The stars outside the hive ship had stopped feeling quiet.
Back aboard the broken Dreadlight, the silence was the same, but it felt different now. Heavier. More aware. Like the ship itself was listening to every step that echoed inside its dying corridors.
Xu Qianghua and the elders had moved deeper into the ship. The dim lights overhead flickered with a tired rhythm, never bright enough to feel safe and never dark enough to hide anything fully.
It gave the whole corridor a sense of waiting, like something might breathe behind the walls at any moment.
They walked without rushing, but none of them let their guard drop. Their footsteps were quiet, controlled, and steady across the uneven floor. Some parts of the metal plating were warped from age, others dented by impacts that no longer had explanations.
Behind the walls, faint sounds pulsed like distant breaths. Not human. Not mechanical. Something between the two.
