Lin Xiaohe wasn’t afraid of death.
In this godforsaken universe, death wasn’t necessarily the end.
But what Lin Xiaohe couldn’t stand the most was being looked down upon, despised, and bullied by others!
Not only were they bullying her, but they also dared to bully her underlings like this.
Of the four major forces across the entire star domain, the Aura people had come straight for her. It was as if they were saying, “Lin Xiaohe has plenty of meat and weak combat power — let’s eat her first.”
Did she, Lin Xiaohe, have no dignity to speak of?!
The flames of fury were burning — did you see that?!
“Go on, what do you want in exchange?”
Chang Qing’s eyes lit up. “I want the [Source Body] and a quarter of the Godhood.”
Lin Xiaohe kept a straight face. “I’ve got poop. You want some? Do you even hear yourself? How am I supposed to give you the [Source Body] — kill myself? And what Godhood? Where am I supposed to find one for you?”
She’d already killed off the God Venerable of the cultivation world. Where was she supposed to find another God Venerable for him?
Chang Qing got an earful of scolding, yet he wasn’t angry at all.
What he feared wasn’t Lin Xiaohe cursing him out — it was her staying silent.
“I naturally have a way to extract the [Source Body] without harming you. As for the Godhood…” His gaze darkened. “All you need to do is hand Kailin Reynolds over to…”
Before he could finish, his expression turned extremely ugly, and he could no longer maintain his composure. “How could a quarter of the Godhood be on you?!”
How was that possible?!
Wasn’t the Godhood supposed to be reserved for the destined one?
Lin Xiaohe had already given up her identity as a candidate for the destined one. So why would the Godhood still acknowledge her?!
Had he known this would happen, he shouldn’t have bothered with any deal — he should have just snatched Kailin Reynolds away directly.
Chang Qing stared coldly at Lin Xiaohe, his gaze deep and sinister, as if a storm was brewing beneath the surface — a sight that made one’s blood run cold.
Just wait eight more minutes. Lin Xiaohe would be killed by the system. The quarter of the Godhood on her would become an ownerless thing.
Lin Xiaohe met Chang Qing’s cold, dark gaze, and her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach.
They, at long last, could no longer be friends.
…
The Jiuzhou Star government issued a red alert, requiring all citizens to immediately move into shelters.
The members of the [Classic of Mountains and Seas] publishing society clutched their unfinished rubbings and squeezed into the same flying car.
“The world’s getting more and more chaotic. Will I even be able to die peacefully of old age?”
“Hahaha, with the Venerable around, unless you kill yourself, you’ll have a hard time dying.”
“That optimistic, huh? The current situation isn’t great. A lot of Stardust humans have fallen into comas. My mentor was urgently transferred to the Life Safety Center to join the rescue effort.”
“Uh… Could the Venerable be short on people? Should we try to become Stardust humans?” A girl with long black hair said hesitantly.
Some ordinary humans on Jiuzhou Star had chosen to remain ordinary themselves, wanting to live plain, stable lives.
Others simply didn’t have the aptitude and didn’t meet the conditions to become Stardust humans.
In the beginning, to become a Stardust human, the most important thing was faith in the Venerable. Back then, the success rate was still relatively high — around 30 to 50 percent.
Later, the Stardust humans evolved twice in a row and formed partner contracts with the Giant Sound Whales. For ordinary people wanting to evolve into Stardust humans, the conditions became far more demanding.
Besides faith in the Venerable, there were also requirements for mental energy and physique. Even for a double-S ordinary person, the evolution success rate was less than 10 percent.
As many Awakened ones of cultivation civilizations had said, the relationship between Stardust humans and ordinary humans was transforming into the relationship between mortals and immortals.
As the Stardust humans underwent more evolutions, the chasm for ordinary people wanting to become Stardust humans grew wider and wider — eventually becoming like an impassable gulf.
“Don’t even think about it. Your aptitude isn’t enough.” A companion rejected the girl’s suggestion. “Everyone has their own mission. What we can do is record the history of Jiuzhou Star.”
The girl looked out the window dejectedly. “Alright. Wait, stop! There’s a Stardust human patrol member unconscious on the roadside!”
Screech!
The flying car slammed on the brakes, stopping dead in the middle of the road and nearly causing a chain-reaction pileup.
The driver behind them opened his window, about to curse up a storm, when he saw these death-defying idiots rush out of the car in a panic and run to the roadside.
Huh?
An entire Stardust human patrol team had all collapsed unconscious!
He didn’t bother with anything else. While calling the Life Safety Center’s rescue line, he got out of the car to see what he could do.
Seeing this, quite a few people got out of the vehicles behind him as well.
They gathered around the patrol members, doing simple physical checks.
“No abnormalities detected.”
“Same as before — unexplained coma. No choice, they’ll have to be sent to the Life Safety Center.”
“I’ve already called the Safety Center’s rescue line. They’re on their way.”
The chatter gradually fell silent. Whether they were the ones outside or the ones who’d stayed in the cars, everyone stepped out, looked up at the sky, and widened their eyes.
Soon, more and more people noticed something was wrong. Like ducks caught in the rain, they stood there dumbly, heads tilted up toward the sky.
A rotating, crystalline, glimmering polyhedral structure blocked out the golden light of the Fuyao Star, casting a translucent, cold white radiance — like a deity.
An enormous pillar of light extended from beneath it down to the ground, moving as it moved.
Wherever the pillar of light passed, dust flew up, sand and stones were swept away — an awe-inspiring sight.
“This is bad — it’s an enemy attack! Get to the nearest shelter, quick!”
The older generation of ordinary humans had experience dealing with sudden disasters. Those who could run to shelters ran to shelters; those who couldn’t grabbed a box of nutrient solution and hid in their own basements.
As for the second and third generations of ordinary humans, their reactions were much slower. The environment they’d grown up in was too peaceful. Even though they’d gone through several crisis drills, when a real crisis descended, every one of them was like a clueless deer — completely lacking any experience in handling a crisis.
The crowd guarding the unconscious patrol members was so nervous their legs were shaking, yet not a single person left on their own initiative.
The long-haired girl bit her lip and urged, “You all should hide, quick. I’ll stay here and watch over them.”
“How can we do that? You’re a girl. You go. I’ll stay.”
From within the pillar of light, beams of radiance descended from the sky.
One after another, scimitar-shaped spaceships streaked howling over the city.
Ordinary people’s eyes stung sharply from the glare, barely able to open, tears streaming uncontrollably.
When they opened their eyes again, the city that once stood there had been reduced to flat ground, and the farmland that was about to be harvested had turned to scorched earth.
The residents who had lived in the city were directly vaporized, leaving not a trace behind.
On the Pangu Continent of Jiuzhou Star, one dazzling pillar of light after another lit up.
These pillars of light were still moving toward the ocean — soon they would set the entire planet ablaze.
Ordinary humans watched all of this in despair, bewilderment mixed with their fear.
Where was the Venerable? Where were the Stardust humans? Where had they gone?
Rumble!
The Jiuzhou Star’s spaceport was like a lit firework, its debris and fragments streaking across the Jiuzhou Star’s atmosphere like meteors.
The great bombing on the ground continued from day into night. The brightness illuminated the entire planet, making what should have been night as bright as day.
