"Don't mention yourself, even if a True God descends, it's impossible to leave unscathed."

The captain said with a bitter smile:

"But now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to go. When we entered the vicinity of the Dark Star Domain, we could no longer escape."

Li Aozi could theoretically rescue them one by one—but that would take too much time.

Moreover, he had no intention of turning back on this journey.

"Activate the Annihilation Engine and charge in at full speed."

Li Aozi raised his hand and gave the order:

"In the Dark Star Domain, the speed of light is affected by gravity and has no fixed value. In other words, as long as we charge fast enough, light won't catch up with us."

"This is our only option." The captain nodded and said, "We have no better choice; not advancing is retreating. It's just that I'm extremely... puzzled by the anomalies here."

"Yes, it is indeed a bit strange."

Li Aozi didn't mind.

In fact, he knew what was in this Dark Star Domain.

An Evil God.

A well-renowned Golden Dragon Monk.

And a Night Butterfly Pilot he had tricked into coming.

The weakest of these three was at least Iota (9), not to mention the Evil God was cursed with at least three levels of Starry Abyss, it's no wonder gravity is acting up.

But Li Aozi didn't want to disclose this information. The Evil God was too sensitive to discuss, and the Golden Dragon Monk was entangled with the Evil God, so it was best not to interfere.

Plus, that Night Butterfly Pilot must now hate him to the bone.

[It's better not to publicize this information, as it could easily disrupt morale...]

All six thrusters of the Greenfield Vessel were fully activated, pushing forward with all its might. Li Aozi immediately opened the Gravity Shield to ensure the safety of the crew.

The players on board were fearless, but these valuable pilots were extremely important; they'd be needed for the return journey.

Li Aozi didn't wish to be left alone, bearing all the curses and floating back on his own.

Soon, the gravitational turbulence hit them right in the face.

Buzz——————

Everyone immediately felt a ringing in their ears. Even the players who had disabled their sense of pain felt suffocated, unable to catch their breath. It wasn't just a lack of oxygen; they couldn't even exhale, couldn't open their mouths, and their eyeballs kept protruding outward. They had to lift their hands to hold their eyes. Some, with weaker bodily control, were already vomiting and having diarrhea, their muscle control completely collapsing.

But soon they realized this was just the beginning of the nightmare.

The direction of gravity began to change drastically. They were like tiny boats in a vast ocean, continuously bobbing and rocking, occasionally getting slammed against the walls or corridors, watching their skin and flesh wave like water, then crushed by pressure, even their tailbones curled completely upwards. Each person, originally alive and well, was twisted into spiral towels.

At this moment, the players had already reached Delta Rank (4). Even in the Layer Abyss, they were considered Transcendents, but still, they wailed in agony when faced with this torment. Within ten minutes, many players had collapsed.

[Sovereign] System players were relatively better off.

The Pathway of the Azure Star had been instilled with [Gravity] Arcane Energy by Li Aozi, and with leveling up through battles, [Sovereign] Pathway players had no trouble in these circumstances and opened their Gravity Shields one after another.

While other players were confined in their capsules, coexisting with vomit and excrement, [Sovereign] Pathway players were lightly manipulating gravity, strolling amidst the tsunami.

Some even went to the bar!

More outrageously, they were showing off their cocktail skills right in front of others!

"Newborns! Ugh—"

"Smelly, it stinks to death, why isn't stench part of the sense of pain! I want to log off—ah, we're traveling, can't log off, damn it! %!&*#..."

Not all were curses and complaints; some players cast envious glances.

"So envious, I also want to join the Sovereign System—well, since our [Mechanic] mentor is dead, might as well switch occupations."

"Exactly, why do some occupations lack mentors?"

[Mechanic] players wept silently.

Esports don't care about gender, only about prowess.

During the S1 competition, they still had a Yutianxiao to hold the fort, but once the patch updated, swoosh—Yutianxiao switched to [Magician].

Not just that, during the beta, Du Zexin was already unfriendly to players, and later when Li Aozi went to space, Du Zexin also achieved Mechanical Ascension.

As for the new version, needless to say, Old Du's death dealt an incredibly heavy blow to [Mechanic] players.

"Damn Starry Abyss planners, I interpret your dreams!"

"Don't interpret non-existent things, Starry Abyss planners, you totally look down on us [Mechanic] players, I get it, now it's no longer in vogue to be a Mechanic, right? Seems like there's no ship for us Mechanics in the New World, waaaaah..."

"Mechanics are lives too, stop nerfing Mechanics!"

Seeing the [Mechanic] players breaking their defenses, the once-underrated [Sovereign] pathway players finally held their heads high.

"This 'Beach Encounter' cocktail is a gift from me to you all—don't get me wrong, I mean, except for our [Dominator System], everyone here is trash."

A [Echoer] player raised their glass, toasting to the players tied up in their secure cabins, and pretended to take a sip.

"Damn! If you've got the guts, go out and fight one-on-one! Besides the Blood Demon Style, do you have anything impressive?"

"Sorry, I am now a noble first-tier occupation [Echoer]. Meanwhile, you're still at your initial occupation."

"Just you wait, I have the Invincible True General as a friend, and with one Qigong Cannon he'll teach you a lesson."

"No worries, the True General is also at the initial occupation now. We'll activate Blood Demon mode, open a spacetime rift, add gravity echo, I don't even know how I could lose."

Even Li Aozi couldn't have imagined that, at the weakest stage of becoming an [Echoer], it was actually due to early occupation change that [Mutant] players became the only group with a stable career transformation.

High-Rank against Lower Order, job change against non-job change, that's a crushing defeat, don't feel bitter.

Not to mention, [Echoers] now have not only [Gravity]—but also [Bloodline]!

Although [Bloodline] as a type of Sequential Arcane Energy is somewhat weak, but with two Sequential Arcane Energies, you could overwhelm anyone through sheer numbers.

Just as the players were bickering, Li Aozi's spirits were at an all-time low.

They were fortunate; a gravity wave hadn't destroyed the ship's hull, and they'd had a safe journey without encountering Evil Gods, Golden Dragon Monks, or Night Butterfly Man's mecha.

"No anomalies detected. There have been no signs of life here for a long time."

"No signs of life..." Li Aozi felt his heart sink.

His instinct told him that this situation was not right.

No matter how dangerous the environment in the Dark Star Domain within the Layer Abyss is, those bigwigs are not to be underestimated.

"Really no activity at all?"

Li Aozi asked again, uneasy.

"Hmm... indeed there's none. There haven't been signs of life here for at least six months."

Before the captain could finish, a notification popped up on the computer, and he immediately said:

"We've reached the critical point of Underwater Abyss—the spaceship is being drawn by the negative pressure of the Starry Abyss—we're beginning submergence!"

No time for explanations, Li Aozi and others suddenly bent over, and darkness quickly clouded their vision.

The negative pressure from the cosmos!

"Hold on!" Li Aozi activated gravity wave transmission: "Submerging into Starry Abyss, you'll endure immense pressure. This is normal. Along with the pressure, the blessing of the lower Starry Abyss and the reluctance of the upper Starry Abyss will become curses and blessings, attacking you simultaneously."

He stretched out his hand with effort; even at his strength, his vision remained unclear.

He could only vaguely see everything before him continuously distorting.

It was as if an invisible large hand was bending, twisting, squeezing, and spinning everything.

Time and space scales were distorted, his extended fingers bizarrely bent upwards or downwards like a tape measure. He lost his sense of direction, left or right, up or down, north or south, unable even to confirm whether he was standing or sitting.

[Submergence in progress...]

[Submerging into the second layer of Starry Abyss: Border Abyss (bleachbyss)]

[Welcome to Border Abyss]

[Distortion, ethereal, dreamy, anxious, uneasy.]

[Only by passing such trials can you be truly reborn.]

[Curse of Border Abyss has descended: Distortion]

[You have received the curse of Border Abyss: Distortion—your body exhibits varying degrees of distortion, the more you fail to integrate into the environment of the Starry Abyss, the more prominent the curse. Additionally, your will and emotions experience polarization.]

[The curse will affect all attributes of your body. By completing missions in the current Starry Abyss, you can reduce the curse's power.]

[Congratulations on truly entering Border Abyss—Blessings to the brave and those aspiring to godhood!]

[You have received the blessing of Border Abyss: Free Will]

["Free Will": Eternal Effect-Only Passive——You no longer have to worry about losing yourself due to the changing times, body changes, metabolism. You are you, an independent and free spirit.]

[Effect ①: Your body cannot be seized by anyone]

[Effect ②: You already have an independent and free soul. After your body's death, you can choose to let your soul return to Nether Abyss, awaiting rebirth—or if you possess other reincarnation abilities, you will forever retain your own personality, regardless of the race/gender/living group/mechanical construct you reincarnate in, your character will not be influenced by the body.]

[Effect ③: [Society] corrosion rate -90%, you will have more determination space, and the inspection result +1]

[Submergence in Starry Abyss—Potential limit has been released]

[Current potential cap: Lv.280. Cauchy Rank (Ξ, the 14th Greek letter)]

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