Chapter 1014: A Thunderous Return (I)

Mech No.1 slowly flew at the edge of the sun near the Blue Planet. Its black-and-red armor emitted an intense, dazzling white glow.

The temperature around No 1. soared into the millions of degrees. Space twisted violently under a crushing gravitational force that was powerful enough to annihilate even the true form of a heavenly king, forcing No.1 to fly at a speed of only four hundred times the speed of sound.

Despite flying at a slower speed, it was still battered with superheated particles. Every passing second brought explosions comparable to hundreds of nuclear bombs detonating around it. Even in the vacuum of space, the sound from the detonation could still be heard.

However, none of this affected No.1. A force field, created with the power of an ancient lifeform, completely guarded it against the crushing gravity and intense heat. Inside the mech, Luo Fei wore a semi-transparent suit of golden-white divine battle armor. She stared coldly ahead at the enormous body of the sun.

Boom!

The distorted void trembled violently. After days of flight, No.1 suddenly became a streak of black-and-red light, piercing through the solar corona and shooting toward the sun. Luo Fei instantly felt the surrounding temperature drop. At the same time, an even more powerful gravitational pull surged upward from the sun.

Beneath the corona was the chromosphere, a misty atmospheric layer similar to the hazy skies of the Blue Planet. It stretched over two thousand kilometers deep and was filled with endless scorching matter.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

No.1 plunged downward, accelerating rapidly like a meteor caught in the sun's gravitational pull. Within moments, it surpassed one thousand times the speed of sound, crashing violently through the scorching matter inside the sun's layers.

From a distance, it looked like a faint streak of light flickering briefly across the sun’s surface, nearly invisible. Compared to the sun's immense diameter of over a million kilometers, the four-thousand-meter-tall No.1 was smaller than a speck of dust.

However, the moment it pierced through the chromosphere, endless waves of flame erupted from below, forming a massive ring of fire over a hundred thousand kilometers wide. A surge of destructive energy, searing heat, and deadly radiation struck No.1 like a lightning bolt, engulfing it in a brilliance so intense it could even be seen from the Blue Planet.

In response to the overwhelming force of this apocalyptic blast, powerful enough to annihilate the Blue Planet instantly, No.1 released a primal, bestial roar. Red-and-white light burst from its body, unleashing a powerful suction force.

Bang!

The space and superheated matter surrounding No.1 collapsed inward, forming a black hole more than a thousand kilometers wide that devoured everything in its path. With its heart restored and its ancient power awakened, No.1 also reactivated many high-tier biological abilities once lost to time, such as energy absorption and conversion. This type of power was something almost all lifeforms at or above the ancient titan level could master.

However, unlike the Destructive Dragon Emperor’s Terminal Dark Devourer ability, which could refine and consume everything indiscriminately, most beings at this level could only absorb and convert specific forms of energy and matter.

As endless streams of solar matter and energy poured into it, No.1 released an even fiercer roar. Its aura surged, and its body expanded from over 3,800 meters to a full 4,000 meters in height. Emitting a tyrannical aura while blazing with red-and-white light, No.1 pierced through the chromosphere and entered the sun's photosphere, a thin layer only several hundred kilometers thick.

According to the Blue Planet’s physicists, the photosphere was an opaque, thin region filled with intense solar magnetic fields. The moment No.1 entered the photosphere, a powerful burst of magnetic force erupted. It was so strong that even Luo Fei grew tense. In an instant, the raging energy tore apart the force field that surrounded No.1 for a thousand kilometers.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under the extreme pressure of the sun’s distorted magnetic field, the black-and-red armor protecting No.1 shattered piece by piece. Each fragment of this armor was powerful enough to withstand the attacks of great demon kings, yet now they broke apart continuously.

[Alert: Strong impact from solar magnetic field detected. External armor damage has reached 30%. Containment of Mech No.1’s biological form is weakening.]

Despite the flashing red warning lights, Luo Fei remained calm and cool, devoid of any emotions. Sucked in by the sun’s gravity, No.1 accelerated toward the sun at an alarming rate. In the blink of an eye, it broke through the photosphere and dove straight into the convection zone, a layer more than a hundred thousand kilometers thick.

This region was filled with churning, superheated solar matter. It was also the part of the sun visible to the naked eye through a telescope. Upon reaching the convection zone, the temperature dropped unexpectedly. Luo Fei estimated it was only in the tens of thousands of degrees Celsius. Far hotter than the few thousand degrees recorded by instruments, and yet...

Boom!

As No.1 drilled deeper into the sun like a beam of light, gravity became heavier and heavier. Another section of black-and-red armor shattered.

In the past, everything humans knew about the sun came from physical models and calculations. They understood its structure, layers, and behavior only through observation and theory. It wasn't until Luo Fei entered the sun herself that she realized how terrifying it truly was.

At the atomic and molecular level, energy pulses, radiation, and space twisted and collapsed under the extreme heat. Most dangerous of all were the sun's immense gravitational and magnetic fields. This was a force powerful enough to trap light, energy and matter, creating a gravitational force hundreds of billions of times greater than atmospheric pressure.

For a massive lifeform like No.1, with a body density tens of thousands of times greater than metal alloys, the sun’s gravitational and magnetic fields created an even stronger pull. As its descent accelerated, the combined pressure of gravity and radiation pulses caused the armor that restrained its biological form to shatter even faster.

As the last restraint broke apart, a thunderous roar erupted through space. It was a wild yet majestic roar that was filled with a surge of ancient and primal power.

Boom!

Ten thousand kilometers beneath the sun’s surface, No.1 unleashed an even greater suction force. Even in the depths of the sun, it formed a black hole dozens of kilometers wide, devouring all of the scorching matter around it.

Soaked in infinite energy, No.1’s body expanded again. With a sharp, wet crack, a red and white tail with swirling patterns burst out behind it. Then, an extra pair of arms, wrapped in red markings that resembled the sun, tore through the skin beneath its armpits.

As No.1 absorbed more and more star energy, the nature of its body also began to change. It was becoming more like a lifeform from the Blue Planet, rather than an ancient creature of the mythical world.

This was why Luo Fei needed to break through to the mythical level on the Blue Planet and fully merge with No.1. Simply stripping away strands of soul will and lingering consciousness during this ancient lifeform’s revival wasn’t enough. She also had to take part in reshaping and transforming its body to safely take control.

Only when both the body and soul truly belonged to her could she completely erase the imprint left behind by the ancient being. Otherwise, all of her efforts would end up benefiting that ancient lifeform instead of herself.

Just as it reached seventy thousand kilometers beneath the sun’s surface, No.1 let out a thunderous roar. Countless dark golden runic sequence chains, forged from condensed super energy, erupted from its body.

Boom!

These chains stretched out for thousands of kilometers, weaving through the twisted depths of space like a massive net. They anchored No.1 in place within the blazing currents of solar matter and energy. This was as far as it could go. Any deeper, and the sun's gravitational magnetic field would tear it apart and reduce it to ashes. At that point, perhaps only its heart would survive.

"So this is the place," Luo Fei said, her gaze cold and calm. Sensing the faint, inexplicable call from the sun's depth, she slowly closed her eyes.

In an instant, the suction force inside No.1 intensified, hungrily drawing in the surrounding star energy. Its body expanded rapidly, growing larger by the second.

Splurt!

Its shoulder tore open, and one golden-white scale emerged out of thin air, then a second, followed by a third. Each scale shimmered with intricate red patterns, glowing with the brilliance of light and the heat of flame.

Aside from the changes to its scales, No.1 kept growing. With its restraining armor gone, its form slowly shifted, becoming more savage and fearsome. Surrounded by a dark devouring domain and engulfed in searing flames, it resembled an ancient god taking shape deep within the heart of the sun.

"Mech No.1 has successfully entered the sun."

At the West Meng Research Base, Luo Wuming stood silently in front of the giant screen, staring at the high-definition satellite image of the sun.