THE GALACTIC CLUSTER

THIS IS MY LONGEST PERIOD TO LATE UPDATE. I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE TO MY DEAR KIND READERS WHO ARE WILLING TO WAIT. I HAVE SOOO MANY THINGS ON MY PLATE NOWADAYS BUT I PROMISE WILL KEEP POSTING TILL THIS STORY FINISH. I WILL NOT LET IT HANG. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. I DO LOVE YOU GUYS 💗💗💗

"This is... Lin Ge." Zhao MingAn smiled.

"The artificial shine is created by human technology, the power can't dismantle it." Zhao YunLan sighed in relief.

"We don't know how long this artificial light keeps up." Shen Wei tightened his grip around Zhao YunLan's shoulders. "Let's get going."

"All right." Zhao YunLan supported Shen Wei's torso. They just walked outside the wall when the tentacles rolled as if there was something that pulled them in high speed.

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"What? What just now?" Zhu Jiu tightened his fists when the "plant" retracted its tentacles.

"It seems the stage is clear." Zhang Shi shifted his eyes to the straight-line path that unfolded before them.

"Does that mean we are about to face the next stage?" Zhu Jiu gulped.

"What so nervous?" Shen YongZheng patted Zhu Jiu's back. "This game is more and more interesting." The old general laughed. "let's go."

"Yes."

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"This place..." Zhu Hong halted when they arrived at the end of the long path.

"That seems like a tunnel." Chu NianZhi peered inside the dark cave. "It's pitch black inside. I can't see anything." He leaned his elbow on the cave rim.

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"I'll send my doll inside." Chu ShuZhi took his doll.

"Why don't we use my artificial sun once more?" Lin Jing glanced at the DiXing man.

"We don't know what happened inside." Chu ShuZhi answered. "What if there is something inside that will be triggered by your tools?"

"But what if there is something inside that will be triggered by your power?" Lin Jing returned the question.

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"Well... As there are only DiXing men among us, we don't have any choice but to walk inside, do we?" Zhang Shi chuckled.

"But I don't think it a safe option." Zhu Jiu gulped.

"But we also have no whole time in the world to spend." Shen YongZheng patted Zhu Jiu's back.

"All right." Zhu Jiu took a deep breath. It was not like they had another choice but to move forward.

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"Are you sure it's safe?" Zhao YunLan asked Shen Wei when the man created a blue fire through his palm.

"I don't throw it anywhere just keep it with me, so it will be fine." Shen Wei assured.

"Sounds good." Zhao YunLan smiled. "Let's go." Striding into the dark cave, the light was absorbed from their sight with each step.

"The environment seems all right." Zhao MingAn peered around.

"It's not all right." Shen YeZun stopped in his tracks when he recognized something in the cave wall.

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"What is that?" Zhu Jiu asked Zhang Shi who stood near the wall.

"This mark..." Zhang Shi caressed the engraving on the cave wall. "It's a sign."

"What sign?" Zhu Jiu's curiosity emerged. He walked toward the sign.

"Be careful!"

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"What? What happened?" Guo ChangCheng whirled his head around when a loud clacking voice echoed in the dark cave.

"Xiao Guo... I think we step on something we shouldn't." Lin Jing gulped as he glanced down at the floor.

"Oh, dear." Guo ChangCheng muttered when the cave cracked and moved like giant gear. The wall began to break down into several parts and rotated in different directions of each other. As the gear rotated, the unseen signs were now palpable because the dust and mud fell along the movements. All heard from the gaped mouths were gasps.

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"These are..." Sha Ya's eyes jogged between the signs. Her hand lifted to let her power shine through the darkness.

"I don't know." Chu NianZhi stared at the unfamiliar marks on the wall.

"I think this is a riddle." Zhu Hong touched the sign. "There are several signs with the same pattern. If we join them together..." Zhu Hong used her strength to rotate the cave wall to align the same patterned signs.

"Don't use too much power." Sha Ya pushed the serpent lady aside. "Let me do it."

"Wait, what?" Zhu Hong complained.

"Should I shout the reason out?" Sha Ya glared at Zhu Hong. Zhu Hong was stunned, her movement halted. Sha Ya ignored Zhu Hong and was about to rotate the wall when Da Qing meddled.

"Wait, wait!" Da Qing grabbed the stony wall. "As a man, I can't just watch, can we, Commander Chu?" He glanced at the man who stood, glaring at Zhu Hong. "Commander Chu..." Da Qing called Chu ShuZhi's brother once more.

"Ah, sure." Chu NianZhi strode to the cave wall and helped Sha Ya to slide the wall.

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"Let me do it." Chu ShuZhi grabbed the wall. "You two, pay attention to the sign's line."

"I got it." Lin Jing nodded. With the help of flashlights, Lin Jing and Guo seek some signs that have the same pattern to align them. However...

"What?" Chu ShuZhi asked amongst his gasps. "What happened now? Why the wall can't stop?"

"The pattern keeps moving around." Guo ChangCheng scratched his head. "Then how can we align the sign?"

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"What now?" Zhao YunLan pulled his hair backward.

"The first stage tested our physic, the second test our mental, and this stage tests our brain." Shen Wei peered at the cave wall that each fraction kept rotating at random movements.

"So what should we do to solve the riddle if the wall keeps rotating?" Zhao YunLan sighed.

"Wait..." Shen YeZun glanced at his surroundings, studying the movements. "Not just the signs that have the pattern, the rotation too."

"What?" Zhao YunLan's hand dropped from his chin unconsciously.

"The four moved in steady intervals." Shen YeZun's eyes jiggled between the gear and his watch.

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"Then... Do you know what should we do?" Chu ShuZhi asked the scientist who kept glancing at the rotation.

"We should stop them when they create the alignment." Lin Jing answered.

"But how to stop them?" Guo ChangCheng looked at Lin Jing and Chu ShuZhi in turn.

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"That's... Confusing indeed." Shen YongZheng.

"Can we use our power to stop this rotation?" Zhu Jiu scrutinized the cave wall.

"I'm afraid we can't." Zhang Shi replied to the question.

"But why?" Zhu Jiu threw his eyes at the elder.

"Because if we do that, this place will nullify your power. We can't cheat."

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"Let me try..." Sha Ya lifted her hand, thousands of kilojoules of energy hitting the cave wall that rotated above them.

"What?" Everyone gaped when the energy dissolved when it hit the gears. The situation did not end there as the ground shook violently.

"This is not good." Da Qing muttered.

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"What happened?" Chu ShuZhi was as panicked as Lin Jing and Guo ChangCheng.

"How should we know?" Lin Jing tried to maintain his balance.

"What should we do?" Guo ChangCheng kept holding onto the cave wall, even though he lost his balance so many times because the wall rotated.

"Let me try." Chu ShuZhi threw his power to the cave wall to stop the shake but the result was much worse as the cave trembled violently.

"Lao Chu, stop that!" Lin Jing shouted. "The quake is getting worse!"

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"What happened?" Zhao YunLan clutched a wooden stick standing like a polar in the center of the cave.

"Someone is trying to cheat." Shen Wei sighed.

"What?" Zhao MingAn held Shen YeZun in his arms as he kept his balance on the shaking ground.

"This is a training dungeon. If we don't follow the process, the whole group will suffer." Shen Wei sat down.

"What are you doing?" Zhao YunLan could not stop his curiosity.

"Wait till the shake ended. We can't do anything if the ground still quaking." Shen Wei leaned his temple to his fist.

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"What was that?" Zhu Hong stood up. Sha Ya leaned over her body when the ground shook.

"Something strange." Da Qing touched his chin. "The ground shook violently but the cave isn't collapsing even a bit."

"It's not only that..." Chu NianZhi's eyes jiggled as he looked around the cave. "The ground started shaking after Sha Ya hit the cave with her strength. But it shook again not long after its stop."

"It seems someone hit the cave too..." Da Qing lowered his gaze.

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"Then... How can we stop the cave when the signs are aligned?" Zhu Jiu rubbed his face in confusion.

"With this." Shen YongZheng touched the pillar in the center of the cave. "I believe this thing won't stand here for nothing."

"Indeed." Zhang Shi scrutinized the thick wood. "It has a strange pattern like the cave wall and stands still when the ground shakes."

"The problem is... Where should we put this wood?" Shen YongZheng glanced at the cave wall.

"Hmmm..." Zhang Shi frowned as he thought. "I think we should find someplace in the wall that has the same cross-section as the wooden pillar."

"Eh?" Shen YongZheng squinted his eyes as he stared at the pillar. "Indeed. I just realized that this wooden pillar is an octagonal prism."

"What?" Zhu Jiu stared at Zhang Shi and Shen YongZheng who kept talking in turn.

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"Can you see that rectangular hole beside the sign there?" Chu NianZhi pointed his finger to the cave vault.

"Yes..." Sha Ya answered.

"I think... This is like a mechanical toy." Chu NianZhi touched the pillar in the middle of the cave. "And we may find the controller already."

"What?" Zhu Hong's eyes widened.

"You know... Just like a paper punch that will stop functioning once you move the holder. Or like a seesaw that stops moving once you hold one of its sides."

"Yes..." Zhu Hong waited for the next explanation.

"I think this wooden stick is the stopper." Chu NianZhi could not be more proud of himself.

"Are you sure that the cave will not collapse if you take the pillar?" Da Qing asked Chu NianZhi.

"Well... " Chu NianZhi scrutinized the pillar. "Huh?" He frowned when he saw the thick wooden stick.

"What happened?" Zhu Hong stepped closer.

"The wooden stick is odd." Zhu NianZhi answered. "The cross-section form is a hexagon."

"Say what?"

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"Can't be pulled?" Chu ShuZhi stopped when Lin Jing and Guo ChangCheng shouted at him.

"This stick is not that simple." Lin Jing sighed. "Can you see that? The line along the vault?" He pointed at the path that looked like a drawer railing at the ceiling of the cave. "One slot created beside the specific sign in each gear. I'm sure that path is not carelessly made."

"So we must pull the pillar along the path to reach the slot that fits the pillar's cross-section?" Chu ShuZhi asked.

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"But the line is crisscrossing." Zhao YunLan rubbed his forehead. "If we should follow the line it means the only slot that fits our pillar is the last slot. Then how?" He gulped and could not even finish his question.

"This is like playing a rubric." Shen YeZun glanced at the line. "The first line will be opened if we put the right pillar on the first slot and so on."

"If we take a look at the gears... Four gears move above us." Zhao MingAn was suddenly nervous. "To remember that we just have four groups then this means that we now have to depend on each other."

"Indeed." Shen Wei took a deep breath. "We can't be late to move the pillar or it will be useless."

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"Why?" Zhu Jiu asked.

"Because the path to the slot is just created when the signs are aligned." Zhang Shi answered.

"Then... What should we do?"

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"We should calculate the time when the signs form the straight line." Lin Jing gulped.

"How?" Guo ChangCheng shifted his attention from the cave vault to Lin Jing.

"The cave has a solid shape." Lin Jing lifted his flashlight. "It seems the diameter of the gears is the same. It means we don't need to bother calculating other math variables. All we should count is just how much time each gear should take for each rotation." Lin Jing took off his backpack, rummaging inside. "In short... We must count the lowest common multiple of the gears' rotation time."

"What's that?" Chu ShuZhi was dumbfounded. "Lin Jing... Can you stop speaking the alien language?" Chu ShuZhi sighed.

"The lowest integer that is divisible by the four gears' rotation time." Lin Jing grabbed a notebook, a pen, and his cell phone.

"Can we just use our intuition?" Chu ShuZhi gripped the pillar. "That sounds difficult."

"Not this time, Lao Chu." Lin Jing glared at the DiXing man. "We can't risk Xiao Zhao's chance."

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"Let's count." Sha Ya nodded at Zhu Hong.

"Alright." Chu NianZhi lifted his hands, creating the light. "For Zhao MingAn, let's do it in a single strike." He said.

"Mhm." Zhu Hong took her cell phone and started to count along with Sha Ya, as Da Qing squatted, preparing to write down the number on the sand with his sharp nail.

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"The rotation times are five, eight, seven, and four minutes." Zhao MingAn wrote down in a paper.

"Not too difficult just need precision." Shen YeZun took his cell phone. "After we factorize the number, then we can find the LCM." He opened the calculator application. "eight times five times seven..."

"It's two hundred and eighty minutes." Zhao MingAn glanced at the vault.

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"It has been three hours since the last alignment." Zhu Jiu scratched his hair. "One hundred minutes to the next alignment."

"This is not just brain but also awareness training." Shen YongZheng chuckled. "People are prone to drop their guard if they have so much spare time."

"Luckily, we've been trained in the military." Zhu Jiu smiled.

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"Our stick is for the second line." Sha Ya peered at the gears.

"Should you say something obvious?" Da Qing grunted.

"It's not it." Sha Ya sighed. "My point is, how do we know that the other groups have solved the riddle? What if they did not know?"

"Well... We never know that." Chu NianZhi smiled meaningfully. "All we can do is trust them."

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"Okay... It's coming." Zhu Jiu grabbed the pillar.

"Get ready." Zhu Hong glanced at Chu NianZhi.

"In the third count." Lin Jing said on another side.

"How can we know that this will work?" Sha Ya gulped.

"We won't know if we don't try." Shen Wei strengthened his grip on the pillar.

"Three!" Zhao MingAn shouted.

Four people pushed the four pillars at the same time. The stone blocks in every path opened one by one as every wooden stick slid through the passage. And the next thing that happened was... Quietness.

"We did it, right?" Da Qing glanced at his surroundings.

"Why do I don't see any changes?" Guo ChangCheng scratched his head.

"Do we perceive everything correctly?" Zhu Jiu clenched his fist.

"I..." Zhao YunLan would never finish his word as the cave shook once again. The stopped gears rotated violently and a blinding flash glared through the joints.

"Be careful!" Shen Wei pulled his lover into his hug when the cave collapsed. Everyone closed their eyes.

Time passed by but none of them felt any pain. The cracking noises dispersed and fresh air swept their soft hairs. Slowly, they opened their eyes and welcomed the scene awaited before them...

Galactic cluster... The largest objects in the galaxy were held together by gravity. When there was trust and willingness to sacrifice for each other, a silent connection would occur naturally...

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