Chapter 337: Going Against the Current

That will crossed the star sea.

Ice-cold, brutal, like the ultimate malice at the dawn of the universe's birth.

It was like an invisible giant hand, fiercely gripping the Voidwalker, or more precisely, gripping every person inside the bridge!

"Hum—"

【Spirit Resonance Shield】was pushed to its limit at this moment!

Qin Hao's mental power, like fuel, frenziedly injected, merging with the shield system,

forming a consciousness barrier that appeared thin yet was indestructible.

But, this enemy was too strong.

"Pfft..."

"Ugh..."

Behind him, a series of suppressed groans and the sound of bodies collapsing came.

Qin Hao didn't even need to turn around to know what had happened.

Long Feng, Qian Yin, Song Xiao Lu...

All crew members on the bridge, except him, could not withstand the first instant when that mental pressure descended.

Their mental power, under the "gaze" of that sub-body, was as fragile as paper.

Bleeding from the seven orifices, they fainted instantly.

The entire bridge, aside from the equipment's alarm sounds, was deathly silent.

Qin Hao's face turned deathly pale, a fishy-sweet taste surged up his throat.

He forcibly swallowed that mouthful of blood that had flowed upward.

Cannot retreat!

Once his defense collapses, this mental strike will instantly destroy the ship's main control AI, and everyone will die here!

"Interesting..."

In Qin Hao's mind, instead arose a nearly mad fighting spirit.

He seized that one-thousandth of a second, the connection forged by their mental powers, and took an action that even that terrifying entity never anticipated.

No more defending!

He will attack!

Qin Hao's will transformed into the sharpest spike, without the slightest hesitation, he boldly "reverse-flowed upstream" along the source of that mental pressure!

He wanted to see what exactly this so-called Devourer Sub-body was!

On the mental plane, there is no distance, no time.

In an instant.

Qin Hao's consciousness seemed to be dragged into a twisted, chaotic abyss.

Before him was a sight that made even his heart palpitate.

In the boundless dark void, countless wreckage floated.

That was the graveyard of civilizations.

Shattered Dyson spheres, sundered ring worlds, interstellar warships gnawed down to skeletons...

Innumerable relics of once-glorious civilizations, like trash, piled up here.

And at the center of these wrecks lay a terrifying "nest".

Part of it was gruesome flesh, another part twisted metal,

countless thick nerve bundles and energy conduits intertwined, like a living, constantly breathing massive tumor.

【Abyssal Nest】.

In Qin Hao's mind, information from that biological brain flashed instantly.

His "gaze" penetrated the nest's thick fleshy shell, seeing the interior scene.

At the nest's core, a colossal "core" with a diameter exceeding a planet, emitting an eerie purple light, pulsed slowly.

Each pulse seemed to inhale and exhale the souls of an entire star system.

That is...... the 【Devourer Sub-body】!

An existence equivalent to a fifth-level high civilization!

However, what shocked Qin Hao even more was still to come.

Deep within that purple core, at the very center of the layered flesh and nerve wrappings.

A faint, seemingly about to vanish yet truly existing 【Dimensional Rift】 slowly rotated there.

Beyond the rift lay an imperceptible void.

There, it seemed to connect to an entirely different galaxy, a higher-dimensional space!

Qin Hao instantly understood.

These so-called "Devourers", so-called "sub-bodies", are not native products of the Andromeda Galaxy at all!

They...... are also invaders!

Behind that dimensional rift likely lies their true lair!

Just as Qin Hao's will attempted to further probe the secret of that rift.

"Roar——!!!"

A roar capable of shaking the entire mental plane, filled with endless fury and brutality, erupted from that purple core!

It detected Qin Hao's "peeping"!

For that lofty existence, this was an unprecedented humiliation!

The next instant, a stream of pure destructive mental energy—aimed at utterly erasing consciousness and ten thousand times stronger than the previous "probe"—surged violently toward Qin Hao's will-entity!

This was a killing blow!

"Sever!"

Qin Hao's reaction was at its peak; at the moment the opponent launched a counterattack, he decisively severed the mental link he had extended outward.

Even so, that terrifying aftershock, following the link about to be severed, slammed hard into his soul.

"Pfft—!"

Inside the bridge, Qin Hao's eyes snapped open; he could no longer hold back, spitting a mouthful of blood that splattered onto the cold metal floor.

His body shook violently, his brain feeling as if it were about to be torn apart.

Yet his survival instinct still overwhelmed all the pain at that moment.

"Void Voyager!"

"Engage emergency jump! Now!"

Almost at the same moment he issued the command.

"Hum—"

The ship's engines emitted an overloaded roar, and the space around the hull was forcibly torn open a rift.

Just as the Void Voyager plunged headfirst into the jump channel, at the very last instant before it would vanish.

That terrifying mental assault, capable of instantly snuffing out a star, finally arrived.

But it struck empty.

……

Light flickered.

The Void Voyager burst out of the jump channel, returning to normal three-dimensional space.

Outside the porthole lay familiar, slightly sparse starlight.

They had returned.

They were back at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.

"Hah… hah… hah…"

Qin Hao slumped into the captain's chair, gulping huge breaths, his chest heaving violently.

He wiped the blood from his lips and looked around.

Inside the bridge, his companions remained unconscious, collapsed at their stations, their fates unknown.

An unprecedented pyrrhic victory.

No, it wasn't even a victory.

This was merely a successful… escape.

Yet Qin Hao's face showed no trace of despair or fear.

Instead, his eyes flickered with a near‑manic, intense excitement.

He slowly raised his hand, gazing at his slightly trembling fingertips, and murmured to himself.

"Devourer Sub-body…"

"A symbiotic collective that feeds on civilizations…"

"Deep within the nest… that unknown dimensional rift…"

"And… a higher existence that seems to be guiding their actions…"

Although merely a brief skirmish, Qin Hao had already obtained the information he most desired—and the most precious!

He looked at the unconscious crew, his voice hoarse yet filled with unquestionable resolve.

"We are not yet a match for it."

"But now, at least we know the enemy's details."

"Next…"

Qin Hao's lips curled into a cold arc.

"It's time to put the entire Yanhuang Civilization on the highest war alert."

He forced his aching body to reconnect with the main control AI and issued a new command.

"Set course, target the Solar System!"

"We… are going home."