Stunned by the voice that suddenly came over the comms channel, Shen Feng asked Jingwei,
"Are the World Beasts this cultured? Why does it sound so... formal?"
Jingwei replied irritably,
"I took some artistic liberties. It’s all translated content anyway. I can give you any language or style you want, satisfaction guaranteed. I could even switch it to a dialect. How about I give you a rough one?"
Immediately, there was a soft PSSSH in the comms system, and the content of the last sentence changed to a deep, boorish, booming voice:
"Goddammit, ya woke me up?! Now get the hell outta my house!"
Shen Feng was speechless.
"Don’t be a smartass... Just stick with the original translation template..."
Shen Feng then cleared his throat and spoke grimly through the comms system,
"What do you mean, ’disturbing your sweet dreams’ and ’occupying your homeland’? Your arrival nearly destroyed human civilization! The Earth you’ve seized is humanity’s homeland! Since you can survive just fine in the vacuum of space, why did you go to Earth?"
His words were instantly encoded by Jingwei and sent out as radio waves into the surrounding space.
The Beast Ancestor seemed to sneer at Shen Feng’s question, replying,
"Earth has always been our homeland. We merely followed the guidance of our souls back to our home. As for you humans, more insignificant than dust, what are your lives or deaths to me?"
Shen Feng’s eyes widened. The Beast Ancestor’s words confirmed the data he had received earlier.
The World Beasts really did come from Earth, created from a combination of two viruses and a biological Nanomechanical Cluster!
’But how does the Beast Ancestor know it came from Earth?’
’Maybe I can get some information about the Whisperer from it.’
Before Shen Feng could ask, the Beast Ancestor continued,
"You humans are an interesting sort of dust. Especially you... able to return after death. That piques my interest... Where did you come from? Have you mastered the secret of death and eternal life?"
Shen Feng raised an eyebrow. He finally understood why the Beast Ancestor had suddenly initiated contact after crippling the Super Armor.
This massive, Moon-sized creature had recognized him. It believed Shen Feng was immortal and wanted to uncover the secret behind it!
’It seems that in this cosmos, no matter how powerful a being is, as long as it lives, it fears death.’
’And eternal life is the ultimate pursuit of all living things!’
A sly grin spread across Shen Feng’s face as he said,
"I’m surprised you saw through me... That’s right. I have existed since the birth of the cosmos, I have lived for tens of billions of years, and I will continue to live forever. I have seen through the secrets of eternity and reincarnation. Humanity is but one of my many identities. In my endless eons wandering the cosmos, I have seen countless civilized worlds and numberless intelligent species. You interesting little squids, however, have piqued my curiosity... Do you, too, wish to grasp the secret to eternity and gain everlasting life?"
Hearing Shen Feng’s speech, the hologram of Jingwei beside him couldn’t help but roll her eyes, purse her lips, and mouth two words: "Big liar."
’This damn kid is addicted to bluffing,’ she thought. ’And the stronger the enemy, the more he loves to do it. The funny thing is, these powerful beings always fall for it. Maybe they think that at their level, pride prevents one from stooping to such tricks...’
Sure enough, the Beast Ancestor’s reply turned much more solemn.
"You have truly mastered the secret of eternal life? This is a fascinating proposition, one that is impossible to refuse... However, though you have eternal life, your own power is far too weak. For me, this is actually a good thing..."
Shen Feng continued to bait the hook.
"That’s right. If you, too, could live forever, perhaps you could grow to the point of devouring the entire cosmos. Then, you could transcend time and space, becoming a truly supreme being... Did the Whisperer ever promise you this? Even your creator may not have such an ability..."
At this, the Beast Ancestor paused, then said,
"Whisperer? Creator? HA HA HA! I was born from the light and heat of a star! The cosmos is my creator, and I am a part of its will! As for you... I will tear the secret of eternity from your mind. Otherwise, I will utterly destroy your pathetic and laughable human civilization!"
With that, the Beast Ancestor’s tentacles converged, hurtling toward Shen Feng’s position.
Shen Feng facepalmed, a look of exasperation on his face.
’From its words, it’s clear the Beast Ancestor doesn’t know about the Whisperer,’ he thought. ’It thinks it evolved on its own and knows nothing about the bio-lab.’
’Thinking about it, that makes sense. For a semi-feral space monster with no civilized or intellectual foundation, reaching its current level of intelligence is already a feat. Expecting it to understand biology and virology is asking way too much.’
’This idiot heard me talk about eternity and got completely bamboozled. Now it’s dropping all pretenses and trying to grab me for questioning.’
’After all, the Super Armor is damaged. As a human, I no longer have the strength to fight it.’
"Immortal dust is still just dust! This power will only be perfect when it is mine! Fate has delivered you to me and placed eternity within my grasp! This is the will of the cosmos!"
The Beast Ancestor’s voice boomed with arrogance as its countless tentacles, along with tens of thousands of World Beasts, lunged toward Shen Feng!
Without the Super Armor to hold them back, the lesser World Beasts could feel their ancestor’s ecstasy. They writhed, lunging like living mountains toward Shen Feng and the Super Armor.
The recent damage had already caused over a thousand casualties among the pilots inside the Super Armor, but the survivors had no complaints. On the contrary, their fighting spirit soared even higher.
After all, they had just worked with Jingwei No. 2 to pilot the Super Armor and annihilate hundreds upon hundreds of World Beasts.
For humans born during the Water World Apocalypse, this was an achievement beyond their wildest dreams!
Even dying here and now would be worth it!
At this point, anyone could see that humanity was at an absolute disadvantage. The planet-sized World Beast at its core was simply invulnerable, seemingly impossible to destroy!
"Commander, you must leave at once! We will hold these monsters back and buy time for your escape! You have to survive!"
"Give the order, Commander! Just say the word, and I’ll detonate the Bloody Kraken’s Fusion Reactor and take these monsters with me to hell!"
"HA HA HA! Commander, thank you for giving my humble life such a glorious day! Please leave now and return to Earth!"
"Where there’s life, there’s hope. As long as you’re alive, humanity has infinite possibilities!"
"Shen, get back to Earth! We’ll hold off these World Beasts! As long as you can destroy the Wormhole, Earth will be safe!"
"..."
All kinds of messages flooded into Shen Feng’s Zero Armor. One by one, holograms of the human warriors from the various Super Giant War Armors appeared before him.
They all understood that even though their Savior had given his all, humanity was still going to lose this battle.
But it didn’t matter. As long as the Savior survived, there was still a chance.
And what they had to do was use their own lives to buy more time—for their Savior, for their Commander!
"To hear the Way in the morning and die in the evening content." For them, to have one glorious, brilliant day where they were no longer ants trembling before the World Beasts was more than enough.
Looking at the anxious faces of the Salvation Army Warriors on the comms screen, Shen Feng felt a mix of gratitude, exasperation, and amusement. His expression turned stern as he feigned anger.
"Where did you all pick up this bad habit of wanting to make a heroic sacrifice at the drop of a hat? And where did you get the bright idea of telling your Commander to run? You looking down on me?"
Then, his expression grew serious.
"The revival of human civilization begins today."
As he spoke, he snapped his fingers in front of the screen.
Instantly, the bodies of the charging World Beasts began to explode. From within them surged torrents of silver Nanomechanical Clusters that had long been lying in wait. A brilliant silver light pulsed and shone through the void, like a grand fireworks display.
At the same time, in the surrounding Meteorite Belt, the huge meteorites that had been struck by Kinetic Energy Bullets and other munitions and debris during the battle also shattered. Their interiors had long since been devoured by the Nanomechanical Cluster, leaving only thin outer husks.
The silver Gray Tide within the Meteorite Belt merged and connected, becoming an overwhelming silver flood that surged forward!