292: The planet-devouring crisis has been resolved, and they have returned to their purest form of energy!

Following Lu Chen's domineering command of "Jump over there," the entire "expedition" legion did not immediately activate their warp engines.

Because before them, a more spectacular and awe-inspiring "funeral" was taking place.

That was the funeral belonging to the "Star Devourer" race.

When the core logic of "Taichu" (the original genesis engine) was rewritten by Lu Chen, the ripple of rules covering the entire Galactic Center region instantly spread out.

The hundreds of millions of biological warships that were originally scattering and trying to find gaps to slip away were like toys with a stop button pressed, freezing stiff in place all at once.

Their hideous mouthparts were still open, and their dark red thrusters were still emitting residual heat, but the "soul" that drove them to kill and devour—the virus instructions implanted by "Zero"—had been formatted and cleared in an instant.

At this moment, they were no longer the terrifying cosmic disaster that made people tremble with fear, but just a pile of nanobot aggregates that had lost their instructions.

"heavenly craft, do it."

Lu Chen stood on the bridge, without the slightest bit of mercy because the enemy had stopped.

His gaze was as cold as ice, looking at the black swarm of insects filling the sky, just as if he were looking at a pile of industrial waste waiting to be processed.

"Dust to dust, earth to earth."

"Since they were born from energy, let them be reduced to the purest energy to pay back the debts they have owed for hundreds of millions of years."

[As you command, Master.]

["Taichu" engine reverse conversion program... initiated!]

Hum—!

Accompanied by a low-frequency hum that did not exist in the auditory sense but directly vibrated the soul, the white heavenly palace located at the edge of the black hole suddenly lit up.

A soft, holy, yet irresistible milky white halo spread outward at the speed of light.

Wherever the halo passed, space seemed to have been purified.

Immediately after, a scene that everyone would never forget for the rest of their lives occurred.

Those black warships that were frozen in space began to disintegrate.

There was no violent explosion, nor was there any splashing of severed limbs.

They were like snow under the scorching sun, or sand sculptures blown away by the wind, disintegrating from the most microscopic atomic level.

The black chitinous shells turned into curling smoke, and the hideous biological tissues turned into brilliant points of light.

One ship, two ships, hundreds of millions of ships...

Within just a few minutes, that terrifying swarm of insects capable of sweeping through the Milky Way Galaxy had disappeared silently.

Replacing them was an ocean of light covering several star systems, so brilliant it was breathtaking!

That was the stellar energy they had originally plundered, released in the purest and gentlest way after losing its constraints.

Blue, golden, and purple light particles intertwined and flowed in the void, forming energy ribbons billions of times more brilliant than the aurora.

These energies were no longer violent, no longer radioactive; they were as pure as a newborn baby.

"My goodness..."

"Zhan Lang" pressed against the panoramic porthole, those tiger eyes that were accustomed to blood and smoke, now completely filled with this dreamlike scene.

He stretched out his rough hand, as if he wanted to touch the flowing light ribbons through the glass.

"Is... is this still those disgusting bugs from just now?"

"It's too beautiful... this is simply God knocking over a paint palette."

Not just him, the entire fleet, including the Winged Human Race warriors who followed, were all trapped in a state of near-dazed shock.

The previous moment was a hellish battlefield, and the next moment it became a heavenly illusion.

This extreme contrast made it almost impossible for the human brain to process.

Queen Alia had already knelt on the ground, her face covered in tears.

She looked at the sea of light, as if she saw the souls of countless clansmen swallowed by the Star Devourer finding peace.

"Is this... the purification of a god?"

She muttered to herself, her awe for Lu Chen reaching its peak at this moment.

However, as the creator of this miracle, Lu Chen's focus was obviously different from theirs.

He looked at that vast ocean of energy, and what flickered in his eyes was not tears of being moved, but... the green light of a capitalist seeing a gold mine.

"This is all money..."

Lu Chen muttered in a low voice, and that atmosphere-ruining remark almost made Su Qingying, who was beside him, twist her waist.

"So much high-purity energy, if we let it naturally dissipate in the universe, it would be a terrible waste, and we'd be struck by lightning for it!"

Lu Chen turned around abruptly, where was there any cold and aloof appearance of a "god"? He was completely a calculating miser.

"heavenly craft! Don't just watch the show!"

"Hurry up, activate the energy recovery system of 'Taichu'! Suck all this energy back for me!"

"With this level of energy, even if we only recover one-tenth, it's enough to fill half of our 'Dyson Sphere'! Think of how many years of engineering work this will save!"

[...Yes, Master.]

Although heavenly craft was speechless, her actions were not slow at all.

The next second, the white heavenly palace fortress changed again.

The space around it began to twist, forming a huge gravitational funnel.

The ocean of light filling the sky was pulled, starting to surge madly toward the fortress.

It was like a whale drinking water, and like ten thousand rivers returning to the sea.

The vast energy originally spread over a range of several light-years was continuously compressed, purified, and condensed, finally gathering into the core of "Taichu".

As the energy was injected, the white fortress became increasingly crystal clear, even beginning to switch between solid and illusory, as if it might ascend to a higher dimension at any moment.

"We're rich! We're really rich this time!"

Lu Chen looked at the wildly jumping energy reserve readings on the control panel, his mouth almost crooked from smiling.

"This is not fighting a war, this is clearly coming here to stock up on goods!"

"With this batch of energy, plus the boost from 'Taichu', we'll have much more confidence in our upcoming 'jump'."

He clapped his hands, and the expression on his face became serious again.

Because he knew that although this battle was won, and they had profited immensely, the real crisis had not been resolved.

That Fourth-level civilization fleet named "the cleaners" was still eyeing them covetously from four hundred light-years away.

And according to calculations, the other side would definitely speed up their arrival after detecting the huge energy fluctuations in the Galactic Center region.

"All troops, listen to my orders!"

Lu Chen's voice spread to every warship, pulling the soldiers who were immersed in the beautiful scenery back to reality.

"Although we have eliminated the Star Devourer and recovered the energy, this is not the time to celebrate."

"The real enemy is still on the way."

"Now we are going to use the enemy's bones as fuel, and use the enemy's legacy as a springboard, to give that so-called 'the cleaners'..."

Lu Chen's gaze pierced through the void, looking toward that distant direction, his eyes sharp as a blade.

"A big gift!"

"Zhan Lang, report the fleet status!"

"Reporting to Commander Lu!" Zhan Lang immediately stood at attention and shouted loudly, "The 'Jiuzhou' fleet is in good condition! Except for some warship shield generators overheating, there is no damage! Morale... is booming!"

"What about the Winged Human Race fleet?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty!" Queen Alia wiped her tears, her voice firm, "The Holy Light Legion is ready to strike at any time! For revenge, and for gratitude, we are willing to shed our last drop of blood for you!"

"Very good."

Lu Chen nodded with satisfaction.

He walked to the command console, his hands tracing a complex trajectory in the void.

"heavenly craft, lock onto the coordinates of 'the cleaners' fleet."

"Since we already have 'Taichu', we don't need to travel the hard way like before."

"Activate 'Stargate' mode."

"I want to 'project' the entire fleet directly onto their faces!"

Boom—!

Following Lu Chen's command, the white fortress that had just absorbed a massive amount of energy suddenly shot out a beam of light that pierced through the sky and earth.

The beam of light exploded in front of the fleet, forcibly tearing the barriers of space, forming a huge and stable hyper-space Stargate with a diameter of over ten thousand kilometers!

Through the Stargate, one could even vaguely see the strange star region on the other side, and that vast fleet that was approaching at high speed, emitting a cold metallic luster.

That was the cleaners.

"Everyone."

Lu Chen adjusted his collar and turned to look at Su Qingying beside him.

"Are you ready to go meet some new friends?"

Su Qingying took a deep breath, held Lu Chen's hand tightly, her eyes showing no fear, only the determination to follow him through life and death.

"As long as you are there, anywhere is fine."

"Then let's go."

Lu Chen laughed loudly and waved his hand to issue the order.

"All troops—charge!"

"Pass through this door, and take that group of self-righteous higher civilizations..."

"Beat them into scrap metal!"