Five hundred years ago, crystal particles arrived with the black wave radiation, taking residence in the old species on the Blue Mother Star, causing them to differentiate into crystal and non-crystal species. This included humans, as well as other animals and plants.
At that time, under the pressure of death, civilization collapsed and regressed. Highly advanced technology, newly formed crystal bones, and the cruel law of the jungle combined, thus beginning the era of base conflicts.
Humans, relying on their intelligence and technological superiority, attempted to completely exterminate other crystal species. But contrary to their wishes, this only made some crystal creatures stronger, becoming alien creatures that could take root and thrive in outer space.
However, a mere five hundred years was not enough time for them to evolve higher intelligence. Beasts remained beasts.
Due to lower animals’ lack of self-awareness, in environments with high enough crystal particle concentrations, their minds would be completely corrupted and controlled.
Just like how large numbers of alien creatures with bizarre forms, as if they had undergone crystal disorder, would wander near Crystal Nests, attacking human starships that tried to approach.
They weren’t even the objects of the crystal particles’ obsession with “racial colonization”, but rather low-level livestock that had already been tamed.
The current intelligent alien creatures appeared along with the Crystal Cult’s troublemaking…
Bang!
A bullet fired from a silver-gray gun ended the life of another intelligent alien creature.
It fell to the ground screaming, its last vision being that of a black-haired youth calmly lowering his gun and walking towards the snow-covered passage ahead.
Jiang Jianming stood in the shadows.
He didn’t continue forward, but calmly turned back, passing over the alien creature’s corpse. Walking a short distance in the opposite direction, there was an emergency exit.
Pushing open the door led to stairs. He locked the door behind him, went up one floor, then pushed open another door to exit.
He had to figure out the true nature of the intelligent alien creatures, then find a strategy to fight them.
Jiang Jianming’s thoughts began with the first questionable point.
Why, at that time, were there large numbers of intelligent alien creatures waiting to ambush them, as if lying in wait? How was their position exposed?
Before that, his only contact with the enemy had been killing an intelligent alien creature that had wandered by chance.
The second questionable point followed: When it sensed his life was threatened, the crystal bone ring unleashed all its power, killing all the intelligent alien creatures in the area.
From then on, no more intelligent alien creatures came to surround them. Instead, they began destroying supplies ahead, preparing to starve them to death underground.
How did all the alien creatures change their strategy so quickly?
A flash of white light crossed Jiang Jianming’s mind.
— Wait, at the second fortress, what did he say to Yuan Changze before boarding the starship?
If the worst situation is encountered, please end the projection by suicide. The consciousness will return to the original body after death, allowing information to be passed to the military.
Mental consciousness projection… crystal particle consciousness sharing.
His tired feet stepped on the snow, making a creaking sound.
But the rotation of his thoughts became faster and faster.
The Crystal Cult and intelligent alien creatures acted together; the Crystal Cult wasn’t afraid of death, neither were the intelligent alien creatures; there were countless alien creatures in the universe, but the number of intelligent alien creatures obeying the Crystal Cult’s orders was limited…
Archbishop Gaius claimed to have received a calling from the crystal particles. If the crystal particles could actively connect with the consciousness of Crystal Cult members, letting alien creatures whose minds were completely corrupted become vessels for receiving consciousness projections, it would allow them to possess human intelligence!
But this chain of logic was still missing a link.
Alien creatures completely corrupted by crystal particles could indeed share consciousness like crystal particles.
But the human way of thinking conflicted with the crystal particle way of thinking. If countless human consciousnesses were connected together, all the consciousnesses would collapse and die.
So how about this?
The consciousness of Crystal Cult members, using crystal particles to project onto alien creatures, giving them human intelligence;
When the alien creature dies, the Crystal Cult member’s consciousness detaches, and the crystal particles then share the important information obtained.
If this logic is roughly correct, it could explain all the questionable points!
With this hypothesis, it was time to prove it.
So Jiang Jianming played a trick on the other side.
He deceived the alien creatures’ “last sight before death”, choosing the opposite route.
Sure enough, this time he didn’t encounter any scattered alien creatures for a long while.
…..
Once again, a corner of the fortress was in ruins, once again the cold moon fell on snow and black tiles, as if they could never escape this wasteland.
They rested here briefly.
Jiang Jianming didn’t dare to sit down. He leaned against the wall, frowning as he coughed dryly. When he lowered the sleeve covering his mouth, it was stained with blood.
The feeling of cold grew stronger, and his vision became blurry. It was the shadow of death beginning to cover his eyes.
He vaguely sensed that critical threshold was very close now. He didn’t dare to sit, fearing that if he relaxed, he wouldn’t be able to stand up again.
The black-haired officer silently curved his lips in a smile.
— But now, he had new ideas in his mind, as well as a new destination.
The rest depended on whether death would catch him first, or if he would grasp victory first.
Time was running out. Jiang Jianming stood up straight and turned around, just about to reach out and carry the unconscious Ryann on his back again, when his pupils suddenly trembled.
His gaze met dim emerald green eyes.
“…Ryann?”
In that moment between life and death, it felt like a lifetime had passed.
Ryann didn’t speak, nor did he move. His messy, blood-stained golden hair covered most of his face. His eyelids were half-lowered, those unfocused pupils fixed unmoving on Jiang Jianming.
He was awake, but he didn’t look like an injured person who had just regained consciousness. Rather, he looked like a living dead person whose soul had been snatched away.
Jiang Jianming’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He knew his own appearance probably wasn’t very good right now.
But he no longer had any tricks to comfort His Highness. He could only silently reach out, preparing to forcefully pull the person onto his back.
His sleeve was weakly tugged.
Pale blue moonlight fell. Ryann’s forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Tugging at Jiang Jianming like this, staring at him, he struggled to reach into the inner pocket of the Silver Big Dipper military coat draped over his body.
He slowly took out the box containing the tranquilizer.
The weight in his hand was despairingly light.
If only there was even one left, just one would be good.
Jiang Jianming lowered his eyelashes and sighed, “There’s none left.”
Clank.
The empty box that had been opened fell to the ground, making a light metallic collision sound. Of course, it was empty inside.
Ryann’s pale lips trembled for a long time before he hoarsely asked, “Why did you aim the main cannon at me?”
Jiang Jianming still managed to get him onto his back.
He understood what Ryann meant. His Highness wasn’t resenting his ruthlessness. What His Highness really wanted to question was…
Weren’t you very rational just now? Weren’t you very determined? Hadn’t you resigned yourself to the possibility that I might die?
Why did you use all the tranquilizers you had on me now, why are you still carrying me on your back when things have gotten to this point?
Don’t you know that this way, neither of us will make it out?
Jiang Jianming: “At that time there was no other way, but now it’s not yet time to give up.”
Ryann gritted his teeth. “…Put me down.”
Jiang Jianming. “I said, it’s not time for that yet.”
“You’re about to die.”
“Yes, but is that not allowed?”
Jiang Jianming smiled slightly, softly asking in return, “You can die, all imperial soldiers can die, am I the only one who can’t?”
“…”
They talked like this, one person carrying the other forward. In the long snowy night, they seemed to merge into a single silhouette.
Occasionally, moonlight would pierce through the broken ruins to illuminate them, only to be swallowed by darkness again immediately after.
“It’s not the same…This kind of death has no meaning.”
Jiang Jianming no longer used strategies to avoid alien creatures. Now he had chosen a clear target and began moving in a straight line.
“It’s the same. Victory will give meaning to death, Your Highness.”
The crystal bone ring was like a raging wildfire, clearing away all enemies ahead.
“Then…what is the meaning…of victory?”
Jiang Jianming pressed his lips together. He had thought Ryann would be surprised that he had found a breakthrough to victory, and would ask further.
At the very least, he should have asked about this crystal bone ring, how it suddenly became so powerful – then he could have righteously talked about the original body’s reckless behavior, and then shift the blame to the Base Body.
However, the crown prince gradually weakened, slumping on his shoulder, seeming to be about to fall asleep again in his confusion.
A hint of nostalgia flashed in Jiang Jianming’s eyes as he answered Ryann’s question.
“It’s having a future.”
“For me, the meaning of victory is having a future.”
Ryann was silent for a very long time.
Jiang Jianming thought he had fallen asleep, but after a few more minutes, he heard His Highness ask in a faint whisper, where are we going?
Jiang Jianming: “To the Stele of Heroes.”
****
Stele of Heroes.
After breaking through waves of alien creatures, they used the crystal bone ring to arduously climb down from an abandoned automatic elevator shaft, open the sealed entrance, and finally reached the Stele of Heroes.
Jiang Jianming knew there were no supplies here, no weapons, no rescue. Nothing but tombstones and ashes.
But this was also the only place within the Silver Big Dipper fortress that hadn’t been infiltrated by alien creatures.
Most importantly, there was still a mecha parked here.
L-Crown of Golden Dawn.
It was the Empire’s strongest mecha, and also a mecha that couldn’t be activated.
Even though Jiang Jianming had the intelligence Seth, all he could do was start the power source. He couldn’t pilot it.
Ryann did have piloting authorization, but in his current state, it was even more impossible for him to operate the mecha.
Going to an underground mausoleum with no resources, to find a mecha destined to be unable to take off, was almost actively giving up hope for life.
But it didn’t matter, Jiang Jianming thought. He may have discovered the secret of the alien creatures. Based on this, he also had a battle plan.
The mecha couldn’t be piloted, but once powered on, the communication system could be used. He only needed a few minutes to convey this plan to Xie Yuduo.
He had never seen the treatment cabin of the Crown of Golden Dawn, but mechas always had medical systems configured. He could stuff the Little Highness inside, perhaps allowing him to wait for rescue.
The Stele of Heroes had been peaceful for decades. As Jiang Jianming walked forward, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, staining his silver-black military uniform, dripping all the way.
Also, he pondered in his heart, saying it was destined to be unable to fly wasn’t quite accurate.
The Crown of Golden Dawn used a mental control system. Ryann had once given him temporary authorization in the past. If he dared to gamble, forcibly connecting mentally, if he really connected, the Golden Dawn could be operated.
Should he take the gamble, or first check the internal condition of the mecha…
Suddenly, Jiang Jianming’s knees wobbled, and he violently collapsed to his knees. He took two seconds to recover, struggled to stand up, only to fall to his knees again after one step.
The person on his back said hoarsely, put me down.
Jiang Jianming gritted his teeth and said with a bitter smile ‘let me try again.’ But his attempt failed again. He really had no strength left to stand up.
Ryann repeated once more.
Just now he had said “it’s not time to give up yet”, but persisting now would only be foolish.
Jiang Jianming put Ryann down, supporting His Highness’s shoulders with both hands, letting him lean against the snow-white monument.
The white monument still cast a soft halo of light. They saw each other’s eyes.
Jiang Jianming wanted to say, I’ll come back for you soon, we can get out together.
But Ryann nodded gently at him, then closed his eyes. So he realized these words were completely unnecessary.
Jiang Jianming stood up, supporting himself on the white monument, and continued forward.
Huff… huff…
In his ears was the sound of his own hoarse, heavy breathing. His military boots dragged bloody tracks on the ground.
In a daze, Jiang Jianming felt the countless white monuments above him lower their brows, watching him; the countless ashes beneath his feet also raised their heads, watching him.
Watching him struggle, watching him endure pain, watching him walk forward step by bloody step.
In the darkness, it was as if heroic spirits were whispering.
Walk on, walk on, this is how you should walk forward.
Since ancient times, how many pioneers have walked to today treading on their own flowing hot blood.
Jiang Jianming walked forward, groping to find that hidden door, stepping on steel plates, going down.
Reaching that dark bottom, in the blink of an eye, the silhouette of that dark golden mecha was already sunk there.
L-Crown of Golden Dawn.
“Seth… Seth, are you there, open the Crown of Golden Dawn… connect the communication system, connect…”
Before he could finish calling the intelligence, Jiang Jianming felt dizzy, had difficulty breathing, and once again collapsed to his knees on the ground.
He lowered his head, supporting himself with both hands on the ground, and saw a blue light fly out from his already damaged wrist device. It was Seth.
As expected, the most reliable little puppy at critical moments. Jiang Jianming’s expression softened slightly.
He bit his tongue to force himself to stay awake. “Connect, internal military channel… find Xie Yuduo’s communication, I need to…”
But suddenly, a strange sound rang in his ears.
It was the sound of the mecha’s internal pivot moving, metal friction. A sound he had been familiar with since childhood.
A shadow fell.
Jiang Jianming suddenly saw a shadow looming over the patch of ground where he was.
He raised his head, stunned and bewildered, unable to comprehend the scene before him for a moment.
In the darkness, a pair of bright golden beast eyes lit up.
Silently watching him.
Jiang Jianming was even more stunned.
Because those weren’t beast eyes, they were the mecha lights of the Crown of Golden Dawn in its giant beast form.
This dark golden mecha raised its lowered head. The dormant giant beast raised its head and awakened, approaching the tiny black-haired youth.
“…Golden Dawn?”
Pale golden mental connection links extended from inside the mecha, probing, hesitating, like a puppy gently sniffing its owner’s scent.
It lightly touched Jiang Jianming’s brow.
[Sensing first authority person’s life state in danger, mecha L-Crown of Golden Dawn has awakened]
[Intelligence configuration complete, now asking authority person: Open first cockpit, woof?]
…
In an instant, Jiang Jianming’s mind exploded.
He belatedly realized that he had a fixed mindset that he had never turned around.
The Crown of Golden Dawn had two cockpits, which he actually knew.
Because Ryann had once taken him on this mecha, and at that time, they had always used the second cockpit.
According to the Little Highness’s explanation – which should also be what Emperor Lin Ge told him: The owner of the first cockpit was Great Emperor Kaios, and its authority was permanently closed with the emperor’s death. The authority of the second cockpit was left for descendants to inherit.
Crown Prince Ryann gained the recognition of L-Crown of Golden Dawn, and since then the second cockpit became the main cockpit of this mecha.
But here’s the problem.
Now he knew that the Great Emperor and the Little Highness were the same soul, the same mental consciousness, and of course could share the same authority.
So…
[Repeating query: Open first cockpit, woof woof?]
Back in the founding war years, who was the person sitting in the first cockpit of L-Crown of Golden Dawn?
Jiang Jianming took a deep breath, his heart pounding wildly. He reached out and tightly grasped the pale golden mental connection link.
He said word by word. “Open, first cockpit.”
