Ten years later

A strong wind suddenly arose, thunder and lightning flashed, this was a storm that had never been set in the arena system.

The system's speakers briefly lost their voice, as if unable to interpret the masked challenger's actions. In that instant, the obsidian platform beneath Lin Bai's feet crumbled inch by inch, and lines of cinnabar twisted and swirled, like snakes and dragons, entwining themselves around her feet. Yet, she didn't retreat. Instead, she channeled the newly fused power within her body, resonating distantly with the wills of Nuwa, Marshal Tianpeng, and Thor.

"Start fusion." Lin Bai whispered.

She didn't know if there was any way to harmonize the divine powers, but instinctively allowed the powers of several gods to intertwine, collide, and entangle within her body, eventually fusing into a new power that was perfectly suited to her.

In an instant, all the differences converged into a divine will that belonged only to Lin Bai.

The system sounded the alarm again: "The masked challenger has reached the critical threshold, the arena system is unbalanced, and it has been determined to be 'malicious deification'. Activate the blocking device!"

A dark crack suddenly appeared above the ring, as if the entire spatial dimension was torn apart. A hand composed of countless metal joints stretched out and headed straight for Lin Bai's head.

"What is that?" There was no fear in Lin Bai's eyes, he just sneered.

"Does this lackey from somewhere also want to control me?"

She suddenly gathered her strength in her palm and headed straight for the giant hand.

After a loud bang, everything around him disappeared, and Lin Bai entered the egg-shaped ring, surrounded by numb-faced spectators.

The giant hand reappeared and attacked Lin Bai like a well-designed tracking missile.

Lin Bai would definitely not hide, she still resisted.

The entire arena was shaking continuously, the egg-shaped audience seats collapsed again, countless spectators were thrown out, and the space shattered in an instant.

She heard a faint whisper coming from the shattered space, like a baby crying, or an old man dying: "Are you here to kill me again?"

"Me?" Lin Bai gritted his teeth, "Yes, it's me."

The next moment, an eye appeared behind the hand, and it hummed, "No god can break free from my bondage. This is all my power!"

"Hurry up!" Thor's voice exploded in her mind. "If you don't leave now, you will be locked by it, and like us, you will never be able to leave this arena area."

"I can't leave," Lin Bai whispered, "I want to save grandma."

Before she finished speaking, she bit her fingertips fiercely, summoned Thor's hammer with her right hand, and dripped blood onto the handle of the hammer.

Instead of summoning gods, she chose to completely merge herself with all perceived gods, making them indistinguishable.

"The believer Lin Bai is willing to sacrifice his soul in exchange for the power of the gods."

Tiny fluctuations arose in the air, which were caused by the excessive flow of countless divine powers.

Lin Bai gathered all his strength into the hammer, held it with both hands, and smashed it towards the eye.

There was a flash of lightning, the eye wailed and trembled violently, the system suddenly crashed, and everything returned to silence.

But Lin Bai's figure also disappeared, along with the fragments of the eye, falling deep into the core of the arena.

——

The aftermath of the arena's collapse has long since subsided, but the tide of the gods' awakening continues unabated. Humanity can still call upon the gods' will and sense the echoes of ancient myths. However, whenever someone mentions that battle, they always pause for a moment, their gaze directed to a corner of the star map, where a solitary monument stands, dedicated to a challenger who has long since returned.

It was said that she was once the most brilliant Earth Mimic of her generation. Some said she once merged the wills of many gods, others said she sacrificed herself in the arena, while many more remembered only the battle that seemed to consume everything.

Her friends have now become generals of the Federation, governors of planets, and even the backbone of the Federation's Supreme Council, but they have never mentioned her name easily in public. They only go to the nameless monument on that day every year and stand silently.

If she were here, interstellar history might be rewritten.

But that talented girl eventually fell asleep in the depths of an unknown space, becoming a footnote in history.

There were no words engraved on the monument, and no words could describe the girl who appeared and disappeared out of nowhere.

——

"Hey, you okay?"

The dazzling sunlight squeezed into Lin Bai's eyes, and he saw a blurry figure in front of him. Looking closely, he saw that it was a cat-beast man.

The orc saw that Lin Bai seemed to have woken up and moved closer.

"Are you okay? Wake up! This isn't the Federation. We're not going to be over once the bug boss shows up."

Ignoring the headache and struggling to open his eyes again, Lin Bai finally recognized the scene in front of him.

The well-organized Zerg of various colors formed extremely natural and regular queues in the air and on the ground, obeying the Zerg Queen's orders meticulously.

He felt a pulling sensation on his hand and turned to look at the source, only to see that the orc was already terrified. Following the orc's line of sight, he saw a giant insect that was six meters tall.

Lin Bai had previously learned about the Zerg, the only race outside the Federation that couldn't summon gods. The Zerg Queen was the deity of all Zerg. Their intolerance of outsiders and their repulsive bullying led to their expulsion from the Federation's star system, though Zerg occasionally invaded the outskirts. Lin Bai had initially assumed the Zerg were merely fighting for resources, but she hadn't expected them to kidnap Federation residents. She had inexplicably ended up here, and all she remembered was the eye blazing with blinding light before she lay there.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle."

The shrill chirping of insects seemed to pierce Lin Bai's eardrums. She frowned slightly, but heard the orc also imitating the "sizzling" sound.

As if he had received some good news, the orc finally stopped trembling and lifted Lin Bai up with all his strength. "Let's go! I told the guard that you just fainted and you will be able to continue working soon. He told us to work quickly."

"What job is this and why are we here?"

Lin Bai quickly followed the orc, still very confused.

"Don't worry about it. If you want to survive, just work hard. They are just some spare parts."

Lin Bai didn't say anything more before seeing a huge machine in front of him. From a distance, it looked like a machine with a very obvious mechanical style. When he got closer, he broke out in a cold sweat. Some of the densely packed small parts turned out to be a human orc.

"Come on, just go there."

Lin Bai looked at an empty space, walked over, and immediately knew what he needed to do.

Endlessly repeating the process of fiddling with fixed parts to create sophisticated instruments that the Zerg are currently unable to manufacture.

As days went by like this, Lin Bai finally realized that something was wrong. Why did she have to succumb to this kind of life? Then she realized that she alone could not fight against the huge Zerg tribe that absolutely obeyed the Zerg Queen.

During the short rest time every day, Lin Bai tried many times to wake up the gods, but it seemed that she had left the place of protection of the gods, and she could not receive any response. Moreover, according to the time told by Xiao Mu, the orc who woke her up that day, she had traveled to ten years later.

Ten years have passed, and I don’t know how everything has become.

——

One day, Lin Bai tried to summon the gods as usual. He had no hope at first, but unexpectedly, the God of Land appeared.

"How come you look exactly like the person that Nuwa has been thinking about!"

The God of Land seemed to be frightened and cried out in surprise.

"Is it possible that I am that person?"

"Nonsense... Nonsense, how is that possible? That person has clearly... Hey, it seems like Nuwa has been talking about him disappearing."

The God of Land might be old and his mind was not very clear, he was yelling and suddenly became quiet.

Lin Bai smiled and asked the God of Land why he was in this star field.

"They brought one of my sculptures here. My spiritual consciousness was above, so they could have summoned me. But your suction was too strong, and I was dragged here by force. You really scared an old man like me."

The Earth God sighed continuously, but Lin Bai suddenly said, "Can you tell me that Lin Bai and many other Federation residents are trapped in the insect nest?"

"That's no problem. I, an old man, have the most connections."

Lin Bai let go of the God of Land, and a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

I hope I can be saved.

——

"Wake up, the Zerg nest is under attack. Let's hide quickly. No Zerg cares about us. But it seems that those outside are not pirates but members of the Federation Army. Only if we survive well can we have a chance to get out."

Lin Bai was woken up from her sleep and quickly became alert after hearing these words. She quickly tried to see if she could summon the gods like last time, but a more powerful force was competing with her. She immediately realized that it might be someone from the Federation, so she quickly gave up the idea for fear of affecting the battle situation.

But above the hive, a huge Zerg that was big enough to span the entire hive was hanging in the sky, and countless Zergs charged out, fighting until death.

The same harsh hissing sound came from the other side, and the Zerg Mother immediately stopped moving. Then many Zergs rushed towards Lin Bai and his group. "The Federation Army wants the Zerg Mother to let us go, otherwise they will activate the annihilation device. Let's get out quickly."

Soon, this group of Zerg took Lin Bai and the others to an open space.

A huge creature was floating towards them, and it was unknown how many thousands of miles away it was.

It was Kunpeng. Lin Bai was surprised. All the captured people were carried on Kunpeng's back and swam slowly back to the federal army. At the same time, all the Zerg began to push the hive towards a farther star field.

After safely entering the federal warship, Lin Bai discovered that many people were looking at her with strange eyes.

She was a little confused, but didn't care. Suddenly, the crowd dispersed and a huge elephant walked towards her.

According to what Lin Bai knew, the man in front of him should be a general.

"Is it you, Lin Bai? Gu Zhou heard from the gods that day that you were in the Zerg Nest, so I was ordered to come here to drive out the Zerg. I will go back to the Federation to see if it is really you."

"Are you Ellie? You've already achieved such success. That's amazing."

Lin Bai recognized that this was the elephant boy he met at the competition venue that year. After so many years, he had lost his youthful naiveté and had become a tough guy who had experienced many battles.

"For the past ten years, we have lived well. Your achievements are known throughout the galaxy. Now that you are back, they also hope to meet you. Let's return to the capital together."

"Well, ten years have passed, and I'm curious about how you are doing now."