Almost every massive galaxy contains a supermassive black hole (BH) at its center. For decades, both theory and numerical simulations have suggested that BHs play a central role in regulating the growth and quenching of galaxies. In particular, BH feedback by heating or blowing out the interstellar or circumgalactic medium (ISM and CGM) forms the basis of current models of massive galaxy formation. However, observationally it remains unclear whether and how BHs influence the global ISM and CGM in general galaxies. In this talk , I will first present our recent findings that BH masses serve as the fundamental driver of the atomic hydrogen (HI) content in nearby galaxies, with galaxies hosting more massive BHs having lower HI gas content. This provides critical evidence that the accumulated energy from BH accretion affects the cooling of galaxy-wide ISM and CGM, which will eventually quench galaxies. I will then move on to the early Universe, and discuss how different galaxy populations, including the earliest quasars at cosmic dawn and massive galaxies at cosmic noon, may also fit into the same picture: galaxies with more massive BHs may consume their gas faster and be quenched earlier than systems with lower-mass BHs.
