Chapter 867 - 866: Dislocated Time and Space

Chapter 867: Chapter 866: Dislocated Time and Space

Red disappeared after being swallowed by the Mirror Rift, losing all contact, and in this vast square, all you can see is an endless queue and the buzzing sounds coming from all directions.

However, all those sounds overlapped at one place, and when Yu Sheng and his group tried to discern carefully and extract useful information, they found that they couldn’t hear a single coherent sentence—as if the voices in the square were merely background noise of this "illusion" without any real effective information content.

Yu Sheng and his entourage moved through the crowd in the square, attempting to gather intelligence from elsewhere.

"What are these people queuing for..." Erin muttered while clutching Yu Sheng’s head, "And are these really all vampires? They just look like ordinary people... some are even ugly. I thought vampires were all handsome and beautiful..."

Yu Sheng did not speak, he just looked up at the sky—beyond the dome, the stretched-out "sun" was emitting weak sunlight as if on the brink of death.

This world should be very cold, perhaps so cold that it couldn’t sustain life under normal circumstances, and far beyond the square, you could vaguely see huge glacier structures standing on the land, even though they weren’t clear, Yu Sheng intuitively felt that something might be frozen within those glaciers.

This place was definitely not originally like this.

The heavy energy dome shielded the coldness from outside, while the long queue in the square slowly moved forward. The people lining up looked completely like ordinary humans—some expressionless, some showing faint fear, some even harboring a bit of hope for the future.

Yu Sheng walked directly through these illusions and at the end of the square, he saw the goal of those queuing.

Several large Rune Arrays were prominently arranged on the ground, each covering almost the size of a house, inside each array were densely packed complex Array patterns, with dark red crystal towers and silver-gray metal devices standing at their edges.

Soldiers in Demon Pattern Armor were maintaining order beside the Rune Arrays, and behind the soldiers stood huge Combat Dolls made of metal and crystal, people in the square queued to enter these Rune Arrays, and whenever an array was filled, the device next to the Array lit up, and then hundreds of people would disappear amidst vibrating light.

Beyond these Arrays floated a giant Magic Light Screen, depicting prosperous cities and factory buildings, and a bright "sun" shining on everything.

Hu Li widened her eyes at the sight, tugging at Yu Sheng’s sleeve: "Where did these people go?"

"Looks like some kind of teleportation device," Lucrecia said with a slight frown, "...a very advanced magic civilization."

Zheng Zhi was unfamiliar with the situation: "Teleport? Teleport to where?"

"Some sanctuary," Yu Sheng said casually, recalling the scenes he had heard and seen in the illusion earlier, "They’ve hidden themselves ... and their Queen is outside the sanctuary."

Erin’s eyes suddenly lit up: "Hey, can we use this thing to teleport to that sanctuary or whatever?"

"Theoretically... it’s not possible," Lucrecia shook her head, "What we’re seeing are recorded historical projections, like these people around us, we can’t interact with them, so in theory, this teleportation array should be ineffective for us."

After the Star Sea Witch’s words fell, Yu Sheng suddenly shook his head: "...maybe not necessarily."

As he spoke, he reached out and pointed to a corner of one of the devices next to the Rune Array.

A cluster of unremarkable white flowers bloomed on the metallic surface, around which the still air was silent, and yet the flowers were slightly swaying.

Erin paused for a moment, then joyfully tugged at Yu Sheng’s hair: "Hey, hey! The old tree left a mark!"

Yu Sheng raised his hand to press the restless little paw and was the first to step toward the teleportation array: "Anyway, let’s go up and try it."

Zheng Zhi and Hu Li followed closely, and the group mingled into the queue of people standing on the Rune Array.

The Magic Patterns beneath their feet started to glow, their vision began to shake, and suddenly, a strong sense of weightlessness came—Yu Sheng felt a momentary blur before seeing clearly again, realizing he was inside a magnificent hall.

Towering pillars supported a solemn dome, the floor of the hall was covered in densely packed Magic Patterns, many complex devices whose function was unclear arranged in various places, with magical projections hovering above them used to monitor certain areas or data, and in the center of the hall stood a giant crystal prism—a familiar figure in a white long dress was standing beside the prism.

Yu Sheng looked at the scene in shock, this place didn’t look like a sanctuary where those people were queuing to go from the square earlier, instead, it reminded him of the "surveillance fortress" he had reached after touching the "parasitic moon" of the Moonlight Church—although it greatly differed from his memory, the style and grandeur of the two places shared a subtle similarity.

Yu Sheng immediately turned back to call Erin and the others, but upon turning he found himself alone in the place, standing solitary.

"Erin?" Yu Sheng blinked, subconsciously calling out to the Little Puppet in his mind, "Can you hear? Where have you guys gone?"

But the only response was an empty echo in his heart.

Yu Sheng frowned, although it was unexpected, he quickly calmed down, also recalling the reminder from the Tree Angel—

"The Dark Moon Royal Court" is very unstable internally, even with guidance, unexpected situations can still arise...

It seems this is one of those surprises.

Yu Sheng composed himself, cautiously walking towards the figure standing at the center of the hall in front of the crystal prism.

The same face as Red, the same physique, the only difference being that she had her eyes open, her reddish eyes calmly watching the crystal in front of her.

This was clearly not the "Boundary Affairs" official who acted alongside Yu Sheng, but merely a historical projection—the Queen of Dark Moon Royal Court.

The Queen of Dark Moon showed no reaction to Yu Sheng’s approach, instead focusing intently on the crystal before her. The surface of the enormous magic device was covered in numerous changing graphs and lines, while beyond these charts were blurry surveillance images from unknown sources.

In those surveillance images, Yu Sheng saw soldiers operating the massive apparatus, navigating a colossal cargo from some kind of orbital hub into dark tunnels, figures bustling in the command room, and some scenes that seemed to be on mountain tops, monitoring the distant sky’s red glow.

Yu Sheng looked around, finding that besides himself, the only person in the hall was the Queen of Dark Moon—there were no other "Red" entities, nor any so-called guards or attendants.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a brief hum from the crystal prism, followed by a voice emanating from within—

"Your Majesty, the transfer progress has reached 99.97%, we are about to... close the gate."

The Queen standing before the crystal gently nodded: "Mm, proceed as planned."

"Are you... okay over there?" the voice from within the crystal hesitated.

"Everything is fine here."

"... The gate is about to close, there are still some people who wish to remain with you..."

"A pointless sacrifice," the Queen of Dark Moon spoke with a calm voice, a visage identical to Red’s, yet her tone carried a strange and undeniable authority, "I am much stronger than you mortals—as opposed to pondering these matters which offend me, you should complete your tasks properly. I do not wish to have to educate a bunch of primates regressed to savages when the gate opens again in a thousand years."

The voice within the crystal was silent for a few seconds before replying calmly and firmly, "Yes, I shall obey your command."

A few streams of light flickered across the crystal surface, and then the channel to the sanctuary was closed.

The slender "queen" stood there quietly, her expression as immutable as frozen ice—no one knew what she was thinking at that moment, and those who had already entered the sanctuary, including Yu Sheng standing right in front of the Queen, knew nothing.

After a period of unknown duration, Yu Sheng heard a deep rumbling coming from afar, the ground subtly shaking as if some gigantic mechanical structures were closing deep within the earth’s crust.

Time passed further, and yet another unique vibration came from the distance, perhaps signaling that a huge device had begun operating, its rumbling and droning continuing non-stop.

The hall filled with a somewhat mechanical voice broadcast—

"Detecting... gravity environment in the sanctuary, stable, ecological cycle stable, all protective layers intact... 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"Atmospheric dome has closed... phase shield, charging."

The Queen of Dark Moon placed her hand on the crystal surface, seemingly manually operating some system.

"Watcher process activated... shield... normal."

The persistent buzzing reverberated throughout each corner of the hall, some lights turning on while others dimmed.

"Orbit Eye connecting... Mother Star Big Shield functioning normally... Constant Star Station mobilizing..."

Some automatic process had been activated, the Queen of Dark Moon withdrew her hand and then remained in a calm and dignified stance before the crystal.

And for a thousand years, she never left this place again.

...

"Whoa, what place is this! Whoa, what is going on! Whoa, where the heck has Yu Sheng gone again—"

The incessant chatter of a small figure broke the night’s tranquility in a wilderness filled with peculiar rocks, as several silhouettes exchanged puzzled looks.

Luna stood at a height, slowly turning her head to survey the surroundings, with a pair of mechanical eyes shining cold light in the dim night, continuously scanning and assessing the environment.

The view was filled with jagged rocks and large expanses of weathered sand, and in the distance, faint silhouettes resembling ruins could be seen, while farther on the horizon, the land seemed to rise gently in an arc under the darkness, an indistinct outline resembling a boundless high wall.

After the light from the teleportation array flashed, everyone was thrown into this barren and dim place—except Yu Sheng.

"Can you contact the Savior?" Hu Li raised Erin, a hint of tension on his face, "Did anything happen to him?"

Erin writhed in Hu Li’s grip, "No contact yet, but he should be alive. Hey, silly fox, ease up on the grip, you’re gonna break my waist—"

Hu Li’s two ears drooped, a disappointed expression on his face.

"...Silly Hu Li, why do you look disappointed hearing Yu Sheng isn’t dead!"

Hu Li continued with drooped ears, "Because if he were dead, we could contact him in half an hour."

Erin: "...Hey, no, what the hell is wrong with you two?!"