Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 636: Dust and the Iron Nest

Gray Dwarf Star, Steel Node City.

Sunlight penetrated the dense gray clouds, spilling onto the rooftops of tower buildings in the upper city. A beam of light slipped through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating a meticulously decorated bedroom—on the luxurious bed, Luo slept with a furrowed brow.

The golden-haired Elf curled up in a nightmare, her body slightly convulsing. After struggling multiple times, she finally jolted awake from the nightmare.

Luo widened her eyes, but her entire body remained rigidly curled on the bed, as if her consciousness hadn't fully returned to this body. Sunlight streamed in through the window gaps, and the ventilation shafts blew in warm air, yet she still felt the entire world was chillingly cold. The things from the nightmare still clung to her mind, as if they had slipped into reality upon waking—

The intense pain, the wailing, the pleading and screams muffled by walls, the convulsions of the dying suffocating, the hands reaching out from cages, those eyes pleading for help, and the spine bones hanging from the ceiling...

A sharp pain shot from the base of her skull down to her tailbone, forcibly "starting" her rigid body from its sluggish state. Luo couldn't help but curse, clutching her back fiercely, while several mechanical limbs uncontrollably extended from the living metal, haphazardly poking near her spine.

This terrifying process lasted over ten seconds, and only when the pain slightly subsided did she struggle to climb out of bed, gasping heavily while muttering curses under her breath.

Soon, a strange yet calming force surged from within—like a warm bloodstream not belonging to her, rapidly healing this body's damage. The warmth gradually mitigated the discomfort, dispersing the cold, even seeming to seep into the cold living metal.

Luo raised her hand, seeing tiny red veins appear on her arm before quickly retreating.

"A new job... definitely better than before..."

She muttered, slowly getting up to change clothes, but her eye caught sight of the data terminal on the bedside flickering with lights.

A mechanical limb immediately extended over, picking up the data terminal.

Is it from the boss?

Luo's eyebrows twitched, quickly opening the contents, her expression swiftly becoming serious after a brief scan.

The holographic projection above the terminal displayed a set of complex patterns left by spiritual energy ablation, along with explanations of the pattern and a series of detailed parameters of the corresponding spiritual energy waveform—a collection of data the technical experts from the Special Service Bureau had gathered from the remnants of the Space Rift opened by the Hidden Monastery. To her... these data were not unfamiliar.

Luo quickly changed clothes, took the data terminal to the table, connected one mechanical limb to the terminal's side interface, while her other hand opened a secret compartment beneath the desk—a hidden control panel emitting a faint glow.

She activated another set of hidden antennas within the building, and began sending data to the distant Black Stone Space Station in the Feiyu Star Domain through a secret information link.

The vast array of data was broken down into hundreds of seemingly meaningless and unrelated noise signals, transmitted to deep space through the superluminal communication array at the Dark Meteor Domain border. They were then camouflaged as normal advertisements and greetings, received and retransmitted by the "Universal Communication Network" built by the Algredians to the Feiyu Star Domain.

Upon connecting to the Black Stone Station's database, Luo's brow furrowed even tighter.

"Damn it, this is indeed my research result! This one too, and this one... Wait, this waveform seems a bit off..."

After an unclear length of time, Luo threw the data terminal onto the table with a grim face, simultaneously sending out a call signal.

In a moment, her Guard Captain hurried over: "Boss, you called me?"

"Laine," Luo turned around, "What's the situation outside now? Have you observed those individuals I asked you to pay attention to?"

The Guard Captain immediately stood upright, his face serious: "We've been out gathering intelligence these past two days—the two unidentified frigates in low orbit have disappeared without a trace, but we didn't find any corresponding warp records. Old Qiao might still be hiding somewhere on Gray Dwarf Star—after all, this place is full of 'Shadow Ports' controlled by gangs and freebooters, anyone can be their partner.

"As for those people you mentioned... the administrator of the Grey Iron Landfill has become unreliable. He's recently been in contact with Old Qiao's people, and there are strangers keeping an eye on the vicinity of the contact point. The contact on the black market went missing last month, which is a very peculiar timing. It's hard to say if Old Qiao is behind it, or if it's just a simple case of infighting. As for the others... the contact at the Crawlspace Bar, Earth River Farm, and the Central Water Purification Station should be fine."

Luo nodded slowly, seeming as if she was still lost in thought, contemplating something far away. After a while, she suddenly stood up: "Very well, we're going to the Grey Iron Landfill."

"Alright... huh?" The Guard Captain nodded instinctively, then responded abruptly and looked at his superior in bewilderment, "You mean the Grey Iron Landfill? The administrator there might already..."

"I know, they may have already sided with Old Qiao," Luo raised an eyebrow, "but did I ever say we needed to avoid Old Qiao? We're here to make things happen, remember?"

Seeing the Guard Captain's suddenly dumbfounded expression, Luo showed no intention of chastising her subordinate's slowness but instead smiled.

"Don't overthink it, the big boss's mission for me is to fish out the fish in these murky waters. He doesn't care how I fish, and we don't need to worry about cleaning up afterward—according to the corporation, only employees with value need aftercare. If Old Qiao accidentally dies in some corner of the Lawless Star Region, a new Special Commissioner will naturally come to deal with the mess, so it won't be my problem."

"But if the mess is too big..."

"Then I'll just go back to that valley and keep picking mushrooms with the long-haired princess—you can find a job in Shuji."

The Guard Captain blinked; thinking clearly wasn't this military officer's strong point, so he quickly nodded, "Alright, I understand, I'll arrange it for you."

Watching the back of the departing Guard Captain, Luo simply exhaled lightly, then stood up and came to the window, yanking open the curtains to observe the grayish city outside.

The massive and decaying city stood like a rusted steel giant nest, with layers of buildings accumulated over millennia pressing down on the ancient city like countless heavy scars and sores, covering the star's original appearance.

It's said that long ago, this was a beautiful and scenic star, and the "Gray Dwarves" were the name of the last civilized race on this star. It's said that there used to be prosperity and order here, with large and small kingdoms and federations, heroes on the earth, and traitors too, but it was always filled with change and hope.

However, the steel giant ships from the sky ended this star's pastoral era. The primitive spiritual ability users on the star, who prayed to the starry sky every day, attracted the attention of the Sky Attacker Fleet. Next came the warlords under the guise of eradicating interstellar pirates, followed by the Black Dot Group's armed trade ships and the cultist's slaver vessels... the epic of fierce resistance, filled with myth, gibberish, pseudo-history, and thrilling dramas raged on but was devoured in the blink of an eye by those steel behemoths from the sky, eventually forming the appearance of this steel giant nest.

Among this Lawless Star Region shrouded by dim nebulae, there are many similar stories—chaos and violence expand along superluminal routes until they engulf every habitable area between the nebulae. New colonized stars are constantly forgotten in the melee, sealed off, gradually returning to primitiveness in light-speed traps and communication blackouts until new steel giant ships descend from the sky, merging ancient legends with the fires of conflict across the sky, restarting everything, again and again.

The light shuttle smoothly slid out from the tarmac, leaping towards the enormous "Rift" in the center of the city that resembles a steel canyon.

The towering, ancient buildings stood in the dust and fog like cliffs.

After leaving the relatively clean air and fairly bright sunlight of the upper district, the surrounding environment began to visibly deteriorate. The further down into the city, the more severe the air pollution, and even the sunlight from above appeared especially weak. The surfaces of the colossal buildings around were covered in fungi and vines of unknown vintage, some heavy, continuous rust bands made one suspect those buildings would collapse the next second.

The air, tinged with a strange odor, cast an impenetrable veil over everything. The shuttle skirted between the buildings, and those inside often couldn't catch a clear view of the true appearance of the "Giant Wall District" below, feeling instead as if they had brushing through a scene of bizarre dreams, and once the vehicle came to a rest, only some terrifying illusions lingered in the mind.

In the midsection of the "Giant Wall District," a stretch of connected rooftops, covered by an additional layer of reinforcement structure from an unknown era, eventually formed a "ground". There were several factories and a densely packed gathering point, while the junkyard known as the "Grey Iron Landfill" was the "economic center" here.

Luo sat in the cockpit of the shuttle, carefully maneuvering the aircraft to avoid the steel structures hanging from the sky, steering towards the dilapidated landing pad at the edge of the Grey Iron Landfill while sending messages to some distant contacts via a data terminal.

"Boss," the Guard Captain seated in the co-pilot seat pointed out the window, "over there, on the second layer platform, there's an Elf-6Z Shuttle, though it's a civilian model, it shows signs of modification, possibly armed."

"I've noticed it, don't worry," Luo replied without lifting her head, her electronic brain connected with the shuttle's data link, already capturing those eyes casting toward her and the malice within them, "I'd actually prefer Old Qiao started something on this level, the corporation wouldn't mediate here on his behalf—unfortunately, he's a smart man, and likely doesn't have the courage."