384: When the world is in peril, we will stand as a shield.

A catastrophe.

It has arrived.

On that massive holographic star map, the dense cluster of red light points formed a cold and absolute web of death.

They were no longer distant specks of light, but were approaching instantly at a speed that defied the rules of physics.

[Anomaly Elimination Alliance · Third Purification Fleet]

That line of Common Tongue, composed of Rule Runes, was like a red-hot iron branded into the hearts of everyone in the Command Hall.

"It's over..."

Fatty Zhang's legs went weak, and he slumped completely onto the ground. His chubby face was filled with pure despair, unable to squeeze out even a hint of color.

"The fleet... it's really the Purification Fleet... He... that Elder really came..."

He spoke incoherently, repeating obvious facts because his brain could no longer process this crisis that exceeded his scope of understanding.

What they were facing was not an enemy.

It was a natural disaster.

It was divine punishment.

Zhao Linger supported Lin Fan's body. Her tears, which had just stopped because Li Hanyue woke up, burst forth again. But she didn't cry out loud; she simply bit her lip hard, refusing to let any sound representing weakness escape.

She looked at Lin Fan, who was unconscious and resting on Li Hanyue's lap.

She then looked at the star map representing destruction.

At the end of despair is numbness.

It's over.

Everything is over.

Lin Fan had risked everything to bring back Hanyue, but he had also exhausted himself entirely.

And now, the true enemy, carrying enough wrath to level the entire epoch, was at the gates.

Their strongest guardian had fallen.

Who would protect them?

In this frozen silence filled with despair,

A crisp, light sound of metal returning to its scabbard rang out abruptly.

Li Hanyue slid the sword that never left her side back into the scabbard at her waist.

Her movements were light and steady.

She lowered her head and used her fingers to gently brush aside the messy hair on Lin Fan's forehead.

Then, she raised her head.

On that cold face, which had just been soaked in tears and still bore red marks, all sadness and all weakness had faded away.

In its place was a resolve that Zhao Linger and Fatty Zhang had never seen before—a will sharper and more decisive than the sword in her hand.

"Fatty."

She spoke, her voice cold but carrying an unquestionable power.

Fatty Zhang shuddered and instinctively responded, "Ah? Here!"

"How many combat personnel does the Kindling organization currently have?"

Li Hanyue's question was simple and direct, completely skipping the useless step of asking 'what should we do.'

Fatty Zhang was stunned; he hadn't expected Li Hanyue to ask this at a time like this. He answered instinctively, "Those... those who can fight, including us and those rescued from various epochs... probably less than three hundred..."

Three hundred people.

To face a Purification Fleet capable of dimensional strikes.

This number was so ridiculous it made one want to cry.

"Send out the notice." Li Hanyue ignored the desperate meaning behind the number and continued to issue orders. "All combat personnel, assemble in the Command Hall within ten minutes."

"Non-combat personnel, evacuate immediately through the emergency tunnels to the deepest part of the Mining Area."

Her instructions were clear and decisive, without a hint of hesitation.

Fatty Zhang opened his mouth, wanting to ask 'what's the use of assembling' or say 'we can't stop them,' but when he met Li Hanyue's eyes, which were burning with fire, he swallowed all his nonsense.

For some reason, looking at the current Li Hanyue, his heart, which had been filled with fear, miraculously found a pillar of support.

"Okay! I'll go right now!"

He scrambled up from the ground and rushed toward the nearby communication console.

"Linger." Li Hanyue looked at Zhao Linger again.

"I'm here!" Zhao Linger replied immediately, wiping away her tears and forcing herself to calm down.

"Take care of him."

Li Hanyue carefully lifted Lin Fan's head from her lap and placed it into Zhao Linger's arms.

"Take him to the safest place and use all your Medicinal Pills to maintain his vital signs."

"No matter what happens outside, do not come out."

Zhao Linger took Lin Fan and nodded heavily. "I know! Hanyue, you..."

"I'm fine."

Li Hanyue stood up and walked to the center of the Command Hall.

She looked at the massive star map, where the giant web representing destruction was tightening bit by bit.

She could feel a cold will, carrying the rules of 'purification,' beginning to penetrate the outer space of the Tomb of the Epoch.

Buzz—

The entire base shook violently without warning.

Cracks appeared out of thin air on the walls.

Through the cracks, one could see that the Chaos Void outside was undergoing a bizarre transformation.

Patches of space were 'disappearing.'

They weren't being blown apart or torn; they were being 'deleted' directly, like erroneous pixels selected on a computer screen.

Those indestructible defensive Formations left over from the previous epoch couldn't even produce a ripple upon contact with this 'deletion' rule before they vanished into nothingness.

"The... the outer defenses have collapsed! One hundred percent!" Fatty Zhang screamed in terror from the communication console.

"The second layer... the second layer has also disappeared!"

"Damn it! What kind of attack is that?! Our shields didn't even react!"

The Purification Fleet hadn't even opened fire.

They simply existed there, and the rule fluctuations they emitted were 'erasing' this 'filthy epoch' that shouldn't exist.

This was a Dimensional Reduction Strike.

It was the cleansing of Mortals by a god.

Panic spread like a plague through the crowd that had just managed to muster a sliver of fighting spirit.

"Quiet."

Li Hanyue's two cold words drowned out all the screams and noise.

She walked to the command console, the place where Lin Fan liked to stand the most.

Her hand pressed onto the cold surface.

At that moment, everyone's gaze focused on her back.

That slender yet incredibly upright back.

It was as if as long as she remained standing, the sky would not fall.

"I don't care who has come."

Li Hanyue's gaze swept across the Xin Huo Members in the hall, whose faces were pale with fear.

"I only know that behind us, is him."

Her hand pointed toward the unconscious man held in Zhao Linger's arms.

"It was he who pulled us, one by one, out of our respective Hells of despair."

"It was he who gave us a home called 'Kindling'."

"Now, he has fallen."

Every word Li Hanyue spoke struck heavily against everyone's hearts.

"Those things outside want to come in, crush him, and wipe away every trace of his existence."

Her voice suddenly rose, filled with a chilling killing intent.

"Do you agree to that?!"

"No!"

A one-armed burly man who had been rescued from a dying world was the first to roar, his eyes rimmed with red.

"We don't agree!"

"Fight those bastards to the end!"

"Protect Lord Lin Fan!"

"We are the shield! Fight to the death without retreat!"

The fury that had been suppressed to the extreme by fear was completely ignited at this moment.

Three hundred people, three hundred hearts that had died once before, began to burn again at this moment.

Looking at the crowd whose Battle Intent had been rekindled, Li Hanyue felt no sense of relief.

She knew better than anyone that bloodlust alone was meaningless.

The base's outer defenses were like paper before the enemy's rule-based weapons.

It wouldn't be long before the enemy descended directly into the base.

When that happened, it would be a one-sided slaughter.

Conventional combat was a dead end.

They had to... use their own way.

Countless thoughts flashed through Li Hanyue's mind, finally settling on a structural map of the base.

That area, formed by countless predecessors hollowing out the remains of an entire plane, was as complex as an ant's nest... the Mining Area.

A crazy idea took shape in her mind.

She took a deep breath and connected to the all-channel communication.

"Everyone, hear my command."

"Abandon the Command Hall. Abandon all surface positions."

Her first command left everyone stunned.

Fatty Zhang asked urgently, "Sister Hanyue! Then where do we go?"

Li Hanyue looked at the terrifying fleet on the star map, which had already broken through to the vicinity and begun 'pixelating' the base's main body, and issued an instruction that was inconceivable to everyone.

"Everyone, take your most primitive blades and swords."

"Retreat into the Mining Area and prepare for urban warfare."