The third day of the apocalypse, ten in the morning.
Lingjiang City lay across from Yunjiang, only about a hundred kilometers away by river.
The old turtle rode the waves into the waters off Lingjiang, gazing at the ruined city in the distance.
It took off its shell and continued its divination.
The appearance of the Star Absorbing Tree concerned the survival of the planet. If the Star Blue Continent became a dead star, no living thing would be spared.
This time, the divination came easily, and the old turtle didn't spit blood.
The result it sought was to enter Lingjiang City as quickly as possible and find the person who could counter the Star Absorbing Tree.
Groups of Mutated Monsters roamed everywhere in Lingjiang City.
The old turtle had a clear destination. It sped off in one direction at great speed.
Though it looked like an old turtle, it was a Calamity-tier being.
Nothing along its path—not even the creatures in the ocean or the great river—dared to attack it.
About half an hour later,
the old turtle appeared outside a residential complex where not a single monster could be seen.
Boom! Bang! Splatter—
It turned out that a powerful Super Martial Artist inside the complex was clearing out the monsters.
The Super Martial Artist wore silver Star Armor. Judging by her petite figure, curvy but not tall, she seemed to be a little girl.
She held a Star Greatsword. Though small, she was astonishingly strong. Every sweep of her blade left no Mutated Creature standing; they all burst into clouds of blood.
Even more astonishing, she was already a Six-star Super Martial Artist.
Achieving Six-star Super Martial status in just three days was downright absurd.
The old turtle watched quietly from outside until she had finished off the monsters, then flew in.
"Who's there?"
A sharp cry came from the little girl.
She whirled around. Beneath her helmet, her eyes, like the starry sky, fixed on the figure rushing toward her... an old turtle.
"Die!!"
Her entire family had died at the hands of Mutated Monsters. Now, seeing a Mutated Creature charge straight at her, she rushed to attack without a second thought.
"Easy, young lady. I mean you no harm."
Though it was a turtle, the old one was remarkably nimble. It lightly dodged the little girl's sword as it came crashing down in a dazzling blaze of starlight, then hurriedly called out, "This planet is about to be doomed. Only you can stop it."
"Bullshit!"
The little girl in Star Armor was fierce. When her first strike failed to kill the old turtle, the Star Greatsword in her hands blazed with even more terrifying starlight. She swept it fiercely across, and a thick, crescent-shaped wave of sword energy blasted out.
"What terrifying power..."
The old turtle was horrified. With nowhere to dodge such a wide-ranging attack, it tucked itself into its shell.
The terrifying sword arc swept in and sent its shell flying, crashing through a small building with a series of loud booms.
"Little ancestor, please stop attacking! A Main Star-Sucking Tree has grown in Yun City. Unless it's dealt with, this planet will wither away in just a few years. No matter how strong you are, you'll die too!"
The little girl's strength made the old turtle fear for its life. It shouted urgently from inside its shell.
Hm?
The little girl was about to bring down another terrifying blow, but at its words, she stopped herself and asked, "That towering tree in Yun City is called the Main Star-Sucking Tree?"
She had watched the livestream an hour ago, too.
The old turtle poked its head out and quickly said, "That's right, that's right. I'm skilled at divination, and it seems only you can destroy that Main Star-Sucking Tree."
"Me?"
The little girl hesitantly pointed at herself. "What makes you think I can do that? Shouldn't it be the Black Dragon Emperor?"
She had seen how powerful Gu Qijue was.
"The Black Dragon Emperor?"
The old turtle stared at her in surprise. "You know him?"
The little girl snorted. "Everyone knows about him now. Only you monsters don't, for the moment. He's so powerful he fought his way through the endless monsters born from the Main Star-Sucking Tree you mentioned."
"But in my divination, the Black Dragon Emperor you spoke of is an anomaly—and the culprit behind this planet's destruction... My plan even requires killing him..."
The old turtle looked bewildered. "What does the Black Dragon Emperor look like? Can you show me?"
The little girl gave it a suspicious look, then dismissed her Super Martial Armor, took out her phone, and pulled up a recording of the livestream to show the old turtle.
The Star Tree was too strange. She had no choice but to believe what the old turtle had told her.
"It's him..."
Watching Gu Qijue fight with such unmatched courage, the old turtle was instantly shaken. "I don't know what's going on, but my divination told me that the Main Star-Sucking Tree's appearance is connected to him. Only by killing him, then using your power, can you destroy that Main Star-Sucking Tree. Otherwise, it can't be destroyed, because... they are... one and the same."
"How could that be?"
The little girl shook her head. "If they were one and the same, why would the monsters in the tree attack him instead of protecting him?"
"Perhaps the Main Star-Sucking Tree's true consciousness hasn't awakened yet."
The old turtle said, "Trust me. I know what I'm talking about!"
The little girl thought it over. "I'll trust you for now. Come with me to the Imperial Shelter, and we'll report this to the leaders of humanity!"
"We should indeed speak with your leaders. This matter is far too important."
The old turtle followed behind her as she left.
It had absolute faith in the results of its divination. It had paid for them with several thousand years of its lifespan.
Meanwhile, in Yun City.
Today, small Star-Sucking Trees were springing up all across the city, each producing swarms of Star-Sucking Monsters.
Seven or eight out of every ten of Yun City's original tens of millions of Mutated Creatures had been drained dry by the Main Tree and reduced to mummies.
As a result, Star-Sucking Monsters now made up the vast majority of the creatures roaming Yun City.
They didn't spare even the Mutated Creatures. Whenever they came across one, they swarmed it, tore it apart, and devoured it.
The Yun City Shelter covered five million square meters. Its walls soared two to three hundred meters high, making it look like a giant beast crouched on the ground.
Outside the walls, Star-Sucking Monsters packed together, one after another trying to climb up.
But as soon as they touched the electrified panels, charged to over a hundred thousand volts, the third- and fourth-tier Star-Sucking Monsters dropped dead one after another.
Once the corpses piled up, the Imperial Army soldiers stationed atop the walls would use incendiary bombs to set them alight.
Shelter, Combat Command Hall.
Gu Qijue had already washed up. Wearing a crisp black suit, he sat high at the head of the table.
Around the long conference table,
sat the shelter's six department heads—the heads of the Satellite Department, Arms Department, Bombing Department, Collection Department, Information Department, and Law Enforcement Department—along with Vice General Ye Zhanguo.
Of course, Gu Qijue's trusted subordinates, Zhao Hu, Wu Jiao, Ji Shang, and White Fox, were there as well.
Before you continue