Chapter 1203: Collapse of the Realm  

"In that case, do you think the collapse of the third realm is true?"

"To be frank, I'm rather doubtful. The fact that the third realm is supposedly 'fragmented', that the will of the world can't repair the high-dimensional collapse, are both rather suspicious. I feel that the three thousand worlds is the original form of the third realm, and the suggestion that the will of the third realm is fragmented as a result is just an attempt to shock people.

"However, the highest authority of the world federation is hardly going to promulgate fake news. If he does so, his position will be forfeit. Even so, it's too ridiculous to imagine that the third realm would truly end up being destroyed."

All the hunters of the Milky Way were participating in the discussion of the hot new topic of the day. Was the third realm truly not meant to take the form of three thousand worlds?

No one received a straightforward, accurate answer. After all, the time dilation between the third realm and the Milky Way was massive. A day in the Milky Way was a month in the third realm.

Neither Zhang Lie nor the highest authority of the world federation had time to waste to explain everything to the hunters of the Milky Way. Hong Tianqi initiated a summons, and only that—even the highest authority of the world federation didn't have the privilege of directly commanding all genetic hunters.

Zhang Lie had chatted with Hong Tianqi for a few hours, but by the time he returned to the third realm, four days had passed.

The members of Team Zenith, along with the warlords, were waging war anew among the three thousand worlds. Team Zenith, which had grown even stronger in the meantime, faced no opposition. Any world in which they appeared would be swept clean within moments; if the world didn't submit, it would be destroyed.

Given the impending collapse of the third realm, there was no time to play nice with the members of the three thousand worlds. They had to conquer the three thousand worlds as rapidly as they could.

Zhang Lie had told the members of Team Zenith to disburse the superior- and peak-grade lifeforms to any helpers that approached, and the members of Team Zenith had agreed to the plan.

Zhang Lie had communicated the plan to Yun Bing, who came up with a plan and set up the logistics immediately. Her approach was for ten hunters to share one lifeform.

It wasn't that there would only be one genetic lifeform distributed for every ten hunters; the supply of genetic lifeforms would be unlimited until the hunters' gene fragments were maxed out.

However, requesting a genetic lifeform would require the application of ten hunters together.

Given the suddenness of the notice, there were just a few genetic hunters who responded to Zhang Lie's summons. Most of them were human hunters, but when the hunters in the draconian world heard that they would be able to receive free gene fragments upon participating, they rushed over.None of the hunters yet believed that the third realm would collapse; they simply wanted the free gene fragments.

They treated those fragments as a prize for their participation.

Although the members of Team Zenith and the party of warlords were winning matches at every turn, their progress was still too slow. The three thousand worlds were spread out, and the high-dimensional collapse continued. The members of Team Zenith, excluding Yang Ze, were starting to be able to sense the impact of the collapse.

Just then, the fighters of the draconian, Zongming, and scaleman worlds joined the fray.

"You've come?"

Li Qianlin and Dong Mingxing had each come to the draconian world with a battalion of soldiers.

"I apologize," Dong Mingxing began. "Amassing the troops took some time."

Li Qianlin explained, "This is our world, and we could hardly count on you outsiders to protect it by yourselves. As an inhabitant of this world, I should like to fight for it with my own two hands."

The draconian party from the draconian world asked, "Lord Zhang, you won't blame us for being too late, will you?"

Zhang Lie smiled. "That you were willing to come is valuable enough."

As more aliens joined in, the rate of expansion grew.

Even so, a sword of Damocles was rapidly forming over their heads. The collapse of the realm seemed imminent.

The third-realm hunters who boasted true strength, who already had maxed peak gene fragments, were all still watching without participating.

"We need to speed up."

Zhang Lie unveiled even more appealing prizes. Any hunter who returned bearing a proof of kingship would receive a disaster-grade core.

The hunters of the third realm and the Milky Way were in an uproar.Disaster gene fragments were something that every genetic hunter was now seeking out. Even among the four prime races of the Milky Way, there was yet to be a hunter with maxed disaster gene fragments, demonstrating the difficulty of acquiring them.

The three thousand worlds were large in number, but there was perhaps only one or two disaster-grade lifeforms in a world. They were rarer than gold—and even if a hunter could defeat such a lifeform, it would be futile if that hunter couldn't encounter one.

The fact that Zhang Lie was giving away disaster-grade cores energized all the hunters of the third realm.magic

The hunters of the third realm immediately flocked to participate, descending on the draconian world in droves.

The expedition forces rapidly grew faster as the conquest of the third realm reached its final stages. Suddenly, the three thousand worlds shook madly. A huge dimensional rift appeared in the center of the world, and void storms formed.

Yang Ze was the first to sense the trouble.

"The deepest layer of space is barely holding on!"

The genetic hunters glanced at the shattered void before recalling Zhang Lie's warning.

"Is the third realm really collapsing?"

"This is... the collapse of a high-dimensional space!"

"The three thousand worlds will really be affected by this collapse..."

Within the base camp situated in the heart of the draconian world, Zhang Lie asked, "How many worlds do we still need?"

Li Qianlin reported, "Ten large worlds, thirty medium-sized worlds, and a hundred or so small worlds. Among them, three large, a dozen or so medium-sized, and twenty small worlds are stubborn holdouts."

By then, Li Qianlin had become Zhang Lie's assistant.

Although Li Qianlin's combat ability was rather weak, as the princess, she had received an elite, impeccable education, and she was as skilled as Yun Bing in matters of administration and government.

Zhang Lie's eyes widened in shock. "Still so many?"

Li Qianlin continued calmly, "According to our latest census, despite the 'three thousand worlds' refrain, there currently seem to be almost four thousand worlds in the third realm."

"And can't we do anything about the stubborn worlds?"

Although Zhang Lie's side was brimming with manpower, in the end, the main invasion force was composed of the members of Team Zenith. Furthermore, there were always wounded after each invasion, and those wounded would have to retreat for medical treatment.