Christopher's Shadow Journey
"That's right, Theseus just needs a stepping stone. His current situation is probably a little better than mine, but not too far off!" After learning that there was life on the other side of the starry sky, Lu Li quickly grasped the intelligence about that planet through information calculation and measurement, as well as the information revealed by those people.
Theseus was, after all, transmitting power from outside the world. The fact that he could forcibly reduce the Technology Zeroing of the Starshine World to zero was already the limit of this universe. If it were to spread throughout the entire universe, it would probably require Theseus to enter this world entirely.
"So the Technology Zeroing only applies to the Starry Sky Planet. Theseus used the Starshine World as a springboard to further control the Starshine World before taking control of this universe." Lu Li silently deduced Theseus's methods.
Theseus clearly noticed this as well, but he didn't hide it, which allowed Lu Li to observe everything. This gave Lu Li a clear understanding of how to control a world.
"Perhaps I should try something new in another world..." The dark planet seemed to be calculating something.
Captain Christopher regained consciousness and was still sitting in his captain's seat. Fortunately, he was wearing a triple seatbelt, which prevented him from being thrown out. The Christopher stumbled and lurched, causing some deformation inside, and some instruments, circuits, and the outer casing suffered unclear damage.
"Hey, is everyone alright?" the captain shouted. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but in this environment, he felt himself becoming stronger. He knew that after the chaotic crashes, even after waking up, he would need some time to readjust his physical functions.
The crew gradually regained consciousness. There were a total of 28 people, all of whom were safe and sound. The spaceship was not large. The Empire had sent out more than a thousand reconnaissance ships, and the number was still increasing. If the Empire had sufficient resources, there might have been even more ships.
"How's the exploration going? Did we encounter a sinkhole? Where are we?" Captain Christopher's series of questions were subsequently answered.
"Our probes seem to be malfunctioning; they appear to have been taken over by something." A crew member pulled up an image that appeared on the spaceship's large screen. All the flying probes were flashing with a dark purple light, floating outside the spaceship, and their bodies were constantly changing, with what appeared to be some dark red substance spreading on them.
"According to the spacecraft's records, we suddenly collapsed from the planet's surface. After about several tens of minutes of impact, we apparently experienced a space travel, and then after a few more minutes of falling, we landed here."
"As for where we are, I think we already have the answer!" The clerk pointed to a display screen on the other side, which had previously been calculating the regular gravitational fluctuations. "We were unconscious for almost ten hours, and the decryption results are in!"
The crew looked in that direction and saw only one sentence. "Welcome to the Shadow Kingdom!"
"So they mean to make us disembark?" The captain looked at the probes lined up in two rows, forming a path and radiating light. Suddenly, a pitch-black creature floated over from afar.
The creature's main body was a pitch-black sphere, behind which were several pitch-black tentacles with a mechanical texture. It came to the front of the spaceship through the path formed by the probes, and the pitch-black sphere was opened, revealing a huge eye inside.
Light converged in her eyes, projecting out a large number of particles that eventually coalesced into a little girl of eleven or twelve years old. The little girl wore a jet-black dress and had a black eye patch covering her eyes.
The little girl stood outside the spaceship, looking up in their direction. Although her eyes were covered, everyone present felt that she was watching them. The captain took a deep breath and said, "Put on your hazmat suits and go meet the owner of this place."
"Does anyone need to stay behind to guard the spaceship?" the clerk asked.
"There's no need. If they can take over our probes, they can take over our spaceship too. Leaving people on board is just for peace of mind." The captain was quite philosophical about it. "This is their territory now."
Twenty-eight people donned protective suits and stepped out of the spaceship. The environment here was completely dark, with only the detectors and the spaceship emitting some light. The ground was covered with objects of unknown material. The air, after testing, was similar to that of their home planet, but with the addition of many unknown substances.
Twenty-eight people followed the little girl in black and walked forward. There was not much communication between them. After meeting, the little girl simply said "Follow me" in Imperial English and walked forward on her own.
These people had no choice but to follow, surrounded by their detectors, which emitted light around them, allowing them to survey their surroundings.
Most shadow creatures have Dark Vision, so there is basically no light in the Shadow Kingdom. Of course, it's not completely without light; some shadow plants emit various colors of light to protect themselves from being eaten by shadow creatures and to repel some light-averse creatures.
The ground was unusually flat, covered with all sorts of plants, mostly jet black or dark purple, though other colors also existed. Some of these plants, sensing the approach of life, suddenly burst into flames.
They even saw some plants rip their roots out and run away as soon as they approached. Of course, they also saw some strange creatures that looked at them with obvious malice, but after seeing the little girl leading the way, they all lazily left.
The most terrifying thing was some large, purplish-red Giant Snake. Their seemingly human-like eyes stared at the group with great interest as they slowly followed behind them, but made no other move.
Later, they saw some floating creatures in the sky. These creatures were completely transparent, shaped like ghosts, and looked at them with obvious malice. However, most of them left afterward.
Finally, they saw a huge city with numerous black square towers inside. Floating in the sky were countless eye-like and tentacle-like creatures. These creatures were of various shapes and sizes, but generally, they were characterized by their eyes, some with tentacles, and some with wings.
The city is surrounded by a huge wall, and in front of the main gate is a creature with a human body and a snake tail. Her captivating figure and beautiful face are so stunning that if you ignored the snake tail, all twenty-eight people would probably fall in love with her.
"Praise be to you, Lord of a Thousand Dimensions," the Snake Woman said respectfully to the projection of the little girl. "May the Shadow Lord cover the heavens for eternity!!"
The little girl nodded and vanished. The eye-shaped creature floated back into the sky, while the Snake Woman turned her gaze to the twenty-eight people before her. "Humans, the Snake Mother wishes to see you!"