"Enough... Bronya."
"As the Supreme Guardian, I have always put the survival of Belobog's civilization first."
"That false fairness and compassion will only plunge the entire world into the Abyss of Cold sooner."
Her slender brows knitted tightly, the mature blonde beauty wore a stern expression.
Clearly, her daughter's suggestion had once again touched Cocolia's sore spot.
"But, Mother..."
"No buts..."
"To be honest, Bronya, your words and actions today have disappointed me somewhat."
"As the future successor to Belobog's Supreme Guardian, I never imagined you would be so immature."
"The suffering we are enduring is not some fleeting nightmare in a fairy tale."
"Facing a cruel future, we can rely only on ourselves."
"Over seven hundred years have passed. The stars have already forgotten this world of eternal winter."
"Even now, are you still pinning your hopes on a miracle?"
An inexplicable hint of anger surfaced on her fair, flawless face.
Her right arm rested across her chest, beneath the medal-adorned front of her uniform.
Her proudly curved, pale breasts trembled slightly.
Cocolia seemed genuinely angry.
"Wasn't Azure Star saved by the Conqueror Legion?"
"That Mr. Lin Chen did fulfill his promise."
"Our Belobog might yet live to see the day it is saved..."
"Perhaps, from the moment that mysterious livestream began..."
"Many things have already started changing without us noticing?"
After a moment's hesitation.
The girl in military uniform lightly bit her rosy lip and looked straight at her powerful mother beside her.
With a slightly stubborn tone, she voiced what was on her mind.
Although Bronya, as a soldier, had always been unwilling to go against her mother's wishes.
This time, however.
An inexplicable surge of passion made the girl choose to confront her head-on.
"Ha... Very good, Bronya. So you dare openly challenge me now?"
"Then have you ever considered why the Conqueror Legion chose to save Azure Star?"
After a cold laugh, a glimmer shifted in Cocolia's beautiful eyes.
She regarded Bronya beside her with a faintly mocking look.
"Was... was it to conquer and rule?"
After a moment's hesitation, her delicate hand clenched into a fist inside its metal glove.
Bronya spoke with some apprehension.
"Exactly... The order between civilizations among the stars is often built on self-interest."
"Azure Star has advanced technology and civilization. It is a vast, prosperous paradise."
"Taking this opportunity to gain complete control of Azure Star might count as a worthwhile investment."
"But... what does our Belobog have?"
"What could catch the eye of the Conqueror Legion, or that great figure?"
"Endless frozen wastelands and snowfields, or Geomarrow veins already on the verge of depletion?"
Her gaze drifted to the blizzard dancing wildly through the darkness outside the window.
No longer as forceful as before, Cocolia's lovely face showed a trace of loneliness and self-mockery.
"I understand..."
"I just remembered that I still have military duties to attend to. Please excuse me..."
Her clenched right hand slowly relaxed, and Bronya took a deep breath.
She slowly rose and left the central administration hall.
Although she still held out hope for the Conqueror Legion.
After her mother's persuasion, Bronya felt somewhat dispirited as well.
In an alley somewhere in Belobog.
Gepard was still watching the livestream on his phone.
After seeing the situation suddenly reverse.
He lost his footing and stumbled by the roadside.
"That really was an unexpected ending."
"The Conqueror Legion truly is unimaginably powerful."
"Even an evil god capable of destroying the world could only submit to execution."
Brushing the lingering snow from his clothes, Gepard continued on his way with mixed feelings.
Yet the events of today.
Had brought a subtle change to his view of his older sister.
Perhaps... his sister had been right all along, and everyone had misunderstood her.
In low orbit around Azure Star, amid the ruins of Herta Space Station.
The system's voice rang out in Lin Chen's mind once again.
[Congratulations, host. The Conqueror Legion's heroic feat has earned some recognition from the inhabitants of the stars.] [Reward: 9,000 conquest points.] [Congratulations, host. You have become Azure Star's most influential figure.] [Reward: 5,000 conquest points.]
Looking at the balance of a whopping 35,000 conquest points on the system's storage interface.
Lin Chen was overjoyed.
As the system's host, he had lain low aboard the Astral Express for so long.
Yet the moment he arrived at Herta Space Station, things had taken off.
Lin Chen suddenly felt that his future held great promise.
With these conquest points, the Conqueror Legion under his actual control.
Could undergo a proper expansion.
However, Lin Chen had not let the rewards go to his head, and he knew.
The crisis before him had not been fully resolved.
Night Queen Lilith had yet to be completely eliminated.
"Lin Chen... just you wait."
"The next time we meet will be the day you die!"
"The wrath of the Dream Gods will utterly destroy your Conqueror Legion."
Gripping her right arm with her left hand, Lilith wore a pained expression.
In her beautiful scarlet eyes, the phantom images of a clock and crescent moon began to shift.
Beside her, black ripples spread like a spiderweb.
A dark vortex passage appeared.
Stepping forward on her shapely, slender legs, Lilith walked toward the mysterious passage.
"Hmm? Leaving already?"
"Sorry, Miss Lilith... you have yet to receive a fair trial for your crimes."
"Stay right where you are!"
With a wave of Lin Chen's hand, in the space above Herta Space Station.
The enormous outline of a silver ring appeared like a bright moon, blotting out the heavens.
The metal ring, with a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, seemed to be some kind of advanced technological construct.
[HOLO Ring structural assembly complete.] [Ecological maintenance field barrier deployed. Spatial fluctuation resonance loop locked...]
Accompanied by the system's cold, mechanical voice.
A spectral blue glow spread across the vast expanse of space, then vanished in an instant.
The dark vortex Lilith had just summoned disappeared immediately.
And the evil goddess with the stunning figure.
Froze in place, one foot still raised.
"You... what exactly did you do?"
"An ability like this... could you... could you be one of the Sin Gods too?"
Lilith's breathtakingly beautiful face twisted into a particularly strained expression.
Beneath her black dress, her full, proud breasts trembled slightly.
The evil goddess's gracefully curved body began to shake uncontrollably.
"Hmm? What did you say? Sin Gods?"
"Lilith... please believe in science..."
The corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he looked at Lilith's frightened, stunned expression.
Lin Chen could barely suppress a laugh.
Before you continue