"But first, we must have successors. Ren Zhong, you might be thinking that even if you die, others can take your place, and the civilization of the Source Star will continue to exist. However, this existence is not eternal. The Empire, though seemingly ideal, from the initial state of the Source Star, shows that it will not be a utopian dreamland. The Empire eliminating a group of outsiders from a fringe colony is no different from when the Association eliminated a town of savages. Putting aside the matter of those 18 billion lives, you are indeed the best leader. No one else could have achieved what you've done today. Those who survive still need your leadership, so you must not die."

Upon hearing this, Ren Zhong's eyes sparkled with determination.

In his heart, he was actually a bit surprised, not expecting Wang Qiao to have understood the situation so thoroughly soon after waking up.

Perhaps in the past timeline, he thought the same way, but because he wasn't using this set of dialogues at the time, he couldn't draw out these true sentiments from him.

After pondering for a while, Ren Zhong raised his hand and patted Wang Qiao on the shoulder, "Thank you. But I must still go."

Wang Qiao: "Ren Zhong..."

Ren Zhong: "Nine lives, one survives, isn't ten deaths, no life. As long as my plan succeeds, we can reverse defeat and everyone will have a sliver of hope. Including me."

"What plan? What role do I need to play?" By this point, Wang Qiao understood Ren Zhong's deeper intent.

Ren Zhong thought for a moment, then stated directly, "You are the most critical player in this operation, and you will certainly die. But I won't let you sacrifice in confusion. The questions in your heart will be answered by then."

...

7740.

Before the self-destructing warship began to accelerate, Wang Qiao opened the handwritten letter Ren Zhong left for him. A look of ecstatic joy and satisfaction flashed on his face, replaced quickly by determination and resolve.

Immediately, he twisted the joystick.

The self-destructing warship trembled as it left C1915's orbit, heading toward the Mother Empress Ship like a sharp blade, then breaking through the void, pressing forward.

...

In the Tenglong Nebula, light flickered, dazzlingly bright.

After nearly a billion years of dormancy in darkness, the Tenglong Nebula finally experienced a rare burst of stellar brilliance at the end of its life.

Amidst an unprecedentedly violent explosion, the darkened celestial body of the C1915 star, which gathered the last afterglows of the former binary system, finally burned out its life, lighting the last torch for this dark place.

This is the resurgence of a star, a momentary relapse of the binary system.

The dazzling light not only illuminated the Tenglong Nebula but also lit the way forward for the civilization of the Source Star.

Ren Zhong, clad in Red Blade Armor, casually brushed aside the gigantic elephants that had become rigid and were now space debris, while deftly sliding to the left, avoiding the massive asteroid fragments coming at him like missiles.

This gigantic elephant did not die by his hand. About two seconds ago, the horrifyingly silver flashing, extremely high-energy tusks were dead set on his chest, inching closer.

Ren Zhong was desperately retreating at high speed, trying to evade, but his back was locked by a large number of Critical Poison Stings, along with two cross-locked Destruction Beams from lurking points, fully blocking his escape route.

But just then, the C1915 star, a naturally formed pure nuclear bomb, finally detonated.

Almost simultaneously, the Reproductive Subunits belonging to the Mother Empress Ship instantly turned into lifeless matter. For a patrol team like the Mother Empress Ship, killing the mother is equivalent to killing them all.

"Is... is it over?"

In the moment when the information stream communication resumed, Ma Xiaoling's breathless yet relieved exclamation resonated in Ren Zhong's mind.

Ren Zhong turned his head to look.

From too far a distance, even with the aid of optical telescopes, he couldn't clearly make out Ma Xiaoling's appearance, only seeing a silver light flickering like a night star in the distance.

That light source was Ma Xiaoling.

"Hmm, it's over."

Ren Zhong replied softly.

Ma Xiaoling marveled again, "That was too easy! Our main forces didn't even engage, how did it end just like that?"

A twitch pulled at the corner of Ren Zhong's mouth.

Easy?

Alright, putting himself in Ma Xiaoling's shoes, the whole process seemed like this.

Ren Zhong suddenly awoke and decisively decided to turn back and confront the enemy, then made comprehensive improvements to core equipment including the Water Drop Ship, Armor, armory, missiles, etc., and personally completed most of the foundational work in both theory and design.