266: The enemy is at the gates of the Black Hole Starfield, where the Star Devourer's mother nest is located!

Milky Way Galaxy, Sagittarius Arm, a hundred light-years from the Galactic Center black hole.

This was the frontier of the universe, and also the gate of hell.

The massive black fleet of the expedition army, like the shadow of death, silently slipped out of the dimensional rift. They lit no lights, made no sound, just quietly hovered in this void filled with the aura of death and destruction.

"Commander Lu, report!"

Wolf of War's voice rang out on the silent bridge, carrying an uncontrollable tremor, "We've arrived."

Lu Chen slowly rose from the command chair and walked to the huge panoramic viewport.

Behind him, Su Qingying, Alia, and all the Super Soldiers and fleet commanders held their breath, their gaze fixed on the view outside the window.

The next second, everyone's pupils constricted to pinpoints!

What a sight it was!

Directly in front of them, the cosmic background, which should have been pitch black, was now replaced by a strange, nauseating dark purple light.

That wasn't the light of a star, that was—

Space itself was glowing!

Countless colossal spatial folds, like abyssal fissures, were densely spread throughout the entire starfield, resembling gaping mouths. They opened and closed chaotically; each opening and closing swallowed the surrounding light and matter, then spewed out violent gravitational waves and high-energy radiation from the other end.

Space-time had completely lost its meaning here.

It was like a pot of boiling porridge—chaotic, viscous, and full of deadly danger.

And in the center of this chaotic space-time ocean, that cosmic monster that had devoured countless stars, whose mass was enough to distort the entire Milky Way Galaxy—

Sagittarius A* black hole!

Stared like a cold, cycloptic eye overlooking all living beings!

Silently watching these uninvited guests.

Around it, a massive black shadow, large enough to obscure half a galaxy, slowly writhed. It was trillions of Star Devourer nano-swarms, forming a colossal war fortress that encircled the black hole, like a black dragon coiled above the abyss!

"O-Oh God..."

A young staff officer's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground. His face was filled with a ghost-like terror and despair.

"Is this... is this the Star-Devouring Hive Mother?"

"This isn't a fortress at all! This is clearly a living planet!"

That's right, a living planet.

The colossal fortress, composed of countless nano-robots, displayed extremely strange life signs on heavenly craft's energy scan spectrum. It was breathing, it was pulsating, it was even thinking!

"heavenly craft, analyze its structure."

Lu Chen's voice broke the deadly silence, calm without a ripple. It was as if this terrifying entity, which would make any Third-level civilization tremble in awe, was merely an interesting "research sample" in his eyes.

[Yes, Master.]

heavenly craft's virtual image appeared in mid-air, her perfect face now etched with solemnity.

[Performing deep scan...]

[Scan complete!]

[Warning! Detecting ultra-high energy gravitational field distortion! The target's core is not a biological entity!]

"What?!"

Everyone was stunned.

Not a biological entity? Then what was it?!

[Based on the inverse deduction of the data model...]

heavenly craft's voice carried an unprecedented tremble.

[Its core is a... running in reverse...]

[...a 'genesis engine'!]

Boom!!!

A 'genesis engine'?!

This term, filled with mythical and taboo connotations, exploded like an antimatter bomb deep within everyone's souls!

That was the legendary divine tool used by high-dimensional civilizations to create the universe!

How could it be here?!

And transformed into the core of a war fortress?!

"I understand..."

Lu Chen looked at the black hole radiating destruction, a flash of sudden realization in his dark eyes.

"The Star Devourers are not a naturally occurring civilization at all."

"They are the product of a failed experiment!"

"An out-of-control program casually discarded by some higher-dimensional 'god'—"

"A garbage disposal program!"

"And that so-called 'genesis engine' is the 'CPU' that drives this program!"

"CPU'!

At this moment, all the mysteries were solved.

Why did the Star Devourers frantically devour energy? Why did they harbor such great hostility towards all organic life forms?

Because their underlying logic was "cleanup"!

To clean up all "disordered" and "energy-wasting" life in this universe!

"Th-Then what should we do?"

Su Qingying's voice was a bit dry. "Against an out-of-control 'genesis engine', are our current weapons still effective?"

"Conventional weapons are useless."

Lu Chen shook his head, but a crazy glint flashed in his eyes.

"To deal with such an unreasonable 'program', the only way—"

"Is with an even more unreasonable method!"

He suddenly turned and looked at all the ready warriors on the bridge, his voice thundering!

"Everyone!"

"I know you're scared, and so am I."

"But, we have no retreat!"

"Today, we are not fighting for some damn glory, nor for some interstellar hegemony!"

"We are fighting for survival!"

"For the blue planet behind us! For the billions of compatriots still sleeping!"

"And even more so—"

Lu Chen's gaze swept over Alia, and over the Winged People warriors whose eyes burned with the fire of vengeance!

"For all the civilizations under this starry sky, destroyed by these beasts!"

"To get justice!"

"All forces, listen to my command!"

Lu Chen suddenly waved his hand, pointing to the dark abyss that resembled the gate of hell!

"Target: genesis engine!"

"Tactic: Decapitation!"

"Charge!!!"

"Kill!!!"

"Kill!!!"

"Kill!!!"

Deafening roars instantly echoed throughout the entire fleet!

It was the final war cry, from two civilizations, for the same goal—

The final war cry!

"Boom—!!!"

The next second, one hundred thousand Kyushu-class destroyers and three thousand Holy Light-class assault ships simultaneously ignited their engines!

Transforming into streaks of light that tore through the darkness!

Charging headlong towards the terrifying demon god that had lurked in the heart of the Milky Way for billions of years!

Terrifying demon god!

An ultimate battle, with the entire future of human civilization at stake!

Ultimate battle!

At this moment!

Officially

Begun!

"heavenly craft."

In the surging torrent of the charge, Lu Chen's voice was unusually calm.

[Here, Master.]

"How are the causality interference devices coming along?"

[Reporting, Master, the 'Heavenly Mandate' system has completed preheating and can be activated at any time.]

[However...]

heavenly craft's voice carried a hint of worry.

[According to my calculations, the energy required to affect an entity of 'genesis engine' level is astronomical.]

[Our current energy reserves can only support its full operation for...]

[...zero point one second.]

"Zero point one second?"

Lu Chen smiled, a smile of utter madness.

"That's enough."

"The outcome of a battle between gods and demons..."

"Often lies in that single instant."

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the layers of energy storms, directly locking onto the slowly awakening white vortex.

"Come on, old monster."

"Let me see how much 'quality' you, this failed—"

"—'creation of a god'—"

"Truly possess!"