Chapter 508: The Administrator Has Been Replaced by Qin

"Shut down… clear the data?"

Woxiling muttered the phrase that had leapt from Qin Hao's mouth, and immediately grasped its meaning.

Because that feeling was too clear.

It's as if she were a character in a game, having struggled for countless years, climbing to the top of the server, possessing the strongest gear and the highest level.

But today, that GM who created the world,

used an indisputable method to inform everyone:

"I'm shutting this game down. In ten seconds I'll pull the power plug; everyone, good luck on your own."

Powerlessness, despair, absurdity.

All the effort, all the struggle, at this moment all seem like a joke.

"7…6…"

The countdown, like the footfalls of Death, echoes in the deepest soul of every life.

"What do we do?!"

The Lord of the End was extremely anxious.

He understood more clearly than anyone what the Great Extinction Agreement meant.

It is not destruction, because after destruction there are still ruins.

It is a reset.

It will reset the entire universe's time, space, matter, energy, laws…

All of it, entirely reset to the singularity before the Big Bang.

Nothing can escape.

Because when you try to run,

the very concept of running is being deleted together.

"What are you panicking about!"

Qin Hao let out a roar, resonating through everyone's soul network.

"If the heavens collapse, I've got it held up!"

He sprang up from the command throne, eyes blazing, staring at the countdown that had already hit "3".

His brain was operating at faster‑than‑light speed.

Resist?

Impossible.

This is no longer a clash of power, but a crushing at the level of permissions.

The universe itself is committing suicide; what can you use to block it?

Run?

Even less possible.

Where to run?

The whole universe is a case; now they're pulling the power plug, and running to any corner inside the case is useless.

Then the only way to survive is…

A flash of madness flickered in Qin Hao's eyes.

"Since we can't live inside the case, we have to jump out of the case!"

"System!"

He shouted wildly in his heart.

"Calculate for me, in the final 0.001 seconds before zeroing completes, how much energy is needed to tear open this universe's shell and jump outside!"

【Starting calculation…】

【Model building… Target: escape a single-universe bubble, enter the Universe Sea.】

【Calculation result: required energy is about 10^500 times the current total mass of the universe.】

【Conclusion: impossible.】

"Damn!"

Qin Hao couldn't help but curse.

That number exceeds astronomical scales, entering the realm of mythic figures.

Not to mention his current assets; even if he drained himself dry, he couldn't even gather a fraction.

"2…"

The countdown keeps going.

Panic has peaked.

Some fleets of low‑level civilizations have begun recklessly making random jumps toward unknown space, trying at the final moment to find that one‑in‑a‑billion chance of survival.

But their ships disintegrated and vanished in the flash of the jump.

Because the very concept of space is being erased.

"1…"

Is it over?

In everyone's mind, that desperate thought surfaced.

However,

at the instant the countdown was about to hit zero,

Qin Hao smiled.

He laughed with incomparable brilliance, incomparable arrogance.

"Want to clear the save? Want to pull the plug?"

"I won't let you pull it—try moving a muscle!"

"0!"

When that final number descended, the anticipated annihilation of all things did not happen immediately.

The entire universe fell into a strange state of stagnation.

Like a movie frame with the pause button pressed.

Time stopped.

Space solidified.

Everything was frozen in that final second.

The only thing still able to move was Qin Hao.

Or rather, it was Qin Hao and the Miracle Garden beneath his feet, together with the entire Yanhuang Civilization and its attendant fleet, all enveloped by the Miracle Garden's regulatory power.

"Hah..."

Qin Hao let out a long breath, wiping nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead.

"Phew, that was close—I almost screwed up."

"Master Qin, what... is going on?"

The Lord of Terminus found he could speak again, and he stammered his question.

Looking at the outside ships frozen in explosion, melting, disintegration, it was like viewing a series of bizarre artworks.

"It's simple."

Qin Hao sat back down in his chair.

"I've pulled the time of our region out of the universe's great server."

He pointed to the core of the Miracle Garden, where the time river he had knotted was spinning wildly, like an independent little generator.

"Now, the universe's outside time is zero, in a paused state.

and here we are using our own local network time. Before the universe reboots, we are effectively inside an absolutely safe, isolated time refuge."

This was the solution he came up with in the final 0.1 seconds.

Since we can't run, we might as well not run.

You aren't trying to pull the plug, are you?

Fine, I preemptively unplugged my computer from your power strip—I brought my own power bank!

"But... but this is only temporary!"

Wo Xi Ling also came to, her voice trembling.

"Once the countdown to zero completes and the universe reboots, this refuge will be overwritten and erased by the new rules! We've merely postponed death a little bit!"

"A little postponement is enough."

Qin Hao's face once again showed that confident smile of a master strategist.

He opened the star map.

On it, the dots that once represented countless civilizations have all gone out.

Only a small golden area centered on the Miracle Garden remained, like an island in a dark sea.

"Look,

Qin Hao pointed at the endless darkness and asked, "The universe's instinctual will, to eradicate us, chose suicide—what does that show?"

"It shows our threat to it has become so great that conventional means can't handle it."

Qin Wu speculated.

"No."

Qin Hao shook his head.

"This shows it's stupid."

"A competent system, when faced with an unprocessable virus, would choose isolation and analysis rather than outright formatting the hard drive, because the drive still holds many important files."

"It chose the most extreme, stupid way instead. This proves the universe's brain has grown old, muddled, lost its basic logical judgment—it retains only the instinct to destroy."

Qin Hao's gaze swept over everyone present, his voice dropping low and full of allure.

"An aging, decaying, soon-to-be-brain-dead old god, a dim-witted ruler who knows only destruction, not creation."

"But we are young, full of vitality, mastering the art of resurrection and the power to transmute decay into miraculous creation."

"Now, this old god, in order to kill us, has put itself on pause."

"What do you say this is?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Qin Si's eyes lit up, and she blurted out, "It's an opportunity!"

"Correct!"

Qin Hao snapped his fingers, "And it's the best possible chance for a once-in-a-millennium, once-in-ten-millennia coup to seize power!"

"It isn't trying to shut down and clear the save, is it?"

"Then we'll take advantage of its maintenance pause to hack into its backend and seize its GM privileges!"

"Once it finishes rebooting, the moment it opens its eyes it will discover—"

Qin Hao stood up, spread his arms, as if to embrace the whole dark universe.

"This universe has already taken the surname Qin!"