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

The first to be dragged into the accretion disk are the closest red giants.

Their celestial bodies were stretched out by gravity, like dough balls being pulled into thin strips, spinning as they fell into the accretion disk of the primordial quasars.

Then there are the red giants further away.

One after another.

Like candles being lit one by one in the night sky—except they are lit in reverse.

The once radiant red giant star was dragged into the accretion disk, where its outer gas was stripped away, its core was crushed, and all its light was extinguished in front of the event horizon.

It was shining brightly one second, and then it disappeared forever the next.

One.

ten.

Fifty.

One hundred.

Two hundred.

Three hundred.

Every moment of disappearance is as if someone is counting it.

It's not about life.

That's how fast the Zhao family was destroyed.

Zhao Rutie watched all of this with wide eyes, feeling as if his soul had been ripped out.

Those superstars are the core strength of the Zhao family.

It was the foundation upon which he reigned supreme in the Seventh Star Region, and the elite force he had cultivated over a decade with countless resources.

But now, these elites are torn to shreds like paper in front of Lin Tian's quasar.

The gap is too big.

It was so large that it was despair-inducing.

He finally understood why Lin Tian was never afraid of the Zhao family's retaliation.

It's not because of arrogance.

It's because the other party, from the very beginning, stood at a height that the Zhao family could never reach.

All his preparations, calculations, and struggles were utterly insignificant in the face of absolute power.

Just like now—

He could only watch.

Watching his family business, which he had built up over a decade, being devoured bit by bit in just a few minutes.

……

Zhao Rutie's body began to tremble.

He watched as the quasar's gravitational field began to spread toward him, and felt a chill run from his heels to the top of his head.

No.

He cannot die.

He is Zhao Rutie!

He is the head of the Zhao family!

He is the third-ranked observer in the entire Seventh Star Sector, with a combat power index exceeding two million!

He can't just be swallowed up like this without any explanation!

He dialed an encrypted communication number almost frantically.

He had only used this contact number twice.

One time was more than ten years ago, when he had just become the head of the Zhao family.

The first time is now.

The communication was quickly established.

"Quickly—help me!!"

Zhao Rutie's voice was filled with despair.

There was silence on the other end of the communication.

The silence lasted for a full five seconds.

Those five seconds felt longer than five hundred years to Zhao Rutie.

Finally, a voice came from the other end of the communication.

Very strange.

It wasn't the voice he had contacted before.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhao, our agreement... ends here."

Zhao Rutie's mind went completely blank for a moment.

What did he hear?

Is this the end?

What does "this is the end" mean?

"No—what do you mean? Explain yourself! What do you mean 'this is the end'?! What did you promise me before? You said you would—!"

His voice was no longer speaking, but roaring, howling, and questioning madly.

But the person on the other end of the communication did not give him any response at all.

beep - beep - beep -

Communication was cut off.

I couldn't even be bothered to say a final word to him.

Zhao Rutie froze on the spot.

His mouth was still open, the words he hadn't yet spoken stuck in his throat like stones.

He doesn't believe it.

He couldn't accept it.

The "people above" he was so proud of, the forces he had spent countless efforts to curry favor with, abandoned him without hesitation after Lin Tian demonstrated his quasar-level strength.

Like throwing away a piece of waste paper, it was done cleanly and decisively, without any hesitation.

He finally understood.

He was wrong from the very beginning.

His mistake was that he took himself too seriously.

In the eyes of those "above," Zhao Rutie was nothing more than a pawn.

When they're useful, they'll give you a little reward or some resources, making you willingly work for them.

When something is no longer useful, they are simply kicked aside without even bothering to offer an explanation.

Because to them, you don't even have the right to be explained to.

"No...no!!"

Zhao Rutie finally broke down.

His voice echoed wildly through the communication channel, like a wild beast driven to the brink of despair letting out its final roar.

"You cannot devour me!! I am Zhao Rutie!! I am the third strongest in the entire Seventh Star District!! I am—!"

His roar abruptly stopped.

Because the gravitational field of the primordial quasar had already gripped his red supergiant.

That power was on a completely different level from the power that had just suppressed those red giants.

This was prepared especially for him—a trial for him alone.

Zhao Rutie struggled desperately.

He activated his Red Superstar, which had a power index of two million, and released the entire gravitational field in an attempt to escape backward.

But it's no use.

His massive red supergiant star was as fragile as an egg in the gravitational field of a quasar.

The eggshell was the first to be crushed.

The outer layer of gas of the red supergiant was easily stripped off by an unseen force.

The hydrogen, helium, and deeper metallic elements were pulled into a thin stream of matter by the tidal forces.

Then comes the egg white—starry sky.

That is the thickest layer inside the star, with a density many times higher than the outer gas layer.

However, it is still as fragile as a thin sheet of paper in the face of the tidal forces of a black hole, and can be easily torn to pieces.

Finally, there's the yolk—the star core.

That is the core of the red supergiant, the most solid and densest part of the entire star.

Its temperature reaches hundreds of millions of degrees, and its density is enough to make any ordinary substance tremble.

But it still couldn't stop the gravitational pull of the singularity.

The star's core was torn apart from its center, the matter was stretched, and then, like a river that had been drained, it swirled and fell into the accretion disk of the primordial quasar.

As it plunged into the accretion disk, it released its final burst of light.

The light wasn't dazzling.

At least compared to the brilliance of quasars, it is pitifully faint.

But Zhao Rutie saw it clearly.

Because that is his own light.

It was the light he had cultivated for over a decade and was proud of his entire life.

Now, the light flickered briefly in the quasar's accretion disk, and then—

It has vanished forever.

[The observer "Zhao Rutie" (Great Xia Kingdom, Seventh Star Sector) has perished]

[Observer status has been revoked]

A chilling cosmic pronouncement echoed across the entire Seventh Sector at that moment.

Then came more announcements.

[The observer "Zhao Tianyu" (Great Xia Kingdom, Seventh Star Sector) has perished]

[Observer "Zhao..."]

Announcements came one after another, almost without interruption.

Each one represents the fall of a core member of the Zhao family.

Each one represents that once invincible red supergiant star being crushed, torn apart, and devoured by a quasar.

In the end, no one bothered to count the number of announcements anymore.

Because everyone knows—

The Zhao family, which had been running rampant in the Seventh Star District for over a decade, has come to a complete end today.

There is no suspense.

There was no struggle.

Like autumn leaves swept away by a strong wind, so decisive that there's no time to react.

[Devour Complete: Red Superstar x327]

[Quality increase: +42 solar masses]

Current mass: 580 million solar masses