The Void is vast, and thus in this expansive Void, anything wondrous is possible.

Before this, I fancied myself to have visited many incredible universes: the Big Nebula, the Locked Universe, the Ruins World, the Avalon Fragment, and even the Void Vortex formed by the Exile Fleet can each be considered a world, each with mind-boggling characteristics that leave one in awe. After experiencing these marvelous universes, I thought I wouldn’t be too surprised by the oddities of any world. However, it’s clear now that my imagination is still limited—there’s no shortage of wonder in the Void.

The world we’re currently in likely isn’t a "Single-layer Universe," at least on this earth beneath us, multiple spaces are stacked together. They could be parallel spaces, akin to Shadow Technology deep spaces, or stable dimensional rifts layering what should have been spaces in two different coordinates. We don’t have enough equipment or data yet to determine how this strange state formed here, but what is certain is that this seemingly unremarkable border area holds enchanting secrets. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

By now, Sandora has already released hundreds of small probes. These silver-white probes, like a swarm, are extremely swift and far more capable than any man-made satellite. They can generally be used in any place where you need to collect data but find it inconvenient to visit personally, including the Earth’s Core and the surface of a Black Hole. Soon, we received a video captured from outer space, showing the planet beneath us...

"This isn’t a planet!" Seeing the images sent back by the probe, I exclaimed directly.

Sandora glanced at me: "That’s right, it’s not a whole planet, it’s half a planet... hmm, a small half."

Suspended in the air before everyone is a hologram with a radius of several meters, displaying the land from the probe’s perspective. It’s a very apparent fragment of a planet, with one end being a curved Earth’s Crust remnant, and the other a jagged inverted conical rock structure, resembling a forcibly carved-out wedge from a watermelon. Undoubtedly, this is a fragment formed after a planet was torn apart, judging by its curvature; this fragment might account for about one-fifth of the original planet’s size, possibly even smaller.

This is the real state of the vast grassland beneath us: a fragment torn from a planet.

This scene left everyone dumbfounded; we never imagined we were standing on the remnants of a shattered planet: and yet, atop this fragment exists such a thriving grassland, with such a high sky and placid clouds!

"We’re standing on a planetary fragment?" Bubbles smacked their lips, "What is this place? Drano? Woshugu Plain?"

Qianqian patted the holographic imager placed on the ground: "Hey, is there something wrong with the equipment?"

"The image is fine, and equipment failure wouldn’t produce such a bizarre situation. We indeed are on a planetary fragment, which is what they call the ’Ancient Garden,’" Sandora frowned deeply, "I’m scanning this fragment’s gravitational structure... it’s too abnormal. This space adheres to physical rules very similar to Earth, under which the scene before us shouldn’t exist. We’re standing near the edge of the smooth surface of the fragment; the gravity here shouldn’t point directly downward as it does, yet none of us feel any anomalies. And the atmosphere, it’s uniform and dense. Whatever disaster once happened to this planet destroyed its entire ecosystem and atmospheric structure; so how did the grassland underfoot and surrounding environment remain intact?"

"Instead of pondering these inexplicable technical problems, we might as well discuss something more direct," Bingdis suddenly interjected, "Let’s assume some unknown base rule allows this planetary fragment to stably exist—then where’s the rest of it? Check around to see if there’re similar planetary fragments."

Prompted by Sister Bing, Sandora immediately zoomed out the view, revealing a larger outer space scene before us.

But there was no second fragment as speculated; the incomplete planet we’re on floats alone in the vast, desolate dark outer space, accompanied only by a bright Constant Star. One probe left the orbit and jumped outward, encountering a space rift just twenty-four astronomical units away. After probing several other directions, we finally confirmed: the size of this small universe is a radius of only twenty-five astronomical units. And within this small enclosed space, only a Constant Star and an eerily existing planetary fragment comprise the celestial bodies here.

I couldn’t help but stomp the ground, feeling some sense of unreality: beneath isn’t a planet but a piece of a celestial body’s remnant, yet it retains all normal planetary physical parameters, including gravitational balance and atmospheric habitat. What power tore this fragment from a planet yet preserved everything here? Based on the fundamental mathematical rules here, naturally, such a spectacle wouldn’t come into being; only a high-level civilization with great skill might possess such technology. So perhaps this world wasn’t originally meant to appear this way.

"There’s a river running across the entire planetary fragment here, flowing this way," Lin Xue pointed to a bright blue ribbon on the holographic projection, "We’re at the edge; the river’s ’outlet’ isn’t far from here; shall we go have a look?"

Everyone had no objections, so I called upon Seven Billion Steeds, the trusty steed, packed the whole family into it, and headed for the grassland border.

A few minutes later, we stood at the land’s end, watching a broad river descend into the endless darkness below from the earth’s edge. Here is the boundary of the planetary fragment’s Earth’s Crust; the scene before us gives a clearer understanding of this being a conical remnant hacked from a planet’s entirety. Beneath our feet is a sheer, sleek Abyss; the Earth’s Crust is like a sliced layered cake, starkly exposing its layers of rock to us, while that river spanning the entire grassland forms an immeasurable drop, creating a super waterfall hanging like a sash at this earth’s terminus floating in outer space.

"You know, it reminds me of the Divine Realm, where such sights are quite common; you know, all continents there float in the sky."

Bingdis crossed her arms, nodding as she commented.

"But the Divine Realm’s physical rules are different from here, your gravitational direction and magnitude depend on the Father God’s mood, whereas this place depends on a fixed mathematical formula," Sandora squatted beside the waterfall’s outfall, dipping her hand into the flow, intrigued by the small water droplets that leapt up, "This formula tells me this planetary fragment shouldn’t exist. Besides, look at this water flow, it falls vertically rather than along the cliff face, indicating a gravity pointing opposite the Earth’s Crust here instead of towards this continent’s center. I’ve sensed the entire grassland’s gravitational direction; they’re all vertically downward."

"Just like when the planet was whole." I agreed with a sentence.

Visca and Pandora were squatting by the river studying the flow—well, Pandora was daydreaming while Visca examined the big river. She could find curiosity in anything. After a while, she suddenly bounced over, tugging at my sleeve, "Brother, brother, where do you think this water comes from? Does it ever stop flowing?"

Visca asked a good question: if this river directly spilled into outer space, it should vanish shortly, but judging by the scene here, this river isn’t just days old. Does it have an infinite origin?

Once again, we hastily boarded the conveyance, heading straight to the other side of the land to seek the river’s source. Qianqian had already become excited; she loved these bizarre, temporarily unsolvable puzzles, and joining her in the excitement were Visca and Little Baobao. Visca was excited due to her strong curiosity, while Little Baobao was excited simply because... she was always excited.

Sayaka leaned against the car window, gazing outside, with a relaxed tone: "Although it’s a strange place, the scenery is indeed nice — brother dear, slow down a bit, can’t see the scenes outside clearly." Her mindset was completely that of a tourist.

I nodded in agreement. If we don’t delve into the mysterious landscape of this place, then this world is indeed a good getaway, especially for Qianqian: this girl loves adventure and solving mysteries, even though she’s never managed to complete a puzzle game—game developers generally haven’t considered her imaginative scenarios.

Because we slowed down the car for a part of the journey, it took us over an hour to reach the other end of the continent, where we found the source of the river spanning the grassland. Sandora checked ahead and exclaimed loudly, "This is definitely the river’s starting point, a small cliff where the river is cut off, and the water is spurting inexplicably out of thin air."

There’s a common understanding that large rivers on plains or similar areas generally originate from several small streams and lakes that gradually converge to form large rivers, yet in front of us was the sudden emergence of rushing river water. It appeared mysteriously from a foggy air and surged into the distance. Within a few hundred meters lay the border of the land.

"The water might be coming from another space. In such a case, the river water falling into outer space might dissipate and enter other spaces through different routes," Sandora said excitedly while gesturing in mid-air. "This world’s spatial structure is a three-dimensional interconnected network, where different spaces interact with their own ways to exchange materials and information. Perhaps this explains the source of gravity beneath our feet—it might even originate from a complete planet elsewhere and be projected onto these fragments of a planet, counteracting the original gravity of the planet fragments."

As she spoke, a burst of children’s laughter erupted nearby. Turning around, I found Little Baobao and Visca already rolling around on the pristine grassland. Though I’d rather not say it, Qianqian was rolling along with them—their playtime had commenced. Qianqian, aren’t you planning to continue exploring the world’s mysteries?

"The probe hasn’t found a stable parallel space interface," Sandora sighed in relief, sat down on the grassland, and stretched lazily. "The rules at the edge here are peculiar and keep changing. I’ve scanned at least a dozen overlapping spatial signal coordinates, not sure which one is the main space. Why don’t we rest here for a while, let the equipment gradually analyze it, and regroup with your sister and the others once we’ve deciphered the spatial structure?"

I was slightly worried about my sister and the others earlier, but thinking about it now, there’s nothing to be concerned about. I agreed, "Let’s just treat it as a temporary picnic—in fact, shall we have a picnic?"

Sandora’s eyes brightened instantly, and then she suddenly poured out snacks covering a dozen square meters on the adjacent grass...

Bingdisi, a guy who believes you’re a fool not to grab a bargain, immediately jumped over like a wolf hungry for prey. Sandora quickly shielded the food from the female hooligan, exclaiming, "Eat your own! This is my meal!"

Bingdisi shouted while eagerly diving into the food heap, "What yours, mine, haven’t you heard your husband? Picnic!"

And so, two historically significant Queen-level figures began the ruckus on the grassland, with the core idea being none other than fighting over food. Watching this unfold was honestly unbearable—I turned my head to focus intently on observing Sister Jier braid garlands for Little Baobao.

Hmm, this scene feels even harder to watch—when did the dimwit Golden Shining become such a girlish creature?

"Hey, Wood, why do you look so preoccupied?" Lin Xue’s voice rang from behind me, and before turning around, I received a gentle punch to the back of my head. Ever since the relationship solidified, this girl has changed quite a bit. Previously, if she wasn’t wearing a knuckle ring while punching, it was considered gracious of her. Without turning my head, I caught Miss’s fist and rubbed it on my face, "Habit, I never have any peace when traveling, now it’s formed into travel anxiety syndrome. Besides, see, this time we’ve come across unexpected incidents again."

Miss pursed her lips, withdrew her paw from my hand, leaned over, and sat beside me. She seemed to make up her mind and then leaned her head on my shoulder. For a person who’s inherently a little shy, this was already the most affectionate gesture she could make in front of others.

"Thinking so much is useless. Aren’t we just accidentally on a different route from Sister Chen Qian and the others? I’ve already said there’s no problem. Don’t you trust the instinct of this Prophet?" Miss nestled against my shoulder, adjusted herself into a comfortable position. "Plus, the purpose of this outing is to picnic. Don’t give yourself so much pressure. I feel like you’re running around saving the world all day, and now you’re showing signs of nervous breakdown. It’s not because I’m worried about you, just seeing you with a serious expression, I feel uncomfortable, like my worldview has been overturned."

When you’re being tsundere, there’s no need to pile up so many justifications in the back. I do occasionally look serious, okay?

I connected to the spiritual link with Lilina and informed her that we might need some time to figure out this complex world. Lilina didn’t seem too concerned with our delay, but as soon as she heard we were having a picnic here, she started protesting loudly, claiming it was unfair. It seemed that she’s been busy with her missionary work on the other side for days, which was supposed to be leisure but had made her exhausted. Upon hearing how leisurely we were enjoying ourselves, she cried out in agitation. All I could do was promise to make it up to her next time. I inquired about what she was doing over there and whether she had launched a religious campaign against others. However, Lilina remained quite mysterious, insisting on waiting until my arrival to elaborate. Ending the communication, I sighed: that troublemaker always manages to create headaches. She doesn’t need to do many things, at least not to this extent, but Lilina constantly tries hard when I’m not paying attention. I didn’t notice much when she founded the Goddess Sect, but this time, if she hadn’t explained her plans to me in person, I might’ve inadvertently overlooked her efforts.

With Sandora present, our picnic ended quite magnificently, consuming twenty-six square meters of food and leaving the surrounding grassland barren for larger areas. Several little ones had their faces smeared in food, now following Sister Jier and Sayaka (with Sister Anwina not around, they took parental roles, at least one as a nanny and the other sisterly. You can’t expect miracles like Qianqian or Lin Xue to tend to kids, right?) to the riverside to wash their hands and faces in a line. After the five members of the Divine Clan gang were full and finished playing, they lay haphazardly on a nearby small hill to bask in the Sun. Their level of decadence was deplorable. Worse, Bingdisi went as far as instructing Lin to give her a back massage; Lin obediently complied, doing whatever asked—perhaps next time I should try too, seeing that Dragon God seems quite easily bullied...

Just as I was considering whether to nap after being satiated, Qianqian came joyfully towards me, holding a garland she had just woven, "Ah Jun, for you."

I took the garland and noticed it was crafted from white wild flowers gathered from nearby hills along with flexible long grass, woven with unexpectedly meticulous technique. I looked at Qianqian and saw a serene smile on the girl’s face, suddenly stirred by a feeling inside.

Perhaps, this is so-called... happiness. Qianqian’s most anticipated form of happiness is to be joyfully surrounded by many family members, able to enthusiastically pursue her beloved whims, and then, by her side, have a loved one to dote on and receive praises—I casually placed the garland atop Qianqian’s head, patting the girl’s silly grinning face, "It’s really beautiful."

Occasionally allowing the family to unwind completely during travels, without thinking about anything, seems rather nice too.

Qianqian rarely quieted down, lay on the grass with her head resting on my lap, smiling like a child—not as the Time Queen, nor the Mistress of the Empire, much less the future figure like the Decay and Evolution God, Qianqian once again became the simplest Xu Qianqian, akin to the summer nights in childhood when the two of us lounged on the deck chair in the yard discussing whether behind the vague cloud shadows in the sky lay a castle floating amongst the clouds, where Sun Wukong and Astro Boy’s happy family resides—sorry, that’s exactly what Qianqian discussed with me back then—yes, now she still talks about the shadows of the Sky with me.

"Ah Jun, do you see that as a mirage?"

Qianqian pointed at a piece of increasingly distinct land in the sky and inquired.

Me: "..."

Damn it, big trouble!! (To be continued. If you liked this piece, feel free to visit qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets—your support is my greatest motivation.)