Chapter 134 Planet Eater

The cheers in space had not yet fully dissipated before they were strangled in everyone's throats by the monster crawling out of the flagship's wreckage.

The behemoth known as 'Star-Eater' did not possess the ferocious claws or scales people had imagined.

It was a mass of living, frantically writhing black swamp.

After swallowing that entire human warship, its volume doubled at a speed visible to the naked eye. On the surface of its originally pitch-black carapace, countless agonized human faces and the metal structures of the warship emerged—it was digesting, fusing, turning all the matter it had just swallowed into a part of its own body.

"Warning! High-energy reaction!" gaia's voice carried a distinct tremor. "The target is releasing a strong acidic nano-cloud! It's self-proliferating! This thing... this thing is a living nano-factory!"

On the screen, that massive lump of black flesh did not immediately pounce toward Earth.

Those hundreds of turbid yellow eyeballs rolled a few times, finally locking onto the far side of the moon, which had just released a world-shaking strike.

The residual high-energy antimatter radiation there, which was lethal to humans, was to it like the tempting aroma of freshly cooked braised pork.

"It's heading for guanghan palace!" Academician Wang roared in terror. "It wants to eat our cannon!"

"Stop it!" Chen Weiguo's eyes were nearly splitting as he roared into the communicator. "All xingtian mecha! Use whatever means necessary to ram it away!"

No orders were needed.

The twenty thousand xingtian mecha guarding the moon's perimeter had already charged forward like madmen. The thrusters on their backs spat out long blue tail flames, and the high-frequency vibration combat blades in their hands drew out streaks of mournful light arcs.

Those were currently the sharpest blades possessed by humanity.

However, what happened in the next second made everyone's hearts skip a beat.

The xingtian mecha at the very front slashed its blade fiercely into the monster's tentacle. The expected scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere did not occur; the combat blade was like it had cut into a mass of viscous asphalt.

Immediately after, the monster's black skin instantly liquefied, spreading up along the blade like living black water.

"Zzzzt—"

There was no sound of violent collision, only the tooth-aching sound of corrosion.

That mecha, crafted from special titanium alloy, began to melt the moment it touched the black water. First the arms, then the torso, and finally the core reactor.

In less than three seconds.

That dozen-meter-tall steel giant vanished.

In its place was a new bulge on the monster's tentacle. On the surface of that tumor, one could even vaguely recognize the mecha's glowing red electronic eye, but at this moment, that eye had become part of the monster's body, staring maliciously at its former comrades.

"Physical attacks are ineffective..." the frontline Commander's desperate voice came through. "energy weapons are also ineffective! Lasers hitting its body are directly absorbed! It... it's eating our attacks!"

This was the 'Planet Devourer'.

The ultimate scavenger bred by the Mechanical Papacy specifically to clean up stubborn civilizations.

It feared neither the hard nor the hot. The more you fought it, the more energy you fed it, and the faster it grew.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, this behemoth, whose size had already expanded to thousands of kilometers, was like a massive black rag, slowly enveloping the moon.

On the far side of the moon, the guanghan palace giant cannon, which had just cooled down and hadn't had time for a second recharge, was completely submerged by this black tide.

The nano-shields shattered like soap bubbles under its corrosion.

The sturdy turret base was softened and absorbed.

Looking from Earth, the originally silver-white moon was being rapidly consumed by a massive black spot. Like a moldy orange, the mold was spreading at an alarming rate.

"It's over." Academician Wang slumped onto the ground, his face ashen. "guanghan palace is blocked. Even if we fire forcibly now, the energy would just blow up the moon itself first."

Without that cannon, humanity was like lambs to the slaughter.

And that monster clearly didn't intend to stop at just an appetizer. After controlling the moon, its ten thousand tentacles waved again, and its massive body used the moon's gravity slingshot to perform a nauseating turn in space.

That abyss-like mouth, filled with sharp teeth and exceeding a thousand kilometers in diameter, slowly aimed toward Earth.

Inside that mouth, one could even see the wreckage of countless devoured warships tumbling and wailing.

"It's coming." Li Na bit her lip hard, blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. "It's going to eat Earth."

The command hall was deathly silent.

The Archbishop's piercing, mocking laughter cut into the full-spectrum broadcast at the right moment.

"Are you in despair? Insects."

"The toys you take pride in are nothing more than slightly harder crackers before God's creation."

"Watch it." The Archbishop's voice was full of mockery. "Watch it gnaw through your atmosphere bit by bit, drink your oceans dry, and finally chew your core to pieces. This is the price of resistance."

On the screen, that massive black shadow had already obscured the starry sky and was closing in on Earth.

That sense of oppression was a hundred times more terrifying than the previous fleet. A fleet at least had to fire guns and aim, but this thing didn't need to. It only needed to pounce, and then—feed.

Chen Weiguo slowly stood up straight.

He pulled a black key from his pocket and inserted it into the red slot at the very bottom of the command console in front of him.

That was the ultimate program that only the supreme Commander had the authority to activate.

Code Name: Termination.

"Old Chen, what are you doing?" Academician Wang's pupils contracted sharply when he saw that key, and he lunged forward to grab it. "Are you crazy?! That's the switch to detonate the global nuclear arsenal and mantle bombs! Once activated, Earth's ecology will completely collapse, and we'll all die!"

"I know."

Chen Weiguo shoved Academician Wang aside; his strength was frighteningly large.

"I know we will die." The old man's hand steadily held the key, his gaze passing through the screen to stare at the approaching monster. "But if we let it eat Earth, it will gain enough energy to evolve into its complete form, and then the entire Solar System will be finished."

"Since we're dead either way."

Chen Weiguo turned the key halfway, and red alarm lights flashed frantically throughout the fortress.

"Then I would rather blow Earth to dust than leave a single grain of rice for these bastards!"

Better to be a broken piece of jade than a whole tile.

This was the last bit of dignity for the weak when facing absolute power.

Most of the officers in the command hall fell silent. Some silently took off their military caps, and some closed their eyes. Facing such an invincible monster, mutual destruction seemed to truly be the only release.

"Beep—Program activated, countdown 30 seconds."

A cold electronic voice began the countdown.

Chen Weiguo's finger rested on the final confirmation button. A turbid tear rolled down from the corner of his eye, but he didn't wipe it.

"Farewell, children."

Just at the moment his finger was about to press down.

A hand, a hand with a faint smell of tobacco, suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed Chen Weiguo's wrist.

It was a young man's hand, slender, powerful, and as steady as Mount Tai.

"That's enough, Old Chen."

Lin Yuan's voice sounded from the side, lazy and carrying a punchable sense of relaxation. "At your age, don't always resort to self-destruction."

"Lin Yuan! Let go!" Chen Weiguo roared with bloodshot eyes. "Physical attacks are useless! Energy attacks are useless! We have no means left! If we don't act now, it'll be too late!"

"Who said we have no means?"

Lin Yuan didn't let go; instead, he used a bit of force to pull Chen Weiguo's hand away from the button.

He turned around and looked at the terrifying monster on the large screen that occupied nearly half the field of vision. Every piece of rotting flesh and every agonized human face on that thing was clearly reflected in his pupils.

"If physical doesn't work, and energy doesn't work."

Lin Yuan fished out a half-pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and held it in his mouth without lighting it. "Then let's switch to something it can't swallow."

"What?" Everyone was stunned.

What else was there that this monster, which could even swallow antimatter, couldn't eat?

Lin Yuan didn't explain.

He closed his eyes, and his consciousness instantly sank deep into the gene archive system called 'Eternal Flower'.

That was his biggest trump card and also a forbidden zone he had never dared to touch lightly.

In his mind, the golden system interface slowly unfolded.

[Area 001: nano-forging matrix (Activated)]

[Area 002: Gene Ascension Sequence (Activated)]

[Area 003: Deep Space Salvage Operations (Activated)]

...

Lin Yuan's consciousness skipped over those lit areas and went straight to the deepest part of the system interface.

There was a pitch-black gate emitting a heart-palpitating chill. Eerie purple chains were wrapped around the door, engraved with several distorted titan characters:

[Area 006: Dimensional Strike Relics]

[Warning: This area contains fragments left over from high-dimensional civilization wars. Opening it requires paying an extremely high price.]

[Warning: Your life level is too low; forcing use may lead to genetic collapse.]

Lin Yuan looked at that door, a crazed smile hooking at the corner of his mouth.

"gaia."

He called out in his mind.

"I am here, Commander." For the first time, gaia's voice was no longer an emotionless mechanical one, but carried a distinct sob. "Calculations show the survival rate for opening that thing is only 0.001%... You will die. Just like the previous Lord of Titans."

"If I die, I die."

Lin Yuan shrugged in his consciousness space, looking at the massive black door. "Anyway, Old Chen is about to take everyone and blow up Earth. Dying early or late is still dying; I'd rather have a blast."

"Besides..."

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

In the real world, that massive Devourer had already broken through the last line of defense outside the atmosphere, its giant tentacles about to touch the coastline of North America.

"I have a picky appetite." Lin Yuan grinned, revealing pearly white teeth, his eyes full of tyranny. "I can't stand seeing this disgusting thing crawling around on my dining table."

"System."

Lin Yuan gave the final command in his mind.

"Pay the price. Open the door."

[host's will detected.]

[Calculating price... Must pay 90% of maximum vitality.]

[Transaction established.]

[Area 006, Unlocked.]

Boom—

In the real world, there was no sound.

But everyone's heart contracted violently at this moment.

An indescribable aura erupted from Lin Yuan. It wasn't psychic energy, nor was it killing intent.

It was... 'Rules'.