Chapter 386: Crossed Over?

What kind of ending could possibly match this journey of hardship and wandering?

Answer: Nine to five, work four days, rest three.

Su Lin closed the old, rustic book and tossed it behind him; the instant the book hit the ground, the conceptual library vanished.

"Xiao Kuihua's Root Course is now in session—your child has reached the Mahayana stage but still can't create a world, what do you do?"

"Then he's probably ruined."

There were no actual books here, but because he wanted to categorize and slowly absorb knowledge and information, different law-based data automatically organized and manifested as individual "books."

Erase reality, create a world—from nothing to something, from something to nothing.

He understood all these principles; after all, whether it was Carosso's memory of creation or the cosmic laws hidden in the Root, he had already acquired and mastered them.

"I could try bringing my true body into this world, allowing direct synchronization with the 'God' within the Root, thereby ascending into another form of conceptual life."

"But I refuse."

If you truly treat your company like home, problems will become enormous.

Of course, if you asked the eighteen-year-old Su Lin whether he'd be willing, he'd have been ecstatic and immediately begun indulging in his own fantasies.

Like: Oh no, I'm surrounded by beauties in Type-Moon.

After all, young people with raging hormones don't understand the true joys of life—what constitutes refined taste.

"Ascend. Setting aside control over this world, what my true body lacks now is an ascent, a catalyst."

With his current human form, even though he holds vast knowledge, he still cannot achieve true creation—only crude imitations, fleeting fragments, and even that is only possible due to Su Lin's profound foundation.

Su Lin casually expanded the existing subspace vault into an area the size of a planet, and filled it with artifacts ranging from Ex-rank to basic rank, covering the entirety of human history: "Excalibur Curry Rod," "Avalon," "The King's Right Arm," "Ruby Wand," "The Blade That Stabs Whoever Gives It," "Slayer Emperor."

As long as he isn't later flooded with god-tier loot, these items will one day fill an entire universe—yes, this is what's known as the Immortal's Treasure Vault!

"These two special containment items can't be forgotten." Su Lin smirked, placing two photographs stained with immense karmic traces into a frame covered by a red drape, and beside it, he placed a ceremonial garment capable of turning someone into a magical girl.

Finally, he placed all magical texts from this world—from the Divine Era to the Modern Age, encompassing all knowledge of magic and sorcery—into the Library of Shuijing Peak.

After stuffing the inventory with these local specialties, he felt a deep, inner-to-outer sense of comfort.

Prosperous and rising, far ahead of all others.

"Stay right here, don't move. I'll go buy some oranges and be right back." Su Lin finished speaking, slung a travel bag onto his back, and opened the gate from the Root to the outside world:

"I'm transferring my consciousness out to handle some business; once done, I'll leave this universe."

Whether he arrived via a cross-boundary talisman no longer matters—this world has become the first one he can freely enter and exit without needing anyone's consent.

Thinking carefully, aside from spending most of his time within the Root and only being able to broadcast live through chosen believers, it doesn't seem so bad.

It'd be even better if one day he could set his phone to block nuisance calls and filter out useless cosmic information.

"Hmm, perhaps that's unavoidable."

This cross-universe, cross-dimension long-distance call exists to prevent encountering threats like Cthulhu-like outer gods—if such a threat ever appears, Su Lin will have to log in and manually intervene.

Generally speaking, even immature cosmic entities possess self-generated barriers, especially fully mature universes—this barrier prevents many powerful outer-universal laws from entering, and even if they do enter, they're restricted to the point of being unable to move freely.

The only way to dismantle such a barrier is to alter, blur, destroy, or corrupt its original cosmic laws and operations, then slowly consume it piece by piece; some powerful beings infiltrate other universes through this method to plunder their power.

These powerful beings are collectively known as Outer Gods.

To prevent such situations—or to resolve them when they occur—simply put, Su Lin's daily work as God is to tune and modify the cosmic laws of all Parallel Worlds, and when necessary, add new laws.

After leaving the Root, Su Lin's first action was to use his omnipresent nature to appear before Huangshan Zhenjun, who was using a transmission talisman to make a phone call.

Among the player base, there are already five Cultivation Breakthrough experts and two Immortals of Longevity—each capable of running their own Holy Grail War alone; the high-level cultivators in Song Shuhang's world are far too idle.

"Emergency notice: we're temporarily shutting down for maintenance; I'll send everyone compensation shortly." Su Lin got straight to the point—if he hadn't taken over this mess, those players would've seemed downright adorable.

But now that he had taken over, he had to start cleaning up the anomalous fluctuations caused by players in various "Parallel World Dungeons."

The Fourth Catastrophe Simulator—do you know why players call it the Fourth Catastrophe?

This is still version 1.0, without the ability to plunder a universe's primordial essence—if it had that feature, what Su Lin would be doing right now is personally crushing these locusts.

Oh, I put them in myself? Then it's fine.

"Understood, junior will notify all fellow cultivators on the forum." Huangshan Zhenjun stopped Su Lin, who was about to leave, and handed him a high-grade space-sealing pouch:

"Elder, please wait a moment—these are the ticket fees you entrusted me with for a long time; I return them to you."

Su Lin's breath caught, but he still took the storage pouch—even though for a very long time to come, he wouldn't lack resources, nor even need them for cultivation.

He hadn't even mentioned charging anything this time.

So they weren't freeloaders after all?

Watching Su Lin's retreating figure vanish, Huangshan Zhenjun spoke to the talisman in his hand: "You heard that—so come back and face reality; don't use some hidden quest as an excuse."

Far away in the freezing Antarctic, Kuang Dao Sanlang, who was traveling with Tenzan Lixiang and others toward迦勒底, suddenly collapsed onto the snow, the talisman slowly drifting down with the howling north wind and falling snowflakes:

"No!!!"

At dawn, as the first ray of sunlight fell upon the small city, Weigong Shilang had already donned the most popular winter outfit in Dongmu—the "Adi Wang" battle robe—and begun his daily labor.

Today, he was fermenting dough by hand.

The people of Dongmu believed only manual labor preserved the finest nutrients of ingredients.

"One bowl of beef noodle soup—no scallions."

Su Lin's figure materialized, only to see a long line outside the shop, every chair inside filled with Servants. "Do I have to wait in line? I'm in a hurry—anyone willing to give up their seat? I'll bless you."

"Puh—!"

"Cough cough cough!"

"Gulps."

Within three short seconds, the crowd scattered in panic; the shop instantly emptied.

"Thanks." Weigong Shilang wiped sweat from his neck with a Mao Jin. "Just trying to complete the system's approval rating quest—somehow, so many people ended up here. Just how many Parallel Worlds is this linked to?"

"Since no one's left, pack up ten more portions for me to take away." Su Lin set his travel bag aside:

"The solar system's restrictions in this world have been lifted; once resources are no longer limited, Parallel Worlds naturally gain infinite possibilities."

If we don't interfere, this place might, like a vortex, draw in more and more Parallel Worlds; after some time, we might even be able to film "Emiya: Across the Multiverse."

"I've already escaped here. Please, spare me. Don't do this—this is my one and only request." Weigong Shilang placed a bowl of ramen before Su Lin, holding it with both hands:

"Please, enjoy. Char siu ramen."

After the great battle days ago, exhausted from physical and spiritual depletion for various reasons, he hadn't even caught his breath before learning of this city's existence.

It had been fine until now—just coming to this city, where every second made one's toes curl in embarrassment, to see familiar faces—but

he encountered a lost little girl with golden hair and brown eyes.

As a partner of justice, he naturally couldn't ignore her; then the little girl hugged him and Saber, calling them Mom and Dad.

Not long after, he picked up another little girl with red hair and a black-haired boy; he assumed they were all Tenzan Lixiang's counterparts, but they too clung to him and Tohsaka Rin, calling them Mom and Dad.

Later, when none of the children's parents could be found, he met another little girl who looked very much like Sakura.

The outcome was obvious: after these children temporarily moved into the Weigong household, the home's atmosphere subtly shifted. Sensing something was off, Weigong Shilang had no choice but to come here daily to avoid it—and to complete his system tasks.

"I don't eat beef?" Su Lin picked up a piece, chewed twice: "Oh, char siu made from beef."

After Su Lin finished the ramen, Weigong Shilang handed him a takeout box: "My apologies for the poor hospitality."

"The anomaly here will be resolved in 24 hours. If you have any regrets, best act soon." Su Lin remarked coolly:

"If you plan to marry, wait until next month when I return to do maintenance."

"I never expected you'd still be a virgin."

"You're not spying on people's privacy 24 hours a day, are you?" Weigong Shilang smiled weakly.

"Omniscient—at least within this universe." Su Lin tapped his own head:

"The young man from the Magical Girl timeline merely absorbed other Emiya's memories during the link—his soul was extinguished. Don't worry, it's just a minor wound."

"I'll return those children too. I've already notified their parents, so don't worry."

The instant Su Lin left, all the Servants who had just run past reappeared as if time had reversed, as if nothing had ever happened.

Only Weigong Shilang stood frozen in place; after a moment, he broke down:

"It was you all along!!!"

"Not awakened naturally yet?" Su Lin arrived at a Parallel World and halted before the slightly desolate Tohsaka Church.

In the garden, a red-haired boy with a youthful face lay in a coffin, surrounded by flowers.

Then he patted the head of the young Black Joan of Arc, dressed in Christmas attire and chanting incantations, saying:

"What did you eat? Cilantro-garlic roasted noodles with vegetable soup are too plain."

"Lord, to return to the mortal world in human form is already a blessing." Jeanne 【lily】 clasped her fingers, smiling: "Piety combined with contentment brings great gain."

"From the Bible, 1 Timothy." Su Lin pulled out a bowl of ramen piled high with char siu, patted her head, and said: "But I say children growing up should eat more delicious, nutritious food."

"Ah?! Thank you for your blessing!" Jeanne 【lily】 blushed, her eyes sparkling, eagerly devouring the ramen.

This child is too adorable.

In a certain sense, Su Lin finally understood why that pigeon occasionally delivered divine revelations to Jeanne—why even Solomon, among all other Servants, had only one chance to hear the 【Voice of Heaven】.

This must be what it's like to raise a daughter.

"Eat slowly and chew well." After reminding her, Su Lin turned and entered the area where the church once held mass.

A ruined, desolate ruin stood at the forest's edge; the pure-white Saintess gazed at the weathered cross, as if silently observing the ebb and flow of history, "Please, what should I do?"

Su Lin asked: "Are you unaccustomed to human ways?"

"My Lord." Jeanne, startled by the voice, quickly bowed: "It wasn't just that I felt pursued before—now that it's suddenly stopped, I don't know what to do."

Su Lin revived certain Church Servants on the Throne of Heroes, allowing them to walk among mortals to perform tasks for him—such as guiding lost children to their parents in the dimensional convergence zone, or acting as mentors to guide lost girls to brave new attempts without regret.

But these aren't the point. The point is that future operations will require their assistance.

The Church's Servants did not believe Su Lin had replaced the original God. God's revelations to Jeanne were never just one; the final one was to convey this message to Su Lin—but earlier messages had already said this—【He forgot the origin of his journey, reached the end of his return. In the eternal One, I shall walk the mortal realm once more, omnipotent.】

In short, this trap had been set long ago.

Whether or not that misunderstanding had occurred, as soon as Su Lin entertained thoughts of the Root, he would have walked right into it himself.

"Then, take up this new mission." Su Lin transformed into formless, featureless light, solidifying the original Throne of Heroes onto Jeanne's body and granting her the method to cultivate Holy Light magic:

"Reborn, now infused with light, I shall journey to all worlds and manifest miracles in this realm once more."

"Humanity's greatest dilemma lies between maturity and immaturity; restless desires may summon catastrophic consequences."

"This is your mission: no matter how deeply darkness envelops you, correct the world and guide it toward light."

In countless Parallel Worlds, flashy Holy Grail Wars might bring unnecessary trouble; some errors caused by external forces could be prevented in advance. To personally intervene after disasters occur would be too exhausting.

Moreover, humans in this world are extremely fond of courting death. Previously confined to the Solar System for judgment was tolerable, but now that possibilities are no longer limited, strange outcomes may arise.

Thus, Su Lin made her a Warden: wherever a legitimate Holy Grail War is held, Jeanne shall appear.

"The heavens declare the glory of the Lord."

Amid the faithful's prayers, the formless, featureless light stepped through a doorway.

Su Lin removed his helmet, his nose twitching as he caught the sharp scent of disinfectant.

Then came the smell of sun-dried cloth, and the sweet fragrance of fruit on a nearby table.

He looked up: the unfamiliar ceiling featured a grid of white-gray metallic panels—ventilation grates for the air conditioning.

"Hospital?" Su Lin glanced at the IV tube taped to his hand.

Everything felt utterly real—except his inner power. He felt transformed into a frail, emaciated young man.

Outside the window lay a city—and sunlight actually stung his eyes?!

"Kirito, you're awake." A girl with chestnut-brown long hair, dressed in a hospital gown, stood at the door, her tear-filled eyes brimming with joy: "We made it back alive. Thank you, Kirito."

"." Su Lin pulled out the IV tube and smiled at the chestnut-haired girl: "What are you talking about? We're still in the game."

The chestnut-haired girl's vision displayed a character panel; the surrounding world began to flood with data streams, dark labyrinthine scenery steadily eroding the space.

"I really got transmigrated?!" the chestnut-haired girl exclaimed.

"You're overacting." Lu Mingfei jumped down from the ceiling with a camera, "Huowang, wrap it up. No more playing."

"I told you not to play." Li Huowang walked in from outside the door, his face grimacing as the ward and the city beyond the window shuddered and vanished: "Brother Su Lin, don't blame me—I was tricked too."

These people said they wanted to check his cultivation level, so they made him turn a manga scene into reality.

"You show not even a hint of emotion. I hope you always remember you are him, not It, my friend." Kleine stepped forward from the side:

"This is just a friend's concern."

The main culprit appeared, with a justification so legitimate it would leave men speechless and women in tears.

"You're completely unmoved by such a beautiful girl?" Himekaze Kaguya said from the side. "Isn't this character's personality great?"

"Too calm. Of all our chat groups, only three are this flat." Su Lin glanced at the 'Asuna' over there and said, "You should respect the characters."

Xing pulled off the wig, paused, and said, "It might be the quarter of the gene from Silver Wolf."

"Mental state as stable as ever." Yi Leina pointed her finger like a gun, smiling as she appeared behind Su Lin: "It's definitely still him. Bang."

Su Lin suddenly remembered he wasn't God anymore—he tried to turn his head sharply—but a beam of dimensional light, piercing through time and space, struck his forehead.

(End of Chapter)