The planet Qitar, a world in the nascent stage of civilization.
A vast forest of fungi, emitting a faint phosphorescence, covered the earth, and the air was filled with the dampness of soil and the distinctive smell of chitin.
The Qitar people, a type of bipedal crustacean with a hard exoskeleton and compound eyes, had just learned to use simple tools, established rudimentary tribal settlements, and developed a symbolic script to record hunting and rituals.
Their "palace" is not a magnificent palace in the human imagination, but a huge nest structure made of giant, hollow fluorescent mushrooms and tough secretions, located in the center of the tribal settlement.
The rough murals depict hunting, worship, and star patterns, exuding a primitive and rustic atmosphere.
The aged insect king, its dark brown carapace marked by the passage of time and battles, had several crystal-clear tentacles, symbols of authority, trembling slightly atop its head.
It was in the "Royal Hall" deepest in the lair, listening to a young insectoid priest's report on the stars—reportedly, some previously unrecorded twinkling lights had appeared in the night sky recently.
Just then—
Without warning, an indescribable, terrifying pressure, seemingly emanating from the soul, suddenly descended!
It was not sound, nor physical impact, but a more fundamental sense of presence that made all the Tatars tremble from the depths of their genes as it crushed down!
"Buzz—!"
The nest trembled violently, the fungal walls groaned under the strain, and dust and tiny debris fell in a flurry.
All the Qitar people in the entire tribe, whatever they were doing, froze at that moment. The lower-ranking worker and soldier insects instinctively curled up, emitting a fearful, subtle chitinous rubbing sound.
The Insect King suddenly raised its head, and the countless hexagonal lenses in its compound eyes instantly contracted, reflecting the scene of the royal hall dome—the thick dome made of the toughest hyphae and solidified mucus, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, burst open a huge hole!
A dark shadow, entwined with a strange, unsettling stream of light that had not yet completely died down (a trail of residual energy), crashed straight down like a meteor!
"boom!!!"
A deafening roar echoed through the royal hall, blasting a shallow crater into the solid floor, from which spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards.
A violent blast of air, carrying smoke and debris, swept outwards, causing the Insect King and the priest beside him to stagger backwards and crash into the wall.
The smoke and dust slowly dissipated.
In the center of the royal hall, on the shattered ground, a figure slowly straightened up.
It was Lind.
His black casual clothes remained impeccable, as if the impact that had been powerful enough to destroy a hill had had no effect on him whatsoever.
However, the faint force field surrounding him, which seemed capable of swallowing light, and his cold, purple eyes that slowly scanned his surroundings, made him seem out of place in this primitive and rough environment, bringing with him a suffocating sense of incongruity and fear.
He simply stood there, without releasing any active pressure, but his very existence was like an invisible black hole, frantically devouring the surrounding light, sound, and even... the fragile courage and will of the Qitar people.
[Deconstructing the Halo] The scan of the surrounding environment was completed in one-thousandth of a second.
(Low-level crustacean intelligent life... primitive tribal civilization structure... weak telepathic fluctuations... planetary environment filled with inert energy... no threat.)
A chilling conclusion flashed through his mind.
His gaze finally settled on the insect king, who was temporarily unable to move due to the impact and fear, not far away.
In his perception, the spiritual fluctuations emanating from this old insect-man were the strongest, carrying a primal sense of "authority."
The insect king struggled, trying to raise its trembling forelimbs, the light in its compound eyes flickering erratically with extreme fear.
It wanted to question, to command the guards, but an instinct stemming from an absolute difference in the level of life tightly strangled its vocal organs and mental thoughts.
It could only watch helplessly as that demon-like figure descended from "outside the sky" and took a step toward it.
The footsteps were very light, almost inaudible on the fungus-covered floor.
But in this deathly silent royal hall, where only dust settled, the faint sound of footsteps seemed to tread on the heart of every Qitarman, almost freezing their blood (or similar circulatory fluid).
Linde walked up to the Insect King and looked down at it from his high position.
He didn't even need to deliberately release his pressure. The chill and weight naturally emanating from the essence of his soul, which had been tempered through countless killings, god-slaying, and even traversing the star sea, were enough to make this supreme insect king on the planet of Qitar feel like an ant crawling at the feet of a god, insignificant, humble, and meaningless.
The insect king's chitinous shell emitted a faint "clicking" sound, as it trembled slightly in uncontrollable fear.
It saw those purple eyes, which held no curiosity, no anger, not even obvious hostility, only a bottomless, cold calm that seemed to reflect all the insignificance and filth of its soul.
Linde spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet carrying a strange penetrating power, resonating directly deep within the consciousness of the Qitar Insect King. He used the fundamental frequency of Qitar telepathy, instantly analyzed and simulated through the [Deconstruction Halo]:
Where is this place?
The question was simple, yet it was like a test of the law, carrying an absolute will that left no room for doubt and demanded an answer.
The Insect King's spirit was on the verge of collapse. It used all its strength to barely muster a faint mental ripple, intermittently transmitting a message mixed with endless fear and submission:
"[Qithar...this is Qitar...the great...god from beyond the heavens...]"
Linde got the answer he wanted, shifted his gaze from the Insect King, and once again scanned the shattered royal hall, as well as the strange and primitive night sky of the planet Qitar that he could see through the hole in the dome.
(Qithar...a remote planet with unrecorded coordinates...a very low level of civilization...of no use and currently poses no potential threat.)
He had no interest in ruling such a primitive race.
But since it crashed here by accident, perhaps it can be used as a temporary observation point to understand this star field.
He turned his gaze back to the Insect King, who remained prostrate on the ground, too afraid to raise his head, and that icy will descended once more:
"I need a quiet place to recover my strength. During this time, I must not be disturbed."
"Those who disobey shall die."
The last word "death" was not a sound, but a cold mark directly imprinted on the souls of the Insect King and all the nearby Qitar people, containing a trace of the aura of the [End of Annihilation].
In an instant, all the Qitar people who sensed this mark seemed to witness their own end, to see the absolute nothingness of their shells shattering and their consciousness annihilating!
The extreme fear caused many of the weaker insectoids to faint, and even the insectoid king trembled violently, his mind almost collapsing.
"Yes...yes! Great god from beyond the heavens! Your will...is our law!"
The Insect King used its last strength to convey the most humble intention of submission.
Linde ignored them and vanished from the shattered royal hall in a flash, appearing on a relatively independent, open platform of fungal rocks outside the nest.
He ignored the trembling Qitar people below, who seemed to be watching the end of the world, and sat down cross-legged. He began to calm his aura and guide the light and darkness within his body, which had been slightly agitated by the journey, back to normal. At the same time, he quietly spread his senses like an invisible spider web across the starry sky of this unfamiliar star field.
His arrival was like a real shooting star to the Qitar civilization, not only shattering their royal palace but also completely destroying their original worldview and dignity.
An incomprehensible and irresistible "superior" descended upon this place in the most tyrannical and direct way.
In Linde's eyes, all of this was just a trivial episode in his exploration of the boundless starry sea.
These lowly crustaceans, along with their fear and submission, were like dust beneath his feet, unable to stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
His journey is to the stars and the sea, to uncover the truth about the evil gods from beyond the realm, not to explore the primitive civilization of this remote corner of the world.
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