Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

The trembling sound resounding through the void slowly calmed down in a gradual manner.

The ship landed on the flat top of a base.

------there was a landing pad here, specifically made to accommodate aircrafts from the outside.

"What kind of place is this?" Hazeden asked.

Su Xue Er replied: "I'm not sure either. I have a star chart where this place was the final location marked out, the description of which says that this was a war base"

She stared down at the screen, quickly operated the dashboard, inputting orders to perform a short check on the ship.

Finally, the overall evaluation was displayed:

[Overall integrity: Normal]

[Spare components: Plenty in supply, performing maintenance on damaged compartments]

[Estimated required time: 17 minutes 59 seconds]

Su Xue Er sighed in relief.

This ship would serve as the final layer of defense for protecting Gu Qing Shan's body, so nothing must go wrong with it.

Sha Qiang asked with interest: 『 If this is a war base, we should be able to find some Technological-type weapons 』

Guyan coldly questioned: "Do you know how to use Technological-type weapons?"

Sha Qiang froze, then laughed: 『 That's true, I don't have the patience to be using such complicated things! 』

Su Xue Er thought briefly and nodded: "Technological artifacts from the Starlight Empire are quite powerful, I'll try to see if I can establish communication with the base"

Hazeden shrugged: "As far as I know, Technological-type weapons are the type that require frequent maintenance---- after 100 million years, even if there are any weapons here, it should have already been ruined"

Su Xue Er insisted: "We should still give it a try, just in case there is anything usable, we'd get an extra layer of protection"

She turned on the communicator, trying to tap into the war base's communication frequency.

Everyone else exchanged glances, a bit surprised.

While Gu Qing Shan was here, this girl normally wouldn't even participate in battle and only stayed behind him.

But as soon as she was separated from Gu Qing Shan, she became so resolute.

Su Xue Er quickly operated the controls.

A few moments later.

A faint signal was displayed on the screen.

Followed by a cold mechanical voice:

[This is the final war base. Visitors, please clearly state your ident…]

"I am the heir of the Starlight Empire, Su Xue Er"

[Su Xue Er, The Explorer Assault Mech Armor has been received, please put your hand on the screen for the base center to confirm your identity]

A flash of light appeared on the screen that continued to scroll down.

Su Xue Er pressed her hand on it.

The light scanned through her palm.

[Identity confirmed, Su Xue Er, you are the heir of the Starlight Empire]

[Now, please enter the Empire's inherited secret password]

Su Xue Er froze.

The Empire's inherited secret password?

I've never heard of something like that before.

In the past, the Starlight Empire was split into countless factions.

Perhaps the 9 Lords obtained the Starlight Cloaks, while another faction obtained the secret password.

That wouldn't be strange at all.

"I don't have the Empire's inherited secret password" Su Xue Er shook her head.

[Without the Empire's inherited secret password, the war base shall not activate] the voice coldly replied.

Su Xue Er hurriedly asked: "Can we rest here?"

[You are the heir of the Starlight Empire; you may rest here]

Su Xue Er nodded.

She turned to the others: "It seems like I can't activate this base, and we won't be able to enter------ however, there's finally a place for us to rest"

Everyone looked out the window.

The top of the base was completely barren and flat as if it consisted of countless main squares being put together.

There were also numerous metal bunkers all over the gigantic square.

There were countless sprites of lights moving about within a certain bunker.

It was the pixies.

They were constantly moving in circles around a wooden statue.

No one understood what they were doing.

No one had ever been able to understand what a pixie was doing unless they were part of it.

------in short, this was very convenient place, enough for everyone to rest in.

『 That's great 』Sha Qiang excitedly said: 『 The outside of this damn ship looked so big, but the inside was so narrow, I want to go outside to get some fresh air 』

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Never mind anything else, the smell of evil creatures was extremely unpleasant.

-------of course, there were some who liked this smell, but they were the outliers.

And the evil creatures themselves weren't very comfortable on the ship either.

Guyan group's flames and the evil creatures' flames kept getting intermingled with one another as well.

Neither side was comfortable with that.

Su Xue Er explained: "It's so narrow inside because the majority of the interior was fashioned for the sake of combat"

She opened the door of the ship.

Everyone quickly made their way down.

Hazeden turned around and asked: "What about you? Aren't you going to leave as well?"

Su Xue Er shook her head: "I'll keep watch here, just in case"

Hazeden nodded and left with his subordinates.

Su Xue Er then closed the cabin door, blankly staring at the main screen.

There was still a bit of time until the ship was fully repaired.

As for keeping watch, the ship's defensive system had been constantly turned on.

So there were no problems at the moment.

Su Xue Er stood up and walked to the innermost room of the ship's control area.

Gu Qing Shan was lying here with both eyes closed, almost like he was asleep.

Su Xue Er sat down next to Gu Qing Shan.

As she stared closely at Gu Qing Shan, her eyes turned gentle.

It was completely silent.

She simply sat there, watching over him.

…

Gu Qing Shan's soul body was walking through the inside of the cliff.

There was only a single path that led to who-knows-where.

He basically had no choice but to continue following the staircase.

After about 2 hours of this, the path gradually became a bit wider.

Huge clusters of clouds drifted over the walled path, making sure that no one could see where they were heading.

Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight.

His inner sight couldn't penetrate the clouds.

There was no way to check what was hidden inside the path covered by the cloud.

As he turned around, he saw that the path leading here was extremely long and that it was impossible to see the end.

Since I'm already here, I might as well not waste my efforts.

Gu Qing Shan sighed, took both swords in his hands and flew into the cloud.

Continue.

And kept continuing forward.

Another hour passed.

At this point, Gu Qing Shan was already feeling uneasy.

I killed so many of the Heavenly King Mara's subordinates and cultivators from the Huang Quan fragment world, both sides must have surely gotten furious.

If they rally forces to try and pursue them for the sake of revenge, Su Xue Er's group would be in danger.

I can only hope that they can't find Su Xue Er's group.

------but Gu Qing Shan had a feeling that was only wishful thinking.

The secret passage is Heavenly King Mara's turf, even if those cultivators can't find Su Xue Er's group, Heavenly King Mara would be able to somehow-------- and conversely, even if Heavenly King Mara can't find the pixies, those cultivators from the Huang Quan fragment would be able to locate the pixies one way or another.

I need to hurry up.

With his unease and sense of urgency, Gu Qing Shan sped up.

The journey forward was long.

Another half an hour passed.

Just as Gu Qing Shan was about to lose his patience, the clouds that covered the path ahead abruptly dissipated.

He had gotten out from the clouds!

This was such a sudden occurrence that Gu Qing Shan became wary, propping both swords in front of his chest to prevent an ambush.

But soon, he put them down.

"What exactly… is this place?"

Gu Qing Shan muttered and looked around.

He was standing on top of a flight of stairs------ which was also the very last step of the previous stair.

Everything in front of him was covered in clouds.

The sea of clouds started from his feet and reached endlessly far in all directions.

Above the sea of clouds, there was literally nothing. Aside from Gu Qing Shan himself, there was nothing to be seen.

Gu Qing Shan looked up.

-------there really was nothing here, even the wall above his head had disappeared.

Could it be, this place is outside of the wall?

But then, why is there nothing here?

Gu Qing Shan stood on top of the stair, falling into thought.

He took a step forward.

If someone had made the effort to create such a long flight of stairs, there must have been a purpose.

There is no way that this flight of stairs is meaningless.

With that in mind, Gu Qing Shan took a deep breath and shouted: "ANY ------BODY --------HEREEEE?"

Any- body- here?

Body- here?

Body- here?

Here here here ere re e------

The echo continued for a long while before it was gone.

No response.

Standing on top of the clouds, his inner sight was unobstructed, so he tried releasing it all around.

Still nothing.

Gu Qing Shan just stood still for a long while.

All of a sudden, the sea of clouds a bit further from where he stood started to form a gigantic maelstrom.

A large head poked out from inside the maelstrom.

Followed by a pair of tattooed arms.

The two arms propped themselves on top of the cloud, pulling the torso upwards.

Once his torso was above the clouds, that entity stopped.

He breathed heavily as he observed Gu Qing Shan.

It couldn't be helped, his body wasn't small, just the torso alone was several dozen stories tall.

Gu Qing Shan was also observing him.

One eye.

One horn.

A huge mouth.

His torso was filled with tattoos, exuding the fluctuations of a storm.

This was a giant that he had never seen ever before.

Why would there be a giant here?

Wasn't every lifeform in the secret passage already killed by Heavenly King Mara, leaving the pixies the only ones remaining?

Gu Qing Shan was full of questions.

At this point, the one-eyed, one-horned giant started to speak, his booming voice echoed through this vast, boundless space:

「 Be it an insect or a Deity, every being that makes their way here has their own fate to fulfill, and I have prepared your fate 」

「 However, following the order of things, you are supposed to be the second, as such you shall wait with me for the first person to fulfill their fate to arrive 」

After declaring so, the giant stopped looking at Gu Qing Shan and turned in another direction.

He actually started to wait.

As Gu Qing Shan was about to ask something, lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:

[You've met the Giant of Beginning, the first giant to be created within the infinite parallel worlds]

[The Giant of Beginning is immune to all magical attacks, ignores all physical attacks, it has the authority of granting passage within the layer of clouds. It can be traded with, cannot be defeated]

[Attention: You must communicate with it in the most cautious manner possible]