The crystal particle’s mental impact surged violently. In the illusion, blood waves rose to the sky, crushing the palace, drowning the golden flowers, and knocking down the sorrowful white dove.
It pressed toward the lone disabled human, and the crystal clusters spread toward the mother nucleus.
This was the final struggle between the two sides. Approaching, approaching—
A blood-red color spread in Jiang Jianming’s pupil depths.
His trembling lip corners also oozed fresh blood.
This time, no rebuttal came, and “Laurent’s” face revealed a wild joy of turning defeat into victory.
But in the next moment, the disabled human’s blood-stained lip corners silently curved into a slight smile.
Jiang Jianming took his fifth step. Amidst the crystal particle consciousness that swept like a massive wave, another power suddenly rose.
In the deep crystal-clustered cave, two spiritual forces collided invisibly!
Jiang Jianming’s hand, which had been supporting the crystal wall, opened. His spiritual force condensed into a sharp blade tip, like blazing fire, forcefully burning a line through the towering waves.
He took three consecutive steps. Blood, sin, and pain, the collapsing white jade palace and rotting golden rose, were all left behind.
The Bishop of Chaos’s face twitched, and he screamed maniacally. “—Jiang Jianming!!”
The Crystal Nest’s mother nucleus flickered in terror. This critically weakened human actually still had the strength to counterattack…!?
No, the mother nucleus consciousness suddenly realized this was not some “remaining strength” at all.
This person knew very well the limits of his own power. That was why he had initially restrained himself, bearing the extreme mental and physical pressure, waiting for the optimal moment to strike. This was the result of calculation at the most extreme level of calmness, the only best opportunity!
At this moment, Jiang Jianming suddenly gave a contemptuous smile. The light at the corner of his eyes flickered as he passed by Laurent’s phantom.
“Do you see me caring about you?”
Jiang Jianming said softly, “Crystal particles.”
He was Dawn Aslan, a person who had walked from the dark and bewildering era into the light, his will long since as tough as iron.
He had been talking earlier simply because hearing his own voice helped him concentrate and exclude the crystal particles’ interference. How could a few shallow questions possibly shake him?
The wind howled. The new human empire’s flag fell behind him, just like the sacred flag of the old empire back then—
At that time, he had stood shoulder to shoulder with Ryann at the city’s head, with a vast setting sun, and tomorrow was in the distant future.
So he knew… even if their empire would fall into a rotting night, there would inevitably be another version of them in future generations who would raise a new dawn in the deep of night.
Countless kingdoms perished, countless dynasties changed. Flowers bloomed and withered, and years were carved by sun and moon.
Every rotting withered flower became nutrients for the next new bud; every fallen golden age saw a new torch raised high.
The first civilization on the Blue Mother Star, which had been calculated in thousands of years, was rebuilt in just hundreds of years after being destroyed by crystal particles. Posterity would prove the meaning of their predecessors.
This time, they would definitely go further, even if they could not reach the end.
So there was no need to fear the death, destruction, and chaos that would ultimately arrive.
Laurent’s figure shattered, transforming into the appearance of the white-robed Archbishop.
The three bishops had long died. The true face of these phantoms could only be Gaius, who was combined with the Crystal Nest’s mother nucleus!
“Delusion… pure delusion!”
Gaius suddenly spread his arms wide, his white robe flying, “Can’t you see your own weakness? You are weak and sick, without any weapon. What can you do to the mother nucleus!?”
His expression was fanatical, his gaze poisonous, glaring coldly at Jiang Jianming, “Wake up from your daydream, Aslan. Don’t you know you’re already exhausted, with will but no strength…”
The mother nucleus was only an arm’s length away, with just a tiny gap still exposed, about to be completely sealed in the next second.
Jiang Jianming raised his right hand with the last of his strength.
Gaius was not wrong. He was indeed finished. The previous concentrated burst of spiritual force had completely drained the last of his physical and mental energy.
As he raised his hand, Jiang Jianming’s body also collapsed forward.
He lifted his unfocused eyes, thinking weakly: Miscalculation. I should have brought a medal, the kind with sharp edges…
“No,” Gaius suddenly stiffened and changed color.
His hand fell.
“No, no, stop, disabled human!!”
Ding!
A crisp collision sound.
Gaius’s phantom twisted. His eye sockets spasmed, his cheeks twitching grotesquely as he screamed and lunged toward the mother nucleus. “—No!!!”
The ring on his ring finger struck the central crack of the mother nucleus.
In the center of the ring, a half-sharp crimson gold crystal had somehow condensed.
Crack…
As Jiang Jianming fell down, brushing past the Crystal Nest’s mother nucleus, he saw the rapidly spreading cracks on the crystal ball with his dimming vision and smiled silently.
Good, it seems the ring was enough.
The cracks became denser, finer, deeper. Gaius’s phantom froze in a lunging posture, trembling from head to toe.
“You… you… you destroyed the mother nucleus? No, no, no, you killed… ah, you killed…”
Until the crystal ball shattered from the inside out, the crystal fragments splashing like foam!!
The sound of shattering was sharp and high-pitched.
Loud enough to cover the muffled sound of a human collapsing.
Momentum caused Jiang Jianming to roll half a turn after falling. He no longer had the strength to move, looking up to see the cave collapsing.
Was it over…?
Snow-white crystal particles flew away like scattered fireflies, sadly embracing their own destruction. This was also a life form in the universe, now accepting its own extinction.
They might have existed for a long time, might have invaded many other races in the universe, only to be defeated and annihilated in a war. But they had also completely transformed humans, painting a brilliant stroke in human history. Humans would remember the crystal particles, whether willingly or not.
Such a long war had ended.
“…”
Jiang Jianming lay with his eyes half-open, as bewildered as a newborn, his lips trembling constantly but making no breathing motion.
His chest suddenly convulsed. He weakly raised his neck, spitting out two mouthfuls of blood before collapsing back down.
How strange, his entire body felt light and soft, no longer feeling pain…
What would happen next? What would tomorrow be like?
Would he die? What about Ryann?
Jiang Jianming didn’t know. In this moment of confusion, his soul became incredibly clear.
A thought fluttered into his mind like a light moth.
He thought: Perhaps there would be a day, at the end of a long journey and impossible probabilities, when humans could transcend the so-called universal rules and walk into a true paradise.
In that place, all compatriots could walk in the light, together picking the fruits of happiness. He would be there, everyone from this journey would be there, in whatever form.
“No… no.”
Gaius’s phantom gazed at him blankly, murmuring before completely dissipating. “You… how dare you… delude yourself to such an extent…”
A delusion?
Jiang Jianming lay on the Crystal Nest’s ground, his slightly dilated pupils fixed on the star space gradually revealing itself.
But who could predict the future?
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, cave-dwelling proto-humans, surviving on raw meat and blood, could only hope for more game and more fruits.
Little did they know that thousands of years later, their descendants would see such a magnificent and emotional starscape from starship windows.
Jiang Jianming finally closed his eyes, falling into a quiet sleep.
Starlight fell on his pale eyelids, giving him a dream of delusion.
In the dream, he raised his right hand, kissing the ring. Watching the starry sky, he casually chatted with Ryann, finally letting out a soft laugh.
****
Outside the Crystal Nest.
The crystalline beings in the universe significantly weakened after the Pangu’s Axe’s successful launch, but they had not completely perished.
For the imperial army, which was already nearly exhausted, this was undoubtedly a massive blow. Several generals felt their hearts sink immediately. On the battlefield, if morale collectively declined or fell into despair in a short time, it would inevitably cause devastating casualties… Fortunately, Jiang Jianming’s words had provided some support, and with the Emperor’s personal arrival, a large-scale collapse was prevented.
Just a moment later, within less than an hour, changes occurred.
The battling mecha soldiers suddenly cried out in surprise. They discovered they could no longer control their mechas. This sudden change almost threw the entire army into chaos, but Jiang Sheng was the first to realize the problem.
“Wait, everyone stay calm!”
Sitting inside the mecha connection, Jiang Sheng felt his scalp tingle at his own hypothesis.
He pushed the control screen in front of him, and the mecha immediately returned to normal operation. However, the master mecha operator’s hand began to tremble.
Not from fear, but from excitement.
Jiang Sheng opened the military channel, shouting with a trembling voice. “It’s not an enemy attack, the mechas aren’t broken! The mental control is failing. Switch all control modes to manual!!”
The soldiers followed suit, clumsily using the unfamiliar manual mode.
As expected, to everyone’s surprise, the stalled mechas became responsive again.
The enemies they had just been fighting not only did not launch an attack during this time but instead dissolved into the tiniest crystal particles, quietly drifting in the universe.
Black Shark Base.
“Chief! Come and see, our mental consciousness projection is failing!”
Diana rushed frantically to Sylph, her eyes still red and swollen from crying for Jiang Jianming, her voice thick with nasality. “The base consciousness has returned to its original body! What is happening…”
Sylph gripped her wrist device tightly, suddenly leaning weakly against a massive computer, her expression vacant. “Fail… ing…”
From the wrist device came Jiang Sheng’s excited, cracking voice. “Chief, this can’t be wrong!”
“Whether it’s our mental consciousness projection technology or mental consciousness manipulation, the principle relies on the crystal particles’ consciousness transmission characteristics. Now they’re all failing. Doesn’t this mean…”
Diana stared blankly. “Mean… what?”
In the next instant, she understood, her face suddenly flushing red, covering her mouth with a small cry.
…..
“Mean what?”
Inside the L-Iron Rose’s cockpit, a square communication projection flickered before Lin Ge.
The female emperor breathed heavily, her heart racing. She stared intently at the chief, at those soft lips, as if the next words would be a judgment of her fate.
Sylph’s beautiful face revealed a proud smile, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Of course it means… the crystal particle consciousness has died. The mother nucleus is dead.”
She laughed elegantly, unable to stop her tears. “Lin Ge, Your Majesty, go tell everyone. Just say we won, we won…!”
Lin Ge collapsed back into the pilot’s seat in a daze.
She raised her hands, trembling from long battle fatigue, murmuring. “We won?”
Lin Ge asked uncertainly. “Ah, really?”
Sylph: “Really.”
Lin Ge: “Don’t trick me.”
Sylph: “Are you an idiot?”
In the background, sounds gradually became chaotic. Black Shark Base members erupted into various cries.
Holding the wrist device, Sylph laughed through her tears. “What else? Your Imperial Majesty, look around. Are any crystal beings still fighting you?”
Lin Ge looked around. Her Iron Rose mecha stood bloody in the universe, the surroundings clear and bright, the star clouds beautiful.
Crystal particles continuously dissipated. The massive Crystal Nest in the distance seemed to be steaming, dissolving and collapsing inside and out, the scene truly spectacular.
The army behind her had already realized, and the soldiers had fallen into madness.
Old Marshal Chen also made a communication call. Lin Ge, in a daze, couldn’t quite hear what the old man was saying.
She hadn’t been this confused in a long time, after all, she was Her Majesty the Emperor. The scene of Kaios entrusting the empire and the Crown of Golden Dawn to her, turning away in the night wind, seemed like just yesterday.
But looking back, there had been numerous life-and-death partings.
Time was long, the world ever-changing.
Suddenly, the female emperor abruptly stood up, almost hysterically shouting, “—Kaios and Commander Aslan are still at the mother nucleus coordinates. Which units are still near the Crystal Nest? Quick, go rescue them!!”
……
When the imperial army’s boiling wave began to spread in all directions, one mecha entered the depths of the Crystal Nest faster than anyone else.
The intelligence Seth Henry drove the L-Crown of Golden Dawn toward the mother nucleus coordinates.
It sensed its own existence was about to dissipate.
Seth Henry, this was the intelligence’s name, which had once been a dog’s name.
So at this moment, it ran with all its might. Just like many years ago, that little puppy, wagging its tail, tongue out, eyes bright like black grapes, carrying a flying disc and running to its master.
On the Crown of Golden Dawn’s screen, two lines quietly flickered.
[Woof woof woof!]
[Goodbye, Master, woof!]
…..
Aslan Star City.
The signs of war’s end were so obvious that they didn’t even need to wait for news from the frontlines.
The crystalline beings rampaging in the streets had died, and the crystallized particles retreated from every household’s rooms.
People looked up to the sky, seeing the clouds after rain and night. The wind drove away the gunpowder smoke, and bright daylight illuminated the star city after the battle.
“Day has broken.”
Soldiers muttered, putting down their weapons and sitting down on the water-logged brick street. The water rippled, spreading rings of light.
“Oh?”
On the street, a crystal disorder patient just loaded into an ambulance blinked and sat up, “I’m not in pain! Haha, not in pain!”
The person joyfully touched their face and stretched, “The crystal particles in my body aren’t acting up anymore. Haha, my crystal disorder is cured!”
A dozen steps away, Old Tang was being supported, about to be placed on a stretcher.
This old man was incredibly vigorous. Despite being retired, he had mustered the same spirit from his Blue Mother Star days, fighting in the street for a day and night. He had finally broken his crystal bones, sweating cold drops of pain, and was being forcibly dragged for treatment by his daughter-in-law.
But the old man’s expression suddenly changed. He waved his hand, “Wait, my crystal bones…”
The dispersing crystal particles in the air were all attracted to his crystal bones, filling the gaps of his severe injuries.
Tang Ren’s expression turned serious. He suddenly shouted to the medical staff in the vehicle, “Hey, little comrade, do you have a crystal bone monitor? Bring it!”
Crystal bone monitors were widely available standard equipment. Soon, a nurse brought one over and scanned the old man’s crystal bones.
“Up-upgraded!?”
Instantly, Tang’s daughter-in-law’s eyes went wide, “Dad, at your age, your crystal bones actually upgraded!?”
“What… what is happening…”
With a bang, Kevin jumped down from the mecha and wiped the sweat from his chin. He stared blankly at the surrounding changes, still somewhat unable to react.
Another figure awkwardly climbed out of the mecha cockpit. It was an injured old professor whom Kevin had rescued midway, who now wore an expression of sudden realization.
“It seems that the consciousness of the crystal particle race had indeed been destroyed, but the part of crystal particles deeply integrated with humans, after being stripped of racial attributes, could still continue to be used by humans…”
The old professor stroked his white beard and nodded with a laugh. “This was probably the spoils of war brought by the racial war in the universe, hehe…”
These past few hundred years had truly been a tribulation for humans. But it was precisely this calamity that allowed humans to complete an evolutionary leap at the species level, and their future now held more possibilities.
Ten minutes later, voices from the front lines resounded through the streets and alleys of the Empire’s nine star cities.
“Black Shark Base hereby announces to all citizens. I, Sylph Song, in the name of the former Imperial Empress, current Black Shark Base Chief and Empress Dowager, and on behalf of Her Majesty Lin Ge, solemnly declare to our compatriots:
“The war has ended, and humans have achieved a great victory. The frontline troops will return soon!”
In an instant, waves of cheers thundered through the heavens.
“Now, all citizens should absorb the crystal particles that have not yet dissipated, whether you are crystal or non-crystal race.”
“Repeating again, all citizens…”
****
In the 66th year of the New Imperial Calendar, the racial war spanning over five hundred years between humans and crystal particles concluded with the victory of the former.
The war had brought devastating wounds to the Empire, drastically reducing population and exhausting resources. Fortunately, the future looked bright, and the next few years would undoubtedly be dedicated to post-war reconstruction and recovery.
The disappearance of the crystal particle race’s consciousness also brought many changes to human society. But most were for the better. According to Black Shark Base’s calculations, the crystal particle resources scattered across the universe were sufficient to meet human real crystal ore consumption for the next thousand years.
After the grand army’s return, citizens anxiously inquired about the news of the founding marshal and emperor.
But the official sources remained tight-lipped. Finally, unable to withstand public sentiment, the Empire issued a statement saying that both the marshal and emperor were severely injured during the final mission and were receiving treatment.
Various truths about Dawn Aslan gradually emerged. Those days’ smart networks were unbearable to look at, and hospitals had received several batches of people who had cried themselves unconscious.
Weeks passed, then months, until half a year later.
His Majesty Kaios finally appeared at a grand ceremony commemorating fallen heroes.
The Emperor remained coldly beautiful, with platinum curls elegantly cascading over his shoulders. He stood alongside Lin Ge, holding white chrysanthemums, kneeling on one knee before the electronic memorial portraits of fallen soldiers, closing his eyes and softly reciting a prayer.
But there were no further updates about Commander Aslan.
People said the commander had sacrificed himself. Their hero would forever sleep at the moment just before dawn’s arrival.
But some quietly leaked hints. They spoke of a room deep within the White Jade Palace, locked with the highest authority, where a patient lay, unknown when they might awaken.
…..
April, with grass growing and orioles flying.
Deep within the White Jade Palace, a figure in a red dress ran along a small path, her skirt sweeping away dewdrops.
“Kaios, you bastard, why won’t you return to the throne!”
Lin Ge broke down, blocking Ryann. “This year! This year you must roll back and become emperor! This old lady is done, I’m telling you I’m done!”
Ryann remained expressionless. “My old injuries aren’t healed. I don’t have the strength.”
“Bullsh*t, you’ve long since recovered, haven’t you!?”
Lin Ge was stunned by his ability to lie through his teeth, “At the end of the day, what kind of injury did you, you little monster, even suffer? You consumed all the energy of the entire Crystal Nest mother nucleus! I was scared to death at the time!”
Flower shadows swayed, and footsteps approached. Sylph carried a steaming small basket, saying helplessly, “Why are you two arguing so early again? Are you going to eat breakfast?”
Lin Ge immediately let go of Ryann, her eyes sparkling as she pounced, “Sylph, did you bake cookies?”
Sylph: “They’re a bit burnt. You two should eat the ones made by the robot, I’ll just taste…”
Before she could finish, the basket was taken away by Ryann.
His Majesty Kaios lifted the damp cloth on top, picked up a cookie to examine it, and indeed saw a slightly burnt edge.
He then nodded and smoothly stuffed it into Lin Ge’s mouth.
Lin Ge: “Mmm… mmm, Kaios, you bastard——!!”
Behind the three figures, golden rose bushes flourished. Among the lush branches and leaves, a small tombstone was hidden, inscribed with:
[Dearest Dog, Smartest Intelligence]
[Seth Henry’s Grave]
Behind that was a concealed room.
Behind the glass window hung curtains, vaguely revealing a large, soft bed with a pale patient lying upon it.
A few minutes later, the room’s door opened.
Kaios, who had just been outside, entered, first hanging his dew-dampened outer garment to one side, then removing his shoes by the bed.
Ryann carefully climbed onto the bed, embracing the sleeping beauty who lay in eternal slumber, gently rubbing his face against them twice before holding them close.
The two women outside were still laughing and playing.
As the sound came through, the patient’s eyelashes seemed to flutter slightly.
Or perhaps not.
At the palace’s end was the sky, with the morning wind gradually dispersing the night. Dawn’s radiance wavered, falling upon the golden rose in the glass vase by the bedside.
Outside the window, the Glorious Cathedral’s bell rang out, and a flock of white doves took flight in the central square.
~Fin~
