Chapter 55: The Burning Starry Sky, Section 2

Death Star returned to silence. But Blackhair, on the other side of the starry sky, had no idea what had just happened to Death Star.
Blackhair’s fleet exited the portal on the seventh day. To avoid an ambush by Emperor Moore, Blackhair had deliberately advanced the departure time. Yet he never expected that this decision not only failed to save them from Emperor Moore’s trap but also plunged them into another predicament.
After forcing their way out of the portal, they found themselves in a completely enclosed space.
What does “completely enclosed” mean? There wasn’t even the slightest gap around the fleet—everything was filled with a transparent crystal. It was like an iceberg, and Blackhair’s fleet had somehow squeezed into this “iceberg” from reverse space. There was no way out from any direction.
Damn it!!
Seeing this scene, everyone was stunned. After all, they were seasoned veterans of space travel, with the least experienced among them having over three years of sailing under their belts. Yet they never imagined such a place existed in the universe.
Completely solidified, with not a hint of space around them—such an environment was almost fatal for warships. In such conditions, they couldn’t move at all, let alone turn on their engines. The exhaust from the engines alone could kill everyone!!
“Damn it, what place is this?” In the cabin, Bloodpupil and the others were shocked. Staring at the ice-crystal-like transparent crystals outside the window, they felt as if they had grown three times larger. Blackhair was also surprised and sat up straight in his captain’s seat.
“Has the scanning started? What are the results?”
“It’s in progress, my lord. But preliminary results are already available. The current scanning range isn’t enough to determine the boundaries of this solidified zone. We only know it’s huge, and the crystals here interfere with the scanning waves—our scans can’t reach far.” An officer replied urgently. He too was sweating profusely. Being trapped in those crystals was no fun at all—it felt like being a tiny insect trapped in amber.
“Hmm.” Blackhair nodded, his expression improving significantly. “Then have you discovered the hardness, structure, and methods to destroy these solidified crystals?”

“The solidified crystals form a stone-like structure. Similar to stone essence, but not exactly the same. They lack energy reactions and are extremely fragile, capable of being destroyed by ship cannons. But these crystals… wait. My lord, new reports have come in. These crystals actually have the ability to absorb energy!!” The officer’s voice trembled as if he had witnessed the most incredible thing.

Hearing his words, the cabin was immediately filled with uproar.

“What!!? Absorb energy!!? Isn’t that just like the outer armor of the Black Crystal Giant Ships?” Blood-Eyes widened his eyes in shock.

In fact, the people around him weren’t any better off. Their faces turned pale. Everyone realized that if these crystals that solidified fleets really were like the outer armor of the Black Crystal Giant Ships, things would get very troublesome. In such crystals, all energy-related methods would be affected, including the warships’ engines. Did that mean warships would have no power at all here?

“No, no. It’s not that extreme!!” Seeing everyone’s expressions, the officer immediately realized he had said the wrong thing and started waving his hands frantically.

“Although they can absorb energy, the amount is very small—definitely not as extreme as the armor of the Black Crystal Giant Ships. But there’s one thing that’s dangerous. These crystals absorb energy not through contact, but through sensing!!”

“Sensing!!?” Even Black Hair became restless, his face showing astonishment.

Contact and sensing—these were completely different concepts. Black Hair understood well that if it were through contact, as long as there was a thick layer of armor, the warship’s energy system wouldn’t be affected. But sensing…

That meant that as long as the warship was within the sensing range of these crystals, its energy would keep draining!!

What a terrifying environment!!

In an instant, everyone understood what the officer meant, and their expressions changed again. Many were too stunned to speak, staring at the beautiful crystals outside.

Silence filled the cabin, the atmosphere oppressive as if frozen. After a long while, Black Hair finally sighed.

“Perhaps Emperor Moore anticipated this. He knows this environment very well and isn’t afraid that we won’t fall into his ambush.”

“Mm. That does make sense,” the monkey and Blood-Eyes beside him nodded, looking enlightened.

“What should we do now? Stay here?”

“That would be the same as waiting for death,” Black Hair said with a bitter smile, shaking his head before turning to the officer.

“What’s the status of the ship? Is it damaged?”

“No, my lord. Although we forced our way into this solidified area from a subspace, the crystals here aren’t very hard, so there’s no significant damage—just a few scratches at most.”
“That’s good.” The black-haired man nodded slightly. “Can we use the ship’s cannons to clear a path?”
“Well…” The officer hesitated for a moment. “It’s hard to say, my lord. The solidified crystals are too close to the ship’s hull. If we use the cannons in such a confined space, the metal jets could backflow inside the barrel, causing an explosion. That would be catastrophic. It’s too risky.”
“It’s still better than doing nothing. If I’m not mistaken, the Emperor of Moor uses energy weapons as his hypothetical enemies. That’s why he lured us here. Trapped in such a solidified zone, all energy weapons won’t be effective. Even using the cannons to clear a path is impossible.” The black-haired man thought for a while before analyzing slowly.
“In that case, we already have an advantage. It would be foolish not to make use of it. Send orders to the fleet: start using the small-caliber guard systems to clear the area around us now, and once there’s enough space, use the main cannons to fire.”
“Understood,” the officer replied seriously before quickly taking action.
Soon, all the virtual puppets began to move. The armor on the ship’s surface slowly deformed, revealing dark holes beneath, from which countless fiery metal jets erupted. Instantly, the fleet was enveloped in a sea of flames. The fragile solidified crystals were shattered by the ship’s close-range defense weapons, emitting sounds like beans being crushed. Inside the ship, everyone watched intently at a gauge on the screen.
It was temperature!
The high-temperature metal jets were deadly not only to the enemy but also to the ship itself. Even though backflow hadn’t occurred at such close range, the temperature had already risen terrifyingly. In just a few minutes, it reached nearly ten thousand degrees, and it continued to rise rapidly as the cannons fired. The strain on the ship’s hull was immense.
Fortunately, the Death Star’s ships were carefully crafted by the Black Prison faction, ensuring their quality was excellent—nothing like what the black-haired man had encountered in Huaguo before. After ten minutes of intense heat, the ships showed no signs of deformation. Meanwhile, a space of over a hundred kilometers had been cleared around the fleet.
Seeing the cannons’ firing slow down, everyone in the cabin breathed a sigh of relief, their faces showing relief.
Thankfully, there was no backflow.

“Lord, the space has been cleared. Shall we use the main cannon to clear a path now?” the officer reported in a low voice from Li Feng’s cabin.
“Mm,” Hei Fa nodded, approving the request.
There was actually no other choice. Before this, Hei Fa had considered re-entering anti-space to avoid this strange solidified zone. But the problem was that he didn’t have the coordinates of his destination. His original plan to use scanning to locate a path right after exiting the jump also failed due to this bizarre solidified zone. So now, he could only painstakingly search for a way forward in this vast, boundaryless solidified zone.
Hei Fa didn’t know how much time it would take. But he knew that if he didn’t do this, he would have to return empty-handed—a result he absolutely couldn’t accept.
“Boom!!”
While Hei Fa was deep in thought, the fleet had already begun firing in unison. Thick streams of metal converged to form a terrifying beam several kilometers in diameter, which slammed into the crystals ahead. Instantly, a huge hole appeared before everyone. The hole was extremely deep, with no end in sight, and its edges were as smooth as mirrors, melted by the high-temperature beams. Then, Hei Fa’s fleet slowly entered this hole.
Thus, whenever they encountered a dead end, they used the ship cannons to clear a path. Moving forward and stopping repeatedly, Hei Fa had no idea how much time had passed. This solidified zone, made entirely of transparent crystals, seemed endless, blocking their way. Just as his patience was about to run out, after another attempt to clear a path, the officer let out an exuberant cry.
“Lord, we’ve scanned to the edge of the solidified zone!!”
“Mm?” Hei Fa immediately perked up. “How far away?”
“Not far!! Just three million kilometers to the side below. Our scanning waves have penetrated there,” the officer replied, trying hard to suppress his excitement.
“Good!! Then we’ll exit from there. After we get out, we’ll initiate full-power scanning. I want to see how far that guy can run,” Hei Fa said with a cold smile as he nodded. At his words, the fleet turned in unison and fired fierce artillery at the crystal layer below.
But Hei Fa didn’t know that at the very direction he had just chosen, a massive fleet was gathering. A red flying castle slowly floated behind these fleets, like a supreme monarch coldly observing its prey.