"Did you hear?"
"Someone died there again."
"You mean that place? Are there still people who dare to go?"
"Generally, only those who aren't afraid of death. They think their abilities will keep them alive."
"Hah, they don't think it through. Even military personnel suffer losses there. Do they think they're stronger than the military?"
Inside a crowded Human hot pot restaurant, several people were discussing.
Beside them, a young, short woman in a khaki jacket listened intently to their conversation.
On a holographic screen in front of her, information from nearby network feeds flickered.
That place was known as the City of Death.
Legend had it that no one who entered ever returned alive.
It had apparently begun 1277 years ago.
A massive city with a population of 2.8 billion had been wiped out. Survivors claimed there had been a catastrophe, hauntings, that the place was Hell.
It was hard to believe such information could still be found in this age.
But that was all there was.
In the years since, many had sought the truth behind those events.
They assumed it was a failed experiment—chemical, physical, or biological. In short, something leaked out and caused massive casualties.
If they could find the cause of the disaster, they could unearth the hidden truth.
That way, they could gain attention.
The Federation had a vast population. While fan-based economics wouldn't make someone a tycoon, it could certainly lift them out of the lowest social strata.
That's what they needed.
But these people, without exception, perished there.
After reading this, the young woman stood up and approached the group of people discussing.
"I'm very interested in the City of Death. I'd like to chat."
The group looked at the young woman, unwilling to engage with her.
They thought she was another fool seeking death.
"You should just leave. The City of Death's strangeness is beyond your imagination."
"The authorities haven't resolved this for years. For you to investigate alone is simply to risk your life."
"I heard that those who die there don't even have an afterlife; their consciousness is completely annihilated."
A kind stranger offered a warning.
But the young woman ignored the advice and sat down.
"That's precisely why I'm here."
"If it weren't a strange place, I wouldn't be interested."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Luna, and I'm a story hunter."
Luna smiled brightly.
The title "story hunter" instantly commanded respect.
It was a profession that required significant longevity.
But it's always been a niche profession. "Niche" meaning the number of practitioners is small. With the Federation's current population of 1 octillion, the number of true story hunters is probably only a few million.
The reason is that this profession is extremely dangerous, even more so than being an explorer.
People call story hunters the "last romantic journalists" of the modern age.
To uncover the truth behind a story, story hunters go to dangerous places: battlefields, pirate spaceships, hazardous natural environments in space, the interiors of massive stars, and the edge of black holes.
They dedicate themselves to unearthing the best stories in the world.
These stories might be adventurous, scientific, or deeply moving. All stories are compiled into a virtual world.
This virtual world is called the "Cosmic Story Archive," containing all the stories collected by story hunters.
These stories are 100% guaranteed to be true.
Although story hunters are few and the stories they collect are limited, the Cosmic Story Archive is ubiquitous throughout the Federation, covering hundreds of decillions of locations.
This makes story hunters a high-income group.
It's said that every story hunter possesses immeasurable wealth, willing to spend their entire fortune for a good story.
The profession of story hunter originated from a company in a distant era.
"We're happy to provide you with any information we have."
"Feel free to ask!"
The group's attitude did a complete change.
Luna was treated as a VIP.
She asked about the City of Death, or perhaps the Dead Zone.
Since no one had ever returned, information was scarce.
However, one of the people Luna questioned was the grandson of a survivor from the City of Death catastrophe.
His grandmother was still alive; it had only been a little over 1200 years.
The man took Luna to meet the old woman.
She was a female Shore Tribe member, whom they found at a party.
At the time, she was flirting with a young man. In this society, without being told, no one could tell a person's exact age.
And when Luna addressed the woman as "grandmother," the young man...became even more excited and left his contact information.
Luna invited the woman to a café.
Once settled, the woman began to recount the events of the City of Death.
She recalled: "It wasn't the dark, moonlit night from the rumors, but broad daylight."
"Everyone was going about their business as usual, and so was I."
"At work, feeling tired, I glanced out the window and saw people collapsing in the streets."
"At first, I thought it was some kind of simulation. You know, the city often holds simulated events to attract people."
"Sometimes it's a natural disaster, sometimes a super-ability outbreak, sometimes a cosmic beast invasion."
"But quickly, I noticed my colleagues falling. That's when I realized something was wrong."
"I saw a phantom appear on my colleague's body. It seemed to glance at me before disappearing."
"More and more people collapsed; phantoms appeared on their bodies, like their souls. I'm not sure; I was terrified. I activated my gene pool, became a Loan Bird, and fled the city."
"From the sky, I saw the entire city covered in a blue gelatinous substance. Some people activated their gene pools, but they couldn't escape death. They silently fell, as if their lives were being harvested."
"That's all. Human story hunter, are you interested in investigating the alien race?"
"Thank you for your story."
"Here's your payment!"
Luna stood up and left.
The Shore Tribe elder looked at the number displayed on the holographic interface before her, her eyes gleaming.
"Looks like I can enjoy myself for a few more decades."
...
Luna left the café.
The coffee was a ground coffee drink from the 21st century; the Federation didn't have coffee beans. Some company had found the term in historical texts and used a new plant seed as a substitute.
Because it was invented by the Waterfolk, it was a rather viscous drink, similar to porridge, with a slightly spicy flavor.
After drinking, she felt a burning sensation in her mouth. Human cells weren't very tolerant of it.
She only learned this after checking the data after drinking.
"How much has changed."
The Federation was vastly different from the past.
For example, coffee from tens of thousands of years ago definitely didn't taste like this.
This made Luna acutely aware of the passage of time.
She had only been in this city for a dozen days. Before that, she had been in a much more distant star system, affected by war.
Luna could have joined the military, but she felt that wasn't for her. At that time, she met someone who guided her into becoming a story hunter.
They then collaborated to uncover several Class 1 stories.
Then, her partner seemed to have something come up, and they parted ways.
Luna continued to seek out extraordinary stories. She heard about the City of Death from someone in a distant star system, which led her here.
Theoretically, she should be more concerned with major civilization affairs.
But Luna felt she had become countless individuals; surely, some of those selves would be concerned with such matters. Even if only one did, that would be enough.
And why should she always tire herself?
Wasn't it better to find something interesting to do?
In short, this self of hers was like that: impulsive!
Luna walked along the street as a long ship flew overhead, filled with people, heading towards a gravity-assisted trajectory that pierced the sky.
This trajectory would accelerate the ship to 50,000 km/s, then it would reach another Star City.
It was visible that although the sky contained stars, they were artificial.
A ring of light marked the boundary of the gravity-assisted trajectory, guiding ships to their destination, eliminating the need to traverse the false cosmos—which saved a great deal of money.
They were about 700,000 meters above the planet Luna was currently on.
In reality, outside of the artificial cosmos, no stars could be found nearby, because this location wasn't within any star system.
At some point, Star Cities began breaking free from the constraints of star systems and venturing into deep space. In space, these Star Cities mined dark energy to sustain themselves.
The Kehua Star City group was a prime example.
The Kehua group, comprised of hundreds of Star Cities of varying sizes, was renowned for its vast scale. It housed nearly 1.8 trillion people, a colossal population rivaling that of any star system.
Most of the Star Cities in the Kehua group are artificial planets, sphere-shaped on the surface, then completely covered with metal to maintain the internal temperature.
Deep space lacks the constant thermal energy of stars; harvesting dark energy is complex, so these deep-space Star Cities use this method to conserve energy.
Physical insulation is more efficient than using high-power equipment for continuous heating.
Luna was in Star City 46.
The planet's surface area is 300 million square kilometers, with 11% water; the artificial planet's water content is 0.008%. The city is highly developed, with an annual GDP exceeding 32.7 quadrillion Energy Credits and a population of 42.2 billion.
The only drawback, in Luna's opinion, was the lack of vegetation; only about 800,000 square kilometers were green.
The Star City is divided into three levels: the ground level, the middle level, and the upper level.
The ground level is self-explanatory: the planet's surface.
The middle level is built on countless high-rise structures on the ground level. Countless tall buildings act as pillars to support the middle level.
The middle level's area is 62.78 million square kilometers, about one-fifth of the ground level.
The upper level comprises floating cities. Star City 46 has 373 floating cities; each ranges from a dozen square kilometers to one or two square kilometers, totaling 9.95 million square kilometers.
The average height of the middle level above the ground is 27,390.28 meters, and the floating cities are 111,400 meters above the ground.
The three-level structure reflects social status. The ground level is the lowest; the middle level houses the elite, while the upper level is for the wealthiest.
Luna was currently on the ground level.
It was night; the sky above was filled with flying ships and starships.
Ships and starships weren't normally allowed into Star Cities, but there were no such restrictions here. As a deep-space Star City, many used it as a transit point. To accommodate these people, the Kehua Star City group had implemented open policies.
The new era had many advantages; one was the absence of roads on the ground.
Flying cars, once popular in the old Federation era, were less common now.
People preferred hovering platforms. Simply standing on one allowed them to travel anywhere conveniently.
Low-altitude flying vehicles were popular, mainly due to low-altitude racing.
Luna could already see the upcoming low-altitude racetrack in the distance: 59.2 million kilometers long. These vehicles could reach speeds of up to 130,000 km/s on the specially designed track; the fastest recorded speed was 144,700 km/s. A different kind of racing!
Despite the absence of flying cars, the ground level was incredibly crowded—hundreds of billions of people.
All kinds of lifeforms were present; everyone moved quickly; no one lingered on the street.
Actually, Luna often saw calls for virtual world jobs on the internet. Modern people generally preferred not to go outside, opting for a secluded life.
Many company owners were the same; they didn't want to spend money on physical office space; having employees work in virtual worlds was best.
Luna had heard these calls for a long time, but hadn't heeded them. The one stopping her was herself.
Life requires social interaction. If everyone became a hermit, society would decay.
In fact, some experimental cities had already become "brains in a vat." Each person had only a virtual pod; countless buildings, like garages, were stacked with pods, connected by nutrient tubes, keeping people immersed in virtual worlds for their entire lives.
The Federation would inevitably trend in that direction, but it certainly wasn't healthy.
Luna had enacted several regulations to prevent this from happening.
Pushing through the crowd, Luna reached a portal in the center of a plaza: a short-range super-displacement transmission device.
It used physical optical cables to transmit information, preserving more data. This meant it could also transmit people over short distances.
Luna saw many people appearing at the portal, and she stepped through. Almost instantly, she arrived at the other side of the Star City.
This was teleportation!
Using fiber optics for information transmission isn't as simple as it sounds.
Ordinary fiber optics can damage or distort information. Like static on a phone line—the static might be detectable, but it can't be transmitted.
Fiber optics need to shield against all interference and withstand the information generated by biological changes.
According to Luna, these teleportation gates are connected to dozens of massive fiber optic cables, with signal stabilizers at each node.
The information encryption method is also different from the original super-antimatter displacement devices.
The information encryption method itself determines the transmission method and information loss.
Of course, it also serves its original purpose: security.
Information encryption protects against theft and tampering. Originally, encryption only needed to prevent theft, but these teleportation gates need protection against destruction.
This is a very difficult technical standard, a major reason why interstellar super-displacement biological transfer technology hasn't been widely adopted.
If a fleet were to use a super-displacement biological transfer device to travel somewhere, and an enemy were aware of this, they could simply use a "loudspeaker" to broadcast massive amounts of random data to that sector, destroying the entire fleet.
Super-displacement biological transfer technology is now incorporating Olive Branch Civilization's super-gravitational corridors.
Previously, the Olive Branch Civilization had moved a small planet to the Titled Station Sector, destroying the Titled Station and the cosmic silk road.
This method had significant limitations, requiring the gravitational pull of a neutron star or a massive black hole.
Super-gravitational corridors effectively shield information from cosmic radiation, but they are still limited. The Federation is now using this method, but only for emergency life transfers.
In short, true teleportation gates can only be used in larger celestial bodies and cannot be easily established in close proximity to one another.
The equipment that shields information is very powerful and requires high precision. If the distance is too short, there's a high probability of information chaos.
On a planet as large as Star City 46, a maximum of five teleportation gates are allowed.
Luna felt a little disoriented emerging from the teleportation gate.
After regaining her bearings, she saw a robot over 30 meters tall passing by.
The robot resembled a spider, with eight legs. Six legs supported its body; two legs, like vacuum tubes, sucked up trash from the street. A cleaning robot.
To avoid collisions with pedestrians, they stopped on circular pillars about ten meters tall. These pillars were about the thickness of a human thigh; the top had a cavity to secure the robot's legs.
Of course, these pillars weren't only used by cleaning robots. Many other large robots also used them, such as package delivery robots.
The robots could sometimes reach speeds exceeding 100 km/h.
The walking platforms had a maximum flight height of only half a meter; they couldn't fly. To ascend to the upper levels, Luna needed to use an elevator platform.
These were large, circular platforms, over 20 meters in diameter, that rose from the ground every 30 seconds, with the next platform filling the gap.
The platforms were 20 centimeters thick or less, with a gold and silver color scheme.
The distance between the ascending and descending platforms was also 20 meters. Landing platforms were teleported from underground to the ascending platforms, completing a cycle.
The platforms had no height limit, allowing one to look down from the edge.
Luna watched the people below slowly shrink; it was strangely fascinating.
But it was like watching children play.
There was no concern that these children would fall and be injured or killed.
Both the ascending and descending platforms had complete safety systems underground, including air conditioning and magnetic levitation.
Air conditioning created an upward airflow, reducing the falling speed.
Magnetic levitation was simpler; even small children now had metallic bodies, so a magnetic field could levitate anyone falling.
Anti-gravity would be safest, but it's expensive and not suitable for widespread use.
The ascending and descending platforms started slowly, then gradually accelerated to their maximum speed before decelerating smoothly and arriving at the middle level.
Although divided into commoner, elite, and wealthy classes, it didn't mean that those from the lower levels couldn't access the middle level, or that those from the middle level couldn't reach the upper level.
The middle level still had many commoners, but they didn't reside there permanently.
The middle level's consumption level was significantly higher than the lower level. Numerous large shopping malls were present; the pace immediately slowed. Most people here were leisurely shopping.
Although many people had abandoned the pursuit of physical sensations, it wasn't entirely absent. Even if only 5% sought it, that was still a significant number.
If they wanted to experience physical sensations, they would interact in the real world. These people were the main consumers in this area's establishments.
However, there were relatively few real people.
If the lower level was described as densely packed, the middle level was sparsely populated—like stars in the night sky.
At a glance, there were probably only a thousand or two people in this large space.
Luna didn't come here for sensual experiences.
She stepped onto a large triangular lamp; it lit up, its beams lifting her into the air.
She flew through the sky, directly reaching the outer shell of Star City 46, then used a passageway to exit.
Standing in the cosmos, Luna gazed around, taking in a magnificent sight.
All around Star City 46 were lights—not starlight, but the lights of cities, ships, starships, and various large-scale interstellar structures.
She seemed to have entered a vast city where the void was the land.
This was where the Star City groups differed from those within star systems. There were many structures in space, from oddly shaped small shops to all kinds of establishments. Larger structures were company buildings or shipyards.
While Starports offered ship repair services, they were expensive. These private shipyards used salvaged parts or common metals, making their services more affordable, attracting many customers.
Federation citizens were wealthy, but repairing a ship, which could cost hundreds of thousands of energy credits, was a significant expense, so people looked for ways to save money. This was especially true for small exploration teams.
Luna stood on the surface of Star City 46. There was nothing there; the nearest structure was a pipeline over 100 meters above her.
It was a transit pipeline, allowing starships and low-altitude vehicles to travel quickly. Humans could also use it.
Luna's mecha enveloped her body; with a push of her foot, she flew towards the pipeline.
Upon entering, her speed increased.
The entire pipeline was equipped with miniature gravity assist devices, allowing starships to travel at 20,000 km/s without energy consumption.
The pipeline wasn't a true tube; it was...
It was actually a series of interconnected gravitational assist devices, placed every few hundred meters, appearing as a pipeline from a distance.
It primarily served starships. Starships under 1000 meters long could use this pipeline to travel from one point to another without needing to accelerate, thus conserving energy. Low-altitude vehicles could also use it.
Few people used this for acceleration. While mechas could withstand the acceleration, it wouldn't be comfortable.
The triangular device Luna used earlier was actually a Star City 46 inspection and repair access point. Maintenance personnel or robots could use it to quickly reach the surface of Star City 46 for repairs.
Luna chose this method to save time.
The City of Death was infamous; almost nobody chose to go there. Using a starship or low-altitude vehicle would have been inconvenient.
But this pipeline passed by the City of Death. She only needed to exit the pipeline midway.
After about three hours of flight, Luna saw the City of Death in the distance. It looked like a more conventional, flat Star City, with cities on both its upper and lower surfaces.
Using her authority, Luna deactivated the magnetic fields of several gravity assist devices ahead, then exited the pipeline.
The magnetic fields within the pipeline were interconnected, making it difficult to exit—it was impossible to disembark mid-journey, unless one had Luna's authority.
After exiting the pipeline, Luna immediately sensed an unusual stillness.
The cosmos itself is silent, but here, the silence was exceptional. There was not only an absence of sound but also a lack of light.
Luna flew towards the City of Death.
Although it appeared close enough to touch, it was actually very far away.
Using the momentum from the pipeline, Luna, traveling at 24,157 km/s, took over half an hour to reach it, a distance of approximately 0.5 AU.
It was an enormous Star City.
According to Luna's knowledge, it once housed over 31.1 billion people, ranking among the very large Star Cities in the Federation.
Initially, there were strict limits on the size of Star Cities; those exceeding 10 billion were considered Capital-level.
But with population growth, the original Star Cities became insufficient.
Those were rules from tens of thousands of years ago, when the Federation's population was only in the quadrillions.
The current population is ten thousand times greater.
Small Star Cities have gradually expanded. Those with 100 million to 1 billion people are considered small, 1 billion to 5 billion are medium, 5 billion to 20 billion are large, and over 20 billion are very large.
Very large Star Cities have almost no upper limit; 100 billion is very large, and so is 1 trillion.
But even the Federation has very few Star Cities exceeding a trillion; Alpha Eridani is one example.
Luna land on the surface of this Star City.
She gathered much information here.
"The City of Death was originally Star City 88, home to a super-corporation: Hertel Technologies."
"Hertel Technologies primarily dealt in artificial elements; they possessed many cutting-edge elements."
According to Luna's knowledge, Hertel Technologies' peak market value exceeded 800 trillion Energy Credits. It was the top company in the Kehua Star City group and surrounding star systems.
Luna wasn't sure if the incident here was related to this company. She planned to investigate the company's headquarters.
The City of Death was now abandoned, showing no signs of decay.
After several military expeditions vanished here, almost nobody visited the City of Death, except for those seeking death.
The buildings seemed perfectly intact; it had only been a little over a thousand years.
With current Federation construction standards, few buildings became obsolete within 100,000 years.
Luna walked down the deserted streets. Air supply had ceased; it was a vacuum; thus, Luna didn't remove her mecha.
She didn't actually understand what happened here. The information she had gathered matched the rumors.
Star City groups lacked Boundary Gods; Boundary Gods couldn't acquire sufficient energy here, so Luna needed to find someone to unravel this mystery.
She continued onward.
Luna remained vigilant.
She couldn't sense any danger, which was precisely the most dangerous aspect.
Her pace quickened; the Star City was vast, and she didn't want to waste time.
This Star City still had power, remotely shut off. She planned to visit Hertel Technologies' headquarters and reactivate some of the city's power; while Star Cities weren't under the direct control of Boundary Gods, they all had servers that would have recorded what happened.
After about six hours, Luna finally reached Hertel Technologies. Its headquarters occupied a vast area—740,000 square kilometers—a testament to the corporation's wealth.
Entering Hertel Technologies revealed a landscape of massive, boxy factory buildings, lacking architectural aesthetics and having few windows.
Luna opened the map she'd accessed. Her first destination was the headquarters building.
She was extra cautious here. One thing bothered her: so many people had died here; if the bodies had floated into the air due to the lack of gravity, why were there no bodies inside the buildings? Something had disposed of the bodies. Therefore, someone, or something, must still be here.
Upon entering the headquarters building, Luna's mecha sensors detected faint tremors in the ground.
Someone was inside!
Luna's heart pounded. Her individual strength couldn't compare to the military, which had suffered heavy losses here; what could she do?
What was inside?
Despite her apprehension, Luna entered. She had come seeking the truth.
Apprehension didn't equal fear.
After entering the building, the surroundings instantly became darker. Outside, at least there was starlight and faint light from other Star Cities. Inside, there was nothing; absolute darkness.
Luna activated her thermal imaging; everything turned dark green. The temperature here was as low as -251.4°C. At this temperature, most gases would become liquid or even solid.
She then activated her neutrino emission scanner, allowing her to see warm objects through matter.
But she saw no "high-temperature" objects. Was there nothing here?
Yet, Luna had sensed movement moments ago. The object must have evaded her sensors.
"What is it?"
Luna continued upward.
There was almost no gravity here; she could walk in mid-air. Using an internal gas elevator, Luna ascended.
A gas elevator encased passengers in gas, then propelled them to their designated floor, eliminating the need for platforms. However, to save costs, it ideally required an elevator shaft; open-air systems like the ascending and descending platforms couldn't accommodate it.
Luna reached the 729th floor. According to the data, this was the office of Hertel Technologies' CEO.
The entire floor was 3,728 square meters, divided into three sections: an archive, a secretary's office, and the CEO's office.
Upon reaching the floor, she saw the secretary's office. For a company of this size, there would normally be hundreds of secretaries.
It looked like a typical office.
The workstations were large to accommodate larger species.
Warbeasts might face some discrimination—or perhaps not discrimination, but simply because of their size, they couldn't work in such confined spaces. Warbeast secretaries usually had their own offices.
This sounded good, but in reality, being far from the CEO meant less work, no commissions, and no chance for promotion or raises; it was a dead-end job. Unless one was exceptionally talented.
Luna turned right, entering the CEO's office. A space of over 700 square meters, a massive desk, and a sealed aquarium behind it.
Hertel Technologies' CEO was a Waterfolk.
The office was spotless, devoid of paper. The desk was a large screen; this screen was merely supplementary; the desk itself was a miniature DataNode capable of handling a multitude of tasks.
Luna carefully examined the DataNode, finding no damage, only a lack of power.
In modern Federation parlance, "DataNode" was synonymous with a small computer. This term had a limited scope of application.
Because most Federation citizens now perform calculations through city-level servers in the cloud, or use their own internal auxiliary brains, small computers like the DataNode occupy a rather awkward position.
However, small doesn't mean useless; there's still a market for private, independent DataNodes.
The difference between a DataNode and a server is primarily size. Their computing power can differ by a factor of hundreds of millions. Naturally, their power consumption is also lower.
These DataNodes can use Energy Credits as a power source, making them practical.
Most people in the Federation now use cryptocurrency; Energy Credits are like gold from Earth's golden age.
Luna had specifically exchanged some Energy Credits beforehand.
She found the DataNode's power port, removed the depleted Energy Credits, and inserted ten new ones. These ten credits could power the DataNode at full capacity for several hundred years.
After the DataNode booted, a password entry interface appeared. For a super-corporation like Hertel Technologies, the password was extremely complex, usually a graphical cipher. The cipher involved clicking specific pixels on a ten-quadrillion-pixel image, following a specific pattern, to unlock it.
The cipher's complexity is immense; even Ayla's server would need thousands or tens of thousands of years to crack it through brute force. The only way to bypass it would be to use a backdoor or brute-force methods.
But because the DataNode uses a completely isolated local network, brute-forcing it requires connecting to the Hertel company's internal isolated network.
Even with brute force, it would still take considerable time to bypass network defenses.
This is one reason why companies like Hertel Technologies prefer using DataNodes.
However, Luna's authorization allowed her to directly access the DataNode.
The password was automatically entered. Luna accessed the DataNode's internal system and pulled up the relevant files.
The massive amount of data was processed directly by her auxiliary brain, with filtering criteria already set.
After over an hour of filtering, Luna found hundreds of files containing the information she sought. Most were voice recordings.
"CEO, something's happened!"
"Many people in the company have collapsed inexplicably."
This was a report.
"It's not just the company; the entire Star City 88 is in chaos."
"My God, what is that?!"
"Ghosts! It must be ghosts from the legends. Wait, why am I becoming so idealistic? Is this an alien invasion?"
"…"
There was a lot of chaotic information; most was useless; she could only glean information from a few scattered phrases. But Luna had already heard about this from the Shore Tribe elder.
Luna found video footage.
The footage showed the company's interior, comprehensive and seemingly without blind spots.
Luna examined it closely.
2:47:11 PM was the dividing line. The first person collapsed; within a minute, over 400 people had fallen; within three minutes, over 3000.
Within ten minutes, over 80% of the company's employees were dead. There was no warning in the surveillance footage.
After learning of this, Hertel Technologies' CEO was distraught; it attempted to activate an escape device, but unfortunately died at 2:47:47 PM.
The video continued until 5:18:33 PM.
At this point, the company's power system shut down. The DataNode should have been operating independently, but its power was also cut off, indicating external interference.
Luna examined the final image in the CEO's office; there was no sign of anyone entering or any obvious cause.
She carefully examined the ten Energy Credits she had removed; they were depleted, not damaged externally. Something must have drained their power, causing the DataNode to shut down.
She studied it repeatedly, still unable to find any clues, only the deaths. Perhaps only by knowing more about the entire city would she be able to make further judgments.
Luna filtered and searched the data again, using various keywords, but found nothing new. The rumors seemed to be entirely unfounded. She considered this case closed...
"Why does that phrase seem so familiar?"
Luna left Hertel Technologies through a window.
What truly concerned her was the whereabouts of the city's corpses.
According to the surveillance footage, Hertel Technologies' CEO died in his office; the sealed aquarium remained intact after a thousand years, the water frozen, but still present.
Yet, the CEO's body was gone. At such low temperatures, his body couldn't have decomposed. Any microorganism capable of decomposition at such low temperatures wouldn't leave no trace.
Something must have removed it. A person, or something else?
The rumors mentioned "ghosts." Why would ghosts take bodies?
Another detail caught her attention: a holographic projection disappeared in the surveillance footage. Theoretically, not only flesh-and-blood lifeforms would be affected; non-corporeal beings would also be. This suggested a targeted massacre.
Perhaps it was a human doing this. But why?
Luna activated her mecha's thrusters; the energy exhaust created a beautiful trail of light behind her, like wings.
She no longer concealed herself and flew directly towards the city's main server.
City servers required massive power generation equipment and a complete storage system, typically buried underground. However, there were terminals within the city.
Luna hoped the server's power hadn't been drained; that would complicate things.
Her fears were realized.
Reaching the administrative building of Star City 88, she found a server terminal and attempted a physical connection to restart the power supply, but failed.
The failure meant she needed to access the server's power source. Because this was deep space, the power generation equipment wasn't as simple as in star system Star Cities.
Star system Star Cities used massive battery arrays, recharged to maintain operation. Power came from the star itself; special equipment collected stellar energy, and energy transport ships constantly shuttled between the Star City and the star.
Deep-space Star Cities, however, each had a dark energy mine.
The Star City harvested dark energy and fed it into equipment to generate power through controlled reactions.
The "mine" wasn't a literal mine shaft but a series of arrays. It was called a "mine" because dark energy itself was considered an energy mineral; it's usually impossible to absorb and utilize, only special equipment could.
Luna left the administrative building and went to the Dark Energy Mine. During this time, she didn't detect any other life signs.
Had they disappeared? Or were they secretly observing her nearby?
Luna didn't bother searching; that would waste time.
She found the Dark Energy Mine's entrance: a massive bowl-shaped structure. It covered 170,000 square meters; in the center was a large, 40-meter-diameter hole, bottomless.
Around the structure were pillars with devices at their tops that used suction to compress dark energy into the bowl. The dark energy then entered the interior through the large hole to be collected.
The bowl-shaped structure's opening wasn't for people; Luna landed and entered through the main entrance.
Everything here was deactivated; she could freely explore.
She took a derelict elevator down to a depth of 300 meters, reaching the interior of the Dark Energy Mine.
The interior looked like a typical building, nothing special: white metal floors and walls. Monotonous walls were decorated with motivational posters, featuring portraits of famous people, and potted plants spaced at intervals.
Rows of laboratory doors were on either side, showing signs of previous activity.
There were no secrets here, no hidden mechanisms. The Dark Energy Mine was open to the public with an appointment. It also handled some energy-related business; the flow of people was considerable.
The only difference from the past was the absence of lights; everything else remained the same, even the plants, frozen solid by the cold.
Luna quickly moved towards the deepest part, intending to reactivate the Dark Energy Mine.
At its heart was a dark energy ignition device. Igniting it with dark energy would activate the entire system.
Luna was prepared; she had anticipated this situation and replaced her gene series beforehand.
A rare gene pool allowed for the extraction of cosmic dark energy.
Reaching the main device, she removed her mecha and activated her gene pool just before her body temperature dropped too much.
Energy surged into her body, causing her cells to transform.
Her entire form changed into a pinkish, beast-like creature, with a head resembling a baby rhinoceros, its horn like that of a unicorn.
This transformation was somewhat embarrassing.
This gene pool was considered junk; almost nobody in the Federation chose it, and Luna hadn't either; she only selected it because it could process dark energy.
Luna opened her mouth, allowing the void to fill her stomach. While seemingly empty, dark energy was indeed entering.
Dark energy is ubiquitous in the universe, but invisible and intangible to lifeforms.
Luna's gene pool genes began working, extracting dark energy from this void.
The process was incredibly slow.
Two months passed, and Luna had only produced about 0.2 grams of dark energy. But that was enough for the ignition device.
Luna used a quark robot to transfer the 0.2 grams of dark energy into the device, then deactivated her gene pool, reverting to her human form. After inserting some Energy Credits into the device, she activated it.
The ground trembled slightly, and the ignition device emitted a red light—a self-diagnostic test.
The red light turned yellow, then blue, finally green, indicating a successful test.
The machine restarted, and the surrounding power system was almost instantly restored.
The Dark Energy Mine began operating; the entire city began to revive; lights flickered back on, and virtual worlds were reactivated.
Luna successfully connected to the city's server system.
At that moment, a dark shadow rapidly approached Luna, stopping less than half a meter from her before she could react.
Luna froze, held in place. At this close range, she didn't have the advantage in a physical confrontation.