Chapter 358: Loopholes and Death

The truth has been revealed. Now, Jie Ming stands inside this huge, real, yet "awkward" model, facing its core directly.

The truth rushed over like a torrent, but another key question quickly emerged in Jie Ming's mind, a paradox concerning his own existence here.

"I have one more question." Jie Ming looked at those four faces that were solidified like masks, "Why choose me? Or rather, why is my 'background setting' so special?"

He thought of Lei Ke: "Like Lei Ke, he can be an orphan, with simple social relations, which is more convenient for hiding and manipulation. Why specifically construct a complete family for me, including childhood friends like Amy and Victor?"

Those four mouths opened synchronously, giving an answer that surprised Jie Ming: "Because you are a singularity, individual 721. My core system cannot read and construct a life path that can realize your deepest true desires. Creating intimate social relations for you is a compensatory measure based on the system's basic logic of 'maintaining the stability of individual social existence,' but lacking the drive of your true desires, the construction accuracy is naturally insufficient."

"Cannot read my desires?" Jie Ming was slightly startled.

"Yes. Tell me, individual 721, stripping away all appearances and excuses, what is your deepest, most essential desire?" Four voices overlapped, carrying a deeply hidden urgency.

Jie Ming fell into contemplation.

He recalled his experiences after crossing over, practicing the Qi Refining method that showed no results for more than ten years, thirstily absorbing knowledge in the wizard world, and trying his best to fuse the two systems to create rune wizardry, the Black Giant—what was the most fundamental driving force behind all this?

After a while, he looked up, his eyes clear and firm, and answered frankly: "Power."

"Constantly becoming stronger, surpassing limits, and even ultimately—transcending all supernatural power."

As soon as the words fell, Jie Ming himself instantly realized!

The underlying logic of "Justice" is to "suppress everyone's supernatural power" to achieve absolute fairness.

And Jie Ming's core desire is to "obtain and constantly improve supernatural power."

These two formed an irreconcilable absolute opposition at the most fundamental rule level!

One wants to suppress, one wants to pursue, constituting a perfect logical dead loop!

Therefore, the "wish realization system" that "Justice" relied on to maintain the whole world failed completely on Jie Ming.

It couldn't "arrange" a life for him that both suppressed power and realized his desire for power, so he became a "BUG" that the system couldn't understand, an "alien" that couldn't be assimilated by "happiness"!

On those four faces, that eternal indifference appeared for the first time with fluctuations that could be called "emotions"—a kind of extreme confusion and disbelief generated by logical conflict.

"Why?" The four voices carried confusion, "Pursuing power is a common behavioral pattern. But analysis shows that individuals pursue power, and its essence is to achieve other goals: obtaining status, completing specific matters, satisfying a sense of security, winning respect—power is just a 'tool' to achieve these deeper desires."

Jie Ming shook his head, his tone calm but carrying an unquestionable firmness: "Pursuing power, especially supernatural power that can constantly surpass oneself and break boundaries, is itself the purpose. Do you need any other reason?"

Looking at the "surprise" expressions on those four faces, Jie Ming could understand the other party very well, because this was not a simple difference in intention, but a fundamental difference at the worldview level.

Every civilization, due to its different history, environment, and culture, will breed completely different ultimate pursuits.

Cultivation civilization, the initial pursuit is "longevity," so their power system begins to pursue the immortality of the flesh from the Golden Core stage, and the Nascent Soul stage can theoretically achieve eternal life.

Wizard civilization, the initial pursuit is "knowledge," so they begin to study laws from the Tier 2 wizard stage, and Tier 3 wizards can perceive spatial fluctuations; all power is to better explore the unknown.

And the background color of Jie Ming's soul originated from the world he was in before—a purely technological world without any supernatural power.

Because of what is lacking, one will seek what is lacking.

In that world where individual greatness could not be obtained, the yearning for "strength" itself was instead engraved into the cultural gene in a purer and more extreme way.

Unable to become a saint in the flesh, one pursues "attaining the Dao" in spirit, with the determination of "hearing the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening."

Unable to open mountains with bare hands, one worships the power of machines.

For a "tiny" increase in muscle, some people are willing to pay the price of health, and many men are even willing to abandon their testicles—

That is the most primitive longing for "surpassing oneself and becoming stronger" deeply rooted in biological instinct.

Jie Ming actually understood the confusion of "Justice" very well now.

After all, in his childhood, after seeing the performance of children in the wizard civilization who were completely indifferent to a straight branch, he was actually just as surprised (foreshadowing in Chapter 85).

"Some people like socializing, some people like tasting food, some people like sports, and I, just happen to like becoming stronger." Finally, Jie Ming just used the simplest words to cover up this complex worldview difference.

"Justice" was silent, those four faces solidified, as if the huge system was running with all its might, but it could never find a logical path between "suppressing power" and "realizing the desire to pursue power."

For a long time, that cold voice sounded again: "Understanding failed. Your core parameters have a fundamental conflict with the system's underlying instructions. You are a—loophole."

Jie Ming suddenly remembered the intelligence he saw before, the situation of the three wizards who "died in battle" early in the war.

"By the way, what was the situation with the three wizards who died in battle before? According to your logic, you don't look like an existence that would take the initiative to erase."

"Justice" replied: "They also discovered other loopholes and tried to use the loopholes to reverse-analyze and destroy the system's core rules. Their behavior was judged as the highest level of threat to the 'Absolute Fairness Domain.' According to core instructions, they were erased."

"I see—"

Jie Ming looked up, looking calmly at the face belonging to "Amy," but now incomparably strange, and asked the last question: "Then, for me, a loophole that cannot be accommodated by your 'justice' and is itself a loophole, how will you deal with it?"

"Justice" did not answer.

The next instant.

Without any warning, without any process.

Jie Ming felt his "existence"—his thinking, his perception, everything about him—was erased directly from the foundation of this world in a way that was incomprehensible, indescribable, and even more impossible to resist.

He didn't even have time to feel fear or regret, and his consciousness fell into absolute eternal darkness.

He died.

(Don't believe rumors, don't spread rumors, this book is not finished.) ===== CHAPTER 359 =====