Chapter 136: THE SLAB OF ORIGINS

Chapter 136 — THE SLAB OF ORIGINS

The facility did not end where the screens went dark. It continued.

Past the research tables.

Past the glass chambers and broken consoles.

There was a corridor at the very back, partially concealed behind a retractable steel partition that had failed to close completely. The metal door was scratched, as if someone had tried to seal it in a hurry.

Long Hao stood before it for several seconds.

The air here felt different.

Heavier.

Not mechanical.

Ancient.

Zehell came to stand beside him.

“You feel that too.”

“Yes.”

Not like the anchor.

Not like the dragon.

This was deeper.

Older than the Sovereign system.

Colby shifted uneasily behind them.

“If there’s another dragon, I’m staying here.”

Marek muttered, “You won’t.”

Long Hao placed his palm flat against the metal partition.

It didn’t hum.

It didn’t slide open smoothly.

It groaned.

Ancient mechanics resisting movement.

Then it retracted with a grinding echo.

Beyond it—

Darkness.

No artificial lighting.

No preserved tech.

Just a narrow tunnel carved into black stone.

Unlike the polished laboratory corridors, this passage was raw.

Unfinished.

Deliberate.

Zehell lit a small ignition crystal at the tip of her spear. Soft white light spilled forward.

The tunnel sloped downward gradually.

The walls were marked with carvings—not diagrams like the lab, but symbols. Deeply etched spirals, layered circles, figures that resembled celestial bodies orbiting a central void.

Long Hao’s chest tightened slightly.

Inside—

The triangular lattice slowed.

Longyu’s voice hushed.

“This predates system integration.”

The silver fragment did not contradict.

They walked in silence.

No one joked now.

No one commented.

The air felt like stepping into something that had been waiting.

The tunnel widened.

And then—

They stepped into the final chamber.

It was vast.

Unlike the circular precision of the anchor chamber, this space was irregular and towering. The ceiling disappeared into shadow. Stone pillars rose naturally from the ground like frozen waves.

At the center—

A slab.

Not a pedestal.

Not a machine.

A slab.

It stood upright, embedded deep into the stone floor. Rough around the edges but perfectly flat across its surface. Nearly three times Long Hao’s height. Dark gray with veins of faint silver running through it like lightning trapped inside rock.

Ancient.

Unmistakably.

The air around it shimmered faintly, as if heat distorted space.

Zehell stepped forward slowly.

“This wasn’t built.”

“No,” Long Hao whispered.

“It was discovered.”

The slab’s surface was covered in carvings.

Not modern script.

Not Sovereign diagrams.

Older.

Primitive in shape but impossibly complex in pattern.

Spirals within spirals. Fractals branching outward from a central empty circle carved near the center of the slab.

At the top—

A symbol that resembled an eye.

But not watching outward.

Watching inward.

Colby swallowed audibly.

“Tell me that’s decorative.”

Marek didn’t answer.

Long Hao approached the slab slowly.

The closer he came, the quieter the world felt.

His heartbeat dulled.

The faint hum of the lab behind them faded entirely.

Inside—

The triangular lattice did not flare.

It stilled.

Longyu spoke softly.

“This is not Sovereign.”

The silver fragment added, quieter than ever:

“Pre-regulation architecture.”

The slab pulsed faintly.

Not with light.

With gravity.

He felt drawn to it—not pulled, but aligned.

As if something in his core was not reacting…

But remembering.

Zehell stepped to his side.

“If this knocks you out again—”

“It won’t.”

She didn’t look convinced.

But she didn’t stop him.

The slab’s central carving—the hollow circle—was at chest height.

Perfectly aligned.

Long Hao lifted his hand slowly.

Before he touched it—

The veins of silver within the stone began to glow faintly.

Colby took an unconscious step backward.

“That’s not good.”

Long Hao’s fingers hovered inches from the surface.

He could feel warmth radiating from it.

Not burning.

Inviting.

Inside—

The silver fragment murmured:

“Unknown origin.”

Longyu’s voice trembled slightly.

“It recognizes him.”

He pressed his palm against the slab.

Everything stopped.

No explosion.

No immediate flash.

Just—

Silence.

Then—

The carvings ignited.

Not in bright flare.

In slow, deliberate illumination.

Silver veins spread outward from beneath his palm like roots beneath soil.

The spirals lit one by one.

The eye at the top opened.

Not physically.

But with light.

The chamber trembled faintly.

Zehell’s grip tightened on her spear.

“Long Hao.”

He didn’t respond.

His eyes were fixed on the slab.

The hollow circle beneath his palm began to glow deeper.

Not silver.

Black.

Pure.

The triangular lattice inside him reacted violently.

Longyu cried out.

“Structural resonance exceeding tolerance!”

The silver fragment pulsed rapidly.

“Containment unstable!”

But he didn’t pull his hand away.

Because he saw something.

The slab’s carvings began shifting.

Not physically moving.

But overlaying.

A projection emerged from its surface.

Not a globe like the lab.

Not coordinates.

A star field.

Countless points of light.

Galaxies spiraling around a central void.

And from that void—

Threads extended.

Connecting stars.

Connecting worlds.

The threads resembled—

The Sovereign network.

But vaster.

Infinitely vaster.

Zehell stared upward in disbelief as the cavern ceiling dissolved into projection.

“We’re underground,” Colby whispered.

“That’s not possible.”

The slab’s black center expanded.

And within it—

Images.

Rapid.

Fragmented.

Worlds rising.

Worlds collapsing.

Civilizations emerging beneath glowing skies.

Monstrous evolution surging unchecked.

Then—

Something descending.

Not a dragon.

Not a construct.

A presence.

Not physical.

Systemic.

It fractured worlds.

Not through fire.

Through imbalance.

Long Hao’s breath grew shallow.

Inside—

The triangular lattice warped violently.

The silver fragment’s voice trembled for the first time.

“This… is the origin.”

Longyu whispered:

“The Sovereign was not first.”

The projection shifted.

Human figures appeared now.

Ancient.

Primitive.

Standing before a slab identical to the one in front of him.

They placed their hands against it.

Light erupted.

The same blinding black center.

One by one—

They fell.

Not burned.

Erased.

Then—

A different figure approached.

Cloaked.

Silver eyes visible beneath a hood.

The envoy.

It placed its hand on the slab.

Light surged.

But did not erase it.

Instead—

The Sovereign system formed.

An overlay.

A containment.

A response.

Zehell whispered:

“It wasn’t creation.”

“It was a patch,” Long Hao finished hoarsely.

The slab pulsed violently.

The projection accelerated.

Stars blinked out one by one.

Threads snapped.

And then—

The vision narrowed.

Focused.

On him.

The slab’s black center flared.

Inside—

The triangular lattice cracked.

Nodes destabilized.

Longyu screamed.

“Remove your hand!”

The silver fragment shouted:

“Overexposure!”

He tried—

But his palm was stuck.

Not physically.

Energetically.

The slab was no longer showing him history.

It was scanning him.

Mapping.

Comparing.

The eye symbol at the top of the slab glowed blinding white.

Zehell moved instantly.

She grabbed his shoulder and pulled.

Nothing happened.

The chamber shook violently.

Stone pillars cracked.

Dust fell from the unseen ceiling.

“Long Hao!”

His vision filled entirely with black.

Not absence.

Not void.

Depth.

An endless abyss beneath stars.

And from that abyss—

Something looked back.

Not the envoy.

Not the Sovereign.

Something older.

Watching.

The slab’s center erupted.

A blinding flash consumed the chamber.

White swallowed black.

Sound vanished.

Zehell felt herself thrown backward.

Bronze Squad hit the ground hard.

The entire cavern lit like a second sun had been born within it.

Long Hao’s silhouette stood before the slab—

Frozen.

Hand pressed against stone.

Eyes glowing with reflected infinity.

And then—

Everything went white.

[Chapter ENDS]

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