Death Notice

The Suspended Continent did not have a real sun or moon. The day and night cycle was shown by the orange-yellow law barrier on the surface of the continent.

During the day, the orange-yellow barrier gave off warm sunlight. At night, it was completely dark. There was no moonlight, only tiny starlight reflected from other suspended continents in the Star Void.

The Atlantis Sacred City had fallen. There was no energy left in the city for lighting. In the darkness, the Celestial Wheel branch crouched like a huge monster. Everything was silent. Even wild creatures did not want to nest or stay in this war-torn area.

Qin Lun quietly sneaked back to his original hiding spot. After he used his Heavenly Insight Eye to check the surroundings again, he was secretly shocked. In the two hours he had been away looking for food, the number of hidden Apostles had increased several times. He could not know the exact number, but there were at least over twenty.

“I can’t wait any longer!”

Qin Lun’s sense of urgency grew quickly. Twenty-plus Apostles was already more than one-tenth of the Domination War zone. By tomorrow, that number would probably reach fifty. Then, fights would definitely break out. Whether Qin Lun joined the fight or not, it would affect his plan.

He checked his equipment, stood up from the darkness, used Swift Wind Step, and rushed like lightning toward the military fortress in the dark.

His hiding spot was less than two hundred meters from the Celestial Wheel. Although there were countless broken walls and ruins in between, with the wind-drift effect of Swift Wind Step, it only took him six or seven seconds to reach the military fortress. Without hesitation, he slipped through one of the broken openings.

“Damn… %&×%” Low curses sounded from the ruins around the military fortress. There was a faint stir in the darkness. However, the commotion caused by Qin Lun soon quieted down. The surroundings became eerily calm.

After slipping into the broken opening of the military fortress, Qin Lun did not go deeper immediately. Instead, he leaned against the wall, his eyes burning as he watched outside the opening. After a few minutes, when the commotion had truly settled and no other Apostles followed him in, he slowly let out a long breath. He turned and walked into the dark interior of the fortress. He had thought carefully about this night exploration of the Celestial Wheel branch. Even though over twenty Apostles were hiding around the military fortress, few dared to move at night.

First, it was unknown if entering the fortress at night would bring any gains. Searching such a large military fortress in the dark would take several hours at least. By the time they came out, it would be almost dawn, and they would surely be attacked by everyone.

Second, the Celestial Wheel branch was originally an important Apostle base. It was hard to say if there were traps inside. If someone got injured inside and was attacked by other Apostles after coming out, the chance of dying was over ninety percent.

The only thing Qin Lun worried about was if among these twenty-plus Apostles, there were particularly skilled Assassins and Rogues. If such Apostles saw him acting early and could not resist following him in, it might really trigger all the hidden Apostles, ruining his plans.

Luckily, he gambled correctly this time! Among these twenty-plus Apostles, there were no such Assassins or Rogues, or perhaps they had already quietly entered. A few Assassins and Rogues would not affect his plan. Besides, Assassins and Rogues did not have Detection Aura or Heavenly Insight Eye. In total darkness, they were no different from ordinary Apostles.

Qin Lun took out the flat flask containing Walnut Wine and took a swig. Detection Aura was a passive ability, but Heavenly Insight Eye used up Stamina Points. For the next exploration, he had to maintain Heavenly Insight Eye the whole time.

Three glowing needles slowly jumped in his clock-like pupils, making Qin Lun look somewhat eerie. The surroundings appeared to him like a black-and-white film.

The broken opening he entered seemed to be a guard post. In the corner was a long steel table with a broken radio and intercom scattered on it. On the floor were several disassembled long-barreled guns, probably some kind of heavy machine guns.

Qin Lun crouched down and scraped the floor with his finger, a strange look appearing on his face. Although the table was covered in dust, there was not much dust on the floor.

“Could there still be natives hiding in this fortress?” Qin Lun’s eyes flickered slightly.

He did not think other Apostles had entered the fortress before him. If that were the case, there would be clear footprints on the floor, not just less dust. Only frequent entry into this room would keep the floor from accumulating much dust. This place was originally a guard post; perhaps someone used this opening to observe the outside.

The fall of the Atlantis Sacred City was only two or three years ago. The city originally had over a million people, so it was not strange that some still hid here. In the Shattered Starry Sky, when any Sapient Race had its entire civilization destroyed, a miserable fate awaited them.

In those two or three years, the Sapient Races that attacked the Atlantis continent took control of all the small and medium towns. The Holy City was the last big prize. Except for a very few who escaped through portals to other suspended continents, the Atlanteans would become slaves of the warring races.

If they could work in mines or workshops, that was the luckiest outcome. If they were given to races like the Demon Clan, which belonged to the Chaotic Evil alignment, it would not be strange even if they became kept as blood livestock.

As for those Atlanteans who fled their homeland, they would likely become Scavengers like the Lu-Lu Tribe, forming the lowest level of Sapient Races in the Shattered Starry Sky.

Qin Lun stepped over the garbage on the floor and left the room. Outside the guard post was a slightly curved corridor with numbered rooms on both sides. Some rooms were closed, some half-open. They were probably once quarters for soldiers on duty.

After quickly checking one or two rooms, Qin Lun paid no more attention. He quickened his pace and walked along the corridor toward the interior of the fortress. After turning at the corridor’s end, another slightly curved corridor appeared before him.

After passing several such corridors, Qin Lun stopped and frowned. He realized this military fortress was not only circular in appearance but also had a ring-like layout inside. It lived up to the name “Celestial Wheel” — it was a maze-like wheel.

Such a layout was very complex. A solo search would take at least half a day to find the key areas. In the past, it would have been fine; everyone knew the center of the wheel was the Main Control Room. But now, the Main Control Room must have been destroyed. Besides, what Qin Lun was looking for was not there.

“Just what I was afraid of; it seems I can’t save any effort!” Qin Lun sighed, took out the Walnut Wine again, and drank several mouthfuls in a row.

Qin Lun closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the veins around his eyes bulged like small snakes.

Now, in his vision, threads of Perception condensed into Time-Space Threads spread out around him like spiderwebs. The reinforced concrete walls slowly lost their solid form. In Qin Lun’s eyes, they became simple structural frames. Even things behind the walls were clear.

Without hesitation, Qin Lun’s figure left afterimages in the dark corridor as he raced along the passage. When he encountered closed dead ends, he immediately changed direction, aiming to pass through as many areas as quickly as possible. Even if some rooms looked important, he did not stop at all.

While running, Qin Lun occasionally used his Claw Chain, crossing a few checkpoints without touching the ground. These places had slight shadows on the walls, probably high-tech traps. Though he did not know if these traps still worked, he did not want to take risks. Avoiding them with Swift Wind Step and Claw Chain was the best choice.

“Hmm?” After running through the passages for about twenty minutes, he suddenly stopped. He estimated he was close to the core of the military fortress.

As soon as he stopped, Qin Lun staggered, sat down panting, and two lines of bright red blood flowed from his closed eyes. After catching his breath a little, he stood up. His reopened eyes were dull, almost like a blind person’s.

“Using Time-Space Threads for a long time actually temporarily affects eyesight!” Qin Lun was slightly surprised. This was the first time he discovered this flaw of Clock Eye.

“Luckily, combining Heavenly Insight Eye with Detection Aura won’t affect combat!” Qin Lun rubbed his eyes, looking tired as he gazed in a certain direction and muttered to himself, “Finally found it!”

In the direction he was looking, two orange-red light clusters appeared in his retinal projection. This was how body heat appeared in Heavenly Insight Eye.

…

In a huge hangar, two large shadows were busy working around a bulky machine. Besides this machine, two rows of large humanoid mechas stood on both sides, totaling no less than forty.

However, the surfaces of these humanoid mechas were mostly dented. Broken holes revealed cables and parts of various colors. They all seemed long unusable.

“Meimei, are you done over there?” one large shadow turned and asked its companion. It held a dim explosion-proof lamp for light. Looking closely, it was an Exoskeleton Mecha.

This type of mecha was usually used for engineering and simple military purposes. It had one crew member and could use strong mechanical arms to operate heavy engineering equipment and a few heavy machine guns.

“Tang, stop rushing me. I’ll restore power to the Main Control Room soon. Those two won’t be out for another two hours!” a crisp female voice came from the other Exoskeleton Mecha.

At this moment, the two repairing the generator had no idea that above the hangar, a shadow was silently climbing down along a chain, hanging over their heads like a big spider.