To be honest, the sight was enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
The Zerg—creatures that had practically run rampant across the star domain—were just casually swallowed up by that gaping void.
Outer space was supposed to be a vacuum, devoid of wind.
Yet somehow, every single human felt a cold sweat trickling down their backs.
Even the usually composed Fifth Star Ring military commander stammered, “Th-this is it? It’s over? Are the Zerg pulling some kind of trick? Maybe some super-advanced cloaking technology?”
It was just too hard to believe.
If the Zerg could be wiped out that quickly, that easily, then what was the point of all the devastating losses the Federation had suffered?
The commander stared blankly at the massive screen. The red dots that had once filled almost the entire display—dense and overwhelming—were all gone.
For a moment, he felt lost.
That was it? The war against the Zerg—it was just… over?
His hands trembled slightly. He reached his right hand into his pocket, fumbled around, and found nothing. Then, as if suddenly remembering, he patted the breast pocket of his uniform and finally pulled out an e-cigarette.
There was only one pod left—eggplant flavor. He didn’t like it, which was why it had lasted until now.
But his mind was in such chaos that he didn’t care about the flavor anymore. At this moment, right here and now, he desperately needed a smoke to steady his nerves.
Smoke curled upward, filling the air with a green, slightly sweet fragrance.
[Please be advised: smoking is prohibited in the main control cabin.]
[Please be advised: smoking is prohibited in the main control cabin.]
The spaceship’s alert system beeped with repeated warnings, but nobody paid it any mind.
The sheer shock of Lin Xiaohe’s casual spear strike had hit everyone too hard. Many people were still dazed.
Suddenly, the commander felt the e-cigarette vanish from his hand. He turned to his right and saw it now in the grasp of the former Sixth Star Ring military commander.
That big bald head gleamed brightly under the ship’s lighting. His face, for once, wore a look of bewilderment.
He pinched the e-cigarette between his fingers, brought it to his lips, and took a deep drag. “Cough, cough, cough.”
He broke into a violent coughing fit—so intense it made his eyes redden at the corners.
When the coughing finally subsided, he crouched down, covered his face with both hands, and choked out an explanation: “Haven’t smoked in a long time. Not used to it anymore.”
The Fifth Star Ring commander fell silent for a long while, giving his friend time to process his emotions. He watched as teardrops seeped through the cracks between those broad palms and dripped onto the deck.
After hesitating for what felt like an eternity, the Fifth Star Ring commander finally found the right words and offered a dry, awkward consolation: “Lin Xiaohe avenged your wife and your son.”
“Yeah.”
The commander scratched his head in frustration, at a loss for how to comfort him further.
This big bald brute—built like a tank—was secretly a hopeless romantic, utterly devoted to his wife and child.
For their sake, he’d given up a prime position in the First Star Ring and transferred all the way to the Sixth, starting from the very bottom as a grunt soldier. He’d climbed his way up through the ranks, eventually becoming a military commander.
Sure, his family’s influence had helped along the way, but his military achievements were earned through blood and sweat.
Unfortunately, his wife had been drained dry by a Black Armor Bug during a rescue mission.
His son’s space fleet had encountered a Void Devourer and launched a suicide assault in the end.
Of their family of three, only he remained.
“Damn bugs!” the Fifth Star Ring commander muttered under his breath.
But after cursing, he felt hollow.
Even without the Zerg, there would still be those so-called deities. There would still be that so-called apocalyptic crisis.
Why was it so hard for humans to just survive?
Sometimes he wondered—life was only a few decades long. Why worry about some doomsday catastrophe? Maybe he’d be dead before it even arrived!
He stared blankly at Lin Xiaohe on the big screen. Then, without warning, he raised his hand and slapped himself across the face.
“Lin Xiaohe went through all that suffering, and she never gave up on humanity. And you—a grown man—are being a whiny little brat! What a joke!”
The chief scientist beside him took the e-cigarette from the Sixth Star Ring commander, puffed on the last bit of smoke, and took a deep drag. “Sir, are you so happy you lost your mind? Why are you hitting yourself?”
The Fifth Star Ring commander shot him a sideways glance. “Didn’t you say smoking kills your brain cells?”
“Sigh. When I don’t smoke, I lose even more brain cells. Tell me—what’s the logic behind that?! How could one single hole just casually wipe out the Zerg like that? It makes no sense! Argh! You know what? My entire theoretical framework is teetering on the edge of collapse. My resolve is crumbling!”
The Fifth Star Ring commander quietly sidestepped away from the frantic scientist.
The chief scientist kept scribbling formulas frantically, shouting, “We are mayflies between heaven and earth. We’re the mayflies—Lin Xiaohe is heaven and earth! Sir, do you think if I went and asked Lin Xiaohe, she’d tell me?”
“If Lin Xiaohe knows, she’d probably tell you.”
Lin Xiaohe wasn’t a stingy person. The problem was, she might not even understand how it worked either.
Half an hour later, the shock finally wore off, and everyone snapped back to their senses.
Inside every single warship, deafening cheers erupted.
“Ahhh! The Zerg are dead! We’re not afraid of them anymore!”
Some soldiers dropped to their knees, sobbing toward the direction of the Sixth Star Ring. “Mom, Dad, Sis—you can finally rest in peace!”
Others went completely unhinged, using 3D printers to churn out palm-sized statues of Lin Xiaohe. They placed the little figurines beside their bunks and kowtowed to them with manic devotion.
“Insect God, I am Your most faithful follower. From now on, if You say east, I’ll never go west. If You say chase chickens, I’ll never chase dogs!”
“Insect God is mighty!”
“Insect God is mighty!”
The cheers gradually merged into one unified chant, so loud it felt like it might blow the roofs off the spaceships.
According to Federation military regulations, active-duty personnel were not allowed to follow religions below Class A.
But right now, neither the Fifth Star Ring commander nor the mid-level officers said a word about the soldiers worshipping Lin Xiaohe and treating her as their faith. They all just pretended not to see it.
In fact, many officers were secretly printing their own statues too.
The Sixth Star Ring commander finally pulled himself together, wiped the tears from his cheeks, and acted as if nothing had happened. “So, what’s your plan now? Still planning to follow Marshal Chu’s orders?”
The Fifth Star Ring commander’s eyelids twitched. He lowered his voice and said, “When a general is in the field, he isn’t bound by his sovereign’s commands. What about you?”
“I want to go back to the Sixth Star Ring and take a look. Lin Xiaohe should have a way to restore the Sixth Star Ring’s ecological environment, right?”
“She definitely will! She loves her home planet deeply.”
The Sixth Star Ring commander’s lips moved slightly as he whispered so only the two of them could hear, “Chu Huaizhi… when he specially recruited Lin Xiaohe, was it really just because of that bonus question?”
What a coincidence—a bonus question that only Lin Xiaohe could answer.
Wasn’t that a little too convenient?
“Who knows? You understand—Marshal Chu isn’t the same Marshal Chu anymore. On the Holy Gate front, his elite forces suffered heavy losses, but he didn’t send any reinforcements.”
The two exchanged a glance, understanding each other perfectly.
Just as everyone was basking in the joy and celebration, all human ships simultaneously received a warning from Lin Xiaohe:
[Evacuate—NOW!]
