Chapter 509 - 506: Falling into the Void

Chapter 509: Chapter 506: Falling into the Void

No matter how confused Zhou Chao was, the voice always accompanied him, faint and indistinct.

The Eye of the Stars was still murmuring something, but now, Zhou Chao was surrounded by static from the different points of light, making it impossible for him to clearly hear its words.

A surging torrent swept him to the edge of the void. The surrounding cacophony conveyed their inner terror—they all wanted to escape falling into the void of consciousness.

Fear crashed over Zhou Chao, leaving his mind in turmoil.

The enormous, block-shaped void was pitch-black, like the end of all consciousness. A terrifying aura emanated from its profound depths—a silence that could devour all thoughts, a darkness that could swallow all starlight.

’It’s over.’

Zhou Chao knew that once he entered that abyss of consciousness, he would never be able to return.

However, the roiling torrent paid him no mind, as the gathered points of light continued to pour endlessly into the void of consciousness.

’If all the points of light truly felt the same thing, could they really eliminate this terrifying void?’

Looking at the vast abyss of consciousness, Zhou Chao couldn’t help but feel a flicker of doubt.

He even felt that if all consciousnesses merged together, they still wouldn’t be able to fill this void. Instead, it would only make the process of being devoured all the more painful.

Dragged into the abyss without resistance, darkness and silence would spread through every point of light via their conscious links. The connection between them would become a shackle, making the devouring process even more efficient.

Before he knew it, Zhou Chao had reached the edge of the block-shaped black hole.

He could no longer hear any sound. Although countless flickering points of light still surrounded him, it was utterly silent.

The black hole’s boundary blocked all escaping light. Even the enchanting starlight appeared incredibly dim before such a mighty force.

’Everything is disappearing. What use is empathy now?’

As Zhou Chao gazed at the enormous, block-shaped black hole, his heart was surprisingly calm.

’To witness such a sight before my consciousness fades... I suppose I have no regrets.’

In the dazzling, starry sky, the profound Block devoured all starlight. The flowing river of stars poured into the bottomless darkness like a stream into a deep pool. The starry sky itself was squeezed like gelatin, swallowed whole by the abyss of consciousness.

The destruction of such a brilliant starry sky was a magnificent sight in its own right.

With a sigh of wonder, Zhou Chao plunged across the boundary of the black hole...

...

"Huh?"

Mo Ling watched the surging points of light, somewhat puzzled.

A short while ago, Li Luo and Zhou Chao had frozen in place. No matter how he nudged them with the Block, neither of them reacted.

Instead, the surrounding starlight grew brighter and brighter, gathering around the beacon and pouring endlessly into the Block.

Mo Ling didn’t make any rash moves. He just kept the Block floating in place, letting the undulating ribbon of light connect to it and transport countless points of light to its metallic surface, where they vanished completely.

’What are these points of light doing?’ Mo Ling was baffled by this moth-to-a-flame behavior. He subconsciously wanted to dodge, but he didn’t know where to go. The forest was filled with dazzling starlight, and the points of light were aimed squarely at the Block. Even if he moved elsewhere, they would just follow.

Besides, something was off with Li Luo and Zhou Chao, so Mo Ling couldn’t just flee on his own.

And so, Mo Ling kept observing the points of light that swarmed the Block, hoping to glean some useful information.

And he did, in fact, notice something strange:

On the Block’s metal wall, there was one point of light that wasn’t disappearing.

All the other points of light vanished the moment they touched the metal wall, but this one kept flickering and changing colors, as if it were stuck on the edge of the Block.

’How strange.’ After noticing this unique point of light, Mo Ling focused his attention on it, observing it for a long time.

’It really is different.’ The point of light hadn’t disappeared. Instead, it was completely adhered to the metal wall. No matter how the surrounding starlight surged, it remained as fixed as a boulder in a celestial river.

Mo Ling didn’t initiate a teleport, just quietly watched the point of light.

As he watched, a sudden idea struck him. This was a perfect opportunity to observe a point of light. The others had either darted about randomly or crashed into the Block and disappeared. None had ever been so "well-behaved."

So, Mo Ling adjusted his field of vision, probing deeper and deeper into this point of light.

He wanted to see what the inside of a point of light actually looked like.

Was it as Zhou Chao had said, a cluster of free-floating electrons, or was it something else entirely?

’Maybe it’s an insect, like a firefly...’ Mo Ling had always thought these points of light resembled fireflies, flickering as they flew all over the place.

His vision gradually sank past the edge of the point of light. After passing through a blurry halo, Mo Ling found himself in a forest.

’Where is this place?’

...

As the surrounding scenery gradually came into focus, Mo Ling realized his vision felt strange—it was swaying and very unstable.

Once he slowly grew accustomed to the swaying sensation, he realized his perspective seemed to be fixed, unable to move freely.

This wasn’t the forest on the Sky Island. The trees were more like the rainforest-type vegetation from the first level of the Abyss. The ground was overgrown with weeds, and various fungi crept over the tree roots, indicating frequent rainfall.

He seemed to be part of a human expedition, heading toward the other side of the rainforest. The group’s attire wasn’t uniform, and there was little communication among them, suggesting a hastily assembled party.

"Captain, I need to sort out my pack. I just gathered too many supplies, and my backpack is full..."

"Just toss some of the useless stuff. The food, too—get rid of what you can. We’ll be out of this rainforest soon. There’s a monitoring station just outside, so we can resupply then."

The middle-aged man at the front of the group turned his head and spoke in the direction of Mo Ling’s line of sight.

The middle-aged man’s face was etched with exhaustion, and his body was covered in bandages. It looked like he had just been through a major battle.

"Alright, Captain. You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up after I sort my things."

"No problem. Just hurry up." The middle-aged man nodded, then turned and continued onward.

As the team members walked ahead one by one, Mo Ling’s perspective swayed again. A heavy backpack was thrown to the ground. Then, an arm reached into it, pulling out food and medicine and tossing them aside.

While organizing the pack, the person sifted through the supplies, pulling out all sorts of strange items.

Feathers, bone fragments, blocks of wood...

He seemed to want to throw these things away, but he quickly put them back again.

After wasting a good amount of time, the person still couldn’t bring himself to discard the miscellaneous junk. He just pressed down hard on the backpack and then gave it a shake, trying to make the contents more compact.

Shouldering the pack, he hurried forward to catch up.

And Mo Ling’s perspective began to sway once more.