# Chapter 7: Sweeping Across a Thousand Stars (Part 1)
Upon hearing the system's warning and prompt, Kere Lei used Shadow Path to return to the Elma warship at his fastest speed.
The 'Extreme Virus' was simply too bizarre and strange. Even though he had the Dark Gold Flame Armor gifted by Marshal Radcliffe to protect himself, Kere Lei still didn't want to stay long in such a dangerous environment... Besides, the Xinba family was already dead, and there really weren't many clues left there. The fewer seconds he stayed, the better.
Whoosh!
When Kere Lei followed the shadows back into the warship, what greeted him was a transparent isolation chamber descending over his head, along with a full set of high-energy radiation scanning.
Six-colored elemental radiance converged into white light, mixed with mana flames. This 'Mana Fire', capable of incinerating an ordinary city to ashes, purified him from head to toe. Protected by his armor, Kere Lei naturally suffered no harm, but one could see that during the high-energy radiation process, small flames ignited from the gaps in Kere Lei's armor — these were precisely the parts where some Extreme Virus cells had been hiding, only now being completely eliminated.
"Sorry, but this is a necessary measure."
Outside the isolation chamber, Elma controlled the Mana Fire to clean back and forth, as meticulously as bathing a cat. Her tone was gentle as she spoke: "Although I can confirm that this virus cannot infect me, it might transfer from you to me, making me its host without my knowledge... I suspect the Xinba family was infected this way, by a Commander-level Amos person carrying the virus."
"Perfectly normal. This is a supernatural plague. Back in my homeland, I'd be isolated and observed for at least three months."
Regarding this, Kere Lei naturally didn't mind. He chuckled first, then carefully took out a small test tube and handed it to Elma on the other side of the crystal isolation chamber: "The Extreme Virus sample you wanted. Be careful not to leak it. I can't wear armor everywhere and at all times. According to the system appraisal left by the Grand Marshal, this virus can even consume soul power to forcibly undergo 'Extreme Evolution'!"
In other words, if an individual infected with this virus wasn't extremely lucky, even their soul couldn't escape. Complete annihilation of both spirit and body would be the final outcome.
Elma didn't reply, but her movements were extremely careful. One could see that the seemingly crystal-clear transparent isolation cover began to squirm, then extended a semi-transparent small tentacle, taking the test tube from Kere Lei's hand, firmly wrapping it and sealing it inside. Kere Lei noticed that within three seconds, she had released at least seven or more Gold-rank and Ultimate-rank sealing grand spells. It seemed Elma's claim of 'Ultimate Peak' strength wasn't a lie — just this one move would earn her the title of Master in the Mycroft World.
Kere Lei's disinfection went through nine completely different procedures, from extreme temperature shifts to vacuum cleaning, from plasma surface treatment to Disintegration Spell bathing. By the time he was confirmed one hundred percent safe and could finally step out of the isolation chamber, Elma, who had already begun experimenting and investigating what the 'Extreme Virus' actually was, was muttering to herself in shock.
"This structure... this virus, in terms of biotechnology, is at least several hundred years ahead of us!"
"No! Even far more than that!"
The test tube containing some Extreme Virus was placed in the center of a large array of biological instruments and magical apparatus. Elma meticulously observed its form from all angles. She discovered that although this virus appeared simple in structure, it was actually incredibly complex. To use an analogy — if ordinary viruses had genetic material that merely stored information, then the 'Extreme Virus's' genetic material could practically be described as an atomic-level three-dimensional magic array! Not only did it store far more information than ordinary viruses, it could also achieve numerous functions that common viruses could never accomplish.
In other words, the so-called Extreme Virus was essentially a 'living spell' capable of self-replication, self-propagation, with high infectivity, lethality, extreme difficulty to kill, and extremely high adaptability. Elma could confirm that the Amos Royal Court did not possess the capability to create this virus. Their technology and supernatural power followed in the footsteps of Emperor Amos, leaning toward the macroscopic and massive type.
"So terrifying!"
After hearing Elma's explanation, Kere Lei, having removed his armor and returned to normal form, was immediately shocked. His face showed worry: "No, this information must be reported to the Marshal... must inform the homeland as soon as possible!"
Compared to a Royal Court where only a few million Amos people lived in one world, the population density of Mycroft Civilization was much higher. Without preventive measures, what could be solved by quarantining Amos people would become a massive disaster! He hoped that the Nature Mentor and the Fishman High Priest could learn of this news as soon as possible and develop specific defense methods against this virus... Thinking of the strange corpses of the Xinba family in the settlement, and imagining this high-intensity supernatural virus spreading among the population, Kere Lei shuddered.
Elma glanced sideways at Kere Lei, who was frowning with worry, then comforted him: "Don't worry. Given your Marshal's power, he probably knew about this the moment you first came into contact with the Extreme Virus. Hmm?"
She suddenly looked up, staring at a certain spot in the Silent Void. There, waves of rapid space-time fluctuations came, accompanied by the opening of a gray-silver space-time gate. Eight large biological Void Warships, each over three kilometers in length, slowly emerged from it, floating in the void in a circular formation.
These biological ships had a peculiar shape, forming an inverted pyramid. The angular main body slowly rotated like a drill bit, while around the sharp bottom end, layers of conspicuous energy rings revolved. The eight ships were generally identical in form, differing only in the color, size, and number of rings. Among them, the biological warship with the largest and most numerous rings, after exiting the space-time gate, immediately noticed Elma not far away and approached in her direction.
"Typical 'inverted pyramid'. These ships are the 'Imperial Guard'."
Elma's simulated humanoid form frowned. She quietly explained to the confused Kere Lei beside her: "Although the Great Emperor himself doesn't need guards, there's always a group of people responsible for handling affairs and miscellaneous tasks for the Emperor. That batch of combat-type Amos who only accept direct orders from the Emperor are the Imperial Guard."
"Each of them has 'Commander-level' (Ultimate Mid-rank to Peak) power. I myself served as an Imperial Guard for a period of time..."
"Elma, it's actually you."
Before Elma could finish, a mental message came from the gradually approaching leader inverted pyramid warship. The voice was quite surprised: "Seventy-four years without seeing you, and you're in such a remote place."
"Kuros, what exactly is going on?"
Elma clearly knew this Imperial Guard as well, so she didn't intend to hide her confusion. While moving forward to inquire, she explained to Kere Lei: "Kuros is among the new generation of Imperial Guards, the individual most likely to reach the 'General' realm. Seventy-four years ago, I worked alongside him on the front lines for a time. Consider him... an acquaintance."
On the other side, Kuros didn't know that there was actually an otherworldly visitor inside his acquaintance. So he didn't say much, only speaking seriously: "Whatever you've guessed or know, don't spread it now. The Royal Court will handle everything. Don't worry unnecessarily."
"Then, at least tell me what exactly happened in the Royal Court?"
In the void, two large warships faced each other across the distance. Invisible mental waves surged: "All one hundred thirty-seven star domains on the frontier are under martial law, each isolated, not exchanging information, with materials fully rationed. If an enemy attacked at this time, we probably wouldn't know until weeks later!"
"Disaster."
Kuros replied succinctly. After pausing for a moment, he continued: "Don't worry about the frontier — you can trust that much at least. The disaster the Takur people face is far greater than ours. We can't even take care of ourselves, while they can't even save themselves."
"For the sake of us guarding the Great Nebula Fortress together back then, Kuros, at least say something valuable."
Confirming her speculations through the other's words, combined with the situation of the Extreme Virus, Elma had already roughly guessed the current state of affairs, but she still tried to obtain more information: "I was once an Imperial Guard too. Perhaps I can help you somewhere."
Kuros was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking. A few seconds later, he spoke in a low voice: "It's all the fault of those Annihilation Order bastards."
"About a year or two ago — probably around the time His Majesty sent an avatar to clash with Mycroft Civilization — those Takur bastards, while researching psychic rituals, heaven knows what went wrong. They connected to an extremely ancient and vast world... The psychic energy in that world was extremely fine and subtle, quite different from the universal psychic energy used in our star river. This was a huge gain for those bastards."
"But they didn't discover that an extremely strange 'virus' was lurking in that ancient world."
"This virus is extremely strange, troublesome, with strong vitality, high infectivity. Except for being unable to move in the void, no environment can stop its spread. It can even move in vacuum, absorbing cosmic radiation microwaves to sustain life!"
When he said this, Kuros's tone was unclear whether it was schadenfreude or gnashing teeth. His mental fluctuations became very complex: "An entire Sanctuary World fell directly. Their core territory lost one-twelfth in an instant, causing tremendous chaos. The High Patriarch exhausted all efforts to suppress it, but some leakage was still inevitable. Our reconnaissance personnel discovered this and hurried back amidst the chaos, but unfortunately, they had already been infected with the virus, becoming hosts."
Kuros's mental fluctuations revealed undisguised hatred toward the Takur people. If not for the soul wound he suffered in the war seventy-four years ago, leaving almost incurable internal damage, he would have already become a General, gaining the right to follow Emperor Amos's movements.
"Enough, no need to say more. Things haven't gotten bad enough to throw the Royal Court into chaos. At least those Takur people are worse off than us. Elma, come assist me. Teleport this void settlement to the quarantine star domain. There's an entire thinking collective group there attempting to crack and reverse-translate it... If we fully master the technology of this virus, those Takur bastards will no longer be a threat."
Inside Elma, Kere Lei, who had been listening to the real-time broadcast, couldn't help but swallow. He finally understood what kind of consequences a spy at the top of a power structure could cause. Look at Elma — almost effortlessly, she had successfully obtained key information during the martial law period, and someone had even voluntarily told her confidential information... Truly terrifying!
But Elma didn't immediately respond to Kuros's invitation. She was silent for a moment, then asked somewhat hesitantly:
"Then what about the Great Emperor... His Majesty? Any movements?"
Kere Lei could see that the bottom ring of the inverted pyramid warship was spinning faster than before, its light turning crimson. But judging by the mental fluctuations, Kuros wasn't angry. He simply replied calmly: "His Majesty doesn't care. Alright, we can solve this problem ourselves. Come along."
Kere Lei, connected to Elma's mind, could feel that within this Amos person's heart, endless disappointment and anger were rising... Although Elma had previously said she wanted to rebel against the Great Emperor, wanted to leave the Amos Royal Court, when she actually encountered a crisis, she still couldn't help wanting to seek the truth for her civilization, hoping for the Great Emperor's intervention.
But the Great Emperor didn't care.
Or rather, he had never truly cared.
"...Haha, indeed."
Kere Lei could hear, from deep within Elma's heart, increasingly firm fluctuations: "The Great Emperor has never cared about these trivial matters... It has never understood that besides the perspective of the strong, there is also the life of the weak."
"So, I will resist, rebel against all of this."
Not long after, as the calmed Elma moved to join Kuros in heading toward the void settlement, preparing to assist this squad of Imperial Guards in teleporting this already infected void settlement...
Suddenly, an indescribable tremor appeared in both Kere Lei and Elma.
"This is!?"
"This feeling?!"
Kere Lei felt a sudden heat from the belt at his waist. This heat far surpassed flame burning, yet there was no pain. As he was shocked, this unusual heat surged straight to his heart, instantly giving birth to an abrupt determination within Kere Lei's heart.
He immediately understood. His greatest wish, his greatest desire, was to become a strong person — a strong person capable of determining his own destiny, capable of overturning the things he detested. Just like when he was young, at the Southern Border Black Forest, when he witnessed Joshua von Radcliffe overturn all things with a wave of his hand, the determination he had made back then... This heat, following the pulse of his heart, spread throughout his entire body, in an instant penetrating Kere Lei's whole being!
One could see that Kere Lei's entire body was now overflowing with a blue-purple radiance, with the blue component being larger. Elma's body, both inside and out, also emitted blue-purple radiance, though her purple light was more conspicuous.
Not just these two. Blood-red, gold, cyan-green, and blue-purple — roughly four different kinds of radiance began to spread outward from the two as origin points. One could see that among the Amos people closest to Kere Lei and Elma, the Imperial Guard Kuros, what overflowed from him was a striking 'blood-red'. Among the other seven Imperial Guards, scattered appearances were mostly blood-red, with an occasional gold visible.
This light began to spread throughout the entire star domain. Fourteen worlds, over a hundred void settlements were all illuminated. But the vast majority of light received no response. Only a few cyan-green lights lit up. The rest either had light too dim, or... didn't have a single trace of light at all.
One could see that among the over a hundred void settlements, a third already had no light at all. In the vast star domain, even a sense of desolation spread.
But no one cared about this anymore.
Because everyone was immersed in that impulse from the deepest part of their hearts, that most sincere and most indelible emotion.