Chapter 1451: The Anomalous Zone

As Asalina and Cassandra stood by the observation window, discussing the possibility that this massive space station might possess a “self-repair system,” Nicholas—nicknamed “Egghead” by his crew—floated through the expansive “connecting module” with a mix of curiosity and excitement. To him, this metallic sanctuary was nothing short of breathtaking.

To an outsider, Nicholas might have seemed like he was aimlessly drifting about the room. But in truth, his extraordinary senses penetrated deep into the labyrinth of steel and polymers that made up the station. Beneath the layers of metal walls, ceilings, and the crisscrossing pipes and corridors, the Celestial Station revealed itself in a far more complex, three-dimensional, and astonishing form.

He paused mid-air, his gaze fixed downward.

Beneath their feet lay kilometers of deep structural layers, shrouded in darkness and cold, where dormant chambers and ancient systems lay untouched. The colossal station was in a state of deep hibernation—and from what Nicholas could tell, this slumber had lasted for untold hundreds of thousands of years.

Something about this didn’t sit right with him.

Nicholas’s unique perception allowed him to grasp the station’s astonishing technological sophistication and its incredibly robust construction better than anyone else. He knew this space giant was far more durable than most imagined. Rough calculations told him that if the Celestial Station had only fallen into disrepair and dormancy within the last few hundred or thousand years, that would be understandable. But if it had been dormant for over a hundred thousand years… then it should have suffered little to no damage during that time.

Was it some internal failure that caused the station to shut down? A system-level attack or infiltration? Or did the “Voyagers” sometimes produce shoddy workmanship by accident?

Nicholas pondered these questions as he extended his senses deeper. The cold metal walls seemed to peel away like curtains in his mind’s eye, revealing a translucent, almost ghostly quality to the station’s structure. He sank closer to the core energy grid near the station’s central ring axis—but then, his perception hit a wall. He could go no further.

Even with his special talents, there were limits when confronting something as vast as the Celestial Station.

The sound of metal footsteps echoed nearby, and Alice RS-6’s voice came through Nicholas’s mental “ears”: “Commander, environmental scan complete. No suspected control interfaces detected.”

Nicholas turned toward the “Iron Commander.” From his perspective, Alice was a beautiful being—not just in appearance, which was indeed attractive by human standards—but in the intricate mechanical design, the sturdy internal exoskeleton, and the hidden modular tools within her limbs. She was far more elegant than any fragile human flesh-and-blood.

Too bad she wasn’t a sphere.

Nicholas sighed softly to himself. A low hum vibrated within him. “This area is probably just a transitional zone for station personnel to rest and enjoy the view. The main control nodes should be deeper inside.”

“Shall we proceed further?” Alice’s inorganic eyes fixed on her temporary superior, her tone and expression cold and rigid. Her freshly installed cognitive core lacked much experience in social interaction, but Nicholas didn’t mind. “My soldiers and I are in good condition.”

Nicholas scanned the hall, confirming the logistics team’s progress in setting up a temporary supply point. His body shifted slightly. “Notify the Dragons and the Sirens to assemble the vanguard. We move forward.”

Under the commander’s orders, an advance squad quickly formed. The main force would continue establishing camps and supply points in this connecting module, while the vanguard—led by several team leaders and Nicholas himself—pressed onward into the dark, silent chambers ahead.

This elite team of a dozen or so moved out from the spacious “rest hall” with its large observation windows and good visibility. They passed through a corridor where lighting and gravity had just been restored. Inside this silent steel giant, they explored as they advanced. Asalina and Bellanta led the Dragon contingent on the flanks, Alice RS-6’s iron soldiers marched alongside them, and at the very front, Cassandra’s Siren scouts took point. Nicholas was protected in the center of the formation.

After weeks of operating within this ancient station, the “joint engineering and exploration team” had developed an effective protocol: Sirens scouted ahead, their resilience and combat prowess unmatched; Dragons guarded the middle, shielding the commander; and the agile, multi-sensor iron soldiers brought up the rear, scanning and recording the environment.

Why put the Sirens in front? Well, those who knew, knew.

They passed through multiple connecting corridors, encountering several temporarily sealed bulkheads. Nicholas’s senses told him they were nearing the end of the current ring segment, and the energy flow deep within the walls was growing unstable.

From experience, this meant they were approaching a “deactivated module.” Some kind of load-balancing system was attempting to reroute power from active sections to critical systems in the dormant area, causing a local energy shortage.

At that moment, a towering gate appeared at the corridor’s end.

The bulkhead loomed like a fortress gate, wide enough to allow several armored vehicles side by side. Its silver alloy surface bore strange emblems—symbols that had appeared repeatedly throughout the station. They were neither language nor decoration but likely marks representing a department or faction within the Voyager fleet.

The corridor’s lighting dimmed noticeably near the gate, and a faint, dark red glow pulsed slowly near the frame.

One Siren scout flicked her tail and climbed close to the gate, poking the cold metal with its tip before waving to the others. “No response.”

“Another power outage… but I’ve never seen a gate this large before,” Nicholas muttered, scanning the mechanical structures nearby. “The control mechanism seems intact but inactive. I’m trying to reroute local lighting power to the gate’s control system. But before opening it, we should confirm there’s no danger on the other side.”

“I’ll go,” the Siren who had tested the gate volunteered, patting her chest confidently. “The door isn’t fully sealed—I sense a tiny gap at the bottom. I’ll slip through and check it out!”

With that, her entire form suddenly exploded into a cloud of mist. The vapor contracted and condensed into a living puddle of water. Under Asalina and Bellanta’s curious gazes, the animated pool flowed toward the massive door and began seeping through the narrow gap at its base.

As the Siren had said, the door wasn’t completely shut. The gap was too small to see with the naked eye but just enough for a Siren to slip inside…

After a while, the living puddle vanished through the gate. Asalina immediately looked to Cassandra and asked the question she had been asking for days: “Is she dead?”

“Not yet,” Cassandra replied, sensing the presence beyond the door and waving her hand. “She’s reforming… seems stable… Ah, there’s a message! She says the other side is a vast open space. Aside from lighting failures, everything else seems normal—temperature, pressure, gravity all fine.”

Cassandra frowned, listening intently to the Siren’s psychic echo. Her tone grew strange. “She says… there’s something like a huge tree in the darkness. Or maybe it’s not a tree—something else. The atmosphere feels odd, so she’s hesitant to approach. But where she is now, there’s no immediate danger.”

“A huge tree? And maybe not a tree? What nonsense is that?” Bellanta muttered, though she seemed used to the Sirens’ mix of reliability and eccentricity. She quickly turned to the commander. “Nicholas, it sounds like there’s no major threat beyond the door. Shall we open it?”

Nicholas hesitated only briefly before deciding. “Everyone, step back. I’m opening the door.”

The team obeyed immediately, retreating as Nicholas moved to a safer spot. Drawing on the experience gained over the past weeks, he began manipulating the control systems behind the gate. Though he couldn’t directly control energy flow, most of the station’s power systems relied on physical conduits—metallic carriers that, in his perception, were obedient “metal servants.” With careful, precise adjustments, he rerouted some energy circuits, gradually reactivating the gate’s control unit.

The corridor lights dimmed further, a low hum rose from the gate’s sides, and moments later, mechanical clicks and a hiss of pressure release echoed. The massive, seemingly impenetrable gate slowly slid open to both sides.

Before Asalina stretched an enormous, dimly lit space.

“This is…” she gasped, staring at a chamber even larger than the “assembly hall” in the transit module. Though shrouded in darkness, she immediately sensed the staggering breadth and the soaring height of the vaulted ceiling. Within the seemingly endless gloom, faint shadows flickered—emergency lights here and there casting eerie, shifting silhouettes. The strange interplay of light and shadow made her tense. “This place… it’s unlike any other area we’ve seen so far…”

“Look over there!” Belranta suddenly pointed into the depths of the darkness beside her. “Is that the ‘tree’ the sea witch mentioned?”

Asalina immediately followed her finger. Amid the dim shadows, she finally made out an enormous, unusual shape—countless vague forms stretched upward from the ground like thorns or crystalline spikes, twisting and intertwining as they climbed higher. Halfway up, they spread outward in all directions. The faint glow from the emergency lights cast a dull shimmer on these coiling thorns, giving them the vague outline of trunks, canopies, and exposed roots. At first glance… it really did look like a giant tree.

But it absolutely wasn’t a tree.

“More light—this place needs more light!” Asalina called out, raising her hand to cast a bright illumination spell. Yet, a flicker of doubt crept into her mind—

With the night vision of a dragonborn, how could she still not see clearly here?

The hall was dim, but not completely dark. There were plenty of faint light sources, like emergency lamps, scattered around. And with the main doors open, the corridor outside was brightly lit. Logically, a flood of light should have poured into the hall through the open doors. So why… was it still so dark here? Why did it feel like the dragon’s eyes were shrouded in shadow, as if some force was suppressing all the light deep within the darkness?

As these unsettling thoughts surfaced, the glowing orb in Asalina’s hand shot upward, followed by a dozen or so other illumination spheres cast by the others. These magical lights should have instantly flooded the entire hall with brightness. Yet, the gloom only lifted slightly.

All the light orbs seemed to be crushed by an invisible force. Their glow faded rapidly into the darkness, almost vanishing.

Asalina stared steadily at the faint, floating specks of light—the “illumination spells”—and suddenly realized something—

Those faint lights that looked like emergency lamps weren’t emergency lighting at all. They were the hall’s full-powered lighting system.

Some powerful shadow force was saturating this place, suppressing every source of light, turning the dimness into an inherent property that permeated the entire hall.

“Everyone, stay alert! Environment is abnormal!” Alice RS-6’s crisp, icy voice rang out through the hall. The ironclad soldiers accompanying them immediately went on high alert. At the same time, the dragons and dragonborn brought by Asalina and Belranta activated their protective gear, ready for any threat emerging from the darkness.

Even the usually carefree sea witches snapped to attention. With a splash of water sounds, they transformed into massive sea demons, armored sea beasts, and tentacles mimicking storm gods. In the darkness, these deep-sea creatures formed an indescribably eerie divine barrier, shielding their comrades.

Asalina scanned the surroundings and swallowed hard.

She couldn’t tell which was more terrifying—the eerie hall itself, or these sea witches who turned into divine beings at the drop of a hat…

And yet, despite the tense atmosphere, nothing happened in the hall.

(Oh, damn!)

(End of chapter)