The nauseating rusty stench of the Grand Canyon had dissipated.
The colossal body of Broodmother No. 1, which was once capable of rivaling a Celestial God, was now trembling violently.
This physiological fear had nothing to do with pain; it was an irresistible submission of bloodline engraved in its very marrow.
As a wielder of Authority, it knew better than any monster what kind of supreme taboo the golden light in the mid-air truly represented.
Its cherished primordial power, faced with this light, did not even have the right to struggle, leaving only the most humble shivering.
It was a dimensional strike in terms of status.
What sent its soul scattering in terror was that the life energy within its body began to spiral out of control.
A green torrent surged wildly through its blood vessels, violently forcing open its thick carapace.
The energy poured out recklessly, competing to surrender to that golden war machine.
In the presence of the true Propagation Path energy, this worm-like creature that relied on devouring to evolve was, at best, an immature, defective product.
All hostility was instantly washed away.
Within the dense compound eyes of the Broodmother, only a morbidly fanatical sense of devotion remained.
[Higher-tier energy of the same type detected... analyzing...]
[Firefly's Core power compatibility: 20%... 35%...]
[Firefly's Path power has been replenished...]
[System Judgment: Due to the replenishment of Propagation Path power, the Firefly Trial Card's available time has increased by 1 hour, 1 hour, 1 hour...]
Lin Qingyue watched the numbers wildly jumping on the panel and whistled contentedly.
"Oh? Rank suppression, plus an all-you-can-eat buffet?"
She looked down.
Below, over two hundred thousand Mantisfolk were as docile as sheep, and in the deep pit ahead, the giant Broodmother was actively offering up its own life essence.
A smile of an experienced player who had discovered a hidden game mechanic spread across Lin Qingyue's face, an irrepressible grin of a true chaos-seeker.
"This is great. Both the main course and the desserts are ready. How could I refuse to eat?"
The golden vortex on the Sam Mecha's chest suddenly expanded, no longer gentle.
It was a display of extreme greed.
The low hum emitted as the vortex spun even carried a hint of a gluttonous diner's satisfied sigh before starting a meal.
"Sorry about this, big guy."
Lin Qingyue's voice, amplified through the speakers, drifted throughout the canyon, filled with delight.
"On the Path of Propagation, you might have to call me ancestor."
She paused, her tone becoming even more playful.
"Strictly speaking, even if your species' ancient ancestor were brought back to life, they would have to obediently kowtow to me before leaving."
The words had barely left her lips.
The Broodmother No. 1 in the deep pit let out a final, liberating wail.
Its shell, sturdy enough to withstand the main cannon of a battleship, rapidly turned gray before everyone's very eyes.
As if drained of its last drop of moisture, it crumbled into powder in this mere second.
Disintegrated, shattered.
The mountain-like body turned into a sky full of purple crystalline dust, drifting away with the wind.
But this was merely the beginning!
The golden vortex, like a black hole thrown into still water, violently stirred up a ripple of energy that swept across the entire Grand Canyon.
Over two hundred thousand Mantisfolk, prostrate on the ground, didn't even have the chance to make a sound before they collectively followed in the Broodmother's footsteps.
The Dark Red Imperial Guard in the front row vanished instantly.
Next came The Swarm, stretching endlessly.
This was a silent, utterly magnificent "forced erasure."
Their bodies were violently dismantled into the most primitive points of light, converging into a river of energy like a thousand birds flocking into a forest, continuously pouring into Sam's power core.
There was no explosion.
There was no bloodshed.
Over two hundred thousand insects, in an instant, were completely erased from this world.
Only a vitrified, deathly silent Grand Canyon, empty enough to make one feel faint, remained.
"Sis... did you just 'format' them all?"
Lin Xiyue, huddled behind her shield, rubbed her eyes.
Staring at the empty land before her, she felt her worldview being repeatedly crushed by an excavator operated by her sister.
"This isn't called formatting; this is called clearing the mob cache."
Su Wan struggled to maintain her aloof demeanor, but her slightly trembling fingers betrayed the inner turmoil she was feeling.
She stared intently at the figure bathed in the holy golden light.
This sense of power, able to trample rules and strip everything away at will, sent an unprecedented thrill through the rebellious Young Mistress.
"This is true power... The teachings of those old bones in The Family are absolute bullshit."
"The Captain... did she just press the delete key?"
Xia Lian murmured to herself.
The phone in her hand was scorching hot from overload, yet she still couldn't bring herself to put it down.
This was a miracle worthy of being recorded in the annals of history.
"Hey! Commander! Say something! Where are the bugs?!"
Hao Chi shook the newly rebooted Robot No. 055 like a madman.
His voice carried a sense of breakdown, as if he had just survived a disaster.
"Two hundred thousand! Those were two hundred thousand fucking Mantisfolk, not two hundred thousand flies! How did they just go 'whoosh' and vanish?!"
Robot No. 055's electronic eye flashed frantically, the red light flickering on and off.
Within its logic core, the once rigorous war simulation had already become a pile of gibberish.
"Zz... Zzz... Large-scale matter annihilation detected..."
"Logic determination: Survival rate for this battle... corrected to: 100%."
"Battlefield authority update... Current Overlord: Lin Qingyue."
"Of course I fucking know she's the damn boss now!"
Hao Chi slumped to the ground, staring at the empty canyon, and suddenly covered his face, laughing hysterically.
At this moment, the wind in the Grand Canyon changed.
Not because of the weather, but because the "owner" of this land had changed.
High in the sky.
The remaining two Broodmothers had completely frozen.
The shackles of status were heavier than any iron chains, locking down all their survival instincts.
"Don't rush, line up one by one."
Lin Qingyue deftly shifted her crosshair, the Mecha's dual blades carving a graceful arc.
The core on Sam's chest once again erupted with a blinding pulse.
This wasn't slaughter.
This was the most unreasonable form of deprivation.
The two Broodmothers didn't even have time to let out a mournful cry for mercy.
Before the temporary authority of "Propagation," they were no longer city-destroying monsters, but two super-capacity mobile power banks.
Pure dark-red energy was forcibly torn from their seven orifices.
Those were two surging rivers of energy, pouring into Sam's Core in an extremely domineering manner.
[System Notification: Given that the Host granted the opponent the most dignified death in their most proficient field, it perfectly aligns with the "Elation" temperament.]
[Elation Value +10086!]
The harvesting efficiency was astonishingly fast.
The speed at which the two mountains of flesh shriveled was like a leaking balloon.
Finally.
They turned into two handfuls of inconspicuous purple ashes in the wind, completely dissipating.