Yu Sheng's sudden door-opening startled Luo, but having experienced similar situations so many times added some resistance—at least this time she didn't fall off her chair—instead, Momo, who was sitting next to her, yelped "meow" and darted under the nearby table, leaving only a tail poking out, shaking furiously.

Luo reached out and pulled Momo out from under the table, then looked up and glared at Yu Sheng's group who had just entered. In the last moment before that illusory door dissipated, she could still see the desolate alien planet landscape on the other side of the door.

"Boss, you... never mind," Luo started to say something but then swallowed her words, "What's the situation over there? That planet…"

"That place is indeed the Saint Realm, but it's the Saint Realm of the Holy Calendar year eleven hundred or so—I now suspect the Gate of Eden has disrupted the time structure of that planet," Yu Sheng said quickly, "And earlier I tried several times, but no matter how I opened the door, I was always unable to arrive at that planet at the correct time..."

Luo widened her eyes and waved her hand vigorously as she heard halfway: "Wait, wait, wait, slow down, what do you mean by being unable to arrive at the planet at the correct time… what did you say the Gate of Eden disrupted?!"

"Time," came Hu Li's voice from the side. By this time, she had already reverted to human form and was using her tail to pat the dust off Yu Sheng as she spoke, "It should be a time anomaly triggered by the Gate of Eden, the power of the 'World Bridge' is preventing us from approaching that gate, this could be some kind of automatic defense mechanism..." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Then she and Yu Sheng together told the golden-haired elf in front of them about the situation on that bizarre "Deserted Star," with Erin adding a few words in between—and as they narrated, Luo's expression grew increasingly somber.

"I later tried opening the gate to the Saint Realm from another 'direction,' or opening a gate right at that time anomaly area to see if we could return to the normal timeline, but it didn't work," Yu Sheng said, "It was like... let me think how to describe it... well, like a deep well with smooth walls, the bottom of the well being a certain day of the Holy Calendar year 11xx, and any attempt to go to the Saint Realm would land us in that well, and no matter from which direction we try to leave, we'd end up back at the bottom of the well..."

"A deep time well..." Luo frowned, seemingly thinking quickly about something, with her gaze changing several times, "Time... wait, time? I think I realized something!"

Luo suddenly stood up, startling Yu Sheng who was still speaking next to her, then she turned and rushed to a nearby large data terminal, quickly searching for something while saying urgently: "That's it, it's missing this... I knew there was something wrong with the World Bridge, the operational defect of Zolda Black Stone, the running defect... yes, yes, related records are here, the data is incomplete but enough..."

It was the first time Yu Sheng saw Luo in such a state, but it was clear she had made some major discovery, so he watched without daring to interfere until Luo finally seemed to have found the information she wanted and gestured for him to come over. Only then did he quickly step forward to inquire about the situation: "What's going on? You thought of something..."

"It's the original defect of the World Bridge, the reason for the 'Descent' failure 3700 years ago," Luo's eyes shone with an unusual brilliance, she eagerly retrieved some data stored in the Black Stone Station database to show Yu Sheng, not caring whether he could understand it or not, "Time and space—in the past, the World Bridge lacked the 'anchor' in time, which led to the loss of control during the descent to the Boundary Land, even puncturing the previous 'era' of the Boundary Land, triggering the Epoch Transition Event...

"Yes, 3700 years ago, the World Bridge not only punctured the Boundary Land's space but also its time. I find it hard to explain how exactly this happened—it's something that can't be fully described with natural language, a 'Super System Event', yes, a super system event...

"When studying Zolda Black Stone, I found the anomaly, but I lacked a powerful enough energy source to simulate the complete operational process of the World Bridge, so I couldn't pinpoint the root of the problem. Those Hidden Monastery Sect filled in this gap, their Gate of Eden, though unstable, surprisingly headed in the right direction...

"Damn it, how could those cultists get it right... By sheer guesswork? No, that seems unlikely, they must have other knowledge channels..."

Yu Sheng stood dumbfoundedly to the side, as the endless flow of things Luo said reverberated like waves continuously in his ears, yet it seemed there was a thick barrier between his brain and the words—he couldn't understand, nor could he take them in.

However, another kind of peculiar "feeling" was growing in his consciousness, something as if it had always been silent in his memory, now slowly awakening.

The holographic projection above the data terminal was flickering, equations, numbers, textual records, and colorful graphics, all writhing, swirling, decomposing, and reorganizing in Yu Sheng's vision...

He saw a towering tree, standing in the wilderness, rooted from the past to the present, from the present to the future, its branches reaching towards the sky, from this world reaching towards the old world and then extending further beyond.

Those words and symbols continuously refreshing and reorganizing in the holographic projection transformed into the tree's roots and branches in Yu Sheng's vision, turning into a roaring in his mind, whistling across the sky of the Soul Wilderness, reaching the earth's ends.

Upon the Soul Wilderness shrouded by a chaotic firmament, unnamed tall grass swayed like ocean waves in the wind, and the golden-haired girl knight awoke from prayer, stepped out of the silent chamber, to the terrace, looking towards the cathedral's garden.

She saw the Brass Knights also gathering under the corridor, everyone raising their heads.

The Crystal Giant Tree that covered the entire cathedral was emitting a soft sound, like wind chimes, melodious as the songs of mythical elves in the harvest month.

Then, the Crystal Giant Tree began to glow with a faint and gentle light, and the unstable rifts traversing the tree branches started to grow again, with distant starlight pouring out from the rifts, painting a celestial tapestry within the crystal crown, like bountiful fruits hanging from the branches.

Luo suddenly reacted in front of the terminal, swiftly calming from her excitement, stopping her rambling, an apologetic look on her face: "Ah, sorry, sorry boss, I was just so excited... I should have thought first about how to resolve the time barrier over there for you..."

Yet Yu Sheng waved his hand: "You've already helped me solve it."

Luo: "...Huh?"

Yu Sheng took a gentle breath, raised a hand to rub his forehead, seemingly wanting those noisy and colorful pieces of knowledge in his mind to quiet down quickly, then smiled and said: "The defense system of the Gate of Eden is a part of the Gate of Eden itself."

Luo: "...Huh?"

Yu Sheng knew that the things he had just seen and understood would be difficult to explain to her, so he just waved his hand and then took out his phone from his pocket.

He dialed Baili Qing's number.

As soon as the call connected, without waiting for the other side to speak, he said, "The Star Gate will open soon, get ready."

Baili Qing on the other side was silent for two or three seconds, then replied in her usual calm tone, "Have you already found the Gate of Eden?"

"Not yet, there's been a slight change in the situation. The gate is more troublesome than we anticipated. I suspect it is currently in some sort of operational state, which prevents us from approaching it by normal means. So now I need you all to start taking action in advance," Yu Sheng said. "I need you to put enough pressure on those cultists, which will force them to bring the 'catalyst' into contact with the gate sooner—thus, it will be 'exposed' right before my eyes."

"...Alright, I understand what you mean."

After saying this, Baili Qing ended the call decisively without asking a single question more.

"The Ironclad Expression is quite straightforward," Erin remarked, then quickly looked at Yu Sheng's phone nervously, "You hung up, right?"

Yu Sheng laughed, raised his hand, and patted the head of the little puppet a couple of times, then casually pulled open a phantom door in the air.

At the moment the door opened, the time barrier activated again. The coordinates he chose were the Saint Realm, yet the scenery on the other side of the door was still that deserted star wasteland from the Holy Calendar 11xx.

But Yu Sheng stepped right in: "Let's go, let's give the 'roots' of the Gate of Eden something potent."

At the same time, the United Fleet in the Boundary Land was standing by in the high orbit of Shuji, the message of the impending action rapidly spread along the command link to every ship, as soldiers and commanders who had been preparing for this war for many days awaited the moment the door would open.

In the command hall of the "Mass Effect," operators were busily confirming the intelligence coming from each warship and accurately transmitting the flagship's orders to every corner of the large fleet.

Red stood on the high platform at the back of the command hall, "watching" the tense and busy scene below with her eyes closed.

"It's really exciting," she said with a faint smile, unhurriedly, "It feels... kind of nostalgic."

A voice came from behind her: "Are you sure you can still get excited? With your heart beating only once a day..."

Red turned, showing her back to Baili Qing standing to the side: "Take care of your own sister."

"Xue, get off Red's back."

"Oh."

A pair of phantom eyes floated over to the nearby railing, sneakily observing the surroundings from there.

"Nervous?" Red tilted her head slightly, looking at those eyes on the railing.

"What do I have to be nervous about?" Baili Xue's voice could only be heard by Red and Baili Qing here, "I'm just here to watch the fun..."

"That's good," Red smiled softly, "This time, it should be quite lively."

"Detected a massive space anomaly! Attention all fleet, detected a massive space anomaly—Space Rift is forming!"

Suddenly, continuous alarms went off, and everyone in the command hall instinctively looked up. At that moment, Baili Qing suddenly remembered that day—when Yu Sheng first opened the "door" in the Boundary Land, the piercing alarms that echoed throughout the entire Special Service Bureau Building.

It felt like it had happened just recently, yet it also seemed to be a long time ago.

A trace of a smile appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, outside the large observation porthole, in the deep dark space ahead of the United Fleet, an enormous rift slowly tore open—beyond the rift, a faint glimpse of the colossal star gate structure could be seen, along with the flowing energy light within the gate.

Engines lit, the fleet moved grandly.