Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 98 | Echoes of the Void | Novela.app

Of course, while the Ethereal Plane was dangerous, Orderly Civilizations were not entirely defenseless against it. At least within the Milky Way, every entity—from the Consortium to the various major nations and independent powers—possessed corresponding information processing and containment technologies. Most of these originated from the legacy of the fallen Galactic Empire, while a small portion consisted of research results achieved by various civilizations in the time since the Empire’s demise. A tiny fraction also came from technical exchanges and assistance provided by the Universal Star-Net Union. However... Lei Ting had long ago discovered that those protective measures, built upon frequency interference technology and disseminated through the Star-Net, were utterly useless to him. This was the unique burden of those at 'S-rank' and above: high-purity mental energy made such individuals more powerful, but once direct information interaction occurred with the Ethereal Plane, a connection would be automatically established. At the mental level of a 'Double-S,' this uniqueness was manifested to its absolute limit. If someone at this level relaxed their vigilance even slightly, it became very, very, *very* easy for them to clearly receive all external information, whether good or bad. It was like throwing someone with hypersensitive hearing and vision—who had never heard music before—into the middle of a rock concert. It would be stranger if nothing went wrong. Thus, it was actually quite normal for most 'Double-S' individuals to be mentally unstable. Among this group of abnormal people, Lei Ting happened to be the one who leaned most toward 'normal.' This was despite the fact that his projection in the Ethereal Plane was a superpowered sun—an excessively large target that caused him to receive a much broader range of information than the average person. Consider the last 'Double-S' to leave a mark on the pages of history. It was said that their mental projection was a literal black hole. From the moment it formed, it endlessly sucked in the power of the Ethereal Plane to feed back into the original body—and this 'power,' naturally, included the pollution that saturated that universe. This superpower trait, which was essentially a reflection of one's personality, caused its owner's mind to be instantly crushed by that infinite pollution the moment the link was established. Even though their civilization did everything in its power to stabilize that 'Black Hole Maker,' their already twisted personality could not endure such agony for long. Ultimately, this 'Double-S' transformed into an Abyssal Demon. That power expanded almost infinitely; a massive black hole destroyed the entire civilization from the moment of its birth, subsequently turning most of the matter in its sector into its accretion disk. The stricken sector nearly became a front-line outpost for an Abyssal invasion. Had the then-mighty Galactic Empire not forcibly intervened and used certain technical means to turn that individual into a historical record, the entire Milky Way would have been doomed. Today, that black hole built on the foundation of superpowered energy had vanished after its supply was cut off—gravitational waves have their own self-healing properties, and a black hole that does not follow the allowed rules of physics naturally cannot exist long-term. Yet, that sector remained a vast, boundless ruin. That massive celestial event had left a horrific scar upon the galaxy. Most of the civilizations that once thrived there vanished completely; today, their cultures existed only as data within the Star-Net. The few civilizations that left survivors were mostly gathered by the Consortium into the Ringworlds, joining the preservation and protection programs for 'Civilization Specimens.' From this, it was clear that the modern interstellar society had good reason to fear a 'Double-S.' And indeed, past 'Double-S' individuals had mostly possessed their own unique sets of logic for various reasons—especially the fact that their extreme mental sensitivity made them incredibly susceptible to external stimuli. It was virtually impossible for outsiders to reach a state of true mutual understanding with them. With these layers of context in place, it was perhaps not so incomprehensible that Lei Ting was now spoken of in Star-Net legends as some kind of mythological being. Lei Ting sighed. He lay suspended in the middle of the vast, empty space with his eyes closed, allowing his long, heavy cape to flutter slightly as he moved forward along with the starship. By vibrating his mental energy at a specific frequency, he successfully submerged himself into sleep. ... Before heading to the Ringworld, the Federal Parliament requested that he return home first. Given that they hadn't caused much trouble in the past two years, and since Lei Ting, who had been flying abroad for over a year, needed to visit the Principal anyway, he actually went back. Of course, before the return journey, he finished up one last resource collection mission. The target of this mission was a desolate region between the Orion Arm and the Perseus Arm, where a surface-level civilization had once existed. It was a wide asteroid belt rich in minerals, containing two planets of roughly equal size that literally huddled together. These two planets shone under the light of two aging red stars. They were interlocked, orbiting one another with intense and chaotic gravity. Their surfaces glowed with a beautiful orange-red hue due to their high iron content. On one of them, long, yellowish, narrow grooves stretched across the surface—the remains of artificial riverbeds that had once existed there. Perhaps their relationship had once been like that of Earth and Mars, but now they had become a single, inseparable entity. Perhaps those riverbeds had once been valleys, but now they had been ground flat by stellar winds, along with their parent stars, which surely must have been much larger once. Lei Ting floated alone above the junction where the two planets met, looking down into the mottled, orange-red abyss. *Did the life forms that once lived here, the lives that wrote civilization and history here, ever imagine they would see such a day?* According to the calculations of the Federation’s professional departments, the orbital trajectories of these two planets were highly problematic. Their paths had been permanently altered by a war that had occurred here, and they would eventually plunge into the distant red dwarf in a state that transcended orbital resonance. Furthermore, the solar activity of the red dwarf itself was extremely dangerous to normal life, causing these two planets to lose all habitable environments. Powerful induced currents made most conventional civilian technology unusable here. Even the most reckless Star-Net exploration streamers wouldn't dare come here to seek death, for once one approached that red dwarf, it might be very difficult to get back out. Even if they were obsolete versions, radiation-resistant and electromagnetic-shielded military technologies were not things just anyone could get their hands on. The planet with the traces of artificial riverbeds might have once been covered in cities and buildings, but now, the marks of civilization on its surface had long been worn away by stellar storms. Only the riverbeds that once carried water and nurtured life remained. A planet capable of nurturing a complete civilization must contain a vast amount of rich resources that a surface-level civilization would find difficult to fully harvest. And Lei Ting did indeed sense massive metallic veins within them, as well as a few scattered underground structures. Originally, the First Legion’s prepared method of collection was the classic 'Fleet deploys capture nets—Energy weapons shatter the planetary body into an asteroid belt—Collect material from the asteroids trapped within the net.' But that would take far too long. Under the glow of the red suns, Lei Ting, dressed in his solemn uniform and mask, spread his hands. The orange-red counter-rotating twin planets suddenly shuddered. Then, he extended his left hand. Two golden 'Solar Alloy' cubes, which he had created himself and hadn't bothered to give proper names to, sparkled in his palm. The properties of this alloy were extremely unstable, prone to explosion, and possessed terrifying explosive power. Because he had never considered the possibility of anyone else touching or using it when he made it, his creative process was so crude and violent it would have infuriated an entire department of chemical engineers: he simply fused together all the metals whose instability he found appealing and then used the power of the 'Solar Star' to command them not to explode randomly. In addition, he had a black 'Star Alloy.' Its properties were the exact opposite of 'Solar'—it was inert and incredibly tough. Unless influenced by his own power, the stuff wouldn't even deform if thrown into a stellar corona. Of course, at this moment, Lei Ting’s use of the 'Solar Alloy' had nothing to do with its power. It was simply because it was golden and shimmering with shifting shades, matching the color of his abilities. It looked better. Under the red sunlight, the Federation’s 'Solar Star'—who had torn apart dozens of enemy conspiracies over the past few years—held two points of golden light in his hands. A moment later, they transformed into the likeness of the planets below him. In the distant fleet, one of this year’s interns stared curiously at the light-screen projection. "What is he doing...?" "He’s preparing to save time." Not far away, Lucas sat with his arms crossed and legs hooked over each other, smiling nonchalantly. At this moment, the 'Solar Star’s second-greatest lackey'... no, the 'Solar Star’s second-most trusted subordinate' was wearing a daily uniform. A mask covered all the scars on the left side of his face. He sat with Shane, who was also in uniform, his blonde hair and purple eyes striking. The two heads of blonde hair, differing in shade and length, shimmered under the lights like two small suns. "Save time?" A girl in the crowd turned her head curiously. The name 'He Hana' and other information flashed in Lucas’s eyepiece. "How does he save time?" "Just watch and you'll see," he laughed brightly. "We'll be able to go back very soon." Hana blinked and gave a seemingly obedient nod, turning back to look at the light-screen and the majestic figure that was so different from the kind older brother in her memories. After their parting eight years ago, she had caught up with the learning pace of her peers and then ground her way through extra grades. Now, though she should have been in high school based on her age, she had already entered the Second Year internship as a preparatory student of the First Military Academy. This had been arranged by her current mother, He Yan, through Zong Angye’s connections. She didn't have much to do; she was mainly there to get used to life on a starship in advance. The reason she dared to do this was that her mental strength had been measured at 'A-rank,' her gender was predicted to differentiate as an Alpha, and her ability was likely an attack-oriented reinforcement type. Furthermore, the skills she had honed in the dark alleys since childhood made her naturally indifferent to rules and authority. This made her current behavior somewhat annoying to others, and it also made her dismissive of Federal propaganda and the rumors circulating on the Star-Net. *Something's wrong with the 'Solar Star'? What's wrong with him? The 'Solar Star' doesn't seem human? He looks plenty human to me!* He was a person, of course. A god or whatever else wouldn't have remembered to bring her drinks! *** Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation --- | --- | --- 虚灵位面 | Ethereal Plane | A dangerous dimension connected to espers. 异魔 | Abyssal Demon | Corrupted entities from the Ethereal Plane. 呓语 | Whispers | Mental pollution/auditory hallucinations from the Ethereal Plane. 阳合金 | Solar Alloy | An unstable, golden alloy created by Lei Ting. 星合金 | Star Alloy | A black, inert, and extremely durable alloy created by Lei Ting. 环世界 | Ringworld | A megastructure used to preserve civilizations. 综合体 | The Consortium | A major galactic governing body. 猎户旋臂 | Orion Arm | A spiral arm of the galaxy. 英仙旋臂 | Perseus Arm | A spiral arm of the galaxy. 赫哈娜 | He Hana | A girl Lei Ting previously helped, now a student. 宇宙星网联合 | Universal Star-Net Union | An interstellar organization managing the Star-Net. 双S | Double-S | The highest rank of esper power mentioned. 阳星 | Solar Star | Lei Ting's title/codename.