Xu Yun Cheng stared at the eerily familiar scene and couldn't help but cry out, "That's impossible! Your black threads have to cover the entire planet and remain constantly connected for them to work! In Earth's current state, there's no way you've managed to extend them to every corner of the planet. And all this time, I've never noticed..."

Xiao Yi flicked the mud off his hands before replying leisurely, "I'm not the one controlling the black threads. As an alien without powers, I need a physical connection to control my limbs. But the one controlling the black threads is Huo Li!"

At this moment, Xu Yun Cheng felt as if this alien had completely lost its mind!

"You actually trust a human with psychic abilities to control your limbs?!" Ever since he had encountered the young man, Xu Yun Cheng's composed and authoritative image had utterly crumbled. "You're willing to give up control over your own body? Once you lose the connection to your limbs, Huo Li could even use those black threads to absorb organic matter, grow stronger, and mutate hundreds or even thousands of aliens!"

For a brief moment, an unreadable expression flashed across the black-haired youth's face, but it only lasted less than half a second before he returned to his usual calm and detached demeanor. Even Xu Yun Cheng, standing right in front of him, couldn't catch the meaning behind the fleeting change.

Before the young man could speak, the guardian spirit Huo Li, who floated behind him, couldn’t help but interrupt, "Xu Yun Cheng, give it a rest! Stop trying to sow discord. How could I possibly do something like that to Xiao Yi’s body? Besides, I can only control the fully mutated black threads. Sure, I can use them for things like surveillance or blocking your path, but that’s about it. That’s all my psychic power can achieve."

The black-haired youth felt inexplicably irritated upon hearing Huo Li’s explanation about the black threads again. He directly interrupted, saying, "Even the Main System, which has suffered from chronic paranoia, fully trusts Huo Li. Why should I second-guess everything? If there’s free Wi-Fi available, just use it! And as it turns out, it works pretty well. You fell for it again.”

Xu Yun Cheng, who was outwitted by a single black thread for the second time: "…"

From a distance, C2001 was calling Xu Yun Cheng to resume digging. As someone who could work even more efficiently than someone with earth-based abilities, Xu Yun Cheng could only wipe the rainwater off his face, steam rising from his body as he reluctantly returned to work.

.

Above Alliance Town, the fleet of starships continued their relentless bombardment.

After waiting for another ten hours, the protective barrier still had not been breached. Heinrich paced anxiously like an ant on a hot pan. As the commander-in-chief, there was nothing he could do but wait, making him feel more restless. In his frustration, he decided to interrogate David Philip once again—mostly to give himself the illusion of being busy.

Heinrich: "Is it true that the Philip family and the Main System have no financial dealings at all? If that's the case, how did your family become a galactic conglomerate renowned throughout the entire galaxy? Did you really achieve this just by relying on household robots with no special skills?"

David Philip slightly bowed and responded with unshaken composure, "My lord, the Philip family has thrived for over a millennium, making significant advancements in the entertainment, service, and medical industries. Moreover, our newly established chain of hospitals now spans over a thousand planets across the galaxy. Our latest nanorepair technology has achieved remarkable success in treating many diseases..."

Feeling overwhelmed by the torrent of information, Heinrich had to interrupt David Philip, who had clearly veered into promoting his family business. Yet no matter how Heinrich tried to steer the conversation with subtle hints, David always managed to circle back to his original topic, launching into an endless stream of advertisements for the Philip Corporation.

Just as Heinrich, infuriated and on the verge of losing his temper, was about to lash out, the accursed defense network of the Main System finally began to show signs of weakening once again!

This time, Heinrich couldn’t be bothered with the infuriating David. His eyes locked onto the flickering protective barrier, hands trembling with excitement. As a general who prided himself on his combat prowess, he finally had the chance to lead his fleet into a direct confrontation with the cunning, anti-human AI!

Under the concentrated barrage of tens of thousands of beams, the orange protective screen finally shattered with a resounding explosion!

And then, just five meters away, another small orange shield stubbornly lit up again......

For a moment, the starship's control room fell into stunned silence, followed immediately by an eruption of furious curses and the sound of objects being smashed.

.

On Earth, Xiao Yi’s trench-digging team finally got a brief break after 18 straight hours of labor. It was now 2 a.m., and the team temporarily disbanded. The workers were allowed to rest in the city for four hours before regrouping at 6 a.m. to begin another grueling day.

Xu Yun Cheng, who had been physically and mentally drained from over a month of nonstop labor and a failed rebellion, felt utterly exhausted. He returned to his residence in the dome, took a long, hot shower, and was just about to lie down for a short rest when the last person he wanted to see appeared at his apartment door.

Xu Yun Cheng: "Why are you haunting me like a ghost? Wasn’t mocking me during the day enough for you?"

The black-haired youth standing at the door smiled faintly and walked in unhurriedly. This time, the ever-present guardian spirit Huo Li was nowhere to be seen behind him.

“I’m not here to pick a fight,” the youth said, his expression turning serious. “I just wanted to remind you that the Parasites aren’t as harmless as you think. The promises they’ve made to you—like leaving 1% of human planets intact—are completely impossible to fulfill.”

For once, Xu Yun Cheng gave a mocking smile. "An alien speaking on behalf of humanity? Really? The Parasites are nothing like humans—they don’t have those ridiculous emotions like suspicion or jealousy. All they possess is pure rationality. If you’re trying to use human-style rhetoric to turn us against them, I suggest you save your breath!"

The black-haired youth frowned slightly. “It’s true that Parasites lack unnecessary emotions, but they have a strong survival instinct and intelligence that surpasses humans. These two traits alone guarantee that if they ever gain full control, they won’t tolerate the existence of human-blooded ability users in the universe.”

Xu Yun Cheng responded, “You’re well aware that the parasitic beasts operate on pure logic. They can’t replicate the abilities of ability users, and even if humans go extinct, our existence as ability users remains essential to them. They have no reason to oppose us. Meanwhile, the conflict between us, ability users and regular humans, has been ongoing for over a thousand years. Humanity’s nature ensures that this conflict will never be resolved.

Ordinary humans feel nothing but suspicion, fear, and exploitation toward ability users. As the one-in-ten-thousand among humans, we ability users will never gain the position or freedom we deserve.”

The black-haired youth’s frown deepened. “Do you really trust the Parasites that much?”

Xu Yun Cheng replied, "I trust rational judgment."

The black-haired youth seemed to be wrestling with intense internal conflict. In the end, he only opened his mouth slightly, choosing not to voice the words in his heart.

"I’m not here today to persuade you on behalf of humanity. I’m here as a relative of the Parasites to warn you: don’t believe a single word they say." With that, he turned and vanished into thin air.

Xu Yun Cheng couldn’t shake the feeling that the young man’s words held a deeper meaning. However, no matter how much he pondered over them, he couldn’t find any reason for the Parasites to lie. The presence of a few hundred ability users posed no real threat to the Parasites and could even be mutually beneficial. In the end, Xu Yun Cheng dismissed the remark as yet another attempt at provocation from this alien, who seemed more human than any human themselves.

.

The next day, the Interstellar Federation fleet destroyed another protective shield, successfully advancing their overall progress toward Salvation Alliance Town by another five meters…

Meanwhile, on Earth, thousands of isolated saviors continued working in small teams, digging drainage ditches across the planet. Xiao Yi, who had long since grown bored of the work, pretended to dig earnestly while sneaking over to Aliena, whose red hair was streaked with mud.

The black-haired youth whispered, "Aliena, why don’t you use your real ability for a bit?"

Aliena, who had been admiring her reflection in the water while trying to find her most flattering angle, instantly tensed up. "What real ability? I’ve always been using my water-based ability, haven’t I?"

The black-haired young man turned his head to glare at Huo Li, who was still flapping his wings like a windshield wiper in the rain. Understanding the hint, Huo Li immediately flew over, shaking off droplets as he landed. Using his mental link, he conveyed to Alena:

"This is the perfect opportunity to reveal your ability's true potential. Just attribute all your abilities to 'rain manipulation.' Everyone will simply marvel at how powerful your control over rain has become after your ability’s apparent upgrade. No one will suspect that it also involves turning people into desiccated corpses." Honestly, I just saw how exhausted Xiao Yi looked from digging and wanted to lighten his workload a bit…

Xiao Yi quietly added to Alena, “Come on, the entire universe is about to be taken over by Parasites anyway. Who’s going to care about something this small? Besides, this is a perfect chance to build your image as a delicate beauty with insanely powerful water control that still needs protection from other ability users. Even if you accidentally turn someone into a dried corpse later, no one will suspect you.”

Aliena felt a wave of emotion well up in her heart. Only the boss and their “sister-in-law” truly didn’t mind how terrifying her power was. But why did the sister-in-law’s tone make it sound like turning someone into a dried corpse wasn’t a big deal? Aliena shook her head. How could she think that way about her sister-in-law? It had to be her imagination!

Twenty minutes later, Aliena, ranked tenth in the Salvation Alliance leaderboard, conveniently “leveled up” during the torrential downpour!

Under Aliena’s control, the rain fell like long hair woven into intricate braids, tightening mid-air into streams that obediently flowed into the drainage ditches below. In the distance, the storm poured relentlessly over the river, yet not a single drop touched those standing on the banks. Everything was channeled into the waterway under Aliena’s command.

Within a radius of several hundred kilometers, dangerous floodwaters and lake currents began forming massive waterspouts, rising into the air and flowing toward their proper courses.

Even C2001 forgot about its work, staring in awe with its mouth agape at Aliena. Her fiery red hair danced wildly in the storm as she commanded the rain with the grace of a queen ruling over nature itself.

The ability users, who had been laboring tirelessly for over a month, couldn’t help but gaze in admiration at the “Queen of Water.” Even Lang Tai, who had been listless for ages, suddenly perked up. He began quietly inching closer to Aliena, hoping to leech some of her power unnoticed.

While Aliena was wreaking havoc on Earth, saving humanity from drowning in the flood and rescuing the overworked ability users from exhaustion, the Star Alliance finally broke through the sixth protective barrier of the Main System.

At that moment, Heinrich was on the verge of losing his mind. He rubbed his eyes furiously as he stared at the orange protective screen displayed on the monitor. Yet, no matter how hard he looked, the small orange net still flickered boldly on the screen as if mocking him with a ghostly grin.

Heinrich shouted, “All starships, hold your fire—”

“No, we can’t stop, sir!” Old Lucas interjected urgently. “Even if this cunning Main System has multiple layers of protective barriers, we still have the upper hand! Defensive systems require at least twice the energy of an offensive attack to maintain. Our fleet may be burning through 700,000 tons of astral stone per day, but that means the main system is consuming at least 1.5 million tons daily!”

Heinrich took a deep breath, calming himself. “A few days ago, the Salvation Alliance’s Main System submitted an application to the Star Alliance to withdraw nearly its entire reserve of 20 million tons of Starry Stone for Earth’s rescue mission. It can’t have much left now.”

The deputy commander also chimed in, “That’s right, General. As a system controlled by AI, the Salvation Alliance has a fixed annual quota for purchasing energy stones. Based on past records, the main system’s remaining energy stockpile is likely below 5 million tons. That means it can only hold out for another three or four days before it runs out completely!”

Heinrich made up his mind. “All starships, continue the attack! Even if this turns into a war of attrition, we’ll annihilate the Main System within a week!”

The days passed as the ability users, aided by the 'great demon king' Aliena, leisurely dug drainage ditches while the Star Alliance fleet bombarded the Main System without pause.

On Earth, the rain clouds began to thin, and the torrential downpour gradually lightened. It seemed the mission to save Earth was finally nearing its end. The ability users, who were still sealed on this ancient, isolated planet by the Main System, finally caught wind of explosive news trickling in from the star network: the Salvation Alliance was under siege!

At this point, the remaining ability users who hadn’t defected could no longer stay calm. Most of them were veterans of the Alliance and were well aware of the centuries-old entanglements between the Interstellar Federation and the Main System. None of them were foolish enough to believe the Alliance's public claim that the Main System was harboring and protecting extremely dangerous alien creatures—despite it being true.

Everyone saw this as nothing more than a baseless accusation fabricated by the Federation to suppress the Main System. Spurred on by Xu Yun Cheng and the instigations of the informed defectors, the high-ranking operatives finally reached their breaking point! They were unwilling to sit idly on this post-apocalyptic planet, where their mission had already been completed, and watch helplessly as the Alliance Town was attacked.

And so, the two factions of ability users, each with their own agendas, unanimously decided to leave Earth via interstellar spacecraft! While the saviors were busy plotting flight paths, the parasites and humans attacking Alliance Town were teetering on the edge of madness!

During this period, Heinrich practically roared nonstop. “How does the Salvation Alliance still have energy stones?! They should’ve run out long ago!”

“Maybe the Main System found some inferior energy stones to substitute for astral stones?” Old Lucas suggested, though his expression was grim as he scrambled to come up with an excuse to keep pushing Heinrich to attack. Yet even Lucas himself was starting to have doubts.

The Interstellar Federation parasites, desperate and with no other options, hastily passed an emergency act. They borrowed an additional 20 million tons of astral stones from energy merchants across the galaxy and declared with determination that even if it took half a month of nonstop bombardment, they would take down the Salvation Alliance!

Meanwhile, the black-haired youth was still holding onto a sliver of hope that his brightly colored, Iron Man version of the Guardian could stand up to the Interstellar Federation fleet. “Huo Li, how much astral stone does the Main System have left in reserve?”

Huo Li flapped his wings and flew closer. “Xiao Yi, to be honest, I have no idea.”

“Ugh!” Xiao Yi grimaced, annoyed. “How can you not even know that…”

Before he could finish, the familiar soft voice of the Main System echoed in his mind. “Xiao Yi, it’s a secret. I’ve never revealed it before. But this time, I’ll tell you to satisfy your little curiosity.”

“How many tons?” Xiao Yi asked expectantly.

The Main System’s voice carried a hint of amusement. “The entire translucent stone structure that makes up Salvation Alliance Town—that’s all astral stone~”