Chapter 355: Crushing Situation, Void Doomsday
As one of the main pillars of the Rebirth Empire, Demitri possessed the same level of authority as Emperor Odoacre within the Radiant Mainframe.
His summons quickly received a response from the Radiance.
Yet, to his great disappointment, whether by letting the Radiance search on its own or by personally reviewing the surveillance records, he still found no abnormalities.
But the Sub-space had already been overturned into such a state—was it really possible that there were no abnormalities?
Demitri believed there were only two possibilities.
The first possibility was that the intruder possessed an extremely special ability, able to move freely under the Radiance’s surveillance without triggering any anomalies.
The second possibility was that the Radiance’s data had been tampered with.
“If it is the second possibility, then… was the data altered by the Radiance itself, or by one of those who, like me, hold equal authority?”
A chill ran through Demitri’s heart.
No matter what the truth was, this was not something he could handle now.
He was not exaggerating.
If there really existed someone who could ignore the Radiance’s surveillance and walk freely throughout the Empire, and if this person bore even a shred of malice toward the Empire, then the Empire would be roasting over open flames.
If it was the Radiance itself that deleted the data, then the Empire was equally in peril—who knew what else the Radiance had secretly done?
And if it was one of those with equal authority to him who deleted the Radiance’s data, then… damn it, the enemy was already in the heart of the capital. How could the Empire survive?
“Go find Bualois. No… even Bualois cannot be trusted now. Chongxiao? Even less so. The Emperor… even if the Emperor is innocent, going to him is useless—he cannot resolve this problem.”
Demitri was numb.
Inside the Sub-space, he felt his whole body turn cold, as though a pair of indifferent, murderous eyes were drilling into his back.
This was an experience he had never felt before.
Even when facing the man-made Psionic God of the Apostolic Holy City, he had never felt so powerless.
External enemies, no matter how strong, could only kill him.
But if the enemy came from within…
From Slick of the Radiant Family defecting to the Original Pact, to now the Sub-space being robbed, Demitri felt he could no longer trust anyone.
Damn it. How had a good nation turned into such a mess?
If the Empire collapsed because of internal enemies, then he would not die in peace.
Demitri sat on the ground.
He did not rush to leave but kept thinking.
And in his thoughts, two and a half days passed.
Afterward, he packed the remaining relics in the Sub-space into his portable storage, then walked out the gate as though nothing had happened.
When others asked about the progress of his relic fusion, he merely said there was no visible issue for now, and that he needed a quiet place to continue merging.
Whether others doubted him or not, he could not tell. What mattered was that after leaving the Empire’s capital star, Demitri immediately rushed toward the Esper Garden.
After all his deliberations, he believed that Bai Fu was the only person he could trust now.
Perhaps Bai Fu had her own little schemes, but she would never go so far as to destroy the Empire.
Because if she really had such intentions, then she would not have helped the Empire in the first place.
A few days later.
Esper Garden.
After barely dealing with the visiting groups from the Supernova Warband and Titan Industries, and before she had the chance to contact Lufas for some mischief, Bai Fu was stunned to see Demitri return.
“What happened?”
Demitri gave a bitter smile.
“I cannot make sense of it anymore. I have never been so lost. I think… perhaps only you can help me clear my doubts.”
Saying so, he took out the relics he had left and laid them out one by one before Bai Fu.
“These are the Transcendent Sacred Relics I told you about before, but…”
Demitri explained his experience and the worries in his heart.
“At this moment, the Apostolic Holy City could attack at any time. The Original Pact is eyeing us hungrily. And now something like this has suddenly erupted within the Empire… sigh. I want you to see if there is a way to find out who is behind it. I won’t let you work for nothing. Whatever you want, I’ll help you get it. And these relics—you can take whatever you can use. Otherwise, if they stay in the Empire, they’ll just be stolen.”
Ding!
The moment Demitri finished speaking, Bai Fu received a new mission prompt.
【You have triggered the Hidden Quest [Shadow of the Empire]】
【Quest Introduction: ……】
【Quest Objective: Accept Demitri’s commission and uncover the theft of the Rebirth Empire’s Transcendent Relics】
【Reward: Sacred Light *1】
The reward was only one, but its value was priceless, for it could raise a Sovereign’s power to the Transcendent level.
“Though it’s useless to me, if I give it to Yulia, and then we obtain the final fragment of the True Spirit’s Shed from the Third Apostle, wouldn’t that allow Yulia to become an Apostle?”
Bai Fu’s eyes gleamed.
Each Apostle had their own special ability.
The most unique power of the Third Apostle was its perfect communication with the Ethereal Realm no matter where it was—equivalent to having infinite mana.
And if Yulia became an Apostle and gained the Third Apostle’s ability, that would mean Bai Fu herself would also have infinite mana.
A high-burst, ultra-tanky mage with infinite mana—would you be afraid or not!
Yes, this quest was worth taking.
The only problem was… how to investigate it.
Bai Fu inspected all of the Transcendent Sacred Relics Demitri had brought using Extraordinary Vision, but she found no abnormalities.
She pondered.
“This is what we’ll do. Later, I’ll give you some Tiny Bai Fu Prayer Cards. When you return to the Rebirth Empire, take the Tiny Bai Fu with you to those you find suspicious. Just talk with them as normal—say nothing extra. I will judge whether they have problems.”
Demitri immediately agreed.
At this point, he had no choice but to trust Bai Fu completely.
Carrying the Prayer Cards Bai Fu had given him, Demitri rushed back to the Empire at once.
He suspected many people. Too many. So instead of speaking with them one by one, he simply held a grand banquet under the pretext of “reflecting upon his own path,” inviting all those he doubted.
“This road is arduous. I do not know if I can reach the other side. But still, I must walk it. If even I, the pillar of the Empire, do not try, then who else can I ask to try?”
Demitri raised his glass.
His eyes, filled with love and passion for the Empire, swept across the banquet hall.
Chongxiao, royal nobles from the Senate, even Emperor Odoacre himself.
They had quarreled before, and also cooperated with mutual trust. In the end, where would their relationship lead?
Demitri drained his wine in a single gulp.
Then, Chongxiao walked up to him and patted his shoulder.
“I thought we would make excellent rivals. A pity… but rest assured, even if you fail, I will fight for the Empire until the moment when the situation truly cannot be reversed.”
Demitri laughed. “Hearing you say that, I can rest easy.”
After bidding farewell to familiar faces one by one, he entered the so-called seclusion chamber.
The scene carried a tragic grandeur.
No one would have thought that beneath this tragic grandeur lurked conspiracy and suspicion.
“Did you see anything unusual?”
“Do you really want me to say it?”
“Speak. No matter who it is, I will accept it.”
Bai Fu shook her head. “In truth, I could not see who stole the relics from the Sub-space. But I saw that many already intend to jump ship from the great vessel of the Rebirth Empire.”
She was not trying to scare Demitri. Just now, when she used Apostolic Spirit Vision on those in the banquet hall, she found that quite a few people had more than one faction in their alignment column.
For example, someone like Chongxiao, who had originally been the Patriarch of the Mechanized Firepower Sect, was one thing. But those who clearly bore royal imperial blood, and yet suddenly showed additional faction affiliations—were they not already plotting to flee?
Demitri opened his mouth, with thousands of words he wanted to say, but in the end, he swallowed them all.
He could say what else?
Although the Allied forces had once again held back the Holy City of the Apostles at the front, the price had been several transcendent lives and the detonation of an extra-dimensional space.
Such a bitter victory would not calm those whose hearts had wavered; it would only make them more anxious.
This time they had been lucky and repelled the Holy City of the Apostles — but what about next time?
After all, Bai Fu had already been in trouble; they could not really expect the return of the Annihilation Lord, could they?
“Jump ship!”
Dmitri knew that many people inside the Empire were harboring thoughts like that now.
But he could do nothing.
“This time we didn’t find that mole, but that doesn’t mean we never will. As long as he stayed in the Empire and still wanted to cause trouble, I would be able to drag him out. For now, you should just recover properly.”"
Dmitri nodded.
……
“Sigh, what a troublesome season.”
Bai Fu stretched.
In the past few days she had successfully mastered the remaining three psionic attributes and unlocked the “All Phases” talent.
Besides that, she had fused several transcendent relics, raising her and Ying Fu’s base attributes a bit.
Everything that needed doing had been mostly taken care of; it was time to go out and do something.
Bai Fu immediately sent Hei Fu out and had Hei Fu contact Rufas.
“Tell me—who do you want to deal with?”
Bai Fu asked, “Want revenge?”
Rufas’s heart skipped half a beat. “You mean…?”
Bai Fu said, “The Void Lords. Before the final battle with the Holy City of the Apostles, we need to clear out all these unstable elements.”
Rufas grew excited.
Hunting Void Lords? He liked that!
He could get revenge, and with luck he might obtain a new Void Lord core.
If he could fuse another Void Lord core, even if Bai Fu had seen through his cards, what could she do?
But he could not appear too eager.
He had to act obediently, let Bai Fu trust him, make her think he was no longer a threat — then strike.
“I’ll lead the way.”
They entered the Void one after the other and launched a hunt for the Void Lords.
Including Rufas, there had originally been seven Void Lords in the Void.
Of course, that was now history.
After the battle in the extra-dimensional space, only five lords remained alive in the Void dimension; Rufas had even defected, and their overall strength had been greatly reduced — that was why Bai Fu dared move against the Void.
Rufas chose as his first target the Void Lord Yuan Shi, the one he had failed to ambush before.
He launched another sneak attack — and failed again, falling into a pincer.
“Rufas, you were dead today!” Yuan Shi snarled.
“Was I?” Rufas sneered disdainfully.
“If I dared come, of course I had made full preparations. Do you really think it’s two against one now?”
A cold laugh appeared on Yuan Shi’s hideous head. “Bluff all you want, Rufas. You’ve offended every possible ally — who can you call for help now?”
“Bluff? Why don’t you take a look behind you.”
“Behind me?”
Yuan Shi snapped his head around — and saw someone he had never even dreamed of.
“Bai Fu!”
Why was it Bai Fu?
“You were beaten by Rufas until you became a fool, weren’t you? Why are you here? Have you become Rufas’s puppet?”
Yuan Shi could not understand it and was greatly shocked, but he calmed quickly.
No. The problem was not great.
Bai Fu’s strength was considerable, but compared to them she was still some distance off — that was obvious from the battle that had erupted in the extra-dimensional space earlier.
“I thought you had some backup. If you’re just a puppet at Bai Fu’s level, Rufas, you’ll still die today…”
“You’re wrong!”
Bai Fu suddenly cut Yuan Shi off.
“I’m not Rufas’s puppet. If anyone is to rebel, Rufas is my follower now.”
“Huh?”
Yuan Shi was stunned.
“Also,” Bai Fu smiled, “the ones who die today will be both of you.”
No sooner had the words fallen than, from beneath her feet, from in front of her, and from behind her, Kabaya, Prayer Angel, and Ying Fu each crawled out.
Kabaya’s enormous body split the firmament, dwarfing even the already huge Void Lords.
“Send them on their way!”
After a single soft command, Kabaya, Prayer Angel, Ying Fu, and Rufas charged at once.
Since ascending to Domination-level, Bai Fu had never fought a battle this overflowing with numbers and advantage.
It was crushing.
Total domination.
The mighty Void Lords were frail as fish before her and Rufas.
Under the multiple blockades of the Ethereal Dimension’s Descent, Darkness Unbound, and Dark Energy, Yuan Shi could not send out a plea for aid even if he wanted to.
He could only watch his body be torn apart inch by inch; in the end he could not even self-destruct — he simply died.
Two Void Lord cores drifted in the Void.
Rufas stared at them greedily but did not dare move rashly.
Bai Fu raised a hand with a gesture, and the two Void Lord cores flew into her palm.
The next second, she did something that completely surprised Rufas.
She opened her mouth and, like eating a candy, swallowed one of the Void Lord cores in a single bite.
“?”
Rufas was dumbfounded.
“No way — you just ate it whole?”
Bai Fu looked curious. “It was just digesting and absorbing a Void Lord core. What’s the big deal? Isn’t that how you absorb them?”
I… I…
Who the hell absorbs Void Lord cores like that?!
Rufas’ body trembled.
She had eaten a Void Lord core raw and was perfectly fine.
This was no longer human!
Rufas immediately knelt.
After all the scheming he had planned — to acquire another Void Lord core and then take revenge on Bai Fu — revenge was the last thing on his mind now.
He had gone to hand over his own head.
From that moment on, no thought of resistance remained in Rufas’s heart.
Ding!
[“Rufas’s favorability toward you +43, current favorability 78 (Deep Awe)”]
Bai Fu smiled with satisfaction.
That was right.
If one was a dog, one should behave like a dog!
“Let’s go. Bury the Void completely.”