Global Era of Star trekking

But then again, if the Floating Land beneath us is, as he suspected, an ancient resource- or even life-bearing Floating Land, what could have turned it into the scarred wasteland it is now?

A natural disaster?

Song Chi thought it unlikely, as the natural disasters typical to Floating Lands did not possess such mighty power.

As he was lost in speculation, Shen Qing's voice came through the communication projection.

"Little Chi, we're almost there. Look at that giant stone ahead."

Hearing this, Song Chi instinctively directed his gaze forward, and then the corner of his mouth twitched.

"You call that a giant stone? It's taller than most mountain ranges, you know..."

Grumbling internally, Song Chi's gaze remained fixed on the massive, square stone that stood at the horizon.

Indeed, it was ten thousand meters tall. Based on the distance, the massive square yellow rock at the end of his vision certainly wouldn't be shorter than ten thousand meters in height, which was obviously quite astonishing.

Beyond astonishment, Song Chi was mostly puzzled. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't discern any trace of an ancient civilization on that enormous stone, other than its overly square shape.

The semi-intelligent shipboard brain of the Cangqiong showed that this thing was 99 percent likely just an ordinary stone—albeit a super huge one.

Seemingly guessing what Song Chi was thinking, Shen Qing laughed.

"Do you feel like that's just an ordinary rock?"

Seeing Song Chi nod without hesitation, Shen Qing explained:

"I thought the same when I first came here. But the reality is completely different from what you think. You'll find out soon."

Seeing Shen Qing tease him with a cliffhanger, Song Chi didn't ask further, and the two airships continued their approach towards the giant stone.

Suddenly, a terrifying sandstorm over seven hundred meters in diameter was unleashing its boundless energy a few thousand meters ahead.

Seeing this, Song Chi and his companion immediately took a wide berth around it, as the energy fluctuations within the storm's core had reached Third Rank.

Neither the Cangqiong nor the Qingfeng could survive if they got caught in its gravitational field. They would be torn to shreds in an instant, as the engines equipped on both airships were merely of white Quality and completely incapable of escaping its daunting gravitational pull.

As the two airships altered their course, the radar on Cangqiong detected a continuous dune beneath the sands below. At first glance, it looked like a sand dragon concealed under the sand and moving at high speed. Its terrifying ten-meter diameter put both Song Chi and Shen Qing, in the Vault of Heaven above, on high alert.

Without a doubt, the fast-moving form beneath the sands was likely a remarkably large desert creature.

Song Chi instinctively directed a questioning look towards the projection screen, but before Shen Qing could respond, the rapidly extending dune below suddenly stopped, and the next second, a horrific black shadow burst forth from the sand.

This shadow was enormous in size, but its ten-meter diameter was not the main focus. What was truly shocking was its hundreds of meters in length.

This creature resembled an earthworm from a previous era but was a super-sized version, and at one end of its head, it had a round mouth several meters in diameter, filled with densely packed, razor-sharp teeth.

As it looked up and roared, Song Chi and Shen Qing above could clearly see the glittering, densely packed sharp teeth inside, terrifying to behold.

Further detecting the energy emanation from its body, the creature's life force was incredibly at the Second Rank. If it were to collide with the Cangqiong or Qingfeng, the outcome would be at least 30% damage to the airship's structure, or even a total loss was not unexpected.

In their urgency, even knowing that their airships were currently at a safe altitude, Song Chi and his companion instinctively climbed higher just to avoid any unnecessary accidents.

Looking at Song Chi's inquiring gaze, Shen Qing shrank his head and muttered:

"I didn't encounter this thing last time..."

Song Chi naturally did not say much; the fact that Shen Qing had revealed this relic matter to him already amply demonstrated the other's trust in him. Given their relationship, it was natural not to harbor any grievances over such a matter, let alone that it was an unexpected event that Shen Qing hadn't known about the existence of the artifact beforehand.

Avoiding one sandstorm after another, the two ships continued forward, while the creature of unknown race that had been behind them followed for a while. Fortunately, it seemed to fear the storms as well, and after timing the position and timing of several storms, they finally shook off their pursuer.

An hour later, the hurriedly chasing Cang Qiong and Qingfeng finally reached the base of the colossal rock.

It looked fine from a distance, but when they got close to the giant rock, Song Chi couldn't help but marvel at its size; with a terrifying height of over ten thousand meters, the less than twenty-meter Cang Qiong appeared as tiny as an ant in front of it.

At this, Song Chi had to marvel at the wonder of nature's creation. Of course, according to what Shen Qing had said earlier, this object didn't seem to be natural but rather a creation of the Buluo Civilization.

Just as he was about to ask about the situation of the giant rock, Shen Qing spoke up first.

"Try attacking the side of the rock with your shipborne main cannon or secondary cannon."

Following Shen Qing's suggestion, Song Chi, puzzled, activated the Spectral Cannon, and then he instantaneously realized.

The attack unleashed by the Spectral Cannon, upon colliding with the side of the rock, did not result in the expected explosion; it was as if the energy shell had vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.

Seeing this, three words involuntarily escaped Song Chi's mouth.

"Spatial Veil?"

On the projected screen, Shen Qing nodded gently with a smile.

Spatial Veil technology was not unfamiliar to any Torch Ship Captain who had received formal education; it was a very common low-level spatial technology among various Starry Sea civilizations.

The Shattered Starry Sea was vast and boundless, giving rise to countless civilizations, and most of the science-oriented civilizations that emerged from the Floating Land could control this technology.

Why is it considered low-level spatial technology? Because while it is called spatial technology, in reality, it is about using special methods to block and isolate a region of space, creating a sealed space.

However, such spaces cannot be reduced, enlarged, or moved. Crucially, setting up such a Spatial Veil also requires consuming a large amount of valuable materials, which is quite inefficient.

Generally speaking, this technology is often used to conceal some special, still developing Strange Objects, or to hide bases, laboratories, and so forth—its practicality isn't very high.

With his mind working quickly, now that he knew it was Spatial Veil technology, it also meant that there was a completely sealed space inside the giant rock. Presumably, the relic Shen Qing had mentioned before was located within this sealed space.

"Just go straight in!"

Song Chi, however, did not agree with Shen Qing's statement. Even though Shen Qing had entered this sealed space before and had not encountered any dangers, that was nearly half a year ago—who could say for sure that it would be safe inside today?

Opening the hatch of Cang Qiong, Song Chi released a Hornet-class drone and activated the [Brainwave Remote Control System] component, imprinting a Brainwave Beacon on the Hornet-class drone. Then, two completely different fields of view appeared before him—one his own, and the other the perspective of the Hornet-class drone.

Shifting his attention to the Hornet-class drone, he began remotely controlling the drone as it flew towards the side of the gigantic rock.

Pop!

Soon, the rapidly speeding drone entered the Spatial Veil and completely disappeared from the outside world.

At the same time, one of Song Chi's fields of view completely changed, transforming from a sky filled with yellow sand into a silent space that spanned thousands of kilometers in both length and width.

The space was vast, but aside from the endless darkness, there was nothing else.

Clearly, Song Chi's concerns were somewhat unnecessary; there were no other dangers behind the Spatial Veil.