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

Wang Wei slowly walked down from upstairs.

Bai Lu followed behind him, her hair just tied up, the ends still damp with moisture.

When she went down to the lobby on the first floor, she subconsciously pulled her collar up a little.

Qi was sitting on a floating chair next to the counter.

There were three cups of tea on the table, all of them cold.

She heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, turned her head, and looked from Wang Wei's face to Bai Lu, then back to Wang Wei's face.

"You've agreed to come down?" she said.

The voice was flat, but the word "ken" sounded particularly heavy to Bai Lu.

Bai Lu blushed slightly upon hearing this, lowered her head, and remained silent.

Wang Wei walked to the counter, picked up the glass of cold tea, took a sip, and then put it back.

"I didn't stop you from going up," he said, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Why is there a hint of resentment in your voice?"

Qi looked at him, her gaze calm as still water.

She didn't respond to that.

The silence lasted for two seconds, then Wang Wei put down his teacup, turned around, and pushed open the shop door.

The night breeze from outside the shop street carried something indescribable.

Wang Wei looked up, his gaze sweeping across the commercial street before stopping above Dixing City.

The commercial street is empty, with only a few maintenance staff remaining.

Bai Lu and Qi followed him out and stood on either side of him.

Bai Lu looked up at the sky following his gaze, her pupils dilating slightly.

She said softly, with a touch of naivety, "What a beautiful sunset."

The sky over Imperial Star City is turning red.

But it wasn't the light refracted by the clouds, nor the gradual change of the sunset's afterglow; rather, it was the space itself revealing colors from its depths.

The background color of the starry sky slowly emanates from deep black, revealing a dark crimson hue, like a piece of paper that has been heated from the back; the heat has not yet penetrated to the front, but the light has already seeped through.

The red is uneven in shade, with some areas being darker and others brighter, like something flowing gliding across the surface of the void.

Qi glanced at Bai Lu, then looked away.

"This is a harbinger of impending chaos," she said. "The space of this region is being eroded by an aura of calamity."

Bai Lu showed a hint of shock and subconsciously looked at Wang Wei.

Wang Wei was still looking at the sky above Emperor Star City.

Such a commotion has already occurred before any real trouble has even begun.

Under the illumination, his vision instantly spanned beyond Imperial Star City, beyond the territory of the First Empire, and covered the starry sky of the eighteen empires.

This change is taking place across the entire starry sky of the eighteen empires.

The starry sky changed from deep black to a faint crimson.

Suddenly, Wang Wei frowned.

It's not just the color of the starry sky that's changing!

The light of the stars is fading throughout the Eighteen Empires and even the entire star system.

The outer layer of each star is slowly peeling away, and a layer of red frost is covering the surface, which is penetrating into the core.

Meanwhile, the surface temperature of planets under Imperial control is decreasing, and their atmospheres are thinning at a visible rate.

This mutation has extended to unknown star regions beyond the star map of the eighteen empires.

Wang Wei looked into the depths of the starry sky, where a dark red color was spreading from the depths of the universe toward the Eighteen Empires.

Wherever that color is covered, stars and planets along the way are withering away.

Those star fields are like a place swept by late autumn, withering away little by little!

Qi suddenly spoke, "The entire galaxy is heading towards death."

Wang Wei glanced at her.

Qi continued, "The calamity hasn't even arrived yet, but it has already affected this place. Once the calamity itself arrives, this star field will be utterly destroyed."

Upon hearing this, Bai Lu's expression visibly panicked.

Her gaze was fixed on Wang Wei.

If anyone can save the empire, it's Wang Wei.

Wang Wei looked away.

"It's almost done," he said. "Go take a look."

He reached out and naturally grasped Qi's wrist.

Qi glanced down at his hand, then looked up at him again, her brows twitching slightly, but she didn't pull her hand away.

"Have you become addicted to holding hands?" she said.

After spending the last few days on the third floor with Bai Lu, Qi had already labeled Wang Wei as a lecher.

Wang Wei jokingly remarked, "I was afraid you'd run away, and besides, I've already taken advantage of it."

As he spoke, he instructed Bai Lu, "Don't wander off, wait for me to come back."

Bai Lu nodded vigorously.

Let's go.

As soon as Wang Wei finished speaking, the two figures disappeared from the spot.

Bai Lu stood alone on the deserted commercial street.

She looked up at the sky, which was turning red, and her lips moved slightly, her voice barely audible: "You must come back."

Bai Lu turned around and prepared to go back to the store.

After taking a few steps, her gaze fell on both sides of the shop entrance.

"To unravel the secrets of the world and bring order to human affairs."

The slogan of "Don't rip off poor people".

She stared for a few seconds, her breathing slowing down.

A moment later, Bai Lu pushed open the door and went inside.

On the other side, at the border of the First Empire.

Eighteen empires mobilized their entire territories and military strength, with hundreds of millions of warships lined up and hundreds of billions of human soldiers arrayed, spanning hundreds of thousands of miles of space.

The combined fleet's battle line extended from the left to the right, and from the front positions to the rear reserve sequence.

Millions of warships are lined up in the same formation.

Star-level destroyers, meteor-level ships, frigates, supply ships, medical ships, reconnaissance ships—everything that can fly is here.

Their engines stood out starkly against the dark red backdrop of the starry sky, appearing like needles pinned to the fabric, piercing the penetrating starry expanse.

Behind the warship were countless human battle formations.

Trillions of soldiers floated behind the starship in a void formation.

In the distance behind, a huge floating island was pieced together under the starry sky, serving as the Allied Forces' central control room.

The rulers of the eighteen empires personally oversaw the operation.

Eighteen flags of different colors hung down on the floating island.

Below each flag is a name—the First Empire, the Evergreen Empire, the Hunyuan Empire, the Xuantian Empire… Eighteen names are listed together, without any order.

Inside the Allied command center, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive, and no one spoke.

"Star data anomaly, celestial data anomaly, planetary anomaly..."

The monitoring instruments continuously emitted low-pitched warnings.

The central holographic projection displays virtual images from billions of miles away transmitted back by the detector.

The starry sky there was crimson like blood, as if a sea of ​​blood was churning within it.

"Has the shopkeeper arrived?" The King of Changqing broke the silence.

After he finished speaking, no one responded, and no one could respond.

Everyone present understood that this great battle was beyond the empire's ability to intervene.

Before the chaos had fully unfolded, the entire starry sky was already heading towards decay.

This far exceeds the level of imperial military strength.

The dark red sea on the projection is slowly advancing, like a wall with no end in sight.

Just then, a voice came through the communication channel in the control room. It was very soft, but everyone could hear it clearly.

"They've arrived."

Two more figures appeared in front of the starship.

A man and a woman stood side by side.

Behind him stood the imperial front composed of hundreds of millions of warships and hundreds of billions of soldiers, while in front of him was a dark red sea of ​​blood slowly approaching from the depths of the starry sky.

He stood in the middle, like a dividing line.

Behind him was an empire.

Chaos and turmoil lay before him.

"It's the shop owner!"