Volume 4: Twilight Galaxy
Shu Xun shook off the dust covering him. The fluffy little ball of fur lowered its head to look at itself and still felt somewhat grimy. So, as it followed the small gravel-paved path toward the mouse hole in the corner of the wall, it stretched out its chubby paws to pat and brush itself off, even sweeping its own body with its tail. After walking a while, the fluffy ball finally returned to its original blue-gray appearance. Just as it was about to speed up toward the corner, its steps suddenly paused, and it looked down at its paws in confusion.
After a moment of hesitation, it tentatively lifted its foot. Then, quickly, the fluffy ball lightly put its foot back down. Moments later, it lifted it again. And so, in the courtyard, there appeared a fluffy little ball standing on one foot, tugging at its whiskers in thought. It made anyone watching want to reach out and poke it, just to see if it would lose balance and tumble over.
After a long time, the fluffy ball seemed to have figured something out. It snapped out of its thoughts, put its little paw back down, and bent over. With its front paw, it touched the small stone it had stepped on earlier. Immediately, its chubby paw felt a warm and familiar sensation. Without a doubt, this was a Warm Winter Stone!
This unassuming, smooth stone had been mixed in with countless other gravel pieces, forming a winding path. Perhaps countless people had walked over it, but no one had noticed the subtle warmth it held. Shu Xun now seemed to understand what made Qing Kong special. According to past rumors, on the day Qing Kong was born, the town of Xing Chui experienced an extremely rare, massive meteor shower. Some even said a meteor had landed near Qing Kong’s residence. Now it seemed that this rumor was true.
The fallen meteor must be this Warm Winter Stone, something that should never appear in the Twilight Galaxy. For invaders, this stone was like a guiding beacon, giving them a sense of direction in the vast universe. Qing Kong was much like Qu Yan in “Winter’s End”, possessing special abilities for certain reasons. These abilities gave Qu Yan some precognitive powers and helped him survive the harsh winters. Similarly, Qing Kong could move freely across the universe, unhindered by planetary restrictions. This power seemed to stem from their inherent nature or desires. Qu Yan longed to resurrect Qing Mo, while Qing Kong, carefree by nature, yearned for freedom.
Shu Xun opened the chat room and quickly typed a message, mainly asking Meng Muyu if “Winter’s End” and “Deep Blue Sea” had ever experienced large meteor showers. He also calculated the cosmic coordinates of the three “End of the World” realms. If he could determine the times of the meteor showers, by calculating their directions and velocities, he could roughly pinpoint the origins of these Warm Winter Stones — the mysterious planet or galaxy covered in them, which might be the birthplace of the invaders.
Meanwhile, in the live stream, the game players were watching the little mouse ball rapidly type out its message. They felt as if they were blinded by the sudden burst of insight.
“One step on the Warm Winter Stone and Shu Xun is already on the fast track to victory!”
“Shu Xun’s logic is really all over the place — often catching onto key points before anyone else even realizes what’s happening!”
“Now it’s all up to the boss. But since the game blocks all communication with the outside world, we’ll probably have to wait until the game is completed to learn the truth. Sigh.”
“If there really were meteor showers in “Winter’s End” and “Deep Blue Sea”, we’d just need to determine the time and trajectory of the falling meteors. With some calculations, we could pinpoint the exact location. But that would also mean that the planet the invaders came from might already be destroyed. It’s uncertain whether any records even exist…”
On Shu Xun’s side, he had already emerged from the mouse hole at the corner of the wall. Just as he popped his head out, he saw that someone else had appeared outside.
Nuan Dong squatted down and greeted Shu Xun with a smile as always, while Lie Yang and Gray had more complex expressions. After all, their prior investigation had led them to conclude that the invaders were definitely connected to the Phantom Clan. No one had expected that Nuan Dong would show up voluntarily.
Shu Xun kicked his short legs, pulling himself out of the mouse hole. Then, with elegance, he smoothed his whiskers, shook off his fur, and extended his chubby paw. “Long time no see.”
Nuan Dong extended his thumb and forefinger to shake Shu Xun’s paw. “Long time no see. I just happened to pass by and guessed you might be nearby, so I waited for a bit.”
Shu Xun, still tugging at his whiskers, spoke. “Want to team up?”
Nuan Dong smiled and shook his head. “No, I have a rough idea of how far you’ve progressed in your speculations. Staying would only add unnecessary trouble, so I’d rather walk alone.”
The fluffy little ball wasn’t surprised by this response. After a moment of thought, he tilted his head and asked, “Do you think Twilight Galaxy will be destroyed?”
Nuan Dong’s gaze seemed to drift into the distance as if recalling something from long ago. Finally, he reached out and smoothed Shu Xun’s fur. “Most likely, it will be destroyed.”
But that heavy mood in Nuan Dong only lasted for a moment. He soon returned to his usual gentle smile, even reaching out to gently tug on Shu Xun’s whiskers, his face full of satisfaction. “So this is what it feels like.”
Shu Xun: “…”
Nuan Dong didn’t linger long. After greeting Shu Xun, he hurriedly left, as if there was something urgent he needed to deal with. Shu Xun didn’t ask any more questions, simply waved his chubby paw to say goodbye. Nuan Dong waved back as he walked away, his blue hair swaying gently in the warm sunlight, the warmth in his blue eyes even more comforting than the setting sun.
After Nuan Dong’s figure disappeared, the three of them remained standing in place for a long time. Lie Yang couldn’t help but sigh. “That person always gives off a gentle feeling, embodying the very definition of perfection. It’s hard to imagine the invaders having any connection with such a peaceful Phantom Clan, yet all the evidence points directly at them.”
In Gray’s eyes, emotions seemed to be swirling, yet his outward demeanor remained unchanged, silent as always. Nuan Dong’s sudden appearance left Shu Xun, the others, and most of the audience surprised. Especially with Nuan Dong’s prediction of destruction, it casts a heavy mood over Twilight Galaxy.
About an hour later, night had fully descended, and the once lively town of Xing Chui had quickly quieted down. It seemed that the residents of this world would return home early in the evening if they had no pressing matters, not lingering under the night sky. The whole town fell into silence after sunset, as if it had gone to sleep in an instant.
Shu Xun and the others had already returned to the tavern. Inside the room, Lan Yang was still dutifully perched on the analyzer, even going so far as to compare the results from the various drinks on the table with those from the analyzer. It looked like quite a serious and professional operation.
Shu Xun jumped from Gray’s shoulder to the table. Looking at the neatly organized data, he tugged at his whiskers and sighed, “Why does it feel like Lan Yang is contributing more than you? Is it just my imagination?”
Lie Yang: “…”
The fluffy little ball strolled around on the table, inspecting the neatly arranged descriptions of the various drinks. The results of the analysis weren’t much different from Shu Xun’s guesses — all the drinks were different kinds of blood. Even those drinks with varying colors were blood. It seemed the residents of this world indeed had a strong preference for the taste of blood.
After reviewing the drink analyses, Lie Yang had already extracted the analysis data for the Twilight Clan. Species: Unknown. Classification: Highly intelligent evolved life form. Age: 313 Galactic Years. Combat power analysis: SS+. There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about this data. In the current interstellar era, the lifespans of many major species have been steadily increasing. The evolution of the Twilight Clan had kept pace, meaning their lifespans were naturally not short.
But what followed was where things became intriguing. The light screen of the analyzer began displaying an analysis of the Twilight Clan’s blood. Based on surface-level genetic analysis, no upper limit to this species’ lifespan has been detected. Preliminary analysis suggests a link to their blood. The blood of this species shows much higher vitality compared to the current top five species. The immense vitality of their blood can promote infinite cell regeneration, freeing the body from the limitations of aging and allowing it to remain in a state of near-perfect condition…
This description of an unlimited lifespan and immortality instantly made the three of them think of the Phantom Clan. The special blood vitality of the Twilight Clan was likely the reason why their wounds healed quickly and why they had an affinity for the scent of blood.
The data from the genetic analyzer was still limited. A more precise analysis might reveal a fatal weakness of the Twilight Clan, which is why the use of analyzers in the game came with restrictions. They could only provide basic information, without giving away more specific clues.
Lan Yang had clearly been pondering for a long time. “Generally speaking, the Twilight Clan and the Phantom Clan share many similarities, but there are also differences between them.”
Shu Xun thoughtfully tugged at his whiskers. The commonalities Lan Yang referred to were, of course, their perfect appearances, immense strength, and seemingly infinite lifespans. Both clans appeared nearly flawless, yet they differed in that the Phantom Clan focused more on enhancing their spiritual power, while the Twilight Clan seemed to concentrate on strengthening their blood.
The town of Xing Chui was especially quiet that night. After sorting through the clues and data they had gathered, Shu Xun and the others each returned to their rooms to rest. They had decided to head to the main city of the continent: Zhu Si City. If the secret of the Twilight Clan lay in their blood, then there were bound to be related records in Zhu Si City. Additionally, they needed to understand how the world consciousness of this realm communicated with living beings, why it hadn’t given any warnings about the impending disaster, and where the invaders they were tracking were hiding.
The lights in the tavern gradually dimmed, leaving only a few faint nightlights burning in the darkness. In the room, a little mouse rolled back and forth on the neatly made bed like a pastry being flipped over, only falling asleep after a long while. The small town remained eerily quiet, as if afraid of disturbing something. No one dared to speak loudly.
