Chapter 1 The Golden Altar

No one could have imagined that at the end of that dark and gloomy corridor would lie a magnificent, gilded altar hall. And even more unexpectedly, Hao Ren found himself facing the artifact of the Creation Goddess—the Sun Disc, the true form of which was the key component on the Creation Engine: the Golden Disc!

This Golden Disc was placed on a large altar, suspended in mid-air by mysterious magical forces, slowly rotating. From the altar's outer edge to the end of the hall, exquisite and intricate patterns and reliefs could be seen. These reliefs depicted scenes from ancient times, including images of the Tana people, the Greek pantheon, the Egyptian pantheon, and other ancient "gods." The entire hall was constructed of a pure white jade, inlaid with metal fillers that appeared to be gold. These precious materials radiated an endless glow. With each rotation of the Golden Disc, all the runes and golden lines would brighten and dim as if breathing. Without a doubt, a system existed here, and it was still running.

This bright and glorious place almost made one forget the dark shadow corridors outside the door, but the powerful negative energy emanating from the Golden Disc constantly reminded intruders of the danger here. Yes, negative energy—despite the numerous brilliant objects of suppression set up in this place, the air was still filled with the same destructive aura as in the outer corridors. Hao Ren saw at a glance that the state of the Golden Disc was strange; it had obviously been contaminated by something. In the lower half of the disc was a patch of turbid, dark matter. These pitch-black substances, from which no details could be discerned, dripped continuously from the disc, falling into a groove at the bottom of the altar, and spreading in all directions along the Leta runes and magic circuits surrounding the groove.

The black stuff flowed down from the altar, eroding the reliefs and runes in the hall bit by bit. The boundary of the pollutants was constantly changing, but it was clearly gaining the upper hand. This seemingly glorious altar hall was filled with an atmosphere of intense turbulence. Two forces of completely opposite nature were in fierce conflict here, imperceptible to the naked eye, but felt by everyone except Vivian.

"What the hell is this..." Even the knowledgeable Hasson felt his skin crawl as he watched the sewage-like stuff continuously fall from the disc into the rune formation below. "Are these... matter? Or something else?"

Hao Ren looked down at his arm. The "Old Lady Shields You" blessing from Raven 12345 was still intact, and this protective magic from the will of a true god was resisting the destructive aura in the hall. He was thus relieved and boldly walked towards the altar in the center of the hall.

"Be careful!" Vivian immediately called out from behind.

Hao Ren waved his hand to indicate that he knew, and stopped half a meter away from the altar. He took out the data terminal and connected his spirit with the data terminal's perception: "Scan the energy flow of the disc."

The data terminal emitted a blue light that enveloped the Golden Disc, and additional information from another perspective immediately appeared in Hao Ren's vision. He saw the Golden Disc emitting a magnificent light like a brilliant sun, but there was obvious energy conflict in its lower half. Countless fine lines, like tentacles, spread out from the sewage-like black stuff, constantly wriggling in the Golden Disc's energy system. The pollutants were not compatible with the disc itself, but were attached to it, and they were constantly "competing" with the disc's own energy system.

However, perhaps because they had been attached for too long, they had infiltrated and entangled each other in the struggle, looking like a complex network of roots that was almost impossible to separate.

"Those black things are foreign objects that have contaminated the disc," Hao Ren said, stating his findings. "But they may have mutated after being there for too long. I can't tell what those black things were originally."

Hasson was observing the runes and formations around the altar. Although they were not the spells known to demon hunters, as an old hunter, Hasson had a wide range of knowledge of all the magical secrets in the world: "Leta-type spells, and some variations of the Egyptian pantheon. This entire hall is a three-dimensional magic array, constantly purifying the black stuff flowing from the disc."

Vivian casually asked, "Can it purify it?"

"If it could purify it, it wouldn't be so polluted," Hasson pointed to the slowly flowing black stuff on the surface of the altar. "From the moment they overflowed the altar's groove, the magic in the hall failed. Now these runes are just barely protecting themselves. The part that cannot be purified flows out of the door and becomes the destructive aura we felt earlier."

"It should also become the Chaos Shadows at the same time," Izhaks muttered, stroking his chin. "It seems that both the Chaos Shadows and the destructive aura are just secondary variants. These things flowing from the disc are the original pollutants."

Hao Ren stood up, moved a little further away from the altar, and looked at Vivian: "By the way, can you feel the aura leaking from the disc now?"

Vivian frowned and sensed it for a while, then shook her head apologetically: "Still can't feel anything."

"What exactly is going on?" Hasson vaguely felt that Hao Ren might know something. "Why can't she feel it?"

"Because she has a close relationship with this disc," Hao Ren couldn't explain in too much detail, and could only vaguely gloss over it. "The key now is how to get rid of these black things."

Izhaks and Hasson's gazes fell on Vivian at the same time. She should be the key to solving all the problems. At least she had shown the ability to be completely immune to the disc's aura. Maybe the alien gods of thousands of years ago had successfully sealed the disc with the help of Vivian's power.

"Or... should I touch it?" Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Vivian offered a suggestion without much confidence. "I can't feel any danger from this thing—except that it looks disgusting."

Hasson was stunned, his gaze swept back and forth between Hao Ren and Vivian: "Wait, is this your plan?!"

"The original plan was to adapt to the circumstances," Hao Ren spread his hands helplessly. "Who knew the situation inside would be so complicated at the beginning? But I don't agree with Vivian's plan. It's too dangerous. It's better for me to have another divine descent..."

Before Hao Ren finished speaking, the data terminal floated out and poured cold water on him: "It's best not to do it a second time. The power of a true god is not something to be trifled with. This space is not the real universe. It's just a man-made alien space that can't withstand a second divine advent."

Hearing this, Hao Ren could only give up this simple and easy idea, and then began to think hard about what other solutions there were.

At this time, Vivian suddenly muttered, "Is it necessary to use the old method of sealing it? How about changing our thinking?"

"Change our thinking?" Hao Ren's heart moved. He immediately seized the flash of inspiration and had a plan after looking around the hall. "That's right, I wonder if it will work if I put this disc into the Safe?"

"And then put it into your personal space?" Vivian was immediately frightened by Hao Ren's idea. "Isn't that suicide? Who puts a detonator in their pocket? And it's lit!"

"That's why I want to put it in the Safe," Hao Ren said, while poking the data terminal. "Go up and check what type of Safe can isolate the disc's pollution."

The data terminal didn't waste any time, floated to the side of the Golden Disc and began to carefully check it, while testing the black pollutants "flowing" out of the disc with its various energy fields. Hao Ren watched the terminal busy, feeling quite uneasy in his heart. He was afraid that the disc's pollutants were too powerful, and even his inspector equipment would not be able to handle it.

As a result, the data terminal really gave him bad news: "Detection complete. None of the existing storage containers can guarantee safety. The target item possesses divinity, and the pollutants also possess the same level of power. It requires security conditions at the level of the Crystal Core Research Station to safely suppress it."

Hao Ren was stunned: "I can't move the entire space station over here to装it, can I?"

"This kind of highly polluted and uncontrollable thing is inherently troublesome," the data terminal was also quite helpless. "What's more, it has divinity. This is simply the malice of the Great Universe's will."

"What about temporarily suppressing its divinity?" Izhaks suggested after hearing this. "Do you have any other high-divinity items on you? The goddess should have given you a lot of things."

Hao Ren immediately rummaged through his personal space. The first thing he found was his precious apple box, but this box was obviously not suitable, so he began to look for other things. As a result, he really found a lot: the bowl that Raven 12345 took back when she asked him to eat noodles, produced by Plastic Factory No. 5; a pair of disposable chopsticks, which were also taken when eating noodles; two bricks, which Lily secretly took from the garden after meeting the goddess once, she was going to put them in her "Wang's Treasure," but she forgot after giving them to Hao Ren; a signature pen, Hao Ren even forgot when he got it, but this pen did have the power of Raven 12345, its most powerful divine source was the tooth mark on the pen cap...

Hao Ren looked blankly at the messy things he had taken out: "...Am I considered to be wearing a set of divine equipment?"

"Although the things you took out are indeed all divine artifacts, this unit still wants to ask you if you were picking up scraps and became an immortal in your last life?" The data terminal didn't know what to say to him. "But these things are not very suitable. How can they be used?"

Hao Ren thought for a while, and felt that if he really hung a bunch of plastic bowls, disposable chopsticks, broken pen tips, and half bricks on the Golden Disc and carried it back, even if it could succeed in fact, he might not be able to accept it emotionally. This was too tm蛋疼...

Although the "Old Lady Shields You" he was wearing was enough to疼 him for two weeks.

But the last thing suddenly appeared in his sight, and he felt that he had found something suitable.

It was none other than the thing that started his messy life: that contract with a god!

(The update volume will be reduced a little recently, still adjusting the physical and mental state, but it will not last too long. By the way, I suddenly looked back today and found that I have been writing books for five or six years. At the beginning, I relied on my youth and enthusiasm to write desperately. Now my wrists and shoulders have been worn out for so many years, I want to pay attention to my body =.=)