Damn Equipment Department, How Much Did You Guys Take

The successive abnormal changes kept Cole on edge. First, there was the massive radiation, almost unbearable even for them.

Now, there was an unknown gravitational field fluctuation. And to top it off, a huge surge in dark energy.

Cole wouldn't even doubt it if someone said a god-making civilization was experimenting on this planet.

"Dark energy? Gravitational field? Where have I felt this before? Wait, since when can we detect dark energy?"

Cole looked at the Taotie soldier beside him, puzzled. Sensing his commander's gaze, the soldier quickly reached out and highlighted a device on the light screen.

"This is a dark energy detector, the latest equipment from Dead Song Academy. I heard it's related to the Thousand-Year War plan, that there are super-soldiers on that planet."

"Just this thing? It doesn't look like much." Cole waved his hand, and a cup-shaped device from the light screen floated into his hand for him to examine closely.

"Hmm, it must be a very outdated version. There's nothing we can do about it, we can't observe the dark plane, nor can we use dark energy.

The technological gap is too large; even if they gave us something too advanced, we wouldn't be able to use it."

"No, isn't this thing's alarm putting us right under the Academy's nose? What's the difference between that and taking off our pants? Turn it off! Turn it off quickly!"

"Sir."

The Taotie soldier beside him didn't execute the order as quickly as he expected, instead looking at him with a sense of helplessness.

"This small amount of dark energy fluctuation is a big deal to us, but to the Academy, it's not even a fart.

We tested it before we came. When we were 100 million kilometers away from the Academy, this device was on the verge of collapse due to data overload. It shows the terrifying dark energy around the Academy; they don't have the energy to manage it."

"That doesn't mean..."

"Each 'cup' flows out from the Academy. Do you think it would be useful even if we turned it off?"

"Alarm! Alarm!"

"The gravitational wave detector is suddenly outputting a Castroer waveform—a precursor to spatial-temporal collapse recorded in the Academy's textbooks!

The radiation source's morphology on the tactical screen has changed. The gravity arrows in the northern latitude 37.2-degree region are simultaneously pointing in twelve directions! The spacetime curvature has changed, suspected to be a non-linear change in the gravitational field."

The piercing alarm interrupted Cole's questioning, and everyone quickly returned to their positions to start operating.

"What in the world is going on? How can such a dog-like planet have such frequent gravitational field fluctuations, even triggering changes in spacetime curvature?"

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

More than a dozen Taotie soldiers were nervously operating the detection equipment in front of them when suddenly a soldier began to report:

"Commander Cole, I know."

"Spit it out!"

"Yes, yes. But I need to access some encrypted files."

As the commander and one of the planners, Cole had the authority. A permission authentication window popped up on his helmet:

"According to Article 17 of the Styx Galaxy Subordinate Civilization Management Law, applying to unseal Level 3 archives of the Demon Civilization..."

The situation was urgent, and Cole quickly approved it after a brief glance.

"Many years ago, an instructor arranged by the Academy mentioned it briefly when explaining the light energy shields of the vanguard flagship.

They said Demon Queen Morgana was extremely skilled in spacetime abilities, and the Demon civilization's battleship, Demon One, had something called a space-time shield.

That thing was beyond our comprehension, but the residual image of the space-time shield demonstrated by the instructor was a fragmented model that the Academy reverse-engineered using the Great Clock. It could attack and escape, incredibly powerful."

Saying this, he magnified the detection results on the light screen.

"Look, it seems to have some similarities with this."

"You mean Morgana is here?"

Hearing this, Cole's face instantly tensed. This queen, known as the greatest evil in the known universe, was no easy opponent.

If their Taotie warship appeared inexplicably and disrupted their plans, they wouldn't be able to escape.

"Of course not. Judging from the monitoring results, this change is quite crude. There are no signs of artificial control. The Demon civilization is one of the most powerful god-making civilizations in the known universe.

If their technology were this garbage, they would have been burned to ashes by the Angels long ago."

"Next time, finish what you have to say in one go, don't pause like that."

The soldier's explanation immediately eased Cole's burden. He glared at the soldier with a stern tone.

"Yes, yes."

"It's good that it's not the Demon civilization. In the Styx Galaxy, I'll fight anyone except the Academy. Locate the gravitational field's position; perhaps this planet can give us some surprises."

As the words fell, the dark purple Taotie warship deployed the Abyssal Eye detection array, activating seven thousand sensors simultaneously.

Commander Cole's eyes reflected the holographic star map, his tentacles tapping on the control panel, producing a harsh metallic sound.

"Initiate Level 3 radiation survey protocol, scan depth to the core."

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

"Detected abnormal surface gamma-ray values, basic reading 5.7×10^4 μSv/h."

Data cascaded across the Taotie soldier's helmet: "Commander, this value is enough to bake our soldiers into charcoal."

Cole sneered upon hearing this, "The primitive people of the Divine River Body aren't afraid, so what are you afraid of? Continue deep-sea scanning."

A hexagonal probe launched from the warship's belly, its surface covered in alloy scales that shrieked in the radiation. As the drill pierced the atmosphere, the monitoring screen suddenly flashed a blinding red light.

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

"Dark energy radiation pulse waveform is abnormal, exhibiting a perfect sine curve!"

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

The Abyssal Eye main array on the warship's belly began to rotate, its emitted scanning beam forming a strange structure in space.

"Quantum entanglement positioning complete, radiation source locked at latitude 37.2 degrees North."

"Warning! Information backlash encountered!"

"What's going on? How could we be hit with a backlash?" Cole turned pale with shock upon seeing the message.

"The spacetime curvature changes of the radiation source caused fluctuations in the quantum channel, leading to..." The soldier didn't have time to say more; the alarms had already explained everything.

"Breaching the quantum fluctuation barrier... Spacetime curvature range expanding, gravitational field change about to strike the warship.

The information backlash has already begun causing problems with the warship's operating system. The gravity stabilizers are operating at maximum capacity, and objects inside the cabin are beginning to float due to anti-gravity."

The soldier operating the detection device struggled to translate under Cole's murderous gaze.

"Officer Cole, we don't have the ability to operate quantum entanglement, let alone manufacture equipment. This detection device also came from the Academy."

"It's outdated too?"

"Yes, yes."

"How outdated?"

"Five, five." The soldier stammered.

"Stop the damn nonsense and spit it out, fifty years, right?"

"Five thousand years!"

"Damn, damn the Academy, damn the equipment department. You guys really have some nerve. How much money did you take, dammit! Dammit!"

Consumed by rage, Cole no longer cared about his respect for the Academy. In his fury, he could only curse loudly.

"Analysis failed! Activating backup plan—Photon Mimic Reconstruction!"

"Initiating God-slaying level scanning protocol! Mobilize three stellar furnaces for power!" Cole's eyes turned a dark red.

"Radiation source power detected to be significantly weakened, gravitational field collapsing, spacetime curvature returning to normal."

"Alarm cleared!"

"Wh-what happened? Are we safe?"

The Taotie soldiers wiped the sweat from their faceplates. Everyone, including Cole, sat back in their chairs as if they had just woken from a nightmare, speechless for a long time.

The detection device, however, did not rest. With the gravitational field and spacetime curvature returning to normal, the detector from an astronaut-level civilization began to function as it should.

On the holographic sand table, Yuan's dying body appeared, particles spewing from every wound.

"Is this the radiation source?" Cole murmured to himself.

"Officer, I think we have hope."

"Yeah, this Divine River Body is truly a monster."