Chapter 1 The White Wasteland

Above the white wasteland ravaged by radiation storms, a beam of intense light suddenly flashed. An expeditionary starship, engulfed in flames, burst out of a rift and plunged downward as if it had lost power. It crashed violently into the ground, sending white sand flying into the air. The impact didn't stop there; the ship rolled and tumbled, plowing a deep trench into the ground, raising a white dragon in its wake.

The nearly shattered azure particle shield absorbed the force of the impact, flickering like a faulty lightbulb for a few moments before abruptly vanishing. The ship suddenly lurched downwards, its nose angled steeply into the desert, its tail sticking up high, its twisted and deformed thruster nozzles bursting with sparks. With a final shudder, it finally broke down, spewing out thick black smoke.

"Bang, bang, bang—"

The ship's hatch jammed, and there was a sound of impacts from inside. Bulges appeared on the alloy door panel, then with a bang, it was kicked open. The deformed hatch slammed onto the sand, spinning and sliding for dozens of meters.

Harrison and his group emerged, clutching their injured bodies, staggering as if they were drunk. The ship's gravity stabilization device and gyroscope had malfunctioned, causing everyone to be thrown around.

One of the crew members looked at the crippled ship, his voice filled with panic: "We're finished! The ship is wrecked! We can't escape!"

"Don't panic. The enemy isn't pursuing us. Hurry up and repair it."

Harrison rubbed his dizzy head and gritted his teeth as he ordered the panicked crew to repair the ship.

After the outpost was attacked, many expeditionary teams scattered and fled, relentlessly pursued by the World Tree race. They had also encountered enemies, and their team was reduced to the last ship. They had managed to shake off their pursuers with great difficulty, but their heavily damaged vessel had been pushed to its limits and was now stranded here.

"I wonder how the outpost is now?" One of the crew members muttered to himself.

"It's definitely gone. The World Tree came prepared. There's no way it could have survived with the outpost's armed forces."

"When we were escaping, the commander was still giving orders in the control room. I'm afraid he sacrificed himself in the self-destruction, perishing with the base..."

A somber mood permeated the group. After working together for more than ten years, many expeditionary members had become familiar with each other. Now, with so many colleagues and comrades facing an uncertain future, everyone was deeply worried.

"The news of the World Tree attack should have been transmitted back to the main universe. Before we evacuated, I used the outpost's quantum network base station to send a message to His Excellency Black Star. He should have received it, but he hasn't come to rescue us yet. I wonder..."

Harrison's voice trailed off uncertainly. He had sent a request for help as soon as the attack occurred, and he had been protecting the "throne" that Black Star had specially left for him while fleeing, waiting for Han Xiao to arrive. But there had been no response until now.

"Can we contact him again?" Someone quickly asked.

"Not at the moment. There is no base station to connect to, so we can't communicate with the outside world..."

Harrison was only halfway through his sentence when a spatial fluctuation appeared above the ship. Han Xiao, teleported in, walked out of the damaged hatchway. The crew members were immediately overjoyed at the sight of him.

"Your Excellency Black Star! You've finally arrived!"

"We're saved!"

Han Xiao raised his hand to calm everyone down, then looked at Harrison, sizing him up. "It seems you're in good shape. You're not injured."

Harrison stepped forward, his expression somewhat disappointed. "You're late. The outpost has fallen. They..."

Han Xiao interrupted him, nodding. "Alright, I already know about the situation. The outpost is gone, so be it. The three great civilizations have already arranged for personnel to pick up other scattered expeditionary soldiers. I'm mainly here to pick you up... and your teammates."

When he received the emergency notification from the three great civilizations in the Seber base war room, Han Xiao had already received Harrison's request for help. The reason he had arrived so late was that he had spent time dispatching high-level combat power from the association, and had first gone to the King of the Unsealed World to protect the Pivot Serpent and hide it in a secret location. After completing these important tasks, he had come to pick up Harrison—Han Xiao wasn't worried that Harrison would have an accident. He had been monitoring Harrison's situation with an observation mark. Seeing that he was safe and sound, he had not teleported over immediately.

"What about the outpost? Aren't you going to support it?" Harrison asked.

"There's no need. The dimensional coordinates of each outpost have been exposed, so it's not suitable to rebuild the base. Even if we want to rebuild the outpost, it will be in another location. This loss isn't too great either. The outpost has played its due role over the years."

Han Xiao waved his hand.

The purpose of the outpost's existence was only to facilitate the expeditionary army's exploration of deep-level secondary dimensions. The various dimensional coordinates that had been located over the years had long been recorded in the database. The coordinates of the King of the Unsealed World's territory and the area around the World Tree had been controlled by the three great civilizations, which meant that these places had become "new shallow dimensions"—thanks to the special structure of the secondary dimensional worlds, mastering the coordinates meant that even without an outpost, subsequent troops could quickly jump over, without having to travel for many years like conventional exploration. This was the most important achievement.

As for the outpost itself, it did not have irreplaceable value. With these coordinates in hand, it could be rebuilt at any time, so this loss was nothing in the eyes of the three great civilizations. They were more concerned about the extent of the intelligence leakage.

Harrison nodded and asked, "What are our next steps?"

"I'll take you to the three great civilizations' main camp area in the secondary dimensional world. They have already gathered troops there to prepare for a possible attack by the World Tree... This time, the coordinates may have been leaked, and the World Tree's opening of a secondary dimensional front should be a foregone conclusion. Next, the three great civilizations will have to face a two-front war... After sending you off, I have to go to the three great civilization leaders for a short meeting to discuss this matter."

Han Xiao said casually, his tone calm and without worry.

At this time, the World Tree was likely still entrenched in the dimensions of the various outposts, cleaning up the battlefield, but he had no intention of launching a surprise attack. Even if he went over, the Secret Tree King might not appear. It would be a wasted trip and would only alert the enemy. It would be better to wait for the Secret Tree King to open a two-front war, and then he could lie in wait and strike later, giving him his favorite big slap in the face—if the World Tree had mastered the coordinates of the shallow dimensions, it wouldn't take long to jump over, and it might even be able to launch another round of blitzkrieg. So Han Xiao estimated that the Secret Tree King wouldn't delay for too long.

Han Xiao briefly explained, without saying more, and summoned a new vehicle, set the destination coordinates, and called everyone to board the ship and set off to evacuate.

Everyone obediently accepted the arrangement. Compared to other expeditionary soldiers, these people were lucky enough to have Harrison's light and receive Han Xiao's personal reception, quickly escaping from danger.

...

The Interstellar United Army was divided into multiple army groups. The Border Defense Army was responsible for guarding the Shining World front, while the Secondary Dimension Garrison Army was responsible for defending the main camp area in the shallow dimensions. This was the foundation of the three great civilizations in the secondary dimensional world. If it was cleared, they would lose most of their control over the secondary dimension.

A few hours after the outpost was attacked, all the shallow dimension war zones had completely entered a state of combat readiness, and the garrison army was prepared for battle.

At this moment, in one of the shallow dimension war zones.

Blue energy filled the area, and the scene resembled an ocean. An imperial fleet belonging to the Secondary Dimension Garrison Army hovered in mid-air, waiting quietly. All the warships were secondary dimension-specific models, which appeared slender and symmetrical compared to the Empire's conventional heavy military starships.

"We just received news that the war on the Shining World front has broken out again. The World Tree army has launched another attack. At this critical juncture, it is likely an enemy tactic of linking the two fronts, so the enemy may appear at any time. Everyone, be alert!"

In the main ship, the commander spoke on the military-wide channel.

The Imperial soldiers on each ship were awed and dared not be distracted in the slightest.

After waiting for a while, the fleet commander suddenly received an order from other troops. His eyes narrowed, and he said in a deep voice: "The World Tree army has already attacked. Thirty-four war zones have already been invaded. Other garrison troops are engaging in battle. It will be our turn soon..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the space wall suddenly opened a honeycomb-like array of jump points, and the World Tree race swarmed out like a green tide.

"Attack!"

The fleet commander roared the order.

Bang, bang, bang—

In the next moment, countless energy beams lit up in the field, crisscrossing to form a dense net, instantly shattering a large number of each other's warships.

The two forces were fearless, as if they had turned into two giant beasts, one black and one green, fiercely tearing at each other, regardless of their own injuries, only caring about swallowing each other's flesh and blood in large mouthfuls.

The same scene was happening in hundreds and thousands of shallow dimension war zones. The war suddenly broke out!

The war mode in the secondary dimensional world was different from that in the main universe. Each war zone was a separate battlefield. With the help of the unique "geographical" structure, countless fleets fought while shuttling through various secondary dimensions, performing operations such as containment, drawing out, encirclement, and counter-encirclement. The situation changed rapidly, and the flames of war swept through countless small worlds. Pieces of secondary dimensions were blasted into slag, and the wreckage was swallowed by spatial storms.

The high-level combat power of both sides also began to collide and kill each other, and the battlefield shifted from one dimension to another.

...

In a certain shallow dimension war zone riddled with holes, teleportation gates hung high in the sky, spitting out several Super-A Grades from the three great civilizations, each wounded. Not far away, a green teleportation gate also opened, and more Sacred Tree Messengers chased out.

The Super-A Grades couldn't care less about resting and quickly turned around to meet the enemy, falling into a disadvantage again, making the situation even worse.

"Don't even think about leaving the secondary dimensional world alive!"

Several Sacred Tree Messengers were filled with murderous intent, their attacks fierce, and their eyes flashing with glee.

In the past, when fighting against the Super-A Grades of the three great civilizations, due to the existence of that healing power user, all the enemy's high-level combat power were like suicide squads, making them miserable and making it very difficult to fight. They couldn't feel the joy of the World Tree's infinite rebirth at all.

But now it was different. In the secondary dimension battlefield, due to the special battlefield structure, that healing power user was bound to be greatly restricted and unable to take care of every battlefield... Moreover, the healing power user didn't even have time to come over. The main force of the main universe launched an offensive, dragging many hostile high-level combat power to the front lines, and that healing power user was among them.

Now, seeing the enemy's constrained appearance again, a group of Sacred Tree Messengers finally felt relieved.

Among the Super-A Grades being besieged at this time, Austin was impressively among them. Half of the magic treasures on his body had been blown up, and he was struggling to resist the offensive, his face tense and his expression solemn:

"The situation is not good. Without more support, we will definitely suffer losses."

Even with the Sanctuary Resurrection as a safety net, most people didn't want to end up in this situation. Aurora was the only one, and everyone wanted to stay on the front lines and fight side by side with the support, so there were very few high-level combat power willing to assist the shallow dimensions. Except for the direct descendants, no one volunteered. They were all ordered to come to support, and the number was even more different from the enemy, making the situation seem unfavorable.

Baggel, who was next to him, was fighting fiercely with a high-level Sacred Tree Messenger, making it difficult to tell who was winning. Hearing this, he said in a low voice: "Don't panic, we still have reinforcements."

"What reinforcements?" Austin frowned.

At this moment, the space wall in the distance suddenly opened, and a fleet without markings suddenly entered the battlefield, directly firing dense conical missiles at the World Tree race, detonating on their shields.

In the next moment, the places where the missiles exploded turned into spatial turbulence, directly engulfing a batch of the World Tree race and disappearing without a trace.

"This is..." Austin's pupils shrank.

"The Covenant's dimension exile missiles," Baggel interjected.

"The Covenant? What's that..."

Before Austin could ask further, waves of Super-A Grade fluctuations soared into the sky.

Boom—

Several unfamiliar Super-A Grades flew out of this mysterious fleet, quickly approaching, joining the battle, and launching a fierce attack on the Sacred Tree Messengers.

Austin's pressure was relieved, and he hurriedly withdrew a distance, watching the two sides fight, with a look of surprise on his face:

"This is the reinforcement you were talking about? Who are they?"

"Don't you think they look a little familiar?" Baggel raised his eyebrows.

Austin stared intently, and his expression suddenly changed, recognizing several people, all of whom were famous First Generation from history.

Combining this with Baggel's identity, he suddenly understood and became uncertain:

"They are all Resurrected Ones like you? I thought Black Star hadn't resurrected them. When did this happen?!"

"You'll know the specifics later. Now is not the time to go into details."

Baggel didn't explain much, dodging the enemy's counterattack, and a forbidden spell ray pierced through the enemy's chest.

Austin's heart trembled, and he took a deep look at the few people, without asking any more questions, and rejoined the battle.

A similar scene happened in many war zones. Dozens of Resurrected Ones from the Covenant organization, who had been hiding for many years, finally participated in the war for the first time, assisting the Super-A Grades on all sides and quickly stabilizing the situation of the high-level combat power.

Not only was the World Tree surprised by this new force, but even the three great civilization armies were confused and couldn't figure out where this batch of reinforcements came from for a while.

At the same time,

The leaders of the three great civilizations, who were monitoring the secondary dimension battle situation, all turned their heads to look at Han Xiao, who was watching the battle together in the office, with very subtle expressions, mixed with surprise, pain, and other complex emotions.

"Black Star... aren't you going to explain?"