Gazing at Lin Lan's determined expression, Sui Qiong seemed to be caught in intense inner turmoil.
She had believed that the Orlan Federation had already perished, that all her comrades were gone, and that she was the only one left—her despair leading her into meta transformation.
But Lin Lan's words felt so real, like a beam of light piercing through the darkness, reigniting a glimmer of hope in her once-hopeless heart.
Lin Lan, however, had no way of knowing what Sui Qiong was thinking at this moment.
The Mirror Sea surrounding them was trembling more violently by the second, and the sky was already covered with dense cracks in space, as if it could collapse entirely at any moment.
Lin Lan wasn't sure what would happen if they remained in this crumbling Mirror Sea, but at this rate, it definitely wouldn't be anything good.
For all he knew, they might end up disintegrating along with the fractures in space!
"Sui Qiong, let's leave together first—our comrades are still waiting for us outside."
His left hand was already resting on the edge of his bag at his waist as he looked toward the white-haired girl, who was still lost in thought, his voice tinged with urgency.
After all, the cracks in the sky were increasing at an alarming rate, and large fragments of space were already breaking apart and falling.
A powerful sense of crisis overwhelmed him—if Sui Qiong still couldn't make a decision now, it might soon be too late for her to leave, even if she wanted to.
Just as Lin Lan feared that she was still unable to break free from her hesitation, the shipgirl slowly stood up, her gaze serious as she looked at him.
"Commander, I… believe you. We… go."
Before Lin Lan could react, his right hand was suddenly grasped.
The next second, a powerful gust of wind erupted beneath him as the Blackwing girl took off, dragging him into the sky!
Seeing the blue afterburner flames bursting from the black mechanical wings beside him, Lin Lan finally felt some relief.
"Nice work! Let's go all the way and break through the gap in the sky!"
Clutched by the shipgirl as they soared upward, Lin Lan felt the fierce wind pressure tearing at him and shouted encouragement to Sui Qiong.
His biggest fear had been that Sui Qiong would choose to send him out while staying behind herself.
If that happened, everything he had done would have been meaningless.
But now, it was clear that Sui Qiong truly believed him and was no longer consumed by meta transformation, no longer seeking self-destruction.
That was the best possible outcome.
Since this shipgirl had chosen to live, then he would do everything in his power to save her.
However, Lin Lan quickly realized a problem.
The spatial rifts in the sky hadn't seemed far when he was on the ground, but now that they were actually flying toward them, the distance was far greater than he had imagined.
And the collapsing space around them wasn't making things any easier—massive fragments of the Mirror Sea were breaking apart and plummeting like stalactites from a crumbling cave.
This forced Sui Qiong to constantly weave and evade as she ascended, avoiding the deadly debris.
Fortunately, her flying skills were exceptional.
Several times, Lin Lan thought they wouldn't be able to dodge in time, only for Sui Qiong to maneuver with sudden bursts of acceleration and rapid deceleration, narrowly avoiding disaster.
Seeing that Sui Qiong was highly skilled in flight, Lin Lan let out a quiet breath of relief and glanced downward.
What he saw made his heart lurch into his throat.
The ground they had been standing on just moments ago had completely disintegrated into a surging black data stream!
"Shit… So the collapse of the Mirror Sea turns everything into data?"
Lin Lan's face went pale. He finally understood what would happen if they remained in this deteriorating space.
As the Mirror Sea's collapse accelerated, the black data stream was rising like an ever-rising tide, creeping closer and closer to them.
Sui Qiong was flying fast, but the constant spatial debris falling from above was slowing her progress toward the opening in the sky.
And because of that, the rising black data tide was gaining on them!
Seeing that they were about to be swallowed by the encroaching data stream, Lin Lan gritted his teeth and shouted loudly:
"Sui Qiong! Keep going! Break free from this false world! Let's return to the real Orlan!"
Hearing the commander's encouragement, Sui Qiong glanced back at the approaching black data tide. Determination flashed across her face.
"Exceed Overload Engine, activate."
As the words echoed, Lin Lan suddenly saw the afterburners of Sui Qiong's black wings shift from their original blue to a deep black-red.
With the emergence of this ominous glow, the distance between them and the surging black data waves below widened significantly!
"Boom!!!"
A massive explosion erupted from above, prompting Lin Lan to look up.
Sui Qiong, wielding a black-red energy blade in her other hand, was no longer dodging—she was slicing through the falling spatial debris, shattering it into pieces.
With the combined force of her overcharged propulsion and relentless blade attacks maximizing her flight efficiency, they were finally approaching the rift in the sky.
Closer. Closer!
As the gap came within Lin Lan's reach, he could already feel the warmth of the twilight sun from the outside world brushing against his face—so real, so reassuring.
He even caught sight of Iron Blood aircraft soaring through the skies above!
They had made it!
Lin Lan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration for Sui Qiong's performance.
"Sui Qiong, that was incredible! You looked absolutely amazing just now!"
But just as they were about to break free from the Mirror Sea, Lin Lan suddenly noticed something—Sui Qiong had stopped.
A moment later, a black-red energy blade slipped from her grasp, plummeting into the black data sea below, where it was instantly swallowed and erased into nothingness.
"Sui... Qiong?"
A faint unease gripped Lin Lan's heart.
Before he could ask, he suddenly felt himself being lifted upward.
Sui Qiong, mid-flight, had wrapped both arms around him, holding him tightly in her embrace.
"Sui Qiong, the exit is right there—what are you—"
Lin Lan started to question her, but his voice caught in his throat the moment he saw her face.
The shipgirl holding him in her arms… her eyes had turned completely dark red.
More importantly, her body… was becoming translucent.
But unlike Prinz Eugen's gradual fading when she was teleported out, something different was happening to Sui Qiong.
Inside her slowly vanishing chest…
A black-red cube, eerily similar to a Wisdom Cube, spun rapidly, encased in swirling black-red energy particles.
"Is this… the cube that created you, Sui Qiong?"
Seeing the ominous cube, Lin Lan was struck by a suffocating sense of despair, as if the world itself was spinning around him.
Why… Why was this happening?
"Commander… This is as far as I can take you."
Sui Qiong's dark red eyes gazing at him with a gentle expression, did not answer his question.
She simply spoke softly, as if imprinting his face into her memory.
Her body was not fading away like the Iron Blood shipgirls who had been teleported out earlier.
She was staying in this state.
Lin Lan understood exactly what that meant.
Sui Qiong couldn't leave the Mirror Sea.
If she did, she would vanish completely.
But that wasn't even the worst part.
Even if a miracle happened—if Sui Qiong somehow retained her form after leaving the Mirror Sea—
The process of her meta transformation would still not stop.
Because the cube that created Sui Qiong wasn't a normal Wisdom Cube like those used in his port's shipgirls.
It was a "Prime Cube."
Lin Lan had once read about it in intelligence reports during a large-scale operation in the game—an entry regarding the origin world of shipgirls and the nature of Prime Cubes:
"Meta transformation based on shipgirls created from Wisdom Cubes is reversible to a certain extent, with multiple mature methods available for treatment."
"However, for meta shipgirls constructed from Prime Cubes…"
"Their meta transformation is… irreversible."
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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