novelhk Page 229
Page 229
Lin Ye looked at Aria, who was focused on directing the battle, her fingers flying across the control panel. As if sensing Lin Ye's gaze, she turned her head slightly and nodded to him, indicating that they should leave quickly and not worry about the Bureau.
“Okay!” Lin Ye didn’t hesitate any longer and patted Night Owl on the shoulder. “We’ll go with you! Tell us the location of the safe house as soon as possible!”
Night Owl nodded immediately, turned and shouted at the control panel, "Activate the backup engine! Target: Safe House coordinates! While the Bureau is fighting the Observers, let's get out of here!"
The black warship and reconnaissance ship quietly started their backup engines and slowly retreated to the edge of the battlefield... Just then, a cold voice suddenly forced its way into all communication channels, carrying a familiar arrogance and mockery: "Lin Ye, stop hiding. Hand over the Key of Creation, and I can let you die a quick death. If you wait for me to take action myself, the consequences will be more than you can bear."
Lin Ye's pupils suddenly contracted... It was the voice of Mirror Lin Ye! He actually came in person!
Aria's face darkened, and she roared into the communicator, "Observers, immediately withdraw from the Bureau's jurisdiction! Otherwise, we will use spacetime weapons to completely destroy your fleet! Don't think you can fight against the Bureau!"
Lin Ye laughed loudly, his voice full of disdain: "Time-space weapon? With your meager abilities? Today, I will not only obtain the Key of Creation, but also wipe out all of you who are in my way! I will let the entire universe know who the true ruler is!"
Countless observer warships surged out of the cracks like a black tide, led by a massive flagship, three times the size of the Time and Space Administration's warships, its cannons flashing a dangerous red light, clearly loaded with heavy weaponry.
"Go!" Night Owl jerked the control stick, and the black warship and the reconnaissance ship simultaneously leaped into hyperspace... Behind them, the white warship of the Time and Space Administration collided with the black fleet of the Observers, and firelight dyed the entire space red. The roar of energy cannons could be faintly heard even through hyperspace.
Trunks clung to the porthole, watching the battlefield gradually disappear, his voice filled with worry: "Can the Time and Space Administration win? The Observers have too many fleets."
Night Owl shook his head, his tone grave: "I don't know. But win or lose, we have to find the Creation Ruins as soon as possible... Mirror Lin Ye personally taking action means they're close to finding the other two keys. We don't have time."
Lin Ye gripped the ore in his pocket, feeling its icy touch on his fingertips... He knew that an even bigger storm was brewing for them.
Chapter 490: Safe House and New Clues
The black warship "Night Falcon" and Ray's modified reconnaissance ship jumped out of hyperspace one after the other, stopping at the edge of the desolate star field. The gray asteroid outside the porthole was cratered and showed no signs of life, let alone man-made structures.
Vegeta leaned against the cockpit wall with his arms crossed, glanced at the broken ball, and said with disdain, "This is the safe house you were talking about? There's not even a ghost. You're just trying to fool us with some run-down place you found."
Night Owl's fingers flew across the console without even looking up: "Where can an observer not find it? How could it be so conspicuous?" He typed the last command, and a coordinate on the screen began to flash red. "Coordinates match. Follow me closely."
The two spaceships slowly moved towards the asteroid, eventually hovering above a massive crater. Night Owl steered Night Falcon downwards, heading straight for the rock wall at the bottom of the crater—just as they were about to crash, the rock wall suddenly rippled like water, revealing a dark entrance.
Lei whistled and followed in his reconnaissance ship: "Impressive, Wings of Freedom. Optical camouflage plus energy shielding, that's quite a feat."
The passageway was more spacious than expected, revealing itself to be an expanded hangar. As soon as Lin Ye and his companions descended the gangway after the spaceship came to a stop, they heard the sizzling sound of welding torches. Several men in gray-blue overalls were busy working beneath a dilapidated reconnaissance ship. They glanced at them but didn't seem particularly surprised, merely nodding briefly before returning to their work. A yellowed star map, its edges badly curled, was pasted on the hangar wall, with over a dozen red coordinate circles crossed out, looking like a medal from a recent battle.
Lin Ye glanced around at the repair station and spare parts box, then asked Night Owl, "How long have you been working on this?"
“It’s been going on and off for several years.” Night Owl led them toward the airtight door deep inside the hangar. “This is our core outpost in the Seventh Generation Zone. The Observers haven’t discovered it yet.”
Passing through the airtight door, they entered a long corridor with doors to rooms on both sides closed. Night Owl led them into a briefing room, where a star map projection on the wall lit up, densely packed with red dots and flight paths.
"Sit down." Night Owl walked to the control panel and pulled up several encrypted files. "Time is short, so don't stand on ceremony. Let's exchange information first. Whatever you want to ask, and whatever I want to ask, let's put it all out in the open." He turned to stare at Lin Ye, his eyes sharp. "First of all, Lin Ye, where did you get that fragment of the 'Key of Creation' in your possession? This matter must be made clear."
Lin Ye didn't answer immediately, but instead asked, "Let me ask you something first... How much does Wings of Liberty know about the Creation Ruins and the Observer's plans? What exactly is your goal after all these years of fussing?"
Night Owl had anticipated this question. He leaned forward, his hands resting on the control panel. "Our goal is simple: prevent the Observers from obtaining the power of the Creation Ruins. For this, we've been infiltrating, gathering intelligence, and sabotaging them for generations." He pointed to the largest red dot on the star map. "The Observers' higher-ups call that ruin the 'Ark of Origin,' saying it contains technology a hundred times more advanced than what we have now, capable of redrawing the entire star map. They've been searching for the key for centuries, only recently finding some clues. We've discovered they already have two fragments, as for the third..."
His gaze returned to Lin Ye: "The information we intercepted says that the third piece broke many years ago and is scattered in different times and spaces. The one you have is most likely the most crucial one."
Lin Ye touched the fragment in his pocket, glancing at Trunks and Android 18 out of the corner of his eye. Trunks nodded quietly, while Android 18 remained expressionless but didn't object. Vegeta snorted beside him, tapping his knuckles on the energy detector at his waist. The screen still displayed the battle data from the Submarine Base, the purple energy wave curve mirroring Lin Ye's was painfully bright.
"I got this fragment from Earth," Lin Ye finally spoke, taking out the faintly glowing ore. "I stumbled upon it by chance, and it matches my power." He didn't go into specific details, but he didn't miss the key information.
“Earth?” Night Owl frowned and stroked his chin. “That place is remote, the Observers didn’t keep a close eye on it, no wonder it could hide for so long.” He pulled up a blurry file, and the words “Guardians” popped up on the screen. “We have a clue that points to an old organization called ‘Guardians.’ Legend has it that before the Observers rose to power, they specifically guarded the key fragments, and then they disappeared. Could your fragment be related to them?”
"Guardian?" Lin Ye frowned; he had never heard of this name before.
“It’s just a guess for now,” Night Owl shook his head. “But this lead might lead to other fragments, or help us figure out where the key came from. Also, that voice at the Hidden Dragon base that warned you it was a trap—you really have no clue about that?”
Number 18 leaned against the table, his voice cold: "No. The voice was processed, you can't recognize it. I suspected Lei at first, but then ruled him out."
Lei quickly waved his hand: "It really wasn't me! If I could remotely break into the Observer's communication network, I would have already destroyed their base. Why would I be here chatting with you guys?"
Night Owl stared at the waveform of the warning audio on the screen, his brow furrowed. "This is very strange. Knowing it was a trap, and still managing to pinpoint your location... Could it be that besides us and the Time and Space Administration, there's a third force watching?" He amplified the background audio; besides the static, there was a faint mechanical hum. "Listen to this. It's different from the engine sound of our spaceship; it's lighter and colder. And next to this audio, there's a symbol of a broken wing... Ten years ago, an unclaimed spaceship appeared in the Observer's Mines, and this symbol was among the traces it left behind."
Vegeta, who had been silent until now, suddenly stood up straight. The detector beeped and said, "Who cares what faction it is! All this talk is nonsense! That Mirror bastard might already be here. What's the next step? Tell me quickly!"
Night Owl ignored his attitude and nodded instead: "Vegeta is right, all talk and no action is useless. I suggest we split up." He pointed to a green dot on the star map, "There's a black market intelligence dealer here, codenamed 'Old Cat,' he's very well-informed, especially about old legends and lost technology. Lin Ye, you go with Trunks and Android 18 and ask about the 'Guardians' or the fragments."
He then pointed to another red dot: "Over here, the Observer has a secret research facility at the edge of the galaxy. They're said to be researching spacetime energy, and they might be hiding the two fragments they possess, or related data. Vegeta, you're the strongest fighter. Rei is familiar with the Observer's procedures. I'll bring a few people to support you. We'll sneak in—it would be best if we could retrieve the fragments; if not, we'll destroy their research."
"Infiltrate?" Vegeta's eyes widened, his fists clenching so tightly they cracked. "Hiding is too much trouble! Wouldn't it be easier to just storm in?"
Night Owl pulled up the facility's defense map, where three high-risk markers were flashing red: "Three months ago, we sent a three-person team to scout, and they only came back with half a message—the spacetime interference there can weaken energy attacks, and there are anti-Saiyan detectors on the periphery. Moreover, Wings of Liberty only has half of its manpower left in the Seventh Generation Zone, and they can't afford to waste time. A direct assault has too low a success rate and would attract a large number of reinforcements, so it's not worth it."
Lin Ye stared at the distance between the two points on the star map, frowned, and asked, "How far apart are these two places? If something happens to one, can the other provide timely support?"
“Hyperspace travel will take several days,” Night Owl said frankly. “The risks are indeed high, but we don’t have much time left. The fact that Mirror Forest Night has come out means that the Observer is close to completing the plan.”
Suddenly, Number 18 spoke up: "What about the Time and Space Administration? They're colliding head-on with the Observers. What will the result be? Will it affect us?"
Night Owl sighed and took out a crumpled photograph from his drawer—it was from the Spacetime Council five years ago. In the corner, Stina was brushing past a high-ranking Observer. The two didn't make eye contact, but Stina's fingers were clenched tightly in her sleeves, her nails almost digging into her palms. "The Administration is strong, its technology and laws are more advanced than ordinary civilizations, but this time the Observers have deployed all their forces, even daring to use forbidden spacetime tearing technology. They're clearly determined to win. How long the Administration can hold them off is hard to say. Besides, their primary task is to maintain spacetime stability; they might not necessarily fight the Observers to the death." He pushed the photograph to Lin Ye. "Stanina is a very complex person. Three years ago, the Observers wanted to destroy a planet with traces of debris. She stopped them on the grounds of 'spacetime stability,' but the planet was still gone, and nobody knows why. She let you go, maybe she wants to use you to find out how many debris the Observers actually have. Not everyone in the Administration wants to confront the Observers head-on."
A few seconds of silence followed. Lin Ye rubbed the fragment in his pocket, then suddenly felt it burn. He looked up at the star map: "Alright, we'll do it your way. We'll go find Old Cat, you guys check the research facilities. Keep communications open, contact us immediately if you find anything." He turned to Vegeta, "This time, infiltration is the priority, don't be impulsive."
Vegeta pouted but didn't argue: "I know! Stop nagging! As long as we can get the fragment, anything is fine!"
Lei patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, I know the Observer's procedures very well. As long as I don't run into a monster like Mirror Lin Ye, I'll be fine infiltrating!"
With the plan finalized, everyone immediately split up to prepare. Night Owl provided Lin Ye and his group with a sleek, silver spaceship—high-performance and capable of camouflage—and gave them a coded message to contact Old Cat, the last line being, "Wings hidden in the shadows." Upon hearing this, Lin Ye's heart stirred, recalling the broken wing symbol Night Owl had mentioned earlier.
Before parting, Lin Ye grabbed Night Owl: "There's one more thing. Did Stina nod to us at the end, tacitly agreeing to our departure? Can we trust her?"
Night Owl shook his head: "It's hard to say. She abides by the Time-Space Law, but she seems to have her own rules. For now, we can only treat the Bureau as a neutral force. Don't believe her completely, but don't disbelieve her entirely either."
Lin Ye nodded and kept those words in mind.
Soon, the two spaceships flew out of the safe house one after the other. Lin Ye and his crew's silver spaceship flew towards "Old Cat's" stronghold, the stars outside the porthole rushing past. Lin Ye leaned against the window, and the fragment in his pocket lit up again, not with its usual faint light, but with a short burst of blue light, which shone on an unusually bright star outside.
Trunks leaned closer to look at the star map: "Old Cat's stronghold is in the companion star belt of that star."
Suddenly, Number 18 spoke up: "The last line of the code given by Night Owl, 'Wings hidden in the shadows,' could it be related to the broken wing symbol he mentioned?"
Lin Ye touched the hot fragment, saying nothing, just staring at the bright star. He had a premonition that finding Old Cat this time wouldn't be so easy.
Meanwhile, on the cargo ship where Vegeta and the others were, Ray stared at the anti-detection program on the screen, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly: "Strange, the underlying code of this program looks a bit like the one from the Time and Space Administration?"
Vegeta ignored him, staring into the darkness ahead, his fists clenching silently. He could sense an aura similar to Mirror Image Lin Ye waiting for them deep within the starry sea; that aura was cold and fierce, like a lurking beast.
The two spaceships flew in different directions, plunging into the vast sea of stars. One was an unknown journey to find clues, the other an infiltration operation into a dangerous territory; no one knew what they would encounter next. Lin Ye gripped the fragment in his pocket, his fingertips able to feel the faint energy fluctuations, his gaze fixed firmly on the stars outside the porthole.
Their road ahead is long, and the real trouble is probably just beginning.
Chapter 491: The Old Cat and the Broken Wings
The silver spaceship "Star Shuttle" glided into the shadowy region of its companion star belt like a fish, surrounded by rocks and ice crystals of all sizes, the darkness providing perfect cover. Trunks stared at the control panel, his fingers flying across the buttons, avoiding several red-flashing gravitational anomalies, and finally brought the ship to a stop in a natural cave on a giant asteroid... The entrance was just narrow enough for the spaceship to squeeze in, and from the outside it looked no different from an ordinary pile of rocks.
“The coordinates given by Night Owl are around here.” Trunks tapped the scanner, and a faint green dot on the screen flickered. “The signal is very weak, and there’s interference. It seems that ‘Old Cat’ is really cautious.”
Lin Ye stood up from his seat, cracked his knuckles, and said, "Let's go meet this intelligence dealer. Number 18, you stay on the ship to provide support and keep an eye on the surrounding area."
Number 18 walked to the main control panel, tapped the keyboard twice, and brought up the real-time image of the surrounding star field: "Don't worry, I'll call you immediately if anything happens."
The two donned lightweight protective suits, the outer layer bearing the "Scavenger" insignia commonly seen on the black market—a detail Night Owl had specifically pointed out to avoid them being mistaken for outsiders as soon as they stepped out of the pod. Lin Ye stuffed common currency and a small energy crystal into a hidden pocket inside the suit, while Trunks strapped his sword sheath to the outside of his calf; in the low gravity environment, anything swaying could get in the way. Before exiting the pod, Trunks checked the jetpack again: "No problem, we can make it to the base."
Once outside the spaceship, the two activated their jet propulsion system and drifted slowly across the asteroid's surface. The companion star belt lacked an atmosphere, so sound couldn't travel; they could only communicate via their headsets. Trunks, looking at the distant ice shards, couldn't help but mutter, "This place is truly eerie; there's not even a ray of light."
Lin Ye didn't reply, his eyes fixed on the portable scanner... The green dot got closer and closer, finally stopping in front of an entrance that seemed to be blocked by a landslide. He turned off the jetpack, landed next to the largest rock, and reached out to touch the edge of the rock, feeling a faint residual energy at his fingertips: "This is it."
Following the coded message from Night Owl, Lin Ye tapped three times on an inconspicuous metal plate next to the entrance, paused for a second, and then tapped twice more. As soon as the rhythm ended, the metal plate slid open with a "click," revealing a round scanning lens, and a beam of red light swept over the two of them.
"Who are you looking for?" A hoarse voice came from the built-in speaker, mixed with electrical static.
"Find an old cat that only knows how to catch mice," Lin Ye said.
“Wings are hidden in the shadows.” The other person finished the sentence, followed by the heavy sound of a pressure release from a sealed door. With a “hiss…” the door opened inward, revealing a dark passage, from which wafted a smell of engine oil mixed with strange spices.
A ZAFT man stood at the entrance of the passage. He was short and stocky, wearing greasy work pants, and his arm muscles bulged out. He stared at Lin Ye and Trunks for a long time, his gaze finally settling on the scabbard on Trunks' calf. He said in a deep voice, "Come with me. Old Cat is waiting inside."
Following the ZAFTs further in, the lights on both sides of the corridor flickered, and the ground was littered with discarded parts that were easy to trip over. After walking for about several dozen meters, the space suddenly opened up... into a room filled with clutter. Various data boards hung on the walls, and an unassembled mechanical device sat on a workbench. An elderly man with gray hair was squatting in front of the workbench, fiddling with it. He wore a single-chip analyzer over his left eye, the lens shimmering with tiny blue lights.
"You were introduced by the bird from Wings of Freedom?" Old Cat didn't even look up, still tightening screws with his screwdriver. "Sit down, those two boxes can be used as stools." He pointed to two half-person-high metal boxes in front of the workbench. "Don't dawdle, I don't have much time. Just say what you want to know."
Lin Ye walked to the workbench, poured out the currency and energy crystals from his hidden bag, and piled them on the table: "Night Owl said you're well-informed. We want to know about the 'Guardians' organization and the fragments of the Key of Creation."
Old Cat finally raised his head, glanced at the things on the table, and snorted, "Is that all? That kid Night Owl owes me a favor. Otherwise, with this level of sincerity, you wouldn't even be able to get in the door." He put down the screwdriver and wiped the grease off his hands with a cloth. "'Guardians'... that's all ancient history. Back in the day, before the Watchers rose to prominence, there was indeed such a group of people who claimed to be maintaining some kind of balance, guarding some dangerous things. The Key to Creation was in their hands. Later, I heard they fell out internally, and with the Watchers' purge, they disappeared long ago."
"Not a single clue left?" Trunks leaned forward. "We've been looking for this organization for quite a while."
“There are clues, though.” Old Cat stroked his stubble, the blue light from the microcontroller sweeping over the two of them. “About ten years ago, I bought a batch of antiques on the black market, including a badly damaged logger. I tried to repair it and managed to extract some data fragments that mentioned a place called ‘Temple,’ saying it was related to the ‘Guardians.’ Unfortunately, the coordinates were encrypted, and the logger was too badly damaged, so I couldn’t decrypt it.”
"Where is the recorder now?" Lin Ye's eyes lit up... This was the most reliable clue at the moment.
“It was sold long ago.” Old Cat picked up the energy crystal on the table and looked at it in the light. “The buyer was a strange guy. He was all wrapped up and didn’t even show his face. He just threw down a bunch of money and took the stuff away. But…” He paused, as if recalling a detail, “I glimpsed a pattern embroidered on the inside of his cuff… a broken wing. The left wing was half broken off. It looked pretty creepy.”
Lin Ye and Trunks exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes. Trunks couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure it's a broken wing? We saw half of the same pattern on a broken monument in the abandoned space station before!"
Old Cat raised an eyebrow: "Oh? You've seen it too? I don't know about that. I haven't touched anything related to that pattern since then."
"Besides the Observers and the 'Guardians,' who else is looking for the fragments of the Key of Creation?" Lin Ye brought the topic back, as the most important thing now was the whereabouts of the fragments.
“The Key to Creation…” Old Cat leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the workbench. “Legend has it that if you collect them all, you can open the ‘Ark of Origin’ and obtain the power to change the universe. Who wouldn’t want something like that? Besides the Watchers, there are some ancient families, cults hiding in the shadows, and even…” He lowered his voice, “I’ve heard that there are factions within the Time and Space Administration keeping an eye on it. After all, power is something that depends on who wields it.”
He looked at Lin Ye, his eyes carrying a hint of warning: "You guys have fragments, don't you? Those things are like lights in the dark, and the people watching you are far more numerous than you think."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a muffled thud came from outside, shaking the entire room and sending dust falling from the ceiling. Old Cat's expression changed drastically. He jumped up, reached for the workbench, and pressed a hidden button. A monitor screen immediately popped up on the wall... The footage showed a large hole blasted into the camouflage rock at the entrance, several people in black combat suits firing guns, and his ZAFT henchmen, hiding behind piles of parts, fighting back but clearly at a disadvantage.
"It's the 'Scavengers'!" The ZAFT soldier who had led the way rushed in, his face still covered in blood. "How did they find this place?!"
"The Scavengers?" Trunks reached for the hilt of his sword on his calf, his knuckles turning white. "Those mercenaries hired by the Observer?"
"Who else could it be but them!" Old Cat spoke rapidly, reaching into a drawer to pull out a data chip the size of a fingernail, tossing it to Lin Ye. "This contains all the information I could find about the 'Sanctuary' and the Broken Wings. Take it and get out of here! I have an emergency exit!"
Another explosion rang out, and the monitor screen went black instantly. Suddenly, Number 18's urgent voice came through Lin Ye's communication headset: "Lin Ye! Trunks! Three mercenary ships are outside, painted with the Scavenger's skull and crossbones insignia! They didn't attack the Star Shuttle; instead, they're circling the asteroid, as if trying to block your retreat!"
"Let's get out of here right away!" Lin Ye gripped the data chip tightly and said to Old Cat, "I'm sorry to have dragged you into this, but there will be other opportunities in the future..."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Old Cat pushed aside the workbench, revealing a hidden door about half a person's height behind it. "Go this way, it leads directly to the exit on the other side of the asteroid! Hurry! I still need to check on my people!"
Lin Ye and Trunks said no more, bending down and slipping through the hidden door. Just as they entered, they heard Old Cat shout from behind, "Tell Night Owl! He owes me a favor, and this time it's double!"
The passageway was narrow and dark, allowing only one person to pass at a time. Trunks turned on the small light on his protective suit, the faint light illuminating the path ahead: "How did the Cleaners follow us? We checked before we set sail, and we weren't being followed."
“We were probably targeted at the entrance to the companion star belt,” Lin Ye said as he walked. “It’s not surprising that the Observers see us as a thorn in their side and have hired cleaners to intercept and kill us.”
The two walked quickly for several minutes until they finally saw light ahead. Lin Ye peeked out first; the other side of the asteroid was exposed, with no obstructions. In the distance, the Star Shuttle was engaged in combat with three mercenary ships... Number 18 skillfully dodged the attack, but was still grazed by a shell, which emitted a plume of black smoke.
"Go!" Lin Ye rushed out first, activating his jet propulsion system. He had only flown a few meters when he saw several energy projectiles heading towards the Star Shuttle. He immediately stopped, gathering his energy in front of his chest and blasting it at the radar antenna of the nearest mercenary ship. With a loud "boom," the radar antenna instantly shattered into pieces.
"Lin Ye! I'm bringing the ship over here!" Number 18's voice came through the headset, and the Star Shuttle turned around and flew towards the two of them.
Trunks wasn't idle either. He drew his sword and slashed a sword aura at the wing of another mercenary ship... The sword aura swept across space, and although it didn't hit directly, it forced the ship to adjust its direction, making room for the Star Shuttle.