A terrifying surge of energy swept across the decayed colossal tree, erupting into a violent energy storm.
In the next instant, space collapsed, and a deep black hole slowly formed at the site of the explosion...
Under an irresistible pull, everything that existed around it was sucked inside.
The remains of the giant tree near the black hole disintegrated almost instantly; its massive branches twisted and compressed without end, and in the end, like deformed cream, they "flowed" into the black hole...
However, just as the fully formed black hole was about to devour everything, an even stronger suction came from deep within the black hole—or more accurately, from the wormhole directly drowned within it.
An even more terrifying scene unfolded...
The ever-expanding black hole suddenly began to contract.
No, that was not contraction.
It was being devoured by some even more fearsome existence!
The black hole, from which not even light could escape, at this moment melted like wax-water, slowly deforming, being drawn out...
Like ink dropped onto rice paper, the surroundings of the black hole gradually dissolved, or like pigment in a palette poured into water, twisting and fading...
At the center of the black hole, a tremendous pull drew everything together, transforming it into an even larger, distorted, dragging vortex.
In just a brief moment, that terrifying black hole was completely swallowed by the "vortex"!
The black hole vanished, light returned once more, but by now the rotting giant tree had already been utterly torn apart, and even the "Star Gate" nested at the tree’s core had warped severely...
Yet the wormhole did not disappear.
A giant tree brimming with vitality probed out from within; misty radiance bloomed along its trunk, its thick, colossal branches constantly unfurled, and soon it burst completely out of the "Star Gate", beginning to stretch endlessly among the nebulae...
Eve’s true body, the World Tree, had finally broken free from the prison of the Segis Universe!
The satellites encircling the "Star Gate" lit up once again, and those deep cannon barrels started charging anew.
But before they could fire another attack, countless branches stretched out, wrapping around them one by one, and the power that had yet to fully condense was absorbed and devoured by the branches...
In just a brief moment, those satellites completely lost their energy and fell into darkness.
All their energy had been swallowed by Eve’s true body.
Radiance flared, and Eve’s avatar appeared once more.
Sacred and beautiful, pure and noble.
She walked through space, her gaze as brilliant as the star river slowly sweeping over each man-made satellite that had lost its energy.
Only when she could no longer sense even a trace of energy within them did she contentedly withdraw her gaze and look up toward the "Star Gate" above her true body.
The earlier black hole had also impacted the "Star Gate"; cracks had already spread across the massive steel structure, revealing within a network of intersecting steel passages, full of a sci-fi feel.
During the recent attack, Eve had clearly sensed that this was the true source of all electronic signals—or rather... the command core behind every action.
She did not hesitate, stepping forward toward the steel structure of the "Star Gate".
Why was the true body of the Segis Universe a colossal structure embedded into a "World Tree"?
Why were the electronic signals she heard in both Chinese and English?
Why was the flow of time outside the Segis Universe synchronized with Segis itself?
After leaving the Segis Universe, Eve’s questions had not decreased; instead they multiplied, and all her earlier speculations about the creator and the Segis Universe were instantly overturned...
Staring at this staggering sight, an unbelievable conjecture slowly surfaced in the depths of her heart...
For no reason she could name, a faint sense of trepidation rose within Eve at that moment.
She took a deep breath, slowly calming herself, then let her gaze fall once more upon the "Star Gate".
Right now, Eve wanted to see what kind of secret lay hidden behind all of this.
Points of light spread beneath her feet, forming ripples; with every step Eve took, space twisted, and she strode incredibly far.
Very soon, she passed through the ferocious cracks and entered the interior of the "Star Gate".
Inside the "Star Gate" structure, the pathways were complex and tangled, like a gigantic inner city.
The instant Eve entered, the alarm blared out again.
This time, the sound was not encrypted.
It was still in both Chinese and English, but the content... made Eve’s eyelids twitch wildly:
"Intruder detected! Intruder detected!"
"Warning! Warning! This is a Blue Star United Nations military restricted zone! This is a Blue Star United Nations military restricted zone!"
"..."
As the shrill sirens wailed, swarms of intelligent drones flashing red lights flew in from all directions, while ranks of fully armed humanoid robots rushed in from the various corridors, encircling Eve’s avatar tightly.
They looked as if they had been operating for a very, very long time; their surfaces were mottled and scarred, some had even lost parts of their functional bodies.
Arrays of laser weapons and kinetic weapons locked onto Eve as she entered the "Star Gate"; in the next instant, the swarm drones and intelligent robot troops launched their attack simultaneously.
All kinds of assaults came at Eve like a rain of light, yet her expression did not change.
She glanced once more toward the Law World; her Divine Soul lightly stirred the rule-threads that composed these mechanical legions, and those threads of law snapped all at once.
In reality, every drone and robot shuddered slightly, then with a soft clatter suddenly fell apart.
Eve continued forward, heading toward the depths of the Star Gate.
As she advanced, new swarm drones and armed intelligences kept surging out from deeper within; of course... they never even reached her before they disintegrated on their own.
The internal structure of the "Star Gate" was like a colossal maze of steel, but Eve moved as if she had fixed her course, heading straight in a single direction.
In her perception, that was the source of all electronic signals.
Finally... after she had destroyed an unknown number of drones and intelligences, she reached the end.
A tall metal door blocked her way.
Eve gently tapped it, and the laws binding the door collapsed as well; the entire door weathered away like sand, breaking into countless fragments and scattering.
In Eve’s field of view, a massive circular metal hall appeared.
The hall was filled with all kinds of devices brimming with a sci-fi feel; it looked like a research lab, with another identical metal door at the far end.
However, the most eye-catching thing was still the semi-transparent floating projection screen in the middle of the hall.
When Eve’s gaze fell upon the projection screen, her eyes narrowed again.
On the screen, a towering giant tree soared to the heavens, occupying nearly the entire image; it pierced the void... its enormous branches extending to unknown reaches.
Eve recognized it instantly.
This image was the Segis Universe at this very moment!
Beneath the projection screen stood a metal table.
At the center of the table lay a notebook made of some unknown material, quietly resting there.
On the notebook’s cover, a line of boldface Chinese characters was written:
"’Creator Project Log’."