The projection experienced some fluctuations, and then transformed into an image.
In the middle of a large transparent crystal, one could clearly see that figure.
It was a standing dead person.
Jiang Jianming’s mind was hit hard, and everything went blank.
The night outside the window pressed in like a tide.
Suddenly, he felt a heart-wrenching pain spread throughout his bones, along with a strong sense of absurdity. And the long-lost feeling of powerlessness, mocked by fate.
Had he forgotten?
Because this regained dream was too blissful, the embrace of his lover was too warm, and the days of being cared for were addictive.
He gradually forgot the days of lonely journey, the blood stains spreading in the sleeping mecha, and the four-line epitaph whose meaning was still unknown.
How could he forget?
So this is retribution, Jiang Jianming thought vaguely.
The tragic scene was burned into his eyes, he recognized it at a glance, it was indeed Ryann Kaios, His Highness the Crown Prince.
But that body seemed to have been torn apart by some tremendous force, no torture in human history could cause such a horrific state.
Through the crystal clusters on the body surface, one could see the torn flesh, the opened abdominal cavity, the half-side organs ground into a pulp, and the dislocated crushed bones.
Among the broken corpses, there was something faintly flickering, it was fragments of crystal bones.
Jiang Jianming’s pupils contracted, and his whole body began to tremble. How could he believe it? Those were the crystal bones that were so powerful that they could instantly destroy hundreds of starships, and the crystal bones that had embraced him countless times, but…but…
In the end, only such a small piece of fragments was left, even if they were pieced together, perhaps they couldn’t piece together the size of a fingernail.
The face of the crown prince was also broken, the once handsome young prince had become a bloody mess. The falling platinum curls covered the terrifying, distorted face.
He raised a bloody arm that was twisted at a strange angle, his fingers pointing in a certain direction. It seemed like he wanted to guide the future generations, or perhaps he just wanted to grasp some elusive existence.
But his emerald green pupils were calm, distant, as if looking at the other end of the sea of stars.
He dragged a long trail of blood behind him, he died on the way to the depths of the Crystal Nest.
He was alone in the shadow, he died in the Crystal Nest.
Crystal particles took advantage of the void and entered, like greedy locusts engulfing every inch of flesh and blood, eventually sealing this broken body in a block of crystal.
Clang.
A light sound, particularly abrupt in the empty office.
Jiang Jianming turned his eyes woodenly, seeing Ryann…..Ryann by his side staggered a step, he stared at the projection, his face tense as iron, his gaze chillingly silent.
Even if the memory was still a baffling blank, but about the identity of Ryann Kaios, he had already believed, and accepted, long before he learned about the base body project today.
But he knew the most basic rule of spiritual consciousness projection technology: as long as the original body is completely dead, the base body will also die.
If it is said that the body of Crown Prince Ryann Kaios has been recovered.
Then who is this “Imperial Crown Prince”, who is he now…
Who is he?
In the projection, the bloody image that made people nauseous had been cut off.
Still floating in mid-air was the haggard face of Xie Yuduo, the Major General’s eyes were full of bitterness, he spoke word by word with difficulty.
[Grand Marshal, I know, this communication will first be delivered to your hands, and then it will never be seen by the second person in the military.]
Although he didn’t know about the spiritual consciousness projection technology, let alone the White Bird Project, the Major General was always a person who believed that Garcia was Ryann.
When he saw that scene in the Crystal Nest with his own eyes, the shock in his heart and the blow he received, how could it be clear in a few words?
Xie Yuduo closed his eyes, propping his forehead with his hand under his messy hair. [So, this subordinate dares to presumptuously say some things that should not be said…]
[Grand Marshal, Xie Yuduo’s loyalty to the Empire is as clear as the sun and the moon. Over the years, the Silver Big Dipper has died time and time again, time and time again sacrificing their lives to fill the universe, and there has never been a complaint.]
[This expedition, we have sacrificed nearly a thousand people, soon to become names on the Stele of Heroes. This subordinate doesn’t even know how many people will be left alive when the fleet really returns to the fortress.]
Suddenly, the Major General raised his bloodshot eyes and roared. [We are the people who sacrifice our lives for this country, Old Marshal!!]
That sense of grief and indignation was almost about to turn into a sword and pierce this cold night.
[I just want to know, what are we facing, why did His Highness the Crown Prince die, what is the Crystal Nest…!]
Xie Yuduo couldn’t go on, his expression seemed to be about to cry out in pain, but he didn’t.
When he opened his mouth again, his lips were trembling, his voice seemed to be about to tremble, but in fact, it didn’t.
He said, [Even if at least, please answer one sentence: Is our sacrifice meaningful?]
Xie Yuduo: [As long as you say ‘yes’, I will believe.] The communication ended here, the projection disappeared. At the end of the virtual screen, it still showed Old Marshal Chen’s reply to the communication.
It was unknown if the always hard-hearted old man stirred up waves in his heart after hearing the young general’s accusation. Or maybe it was just because the time had come, the female Emperor made a decision.
His reply to Xie Yuduo was very brief, only two lines of text.
[Yes.]
[When you come back, the Empire will give you an answer.]
Ryann directly turned off the virtual screen, turned his back to Jiang Jianming, and stood motionless by the dark window.
Jiang Jianming was originally in a daze, but at this moment, it was as if a bucket of cold water was poured on his face, and he woke up instantly.
He couldn’t panic, if he wavered at this time, what would Ryann do?
“It won’t be, Your Highness.”
Jiang Jianming forced himself to calm down and spoke very calmly. “You are indeed the projection base body of His Highness Ryann, all the evidence points to this conclusion, there must be some misunderstanding.”
“…..”
Ryann slowly lowered his head, the corners of his eyes were tinged with red, he gritted his teeth and chuckled darkly, “It doesn’t matter.”
He took a deep breath and said, “Anyway, that one is already dead, who I am or not, what does it matter.”
Jiang Jianming gasped lightly, feeling as if his chest was filled with sharp shards of ice.
“Then I’ll go ask Her Majesty for clarification. She was ready to confess just now, if it wasn’t for your insistence on taking me back to sleep first, maybe the problem would have been solved.”
Jiang Jianming insisted on continuing, he controlled his tone to be as gentle as possible without seeming deliberate, “Wait for me to come back here, just like that day at the Black Shark base, okay?”
“There’s no need,” Ryann looked out at the night sky, his voice hoarse, “unless you care.”
Jiang Jianming: “Then consider that I care.”
He turned and left.
Ryann closed his eyes heavily. The snowstorm from the memory of Alpha Alien Star seemed to sweep over, turning into the scene of his own bloody death.
The same sense of being thrown back to the starting point enveloped him.
After an unknown amount of time, the wind outside became stronger, making the window glass gently sound.
Ryann suddenly opened his eyes, annoyed, he raised his hand and hammered the wall.
…No, how could he just let Jiang Jianming walk the night road alone. Suddenly suffering such a big shock in the middle of the night, how could a body with chronic crystal disorder withstand it?
Moreover, the day before yesterday he and Chen were fighting with crystal bones outside, that area of sensor lights should have been smashed to pieces along with the rain screen, Jiang Jianming couldn’t walk there.
Thinking of this, other things seemed less important.
Ryann pursed his lips, quickly wanted to catch up, but just as he reached the door, suddenly a headache came without warning and was hard to resist!
“…Ugh!!”
Ryann bumped into the cabinet with a bang, half-kneeling on the ground, pressing his forehead in pain.
The headache pulled at his consciousness more violently, turning into an unknown black hole, trying to suck him into another space-time.
That was not a force that could be resisted by will or patience, the luster in Ryann’s emerald green eyes scattered, and he lost consciousness in an instant.
But just a few seconds later, his closed eyelids opened again…
****
Black Shark Base.
The alarm suddenly sounded, just after the meeting, the chief Sylph who was leading Diana out for a walk suddenly turned around!
At the same time, all the senior researchers at the base also changed their faces.
They recognized this special alarm sound, they knew what it meant!
The chief ran towards the elevator leading underground, and the researchers also rushed over. Only Diana, who had just entered the base, was bewildered.
She was still at a loss, and in a blink of an eye, she was pushed and jostled by the crowd, standing on the elevator dizzy.
What’s going on?
“Um… um, Chief…may I ask…”
Diana was dazed and tearful, being pushed around in circles. A few seconds later, the elevator arrived, and she was pushed out by the crowd again.
This was an underground laboratory she had never seen before, the iron door was quickly opening. Diana followed in a daze.
She saw countless flickering machines displayed inside, unknown purpose transmission tubes spread like capillaries on the smooth metal-textured walls, leading to the huge machine in the center.
“Chief!”
The guard researchers were in a panic. Seeing the iron door open, they all found their backbone and called out, “Come and see, the 000 frequency is disordered, the consciousness projection is very unstable!!”
The base leader, who was always calm, took off her mask, and when she saw the data, she showed a rare shocked expression.
Sylph threw her mask to the ground, she rushed to the machine in the center and shouted anxiously, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty!? What are you doing!!”
—Your Majesty?
Diana was first surprised, but soon, she realized from the chief’s shouting at the machine, and the atmosphere of everyone around not trying to contact the imperial palace, but just anxiously fiddling with the machine.
No, the person the leader is calling now is definitely not the female Emperor of the Empire!
So… she looked at the machine screen tremblingly, Diana didn’t know what it was for, but from the soaring data frequency, from the violent jumping of those waveform graphs, she could also feel the power contained in it.
Like a trapped beast madly biting at some cage, desperate to break free!
Sylph was both anxious and angry, slapping the machine screen, “Kaios, have you gone completely mad, you can’t do this!!”
She shook the machine, “Wake up a bit, stop, stop! Can you still hear me talking!?”
What? Is this really able to dialogue? Is this really in dialogue?
Diana was dizzy, brother save her, where on earth has she come to!
Suddenly, Sylph paused in her actions, realizing something, “—Could it be, he saw you!?”
Her face became sad, “Is it? He saw you die in the Crystal Nest, so you want to see him, right?”
“—Answer me, you want to see the commander-in-chief, is that it?”
Diana’s eyes suddenly widened!
She fell back into that state of shock as if sleepwalking.
Right, did the chief just call…Kaios??
On the cold machine, the data that was running wildly suddenly calmed down for two seconds, then resumed jumping in a more disordered manner.
****
Empire’s Aslan Star City, military department in the early hours of the morning.
Jiang Jianming was walking out with one deep and one shallow step, there were no people around at this time, but his mind was a mess.
He didn’t want to deliberately recall, but that image had been deeply burned into his mind, along with the large amount of blood in the Crown of Golden Dawn, constantly appearing in front of his eyes.
He had once resented the little highness for going to his death alone, was annoyed at the other’s concealment and departure, and even mocked him in his dreams.
— I really doubt if you still have a corpse? Three years have passed, have you been eaten clean by vultures and jackals?
He was wrong, Jiang Jianming thought with a heart like being twisted with a knife. If he could go back to the past, even in his dreams, he would never say that again.
Because now he didn’t want to go to collect the body, he wanted to push away all the blood and tears and war, go to the end, he could bring his Highness home…
He coughed twice, feeling his body sometimes cold and sometimes hot.
Calm down, calm down…Jiang Jianming kept breathing rapidly, but he couldn’t feel the air being inhaled into his lungs at all.
His face was pale, his lips gradually turned purple, he mechanically repeated his breaths, and he could only hear his own breathing in his ears.
If he could think rationally at this time, he would realize that he was about to get sick under the great stimulus.
But his thinking was completely entangled, he didn’t even realize that his steps forward were becoming more and more floating, until he couldn’t walk, he slowly sat down.
What if Ryann really died?..No…No, it can’t be like this. There’s no result to wild thoughts, he has to ask clearly…
Jiang Jianming looked up in a daze, the night was long, there were only the mottled shadows of trees and the outlines of buildings in the distance on both sides, there was no one.
It’s so dark, why are there no lights?
He felt dazedly that he shouldn’t be sitting here, he wanted to stand up, but his legs softened and he fell back to the ground, coughing with his hand on his chest.
Dark liquid flowed down his fingertips, dropping several drops on the ground.
Without the light, he didn’t realize that it was the color of blood.
He needs to think calmly…Jiang Jianming repeated to himself, he was still trapped in his own chaotic thoughts.
According to Lopez’s words tonight, 000 was the first base body to start the Base Body Project, earlier than 002. But Yuan Changze was raised like a normal person since childhood, he should be about the same age as himself, so the 002 base body was born about twenty years ago.
And “Garcia” was born three or four years ago, so by this reasoning, “Garcia” could not possibly be the 000 base body!
Cold sweat rolled down his black hair, Jiang Jianming’s eyes were lost, his lips parted, his body unconsciously convulsed with his rapid breathing.
If anyone passed by here and saw him at this moment, they would know it was time to call for emergency.
The onset of chronic crystal disorder is very dangerous, if the patient cannot get treatment as soon as possible, no one can say whether they can survive.
Die of organ failure. Or turn into acute crystal disorder, die in a non-human state in a few minutes, both are possible.
But just at this time and place, there was no one passing by.
