The wheat rippled in waves. The Stardust Wheat, standing nearly two meters tall, was heavy with an abundant harvest.
The Stardust Humans gripped their sickles and labored in the fields.
In other areas, farming was fully mechanized—planting and harvesting done by machines. But this patch was different.
The seeds here all came from Party Leader Lin Xiaohe—from Xinbao, Fanfan, and Tiantian.
Sure, what grew from them were just ordinary wheat and ordinary peas, but the meaning behind them was anything but ordinary.
The Weasleys and the others firmly believed that only by working the land with their own hands could they truly express their respect for the Party Leader and the Star Grain Party.
Lin Xiaohe often brought her family along to join in the harvest.
Under this kind of repetitive physical labor, the Lin family’s conditions steadily improved, and the frequency of their episodes dropped significantly.
Surrounded by the familiar scent of wheat, Lin Xiaohe would often find herself drifting off, half-convinced she was still back on Blue Star.
“Little sister, what’s wrong?” Lin Jingqiu wiped the sweat from her brow and asked with concern.
Lin Xiaohe’s expression flickered. She looked up at the starry sky. “Second sister, don’t you feel like the stars have changed?”
Lin Jingqiu looked up in confusion, stared for a long while, and couldn’t spot any difference. “What’s changed?”
“I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Lin Xiaohe frowned. After finishing the day’s work, she returned to her room and entered her Fourth-Dimensional Sanctuary.
Because of the existence of the Little Black Giant Tomb, half of the white energy contributed by the leader of the Ear of Star Envoys had been absorbed. The remaining half was suppressed beneath the chessboard.
That white energy, which had once been so docile and obedient, was now roaring like a raging sea, struggling to break free from the chessboard’s confinement.
The Sanctuary’s rules flickered faintly, and the Little Black Giant Tomb stood like an island in the sea, holding down the boundary river.
Lin Xiaohe flashed inside the tomb. The river surged violently, but the tomb itself remained unmoved. Little Black lay sprawled on the circular platform, utterly bored.
“Little Black, what’s going on?”
The moment Little Black saw Lin Xiaohe, its tiny eyes lit up. Its red carapace gleamed with shifting, iridescent light.
“Xiaohe! I missed you so much. I don’t know what happened—they just started acting like this all of a sudden.”
Lin Xiaohe patted Little Black’s head and chatted with it for a while, but soon received an invitation from the Elder of the Sonic Whales.
The Whale Sea seemed to have grown even vaster than before, yet its once brilliant blue had dulled.
The Elder of the Sonic Whales had agreed to form a partnership contract with the Stardust Humans.
Lin Xiaohe was taken aback. “What made you change your mind?”
The Elder was famously protective of its young.
On this trip back to Kyushu Star, Lin Xiaohe had brought the Elder all sorts of delicacies—stir-fried crabs and the like. The Elder had happily eaten every bite, but when it came to signing the contract, it hadn’t budged an inch.
Lin Xiaohe had figured the whole idea was dead in the water—but now, out of nowhere, the road had taken an unexpected turn.
The Elder of the Sonic Whales didn’t like humans. Its spiritual form never took on a human shape either.
The colossal Elder floated in the air, its tail fin slapping up and down, stirring a small tornado across the Whale Sea.
Lin Xiaohe quietly moved a little farther away from the whirlwind. Her instincts told her the Elder was in a foul mood.
The Elder’s deep, rumbling voice boomed like thunderclaps right next to her ears.
“The gods are descending. The universe is about to enter a new era. Only by watching out for one another can we hope to find a sliver of survival before the annihilation comes.”
That was a lot to unpack, and Lin Xiaohe didn’t quite process it all at once.
What gods? What new era?
Was the Great Annihilation the same thing as the Eternal Night the Zerg spoke of?
The Elder seemed to guess her confusion. It couldn’t be bothered to explain and simply took a deep breath, then blew out a great curtain of translucent seawater.
Scenes began to play across that watery screen.
They were all strikingly similar—each one showed a planet in the process of transforming into a living being.
“So far, two gods have descended—the Federation’s god Anidam, and the Empire’s god Jörmungandr. But in other, unknown star regions, divine temples are also stirring restlessly.”
Lin Xiaohe stared at Anidam for a long time, then spoke in a strange tone. “Is this a god or an evil god?”
The three faces at the core of Anidam—weren’t they none other than the Li Qing family?!
What kind of god would lay a hand on innocent people?
The Elder slapped the water curtain down, sending up a spray of foam. “In any case, they call themselves gods. Our Sonic Whale clan has long passed down a myth: when the gods descend, the universe will welcome the Great Annihilation, and everything will return to its primal state.”
Lin Xiaohe rubbed her brow. “Could you explain that a little more clearly?”
Every race had myths like that!
The Federation, for example, had its own legend: when humanity angers the gods, they will descend to punish the world and cast everything back into chaos.
The Elder was silent for a moment, then said grimly, “All I know is that we’re running out of time. Once the gods descend, divine warfare will begin. Unless we can find a safe haven to escape the Great Annihilation, we’ll all be dragged into that war.”
That idyllic life—plucking chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge, gazing lazily at the southern mountains—was never going to exist.
Lin Xiaohe: “What about Evergreen? He knows a lot. We could go ask him.”
“I haven’t seen him in a long time.”
Fair enough.
Lin Xiaohe decided to establish partnership contracts with the Sonic Whales first.
The contract was simple. She pulled out the Sacred Codex, wrote “Sonic Whales” under the partner section, and the pact was sealed.
The Elder of the Sonic Whales was deeply envious. Being the core of the Sanctuary sure came with perks!
If they had to sign contracts with other Stardust races on their own, they’d need to prepare elaborate rituals and pray for the Sanctuary’s will to grant permission before it could succeed.
Once the contract was complete, members of both races felt a resonance—they could now go and choose their ideal partners.
The matter of the descending gods had placed immense psychological pressure on the Sonic Whale Elder. It was agitated, helpless, and had no idea how to survive this coming catastrophe.
Lin Xiaohe patiently reassured it. “Don’t panic. When you’re stumbling around in the dark, any move you make could be the wrong one. Let’s be patient. Wait until all the gods have fully descended—then we’ll see whether they’re light or dark.”
Who were they? Where did they come from? What did they want?
If we don’t know anything, how can we possibly respond?
Lin Xiaohe withdrew from the Whale Sea and gathered the Weasleys and others for a secret meeting.
The news of the gods’ descent was like a blade suddenly hanging over their heads—no one knew when it would fall.
Melina suggested, “If the Sonic Whale Elder is this alarmed, it’s definitely no small matter. What we can do right now is take advantage of the Dark Domain’s time-flow properties to boost our own capabilities.”
Lin Xiaohe nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Stockpile grain, build high walls!”
To prepare for the crisis, everyone agreed that while hoarding supplies, they needed to establish a defense line around the Kyushu Star system—ideally a 360-degree, no-blind-spot protection!
Lin Xiaohe was, without question, the main force behind building that defense line.
The Sonic Whales helped push over many small meteorites, creating an artificial ring of asteroids around the Kyushu Star system.
That would be the first line of defense, covered with little tomatoes and chili peppers.
But the one everyone pinned their highest hopes on was the Sixth Star Ring!
Starting from the planets closest to the Dark Domain, they would construct a Zerg defense wall for the Star Grain Party!
Lin Xiaohe arrived at the Cold Star, which used to belong to the black market. This planet was the nearest to the Dark Domain—and it was the spot she’d chosen to place the Little Black Giant Tomb!
When the Little Black Giant Tomb emerged from the Sanctuary and materialized, Xiao Shi felt a surge of excitement, rubbing its hands together in eager anticipation.
Their Zerg race was about to expand once again!
