Wei Qing supported Granholm and could feel the old man's body trembling.
Not from weakness—but from something deeper.
Don't tell me… this old man wants to go too?
Wei Qing's brow twitched. Acheron wanting to go was one thing. But why would this dying Nameless of Trailblaze cling so hard to Nihility?
"Knocking on the door of Nihility IX…" Granholm murmured. "That Annihilation Lord is truly bold."
"I've pioneered countless worlds and witnessed countless civilizations. In the end, I was stained by Nihility and became a self-annihilator… perhaps that was a kind of guidance."
"If I can see what he described before I die… that doesn't sound so bad."
Watching these two companions—who seemed to have reached a silent consensus—Wei Qing was momentarily speechless.
He joined the Astral Express to complete a system task and satisfy his curiosity. He did not sign up to charge Nihility IX with a bunch of self-annihilators.
Yes, Nihility belonged to the "Four Ends" prophecy too, but Wei Qing wasn't particularly interested in IX. That was Polka's "department," not his.
"Hey, hey—seriously?" Wei Qing exaggerated his tone, trying to puncture the heaviness. "You're actually going?"
"That's a Aeon. Yeah, it's a 'lying-flat' Aeon, but it's still not something you can just go and bump into like a street vendor. Fenghuo goes crazy and you two follow him?"
Acheron looked at him and asked flatly:
"Are you afraid?"
It was a good question.
For normal people—even fanatics who dreamed of meeting an Aeon—fear was inevitable.
In this vast universe, countless beings longed to see an Aeon.
And yet the number who ever succeeded… was likely far less than one in trillions.
Because Aeons were real. High. Untouchable.
But if there was an exception—
It was Nihility IX.
The Aeon of Nihility represented a dangerous Path that devoured meaning.
IX was often depicted as a constantly flowing mass of pitch-black substance wrapped in layered fog—hence the name "the black sun."
And yet this "black sun" never hid.
It simply lay somewhere in the cosmos, drifting or expanding by instinct.
Any existence that followed the traces of Nihility could, in theory, find it—perhaps even touch it.
But just like the civilizations swallowed by Nihility…
Almost no one could endure the impact of that "nothingness."
Most seekers dissolved before ever arriving. Their meaning was erased on the way, silently becoming part of Nihility.
For beings at Emanator-tier, it was still dangerous—but with enough caution, maybe not impossible.
And Fenghuo's proposal clearly wasn't "go die for free."
It was a challenge. A mad experiment wagering existence itself to test the nature of Nihility.
Wei Qing straightened up, righteous expression on his face.
"Afraid? Please. I, Yi Qing, have walked the universe for years—what storms haven't I seen? A mere Aeon—"
He paused.
"Okay, I admit I'm a little afraid."
"And I'm in an organization now. As the Astral Express's new Nameless, if we all go extinct like this, Pom-Pom is going to cry."
At the mention of Pom-Pom, Granholm stiffened. The strange light in his eyes dimmed, replaced by heavier fatigue and guilt.
Acheron simply said, "The choice is yours."
Her meaning was clear: she had already decided.
Yet Acheron still couldn't understand.
Generally, those who stepped onto Nihility ended up at one of two extremes:
Become part of Nihility—
Or crave to end Nihility.
Ignoring the Chaos Doctors, just look at her, Fenghuo, and Granholm:
All walked Nihility. All wanted Nihility to end.
But this "Yi Qing"…
He was also a self-annihilator—yet his mental state looked too healthy.
He didn't seem like someone about to dissolve.
And he also didn't carry that obsessive fixation other Nihility-walkers had.
It was baffling.
Wei Qing sighed and started nagging like a worried parent.
"Fine, Miss Acheron—I get it. But old sir, with your condition, walking two steps looks like torture. You're going too?"
Granholm shook his head slowly and gave a near-liberated smile.
"No, Yi Qing. Don't worry about me. My time is short anyway."
"If I can see Destruction striking Nihility before I go… perhaps that's not a bad ending."
He met Wei Qing's eyes, voice firm.
"This is my choice—just like choosing to take Qilan Star's 'nothing' into myself."
Wei Qing stared at him for a moment, then exhaled.
"Alright. If you've decided, who am I to stop you? People have their wills."
In truth, going to look wasn't impossible. From what Wei Qing knew, Fenghuo survived all the way to the era of the main storyline.
What Wei Qing worried about was this: if Granholm dragged the Astral Express along…
What if the Express got stuck near IX and never came back?
Then what happens to the future main plot?
If he returned to the Stellaron Hunters afterward, Elio would definitely mock him to death.
In Finality's script, the Express was the protagonist's stage.
That was exactly why Wei Qing wanted to "earn seniority" before the Express went dormant.
Granholm's gaze returned to the planet beneath their feet.
"Before that, I still have things I need to do."
"Fenghuo gave us a year."
"The Nihility here is mostly resolved, but this civilization has been cut off from the universe for decades. I want to do something more for them."
"This is my promise to this planet."
Acheron nodded.
"One year is enough."
She didn't hurry. Didn't show impatience. For someone soaked in Nihility, time was already vague—one year and one instant weren't fundamentally different. She could wait.
Also… if the Express's navigator intended to go, she could ride along.
Acheron got lost easily. Nihility wore her memory down.
She preferred a "ride."
Wei Qing sighed.
"Fine, old sir. If you're set on it, I'll stay and help."
"I'm a Nameless now. Helping worlds that need help is part of the job."
Granholm's cloudy eyes flashed with quiet relief.
"Thank you, Yi Qing."
Wei Qing raised a brow.
"But how, exactly, do you plan to help this civilization?"
Qilan Star had been severed from the universe for decades due to Nihility.
Even if the immediate threat was gone, that long-term emotional suppression and loss of meaning had already carved itself into the civilization's bones.
One year wouldn't fix that.
Even ten years might not.
And the Astral Express wasn't the Genius Society. It didn't have a lab team to "rebuild a civilization."
Granholm chuckled softly.
"Yi Qing, you're underestimating this world."
"Qilan Star used to be famous. You think a world like this has no Pathstriders?"
Wei Qing blinked, understanding dawning.
"You mean…"
"Yes," Granholm said. "There are people here who resisted Nihility—successfully, or barely."
"When I arrived, those people helped me suppress the Stellaron."
"And because they held on, this civilization didn't go extinct at its darkest hour."
His gaze looked beyond the ruined city, as if seeing those still standing in the shadows.
"They're a group of Paintlight who never fully abandoned emotional expression—no matter how weak, how restrained it became."
"Now that the tide has receded, they'll step forward again and lead the rebuilding."
"What I need to do is simple: help them through the hardest transition."
Wei Qing frowned thoughtfully.
"So you're going to—"
"No." Granholm smiled. "I can't rebuild their tech progression overnight."
"But I can let someone else help."
He pointed upward.
"You both sensed it, didn't you? Outsiders are here."
The moment he finished speaking, a strange signal pierced the air.
It didn't come from the Stellaron or Nihility—
It came from space.
A faint but perfectly precise interstellar signal punched through Qilan Star's interference, like a baited hook cast onto a forgotten sea.
The source:
Interastral Peace Corporation.
Almost simultaneously, inside an IPC market-expansion branch fleet hovering far beyond Qilan Star—
In the fleet's conference room, a massive star-map projection flickered.
The light representing Qilan Star surged with new parameter changes.
The planet, once tagged "High Nihility Contamination, Zero Value, Permanent Observation," now showed a cliff-like drop in Nihility entropy index—while energy activity began to recover.
"How is that possible?" the branch director, a sharp-eyed Borisin, snapped. "The Astral Express… they actually succeeded?"
He immediately pulled every dataset.
Not long ago, the Luofu had announced a galaxy-shaking intel drop:
The long-silent Annihilation Lord Qingzhou and the Stellaron Hunter "Sam"—confirmed to be the same person.
A Destruction Annihilation Lord joining Finality's faction to collect Stellarons?
It sounded absurd.
And because of that absurdity, the IPC had become interested in Stellarons again.
Maybe "the cancer of worlds" hid secrets the IPC hadn't quantified yet.
So the company restarted surveillance on worlds previously written off because of Stellarons.
Qilan Star was one of them.
Three weeks ago, an IPC branch task group arrived at this system.
They hadn't even landed yet—when they detected something at the planet's perimeter:
A train they hadn't seen in ages.
The Astral Express.
The branch director had practically laughed out loud.
The Express wasn't some tourist junker. It was Trailblaze.
After the Stellaron crisis began, the Nameless had resolved countless disasters.
The director had worried the branch couldn't handle a world tainted by both Destruction and Nihility.
Now?
If the Express was working ahead, the branch only needed to wait.
After all—no matter how heroic the Nameless were, reconnecting Qilan Star to the galaxy was an IPC job.
The director's mood was bright enough to burn a hole through the conference table.
The Stellaron was gone? Great. Not their problem.
The planet's pre-crisis value? Even better.
"Report!" a technician blurted, voice shaking with excitement. "Qilan Star's Nihility entropy is below the safety threshold!"
"And… the anomalous presence you ordered us to analyze—results are in…"
He swallowed.
"Suspected Annihilation Lord Fenghuo… but the target seems to have left."
"Possibly… repelled by the Astral Express's Nameless?"
The director's eyes narrowed into a predatory smile.
"So the Express is active."
"And the world is recovering."
He leaned back, claws tapping the armrest.
"Prepare a diplomatic landing package. Bring the 'assistance' contracts."
"And draft the acquisition framework."
Qilan Star, once discarded—
Was back on the menu.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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