The collapse of the Holy Realm Planet is nearing its end, with the lush and false outer shell now almost entirely swallowed into the dark void at the planet's center.

The crystal branches growing from the core area support the last remaining pieces of land, and viewed from orbit, this scene looks like a mythical giant tree spreading its crown in space, propping up the last patches of fertile soil at the world's end.

The last batch of transport ships and escort units ascends from the teetering fragments of the planet, the fleet's engines tracing streaks of light against the dark expanse of space.

Baili Qing and Red stand on the ship bridge of Mass Effect, watching the scene in space through the broad observation window.

"...I have seen similar descriptions in the epics of the Algredians," Red speaks softly, "In those myths, the planet beneath their feet collapsed and was rebuilt thrice."

"Myths and epics are a mix of truth and fiction, anything could happen before the Great Annihilation," Baili Qing says lightly, "But one thing is certain, the Hidden Monastery, a malignant growth entrenched in the civilized world for centuries, is finally disintegrating today."

"The main body is undoubtedly disintegrated, but the remnants may take years to eradicate," Red states calmly, "Inevitably, some exiled priests will flee this Star Region early, hidden bases of theirs might still be scattered across places in the Dark Meteor Domain, and fringe groups might exploit the Monastery's name to cause trouble—this cult nation has amassed centuries of wealth, many things won't simply vanish just because a Capital Planet has collapsed."

"It doesn't matter, I'm used to it, cultists and warlord pirates are notoriously hard to wipe out," Baili Qing remains composed, "If even scattered Angel Sect believers are like this, what about a nation of fanatics that has established an order in the Star Region? Anyway, after the capital's collapse, they won't form any significant force. Whoever surfaces will be eliminated."

"Collapse, ah..." Red mutters softly, her "gaze" fixed on the planet continually collapsing in space, "I didn't witness the Inference Star Body event personally back then, but now I understand what 'Angel Hunter's big move' means—Ah Qing, your immediate choice to align with Yu Sheng and anchor his self-awareness and stance on the human side was the right decision."

Baili Qing just makes a sound of acknowledgment without speaking further, she raises her head and, together with Red, watches the magnificent and awe-inspiring scene in space, her face frozen in an expressionless stone-like demeanor, revealing no emotional fluctuation.

And in space, the silver-white giant Nine-Tailed Demon Fox gracefully and elegantly strolls, passing over a condensate ice mist that rises from the planet's surface.

A transport ship that had hurried into the sky not long ago flies past Hu Li, flashing its lights as it goes.

Hu Li turns its head happily, raising both front paws to salute the ship.

The little puppet clinging to the fluffy hair on Hu Li's back shouts loudly, "Silly fox, why are you saluting? That ship's signaling it's passing you, and you turned right into its face..."

Hu Li turns with a serious expression, "That's not a passing light, and space is vast, not a regulated traffic area like a Star Port, passing doesn't require lights—if used, it should be a crossing light."

The little puppet listens, baffled, "Is that so?"

Hu Li: "Trust me, I have a Mobile Immortal's driving license..."

The little puppet feels the Great Demon Fox is fooling, instinctively opens her mouth, but before she can speak, she suddenly senses a figure appearing beside her.

Turning her head, it's Yu Sheng.

"Wow!" Erin is startled on the spot, then immediately frightened a second time by Yu Sheng's complexion, "Goodness, Yu Sheng your face is whiter than a C-type buckle! It doesn't look like you just came back to life, more like you're about to pass away!"

To be fair, the little puppet's mouth is quite sharp, as soon as she speaks Yu Sheng feels like he's plunged into a gravel pit, his back teeth aching from the strain, but he's too exhausted to argue with this little thing, only manage a weak wave, "I'm about to be worked to death—after dealing with that Holy, I looked up and the entire planet was collapsing, do you know how thrilling that sight was?"

Erin thinks seriously, nodding repeatedly, "I bet it's more thrilling than what we saw in the sky."

"Anyway, everyone who needed to evacuate has done so, now let this place collapse slowly..."

As Yu Sheng speaks, he reaches out to pat the puppet on the head, then leans out from the Great Demon Fox's back to observe the Holy Realm's situation.

In space, large and small planetary debris floats, and much of it had already been engulfed by the Gate of Eden, now Yu Sheng has temporarily severed the connection between the Soul Wilderness and this passage, the crystal branches grown from the rift are rapidly dissipating, fine crystal dust spreads through the universe.

Meanwhile, after devouring enough matter and energy, the black hole that originally resided at the Earth Core of the Holy Realm is now slowly expanding.

Mid-sentence Yu Sheng abruptly stops speaking, and the puppet he was patting on the head immediately senses something, looking up puzzled. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Yu Sheng, what's up?"

Yu Sheng seems not to hear, still intently focused in that direction.

"Yu Sheng?" Erin called out again in confusion and then finally reacted, glancing back.

The Gate of Eden at the center of the Saint Realm's wreckage was still slowly expanding. The black hole, which initially occupied only a small space of the Earth's core, had now gradually grown to an unignorable scale. After surpassing a certain critical point, its expansion slowed as if reaching some equilibrium—yet its appearance made everyone instinctively hold their breath.

It was a pitch-black celestial body, its extremely dark surface like a void in the universe, resembling a black hole but without the gravitational disturbance of one—it just quietly floated there, detectable only by optics, with no detection equipment able to capture any sign of its existence in the material universe.

The little puppet finally heard Yu Sheng speak: "It's the Black Star..."

"The Gate of Eden is the Black Star?! The Black Star is a Gate of Eden?!" Erin stood up directly from Hu Li's back. The little puppet's mind was working hard, but clearly, this was not something she could understand, "Hey, why is it so confusing... a dimensional bridge? So, the Black Star is a World Bridge? Then, when I climbed down from the bridge back then... I can't remember either?"

The little thing got anxious, and even the half an omen in her soul stirred up—but clearly, that half an omen didn't make the situation any clearer either.

Hu Li turned around, her voice obviously much calmer than Erin's: "Savior, will this thing go out of control? Are you 'connected' to it now?"

"Connected, but I can't fully understand what this thing is. It's not purely a 'World Bridge,'" Yu Sheng said with a slightly hesitant tone and furrowed brows, "It's some sort of... 'new thing' generated after the connection of two World Bridges, with that 'Gate of Eden' inside it..."

He stopped suddenly, then shook his head again: "No, not inside, merged together."

Erin and Hu Li looked at each other in dismay, while Luna seemed a bit befuddled too. Only the Artificial Angel who had muddled out of the Saint Realm with them was still completely out of it, leisurely floating in nearby space, occasionally diving into the Soul Wilderness, only to pop out from nowhere again.

"Let's go meet up with Baili Qing first," Yu Sheng quickly said, "They have more smart people over there and professional equipment. We, as a family, can't even muster a primary school diploma between us, so let's stop shaking things up here."

Hu Li immediately agreed, turning around for a Fox Carrot accelerant, her nine tails streaming straight as she flew towards the direction of the United Fleet's flagship.

The Artificial Angel who had been leisurely floating noticed this, and immediately started flapping her wings to follow urgently. Halfway through, she realized she couldn't catch up to Hu Li, so she anxiously pulled out the Flaming Giant Sword and fired a Triple Light Cannon behind herself, dashing forward with a streak of pulse-driven glow trailing behind her.

There's no sound in space, so Yu Sheng only turned to look when he caught a glimpse of something happening behind out of the corner of his eye, breaking out into a cold sweat, but quickly calmed down—at least this Living Saint knew to aim for an uninhabited direction, so she wasn't entirely clueless.

This would be considered a smart general at the travel agency.

The place where Yu Sheng and company were staying wasn't far from the Mass Effect, so they didn't open a door for a shortcut. They quickly arrived at the ship bridge where Baili Qing and Red were—which was as lively as Yu Sheng expected.

Obviously, the Black Star that emerged from the Gate of Eden's transformation had also stunned everyone on this ship.

Technical officers were activating the ship's scan system to closely monitor the situation of the dark celestial body, while other ships were sharing their observational intelligence with the flagship. Several probes had already been launched to the original crust location of the Saint Realm, carefully orbiting the black sphere from a close distance.

"Unable to scan the physical structure of the target celestial body... Unable to analyze the material composition of the target celestial body..."

"Gravitational signals are abnormal, too bizarre... When we actively observe it, it seems to not exist at all, but it occasionally randomly generates mild gravitational disturbances..."

"One probe has been interfered with, this is a dangerous distance, do not get too close."

"Closely monitor all space debris and spacecraft approaching the target celestial body. Until we understand what it is, do not let anything contact its surface—besides survey ships, all other units begin to retreat."

Baili Qing turned around to look at Yu Sheng and company as they arrived at the ship bridge.

The normal thing this time was they came in through the proper entrance.

The abnormal thing was, when they came over, they were followed by a Living Saint who had used pulse propulsion all the way across.

Had they not been acquainted for a long time, Baili Qing would have considered activating the ship's full anti-air artillery at that moment.

"I don't know whether it's just that anyone who joins your team becomes abnormal, or your team only recruits the abnormal ones," Baili Qing sighed, her expression somewhat subtle as she looked at the large figure hovering behind Yu Sheng, "…Could you have her put that sword away? It's not safe to have it wielded on the ship bridge."

The "Artificial Angel" clearly understood what others were saying. Upon hearing Baili Qing's words, she tilted her head and, noticing Yu Sheng's expression, immediately obediently waved her hand, causing the Flaming Giant Sword to vanish into the air.

"She's just joined in the trial period as a new employee, please give her some time to adapt," Yu Sheng brushed it off, "Let's not talk about this now, let's discuss that sphere outside first—but just to be clear, this wasn't part of my plan."