I chose the safe house, and the Human Alliance regretted it.

No one noticed how Wang Wei appeared.

The next second, he was standing right in the middle of the beast tide and the imperial fleet.

One person, without warships, battle formations, or energy shields.

He hovered in the void, his back to the imperial fleet, facing the overwhelming tide of beasts.

Tens of thousands of people die every second on the battlefield. Who has time to notice a shadow that suddenly appears?

The First Fleet's artillery fire swept right over his head, and energy beams grazed past his side.

But then, someone noticed something:

—The number of star beast remains on the battlefield is decreasing.

The debris within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers disappeared simultaneously, as if it had been collectively sucked away by a giant vacuum cleaner.

Then all the body parts, shell fragments, slime, and limbs within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers vanished in the same instant.

Not only nearby debris, but also the rubble scattered millions of kilometers away by the shockwave of the explosion was being cleared simultaneously.

All matter from the Star Beasts on the entire battlefield was removed in an instant, leaving only the alloy wreckage of the warships and the corpses of human soldiers floating silently in the starry sky.

The artillery fire didn't stop immediately, but everyone's firing pace slowed down by half a beat.

The operator lifted his hand slightly from the launch button and looked away from the sights for half a second.

The communication channel, which had been filled with the dense static of battle reports, suddenly went silent for a moment.

A man stood casually in the middle of the battlefield, his hands hanging at his sides, his shoulders showing no sign of tension, as if he were standing in front of his own shop waiting for customers.

Then a voice boomed through the communication channel, so hoarse it was almost inaudible:

"It's the shop owner!"

Then the entire communication channel exploded as if it had been set on fire:

Which shop owner?

"The shop owner who doesn't rip off poor people! He's the one who cleaved the Kailo beast tide in two with a single sword strike!"

"He really came?"

"He's made his move?"

He was standing right in the middle of the battlefield!

The battlefield came to a complete standstill for the first time since the start of the war.

At the same instant, everyone looked up at the figure hovering in the center of the battlefield, and the same thought arose in their minds:

Is the shop owner about to make a move?

The starships' cannon fire ceased, the battle formations slowed their charge, and even the surging beast tide slowed down.

The silence lasted for ten seconds.

The beast tide has begun.

A dark red torrent of energy surged from the depths of the beast tide, carrying enough power to incinerate a planet. It shot out from the beast tide and accurately struck the location where Wang Wei was.

The torrent was moving so fast that it was impossible for the human eye to track it; only the energy readings on the star chart exploded in an instant.

The light engulfed the figure.

The blinding red light turned all the warship's portholes into a dark red filter, the light so intense it was impossible to open one's eyes.

Then, these people witnessed a scene they would never forget.

The shop owner didn't dodge; he took a direct hit from the concentrated fire of the beast horde.

The light dissipated.

Wang Wei stood still, not moving even half a millimeter.

Not a single strand of his hair was messed up by the wind.

The herd has come to a standstill.

The Imperial fleet also fell silent.

Wang Wei looked down at the hem of his clothes.

There was a tiny speck of star beast debris there, splashed up from somewhere when the torrent passed by.

Wang Wei extended his index finger and flicked it gently, causing the residue to disperse silently.

He then glanced at the Imperial fleet's defensive line, smiled, and said, "Just collecting some scrap. You guys continue."

The entire room fell silent.

Wang Wei raised his right hand, and the remaining wreckage and ruins of the star beasts on the battlefield vanished completely in one fell swoop.

He withdrew his hand, his figure flickered, and he disappeared from the spot.

The entire starry sky suddenly became so empty that it made one feel uneasy.

The front ranks of the beast tide halted their charge, pausing briefly.

The Imperial fleet also stopped, and everyone's brains were still processing what had just happened in those few seconds.

Then a bewildered voice came through the communication channel: "The shop owner's gone?"

Then more voices flooded the channel:

"Gone? The shop owner left?"

Why did he leave?

"Weren't you here to help us?"

Suddenly, a roar rang out in the Third Fleet's command communications channel: "Kill!"

The shout of "Kill!" snapped everyone out of their shock, like igniting gunpowder across the entire battlefront.

Almost simultaneously, all the main guns of the warships unleashed their fury—beams, barrages, energy beams, and missile bay doors were all open, increasing the firepower density by 30% compared to before.

Meanwhile, in a distant starry sky, countless light-years away...

In a chaotic void, countless fragments of shattered stars floated slowly in the darkness, with a colossal lair of star beasts suspended in the deepest part.

A dark red stream of air arrived at the nest from the depths of space.

The chaos that Yu Chao had tried to stop finally managed to escape and reach this star field.

The moment the airflow struck the nest's outer shell, the entire chaotic space trembled simultaneously.

Immediately afterwards, the cracks on the surface of the nest suddenly expanded, and terrifying pressure surged out from beneath the cracks, penetrating the nest and spreading outwards.

The low-level beasts surrounding the lair began to mutate the moment they came into contact with the pulse.

Its carapace changed from dark red to deep black, its size swelled to several times its original size, and its aura broke through to new heights.

First-order, second-order, fifth-order, eighth-order, twelfth-order, first-order Origin Venerable, second-order Origin Venerable, first-order Origin Sect Master, second-order Origin Sect Master... Emperor.

"boom--"

Countless Origin Venerables, Origin Sect Masters, and even Emperor-level Star Beasts poured out from the perimeter of their lair, carrying an overwhelming pressure, and transformed into a dark red torrent surging towards the empire's territory.

On the front lines, the Empire's First, Second, and Third Fleets are briefly celebrating their victory over a new wave of beast hordes.

After the three fleets were combined, the firepower density and the stability of the battle lines reached their peak since the start of the war.

"All echelons, hold your positions. All destroyer warships will fire in ten seconds."

More than 3,000 strategic-class star-destroying ships from the three fleets simultaneously charged up, their cannons flashing in the starry sky like 3,000 new stars about to rise.

Emperor Star City, a store that doesn’t cheat the poor.

Wang Weigang had just returned to the store when, as if sensing something, he looked up at the starry sky.

Under the light, his gaze passed through the battlefield and the border defenses of the empire, landing in the direction of that chaotic void.

He was silent for a moment, then whispered:

"Big trouble is coming."