“Beep… beep…”
Inside the dim stone coffin, the sharp ringing of a WeChat video call shattered the deathly silence.
“Whoosh…” The silver haired woman instantly opened her eyes.
Her eyes, filled with the weariness of countless years, stared intently at the phone that had been silent for three hundred million years.
The screen displayed one word: Mom.
Her trembling hand hovered over the phone, and she still could not believe what was happening before her eyes.
Her name was Yun Xingwan. She had once been an ordinary fourth year university student on Blue Star. During summer vacation, she had gone out traveling and encountered a landslide.
Fortunately, she had stumbled upon an ancient teleportation array, which transported her to the Myriad Heavens Star Region.
Desperate to return home, she had embarked on the path of cultivation and eventually become the only female Emperor among the human race. With her own strength, she had suppressed the source of calamity and ruled supreme throughout the ages.
Now, her life force was completely exhausted, and all she could do was lie inside this stone coffin and wait for death.
“Beep… beep…”
The phone continued to ring.
In the end, she gathered her courage and answered the call she had longed for throughout countless years.
On the other end, Liu Chunhua’s wrinkled face was filled with excitement.
Her cloudy eyes stared fixedly at her daughter as she burst into tears.
“Daughter, it has been twenty years. Have you been having a hard time all these years? How did your hair turn completely white?
How long has it been since you last ate? Are you hungry?”
Yun Xingwan’s eyes, which had not shed a tear for three hundred million years, finally grew moist.
Her cracked lips trembled, and an aged voice rolled out from her throat.
“Mom… Mom…”
“Xingxing, hold on. This is the apocalypse. There are monsters everywhere, and you definitely are not safe alone. You must hide somewhere secure.
The Chief is a spatial ability user. Your father and I will do whatever it takes, even if we have to risk our lives and sell everything we own, to beg the Chief to bring you back.”
Yun Xingwan was just about to explain when the call suddenly disconnected.
At that moment, at Base No. 9, Shen Xingchen sat inside the command room, staring intently at the hundred meter tall monster appearing on the screen.
Countless demonic beasts surrounded the monster.
“Chief, stop hesitating. If we do not open the space time tunnel and evacuate now, our Huaxia will not have even the slightest chance left!”
Feng Changlan pleaded desperately.
Shen Xingchen clenched both fists, his eyes nearly splitting with anguish, yet his dry lips remained firmly shut.
Should he leave?
He could not bring himself to abandon the million people at Base No. 9.
He had awakened his ability at the age of ten and joined the military soon afterward, living and dying alongside everyone here.
Now, at twenty eight, he had already become the Chief of an army.
As a soldier, his purpose was to protect Huaxia, defend every inch of its territory, and protect every person living upon that land.
What was more, he was the Chief. How could he abandon them and flee alone?
“Chief, you are the only person in all of Huaxia who has awakened spatial power. You are the only one capable of opening the Golden Stone. As long as you live, there is still hope!”
As his chief strategist, Feng Changlan did not want to see the person with the greatest hope die here.
“Bang!”
His knees slammed heavily onto the ground, and his eyes were filled with determination.
“I beg the Chief to leave!”
“I beg the Chief to leave!”
Following his movement, everyone in the meeting room knelt down as well.
Shen Xingchen’s eyes became misty, but his heart had already fallen into complete silence.
Was there really no hope left?
Was there truly not even the slightest chance of survival?
Twenty years ago, for some unknown reason, the sun hanging high in the sky suddenly went dark. Blue Star began expanding to ten times its original size, and corrosive rain fell continuously for an entire month.
All plants and animals began to mutate, while humanity remained weak.
Later, some people gradually awakened supernatural abilities, giving humanity a chance to catch its breath.
Yet an enormous number of demonic beasts descended upon the world, forcing humanity to struggle desperately to resist them.
But this time, the giant beast was simply too powerful. Even the most advanced weapons could not pierce its hide.
They could not defeat it.
Even if they filled the battlefield with human lives, they would not be able to inflict the slightest injury upon that giant beast.
“Chief, please do not hesitate any longer!”
Shen Xingchen lowered his head as a single tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
For twenty years, he had never cried, no matter how much blood he had shed or how much sweat he had endured.
At this moment, it felt as though a bitter gallbladder had been placed inside his heart, and the bitterness was so overwhelming that his entire body trembled.
How could he abandon a million lives?
He looked at his comrades kneeling across the room.
“I…”
“Reporting to the Chief, there is an elderly couple outside who wishes to see you!”
A soldier hurried in to report.
“Get out! At a time like this, how dare you disturb the Chief with such trivial matters?”
Feng Changlan glared angrily at the soldier.
“Let them come in.”
Shen Xingchen gave Feng Changlan a look that told him to remain calm.
“Chief…”
Feng Changlan could only swallow the words that had reached his lips.
Under the soldier’s guidance, the elderly couple, Yun Dequan and Liu Chunhua, tremblingly entered the room.
“Plop…”
Before Shen Xingchen could say anything, the two of them fell to their knees, tears streaming down their deeply wrinkled faces.
“Chief, please, please save our daughter…”
“Elder, please get up. Whatever has happened, tell me slowly.”
Shen Xingchen hurriedly reached out to help them up.
Liu Chunhua immediately grabbed his sleeve, her eye sockets red from crying.
“Chief, my daughter’s name is Yun Xingwan. She disappeared twenty years ago.
Today, the old man and I finally managed to get through to her on the phone. I do not know where she is, but she is clearly suffering terribly.
Please, can you bring my daughter home?”
Yun Dequan also grabbed Shen Xingchen’s other sleeve.
“Chief, we still have some food at home. As long as you are willing to save my daughter, I will donate every bit of food we have. Even if I have to join a suicide squad and risk my life, I am willing!”
“Beep beep… Warning, warning. The defensive line in Area A has fallen…”
“Beep beep… Warning, warning. The defensive line in Area B has fallen…”
The enormous command screen showed the entire base being engulfed by red warning lines.
Feng Changlan shouted anxiously, “Chief, we have no time left!”
Shen Xingchen’s gaze swept across his comrades standing straight and proud, then fell upon the two elderly people kneeling on the ground.
After a long silence, a relieved smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his lips.
“All soldiers, listen to my command. Take all your weapons. In ten minutes, follow me into battle!”
“Chief, you cannot!”
Feng Changlan stared at Shen Xingchen in disbelief.
“This is your only chance to escape. You are giving it up for an ordinary civilian. Is it really worth it?”
“Changlan, I am a soldier from Huaxia. A soldier’s duty is to protect. No matter who they are or how far away they may be, as long as they are a citizen of Huaxia, I will go and save them!
Since we are all going to die anyway, then before we die, let us do something that has greater meaning!”
Feng Changlan was moved by the determination in his eyes and finally fell silent.
Meanwhile, Yun Dequan and Liu Chunhua continued kowtowing.
“Thank you, Chief! Thank you, Leader!”
They were merely ordinary civilians and had no idea what would happen next, but they knew one thing.
Their daughter was coming home!
Shen Xingchen helped the two elderly people to their feet. His handsome and resolute face was filled with determination.
“Elder, could you give me the phone? I need your daughter’s location coordinates.”
Overcome with excitement, Yun Dequan hurriedly pulled the phone from the pocket of his worn out clothes and handed it over.
In the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Domains, beneath the silent stars,
Yun Xingwan still lay inside the coffin, her weathered eyes filled with sorrow.
At the moment the call had disconnected, her final attachment to this world had disappeared as well.
Before dying, knowing that her parents were safe was enough to let her leave this world in peace.
She closed her eyes tightly.
The Emperor’s Fire within her body slowly went out, and the aura of death began devouring her internal organs.
“Hum…”
Suddenly, the silent starry sky began to tremble violently.