Over these years, whether it was the Federation or the Collective, Lei Ting or the psionic entities of humanity... everything and everyone had weathered too many incidents and upheavals.
The Recorder now appeared only rarely, as did the Gazer. However, the Lover had gradually increased the frequency of its manifestations, acting often in places where the light of the Radiant Paragon could not reach.
It had become visibly more chaotic. Lei Ting could sense that even in a state almost devoid of logical thought, it seemed to have its own purpose, though he found it difficult to determine exactly what that was.
Because the Lover’s spiritual mass was simply too vast—it was the emotional incarnation of all humanity—this chaotic power surpassed any conventional or unconventional individual life, and naturally, it surpassed the Sun Star as well.
Of course, sheer mass did not dictate combat strength.
As the fires of war were lit once more and soldiers prepared for battle, Lei Ting personally oversaw the Federation while remotely controlling over a dozen metal avatars to perform their duties at various coordinates.
During these thirteen years, he had transitioned from his twenties to his thirties, and from his thirties to nearly forty. The only change in his appearance was that his temples had turned completely white, requiring a conscious effort to hide the silver beneath his black hair.
But others were different. As time marched on, everyone grew or aged. The pressures of life and survival, the weight of office and responsibility—these burdens pressed down on everyone, leaving them all with the weary air of overworked corporate drones.
Yan Miao and Angye were no exception.
Thirteen years had changed them both significantly. For the former, the most notable change was that the mycelium forming her hair had thinned. For the latter, the greatest change was...
"I’ve grown old." Meeting Lei Ting’s gaze, Angye shrugged. His face was now lined with the wrinkles of age, a stark contrast to thirteen years ago.
"I was never meant to live long anyway," he said, glancing at the silver-flowing, plate-like hair of Lei Ting’s avatar. "Mental will determines everything, as you well know."
Yes, Lei Ting understood perfectly. It was precisely because he didn't have long to live that Angye had dared to be so reckless in his younger years. And it was precisely because Angye didn't have long to live that Lei Ting was so tolerant of him.
How could a man whose very appearance had been mutated by "pollution" and who now relied on fungal erosion to survive possibly live a long life?
His current state was very similar to Ivanheller’s back then; any use of his powers would only accelerate his death.
Thus, he almost never fought. Even that outburst over a decade ago that nearly severed a major sector of the Ringworld had only happened because the crisis was too urgent to signal Lei Ting.
"After these years of effort, I’ve taken control of eight sectors. I hold the lifelines of six civilizations that rely on the Collective... though, of course, that’s largely meaningless," Angye said. "Sometimes I wonder if I really did make a mistake back then. At least if I hadn't offended you, I’d probably still be fulfilling my duties in the Federation right now...
"I’m not like Master Everdale. He wasn't a favored courtier, but I could have been."
"You were indeed wrong, but the problem started much earlier than that," Lei Ting replied. "You can fulfill your duties here just as well, Apton Angye."
Angye looked up from his data to glance at Lei Ting and suddenly let out a laugh.
"I know what you’re talking about... Sun Star. Many don't know, but I do," he said softly. "Actually, when I was young, I liked someone. No, I once loved him to my very core..."
"...Until he disappointed me," he finished.
"He was never obligated to carry the weight of your expectations," Lei Ting said flatly. "And now, he doesn't need to carry anyone's expectations. He is liberated."
"...Wait," this time, Angye looked at Lei Ting as if he were looking at something terrifying. "You call the fact that you killed him 'liberation'? You know perfectly well he still had unfinished business, and he wouldn't have wanted to truly die... much less die at your hands, with his comrades still under your control on a Federation planet!"
If anyone else had said this, it might have actually caused some hurt. Unfortunately, the one listening was Lei Ting.
The tall, shimmering silver metal statue remained expressionless.
"If you have the need, I can help liberate you as well," Lei Ting said.
"No, thank you very much," Angye refused instantly.
Lei Ting nodded slightly and withdrew a speck of golden light that had emerged from the silver metal in his hand.
The sense of lethal danger receded. Angye let out a long breath, feeling fortunate that he hadn't been sent off by his superior today, while feeling a flicker of regret for the past.
—If he had known it would come to this, he would have tried much harder when he was currying favor back then.
Soon, Angye finished handing over his work.
"...That’s about everything," he said. "Next, I need to stabilize the expansion..."
His words cut off mid-sentence because he saw the silver-white statue suddenly freeze within a golden radiance. Its form collapsed, the metallic elements flowing back to their original positions, reverting to a cold, silver structure.
Angye blinked and swallowed the rest of his words.
......
...
On the other side of the Ringworld, within a former teleportation transit station that was now a frontline military base for the Collective, two tall, thin figures faced each other from a distance.
One was entirely pale with delicate features and long, snow-white hair—Yan Miao herself. The other was even thinner and taller, a gaunt man whose face occasionally flickered with the phantom image of a giant hound wearing various emotional expressions.
At this moment, the latter held a transparent sphere. Inside sat the ruins of a blackened city. The city’s outer walls were solid and magnificent, yet they and the urban districts had been mostly destroyed. The remaining parts shifted and changed incessantly; every second, in every direction, it presented a completely different vista.
On the surface, it looked like nothing more than a decorative snow globe with a large amount of internal resources.
But Yan Miao, facing it directly, knew better...
...She was screwed! That was a power vessel for a psionic entity!
"Holy... holy crap..." Under the crushing weight of that vast, dark terror, the pale fungal person looked even paler. She muttered tremulously, "How can... such a thing exist..."
Eibon, the Otherworld Demon holding the globe, smiled and stepped forward, tossing the miniature ruin into the sky.
In the next instant, a deep, starless darkness unfurled across the heavens. The ominous phantom of the black ruins emerged from within—with the help of some spatial folding and cutting technology, the barrier between the Spirit's Depth and the physical world had been briefly shattered!
It was a phantom city that was ever-changing where it remained and deathly silent where it was destroyed. Within this grand architecture that once belonged directly to the Galactic Empire, the moment this nameless city reached a certain level of manifestation, it announced its name to everything in the vicinity:
**The Bastion.**
"Crap..." Yan Miao murmured to herself. "...Is this... could it be..."
Amidst those phantom whispers, mycelium lengthened and fungal mats spread. Life-filled veins writhed as they carpeted the ground beneath her feet.
In a mere flash, Yan Miao transformed into a cluster of white fungi over a man's height. Beneath her hemispherical cap, a dreamlike fungal skirt swayed. Delicate hyphae rapidly covered most of the space, coating the broken corpses, floating chariots, and steel-black bridges in a standard layer of white. As the outer hyphae withered at high speed, she barely managed to anchor the "reality" of her surroundings.
The combat instinct of a Comist was to set up a fortified position for a war of attrition. Although she had no time to develop now... anyway, she wasn't setting up this position to fight for herself!
"—Sun Star, save meeeeeeeee!!!!!!!"
Yan Miao’s mycelium wrapped around her brooch, nearly plucking a pop song out of the pin. "Help! Help! A Galactic Imperial is killing fungi!!!"
"...Sun Star?" Eibon, appearing from nowhere, frowned.
It instinctively and warily scanned for high-energy reactions within a radius of several thousand kilometers using the globe in its hand. It relaxed. "He’s not nearby... good."
"Bastion, crush this Comist and recover the spores," it commanded. "The bloodline of the Empire craves your aid."
When it spoke the first half of the sentence, the Bastion remained indifferent. But when the second half left its mouth, the Bastion seemed to be jolted by some stimulus. It became violently active, toppling down from all directions to encompass the fungal cluster that was Yan Miao, slamming down with immense weight!
"Holy crap, I'm dead!!!!!!!" Yan Miao shrieked, contracting her form to create a hardened shell in an attempt to withstand the blow for a second or two.
But before she faced the impact, a thunderous *BOOM!!!* pierced the darkness.
It was a terrifyingly sharp black spike, its facets shimmering with a polarized light like fine stardust. Then, golden radiance spilled quietly. Heavy metal rose from the ground to form a protective sphere, carrying the power of "Stillness" as it brought Yan Miao into the light.
Eibon’s expression changed instantly. A tall figure flashed into existence, drifting slowly down from atop the light.
Without a word, the demon tried to fall backward into the darkness to escape.
But it failed—the result of its fall was a dull thud. Solid black metal had already blocked its path.
"Ah... ha, haha..." Eibon laughed awkwardly. "What a coincidence, Sun Star."
Lei Ting, having traversed space to arrive, did not pay it any mind. Instead, he gazed at the Bastion and said softly, "A psionic entity of the Galactic Empire... so there really are one and a half left."
Whether through information from the "last time" or intelligence gathered over these thirteen years, Lei Ting knew that the Galactic Empire, being so powerful, naturally possessed its own psionic entities.
There were five such entities in total, each a non-artificial existence formed naturally, much like the Radiant Paragon and the Lover. Their names were the Crown, the Shackle, the Alarm, the Blade, and the Bastion...
And now, this half-ruined city was indeed the Bastion.
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