Chapter 426: Time Scale

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio | Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

[Introduction: He has been waiting for you for too long…]

That seemed to be a trace left behind by humans, an object called the ‘Time Scale,’ with an extremely short introduction. It was so short that it was very different from the usual style of humans.

But to the ‘Hunter,’ that was something that even they couldn’t decipher.

Not only that but from the looks of it, that introduction seemed to be meant for

him, for’Li Wenyuan.’

The so-called ‘waiting’ was waiting for him.

After the ‘Hunter’ moved the object near Li Wenyuan’s spaceship, he finally saw

the ‘Time Scale’ with his eyes.

Previously, the ‘Hunter’ had only recorded a short video of the ‘Time Scale.1 According to them, there seemed to be some kind of ‘mysterious power’ interfering with their filming.

After seeing the ‘Time Scale,’ Li Wenyuan realized what that ‘mysterious power’

was.

He was a set of data that lived in a virtual world. All external senses were essentially from the detection of various sensor equipment. At that moment, through the battleship sensors near the ‘Time Scale,’ he felt a new feeling of ‘communication interference.’

There was indeed ‘something’ interfering with the data transmission in the vicinity. Even his equipment could not detect the source of that mysterious disturbance. There was not even an ‘abnormal alarm.’

According to the detection equipment, their surroundings were very normal.

There was no ‘abnormality.’

However, Li Wenyuan could see snow-like ‘interference’ through the Optical Imaging Sensors. They were of different sizes and flickered back and forth around the ‘Time Scale’ as if the sensors were broken.

It was hard to understand why the Optical Imaging Sensors would have such a problem, but that ‘interference1 did not exist for long. It quickly disappeared without a trace.

After the ‘interference’ ended, what appeared in Li Wenyuan’s vision was a translucent object sealed in a transparent observation box. It looked like the scale of some kind of ‘lifeform.’

“But the size of this…If it were really a ‘lifeform,’ it would probably be much bigger than an Ether Dragon, right?”

The scale looked like a melon seed shell, with obvious arcs and bumps. After the light passed through its translucent surface, there seemed to be an unknown scattering, making the entire scale appear very dark.

The sensor also detected that most of the light waves were absorbed by the scale. Only a small amount of light could be reflected on the scale’s surface or directly penetrate the scale, forming the optical effect of the ‘Time Scale.’ At the same time, Li Wenyuan also realized that his detector could not analyze the material of the scale. That was a very novel experience for him.

The composition of matter in the ‘universe’ was basically fixed. Usually, with his current detector’s level, he didn’t need to ‘sample’ it. He could directly obtain the composition of matter by ‘looking.

However, judging from the material reaction on the ‘Time Scale,’ it was an unprecedented ‘new material.’ It was even difficult to define it as a product of that universe. It was as if it came from another ‘world.’

The current ‘Time Scale’ was vibrating almost imperceptibly due to some unknown force. Although the universe was a vacuum, the inside of the transparent box that stored the ‘Time Scale’ was not.

The gas disturbance caused by the vibration of the ‘Time Scale’ was faithfully recorded by the sensors in the box and sent to Li Wenyuan.

When the ‘Hunter’ handed over the magical object, they removed any program restrictions on the box. That way, Li Wenyuan could easily hack into those sensors and connect to them even if the standards differed.

Thanks to that, he also obtained the vibration data of the ‘Time Scale.’ Although it looked messy at first glance, he could draw some conclusions about the ‘laws’ after having more data to support it.

According to the research records of the ‘Hunter,’ they believed that the vibration was similar to the sound made by certain insects when they flapped their wings to attract attention. The purpose was to ‘attract attention.’ In addition, they also believed that such a vibration with laws meant that the ■Time Scale’ was ‘saying’ something. Unfortunately, their specialist couldn’t think of an answer.

For Li Wenyuan, although those vibrations had laws, it was difficult to decipher the secrets within. He kept feeling that the ripples caused by those vibrations were somewhat familiar, but he could not figure out the answer for a while.

”And…is this really left behind by a human?”

Li Wenyuan had such doubts after a short period of thinking.

Now, the entire ‘Exile’ Galaxy was no different from being explored. He did not find traces of human beings nor the ‘Observation Terminal’ and ‘Purification Terminal’ that he expected to exist.

If the data he saw was everything the ‘Hunter’ had found, then the ‘Time Scale’

was the greatest possibility.

The ‘Hunter’ didn’t know the true name of the object. They named it ‘Anomaly X’ and recorded its detailed observation log. The content was ordinary, except for mentioning the special composition and vibration of the matter.

What made Li Wenyuan lock onto the ‘Time Scale’ was the location where the ■Time Scale’ was discovered. It was a Black Hole Galaxy with nearly twenty ■Dead Planets’ of different sizes.

A lifeform organism might forget that distant memory, but as a data lifeform,

Li Wenyuan could not forget it.

He clearly remembered that there was also a unique galaxy with a large number of ‘Dead Planets’ in the Milky Way. And the source of the galaxy’s gravity was a Black Hole.

More importantly, that kind of ‘Dead Planet’ Galaxy was also where Li Wenyuan first learned about the ‘Ring of Time.

Gray Wind heard the call of the ‘Black Hole’ there, and Li Wenyuan found traces left behind by humans near the Black Hole – the ‘Strange Cycle.’

He had never been able to find such a ‘Dead Planet’ Galaxy in the galaxies he had been to in the past. This time, he found it in the ‘Exile’ Galaxy, and he was sure that that was the place he was looking for.

And the ‘Time Scale’ that came from there definitely had a huge secret. Unfortunately, he couldn’t decipher the secret of the ‘Time Scale.’ And that strange way of leaving information behind made him wonder if it was something left behind by humans.

“…Moreover, the accompanying introduction is too strange. It’s impossible for them to leave a message for me in such a tone…

His doubts increased instead of decreasing, so Li Wenyuan immediately decided to personally go to the ‘Dead Planet’ Galaxy to take a look. That place was originally under the control of the ‘Hunter’ civilization, but it had now been handed over to Li Wenyuan along with the ‘Time Scale.’ The fluctuation of warp flashed by. His curiosity to understand that secret made him temporarily put aside other matters and head there directly. It was extremely similar to the scenery in the Milky Way, a ‘Dead Galaxy’ full of Dead Planets. The Central Black Hole’s accretion disk was no longer bright, but the outline of the sphere could still be seen.

When he first arrived, Li Wenyuan did not detect any special fluctuations, but soon his consciousness was instantly stunned in the virtual world.

He could ‘hear’ something calling him, but it was not through sensors or the data network. It was as if it had appeared directly in his consciousness. He checked the integrity of his consciousness data almost subconsciously, but he found that there was no problem. There was neither a decrease in data nor a new influx of data.

The ‘perception’ of data needed to rely on data to complete. His vision, hearing, and all other senses were essentially the transformation of the changes in the outside world into data. He could interpret the data to perceive it.

That process would be accompanied by an increase in the amount of data. However, Li Wenyuan realized that there was no change in his consciousness data.

Before he could think about what was going on, the ‘voice’ started calling him again.

[Li Wenyuan]

This time, it called out very clearly. Instantly, one could tell it was his name, but the ‘language’ used was difficult to understand.

It did not seem to be a language that existed in that universe, but a language that was more special, chaotic, and difficult to understand but had a strange order.

It seemed to be the pronunciation of the ‘data’ characters that made up that universe. After going through a combination of those number-like characters, they finally formed that ‘Chinese’ name.

That was how it was pronounced in Chinese, but in ‘data,’ it was pronounced in the mysterious language.

Li Wenyuan didn’t understand why he could ‘understand’ that language and even its meaning.

But he stopped thinking about that problem the next moment because the third ‘call1 had arrived.

He could clearly sense that the master of the voice seemed to have some kind of emotion. Perhaps it was happiness, eagerness, or an even higher-level emotion.

Just as the ‘Time Scale’ had said, the other party seemed to have been ‘waiting’ for him for a long time.

Through the sensor, Li Wenyuan also looked at the Black Hole that was faintly showing its spherical outline due to the glowing accretion disk.

At that moment, there seemed to be some kind of ‘lifeform’ twisting in the Black Hole. Anyone who saw it would feel their hair stand on end.

However, Li Wenyuan did not think so. Instead, he felt relieved.

“Finally, it’s my turn to be ‘nominated’?”