"If the ones piloting this warship were soldiers from the coalition, then perhaps we could find some information about the divine war from their corpses. But if it was piloted by priests, then after their deaths in battle, their souls would be taken back to the upper realm by the Soul Guides for resurrection, leaving the entire warship empty," Dream Jia added.
Hao Yun suddenly thought of something upon hearing this, so he turned to Dao Lao and asked, "By the way, Dao Lao, if we were to die in the black hole, wouldn't we be unable to be escorted back to the Underworld by the Soul Guides?"
Dao Lao shrugged nonchalantly in response, "Of course. Don't forget, the chaotic energy currents within the black hole have long severed all connections between here and the Realm of Spirits. So, even if a priest were to perish in the black hole, the Soul Guides wouldn't be able to learn of it, let alone come to retrieve the remaining soul fragments."
"What happens to the living beings and souls that die here then? Do their energies just drift aimlessly within the black hole?" Hao Yun inquired.
"That's right. If we were to perish here, our remaining energies would only wander around until they are consumed by the chaotic energies within the black hole. So right now, being here is like having one foot in the grave. If we fail or cannot leave, we'll be buried within this black hole," Dao Lao replied.
"You, you all knew about this beforehand? You knew about this before we entered the black hole?" Hao Yun stuttered.
"We did, of course," Dao Lao replied.
"Huh? Hao Yun, you didn't know?" Dream Jia asked in confusion.
"Oh, right! He seems to be clueless! We were in a hurry, and with the mission at hand, we might have forgotten to inform him!" Dao Lao communicated to Dream Jia.
They're so fake! Watching Dao Lao and Dream Jia's pathetic acting, Hao Yun felt frustrated. Goodness! I didn't realize entering the black hole for a mission was this darn dangerous! Once failed, it's game over! If I had known earlier, even if you paid me, I wouldn't have jumped into this mess with you guys! Lunatics! You're all a bunch of lunatics who don't care about your lives!
"You guys must have known about this too, right?" Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of Dao Lao and Dream Jia, Hao Yun simply ignored the two cheeky fellows and turned to Captain Tie Zhu.
"Yes. Shortly after the explosion in the Heluo Star System, other priests began to realize this. And after Her Majesty arrived here, this discovery was further confirmed by the Realm of Spirits. So now, we have no way out. We either defeat the Mastanians or we all perish here," Captain Tie Zhu replied firmly, his face showing no signs of fear.
Seeing Captain Tie Zhu's resolute attitude, Hao Yun felt a surge of energy. Because witnessing Captain Tie Zhu and his team's righteous demeanor in the face of life and death, Hao Yun felt the weight of his responsibilities even more heavily. As one of the few priests who successfully made it to the Eternal Admiration Star, he felt that, instead of searching for Yan Chaozhuo's whereabouts, he should prioritize saving the civilization of the Eternal Admiration Star. Thinking of this, Hao Yun couldn't help but glance at Dao Lao. Judging from Dao Lao's slightly hesitant but determined expression, it seemed that he was also pondering the same question as Hao Yun and had already made the choice to prioritize finding Yan Chaozhuo and helping the people of the Eternal Admiration Star. Therefore, when Dao Lao saw Hao Yun's inquiring gaze, although reluctant, he still nodded in agreement with Hao Yun's opinion.
Seeing Dao Lao's inner struggle, Dream Jia, who understood the situation, gently patted him on the back and changed the subject, "Anyway, apart from that scar, most of the other components or internal structures of this warship should still be relatively intact. So, maybe we can find some usable equipment inside the warship!"
Upon hearing Dream Jia's words, everyone's spirits immediately lifted. This was a warship of the Realm of Spirits! Therefore, if there were still some equipment left here, then surely they would be exceptional, right?! With this in mind, everyone was full of anticipation for the situation inside this warship, eagerly wanting to enter the cabin as soon as possible to see what treasures awaited them.
"According to the system scan results, the surface armor and distortion functions of this warship are still in effect. This means that the temperature inside the cabin must be much lower than the temperature outside, so we can confidently enter the cabin," Dream Jia continued.
"Distortion function? What does that mean?" Hao Yun asked.
"Considering the combat capability of the warship in various extreme environments, the Realm of Spirits specifically designed a special armor with a special coating made of divine energy technology for the divine warships. Simply put, this layer of armor made with divine energy technology can not only resist enemy attacks but also conduct the harmful energy contained in the attack through the hull to further reduce the damage the various attacks may cause to the hull," Dao Lao explained.
"Oh, right. According to the system scan data, the escape pods of this warship are still intact. These are escape pods capable of performing short-range flight missions, which might come in handy in our upcoming actions!" Dream Jia added.
"Two escape pods?!" Hao Yun couldn't help but widen his eyes and confirm with Dream Jia.
"That's right, two escape pods are set on the left and right sides of the rear of the warship," Dream Jia once again confirmed the data provided by the system, while raising her hand towards the stern in response.
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Then, she pointed to the scar on the hull from head to tail and said, "However, the escape pod on this side has been destroyed. We can only pray that the escape pod on the other side is still usable!"
In the time that followed, Hao Yun and his team threw themselves into the tense excavation work on the warship. Since this warship, which had crashed here for many years, had merged with this small mountain, and Hao Yun and his team didn't have professional excavation tools, they could only rely on Hao Yun's Speed and Passion Blade and Dao Lao's Demon-Slaying Cane as their main digging tools, slowly drilling holes along the hull from the exposed stern to the buried midsection of the warship.
As this moment arrived, the sky filled with raining fire finally ceased completely. However, due to days of continuous fire rain, the entire sky remained a fiery red even after the rain of destruction stopped. But with the arrival of midnight once again, the boiling sky gradually cooled down under the influence of the cold air, and the stars, still as fiery as fireballs, ceased their restless spinning and lava-spewing state, quickly extinguishing and returning to calmness.
Thus, the sky full of fireballs turned into stars, still scorching and emitting white smoke, hanging high in the sky, watching over the earth below where the fire had not yet subsided. Occasionally, stars that looked like flames would shoot out, as if warning the earth, already ravaged beyond recognition, not to provoke them again. Otherwise, the rain of destruction would return, turning this land into a molten lava purgatory once more.
"Wow, how spectacular!" Hao Yun exclaimed. After all, this was the first time Hao Yun had seen such a fantastical phenomenon, so even though it was still very dangerous outside the cave, he still had the idea of going out to admire this unique spectacle, even taking a picture with it as a memento.
But Captain Tie Zhu's words quickly dispelled Hao Yun's thoughts. Because after seeing the complete cessation of the rain of destruction, Captain Tie Zhu said with a somewhat anxious tone, "Lord Hao, you're right, this sight is indeed spectacular. However, once the rain of destruction stops, and the temperature of the earth returns to normal, the Mastanians guarding outside the range of the rain of destruction will definitely come to clean up the battlefield to ensure that no warriors from the Eternal Admiration Star have survived by chance. So, if we want to enter this warship to explore, we really need to hurry up. Otherwise, when the Mastanians come back to conduct a thorough cleanup here, we may truly have nowhere to hide!"
After hearing Captain Tie Zhu's analysis, everyone naturally dared not delay any longer, and they all returned to the cave to continue excavating the cave and looking for the entrance to the warship.
After cleaning up the dirt on the top of a section of the cave, making the hull as clear as possible, Dao Lao tapped the hull above his head with his Demon-Slaying Cane while saying according to the scanning data provided by the system, "Alright, the entrance to the warship should be here."
Looking at the patterns covered in dirt on the hull above his head, which looked like runes, Hao Yun couldn't help scratching his head and asking, "Are you sure the entrance is here? But besides these runic patterns, I don't see any traces of a door."
"Because these runic patterns are the hatches of the warship," Dream Jia replied.
"Oh, I see! Then, do we need to recite some spells to open this hatch? Do you know the spell to open the hatch?" Hao Yun asked again. Including Captain Tie Zhu and his team, nine people shook their heads indicating they didn't know.
"Enough! You're such a big man, why do you always have so much nonsense?! Hurry up and move aside!" Seeing Hao Yun about to ask another question, Dream Jia quickly picked up the Equalizer and chased him aside.
"Ah! I only asked a few more questions to figure out how to quickly open the hatch! If you don't want to hear it, can't I just not ask?" Hao Yun looked at the high-tech spear in Dream Jia's hand, and continued to plead with a hand on his neck.
"Huh! Look at your deadbeat behavior! I'm disgusted to even interact with you!" Dream Jia cursed repeatedly.
"Then why are you holding up the spear?" Hao Yun asked, his eyes still fixed on the weapon in Dream Jia's hand.
"Don't you want to know how to open the hatch of the warship? Then hurry up and squat down, let me ride on your neck!" Dream Jia ordered in an unquestionable tone.
"What? Ride on my neck? Hey, you're going too far! I know you're a woman, so I'll let you curse at me. But what? Do you want to push it further and ride on my neck and pull out excrement?" Hao Yun subconsciously touched his neck with one hand and pointed at Dream Jia to protest.
"I think you have a masochistic delusion, don't you? I mean for you to carry me up so I can cut open the armor of the warship. So we can go in and find something useful! Alright! Look at your character! Riding on my neck to pull excrement? I'm afraid of dirtying my butt!" Hearing Hao Yun's protest, Dream Jia said angrily and jokingly. But as soon as she spoke, her face turned red with embarrassment.
So, Dream Jia quickly cleared her throat and explained, "Ahem. What I meant was, although I don't know the spell to open the hatch, I can use another method to forcibly open the hatch of this warship. Because, in the Divine Spirit Realm, warships are designed with a unique feature to deal with unexpected events. Even if these warships cannot be opened due to various reasons, priests can use special equipment to forcibly cut open the ship's compartment, allowing other priests to more effectively rescue the friendly forces trapped inside the warship and regain control of the warship as soon as possible."
"Oh? How are you going to open the hatch of this warship then? You're not going to blow a hole in the compartment, are you?" Hao Yun pointed at the Equalizer in Dream Jia's hand and asked.
"Yes, but not entirely. Because in the Divine Spirit Realm, these warships are manufactured using divine energy technology. So, as long as we use repair tools made from divine energy technology, we can forcibly open a hole in the designated position of the warship for us to enter and exit. The suitable position to open the hole is exactly where the ship's hatch is, which is where these runes are located. And my Equalizer, being a high-end weapon, happens to have the function of forcibly opening a gap on the hatch. So what I need to do now is to cut open the hatch along these runes, so we can enter the warship." Dream Jia explained while gesturing along the runic patterns on the hull with her Equalizer.
"Oh, I see! Then come up here. Don't worry, I take a bath every day on time, so I'm very clean! I definitely won't dirty your big—" Hao Yun squatted halfway in front of Dream Jia, gesturing for her to ride on his shoulders, but considering that his words might anger Dream Jia, he ultimately grinned and swallowed the rest of his words.
("Well, why does that sound so awkward? Any normal person hearing this would get the wrong idea, right?" the author commented. "Get the wrong idea? Ahem, besides you, no one would think that!" Hao Yun retorted. "Well, okay, that makes sense. Wait, where does he make sense? I'm not that kind of person! I'm a respectable person!" The author quickly corrected their almost misinterpretation and explained. Alright, let's just pretend nothing happened. Let's continue the story.)