Chapter 698: Anomalous Objects

The teleportation light guiding them toward the Trifoliate Star System slowly faded beneath Jie Ming’s feet.

The moment he opened his eyes, the first thing to fill his vision was a vast ochre arc that occupied nearly half the sky.

It was a gas giant.

Since the teleportation coordinates had been set quite close, Jie Ming could immediately feel the overwhelming scale and oppressive presence of the planet, far surpassing Jupiter in size.

Simply hovering there was enough to instinctively make one feel insignificant in the face of a natural disaster.

By comparison, the main colonial planet in the adjacent orbit looked like an unremarkable marble.

Near the gas giant’s equator, ceaseless ammonia crystal storm bands churned and raged. Countless layers of ochre-red and gray-white clouds tore at one another, forming massive vortices that stretched across tens of thousands of kilometers.

Toward the poles, faint blue upper-atmosphere auroras drifted like coldly burning polar-night flames.

The planet itself had not been transformed into a colony. After all, a gas giant possessed no solid surface suitable for habitation.

Yet the Tentacle Tree Civilization had still built three enormous research space stations around it.

Each space station was vastly larger than the sixth-level flagship they had previously seized.

These stations were ingeniously concealed within the gas giant’s atmosphere. They would rather expend massive amounts of energy to withstand the terrifying storms inside the planet than allow themselves to be exposed.

Jie Ming narrowed his eyes slightly as he recalled the intelligence reports.

He was not the first to arrive. More than a dozen Black Giant priests had reached the system earlier and were stationed across different orbital zones. Several fifth-level Black Giants who had first discovered the anomaly were hovering at the periphery of the research facility.

When they saw Jie Ming appear, the vertical slits on their chests closed in unison. They lowered their heads and saluted.

Their movements were uniform, as if rehearsed countless times.

At that moment, a figure flew out from the depths of the gas giant. It was a Black Giant priest.

His frame was more slender than that of ordinary priests. The dark-gold patterns on his body did not spread evenly but concentrated around his left shoulder and chest, resembling a ferocious, damaged scar.

It was not a real injury, however, but a pattern mutation that had occurred after autonomous evolution. This made him exceptionally distinctive among the others.

“Alaric,” Jie Ming recognized him.

“Master.”

Alaric stopped in front of him without any pleasantries and went straight to the point.

“The three colonial planets in the Trifoliate Star System have been confirmed to show no other anomalies.”

“The true anomalous zone is located only inside this gas giant.” His voice was low. “Near the planetary core, we discovered a special construct.”

Alaric paused, seemingly surprised himself. “It is not a technological product of the Tentacle Tree Civilization.”

Jie Ming’s brows twitched slightly.

Following Alaric, the two flew toward the interior of the gas giant.

As they passed through the outermost atmosphere, the surrounding light rapidly dimmed.

Ammonia crystal storms raged within the deep cloud seas. The roaring was intense enough to shatter the internal organs of ordinary creatures.

Of course, it was not sound in the true sense, but low-frequency resonance formed by the friction between high-density charged particle flows and their energy fields. The deeper they went, the greater the pressure became.

The planet’s immense gravity field even began to distort the surrounding space, causing ordinary detectors’ readings to drift noticeably.

Then, near the planetary core, Jie Ming saw the armor.

It floated silently roughly twenty thousand kilometers above the gas giant’s core, wrapped in a faint blue energy barrier.

The entire suit stood a hundred meters tall. Its design was completely different from the curved, streamlined style favored by the Tentacle Tree Civilization. It resembled an enlarged humanoid war machine—cold, hard lines and a simple structure. The joints were covered in layered interlocking armor plates.

This armor had remained here for an unknown number of years, yet its gray-black outer shell showed no signs of corrosion despite the high-temperature, high-pressure environment. Several thick conduits extended from its back, probing deep into the planet. Faint blue pulses of light flowed rhythmically along the conduits. It was actively extracting core energy to sustain its own operation.

Sensing the strength of the outermost protective barrier, Jie Ming slowly narrowed his golden vertical pupils.

Seventh level.

Even operating autonomously without a pilot, this armor could still maintain a seventh-level standard protective barrier.

“We have completed the preliminary scan.”

Alaric raised his hand and projected a virtual structural diagram. Dark-gold light traces swiftly sketched out the internal structure of the war armor in the air.

“It is confirmed to be an external skeletal assistance device intended for humanoid biological use.”

“Therefore, the creators of this armor are definitely not the Tentacle Tree race. Their physiological structure cannot possibly enter this cockpit.” The projection rotated rapidly as numerous complex interfaces and neural conduction structures appeared one after another.

“Currently, the armor is in an unmanned standby state. Only the protective systems and energy collection modules remain active.”

Jie Ming said nothing. He simply flew slowly around the war armor.

His gaze swept across every part of the armor. Although it was his first time seeing it…

It felt familiar.

Far too familiar!

He suddenly spoke: “The energy diversion architecture, shield frequency modulation, and this alloy crystal arrangement…”

His tone was calm, as if he were flipping through a book he had read countless times.

“The Tentacle Tree Civilization’s shield technology, energy weapons, and main cannon charging modules… are all simplified, degraded versions of these things.” Alaric fell silent for a moment. The dark-gold patterns on his body fluctuated slightly.

Although Black Giant priests belonged to the research sequence within Jie Ming’s forces, they had not been exposed to all the information. Thus, he could not immediately recognize it as Jie Ming had.

But now, he understood what this implied.

Jie Ming continued his assessment: “The Tentacle Tree Civilization’s technological tree cannot even be said to have referenced this armor. They simply copied it directly, without truly understanding the underlying logic…”

A short while later, several newly teleported Black Giant priests greeted Jie Ming and instinctively moved forward to recover the armor.

Jie Ming raised his hand to stop them.

“Don’t touch it yet.”

His gaze remained fixed on the war armor. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “First determine whether it has any deeper connection with the surrounding environment. If this is part of some large-scale system, removing it rashly could trigger a chain reaction.”

“Understood.”

Alaric immediately acknowledged the order and arranged for the other Black Giant priests to continue diving deeper for inspection.

The two then ascended toward the outer regions.

In the shallower atmospheric layers, a research institute floated quietly above the storms.

It was a flat hexagonal structure, dark gray throughout, with a faint golden shield covering its surface.

The ammonia crystal storms churning below continuously battered the edges of the shield, sending ripples of golden light outward, yet the entire institute remained completely motionless.

Once inside, Jie Ming immediately noticed the anomaly.

The technological level here clearly far surpassed the current tier of the Tentacle Tree Civilization.

High-precision environmental regulation devices were embedded along both sides of the corridors.

The analytical instruments in the laboratories were so advanced that even he would need time to parse their operating principles.