Judging by the scale on the probe, it was something hundreds of times larger than the Jupiter, hovering ahead. At first glance, it resembled a monstrously huge planet.

The Jupiter's size was slightly smaller than a natural star. The volume of all natural stars in the universe was very close; only similar celestial bodies could foster environments suitable for human habitation.

The universe held countless stars—some hundreds or thousands of times larger than a natural star, others as small as dust. For ease of comparison, all sizes were benchmarked against the natural star.

That was no massive planet. According to the probe's readings, it was composed entirely of metal.

A colossal mass of metal hundreds of times larger than the Jupiter—something that could almost never occur naturally. There was only one explanation: it was artificial.

Only the Lansen Empire, having achieved the pinnacle of civilization over the last hundred millennia, could construct a base of this magnitude.

The Jupiter flew straight toward the base. Alarms blared incessantly in the main control room. We are about to dock, Zhong Yun thought, feeling a knot of tension. To enter this base might be to find the clue to returning home—how could he not be nervous?

The Jupiter's speed decreased until, finally, it settled onto the surface of the base.

The base, dormant for tens of thousands of years, stirred to life with the arrival of the Jupiter. The external docking decks parted, revealing a bay large enough to accommodate the ship.

The Jupiter slotted perfectly into the gaping maw of the hatch, embedding itself into the base until only two-thirds of its hull remained visible outside. A gentle shudder ran through the Jupiter; it had landed safely.

"I think we're here," Zhong Yun murmured, looking at the main screen. The display showed that power, shield, and other systems were shut down, and the main AI's voice had ceased. The main control room fell silent.

Then, the doors slid open to either side, revealing a passage.

Zhong Yun looked at the door, then glanced at Xiao Ling, thinking: What is coming will come; if it's misfortune, I can't run from it. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Let's go out."

Xiao Ling offered no objection. The 'Lone Swan' mech stirred and moved toward the entrance.

Zhong Yun stared in astonishment as the mech suddenly moved on its own, feeling slightly dazed. "Xiao Ling, you—you can control the mech?"

"Yes," Xiao Ling replied from the side.

Zhong Yun paused, then realized how foolish the question was. If Xiao Ling could control a massive spacecraft like the Jupiter, controlling a small mech should be simple.

He wondered about Xiao Ling's skill level in piloting the mech. Just as Zhong Yun was about to ask, Xiao Ling spoke first, "This is a newly acquired capability after the reboot. Also, I previously had a dedicated mech, which I lost while fighting alongside my previous owner."

"Fighting? Who was your enemy?" Zhong Yun asked, suddenly eager. He had always been intensely curious about Xiao Ling's origins, but Xiao Ling's database contained no information about where it came from.

At first, he assumed Xiao Ling was manufactured by the Jialan Kingdom, but now, things seemed more complex. While the Jialan Kingdom was famous, its actual strength was not exceptional; it was merely a Phase Two advanced civilization. Its renown stemmed mainly from its specialization in the arts.

But which nation manufactured Xiao Ling? It was no ordinary intelligence; its logical analysis capabilities were immensely powerful, and its database held complete records for numerous nations—the sheer volume of stored information was staggering.

And this was only Xiao Ling in its incomplete state. What level of capacity would it reach if its functions were fully unlocked? Zhong Yun felt immense anticipation.

Besides its origin, Zhong Yun was deeply interested in Xiao Ling's former owner. He desperately wanted to know what kind of person Xiao Ling's previous master had been. Unfortunately, that section of Xiao Ling’s database remained locked.

Now that the topic of the previous owner had been raised, Zhong Yun was determined to learn everything.

"Our enemy was the Lansen Empire," Xiao Ling stated. The words greatly surprised Zhong Yun. Could this be fate crossing their paths? The enemy of the past was reappearing after countless years in this very location.

"Was your previous owner killed by someone from the Lansen Empire?" Zhong Yun asked.

"To be precise, it wasn't the battle between my owner and the Lansen Empire that caused the cosmic collapse. To save my master, the entire mech was lost; only the core remained. We were both sucked into a spatial rift. When we reappeared, it was in the Milky Way. My master died shortly after arriving, grievously wounded from the cosmic collapse, before we could even locate a natural star," Xiao Ling's voice carried a touch of sadness.

Zhong Yun sighed. This history would likely remain unknown to anyone. Who could have imagined that the most powerful nation of the last hundred millennia was destroyed because of a single battle?

He could only imagine the terror of that time. Xiao Ling had mentioned before that in that cosmic collapse, not only was the Lansen Empire ruined, but every civilization in the entire A-Star Sector was annihilated under that disaster. The A-Star Sector, once the most brilliant center of galactic civilization, had been reduced to desolation.

"He must have been an extraordinary person." To confront the most powerful nation in a hundred thousand years and end in mutual destruction spoke volumes of his power.

"You too will become as powerful as him in the future," Xiao Ling suddenly stated.

Zhong Yun laughed heartily. "That's a matter for the future. Right now, we need to get out of this damned place."

The conversation had taken place entirely within the main control room. Now, Zhong Yun walked toward the exit, the mech leading, with him following closely behind.

Zhong Yun moved cautiously. The Jupiter was no longer under his control; who knew how it might treat him, the intruder?

All other adjacent passages were sealed; only one remained open. Zhong Yun braced himself and walked forward, continuing until he passed an exit without incident.

Yet, he dared not lower his guard. In this unfamiliar environment, caution could never be excessive.

Outside the door lay the interior of the base. Before Zhong Yun stretched a long, illuminated ramp. He had no idea if anyone was monitoring this place.

Whoosh. The hatch of the Jupiter sealed shut. Zhong Yun had no choice but to press forward.

The 'Lone Swan' suddenly pivoted. The cockpit hatch on its chest opened, lifting Zhong Yun inside. The hatch closed again.

Immediately, the 'Lone Swan' lifted off, flying to the end of the ramp. At the end was a colossal tunnel, so vast that even the Mercury could pilot directly into it.

After flying for about thirty minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel, which terminated at a solid wall. The 'Lone Swan' halted before it.

A colossal sound boomed out, still in the Lansen Empire’s language. Zhong Yun could not understand a word and felt helpless frustration mounting.

The voice sounded three times, then fell silent.

Zhong Yun was deeply troubled. Without understanding the Lansen language, navigating this base would be impossible. What worried him even more was the urgent need to find a way to control this base.

He had burned his bridges. The Jupiter's main AI had awakened, and Xiao Ling had no way to regain control. He could not return to the Jupiter.

The Mercury, the Mars, Chu Tiange, Ming Yunyu, and the others were all still aboard the Jupiter. All he had were Xiao Ling and a few mechs. Without the Jupiter, he had no way to leave.

He had no food or water on him; he couldn't last long. He hadn't expected to fall into such a perilous situation so easily.

Zhong Yun calculated grimly: he could last a maximum of thirty days. Within that time, he had to find a way to seize control of the base.

Gritting his jaw, he retraced his steps out of the tunnel. He remembered there were other passages branching off from the ramp area.

At Zhong Yun's urging, the 'Lone Swan' pushed its speed to the absolute limit. In less than fifteen minutes, they were back at the original location. Upon arriving, a chill shot through his heart.

"The Jupiter is gone?"

Where the Jupiter had been docked, the space was now empty—nothing remained but a dark, gaping hole that plunged downward beyond sight.

"What in the world happened?" Zhong Yun gasped. In the short time they were gone, the Jupiter had vanished?

"The Jupiter has entered the central core of the base," Xiao Ling's voice chimed in promptly. "I just located the Jupiter using the Mercury's tracking signal."

"They must have gone down that hole," Zhong Yun said, looking at the impossibly deep pit, making an immediate decision. "We're going down too."

As soon as he spoke, the 'Lone Swan' shot forward, plunging headlong into the chasm.

The pit was unlit, pitch black all around, visibility near zero. A powerful beam shot from the 'Lone Swan*'s head, piercing deep toward the bottom.

The 'Lone Swan' followed the edge downward. Desperate to catch up to the Jupiter, Zhong Yun pushed his speed to the maximum, disregarding the danger.

Xiao Ling reported that the Jupiter was still descending, but the distance between the two craft was closing.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the 'Lone Swan' finally caught up to the Jupiter, closing the gap to only a few thousand meters. Zhong Yun slowed his pace, matching the Jupiter's speed.

About a day later, Zhong Yun suddenly saw a burst of light ahead; they had shot out of the dark tunnel and entered a space of immense scale.

The Jupiter stopped, its bulk blocking Zhong Yun’s view and preventing him from seeing the full extent of the space. However, the volume of this chamber was at least five times that of the Jupiter.

The Jupiter began to rotate, mimicking a real planet's spin. Two monstrously large metal pillars extended simultaneously from the top and bottom, bracing the Jupiter's ends. Following this, countless mechanical arms emerged from the walls on either side, crowding inward.

Zhong Yun flinched, but under Xiao Ling's control, the 'Lone Swan' deftly evaded every grasping arm and retreated to the edge of the wall.

A mechanical system voice sounded again in the vast space. Zhong Yun ignored it, focusing only on the Jupiter. He watched as numerous mechanical arms worked upon the Jupiter's hull, wielding an assortment of tools, seemingly performing maintenance.

Zhong Yun waited, poised and ready. The moment the Jupiter's hatch opened, he intended to rush inside.

Just then, the system voice that had sounded several times stopped, replaced by a different language.

Zhong Yun’s expression shifted dramatically. He was intimately familiar with this language; it was the Common Tongue, universally used across the entire civilized universe.

P: Work was heavy today, so this is the only chapter.