Under the scorching sun, the Twin Star Tower of Dawn City shone brilliantly. The vast steel metropolis stood like a mechanical heart at the center of the Yunjiang Plain. This was the capital of the Dragon Kingdom, the inland hub, the crown of civilization, and the last watchtower for millions in the Asia-Pacific region under the Apocalypse Day.

The towering hundred-meter city walls stood like the spine of a giant, their surfaces covered with bullet holes and claw marks. Last night's bloody battle had carved new scars into the metal. Soldiers maneuvering mechs and drones were clearing away the corpses of abnormal entities near the walls, while collecting blood crystals.

The Iron Guard Brigade soldiers stepped through the blood-soaked mud, silently searching for survivors. A mech kicked open the skull of a monster, revealing the face of a young girl underneath. Her eyes were still open, and she clutched a crumpled city entry permit. Although after the dissolution of the Federation Council, that permit was already useless.

"Damn it!" a soldier cursed angrily as he crushed the abnormal entity’s skull underfoot while piloting his mech.

Since the construction of Wall No.1 and Wall No.2, Dawn City had never faced such a massive assault. The Federation Council’s disbandment triggered panic and chaos, with the outer city flooded by disorder and darkness arriving prematurely.

The Polar Night attacks from the Star Abysses No.5, No.7, and No.8 caught millions of survivors off guard. The Night Patrol and City Defense units scattered in disarray. The 130,000 garrison troops fought all night, finally holding the line with the tall walls and ample firepower.

A low whistle sounded~

Lin Xian landed on the deck of the Skybreaker Ship in a flying vehicle. Led by guards, he arrived at Ye Lan’s office. The transparent window above provided an almost panoramic view of the entire Dawn City.

He glanced at the wounds outside Wall No.1 and the lingering thick smoke. Beneath his calm expression, subtle waves stirred.

At this moment, Lin Xian’s attention was drawn to a small green potted plant on the desk. Tiny, bright red cherry tomatoes grew on it. He reached out to pick one, wiped it on his clothes, and popped it into his mouth. Sweet and tangy, juicy and refreshing—it looked very tempting.

“They call these cherry tomatoes. They self-pollinate and are among the few varieties found to grow and bloom in soil invaded by darkness.”

A voice spoke. Lin Xian turned toward it and saw Ye Lan retrieving a book from a high shelf by the bookcase. He hadn’t even noticed her enter.

“Tasty?”

Ye Lan held the book and calmly looked at Lin Xian.

“You look much younger than in the files.”

It was her first time meeting this young man. Her gaze was sharp, his posture upright, and his walk carried a cautious air.

“Not bad,” Lin Xian said awkwardly. He had thought he was alone and got caught sneaking a snack… Seeing Ye Lan’s calm expression, he realized she didn’t mind. His gaze swept the office, which was quite simple—mostly books, a desk, and a basic single bed.

Ye Lan came over and placed the book on the desk. Lin Xian glanced at it;

it was a copy of *The Stars Shine Over Humanity*.

“The Phoenix Society has already reorganized the Federation cabinet officials. Some senior officials who colluded with Zhou Mingyuan to persecute survivors have been arrested for crimes against humanity. According to preliminary statistics from the Nightwalker Organization, last night’s attack resulted in over thirty thousand casualties, most of whom were ordinary people caught outside the city and swallowed by darkness.”

“Because of the dark marks?” Lin Xian frowned. “The outer city of Dawn City has held out for so long. How could it suddenly suffer such a large-scale assault?”

“That’s exactly what we want to know.”

Ye Lan sighed: “Star Abyss No.5, Corrosion Cells, the mycelium consciousness network—we have been fighting the darkness in a silent and passive state. If we regard the darkness as a civilization invading, then the war between humanity and the dark civilization has already begun. This is the first time we face such an enemy. Only with equal information can we hope to seize the initiative.”

She looked at Lin Xian: “Chu Zhaonan understands this as well. That’s why, while fighting a desperate battle, he chose to open the city gates to allow people from the outer city to seek refuge inside.”

“Last night, the Crimson World deployed a retreat operation led by Red Human Ghosts and infiltrators. A small number of vehicles were destroyed, allowing a few people to evacuate—exactly what Crimson World wanted to happen.”

Blue Star looked at the tiny Dawn City below and said, “Professor Ye, with so few people, can they evacuate in time?”

“If they want a one-time evacuation, fewer batches must be dispatched to race against time,” Ye Lan said. “The garrison troops and Iron Guard Brigade will continue to defend Dawn City until everyone is evacuated.”

Blue Star’s fist clenched slightly at her words. The situation reminded him of the starport incident.

“If necessary, your convoy can’t help with the retreat.”

Ye Lan looked at Blue Star. “You invited him because you want to talk about the Crescent Moon Initiative.”

Blue Star frowned. “The Crescent Moon Initiative isn’t doing much better. Robin Forbes at the Colossal God Peak Launch Site is dead. I might know some information, but obviously, he hopes you get it.”

“Have you ever wondered why he doesn’t want us to get it?”

“Because he’s a pervert, a scumbag,” Lin Xian said coldly with a smile.

Ye Lan said nothing.

“Using humans as test subjects, creating some new world civilization, burning vehicles, and leaving these people to die here—perverts don’t need reasons,” Lin Xian couldn’t hold back his emotions and sat on the sofa. “Maybe they didn’t get any information at all and are just testing us. Putting hope in that judgment might be meaningless!”

“From last night’s abnormal attack, breaking the Sky Veil Barrier and linking with the darkness must have affected the Star Abysses,” Ye Lan said calmly.

“Then why me!” Lin Xian suddenly shouted. “Such an important mission, involving human civilization’s survival, humanity’s last chance—what does it have to do with me, just because I’m a mechanical ability user?!”

Ye Lan calmly watched Lin Xian vent his anger. Images of the young faces from the Crescent Moon Initiative appeared before him again, and he saw Chu Yan’s gaze before her death. His heart grew unbearably heavy.

The office was very quiet, filled with a faint, pleasant scent of books. Lin Xian took a deep breath, his restless emotions gradually calming.

“Of course they don’t want us to get it. They want to experiment and hope humanity dies quickly so their so-called ‘new civilization’ can live freely.”

Ye Lan observed Lin Xian’s expression and said, “We cannot treat the enemy as madmen, nor can we regard the darkness as a mere disaster.”

Lin Xian chewed on her words, tightening his gaze.

“Either Julius knows nothing, or he needs to protect this information, protect their ‘god’?”

Lin Xian exhaled heavily. “Alright, I know the Crescent Moon Initiative’s direction is right, but now, since things have turned out like this, what else can we do?”

He looked out the window at the sky, wryly smiling. “I don’t know if we should be happy or despair over the Vanguard Initiative’s success. I feel abandoned. I just never understood why she told me not to give up on her in the end.”

“Whether to give up depends on our own perspective,” Ye Lan said, pressing a control button on the desk.

At that moment, an automatic door beside the office slid open, releasing a chill as a cryogenic pod slowly floated out.

Lin Xian’s eyes sharpened. The pod contained Chu Yan.

Though no longer showing signs of life, her bloodstains had been cleaned, and she lay quietly inside as if asleep.

“As a psychic ability user, Chu Yan achieved extraordinary results in countless battles against the Crimson World,” Ye Lan said while looking at Chu Yan inside the pod. “Before this operation, she spoke to me about the consciousness link formed with you. She said it made her anxious and fearful, whether as an operative or as a woman, it was difficult for her to face calmly.”

“When we discussed the Crescent Moon Initiative, she also raised doubts about the true target and whether the information held value. But the recent Star Abyss anomalies prove that consciousness linking to the darkness has an impact, so we must fight for this information, which might be crucial for human civilization’s survival.”

Lin Xian shrugged helplessly. “But what can we do?”

“Do you know,” Ye Lan looked at him seriously, “that Chu Yan cannot invade two people’s consciousness simultaneously?”

Lin Xian’s expression darkened, confused.

“What do you mean? She only invaded the real Julius?”

“I believe Chu Yan. Her judgments are always clear. So I want to know what you communicated before she died, what you saw, and why she made that choice,” Ye Lan said.

Lin Xian shook his head, his expression grave as he recalled.

“We determined the real Julius must be among them because to control Dawn City’s Galaxy Heart, he uploaded Crimson No.3 to the intranet, waiting for the Gray Mist Envoy’s launch port to open, to take over the city’s central network. The Colossal God Peak Launch Site’s root server requires his authentication. Chu Yan judged Julius wanted to protect dark information, so using this, we found the real one, completed iris recognition, captured Crimson No.3, and retook control of the Galaxy Heart.”

“So Chu Yan’s choice was random?” Ye Lan suddenly asked, puzzling Lin Xian.

“No, the spiritual wave fluctuations between the two Juliuses were similar. Chu Yan believed the other might have undergone some training or…”

Lin Xian opened his mouth but suddenly changed expression, recalling Chu Yan’s words.

“I can detect spiritual wave differences between individuals. Clone bodies differ due to time and training, but these two seemed trained the same, or neither was the real Julius.”

Lin Xian grew puzzled.

“If neither is the real Julius, then her choice was truly random.”

“No,” Lin Xian contradicted himself, pinching his brow. “I forgot one thing: she said if the target was awake, thought theft couldn’t be done.”

“But that doesn’t work…” The more Lin Xian thought, the stranger it seemed. “Both Juliuses were…”

Thought theft was very dangerous. Even if the target was caught, it had to be done while they were unconscious. A conscious person’s spiritual power was strong, especially as humans’ spiritual power grew. So all Chu Yan could do was cause headaches. Only in dreams was her domain.

Lin Xian’s expression grew serious. If Chu Yan couldn’t steal thoughts from the awake, then the spiritual attacks she used on the two Juliuses were merely attacks to expose flaws so Lin Xian could identify the one who could undergo iris recognition by death.

But the contradiction was: if Chu Yan didn’t do thought theft, how did she die after the target was killed?

“That doesn’t add up!”

Lin Xian stared urgently at Chu Yan inside the cryo pod, speaking to himself, “Why, why did you die?!”

“You might have missed something,” Ye Lan said calmly, looking at Lin Xian.

“Impossible! I saw her die with my own eyes!”

Lin Xian paced back and forth, his eyes never leaving Chu Yan. Her words echoed in his ears.

“The Crescent Moon Initiative’s main goal is to get information, and I am the main operational direction.”

“Listen, I will control Julius shortly. You must immediately scan his iris.”

Even if his brain died, brain cells wouldn’t lose activity immediately. The micro-electrical signals of neurons would completely cease, and all “thought,” “memory,” “judgment,” and “sensory perception” could persist for minutes...

This is... the only... choice... don’t... give up on me...!

Chu Yan’s last cry echoed like a thunderclap in Lin Xian’s ears. His lips were dry as he stood still.

“What did I miss?”

“What did I miss?!!!”

Lin Xian stopped.

Bang!

In an instant, his pupils contracted sharply. The office scene stretched like a black hole tearing light apart. All memories replayed, rewinding to the Vanguard Initiative’s launch before dawn, to Dawn City’s weapon offline, citywide panic, to Chu Yan’s bloody blossom face before death, to the white hall where hundreds of Julius clones floated. Time reversed further to the thunderous explosion at Jinhai!

Ding Junyi told me: “Humans can’t separate dark energy from thermal dark particles yet. Essentially, it’s not a lower purity thermal dark reagent humans can absorb. Mochizuki Shinji’s calculations show 18% is the physiological conversion limit, which is also the critical point for ability user degeneration. So materials can’t isolate or store that energy.”

Mochizuki Shinji told me: “Judging by these colonization suppressors and restraint devices, Crimson World tailored them for it. But the monster wasn’t originally dead. He wondered why we put those devices inside.”

Lin Xian told me: “So the S-levels you saw are gods to Crimson World. They must connect with such gods to probe a completely unknown life form and civilization. We might let special people or test subjects regress.”

KIKI told me: “You get it. Like Red Human Ghosts, we communicate with S-levels to exchange information, but we also want to become S-level lifeforms ourselves.”

His memories rewound to ascending with KIKI, looking at the giant colonized corpse beneath Jinhai. That armor had no power output, only colonization suppressors, restraint devices, and...

A mycelium brain-machine device!

“I know what I missed now,” Lin Xian said, losing his calm.

“The barrier-breaking device, as the Vanguard Initiative’s No.1 launcher, aims to revive or reconnect the S-level action brain. Their prior test only connected half the action brain. Julius said 145 clones died just in that attempt. I’ve wondered why Crimson World, though competing for the Galaxy Heart or dark information, or kidnapping the city and destroying vehicles, never threatened to destroy the Vanguard Initiative. And why Chu Zhaonan was so sure Julius would let the Gray Mist Envoy launch smoothly.”

“Because... Julius himself is inside the Gray Mist Envoy!”

Lin Xian swallowed hard, eyes falling on Chu Yan. He sighed softly.

“Your only choice was that after launch started, you detected the spiritual wave of the ascending Julius, so you actually invaded the Gray Mist Envoy!”

Exhale...

Lin Xian took a long breath and sat back on the sofa in disbelief.

Half a connected action brain killed 145 people instantly. Now he finally understood how mighty Chu Yan died in that instant. Before helping him attack Julius, she already accepted her possible fate—not killed by the red light man, but consumed by the gray mist.

Thinking this, he looked at Ye Lan with a complex expression. “You had already anticipated this?”

Ye Lan said: “Chu Yan told me if the mission failed and she couldn’t get info from Julius, she would invade the S-level action brain as a backup plan. She feared death less than how to transmit the information obtained.”

“So she chose me,” Lin Xian said.

Ye Lan looked at him: “She said you only link consciousness when you’re near death. That might be a common trait.”

Lin Xian stood and walked to the window, looking up at the blue sky, bitterly smiling. “Only one way to verify that.”

Then he turned with resolve. “There’s an unfinished small starship at the starport. I’m borrowing one!”

Ye Lan didn’t stop him.

Soon, he went to the starport and found an incomplete Manta-class starship under construction. It was a 40,000-ton vessel, but only the main framework was done. Lin Xian raised his hand and activated the Black Star Forge. The furious mechanical spatial gate opened wide, slowly swallowing the starship.

Lin Xian clenched his teeth. Drained of energy, he watched the Black Star Forge’s vast space. His breathing grew heavy. He didn’t consider if he could complete the transfer or whether it would succeed.

His heart was taut with urgency. He had to see if that woman was still alive!

Empty! Empty! Empty!

The hydraulic column in the berth area whined as a massive starship was directly transferred into the Black Star Forge by Lin Xian. After the mechanical gate closed, Lin Xian was drenched in cold sweat. Darkness enveloped his vision as he slowly collapsed.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The hollow sound roared inside his skull like being in an endless, vast, hollow cosmic abyss.

Lin Xian tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. He only felt a dull earthquake deep inside his head, a tremendous sense of separation.

After adapting for a while, he finally sensed his existence and opened his eyes.

His pupils instantly shrank!

He was standing on the head restraint armor of the Gray Mist Envoy. This hundreds-of-meters-tall S-level flesh colony was covered in a thin layer of frost, fiercely floating in the pitch-black space.

The sun’s golden rays burned his eyes. He raised his hand to shield them but saw a figure drifting past, surrounded by countless fragments.

Lin Xian’s expression changed sharply. The figure was a young man wearing a starship uniform, already dead. More and more dead crew appeared before him. Around the Gray Mist Envoy floated countless starship fragments.

Looking ahead, four 300,000-ton starship wrecks lay scattered in low Earth orbit like toys crushed by gods.

The Star Shepherd’s bridge was split in two, its exposed keel like ripped fishbones gleaming coldly. The Ark’s fusion reactor was completely pierced through. Melted armor solidified into a black tumor resembling a charred heart. The Constellation’s engine array was fully dismantled, tens of thousands of thrusters silently drifting...

Countless compartments, corpses, and broken structures floated like a grim aftermath of an interstellar battle. The atmosphere’s edge glowed blood red from burning debris falling through orbit.

Lin Xian turned his body and froze.

People.

Over ten thousand corpses floated in the vacuum like a strange deep snow. Many died inside cryo pods. The youngest was a red-haired girl no older than eighteen. Her braid was loose, hair flowing like jellyfish tentacles. These were elites chosen for the Vanguard Initiative, seeds of human civilization—young, vibrant, vanguard leaders, and martyrs of exploration.

It was unimaginable what had happened here just hours ago. Further away, Lin Xian saw a fully disintegrated supermassive starship—the Civilization Vanguard. Its starboard engine section was completely severed, and the supply thruster module was missing. The huge bow still pointed proudly toward the distant star orbit, enveloped in deathly silence.

Lin Xian looked back. Blue Star floated below—the massive planetary home dazzlingly blue under sunlight. Storm clouds swirled over the Pacific. The continent’s outline remained clear, and he could even recognize former city clusters. But on the Asia-Pacific continental shelf, several “scars” like black holes loomed.

The closest was Star Abyss No.5, a black tumor growing on the planet. The dark canopy expanded wildly, swallowing even atmospheric clouds!

It was Lin Xian’s first full view of a Star Abyss. The terrifying scene made his teeth chatter. Meanwhile, from the direction of the dark heavens, pitch black and hollow, a kind of mournful gaze emerged from the darkness as if completely encircling Blue Star—cold, empty, like an abyss!

“Lin Xian!”

Suddenly, a voice called out. He definitely heard it—it was Chu Yan’s voice!

Turning, he saw a woman’s silhouette standing quietly on the Gray Mist Envoy’s restraint device.

“Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian with unmistakable excitement, though her consciousness appeared unstable—pale, flickering, as if about to vanish.

“It was actually Professor Ye…”

Lin Xian smiled wryly to himself. I even packed you into a pouch to bring along.

Chu Yan shook her head. “Listen to me. Julius’s core consciousness has been uploaded into the Gray Mist action brain via the mycelium. Although it’s linked to him, it must be assisted by the Crimson No.3 host for control. This host, like your Grace, is called ‘Viola.’ Now, using psychic power, I have directly seized control and stolen all his most classified information about linking with darkness and even the Crimson World organization.”

“But the cost?”

“Not important!” Chu Yan told Lin Xian. “What I’m about to say, you must listen carefully, remember everything, and tell Professor Ye and General Xu!”

“Okay, I’m listening,” Lin Xian said seriously.

“The Crimson World, through mycelium linking the S-level brain, obtained not information, but a signal. This signal is extremely complex. Analyzing it with ‘Viola’ and Crimson World’s human experiment data, it appears this signal might be an emotion!”

“Emotion?”

“Yes! Emotions from the Star Abysses, or rather wills. There are two in total: the first is fear, the seventh is doubt!”

“Fear of what?” Robin asked.

“Whether there is a subject, that fear comes from human experiments. To Crimson World, they think the white darkness invasion is a type of fear force. This explains how humans mutate before mental collapse. But the problem is, we can’t determine whether the fear is humans fearing the white darkness or vice versa.”

Blue Star frowned. “The white darkness fears humans?”

“It must be understood subjectively.” Robin’s gaze shifted to the tiny Star Abyss under Julius. “From the Star Abyss’s internal perspective, civilizations must explain things. Humans are something the white darkness can understand and recognize. They don’t understand you, and you don’t know how they exist or were born. It’s a mutually communicable and verifiable relationship.”

Lin Xian looked at Blue Star. “Does he know the Rosetta Stone?”

“Yes.”

“Two completely different civilizations with no translation usually have two communication methods. The first uses pictographs—that works between you and the white darkness. The seventh is behavioral logic chains! You discovered the white darkness marks through that, though it’s vague.”

Lin Xian nodded.

Chu Yan continued: “If there’s only one signal, it lacks reference value because it’s unclear if it comes from human experiments or the darkness. It can’t form a logical coordinate system. But the crucial one is the second signal!”

“Doubt,” Lin Xian said.

“Yes!”

“The Crimson World realized this and confirmed the signal’s subject comes from dark life or the Star Abysses. If we apply this signal to the Gray Mist and current anomalies at Star Abysses No.5, No.7, and No.8, this behavior likely means the Star Abysses discovered Dawn City through consciousness linking. And this discovery is more than just a dark coordinate!”

Lin Xian frowned. “So last night’s Black Tide attack was probably not just because of those carrying marks.”

“Yes! If it were just marks, Dawn City’s firepower could have cleared them in advance. But the dark uprisings of three Star Abysses attacked all night!” Chu Yan’s voice was stern. “This means the Star Abysses are doubting and probing!”

Lin Xian felt his scalp tingle. “So the Star Abysses’ expansion speed is actually…”

“Unrestricted,” Chu Yan said seriously. “There is no one year, no four months. Once they find the coordinate point, they only need one night to cover the entire Blue Star!”

Lin Xian’s eyes widened. “No wonder Star Abyss No.5 changed. Star Abysses worldwide are accelerating. Is this some kind of coordination?”

“Have you ever experienced a blackout?” Chu Yan continued. “When a room is pitch dark, if you’re unfamiliar, you can only feel your way with hands and feet, which is slow. But if you turn on the light or know the place, you move quickly!”

“So monsters use dark marks to locate humans. No wonder after last night’s Black Tide attack, all three Star Abysses saw large numbers of S-levels and Corpse Drivers.” Lin Xian looked helpless. “It’s over. We thought we had time to evacuate the city, but tonight we might face annihilation by Corpse Drivers and S-levels…”

“Julius knew this, which is why he made all Dawn City a test site on Apocalypse Day. They want to quickly research true evolution mechanisms. Transforming themselves into abnormal entities and human ghosts is the second choice. Another key point is that Crimson World’s original purpose wasn’t this.”

Chu Yan told Lin Xian: “Crimson World’s initial goal was digital life and mechanical ascension. But later it went out of control, developing toward abilities, colonization, chosen ones, and angels. It was originally established by the SIID Foundation, an extension of the once largest global Lofy Consortium controlling much of the Federation’s economy. You may have heard of them.”

Lin Xian was stunned. “I not only heard of them... I’ve had contact with *them*.”

“Lin Xian, you must hurry and inform Professor Ye and General Xu, or it will be too late!”

Lin Xian looked at himself and shrugged helplessly. “You know I can only see you when I’m completely exhausted, unable to control myself upon waking.”

“What to do then?”

“What else...” Lin Xian smiled bitterly. “Even if the whole city knew this and escaped, according to this, once the Star Abysses finish probing, escaping to the poles is meaningless. We might have even outrun the Star Abysses’ expansion speed.”

Chu Yan nodded slightly, then stood sadly.

“Lin Xian.”

“Hmm?”

“If tonight is the end of the world, is he afraid?”

“Not at first,” Robin looked up at the cosmic starry sky with a sinister smile. “But now he’s scared. At least he got to be an astronaut once in his life.”

Lin Xian admired his optimism and sighed helplessly.

Blue Star saw Lin Xian’s state and simply sat beside him. “Since you’re here, stay and talk with him.”

“Talk about what?”

“Like, did he really die?”

Lin Xian’s expression was simple. “Your consciousness is invading me, surviving by borrowing my life force. I’m preserved in a low-level life pod. You’ll survive in that state for a long time, but once your spiritual power disappears, you’ll perish completely.”

Blue Star opened her mouth but suddenly smiled.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I was going to say I don’t know if there’s another way to save you, but then I thought, maybe tonight is the end of the world. Maybe none of us will outlive you.”

Chu Yan suddenly smiled. Her gaze shimmered as she looked at Lin Xian. After a moment, she said:

“Thank you, Lin Xian.”

“What’s there to thank? You helped seize the Galaxy Heart, saved the city, sacrificed yourself. Why thank me?”

“Thank you for appearing in my consciousness, completing this mission with me, and being here to talk with me...” Chu Yan said.

Lin Xian sighed deeply. “Too bad we’re both consciousness entangled. Otherwise, in this situation, a drink together would be nice.”

Chu Yan looked at the scattered starship wrecks and countless Vanguard Initiative martyrs in the sky and said to Lin Xian: “By the way, there’s one very important piece of information. After the Vanguard starship sequence broke through the Sky Veil Barrier, I received a message from Civilization Vanguard’s captain, Chu Jing, to Dawn City through the co-star channel. But at that time, this place was engulfed by the dark energy storm zone, and no information could be sent out.”

“What information?”

“That the Civilization Vanguard used the Corrosion Cells’ barrier-breaking activation monitoring experimental device to collect data on the energy absorbed by the Corrosion Cells from the dark invasion. Using Corrosion Cells for potential energy conversion of dark invasions can filter and purify 100% like dark creatures. If combined with similar potential devices to stimulate such energy microwaves, it could help humanity completely block dark invasions and solve mutation disasters!”

Lin Xian’s expression changed sharply. “That device’s purpose was this!”

Chu Yan seriously told Lin Xian: “When the Vanguard fleet encountered the dark energy storm, the Civilization Vanguard was the only ship able to escape the storm. But massive mutations happened aboard. So Chu Jing chose to launch the two remaining supply thrusters to push the Natural Selection and Deep Blue out of the storm and prepared to turn the Civilization Vanguard back…”

“He wanted to send data back to Dawn City!?” Lin Xian asked in surprise.

Chu Yan nodded.

“He wanted to leave humanity hope.”

“He didn’t want to give up on humanity.”

Then Chu Yan recounted how, after invading Julius’s consciousness, she, as the flagship of the barrier-breaking plan, broke through the invisible Sky Veil Barrier. From her description, Lin Xian seemed to witness that epic and heroic scene: seven starships carrying tens of thousands, plus frozen human embryos and civilization archives, charging full speed at the deadly Sky Veil Barrier.

Within thirty minutes after encountering the dark energy storm, how the seven captains fought desperately to escape.

It was an immensely tragic yet resolute scene. Countless young lives faded in the cold void of space. Lin Xian could hardly imagine, knowing he could survive, how Chu Jing made the heartbreaking decision to launch the supply thrusters to send away Natural Selection and Deep Blue, perhaps with the same determination as commanding the Civilization Vanguard at the forefront of all starships.

Lin Xian looked at the distant starry sky, at that huge, shattered, symbol of human technological glory starship, quietly drifting in space, bow raised proudly.

Like a dazzling banner.