Chapter 110: The Starry Sky

The Black Dragon curled its body as tightly as possible, pressing itself against a massive, all-metal manhole cover. It held its breath, focusing intently as it awaited the upcoming "dragon-manned" space flight.

Truth be told, it felt a fair amount of nervousness. After all, using a nuclear-powered manhole cover for travel was incredibly intense and hardcore; if anything went wrong, it wouldn't be a simple case of "physical ascension," but a literal journey to the afterlife!

Fortunately, nervousness is fundamentally a physiological stress response, largely controlled by a series of hormones in the body. Given the Black Dragon’s current, immense control over its own physiology, suppressing the secretion of these hormones was a simple task.

In fact, the Black Dragon had considered whether it should just uninstall those messy hormone-related organs altogether, which would render it completely immune to negative emotions. However, it later thought better of it, realizing that such an existence would feel far too much like a robot, and thus abandoned the idea.

...

"Mr. Huang, are you ready?" Liu Weihan asked sternly through the control console, confirming with the Black Dragon.

"Ready!"

"Shall we begin now?"

"Let's do it!"

"Very well, starting the countdown. 10... 9... 8..."

"...3... 2... 1, detonate!"

Once confirmed, Liu Weihan decisively issued the command, successfully detonating the hundred-thousand-ton equivalent mushroom bomb deep within the underground shaft!

Almost at that exact instant, the Black Dragon’s heart began to spasm violently, and its blood pressure skyrocketed—so much so that it feared it was suffering a myocardial infarction. Then, it suddenly felt the flow of time slow down significantly.

*No... the flow of time is essentially a relative concept. The reason I feel it has slowed down is not because it truly has, but because the speed at which my brain and body interact with external information has accelerated!*

And it wasn't just a little faster—it was a hundred, a thousand times faster!

"Annihilation..."

The word suddenly popped into the Black Dragon’s mind. Somehow, even with its eyes closed, it saw a sub-microscopic view of the massive mushroom bomb detonating two or three hundred meters below... atoms undergoing frantic fission and fusion!

The images of these uranium atoms were nothing like those in textbooks or under microscopes. They appeared as the most terrifying monsters, representing the rawest madness, chaos, sin, and evil. The sight deeply horrified the Black Dragon, and a sense of oppression, confusion, and despair began to spread within its heart.

Fortunately, the Black Dragon was a steadfast believer in the Great Physics Cult and had consumed plenty of Iridium-192, granting it high mental resistance to radioactive elements. Thus, it did not suffer a cognitive breakdown.

Furthermore, the terrifying energy released by the explosion was quickly conducted to the metal manhole cover beneath it, and the immense force instantly launched it into the sky!

With the extra hundred-plus tons of the Black Dragon’s body weight, the initial velocity of the manhole cover was significantly reduced, reaching just over forty kilometers per second. But for the Black Dragon, this speed was exhilarating. If it could reach such speeds on its own, it would wake up laughing in its dreams—there would be nowhere in heaven or earth it couldn't go!

At such high speeds, the Black Dragon’s body rubbed violently against the air, causing the temperature to soar to several thousand degrees and continue rising!

The Black Dragon found this somewhat annoying—not physically, but mentally. After all, if its dragon scales were a bit more advanced and intelligent, capable of directly converting and absorbing this kinetic and thermal energy, it could have harvested at least tens of thousands of degrees of electricity!

Traveling at tens of kilometers per second was truly stimulating. In just over a minute, it successfully carried the Black Dragon to an altitude of over a thousand kilometers. The dragon-manned space flight program could be considered a complete success.

Next, it was up to Huang Ze, the "astronaut dragon," to properly investigate what was going on up here in the heavens.

The nuclear-powered manhole cover carried the Black Dragon through the barrier, its speed dropping further. The Black Dragon seized the opportunity to jump off. After all, it was tasked with a number of scientific research missions and dared not act too reckless or play around in the deep void.

"Huh... why does it feel a bit hot?"

The Black Dragon’s body temperature system was actually rather dull; its sensitivity to heat and cold had never been sharp. Yet, upon reaching this place, it clearly felt heat—and a heat that kept increasing.

It hurriedly spat out a thermometer prepared by the Xia Academy of Sciences from its stomach. After fumbling around with a "Mage Hand" to operate it, the result left it stunned: -270.3 degrees Celsius!

*Is this actually a vacuum environment?*

...

The Black Dragon was bewildered, but it soon realized that the concepts of heat and cold are primarily generated by the thermal motion of molecules. In a vacuum, there are almost no molecules or atoms, so the temperature is naturally far lower than on Earth.

Because there is no molecular thermal motion, biological organisms from the ground wouldn't feel cold here; on the contrary, because the heat within their bodies cannot dissipate into the environment, they would feel hot!

Of course, this assumes the organism can function normally in a vacuum. And the Black Dragon was clearly in that category!

"The concentration of magical elements is quite high, though..."

The Black Dragon took a few deep breaths and discovered that the magical concentration here was actually higher than on the ground, even though it was infinitely close to a vacuum!

*Could it be that magical elements... are essentially the legendary dark matter of the universe?*

The Black Dragon couldn't help but form this hypothesis.

"Oh no... it's a vacuum, so how am I supposed to fly?"

The Black Dragon tried flapping its wings a few times but failed to generate any propulsion, leaving it momentarily dumbfounded. The reason flying creatures on the ground can fly is primarily by using their wings to create friction and lift against the air. In this vacuum, there was no air, so it couldn't fly.

"Could it be... that I really have to use that method?"

The Black Dragon turned its head to look at its own rear, full of conflict and hesitation.

In fact, the Xia Academy of Sciences had anticipated this situation and devised a corresponding solution: installing two engines on the Black Dragon’s rear to generate acceleration by ejecting high-speed particles.

However, the nuclear-powered manhole cover was so hardcore that if the engines had been pre-installed, they might have been scrapped before reaching the destination. Thus, the Academy had the Black Dragon swallow the engines for safekeeping, to be spat out and installed only when needed.

If this had happened in the past, the Black Dragon might have thought nothing of it, perhaps even believing that having two advanced engines on its rear was not only practical but incredibly cool.

But as time passed, whether due to the awakening of its bloodline or psychological suggestion, it had developed a subtle repulsion to the idea. It felt that having two fire-spitting devices attached to its rear was somewhat unsightly.

But given the current situation, it couldn't afford to be picky. If it didn't use the engines it had, was it supposed to generate acceleration by farting?

Come to think of it, that method wasn't impossible, but doing it too much or for too long would likely scorch its rear end...

"Hmm?"

Just as the Black Dragon was studying how to mount the engines, its heart skipped a beat, and it subconsciously looked behind.

A massive black beast had appeared silently about ten kilometers away.

"Good heavens... is that a Kun?"

The Black Dragon noted that the creature resembled a whale, but it was significantly larger and felt more like a shadow or energy-based entity rather than flesh and blood.

"Could this be the 'unknown creature' that Academician Ding and the others mentioned—the guardian that prevents any outsider from exploring the mysteries of the stars?"

The Black Dragon watched the creature with great interest. Hellhounds guard the gates of the abyss and hell, so what should this monster guarding the gates of the heavenly realm be called... a Deep-Space Kun?

"It doesn't seem to have particle thrusters either... why can it fly?"

The Black Dragon was puzzled. The creature looked clumsy and lacked obvious energy reactions, yet it could fly freely in a vacuum.

It also noticed that as this first Deep-Space Kun appeared, more and more star-beasts were gathering toward this location. Strangely, the Black Dragon’s sense of danger was not triggered.

Even so, the Black Dragon remained on high alert, ready to use a high-pressure "spiral fart" to clear a path and make a run for it.

A full hundred star-beasts flew over and silently watched the Black Dragon, but none made a move, as if their "friend-or-foe" identification system hadn't been triggered and they didn't view the Black Dragon as an intruder.

*Even so... I had better finish my business quickly and slip away. Who knows if this many onlookers might attract some terrifying existence...*

With that thought, the Black Dragon hurriedly spat out all the experimental equipment from its stomach and began working frantically.

"Darn it... the concentration of magic elements here is too high; many of the instruments are failing."

The Black Dragon felt helpless. The Xia Academy of Sciences had anticipated this and had chosen instruments and assigned research tasks that were as simple as possible, but it still proved difficult to carry out.

...

"Good heavens... is the cosmic radiation in this sky really that intense?"

Although it couldn't use the instruments, the Black Dragon could feel that the place was filled with all sorts of cosmic rays. Their variety and intensity were such that even the Black Dragon’s powerful body could barely withstand them, and it felt its consciousness becoming unstable.

*Could these cosmic rays... be the gazes of those deities?*

The thought flashed through the Black Dragon’s mind. *If that’s the case, won't I be discovered by them very soon?*

Fortunately, after observing for a while, it found that the stars in the sky didn't show any obvious changes. It was unclear whether they hadn't noticed the Black Dragon yet, or if they were busy with their "work" and couldn't leave their posts to cause trouble.

"Huh... is my current location actually quite close to the Divine Kingdom of the Goddess of Night?"

After observing for a while, the Black Dragon confirmed its position and was shocked to find that the nearest star to it was none other than the Goddess of Night!

"...That seems a bit off-course."

The Black Dragon scratched its head. Originally, the nuclear-powered manhole cover flight was launched toward the location of Eros, but it never expected to end up here at the Goddess of Night’s side.

"Goddess of Night, Greater Power, deity of the night and secrets. Her attitude toward our nation is currently unknown..."

The Black Dragon recalled the data on this deity, hesitating over whether to greet her—this could be considered part of the research mission. The Xia Academy had always been curious about the social structure of these celestial deities and how they would react if radio signals were broadcast toward them.

However, although the Goddess of Night’s Divine Kingdom was the closest, it was still at least tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Black Dragon’s current position.

"...Wait, besides the Divine Kingdom of the Goddess of Night, there seems to be another star here."

The Black Dragon’s "Eye of Truth" suddenly felt itchy. It couldn't help but look in a certain direction and discovered that, about two or three thousand kilometers to the southwest, there was a star—no, a meteorite—about one kilometer in diameter. It emitted no light!

This was why the Black Dragon hadn't noticed it before.

*It looks like a dead star...*

This judgment surfaced in the Black Dragon’s mind, followed immediately by an intense impulse: its heart and body wanted to run over and take a look.

"No! Absolutely not!"

Fortunately, its mind remained clear. How could it be such a coincidence that on its first trip to the sky, it would encounter a dead, ownerless star waiting to be claimed? That was too coincidental—could this be what they call "the arrangement of fate"?

The Black Dragon had enough self-awareness; it didn't feel it was qualified to ascend to a divine altar yet. After all, its accumulation of both temperament and divinity was clearly insufficient. Even if a divine throne were placed before it, it wouldn't be able to ascend!

Moreover, Huang Ze had always harbored a significant resistance to the idea of becoming a deity!

"Huh... is something else coming?"

The Black Dragon looked in the direction of the movement and saw a dragon-shaped star-beast flying rapidly toward it.

*What breed is this? A dragon that lives in space?*