Chapter 47: Time Sealing – Section 8

Farewell?
Even after a month of work to restore Black Prison Star, Black Hair still hadn’t fully understood what Cobra had tried to explain to him. One thing was certain, however: Madaro was likely not dead. Instead, he must have discovered the secrets of the Stone of Light and Darkness.
But under such circumstances, with almost everyone facing the threat of death, what could Madaro have discovered that was worth such a great risk? And why would he wave goodbye to the snake before leaving? Did he already know his own choices after he left?
Black Hair didn’t know, but he preferred to believe that Madaro had discovered something. Otherwise, he really didn’t want to give up this last hope.
“Old man, come back.”
Staring silently at the quiet starry sky outside the window, Black Hair’s expression gradually softened. He reached out and summoned the guard beside him.
“How much time remains before we reach Black Prison Star? What task do we have today?”
“Five minutes, my lord. Most of the restoration work is already done. Today’s task is to search the layers 500 meters deep beneath the surface. If nothing goes wrong, it should take about a day. We’ll continue exploring deeper tomorrow,” the guard replied respectfully.
“Hmm,” Black Hair nodded in satisfaction and closed his eyes. This attendant had been selected recently from among the Blood Wolf warriors, probably due to the previous incident. Death Star had increased its security efforts lately—whether it was guarding or routine inspections, every corner was carefully monitored by Sulei. As Death Star’s top leader, Black Hair was no exception.
Of course, Black Hair’s reputation was well-known. Throughout the Blood Wolves, no one dared claim to be qualified to protect him. But given the circumstances, Black Hair had reluctantly agreed to Sulei’s request and kept a few followers by his side.
But it seemed fine now. At least they could handle half of the secretary’s work, right? Often, Black Hair was quite satisfied with their work.
Still, it would be better if they looked a bit more presentable. Black Hair looked at the burly men in front of him with a helpless expression.

The recovery progress was astonishingly fast. Just as the attendant had said. By the time Kuroha arrived at Black Prison Planet, things had changed drastically. The surface, originally melted by the explosion’s heat, had been dug open one by one, revealing smooth openings beneath. Each opening was enormous, with a diameter of at least 300 meters. It was easy to imagine what lay below.

This was a world where magic technology was highly advanced. On Earth in the past, creating such large holes would have required countless man-hours—after all, those were metals used in sturdy construction, not something ordinary excavation machinery could handle. To melt these holes, Death Star Light had mobilized the resources of at least two fleets. Countless construction mechs covered the entire planet like ants.

Yet precisely because of this, the recovery speed was beyond imagination. Under Kuroha’s leadership, the Blood Wolves had always emphasized efficiency, and this time they went all out. By the time Kuroha arrived, most of the work was already done, and they had entered the stage of deeper exploration.

Speaking of which, one couldn’t help but mention the madness of the people of Black Prison. These pure research maniacs had dug the entire planet like a beehive, with underground pipelines and bases scattered everywhere, reaching deep into the mantle. It was only thanks to Kuroha’s unlimited provision of resources that they could do this. Looking at those huge, now completely sealed pipelines, Kuroha felt a pang of sorrow.

That was all money… Although he had never really had a concept of money since acquiring the Twin Commercial Planets and the Alien Market, he was still shocked by such extravagant waste. Such a massive project could have been accomplished by developing several new planets. He wondered what these madmen from Black Prison were thinking—did they not even have the concept of waste in their minds?

Even as he ventured deeper underground, Kuroha continued to shake his head with a bitter smile. There were too many things that surprised him along the way. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have found it hard to believe that he was the one paying for all this. When had he become so wealthy? Rich enough to rival nations? That was child’s play.

Laughing self-mockingly, Kuroha was soon led by the attendant to the construction site 500 meters underground. It was an enormous space, entirely made of metal. The smooth walls looked like large holes forcibly melted into a mass of metal. But Kuroha knew it was pretty much that exact situation. Now, the underground of Black Prison Planet was nothing but a giant iron mass. How much valuable stuff could be found depended entirely on luck.

But today, Kurokami had a premonition that he would definitely discover something. Because they had returned to the room where the Stone of Light and Darkness was originally placed. During the last rescue, due to the urgency and the constant threat of an explosion, Kurokami hadn’t searched the place carefully. He had simply rushed everyone away and left Black Prison Planet. Now that he had plenty of time, he certainly wouldn’t miss this opportunity.
“Clang, hiss…” The engineering mech stopped in its tracks, with a large amount of cold air emanating from its ankles before it finally came to a halt. Then, Kurokami slowly stepped down from the mech. The first thing he saw was a group of engineering mechs at work, with sparks and beams of light flashing continuously. People were coming and going everywhere, making the scene extremely lively. Kurokami’s sharp eyes immediately spotted Baroka’s chubby figure ahead—he was waving his arms and shouting loudly.
“What’s wrong?” Kurokami frowned and walked over to him.
“Hey, the boss is here. It’s nothing, nothing.” Baroka rubbed his bald head and grinned. “These guys are too lazy. I’m here to supervise them.”
“…” Kurokami immediately broke into a cold sweat.
“Where’s Monkey? Isn’t he supposed to be coming too?”
“He’s not here. He’s leading a patrol outside. Hehe. We made a bet—the winner comes here, and the loser goes on patrol. Well, I won.” Baroka smiled triumphantly and gave himself a thumbs up.
“Making a bet with me? You really don’t know how you’ll die. Doesn’t that guy Monkey know what my old nickname was… the God of Gambling!”
“The God of Gambling…” Kurokami was utterly defeated by Baroka’s sense of humor. He rubbed his temples in pain. “Alright, Baroka. I admit you’re an amazing fat guy, an excellent warrior. And, um, that one thing… right. The God of Gambling. But I’m not here to discuss this with you. Let’s talk about something practical, shall we? For example, what have you discovered today? With the work progressing to this point, don’t you have anything to report to me? If that’s the case, I’m sorry to say I might have to reconsider your salary.”
“No way…” As soon as salary was mentioned, Baroka’s expression changed drastically. “Boss, the salary you give me now is already pitifully low. Other than drinking, I don’t even have enough money for gambling. Alright, alright, I know it’s not good. But I think I can make you change your mind. For example…”
Baroka cautiously glanced at Kurokami’s expression. “A small discovery?”

“That depends on whether it’s valuable. You know, I’m always very practical. And I don’t haggle. Maybe you’d prefer to talk to Sulei about this?” The dark-haired man shook his head jokingly.
“Joking. That little girl Sulei?” Baroka was shocked. “I’d better talk to you instead. If I go to her, she’ll surely take the last crystal coin from my pocket. By God, I’ve never met a more terrifying housekeeper. You know, her eyes turn green when she looks at you. Good heavens, it’s terrifying.”
“But I find her gentle…” the dark-haired man replied with a smile.
“That’s because you’re her man. Damn it. How can I talk to you about this? Has my head been damaged by the explosion too?” Baroka muttered under his breath. Then he took out a shiny little object from his pocket and sneaked it toward the dark-haired man.
“No joking. Here. This is a new discovery today. Right at the coordinates where you rescued her last time. A strange little thing. Can’t tell what material it is. But I’m sure there’s something wrong with it. When I found it, it was surrounded by melted metal. God knows how it survived such terrifying high temperatures. So I didn’t let anyone else interfere and kept it myself. I know—there are some things you don’t want too many people to know about.”
“You’re right, but this thing…” The dark-haired man took the small object and examined it in his palm, frowning.
From his perspective, it looked like a piece of crystal, with beautiful geometric shapes. It was completely transparent and crystal clear, reflecting a faint blue light under the light. If not found here, he would have thought he was looking at the most beautiful diamond in the world.
But it was only seemingly so. The dark-haired man knew it was definitely not a diamond. Because if you looked closely, you could see the strange patterns inside the crystal. These patterns were faint, but still discernible with attention. And they were arranged in a regular pattern. This reminded him of integrated circuits from his time on Earth.
That’s right. Integrated circuits. The dark-haired man quickly confirmed his guess. The patterns in this crystal were definitely similar to those of integrated circuits. If he wasn’t mistaken, it must be a very important electronic component.

But what kind of electronic unit could remain intact at such terrifyingly high temperatures? And its appearance was so strange. At the very least, it’s certain that with current human technology, it’s impossible to create such a component. Even the Black Prison gang couldn’t do it.
Could this be something left behind by Madaro?
In an instant, Black Hair thought of the Cobra and his described final farewell…