As the silvery mass of the Nanomechanical Cluster slid into the Beast Ancestor’s mouth like a slime, Jingwei couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration:
"Tsk, tsk. Xiaofeng, you really do have a thing for mouths..."
"Ahem! Start refining the Beast Gold, now!" Shen Feng shouted, cutting Jingwei off before she could finish.
’The comms channel is still open! All the Salvation Army soldiers are listening in. She can’t just say things like that!’
The silver cocoon formed by the Gray Tide of the Nanomechanical Cluster was now a world unto itself. Arcs of electricity shot out from all directions, striking the Beast Ancestor.
This time, Shen Feng wasn’t simply devouring the Beast Ancestor whole. Instead, he was using the Nanomechanical Cluster to refine its Beast Gold Element!
He had already mastered the complete technique for refining Beast Gold. Confronting a Beast Ancestor as colossally huge as the Moon presented the perfect opportunity to do just that.
In his eyes, this wasn’t the progenitor of the World Beasts at all, but a rich mine of Beast Gold Element!
The energy contained within this metallic element from the Shield UY Star Realm was simply too immense, holding profound significance not just for Shen Feng, but for all of human civilization.
Waves of energy surged toward the Beast Ancestor. The Nanomechanical Cluster that had bored into its body, along with the surrounding Nanomechanical Insects, began to consume it like maggots on a carcass, devouring its flesh and blood bit by bit!
At first, the Beast Ancestor desperately struggled, firing off energy blasts and electromagnetic pulses in an attempt to break free from the Gray Tide’s grasp. But as its insides were gradually consumed, the energy it could muster grew weaker and weaker. Like a dying electric eel, it slowly lost all its vitality.
Its tentacles and appendages were not only bound by nanomechanical tendrils, but had also been more than halfway devoured and assimilated!
"I just want to live... I don’t want to die..." The Beast Ancestor broadcast its plea via electromagnetic waves, begging Shen Feng for mercy.
No matter how powerful it was—powerful enough to control an entire planet—it could not escape the fear of death.
Shen Feng raised a hand and shut down the comms channel.
’It should have known better.’ To him, this World Beast no longer had any value. Or rather, its only remaining value was as a rich mine of Beast Gold, ripe for refining.
"Jingwei, put on some music. Let’s go with... ’Fate’." Shen Feng was back in the cockpit of the Zero Armor. He plopped down in the pilot’s seat, kicked his feet up onto the console, and spoke lazily.
Immediately, Beethoven’s Symphony of Fate poured from the cockpit’s sound system, then broadcast out into the cosmos on radio waves.
The powerful, stirring melody of ’Fate’ swelled, and just ahead, the Beast Ancestor was being dismembered by the Nanomechanical Cluster.
At this moment, the Beast Ancestor looked less like a terrifying World Beast and more like a squid skewered on a metal rod, ready for the grill.
Its body slowly turned a silvery gray. Patches of the same color—the color of the Nanomechanical Cluster—appeared on its surface before spreading to engulf its entire form.
Finally, the Beast Ancestor’s body gradually vanished, submerged within the Gray Tide.
It had been utterly decomposed by the Gray Tide.
Seeing the Beast Ancestor, a creature larger than any nightmare, so completely annihilated, the human soldiers inside the Super Giant War Armor were left dumbfounded, scarcely able to believe their eyes.
The nightmare that had haunted the human civilization of the Water World for centuries, the monster that had forced everyone to live in despair, had just struggled and vanished to the sound of a symphony...
It all felt like a dream, filling them with a sense of unreality, of absurdity.
"Victory! Praise the Savior, we’ve won!"
"Did we really win? We... *sob*... Did the Commander defeat those monsters?"
"Is it true? Is this really happening? Humanity won!? Long live the Savior!"
"Long live the Commander! Long live the Salvation Army! Long live humanity!"
"Victory! Victory! Humanity is immortal!"
...
The waves of cheers snapped Shen Feng out of his reverie.
He looked up and saw arcs of electricity flashing within the Gray Tide as it began to break down the Beast Ancestor, which had already been torn apart at the molecular level.
At Shen Feng’s command, a tendril of the Gray Tide opened the hatch of the Zero Armor once more. He flew out and hovered in the void, gazing at the space where the Beast Ancestor had been.
The area had become a cloud of dust—a factory for refining the Beast Gold Element.
Steam now filled the silver cocoon formed by the Gray Tide. The meteorites that had been disintegrated contained large amounts of ice crystals, which had turned into vapor upon decomposition.
Combined with the blood and other bodily fluids released by the decomposing World Beast, the water molecules in this sealed environment were subjected to a baptism of violent electromagnetic storms and electrical arcs, breaking down into oxygen, hydrogen, and other gases.
This process had actually created a thin atmosphere within the vacuum.
Shen Feng believed that if this silver cocoon formed by the Nanomechanical Cluster were to remain, primitive life might even emerge within it after tens or hundreds of millions of years.
Life on Earth had first evolved in much the same way.
The temperature had risen from the decomposition of the World Beast, and with the presence of an atmosphere, the vast space could now transmit sound waves.
The powerful melody of ’Fate’ had ended, replaced by the theme from *Interstellar*, "Cornfield Chase." It made everything feel dreamlike and surreal.
By now, a portion of the Beast Ancestor’s body had been completely broken down and refined by the Nanomechanical Cluster. The resulting Beast Gold was fused and transported into the silver cocoon of the Gray Tide.
A thick, silvery conduit extended over Shen Feng’s head. Then, with a powerful gust, soybean-sized metal pellets poured out, showering down around him like a metallic rain.
Shen Feng casually caught a few. Examining them closely, he broke into a satisfied smile.
These metal pellets were the Beast Gold, freshly refined from the body of the Beast Ancestor.
Jackpot.
The Super Armor had completely disintegrated by now. Fortunately, Jingwei had reacted quickly, using the Nanomechanical Cluster to fashion a Nanometer Battle Suit for every soldier inside. At last, the warriors could leave their War Armor, moving freely through space to join their Commander.
Facing the molecular cloud that was once the Beast Ancestor, now being broken down, everyone was overcome with emotion.
They had really won.
Human civilization could finally see a new dawn.
Many wept with joy, crying silently inside their Nanometer Battle Suits, only to break out in cheers moments later.
Witch Tower cautiously approached Shen Feng, gazing at the molecular cloud that was once the Beast Ancestor, and asked:
"Shen... did we... did we really win?"
Shen Feng smiled faintly and said:
"You’ve already won. As for my fight... it’s just beginning. Let’s go. We’re heading back to Earth."