Chapter 293 Star Origin Qi

pitch black.

Absolutely pitch black.

The first-generation light corvette, "Po Jun," glided silently through the vacuum of high orbit at an altitude of over 200 kilometers, like a lonely ghost lurking in the deep sea. This light vehicle, originally designed for near-surface defense and barely modified for pressure resistance, was now facing the most severe test of its service life.

Outside the porthole, the massive blue arc of Earth slowly rotated to the left, while to the right stretched an endless, desolate sea of ​​stars. Occasionally, a fragment or two of abandoned satellite debris from an old era drifted by in the distance, like tombstones floating in a cosmic graveyard.

Inside the cramped cabin of the escort vessel, only the instrument panel emitted a faint red light.

"Fifty kilometers from the site of the former 'Tianyan-04' target." Pilot Lao Zhao stared intently at the screen, his voice sounding somewhat dry on the internal communication channel. "Radar indicates a strong radiation field and gravitational perturbations in the airspace ahead."

Qin Lie sat in the passenger seat, one hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, saying nothing, but staring intently at the deep space in front of him that seemed to swallow even starlight.

Based on the data analysis on the main platform, they all knew what they were about to face. It was not a monster that could be cut down with flying swords, but a high-level stellar energy powerful enough to completely crush the array nodes.

"Lin Feng, has the data been updated?" Qin Lie asked in a deep voice.

In the back seat, Lin Feng fastened his seatbelt tightly, his hands rapidly bobbing on the tactical terminal: "The wave crest is very stable. But Captain Qin, I only realized when we got closer that Tianyan-04 is not the 'source' of that energy eruption."

"Explain it more clearly."

"It's more like a 'puddle'," Lin Feng said, pointing to a complex electromagnetic topology diagram on the screen. "Based on the data models collected along the way, this energy is actually like an extremely thin 'background fog,' which is naturally diffused throughout the high-orbit vacuum. The reason it shows a high-intensity peak here at Tianyan-04 is due to structural issues."

Lin Feng pulled up a picture of the architectural remains of FAST-04: "This is an old-era meteorological observation station. Although the huge guide array designed to capture solar storms was damaged, it, along with the remaining station structure, formed a structure similar to an underwater 'vortex dead zone' in the vacuum. In addition, the area was backlit for a long time, with low temperatures and a relatively stable radiation field. This caused the energy diffused in the vacuum to slowly deposit and accumulate there, like dust, eventually reaching a concentration that could be locked onto by radar."

Qin Lie understood.

This is not a mine, but a natural water collection pit.

"Radar lock ahead! Visual range 10 kilometers! Prepare to decelerate and enter escort trajectory!" Old Zhao's shout interrupted the conversation.

The main engine of the "Broken Army" began to spray a dark blue exhaust flame in reverse, and the violent vibrations were transmitted to everyone through the metal bulkhead.

When the shadow ahead was fully revealed to everyone, their breathing collectively paused for a beat on the communication channel.

It was a huge and dilapidated metal behemoth.

The massive ring-shaped truss was broken in half, and the malfunctioning solar panels drooped helplessly like broken wings. The entire observatory wreckage was rotating extremely slowly under the influence of weak gravity.

And inside that section of the dilapidated ring structure, which had been in complete darkness for a long time and was backlit...

"The detector is malfunctioning! All readings from the conventional pressure probes are at zero!" Old Zhao reported urgently.

"Ignore the regular sensors." Lin Feng unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned against the porthole, and stared intently outside. "Switch to the psionic filter array, maximum power!"

"Buzz—"

An invisible wave swept out from the front of the escort vessel, covering the wreckage of Tianyan-04.

The next second, everyone saw it.

Deep within the shadow of a broken metal truss, there was neither dazzling brilliance nor scorching flame.

It was a wisp of... almost transparent dark blue cold mist.

It flowed there slowly, or rather, writhed. It looked like liquid moonlight, or like completely frozen air currents. Floating in a weightless vacuum, it gave off a sense of oppression a hundred times heavier than solid steel.

Around this wisp of dark blue mist, the metal surfaces of the Tianyan-04 wreckage, which should have become brittle and peeled off, exhibited an unusually dense and hard luster. It was as if they had been solidified by an invisible, immense force.

"That's it." Qin Lie narrowed his eyes, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the sword hilt. "Get ready to work. Proceed according to plan."

"First trial plan: ordinary probe," Lin Feng ordered.

The hatch slowly opened a crack, and the warship's robotic arm extended a conventional industrial probe, probing into the depths of the shadows.

As soon as we entered the radiation zone surrounding the cold fog.

"Click."

There were no sparks, no explosion. The high-strength alloy probe was instantly covered with a layer of dark frost, and then, as if all its toughness had been drained, it broke into countless tiny metal powders and dissipated into the vacuum.

"Physical probe is unusable. Use array-based traction."

The robotic arm retracted, replaced with a miniature array plate engraved with spirit-gathering array patterns, and was thrown out again.

The array plate had just begun to glow faintly, attempting to draw in the cold mist. In just half a second, the spiritual energy circulation within the array plate completely solidified, the light went out, and it turned into a lifeless piece of scrap iron.

"The traction is ineffective. It completely rejects the pull of 'living' spiritual energy, and even actively freezes the array's return path." Cold sweat beaded on Lin Feng's forehead. "Conventional methods are all useless. We have no choice but to force it."

"Put on the titanium crystal jar," Qin Lie said coldly.

The robotic arm extended again, this time with a heavy, sealed container, half a meter tall and made entirely of high-purity superconducting titanium crystal, fixed to it. Inside the container, inverted "Soul-Suppressing Arrays" were densely engraved.

Since we can't pull it, we'll use pure physical pressure difference and the highest-grade materials to force it in.

"500 meters away. Captain Qin, prepare to raise the shields! The moment the titanium crystal tank is opened, the pressure difference between the inside and outside will cause a local spatial spiritual pressure to go berserk. We can't let the fluctuations affect the ship!" Old Zhao roared.

Qin Lie suddenly stood up, his late-stage Foundation Establishment true essence erupting like a tsunami. He placed his hands on the transmission nodes on the bulkhead, desperately creating a layer of pale golden spiritual energy shield around the escort vessel and the mechanical arm.

"Shield in place! Lin Feng, adjust parameters!"

The robotic arm, carrying the titanium crystal canister, moved inch by inch closer to the wisp of dark blue cold mist.

Four hundred meters.

Three hundred meters.

"Warning! External spiritual pressure is extremely unstable!"

"Warning! The shield has been subjected to extreme cold! The rate of true energy loss has increased dramatically!"

Qin Lie groaned, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. The feeling was like jumping naked into an ice cave of absolute zero; the sluggishness and excruciating pain coursing through his meridians almost made him want to immediately remove his shield. The chill emanating from this thing was a thousand times more terrifying than the damage on the main platform.

"Hold on! Fifty meters left!" Lin Feng's hands blurred across the keyboard as he frantically adjusted the mechanical arm's posture and the pressure parameters of the spirit-suppressing array inside the titanium crystal tank. Only by controlling the array's frequency to a critical limit could he trap it without alerting this icy beast.

ten meters.

Five meters!

"Open the floodgates!" Lin Feng roared, his eyes bloodshot.

The specially designed valve of the titanium crystal can opens instantly.

There is no huge suction force, only a very targeted and weak pressure difference.

The wisp of dark blue mist, extremely reluctantly, followed the pressure difference, like a heavy drop of mercury, and slowly slid towards the entrance of the titanium crystal jar.

"They're inside! Turn off the valve!"

"Bang!"

The moment the valve of the titanium crystal can was tightly closed, a layer of dazzling dark blue light suddenly burst out from the entire surface of the can!

"Warning! The internal pressure of the tank is overloaded by 120%!"

"The wear and tear on the Absolute Spirit Heavy Pressure Array is 70%...80%!"

"We can't hold it in any longer! Retreat!" Lin Feng roared, as the titanium crystal jar was about to be burst apart by the terrifyingly cold and hard mass inside.

Qin Lie severed the transmission of true essence, and the main engine of the escort boat instantly burst into full power.

"boom--"

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, the Po Jun retreated frantically, spitting flames. It took a full thirty kilometers for the suffocating, chilling pressure to dissipate from everyone's hearts.

Inside the cabin, everyone slumped in their seats, panting heavily, their protective suits already soaked with cold sweat.

The robotic arm slowly retracted the titanium crystal container.

The once smooth, mirror-like surface of the jar is now covered with fine ice cracks, and the internal Spirit-Suppressing Array has been completely destroyed.

But it didn't explode.

Under the scan of the psionic filter, everyone could clearly see that deep within the remnants of the array, within the structure desperately held up by the titanium crystal alloy, an extremely faint wisp was quietly suspended...

Dark blue cold mist.

"Gotcha."

Lin Feng's voice trembled violently as he stared intently at the almost negligible sample. "Captain Qin, we've caught it."

No one cheered. Because everyone knew that this seemingly calm energy had almost easily wiped them out.

"Send a message to the surface control room to report to the ground."

Qin Lie wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, his gaze fixed on the cracked titanium crystal jar.

"The first close-range observation by Tianyan-04 has been completed. Preliminary assessment indicates that it possesses absolute suppression power over active spiritual energy and has a high affinity for the titanium crystal system." Qin Lie's voice was as cold and hard as iron as he gave the final conclusion.

"Lin Feng, send the message. Give it a name."

Lin Feng took a deep breath, placed his hands on the keyboard, and solemnly typed a line:

"First controlled capture successful. Official name suggested: [Stellar Origin Qi]."

There were no elaborate ceremonies, no lengthy discourses.

These four characters, so cold yet profound, were born in the vacuum of the 200-kilometer-high orbit.

"Return to base," Qin Lie commanded.

The Po Jun slowly turned its bow and headed toward the main platform of the geosynchronous orbit.

......