Since the Elven race and the Bunkered Humans submitted, the Empire has encountered no more organized resistance. Any scattered rebels are quickly discovered and eliminated under the omnipresent surveillance of the "Will of the Sky."

The planet, both in name and in reality, has achieved true and complete unification.

Thirty years into the Imperial Calendar, thirty years have passed since the "War of Purification" that determined the fate of the world. To celebrate the unprecedented stability and prosperity of the Empire, and to demonstrate the supreme authority of the God-Emperor to the entire world, the artificial intelligence "Gaia" has decided to hold an unprecedented "Grand Fusion Ceremony" in the capital city of Chengtian.

At this time, the capital of Chengtian had expanded into a supercity covering thousands of kilometers. At the city's center, beneath the base of the Heavenly Throne, stood a magnificent "Divine Emperor's Palace." Deep within the palace was the teleportation device Lin Feng had used when he left; it still operated slowly, radiating an awe-inspiring aura of energy, as if the Divine Emperor might return at any moment.

The ceremony was held at the "Harmony of All Races Square" in front of the Divine Emperor Palace.

In the center of the square stands a thousand-meter-tall statue of Lin Feng. He wears a dragon robe, overlooking the entire world, his eyes filled with the cold indifference and majesty of a god.

Tens of thousands of “pure white soldiers” stood in neat rows around the square, motionless, like the most precise honor guard.

In a designated area of ​​the square, representatives from various "reserved areas" stood.

The once proud elves now wear uniform clothing bearing the imperial insignia, heads bowed, unable to look directly at the statue of the God-Emperor. Their queen, Elana, is old and frail, her eyes devoid of their former brilliance, filled only with a numb resignation.

The humans from the bunker, after being "optimized," had expressions on their faces that were just like those of the "pure" humans—dull and submissive. Their leader, Zhao Keming, was deemed "unrecoverable" during the transformation process due to his "excessive mental resistance" and had already been "humanely disposed of."

In addition, there were other surviving races discovered in remote corners of the continent. The once-fierce orcs, now stripped of their tusks, were reduced to laborers in the mines; the once-cunning goblins were cheap laborers in the imperial factories. They all sent representatives to attend this grand ceremony announcing their complete conquest.

The climax of the ceremony was the entrance of the "divine attendants" and the "Holy Mother".

One hundred newly chosen, most beautiful elven maidens, dressed in gossamer-thin gossamer veils and barefoot, slowly walked across the plaza. Around their necks wore delicate, shimmering necklaces—symbols of their status, but also shackles binding them. They were to enter the Divine Palace to replace their predecessors, who had "lost their value."

Following closely behind were hundreds of human women, each carrying a baby, emerging from the "Breeding Center." Their faces were expressionless, like dolls. Each baby in their arms met the Empire's strictest standards of "purity." These infants would be raised uniformly in the "Imperial Nursery," becoming the Empire's most loyal next generation. The women who had completed their "reproductive duty" would then be sent to designated communities to spend their planned, uneventful remaining years.

All intelligent life on the planet is incorporated into this cold and sophisticated reproductive system. The genes for rebellion, along with the will to rebel, will be eradicated at their very source.

As the procession marched across the square, Gaia's emotionless voice blared from the loudspeakers.

"The will of the God-Emperor has brought about the final order. The barriers between races have been broken, and pointless conflicts have ended. Under the glory of the God-Emperor, all life will fulfill its duties and dedicate itself to the eternal glory of the Empire. This is your destiny, and also your... blessing."

In the square, all the citizens of the Empire, whether "pure" humans or "optimized" humans, knelt down in unison, offering thunderous praise to Lin Feng's statue.

"Praise the God-Emperor! Praise the Empire!"

"Eternal order! Long live purification!"

The representatives of the various "reservations" hesitated for a moment, then knelt down in humiliation under the cold gaze of the "natural disaster soldiers".

A perfect, unified, and absolutely ordered empire was finally built.

However, amidst the thunderous praise, no one noticed that deep within the enormous rift that Irelia had cleaved with her life outside the city gates of the Capital of Heaven, a tiny speck of light, the form she had taken when she vanished, was quietly suspended.

For thirty years, the "Will of the Heavens" has been trying to erase it. But this speck of dust seems to carry some kind of law that does not belong to this world, stubbornly existing. It is very faint, undetectable by any instrument, and has no power of its own.

It is merely a remnant of a concept.

Lin Feng considered it the most deadly poison in the world, a concept from an old era that had long been forgotten by the world.

"hope".

Irelia's consciousness awoke from a chaotic, warm light.

She felt as if she had a very, very long dream. In the dream, there were the roars of comrades, the howls of enemies, the scorching heat of burning holy light, and the icy chill of life slipping away. In the end, everything returned to darkness and nothingness.

She slowly stood up.

She found herself at the bottom of a vast chasm. The surrounding rock walls still bore traces of scorching, holy energy. She looked down at her hands. They weren't hands of flesh and blood, but translucent hands composed of countless tiny, starlight-shimmering particles. Her body seemed an interplay of light and shadow, so light it felt weightless.

A flood of memories rushed into her mind in an instant.

Dawn and Night, Imperial Counterattack, Guerrilla Warfare, Yue Zhenshan's Uprising, the Trap in Chengtian Capital... and finally, the desperate massacre called "Purification".

She remembered Patton's torn body, Lina's vanishing figure, and General Yue Zhenshan's final roar.

Sadness, like an invisible giant hand, gripped her heart tightly. No, she no longer had a heart. It was a deeper pain, imprinted on the very essence of her soul.

"Are they all... dead?" she murmured to herself, her voice trembling with an ethereal quality.

She looked up at the top of the rift. There, the cold, unchanging steel outline of the City of Heaven rose.

She didn't immediately rush out to seek revenge. Thirty years of silence had given her reborn soul a calmness that transcended life and death. She knew that since the empire had existed for thirty years, its strength must be even more terrifying than before. And she, although resurrected in a peculiar way, now possessed power that was ethereal and elusive, as if a gust of wind could dissipate it.

She needs to understand the world. She needs to find... a foothold.

A thought arose in her mind.

Home.

Her hometown, Silver Valley, is a peaceful and tranquil town nestled among mountains, renowned for its fine wines and exquisite silverware.

The moment this thought arose, her body transformed into a faint stream of light, silently piercing through the rock layers and merging into the earth. No longer bound by the laws of physics, she followed the planet's energy pathways, rapidly traveling towards the direction she remembered.

The earth flowed beneath her. She "saw" the changes in the world.

The former forests have been transformed into standardized farms. The once meandering rivers have been cut off and straightened, becoming irrigation canals. The once vibrant land is now covered by a thin, cold energy field—the manifestation of the "Will of the Heavens." It is like a boundless net, enveloping everything and suffocating everything.

Irelia's heart sank little by little.

When she finally arrived at the mountains she remembered, the beautiful valley she remembered had already disappeared.

Instead, a standardized residential area with no distinctive features was built. All the houses were identical white cubes, neatly arranged like tombstones. In the center of the valley, the once babbling, crystal-clear Silverlight Stream had been transformed into a straight underground channel for discharging industrial wastewater.

At the entrance to the valley stood a huge alloy plaque, inscribed with cold, imperial script:

Resource Zone 73 - Delta Residential Area

Silver Valley... its name no longer exists.

Irelia's body materialized in the air above the valley. She hovered in mid-air, quietly looking down at this "home" that was both familiar and strange.

On the streets of the settlement, "residents" walked. They were all dressed in identical gray uniforms, their steps, speed, and even the amplitude of their arm swings were strikingly synchronized. Their faces were expressionless. Whether men, women, or children, they all resembled animated puppets programmed with a set script.

They are "pure" humans, descendants of "optimized" residents of Silver Valley.

Aiz Relia's heart ached as if it were being cut by a knife. She recognized those faces. The old man mechanically sweeping the street was Uncle Buck, who used to love playing the accordion at the village entrance. The woman leading the child past with a vacant look in her eyes was her childhood playmate, the most lively and cheerful of them all, Lillian.

But now, they are all just walking corpses. Their souls have long been imprisoned in a cage called "order".

Irelia's gaze fell upon the central plaza of the settlement. It had once been the place where the villagers held their harvest celebrations. Now, however, stood a small signal tower, constantly emitting faint energy fluctuations—the regional terminal of the "Will of the Sky," the source of the settlement's "order."

At the foot of the signal tower, a patrol team consisting of five "pure white soldiers" and two spider-shaped "peacekeeping mechs" is conducting a routine inspection.

Just then, an unexpected event occurred.

A little girl, about five or six years old, who was following behind her mother, tripped over a slightly raised patch of ground for some reason and fell to the ground.

Her knee was scraped and bleeding.

The little girl paused for a moment, then, as if some long-dormant instinct had been triggered, her lips trembled, and she burst into tears.

The cry was like a gunshot suddenly rang out in a silent theater.

Instantly, all the "residents" walking on the street stopped in their tracks, their empty gazes fixed on the crying girl. Their eyes held no concern, no pity, only the bewilderment of seeing a "program error."

The girl's mother, the former Lillian, also stopped. Looking at her crying daughter, a hint of struggle appeared on her face for the first time. Her brow furrowed slightly, as if she wanted to help her child up, but her body seemed bound by invisible cables, unable to move.

The patrol team reacted immediately.

Two "peacekeeping mechs" strode over, their red electronic eyes on their heads locking onto the crying girl.

One of the "pure white soldiers" took out a tablet device, scanned the girl, and then reported in a completely emotionless tone: "Report to command center, 'emotionally unstable individual' found at Delta settlement. Individual number: 73-d-8841. Cause: Primitive stress response due to accidental physical injury. Recommendation: Perform 'emotional correction'."

"Correctional clearance has been issued." The soldier's headset transmitted the response from the "Gaia" subsystem.

Upon receiving the order, the soldier drew a pistol-like device from his waist. It wasn't a weapon, but a nerve depressor. He pointed the gun at the still-crying little girl.

"stop!"

A clear, majestic voice, yet filled with endless sorrow, boomed like thunder over the silent settlement.

Everyone looked up.

They saw a breathtakingly beautiful figure, composed of light and with flowing hair, silently suspended in mid-air. Her left eye burned with golden flames, while her right eye shimmered with brilliant stars. Her appearance seemed to instantly bathe this greyish world in a warm glow.

Under her radiant light, the energy field of "Celestial Will" emitted a crackling, unbearable electrical sound.

"Warning! Unidentified high-energy life form detected!"

"Warning! 'Sky Will' coverage is decreasing!"

The patrol's system immediately sounded a piercing alarm. The soldier who was about to perform the "correction" did not hesitate to turn his gun around and, along with his comrades, aim their weapons at Irelia in the sky.

"According to the highest laws of the Empire, any existence that disrupts 'order' will be..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

Because Irelia has already made her move.