Chapter 567: Revelation

Obviously.

That mass, spanning an entire star system, even "swallowed" the system's star and placed a "continent" in the core region; it appears to be the Tai Luo Insect Race's lair.

Of course, it could also be the lair of a mother or king insect.

Which it is will have to be determined when the elite expedition force sets foot on the continent, and before that the expedition must deal with the unprecedented Tai Luo fleet.

Its scale stretches over hundreds of millions of kilometers, seemingly beyond any planet's ability to impede its advance.

Behold.

Ark 002's speed does not wane, but beneath its eight petals a giant gate opens, releasing thirty‑two matrix nodes—diamond‑shaped metal pillars four thousand kilometers long.

Immediately after, the Ark gradually adjusts its angle, directing the surface bearing its artificial star toward the Tai Luo fleet and the continent.

Simultaneously, the thirty‑two matrix nodes at the Ark's prow swiftly assemble into an inverted‑triangle matrix.

Buzz!

In an instant, the triangular matrix flashes with cyan‑blue light.

Ri~—!

Then the Ark's artificial star, initially warm‑yellow, switches to cyan‑blue in less than a blink, its brilliance intensifying as if to illuminate the entire star system…

It refers to the Expedition-072 irregular star cluster, not the star system where the Tai Luo continent lies, which has already lost its original appearance.

Then…

Whoosh~—!

The artificial star instantly shoots a cylindrical beam of radiance toward the triangular matrix.

Boom~—!

The radiance, after passing through the matrix's triangle, immediately radiates outward to everything, like a massive supernova explosion.

If this brightness is given enough time, it would indeed radiate and illuminate the entire Expedition-072.

After the radiance.

Ark 002, having deployed its energy shield, remains unharmed.

Moreover, the thirty‑two cooperative nodes, arranged in four‑four‑one pairs, form eight diamond matrices evenly distributed around Ark 002 as it sails.

Looking again at the Tai Luo side…

The previously massive fleet, composed of biological warships tens, hundreds, even thousands of kilometers in size, was completely annihilated by the earlier "supernova explosion."

Along with it, the continent was evaporated and vaporized by nearly 40%.

Furthermore, the continent's violent shaking, the scorch marks at the damaged sites, and the planet‑wide "arterial vessels" further prove the continent is a…

living organism.

Meanwhile.

Inside the command center of the Never-Fall.

"…"

Standing beside the central console, after seeing the outside scene through the holographic screen, everyone fell silent, plunging the command room into a hush.

First, that continent…

Or rather, the size and volume of the land insect made the OriginalBody involuntarily show a shocked expression at first sight; it clearly exceeded their expectations.

When Rus first ventured into the void, he was awed by void whales tens of thousands of kilometers long; let alone a worm whose width and length span several astronomical units, approaching the scale of a star system.

The existence of such a creature in the material universe made Rog, Shengjilesi, and Sui Meng feel a hint of fear.

After all, humans generally feel fear toward the unknown.

However, it was only a fleeting moment; for OriginalBody Sui Meng, who likes to charge headfirst, the land insect is just a bigger bug in his mind.

Any bug can be cut, can be killed.

Don't be fooled by Sui Meng's ruthless silence; he's like a copy of John, but Sui Meng is even more "simple and straightforward."

As for the other cause of their silence, the just‑released Supernova Burst, considered one of Ark 002's main weapons, theoretically maintains a temperature between 120 trillion°C and 160 trillion°C.

And its effective lethal radius is one light‑year…

Yes, one light‑year.

Even now, the Supernova Burst released earlier still maintains ultra‑high temperature, radiating outward at light speed in a "ring of radiance" state, leaving nothing untouched.

But the land insect's biological shield helped its main body withstand that strike, indicating its combat power is at least comparable to Ark's.

At this moment.

Seeing the land insect unleash massive biological warfare again, Rog twitched his whiskered beard and said directly, "Julia, activate Device 0972."

"Yes, commander."

Upon receiving the order, Julia, who was standing at the central console, executed it immediately.

Immediately after, the holographic screen showed Ark 002's energy shield light intensifying, and the large Device 0972, which had been hovering above the Ark, also emitted concentrated radiance.

Whoosh~—!

Ri~—!

In the next moment, the cross‑phase pulse wave, which occurs as a "premonition" or "precursor echo" when exceeding light speed, was released before Device 0972 actually activated, followed by the radiance burst.

Of course, all these phenomena occurred in an extremely short time, even the three OriginalBodies could not discern them.

Looking at the screen again.

Rog and the others found that after the cross‑phase pulse wave, the Tai Luo Insect Race's biological warships were directly "blown apart," while the land insect, whose black‑light biological shield leaned toward dark purple, remained perfectly intact.

And after completing the scan, Julia promptly reported, "Commander, based on my preliminary scan, the biological shield of that super‑giant land insect has particle fluctuations similar to our energy shield."

"So…" Upon hearing Julia's words, Shengjilesi's expression darkened: "The cross‑phase pulse wave is temporarily ineffective against the Tai Luo Insect Race."

After all, the Tai Luo Insect Race is undergoing infinite evolution; now, their biological weapons are becoming sharper and more efficient, and a few (million) chief‑level insects already have individual combat power on par with the Honor Guard.

Moreover, the Tai Luo Insect Race's ability to evolve and produce a biological barrier that can resist cross‑phase pulse waves was something Rog and his two companions had anticipated long ago.

After all, the Tai Luo Insect Race wiped out in the grand device amounts not to hundreds of millions of trillions, but at least tens of millions of trillions.

There's nothing to be done—Tai Luo is an insect race, and they inherently possess a numerical advantage, which is one of the most basic elements of any insect swarm.

Furthermore, when those tens of millions of trillions of insects die, they automatically upload the details of their demise to the hive mind, unrestricted by the speed of light, much like quantum communication.

They were able to learn this thanks to the repeated research of a group of pharmacists.

Therefore, like ordinary civilizations and empires—for example, the United Empire and the First Empire—

To decipher the cross‑phase pulse wave, they need concrete data from the instant residents and troops are annihilated, and then extensive experiments are required before there's any chance…

It is an extremely slim possibility to achieve decipherment, and the time required would be at least thousands of years, more likely tens of thousands, because this is one of the pinnacle technologies of physics.

But the prerequisite for completing the decipherment is obtaining data from that instant of annihilation.

This directly creates a deadlock.

In other words, the United Empire and the First Empire fundamentally cannot carry out the decipherment.

However, the Tai Luo Insect Race, by relying on the nature of their hive mind and adding to it their near‑infinite numbers, has actually broken this deadlock and greatly increased the chance of successful decipherment.

"This isn't really a problem." Rog didn't pay much attention, "As long as we capture a newborn insect and toss it into the analyzer dish of the grand device, we can again emit a pulse wave against them, but the truly serious issue is…"

As he spoke, Rog's gaze swept over his two brothers, his tone intensifying: "The positional interference emitted by that land insect prevents celestial bodies with enormous mass and gravity—such as wormholes or black holes—from forming within its range, unless we approach from outside as we did."

In short, if we don't deal with that land insect, we can't go back.

Wormholes and black holes appear vastly different—for instance, any matter that passes a black hole's event horizon can never return, whereas everything that enters a wormhole can reverse direction.

Yet both possess the utmost density and mass.

Moreover, natural wormholes are not as people imagine—safe to enter and exit, and capable of randomly transporting one to a point in the universe, or even to another universe.

In reality, natural wormholes are equally extremely unstable; jets and suction at both ends cause all internal matter to collide at tremendous speed, producing plasma balls that can reach temperatures as high as ten trillion degrees Celsius.

Sixty years before the Empire's founding, a main‑universe cruise liner carrying nearly ten thousand tourists on a warp voyage, while touring brilliant nebulae, inadvertently entered a natural wormhole and ultimately vanished without a trace.

Whereas the wormholes fabricated by the Administrator Civilization, after being bound on all sides and combined with the Ark's operation being "naturally harmless," give people the illusion that "wormholes are all safe."

Whether black holes or white holes, both are dangerous to the Tai Luo Insect Race, which is why this land insect evolved a mechanism to avoid and shield against celestial bodies of enormous mass.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get at it." Sui Meng couldn't wait any longer, "It's time to land on that insect and go on a killing spree—brother, give the order."

Having said that, Sui Meng and Shengjilesi both turned their gazes toward Rog.

"…"

Meeting the infinite trust in his two brothers' eyes, Rog took a deep breath, then personally operated the central console, switching the holographic screen to a holographic star map.

Thereafter, Rog, with the land insect as the center, quickly marked the holographic star map he was drawing with a dense thicket of arrows, circles, and corresponding notes.

Having finished all that, Rog then crossed his hands over his chest armor and began a brief analysis:

"That land insect's defense may resemble a turtle shell, but it isn't completely impervious, and while Ark 002's regular firepower isn't very effective against it, the enemy is likewise unable to do anything to us."

Most importantly, Julia has monitored that the land insect's biological stance shares the same traits as that of a chief‑level insect: it can easily withstand high‑speed objects, energy, and radiation, yet struggles to effectively intercept objects moving at normal speed.

Therefore, Ark 002 will continue to close in on the enemy until the distance between us falls below 400,000 kilometers, after which we will use the fleet to attempt a breakthrough and a jump‑assist.

However, this strategy merely uses Ark 002 and the fleet's main force as bait, hoping to lure the enemy's main strength so as to buy a brother more time to carry out the decapitation.

"I and my Honor Guard Iron Fist will serve as the bait." Having said that, Rog lifted his left hand to point at the left side of the star map, "Then Shengjilesi, Sui Meng—little brother, which of you wishes to be the decapitator?"

"I'll do it." Shengjilesi replied immediately.

"I'd rather be the bait." Sui Meng also declared his stance.

"Good." Rog, unusually without his usual chatter, continued: "Brothers, don't forget that in the upcoming clash our father will no longer be able to provide us protection…

I won't waste words; I'll just remind you once more: we must eradicate the Tai Luo Insect Race once and for all, for leaving them will surely be a calamity that could flood across the multiverse like an unstoppable deluge…

"For Father!"

"For Father!"

———————

…

Soon after.

Dark red illumination lights glowed, but the cabin remained generally dim.

Thirty‑two assault troops, arranged eight per row in four rows, activated their magnetic boots and armor locks, and were neatly secured inside the cabin.

They wore Thor's Hammer Mark X (heavy‑armor type), with a few paper‑bound copies of Human Truth attached, helmets bearing a demon face and a red plume, and waists wrapped in tiger‑beast pelts.

Equipped with power swords, power spears, and other melee weapons, it was clear they were an elite combat squad of a certain battalion.

Veterans?

The Assault Troops Legion has only existed for a short time, so the battalion currently has no true veteran company, and the Terminator armor is relatively rare; being able to equip Mark X shows that this battalion is already fairly wealthy.

Boom…

At that moment, the fuselage shuddered violently, as if something had struck the transport carrying the elites, but the energy shield negated the damage.

Boom… boom…

However, the attacks grew increasingly dense, and even the pilot's flying became more aggressive.

Finally…

"Boom! Boom!! Hiss~!!"

Accompanied by a harsh screech from the fuselage scraping the ground, the pilot appeared to have made a hard landing.

Moreover, before the transport had even come to a stop, the pilot flung open the hatch facing the nose.

"Whoosh!"

The hatch swung open, causing an instantaneous surge of airflow, and allowing the elite combat squad to glimpse the outside scene…

It was on a barren, dim plain shrouded in starlight and firelight, where an apocalyptic‑scale landing battle erupted, and the oncoming Tai Luo Insect Race surged forward like a rolling tsunami.

And the brothers and auxiliary troops who arrived first by transport plane, together with the heavy armored vehicles, have already begun to clash with the insect swarm.

Seeing this.

The platoon leader at the very front drew his power heavy sword, then with a 'hum!' the dark‑red lightning stance enveloped the blade, and he swung it forward.

"Brothers! For our father, follow me and kill!"

"For our father! Kill!"

The assaulters merely let out a short battle cry, then disengaged the magnetic lock and armor seal and charged out of the cabin.

"Clang! Clang clang!"

"Ri~--whoosh!"

Intense gunfire and artillery booms reverberated across the battlefield.

This elite combat platoon surged ahead bravely, swiftly sweeping past friendly forces and armored units, only slowing after reaching the very front of the line.

"Boom—!! Boom...!!"

At this very moment, a 'giant' over a hundred meters tall, with steps that could shake the entire continent, strode past the elite combat platoon from the upper flank.

Moreover, this 'giant' also wielded a 'crescent moon blade' over a hundred meters long, reaping swaths of insects; this, then, is the assaulters' OriginalBody —

DivineBody.

Everyone, I have to work overtime this Sunday T-T, shamelessly asking for a day off; I feel that once I start work I won't have time to prepare a new novel, and right now only the first two chapters are done.

The new novel might not go live until after the year.

As for the next enemy in this book,

Not a spoiler, but the spoiler is that Leon has been hopping back and forth among various tombs.

Moreover, during this period I might also insert some side stories, such as the 'Blood Cross' mentioned by a reader; those unfamiliar can check it out—search for 'Blood Cross' on the broken site, and it really is a lustful mutant.

(End of chapter)