Chapter 1 Inception

In the initial tens of seconds, the diffusion speed of the white pillar of light was still visible to the naked eye, roughly like a tsunami approaching.

But a moment later, the white light "exploded," swallowing everything in the blink of an eye.

S City was just the beginning.

Soon, the entire Eurasian continent, the entire planet, and even the entire solar system… were covered in white light.

This "data light stream"-like substance began to infect the entire universe like an infinitely proliferating virus.

And those who were enveloped in the light stream lost consciousness for a period of time, until…

…

Buzz——

An unpleasant buzzing sound entered his brain.

This sound didn't seem to come from the outside, but rather from within.

Feng Bujue, who regained consciousness amidst the buzzing, immediately opened his eyes…

At this moment, the white light had dissipated, and what came into his view was a city in ruins.

Not the kind of city that had "just been destroyed," but an environment that looked like it had been sealed for many years, full of strange phenomena, and even more sinister.

"Where is this?" He immediately spoke, asking this question.

The reason he asked was because he had seen Gu Chen at his side.

"It's definitely not S City," Gu Chen replied. "If it were… even if it turned to ash, I could recognize it from the foundation."

"So we were teleported somewhere else?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"It wasn't you who moved." Suddenly, a third voice joined their conversation. "It was the entire universe…"

Feng Bujue and Gu Chen turned their heads almost simultaneously, because before the voice sounded, neither of them realized that someone was approaching.

This showed that the person had suddenly appeared behind them at the very moment he spoke.

"Oh, it's you…" When Gu Chen saw Vincent, his expression showed some dislike, but in his heart, he was actually relieved.

"You…" Feng Bujue's first reaction upon seeing this devil was to step forward and throw a punch. "Why didn't you come to save…"

Bang——

His fist was caught by Vincent with one hand, and the force of the punch created a gust of wind that swept in all directions.

"Hey, hey… don't go too far, kid." Vincent still wore his unfathomable smile. "The Candidate Game is already over, and the seal on her has broken on its own… Li Ruoyu… has nothing to do with me anymore, what obligation do I have to save her?"

"Tch…" Feng Bujue knew that what he said made sense. He spat and withdrew his fist.

"Heh…" Seeing this, Vincent smiled again and slowly lowered his hand. "In my opinion, you're the one who deserves to be beaten, right?" He paused for half a second before continuing, "Ruoyu died right in front of you, and you couldn't do anything… On the contrary, she even managed to create a chance for you to escape before she died…" He spread his hands. "To take a step back, you should also bear a large part of the responsibility for this mess that 'Destiny' has created, right?"

His words were very harsh, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe them as "vicious," especially when spoken to someone who had just lost their loved one.

Of course, as a devil, it was only natural for him to say even more excessive things… The main point was that everything he said was something that Feng Bujue couldn't refute.

"Then…" After a few seconds of silence, Feng Bujue's tone returned to calm. "…Are you here to pursue my 'responsibility'?"

"Hehehe…"

Just as Jue Ge asked that question, a familiar, lewd laughter entered everyone's ears.

Along with it came three figures.

These three people, like Vincent, were wearing black suits and trousers, with their ties loosely tied. They all exuded different degrees of pressure… which didn't seem out of place in this strange environment.

"Hehe… if we were here to pursue your responsibility, would you still be standing here talking and laughing with us?" Woody chuckled a few times before responding to Jue Ge's question.

"Damn it…" This time, before Feng Bujue could speak, Gu Chen covered his forehead with one hand and cursed.

It had been many years since he had cursed so simply and directly, but he really couldn't hold back this time.

"Hehehe… what's wrong? Does seeing us make you feel bad?" Woody asked with malicious intent.

"Of course," Gu Chen replied in a drawn-out voice. "Every time I see you guys appear together, it basically means that humanity is about to be destroyed… How can I be in a good mood?"

This was the truth. The last time he saw Vincent, Woody, Simon, and Seed all together, it was also at the kind of pace approaching the end of the world.

"If you two want to reminisce, go rent a room and talk." A second later, Simon interrupted them, saying, "We don't have time for that right now, get to the point."

"Ah… then let me explain." Vincent was about to take over the conversation.

"Wait… hehehe…" Unexpectedly, Woody snatched the lead. "Why should you say it? Can't I say it?"

"We're supposed to be saving time, and your bursts of lewd laughter add up," Vincent replied.

"Hmm… that makes sense…" Woody actually agreed with him. "Hehe… then please."

"Feng Bujue." The next second, Vincent called out to Jue Ge. "Listen carefully, what follows is of great importance to you."

"Oh." Jue Ge just looked at him coldly and replied casually.

Vincent shrugged and continued, "First, let's explain the general situation…" He paused. "This 'phenomenon' in front of you can be called 'dimensional erosion.' It's an extremely serious change for the entire universe. To compare it… it's hundreds of millions of times more serious than a trivial matter like 'Earth exploding.'"

"'Destiny' can do this?" Feng Bujue continued.

"Of course, she can," Vincent said. "She is originally a 'multiverse hub'-like existence. Even when she hasn't obtained the Staff of Truth, as long as she is willing, she can always… invade and control an individual with low mental strength in this dimension and adjust it at the molecular level…

"What's even more troublesome is that because she comes from another parallel universe, none of her actions here will generate 'karma.' In other words… no matter what she does, she won't be subject to the backlash of the 'will of the universe.'"

"And we, as the terminal executors of this will… that is, the grassroots civil servants of the God Realm, cannot directly interfere with her without specific orders."

"Not directly, what about indirectly?" Gu Chen heard some secrets in the other party's topic and seized the opportunity to ask.

"Heh…" Vincent smiled. "Didn't you see the corpses of those brainwashed employees in the Dream Corporation building? That's our means of indirectly stopping her, but…" He curled his lips and didn't finish his sentence.

"So you guys just watched her launch 'dimensional erosion'?" Feng Bujue asked again at this time.

"You obviously have a misunderstanding of our operating system," Vincent replied. "You have to know… devils and angels alike, we are not the kind of creatures you can call with a phone call. In most cases, we won't come to the human world in this 'unrestricted state'… If you think that because we can teleport, we can stop everything that should be stopped… then you are very wrong."

"If it could really be done that way, the world would be much cleaner," Simon interjected with indignation, judging by his tone, he really hoped it could be like that.

Feng Bujue thought for a while and then said, "Okay… so now, what do you plan to do to stop 'Destiny'?"

"Hehe… we can't stop her," Vincent laughed. "After obtaining the Staff of Truth, she is the closest thing to 'God.' We devils, fallen angels, and the like… no matter how strong we are, we are too far apart from her in terms of 'positioning.' Even if we went to her, she could just snap her fingers and blow us into particles.

"In fact… the reason why we can come here is because 'dimensional erosion' has already affected Heaven and Hell… Many big shots higher up than us have already gone to their deaths… so we can run to the human world in an 'unrestricted state' and act at will. Otherwise… Woody would still be playing board games with those Mormon followers from Heaven because of his previous crimes."

At this point, Vincent raised his head and said in a melancholy tone, "Alas… in short, minor characters like us are no longer factors that the current 'Destiny' will care about. At this stage… she is busy merging the 'Thriller Paradise dimension' with our 'real dimension.' Once these two universes are completely merged, she will become the new supreme god of this universe; all the original rules will be broken, and 'Destiny' will begin a new history and define a new order as the new god…"

"Hehehe…" Hearing this, Woody interrupted with a smile, "Although I'm a little unwilling to be tricked by her… if she really becomes 'God' in the end, I might be able to become a key figure in some religious scriptures in the 'new universe'… hehehe…"

"If there really is such a book, your ending in the book will also be 'Feng Bujue smashed your glasses and then you died,'" Feng Bujue continued to look at Woody with a cold gaze and said.

"Hehe… don't worry," Woody said, changing the subject. "Although 'we' can't stop her, you can."

As soon as he said this, Feng Bujue instantly realized something, and his expression… changed slightly.

"That's right." Vincent also looked at Jue Ge and continued, "You and 'Destiny' come from the same universe. Even if she has the Staff of Truth, it won't make any difference to you; she can control the entire universe, but she can't control you… because no matter what she becomes, from the perspective of the multiverse, you are both at the same level."

"It's just… although the positioning is the same, the power is vastly different." At this time, Simon poured a basin of cold water from the side.

"Then… give me your power." Feng Bujue's reaction was quick. He immediately made an extremely unreasonable but extremely reasonable request.

"Hehe… it seems you already understand our purpose in coming here," Vincent laughed. "It's just a pity… your physique is not suitable for accepting the power of this universe. Even if the power injected into your body wouldn't cause you to explode, you wouldn't be able to use it… That was the case when Qi Zhi gave you spiritual power. Human power would become your burden. If we gave you our power… you would definitely die."

Speaking of this, he paused and, in the second before Feng Bujue could complain about him, came up with a "but"…

"But… because you won the 'Candidate Game,' this has made things turn around," Vincent continued. "Based on the selected one's 'special physique that can simultaneously control the two opposite forces of holy power and demonic power'…" As he said this, he turned his head to look at his disciple Seed. "We can let Seed, this fallen angel who possesses both 'holy power' and 'demonic power,' share some power with you."

"That's not right," Feng Bujue immediately replied. "When the game results were announced, Michael told me that because I am not from this universe, the 'dual power blessing' could not be implemented."

"Hehehe… it was indeed impossible at that time, but now…" At this moment, Woody actually raised one hand while smiling and flicked a "finger bullet" at Feng Bujue.

Don't underestimate his finger flick, but the air ejected from it has the power of a shotgun. At this short distance of a few meters, it is undoubtedly fatal to ordinary people.

Bang——

Faced with the sudden attack, Feng Bujue instinctively crossed his hands in front of his body to block it.

As a result… after one strike, he was not injured.

"Is this an effect of dimensional fusion?" After a moment, Feng Bujue put down his blocking stance and asked directly.

Obviously, he already had a deduction about the situation in front of him.

"You should have noticed it when you punched Vincent," Gu Chen had already discovered this at that time, otherwise he wouldn't have been indifferent to Woody's finger bullet.

"That's only one of the reasons," Vincent replied. "Although dimensional fusion has given you some of the abilities you had in the game world, that only strengthened your physical strength and allowed it to carry more energy in terms of 'quantity,' and it didn't change the nature of your 'parallel universe life' in terms of 'quality.' The real key reason is… at this moment, because some high-level existences have been killed by 'Destiny,' coupled with the chaos brought about by the overlap of the two dimensions, some functions of the will of the universe have fallen into paralysis… allowing us to exploit loopholes."

"Hehehe… of course, even if there is such a loophole to exploit, only Seed, this 'special case,' can give you power," Woody added. "Because only he has 'balanced' holy and demonic forces in his body. If we others gave you demonic power, it would break this balance, and that might… turn you into something like a failed fusion of Metamorans."

"I see… is this the meaning of the 'two rewards' after winning the Candidate Game…" Hearing this, Feng Bujue realized something belatedly. "Even if the winner isn't me, the winner who gets 'no karma' and 'dual power' can also cope with various situations, including the crisis in front of them."

"Hmph…" Simon replied with his "unhappy" attitude, "If the winner wasn't you, there wouldn't be so much trouble."

"Okay, okay…" Vincent quickly jumped out to be the peacemaker at this time. "There's no point in saying those assumptions. In short… in order to fulfill the obligations of the candidate, to make up for his mistake of being used by 'Destiny,' or even to take revenge… Feng Bujue…" He looked at Jue Ge again, looked directly into his eyes and said, "You shouldn't reject our proposal, right?"

"What do you think?" Feng Bujue replied coldly without thinking.

"Heh… I really can't do anything with you." Vincent once again spread his hands and put on the "public relations tone" of a devil making a deal with a person. "I understand… I understand… After it's done, we can talk about a few more deals with you and fulfill some of your wishes…" He paused for a second. "The promises I can give end here."

"Okay." So, Feng Bujue agreed to this condition.

"Then…" Vincent turned his head and said to Seed, "Next, I'll leave this to you."

"Okay, teacher." Seed, who had been playing soy sauce for a long time and seemed a little distracted, was called by Vincent and immediately showed his harmless smile, replying with this sentence.

"Old Gu." Then, Vincent said to Gu Chen, "Why don't you come out with us and do some activities? While humans haven't been wiped out by monsters… let's try our best to leave some descendants for the human world."

"Ah… I've already contacted my subordinates," Gu Chen said, taking out a mobile phone from his upper pocket and holding it up to the height of his line of sight, pointing the screen towards Vincent and the others. "We'll go to these coordinates first to gather some people and exchange some intelligence."

"Ho~" Seeing this, Woody pushed the glasses on his nose and smiled. "Hehehe… it seems that the level of the human world's Spirit Science has greatly leaped over the years. Now the various regions between the two universes have been broken apart, crushed, and pieced together again in the east and west… and you can actually use physical devices to establish remote communication."

"Heh…" Gu Chen sneered. "You should see who has been leading the Ninth Division these years. I'm giving you face by not developing a drilling machine that can dig to hell, you know?"

"Leave quickly if you want to leave." Just then, Simon spoke again with his "I really dislike you" tone. "I won't act with you."

"Hey, hey… what are you going to do again?" Vincent squinted at him and joked, "We're scared without you."

"Stay away from me…" Simon rolled his eyes, squinting at Vincent. "Go wherever it's cool."

"Okay, okay." Vincent shrugged and smiled. "Anyway, in a little while… everywhere will be cooler than here."

Before he could finish speaking, there was a "boom" in the distance! The whole earth trembled like an earthquake.

At the place where the sound originated, the ground suddenly cracked, splitting a crack more than a hundred meters long. From the crack, there was also the heat flow and firelight unique to magma.

Immediately afterwards, there was a sinking roar breaking through the air, howling from the bottom of the ground; the sound of some giant creature climbing on the rocks also sounded…