Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

The divine core is now being fused with Qingyuan's consciousness.

Can Qingyuan grant authorization?

[Qingyuan's consciousness is 87% integrated with her divine core, theoretically allowing her to utilize some of its functions. However, she is currently in a dormant state and unable to actively perform complex operations.]

"What if I send her a message through an energy network?"

[It's worth a try. But her response might be very weak, and it will take time.]

Lin Yu thought for a moment: "Let's try it. Tell her something outside is trying to attack her divine body, and ask her to authorize the activation of the divine core's defensive functions."

[Understood. Information is being transmitted via the energy network...]

Lin Yu stood on the surface of the divine body, waiting.

The darkness in the distance remained suspended silently, without any movement. But Lin Yu could sense that its hunger was growing stronger—like a wild beast enduring its hunger, ready to pounce at any moment.

One minute.

Two minutes.

five minutes.

[My Lord, Qingyuan has responded.]

Lin Yu's spirits lifted: "What did she say?"

The response was very weak, consisting of only a simple command: "Divine Core Defense, Authorize."

It became.

The next second, the divine body trembled.

It wasn't the kind of tremor you feel when you're attacked, but a powerful pulsation coming from deep within.

Beneath the fungal carpet on the surface of the divine body, those enormous blood vessels began to contract violently, pumping a large amount of primordial energy into the outer shell of the divine body.

The dark golden outer shell of the divine body began to change.

What was originally just the surface of ordinary biological tissue rapidly hardened and crystallized, transforming into a layer of dark golden crystalline carapace. Countless fine runes emerged on the carapace, runes that were very similar to those Lin Yu had seen on the Demon-Slaying Sword and the Mountain-Splitting Axe—divine script, the writing of ancient gods.

The divine body's defense system has been activated.

At the same time, the Zerg defensive fortifications on the surface of the divine body began to charge, and the spire-shaped energy turrets lit up with a dark golden light. The energy pipelines under the creep continuously transported primordial energy to each turret.

Lin Yu could feel that his entire divine body was awakening.

It's not an awakening of consciousness, but more like a defensive reaction of the body's instincts.

Just as a person's body automatically tenses its muscles and raises its arms when it encounters danger, the divine body automatically enters a defensive state after sensing an external threat.

Qingyuan's authorization maximized this defensive response.

"Is this the defense of the ancient gods...?" Lin Yu said in a low voice.

He could sense that the divine body, with its defense system activated, had its defensive capabilities increased at least tenfold.

But the darkness opposite might surpass even a demigod.

Is it enough?

Lin Yu didn't know.

But at least, they are not completely defenseless.

The darkness in the distance seemed to sense the change in the divine body.

It started to move.

Slowly and heavily, they moved toward the divine body.

With each step Lin Yu took, the pressure he felt increased. That pure dark power was like an approaching mountain; even before it reached him, it made it hard to breathe.

"All units, to combat positions." Lin Yu's voice was calm. "It's here."

The Netherworld Emperor let out a deep roar, and dark golden energy surged within its body. On its divine form, eighteen legendary Zerg units took their positions, thousands of energy turrets were fully charged, and eight billion Zerg combat units stood ready beneath the creep.

Lin Yu stood on the surface of the divine body, the Demon-Slaying Sword and the Mountain-Splitting Axe appearing simultaneously in his hands.

He did not immediately take advantage of the situation.

He must wait until the most crucial moment to use it.

Moreover, he wanted to see first what this darkness was, what its attack methods were, and whether his divine body's defenses could withstand it.

Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you find a chance of victory.

Darkness is drawing ever closer.

Two thousand kilometers.

One thousand kilometers.

500 kilometers.

At a distance of 500 kilometers, Lin Yu finally saw the full picture of that dark mass.

It was not a shapeless mass of darkness.

It was a snake.

A serpent of unimaginable size, composed entirely of pure darkness.

Its body coils in the void, each circle having a diameter of hundreds of kilometers.

Purple lightning flowed across its dark scales, and its two eyes were two balls of dark red flame, staring intently at the divine body.

It held a black bead in its mouth, the surface of which shimmered with an eerie light and emitted a chilling energy fluctuation.

The moment Lin Yu's third eye saw the snake, it transmitted a message that sent chills down his spine—

Unable to assess.

The energy level of this snake exceeded the assessment range of the celestial eye.

This means it is at least a demigod-level being. Perhaps even... a god.

"Queen Insect, is there any record of this creature in the database?"

[Searching the world database provided by Mr. Fang... Search complete. No exact match found. However, similar descriptions appear in the myths of multiple worlds—"Void Serpent," "Chaos Python," "World Devourer."]

According to these records, this is an ancient being born in the deepest recesses of the void, feeding on worlds. Its lifespan is measured in billions of years, and its power increases with the number of worlds it devours. The oldest void serpent possesses power comparable to a true god.

Feeding on the world.

Lin Yu watched the giant snake approaching and gripped his weapon tightly.

This is no longer an enemy he can currently contend with.

Even with the help of others, even if the entire Zerg forces come out, even if the divine body's defenses are fully activated, it may not be able to stop a Void Serpent that feeds on the world.

But he cannot back down.

The divine body is here, the Zerg are here, Tangtang and Jinling are here, and twelve thousand people are here.

He's retired, and that's the end of it all.

The Void Serpent stopped one hundred kilometers away from the divine body.

It lowered its head, its dark red eyes fixed on the divine body, as if appraising a delicious meal.

Then, it opened its mouth.

The black bead held in its mouth floated up and hovered above its head. The surface of the bead shone brightly, and a black beam of light shot out from the bead, heading straight for the divine body.

"All guns, fire!"

Lin Yu roared.

Thousands of energy turrets fired simultaneously, and dark golden energy bullets rained down on the black beam of light.

At the same time, the eighteen legendary Zerg units unleashed their strongest attacks, while other units either released acid, fired bone spikes, or deployed energy fields.

All the attacks converged in front of the divine body into a dark golden barrier, which collided with the black beam of light.

"boom--!!!"

This explosion was more violent than any Lin Yu had ever experienced.

The dark gold and black energies annihilated each other at the point of collision, and the resulting shockwave pulverized all the void fragments within a hundred kilometers.

The crystalline shell on the surface of the divine body developed numerous cracks during the shockwave, but it did not shatter.

It's blocked.

The first wave of attacks was blocked.

But Lin Yu's expression did not relax at all.

Because the Void Serpent's attack has only just begun.

It opened its mouth again, and the black bead released three beams of light, shooting towards the divine body from three different angles.

"Disperse your defenses!"

The Zerg's defensive firepower was divided into three groups, each facing one of the three beams.

Both paths were blocked.

The third beam of light pierced the energy barrier and struck the crystalline shell of the divine body.

"Click—"

A massive crack appeared on the crystalline shell, sending dark golden fragments flying in all directions. The remaining force of the beam penetrated the shell, shooting into the divine body and blasting a crater hundreds of meters in diameter into the fungal carpet.

Hundreds of Zerg units were wiped out in the explosion.

Lin Yu's lips twitched.

One strike broke through the defense.

The Void Serpent gave them no chance to breathe. Its body began to coil, enveloping the divine form, and then—tightened.

It wants to crush the divine body with its own.

"We can't let it get entangled!" Lin Yu made a decisive decision. "Queen, lead all legendary units to attack its head! I'll hold off its body!"

"Your Majesty, you—"

"Execute the command!"

Without further hesitation, the Queen commanded seventeen legendary Zerg to charge toward the head of the Void Serpent.

Lin Yu took a deep breath.

Right now.

He couldn't wait any longer.

Once the Void Serpent's body coils around a divine body, even if the divine body's shell is incredibly hard, it will be shredded.

He has to stop it before that happens.

"The True Spirit lends its power—True Lord!"

Golden divine power surged from the True Lord statue in the storage space, traversing space and descending upon him.

His aura surged once again to the threshold of demigod.

But this time, he was not facing a Void Beast that was half a god, but a Void Serpent that fed on the world.

Lin Yu gripped the sword with both hands, condensing golden divine power to its peak on the Demon-Slaying Sword, and then slashed down at the body of the Void Serpent coiling towards him.

"Demon Slayer - The True Technique!"

The golden sword energy transformed into a giant sword that traversed the void, slashing at the body of the Void Serpent.

"clang--!!!"

A deafening roar.

The golden sword energy left a white mark on the dark scales—that was all.

Not even a single scale was cut open.

Lin Yu's pupils suddenly contracted.

A full-force attack after borrowing strength couldn't even break its scales.

The Void Serpent seemed to be enraged by this sword strike.

Its tail suddenly lashed out, striking Lin Yu.

Lin Yu raised his sword to parry.

"Bang--!"

His body was sent flying like a cannonball, tumbling tens of thousands of meters in the air before finally stabilizing.

The golden divine armor was mostly shattered, and golden blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

one move.

He was injured in just one move.

The gap is too big.

This isn't the difference between a legend and a demigod, but the difference between an ant and a dragon.

But Lin Yu did not back down.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and rushed forward again.

He used every means at his disposal: the Demon-Slaying Sword, the Mountain-Splitting Axe, the Samadhi True Fire, and thunder magic. He constantly moved around the Void Serpent's body, attacking and searching for gaps and weaknesses in its scales.

The Void Serpent grew impatient with his harassment. It turned its head, its dark red eyes fixed on Lin Yu, and let out a low hiss.

Then, it opened its mouth towards Lin Yu.

The black bead lit up again.

This time, the beam of light was not aimed at the divine body, but at Lin Yu.

Lin Yu's Heavenly Eye issued a fatal warning the moment the beam of light was shot out; he couldn't block this attack.

He immediately activated Spatial Blink and dodged to the side.

But the beam was too fast and had a tracking effect. He blinked three times in a row, and the beam always stayed a few meters behind him.

On the fourth flash, the beam finally caught up with him.

"boom--!"

Lin Yu's body was engulfed by the black beam of light.

The golden divine shield shattered in less than a second in the beam of light, followed by the Heavenly Armor, the Hun Tian Cloak, the Abyss Dragon Scale Leggings... all the defensive equipment was as fragile as paper in front of the black beam of light.

excruciating pain.

Lin Yu felt his body being disintegrated. Black energy invaded his meridians, his dantian, and his soul, like countless ants gnawing at everything around him.

"Ugh—!"

He gritted his teeth and concentrated all the remaining golden divine power in his body in front of his chest, forming the last line of defense.

At the same time, the sword spirit of the Demon-Slaying Sword automatically protected its master, and golden sword light enveloped his body, forcibly breaking out of the black beam of light.

Lin Yu crashed into the crystal shell of the divine body, creating a large crater.

He was covered in blood, his Heavenly Gang Battle Armor was mostly torn to shreds, his Hun Tian Cloak was almost completely burned, and his left arm was bent at an unnatural angle—the bone was broken.

He was still in a state of borrowing power, but he had already consumed more than 70% of his divine power.

The Void Serpent lowered its head, its dark red eyes looking at Lin Yu, who was lying at the bottom of the pit, as if it were looking at an ant struggling for its life.

It opened its mouth, ready to deliver the final blow.

Just then—

From the depths of the divine body, a silvery-white light shot into the sky.

Qingyuan.

Although her consciousness was still dormant, the crisis of her divine body facing destruction stimulated the part of her consciousness that was fused with the divine core.

Silvery-white energy surged from the divine core, spreading throughout the entire divine body via the energy network, and then erupted from the crystalline shell on the surface of the divine body.

It was a silver-white beam of light with a diameter of over ten kilometers, which struck straight at the head of the Void Serpent.

The Void Serpent let out a painful hiss as its head was struck by a beam of light, leaving a charred mark on its dark scales.

It instinctively stepped back a distance and loosened its coiled body around the deity.

Qingyuan's attack forced it to retreat.

But this attack also seemed to have exhausted all the energy that Qingyuan could mobilize while she was asleep.

The silvery-white beam of light dissipated after only a few seconds, and the crystalline shell on the surface of the divine body dimmed slightly.

The Void Serpent steadied itself, its dark red eyes burning with rage.

It opened its mouth again, and the black bead shone brighter than ever before.

It will unleash a full-force attack to destroy the divine body.

Lin Yu climbed out of the pit.

His body was trembling; his left arm was broken, his whole body was covered in wounds, and he had less than 20% of his golden divine power left.

But he stood up.

He looked at the Void Serpent gathering its power, and at the black bead that was growing brighter and brighter.

We must not let it hit the divine body.

Lin Yu gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword tightly.

One by one, the runes on the sword lit up, and the sword spirit let out a stirring sword cry, sensing its master's determination.

The axe also appeared in his left hand, and the axe spirit's aura was also boiling to its extreme.

The two divine artifacts resonated simultaneously.

Lin Yu used all the remaining golden divine power—no, not just divine power.

He poured all his source power, Samadhi True Fire, Thunder Magic Power, and spiritual power into the two divine artifacts.

His hair began to turn white.

That's a sign of excessive depletion of life force.

The Demon-Slaying Sword and the Mountain-Splitting Axe emitted an unprecedented light in his hands—golden and dark gold light intertwined, forming a pillar of light that connected heaven and earth.

This strike exceeded the limits of the leveraged state.

This was his all-consuming strike.

"Slay the demon—cleave the mountain—!!"

Lin Yu charged towards the black beam of light from the Void Serpent.

Golden and dark gold beams of light collided with black beams of light in the void.

This time, there was no sound.

All sounds were swallowed up by the collision of energy.

The three colors of light intertwined, annihilated, and exploded in the void, forming an ever-expanding energy sphere.

The diameter of the energy sphere increased from one kilometer to ten kilometers, one hundred kilometers, five hundred kilometers...

The divine body was trembling.

The void is tearing apart.

Lin Yu felt his body being torn apart, not physically, but at an existential level.

His arms, his meridians, his dantian, and his soul all groaned under the strain of this blow.

He gritted his teeth and pushed out his last bit of strength.

"Break for me!!"

The golden and dark gold light suddenly surged, forcefully pushing the black beam of light back an inch.

It's this one inch.

A crack appeared at the core of the black beam.

Then, the crack widened.

"Bang--!!!"

The black beam of light shattered.

The golden and dark gold beams of light continued their momentum, striking the black bead atop the Void Serpent's head.

"Click—"

A crack appeared on the black bead.

The Void Serpent let out a piercing, mournful hiss.

That bead was its natal magic weapon, bound to its life.

The bead was damaged, and it was also severely injured.

Dark blood gushed from the wound on its head, scattering a black rain of blood into the void.

The Void Serpent stared intently at Lin Yu, and for the first time, fear appeared in its dark red eyes.

It was afraid.

This tiny creature, smaller than even a scale of its own, actually managed to damage its most precious magical artifact.

The Void Serpent let out an angry and terrified hiss, its massive body beginning to retreat. It coiled around itself, using its dark scales to protect the injured bead on its head, then turned and burrowed into the depths of the void.

It ran away.

Lin Yu looked in the direction where the Void Serpent had disappeared, and his body swayed.

The golden divine power was completely exhausted, and the borrowed power state ended. His aura plummeted from the threshold of demigod back to the early stage of legend, and then continued to decline—the price of burning life force began to appear, and his aura became extremely weak, like a candle flickering in the wind.

"dominate!!"

Countless Zerg rushed over like madmen and caught Lin Yu as he fell from the sky.

Lin Yu leaned against the Netherworld Emperor and coughed up a mouthful of golden blood.

Half of his hair had turned white, his face was bloodless, the bones in his left arm were broken into three pieces, and the source energy in his meridians was almost depleted.

A Zergling, holding the unconscious Lin Yu, let out a roar filled with anger and worry.

Legendary Zerg surrounded them, forming an impenetrable defensive line, wary of any potential threats emerging from the depths of the void.

But the Void Serpent did not return.

It was severely damaged and will not reappear for some time.

The divine body was preserved.

The price was Lin Yu's serious injury.

……

Lin Yu had a very long dream.

There was no battle, no void, no giant beasts or serpents in the dream.

There was only one apartment. The living room was bathed in warm sunlight. Tangtang was playing with building blocks on the floor, while Jinling was dozing off on the back of the sofa.

The door to the Xuandu Purple Mansion was half-open, and wisps of purple mist wafted out from the crack, carrying a warm sandalwood scent.

Everything was peaceful.

He wanted to walk over, but his body wouldn't move.

He wanted to speak, but no sound came out.

Then he saw someone.

A middle-aged man in a white coat stood at the apartment door, his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses looking at him with a complicated expression.

It's Old Chen.

Old Chen opened his mouth, as if to say something, but Lin Yu couldn't hear him.

He tried hard to read Old Chen's lips.

"...Don't...believe..."

He couldn't read the rest of the text no matter how hard he tried.

Old Chen's figure began to blur, like ink diluted by water.

Lin Yu tried to reach out and grab him, but his hand passed right through Old Chen's body and he grabbed nothing.

Then the apartment began to collapse.

The walls crumbled, the floor collapsed, and the sunlight was swallowed by darkness.

Tangtang and Jinling's figures also disappeared, as if they were made of sand and blown away by the wind.

Lin Yu suddenly opened his eyes.

The ceiling is covered in a dark golden fungal carpet, and the air is filled with the warm, moist scent unique to biomass.

He is still alive.

"My Lord, you're awake!" The Queen's voice echoed in my mind, carrying an undisguised joy.

Lin Yu moved his fingers and felt as if his body was filled with lead. He tried to circulate his source energy, but his dantian was empty, and he felt a series of sharp pains in his meridians.

"How long...did I remain unconscious?"

Three days.

Three days.

Lin Yu closed his eyes, recalling everything that had happened before he lost consciousness. The Void Serpent, the black bead, the final blow that burned everything...

"How is the divine body?"

The divine body is damaged by approximately 12%, primarily concentrated in the northern outer shell area. The crystalline shell is undergoing self-repair and is expected to fully recover in fifteen days.

The Zerg suffered approximately three million unit losses; none of their legendary units perished, but three mid-tier legendary units sustained varying degrees of injury.

The small world was unaffected.

Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where is the Void Serpent?"

After its retreat, it did not reappear. The monitoring range was expanded to 50,000 kilometers, but no trace of it was found.

Based on the extent of its injuries, it is unlikely to launch another attack for at least a month.

One month.

Lin Yu fell silent.

A month's respite.

He looked down at his body. His left arm was fixed in place by the Zerg's biomass, and the bones were slowly healing.

Half of my hair has turned white; it's a side effect of burning away my life force. I don't know if it can be reversed.

With his source energy depleted and his meridians damaged, it will take at least half a month to recover to his peak condition.

Forget about breaking through to the intermediate level of Legendary for now.

"Queen, what is my physical condition?"

[My Lord, your health condition is not good.]

There are seven places in the meridians that have been damaged to varying degrees, there are fine cracks in the dantian wall, and the source energy reserves are less than 10% of their peak level.

The burning of life force resulted in a loss of approximately three years of lifespan.

The good news is that the purple energy and divine essence of Xuandu Purple Mansion are slowly repairing your damage.

Based on the current recovery rate, it will take approximately twenty days for a full recovery.

Three years lifespan.

Lin Yu didn't care.

Legendary creatures already have long lifespans, so three years is nothing.

Recovery takes twenty days.

He can wait.