Chapter 25 Trap

"It's out! It was actually lured out by us!"

In the Command Center, Academician Wang looked at the black vortex continuously expanding on the screen, his face showing a mix of lingering fear and excitement.

What he feared was that they had almost stepped into a death trap.

What excited him was that Lin Yuan's strategy had succeeded!

For the first time, they had confirmed its existence and location without directly coming into contact with the "Void Devourer"!

"Quick! Record all its data!" Academician Wang shouted at the assistants beside him, "Energy fluctuations, spatial parameters, formation process... don't miss any details! This is the first time we've observed the 'manifestation' process of a 'Void Devourer' so clearly!"

The scientists immediately began operating in a flurry.

As for Lin Yuan, he was the first to react, maneuvering the "scavenger no. 2" to quietly retreat another two astronomical units.

Just kidding, that thing was a "Void Devourer"; no distance was far enough.

He watched that black vortex rapidly expand from a single point into a "mouth" large enough to swallow a small spaceship.

It had no fixed shape, just like a living, constantly twisting mass of darkness.

The space around it distorted strangely due to its appearance, and even light bent as it passed by.

Then, that mass of darkness began to slowly... move.

Its target was not the direction where Lin Yuan was, but... the super-large freighter that had served as the "treasure chest" bait just moments ago!

In the shocked gaze of everyone, that black "void," like a ghost, silently approached the mountain-sized freighter.

There was no collision, no explosion.

The moment the freighter's sturdy hull, made of an unknown alloy, touched that darkness, it was like ice meeting a red-hot iron, silently beginning to "melt" and disappear.

A huge, smooth gap appeared on the hull.

Then, the gap grew larger and larger.

That massive freighter, comparable to a small city, was erased bit by bit, conceptually, under the "gnawing" of the "Void Devourer".

This scene was clearly presented to everyone in the Command Center through simulated images.

Everyone felt their scalps tingle and their spines chill.

"This... what is the principle behind this? Is the law of conservation of mass invalid in front of it?" a physicist muttered in a daze.

"It isn't 'destroying' matter; it is 'annihilating' the very concept of matter's existence." Academician Wang's expression was unprecedentedly grave. "This is a form of attack from a higher dimension that we completely cannot understand."

Lin Yuan watched this scene, his heart pounding with fear.

He was now one hundred percent certain that his crappy little drone—let alone adding any defensive systems, even if he had covered it with that black board from last time—would be no different from paper in front of this thing.

He absolutely could not go head-to-head with it!

The "Void Devourer" consumed the freighter very quickly.

In just over ten minutes, that behemoth disappeared without a trace, not even leaving a single fragment behind.

After finishing its "main course," the black shadow seemed unsatisfied.

It circled in place as if searching for the next target.

Then, its "gaze" suddenly turned toward the source of the energy fluctuations from earlier—the direction of Lin Yuan!

Although Lin Yuan had already retreated very far away, that sense of terror originating from the depths of his soul, being locked onto by a top predator, instantly seized him!

"Damn it! It's looking over here!" Lin Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

"Alert! The 'Void Devourer' has locked onto our position! It is approaching at high speed!"

In the Command Center, the piercing alarm sounded again!

On the screen, that black dot representing death was dragging a long trajectory line, rushing toward Lin Yuan's position at a terrifying speed!

"Return! Return immediately!" Chen Weiguo gave the order without hesitation.

The purpose this time was to probe, not to fight a decisive battle.

Since they had successfully lured out the enemy and figured out the trap, there was no need to tangle with it further.

"Received!"

Lin Yuan did not hesitate for a second, immediately chanting in his heart: "Return!"

【Return procedure initiating... Requires 3 seconds for spatial positioning...】

【3...】

The black shadow was getting closer and closer.

Lin Yuan could even "see" that inside its twisted form, countless painful human faces seemed to be wailing.

【2...】

A familiar suction force came from behind.

Although the distance was greater this time, the speed of the "Void Devourer" seemed even faster than last time!

The drone's energy reserves began to plummet again!

【1900 / 2000】

【1750 / 2000】

【1500 / 2000】

"Hold on! 'Neural Signal Buffer Module' activated!"

"Comrade Lin Yuan's vital signs are stable! No signs of significant mental backlash!"

In the Command Center, the voices of the technical staff and the Medical Team sounded nervously but orderly.

Lin Yuan felt only a slight stinging pain in his head, just like a mosquito bite, which was completely incomparable to the feeling of his head about to explode last time.

"This new helmet is awesome!" he praised in his heart.

【1...】

【Return successful!】

Just as the shadow was about to touch the drone, a flash of white light occurred, and Lin Yuan's consciousness was instantly pulled back to the seat in the connection room.

The helmet slowly rose, revealing his face, which was slightly pale but exceptionally excited.

"Phew... I'm back." He let out a long breath.

The entire Command Center, after a brief silence, erupted into relieved cheers.

"Success! We successfully retreated from the 'Void Devourer's' trap!"

"Comrade Lin Yuan, well done!"

Chen Weiguo and Academician Wang walked over quickly.

"How do you feel? Is your body uncomfortable?" Chen Weiguo asked with concern.

"Reporting to the Chief, I'm doing great!" Lin Yuan stood up from the seat and stretched his limbs. "My head only hurt for a split second, like a mosquito bite. Your equipment is amazing!"

His words made everyone in the Technical Support Department show proud smiles.

"Good! Very good!" Academician Wang patted Lin Yuan's shoulder firmly. "You have made a great contribution this time! Not only did you clear a deadly trap for us, but you also brought back the first-hand, most valuable observational data about the 'Void Devourer'!"

"According to the data analysis just now, we have a preliminary conclusion." The Minister of Intelligence Analysis walked over, his face also filled with the excitement of having survived a disaster.

"The 'Void Devourer' seems to have no fixed physical form. It is more like a manifestation of a... spatial phenomenon. It likely lurks in certain special spatial nodes in a 'dormant' state."

"When it perceives energy fluctuations of sufficient intensity, it becomes 'activated' and then 'drills' out of that spatial node to hunt."

"When we detonated the 'ark reactor' just now, it was equivalent to lighting a large firecracker by its 'bedside,' waking it up."

This explanation made Lin Yuan suddenly understand.

"In other words, as long as we don't make too much noise, it won't come out?"

"Theoretically, yes. Or rather, as long as our energy fluctuations do not exceed a certain 'threshold,' it won't be disturbed." The Minister nodded. "And determining what this 'threshold' is will be the key topic for our next research!"

"That freighter was likely considered its 'nest' and 'camouflage' by the 'Void Devourer' because it happened to be docked at a spatial node."

"Damn, that's really insidious." Lin Yuan cursed.

"However, it's not like we didn't gain anything." Academician Wang smiled. "Although that big treasure chest was a trap, while analyzing the scan data from just now, we discovered a very interesting target in another direction."

He called up the wide-area scan heat map from earlier and pointed to a faint green light dot, almost drowned out by other blue light dots, in another direction about three astronomical units away from them.

"Here, we discovered a piece of wreckage with a very stable energy reaction but a very strange structure."

He zoomed in on the light dot.

A small spaceship that looked battered and was only one-third the size of a normal freighter appeared on the screen.

The shape of this ship was very ordinary, but its hull was painted with a very eye-catching symbol that looked somewhat familiar to Lin Yuan.

It was a symbol of two snakes entwined around a staff.

"This is... the hospital symbol?" Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment.

"Correct." Academician Wang's eyes flashed with wisdom. "In the 'Oracle Civilization' database, we found a similar symbol. It represents 'life,' 'healing,' and 'knowledge.' In many interstellar civilizations, it is a universal symbol for medical institutions."

"This is a... medical ship!"

Academician Wang looked at Lin Yuan and said word by word.

"We may have missed a treasure chest full of gold, but we may have now discovered a... temple that could make us all 'immortal'."