Zerg Scourge!

A billion people were dumbfounded.

Immortal Qin Empire.

It sounded somewhat familiar!

In the last ranking, first place had also been the Immortal Qin Empire. Familiarity aside...

The question was...

Why was it always you?

What contribution had you made?

Weren't you first in Civilian Technology? What did contribution have to do with you?

"Did... did I see that wrong?"

"Haha, if I didn't see it wrong, then I must be dreaming!"

"That's right, dreaming... this had to be a dream! I needed to wake up."

No, bro, who even are you?

It was one thing for your technology to be incredible.

After all, you weren't a civilization from the Known Universe. You could be as ridiculously powerful as you wanted; it had nothing to do with us.

But this was the cosmic contribution Ranking List!

Blue Star Civilization had inherited the remnants and lingering influence of God River Civilization. It was reasonable for them to be on the list.

Angel Civilization's contributions were obvious to all. Regardless of whether everyone acknowledged them, they had at least made those contributions. Fine.

But what did the Immortal Qin Empire mean by this??

Why were you on the list??

"I don't accept this!"

"A rigged result, right? This was definitely rigged! I really don't accept this!"

Of course, whether they accepted it or not was useless.

The Ranking List had accepted it.

Then, before everyone could start another discussion, the Ranking List underwent another strange change!

The Light Screen hanging above the firmament suddenly expanded countless times over, once again covering the entire sky!

As for why it was once again...

"This feels so familiar, so familiar!"

"Did you forget? When the rankings came out before, the Immortal Qin Empire took first place, and the Ranking List expanded too!"

"Holy shit, I remember now!"

Last time, the Ranking List had shown scenes of Immortal Qin Empire Civilization, shocking everyone beyond measure. There was no way they could forget it.

It was alike, far too alike!

"What did this mean? Was it going to start showing footage for the contribution rankings too?"

"Yeah!"

That single remark woke them from their reverie!

Blue Star Civilization and Angel Civilization were both on the list.

Yet this time, the Ranking List seemingly had not shown either of them!

At first, no one had paid much attention. After all, it was understandable that this thing did not show footage.

For a Civilian Technology ranking, you at least had to let everyone see just how far your civilian technology had developed, giving them an intuitive impression so they could understand.

Contribution was not something that could be seen directly, so it was fine if there was no footage.

Yet... after the first-place Immortal Qin Empire was announced...

It started showing footage again!

Even those who did not care about the Ranking List were left speechless.

It really did seem... rigged, didn't it?

The favoritism had gone too far. There was no defending it!

War Zone.

"Contribution... what kind of contribution required everyone to see it?"

Qiang Wei furrowed her brow and stared intently at the Light Screen above the firmament.

Liang Bing, standing beside her, was also unusually interested in the Ranking List.

She wanted to see what exactly had caused this.

Elsewhere, at Blue Star's General Headquarters.

"Damn... how the hell was this Hero Core supposed to be used?"

Ge Xiaolun felt as though his head were about to split in two.

"Xiaolun, you still haven't figured it out?"

Liu Chuang walked into the tent and handed Ge Xiaolun a bottle of wheat juice. "Take a break. You've been cooped up in this tent for three days."

"Brother Chuang, forget figuring it out." Ge Xiaolun smiled bitterly. "I don't even have the slightest clue right now. It's driving me crazy."

"Ever since I received the Void Controller reward, aside from naming it Hero Core, I haven't been able to make it do anything at all. I'm starting to wonder whether I made the right choice."

"My education level isn't high either. Though I learned some things from Qiang Wei, I'm still totally in the dark." Liu Chuang laughed heartily. "But your Brother Chuang has some life experience to share. Just take it as a reference."

"If you don't understand this thing yourself, find someone who does and ask for help! We've got mouths; we can ask others for help! There's no need to take every burden onto yourself."

After Liu Chuang finished speaking, Ge Xiaolun froze on the spot.

That was right!

There was no need for him to keep agonizing over this!

Why had he chosen the Void Controller in the first place?

Because Immortal Qin Emperor Ye Chen had told him to choose it!

In that case, Immortal Qin Emperor Ye Chen must have understood what Hero Core did and how to use it, which was why he had told Ge Xiaolun to choose it!

That person knew what he was doing!

If Ge Xiaolun asked Immortal Qin Emperor Ye Chen, he would definitely learn how to use Hero Core!

But...

Ge Xiaolun suddenly became troubled.

"How... how am I supposed to ask?"

To be honest, Ge Xiaolun had not even met Immortal Qin Emperor Ye Chen yet. At most, they were online acquaintances, but Immortal Qin Emperor Ye Chen had helped him more than a little.

If that person had not questioned Angel Civilization, Angel Civilization would never have sent angels to Blue Star to help them.

Blue Star owed the Immortal Qin Empire a great debt.

Other than saying a few words of thanks, they had not yet repaid the Immortal Qin Empire.

And now he wanted to ask for more help?

That was a little too shameless...

Ge Xiaolun gritted his teeth.

"Even if I have to shamelessly beg, this is for Blue Star. Let them curse me, let them laugh at me—I can't give up the chance to master Hero Core!"

Ge Xiaolun took a deep breath.

He walked out of the tent and faced the sunlight.

Just as he was about to ask Immortal Qin Emperor Ye Chen for help...

The sight before him made Ge Xiaolun freeze where he stood!

"W-what was all this??"

Above the firmament.

The sky was filled with war!

"Ah, Xiaolun, I forgot to tell you. The Ranking List just announced first place, and it was that Immortal Qin Empire again. Look up there—they're playing footage right now. This scene is insane, so damn awesome! They got first place in both rankings! Hey, Xiaolun, what kind of connection do we have with the Immortal Qin Empire? Could they really be our ancestors? If we could claim kinship with such an incredible civilization, wouldn't that make us awesome too?"

Ge Xiaolun's eyes widened, surprise and shock nearly overflowing from them.

He shakily raised a finger and pointed straight at the Light Screen above the firmament.

"You're saying... this, this was the Immortal Qin Empire's contribution ranking?"

Above the Firmament.

Soren Original Worm: A highly unusual intelligent lifeform in the universe, also known as the Zerg or Soren Worm.

The Soren Original Worm was a species with extraordinarily formidable individual strength and terrifying reproductive ability. The Soren Original Worm swarm possessed only one Queen Insect, which occupied a massive planet as its mother nest and could hatch countless Soren Original Worms. These Soren Original Worms had extremely distinct roles and strictly followed the principle of expansion, beginning to seize other star systems. The terrifying part was that the Queen Insect was not the only one with reproductive ability. They would build nests on every planet and expand their population without limit. Their reproductive ability and individual strength ran contrary to those of civilized lifeforms; they did not follow the pattern where stronger individuals possessed weaker reproductive ability. For any civilization in the universe, the appearance of Soren Original Worms signified a terminal cosmic crisis.