Boom rumble.

The sky was thick with dark clouds and roaring thunder. Beneath the ruins of Central City, violent earthquakes began to shake the ground. Searchlights swept over the area, and under countless shocked gazes, a colossal S-level creature covered in gray-white bone spikes slowly stood up. Its entire body was steamed with blood and flesh vapor, with only part of the suppression armor left on its head. Twenty-four EVA restraint locks on its back had completely shattered!

The one standing up was not the Gray Mist Envoy.

It was... the Gray Mist itself!

Far in the sky, KIKI watched this scene with a horrified expression. She murmured,

“Lin Xian...”

Then, without hesitation, she rushed toward the direction of the ruins.

Large pieces of colonial armor debris still scattered here, and the ground was filled with a mist of blood! Seeing this tragic sight, KIKI immediately used telekinesis to clear away the smoke and dust, then frantically searched for Lin Xian.

“Lin Xian! Lin Xian!”

At this moment, the towering mountain-like S-level Gray Mist aberration suddenly let out a deep, low roar. KIKI reacted instantly and prepared to use her telekinesis to resist.

But just then, Lin Xian’s voice suddenly came through the earpiece.

“KIKI, get out of here quickly!”

“Lin Xian?” KIKI exclaimed in surprise. “Where are you?”

“I’m where I should be...”

Inside the main cabin of the suppression device remaining on the Gray Mist Envoy’s head, Lin Xian lay quietly in the survival pod. Before disconnecting the neural link, he sent one last command.

Rampage!

At this moment, the Gray Mist was steaming hot all over. Its previously suppressed action brain was now consumed only by a furious desire to attack. Its gaze slowly turned toward the Corpse Driver currently assaulting survivors and soldiers!

Neigh!

Suddenly, the colossal S-level creature completely lifted its mechanical restrictions and thundered forward toward the rampaging Corpse Driver.

The Corpse Driver, who was firing laser beams at the Iron Guard Brigade led by Huo Jiang, sensed an abnormal presence. Turning around, it prepared to use its dark mark detection, but what awaited it was a bone-spiked giant fist crashing down like an avalanche!

Boom!

The punch was immense and heavy. The collision of the two giants caused a roaring explosion, and a white shockwave clearly visible to the naked eye spread outward.

Strangely, the Corpse Driver did not activate any defensive force fields or red mist when struck by the Gray Mist’s punch. Its face was half obliterated by that single blow, with tissue flying everywhere and blood plasma bursting out.

The Gray Mist did not stop after the punch. It immediately followed with a Zhengyang Strike, kicking the Corpse Driver back several steps until it crashed into multiple high-rise buildings. Then, the Gray Mist executed a third move, quickly closing in and delivering a knee strike midair. Sharp bone spikes pierced through the Corpse Driver’s sternum, knocking it down face-first.

The hundred-meter-tall Corpse Driver collapsed forward with a thunderous crash, causing a violent earthquake and sending dust billowing into the air!

At that moment, all soldiers and survivors in the city were stunned. The strange sight of an S-level aberration violently attacking its own ally was unprecedented. Even more remarkable was that the Gray Mist, covered in bone spikes and resembling a creature from a foreign star, was fighting using a set of... military-style boxing techniques!

Inside the Twin Star Tower’s Xiao Lou, the lower ranks of the Phoenix Society were all dumbfounded. Just as Huo Jiang and the Iron Guard Brigade prepared to focus all their artillery fire on the two giants, Ye Lan suddenly spoke up,

“Adjust firepower to deal with other monster tides. If this Gray Mist is being controlled by Chu Yan—”

“Yes!”

High above in Silent City, Mochizuki Shinji immediately noticed as well. He contacted Lin Xian through the communicator but found Lin Xian’s voice fading to near silence. What came through even more clearly was the sound of giant fists pounding.

On a field of ruins, a bizarre scene unfolded. The rampaging Gray Mist aberration was wildly punching the even larger Corpse Driver. Each blow caused the earth to shake and dust to explode.

Meanwhile, the Corpse Driver, whose torso was nearly shattered, finally seemed ready to retaliate!

In an instant, four laser beams pierced through the Gray Mist’s sternum, leaving four huge bloody holes. However, the Gray Mist appeared completely oblivious to pain, with no spiritual communication at all—only bloodthirsty rampage. Each punch shattered more of the Corpse Driver’s face, while the Corpse Driver’s torso continuously regenerated.

The earth-shaking battle unleashed furious energy everywhere, with blood and tissue flying through the air. The Corpse Driver suddenly unleashed a white shockwave, stripping layer after layer of the Gray Mist’s tissue.

In the suppression device main control cabin, Viola sensed the danger and immediately severed all connections. Just as the Corpse Driver was about to shatter the Gray Mist’s torso completely, the suppression device on the Gray Mist’s head suddenly activated. A dancer robot equipped with thrusters launched two survival pods flying out.

At that moment, the Gray Mist abruptly stopped moving, standing in place and maintaining its punching posture.

Buzz! Crunch!

Wave after wave of massive shockwaves annihilated the Gray Mist’s skin, charred its tissue blocks, and sent its organs flying. Finally, the Gray Mist was blasted into a bare skeleton and collapsed with a thunderous crash.

On a broken high-rise, Viola brought out the two survival pods.

One survival pod, stained with blood, opened. Lin Xian struggled to crawl out and lay on the ground, breathing rapidly and trembling. Severe spiritual overload had caused him to start experiencing hallucinations, his vision blurring.

“Viola...” Lin Xian’s voice was weak and low. “Is she alive...”

[No life signs detected.]

[Initiating second AED program.]

Sizzle!

In the other cryogenic pod, Chu Yan’s face was pale, blood flowing steadily from her mouth and nose, but she showed no response.

Lin Xian sighed softly and tried to stand but found his body completely unresponsive. His head was pounding, so he let Viola drag him up. He leaned against Chu Yan’s cryogenic pod and looked toward the ruins of Dawn City.

“This is the 7th Division’s West Street position of the garrison troops. Our air defense array’s power has been cut off, and ammunition is exhausted! Repeat, ammunition exhausted!”

“Chen Weiguo, Zhao Gang, bring your 4th and 11th Divisions immediately to the riverfront line before Wall 2!”

“All special operations teams, concentrate at Starport and Central Tower to protect the City Ring!”

“Central Street urgently needs medical teams! Hurry, there are severe casualties here!”

“The Dawn Watch Alliance and Steel Bastion convoys have been scattered in the southern district. Everyone retreat toward the eastern district!”

“Do not give up! The City Ring of Dawn City is still shining!”

“Lin Xian, Lin Xian, can you hear me? Our train is surrounded and we need—”

“Lin Xian, where are you?”

“Team Leader Lin!”

Voices from all channels filled the earpiece—commands, shouts, roars, cries for help. The voices of humanity merged into a symphony carved into the phonograph of a desperate civilization.

16:45, the sky remained dark.

The tide of darkness hung like an endless shadow, covering Dawn City.

Once a prosperous intelligent metropolis, the City of Night had become a living hell. The brilliant holographic sky screens had long been extinguished, replaced by rolling smoke and flames, like boiling asphalt—dense and suffocating, blocking the entire firmament. For two days and nights, a steady drizzle fell from the sky. Occasionally, the wind tore through the smoke, revealing not blue skies but blood-red thunderclouds—burning ashes reflecting distant, unextinguished fires.

High above, wreckage of several crashed airships hung between skyscrapers, steel cables snapped, and hulls tilted like giant beasts nailed to crosses.

By Wall 2, the inner city was still engulfed in flames and gunfire, lighting the sky. The battlefront in Dawn City was split in two, with the human lines steadily shrinking.

Beneath the ruins lay countless young corpses, and in the flames burned immortal ashes.

Above the dark clouds, lightning flashed, and fire blazed fiercely. A terrifying outline of a giant serpent coiled within the clouds, illuminated intermittently by lightning, its scale even greater than Silent City’s.

All aberrations grew more frenzied. From three Star Abysses, countless creatures crawled endlessly, devouring humans and Dawn City itself.

In the distance, the Corpse Driver, which had its upper torso shattered by the rampaging Gray Mist, surged with black mist. Under countless despairing gazes, it fully restored itself again. This time, however, instead of heading toward Wall 2, it marched through gunfire toward the ruin building where Lin Xian was.

Boom, boom—each step caused the ground to tremble, radiating an overwhelming oppressive aura.

“Do not allow large aberrations into the city. The Corpse Driver will use this to restore its vitality!”

In the cockpit of the Emperor Suzaku, locked in a brutal battle with the patched-together S-level, Bai Ye and Su Rui shouted as they wielded their Plasma Diffraction Swords, defending fiercely.

At Wall 1 on the western city wall, the dark blue Emperor Xuanwu cleaved through abyss worms bursting from the ground with a single sword strike. Qin Yue and Qin Chuan looked up, exchanging fierce, bloodshot gazes as hordes of aberrations surged like a tide through the wall breach and dark silhouettes of larger aberrations loomed behind.

“Brother!”

“Come on!”

Empty! With the Qin brothers’ furious shouts, the nuclear power core in Emperor Xuanwu’s chest emitted a sharp buzzing. Plasma beams sprayed wildly as both swung their right arms, stepping forward to block the monster tide flooding through the wall breach with an unyielding stance!

...

“Teacher Ye.”

At the Twin Star Tower command center, Ye Lan, who had stood for an entire day and night, suddenly heard a weak voice through the earpiece.

“Lin Xian, where are you?”

Ye Lan’s voice remained calm, as if everyone could feel an unyielding strength emanating from her aged but resolute tone.

“Teacher Ye, does darkness truly feel fear?” In the ruins, Lin Xian watched the rampaged S-level chaos and the approaching Corpse Driver. He sensed that his spiritual force might have drawn some attention from this dark creature.

Hearing Lin Xian’s voice, Ye Lan replied, “We cannot use human logic to understand a civilization. From the macrocosmic perspective of the universe, whether ants or apex predators like humans, all face survival crises. This is true for both advanced and primitive civilizations alike.”

“But the resistance we can mount seems insignificant before such civilizations. Does that mean we fundamentally lack the power to resist?” Lin Xian looked at the towering giant approaching, weak yet seemingly unafraid of death. Instead, he felt more unwillingness and rage.

Ye Lan patiently responded, “The chain of suspicion between civilizations is unbreakable. This is a basic axiom of cosmic sociology. Like hunters stalking in a dark forest, every civilization must regard others as threats because survival is civilization’s foremost need. The difference between high-level and low-level civilizations is only the range of the hunter’s gun. Ants cannot understand why humans destroy anthills, just as we cannot comprehend why dark creatures devastate human civilization. But one thing is certain.”

“What?” Lin Xian asked.

“They cannot effectively and completely destroy us, at least not in the short term. Perhaps they have some other purpose. But this shows they do not possess a godlike understanding of us.”

Listening to Ye Lan’s words, Lin Xian looked at the approaching Corpse Driver, weakly leaning against Chu Yan’s cryogenic pod.

“Makes sense...”

Lin Xian’s consciousness blurred. He forced his eyes open and saw Silent City burning high above. The Iron Guard Brigade’s aerial warships were falling.

He saw the Twin Star Tower’s sky filled with the last fleets and soldiers of the Iron Guard Brigade and garrison troops defending the glowing City Ring in a relentless fight.

He recalled the words he said when bidding farewell to Chu Zhaonan.

“When I was young, I worked as a mechanical engineer.”

“I remember the first time I entered Star City and saw the City Ring. I thought humanity was truly great to build such a magnificent mechanical structure—a beautiful landmark that allowed airborne traffic and could even send signals to planetary devices for spatial positioning. Sadly, we will never see such a civilization project again.”

He remembered the human leader’s tone was filled not only with nostalgia but also a vibrant hope.

But now, he saw countless aberrations rampaging through the city, destroying and slaughtering. The Star City rail station was a wasteland, aerial tracks had completely collapsed, millions of humans fought desperately inside the city, and countless convoys vanished like foam in the monster tide. Humanity was like ants before these creatures.

He saw the huge sinkhole at the center of Neon District where Bai Ye and Su Rui piloted Emperor Suzaku and the patched-together S-level beast. Fire raged and the ground shook. Their Plasma Diffraction Sword broke, but the couple boldly leapt onto the aberration’s back, releasing full decompression diffraction incineration, reducing the creature to ash—along with Emperor Suzaku and themselves.

He saw the Wall 1 breach on the city’s west, where the one-armed Emperor Xuanwu knelt with a high-frequency blade chain sword, blocking the breach. Countless A-class and special-class aberration corpses lay before this giant mech. The two nuclear power engines in Emperor Xuanwu’s chest had long since shut down. Golden coolant dripped from the metal chest frame, mixing with the blood of countless fallen soldiers, forming an unbreakable steel Great Wall.

He heard continuous voices in his earpiece—Chen Sixuan’s calls, KIKI’s questions, Jian Xuwei’s commands, Shi Diyuan’s roars, Jiang Yun’s rescue efforts...

He heard Ding Junyi speaking, accompanied by Xiao Yuan and Miao Lu’s voices, and the engine roar of the Infinite train’s Whale-03E heavy gas turbine locomotive nearby.

Or maybe he couldn’t hear clearly, as a roaring noise filled his ears.

Lin Xian’s bloodshot gaze slowly focused. He saw the towering dark evil god blocking out the sky approaching the ruined high-rise in front of him. Its hollow abyssal eyes fixed on him.

At this moment, an endless tide of darkness surged forward. Lin Xian’s spiritual force flickered like a trembling candle flame. Facing this mountain-like dark creature, he was insignificant to the point of being negligible.

*Cough, cough.*

Lin Xian calmly stared at the despairing Corpse Driver, blood foaming at his mouth’s corner. After linking through the Gray Mist and Chu Yan, he seemed to sense the meaning behind that gazing stare.

He could not decipher the gaze’s meaning—like even after neural linking, the dark creature’s thoughts remained a mystery. But Lin Xian could feel it.

That gaze held a strong sense of confusion.

On the Twin Star Tower’s command screen, Ye Lan looked toward the Corpse Driver and the crumbling dangerous building where Lin Xian was, saying, “In the vast universe, civilization is both the brightest blaze and the most dangerous shadow. We are both hunter and prey.”

“Attacks are accompanied by probing. They use higher-level creatures step by step to test the range and power of humanity’s hunter’s gun. Does this behavior also mean they fear unknown powers?” Lin Xian slowly replied, “Just like you told me, being bitten by an insect, or rather, a frog that carries deadly poison...”

“The Crimson World guy said the dark creatures are perfect lifeforms—angels,” Lin Xian looked at the Corpse Driver. “I wonder if angels feel pain and fear.”

Buzz!

Amid the ruins and smoke, four crimson beams slowly lit up, targeting Lin Xian and the entire area where he stood.

Lin Xian looked up and tried to say something but had no strength. His vision blurred, and that crimson light seemed to become the last dusk.

Viola stood before Lin Xian.

[I will do my utmost to protect you. It has been a pleasure working with you, Mr. Lin.]

Sizzle!

A faint AED sound rang behind her. At this moment, Lin Xian suddenly felt a weak spiritual force gently lifting his heavy brain like a tender hand.

Lin Xian parted his lips and looked toward the Corpse Driver’s direction, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He had regained some strength, so he called out.

“Grace.”

This was not a command to the communicator but more like a call into deep space.

After a brief silence, that familiar voice echoed in Lin Xian’s ear.

[I am here.]

At an altitude of 52,660 kilometers in geostationary orbit around Blue Star, a 12-kilometer-diameter near-Earth planetary defense platform silently rotated in the dark deep space.

A brain-machine consciousness transmission device invented by Mochizuki Shinji wrapped a flashing bullet connected to Grace’s communication interface. This forbidden object, born from darkness, broke the Sky Veil Barrier’s signal blocking of identical energy frequencies, allowing Lin Xian to successfully contact Grace. Lin Xian became the only person able to control this near-Earth defense platform from the ground.

At this moment, Grace had completed the system takeover of the defense platform, restarted all subsystems, and awaited Lin Xian’s orders.

“Since the Day of Apocalypse, humanity’s space forces have been silenced.”

On the rooftop of a ruined high-rise in Dawn City, Lin Xian struggled to stand, leaning on the cryogenic pod. His gaze was unyielding as he stared at the four crimson eyes of the Corpse Driver.

“So, you must not have tried... humanity’s industrial civilization’s strongest destructive force.”

Roar!

The Corpse Driver’s crimson light blazed fiercely, coldly preparing to annihilate Lin Xian.

At that moment, Lin Xian’s eyes sharpened, and from deep within his throat came a fierce shout!

“Southern Celestial Gate, fire!”

In deep space, the 12-kilometer-diameter ring-shaped energy storage array suddenly lit up with dazzling azure arcs. Twenty-four “Candle Dragon”-class constrained particle beam arrays spread out like wings of judgment. In the vacuum, they silently rotated their barrels, redirecting the high-energy particle cannons originally aimed at deep space asteroids toward the Asia-Pacific region of Blue Star. Deep space radar synchronized coordinate parameters to the targeting sight, and the particle acceleration rings emitted a star-like white-hot light.

In an instant, the high-energy particle cannon core at Southern Celestial Gate emitted a blindingly strong light capable of piercing retinas. A plasma torrent over five hundred meters wide gathered in space, forming a divine spear piercing heaven and earth.

Upon hitting the atmosphere, it ionized a crimson vortex several kilometers wide. The clouds did not just break through but vaporized instantly. Thunderstorm clouds along the path were torn apart like cotton by an invisible giant hand.

The moment the focused torrent struck Dawn City’s surface, time seemed to freeze for a frame.

The entire city was illuminated as if by the sun. The monster tides surging across sky and earth, the gunfire of soldiers desperately fighting back, the faces of survivors joining the battle—all were swallowed by the blazing white light. The shadow enveloping the city was instantly shattered and stretched infinitely.

What followed was silent annihilation. Centered on the Corpse Driver, all matter within a three-kilometer radius was instantly vaporized into fundamental particles. The shockwave spread perfectly spherically, shattering skyscrapers like sandcastles. Giant aberrations, whether A-class or special-class, with bodies hundreds or thousands of meters long, were reduced to carbonized fragments. The ground melted into glass under billions of degrees, and boiling silicate magma was hurled hundreds of meters high in crystallized waves by the shockwave.

The energy aftershock lasted for a full 17 seconds.

All communication channels in the city were cut off. The shockwave caused countless people’s vision and hearing to vanish briefly.

When the beam dissipated, only a five-kilometer-wide meteor crater remained on the ground. The Corpse Driver, which could infinitely regenerate, had concentrated all its remaining red mist and defensive fields but had vanished entirely—bone ash and all. Along with it disappeared the ruined high-rise and two survival pods.

In the city, crimson plasma flame waves shimmered like auroras, covering the horizon and illuminating the endless darkness.

On the command ship, as Lu Tianye charged out from the dazzling light toward the bridge, all gunfire across heaven and earth ceased.

Soldiers desperately fighting on the front lines and walls lowered their arms shielding their eyes and struggled to look. They heard a dense slaughtering sound like a retreating tide. When they shone their searchlights again, all aberrations had fled into the darkness. The city inside and out was left only with mountains of monster corpses.

At the Twin Star Tower, Ye Lan arrived at the viewing platform outside the City Ring. The thunderclouds dispersed, and the smoke cleared. The three dark tide curtains quickly withdrew.

In the west of Dawn City, where the battle had been hottest and bloodiest, the golden sunset cut through the night’s lingering smoke like a sharp sword. The light was not dazzling but carried a near-gentle cruelty, dyeing the ruins amber. Broken glass curtain walls reflected millions of tiny glittering points, like decorations on a splendid lament.

At the city wall front line, an Iron Guard Brigade soldier released his trigger. The blood and dirt on his face had dried into a brown map as he silently gazed at the sunset.

Everyone stood quietly in place. Inside underground shelters, dust-covered refugees began to walk out through the passages. They saw cold corpses scattered in the streets, ruins, and beneath the walls. At this moment, it seemed as if the warm sunset gently caressed them, bringing comfort to the departed souls.

17:02.

At Dawn Center near the Qinggu Strait, the European Storm Alliance in Reykjavík, Phoenix City in Ushuaia, South America, the Alaska United Front in North America, Noah and the Republic Shelter Islands in Oceania... and countless survivor shelters and convoys desperately driving toward Dawn simultaneously received a frequency across all corners.

“Sizzle...”

“This is the highest command of Dawn City. I am Ye Lan.”

“On behalf of the Phoenix Society and all human civilization, after 25 hours of arduous battle, the defense of Dawn City concluded today at 16:57. With the fearless bloodshed of five million survivors—including garrison troops, Iron Guard Brigade, North American United Front, Unlimited Alliance, Dawn Watch Alliance, Common Alliance, Steel Bastion—we successfully repelled the offensive probes from Star Abysses 5, 7, and 8. We annihilated four S-level creatures, including the Corpse Driver from Star Abyss 5, creature #11 Earth Surge, #16 Sky Touch, and #18 Wanderer, as well as countless special-class and A-class aberrations. We forced the Star Abyss expansion tide to retreat to its original position...”

“At the same time, in this battle, we acquired dark energy conversion technology capable of completely blocking dark invasion mutations. This will allow humanity to gain breathing room in the darkness and regain resources such as farming and water. For this, the Phoenix Society thanks pioneers like Colonel Chu Jing of the Civilization Vanguard, Lin Xian of the Unlimited Alliance, and Chu Yan of the North American United Front for their outstanding contributions.”

“This is a milestone battle since the Day of Apocalypse, representing humanity’s first opportunity to break the passive balance in the fight against darkness, gaining precious time for all mankind...”

“In the vast universe, civilization is both the brightest flame and the most dangerous shadow. We are both hunter and prey. Peace among civilizations is always built upon the possibility of mutual destruction.”

“Next, let us step forward with the dawn, remain silent in the dark, gather our flames, and explore the ultimate power humanity has yet to break through, launching resistance against this apocalyptic crisis, opening...”

“The Era of Might!”

The flames in Dawn City’s ruins burned for several days and nights. Under Night Walker surveillance, the Star Abyss’s expansion rate slowed significantly, returning to the initial rate on the Day of Apocalypse. As the central city, the Phoenix Society did not abandon Dawn City. Lu Tianye voluntarily led the garrison troops to personally defend it.

Survivors gradually evacuated in the following days, heading north and east. Some stayed behind, joining the garrison or helping rebuild the city.

Thousands of engineering vehicles bulldozed through the ruins, dust drifting over countless cold corpses. On the northern plains, the Dawn Watch Alliance nearly doubled its numbers, including many women and children. Among them were most members of Steel Bastion. Xu Yufei, once seen as a fence-sitter, fled Dawn City first but was the first to return to support it, dying on the eve of the sunrise.

There was also Lei Zhen, the hot-tempered Common Alliance captain who liked to curse, Luo Heng of the Wind Whisperers convoy who preferred light gear raids, and Jian Zeyang with his Steel Blaze convoy formed from poor survivors in the outer city—all buried beneath the city walls...

Ten days later.

At Yongcheng Port rail station, the refitted Infinite train hauled ten improved deep-sea compartment cars, equipped with oceanic tethers and storm detection devices from Silent City. Carrying dozens of elite team members, it roared along the orbital ocean segment, heading toward the Pacific!