116: Chapter 116 The Feast of Shadows

Deathly silence was the only prelude to this fake starry sky being torn to shreds.

One second, the atmosphere above the orbit of the Light Sphere Mother Star was still emitting a soft, warm glow; the next, it shattered like thin ice sliced by a red-hot blade. Countless fine particles of light didn't fall gently but disintegrated into ash with a shrill whistling sound, like the last layer of protection that had guarded this planet for eons—before a power that transcended all rules, it didn't even have the right to struggle.

Kate stood on the deck of the makeshift landing ship, the warm sensation from controlling the energy shield still lingering on her fingertips. But now, that warmth was draining from her limbs at a visible rate. She looked up, and the surface of the mother star—which should have been covered in fluorescent vegetation, flowing with rivers of liquid light, and standing with the Temple of Light left by the ancestors of the Light Sphere Race—had completely changed.

No life, no color, no trace of civilization.

As far as the eye could see was a boundless, thick, impenetrable darkness. The earth looked as if it had been gnawed clean by some terrifying existence, leaving only a rugged, charred rock shell emitting a chilling frost. Pale black mist constantly seeped from the crevices, turning into fine shadows the moment they touched the air, slowly prowling the ground like hungry scavengers.

The wind stopped.

The sounds vanished.

Even time seemed to have been put on pause.

Little Kate gripped the corner of Teacher Kate's clothes tightly, her small body trembling uncontrollably. She had just recovered from the thrill of the spaceship's breakthrough and hadn't yet had time to feel the sacredness and warmth of the legendary Light Sphere Mother Star before being struck heart and soul by this apocalyptic scene. She looked up at the pale-faced Teacher Kate, her voice carrying an undetectable tremor: "Teacher Kate... this isn't the mother star, is it? The records say the mother star is the brightest place in the universe, but here... it's so dark."

Teacher Kate didn't answer immediately.

Her gaze swept over the people beside her—AKai gripped the elegy anchor that had accompanied him for decades, his knuckles white from the force. In his usually calm and sharp eyes, unbelievable shock and anger were surging. The two accompanying Light Sphere Race elders had collapsed on the deck, clutching their chests and letting out suppressed whimpers. Their lifelong faith, their home, had turned into a silent purgatory; this blow was enough to destroy their mental pillars. On the other end of the communicator, Franklin, back at the Interstellar Academy, had been lightheartedly complaining about the mother star's outdated data encryption, but now he had fallen into a deathly silence, with only the faint crackle of static proving the connection hadn't been cut.

And Lin Fan stood just to the left and front of Teacher Kate.

His back was to the crowd, his posture as upright as a pine tree that would never bend, yet Teacher Kate could clearly see his right hand hanging at his side was trembling very slightly. It wasn't fear or surprise, but a kind of panic at having a secret exposed, a helplessness from a deep-seated secret being forcibly dragged into the light.

Teacher Kate's heart sank abruptly.

Starting from the Light Sphere Race student's self-combustion at the opening ceremony, to Lin Fan's repeated inexplicable silences, evasions, and even irrational decisions, the doubts in her heart had grown wildly like vines. She didn't want to believe that the man who had fought alongside her and protected her in countless crises could have some unspeakable secret. But now, looking at Lin Fan's tense back and this pitch-black land that completely contradicted the "Path of Redemption," all her self-deception collapsed in an instant.

Just then, a voice rang out in everyone's minds without warning.

It had no source or direction, as if coming from the end of the universe yet also born directly from the depths of everyone's soul. The voice was neither male nor female, neither cold nor hot, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, yet it carried a pressure capable of crushing all living things, like thousands of fine needles stabbing into the most fragile and hidden corners of everyone's brains.

"Welcome... to my feast."

Feast.

These words were light, yet they made everyone's hearts tighten suddenly.

An indescribable sense of discomfort instantly swept through the area.

Fear, unease, despair, suspicion, guilt, pain... all the negative emotions they had deliberately suppressed and didn't even dare touch were now like a flood bursting through a dam, surging, roaring, and rampaging wildly. Little Kate had only been trembling slightly, but now her face was deathly pale, her lips quivering, and her eyes filled with tears. The two Light Sphere Race elders curled up on the ground, clutching their heads and chanting the holy scriptures of the Light Sphere Race, but their voices were full of despair. AKai's grip on the elegy anchor grew tighter and tighter, the metal staff emitting an overburdened hum. Images from decades ago flashed uncontrollably before his eyes—his beloved sister jumping from a high building in front of him, her blood staining his hands and staining his entire life with guilt.

Lin Fan's body shook even more violently.

He could clearly feel the power of Shadow within him resonating strongly with the external darkness. Black and red energy ran wild through his meridians as if trying to break through his suppression and completely occupy his body. He gritted his teeth, fine beads of cold sweat appearing on his forehead, as he used all his strength to suppress the restless power, but he knew he couldn't hold on much longer.

"It's Shadow!"

AKai suddenly snapped back to his senses and roared, breaking the suffocating silence. He slammed the elegy anchor into the deck, and golden energy erupted from the staff, forming a weak protective barrier that temporarily blocked the external mental pressure. "He's been here all along! This isn't the place of redemption for the Light Sphere Mother Star; it's his domain! He's turned this place into a cage that imprisons emotions and devours life!"

"Emotion Devourers... I remember now, the ancient records of the Light Sphere Race mention such creatures!" one of the Light Sphere Race elders raised his head with difficulty, his voice hoarse. "They feed on the negative emotions of living beings. The more intense the pain and despair, the stronger their power! Once entangled by them, even the soul will be gnawed clean!"

Finally, Franklin's voice came through the communicator.

Unlike his usual lighthearted and talkative tone, Franklin's voice now carried an unprecedented gravity and urgency, even mixed with a rare sense of panic for an AI: "Kate! Kate, can you hear me? I just cracked the residual data on the outskirts of the Light Sphere Mother Star; it contains complete records about Shadow! You were right, those black shadows are Emotion Devourers. They aren't naturally born but are weapons condensed by Shadow using the negative emotions of countless beings!"

"Also! I've detected that the core temperature of this planet is dropping rapidly. The energy fluctuations belong entirely to the darkness attribute, not the light energy of the Light Sphere Race at all! This place... something is very wrong here!"

Before Franklin could finish, a sudden change occurred.

The pitch-black earth beneath their feet suddenly began to tremble violently.

"Rumble—"

A dull, massive sound came from deep underground, like a giant beast that had slept for eons slowly waking up. Then, countless crisscrossing cracks appeared on the ground, growing wider and deeper until they turned into bottomless abysses.

Thick, distorted, foul-smelling black shadows crawled out from the cracks in a continuous stream.

Those were the Emotion Devourers.

They had no fixed form, sometimes turning into flowing black mist, sometimes into hideous giant beasts, and sometimes condensing into blurred faces. And as those faces gradually became clear, everyone present gasped.

Those faces were people they knew.

There were Light Sphere Race members who had died in previous attacks, their faces still etched with pain and despair; there were students who had been missing from the Interstellar Academy for a long time, their eyes hollow and lifeless; there were even comrades who had fought alongside Lin Fan and Teacher Kate, partners who had sacrificed themselves in battles against interstellar pirates or to guard planets, now appearing as Emotion Devourers, staring at them with cold, hollow eyes.

"Is that... Mia?" Teacher Kate covered her mouth, tears falling uncontrollably. Mia was her best friend and comrade. In a battle three years ago, to cover the students' evacuation, she had detonated her own light sphere energy to perish along with the enemy. But now, Mia's face was on the head of an Emotion Devourer, slowly approaching her.

"My students... my students!" Little Kate cried even harder, pointing at several Emotion Devourers nearby. Those were children she had taught and cared for—the Light Sphere Race student who had self-combusted at the opening ceremony, the little ones who had been sleepwalking collectively at night—all of them had now become Shadow's weapons.

Fear, like a cold venomous snake, tightly coiled around everyone's hearts.

Shadow's laughter rang out in their minds again.

This time, it was no longer emotionless and flat, but filled with mockery and pleasure, like a hunter watching his prey fall into a trap, enjoying the process of their desperate struggle.

"That's right, these are all children you raised yourselves."

"Your fear is their nourishment; your pain is their food; your guilt and despair make them grow stronger and stronger."

"Look at this planet beneath your feet, look at the mother star you've believed in all your lives. It died long ago, died at my hands. And today, you will also become the most delicious dish in this feast."

As the words fell.

Countless Emotion Devourers let out sharp, ear-piercing shrieks.

The sound didn't seem like the cry of a creature, but more like the wails of countless souls before death interwoven together, making one's scalp tingle and heart shatter. The next second, the dense crowd of Emotion Devourers pounced toward the landing ship like a tide.

Their speed was extreme!

Their power was terrifying!

The air was torn by their bodies, making a shrill whistling sound. Wherever the pitch-black mist passed, the metal deck of the landing ship was instantly corroded with holes, and even space itself rippled as if it would collapse at any moment.

"Defend! Defend quickly!"

AKai roared, injecting all his energy into the elegy anchor. Golden light surged, and a massive protective barrier enveloped the entire landing ship. The Emotion Devourers crashed into the barrier with a sizzle of corrosion, the black mist constantly dissolving, but more devourers followed one after another, and the light on the barrier dimmed at a visible rate.

"We can't hold out like this! There are too many of them!" A Light Sphere Race elder exhausted his light energy, and a corner of the protective barrier instantly collapsed. Several Emotion Devourers took the opportunity to rush in, pouncing toward the elder.

"Get back!"

Teacher Kate's figure flashed, instantly appearing in front of the elder.

She raised her right hand, and pure, flawless light energy—representing the highest power of the Light Sphere Race—condensed into a dazzling light sphere in her palm. The light was warm and sacred, forming a sharp contrast with the surrounding darkness. This was the Guardian power of the Light Sphere Race, the power to purify all darkness, the power she had cultivated since childhood to protect students and partners.

"Light Purification!"

Teacher Kate gave a low shout and thrust the light sphere in her palm forward.

Blazing white light erupted instantly, like a sun falling into the mortal world.

The first few Emotion Devourers to touch the light let out shrill screams, their bodies dissolving at a visible rate, eventually turning into a wisp of black smoke and completely disappearing into the air. The light continued to spread forward, and wherever it passed, the Emotion Devourers scattered, temporarily repelling the first wave of attack.

But this was only the beginning.

How could there be only thousands of Emotion Devourers controlled by Shadow?

As soon as the first wave was repelled, the second and third waves followed immediately, as if they could never be killed or blocked. They didn't fear death or pain; they had only one thought in their minds—to devour all living beings before them, gnaw at their emotions, and tear their souls apart.

"Kate, don't face it head-on!"

Lin Fan finally turned around, shouting at Teacher Kate.

His face was frighteningly pale, cold sweat sliding down his cheeks, and his eyes were bloodshot. He saw Teacher Kate constantly releasing light energy, saw her face growing paler, and saw her body trembling slightly due to excessive energy consumption. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand, aching so much he couldn't breathe.

He couldn't let anything happen to Teacher Kate.

Absolutely not.

Lin Fan took a deep breath and stopped suppressing the black and red energy within him.

Instantly, a violent, cold, and destructive power erupted from his body. Black and red mist coiled around him, his eyes turned a deep ink color, and the air around him distorted from the force. This was the power of Shadow, the dark power he had secretly accepted to protect Teacher Kate, the secret he had always hidden in his heart and didn't dare let anyone know.

"Lin Fan! You..."

AKai saw this scene, his pupils shrinking in shock.

He could clearly feel that the power on Lin Fan's body came from the same source as Shadow and the Emotion Devourers!

Teacher Kate was also stunned.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

She watched the black and red mist churning on Lin Fan's body, looked into those ink-colored eyes that were no longer familiar, and the doubts in her heart instantly turned into cold reality.

So, it was really like this. So all his silence, all his evasion, all his inexplicable behavior, were because he had long been bound to the power of Shadow.

Heartache, anger, confusion, grievance... countless emotions intertwined, leaving Kate's mind blank.

But she had no time to think more.

Because at the very moment she was distracted, a giant Emotion Devourer, far larger than its kind and standing dozens of meters tall, suddenly lunged out from deep underground!

It did not emit any roar, but its speed was extreme; it instantly broke through AKai's protective barrier, broke through Kate's light defense line, opened a massive mouth capable of swallowing an entire landing craft, and with malice that devoured everything, it lunged straight at Kate!

Inside that massive mouth was endless darkness, the wails of countless living beings, and a power capable of crushing any soul.

Kate could even feel that cold breath of death already pressing against her forehead.

Her energy had just been exhausted; she had no time to condense a new shield, no time to dodge.

Death was close at hand.

"Kate!" A heart-wrenching roar tore through the silence of the battlefield. It was Lin Fan.

In this split second, Lin Fan instinctively abandoned the attack on the Emotion Devourer beside him, his form turning into a black and red afterimage, rushing in front of Kate at a speed beyond his limits.

Without any hesitation. Without any thought.

He used his own back to forcibly block in front of Kate, standing beneath the massive mouth of the giant Emotion Devourer.

"Puchi—" A sound, piercingly clear and hair-raising, rang out on the battlefield.

The giant Emotion Devourer's pitch-black, sharp, and corrosive tentacle pierced fiercely through Lin Fan's chest.

The pitch-black tentacle pierced through his chest, covered in bright red blood, with wisps of black and red mist the same color as the tentacle slowly moving within the blood.

Lin Fan's body froze instantly.

The giant Emotion Devourer let out a satisfied roar, as if it had tasted the most delicious food, and abruptly withdrew its tentacle.

"Bang—" Lin Fan's body, like a kite with a broken string, crashed heavily onto the pitch-black rocky ground.

Blood gushed from his chest, staining the scorched black earth beneath him red. The red and white blood bloomed like a shocking flower on the black ground.

The entire scene fell into instant silence. All the Emotion Devourers stopped attacking, all sounds vanished, and even the air seemed to have solidified.

Little Kate covered her mouth, not daring to make a sound, tears falling like beads with broken strings.

AKai's hand, holding the elegy anchor, dropped powerlessly.

The two Light Sphere Race elders looked ashen.

Franklin, on the communicator, had completely gone silent.

And Kate stood on the spot, motionless.

She watched Lin Fan lying on the ground, his chest bleeding continuously, her mind blank, the whole world turning black and white. Time seemed to be stretched infinitely; every second felt as long as a century. She could hear her heart pounding, the sound of blood rushing through her veins, and Lin Fan's weak breathing, but she could not hear her own breath.

Once again, he had protected her behind him. With his life.

Just then, a tall, slender figure slowly walked out from the endless darkness. It was Shadow.

He wore a pitch-black robe, his face hidden in shadows, making it impossible to see his specific features, yet his entire being radiated an indifference and pressure that transcended all things. He walked step by step to Lin Fan, his footsteps light, as if walking in his own garden rather than a battlefield strewn with corpses.

He lowered his head, looking at the dying Lin Fan lying on the ground. Looking at this man who was connected to him by blood and soul.

Then, he slowly raised his foot. And stepped fiercely onto Lin Fan's chest.

"Crack—" A clear sound of bones breaking was extremely ear-piercing.

Lin Fan groaned, and another mouthful of blood sprayed out, splattering onto Shadow's black robe, blooming like little red plum blossoms.

His fingers dug desperately into the scorched black rock beneath him, his nails breaking, blood streaming, the black and red energy inside his body rampaging wildly, yet he didn't even have the strength to lift his hand or struggle.

Shadow's foot pressed down harder and harder. As if he wanted to completely crush his chest.

"Lin Fan." Shadow spoke, his voice full of mockery, sarcasm, and a trace of imperceptible cold killing intent.

"You really disappoint me."

"You possess the power I bestowed upon you, possess the dark energy capable of crushing all living beings, yet you used this power to protect a woman."

"You can't even protect yourself, can't even keep your own life, so how can you protect her?"

"You are just trash, trash who only knows how to hide behind a woman, blinded by emotions."

Every word was like a sharp knife, stabbing fiercely into Lin Fan's heart. And into Kate's heart as well.

Kate finally came back to her senses. Anger, extreme anger, like a volcano, erupted completely from the bottom of her heart.

She looked at Shadow's foot on Lin Fan's chest, looked at Lin Fan's painfully twisted face, looked at the blood constantly gushing out, and all the doubts, all the grievances, and all the silence turned into world-destroying power at this moment.

She was a Guardian of the Light Sphere Race. She was a teacher at the Interstellar Academy. She was Kate, who would never watch her partner, the person she cared about, be trampled upon wantonly!

"Let him go!" A roar that shook heaven and earth erupted from Kate's throat.

It was no longer the gentle power of protection, no longer the restrained energy of light. This time, it was the eruption of Kate exhausting all her strength, carrying extreme anger and despair.

Boundless pure white light erupted frantically from her body, like a star that had been sleeping for hundreds of millions of years being completely ignited; the light was so dazzling that one could not look directly at it, and the temperature was high enough to melt all darkness.

With Kate as the center, the light spread wildly in all directions; wherever it passed, the Emotion Devourers instantly melted, even space was scorched into ripples, and the dark domain set up by Shadow retreated steadily before this light.

Shadow was forced to retreat repeatedly by this sudden strong light, and the force under his feet loosened unconsciously.

He raised his head, looking at Kate in the center of the light, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes hidden beneath the shadows.

"A bit interesting."

"I didn't expect that a descendant of the Light Sphere Race could burst out such pure light power."

"Unfortunately, in the face of absolute darkness, this bit of light is nothing but the glow of a firefly."

Shadow waved his hand, and the endless darkness closed in again, pushing the light back to a certain range. He did not step forward again but stood on the edge of the darkness, looking at Kate with great interest, as if watching a dying, struggling prey.

The battlefield finally returned to a brief silence. Only heavy breathing and Lin Fan's weak coughing remained.

Kate rushed to Lin Fan's side like a madwoman, her knees hitting the cold, scorched black ground heavily, feeling no pain at all. She carefully reached out, gently pulling Lin Fan into her arms, her movements as tender as if she were protecting a rare treasure.

"Lin Fan... Lin Fan, please don't let anything happen to you..."

"I beg you, please be okay..."

"I'll take you back, we'll go back to the Interstellar Academy, I will definitely cure you..."

Kate's voice trembled uncontrollably, tears falling without restraint, dripping onto Lin Fan's face, onto the wound on his chest. She reached out with trembling hands, wanting to cover the wound on his chest, wanting to stop the blood that was constantly gushing out.

The warm, bright red blood stained her hands. But the next second, Kate's movements froze abruptly.

Her fingertips touched a trace of something cold, viscous, and completely different from the bright red blood. She looked down. Her pupils shrank instantly.

Deep within the terrifying wound on Lin Fan's chest, wisps of pitch-black blood were slowly seeping out, carrying cold malice, from the same source as Shadow and the Emotion Devourers.

That was not ordinary trauma bleeding. That was the proof of Shadow's power rampaging, spreading, and taking root inside his body. That was the most direct, irrefutable evidence that he had secretly accepted the power of Shadow.

Kate's heart felt as if it had been crushed by an invisible hand, painful to the point of being unable to breathe. She finally understood.

She understood why Lin Fan had been silent after the opening ceremony. She understood why he brought back Shadow's condition of "hand over Kate in exchange for the Academy's safety." She understood why he always emitted an elusive, cold aura. She understood why he always deliberately avoided her gaze.

He had not betrayed them. He had not defected. It was that he had long been bound to the power of Shadow. In his body flowed the blood of Shadow. His life was inextricably linked to Shadow.

Kate held Lin Fan, her body trembling uncontrollably. She raised her head, looking at Lin Fan's pale face, looking into his ink-colored eyes that were dodging her gaze, her voice hoarse, filled with extreme pain and confusion: "Why... Lin Fan, why?"

"Why did you do this?"

"Why didn't you tell me? Why carry it alone?"

"Aren't we partners? Didn't we agree to face all difficulties together? Why did you lie to me? Why did you keep it from me?"

A series of questions spilled from Kate's mouth, every word carrying heart-wrenching pain.

Lin Fan avoided her gaze, not daring to look at her. His lips barely pulled into a pale, weak, yet doting smile.

"I... am fine..."

"Don't worry... I am really... fine..."

Fine? With Shadow's black blood flowing in his wound, and his life slipping away bit by bit, this was called fine?

The chill in her heart completely submerged Kate. Looking at the man before her, this partner she had trusted for countless years, relied on for countless years, she suddenly felt he was incredibly strange.

Just then, Franklin's voice sounded urgently again from the communicator, breaking this suffocating standoff.

This time, Franklin's voice was full of terror and despair, as if he had discovered a secret capable of destroying everything.

"Kate! Kate! I... I have completely cracked the core data of the Light Sphere Mother Star!"

"I know! I know everything!"

"This is not a land of redemption at all, not the holy land of the Light Sphere Race's mother star! This planet, from beginning to end, from its birth to now, has been an incubator for Shadow!"

"Shadow used hundreds of millions of years to transform this planet into a nest for gathering negative emotions and breeding Emotion Devourers! The ancestors of the Light Sphere Race did not create civilization here; they discovered Shadow's secret here and were eventually all devoured by Shadow!"

"We were wrong from the start! The so-called ‘Path of Redemption is on the mother star’ is simply a trap set by Shadow! He wanted to lure us here, into his incubator, treat us as nutrients, as food, to complete his feast!"

Incubator. Trap. Feast. These three words, like three thunderclaps, slammed fiercely into everyone's hearts.

They had traveled over mountains and through water, risking the danger of their spaceship crashing, breaking through the interception of the emotion black hole, rushing to the so-called mother star, searching for the so-called Path of Redemption. But in the end, they had only jumped from one cage into another deeper, more terrifying trap with no hope of escape.

They were not here to find redemption. They were here to die. They were here to become the most delicious food in Shadow's feast.

Shadow watched the two of them holding each other, yet like strangers, and watched everyone's desperate, broken appearance, the corners of his mouth hidden under the shadows slowly curling into a curve of extreme pleasure.

He spread his arms wide, as if welcoming a grand celebration.

"That’s right, this is my feast."

"Your pain, your despair, your crumbling trust, your life-and-death partings, are all the most exciting parts of this feast."

"The game has only just begun."

"Next, enjoy yourselves."

The pitch-black wind blew across the dead, silent land again. The roars of the Emotion Devourers sounded again.

Lin Fan lay in Kate's arms, the black blood from his wound flowing more and more, his consciousness gradually fading.

Kate held him, looking up at the endless darkness, the tears in her eyes long since dried, leaving only extreme coldness and determination.

She didn't know what the future would look like. She didn't know how Shadow's feast would end. She didn't know if the trust between her and Lin Fan could still be salvaged. But she knew. She would not give up. She would not give up on Lin Fan. She would not give up on the students. She would not give up on this war, destined to be fought with their lives.

Under the pitch-black sky, the pure white light and the thick darkness stood in a distant standoff. Shadow's feast had only just begun. And their desperate situation had only just started.