330: Chapter 330 Because the answer is obvious

Lin Yuan raised his hand.

His palm faced forward.

His five fingers were slightly spread.

It was such a simple movement.

Yet Ye Qingxue and Ling Shuanghan simultaneously felt an indescribable change.

The air changed.

It wasn't a change in temperature or air pressure.

Something more fundamental had shifted.

It was as if the laws of this silver void itself were being redefined the moment Lin Yuan raised his hand.

The Vanguard felt it.

The fifth wave of silver energy it was gathering suddenly stagnated.

It hadn't stopped of its own accord.

Its energy had automatically decelerated the moment it neared Lin Yuan.

Like a surging river suddenly encountering an impossible dam.

The Vanguard let out a shrill cry.

This time, it wasn't anger.

It was fear.

A Vanguard of a cosmic-level cleanser that had existed for untold years felt fear at this moment.

Because it sensed the power within Lin Yuan.

That power shared the same source as its own energy.

But it was purer.

Older.

Closer to... the Source.

The Vanguard made a judgment—it couldn't wait any longer.

It abandoned gathering the fifth wave of impact.

It compressed all its remaining energy into a silver pillar of light and blasted it directly at Lin Yuan.

A desperate gamble.

The silver pillar of light was over ten meters in diameter, carrying the Vanguard's final strength as it tore through the void, heading straight for Lin Yuan.

Ye Qingxue's pupils contracted sharply.

She instinctively wanted to rush forward to block it—

But Lin Yuan's voice rang in her ear.

"No need."

Two words.

Very light.

Very calm.

Then, golden light surged from his palm.

There were no flashy special effects.

No long charging period.

No exaggerated scenes of 'the world changing color and the sun and moon losing their light.'

It was just light.

Golden light.

It surged from his palm and pushed forward.

Like a sunrise.

The silver pillar of light and the golden light met in the void.

There was no collision.

There was no explosion.

There was none of the energy clash anyone had expected.

The moment the silver pillar of light touched the golden light—

It melted.

Like snow meeting a scorching sun.

Like darkness meeting light.

Like a cheap imitation meeting the genuine original.

There was no room for resistance.

Before the golden light, the silver energy was like paper meeting fire.

It collapsed upon contact.

The golden light did not stop.

It passed through the remains of the silver pillar and continued to push forward.

Pushing toward the Vanguard's physical body.

The Vanguard tried to dodge.

But it found it couldn't move.

It wasn't bound.

It was that its body—that form composed of silver energy—was being decomposed by the golden light.

Starting from the edges.

The silver afterimages peeled away from the Vanguard's form piece by piece, like smoke scattered by the wind.

The Vanguard let out a shrill cry.

This time, it was resentment.

Pure, desperate resentment.

It had existed for far, far too long.

It had cleansed countless worlds.

It never thought that on an insignificant Blue Planet, at the hands of an insignificant human—

One strike.

The golden light pierced through the Vanguard's core.

The Vanguard's form exploded.

Silver fragments flew in all directions like a shattered mirror.

The fragments tumbled, spun, and dissipated in the void.

The Vanguard's cry came to an abrupt halt.

The silver void fell silent.

Ye Qingxue stood where she was, motionless.

Her brain needed time to process the scene she had just witnessed.

The Vanguard.

That being that made the entire microscopic world tremble.

That terrifying being that Ling Shuanghan could only barely withstand even with her full strength.

That being that made thousands of people kneel from its pressure alone upon arrival.

It was shattered by Lin Yuan in a single strike.

One strike.

Just one strike.

There was no prolonged battle.

No back-and-forth tug-of-war.

No drama of 'escaping danger for a final reversal.'

It was just raising a hand, releasing light, and it was over.

The entire process took no more than three seconds.

Ye Qingxue suddenly felt that the four waves of impact she and Ling Shuanghan had risked their lives to endure seemed a bit...

Forget it, don't think about it.

Thinking too much hurts one's self-esteem.

Ling Shuanghan's reaction was even greater than Ye Qingxue's.

Her legs were trembling slightly.

It wasn't because of the Vanguard's lingering might.

The Vanguard was already shattered; where would lingering might come from?

It was because she had seen with her own eyes what it looked like when this man truly made a move.

100 years.

She had lived in the Apocalypse for 100 years.

She had seen countless powerhouses.

Seen countless battles.

Seen countless enemies that brought despair.

But she had never seen a scene like this.

A person raises their hand, and then everything is over.

No process.

Only the result.

Ling Shuanghan suddenly understood one thing—

Why Ye Qingxue, Ji Wushuang, Luo Qinghan, Ye Qingyue...

Why these women of terrifying strength would willingly follow this man.

It wasn't because he was good to them.

It wasn't because of any promises he made.

It was because—

Before him, the word 'strong' had a new definition.

They were already among the strongest group of people in this world.

But compared to Lin Yuan, their 'strength' was only a starting point.

Whereas Lin Yuan's 'strength' was the end point.

The ceiling.

The kind of absolute, crushing strength that didn't even allow the thought of catching up to form.

Ling Shuanghan took a deep breath, forcing her legs to stop trembling.

She was an Empress who had lived for 100 years.

She couldn't lose face at a time like this.

Though she had already lost it.

Because her mouth had been open for at least five seconds, and she only just remembered to close it.

The silver fragments drifted slowly in the void.

Most of the fragments had already melted away, but one—the largest piece—was still glowing slightly.

The Vanguard's core.

It hadn't dissipated.

Because the core was the foundation of the Vanguard's existence.

Even if the form was shattered, the core still retained a final trace of energy.

Lin Yuan walked over and casually grabbed it.

The core fell into his palm.

A fist-sized silver crystal with fine cracks on its surface.

The light inside flickered, like a star about to go out.

Lin Yuan looked at the thing in his hand.

Then he took out a Containment Vessel from his waist—

Prepared before they set out—and put the core inside.

He closed the lid.

And tucked it away.

The entire movement was smooth and natural, like receiving a package.

Watching his actions, Ye Qingxue suddenly wanted to ask, "Did you know it would come to this before we even left?"

But she didn't ask.

Because the answer was obvious.

This man never did anything he wasn't certain of.

From the Safety Corridor to the Beast Tide Diversion.

From the Energy Interference Device to the Resonance Absorption, from the 47 nodes to this final strike—

Every step was within his plan.

Including this Containment Vessel.

He had even prepared the box for the core in advance.

Ye Qingxue didn't know what to say.

She felt she should say something.

Like "You're really amazing."

Like "Too strong."

Like "I have a whole new level of respect for you."

But saying those things felt too stupid.

Because Lin Yuan didn't need anyone to tell him, "You're very amazing."

He knew.

He had always known.

So Ye Qingxue said nothing.

She just walked to Lin Yuan's side and used her sleeve to wipe the blood that hadn't dried at the corner of her mouth.

Lin Yuan glanced at her.

"Are you badly hurt?"

"Not badly."

"Mhm."

End of conversation.

Ye Qingxue: "..."

She had just risked her life to withstand four waves of impact.

Vomited blood three times, had her barrier shattered twice, and was almost blasted into dregs by silver energy—

All for an "Mhm."

Fine.

This was Lin Yuan.

You could never expect to hear things like "You've worked hard."

"Thank you, I couldn't have done it without you" from this man's mouth.

Saying the words "Worked hard" was already his limit.

And he actually did say them earlier.

Before he raised his hand.

So strictly speaking, he had already expressed it.

It's just that after expressing it, he went to work.

After working, he collected the items.

After collecting the items, he asked if she was badly hurt.

And after getting the answer "Not badly," he just said "Mhm."

The process was clear, the efficiency was extremely high, and there was zero nonsense.

Ye Qingxue suddenly gave a small smile.

A very small smile.

The kind where the corners of the mouth turn up slightly.

Whatever.

This was fine.

In the distance, the silver void began to change.

Although the Vanguard's physical form was shattered,

The remaining silver fragments did not completely dissipate—

They were converging in one direction.

Toward the depths of the rift.

The Vanguard was fleeing.

Or rather, the Vanguard's residual consciousness was fleeing.

It had lost its core and its form.

But that sliver of residual consciousness drove the fragments to escape to the other side of the rift.

Back to where it came from.

Lin Yuan watched the receding silver fragments.

He didn't give chase.

Ling Shuanghan walked to his side, her gaze following the fragments.

"Not chasing?"

"No."

"It's escaping."

"It doesn't matter if it escapes."

Lin Yuan patted the Containment Vessel at his waist.

"The core is in my hand. It's just trash even if it goes back."

Ling Shuanghan was silent for a second.

She thought about it and felt the analogy was very accurate.

A Vanguard that had lost its core was like a computer with its CPU pulled out.

The casing was still there.

But it was already a pile of scrap metal.

"Let's go."

Lin Yuan turned around to face Ye Qingxue and Ling Shuanghan.

"Time to go back."

His tone was flat.

So flat it was as if he had just gone to a supermarket to buy a bottle of water.

No.

Flatter than buying water.

At least you have to pay for water.

What he had just done—

Shattering a being capable of destroying the world, sealing its core,

Changing the fate of the entire microscopic world—

In his expression, it was probably about the same as 'taking out the trash.'

Ling Shuanghan looked at his back.

Her legs were no longer shaking.

But her heart still was.

It wasn't fear.

It was a very complex emotion.

Awe, shock, relief, and a little bit of something undefinable.

She was glad she had made the right choice.

Following this man.

She was even more glad that this man was not her enemy.

Because if he were an enemy—

Ling Shuanghan didn't dare think further.

She quickly caught up to Lin Yuan's pace.

Ye Qingxue walked on Lin Yuan's other side.

The three of them crossed the silver void and walked toward the light curtain entrance.

Outside the core area.

Huo Yan was still squatting behind the ice rock.

He had seen the golden light erupting from the direction of the core.

He had seen the silver fragments flying everywhere.

He had seen everything end within three seconds.

Then he saw three people walk out from the light curtain.

Lin Yuan was in the lead, his expression flat.

Ye Qingxue was on the left, with blood on her mouth but looking normal otherwise.

Ling Shuanghan was on the right, her steps steady but her eyes a bit dazed.

Huo Yan stood up and opened his mouth.

He wanted to say something.

Like "How did it go?"

Like "Where's the Vanguard?"

Like "Did we win?"

But not a single word came out.

Because as Lin Yuan walked past him, he casually said—

"Withdraw, we're going back."

Just like that.

There was no "We are victorious."

No "The Vanguard has been eliminated."

No concluding remarks of any kind.

Just two words—going back.

Like overtime was over and it was time to clock out.

Huo Yan was stunned for three seconds.

Then he turned and shouted to the 800 Century-old Warriors.

"Withdraw!"

The 800 people stood up in unison.

No one cheered.

No one celebrated.

Because their leader didn't cheer, and their new boss didn't cheer either.

So they didn't cheer.

But there was a light in everyone's eyes.

The light of surviving a disaster.

The light of "We actually lived."

On the south side.

Ji Wushuang received the signal to retreat.

She stood up and patted the frost off her body.

"It's over?"

Luo Qinghan nodded.

Ye Qingyue scrambled up from the ground and glanced at the stick figure drawing she had made on the ice.

The little person with hands in their pockets was still there.

Beside it, on the stick figure of the Vanguard, she had drawn a big 'X.'

"Let's go," Ji Wushuang said.

"Wait a moment."

Ye Qingyue knelt down and wrote another line of text next to the little person.

Ji Wushuang leaned over to take a look.

It said—

"Three seconds."

Ji Wushuang was silent for two seconds.

Then she smiled.

She turned and walked away.

The wind on the ice plain blew over that stick figure drawing.

A little person with hands in their pockets.

A Vanguard with an 'X' over it.

And two words—Three seconds.

This was perhaps the most concise and accurate summary of everything that had just happened.