376: Open the door, art is delivered.

When the Morning Light Squad stood before the golden giant gate, which was a hundred meters high, the oppressive fear of such a massive object almost solidified the air.

Morning Light stared at the giant gate, feeling that, in all likelihood, what lay behind it was one of their objectives for this mission.

"Prepare the thermite bombs. Everyone retreat to a safe distance, prepare for impact!"

The team members quickly retreated to the corner of the passage. Zhao Qiang attached three specially made thermite bombs to the gate.

"Detonation countdown, five, four, three, two, one!"

"Boom!"

The violent explosion was deafening, and a searing white light instantly engulfed the entire space.

As the intense light gradually faded, everyone saw that a breach, approximately two meters in diameter, had been blasted open in the golden giant gate.

As the squad members successively passed through the still glowing red breach, the scene before their eyes left everyone momentarily speechless.

This was a colossal spherical space, impossible to describe with words, with a dome so high it seemed to have no end. In the center of the space, a dark sphere, nearly a thousand meters in diameter, floated.

After they entered, this giant sphere began to contract at a slow but steady pace, as if gathering power.

As the sphere contracted, a suffocating sense of oppression permeated the entire space. The patterns covering the sphere's surface slowly flowed like living things, emitting a heart-palpitating fluctuation.

At this moment, all the squad members simultaneously felt a powerful mental force directly acting upon each person's consciousness, constantly pulling at it.

Even wearing protective helmets, the team members could feel the strength of that power.

"Is this... could this be... the main body of the consciousness mentioned in the intel?" Morning Light felt the sense of being controlled that he had experienced in the virtual world resurface.

Directly below the giant sphere was a vast, boundless lake. But the lake contained not clear water, but viscous, iridescent "life milk."

The purity and energy intensity of this life milk far exceeded that of the "corpse milk sea" previously discovered by the Spear Falcon Squad.

As the squad members tentatively approached the edge of the lake, they were shocked to discover that the surface of the life milk was as hard as a solid. They could stand firmly on the surface of the lake but could not sink into it.

However, its appearance was entirely that of a liquid.

"What... what is going on?" Lin Tao tentatively stepped on the lake surface with his combat boot, finding that while the surface looked like a liquid, it had the texture of a solid.

"I don't know, the detector has no analysis results."

Morning Light's memories churned violently, and his experiences in the virtual world surged forth like a tide. He instantly understood that the sphere before him was the consciousness mentioned in the intel, the root cause of all this disaster.

That's right, this feeling, it must be this thing in front of him.

He unhesitatingly ordered the execution of the least probable contingency plan, which was their successful discovery of this mysterious consciousness.

"Execute the final plan!" Morning Light's voice was decisive. "Install a large-yield fusion bomb and destroy this thing! Even if we can't completely eliminate it, we must severely damage it!"

As the team members began to scatter to find the most suitable detonation point, a strong sense of unease arose in Morning Light's heart.

This entity possessed such immense power, especially in terms of mental control, yet why was it completely unresponsive after they broke into its core area? This was illogical.

As the squad searched for the optimal detonation point within the massive spherical space, they were unaware that, at this very moment, in another dimension, a confrontation was unfolding.

A short while ago, in Honeycomb Experimental City, Pexito sat quietly in her room.

Her white hair moved without a breeze, her eyes were tightly closed, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Through the hair tie charm she had given to the Morning Light Squad, she clearly perceived the existence of Tai Yi and the suffocating power of Order.

"Tai Yi... Order... Star God." Pexito's lips trembled slightly as she whispered these three words.

She could sense the path taken by the consciousness named Tai Yi, that obsession with bringing all things into absolute Order. Although, from the outcome, a world of Order could indeed allow all beings to survive, such a lifeless, stagnant world was completely contrary to her pursuit of life's diversity and free growth.

As the Morning Light Squad drew closer to Tai Yi's main body, Pexito's resolve grew even stronger. She could not stand by and watch such an entity bring the entire planet, and even more worlds, into that cold Order.

As Morning Light and the others got closer to Tai Yi, Pexito's determination grew stronger.

She was unaware that the Star God body Chen Hao had secretly forged for her was being activated, and a power beyond mortal comprehension surged from within her.

Pexito's body emitted a soft white light, forcibly pulling Tai Yi along with her into a higher dimension.

On this plane, imperceptible to mortals, Pexito met Tai Yi.

There were no words, no forms, only two fundamentally opposing philosophies clashing intensely. Pexito had no intention of engaging in a "verbal debate" with Tai Yi, for she knew that the other party would never abandon his obsession with Order.

Although she herself did not yet have a clear understanding, she just knew this.

Order and Harmony, two fundamental laws of the universe, were clashing head-on at this moment.

Tai Yi's power was like an infinitely precise net, a perfectly fitted clock, allowing no deviation. His very existence was the embodiment of absolute Order; any chaos, any unpredictability, was in his eyes an error to be corrected, an existence that should not be allowed.

Pexito, on the other hand, was like a complex symphony, with different notes coexisting in Harmony. She pursued unity in diversity, mutual assistance between strong and weak, and the mutual sustenance of life, where different individuals could coexist harmoniously while maintaining their uniqueness.

Only through a unified whole can one resist the cruelty of the universe.

"Chaos must be eliminated."

"Life needs freedom."

The two philosophies clashed fiercely in the high-dimensional space. There were no flamboyant energy explosions, no earth-shattering sounds, but every second of confrontation contained the struggle of fundamental cosmic laws.

"Your Order is too absolute. Life needs room to breathe, and the universe needs the possibility of change."

"Only absolute Order can bring eternal stability. Change only leads to chaos and destruction."

Pexito's body was already that of a Star God, but her will was still lacking; she had not yet fully understood the concept of Harmony. Tai Yi, on the other hand, had already reached the standard of a Star God in terms of will, but his body was far from reaching the height of a Star God.

Therefore, the difference in their power was not great, but Tai Yi still had a slight advantage.

The clash of the two powers intensified, and Tai Yi, relying on a more complete understanding of his path, gradually gained the upper hand. However, he also had no way to eliminate Pexito.

Pexito knew that she was not Tai Yi's opponent at the moment and was contemplating a countermeasure when a passage of words suddenly appeared in her mind.

She paused for a moment, but soon a smile appeared on her face, as if she understood many, many things.

Then, she crossed her hands over her shoulders and closed her eyes. A rainbow light flashed, and her figure disappeared.

Tai Yi was somewhat bewildered by what was happening before him and was trying to understand when a sense of imminent death permeated every corner of his consciousness.

It's the main body!

Just as Pexito's residual power dissipated, Tai Yi's consciousness was bounced back to its origin.