Many years later, people would look back on this day and find it hard to hold back their emotions. So close—so very close—humanity had come to the brink of extinction, and Blue Star to the brink of annihilation. What stopped it all was the wisdom of Blue Star itself, and the foresight of its ancestors.
Of course, no one knew at the time just how extraordinary this day would become. Everyone went about their usual routines—waking up early, eating breakfast, heading out to hunt interstellar Zerg. This daily rhythm had remained unchanged ever since the Zerg had evolved.
“Mom, this trip should take about three days. What do you want me to trade for you and Dad when I get back?”
Standing on the balcony after dinner, Qin Sang looked out at the muddy ground below and casually asked her mother.
Her mother had just come out of the kitchen. After a moment of thought, she said, “See if you can get some protective gear. I heard the Academy of Sciences has come out with a new fabric made from mutated cotton and linen. It’s soft to wear but extremely tough.”
Qin Sang nodded. Recently, plants had experienced a major resurgence, and more and more uses for mutated plants were being discovered. There were signs that material supplies were beginning to flourish again.
“What about Dad? What does he want? I heard there’s now tobacco made from mutated plants—it’s strong but doesn’t damage the lungs. Then again, Dad doesn’t smoke. How about some spices made from mutated plants?”
Her father was a cook, so his greatest love would definitely be spices. With more and more mutated plants being contracted, seasonings derived from them were hitting the market one after another.
“Sounds good, sounds good…” Qin’s father came out after washing the dishes and grinned from ear to ear at his daughter’s words.
Qin’s mother sighed contentedly: “It feels like so many things are becoming available again. Maybe the apocalypse really will end soon. When it does, your father’s roast goose shop can open again. He’ll…”
Similar heartwarming conversations were taking place all over the world. As humanity grew stronger, the invasion of the interstellar Zerg no longer felt as brutal or hopeless. The emergence of mutated plants had also enriched supplies—people’s sense of well-being was beginning to approach what it had been before the apocalypse.
But everything has its limits. The road ahead wasn’t necessarily bright—and it was definitely full of twists.
Sure enough, just as Qin’s parents were discussing where to source ingredients for their roast goose shop after reopening, the evening sky suddenly warped with an eerie distortion.
The rain had stopped, the clouds had dispersed, and sunlight had returned to the earth. At dusk, the sky was painted a beautiful orange-gold by the setting sun—a truly lovely sight.
And then, that beautiful sky began to twist. The black spatial rifts across it contorted in a terrifying manner.
Something big was clearly about to happen.
Air-raid sirens blared without warning, and battle alerts were sent to every phone in the world.
Yet, as fast as humanity reacted, disaster descended even faster.
—
Across the orange-yellow sky, black rifts spread. These fissures began to widen until countless small cracks merged into massive spatial rifts.
At the sight, countless humans stared in disbelief. After all their efforts, after destroying so many folded spaces, it all seemed like a cruel joke in that moment.
What made it even more despairing was that these massive spatial rifts began to connect with one another, eventually forming an intricate, ornate magic array.
Yes—an array that was all too familiar to Qin Sang.
“This is a summoning array…”
It was the very same array she had used back when she summoned the stone gate to the Loess Secret Realm.
Qin Sang knew things had just taken a catastrophic turn. She quickly sent the same message to everyone she knew: “Arm up!”
But no amount of preparation could have mattered once the array above began emitting an ominous black light.
The black light was almost blinding. Everyone squinted involuntarily. A moment later, the array shattered, scattering across the sky like shards of broken glass.
It should have been a dreamlike sight. But Qin Sang only felt a chill run down her spine.
With the array’s destruction, the entire sky vanished like a smashed mirror. In its place was an endless, fathomless darkness.
A deep, oppressive, terrifying black.
Suddenly, something massive stirred within that darkness.
For the first time, Qin Sang felt that having such keen eyesight wasn’t necessarily a blessing—because she could already see more than a dozen colossal Zerg rushing toward Blue Star at breakneck speed.
It felt like an eternity, but in reality, only a few minutes had passed. Then, like monsters out of a tokusatsu film, more than a dozen hideous giant Zerg descended upon Blue Star.
Qin Sang looked up at the towering silhouettes in the distance.
These creatures, as tall as twenty-story buildings, appeared to be a mutated variant of cockroaches. Their enormous wings, swollen abdomens, long antennae, huge round eyes, and elongated mouthparts…
No matter how she looked at them, they closely resembled ordinary local cockroaches—just massively oversized, and devastatingly destructive.
One of these damned giant roaches flew straight toward a high-rise residential building, opened its gaping maw, and bit off a huge chunk of the structure. Several humans fell from the gaping hole it had left.
The monstrous roach then used its limbs to skewer the fallen humans like meat on a kebab, lifting them up and devouring them one by one.
Everyone who witnessed it was filled with burning rage.
Similarly brutal scenes unfolded across the globe. A dozen giant interstellar Zerg didn’t sound like many—but human settlements weren’t all that numerous either. And these monsters were horrifically powerful.
Within just a few minutes, countless lives had already been lost.
The military’s fighter jets, drones, and all manner of weaponry were deployed in full force.
Yet, against such colossal monsters, even missiles seemed like little more than toys.
Countless people cried out for a superhero to appear. Meanwhile, the authorities were already considering the use of nuclear weapons.
But these monsters had all descended upon human-populated areas. If nuclear weapons were actually used, regardless of whether the monsters died, the humans in those regions would surely be annihilated.
For the first time, Qin Sang felt utterly powerless.
No matter how formidable she was, against giant Zerg monsters of this scale, her attacks would probably be about as effective as scratching an itch.
Qin Sang immediately tried to contact Grandpa Goose. But the space, which had never failed her before, now seemed sealed off. She could still summon her contracted spirit beasts. However, she couldn’t enter the Roasted Goose Space, nor could she reach Grandpa Goose.
Through her contract, her spirit beasts relayed back only that the Roasted Goose Space was enveloped in a golden light.
Qin Sang knew—Grandpa Goose was out of commission for now.
But she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
No matter what, she had to fight back. Even if resistance seemed futile, she couldn’t give up.
Not just her—every human on the planet felt the same way in that moment.
But before charging out, Qin Sang allowed herself one selfish thought: she wanted her parents to stay home. If the space were accessible, she would have sent them inside without hesitation.
However, both her father and mother shook their heads firmly.
“No matter what happens, our family stays together.”
The same conversation was playing out in countless households.
—
“Are you all going too?”
As the family of three reached the ground floor, they ran into many fellow villagers.
Under the dark sky and flickering streetlights, quite a few villagers had emerged. Qin Sang looked at these families—large and small—and couldn’t help but ask.
And the answer she received was a sea of smiling faces.
Yes—it was remarkable.
Such terrifying monsters had descended, rampaging and slaughtering everywhere. They were more horrifying than any Zerg invasion before. Yet, somehow, no one seemed afraid anymore.
Well, rather than unafraid, it was more that fear had no room to take root. Everyone knew—this battle would either succeed or see them all perish. Humanity had no retreat left. All their prior advantages had been nothing more than a numbing tactic by the Zerg.
“Still, some people should stay behind to take the children and elderly into hiding.” Qin Sang looked at the village chief and Fa Ge. These two had been working tirelessly since the apocalypse began to keep as many villagers alive as possible.
The village chief: “I’ve already arranged for a few uncles to lead the non-combatants and children into the underground shelters. The rest of us have all agreed—we’re going together to fight the monsters.”
Even though everyone knew that this time, they might not come back.
The faces of the entire village were marked with serene smiles. They chatted and laughed as they made their way out of the village.
Seeing this, Qin Sang found herself smiling too.
Though the ground trembled intermittently and dust filled the air, at this moment, the whole village was marching together to fight monsters and protect the planet. No matter the outcome, Qin Sang knew she would never forget this feeling.
Just as they reached the village entrance, she spotted a familiar figure.
“Mind if I join?”
Xu Lin’s handsome face carried a rare, warm smile. As he spoke, his gaze was fixed on Qin Sang.
Qin Sang returned the smile with one just as warm. She said simply: “Let’s go together.”
A few of the younger villagers even found the energy to tease them—some whistled, others cracked jokes. The elders watched the young people and let out quiet sighs.
Still, everyone knew there was no turning back.
As they left the village, they ran into teams from other villages.
The groups merged, and people chatted and laughed with familiar faces—as if they were heading out for an outing, not to their possible deaths.
Gradually, official personnel began appearing along the road.
No one said anything heavy. They just kept chatting and laughing as they marched toward the suburbs.
The same scene was unfolding all over the planet. Humanity had never been so united. And yet, this united force, facing the rampaging giant Zerg, seemed like ants trying to topple an elephant—utterly outmatched.
But sometimes, that very force could become something immense.
No one knew exactly what happened, or how it happened.
All they knew was that, before they realized it, their bodies began to glow. Not just their own—everyone around them, as long as they had ever activated a jade storage space, was suddenly radiating light.
The light was bright, yet not blinding at all. On the contrary, everyone felt a warm, comforting sensation spreading through their bodies.
A single beam of light wasn’t particularly conspicuous. But when the second, third, and countless more beams shot up into the sky, the sight was even more awe-inspiring than the shattering of the heavens.
And when countless beams from across the globe converged together, three enormous stone gates abruptly materialized in the dark sky.
The gates were strikingly familiar—almost everyone recognized them.
One of them was the summoning stone gate of the Loess Secret Realm. Though no one knew what lay behind the other two, they all had an inexplicable feeling—that whatever was inside those gates would be the salvation of humanity.
As for Qin Sang—the moment the beams appeared, she froze.
Because the Roasted Goose Space, which had been unreachable just moments ago, was suddenly accessible again.
And inside it—radiance blazed in all directions!
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