Another Settlement
In less than half a day.
A familiar Stream of Light returned from the distant Star Sea and precisely docked at the node's berth.
The warship's hull bore several charred marks from energy burning, but its overall structure remained intact.
The hatch opened.
Wei Changkong was the first to stride out. His Battle Armor was still impeccable, but his eyes gleamed with an unprecedented light—a flame that had been suppressed for hundreds of years and was now being ignited.
Behind him, ten veterans filed out, each with their heads held high and chests out, exuding a fierce aura.
They didn't even bother dealing with the warships first, but went straight to the Command Center.
"Bang!"
The door slid open, Wei Changkong, bringing with him a scorching heat wave, rushed towards Chen Fan.
Instead of saluting, he slammed a heavy metal box onto the ground with a thud. The lid popped open from the impact, revealing neatly arranged energy cores inside, emitting a ghostly blue light that dazzled everyone.
"Garrison Envoy!" Wei Changkong's voice was hoarse with excitement, " At A-7 Resource Station, 3,127 enemy soldiers, with the highest Commander at the Early Stage of Rank Eight, have all been annihilated!"
"No casualties on our side!"
All the spoils of war are here!
Inside the Command Center, a series of turbulent waves instantly surged forth.
"Garrison Envoy, your Star Map is incredibly accurate."
An old soldier couldn't help but speak, his voice trembling.
"The coordinates of the energy node were perfect. We severed the shield, and Brother Wei killed that Eighth-Order guard with three punches. The remaining Shadow Clan scum didn't even have time to react!"
A battle they had anticipated would take at least several hours to escalate was ended in a crushing defeat within half an hour.
Chen Fan stood up from his seat, a gentle smile on his face.
He didn't look at the spoils of war, but instead glanced at the eleven men in front of him.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Those three simple words brought tears to the eyes of Wei Changkong and the others.
"The credit belongs to everyone." Chen Fan slowly walked down the steps. "All spoils of war will be immediately deposited into the node's treasury. Old Wang, prioritize upgrading the warship's concealment array and main cannon. The remaining resources will be used to forge a set of law-based weapons for each person."
"Resources, taken from the enemy, used for our own benefit."
"Yes!"
Old Wang's voice echoed throughout the hall.
The last trace of doubt in everyone's heart vanished at that moment.
Starting from this point, at the Thirteenth Garrison Node, the lone wolf that had been dormant for three hundred years was fully awakened.
Over the next two months, it transformed into the most terrifying Ghost hunter in the Annihilation Star Domain.
Wei Changkong's warships, like a scalpel imbued with the Annihilation Dao Rhythm, launched precise attacks time and time again, following the coordinates provided by Chen Fan.
The Shadow Clan's resource points disappeared from the Star Map one by one.
The Shadow Clan Commander in this area was enraged like never before.
They kept sending out fleets to search, but they couldn't even catch a glimpse of the enemy. It was as if an invisible Abyss had appeared in the starry sky, silently swallowing everything they had.
Meanwhile, the Thirteenth Garrison Node is undergoing a transformation at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The once dilapidated Alloy exterior walls have been replaced by a layer of sturdy armor that gleams with the light of laws.
The once empty treasury is now filled with mountains of rare ores and energy cores.
The veterans had long since replaced their old Battle Armor with custom-made weapons that gleamed with a cold light, and each of them exuded an aura several times stronger than they had two months ago.
Among them, two people, under Chen Fan's personal guidance and with the accumulation of massive resources, successfully broke through the bottleneck that had plagued them for a century, and stepped one foot into the Eighth-Order.
The team's overall combat effectiveness has undergone a tremendous qualitative change.
Seeing that the system of using war to sustain war was operating stably and that Wei Changkong and others were capable of handling things independently, Chen Fan temporarily handed over the daily command authority.
Alone, he walked into the deepest part of the Command Center, into that absolutely isolated Quiet Chamber.
It's time to take a step back and reflect.
In the Quiet Chamber, Chen Fan sat cross-legged, his mind as still as water.
He didn't deliberately cultivate; he simply emptied his mind and allowed the Life-and-Death Dao Principles to flow slowly within his body.
On a cosmic scale, time loses its meaning.
As the first rays of dawn were about to pierce the darkness of this desolate Star Domain, a familiar Light Screen silently appeared before his eyes.
His fifteenth year in this world has arrived.
[Bite!]
[Annual talent tally complete!]
[Martial Dao Talent +163840]
Chen Fan's gaze calmly fell on the string of dazzling numbers at the bottom of the system panel.
[Martial Dao Talent: 327670 (Unparalleled in history)]
In an instant.
An indescribable sense of transformation surged forth from the deepest part of his Divine Soul.
If his previous Martial Dao foundation was a vast and boundless continent, then at this moment, that continent suddenly expanded, transforming into a vast Star Sea encompassing billions of Stars!
Every drop of his blood, every cell in his body, was rejoicing.
His perception and affinity for the laws of heaven and earth surged wildly to an unprecedented degree.
The space Quiet Chamber began to distort slightly under the aura he unconsciously emitted, as if it could not withstand the leap in his life level.
For a long time.
Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes held no tumultuous waves of a breakthrough, only a serene calm, so profound it seemed to reflect the very existence of the universe.
He could clearly feel that he was getting infinitely close to the threshold of the Eighth-Order Peak.
But more importantly, this surge in talent allowed him to subtly touch upon a completely new level of understanding of the Life-and-Death Dao Principles.
He stood up, completely concealing the invisible aura emanating from his body, and once again transformed into the seemingly harmless boy.
He pushed open the heavy Alloy door of the Quiet Chamber, preparing to head to the Command Center.
"Waaaaaah!!"
The piercing alarm sounded without warning throughout the entire Thirteenth Garrison Node!
Inside the corridor, the blood-red emergency lights flickered wildly, casting Chen Fan's figure in shifting light and shadow.
Without stopping, he flashed into the Command Center.
Inside the center, the atmosphere was as solid as iron.
Wei Changkong stood like a statue in front of the huge Holographic Star Map. The Power of Laws of the Eighth-Order Late Stage on his body was as solid as a mountain, but it still could not hide the unprecedented solemnity on his face.
Behind him stood ten fully armed veterans, each with their eyes fixed on the Star Map, their breathing heavy.
Upon seeing Chen Fan appear, Wei Changkong immediately turned around and pointed to the center of the Star Map.
"The Garrison Envoy!"
Following the direction of his finger, Chen Fan's gaze fell upon it.
In the very center of the Star Map, a golden point of light was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Its light was dazzling, and the unimaginable energy fluctuations even caused the simulated Star Map system to vibrate violently and display gibberish.
It's like a supernova about to be born there.