Lin Mo awoke in sterile white. No windows. Yu slept peacefully in a pod nearby, vitals stable.
The Sender solidified – a slender figure in black robes, face hidden by a smooth porcelain mask. "Welcome to Black Pagoda Station L7. I am Handler."
The station hung in the void, observing the tetrahedron orbiting Earth. [SLEEPER DESIGNATION: TOMB-01]
Handler gestured. A hologram showed the ring:
[ARTIFACT DESIGNATION: VOID SEED (FRAGMENT)]
[ORIGIN: EXTRADIMENSIONAL ENTITY 'THE CONSUMER']
[FUNCTION: REALITY DEVOURING/EMULATION]
"Your ring is a piece of the thing those Tombs were built to imprison," Handler stated. "They woke because you used its power recklessly near their stasis field. Chen Bailong was merely the spark. You were the fuel."
Guilt was a cold knife. But Yu lived.
The price: Black Pagoda wanted him to infiltrate Tomb-01. Retrieve data cores. "They hold schematics of the Tombs… and weaknesses."
[TRAINING MODULE INITIATED: ZERO-G COMBAT/ENERGY CLOAKING]
The training was brutal. Robots attacked in null-gravity chambers. The ring's energy absorption had to be perfectly masked, lest he trigger the Tomb's defenses.
Handler watched, impassive. "The Void Seed hungers. Control it, or it consumes you."
Lin Mo learned. Fast. He emulated the robots' thruster patterns. Absorbed micro-impacts without energy spikes. [VOID FIST: STEALTH VARIANT MASTERED]
After 72 sleepless hours:
"Your first dive," Handler said. A portal shimmered – a temporary rift near Tomb-01's silent hull. "Sensors detect an access conduit. 17 minutes before the rift collapses. Retrieve Core Alpha."
Lin Mo stepped through. Cold vacuum bit. Tomb-01 loomed, an obsidian mountain radiating quiet malice.
The conduit was a scar on its surface. Not made by humans. Something had torn its way out long ago…