Chapter 191 I want this sun

The moment the great xia dragon sparrow rushed out of the mist, the alarms in the Command Center did not blare frantically as expected.

Instead, the entire hall fell into an eerie silence.

Everyone looked up, staring at the behemoth that occupied half of the holographic screen, forgetting even to breathe.

It was a star.

But it didn't look at all like the radiant, vibrant stars described in textbooks. It was sick, and very gravely so.

This red giant was terrifyingly massive, nearly filling their vision, but its surface lacked that blinding brilliance one wouldn't dare look at directly; instead, it presented a dim, dark red hue like congealed blood. Across the star's surface were shocking charred black spots, like a giant fruit that had been left out too long and was beginning to mold.

What made people's skin crawl the most was a ring of metallic construction encircling the star's equator.

It was an incredibly magnificent black ring with a diameter exceeding ten million kilometers, like a steel shackle tightly constricting the star's "waist."

The ring was not stationary; it rotated slowly, with countless probes thousands of kilometers long extending from its inner side and piercing deep into the star's interior. Every probe trembled slightly, as if extracting something.

As the ring turned, massive tongues of fire constantly surged from the star's surface, only to be forcibly suppressed by some invisible force. It looked like a prisoner undergoing torture, with every struggle being brutally quelled.

"My goodness..." A Ji sprawled against the glass, his drool nearly dripping, and the electronic tablet in his hand shaking. "This is too spectacular. Are these people performing liposuction on the sun?"

"Liposuction? They're sucking out its life!"

Academician Wang's fingers were flying across the virtual keyboard so fast they almost sparked, and the wrinkles on his face were filled with cold sweat. "This is a 'Gravitational Lens Array'! These lunatics are using gravity to squeeze the star's core and forcibly extract 'star marrow'! They're killing the goose that lays the golden eggs!"

"star marrow?" Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, the teacup in his hand stopping at his lips.

"It's the essence of stellar fusion; one gram of star marrow contains energy equivalent to a thousand hydrogen bombs!" Academician Wang pulled up a data chart where the red line was plunging like a cliff. "But this isn't mining at all; it's a massacre! At this extraction rate, the pressure balance inside this red giant has been completely destroyed. In three days at most... no, two days! It will trigger a supernova explosion due to core collapse!"

The old academician suddenly turned his head, his voice cracking as he shouted, "Commander Lin! Retreat quickly! Once the supernova explodes, not even a speck of dust will be left in this star sector!"

Lin Yuan didn't move.

He just stared at that massive metallic ring. There was no fear in his eyes; instead, they were terrifyingly bright.

Just now, as he approached the star, the void engine in his chest suddenly throbbed violently, like a shark smelling blood.

It was a sense of hunger.

Extreme hunger.

On the system panel, a line of red text was flashing frantically:

[High-purity Stellar Essence leakage detected...]

[Energy Rating: SS-rank.]

[Suggestion: Forget about the supernova, go up and take a few gulps! This is a great tonic!]

"Retreat? Why retreat?" Lin Yuan put the teacup on the table and poked his cheek with his tongue. "With such a big, hot bun sitting right in front of us, running away without taking a bite isn't my style."

He stood up, walked to the screen, and traced a circle over the massive metallic ring with his finger.

"Old Chen, look at that ring. Doesn't it look like a large-scale heater?"

Chen Weiguo's hand, which was wiping away sweat, froze, and his eyelid twitched wildly. "Commander Lin, you aren't thinking of..."

"Our Earth is like a motherless child now that we've left the Solar System; it's cold." Lin Yuan said with a look of deep distress. "I think this equipment is quite good. Let's dismantle it, take it back, modify it, and hang it in Earth's orbit. Wouldn't that be a small artificial sun? It's power-saving and environmentally friendly."

Everyone in the Command Center was stunned.

That's a star-destroying weapon array capable of obliterating a galaxy, and in your eyes, it's just a heater?

Just then, the piercing alarm finally broke everyone's daze.

"Warning! High-energy reaction detected! Target locked onto Earth!"

On the screen, the metallic ring that was tightly constricting the star suddenly stopped rotating. One section of the arc slowly adjusted its angle, acting like a giant concentrating mirror, and aimed at the Earth fleet that had just rushed out of the mist.

In the void above the ring, countless spaceships hovered densely.

Those ships had strange designs and were all painted a blood-like crimson, looking like a swarm of metallic flies buzzing around a rotting corpse.

...

Inside the main control hall of the metallic ring.

The Cardinal "Jealousy" stood on a high platform, a cruel light flashing in his large mechanical prosthetic eye.

He looked at the little blue ball on the screen that had recklessly intruded, a contemptuous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"It really is those bugs." His voice, processed by a vocal unit in his throat, sounded like metal scraping on glass. "To be able to crawl out of the Land Abandoned by Gods, it seems their luck is quite good. Unfortunately, luck is worthless in my presence."

The priest beside him bowed and asked, "My Lord, should we dispatch the fleet to intercept them?"

"Intercept?" Jealousy sneered. "No need to waste ammunition. Since they like to get close to hot places, let's warm them up."

He raised his right hand, which had been modified into a sharp claw, and gently pressed a red button.

"Light them up."

...

In space.

The gravitational lens facing Earth suddenly lit up.

It didn't fire any lasers or shells; instead, it slightly loosened its constriction on the star.

The next second.

Boom!

On the star's surface, now free from gravitational suppression, a coronal tongue of fire hundreds of thousands of kilometers long suddenly erupted!

That wasn't ordinary fire, but a plasma torrent with temperatures reaching millions of degrees!

Due to the focusing effect of the gravitational lens, this tongue of fire did not spread in all directions but was concentrated into a straight spear of flame. With world-destroying power, it stabbed directly toward Earth!

Several asteroids along the path didn't even make a sound before being instantly vaporized into nothingness.

"Evade! Evade quickly!"

The Earth Command Center fell into total chaos.

The speed of that flame spear was too fast; just looking at it through the screen, one could feel the suffocating heat.

"Evade my ass!"

Lin Yuan stood on the command platform, not even bothering to fasten his seatbelt. He leaned against the railing with his hands, his face wearing that trademark rogue smile. "We're Ghost Kings now; do ghosts fear fire?"

He snapped his fingers.

"Dauntless, teach these kids playing with fire a lesson."

The hundred-kilometer-long titan flagship that had been flying alongside Earth suddenly moved.

It didn't fire any weapons but instead inserted itself directly between Earth and the flame spear, almost as if teleporting.

At the bow, the core crystal erupted with a blinding ghostly blue light.

[Absolute Void Domain: Deploy]

Buzz—

A layer of black, translucent barrier that seemed capable of swallowing even light instantly expanded in front of the Dauntless.

The plasma tongue of fire, capable of burning through a planet's crust, slammed heavily against this black barrier.

There was no explosion.

There was no roar.

Like boiling water poured into liquid nitrogen, the violent flame spear actually extinguished instantly upon touching the black barrier!

No, it wasn't extinguished.

It was devoured.

The black barrier was like an insatiable maw; no matter how much energy came, it took it all. The high-temperature plasma didn't even cause a ripple before being converted into the purest nether energy and funneled back into the Dauntless's energy core.

"Burp—"

Over the communication channel, there was even a highly anthropomorphic burp.

It was emitted by the Dauntless's AI.

"This is the so-called 'Heavenly Fire'?" Lin Yuan clapped his hands with a look of disdain. "The heat isn't quite there; it'd be a struggle even to roast sweet potatoes."

He turned around and looked at the dumbfounded Academician Wang. "See that? Our undead brothers have quite an appetite. Never mind this spray-bottle-like flame; even if he threw the entire sun at us, we could chew it up and swallow it."

This scene didn't just stun the humans of Earth; even Jealousy on the opposite side was dumbfounded.

He had lorded over the Blazing Sun Star for so many years, incinerating hundreds if not thousands of civilizations. It had always been those bugs wailing and begging for mercy in the flames; when had he ever seen a monster that could swallow a corona whole?

"What kind of shield technology is that?!" Red light flashed wildly in Jealousy's mechanical eye. "titan technology? How do these hillbillies have a titan flagship?!"

Before he could figure it out, Lin Yuan's lazy voice suddenly came through the public channel.

This time, it wasn't encrypted; it was a full-frequency broadcast.

"Hey, you, the one who looks like a half-finished product."

Lin Yuan's large face popped up on the screen, picking his teeth at the camera. "Is this sun yours? I don't think you're using it right. With such good energy, you're using a tube to suck it like a mosquito. Isn't that embarrassing?"

"What do you want to do?" Jealousy's voice was so dark it was almost dripping.

"Nothing much." Lin Yuan pointed at the massive metallic ring. "I think your equipment is quite unique. We happen to need a heater for the winter. Name your price, or should I just dismantle it for you and call it labor costs?"

"Arrogant!"

Jealousy was shaking with rage, his mechanical hand crushing the control console in front of him. "You think blocking one attack gives you the right to negotiate? This is a divine artifact bestowed by my Lord! Since you want to die, I will grant your wish!"

"All fleets, hear my command! Give me..."

Before his command was finished, a sudden change occurred.

The red giant, which had originally been suppressed by the gravitational lens, suddenly trembled violently.

That trembling wasn't an ordinary starquake; it was more like... the twitching of some living thing in painful struggle.

Then, an indescribable roar, seemingly from the depths of hell, pierced through the vacuum and exploded in everyone's minds.

Ang—!!!

This sound did not belong to any known creature; it was filled with tyranny, rage, and a resentment harbored for billions of years of imprisonment.

Following that roar, the charred black spots on the star's surface suddenly split open.

No magma erupted.

What extended from those cracks were massive tentacles... composed of black fire.

"What the hell is that?!" A Ji was so scared he fell onto his backside, his Good Citizen Card flying out of his hand.

Lin Yuan's pupils constricted sharply.

The void engine inside him vibrated even more intensely, but this time, the emotion it conveyed wasn't hunger.

It was excitement.

The excitement of meeting one's own kind.

"Interesting." Lin Yuan licked his lips, looking at the "hatching" star. "So it turns out this sun isn't filled with stuffing, but with a living ancestor."

He looked at Jealousy, whose face had changed drastically on the screen, and grinned. "Buddy, it seems your heater's quality isn't up to par; it's about to blow. How about I help you dismantle it after all?"

With that, he didn't give the other party any chance to react and waved his hand.

"Everyone! Get ready to work!"

"Are we going to save that sun?" Academician Wang asked subconsciously.

"Save my ass!" Lin Yuan rolled his eyes. "We're scavengers, not the Red Cross. Before that big guy completely wakes up, strip that metallic ring for me! That's made of titanium alloy! It would be such a waste if that monster broke it!"

"Move out! Don't let those fanatics break my scrap metal!"