Fang Yuanzheng opened his mouth. He had spent three days arranging the deployment of four hundred and twenty warships, but that thought lasted only a fraction of a second before he crushed it himself.
"Yes. The entire fleet will withdraw inside Jupiter's orbit and await orders."
As the order went out, Chen Hao had already left the command hall.
Beyond the dome of the Southern Heavenly Gate lay Ganymede's gray-black surface. Chen Hao did not go outside.
He stood on the platform beneath the dome and glanced up toward Jupiter.
Then he vanished.
Fang Yuanzheng stared at the spot where he had vanished for two seconds, then turned and roared...
"Aim every observation array at Jupiter's outer perimeter! Record everything you possibly can!"
Behind Jupiter. Deep space.
When Chen Hao emerged, the sight before him made him pause.
He had been here three days ago. Back then, the Gold-Eater Clan had gathered in the Kuiper Belt, densely packed on asteroids as they gnawed away. Like a swarm of ants.
Now they were no longer ants.
They were a flood.
Black filled his entire field of vision. Above, below, left, right—everywhere he looked.
The individual Gold-Eaters pressed against one another, forming a living wall advancing toward Jupiter. Its thickness had no visible end, its width no visible edge.
They were not flying. They were surging, those at the front pushed along by those behind, who were pushed by those farther back. Layer upon layer, without a gap.
Chen Hao spread his divine sense.
One hundred kilometers. One thousand kilometers. Ten thousand kilometers.
They were everywhere.
One hundred thousand kilometers.
Still everywhere.
That number no longer meant anything.
And within this Black Tide, several auras were distinctly stronger than the rest.
Dao venerable true bodies.
No longer at the nirvana stage. They