# Chapter 100: The Descending World (End of Volume)
Starry World, Central Courtyard Star Domain, Central Courtyard Star.
Since more than a decade ago, when the Void Mother Beast was eliminated near the Flower Courtyard Star in the Distant Light Star System, a Central Courtyard civilization colony, the Central Courtyard civilization, originally isolated in a corner of the universe, was quickly discovered and accepted by a massive Star River-level civilization alliance. Central Courtyard Star, located right behind the front lines, thus became one of the alliance's rear area material transport hubs, responsible for 7.4% of the entire federation's Eastern Star District material transport.
The super civilization alliance calling itself the 'Star River Guardian Alliance' had influence spanning several river systems, with over eight thousand civilizations under its banner, and this number was constantly increasing—the super civilization 'Life Preservation Program,' standing at the apex of all civilizations in the Starry World, served as the alliance chairman. This intelligent mechanical program collective, said to have been born tens of millions of years ago and created by an ancient pioneer civilization, originally did not interfere with the world. Entrusted by their creators with the mission of 'protecting all intelligence, regardless of race,' they lived peacefully in a barren star system, continuously observing the entire Starry World.
The creators who made them had long been annihilated in the river of time, the reasons lost, but the immortal machines still existed, constantly observing civilizations while self-correcting and self-growing. They should have quietly remained in their star system until a later civilization could discover their existence—but the invasion of the Evil Gods caught these intelligent programs off guard. After eliminating a fleet of Evil God's Minions, the Preservation Program calculated that if they did not respond, then I'm afraid all civilizations in all star systems within the entire world would face destruction.
So soon, having passed the final defense protocol, the Preservation Program broke free from its isolated state. They—or rather, it—had completely modified all its underlying programs. The Preservation Program began forming an alliance, started leading numerous races in defensive operations against the Evil Gods.
[Through calculation, we must unite. If not, all civilized life will face the threat of Chaos.]
The alliance's history spanned over three thousand years. The Guardian Alliance's resistance against the Chaos Evil Gods probably predated the Central Courtyard people's construction of cement houses. Strangely enough, in this world entirely dominated by psychic energy, the strongest civilization turned out to be an intelligent program collective—which seemed quite ironic—but that was not actually the case.
The Life Preservation Program's central processor 'Triple Veil,' the collective will dominating all intelligent sub-individuals, possessed the strongest psychic energy in the known Starry World. It could even directly hear 'the voice of the world,' communicate with 'the voice of the world,' and make various incredible judgments that nearly predicted the future.
Some even said that the central processor 'Triple Veil' was fundamentally the acting executor of the entire Starry World's will, so every move it made was to better protect the world.
After being accepted into the Star River Guardian Alliance, the Central Courtyard civilization quickly joined this Heaven War that affected countless star domains and star rivers. Outstanding commanders were promoted beyond their ranks to become fleet commanders of the joint fleet. Special biological fleets also received modifications from other member civilizations, becoming faster and stronger than before. Facing the Chaos invasion that could destroy all things, there was no time for internal strife or factional struggles. Although there were still fools who wanted to hold others back and cause destruction in the rear, just as some suspected, before these fools could put their destruction into action, the Preservation Program had already foreseen and handled the corresponding events.
All civilizations were broken down, crushed, and became part of a larger whole. Those skilled in research went to research, those skilled in war went to war. Whether one was good at something or not, there was a place for everyone. Even those who were useless, self-abandoning, and considered themselves worthless could put on power armor and perform mechanical repetitive physical labor.
And most Central Courtyard people, due to their innate psychic talent, accumulated experience from long lifespans, corresponding resistance to Chaos (this was especially important), and fairly decent minds, quickly became an emerging race within the alliance. Many veterans who had participated in the 'Distant Light Star Domain Operation' or the 'Plague Mother Beast Interception Battle' over a decade ago became main officers of various fleets and assault squads, even captains and commanders.
But even so, even becoming an emerging race favored by many civilizations, even as elite members of their race gradually held high positions, even as their mother star system became one of the alliance's most important logistics transport bases enjoying the highest level of security protection, most Central Courtyard people did not feel particularly excited.
Because rights meant sacrifice, and all praise from others came from the bloody sacrifices of Central Courtyard people over these ten years.
Central Courtyard Information, Third Logistics Material Transport Base. In the gray steel fortress, all kinds of strange-looking alien races moved back and forth, while outside the base, equally strange-looking spaceships transported goods back and forth. Since this was the Central Courtyard people's mother star system, eighty percent of the base's staff were Central Courtyard people who looked like humanoid plants. They were busy and hardworking; the entire base needed three shifts around the clock. But due to the gradually increasing logistics workload, overtime became more and more frequent. Gradually, everyone had to work over fourteen hours a day, leaving only very short time for eating, resting, and handling personal matters.
A Central Courtyard logistics worker whose hair looked like cauliflower, puffy and almost like an afro, walked through the cafeteria. He carried his tray and sat by the window. From this angle, he could see the enormous whirlpool in the Central Courtyard mother star's ocean, and within the whirlpool, the mother tree that supported heaven and earth and connected all Central Courtyard people's thoughts.
The existence of the mother tree was also one of the reasons for the Central Courtyard people's rapid rise in status. Because they had a collective psychic entity similar to the 'Life Preservation Program's' central processor 'Triple Veil,' the Central Courtyard people were deliberately favored. The alliance's high-level, especially the 'Life Preservation Program' as the chairman civilization, wanted to artificially cultivate a powerful psychic entity similar to 'Triple Veil' to counter the increasingly fierce Chaos invasion. So they gave the Central Courtyard people green lights in various aspects and relaxed channels for resource acquisition.
Over ten years, the cultivation showed initial results. The Central Courtyard people's mother tree alone, with its computing power, could already handle almost all logistics task calculations. And precisely because of this, the Central Courtyard people's logistics processing capabilities grew increasingly powerful.
The cauliflower head didn't pay much attention to these matters. For this ordinary Central Courtyard logistics worker, driving a transport vehicle in vacuum to help people transport materials was essentially no different from driving a big truck for freight on a planet—except the danger level was higher... Of course, the salary was also higher. But most importantly, I'm afraid it was the excessive fatigue. Working overtime for fourteen hours every day, the cauliflower head simply didn't have the energy to think about anything else. Even when eating, he just mechanically put food into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed numbly.
"Tonight's dinner is noodles... not bad. I really envy the First Logistics Base over there, next to the star, getting sunshine every day, and supplies are abundant too."
Come to think of it, it was strange. Recently, many transport ships had been fully loaded heading to the First Logistics Base, but not many ships came out fully loaded—you know, that was fleet after fleet of supplies. The transit base simply didn't have that big a warehouse to store them, and it couldn't be consumption either. Even if everyone at the First Base were gluttons, there was no reason they could consume that much.
But that wasn't any concern for the Third Base people—Opening the tray, the cauliflower head raised an eyebrow, feeling it wasn't bad. Although these were called noodles, they were essentially a solid nutritional agent made from the roots of a strange and extraordinary plant called 'Star Dust Tree.' They had the characteristic of being easily absorbed and could slightly enhance psychic ability. Even Central Courtyard people could absorb them purely through their epidermal absorption, thereby achieving the purpose of 'eating.'
He pulled out chopsticks, also made from the trunk of the Star Dust Tree, which were also edible. The cauliflower head picked up the noodles and began eating skillfully. You know, each logistics worker's rest time was fixed. The more time wasted eating, the less time there was for sleeping and contacting family.
The noodles tasted good, indeed very nutritious. Although the work was hard and arduous, the alliance from top to bottom was not stingy with basic supplies. After all, they had to face the enemy of all order; they couldn't afford internal rebellion before defeating the opponent. Stuffing the noodles into his mouthparts—which had no digestive organs—and absorbing through internal absorption, the cauliflower head couldn't help thinking of his hometown in the sunny southwest of Central Courtyard Star.
Seven years... Since mandatory service began seven years ago, he hadn't returned home for seven years... He really missed his father, mother, his sister who was one hundred and twenty years older, and his brother who was only thirty seconds older.
And just as the cauliflower head couldn't help recalling his homeland, suddenly, the large screen at the front of the cafeteria, which was broadcasting local news from Central Courtyard Star, emitted harsh static.
[Crackle... Now interrupting with an emergency news bulletin.]
The original Central Courtyard announcer was quickly replaced by a sturdy-looking reporter who was clearly a cow-head person, with horns on her head. She stood on a warship's bridge, reporting with a serious expression: "After three months of being out of contact, the mother star system of the Tan Ya civilization has returned to the alliance's field of vision... The 'Blazing Fire' emergency sweeping fleet, equipped with the newest super heavy mothership, has already gone to the front lines. Confirmed by the Blazing Fire fleet, a Plague Evil God's Minion that happened to break through the 'Great Flanking Operation' encirclement attacked the Tan Ya mother star system."
"Regrettably, due to the Great Flanking Operation, most of the fleet originally stationed in the Tan Ya mother star system had been redeployed. After the sudden attack by the Plague Evil God's Minion, Tan Ya's system defense forces and the 'Seventeenth Mixed Patrol Fleet' stationed there all died in the line of duty. Four point six billion Tan Ya people living on Tan Ya mother star made the ultimate sacrifice... Confirmed by the Blazing Fire Sweeping Fleet's Commander-in-Chief, Five-Star Fleet Marshal 'Ke Da Er,' who is also a Tan Ya person, Tan Ya mother star has been completely eroded, becoming a breeding ground for 'Plague Mother Beasts.' Therefore, through the 'Extermination Protocol,' while completely destroying Tan Ya mother star, all Chaos remnants in the entire star system will be eliminated."
"The success of the Great Flanking Operation has indeed temporarily curbed the spread of the mixed Chaos Minion coalition of 'Plague Evil God,' 'Famine Evil God,' and 'Stagnation Evil God.' Through exchanging battle losses, we directly destroyed the Chaos Minions' 'Eternal Void Anchor Point' for summoning the Evil Gods. This is certainly a strategic great victory, but it cannot be denied that the Great Flanking Operation did not eliminate many of the Chaos Minions' effective strength. No matter how tight the encirclement net, various loopholes will appear. Now is not the time to cheer victory. The disaster suffered by the Tan Ya people is a disaster for all civilizations in the entire alliance. We must be vigilant about this serious mistake and strive to never let similar incidents happen again... Three minutes of silence for the Tan Ya civilization."
Clatter.
In the silent stillness, a crisp sound appeared.
The chopsticks fell from his hand, landing on the tray. The cauliflower head didn't hear the follow-up clearly.
Actually, from the moment 'Seventeenth Mixed Patrol Fleet all died in the line of duty' was announced, the cauliflower head's thoughts were in chaos.
"Sis... sister... brother..."
If he remembered correctly, the Seventeenth Mixed Patrol Fleet was exactly the fleet where his sister and brother served.
Not only that, the Tan Ya people were the first federation individuals the Central Courtyard people encountered, and it was they who led the Central Courtyard people into the Star River Guardian Alliance family. The official relations between the two civilizations were very good. Central Courtyard fleets often merged into Tan Ya fleets, or vice versa. Since the Tan Ya mother star system was close to the front lines, many Central Courtyard soldiers who wanted to make achievements chose to join the federal forces in the Tan Ya region.
All... died in the line of duty...
The cauliflower head stared blankly at the large screen that was observing silence. He knew very well that he was simply not material for fighting. Even when it came to faith, he preferred to believe in the mother tree and the Void Saint, rather than the 'Blazing Prison God Radcliffe' who had only revealed his divine power in the last decade or so and was gaining momentum, claiming to bless war and bring victory.
He was just a logistics worker who muddled along. But his sister and brother, who were determined to make a name for themselves and win glory for their race—those two who had once witnessed the great power of the Blazing Prison God and sincerely believed in him—had joined the military and been promoted all the way. He heard they had become the primary and deputy commanders of the 17th Patrol Fleet's reconnaissance brigade.
All died in the line of duty...
To be honest, having not seen each other face to face for seven years, without any particularly dramatic encounters or memories in the same year, the cauliflower head knew he was just an ordinary person from an ordinary family. Although his relationship with his sister and brother was good, it wasn't especially especially close. Since he moved out alone fifty years ago, they had rarely met, let alone later when they were at opposite ends of the Star River, making even communication troublesome—how much close sibling affection was there in reality? After splitting up, they were just ordinary relatives, at most a little closer than that.
All dead.
He shouldn't have been sad... At least, he thought he wouldn't be that, that sad.
The cauliflower head lowered his head, looking at the noodles in his tray. His gaze was dazed... He originally thought he wouldn't be very sad or grieved, because he knew from the moment those two joined the military that this day would come sooner or later—where was there an eternally undefeated army, where were there people who never died? Especially when he had refused his sister and brother's invitation back then, insisting on staying in the mother star system to be a logistics manager, they had a big fight. They called him a coward, and he mocked them as short-lived.
Trembling, he picked up the chopsticks. The cauliflower head continued eating. The silence time was only three minutes; after that, rest time was still counted as usual. There was no reason to delay himself for others.
But it wasn't until another Central Courtyard person sat down beside him and kindly reminded him that the cauliflower head realized his chopsticks hadn't picked up any noodles at all—he had been eating the chopsticks.
It was only then that he collapsed onto the table as if drained.
—Central Courtyard people had long lifespans; a few hundred years was just two generations.
Just seven years without contact was at most being busy for a few months and forgetting to call home. No one took it seriously.
The cauliflower head had always felt time was long, very long. Central Courtyard people had plenty of time; there was no need to rush to contact... Until this moment, when coolant seeped from all his leaves, and the man only then began to cry, did he realize that what he thought was 'not caring' was simply thinking time was long, thinking there would always be opportunities to contact, thinking that someday in the future, he and his family could wait for a good time to sit down and talk, slowly resolve misunderstandings, and start living relaxed and happy again.
Just like the ordinary, plain days of the past few hundred years.
But time does not wait for people.
There weren't that many 'ifs,' 'thoughts,' or 'feelings.'
"God... God..."
He knew that God had no reason to be everyone's nanny, nor any reason to do anything for people. He knew that God was just a symbol, representing a path to be followed, a representative of order. But the cauliflower head still couldn't help clenching his fists. He gritted his teeth, holding back 'tears.' This former logistics worker who had coveted stability clenched his fists, raised his head, and looked at one of the three holy emblems hanging in the center of the hall above the cafeteria's large screen—the 'Φ' shaped holy emblem representing the 'Blazing Prison God.'
"I... want to fight."
There was no resentment, no blame-shifting. Central Courtyard people were a psychic civilization like plants. Even facing death and sorrow, eternal parting and despair, they could still face them calmly, calmly be their enemy, and then calmly face death.
But—even so, no matter how brave, how resolute a Central Courtyard person was, sometimes, they just couldn't help it.
Couldn't help but pray.
And at this very moment.
At this very instant.
A bright light burst from the two poles of the star at the center of the Central Courtyard mother star system. Two dazzling silver divine lights, like two spears, extended endlessly into the dark vacuum of the universe.
The star rotated, slowly spinning on its axis. And as it slowly spun, incomparable, unimaginably enormous energy began to be drawn from the star's core—one could see thirty-six magnificent, chain-like enormous silver ring formations emerging from nothingness, flickering and jumping like electrons orbiting an atomic nucleus. The ring formations and the light bursting from the star's two poles formed an incredibly enormous, stellar-level 'Φ' shaped holy emblem. It rapidly extracted the star's energy, sending it into the void beyond the world.
"What, what is this?!"
Even the cauliflower head was shocked by this scene. Even from the distant space base, he could clearly see the mutation at the distant star, even though this mutation had been happening for nearly ten minutes: "What are the First Logistics Base people doing!?"
The answer was actually very simple.
It was a sacrifice.
—An ancient sacrifice, exchanging something for the attention... or descent of some great existence.
Preparing supplies day after day for dozens of days, pouring in resources sufficient to determine the outcome of a giant battle, even using a star, the star of a material transport hub star system, as the price, the Central Courtyard people unhesitatingly conducted an unprecedented gamble.
And they won the gamble.
Silver ripples shook the world. As the central star grew smaller and smaller, losing more mass and energy, the dazzling silver light grew brighter and brighter, even completely replacing the star's original radiance—an incredibly enormous hole, a fissure seeming to lead to distant spacetime, distant other shore, slowly appeared in the center of the star, beginning to expand, devouring the star's mass.
"'Horizon Signal' confirmed."
"'Dawn Node' in position."
"'Mystery Node' in position."
"'Ring Node' in position."
On the enormous steel base above the star, before a huge crystal sphere, the Central Courtyard's most powerful psychic, Milhabus, calmly confirmed that each node was ready. After confirming everything was complete, he took a deep breath, his calm expression beginning to crack. This powerful psychic, whose head had no leaves left, pressed both hands forcefully onto the crystal sphere, and immeasurable silver-blue psychic light exploded from his entire body!
He almost roared through gritted teeth: "Charge, activate—'Abyss of Tomorrow'!"
"Activate! Abyss of Tomorrow!"
Countless voices harmonized, and at the same time, countless points of light bloomed simultaneously—billions upon billions of beams of light flew from every corner of the entire star system, then converged in the star.
Above the contracting star, the psychic focusing ring project was completed, the hyperspeed cohesive filling formation came online. The star's energy was drawn, squeezed, and then transformed into a virtual singularity. Responding to the call of the great existence in the distant other shore, it opened a spacetime gate like an abyss—and now, everything was on track. The star was rapidly extinguishing. Not just the core, but almost all the star's fuel was artificially focused and burned.
One could see that inside this void, it seemed to reflect distant stars. Twisted light phantoms appeared within this void, like the bright yet indifferent eyes of a giant god. The giant god's pupils were deep, as if they were the place where all things return to nothing, the endless Naraka abyss.
And the radiance of countless Central Courtyard psychics drew countless arcs in the darkness. They converged, gathered into one, then plunged into this abyss, guiding the existence from the other shore to arrive.
—Unprecedented, even surpassing the Chaos Minions' 'Eternal Void Anchor Point,' the largest and most insane 'Void Portal' summoning ritual in the history of the Starry World, calmly called the 'Abyss of Tomorrow' plan by all participants, successfully unfolded. One could see a star being gradually sacrificed, devoured by the dark void. The radiance that illuminated the starry universe faded, allowing darkness to spread within the star system.
But then, new, dazzling silver light appeared, illuminating all things.
—Use today's sun to exchange for tomorrow's light, use present darkness to exchange for tomorrow's hope.
—If victory cannot be achieved and heaven cannot be reached, then together fall into the abyss called the future.
One could see that under this enormous energy fluctuation, space trembled like cloth in the wind. The entire star system dimmed, then brightened again. In the center of the black spacetime fissure that had devoured the star, like an abyss, a silver enormous celestial body phantom appeared at the position where the original sun had been. It began to slowly materialize, cross over, as if swimming out from distant seawater and coming ashore.
Throughout the entire star system, all sensors, all communication equipment, and observation arrays, one after another, one after another, shut down. An incredibly enormous and complex amount of information and huge gravitational force suddenly appeared, almost flinging all the planets in the entire star system away. One could hear, from Central Courtyard mother star, countless people screaming, beginning to pray—but the huge gravitational force quickly disappeared, as if it had never existed. And at the same time, a silver perfect sphere replaced the Central Courtyard people's original star, governing the entire star system's operation.
It gently radiated light, illuminating the dark vacuum.
At this very moment, the Central Courtyard people heard. They heard the voice of the one they worshipped as a deity.
"Is there still courage?
Is there still hope?
If you want to fight for tomorrow, now grasp your weapons."
The cauliflower head heard it. The Central Courtyard people heard it. All members of the Star River Guardian Alliance, all intelligent, sentient life, everything heard it.
They heard the desolate war horn, heard the passionate war drum. They heard whispers and encouragement, resounding through all sorrowful dark nights and despairing dreams.
"We will use the faith in our hearts to open the future, use the weapons in our hands to shatter the apocalypse!"
—Burn life, burn anger.
—At this very moment.
—Volume Seventeen, Stars of the Heavens·End
Recommended reading: Urban Divine Lord's New Book
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EX: Heaven and Earth Change Color
This was a dark age.
The galaxy was burning. All the optimistic deductions and guesses about civilization's future made by sages and wise men thousands of years ago were declared invalid. Prosperity and peace turned to nothing, all because the peaceful world welcomed uninvited, terrible visitors—the Chaos Evil Gods seduced a few ignorant and pitiful races, and while triggering one tragedy after another, cast their shadows into this vast world, raising a tide darker than shadow.
This was an era of resistance.
The world was shattering. Vast war flames began to spread among the stars. Facing the Chaos Gods who transcended despair and death, and their endless minions that devoured souls, the ancient mechanical cluster awakened from the dust, and countless civilizations chose to rise in resistance. They fought alongside other orderly races to defend the galaxy. Countless people surged forward, trying to lead the orderly alliance to overcome the darkness, guiding the light of civilization back among the stars.
This was fragmented time.
The war flames grew increasingly fierce. The slaughter seemed endless. One could see that the stars in the galaxy were extinguished one by one like blown-out candles, leaving only dead silence. And one by one, planets fell into seas of fire, gnawed into nothingness. The curses and hatred of countless intelligent lives did not drive the Evil Gods back in defeat, but instead made them gradually gather, approach, like vicious beasts attracted by blood.
The wails of the innocent and the roars of the resisters echoed and intertwined, resounding through the stars of the heavens. Thousands of years of war and resistance, while uniting all orderly civilizations into one, also accumulated Chaos's power to an extremely terrifying level—the Evil Gods' army had occupied all shadowy places. They gathered, converged, pressed in, and all civilizations could only choose to face the battle head-on.
Because they had no way to retreat.
The age of glory and splendor had ended. The era of suffering and despair had begun.
At the other shore of the dark vacuum, a broken space station like a Ferris wheel was silently flying. One could see that this 'Ferris wheel' was missing a large piece. Judging from the broken traces, it was as if some ferocious beast had gnawed off the missing piece. In the damaged space station, there was no life reaction. Even the electronic equipment had long stopped functioning. Everything was dead silent, let alone any response.
On one side of a bright star, twelve void cruisers stood ready at the edge of the heliosphere. Their position was where the solar wind ended and interstellar medium began. This patrol fleet faced the oncoming enormous space station, extremely seriously and rigorously began scanning, and launched unmanned probes to start exploration.
"No Chaos reaction."
"No life reaction."
"Functions completely stopped. No electrical, psychic, or mana energy or other supernatural power equipment in operation."
"Estimated destruction time, approximately one thousand seven hundred years ago—its last jump exhausted all energy, and then it drifted in vacuum like this, crawling bit by bit, coming to our side."
As the unmanned probes got closer and closer, penetrating deeper into the damaged space station's interior, the reports became more and more detailed. One could hear the relevant detection personnel exclaiming: "Wait... a large number of plant seeds found here!"
"Here too! Strange, this space station seems to have no design for biological habitation, only automatic intelligent maintenance and repair facilities... Unfortunately, they are also damaged."
"Ah! I found a biological genetic factor library here! My god, so many, really so many! This warehouse... could it have stored all the biological genes of an entire planet?!"
As more and more discoveries were made, soon, after summarizing all information, the patrol fleet immediately realized that this seemingly Ferris wheel space station was actually a 'spark' carrying all the information of an entire civilization.
Or rather, a tombstone, a... suicide note.
By supplying energy and restarting part of the space station equipment, soon, the patrol fleet's detection personnel extracted from the unencrypted, even actively cooperating system the civilization and history to which this space station originally belonged.
It was a race that had just broken through the atmosphere and flown into the sky. Less than a hundred years had passed since their first satellite launch. They even had extreme difficulty exploring their own mother star's moon. This species was at a very primary extreme in both technology for utilizing ordinary material universe energy and supernatural power. They should be considered the most insignificant, most inconspicuous type in the Starry World.
Then, such an ordinary and inconspicuous race encountered the invasion of Chaos Minions.
Unmanned machines connected to the damaged space station's database. The fleet members silently analyzed the records and transmitted images: They saw the sky-covering sun-obscuring dark shadow sweeping across a thousand stars, suns extinguishing one after another, planets disappearing one by one. They saw the glorious war in the universe and the resistance of civilizations, orderly fleets being devoured by endless beasts.
This race had been discussing 'whether there are aliens in this world' for the past few decades. And now, the most powerful evidence appeared directly before them, in the most cruel way.
They feared, they despaired. Without a doubt, they wanted to escape—but how could they run? They really didn't have much technology, nor any strong individuals. For the Chaos Minions that might appear in just a few months or years, there wasn't much time left to think.
This enormous space station, equipped with the most primary jump engine, was this civilization's final voice to the world.
"Is this our civilization's spark, or our civilization's tombstone?"
In the space that stored all species data, all plant seeds, and all biological gene banks of one world, an engineer who should have built this space station asked confusedly before the apocalypse came: "Does any of this really have meaning? Those monsters are so powerful; the ships built by the federation are just suicide..."
"It's all the same."
Another engineer replied calmly: "At least we resisted."
"At least we chose hope."
Finally.
One thousand seven hundred years later.
The battered space station passed through the vigilant patrol fleet. All warships silently surrounded it, gently applying psychic force fields to slow it down, stop it.
"At least we see you..." A plant race closed its eyes, whispering: "You are not alone. We are with you."
More than five completely different races served in the warships, including plant-like, cicada-like, spider-like, ape-like, and jellyfish-like ones—the Dehran Star System was the forward stronghold of order and Chaos, the logistics base closest to the front lines. Here, over a hundred different civilizations and different fleets were stationed. Behind them represented the brilliant Star River of the Galaxy Guardian Alliance, and before them lay the shadowy darkness of Chaos evil.
Now, the battered space station drifted in from the darkness. This was a civilization's final spark, final tombstone, a suicide note written calmly knowing they would die.
—Another civilization struck down and destroyed by darkness, extinguished like a burned-out torch.
But this did not represent despair.
"No matter how many times I see it, my heart does not become numb."
The young, cicada-like race watched the space station being slowly disassembled by psychic traction beams, its database and warehouses being sorted and received into the ships. His expression was extremely complex, his antennae trembling: "Instead, it ignites anger, ignites the desire to resist."
All races silently nodded.
Unlike being invaded by other civilizations, unlike civil wars between orderly civilizations, even unlike being eaten by wandering interstellar beasts, insect swarms, or space plankton clusters... being destroyed by Chaos was ultimate meaninglessness.
In the former cases, whether resistance failed or succeeded, whether the invader's invasion was repelled or the country was destroyed and people enslaved; whether forcibly incorporated as vassals, or the entire race and planet were eaten alive—none of that mattered. It was all natural order, part of the cycle of order.
Certainly, a civilization might indeed be destroyed, everything erased, whether country, culture, or race could not exist. But the loser did not completely disappear: because everything of the loser would be decomposed and absorbed by the victor, becoming nourishment.
Whether literally as nourishment, or as some inspiration in thought, some sparks, some scattered fragments recorded in history, or clothing styles, some influences on fashion design. The loser is always swallowed by the victor, skin and bones, not a bit left.
Then, the victor moves forward, the food in the belly provides energy. Someone always moves forward, carrying everything the loser lost.
—Our civilization failed, becoming food for other civilizations. This matter, while making one unable to help clenching fists, is ultimately still part of the cycle of order, just like the ecological cycle of lions and tigers hunting antelopes on the grasslands of the ancient planet era.
Culture will be absorbed, technology will inspire others. Even seemingly useless flesh is ultimately useful—even if it becomes fertilizer, becomes manure.
No need to be unhappy. Who hasn't eaten other living things, hasn't seen dead bodies decomposed and eaten by bacteria and other small organisms? Even rice seedlings need fertilizer irrigation. We're all the same, destined outcome, nothing unacceptable.
But Chaos is different.
The result of a civilization destroyed by an Evil God is meaninglessness.
No one benefits from it, no one gains anything from it. Victory has no meaning, destruction has no meaning. If war with another civilization is a survival battle where both civilizations give their all, no matter who wins in the end, someone will eventually absorb all nutrients, become stronger, move higher—but being destroyed by Chaos means neither culture, technology, nor manure will remain. Chaos will only erode the civilization's final remnants into its own copy. This is ultimate nothingness, absolute void.
"Store these in the 'Life Preservation Vault.' Next time, hand them over to the 'Life Preservation Program'... our great leader, the merciful iron-skinned chief, has always been collecting this."
The fleet commander issued the order. This jellyfish-shaped intelligent life communicated via psychic wave band: "Also, we need to strengthen defenses—the Great Flanking Operation destroyed those Chaos Minions' 'Eternal Void Anchor Points.' They are madly counterattacking, trying to find a second suitable location to create a new anchor point."
"The Tan Ya people's experience taught us a lesson. If things cannot be done, then destroy the planet ourselves, never give Chaos the chance to corrupt and transform..."
The jellyfish commander seemed to want to continue, but with a roar that seemed to appear directly in his ears, with the vast radiance coming directly from behind, all thoughts were interrupted.
"What, what's happening?!"
The jellyfish commander shockingly called up the rear observation camera, and then, he saw that at the center of the Dehran Star System, the 'Jump Guidance Anchor Point' at the edge of the star system suddenly blazed with light—seven-colored light like a rainbow appeared layer by layer, then transformed into countless fine streams of light, like a rainstorm, extending into the depths of the dark starry sky.
Coincidentally, one beam of light flew straight toward them, causing several cruisers to instinctively evade.
But to be precise, this light was flying straight toward the 'Ferris Wheel Space Station' that was about to be completely disassembled.
It was a red light—representing anger, courage, representing unwillingness and resistance.
[Emotion locked. Dehran Star Domain Kumal Civilization, you harbor blazing anger in your hearts. The time for counterattack has come.]
The red light, like an illusion, seeped into the space station... and then.
It began to glow, tremble. A layer of phantom condensed on the space station's surface, taking shape: it was a race with sturdy arms and body, like a bear. It looked honest and resolute. The phantom's gaze had no confusion, only determined anger and the courage to never bow. The patrol fleet members couldn't help exclaiming, because this was exactly the extinct race that had built this space station.
Endless emotions stirred the vortex. Enormous seven-colored light shone in the void. While illuminating all civilization remnants that resonated, it also gave birth to souls filled with unwillingness.
The civilization heroic spirits stared straight at the dark void, straight at their former enemies—they had indeed failed, leaving not even a tile of remnants. They were awakened, but had little power. These souls could not change anything. They were merely recreated in the world by a great will, allowing it to understand more clearly from these civilizations' histories how the Starry World had resisted Chaos over so many years, and how many Evil Gods lurked behind the darkness.
But this did not mean it was useless.
Because 'wanting to fight' was the ultimate 'meaning.'
Central Courtyard Star System, the silver world slowly rose amid countless people's cheers and prayers, becoming a star illuminating the heavens. A new sun was left behind by him. The summoned warrior stirred seven-colored light that made the star system tremble. It plunged into all jump entrances, entered all teleportation gates, and using nodes forged by countless civilizations as starting points, spread to every corner of the starry universe.
Whether uninhabited celestial remnants, or planets where order had long been rebuilt, whether dark domains occupied by Chaos, or enormous fortresses clustered at the center of civilization star systems, the light spread, briefly awakening all unwilling heroic spirits.
—He had come.
The leader of strife had arrived. He stood, seeing through all the ruins of civilization sacrifice and unwilling graves. He read the world's history, civilization's cries, experiencing all life's profound suffering and distant confusion—he came to tear open bloody scabs, bringing pain while also bringing a new era—he would lead life to resist, toward rebirth, or toward destruction.
What remained unchanged was battle.
The dark age had just begun to pull back its curtain, but sparks had already begun to spread beneath the curtain.
In the era when distant stars still shone, at the moment when anger had not yet completely extinguished, the final war flames of the vast world were about to ignite.
Thus, heaven and earth changed color.