"It’s truly cruel." Bob watched Judith resolutely walk into the [Shuttle Gate] and disappear, unable to help but sigh.

"Couldn’t we replace her with someone else, uh, or maybe an animal?"

Shang Jianyue glanced at him calmly.

"It’s not that I haven’t tried. To be precise, until the day before we sounded the horn for the final assault, I hadn’t given up trying to find a new virus carrier."

"But without exception, they all failed."

Miracles are always impossible to replicate.

Some people, some things, seem destined by fate, unchangeable.

"Huh?" Bob seemed to notice something, suddenly looking at Shang Jianyue with surprise, "Your memory..."

"It seems you’ve made your own choice."

Shang Jianyue nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the sky, on the starships occupying it completely, his tone melancholy: "Yes, it’s her choice, and my choice."

Just as he finished speaking, there was a loud explosion.

One of the previously orderly starships in the sky suddenly erupted in a violent explosion.

One starship, for some unknown reason, malfunctioned and opened fire on a nearby starship with full force.

This sound was like a signal or seemed to trigger a chain reaction, soon followed by a string of continuous explosions echoing endlessly.

All the starships began firing simultaneously, their annihilation energy pouring relentlessly over their companions.

The energy shields of the starships were quickly shattered, the special alloy hulls melting as the fire spread rapidly to the core kinetic energy furnace.

A destructive explosion once again erupted from within, reducing the starships to fragments.

For a moment, the entire sky seemed to bloom with countless gigantic fireworks, dazzling and captivating.

The people on Blue Star all looked up in unison, witnessing this unprecedented spectacle.

At the same time, in Judith’s garden residence, an old tape recorder suddenly started clicking.

"Hello? Can you hear me? I’m so clumsy, I can’t even use the things Mr. Shang Jianyue gave me. Alright!"

"This is Judith."

"Mr. Han Zhan, by the time you hear this recording, I should no longer be in this world."

"This was the agreement between me and Mr. Shang Jianyue. If you are angry because of my death, please do not blame him; Mr. Shang Jianyue is a very kind and gentle person, and all this was my own choice."

"I have always been just an ordinary girl, unable to choose my birth, struggling to survive in the dirty mire until I met you."

"It was you who radiated a dazzling light, dispelling the gloom in my life."

"Our relationship was like that of a sunflower and the sun. The sunflower longs for sunlight but can never get close to the sun, because if it dared to approach, it would be incinerated to ashes."

"I deeply understood this and always abided by this principle."

"But now, I must say goodbye to you, Mr. Han Zhan."

"If there’s still consciousness after the virtual data dissipates, I hope to continue staying by your side from afar."

"Finally, please allow me to light this grand display of fireworks for you as a farewell gift."

"Your friend, Judith."

Click.

Click.

The old tape recorder stopped.

Only the fireworks blossoming across the sky became even more radiant.

Goodbye, Sunflower Girl.

...

Ten seconds passed.

The Celestial Net AI recovered and completely regained control over the starship group.

But by this time, there were few intact starships left in the sky.

The once mighty and intimidating starship group aimed at Blue Star hadn’t even shown its fangs before it ended in such an astonishing manner.

It all felt absurdly anticlimactic.

Inside the Space Fortress, the masked man angrily smashed the central control panel in front of him.

"Bastard! Bastard!"

"What have you done? What have you done! You’ve made the starship group attack each other, destroying Can Shang Company’s nearly century-old savings in an instant!"

He cursed furiously at the Celestial Net AI.

Just moments ago, he watched helplessly as all the starship groups on the virtual screen attacked each other, exploded, and turned into heaps of scrap metal.

No matter what emergency measures he took, nothing could restore the Celestial Net AI.

The masked man was so enraged he cursed profusely in the vast strategic command room, "Damn it, Celestial Net bugged again!"

But it was all in vain.

Those were the starship groups, the main force fleet that Can Shang Company had poured a century’s worth of time, effort, and resources into.

Gone, just like that? Gone, just like that!

The Celestial Net AI remained silent, offering no response.

"There’s still a remedy." The Celestial Net AI suddenly spoke.

A flood of data emerged on the virtual screen, sorting, calculating.

Finally, it presented a list.

"If we throw all these materials into the Eye of the Moon, desperately, we can accelerate His awakening."

"With His stature, bringing destruction to Blue Star and reversing this unfavorable situation would be effortless."

"The only concern is that we are not yet ready to make direct contact with Him. The risks of this plan..."

The masked man waved his hand, stopping the Celestial Net AI from continuing.

A decisive voice echoed from beneath the mask: "Let’s do it."

"Shang Jianyue, and the Titan City behind you, do you really think you can defeat me with such conspiracies and tricks?"

"No, I will make you pay with your lives for my starship group!"

...

"Is it over?"

Han Zhan staggered as he was helped out of a deep pit, Li Lingzhen looking pale and exhausted.

To save Han Zhan, who had been hit by a full force strike from a Tier Nine Ultimate, she had pushed herself to her limits, finally managing to revive him.

"Lingzhen? Siteng? Xiao Jin? Youwei? Nuannuan? Why is everyone here?"

Han Zhan said in a tone of surprise, looking at the silhouettes of the five women.

"How could we not come? If we hadn’t, we might never have seen you again!" Li Lingzhen said with a hint of annoyance. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Han Zhan shook his head.

He had confidence in his own body; a full-force strike from a Tier Nine Ultimate could severely injure him but would not necessarily be fatal.

As long as he had a breath left, he could recover completely.

This was his way of withstanding the final breath.

But Han Zhan did not argue.

Lingzhen and the others were genuinely concerned, and to speak frankly would be too straightforward. He tried to change the subject, "Hey, I think I just saw fireworks in the sky. They were so beautiful. Did you see them?"

Han Zhan’s words only deepened the silence.

Just as Han Zhan was about to ask more questions about what had happened after he lost consciousness,

the sky suddenly went pitch black.

A bright moon appeared.

This familiar scene matched the illusion realm Han Zhan had seen before!

The moon, radiating a faint white glow, was smeared with a shade of red, like thick blood vessels quickly spreading across the lunar surface!

Within the Blood Moon, a giant eye suddenly opened!