Gu Wuxin struggled like a drowning man in a swamp.
In the torrent of super plasma, he lost control over his body. The body of a human being that used to be strong and beautiful suddenly turned into an octopus, an Armored Storm Dragon, and various bizarre-shaped apocalyptic beasts. In the end, countless lumps and black spots piled up on his body, making him look indescribably ugly.
The defense of all the cells had completely collapsed. The overly complicated gene pool had completely collapsed. Billions of incompatible genes were growing and consuming each other in the most intense way.
Gu Wuxin was dragged deeper and deeper into the red spot by the lightning creature. His body collapsed completely. With a flash of brightness, thousands of ghosts escaped from the mud-like body, trying to run away in the form of pure energy. But without the protection of the body, they were even less of a match for the lightning creature. Very soon, they were caught by the overwhelming plasma and dragged back into illusionary bubbles, never to be seen again.
Li Yao opened his arms and legs and floated in the boundless space, observing everything emotionlessly.
It was not until the last bit of Gu Wuxin’s brainwaves dispersed inside and outside of the gravity field of the ancient star that he was somewhat relieved.
At the same time.
Inside the primordial relic.
The moment Gu Wuxin was swallowed by the lightning, the overwhelming ocean of cells seemed to have received a mysterious command, too. It stopped wriggling, splitting, and multiplying in the blink of an eye. The black spots that had just dispersed reappeared. The large, brown, and gray cells all collapsed. Visible smoke surged out of the pits and flew into the sky, turning into colorful, splendid bubbles.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
Billions of bubbles exploded at the same time. The ocean of cells was obliterated instantly. Even the last traces of the city were gone, revealing the true appearance of the City of Silver.
The human experts were all dazed and speechless.
“Is it over?”
Holding her wound, Ding Lingdang breathed heavily. She struggled to her feet and stared at the gap leading to the sea of stars in the sky. “Li Yao, Li Yao, can you hear me?”
“No. It’s not over yet.”
Not far behind her, Long Yangjun was staring at District 47. “The Bifrost hasn’t collapsed. The teleportation is still ongoing. We cannot allow the tiniest bit of information from the Pangu Universe to be transmitted to the center of the cosmos.”
In the sea of stars.
Li Yao moved his eyes away from the ancient giants and the red spots. He turned around and stared at the Bifrost that was rushing out of the primeval relics.
The rainbow bridge made of pure energy was truly an endless bridge across the multiverse from the primeval relics to the end of the universe.
One could vaguely see that the tide-like warship that Gu Wuxin had prepared had been dragged into a stream of ‘matter’ hundreds of kilometers long. It was becoming more and more transparent, as if it had turned from hard metal into an illusionary chimney that could vanish into the three-dimensional universe at any moment.
There was no time.
“Cough cough, cough cough cough cough.”
Li Yao coughed softly and spat a mouthful of blood into his palm. Then he found that his palm was translucent, too, which was not a technique but a sign that his body was about to be burnt up due to over-burning of his life.
He could not wait any longer.
He hoped that his body could hold on for a while longer, even if it was burning for an hour, a minute, a second, an inch of light, or even a minute of heat.
While he was thinking, Li Yao activated his crystal suit and turned into a streak of brightness again, rushing forward and covering the distance of tens of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye before he crashed into the rainbow bridge brutally.
BOOM!
There was no sound in the vacuum, but Li Yao’s soul seemed to have been hit by a high-speed crystal train. He screamed and moaned at the same time.
The power unit on the left side of the crystal suit was completely wrecked. The helmet was riddled with shocking cracks that could shatter at any moment.
But the Bifrost remained still.
“Li Yao, Li Yao!”
Ding Lingdang’s sobbing voice echoed inside his brain. Maybe it was the remnant of the previous ‘hyperlink’, or maybe it was the telepathic link between her and Li Yao, but the former Speaker of Parliament’s female intuition sent out a rare warning. “What are you doing? Tell me, what are you doing?”
“…I’m intercepting the Bifrost.”
Li Yao flew back, leaving enough distance for his sprint. After a moment of silence, he said to Ding Lingdang, “Although Gu Wuxin and his super body are doomed, the teleportation is still ongoing. Even though it is an empty warship, a lot of information is still stored inside.
“Even we and the Pangu Civilization have grasped a certain level of self-driving technology. The Flood Tide warship will certainly be teleported to the center of the Universe Ocean without Gu Wuxin. As long as the coordinates of the Pangu Universe and its voyage log are stored in the mainframe crystal processor of the Flood Tide warship, we will be screwed.
“Therefore, even if I can’t stop the teleportation, I must at least destroy the Tide Berserker and erase all the information that has been sent out from the Pangu Universe.
“Basically… that’s it.”
BOOM!
Before he was able to finish his sentence, Li Yao crashed into the Bifrost for the second time in space. Other than breaking his crystal suit into even more pieces, it did not do any good.
“What—what are you going to do?”
Ding Lingdang lost her cool. “We tried to attack the Bifrost on the ground, too, but Gu Wuxin seemed to have set up powerful barriers and barriers all around the teleportation array. The damn space folds are involved. We can’t stop it. We can’t!”
“I know.”
Li Yao tried a third time, a fourth time, and a fifth time. He was like a fly that had been locked in a glass bottle and hit its head hard despite the fact that there was no way out. “This was Gu Wuxin’s last resort. Of course, he set up the most solid defense around the teleportation array. Therefore, attacking from the ground is useless. We have to attack the Flood Tide warship from space or even from inside it.
“Attack from the inside?”
Ding Lingdang shouted, “But it seems to have turned into a torrent of pure energy. Nothing can enter it!”
“Yes.”
Li Yao mumbled, “Honey, I’m sorry.”
BOOM!
The sixth time, which was also the fastest and most violent collision, Li Yao was like a meteorite that had been shattered in the atmosphere. His crystal suit, mustard suit, and even his body of flesh and blood were all burnt to the ground. He turned into a shining body of energy, a burning vitality, and stabbed his transparent hands into the Bifrost.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Li Yao roared crazily on the mental level. His last cell turned into nothingness in the intense collision of energy. He abandoned his crystal suit, burnt his body, and overdrafted all his vitality in order to squeeze into the Bifrost by force so that his soul would burst into the most brilliant fireworks!
“What are you doing?”
Ding Lingdang’s voice was as painful as her own heart being cut off. “Li Yao, don’t. Don’t!”
“I seem to have played ‘Soul Out of Body’ again, but this time, my body of flesh and blood is completely wasted.”
Li Yao smiled bitterly on the mental level. “I’m sorry, honey. I don’t have a choice. You are a Cultivator, too. You should know that there is only one way in such circumstances.
“You—you abandoned your own body and turned yourself into pure energy, forcing yourself into the Bifrost in such a way?”
Ding Lingdang was greatly shocked. “But you don’t have any weapons at all. How are you going to destroy the Flood Tide warship?”
“Yes.”
Li Yao’s soul was struggling to move forward on the Bifrost. He was silent for a long time before he said, “I still have one bomb. One last… powerful bomb.”
Ding Lingdang immediately understood what Li Yao meant.
“Soul explosion?”
The former Speaker of Parliament shrieked, “No, Li Yao. Let’s think of something. There must be a way. Don’t do it!”
“If we had three days and three nights, we might have been able to think of a safer solution. But right now, we might not even have three seconds. The teleportation has already begun. The Flood Tide warship might be teleported to the center of the Universe Ocean with fatal information at any moment. I have to erase all my own information before that happens.
Li Yao’s soul finally stopped the flood-like warship that had turned into a stream of information. There was a smile of relief deep inside his heart. “Honey, don’t be sad. Show us some of the confidence of the Red Fire Dragon King. We are the same kind of people. People like us never planned to live like turtles for hundreds of years. Death is just the beginning of a different journey for us. We’ve been prepared for that, haven’t we?”
“No, no, no!”
Ding Lingdang burst into tears and shouted, “I’m not ready yet. I won’t allow you to die. Li Yao, do you hear me? Come back. Come back now. We will die together!”
“I’m sorry, honey. I’ll listen to everything you say. But this time… I alone will be enough.”
Li Yao said, “You must survive and accept the challenges of the flood with a new mission.
“I won’t let you die!”
Ding Lingdang gnashed her teeth. “Do you hear me? I absolutely won’t let you die. If smashing the deepest level of hell can pull out your soul, then I will smash the deepest level of hell. If reversing time can bring you back to life, then I will find a way to reverse time and space. If I become the strongest expert in the four-dimension, five-dimension, six-seven-eight-nine-dimension, then I will be able to reconstruct your soul. Then, I will definitely blow up all the universes and all the dimensions. If I have to go to the center of the goddamn multiverse sea, the earth at the core of the flood, only then can I see your shifty eyes again, then I will definitely go to the earth. I will definitely complete your mission and destroy the earth!”
“… Getting to know you was the most interesting thing that happened to me in the Pangu Universe. Do you know that every second after we met, a beautiful picture is flashing inside my soul? I really want to stall for ten days and ten nights and talk to you for ten days and ten nights, but how can I finish what I want to say in ten days and ten nights?”
Li Yao mumbled, “I remember the first time I met you in the East Ocean of the Star Glory Federation and the first time I experienced the brilliance of the world of Cultivators. Everything felt like a long dream. I will definitely fight to the end for the dream that is incomparably real.
“Goodbye, Ding Lingdang.”
“Goodbye, friends.
“Goodbye, Star Glory Federation.
“Goodbye… Human civilization!”
BOOM!
The intense quakes in the sea of stars turned into earthshaking noises in the minds of every expert in the primeval relics.
Ding Lingdang, Long Yangjun, Boss Bai, Fist King, Little Ming, Wen Wen, Li Jialing, Li Linghai, Yan Liren… Everybody raised their heads and saw a brilliant fire blossoming in the depths of the Bifrost. In the middle of the endless flames, a glittering vulture soared into the sky and disintegrated at the end of the sea of stars together with the Bifrost, vanishing into nothingness.
At this moment, Li Yao’s soul illuminated the entire Pangu Universe.