Wandering Meteor

Time leaves no trace, and the years are boundless.

As time progresses, the power and influence of the cosmic retraction wave grow day by day.

In the three-dimensional spatial universe, the retraction starts from the most peripheral area and inwardly contracts. If we measure only by the retraction wave, then on a macroscopic level, the three-dimensional universe is currently contracting faster than the speed of light, resembling a deflating black balloon continuously and uniformly shrinking.

However, even though the speed of the wave is superluminal, the volume of the Universe is also near infinite.

Thus, the actual contraction rate of this three-dimensional space is not rapid; it takes a significant amount of time for the retraction wave to echo from the edge to the cosmic center.

After a lengthy period, the retraction wave has now reached the Star Realm Ball, which is the isolation zone between the Sky Zone Universe and the Star Zone Universe. However, the Star Realm Ball is now virtually non-existent. Originally an isolation zone between the Sky Zone and the Star Zone, it consisted of a material layer over ten thousand light-years thick made up entirely of cosmic material, similar to a high wall segregating the two realms. However, with the emergence of the Entropy Tree near the Star Realm Ball, and its consumption of the Metal Civilization's Lithium Eagle Team, the tree's greedy nature naturally turned its focus to the Star Realm Ball. Even after the onset of the retraction wave crisis, the Entropy Tree tirelessly devoured the Star Realm Ball's material. By now, approximately ninety-five percent of its total material has been consumed by the Entropy Tree, hence the declaration that the Star Realm Ball essentially no longer exists.

Of course, this is not a bad thing for those civilizations fleeing from the retraction wave.

These civilizations no longer need to expend energy and effort to penetrate the Star Realm Ball but can directly cross the boundary between the Sky Zone and the Star Zone, saving them a significant amount of time from the continuously approaching retraction wave. It's similar to refugees from one country fleeing to another without barriers like border walls or electrical fences, naturally saving a lot of time and effort.

At this moment, as the retraction wave approaches the vicinity of the Star Realm Ball, droves of civilizations rapidly escape towards it.

These civilizations are mostly Level 3 Civilizations. As previously mentioned, because the speed of the retraction wave is superluminal, any escaping civilizations that could not achieve superluminal speeds, such as Level 1 and Level 2 Civilizations, have been eradicated. Only civilizations of Level 3 and above, which possess Space Energy and Space Technology and have achieved Superluminal Flight, could barely keep up with the retraction wave. This is determined by the escape velocity; if you cannot outrun the retraction wave, you will inevitably be consumed. However, if you are significantly faster than the retraction wave, escape is naturally easy, as seen with Level 4 and Level 5 Civilizations, with Level 3 Civilizations just managing to maintain a similar speed and thus forming a spectacular chase scene.

From a universal view, this scene resembles a school of fish vigorously evading the torrential waves behind them.

Upon discovering the absence of the Star Realm Ball's obstruction, these fleeing Level 3 Civilizations are overjoyed. However, their joy is short-lived, as what follows is an incredibly shocking sight.

As these Level 3 Civilizations rush at top speed into the area originally encompassed by the Star Realm Ball, they are stunned to see a massive cosmic tree looming in the dark nebula ahead. The tree, entirely dark green and unresponsive to any electromagnetic force reactions, spans hundreds of thousands of light-years in height and tens of thousands in diameter. Countless branches sprout densely packed on the tree's trunk and branches, lush and extensive!

However, this isn't even the most shocking part.

The most shocking aspect is the growth pattern of this giant tree, which unlike ordinary trees that grow wildly and irregularly, whether in branches or trunk, appears intelligent. The dense branches are neatly organized around the main trunk, each branch forming a ring, with hundreds of millions of branches comprising hundreds of millions of rings. Combined, these numerous branches resemble the spiral arms of a nebula, perpetually growing around the main trunk, making the giant tree appear as an immensely vast nebula.

"My God, what is that? Is that a tree? How could a plant possibly survive in the Universe? That's unscientific!"

"Although its form resembles a tree, one can imagine its growth rules aren't the same as normal plants. It could also be part of some alien civilization!"

"Isn't this cosmic giant tree excessively tall? It's even bigger than a typical small nebula, too terrifying. Should we just pass through it directly?"

"We have zero intelligence on this giant tree, passing through directly does carry certain risks, but the backflow surge is pressing from behind, we have no choice but to take the risk!"

"In just a moment, the escaping Level 3 Civilization group was filled with discussions. However, nobody knew the origins and intelligence of this cosmic giant tree, so they temporarily named it the Giant Tree Nebula."

"One reason is it's a giant tree, the second is because its growth structure and mode are indistinguishable from that of a nebula."

The observations of these Level 3 Civilizations were correct; this giant tree is actually an Entropy Tree. As the Entropy Tree devours massive amounts of cosmic material within the Star Realm Ball, it has discovered that with an increase in mass, there is a possibility of black hole formation in its main trunk. Thus, the Entropy Tree, through its intelligence system analysis and calculation, concluded that imitating the growth pattern of a nebula could prevent black hole formation. Accordingly, it decomposes a large amount of material and reassembles it into Tree Needles, mimicking the arm structure of a nebula.

"Bang Bang Bang!!"

Suddenly, the planets of the civilizations that had chosen to fly directly past the Entropy Tree exploded one after another.

This was because these escaping Level 3 Civilizations had entered the attack range of the Entropy Tree. The Entropy Tree then controlled the Tree Needles in its outermost spiral arms to launch an attack. The Tree Needles, with extremely fast speed, instantly penetrated the nearby planets, causing the devices on the planets to explode. During the explosion, the Tree Needles continued to break down planetary material through a unified force core, then absorbed and reassembled it into Tree Needles.

In just a moment, all the civilizations' planets that attempted to fly past the Entropy Tree were devoured by it.

Although these Level 3 Civilizations possessed Space Zero-point Energy, they were still insignificant in front of the Entropy Tree. And although they were struggling and making desperate efforts to avoid the surge backlash, deserving sympathy, the Entropy Tree, being a hybrid of Entropy Beast and Cannibal Tree, was programmed and grew cold and ruthless, focusing solely on the survival rule.

Just as the Entropy Tree continually devoured the approaching civilization planets, the backflow surge was also rapidly closing in. Some of the hesitating civilization planets were eventually affected by the surge backlash and instantly disappeared from the universe.

Sensing this situation, the Entropy Tree instantly felt a huge threat, but it didn't choose to escape. Both the Entropy Beast and the Cannibal Tree have no history or habit of escaping, so their combination is even less likely to flee. Instead, it controlled countless Tree Needles to charge towards the surge backflow, seemingly treating the backflow surge as an enemy, believing it could defeat the opponent.

However, reality is cruel. Countless Tree Needles charged at the face of the backflow surge, but were instantly annihilated by the surge, disappearing from the universe just like those civilization planets. The Entropy Tree never imagined that its thousands of Tree Needles would be so vulnerable, and what was even more unexpected, just as the backflow surge was about to destroy the Entropy Tree's main body, the massive body of the Entropy Tree suddenly disappeared from the cosmic space.