Amidst the continuous alerts from the Stellar Alliance's energy monitoring devices, within the wormhole, a two-dimensional black dot emerged—slowly but unmistakably—from a lower-dimensional world upon the luminous traces of Ye Bai's psychic energy.
As matter and energy surged within the wormhole, the black dot, now entering this universe, began rapidly assimilating and reacting with the information and energy of this realm. While reconstructing a form compatible with this cosmos, it also embodied an old adage: "A tiny breach can sink a great ship."
The silicon-based civilization had built walls of containment in this universe—sealed from the outside in, governed from the top down. Yet the appearance of this black dot was the opposite: emerging from within, rising from the bottom up, born from an initially flawed program that would eventually spread into a universe-altering "error."
Matter, energy, and information entangled in a mysteriously unstable evolution, ultimately reaching their peak.
"High-energy alert ahead… static…"
"Energy overload—"
The alarms from the space station's monitoring devices cut off abruptly.
The tension in the hearts of the Stellar Alliance troops aboard their warships snapped like a frayed cord. The commander took a deep breath, turning to the equally bewildered operator at the console. "Overload means…"
Startled by the commander's gaze, the staff member stammered, "An incredibly powerful A-rank… or possibly… beyond A-rank."
Theoretically, detection devices could overload when targeted by a strong A-rank entity. But in this scenario, with a beyond-A-rank being besieged by a swarm of A-ranks, neither side had any reason to focus on their equipment.
Once the Stellar Alliance's direct fleet—an arbiter force that commanded respect wherever it went—now found itself sidelined, relegated to the role of mere spectators, utterly disregarded by the warring factions.
Moreover, their detection instruments were calibrated for wormholes, so everyone present knew the likelihood of an A-rank causing the overload was slim.
That left only one answer—
Finally, everything reached its tipping point.
The black dot expanded, and within the three-dimensional universe, a two-dimensional "line" underwent a metamorphosis, leaping out from the white light before silently dispersing into strands of nearly undetectable two-dimensional threads in the vast cosmos.
In the next moment, Ye Bai—still with her eyes closed—curled her lips into a faint smile.
Within the temporal domain, a psychic fluctuation she knew all too well abruptly manifested.
……
"Wha—at—?!"
The members of the Church of the Myriad Stars, trapped in the temporal domain, also sensed the sudden shift in the wormhole's energy. Their slowed cognition stretched their shock into what felt like an agonizing eternity.
Meanwhile, those outside the domain reacted instantly, locking their attacks onto the shifting wormhole. The moment the enemy emerged from its distorted passage, they would unleash long-range assaults forged with the universe's very "authority."
Yet when the moment came, they were caught off guard by how difficult it was to even lock onto their target—
The energy that had once gathered so intensely within the wormhole, impossible to ignore, now scattered like fireworks—brilliant for a fleeting instant before vanishing into the cosmic abyss.
The A-rank and B-rank powerhouses could only predict trajectories and possible landing points, releasing a barrage of attacks.
"How is this possible?!"
Horror gripped the Church members as their most trusted weapon—the Myriad Stars' technology—deviated in ways never before seen in the universe's millions of years of existence.
Gravitational traps meant to collapse instead repelled. Hyper-electromagnetic beams that should have traveled straight curved unpredictably. Genetic-erasure protocols locked onto a nearby Church member instead, instantly reducing them to a pile of disintegrated flesh.
The instability of their sacred technology shattered the Church members' convictions more brutally than the emergence of another beyond-A-rank foe.
Once transcendent, wielding cosmic authority with disdain even for the Stellar Alliance, the Church had only been held back by the "Will of the Myriad Stars" from conquering civilizations outright. Now, faced with their first-ever technological failure, many suffered existential crises, descending into unprecedented chaos.
Amidst the panic, the dispersed black threads had already slipped unnoticed among them.
Then, the threads split open—revealing pairs of crimson eyes.
When those sudden gazes fell upon the already psychologically destabilized Church members, it was like cold water splashed into boiling oil. Madness erupted.
Frenzied, they turned their attacks on their own allies. Even with the Myriad Stars' technology malfunctioning, the sheer density of their chaotic assaults inflicted heavy casualties within their ranks.
"Retreat!"
The luckiest few on the outermost edges took one look at the pandemonium and fled, activating micro-wormholes to escape.
Yet even this reliable escape method wasn't spared from the instability. Most emerged far from their intended destinations—some scorched half to death on stellar surfaces, others shredded by spatial rifts into unrecognizable gore.
Only those "paused" within the temporal domain, their thoughts and movements too sluggish to activate the failing technology, survived—for now.
Having emerged from the wormhole, the threads swiftly joined the fray, effectively neutralizing most attackers outside the temporal domain.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Simultaneously, the nearest Stellar Alliance space stations and surrounding vessels—combat or otherwise—began registering anomalies.
But when checked, nothing seemed amiss.
The "anomalies" hid in the tiniest pixels at the edges of displays. To the two-dimensional threads, infiltrating these technological constructs was as natural as breathing—akin to how they once effortlessly deciphered arcane texts across dimensions.
To the Stellar Alliance troops and civilians nearby, the glitches were just side effects of an overwhelming psychic presence. None could have imagined their systems had been hacked in such a fantastical manner.
However, in the following moments, they no longer had the attention to investigate the anomaly of the instruments.
Within the wormhole, ever since the black lines appeared in this world, a crack had been left at the source of the white light. Shortly after the peripheral attackers fell into chaos, the crack showed no signs of healing—instead, it grew larger and larger.
The damaged detection equipment, long since overloaded by energy, was powerless to sound an alarm. Yet this time, the entity emerging from the crack didn’t even require energy detection.
The scene that unfolded next left everyone present with their scalps tingling and their minds blank.
A jagged facial structure, sharp fangs, golden pupils… bit by bit, it emerged from the crack. Under the spatial distortion of the wormhole, it flew out effortlessly, its seemingly small form gradually expanding until it reached the same size as the photos they had seen on the Stellar Network.
An ancient dragon! The very same ancient dragon that had appeared in White Night City!
White Night, Ye Bai, the dragon… The commander, who still didn’t understand why Ye Bai had such a high bounty ranking, suddenly felt everything click into place.
But… after the dragon’s appearance, it didn’t end there!
The crack twisted slightly once more, and a glimmer of emerald light emerged from within, coalescing into a slender, graceful figure that no player of Worlds Beyond would fail to recognize.
"The Elven Queen…"
Even the dedicated personnel responsible for relaying real-time intel to the Stellar Alliance reinforcements via the Stellar Network momentarily forgot their duty, lost in shock.
And in that daze, they watched as a red tentacle emerged from the crack next.
However, after probing out, it seemed to find the space too cramped and quickly retracted. Moments later, a small, stubby arm reached out instead, pulling along a red-haired, green-eyed, adorable girl.
The girl wasn’t alone—she was dragging along a twisted mass of flame radiating energy like a star. Once in reality, the flame seemed to undergo a reshaping process, ultimately forming a high-ranking demon figure equally familiar to Worlds Beyond players.
Only after the last two powerhouses—both undeniably from Worlds Beyond and both qualifying as S-tier forces—arrived in this world did the crack finally stop distorting. The light shrank and vanished, and the wormhole returned to normal.
Yet even so, no one could ignore the fact that five S-tier powerhouses had stepped out from within.
What in the world was going on?! Why had god-tier NPCs from Worlds Beyond crossed into reality?!
No matter how shocked, bewildered, or at a loss the onlookers were, none of it affected the Five Kings of the Divine Realm who had emerged from the rift.
Upon arrival, they wasted no time assessing the situation and immediately entered combat mode.
For the NPCs of Worlds Beyond, recognition was never about appearances but about information and energy—the essence of a soul. Whether Ye Bai’s real-world form differed from her in-game avatar, to the Five Kings, she had always been her truest self.
Breaking through the dimensional barrier, the veil that once obscured their understanding of players and the distinction between game and reality had vanished. As their information-energy merged with the matter of this universe, they adapted and comprehended this world while simultaneously spotting enemies attacking Ye Bai—prompting them to join the battle in perfect unison.
The Temporal Domain accommodated these familiar auras, allowing them to fight freely within this slowed-time region.
The slowed time within the Temporal Domain had accelerated significantly compared to its initial state, and the members of the Church of the Stellar Path had begun moving sluggishly—but by now, it was already too late.
The Spatial Dragon unleashed a breath attack, conjuring a spatial storm that cleared a path in an instant.
The Elven Queen cast a cold glance at the Infernal Demon God before choosing the farthest area from him. With a wave of her hand, the Church members ahead were engulfed in deadly toxic spores.
The Kraken excitedly extended its tentacles, wielding the Infernal Demon God—who radiated heat like a star—as it dragged slain or grievously wounded enemies toward itself, feasting voraciously…
The "professional team" from the Eternal City, just as they had once followed the Divine King in conquest across the Divine Realm, delivered a cross-dimensional shock to the besieged Church of the Stellar Path and the Stellar Alliance forces.
......
"You did it! This universe will no longer continue entropy decay—it’s now restoring to normal entropy increase. The silicon-based civilization’s information blockade has been broken!"
The moment the dimensional barrier shattered, Ye Bai received the excited message from the Ancients.
Unlike last time, when she had to return to the past to find the "information windows" they left behind, this time, the fact that they could actively reach out to her showed they were in much better shape.
Ye Bai quickly asked, "Will they restart the universe again?"
The Ancients replied, "We’ve already launched our counterattack. Don’t worry—they’ve anchored themselves in this universe and can’t restart it in the short term. The last time they managed it was because both we and they had ascended beyond the third dimension, and no intelligent life remained evolving in the material universe. This time, our counterattack won’t allow them to repeat that."
"Right now, you can only summon the strongest information-energy composites from Worlds Beyond, but as the connection between Worlds Beyond and this universe’s intelligent life deepens, you’ll be able to summon others who answer your call in the same way."
"Even the old 'Will of the Stellar Path' and the disruptors’ permissions will gradually 'error' until they fail completely. The main battlefield is no longer in the three-dimensional universe—leave the rest to us!"
Hearing this, the tension in Ye Bai’s heart finally eased.
Then, one of the Ancients posed her a question:
"Ye Bai, do you wish to join us and ascend as a fourth-dimensional lifeform?"
In her current state, ascending wouldn’t be as difficult for her as it was for other three-dimensional beings. She wouldn’t rely on technological breakthroughs but rather on her mastery of time to shed her physical form and transform into a spiritual entity—a brute-force transcendence.
But after a pause, Ye Bai refused.
Becoming a fourth-dimensional lifeform would still only make her semi-transcendent, and it would become difficult to re-enter or interfere with the three-dimensional universe. After achieving complete liberation from survival and material constraints, the only purpose of existence would be pursuing the ultimate truth of the cosmos.
The Ancients’ war with the silicon-based civilization, and their aid to Ye Bai and the material universe, wasn’t driven by emotion. At its core, it was about removing the silicon-based civilization as an obstacle in their quest for cosmic truth.
Of course, the Ancients had objectively helped her save this world. Regardless of their true motives, there was nothing to criticize. Yet, in Ye Bai's eyes, their current state was not true transcendence.
Even the Ancients themselves acknowledged that they were not fully transcendent beings but rather 'semi-transcendent.' True transcendence wouldn’t be confined to three or four dimensions like them. Compared to them, Ye Bai felt she was at least freer in the three-dimensional plane.
Becoming like the Ancients, obsessed only with the ultimate meaning of the universe—wasn’t that just another form of imprisonment?
Ye Bai wasn’t opposed to transcendence, but she would seek her own path to it in the future.
……
Ye Bai’s spiritual energy split into two parts. The majority of her power was used to shatter the dimensional barrier and summon the Five Kings of the Divine Realm, while the rest maintained the temporal domain. Once everything was done, she calmly concluded her exchange with the Ancients and returned to reality, only to find the battlefield already overturned by the arrival of five S-rank beings.
The moment Ye Bai opened her eyes, a slender hand emerged from a line of energy beside her. The Void King, who had been fighting in a dispersed and concealed state, stepped out as if drawing back a curtain.
Among the Five Kings who had breached the dimensional barrier, Naoh had gained the deepest understanding of this new world through battle and his utterly unscientific method of invasion.
Now, as he had done many times before, he bowed his head slightly toward Ye Bai, silver hair cascading over his shoulders, and asked in a low voice,
"My King, shall we conquer this world next?"
"……"
Ye Bai paused. She glanced at the decimated ranks of the Star Church and the Stellar Alliance members who dared not make a move.
Then she looked at Autofis, his golden vertical pupils brimming with curiosity; Eno Lucia, awaiting her command; Kraken, devouring their enemies with gusto; and Walsh, lost in the thrill of battle…
This group, which could only be described as a 'villainous dream team,' snapped her out of the profound reflections left by her conversation with the Ancients—
Wait, hadn’t she just picked up the script of a savior?!
……
The Rylan and Kain fleets, the Stellar Alliance’s main combat forces, arrived as scheduled—though belatedly.
By the time they reached the scene, the Star Church’s siege had already collapsed, its members either dead or fleeing. With the destruction of the central control terminal, only the interference device at the universe’s core could recreate it. But as time passed, that once-'divine artifact' would quickly lose its power and fade into irrelevance.
All that remained on Blue Star were Ye Bai, the Five Kings of the Divine Realm (who were now curiously observing and contemplating this world), and the frozen-in-place Stellar Alliance members.
The newly arrived combat personnel from the two fleets immediately recognized three familiar figures:
The Elven Queen, whom players dared not bring to White Night City; the Ancient Dragon who had once shaken the entire Starnet; and the Infernal Demon God, who had left countless interstellar players with deep psychological scars.
Soon after, delayed by shock and battle interference, the combat footage was transmitted.
Like the space station troops and interstellar citizens near Blue Star who had witnessed everything earlier, the main forces of the two cosmic civilizations fell into stunned silence…
On their way here, they had prepared numerous tactical plans based on partial intel. But now, they abandoned all aggressive strategies and opted for negotiation and compromise—
What was there to fight? Even if their warships carried weapons capable of countering A-rank psychics, hadn’t they seen how those A-rankers had been wiped out like cannon fodder?!
……
Amid the Stellar Alliance’s tense, high-alert atmosphere, a flurry of diplomatic missives—crafted by their finest diplomats and brimming with sincerity and peaceful intent—snowballed toward Ye Bai and her group.
Who was this reclusive powerhouse on Blue Star? How had she unlocked the method to become a Lord? After three years of wandering and adventuring in the game, they were still labeled as 'drifters' by NPCs!
"Dodo—"
Every person connected to Ye Bai was suddenly contacted. Aurora, far away in the Phantom Sea Galaxy, was abruptly awakened by an emergency signal, then whisked onto a ship bound for Blue Star, her comms linked en route. Alongside the diplomatic messages, she was sent over.
The same treatment was given to the companions Ye Bai had met during her escape from Makur Star. Her post-awakening social circle was sparse, so the Stellar Alliance reached out to everyone they could. These individuals, though awkward and conflicted, had no choice but to comply with their civilization’s demands and attempt to communicate with Ye Bai.
The scene felt like a replay of the moment in the game when the announcement—"White Night becomes the server’s first Lord"—had sent the entire universe into a frenzy, desperate to contact White Night.
But this time, facing a coalition encompassing nearly all major civilizations above planetary level in the universe, Ye Bai responded with the same calm, detached demeanor—or more accurately, declaration:
"I want Blue Star."
—White Night was highly suspected to be an A-rank powerhouse from the Chaotic Star Sea, possessing advanced knowledge of "Infinite Realms" and aiming to use this intel to seize Blue Star, ultimately establishing a surface-level faction or backing a civilization.
After an unexpected series of twists, Ye Bai had, in the end, fulfilled the Stellar Alliance’s initial speculation about White Night’s identity.
[End of Main Story]
