176: Hell is empty

Huang Yu’s will, like cold and viscous cosmic dark matter, permeated every inch of the Federation’s space.

His vast, star-river-level perception, like the cruelest predator at the top of the food chain, mockingly savored the fear, grief, and—

The unyielding fire of hatred emanating from the depths of Yun Qinglan’s imprisoned soul!

"Hate? Unwillingness?" Huang Yu’s thought, like a needle, once again precisely pierced Yun Qinglan's forcibly molded facade of "docility," playfully provoking the deep-seated hatred in her bones and soul:

"Are you cursing this Venerable One with your soul? Alas, your curse cannot even stir a corner of this Venerable One's clothes."

His "gaze" swept over the massive "Prison Star" below, formed by countless ice sculptures of Chen family women.

Then it passed over the Federation's high-ranking officials on Kunlun Star, who were pinned in place, their eyes bulging with fury.

Finally, it landed on the Federation's virtual universe network, which had just experienced plunder and was in immense grief and panic… There, the Federation citizens, numbering 1.6 quintillion, were recovering from their initial shock.

Endless anger, fear, and pleas transformed into a torrent of information, surging madly through the virtual world.

"Beast! Let go of Princess Qinglan! Let go of our people!"

"Ancestor Chen! Ancestor Chen, where are you?! We beg you to act and slay this fiend!"

"Glorious Sky Divine Kingdom! May you all die a terrible death! The cosmos will not tolerate you demons!"

"Long live the Federation! Long live Ancestor Chen! Why hasn't our guardian appeared yet?!"

"Wuwuwu… Mama… So many… pretty older sisters and aunts have been taken… They’ve all been taken… Grandpa Ancestor Chen, please save them…"

...Prayers, curses, cries, desperate shouts... The fluctuations of countless souls converged into an ocean of grief and indignation!

These voices, so faint, like the chirping of ants, yet so clearly reflected in Huang Yu’s perception, and especially—

Reflected in Yun Qinglan’s forcibly imprisoned soul, which could still "hear" the lamentations of her people.

He clearly captured that whenever a voice cursed him, whenever a call for "Ancestor Chen" came, the unyielding flame deep within Yun Qinglan's forcibly defined soul would faintly flicker. Was it concern?

"Interesting." A trace of pure, cruel amusement flickered in Huang Yu's will:

"So this is what you care about? These 'bugs' who can't even leave a planet, whose lives are as fleeting as mayflies?"

He had no interest in this originally.

A Star River-level state of mind already regarded star arms as dust, star systems as sparks, and the Star River as the ultimate pursuit.

These beings, not even planetary or stellar level, were no different from cosmic background radiation in his eyes, billions of times weaker than single-celled microorganisms, not even qualified for a second glance.

However, Yun Qinglan cared!

This fierce, unyielding Innate Radiant Body, her weakness, turned out to be these insignificant people she desperately wanted to protect?

"Since you care..." In Huang Yu’s mind, the amusement turned into a cold, game-like mentality that determined the fate of billions of lives:

"Then, destroying them will surely be a... very pleasing matter."

"Especially, right before your eyes."

The Azure Nether Star System, a common star system within the Federation's territory.

Approximately sixteen quintillion Federation citizens lived here, with cities floating on planets, and countless space cities, artificial planets, and more. People had just experienced the terrifying pressure and grief that swept across the entire Federation.

At this moment, the shaken populace gathered in the virtual universe and on real streets, angrily denouncing the invaders and calling out to their supreme guardian—Ancestor Chen!

Suddenly—

Without any warning.

In the center of the star system, the Azure Nether Star, which had burned for billions of years, suddenly... extinguished, as if squeezed by an invisible giant hand!

No, it wasn't extinguished!

It, along with its surrounding planets, and everything in the star system—artificial stars, space cities, cities, mountains, oceans, life, energy, matter, and even space itself—

Was instantly and completely... erased from the level of "existence" by an incomprehensible force!

There was no explosion, no light, no debris, no energy dissipation.

It was as if someone had used a giant eraser to gently wipe away a tiny, insignificant ink stain on the canvas of the universe.

An entire star system, sixteen quintillion citizens, along with their spatial coordinates, completely vanished!

Only an absolute void, where even starlight was swallowed, remained, an irregular hole several light-years in diameter, abruptly appearing on the star map... Outside Kunlun Star, Yun Qinglan, forcibly held in a posture of humiliation, had her "vision" forcibly linked by Huang Yu's will to the star system that had just turned into nothingness.

She "saw" the instant erasure.

She "perceived" the sixteen quintillion life signatures, like dust scattered by the wind, completely returning to silence without even a ripple.

Those voices calling "Ancestor Chen" in the virtual network, those aspirations for the future, those concerns for loved ones... everything, in a billionth of a second, turned into absolute "nothingness."

"No—!!!"

A silent scream, so shrill it surpassed the limits of a soul's endurance, exploded in her imprisoned sea of consciousness!

Her forcibly molded "docile" expression instantly twisted; though forcibly fixed by laws, deep within her eyes was an indescribable pain and despair, like the collapse of a galaxy!

She could feel the will of destruction, directly originating from the powerless being behind her—Huang Yu!

He did it on purpose!

He was doing it for her to see!

Because he knew she cared?!

Huang Yu’s will, like a child with an unspent playfulness, began to casually and methodically "erase" the star map.

Purple Flame Star System, erased!

Nine quintillion citizens vanished!

Quicksand Star System, erased!

Fourteen quintillion citizens, along with their proud desert ecosystem, disappeared!

Lyra Star System, erased!

Twenty-one quintillion citizens, and their music culture passed down for tens of thousands of years, returned to silence!

...With each erasure, Huang Yu would precisely and magnifiedly "transmit" the scene of destruction and the aftershocks of silence to Yun Qinglan.

She was forced to "watch" how each star system burst like a bubble!

She was forced to "listen" to the "silence" of billions of beings who were utterly annihilated in their final moments, without even having time to feel fear!

She was forced to "feel" those faint life signatures disappearing in swathes, utterly worthless!

In the Federation's virtual universe, surviving citizens watched through the deep-space monitoring network as star system coordinates suddenly vanished from the star map.

Panic, like a deadly virus, spread at an unprecedented rate... "All signals from the Azure Nether Star System have disappeared! The star map shows... it has become a void!"

"Purple Flame, Quicksand, Lyra... Ten! A full ten star systems! Gone! All gone!"

"It's that demon! He's still here! He's still slaughtering!"

"Ancestor Chen! Do you hear our calls?! Save us!"

"Why?! Why hasn't our guardian appeared yet?! Could it be that even Ancestor Chen has already...?"

"No! Impossible! Ancestor Chen is invincible! He is our guardian! He must be held up by some accident!"

"Quickly pray to Ancestor Chen! Concentrate our faith!"

"Long live Ancestor Chen! Slay the Star Sea Demon!"

...The calls for "Ancestor Chen," far from weakening due to the slaughter, became more concentrated and desperate in the midst of extreme fear and despair!

It was as if he was the only, last straw they could cling to!!!

And these calls, like the sweetest poison, were savored by Huang Yu, transforming into even crueler torment for Yun Qinglan.

"Do you hear? They are calling their 'Ancestor Chen.'" Huang Yu's thought, laced with mockery, whispered in Yun Qinglan's soul, "It seems you've taken this ethereal 'Ancestor Chen' as your last hope? How... pathetic and ridiculous."

"This Venerable One is very curious, what kind of marvelous expressions you will have when this hope is utterly crushed?"

When the five hundredth star system, a starfield named "Dawn," symbolizing hope and beginning, along with its nearly twenty quintillion citizens, was silently erased, nearly half of the star systems within the Federation's territory had turned into nothingness.

The number of deceased beings reached a terrifying astronomical figure—nearly fifty quintillion!

Excluding the sixty quintillion citizens concentrated in the Kunlun Star System, almost half of the citizens had completely disappeared!

In the virtual universe, the surviving citizens had fallen into a state of semi-madness.

The continuous, helpless extermination gradually eroded hope.

The calls for "Ancestor Chen" began to be tinged with sobs, with desperate questioning... "Five hundred... five hundred star systems... Ancestor Chen, where exactly are you?!"

"Have we been abandoned? Ancestor Chen, look! Look at your people being slaughtered!"

"No! I don't believe it! Ancestor Chen must have been delayed by something!"

"Hell is empty! The devils are among us! Ancestor Chen! You are the true god! Please descend with divine punishment!"

"Kill this demon! Ancestor Chen! Avenge us!"

...On the Pillar of Leaders Plaza, Chu Yueyao, Shi Yue, Li Qingshan, Mo Heng, and other initial Star-level powerhouses of the Federation were firmly suppressed by the invisible Star River-level pressure.

They listened to the desperate cries of countless compatriots in the virtual network, watching the dwindling points of light on the star map, their hearts pierced repeatedly by billions of steel needles!

They knew the truth!

They knew that Ancestor Chen, on whom countless people placed their hopes, was just a mortal!

He was also... powerless!

This feeling of knowing the truth yet being unable to speak, only watching their compatriots die while calling for an impossible savior... was even crueler than death itself!!!

Blood constantly oozed from Chu Yueyao’s lips, the cost of biting her silver teeth; her eyes were filled with endless sorrow... Shi Yue’s massive body trembled violently, his fists clenched, fingernails digging deep into his palms, yet he couldn’t muster even a shred of strength... The mournful cry of the longsword in Li Qingshan’s arms had grown faint, as if even the sword spirit was weeping... Mo Heng’s glasses were long shattered, his wise eyes now bloodshot, the frantically calculated data streams all pointing to the same result—absolute despair!!!

Luo Mie collapsed on the edge of the deep pit, watching his wife Chen Yuanmeng flash before his eyes again, hearing his son Luo Xing’s animalistic whimpers in the distance, and feeling the annihilation of familiar star systems... The faith of this iron-blooded general was collapsing... Chen Zhaojing lay at the bottom of the deep pit, barely breathing. His hundred wives had been abducted, countless citizens were being slaughtered, and he didn't even have the strength to stand up! Endless humiliation and powerlessness almost devoured his soul... The deviation in the understanding of Ancestor Chen created the cruelest situation at this moment!

Countless Federation citizens were calling upon Ancestor Chen, whom they believed to be omniscient, omnipotent, and the protector of all beings, praying for him to descend with divine punishment and slay the demon.

Yet, the Federation's highest echelons, and Chen Jun’s closest wives and daughters, soberly knew that the deified "Ancestor Chen" was merely a mortal, incapable of cultivation, whose life essence was so fragile it was but a mere wisp!

The greater the hope, the deeper the despair!!!

Just as the aftershocks of the five hundredth star system's annihilation had not fully subsided, Huang Yu's will underwent another change.

The pure, indiscriminate slaughter, carried out solely to torment Yun Qinglan, seemed to have left him feeling a touch of... boredom?

Destruction came too easily, like crushing a nest of ants; it might bring initial pleasure, but after repeating it five hundred times, it inevitably grew tiresome.

His "gaze" once again fell upon the imprisoned Yun Qinglan.

He felt the fire of hatred in her soul, intensified by five hundred tragedies of annihilation!

He was filled with a sense of accomplishment, and an even more malicious, more targeted "game" plan took shape in his mind... "These scattered star systems, destroying them, after all, lacks a certain... interconnected interest." His thought swept over Yun Qinglan, capturing the increasingly violent fluctuations of pain in her soul.

"Since you care so much about protecting them..." Huang Yu's will was filled with malicious creativity, "Then, the pain should slowly extend from the distant ends of the bloodline to the nearer ones."

"Wouldn't it be even more beautiful to let the weakest bloodline connections break first, to make you watch the ties of blood shatter layer by layer?"

He immediately locked onto his target—the Chen family, specifically the "Ze" generation, the youngest in seniority yet the largest in population!

These children, the youngest, many still innocent toddlers, were the future hope of the Chen family, the most tender and flourishing branches of the bloodline network.

Their number approached a trillion!

They were concentrated on Kunlun Star, a Stellar-level star, and various modified planets.

"Let's start with them." Huang Yu declared indifferently, "These males... are worthless. They'll serve as... the first batch of expendables for 'disciplining' you, my disobedient 'plaything.'"

He deliberately released his perception to Yun Qinglan again, allowing her to clearly "see" everything that was about to happen.

Yun Qinglan's soul let out a silent, utterly agonizing shriek!!!

The "Ze" generation!

Those innocent children!

What had they done wrong?!

They didn't even understand what hatred was, what war was!

Huang Yu's will, like a precise death ray, traversed space and instantly enveloped the ten billion "Ze" generation boys on Kunlun Star!

Without any warning!

These boys, who a second before the disaster were playing, learning, or cuddling in their parents' arms, along with the Chen family blood flowing within them, instantly transformed into the most basic cosmic particles, dissipating into nothingness... as if they had never existed in this world!

"No—!!!"

Yun Qinglan's soul struggled frantically, and the forcibly defined docile expression finally showed a crack; extreme pain made her imprisoned body begin to tremble slightly!

She could "see" the bewildered, helpless eyes of those children in their last moments before disappearing!

She could "hear" the instantaneous, heart-wrenching cries of their parents!

They were her bloodline descendants!

The saplings of the family!

The hope for the future!

Just like that... they were treated as "expendables"?!!!

"Do you feel it?" Huang Yu's thought, like an ice pick, harshly pierced her sea of consciousness, "This is the price of defying this Venerable One. Because of your insubordination, they are dying."

"Their blood is on your soul!"

"Next will be another ten billion! All because of you!"

Hell is empty—

The devils are among us!!!!!