Chapter 1552

After flying out 300 million kilometers.

Xu Jingming then had Vera cast the Charm Great Art once more, plunging again into a thoroughly exhilarating slaughter.

And 113 light-years away, on Planet Fortress 102.

At the Ashen Warband's base, 17th floor, outside Xu Jingming's room.

Lin Qianxue wore a black casual uniform, her figure tall and slender.

Yet now, in this cold, elegant commander's pale golden eyes, a flicker of confusion passed.

"What's little brother been up to lately? Not around again?"

She stared at the closed door before her, a hint of confusion in her gaze.

This was the third time in a month she had come to knock on Xu Jingming's door.

Virtual Universe contact failed; all communication requests from her smart bracer went unanswered.

Base records showed Xu Jingming's last recorded appearance was fifty days ago.

"Could he have gone to the Realm of Leisure with Duke and the others?"

Lin Qianxue furrowed her delicate brows.

The outer battlefield is stressful; she didn't oppose little brother going to the Realm of Leisure to relax.

But she hadn't been able to reach Xu Jingming for a month and a half.

Could he have stayed there over a month?

That wouldn't do.

The Realm of Leisure may be pleasant, but excessive indulgence brings nothing but harm.

This planet fortress had seen many such cases before.

Soldiers who were once quite strong had succumbed to the immense pressure of life and death, sinking into the Realm of Leisure.

This was, fundamentally, a form of escape.

"With little brother's temperament, he shouldn't sink so low," Lin Qianxue mused.

Then, with a slender finger, she tapped her smart bracer and dialed Duke's comm.

Hum—

A holographic projection unfolded, revealing Duke's copper-toned face.

"Commander? You're calling me?"

"Is Xu Jingming with you?" Lin Qianxue cut straight to the point.

Duke blinked.

"Brother Xu? No, I haven't seen him in nearly two months. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Lin Qianxue ended the call, her eyebrows tightening further.

Strange—not in the Realm of Leisure, not at the base—then where could he be?

Could he have gone to the outer battlefield?

No, that doesn't make sense.

Little brother is new here; he shouldn't be this reckless.

Though her heart doubted it, Lin Qianxue still opened her smart bracer.

She pulled up Xu Jingming's personnel file.

As commander, she had the authority to view real-time status of all warband members.

But when the military merit column appeared before her eyes—

Lin Qianxue's pale golden pupils shrank sharply!

"Forty-four million military merit?! How is this possible?"

Lin Qianxue was stunned.

Two months ago, when Xu Jingming first returned,

she had checked his military merit—it was barely under one million.

How could it have surged forty-fold in such a short time?

How did it suddenly multiply by over forty times?

Xu Jingming's military merit jumped again.

"A single jump, spiking by four million military merit?"

Lin Qianxue's beautiful eyes widened—was she seeing things?

That required slaying over a hundred low-tier cosmic beings,

or killing a single cosmic apex alien!

"Little brother really went to the battlefield."

"And judging by this, he's slaughtering low-tier aliens?"

Lin Qianxue quickly realized.

As for killing cosmic apex aliens, it never crossed her mind.

Little brother may be a prodigy, but he still has to follow basic rules.

Just recently, his limit was only killing cosmic eighth-rank beings.

Cosmic apex aliens? Impossible to slay.

"I never expected little brother to be this diligent—I misjudged him."

I never expected Young Master Xiao to be so diligent; I was wrong to misjudge him.

He couldn't fathom where so many low-tier alien races had come from for him to kill.

But the Outer Battlefield is incredibly dangerous; little brother doesn't need to be this aggressive.

When he returns this time, I'll have to give him a proper talking-to.

Lin Qianxue silently murmured to herself, then strode away with her straight, slender, beautiful legs.

Meanwhile, the Black Flame Demon Nest.

It was a massive planet, entirely dark red, with a diameter exceeding three hundred thousand kilometers.

Its surface was littered with grotesque volcanic craters, lava flowing like veins, steaming up sulfuric mists that blotted out the sky.

The atmosphere was thick with potent demonic energy; any ordinary Cosmic Stage being who stepped in.

Would be corrupted within moments, their mind consumed, turning into mindless killing beasts.

Deep within the planet, inside a towering palace constructed of black crystal.

At the palace's center lay a vast pool entirely formed of demonic energy.

Floating within it were hundreds of thousands of crystals, varying in size, faintly pulsing.

They emitted subtle soul vibrations.

The human race had the Cosmic Soul Network and the Virtual Universe.

They could easily track the survival status of warriors on the Outer Battlefield.

The demon race had no Virtual Universe, but they had the Demon Heart Pool.

Each crystal connected to a Cosmic Stage demon warrior fighting or patrolling outside, making it easy to monitor survival.

Yet now, the scene in the pool was bizarre.

One by one, Demon Hearts dimmed en masse, finally emitting a soft "puff."

Turning completely lifeless, shattering into fragments that sank to the pool's bottom.

"In recent times, over four thousand Demon Hearts have shattered.

What's going on? Why are our demon warriors falling so rapidly?"

The massive figure seated beside the Demon Heart Pool slowly opened its crimson slit pupils.

Its voice was hoarse, filled with confusion and a trace of anger.

It resembled a giant lizard, covered in thick bony armor—the very one of the Eternal Stage demons of the Black Flame Demon Nest.

"Is this the work of other races' Eternal beings?"

Another cold mental fluctuation came forth, belonging to a shadow demon whose aura was eerie and whose form flickered in and out:

"Is it the humans? Or those damned mechanical races? Hunting our demon warriors?"

"Cosmic Stage ants—let them die if they must."

A third voice rose, furious and brimming with destructive intent, from a flame demon whose entire body burned with unextinguishable black flames:

"But to slaughter so brazenly under the very eyes of the Black Flame Demon Nest—that's an insult!

We must find him, crush his soul!"

"Flame Demon."

The first speaker, the bony-armored demon, issued the order, his crimson gaze fixed on the swirling black flames of the demon palace:

"You will handle this. The coordinates of the abnormal deaths have already been sent to you."

"Perfect!"

The terrifying figure, over ten meters tall, forged from black obsidian and lava, rose with a thunderous crash.

Flames erupted around it, warping the very space.

It took one step out of the demon palace and instantly merged into the void, leaving only a slowly expanding ripple of searing heat.

Meanwhile, beyond the outer rim of the Black Flame Demon Nest, in a desolate star belt roughly one light-year away.

Xu Jingming had just finished a satisfying harvest.

The Lei Guang faded, the Purple Nightmare Body slowly retracted.

He hovered in midair, surrounded by countless demon remains and drifting demonic energy.

"This third wave is nearly over—efficiency is good."

Xu Jingming's lips curled slightly.

Wait a little longer; if the number of incoming demon warriors drops, I can prepare for the fourth Charm Technique.

Suddenly—

Without warning, an indescribable terror of pressure descended like an entire galaxy collapsing!

The light in this stretch of space instantly dimmed.

Space froze like solid iron; the laws themselves seemed to wail.

In the distance, a point of extreme darkness and searing heat rapidly expanded, filling the entire field of vision in an instant!

It was a flame demon god, striding through the void.

The black demonic flames swirling around him vaporized even tiny meteorites they touched.

His crimson pupils, like twin blood moons, coldly locked onto Xu Jingming.