really that easy to create?" Vivian frowned, "I feel like it's not a 'biological' entity in the conventional sense... Although it looks like it has flesh and blood, directly replicating it, who knows what will grow out of it. Be careful, if we can't control it, we'll have a biochemical crisis."

Hao Ren nodded: "I know, the success rate of replication is probably no more than ten percent... But it's better than no progress. At least we can know what the First Seed is made of."

"Speaking of which, have you figured out how to deal with the remaining two First Born?" Nangong Wuyue, who hadn't interrupted, suddenly asked, "It is said that the one on the Tree of Life is easier to deal with, but the one on Sunset Volcano is too unstable."

"There are a few preliminary plans, but we have to wait until we get back and find some experts to discuss them." Hao Ren deliberately kept it a secret, and at the same time, the Data Terminal's voice suddenly interjected: "Stop chatting, stop chatting, we've arrived—Lunar Ruins."

The spaceship had entered the Main Moon's near-moon orbit and was rapidly decreasing in altitude. Hao Ren and the others quickly passed over the lunar surface from an altitude of two to three thousand meters, seeing an ancient relic that was almost impossible to recognize in its original state.

The overall lunar surface was deathly gray-white, mostly flat, covered with a layer of fine debris. Remnants of the former lunar kingdom were visible everywhere. These remnants still showed traces of artificial structures as a whole. Some gray remains that looked like buildings or towers lay scattered on the ground, but all of these things had been subjected to extremely severe corrosion, to the point that they looked as if they had been "melted." The remains of the buildings were rounded and collapsed, and all the edges had been smoothed, giving the impression of softened plastic models.

The Data Terminal activated the ship's analytical reconstruction system, trying to restore the shrunken and twisted remains to their original appearance. Magnificent city phantoms appeared on the holographic projection, covering the real lunar landscape. The Data Terminal used some color blocks to mark different areas of the model: "This should be the outer wall, which has been completely destroyed, leaving only the base. This location is probably a facility like an energy well. This area is the landing platform for aircraft..."

"The technology of the ancient magic empire seems to be more advanced than expected. Their lunar station is not just a small station, but a mature alien colony. This planet must have undergone deep ecological modification," Nangong Wuyue looked at the lunar city simulation on the holographic projection, imagining the planet shrouded in a green artificial dome, "Perhaps right above our heads, there was an ecological shield back then... Bro, can you stop picking at your chair?"

Nangong Sanba was studying the spaceship seat with his head down, but he suddenly looked up and stared at Hao Ren: "You really pulled out a spaceship out of nowhere?!"

Hao Ren rolled his eyes: "You're only realizing this now?"

"Actually, I haven't realized it yet," Nangong Sanba looked at Hao Ren blankly, "You have spaceships, alien technology, and you're running around in different worlds with magic... I feel like these things don't fit together. Is your job sci-fi or fantasy?"

"I believe I am a clergyman," Hao Ren nodded with a particularly solemn expression, "Also, if you continue to pick at my spaceship, I'll throw you out—it's two hundred degrees below zero outside, a vacuum."

Nangong Sanba immediately sat up straight, revealing his usual big-tailed wolf look: "Of course, as a demon hunter, my ability to accept things is still very strong. Speaking of which, what are we doing here? Exploring alien civilizations?"

"Remember that pile of tentacles you saw in the cave?" Hao Ren pointed to a scene on the holographic projection, "That thing can wipe out an entire ecosystem, and we're here... to confirm how that thing launched an interstellar war."

The holographic projection showed the scene in front of the spaceship, and a touch of red appeared on the horizon, which was the Great Red Spot on the moon.

It was a frozen Lake of Blood.

"Look at those things by the lake," Lily's fluff on her ears slowly stood up, "They look like tentacles..."

(Those who still have monthly tickets, please vote! Speaking of which, why are my monthly tickets never smooth...)