2: Chapter 2, SSS-rank! Start by shooting down the Zerg mothership.

The voice of the man in the white coat returned to its mechanical and numb tone, even carrying a hint of impatience at the perceived waste of time.

F-rank.

Li Yuan was a bit surprised in his heart; that majestic Beiming Great Abyss didn't look like an F-rank talent no matter how he viewed it, but... he remained calm. What luck could an unlucky kid have who died from overwork and dropped dead while commuting?

The officer didn't even look him in the eye as he pointed toward the most crowded 'Support and Defense Sequence' at the edge of the plaza: "F-rank, return to the ranks, collect your basic equipment, and await orders."

That was the gathering place for D, E, and F-rank talent-holders. They were distributed old pulse rifles with incomplete charges, or crude alloy swords and simple composite shields. No one complained, and no one shouted; most faces bore the calm of resignation or the numbness of being immersed in their own worlds. In the cruel war between the Alliance and the Zerg that had lasted for centuries, individual value had already been weighed countless times. Sacrifice, for those at the bottom, was not unacceptable—it was the norm.

Less than half a minute after the last batch completed their awakening, the maximum-level alarm rang through the plaza like the wail of a dying beast!

"Maximum Alert! The eastern 'Iron Wall' defense line has completely collapsed! The main Zerg ground forces are expected to arrive within five minutes!"

"Warning! The 'Guardian' forcefield energy is about to be depleted! It is expected to fail in four and a half minutes!"

"All 'Kindling' sequences, board the ships immediately! All 'Keystone' sequences, construct the final defense line on the spot and execute the 'Rearguard' order! Repeat, execute the 'Rearguard' order! For the continuation of civilization!"

The officer's voice spread across the plaza through the loudspeaker, carrying a cold decisiveness that cut through all hesitation.

Inside the barrier, those A-rank, B-rank, and some C-rank 'Kindlings' who had already gathered in the core area were escorted by soldiers and elite guards to quickly and orderly board the remaining assault transport ships. The roar of engines suddenly intensified like a giant beast awakening, spewing out ghostly blue ion streams.

Outside the barrier, Li Yuan and his 'Keystone' sequence team moved silently under the command of the officers and soldiers. They used everything available on the plaza—broken turrets, overturned vehicles, collapsed walls—to build crude but sturdy fortifications at the main entrances and weak points of the plaza.

No one questioned, and no one resisted.

Someone has to stay behind. Only if the seeds leave can the tree grow again.

"Crack... Hum—" The pale blue 'Guardian' forcefield completely extinguished and dissipated. A dense, scalp-numbing sound of hissing and chitinous rubbing surged from all the street entrances around the plaza like a tsunami!

"Prepare to engage the enemy! For the Alliance! For our home!" The sergeant major in charge of commanding the 'Keystone' sequence let out a final war cry.

...

The bugs still surged from all directions like a black ocean.

Just now, the last few comrades beside him vanished like bubbles under the bugs' pouncing.

Just now, the sergeant major's back as he swung his blade into the Ultralisk swarm was submerged by countless Hydralisks.

Now, only he was left alone...

[Beep—! Crisis detected for the host... Conditions for 'light savior' system activation met!]

[Protocol authentication... Soul binding in progress... Binding successful!]

[Loading SSS-rank Class: [Lord of Light]... Loading complete!]

[Loading SSS-rank Class: [String-Controlling Weaver]... Loading complete!]

[Warning! Survival crisis detected for the host! Forcing authorization of a one-time 'Class Trial Card'! Do you accept?]

A system? A cheat?

The desire for survival occupied his brain.

"Accept!" Li Yuan quickly confirmed!

[Class Trial Card activated. host energy insufficient, initiating Compensation Mode!]

In the next second, he felt his soul and body being simultaneously thrown into an indescribable crucible composed of pure light and absolute laws!

Unimaginable pain and a sense of fullness beyond limits erupted together! Every one of his cells was screaming and shattering, only to be forcibly reorganized and filled by an even stronger power of laws! His body no longer belonged to himself; it had become a fragile container stuffed with the power of a god!

"Boom—!!!!!"

A pillar of white-gold light, indescribably blinding as if it were the first light at the birth of the universe, mixed with countless profound law runes that arose and vanished, containing the ultimate truths of time and space, rose violently into the sky with him at the center! In an instant, it swept away the surrounding smoke, death, and despair! The entire plaza, once shrouded in darkness, now shone as if a divine kingdom had descended!

His tattered clothes vanished directly in the light, replaced by a set of heavy archer armor so magnificent it surpassed mortal imagination, as if woven directly from liquid radiance and flowing laws, wrapping around his entire body. The armor's lines were full of power and sacred beauty, with countless tiny Angel Battle Runes and Ancient Holy Words flowing on the surface like living things. A pair of massive wings of light, condensed from pure light energy with edges flowing with rainbow auroras, suddenly unfurled behind his back; with a gentle flap, they showered the world with holy rain.

[Lord of Light: Final Mode — Angel Legion, deploy!]

In the void, a grand, solemn Creation Hymn resounded, sounding as if it could cleanse all sin and pain!

Behind Li Yuan, the light rain poured down like the Heavenly River. Within the light, figures emitting powerful sacred fluctuations rapidly solidified!

The Shepherd Angels, holding healing scepters embedded with 'Source of Life' gems, surrounded by warm and soft halos, softly chanted the holy words of restoration.

The Cherubim, firmly grasping giant spears of judgment burning with 'Flames of Judgment,' their eyes as sharp as stars, with the edges of their light wings flashing with the cold light of spatial cutting.

The Seraphim, spreading wings as huge as mobile fortresses and burning with 'Eternal Holy Fire,' condensed the Wall of Sighs, which was translucent and inscribed with 'Absolute Defense' runes.

The Power Angels, holding roaring chain-swords entwined with 'Holy Light of Destruction,' their entire bodies emitting a violent and pure battle intent, like sacred pulverizers.

And the Principalities, floating in the rear, holding Vientiane Star Maps that radiated the light of 'Wisdom and Authority,' their eyes as deep as the universe as they constantly issued precise instructions to deploy the Angel Legion's formation and stack holy halos of 'Courage,' 'Fortitude,' and 'Precision' on all units!

The five major Angel Legions, like sacred war machines, instantly filled the sky above the broken plaza!

The Power Angels let out sky-shaking battle cries and, like a golden flood, proactively charged into the ground Zerg Tide, tearing through the dense bugs in swathes with their chain-swords!

The Seraphim deployed giant light shields, steadily blocking the acid and bone spikes spat by distant Zerg ranged units, as well as the pouncing of Mutalisk swarms trying to approach from the sky!

The Cherubim's spears of judgment were like precision-guided weapons; with every throw, they inevitably pierced and purified the core of an Ultralisk or a Lurker!

The Shepherd Angels' holy light was like a warm tide; though there were no living beings left to heal, that sacred power still purified the filth on the ground and the lingering evil energy of the bugs.

The Principalities, like the calmest commanders, constantly adjusted the formation to ensure the Angel Legion slaughtered the bugs with maximum efficiency.

The holy legion faced the filthy Zerg Tide with a crushing posture!

[String-Controlling Weaver: Final Mode — Annihilation End, activate!]

Li Yuan felt his will soar infinitely, as if he had touched the 'strings' that formed the lowest layer of the universe. Without needing to move, with a single thought, a massive bow woven from the 'sands of time' and the 'warp and weft of space,' flowing with chaotic energy, naturally manifested in his hands.

He locked onto the greatest threat in the sky—the Leviathan Hive—and its imminent blast from the destruction main cannon.

[Beginning high-dimensional law weaving—]

[Invoking 'Matter Collapse' law authority...]

[Invoking 'Energy Annihilation' law authority...]

[Invoking 'Causality Lock' law authority...]

[Arrow of the End: Weaving complete!]

With the prompt, Li Yuan felt that vast and boundless law power, capable of silencing whole galaxies, surge through his arm and into the chaotic giant bow. On the bowstring, an arrow that could not be described by any words began to condense. It had no physical form and was more like an 'absolute singularity' that constantly devoured all surrounding matter, energy, light, and even concepts! It was an 'ultimate error' that triggered a loophole in the very foundations of the universe! The surrounding space emitted shrill screams, collapsing inch by inch as if unable to withstand its existence!

The Leviathan Hive emitted an unprecedented, planet-shaking terrifying shriek; all its biological tissues writhed under overload, its dark shields instantly condensed into a physical form, and its charging main cannon desperately tried to fire early!

"Trial Card remaining time: 3 seconds!" The cold countdown was like a funeral bell tolling in his ear.

No time to hesitate!

"In my name, I grant thee the End!" Li Yuan, following a sudden flash of inspiration, issued a decree containing the meaning of final judgment that he himself did not fully understand.

He opened his arms, composed of radiance and laws, and pulled the bowstring to a full moon—a full moon symbolizing the end, created by his life essence and the world-ending energy granted by the trial card!

Then, he released the fate-deciding 'string.'

"Chii—"

There was no sound, or rather, the very essence of sound had been devoured by that singularity. The 'Arrow of the End' vanished—it directly ignored the barriers of space and time.

In the next instant, it had already appeared at the very core of the Leviathan Hive's dark red energy vortex, colliding head-on with that physicalized dark shield.

Time lost its meaning.

At the point of contact, there was no light, no explosion, only... complete nothingness!

An absolute 'nothingness' spread quietly at faster-than-light speeds. Wherever the void passed, the Leviathan Hive's physicalized biological shield vanished like pencil marks erased by an eraser; the thick biological armor, the twisted fleshy structures, the hideous turrets, the densely packed bug units... everything was completely erased from existence within that absolute 'nothingness'!

There was no process, and no residue.

There was only a grand, silent, yet physics-defying—existence deletion!

In just two seconds, the Leviathan Hive, as large as a star island and the source of endless despair, was completely 'deleted' from this airspace, as if it and the hundreds of millions of bugs within it had never existed in this universe. All that remained was a massive space-time rift whose edges were still twisting and repairing frantically, proving just what kind of beyond-spec strike had been endured there.

As the hive vanished, the bug forces on the ground instantly lost all command and fell into chaos.

The light faded, and the holy, powerful archer armor and light wings on Li Yuan's body shattered and vanished like a dream. That world-destroying sense of power receded like a low tide!

He fell directly from the low altitude, crashing heavily into the rubble and ruins.

There were no cheers, and no gratitude. There was only him alone, lying amidst the silent ruins and endless piles of corpses.

And then.

['Class Trial Card' usage ended.]

[Beginning compensation settlement...]

[Settlement complete.]

[Warning! host life essence is nearing depletion! Please replenish as soon as possible.]

[Remaining lifespan: 71 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds.]