Everyone's playing Red Giant? I, Black Hole, devour everything!

Ryosuke Yamamoto stared intently at everything before him, his voice beginning to tremble.

He couldn't accept this fact.

His neutron star resonance battle array shattered with a mere twist.

His elite Amaterasu Society subordinates were cut down one by one by the other party like vegetables. From beginning to end, he didn't even see what Lin Tian's real body looked like, nor did he figure out any of Lin Tian's trump cards.

He finally understood a fact—neutron stars and black holes are not even in the same league.

The so-called battle for supremacy on the Intricate Star Route is nothing but a joke.

While neutron stars are still figuring out how to make their resonant gravitational fields more precise, black holes are already playing with spacetime itself.

This is the gap, a gap that can never be crossed.

"Yamamoto-senpai, let's retreat!"

"This is not an enemy we can handle! This is a monster! We have absolutely no chance of winning!"

"Retreat now! It'll be too late if we don't retreat now! Those two jets are about to sweep over us!"

Ryosuke Yamamoto gritted his teeth.

Although he had prepared for the possibility of failure before he came, he never thought he would be defeated so thoroughly.

But he knew that now was not the time to show off.

Every second we stay means another person will die; if we don't leave now, all thirty neutron stars will perish here.

"withdraw!"

He practically spat out the word through gritted teeth.

In the distance, the Great Xia Kingdom's patrol fleet was rushing towards them at full speed.

On the communication channels, intelligence systems from various countries are monitoring this area in real time.

The public channels of the Seventh Sector were already in an uproar, with countless observers following the outcome of the battle through various means.

Finally, Lin Tian's gaze fell on Yamamoto Ryosuke.

But Yamamoto Ryosuke no longer had the courage to turn back.

He could only run, run desperately; he had never run so fast in his entire life.

But no matter how fast he runs, he can't outrun the gravitational field.

The gravitational field of the primordial black hole has locked onto its neutron star.

That invisible pulling sensation was spreading from behind.

At this critical moment.

A blood-red announcement arrived without warning.

[Warning! An unusual fluctuation has been detected in the celestial body associated with observer "Lin Tian".]

[Primordial black hole mass trigger threshold.]

[The "Cosmic Will Observer Rating Assessment" will be forcibly activated soon.]

[Assessment Content: During the assessment, the observer will face a "mirror opponent" generated by the will of the universe.]

[Consequences of failing the assessment: The celestial body will be forced to collapse, and the observer's qualification will be permanently revoked.]

The blood-red text appeared for a full ten seconds.

The public channel immediately exploded.

"Observer rating assessment?! What is that? I've been playing for seven or eight years and I've never seen anything like it before!"

"It's normal that you haven't seen it. Do you know when the last test of the cosmic will was? It was thirty years ago!"

"I found out—in the past century, the test of the cosmic will has only occurred three times! Each time, it means that an observer triggered a certain threshold set by the cosmic will!"

"Trigger threshold? What kind of threshold? Is it triggered by being too strong, or something else?"

"I don't know, but I remember the assessment results; all three people who participated failed!"

"Holy crap! Not a single one succeeded?"

"Yes! I remember that genius from fifty years ago who had perfected the path of a red giant, hailed as a once-in-a-century prodigy, was crushed by his mirror image opponent in the assessment!"

"I heard he later committed suicide, and the other two people who participated in the assessment also died in the end!"

"This isn't even an assessment, is it? What kind of assessment is so grueling it makes life unbearable?"

Just how strong does Lin Tian have to be to force this out?

Not only ordinary observers, but also intelligence systems from various countries picked up on this announcement immediately.

The United States, the Soviet Union, the British Empire, the Gallic Empire...

Almost every country has focused its attention on Lin Tian.

……

Ryosuke Yamamoto stopped his escape.

He was stunned for a full three seconds, then he laughed.

"Hahahaha—hahahahahaha—!!"

"Lin-san! Lin-san! Did you see it?! Did you see that announcement?!"

His voice was filled with ecstasy and an extreme sense of schadenfreude.

"A test of cosmic will! Do you know what that means?!"

"This has only happened three times in a century! Each time, those who triggered the test were the most brilliant geniuses of their time, but in the end, they all died! Not a single one survived!"

"You're finished! I don't even need to kill you! Even the will of the universe can't stand by and watch!"

"Failure in the assessment means permanent disqualification! Your life is over!"

……

The capital city of the Great Xia Kingdom.

The atmosphere inside the meeting room was extremely tense.

Old Chen stared intently at the blood-red announcement on the screen.

"The test of the will of the universe... How could it be this kind of test? Why this particular test of all people?"

No one could answer him.

Everyone present knew what this meant.

A century-long history, three trials, three unparalleled geniuses, all of whom perished without exception.

The last observer to trigger the assessment was Zhou Tianhe, the master of the red giant line fifty-three years ago.

His combat strength index at that time was the highest in the entire Great Xia.

However, he failed; the star collapsed under pressure, and his observer status was permanently revoked.

It is said that Zhou Tianhe committed suicide on the third day after deregistering his account.

Fifty years ago, he single-handedly propelled the Red Giant Star route to unprecedented heights, and was regarded by the entire Great Xia Kingdom as the hope for the future.

But this hope, in the face of the test of the universe's will, is as fragile as a piece of paper.

"Based on the information we currently have, the test involves the universe's will generating a mirror image of the opponent, identical to the original. The opponent's attributes, skills, and combat experience are exactly the same."

"So... you're fighting with another version of yourself?"

"To be precise, it's like fighting against a version of yourself that never makes mistakes, never gets tired, and never makes a mistake."

Old Chen took a deep breath: "Continue to reinforce the wasteland. Even if there is only the slightest possibility, we must save him."

"But Elder Chen, the assessment is directly generated by the will of the universe; our people have no way to intervene—"

"I know," Old Chen interrupted him, "but I can't let the people from Japan take advantage of the situation after the assessment is over."

"If... if Lin Tianzhen passes the test, he will be at his weakest; if he fails, his observation chamber will also be affected. In either case, we cannot let the people of the Sakura Kingdom get close to him."

"yes!"

……

Somewhere in the Seventh Star Sector.

Lu Xuejian's star floated silently in the starry sky, her gaze also falling on the blood-red announcement.

"Observer rating assessment..."

She murmured those words, her voice trembling with a sound she herself didn't even realize.

She had also heard about the assessment.

That is a shadow that no top observer can avoid.

No one knows what triggers the assessment, nor how to pass it.

Because everyone who knew was dead.

She recalled Lin Tian's previous attitude towards her—that guy, no matter what he faced, always had a nonchalant and indifferent demeanor.

But now, he is facing a test of the will of the universe.

Lu Xuejian suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.

She couldn't quite describe what kind of feeling it was.

Over the past three years, they have faced off countless times in simulated battles. Every time she lost to him, she gritted her teeth and vowed to win next time.

But they never won back.

She thought she would hate him.

But when she was being pressured by Zhao Tianyu at the entrance of the Nebula Secret Realm, it was he who pulled her out of that humiliating situation.

"Lu Xuejian, I suggest you don't go there now," Zhao Yan's voice came through the communication channel. "Once that assessment starts, the surrounding space will be sealed off, and no one outside can get close at all, and besides..."

Zhao Yan hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Moreover, if he fails, his black hole will be forced to collapse, and the resulting gravitational wave impact will be able to crush everything within a radius of tens of light-years."

"I know," Lu Xuejian said.

"Knowing you still—"

"I'll just take a look," Lu Xuejian interrupted him. "I won't get close, I'll just look."