Chapter 435 What Would Happen if I Clicked 'Yes'? (7000 Words, Second Update)

[Do you wish to reach greater heights, tread farther paths, and become even stronger?]
[Do you wish to know the meaning of life?]

[Yes/No]

The girl, ready to go to sleep, stared blankly at the window that appeared on her computer screen, her bright, sparkling eyes filled with confusion, as if pondering the true meaning of these words, or perhaps sensing some kind of wonderful calling within them.

Then, she ignored it.

"What is this pop-up ad... Never mind, I'm going to sleep."

Completely disregarding what had appeared on her computer, a drowsy Shao Shuangyue simply flopped onto her back, then rolled herself up in her blanket, cocooning herself into a worm shape, and drifted off into a dream within three seconds of her head touching the pillow.

A sweet dream.

The next morning, Shao Shuangyue, unable to escape from the black hole that was her blanket, had to call her mother for help. After being criticized by Aunt Wen for 'being so old and still sleeping like an elementary school student!', she hurriedly finished breakfast, grabbed her schoolbag, and went to class.

The computer, not shut down, went into sleep mode, motionless.

In the evening, after finishing her spiritual energy cultivation class, Shao Shuangyue hurriedly started on her homework, complaining as she wrote, 'Why do we have to write cultivation reflections even when we're cultivating!' 'I clearly asked Zhou-ge and Lao-ge about it, and they both said the same thing, so why do I get criticized for being unrealistic when I write it down?'

She still didn't touch the computer.

Days passed. Because of her heavy academic workload and the countdown to the Holy Ascension Selection Trials, even the playful Shao Shuangyue became serious. She only logged into her mobile games every day, at most using her phone to look up information, let alone touch the computer.

She completely forgot about the pop-up window.

So, another late night arrived.

As Shao Shuangyue slept soundly, the computer, which had been in sleep mode, suddenly started itself, emitting a faint blue light. On it, a seemingly unremarkable pop-up window flashed with profound radiance.

The light was so dazzling that it directly startled Shao Shuangyue awake.

"Ugh... what's going on? Is it morning already?"

Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, Shao Shuangyue sleepily turned her head and looked at her desk: "Huh... wait, that's my computer?!"

Instantly awake, the girl's eyes widened. She got up with a yawn, puzzled, and walked towards the unusually bright computer screen in her slippers: "What exactly is going on?"

Then, she saw the two lines of words on the screen clearly.

[Do you wish to reach greater heights, tread farther paths, and become even stronger?]

[Do you wish to know the meaning of life?]

In an instant, a feeling of enlightenment from the bottom of her heart burst forth, spreading throughout her entire body and soul.

--Want to go to higher and farther places, to become stronger?

Of course, of course!

Why wouldn't she?

Shao Shuangyue was born into a wealthy family.

Because of the war that occurred in the world arena in the mid-20th century, oil production in the central part of the World Island suffered a major blow. Countries around the world were forced to develop new energy sources, increasing investment in various new energy fields.

And the Shao family was fortunate to be standing at the forefront of this era, achieving true success.

Originally, a wealthy and powerful family background should have given Shao Shuangyue a great sense of security, even making her a literal little princess - theoretically, with such a family background and the love of two older brothers, the girl could even be considered half a Mary Sue, a true golden daughter.

But in fact, the opposite was true.

Since Shao Shuangyue was old enough to understand, she had lived in a subtle sense of fear and helplessness.

An immobile mother, a physically weak older brother, a father who was constantly away from home, and a lifestyle that was extremely low-key despite their wealth, all felt incredibly restrained, making the little girl feel extremely uneasy.

Her mother couldn't take care of her; she could only tell her stories and pat her head.

Her older brother couldn't help her either. Sometimes when he tried to help her get something from a high place, he would strain his lungs and cough with a force that seemed to want to cough them out.

Her father was her only support, but her father was the pillar of the family. He stood at the forefront of the times because of the era's wave and gained tremendous wealth, but this wealth came from official policies. He had to do his best to keep up with the times, otherwise the company, which relied on new energy technology, would quickly collapse in the tide of the times - he couldn't stay and could only occasionally come home to hug his daughter.

Even, for some reason, the Shao family rarely let their children go out to play, as if afraid that some force from the outside world would harm them... Shao Shuangyue could only stay at home from childhood, either staring blankly at TV programs she didn't understand at all, or dozing off while flipping through books she couldn't understand at all.

Everything was so dead, unsettling, and helpless, without any sense of security.

Except for Aunt He, and Su Zhou.

Aunt He was the mainstay of this family, a true member of the Shao family, a kind-hearted woman. Her presence prevented the Shao family from becoming as silent as a Western European castle in a horror story, with only occasional coughs, but instead filled with enthusiastic shouts and some nagging, as well as the sounds of Northern cross-talk.

And Su Zhou's existence brought true vitality to this family.

"Let's go, Qiming, let's go out and play - I heard a few days ago that there are drowned ghosts wandering by the river, they sound so pitiful, let's see if we can help them find peace."

"Huh? Little sister, you want to come too? That won't do, you're too young, it's too dangerous to go to the river... How about this, I'll play games with you when I get back, okay?"

"Don't know what games are? Hey, Qiming, what's wrong with you? You just let your little sister stay at home all day staring at the TV? You have money, buy your little sister some game consoles!"

To be honest, this scene is still vivid in Shao Shuangyue's memory.

After all, it was from that time that she started getting into Nintendo's gBA games - God, that guy was simply a devil. It was one thing for him to recommend *Pokémon* to a six- or seven-year-old girl, but he even recommended *Super Robot Wars*, *Harvest Moon*, and various other games, completely distorting a girl who theoretically should have become a gothic *byouki* beauty, or a classical literature girl, into a game addict who was now thinking about playing *Animal Crossing* and scolding the Game Freak factory.

But to be honest, this didn't completely cover up the unease in Shao Shuangyue's heart.

The existence of games, Su Zhou, and Aunt He only masked the essence of that helplessness - after all, if she wasn't really afraid of the outside world, she wouldn't still be immersed in games to this day, always unwilling to interact with the outside world.

Because that fear of the unknown, of the distance, of things outside the fortress that was 'family,' still existed in Shao Shuangyue's heart.

But now, the light that emerged from the computer screen allowed Shao Shuangyue to face the fear in her heart squarely.

Especially revealing the essence behind this fear.

--Yes. Staying in the known is comfortable, peaceful, and very secure.

This is why Shao Shuangyue chose to stay at home playing games, because she lacked a sense of security about everything. Her father, mother, and brother couldn't provide support. She had no confidence to explore the unknown and the distance, and could only choose to stay at home and explore the virtual world.

Here, games can always be cleared, the distance can always be reached, and when faced with a fork in the road, if you choose the wrong one, you can just load the save and start again. The enemies are also virtual data, unable to bring a real threat.

Anyway, the Shao family is indeed rich, and living like this would naturally be happy and comfortable.

But, the era of spiritual energy recovery has arrived, can she really be sheltered under the wings of her elders and live a peaceful life like in the past?

Her two older brothers have already stepped onto their dazzling and eye-catching life stages, is she just going to stay at the bottom of the stage and watch them perform?

[You are not satisfied with this kind of life.]

During her memories, Shao Shuangyue seemed to hear such a voice.

[You play games because you want to explore new worlds. You pursue achievements because you want to reach goals. You clash with others in the arena and on the ladder because you want to confirm the fact that you are stronger. You look like you're playing, but you're actually just venting your true desires in a virtual world.]

This voice did not come from any external source, but from the depths of Shao Shuangyue's heart - it was the voice of her soul itself.

--The goals I can't achieve are my goals, the winding roads are the roads I want to take, and each rest always brings new aspirations.

The same subtitles reappeared on the screen in front of the girl.

[Do you wish to reach greater heights, tread farther paths, and become even stronger?]

[Do you wish to know the meaning of life?]

"I..."

Walking forward, her hand spontaneously raised and touched the mouse. At this time, Shao Shuangyue was not brainwashed, nor was she forcibly instilled with any other people's ideas - she was truly feeling the ripples from the depths of her heart, the genuine ripples from her soul. She received the calling from an unknown, great existence, and then made her own choice.

Soon, on the screen, the mouse moved to the [Yes] option.

It seemed about to click.

But, coincidentally, as Shao Shuangyue walked forward, she accidentally stepped on a Lego brick on the floor.

"Eeeeee!!!!!"

The pain of that moment ran through the primordial chaos, the end of the original darkness, and even the beginning and end of the Great Dao. In an instant, it almost made the girl cry out in pain, forcing her body to soften and sit down on her gaming chair.

And as she sat there, teary-eyed and shaking her head, she saw a bottle of lunar soil placed on her desk, several *Warhammer* models, and a *Netherbane Blade* model knife in the display case next to her.

This suddenly gave Shao Shuangyue a flash of inspiration, completely breaking free from her previous 'state of epiphany.'

"Damn, what the hell was wrong with me just now? Why did my mental state suddenly become so pure, and my enlightenment so high?!"

The throbbing from her heart disappeared, and Shao Shuangyue's thinking returned to humanity, not pure, lofty ideals.

She looked at the computer screen in front of her with lingering fear, raised her hands above her head, struck a French pose, and her eyes were full of rejoicing: "This thing, this thing made me feel like a saint for a moment! I didn't consider any personal danger or personal desires, just purely pursuing ideals! Even whether or not they can be realized doesn't matter, the most important thing is to start taking action!"

"Yeah, I admit that the ideals in my heart are indeed very high, and I especially want to catch up with my two older brothers' achievements and not be left behind... But, thinking is one thing, isn't it nice to cultivate happily and live freely now? I might get bored in the future and want to go on adventures that transcend myself, but I'm still a high school student, not even an adult yet. Isn't it a little too early to realize my dreams now?"

Muttering to herself, Shao Shuangyue's gaze at the computer screen in front of her suddenly became extremely wary - things that can affect people's hearts are the most dangerous.

But after searching for a long time, she couldn't find a way to close this pop-up window, so she could only choose to shut down the computer, muttering in a low voice: "In this day and age, computer viruses are so terrifying that they can even brainwash people. I don't know if clicking 'yes' will result in a loss of money, or being hypnotized into a puppet."

"...No, I have to call Zhou-ge over to take a look tomorrow. This is too dangerous!"

Thinking of the terrible plots in various doujinshi, the girl shivered all over, then crawled back into bed and started sleeping, intending to forget about this.

However, what Shao Shuangyue didn't know was that.

While she was ignoring this pop-up window and diligently studying hard every day.

Perhaps on a mobile phone, perhaps on a computer, perhaps on the mist that appeared on the mirror while washing her face, perhaps on the ripples on the surface of the water while fishing.

More and more people were seeing the same words, the same choice, in front of them.

Then, it was time to choose to move forward, or to stagnate.

Zheng Nation, the ancestral land of the Solely Martial lineage, in a small mountain town north of Tiandu.

A young man who was diligently cultivating and honing his body and martial arts in his practice room collapsed in his sweat after completely exhausting his last bit of strength.

In front of his practice room, a TV screen was looping the power that Su Zhou demonstrated while acting in the Beast God Realm, as well as the terrifying true form he showed when facing the Talin and Kello people.

Effortlessly changing the weather, wantonly destroying all things.

Even the country must treat him with caution, and even aliens and people from other realms must tremble because of him.

Faced with this power... Is effort meaningful?

A young man named Ma Jing, in a puddle formed by his sweat, stared at the scenes looping on the screen.

The same age as Su Zhou, he may have had a fleeting encounter with him in the past, but in any case, he and Su Zhou are now in two different worlds.

Faced with the difference in talent, which was as vast as the heavens and the earth, effort seemed futile.

"But, without effort, there really is no meaning at all."

Thinking like this, the young man gritted his teeth. He absorbed the spiritual energy of the surrounding atmosphere, input it into his muscles and bones, and began to perform a painful and scorching internal circulation... Pain, pain is right. Pain is the mentor of will, the successful guide. It's not to say that pain is correct, but if you don't experience pain, let alone correctness, even failure is out of reach.

Not wanting to chase after a shadow that he could no longer see, Ma Jing replayed Su Zhou's recordings simply to warn himself of one thing.

That is, if a person cannot defeat himself, he is even less likely to catch up with others.

Higher, faster, stronger - not to catch up with others, but to surpass himself, to explore the original horizon, and then discover a brand new horizon.

So, as Ma Jing endured the extreme pain of his body and slowly propped up his hands, lifting his body off the ground, he saw that in his sweat, there were such ripples fluctuating, causing words to appear before his eyes.

[Do you wish to reach greater heights, tread farther paths, and become even stronger?]

[Do you wish to know the meaning of life?]

"Are there any other options?"

After a brief moment of blankness, clearly knowing that this choice was wrong, very strange, Ma Jing laughed: "Of course I want to!"

This was his belief.

--I will go forward at all costs, with all my strength. Either I die, or I surpass myself. If one day, I stop, then that means I'm already dead, just bones in a grave.

A drop of sweat fell, landing on 'Yes'.

Thus, a figure disappeared from Earth.

Southeast Sea, Heavenly Pool Realm, at the entrance and exit of the two realms.

A long-haired young man with dark blue hair, lying in the sea, stared blankly at the moonlight above the sea, drifting with the waves.

The True Dragon youth's strength was only one step away from the Commander Rank. Being located at the entrance and exit of the spiritual energy between the two realms was equivalent to being located in the best Blessed Land. Originally possessing the inheritance of a Land Immortal, and a rather high-level Land Immortal, almost destined to become a Celestial Immortal, Jiu Ming knew that his path ahead was clear and obvious.

But he still felt confused.

Yes, he had strength, inheritance, a name, a territory, and the Zheng Nation was also very good to him. Even becoming the new Governor of the Heavenly Pool Realm in the future was not impossible, although he had no interest at all. But money, power, and cultivation, he could have whatever he wanted.

The handsome young man felt that his dragon life was already complete, not to mention that he was originally just a sea cucumber - Heaven Above, who in the entire world could have such luck? From a sea cucumber to a True Dragon, he was the only one in the world, right?

Ah, no, there was also the one that the Heavenly Pool Dragon King showed the power of Dao Imitation Transformation on... But that one was his junior, and he would have to take him in as a disciple on behalf of his master in the future, so there was no need to care too much.

Overall, he actually didn't need to worry about anything. Growing up naturally like this would allow him to become a hegemon of one side.

"But what's the point of that?"

Thinking like this, the True Dragon youth closed his blue dragon eyes. He muttered to himself: "I am a dragon - I shouldn't be a sea cucumber that crawls around on the seabed and is satisfied."

"I am a dragon, what I should pursue is a wider sea, a more vast sky, and a more boundless world."

"This kind of future where everything is already decided, even if it looks so perfect, is as uncomfortable as fate... I want more possibilities, to explore more unknowns..."

Although he said that, Jiu Ming also knew very well that he couldn't do these things.

As the one who received the title of the South Sea Dragon King, his duty was to guard the South Sea for the official Zheng Nation, manage the sea beasts, and suppress the Heavenly Pool Realm - and the official Zheng Nation would be responsible for his cultivation, his future, and his rights.

Perhaps one day in the future, after completing his duties, he would be free to explore the seven seas of the world, the stars of the heavens.

With such an expectation for the future, Jiu Ming opened his eyes.

Then, he saw the words that appeared before him.

More, more.

In addition to what happened in these places, the same things were happening all over the world.

In just a few days, hundreds of extremely bizarre disappearances occurred throughout the Earth.

And all of this, for the time being, had nothing to do with Su Zhou, who had already finished reporting his duties in Tiandu and returned to his hometown to rest.

April 10, 2018.

The fifth day after Su Zhou led the Qingqiu people back to Earth, and the second day after finishing his tense and exciting duty report and Hegemon Rank test in Tiandu.

These things can be discussed slowly in the future. For the youth right now, the most important thing is to recuperate well - and the official Zheng Nation also suggested this, especially since they knew that Su Zhou had actually single-handedly slaughtered more than a billion Sky Devils, killing so many Sky Devils that their ashes overflowed Qingqiu Star, they hoped that he would recuperate well and not continue to move.

--Su Zhou, stop killing, the officials are afraid.

"Aunt Wen, Aunt He, I'm here as a guest!"

"Strange, they're not here? Did they go out to bask in the sun?"

Because no one was home, and he had only gone to the Criminal Investigation Bureau to see his father at work, Su Zhou didn't choose to go home, but instead turned and ran to the Shao family mansion as a guest.

Wearing a hat woven from Chongming Bird feathers, he hummed a little tune as he walked towards the door.

Out of politeness, Su Zhou didn't deliberately use his spiritual power and transcendent senses to detect the people inside the house. It wasn't until after he knocked on the door that he realized that there was only someone in Shao Shuangyue's room in the entire house.

It wasn't strange that Uncle Shao wasn't there, after all, he had seen him in Tiandu yesterday in a meeting with officials from the Energy Department. It also wasn't strange that Shao Qiming wasn't there, after all, he had been drinking tea and chatting with him in Xijing eight hours ago. But Aunt He and Aunt Wen not being there could only mean that the two of them had probably gone out shopping - since Aunt Wen had gotten better, this extremely energetic woman had basically never stopped.

In that case, there was no other choice.

Skillfully taking out the key - don't ask why Su Zhou had the Shao family's key - he opened the door of the Shao family mansion: "Then I'm coming in!"

But strangely, even though Su Zhou spoke so loudly, Shao Shuangyue didn't respond, which puzzled the youth: "Is she wearing headphones and playing games? The Holy Ascension Selection Trials are almost here and she's still playing games, that's not good."

Thinking like this, he lightened his footsteps, preparing to knock hard on Shao Shuangyue's door and give her a fright - just like he had occasionally done in the past.

"Tap, tap, knock!"

However, when Su Zhou came to the second floor and knocked hard on the door, what greeted the youth was not the angry face he expected, cursing and releasing fragrance from his little sister, but a timid girl with a look of panic on her face, who opened the door on her own initiative.

"Zhou, Zhou-ge, I was just about to call you -"

As soon as she opened the door, Shao Shuangyue didn't say a single word of nonsense. She directly flashed behind Su Zhou, and then pointed her trembling hand at her computer: "That thing, that computer virus, can't be removed at all!"

"It's so scary, I've never seen this kind of paranormal phenomenon. Exorcism spells don't work, shutting down doesn't work, it's simply haunted!"

This immediately made Su Zhou completely baffled: "What the heck are you talking about? What computer virus? You're even bringing up paranormal phenomena."

"Let Zhou-ge take a look."

Saying this, Su Zhou confidently walked forward - no matter what paranormal phenomenon or special computer virus it was, could it possibly do anything to a Land Immortal? Don't even mention computer viruses, even the King of the Sky Devils, a mind virus, had his ashes scattered across the entire planet, mixed with volcanic ash.

It's all small stuff!

But when he really saw the two big words on the computer screen, the youth frowned immediately, and his expression changed from relaxed to extremely serious.

"This, a Pioneer?!"

Although he had never fought against the Pioneer's familiars, he had met the Pioneer itself, so Su Zhou knew very well the other party's power, as well as the essence of 'correctness'.

These two sentences in front of him were undoubtedly the core of the other party's philosophy.

"Ah ha."

At the same time, sensing that something was wrong, Yala poked a snake head out from under the hat. He also stared at the screen and couldn't help but nod, communicating through soul transmission: "Good guy, isn't this the Pioneer's usual way of screening familiars?"

"Familiars?" Su Zhou communicated with Yala in his heart: "Just asking questions and choosing answers like this can screen out familiars?"

"No, to be precise, if you choose yes, then it's equivalent to agreeing with the Pioneer's philosophy - generally speaking, those who choose yes will be pulled into a central space that spans many worlds, and then embark on one adventure after another to explore the unknown."

Answering in such detail, the snake spirit narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the computer screen in front of him: "The more you explore, the higher the Pioneer's familiar rank."

"Explorers, adventurers, pioneers, trailblazers - until the final 'developers', the Pioneer's familiar system is that simple and easy to understand, and He is always generous, providing His familiars with all kinds of convenient ways to become stronger - after all, without becoming stronger, even His familiars will find it difficult to persevere in the increasingly difficult exploration of the unknown."

Withdrawing his gaze, Yala shrank his head back into the hat, and said lazily: "Your little sister here, in a sense, does desire to become stronger and explore the distance - the Pioneer never chooses the wrong people. As long as He initiates a choice, it means that the other party is indeed suitable to be His familiar."

"But seriously, the Pioneer has always felt that 'exploring the unknown naturally involves sacrifice', and has never shied away from death or failure. Anyway, as long as it's exploration, even failure is great, and dying is dying for a purpose, openly and honestly."

Yala's words cannot be fully believed. Anyway, if this guy wants to argue, he can find fault with even a perfect world created by God, and Su Zhou never really trusts him in this regard.

The youth just stared at the options in front of him, and said thoughtfully: "What would happen if I clicked 'yes'?"

Yesterday's second update, a bit long, I'm late, sorry.

But still asking for monthly tickets!