Chapter 1 Apocalypse

Apocalypse.

Hao Ren's vision merged with that of the probe. Under his control, the tiny device, only a few centimeters long, deftly adjusted its angle in the air, scanning the entire wreckage of the starship into its visual sensors.

It was difficult for the human eye to accurately determine the volume of an object at a glance, but the probe's multiple sensors and calculation modules quickly transmitted the basic situation of the wreckage to Hao Ren's mind. Some basic data appeared on the wreckage before him: major axis 12.15 kilometers, widest point 4.55 kilometers, the main armor material was a molecular laminated polymer, and judging from the coil structure exposed at the fracture of the armor, its armor had the ability to further increase its strength after being charged.

A true behemoth, and with excellent technology.

The ancient starship, named Apocalypse, was a desolate gray-white color. The heavy and complex hull structure showed obvious signs of twisting and bending, indicating that it was very likely to have been captured by a sudden, terrifying external force and forcibly bent into this shape. Hao Ren initially guessed that it was some kind of gravitational weapon, such as a momentary black hole. But what caused the ship to completely lose its life should be another reason: in the belly of the Apocalypse, a huge penetrating wound could be seen. All the hull structure near the wound had been melted and piled up together, and the metal that had re-cooled after melting floated around the wreckage like frozen blood, extending for several kilometers.

"Looks like damage caused by a concentrated energy weapon. The Mad Lord's minions rarely use this kind of attack..." Hao Ren muttered to himself as he controlled the probe to move around the Apocalypse, "So it's possible that these warships' original allies were eroded and transformed by the Mad Lord's power and became enemies..."

The Apocalypse floated near a dim cloud of gas, and similar gas clouds could be seen everywhere in the Gorgon Abyss. This was a twisted space filled with a depressing fiery red background, seemingly wrapped in layers of turbid fog. Besides the ubiquitous Gorgon demons (and their remains), there were only large and small broken rocks and bizarre clouds floating here, monotonous and maddening.

The probe deftly avoided a mass of solidified metal around the Apocalypse, and an opening on the side of the giant starship wreckage appeared in front of the lens. Hao Ren zoomed in on the image and couldn't help but gasp.

In that rift, which looked like a carrier-based aircraft ejection port, were neatly parked silver-white alloy "monsters" that resembled manta rays.

It was the so-called "Gorgon Lords" that had wreaked havoc in the Black Pine Forest not long ago.

The Gorgon Lords, which were considered top-tier demons in the outside world, were as common as the lowest-level cannon fodder in this nest. Hundreds and thousands of them were arranged in squares, lying neatly in the belly of the giant starship, seemingly ready to swarm out at any time—they weren't aircraft carriers at all, but merely fighter jets!

The Gorgon Abyss actually hides these things... How did the indigenous civilization on the surface of Laerilien survive to this day?!

A huge question arose in his mind, but soon, Hao Ren's doubts were answered.

The probe transmitted scanning data: all the "Gorgon Lords" parked inside the Apocalypse were in a silent state, with energy reactions as low as zero—which meant that they were not only dormant, but also completely exhausted and therefore impossible to operate again.

With a trace of coldness, Hao Ren controlled the probe to change direction, and his vision shifted from the Apocalypse's carrier-based aircraft launch port and turned to another direction.

In the vast, chaotic alien space, subtle black spots could be seen flying around in those turbid clouds. Those were Gorgon demons in an active state—mostly unmanned weapons with sizes ranging from a few meters to tens of meters, and the largest were no more than "single-pilot aircraft" like the "giant manta rays" that Hao Ren had mistaken for aircraft carriers. There were quite a few of them, but after seeing the Apocalypse's hangar, Hao Ren realized that those Gorgon "demons" capable of activity were actually just a tiny fraction of these ancient weapons.

In the more distant clouds, several other huge shadows could be seen, floating in the depths of the clouds like fragmented mountains. Those were interstellar behemoths of the same scale as the Apocalypse, but they were all in a silent state.

"Terminal, did you see that?" Hao Ren called out to the data terminal in his mind, which was in standby.

"Ah, ah, I'm synchronizing your vision, this machine has seen it all," the data terminal's voice immediately sounded, "This is so freakin'... This machine feels like its chips are shaking! The scene in here is a bit too unexpected, isn't it?"

Hao Ren didn't respond, but prepared to continue watching: "I'm going to switch to the vision of the other two probes. Record all the images."

As soon as he finished speaking, his vision flickered slightly, and the vision of Probe Two entered his mind.

He saw a huge floating rock floating in front of him. On the rock, he could still see some interconnected pipes and support beams. On the surface of some floating rocks, there were also building facilities like towers or factories.

"Seems like a typical asteroid belt construction complex," the data terminal's voice sounded in his mind. "They should also have some supporting defense facilities and energy arrays, but it seems that they have been scattered and disappeared—look over there, those support beams have obvious signs of fracture."

Hao Ren's peripheral vision noticed something unusual on one of the floating rocks. He immediately ordered the probe to approach.

The vision was quickly zoomed in, and he saw what was on the floating rock, and couldn't help but be stunned.

It was actually a corpse, a human corpse!

Perhaps because there was no oxidation or decay in the Gorgon Abyss, the mummy was still in fairly good condition. He was an old man with a weathered face and white hair, wearing a gorgeous purple robe with gold trim. The purple robe was also decorated with crystals and precious metals that had lost their luster. However, those things didn't seem to be all decorations, because they were arranged in a complex way, surrounded by symbols and patterns, and seemed to have special functions.

The elaborately dressed old man leaned against a transport pipe in the asteroid factory, his face twisted, his features ferocious, as if he had suffered great pain before his death. A long staff inlaid with a large number of crystals, mithril, and fine gold lay near his corpse, but like the crystals on the old man's clothes, the crystals and precious metals inlaid on the long staff had also lost their luster, as if they were made of plastic.

"This style... looks like a mage... Could he be a super powerful Laerilien scholar? Did he die in here while studying the Gorgon Abyss?" Hao Ren couldn't help but mutter to himself. He wanted to step forward and move the corpse, but only realized after approaching that he was only borrowing the probe's perspective and couldn't do it himself. So he controlled the probe to carefully search around the corpse.

As a result, the probe really found something after circling around: there were some words etched with high-temperature ablation on the transport pipe that the old man was leaning against. Although they had gone through unimaginable years, all the words were still clearly visible in this place where time was almost static.

The probe hovered in front of the words, and Hao Ren read the translated sentences:

"My name is Malkiri, chief mage of the Holy Tumen Empire. I have entered this land of lifelessness by order of His Majesty Tumen. I have ventured too deep into this place and was discovered by the ancient guardians entrenched here. Spatial transmission has been interfered with, and there is no possibility of survival.

"Before the spatial transmission is completely cut off, I have transmitted all the data back to Tumen First Orbital Station. Next, I will use my own magic to construct a barrier to extend my survival time in this space as much as possible, awaiting rescue.

"But if I am ultimately not rescued, and someone sees this useless body of mine, please relay my last words to His Majesty Tumen. It is what I witnessed with my own eyes after communication and spatial transmission were completely interrupted.

"All collapsing history is tilting towards the 'source point.' The final doomsday awaits our fragile world at the source point, but in that collapse point, I saw a rift that does not belong to our world. I cannot confirm who caused that rift or when, but it is definitely there—please allow me to boldly hypothesize that in the distant future, that destined doomsday will ultimately be postponed indefinitely. Our world can be saved.

"Glory to Emperor Tumen, and to that nameless king."

The probe flew around the old man's corpse and the modified asteroid several times, but did not find any more clues.

"Terminal, what do you think?" Hao Ren asked his partner in his mind.

"First of all, according to the information that this machine has collected and statistically analyzed, Laerilien currently does not have a country called the 'Tumen Empire,' and there has never been any relevant record in history. Leah has never mentioned this country either," the data terminal's voice sounded in his mind, "Secondly, this old mage who calls himself Malkiri does not refer to the ancient weapons in the Gorgon Abyss as 'demons,' but rather calls them ancient guardians. This proves that his understanding of these out-of-control weapons is more accurate than that of the current Laerilien people, or rather, closer to the truth; thirdly, and most importantly, he mentioned a term that sounds like a space facility."

"Tumen First Orbital Station..." Hao Ren nodded slightly, "This couldn't possibly be a product of Laerilien—neither this current one, nor the one before Leah's slumber."

"So... this mage named Malkiri should be another collapsed universe fragment?" the data terminal said hesitantly, "But this 'fragment' is a bit different from the Black Pine Forest and the Gorgon Abyss. His timeline... seems to be after the formation of the Gorgon Abyss?"

A sentence that he had seen in Leah's textbook suddenly flashed in Hao Ren's mind: the end of the world leads to the collapse of time and space.

And the collapse of time and space will cause the originally linear "history" to appear in stacks, distortions, and even nested phenomena.

A prehistoric human may see the flash of the end of the universe, and a human facing the end of the world may suddenly return to prehistoric times. And if it is a sufficiently advanced civilization that can partially manipulate the rules of the universe, they may even be able to systematically and purposefully observe the entire process of their universe's destruction.

So... is this old mage from the "Tumen Empire" who calls himself Malkiri such an "observer"?

Or is it some even more inconceivable situation...