As soon as the meeting ended, everyone sprang into action without wasting a single moment.
As the Seventh Epoch Civilization, there was no room for retreat!
Wesley sent people to Viltara Star to pick up Lin’s mother. Lin’s mother had insisted on going, and her reasoning was rock solid:
“Viltara Star is the stronghold of the Neptune Cult—there are definitely Awakened Ones from our Shentao Empire up there! One more Awakened One means one more ounce of strength.”
Lin Xiaohe didn’t let her surprise show and gave her mother the go-ahead.
When Melina learned of Kaelin Renault’s almost-last-words, she guessed that Kaelin must have entered the Dark Zone. “From the First Star Ring to the Fifth Star Ring, the Dark Zone is the only route. If she wants to break away from the main force, the Dark Zone is her only option. I suggest we send someone after her.”
Melina pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and said with absolute certainty, “As one of the four great families of the Federation, the Renault family definitely has secrets!”
If Kaelin Renault truly wanted to die, she could have done so in a thousand ways—but she chose the Dark Zone instead.
She was gambling that Lin Xiaohe would send someone to find her.
Lin Xiaohe: “Alright.”
Dong Yuxuan and his older brother took on the mission.
Lin Xiaohe instructed Melina: “Coordinate with Grandpa and Grandma to see if you can find any awakened Wu clan members. If there are Awakened Ones from other Epochs, keep them under watch for now—I’ll deal with them when I get back.”
“Understood!”
After handing out all the tasks, Lin Xiaohe finally went to Cold Star to find Xiao Hei.
On Cold Star, swarms of black beetles marked with red dots struggled to carry the remaining ore, hauling it toward the Great Tomb.
The base of the Great Tomb was sunk deep into the soil, as if it had fused with Cold Star itself.
It towered into the clouds, and with every breath it took, it spewed clouds of stardust and smoke.
Standing in space and looking down, Lin Xiaohe spotted the Great Tomb at once.
If Xiao Hei were given enough resources, it could definitely grow to be as big as Zhou!
“Ah? For now, I’m still no match for Zhou,” Xiao Hei said, clearly happy to see Lin Xiaohe, its wings fluttering.
Dou Dou popped out in a flash. The two—one a bug, one a plant—seemed like they hadn’t seen each other in ages, their vines and tendrils tangling tightly together.
Lin Xiaohe: “Can you contact Zhou? Using the insect race’s special methods.”
In the Fourth-Dimensional Holy Domain, the giant tomb on the Boundary River was nowhere to be seen.
Lin Xiaohe rubbed Xiao Hei’s smooth carapace, lost in thought.
Xiao Hei’s Great Tomb could physically pass through the fourth dimension—could Zhou do it too?
The Fourth-Dimensional Holy Domain was Lin Xiaohe’s greatest ace in the hole. She didn’t want to contact Zhou from there.
Xiao Hei and Lin Xiaohe had once been merged together. Though they were now separate, it was like a main computer and a terminal—they could still exchange information.
Xiao Hei knew what Lin Xiaohe was thinking: “I can do it. You want to do it, or should I?”
“You do it.” Lin Xiaohe still remembered how Zhou had used the Dead Hand System to try and kill her.
Lin Xiaohe added, “If Zhou finds out I’m still alive, just tell him you absorbed me—that I’m your clone, a new type of insectoid.”
Yanidam had devoured the entire Li Qing family—so why couldn’t the insect race do the same?
The circular platform beneath Xiao Hei rippled. A silent message, encoded in waves, shot across the galaxy in search of its own kind.
The process was brief—less than a minute—before a much larger ripple came surging back from the distance.
The two ripples collided and merged like water and milk, perfectly natural, without any conflict.
The wave struck the fleshy inner walls of the Great Tomb and was instantly decoded into human language.
Zhou’s voice echoed inside the tomb, like a loudspeaker with reverb effects turned all the way up.
“You’re awake. I am Zhou. Who are you?”
“I am Hei.”
“I can sense the presence of humans. Why is Lin Xiaohe inside your Great Tomb?”
Lin Xiaohe’s heart tightened.
Sure enough, in the insect race—a civilization built on rigid hierarchy and raw power—even if Xiao Hei was a Great Tomb, in the presence of the far stronger Zhou, it had no secrets at all.
Following Lin Xiaohe’s instructions, Xiao Hei replied, “I absorbed her, trying to create a new type of insectoid, but it didn’t work.”
“Oh?” Zhou’s tone was still hard and flat. “The Sovereign ordered us to kill her, yet you absorbed her. Are you trying to commit suicide?”
Lin Xiaohe’s pupils contracted—what?!
Who the hell was the Sovereign?! Did they have a grudge against her or something? Why would they want her dead?
Xiao Hei was a little panicked. Its advancement hadn’t been verified by the Sovereign, so it had no idea who the Sovereign was or what orders had ever been given.
Sensing Xiao Hei’s silence, Zhou’s tone carried a hint of confusion: “What’s wrong? Relax—I won’t stop you from killing yourself.”
Xiao Hei’s tendrils pressed flat against the ground—a gesture of submission from a lower-ranked insectoid to a higher one.
“That’s a minor issue. Zhou, I want to tell you—the apocalypse is coming. The universe will no longer restart. We have to find a way to survive.”
But Zhou’s response caught everyone off guard.
“Oh, that.” He sounded utterly unconcerned. “I’ve known for a long time. For us, it’s a good thing. Once this entire star sector shatters, the Sovereign won’t send any more Great Tombs here.”
Xiao Hei shot a quick glance at Lin Xiaohe. Zhou wasn’t following the script—what now?
Lin Xiaohe’s suspicion spiked. Was Zhou saying the Sovereign wasn’t in this star sector, and the apocalypse wouldn’t affect them at all?
Zhou probed further: “Why are you so worried about the apocalypse? Don’t you know what the Sovereign tasked us with?”
Xiao Hei: “When I entered this sector, I took heavy damage and lost a lot of data.”
That should be a safe answer, right? Would Zhou buy it?
“I see.” Zhou seemed to accept it, and even sounded almost warm. “Every extraterrestrial lifeform in this star sector already knows about the apocalypse.”
Xiao Hei: “Besides us, what other extraterrestrials are there?”
“They’re not important.”
The connection cut off.
Xiao Hei stared at Lin Xiaohe with pleading eyes. They hadn’t even gotten to the part about cooperation before Zhou hung up.
It seemed Zhou was genuinely looking forward to the great apocalypse.
Lin Xiaohe ran her hands through her hair in frustration.
Extraterrestrial lifeforms again?! Where are they hiding? Was Zhou talking about the Suixing envoys?
Ugh. What the hell is so special about this star sector? Why are there so many curveballs?
Xiao Hei’s tendrils gently brushed against Lin Xiaohe’s calf, its two little eyes fixed on her intently.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Lin Xiaohe gave a thumbs-up: “Xiao Hei, you did great just now—you didn’t slip up!”
The tendrils wiggled happily.
Lin Xiaohe: “Can you pinpoint Zhou’s location? If we go all out, can we beat it?”
If Zhou wouldn’t cooperate, fine.
She’d just have to defeat it herself, let Xiao Hei absorb Zhou, and make it the strongest insectoid in this sector—simple as that.
Xiao Hei: “According to my calculations, we’d lose 13,0013 times, and draw twice.”
“Great! That’s settled then—let’s go pick a fight with it when we have time! Wait for my signal!” Lin Xiaohe blinked out of Cold Star.
She needed to check on how the other factions were doing with their coordination. If the insect race was the only piece missing, she’d damn well make sure Zhou was brought to its knees!
Left behind inside the Great Tomb, Xiao Hei blinked in confusion. Did I misspeak just now? Or did I miscalculate?
It poured even more energy into a more detailed, more comprehensive simulation.
【130014 losses, 1 draw. 】
Uh…
That result… somehow seemed even worse.
