Chapter 509

Seize... seize the throne and usurp power?

Grab... grab GM permissions?

Lord of End and Woxi Ling felt that their cognition was being brutally pressed into the ground and rubbed repeatedly by Qin Hao.

They understood the term 'usurpation of power'; in their long lives, they had witnessed countless civilizations enact similar scenes.

But, usurp a universe's authority?

This is no longer a matter of bravery; it's outright madness!

"You mean replace it?"

The Lord of End posed the question.

"Replace? No, no, no."

Qin Hao shook his finger and revealed an inscrutable smile.

"The word 'replace' is too lowly; that's what bandits do. We are civilized people, we are doctors."

"For a patient who is brain-dead, left only with vegetative instincts, what should we doctors do?"

He looked around, as if posing a question in a classroom.

Qin Yue Bingxue was smart and instantly grasped Qin Hao's meaning: "We should perform a brainstem transplant, or install an artificial intelligence-assisted brain to take over its core functions and maintain vital signs."

"Correct answer, add ten points!"

Qin Hao approvingly glanced at his daughter.

"Do you see? We aren't trying to kill it; we're trying to save it. But after saving it, whose commands the body follows will depend on whose brain is more usable."

"The collective will of our Yanhuang civilization is to transplant a healthy brain from the past!"

This divine medical theory packages the blatant aggression of possession into a medical rescue filled with humanitarian care.

The Lord of End and Woxi Ling were stunned, one after another.

They actually felt it made some sense?

"Yeah, the universe is about to perish; we're trying to find a way to keep it alive—isn't that a tremendous merit?"

As for who will govern it after it survives, that's not the point!

"But,"

The Lord of End still raised the most crucial question: "How should we transplant? We don't even know where the core of the universe's instinctive will is."

"And even if we found it, how would we upload our civilization's will onto it?"

"This is why I kept you around instead of doing it alone."

Qin Hao's gaze became extremely solemn.

He opened another star map.

This star map is no longer a partial chart of the G-37 Branch; it is a map of the neural network encompassing the entire universe.

Countless galaxy clusters are the neurons on this map.

The cosmic strings connecting them are the nerve fibers.

"This is the initial version of the cosmic brain structure diagram I derived by reverse-engineering from the white blood cell databases we have consumed."

Qin Hao pointed to a region on the map marked in blood-red, located at the center of the universe.

"According to my speculation, the core of the universe's instinctive will lies dormant here."

I call it the Central Processor, or, in more mythic terms—the Hall of Gods.

"And what we need to do now is,"

Qin Hao zoomed in on the map, locking onto the home systems of once-flourishing but now lifeless seventh- and eighth-level civilizations, saying, "We must first seize these primary neural nodes."

"Build our bases into its nervous system! As long as we control enough neurons, we can establish our own regional network and, through it, inversely invade its central processor."

This plan is grand and crazy,

but it is logically sound and full of feasibility.

However, at that moment, an unexpected alarm sounded, interrupting Qin Hao's strategic deployment.

"Alarm! Abnormal fluctuations detected in high-dimensional space!"

"Outside our time refuge, vast amounts of ultra-dimensional signals are streaming through!"

The report from the Fuxi Main Brain startled everyone.

"Wasn't the outside supposed to be paused?"

"How could there still be signals?"

Qin Hao immediately switched the view to the exterior of the Miracle Garden.

All that could be seen in that frozen universe were numerous antiquated, immensely huge arks.

They were struggling to tear through the solidified spacetime from various civilizations' ruins, attempting to flee toward the edge of the universe.

These arks possess extremely high technology, obviously the last resort of top-tier civilizations hidden behind the scenes.

They appear to possess some special technology capable of resisting the zero-pause.

Although their speed is as slow as a crawling turtle, they are indeed still moving.

"It is the Ark Project..."

The Lord of End murmured.

"I never expected that a civilization would actually activate it."

"The Ark Project?" Qin Hao asked.

"It is one of the oldest and most top-secret agreements of the Universal Alliance."

The Lord of End explained, "Legend has it that when the universe heads toward an irreversible end, some ancient ninth-level civilizations can build an ark, carrying the fire of their civilization, to pierce the universe's walls and escape to the unknown beyond."

I always thought this was just a legend; I never expected they actually manufactured it.

Watching those arks struggle forward in the darkness, hope reignited in the eyes of civilizational representatives such as Wo Xi Ling.

There's a way!

Turns out there really is a way to escape!

Should we also...?

However, Qin Hao's next words were like a bucket of ice water poured over them, chilling them to the bone.

"The other shore? Damn the other shore!"

Qin Hao looked at those arks, his face showing pity and mockery.

"This isn't any escape route; it's a total trap!"

"What?"

Everyone was shocked.

"You guys think," Qin Hao sneered, "if the cosmic instinct wants to wipe the slate clean, would it leave such an obvious back door for you to exploit?"

"It would love for you viruses all to gather so it can wipe you out in one sweep!"

"Those so-called arks, so-called escape routes, are deliberately leaked by it to lure and gather the surviving civilizations into a mousetrap!"

He enlarged the external surveillance footage, pointing at the endpoint of those arks' routes—

A region that looks like the edge of the universe but is actually the Sea of Void, where the rules are extremely thin.

"It's afraid."

Qin Hao's words laid bare the heavenly secret.

"It fears that our kind of virus, which doesn't play by the rules, will hide in some corner and cause trouble when it does the wipe."

"So it deliberately created a hope, an escape route understandable to all civilizations, to lure everyone into the slaughterhouse it had prepared in advance!"

"Once all the arks arrive there, it only needs a single thought to snuff out all the sparks at once—far easier than cleaning them up one by one!"

After hearing Qin Hao's analysis, the Lord of Terminus, Wo Xi Ling, and the others felt a chill surge from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads.

How ruthless!

What a vicious yang plot!

This simply calculates the survival instinct of all civilizations to the extreme!

"Those... those civilizations..."

Wo Xi Ling asked in a trembling voice.

"They're dead for sure."

Qin Hao's tone was emotionless: "Moreover, they will become the first batch of nutrients absorbed after the cosmic reboot."

Looking at those arks, in despair, striving forward toward the false hope,

Everyone present fell into a prolonged silence.

Only now did they truly feel how terrifying it is to be an enemy of a universe.

Every thought of yours, every action, lies within its calculations.

"Then... what about us?"

A representative of a level‑7 civilization asked, voice trembling, "If we don't go to that slaughterhouse, where else can we go? Staying here and waiting for the pause to end isn't that also a dead end?"

That question voiced everyone's inner thoughts.

"Who said we have to stay here and wait to die?"

Qin Hao turned around, putting back on his arrogant smile.

"They chose to flee, handing their fate over to others."

"We choose to fight! We will firmly grasp our fate in our own hands!"

He swept his hand, pointing at the huge cosmic brain structure diagram.

"Our journey is not the edge of the universe."

"It's here!"

His finger slammed down on the dark region representing countless civilizations' ruins.

"Before the cosmic reboot, we must not only survive, but live better!"

"I will build a truly ours, absolutely safe home upon this death‑strewn ruin!"

"I will make the cosmic primal command will know that its domain is now mine to command!"