Life is perpetual, and so is slaughter.

Shen Jie watched the fleet depart with satisfaction before composing himself and rejoining the troops.

The journey back to the Wu City camp was tense but ultimately safe.

Meanwhile, the defenders within the second line of defense breathed a collective sigh of relief at the fleet’s long-awaited return.

With both Lin Feng and the fleet gone, the defensive line had been at its most vulnerable.

Fortunately, the Hai City Mother Empress’s attention had been completely diverted by Lin Feng’s plan to raid the area North of the River. Although she had devised the perfect countermeasure, Lin Feng’s swift response prevented her from achieving any meaningful success.

All in all, while the fleet had sustained some damage during the operation, the overall strength of the defending forces had increased dramatically.

The one hundred and fifty new Tier Two Early Stage Awakened and the remaining two hundred-plus Tier Two Zerg Eggs, in particular, would undoubtedly give everyone a massive confidence boost.

At the celebratory banquet, sounds of joy and laughter echoed around the camp bonfire.

But in the high command meeting room, set up inside the school auditorium, Chen Yanyan, Li Ran, Shen Jie, and the members of the Tier Two Corps who had advanced to Tier Two Late Stage Perfection—ten people in total—were gathered together, their expressions grave.

On the periphery of the meeting sat Ling Yi, who had just been escorted in.

The members of the original eight-person Tier Two Squad had all been appointed as new captains, responsible for training the one hundred and fifty Tier Two Early Stage Awakened and organizing them into full squads for the Tier Two Corps.

Their status had naturally risen with their strength, earning them the right to participate in the Thirteenth Division’s high command meetings.

After discussing and settling these administrative matters, all eyes turned to Ling Yi, who sat silently in the corner.

The last and most important matter was, of course, the current state of the Thirteenth Division’s commander, Lin Feng.

Ling Yi’s expression was calm, the corners of her mouth turned up in a slight smile as she looked at the ten people before her.

She knew they were deliberately hiding Lin Feng’s condition. To keep morale high, they had announced that their commander was currently undergoing a promotion and could not appear at the celebration.

Given the influx of new Awakened and Tier Two Zerg Eggs, this excuse was perfectly plausible.

But Lin Feng’s actual condition was far from ideal.

Ling Yi’s expression grew dim.

"I just checked on him. Lin Feng’s state... it’s not right."

"His Spirit World directly rejected my attempt to enter. A situation like this means one of two things..."

"One, his Spiritual Power has already far surpassed my own. This is very possible. After all, that was the energy of an entire node symbiote. No Tier Two being can compare to that kind of power."

"And that symbiote also possessed a Realm Ability, which is how it was able to forcibly control a Tier Two Peak Tiger Spine Zerg."

"The second possibility is that the world Lin Feng is currently trapped in is on a higher level than I can access."

"In other words, the manifested Realm created by that surplus Spiritual Energy doesn’t belong to a Tier Three entity that has mastered a Realm, but to some Tier Four Zerg..."

"Or perhaps, a Zerg King would be more accurate."

"To us, they are the true gods of this world..."

...

「Earlier」

As Lin Feng followed Ling Yi to the end of the Spiritual Passage...

A blinding white light flared up before him, swallowing his form and causing him to vanish.

When Lin Feng awoke again, he was surprised to find himself floating in the dark, cold void of outer space.

He quickly realized, however, that this was still some form of Spiritual Space, not the Real World.

After all, at only Tier Two Perfection, he would have frozen to death instantly in the vacuum of space.

This was an illusion, and because it was so vast, its underlying Laws were incomplete.

As a result, the environment of space had very little effect on him.

Just as Lin Feng was wondering why he was here, a meteorite the size of a skyscraper appeared in the distance, drifting toward him at a steady speed.

It grew larger as it drew closer, and by the time it was a few dozen kilometers away, he could finally make out the gray-black object...

It wasn’t a meteorite at all, but a colossal, elongated Zerg!

It was a full thirty to forty kilometers long!

Roughly the size of Shen Jie’s entire Slaughter Realm.

The massive Zerg flew toward him, coming to a slow halt a few kilometers away.

He looked up, gazing at the behemoth.

Lin Feng suddenly recalled his first time entering the Spirit World of the Zerg Race. Through a High-tier Intelligent Zerg Clan member, he had observed all the Cosmic Life forms dwelling in the Zergs’ outer space territory...

Among them had been one that looked remarkably similar to this creature.

As he continued to stare up at it, a thought surfaced in Lin Feng’s mind automatically:

’A Tier Six Peak Spine King... a Subordinate Zerg God...’