Volume 4: Twilight Galaxy
The sun rose and set, day turned into dusk. For some, three days passed in a flash, while for others, it felt like an eternity. Whether anticipated or not, the final day of light had arrived.
On this day, everyone, no matter who they were, got up early without prompting. This day held great significance for all.
Shu Xun and his group had also risen early. After a simple breakfast, they stood atop a building with a wide view, quietly watching the last sunrise. The stars in the sky had already faded and the sunlight, as usual, lit up the horizon. The dawn sky burned red in the morning light and the bright Twilight Galaxy gradually ascended.
In the gentle morning breeze, Shu Xun overheard someone on the street marvel at how the sunlight seemed particularly bright and warm today.
Lie Yang turned his head and saw the bustling Zhu Si City filled with excited Twilight Clan members. Many were almost unable to contain their excitement. Some were even standing atop buildings like them, gazing at the sunrise.
As the morning passed, the city gradually returned to its usual rhythm. However, most of the Twilight Clan remained on the streets, clearing their minds of distractions and devoutly praying, preparing to welcome dusk and the arrival of the Great Baptism.
After watching the sunrise, Shu Xun and his group wandered through the alleys for a while before returning to the tavern.
Someone was already waiting for them in the tavern: three native Twilight Clan members. When Shu Xun’s group approached, the three hesitated briefly before stepping forward. The one in the lead stood in front of Ye Jian and bowed gracefully.
With Shu Xun’s tacit permission, the three natives followed the group upstairs into a room.
Ever since the Baptism ceremony began, several natives had come looking for Shu Xun and his group over the past two days. Without exception, these natives were Transformed, those whose shadows had mutated. When the first Transformed found them, Shu Xun’s group was initially surprised. They soon realized that while the world consciousness couldn’t identify the players, the invaders could easily recognize them. Faced with impending doom, the invaders ultimately chose to seek help from the players.
Thus, although the past two days seemed peaceful on the surface, many had been led by their shadows to find the players and had sworn an oath of eternal binding. They awaited the end of the game, where they would be transported out of “Dusk of the Galaxy” through the game system. They would all be transferred to a teleportation point created by the StarPlay family, which had a complete inspection mechanism in place. After confirming that they posed no threat to the Interstellar Alliance, they would be assigned to a suitable planet to start a new life.
Of course, this wasn’t happening only with Shu Xun’s group. Many other players also received pleas for help from the Transformed invaders. Some players were baffled by how such a difficult game had suddenly become one of the easiest to clear.
The conditions for clearing “Dusk of the Galaxy” were clear: saving the native population. Despite the mutations in their shadows, they were undeniably natives. As a result, the number of players who cleared the game had become the highest recorded.
After recording the basic information of the three in the game system, Shu Xun placed the system wristbands on them. These wristbands had a one-way teleportation function and would automatically activate when the wearer’s life was threatened or when the game ended, transporting them to the designated location.
The three thanked Shu Xun and his group before calmly leaving the tavern, awaiting the arrival of dusk and the Great Baptism.
After they left, Lie Yang suddenly felt a bit emotional. “Clearing the game like this feels so unexpected. And although we saved the natives, we also indirectly saved the invaders. Is that really okay?”
“We didn’t save the invaders; we saved the natives. The Twilight Clan members who sought us out had their shadows swear an eternal oath of confinement. The invaders are no longer a threat. Besides, do you think it was the invaders asking for help or the natives?” Shu Xun stroked his beard as he posed the question.
Lie Yang was puzzled. “Is there a difference?”
“Of course, there’s a difference. With the strength of the invaders, crossing the universe is easy for them. Do you think they’d need to swear an oath of confinement to leave? Not at all. The reason is that the Transformed didn’t want to die, so they instinctively sought a way out. Once the invaders within their shadows sensed this, they guided them to us.”
Lie Yang was silent for a moment before asking again, “But what if the natives don’t want to leave?”
Shu Xun paused briefly before replying, “Then the invaders will die with them, together perishing under divine punishment, reduced to ashes…”
The room fell into silence once more. In that moment, their understanding of the invaders blurred again. What were the invaders truly seeking? They didn’t desire immortality, power, or resources. Instead, they hid within the shadows of the Twilight Clan, seemingly unafraid of perishing into dust. Why?
It also seemed that the invaders didn’t randomly choose their hosts. Only those members of the Twilight Clan who experienced certain emotional shifts or harbored specific desires became targets. Observing the relationship between the Twilight Clan and the invaders, it was as if the clan itself had accepted the invaders’ presence, as though the invaders had become a key to unlocking their emotions and desires.
What they didn’t expect was that they would soon witness the answer firsthand.
It was early afternoon when Shu Xun and his group were preparing to head to the central square, planning to arrive early at the location designated by Meng Muyu. As they walked, a passerby suddenly collapsed, dead in an instant!
The street erupted in chaos.
Coincidentally, Shu Xun’s group was nearby and saw it all unfold. They witnessed how, after the person’s death, their appearance instantly morphed, transforming from perfect beauty into an indescribable ugliness! And it seemed to grow more grotesque by the second. This distorted visage was unmistakably similar to the corpses of the death-bound Phantom Clan they had seen back in the Celestial Feather Galaxy.
The deceased person’s body soon disappeared, confirming their identity—a player from the Phantom Clan.
The corpse vanished from sight, but the Zhu Si City remained restless. Though the Twilight Clan didn’t know what had happened, they sensed an unsettling tension. More incidents like this followed—people dying suddenly, their appearances grotesquely warping.
A few minutes later, the “Dusk of the Galaxy” game system made its first in-game announcement: “Due to certain uncontrollable factors and to ensure the safety of the Phantom Clan, all Phantom Clan players will be forcefully logged out in thirty seconds. Please prepare. Other players will not be affected and may continue playing…” As the countdown began, all players were left in a daze. The Phantom Clan, known for their unparalleled mental prowess, were being forcibly logged out of the game?!
Shu Xun and his group watched everything unfold in silence, their minds racing, weaving together logical conclusions. It was as if something had suddenly clicked and the once-confusing pieces now fell into place with the announcement!
The deaths of the Phantom Clan weren’t a coincidence. Upon closer observation, they noticed a faint dark light merging into the shadows of the Phantom Clan players just before their deaths. Despite their unmatched mental strength, the Phantom Clan had died instantly…
Lie Yang looked around at Shu Xun, Ye Jian, and even Gray, all of whom had expressions of realization. Scratching his head, he dragged them away from the crowded area to a rare quiet spot. “Can someone explain?”
To help Lie Yang quickly grasp the situation, Shu Xun pulled up his holo screen and began drawing a comparison chart between the Black Butterfly, the Phantom Clan, and the Twilight Clan, explaining as he went. “Let’s start by explaining why the Phantom Clan players died so suddenly. This is actually the same as what we saw in the Celestial Feather Galaxy with that family of three who died instantly. They died because the invaders suddenly merged with their shadows, causing instantaneous death. The Black Butterfly, the Phantom Clan, and the Twilight Clan are all races invaded by the dark shadows. If we look at their connection, it can be seen as a progression. Their reactions to the invasion show the degree of fusion with the invaders. The Black Butterfly couldn’t fuse at all, which is why they died instantly, with no changes to their bodies or mental strength. The Twilight Clan, acting as an intermediary or more closely resembling the Phantom Clan, could partially fuse with the invaders. This leads to changes in their physical bodies and emotions, such as altered taste or heightened feelings. As for the Phantom Clan, they died because of a complete fusion. Over time, they evolved to the point where the Phantom Clan and the invaders are polar opposites. This sudden total fusion resulted in an unbearable, instant death…”
Lie Yang was completely puzzled. “Two extremes? Like naming a three-leaf grass ‘Leng Bei’? Why? If the invaders and the Phantom Clan can fully merge, why did they become two extremes?”
Just as Shu Xun was about to continue explaining, a gentle voice suddenly spoke from nearby. “Let me explain.”
Everyone instinctively turned their heads and saw Nuan Dong standing not far away. He looked a bit tired, but his eyes were as warm as ever, and his moon-white hair was still floating behind him as if he had rushed over. The system’s countdown had already entered the single digits, and the surprised expressions on everyone’s faces had yet to fade when Nuan Dong smiled softly. With a simple wave of his hand, a streak of white light drifted toward the group.
In an instant, the white light flashed before their eyes and the scene around them transformed. They now found themselves in the vast expanse of the universe, facing a neatly arranged spiral galaxy. A deep blue nebula formed the backdrop, dotted with vibrant, gem-like planets, creating a breathtaking sight. This spiral galaxy bore a striking resemblance to the one in Twilight Galaxy.
Soon, the bright star at the center of the galaxy began to dim under their watchful gaze, eventually collapsing into pure darkness—a colossal black hole that swallowed everything in its path, drawing nearby celestial bodies into its gravitational pull. It was the same inevitable end caused by the death of a star, just like in “Dusk of the Galaxy”.
As planets were devoured by the black hole, countless large spacecraft suddenly emerged from one of them, carrying highly intelligent life forms desperately fleeing the inescapable force behind them.
As the view zoomed in, the group saw that the beings aboard the spacecraft had near-perfect appearances—clearly the Phantom Clan. However, at this point, they were still semi-transparent spiritual entities, as though they had just broken free from their physical forms and hadn’t yet fully solidified into material beings.
They skillfully controlled the spacecraft with their exceptional mental powers, but the scene didn’t linger on these perfect beings for long. Instead, it shifted down to the planet they had just escaped.
On that planet, countless grotesque and ugly life forms were crying out helplessly. Their arms stretched upward as if trying to call out to something, or perhaps grasp at something just out of reach. They ran across the land, chasing after the ever-shrinking dots of the spacecraft in the sky, but even as the crafts disappeared into the distance, they couldn’t catch up.
The world was dim, and the ugly beings spent their days gazing hopelessly at the sky. They attempted to pilot spacecraft of their own, hoping to follow the perfect beings that had left, but their mental power wasn’t strong enough to make the journey possible. They tried leaping off the highest mountain peaks, hoping the wind would carry them into the outer world, where they could search for the ones who had left.
Yet, even in a world with light gravity, there was still gravity. The gentle world wouldn’t let them get hurt from falling, but the soft landing brought with it overwhelming despair. They tried everything, searching for any way to leave. Some even tried to attach wings to themselves, just to fly toward the heavens.
They made attempt after attempt and failed again and again. But no one gave up. Every minute, every second, they gave it their all. They clumsily studied complex technological knowledge, tried to modify their bodies, and kept their heads held high. It wasn’t out of pride, but out of fear that if they lowered their heads, they might miss even the faintest glimpse of hope passing across the sky.
“Mom, what does ‘ugly’ mean?” asked a little girl who was gazing up at the sky.
Her question received no answer—not because they didn’t want to answer, but because no one knew. They looked at one another in confusion, unsure of the definition of ugliness.
They patted the little girl on the head with silly smiles, the twisted, cracked corners of their mouths making their faces look even more distorted and uncomfortable to behold. Yet to the little girl, that smile was the most beautiful thing in the world. It soothed her confusion. Hugging a familiar black box, she walked away. Inside the box, locked with an old-fashioned mechanical lock, were her cherished treasures—a hairpin, a small mirror, a delicate doll, knitted flowers, colorful shells, and a simple Warm Winter Stone…
