Time continued to tick by, second by second.
Xin Yaoqiao made no further movements, nor did she speak.
She remained frozen in that gesture, pointing toward the space station's observation window. Outside lay pitch-black void, set against countless distant stars of varying brilliance. As for Xin Yaoqiao herself, she was utterly silent, motionless as a wood carving... as if she had already passed away.
No one knew what manner of assault she had endured during this process, what agony and struggle she had weathered, or how agonizingly difficult it had been just to convey those four words and two gestures.
Nor, of course, did anyone know whether the recording—which likely originated from Miwang—was fundamentally simple or complex, how much information it truly contained, or how much of its contents Xin Yaoqiao had managed to decipher and transmit despite giving everything she had.
In accordance with her repeated prior instructions, neither the assistant researchers nor Zhe Qiuhong and her medical team stepped forward to abort the attempt or perform any resuscitation.
Her gaze fixed unwaveringly on the weakening fluctuations of the source energy device, Zhe Qiuhong stood there in that moment, uncertain what emotion she ought to feel.
From the perspective of a physician and a fellow human being, she supposed she should feel tense, anxious, perhaps even begin to mourn.
Yet from the standpoint of a researcher and a member of the human race as a whole, she found it nearly impossible to suppress her excitement and longing.
Because what Xin Yaoqiao had just spoken and indicated pointed unmistakably to one single thing—a turning point that bore upon the destiny of all mankind: the whereabouts of the Yanxiu skeletal remains.
*In that recording, Miwang spoke of the location of those lost Yanxiu skeletal remains!*
According to the information currently possessed by humanity's highest echelon, Earth was once referred to by the Great Spike civilization as a graveyard of ancient Yanxiu.
Thus, within this graveyard, there were naturally a considerable number of Yanxiu wills waiting to be inherited.
These wills, whether already inherited or awaiting inheritance, were unquestionably the wellspring of the Azure Source Energy Corps' top-tier combat power, as well as humanity's greatest—if not sole—hope of winning this civilizational war.
And yet, there was one immensely tragic caveat: every single one of these Yanxiu was incomplete.
Aside from their wills, virtually all of the Yanxiu skeletal remains on Earth had vanished without explanation at some point in history.
They should have remained alongside those surviving wills, but they were gone.
It was suspected that this was likely deliberate, that some "individual with inside knowledge" had gathered and buried them far earlier in the past.
At that point in time, humanity had likely only just begun coming into contact with source energy, knowing nothing whatsoever about the existence of Yanxiu.
Consequently, the greatest powerhouses across human history had all been suppressed by this incompleteness, unable to overcome the barrier, never truly able to reach the mature stage and zenith of Yanxiu combat strength.
To that end, over the past few years, Azure had searched nearly every corner of the Earth they could think of, yet they had come up empty-handed.
Until this very moment...
*The turning point in humanity's destiny has arrived!*
*The true turning point is finally here.*
*Just imagine: one day in the future, when those mighty, heroic human Yanxiu inheritors reclaim their skeletal remains... how formidable will the human Source Energy Corps be then?!*
*After all, even Han Qingyu—as terrifyingly powerful as he is—possesses merely an incomplete half-skeleton!*
Zhe Qiuhong fought to suppress her excitement and yearning, refocusing her attention on Xin Yaoqiao.
By then, another twenty seconds had elapsed.
That horrifying recording had looped once more, plus seven seconds. Throughout this time, Major Xin Yaoqiao made no movement, no sound—not the slightest trace of life.
Only the blue light fluctuating on the source energy device behind her grew increasingly faint, like a candle guttering in the wind on the verge of snuffing out.
"Terminate the test. Cut the playback," Zhe Qiuhong finally ordered, deciding to bring the procedure to an end.
Even as she spoke, she strode forward, quickly opening an almost person-sized black chest that had been set behind Xin Yaoqiao's chair.
Once opened, the chest resembled an upright coffin.
The difference was that inside this "coffin" were walls stacked with countless sapphire-like concentrated source energy blocks, along with numerous bizarre connecting cables, delivery lines, and various precision components...
This was a source energy life-support system.
Zhe Qiuhong had constructed it using Rusty Sister's discarded suit of internal-circulation source energy iron armor as a reference. Unfortunately, in terms of actual efficacy, the system could not match the armor's performance.
It merely offered a chance to keep someone temporarily alive.
As for how long that "temporarily" would last, it varied from person to person and depended on the specific severity of the injuries; nobody could say for sure.
"No need to run tests." A medical assistant was about to examine Xin Yaoqiao's vital signs, but Zhe Qiuhong stopped him, saying, "Connect her directly to the system. Hurry! Hand me a scalpel."
***
Major Xin Yaoqiao was laid inside the "coffin." Kept alive by the source energy life-support system, she retained the faintest whisper of vitality.
At the same time, the intelligence she had deciphered and transmitted at the cost of her life was classified at the highest level of secrecy and relayed simultaneously to the Azure Board of Elders, the Council Presidium, and the mysterious supreme leader of The Refusers.
Before long, these figures were gathered together around the antique long table in the Board of Elders' secret chamber.
This was a summit of a scale unseen even during the Zenith War and the Lost Continent Expedition.
The contents of the message were simply too monumental.
As a result, Chairman Kemore, who could only take a seat at the very edge of the long table this time, spoke with a slight tremor in his voice as he presided over the meeting.
"I do not know how to express my respect, gratitude, blessings, and concern to Major Xin Yaoqiao at this moment. I believe that attempting to convey the immense gratitude of all mankind with a few hasty, brief words here and now would be a disservice to her sacrifice... Therefore, let us first continue her work and see this through."
The projector on the conference room wall had already been turned on.
Displayed upon it were those four brief words, alongside photographs of the two gestures Xin Yaoqiao had made with her hand.
In truth, everyone present had already reviewed them.
There was no shortage of brilliant minds among them—indeed, some of the sharpest thinkers in humanity were gathered here—so deciphering the information posed no great challenge, nor did it require a sudden spark of inspiration from any single individual.
"The Yanxiu skeletal remains are on some celestial body near the Moon?"
"The Moon has no natural satellites."
"Which is why I believe it most likely doesn't refer to a natural body, but an artificial satellite. Otherwise, Major Xin wouldn't have pointed to herself before gesturing out the observation window. Clearly, it is something made by human hands."
"An artificial satellite? Does that match our timeline?"
"It doesn't need to match. We can hypothesize, for instance, that whoever gathered the skeletal remains initially kept them buried on Earth for several years, or perhaps decades. Then, at some later point, through a series of operations unknown to us, they quietly launched the remains into space."
"That explains why we couldn't find those skeletal remains anywhere on Earth."
"So, a lunar orbiter? Or at least an artificial satellite that was once launched toward the Moon?"
"There aren't many of those."
"Apart from the ones on public record, were there any covert launches?"
"Undoubtedly. We should have the various nations look into their own records immediately."
"Yes, tell them to hurry! And they must not conceal anything this time. It's obvious that regardless of its intention—whether to destroy or claim them—the Great Spike Miwang was instructing its forces to seize the skeletal remains through that transmission."
"Indeed. All we can say now is thank goodness we achieved victory on Mars."
"However, the swarms of Great Spikes still exist, and their starships are still en route. We must not let our guard down under any circumstances."
"Then I propose we immediately assemble a fleet and head for the Moon to search for the skeletal remains."
"Agreed. How about this: while deploying the Earth fleet, we order the expeditionary forces on Mars to withdraw toward the Moon as well? Beyond providing reinforcement and combat security, this might give Major Qing and Pegmont an opportunity to locate their skeletal remains and achieve fusion at the earliest possible moment..."
"An excellent suggestion!"
"Then let us issue the relevant directives without delay and begin the operation—for the destiny humanity is about to rewrite!"
Every Azure leader in the conference room rose to their feet at once.
"For the glorious era soon to arrive, and for humanity's ultimate victory!"
Chapter 930