Chapter 564: There

In the Zero Three Universe (Warhammer).

An irregular extragalactic system, lacking a clear spiral, core, or "disk", named Expedition-072.

If one looks toward the outskirts of the system, many bright specks and colorful nebulae are visible; the system appears extremely unstable, with stellar systems colliding and exploding, and numerous rogue black holes.

However, this is a physical "visual" observation; a Spiritual User of stellar-system rank using Spiritual Energy to probe or gaze would see only darkness.

Because this highly chaotic, even "feral"-scented irregular system has long been completely occupied by the Tai Luo Insect Race.

All living planets have been devoured clean, and even gaseous planets rich in methane, hydrogen, and ammonia have been completely swallowed…

In other words, the Tai Luo Insect Race spares nothing—not even a "fart"—fully embodying the title Great Devourer and the expedition force's nickname "glutton".

And now.

Expedition-072 lies on the "right" edge region, within a star system at the outermost fringe.

The system's "core" is a low‑luminosity red dwarf about 500,000 km across, with four Earth‑like planets orbiting it.

However, the Earth‑like planet on the fourth orbit has been consumed by a massive "Lotus" 70,000 km in diameter.

It is a literal "eat".

The deep‑gray "Lotus", its body and eight petal structures, unfolds a colossal gate beneath its core and emits a field of blue‑green light that restrains.

Subsequently, the roughly 6,000‑km‑diameter, barren‑surfaced Earth‑like planet is forcibly pulled into the interior of the "Lotus".

Looking at the "Lotus" surface, one finds oceans, forests, deserts similar to Earth, and a dense artificial atmosphere.

The "preyed" Earth‑like planet sits at the "Lotus" core, and under immense gravitational pull has begun violent geological activity—volcanic eruptions and magma outflows.

All aftershocks from these violent geological processes are confined within the same blue‑glowing field.

At the same time, countless—at least dozens, perhaps hundreds of trillions—mechanical sentinels swarm forward, assisting the "Lotus" in dismantling the Earth‑like planet and swiftly fabricating a ring‑shaped celestial body.

All signs point to this "Lotus" being one of the Human Empire's most powerful warships, Ark 002.

Ark 002 is constructing the ring‑shaped celestial body, one of the Human Empire's ultimate weapons, capable of easily reshaping a star system—or even the entire universe.

As for the designation?

Because Rog leads the expedition force as war commander, the expedition has been underway for over a year; moreover, the Zero Three Universe contains countless systems devoured and occupied by the Tai Luo Insect Race, so Ark 002 repeatedly initiates pseudo‑wormholes →

arrives at the target stellar system →

devours the qualifying Earth‑like planet →

manufactures at least six massive devices →

uses pseudo‑wormholes to deploy the massive devices to six points within the system (galaxy‑scale) →

activates cross‑phase pulse wave →

after "cleansing" the Tai Luo Insect Race and all life in that system, Ark 002 proceeds to the next target system, repeating the steps.

Furthermore, the massive devices already built will still be transferred to other systems via Ark 002's pseudo‑wormholes.

Thus the number of devices deployed in the Zero Three Universe is growing exponentially, now exceeding six hundred…

Precisely, 636 massive devices are "cleansing" systems under the Tai Luo Insect Race's sway.

636.

Presented to the managing civilization, this is an unimaginable figure, yet after the three OriginalBodies set Ark 002 to "auto‑cruise", it was completed within a single year.

Of course, the managing civilization, pressed for time and deceived by a host of evil calculators, caused the scarcity of Ark and massive devices.

As for Ark 002, after devouring that Earth‑like planet, the count will update from 636 to 637.

Once the newest massive device is finished, Ark 002 will open a pseudo‑wormhole to deliver it to some sector of the Expedition‑072 system.

However, at this moment…

【8】 Swish~! Swish~!

whoosh~! whoosh~!

Hundreds of kilometers above Ark 002's surface, irregular pseudo‑wormholes of varying sizes suddenly appear, bending nearby light and space.

Immediately thereafter, a fleet of over 3,500 warships—from Glory Master Class and Titan Class down to Determined‑class escorts—passes through these pseudo‑wormholes, instantly leaping hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of millions of light‑years to gather above Ark 002.

These are the elite expedition force composed of over sixty battalion units.

When the expedition set out a year ago, the fleet numbered over 4,000 ships, but after more than a year of searching and continuous engagements with the Tai Luo Insect Race, it has lost nearly 15% of its vessels.

Do not underestimate the Tai Luo Insect Race, which uses flesh and biological skeletons to traverse star systems and conduct ground, air, and sea (space) battles; their threat level is extremely high.

First, they possess limitless evolutionary ability; second, their anti‑Spiritual Energy traits—if Tuthmos were to join the expedition, it would be utterly outmatched.

Personnel losses for the expedition force are kept around 9%; thanks to the continued protection of the Human Emperor, without the Tai Luo Insect Race's anti‑Spiritual Energy trait the loss rate might have been lower.

Around the founding of the Empire, the Tai Luo Insect Race was one of humanity's toughest foes, at least at present comparable to interdimensional evil deities…

Possibly even higher.

Indeed, anti‑Spiritual Energy is a real thorn; only nano‑technology, massive devices, and the Ark enable humanity to maintain steady victory and a crushing stance.

And now.

The expedition force has concluded its scattered searches across the Zero Three Universe, using the "abnormal" transport capability of pseudo‑wormholes to swiftly withdraw from various star systems and nebulae.

Among them is the home world of the Glory Iron Fist, the Never‑Fall.

The fleet reconvenes, forming a formation centered on the Never‑Fall, temporarily hovering above Ark's surface.

It seems the elite expedition force encountered some incident that forced them to abandon their previous plan.

———————

…

Soon after.

The core world of the Never‑Fall.

The building area housing the central control room.

A central plaza laid with orderly massive stone slabs, surrounded by gigantic stone pillars.

Rog, with silver‑white sideburns and beard, clad in bright gold and black OriginalBody armor, a red cape draped behind, stands in the plaza center with hands clasped behind, gazing up at the artificial star.

Even the tight‑lipped, more serious Rog showed a solemn expression, because the OriginalBody serving as commander of this expedition had, shortly before, made some discovery and consequently cancelled the previous operation.

Behind Rog stood ten warriors equipped with ultra‑heavy Terminator armor, whose defense was maxed out, known as the 'Personal Guard' Iron Fist Honor Guard.

An artificial breeze lightly brushed Rog and the ten personal guards, causing their red cloaks to flutter and making the atmosphere seem even more grim.

Swish—! Swish—!

Suddenly, a mass of blue light flashed before Rog.

After the light mass dissipated, another group of giants completed a short‑range teleport.

It was Shengjilesi with folded pure white wings behind him, and ten Terminator armor‑clad warriors who likewise had metallic wings behind them, the Sanguine Angel Honor Guard, the Blood Guard.

Also present were Sui Meng and ten warriors equipped with demon‑mask gear, the Assault Breaker Honor Guard, the Broken Army.

Seeing his brothers arrive, Rog turned his gaze away from the artificial star, stepped forward, forced a smile, and greeted:

"Shengjilesi, little brother Sui Meng, since the expedition began, we've been seeing each other less and less, hehe."

"..." Sui Meng nodded silently.

"Alright, Rog." Shengjilesi waved his hand, "Just say what's on your mind; do we brothers still need to keep up appearances?"

"Okay." Rog also stopped forcing himself, shrugged, turned, walked toward the outside of the plaza, and called to his brothers: "Come with me first."

"Good."

"."

Afterward, the three OriginalBodies and their respective Honor Guards strolled toward the central control room.

All the way, they remained silent.

Soon, the group entered the control building that resembled a temple in appearance.

The interior was spacious, with many clerical Iron Fist Honor Guard and their auxiliary troops seated at their respective control consoles, obtaining real‑time information through countless holographic screens and directing the entire expeditionary force.

Rog, Shengjilesi, and Sui Meng, the three OriginalBodies, came to the core area beside a main control console the size of a basketball court, while their Honor Guards stood a short distance away.

Afterwards, Rog crossed his hands and placed them in front of his chest armor, then said: "Juliya, please explain the details of Expedition-072 to these two brothers of mine."

As Rog's words fell, a woman wearing imperial military uniform, with her brown-gold hair tied up, a low-intelligence female artificial intelligence, simply "stood" at the center of the main console.

At the same time, the main console released dense cyan-blue light points with a tangible feel, which condensed within seconds into an irregular galaxy, namely the holographic star map of Expedition-072.

Immediately afterward, the AI named Juliya slightly lifted her head to look at the star map and began to speak:

"Our Glory Fist discovered and took note of Expedition-072 two Earth days ago, using the Never-Fallen to conduct several comprehensive scans, learning that this star system originated in ancient times, roughly 13 billion years ago, roughly contemporaneous with the birth of the Zero Three Galaxy."

"And Expedition-072 was also completely devoured by the Tai Luo Insect Race, but unlike other consumed star systems, Expedition-072 possesses extremely strong Spiritual Shielding; on average, it is 162.5 times that of other consumed star systems."

"162.5 times?"

Shengjilesi and Sui Meng both stared in shock.

"What does that mean…" Shengjilesi immediately realized and looked at Rog, saying: "Expedition-072 is very likely the birthplace of the Tai Luo Insect Race, their origin?"

"…" Sui Meng also looked at his bearded brother.

"No denial." Rog nodded slightly, then said to Juliya: "Continue the explanation."

"Yes, sir."

At this moment, Juliya raised both hands.

Afterwards, Expedition-072 also quickly shrank with her motion, but soon Shengjilesi and Sui Meng discovered that the star map taking its place was bubble-shaped, with a diameter of about 160 billion light-years, the Zero Three Universe.

This diameter merely helps people grasp how vast the universe is, because three-dimensional beings living in the physical universe can never reach its edge.

Subsequently.

Juliya again extended her left index finger, lightly tapping the lower left of the star map, and a black giant net rapidly expanded.

In the blink of an eye, this giant net covered 10% of the star map.

This also means that the Tai Luo Insect Race has already "eaten" 10% of the Zero Three Universe.

Even though they possess over six hundred large installations, continuously carrying out cleansing, they still cannot instantly shrink this giant net.

Moreover, without humanity from the main universe stepping in, relying solely on Helusi Lupekarl's New Human Empire, they could not possibly contend with the Great Devourer.

The holographic star map maintained its state for several seconds; the next moment, the area where the black net was located was enlarged by Juliya.

At the same time, there were red-light-emitting "vessels" linking the various star systems enveloped by the black net, and the convergence point—or starting point—of these vessels happened to be Expedition-072.

After presenting this image to the OriginalBodies, Juliya continued speaking: "Thanks to our year-long expedition efforts and the support of the Never-Fallen, I have inferred 187 routes by which the Tai Luo Insect Race consumes the Zero Three Universe."

Moreover, after we encountered Expedition-072, I compared it with one of those routes and found that the starting points basically match.

So yes, Expedition-072 is highly likely to be the birthplace of the Tai Luo Insect Race."

Seeking the origin of the Tai Luo Insect Race.

This is the ultimate goal of their elite expeditionary force; previously dispersing their troops was precisely to serve this goal.

But now Juliya tells them the goal is within reach, yet Sui Meng and Shengjilesi instead fall into silence.

Because, given their understanding of Rog, if everything went smoothly, their brother the marshal would have already…

"Hahaha! This time we've actually solved the most troublesome race!" "Capture the Tai Luo mother worm, or the insect king, and give Lai Ang a look!" They uttered such remarks.

But Rog did not.

And Rog, seeing his two brothers silent, took a light breath and said in a deep voice: "That's correct, we are approaching the goal, but Juliya has detected that once we delve into Expedition-072, any form of communication will fail."

"Anything?" Shengjilesi frowned slightly, "Even quantum communications can be blocked?"

"Yes." Juliya, standing by on standby, took over Rog's explanation: "Besides the Tai Luo Insect Race's Spiritual Shielding effect, Expedition-072 is also enveloped by some kind of field; even quantum communications would suffer interference from this field, resulting in severe delays."

"Most importantly, within this field, regular jumps, fold jumps, and warp travel are all ineffective; although current test results show this field cannot block pseudo-wormhole travel, that does not mean it is absolute."

"Brothers." Rog said to the two brothers, his tone heavy, "We can't be sure what's inside, and once we go in we'll also lose our father's protection. Do you know what that means?"

"There's a chance we won't come back." Sui Meng was indifferent, "As long as I can kill the alien scum, that's fine."

"And we also can't always rely on our father's protection." Shengjilesi also agreed with Sui Meng's point.

"Very good!" Seeing the brothers each voice their stance, Rog finally changed his previous demeanor and raised his voice, "Then let's tear down Tai Luo's old home!"

(End of Chapter)