172: We will eventually return to the stars.

Jiang Feng thought of the setting sun.

That brilliant red sunset did not illuminate hope.

The colossal shadow of the Star-Eater gradually eclipsed the sun's radiance.

Infinite swarms of insects covered the sky and swarmed in. Even though the horizon stingers constantly altered the physical laws within the region, they could not keep this relentless flood outside the Solar System.

He stood upon an Earth that had been converted into a Ring World; the land beneath his feet was once the Tagus River.

The cruel universe had ground down his edges time and again. Every time he woke up, every time he reshaped his life from scratch, he always had to face the same blood-red sunset.

He couldn't remember how many times he had tried.

Or rather, he remembered, but those memories were too vast—they were no longer things he wished to recall.

Feeling a bit tired, he simply sat down on the ground.

Beside him, a warm body sat down, right there on the dusty ground.

"Are you tired?" The female voice wasn't sweet or beautiful, but it was incredibly dear.

"No," Jiang Feng heard his own voice say.

"You're lying to me again." The female voice chuckled.

"I might lie to anyone, but I'd never lie to you." The corners of Jiang Feng's mouth curled up.

The sky turned completely dark. The Star-Eater had fully obscured the sun.

At least in this section of the Ring World, not a single glimmer of the sunset could be seen.

The 'Star Detonator' was charging.

In a few hours, the sun would be detonated.

This wasn't to destroy the swarm, nor was it for war.

A solar explosion didn't have enough power to take everything in the entire galaxy with it.

The sun's explosion would create a black hole.

A miniature black hole with less than one solar mass.

The horizon stingers required a black hole to traverse the universe; they needed that incomparable, massive gravitational pull to tear through four-dimensional spacetime.

"It's time to evacuate," the female voice said softly.

"Yes. 186 horizon stingers, 11.26 quadrillion people. 24 colonial fleets, 940 quadrillion people."

"It's just a pity that time wasn't on our side. This is as far as I could take it."

"In this attempt, we lasted nearly forty thousand years. But who could have guessed the Great Devourer would surround the Milky Way Galaxy from all sides?"

"Still, it was worth it in the end. At least this time, I did better than the last."

Jiang Feng paused, then asked, "How many people chose to stay behind?"

"1,400 planets, less than two quadrillion people. Many of them built generation arks and have already set sail."

"We secured a breakthrough for them, and they've all left through hyperlanes. In less than a thousand years, their traces should be found across the entire Virgo Supercluster." The female voice sounded a bit downcast.

"Everyone makes their own choices; we did our best." Jiang Feng added, "By the way, what about the universal parameters? Last time, Halsey said she wanted to wait and discuss them with you and Su Wen. How did that go?"

"You will wake up on a new Earth. It will be the year 1995." The female voice was somewhat playful.

"1995? Earth? Good lord, I can hardly remember what kind of era that was." Jiang Feng heard himself laugh self-deprecatingly. It wasn't that he didn't remember, but rather that such peace had not belonged to him for a very, very long time.

"For humanity, it was a dark and ignorant era." The female voice laughed. "War, chaos... humans did not choose to unite under a common, beautiful vision."

"Just like now?" Jiang Feng exhaled deeply and laughed as well.

"Yes, just like now." The female voice stopped laughing.

"War... war never changes, does it?" Jiang Feng stopped laughing too.

"Do you remember the very first time this all started? How we came all this way?" the female voice suddenly asked him.

"Of course I remember. Ever since Mom and Dad died in that FTL Engine explosion, we were determined to leave the Terran Union and find a way to live in the Human Federation." Jiang Feng recalled the past and took a deep breath.

"In the end, we didn't make it to the Human Federation. Instead, we joined the resistance, fighting against the Terran Union's rule and those Alien Species we've long since driven to extinction. Ha, those days are still vivid in my mind."

"Yes." The female voice took over the narrative. "Later, you became the leader of the resistance, leading us to survive in the cracks. Who would have thought we'd stumble upon the home system of 'Cyberlex Alpha'?"

"On that Shattered Ring, you resisted Cyberlex's assimilation and, in turn, assimilated Cyberlex."

Jiang Feng nodded slightly. "Then, relying on that dilapidated Cybrex Warforge, we rebuilt bit by bit, formed an alliance with the Human Federation, and finally reclaimed Earth."

"But little did we know, that would be the start of the nightmare."

"Damn it, every time I wake up, it's either too early or too late."

"And every time, we're always one step away from building the 'Galactic Computer'."

"But you built all of this—the Empire, Halsey, the Miniature Galaxy, the horizon stingers. You pulled humanity back from the brink of extinction." The female voice said softly, "We will succeed. I have never doubted that."

"Let's not talk about that. Is the Armory packed up?" Jiang Feng avoided the memories.

"It's packed, but Halsey insisted that we can't bring any blueprints or facilities." The female voice sounded a bit frustrated.

"She's right. Do you remember the log we obtained after assimilating the Purity Protocol this time?" Jiang Feng paused.

"According to the timeline, the Purity Protocol had already awakened around 1654 and had been broadcasting tachyon signals into the galaxy ever since."

"That's where I slipped up in previous attempts—disturbing the Purity Protocol too early and wasting resources and time needlessly."

"If the complete Cyberlex Prime appeared at the wrong time... then we wouldn't even have time to develop before Earth got hit by a World Cracker."

Jiang Feng shook his head with a sigh. "I can only rebuild slowly, one step at a time."

"Fair enough. There's one more thing." The female voice sounded much more relieved.

"The mass of the 'Miniature Galaxy' we built this time is too great. There will definitely be an error between its spacetime landing point and yours."

"Furthermore, when it falls into your spacetime, it might trigger a black-hole-like distortion, causing you to be affected by spacetime drag."

"Halsey said the most likely landing point for the Miniature Galaxy is between 2006 and 2045."

"The reason for sending you to 1995 is to prevent you from being dragged too far into the future the moment you acquire the Miniature Galaxy. According to the current plan, the estimated spacetime offset is only about 200 years. It shouldn't be a big problem."

The female voice gave a soft warning: "I'll be waiting for you. Don't leave me single forever."

"Don't worry, you know me. I don't lack the courage to confess." Jiang Feng replied with a light laugh.

"This is the first test of the 'Miniature Galaxy.' You have to compress your memories even more thoroughly."

"Su Wen said that several entities in the Shroud have already set their sights on us. If you restart with a clear consciousness, they will find a way to create a causal paradox." The female voice could not hide her worry.

"I know. I specifically asked Halsey to help me develop an encryption technology this time."

"Now my subconscious is managed by the nanomachines in my body. Once I remember something, it can be shielded immediately."

"I've now integrated triple technology: Cyberlex, Cetana, and Gray."

"This batch of nanomachines is the most advanced technology ever seen in this universe."

"I just don't know how effective they'll be once they're actually put into combat."

Jiang Feng looked at his palm, transforming it at will into any organic or inorganic matter.

Metal, tree roots, vines, aliens. Even... Tyranid Swarm.

That was the feeling of freedom, but also the feeling of hunger.

Not an organic hunger, but a greed for energy and baryonic matter itself.

Perhaps, on some level, even the Great Devourer itself could not experience such hunger.

The only things he didn't salivate over were leptons.

But technology was still advancing. Halsey was researching 'lepton nanomachines,' but unfortunately, time had run out.

Jiang Feng sighed and turned his head to ask, "What about Halsey? How will she come? Manifesting as the Cybrex Warforge won't work; we tried that last time, her conscious mass was too great..."

"I asked her. She said she would stage an accident so that her original circuits would be created."

"Once she makes contact with you and the Cybrex Warforge, once you give her a name again and turn her back into your consciousness node, she will start to recover her memories."

"When I asked for more, she just said it was a secret." The female voice sounded a bit helpless.

"You have to be careful. After Halsey absorbed the 'Purity Protocol,' the 'Dahl Continuum' that had mutated into a slaughter machine, and 'Cyberlex Beta' in succession, I've always felt she's a bit strange." the female voice warned.

"Oh, you're just worrying too much."

"After so many years and so many attempts, as my 'consciousness node,' she'll be fine."

Jiang Feng heard his own confident voice: "When I wake up, we'll do it all over again..."

The female voice finished his sentence: "...save our home, save ourselves, and save our families."

The sky was suddenly dyed red by a series of explosions.