Damn the Equipment Department, How Much Did You Take?

The successive anomalies had Cole on edge. First came radiation levels so immense that even they could barely withstand them.

Now there were unexplained changes in the Gravitational Field. Good lord, there were also massive fluctuations in Dark Energy.

He would not have doubted it if someone told him a God-making civilization was conducting experiments on this planet.

"Dark Energy? A Gravitational Field? Why does this feel familiar somehow? No, when did we become capable of detecting Dark Energy?"

Cole looked doubtfully at the Taotie soldier beside him. Sensing his commander's gaze, the soldier hurriedly pulled up the device displayed on the light screen.

"This is a Dark Energy detection device, newly issued by the Dead Song Academy. They said that planet in the Thousand-Year War Plan had super soldiers."

"Just this little cup? This thing doesn't look like anything good." With a sweep of his hand, Cole made the cup-shaped device on the light screen float in his palm for closer inspection.

"Yeah, it should be a very outdated version. There's nothing we can do about that. We can't observe the Dark Dimension, nor can we use Dark Energy.

"The technological gap is too vast. Even if they gave us something too advanced, we wouldn't know how to use it."

"No, wouldn't this thing's alarm put us right under the Academy's nose? How is that any different from dropping our pants? Shut it down! Hurry up and shut it down!"

"Sir."

The Taotie soldier beside him did not immediately carry out the order as expected. Instead, he looked at Cole helplessly.

"A fluctuation of this much Dark Energy is a big deal only to us. To the Academy, it isn't even worth a fart.

"We tested it before coming here. When aimed at the Academy from a hundred million kilometers away, this device nearly crashed from data overload. That shows just how terrifying the Dark Energy around the Academy is. They don't have the time to bother with us."

"Even so, we can't—"

"Every 'cup' came from the Academy. Do you think shutting it down would make any difference?"

"Warning! Warning!"

"Gravitational wave detector has suddenly produced a Castrore waveform—this is a precursor to spacetime collapse recorded in Academy textbooks!

"The radiation source pattern on the tactical display has changed. The gravity vectors in the area at 37.2 degrees north latitude are simultaneously pointing in twelve directions! Spacetime curvature is shifting. Suspected nonlinear changes in the Gravitational Field."

The piercing alarm interrupted Cole's questioning. Everyone hurried back to their stations and began operating their equipment.

"What the hell is going on? How could a shitty planet have Gravitational Field changes this frequently, and even trigger changes in spacetime curvature?"

"Slap!"

"Slap!"

More than a dozen Taotie soldiers nervously operated the detection equipment before them. Then one soldier suddenly began his report.

"Commander Cole, I understand now."

"Spit it out!"

"Y-yes. But I need access to some classified files."

As the commander and one of the initiators of the plan, Cole had the necessary authority. An authorization window popped up on his visor.

"Under Article 17 of the Styx Galaxy Sub-Civilization Control Act, applying to unseal Level Three archives of the Demon civilization..."

With the situation so urgent, Cole only glanced at it before swiftly approving the request.

"Many years ago, when the Academy instructor explained the Vanguard Flagship's light-energy shield to us, he mentioned something.

"He said Demon Queen Morgana was exceptionally skilled in spacetime abilities, and that Demon One, the Demon civilization's warship, possessed something called a Space-time shield.

"That thing was beyond our comprehension. However, the Space-time shield afterimage the instructor showed us was an incomplete model reverse-engineered by the Academy through the Great Clock. It could fight and flee, and it was incredibly powerful."

As he spoke, he enlarged the detection results on the light screen.

"Look, sir. Doesn't this seem to work on much the same principle?"

"You're saying Morgana is here?"

At that, Cole's expression immediately turned tense. This queen, hailed as the greatest evil in the known universe, was no harmless figure.

If a Taotie warship suddenly appeared and disrupted whatever she was doing, they would not even be able to run.

"Of course not. Based on the monitoring results, these changes are extremely crude. There are no traces of artificial control. The Demon civilization is one of the strongest God-making civilizations in the known universe.

"If their technology were this trash, the angels would have burned them to ashes long ago."

"Next time you have something to say, say it all in one breath. Stop dragging it out."

The soldier's explanation finally lifted the weight from Cole's heart. He shot him a sidelong glare, his tone stiff.

"Yes, sir."

"As long as it isn't the Demon civilization, it's fine. In the Styx Galaxy, I'll fight anyone except the Academy. Locate the Gravitational Field. Maybe this planet can give us a pleasant surprise."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dark-purple Taotie warship deployed the Abyssal Eye detection array, activating seven thousand sensors at once.

Commander Cole's eyes reflected the holographic star map while his tentacles struck the control console with piercing metallic clinks.

"Activate Level Three radiation census protocol. Scan down to the planetary core."

"Abyssal Eye array charging... Polarization membrane calibration complete."

"Abnormal surface gamma-ray readings detected. Baseline reading: 5.7×10^4 μSv/h."

A torrent of data streamed across the Taotie soldier's visor. "Sir, that level is enough to roast our soldiers into charcoal."

Cole sneered. "Those Divine River Body primitives aren't afraid of it, so what are you afraid of? Continue the deep scan."

A hexagonal probe capsule ejected from the warship's belly. The alloy scales covering its surface shrieked under the radiation. The instant its drill pierced the atmosphere, the monitoring screen suddenly erupted in blinding red light.

"Neutron flux density has exceeded the threshold! 3.2×10^11 particles/cm2!"

"Dark Energy radiation pulse waveform is abnormal, displaying a perfect sine curve!"

"Gravitational lensing detected—the radiation source is bending space independently!"

The Abyssal Eye's main array beneath the warship began to rotate, its scanning beams forming a strange structure in space.

"Quantum entanglement positioning complete. Radiation source locked at 37.2 degrees north latitude."

"Warning! Information backlash encountered!"

"What's going on? How could there be a backlash?" Cole was horrified by the message.

"Changes in the radiation source's spacetime curvature caused fluctuations in the quantum channel, resulting in—" The soldier did not need to explain any further. The alarms had already explained everything for him.

"Breaking through the quantum fluctuation barrier... Spacetime curvature range expanding. Changes in the Gravitational Field are about to strike the warship.

"The information backlash has already caused problems with the warship's Operating System. The gravity stabilizers are overloaded, and objects inside the ship are beginning to float in antigravity."

Under Cole's murderous glare, the soldier operating the detection equipment struggled to translate.

"Commander Cole, we lack the ability to operate quantum entanglement, let alone manufacture such equipment. This detection device also came from the Academy."

"It's outdated too?"

"Y-yes."

"How outdated?"

"F-five..." The soldier fell speechless.

"Stop fucking stammering! Say it! Fifty years?"

"Five thousand years!"

"Damn the Academy! Damn the Equipment Department! You really had the nerve! How much money did you take, you bastards?! Damn it! Damn it!"

Consumed by fury, Cole no longer cared about showing respect to the Academy. Driven mad with anger, he could only curse wildly.

"Analysis failed! Activating backup plan—light-energy mimetic reconstruction!"

"Activate God-slaying level scan protocol! Divert power from three stellar furnaces!" Cole's eyes had turned a bloodshot dark red.

"Radiation source strength has sharply weakened. Gravitational Field has collapsed. Spacetime curvature has returned to normal."

"Alert lifted!"

"W-what happened? Is it safe now?"

The Taotie soldiers wiped sweat from their visors. Along with Cole, everyone sat weakly in their chairs as if they had just awoken from a nightmare, unable to speak for a long time.

But the detection device would not rest. As the Gravitational Field and spacetime curvature returned to normal, the Astral Civilization's detector finally performed as it was meant to.

Yuan's dying body appeared on the holographic sandbox, particle streams spraying from every wound.

"Is this the radiation source?" Cole muttered.

"Sir, I think we have hope."

"Yeah. This Divine River Body is one fucking monster."