She suddenly sat upright, two sharp rays of light shooting from her lifeless eyes.
Who was it? An enemy?
Could it be those old monsters from the forbidden zones of life?
She struggled to get up, her hand already reaching for the wooden hairpin holding her white hair in place.
However, in the next moment, the spatial tremors suddenly stopped, and a silver white portal appeared out of thin air.
There were no divine abilities within the portal, nor was there any killing intent. Only a deep, magnetic voice rang out.
“Hello, Yun Xingwan. I am Shen Xingchen, commander of the Ninth Base of Huaguo. I have opened a space time passage for you. Please evacuate as soon as possible.
If you can hear me, please evacuate as soon as possible…”
At that moment, the Female Emperor who had once suppressed an entire era staggered out of the coffin.
As she listened to that familiar accent and unwavering voice, two streams of clear tears slid down her eyes.
A smile appeared on her cracked face, and even her hollow eyes regained a trace of brilliance.
Even the deathly aura surrounding her body strangely came to a halt.
“Good, good… I’m going home!”
She stretched out her withered fingers, grabbed the stone coffin lying on the ground, and walked toward the spatial portal.
Blue Star, Ninth Base.
“Rat tat tat…”
“Boom, boom, boom…”
The roar of heavy machine guns, the explosions of missiles, the howls of demon beasts, and the unwilling roars of countless soldiers rang out one after another.
“…Fourth Defense Line requesting support…”
“Fifth Defense Line requesting support…”
“Sixth…”
“Something’s wrong! The Fifth Defense Line can’t hold!”
“The Sixth Defense Line is about to fall too…”
One urgent military report after another continuously came back from the front lines.
“Fall back! Fall back! Get to the Third Defense Line immediately and activate the emergency energy protective wall!”
Feng Changlan gripped his communicator and urgently issued the final order.
In his hand was a small device with only one red button.
The moment he gave the order, all the soldiers withdrew. With a tremendous boom, a pale blue curtain of light instantly enveloped the entire base.
As the energy wall rose, it immediately blocked the overwhelming horde of demon beasts outside.
The demon beasts began attacking the energy wall relentlessly.
Bang! Bang!
The sounds of scratching and pounding echoed through the air. Almost every demon beast unleashed everything it had, yet the wall remained completely unmoved.
The soldiers could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“Staff Officer Feng, we’re safe now, right?” the guard beside Feng Changlan asked in a quiet voice.
Crack… crack…
Suddenly, a sound like a mirror shattering rang in everyone’s ears.
The Hell Blood Ghost swayed its enormous body before bringing down a gigantic foot, hundreds of square meters in size, directly onto the energy wall.
Dense cracks instantly spread across the blue energy barrier.
“Gagaga… hehehe…”
Strange laughter echoed through the air.
“Insects, die!”
A terrifying pressure swept across the battlefield like a tidal wave.
At that moment, the blood in every soldier’s body seemed to freeze. Their eyes stared blankly at the colossal creature before them.
Everyone had forgotten how to resist.
Despair spreads through the heart of every person present.
Inside the command center, complete silence descended.
Everyone’s eyes were bloodshot as they looked toward the Gold Stone energy activated by Shen Xingchen.
Commander, do you regret this?
For the sake of someone who had returned only to die, you are throwing your own life away and sacrificing the last hope of Huaguo for nothing!
You are an SSS Battle General. You could have taken the Gold Stone to the First Base and carried the last spark of Huaguo far away from this apocalyptic world that devours human lives.
Shen Xingchen smiled.
“Comrades, we are soldiers of Huaguo. We never abandon our comrades, and we never give up.”
Bzzzt…
As the Gold Stone energy activated, a gigantic white vortex formed in the sky.
Everyone raised their heads and stared toward it, wondering what the person who had returned after sacrificing all their hopes would look like.
“Cough… cough…”
The next moment, a clear coughing sound came from within the vortex.
Immediately afterward, a hand as thin as a withered branch slowly and shakily reached out.
Then a woman with a gaunt appearance, silver hair covering her head, and cracked skin all over her body stepped out.
Every step she took was followed by a long bout of coughing.
She looked like a terminally ill cancer patient.
As she walked forward, the stone coffin she had been dragging behind her also emerged from the vortex.
Crash!
The moment the stone coffin came out of the vortex, it slammed heavily onto the ground, creating a huge crater.
Everyone present stared at the scene in shock.
Even the demon beasts were stunned.
Inside the command center, all the leaders and researchers stared at the enormous screen.
Their eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.
Was this the person the commander had sacrificed everyone’s hope to save?
An ugly woman who was already on the verge of death?
Shen Xingchen clenched both fists tightly.
Although he had already prepared himself mentally, the moment he clearly saw the person who had arrived, his heart inexplicably trembled.
There was a strange sense of familiarity coming from the depths of his soul.
Yun Dequan and his wife pressed themselves against the large screen, crying uncontrollably.
“My daughter, this is my daughter… How much has she suffered all these years? She doesn’t even have a pair of shoes…”
The two of them continued crying until they eventually fainted.
Yun Xingwan stood at the entrance of the space time portal, her eyes half narrowed as she observed this unfamiliar world.
Demon beasts filled the land as far as the eye could see, while the air was saturated with a heavy smell of blood.
The spiritual energy was so thin that it was almost unbearable, yet she could clearly sense a familiar and comforting aura within the laws of the Great Dao here.
“Cough, cough…”
She covered her mouth and continued coughing, looking like a patient in the final stages of tuberculosis.
She had not only crossed between planes, she had also crossed the river of time.
Such an act had long surpassed the limits that her broken Imperial body could endure.
The flame of life within her body was already flickering precariously.
“Oooh!”
Just then, a hungry wolf standing three to four meters tall opened its enormous bloody maw and pounced straight toward her throat.
Everyone believed that she was about to be swallowed whole by the hungry wolf.
Yet in Yun Xingwan’s eyes, this was nothing more than an ant she could crush with a casual squeeze.
“Miss, watch out!”
When Shen Xingchen saw this scene from inside the command center, he somehow instinctively activated his special ability and appeared in front of her.
Thud!
The hungry wolf’s sharp claws pierced into his body, and blood instantly stained his camouflage uniform red.
He firmly shielded Yun Xingwan behind him.
“Miss, don’t move!”
He tried his best to keep his voice calm, but then shouted toward the people behind him.
“Guards, get her to the underground station immediately!”
Yun Xingwan stared blankly at Shen Xingchen.
Three hundred million years.
For three hundred million years, she had been the one protecting all living beings.
Never once had anyone stood in front of her.
And now, the person standing between her and death was nothing more than a weak human.
She was pressed against the dust-covered ground, the mixed scent of blood from Shen Xingchen lingering at the tip of her nose, along with a faint aura that somehow brought a sense of peace to even her soul.
She could clearly feel his trembling body and his fear of death.
Yet the arm protecting her did not move even an inch.
A trace of curiosity appeared in her eyes as she stared at the resolute man before her and slowly uttered a few words.
“Why did you save me?”
Shen Xingchen frowned and quickly pulled out a laser gun from his waist.
While firing at the hungry wolf, he answered coldly.
“You are the person I brought back, and I am a soldier. Go home quickly.
Your parents are waiting to reunite with you.”
Those simple words were like a sharp blade, piercing through the Dao heart that had remained withered and cold for three hundred million years.
A tiny flame gradually ignited within her silent eyes.
It was both moving and furious.
This was her country.
Her homeland.
The soldiers she knew.
And also…
The home she had dreamed of returning to day and night.