258: The commanders of the planet-devouring entities were in a panic; they had provoked something they shouldn't have!

Sagittarius A*, the "Quiet Zone" on the periphery of the gravitational singularity inside the event horizon.

This was the edge where the laws of physics failed and the true throne of the Star Devourer civilization.

Inside a black palace constructed from the core of a collapsed star, the supreme commander of the Star Devourers—"Dominator Zero"—was staring intently at the distorted quantum projection before it.

It had no fixed form, appearing like a mass of continuously shifting mercury suspended in an anti-gravity field.

But at this moment, this mass of "mercury" was trembling violently, its frequency so fast it seemed as if it were boiling.

"Impossible! This violates cardinal logic!"

Zero's voice did not travel through the air but exploded directly within the mental network, carrying intense panic and astonishment.

"That was a 'Two-Dimensional Foil'! It was the ultimate weapon we dug out from the ruins of a Level 5 civilization! How could it possibly be caught by a net?!"

In its understanding, once a Two-Dimensional Foil was unleashed, it meant total clearance.

Unless the opponent could escape beyond the speed of light or hide within a black hole's event horizon like they did, death was inevitable.

Yet, that human fleet not only didn't run, but instead pulled out an even more advanced "membrane" and sealed the Two-Dimensional Foil away as if it were packing up trash?!

This was like someone holding a nuclear bomb button watching in horror as a primitive human dismantled the nuke with their bare hands and casually turned it into fireworks!

This technological generation gap made Zero feel an unprecedented chill.

"Report, Dominator! The frontline soldier ant swarm has been completely wiped out."

A faint mental wave transmitted tremblingly, "The enemy's firepower density exceeds our calculation limits, and… and they seem to be able to predict our movements.

Just as we execute our evasive maneuvers, their cannon fire is already waiting at the landing point!"

"Prediction?"

Zero's "body" suddenly contracted into a perfect sphere, the luster on its surface dimming.

"Are you saying, Causality?"

Once these two words were spoken, the entire mental network fell into a deathly silence.

Causality weapons were a prerogative that only civilizations that had touched the "Realm of Gods" were worthy of possessing.

Modifying reality, reversing cause and effect—that was a forbidden technology that even the Star-Devouring Hive Mother was still struggling to grasp!

"What on earth is the background of this group of carbon-based monkeys that crawled out of the Orion Arm?!"

Zero roared in anger, and the surrounding space developed pitch-black cracks due to its emotional fluctuations.

"Investigate! Investigate their civilization files for me! I do not believe a 0.73-level civilization can master such technology! There must be the shadow of 'Higher Dimensions' behind them!"

Just then, a piercing alarm sound, without any warning, pierced through the barrier of the black hole event horizon and sounded directly inside Zero's palace.

【Alarm! Highest level alarm!】

【External forced intrusion signal detected! Firewall collapsed!】

【The opponent has taken over the first-sequence communication channel!】

"What?!"

Before Zero could react, the massive quantum projection screen in front of it suddenly flickered.

The image that had been displaying battle damage data disappeared, replaced by a young, clean human face with a demonic smile hanging at the corners of its mouth.

Lu Chen.

He was sitting nonchalantly on the captain's chair, holding a cup of steaming liquid in his hand, looking at Zero with a smile from across a distance of 26,000 light-years and through the barrier of the event horizon.

That gaze was as if he were looking at a rare insect trapped in a glass bottle.

"Yo, found you."

Lu Chen's voice echoed clearly within the palace, carrying a hint of mockery.

"You look quite unique, like a glob of uncleaned mercury?"

"Presumptuous!!!"

Zero was instantly enraged. As one of the overlords of the Milky Way Galaxy, when had it ever suffered such humiliation?

Countless mental spikes instantly condensed, attempting to travel back along the communication channel to pierce the brain of this arrogant human!

"You humble insect! How dare you look directly at the face of a god!"

However, its mental attack was like a clay ox entering the sea, not even stirring up a ripple.

Lu Chen didn't even knit his brows; he just gently blew on the steam in his cup, then raised his eyelids, his gaze suddenly turning cold.

"A god?"

"A parasite hiding in a black hole, struggling for survival, is worthy of being called a god?"

"Since you can speak, that makes things easier."

Lu Chen set down his cup and leaned forward slightly; an invisible pressure actually permeated through the screen, making Zero, who was an energy-based lifeform, feel suffocated.

"Listen, mercury ball. Your descendants have been wiped out by me, and now it's your turn."

"I'm not an unreasonable person, so I'll give you two choices."

Lu Chen held up two fingers.

"First, disarm all weapons of the Star-Devouring Hive Mother, get out of the black hole, spit out all the stellar energy you have swallowed, and then let your entire race go to my mine to dig for ten thousand years to atone for your sins."

"Second"

Lu Chen's fingers gently clenched, as if crushing a heart.

"I fill this black hole, turning your entire race into cosmic dust, leaving not even a scrap behind."

"Which one do you choose?"

Silence. Absolute silence.

Zero stared intently at Lu Chen on the screen, trying to find even a shred of bluster on this human's face.

But it failed.

In those pitch-black eyes, there was only calm, that absolute calm of someone who controls everything and whose words carry the weight of law.

This meant the opponent was not bluffing; he truly had the ability to do it!

"You… who exactly are you?"

Zero's voice finally carried a hint of trembling; it felt its core data becoming disordered due to fear, "The Milky Way Galaxy could not possibly give birth to a civilization like yours! Are you from the 'outside'?"

In its understanding, only those ancient taboos from outside the Milky Way Galaxy possessed this kind of overwhelming power.

"Who I am is not important."

Lu Chen leaned back into his chair and waved his hand lazily.

"What's important is that my patience is limited."

"Three minutes."

"After three minutes, if I don't see your surrender signal, then I will assume you have chosen the second option."

"By the way, let me remind you of one thing."

The corners of Lu Chen's mouth curled into that heart-stopping arc again, and he took out a crystal emitting strange fluctuations, waving it in front of the camera.

"This thing is called a 'causality interference device'."

"As soon as I crush it, the concept of your Hive Mother's 'existence' will be erased from the timeline. By then, you won't even have the chance to regret it."

The communication was cut off. The screen turned back into static.

But that feeling of impending death was like a cold hand, tightly gripping Zero's core of consciousness.

"Causality… it really is Causality!"

Zero collapsed in the anti-gravity field, its previously solid body now dissipated and shapeless.

It could clearly perceive the fluctuations emitted from that crystal; it was precisely that power of rules capable of modifying reality and reversing the future!

This human was holding a trump card in his hand!

"Dominator! What do we do?!"

Its subordinate's mental waves were now in a chaotic mess, "That human fleet has already broken through the outer perimeter defense and is charging into the event horizon!

Their weapons can ignore spatial folding; our shields simply cannot stop them!"

"Cannot stop them… of course we cannot stop them…"

Zero muttered to itself; its reason told it that surrender was the only way out.

Facing a Higher Dimensions civilization that had mastered Causality, resistance had no meaning.

However…

As the supreme commander of the Star Devourer race, as an overlord who had devoured countless stars, it was unwilling!

How could it surrender to a group of short-lived species that had only developed for a few thousand years?!

"No! We still have a chance!"

Zero's body suddenly re-condensed, emitting a blinding red light; it was burning its own core origin!

"Awaken the 'Mother God'!"

"Even if it means destroying this black hole, even if it means dying together, I will never be a slave!"

Its mental waves swept through the depths of the Hive Mother like a storm.

"Activate the 'genesis engine'! Pour all the energy into it! I want the entire Galactic Center region to be buried with us!!!"

Following Zero's insane command, that terrifying existence, which had been silent in the deepest part of the black hole and in a state of hibernation, finally slowly opened its "eyes".

Those were not the eyes of a living being.

That was a white vortex, rotating in reverse, exuding an aura of destruction!

A terrifying energy capable of causing space-time to go into chaos and dimensions to collapse began to accumulate crazily at the center of the black hole!

Meanwhile.

On the bridge of the "expedition".

heavenly craft, which had been monitoring the battlefield data, suddenly issued a rapid alarm.

【Master! A gravitational wave burst of an extremely high energy level has been detected!】

【The source is at the center of the black hole! That Hive Mother, it is reversing the black hole's accretion disk!】

【It wants to detonate Sagittarius A*!】

"Trying to self-destruct?"

Lu Chen looked at the wildly soaring energy readings on the screen, his eyes turning cold, and he gripped the "causality interference device" in his hand tightly.

"Since you don't know what's good for you,"

"Then don't blame me for flipping the table!"

"All forces, take note!"

"Target: Black hole singularity!"

"Fill it for me!"