Chapter 144: I Will Devour Everything (15,000-word update!)

"Has the Antarctica Huzdun not been breached yet?"

"No, the various nations of the Lianbang have exhausted their full strength, even nuclear weapons have been used, yet that area still stands amidst the environment; there is simply no way to deal with it..."

"Is the Rune technology really that much worse? That Li Ang has no way to infiltrate the Human side at all; what on earth did those lunatics in the Star-Bearer Church do to be able to create such a massive Psionic Spire? If these things are truly activated, what are we supposed to do to stop this thing from destroying us?"

Watching the tall tower standing amidst the illusion, the controller of the player world, the commander of the Lianbang, is furrowing their brows tightly.

The entire Antarctica has now turned into a brilliant sea of fire under the bombardment of modern weapons. The weapons of the player world are the ultimate armaments of the information age; those saturation-style bombings are continuously striking the last fortress of the Star-Bearer Church, the replica Nanjijianta located at the South Pole.

These priests who believe in the Star-Bearer, in the name of replicating Psionic Technology, created a massive spire that is almost on par with the original Psionic Spire in Antarctica.

This behemoth utilized the productivity of the information age, along with various kinds of Rune technology, to build a comprehensive sphere of influence belonging to the Star-Bearer Church in the Antarctic region. It could even be said that, with the strong support of various countries around the world, it is no exaggeration to say that the entire Star-Bearer Church established a nation in Antarctica.

Under fanatical faith, millions of believers arrived in the Antarctic region and began to create a terrifying spire from nothing in the ice and snow, using various construction machinery and Magic creations. People only discovered afterwards that these grotesque players had completely manifested unique characteristics similar to the Star-Bearer. They worked together, acting as if they were one, continuously adding bricks and tiles throughout Antarctica.

And after the Star-Bearer demon incident appeared, the entire player world became a complete mess. It even triggered a short-lived civil war that many people could not have imagined. You must know, the player world is different from other worlds.

In the current player world, the division of countries has become very blurred; the overall environment and the Lianbang are the core elements.

Under this premise of unification, the Star-Bearer Church actually completed something akin to seizing power and subverting internal power institutions in just one year, which is unimaginable in the thinking of players. Countless figures who appeared old and corrupt were pulling strings from within, and even now, some cities have declared their betrayal of the Lianbang.

After all, immortality and extraordinary power are eternal topics; no one can bypass these words that are full of various flavors and can make one feel bone-chilling loneliness and desire. Few people can break free from this concept.

Even the players themselves do not know how many Star-Bearer infiltrators exist within their own world.

You must know, things like Chaos corruption are still in a state of hiding, but the Star-Bearer is a super church officially acknowledged for a time as truly possessing ultimate power and the ability to travel across worlds. The entire world is fanatically pursuing that power and sensory experiences that transcend humans. To say it is terrifying is absolutely not an exaggeration.

More than seventy cities and regions began to mutiny, and countless street-fighting meat grinders began to operate. The war machine of the Lianbang is ruthlessly crushing those scattered Star-Bearers who lack Psionic Power assistance.

And now, after two months of war, at the cost of 1.7 million deaths, they finally arrived at this last fortress of the Star-Bearer Church. A total of tens of millions of people migrated to Antarctica within these few years. Think about it carefully, this is simply madness, an impossible thing, yet it objectively happened in the face of faith. This is a one-of-a-kind Psionic research base; before the Star-Bearer mutiny, this was even the core of Psionic research.

Today, this icy kingdom and massive spire built by tens of millions of people are casting down a golden Veil; countless flames and sparks are floating and burning on the surrounding ocean, and the steaming and condensing ice crystals even look like mist, lingering over the entire Antarctic Continent. However, they still haven't been able to break in.

Whether it be naval guns, missiles, nuclear weapons, or even experimental Xiangwei Wuji and some Lingneng Wuji, this massive Veil has always blocked everyone in front of it; the wall of faith shattered the pride of the Heartless One.

"Are you still trying to attack the church of the True God? You ignorant people. Our stupidity, our persistence, is what led to the current result."

Watching the golden Veil resist countless attacks once again, the commander furrowed their brows, listened to the faint, persuasive voice coming from afar, and pressed a hidden button.

In every room and corridor, hidden Runes began to light up where the current was connected. These symbols began to block the sounds spreading from the outside, gradually modifying the symbols that were originally penetrating into everyone's Soul to charm and speak to them into a form that normal people could also understand and accept.

However, although the power of hypnosis and brainwashing could be corrected, this was all the result of their Rune research. For those deeper-level dialogues, and thoughts that reached directly into the human heart, these Runes had no way to resist. Ripples from the Nanjijianta on the Antarctic Continent began to spread, pale golden mist began to flicker within the fleet, pouring the voice of the visitor into their minds.

"Look, the war machines you are so proud of cannot play any role at all before the true might of the gods. We were once orphans walking in the wilderness, unable to see the direction of the lighthouse."

"But now it is different; you have already seen this power and radiance belonging to the gods. This great power, this great color, all the might contained herein, you should have seen it all. No one can deny that this is what a true god can do. He is in our hearts."

"One can survive even without a Soul; rather, our Souls are the true parasites. Only by pulling out the parasites in our minds, only when the demons are all destroyed, can we reach true world harmony. Haven't you noticed? The pure concept brought by the Star-Bearer is the true peace. Shouldn't we learn from the Star-Bearer who has linked into one?"

"Comrades, comrades who are still lost, you should have seen it, and many have even felt the purity of the Star-Bearer; you also know that he is the one who truly wants to pull us out of the abyss of hell."

"So, what are we waiting for? Pray toward the more brilliant radiance, launch an attack toward the future. We need you."

"..."

It is time to prepare to guard against the impact of the internal environment.

Listening to the brain-invading demonic sounds beginning to gradually dissipate, the commander shook their head, feeling their entire body beginning to lose coordination. Even if one could resist hypnosis, that true dialogue was enough to bewitch the heart.

Especially individuals who possess Psionic Power and understand the existence of other worlds. Their minds have been permeated by Psionic Power and various things, and they have begun to gradually alienate into an unusual state. It is very easy to be incited now. But what is worse is that without these people, they would have no way to break the Antarctic fortress at all.

"Pass my order, everyone get ready for impact, if any ship is trying to attack friendly forces, then sink it directly."

Shaking their noisy head, the commander covered their forehead and said to their adjutant.

And the adjutant, who looked calm and powerful, nodded, picked up the microphone directly, and broadcasted to the full channel, once again reciting the Star-Bearer's rhetoric with a very demonic accent.

"'Do not fear the future, do not fear war, our cause is just! Everyone be prepared to make your own choice! We know you will finally make such a decision, but don't be impulsive! Please remember, we are always standing on your side! Open fire toward true evil! Open fire toward the Lianbang—'"

'Bang!'

A crisp gunshot rang out; the adjutant, who had over a decade of friendship, had their skull fly out of the window, their entire head exploded into a spray of blood, and it slammed straight onto the broadcast communication facility.

Accompanied by a burst of sizzling electric sparks and sound, black smoke rose from the communication device. The commander, with an ugly expression, kicked the traitor's corpse away, looked at the contaminated communication device with full disgust, and couldn't help but suppress the fire in their heart, letting out a long breath.

Yes, this is the norm; no one knows how many people the Star-Bearer has hidden, or where they will launch a fatal blow. Even the believers of the Chaos Gods at least have an unusual appearance and show some inferior life attitudes, but the Star-Bearer has none at all. They all look like loyal ministers and good generals; who knows when they will turn their guns at a critical moment, directly causing everything to collapse.

Before the commander could let the mechanic repair the communication device, they saw several warships outside the window beginning to fire at each other. Naval guns and missiles took off, and countless flashes of fire appeared around the ocean.

This included, but was not limited to, the Psionic Light Spear from the Antarctic Continent; these terrifying Rune weapons could be projected from a distance of thousands of kilometers, relying purely on absolute violence, using the means of steaming the ocean dry to completely ignite and burn the surrounding environment and the fleet, turning the living things inside into a mass of dried corpses.

And the worst part is, because of the voice just now, even many of their own warships began to turn their gun barrels, aiming at the flagship that was flying the command flag. This made the commander feel incomparably annoyed. Especially when they saw the flag-bearer, who looked upright, raising the flashing symbol representing the Star-Bearer on the flagpole, the commander knew clearly that this encirclement had likely failed as well.

"You monsters will not have any good end, and neither will I. Your delusion of wanting to ignite this world is a dream after all. Everyone, follow me, clean up these Star-Bearer traitors!"

Drawing a gun and killing the Star-Bearer traitor waving on the mast from dozens of meters away, the commander watched the crowd behind them waving their hands, intending to go out. But just as they opened the door, they saw the interior of the cabin with corpses lying in disarray, and a figure glowing with golden light holding the corpse of their other adjutant, turning their head to look over.

That was their wife, a childhood sweetheart they had known for a full thirty years. There was a four-year-old daughter at home waiting for her parents to return from this bloody battlefield and tell their heroic stories. But from the current perspective, it was likely that nothing could be done anymore.

"Everyone, prepare to fix bayonets. We are starting a clearing operation inside the cabin. We cannot let these Star-Bearer traitors raise their flag on the territory of the Lianbang again. These monsters must die."

"... Actually, I am a pacifist."

The visitor glowing with golden light sighed; judging by the voice, it was actually the voice of a young girl.

"My mom and dad were both killed by those Chaos cultists; only the Star-Bearer can destroy the monsters in these people's hearts. But you adults are all too dirty; you only think of yourselves and have never thought about how this world could become better."

The golden girl spoke to herself, her palms and actions also moving on their own, just like a high school student talking about her dreams. To be precise, she was indeed the age of a high school student, and she indeed had hopes and ideals. It was just that, very early on, her hopes and ideals had completely shattered in the attack of the Chaos villains. Now what she was thinking of was a more distant protection. Everyone felt that their actions were correct, and everyone felt that they were guarding their own home and dreams. Whether it was those Star-Bearers or the commander in front of her, it was the same.

But what made the girl feel puzzled was that, even though the answer was right in front of them, they insisted on walking in the opposite direction.

"Even this woman is the same, shouting about fighting for her child. But aren't we also fighting for her child? For a better future, for a better tomorrow, for a world where no one cries, we have struggled until now."

"Do you know? On the Antarctic Continent, we transformed the ice sheet into grasslands; we have no hierarchy of superior and inferior, we are as close as brothers and sisters to each other, and there is not even the appearance of crime."

"We have already achieved it; we know the gentleness and beauty brought by that link."

"Why must you force us to make such a decision?"

As the words fell, watching the light in the eyes gradually dim, the commander whose heart had already been ripped out by her, the girl sighed, her heart filled with melancholy.

But just as she collected her scattered mood and turned to look at the ocean, a pitch-black gun barrel was aiming at her body.

I don't know when, but the commander's fleet had been sealed off layer by layer by various civil war fleets; that behemoth firing 510mm caliber naval guns erupted with a gasp of flames. Before the golden girl could make any move, the entire command ship was instantly penetrated, erupting with a sky-shaking sound of secondary explosions, sinking rapidly in the ocean.

The vortex that appeared in that instant even dragged the culprit next to it down; the two steel behemoths crossed and roared as they sank to the bottom of the sea, becoming a corner of this war.

"... Actually, I think Humans are doing quite well."

In the conference room within the Subspace, Li Ang raised an eyebrow and suddenly said.

"I think you really could give it a try. Or rather, you will inevitably give it a try. I am not joking with you, nor do I have the experience or habit of telling you jokes."

"I have always been serious. I have even undone the seal of the Great Vortex, and that massive vortex has become mine. I am using that enormous rift to begin draining the power of the Subspace in reverse, intending to bring the entire world to its knees. This is what I am going to do. I do not hide my thoughts."

"So let us have a final war, everyone. This is an inevitable outcome."

Light and darkness shifted, and the world flowed. The entire Subspace presented a disjointed, grotesque feeling, as if the time and lives of many people had been skipped over.

But this is one of the characteristics of the Subspace; whenever people are thinking or sorting through their emotions, a sense of discontinuous jumping always appears. Li Ang did not feel particularly surprised by this; he simply sat in his chair, watching everything around him with great interest, waiting for the arrival of his opponents.

In this awkward stretch of time, silence was the main theme. Light and shadow shifted within the room of Chaos, and finally, a low, questioning voice came through.

"Is there nothing that can be discussed? What exactly do you want? What can we give you? Why must you use such an extreme way to solve problems? Do you have any idea how many people will die because of this behavior?!"

A woman's voice came from the corner; perhaps a saintess of some church, her eyes filled with hot tears, looking angrily at the completely indifferent Li Ang.

"They are all dead! Everyone is dead! Do you know what this means!"

"I know."

And to that angry woman, Li Ang's response was a gentle nod.

"My initial estimate was that a minimum of two hundred and thirty million to five hundred million people might die; after all, at first, I thought it might end around the Shiyici Chongji. And by the time the Twelfth Impact arrived, all living things in the direction opposite to the Old World, using it as an axis point, would die."

"After all, this Planetary Shield is too sturdy, and I actually don't have any particularly good way to deal with it. This thing looks unremarkable, but it actually possesses extraordinary flexibility and self-repair capabilities. If the Twelfth Impact is not yet finished, then the death toll will reach about one hundred and twenty-four billion people. That accounts for almost half of this world's total population."

"And once the Thirteenth Impact begins, then there is no need to think too much. There won't be a single living person in the entire world, including myself. I will exhaust every cost to tear that Planetary Shield apart; if I can't tear it, we will all die together."

"What right do you have to judge the life and death of others! What right do you have to do this!"

It was still that angry saintess.

Even the Subspace could not suppress the anger of this poor woman; countless flames drifted in unformed shapes around her body, and even this locked, secret space began to show layers upon layers of discontinuous fractures.

These are the traces left by time; the saintess of the past once left her great achievements in this world. But time passes, and although these traces leave ripples in the Subspace, and even exist in a grotesque way within this fully enclosed secret chamber, to Li Ang, they were still like a breeze brushing his face, possessing no power to intimidate.

"Because you cannot stop me. As a powerhouse, I can indeed trample upon you weaklings. I can sacrifice everything I have; I can choose not to make money, not to profit, I can want for nothing, as long as this world escapes its cage. This is my Dao, my path. You may not approve, but this is my duty. I am obligated to lead you out of this planet... though, perhaps, maybe not you."

Li Ang looked at the leaders around him and raised an eyebrow, seemingly wanting to ask for their opinions.

But in the next instant, Li Ang blinked, feeling that this secret chamber seemed to have undergone minute changes and grotesque fluctuations. Although everyone was there, appearing angry and hateful, Li Ang could feel it.

Everyone, the actions and wills of all the leaders, were undergoing extremely minute, discontinuous changes. This change should have initially come from the flickering and collapse of projections caused by changes in the human heart. After all, the Subspace is the reverse side of the mind. But inside this enclosed, locked space, unable to feel the flow of the Subspace outside, Li Ang suddenly realized instinctively that something was wrong.

After carefully observing the angry appearance of these leaders and the extremely silent state of the four avatars, Li Ang froze.

He felt a gust of abnormal wind.

"Like these four gods... haha, so that's how it is; I really did underestimate you."

Looking at the four gods who had been silent for so long, and the many silent leaders, Li Ang blinked, feeling a certain strange flow.

On the surface, it seemed as if Li Ang was in the conference room talking to these leaders, discussing thoughts about various futures and possibilities. But in reality, accompanied by that sluggish, dull feeling from just now, Li Ang finally realized that things seemed to be a bit more interesting than he had imagined.

If this power did not harm him and did not need to be used on himself too much, then he could indeed accomplish some unimaginable feats.

For example, adjusting a person's sensory perception to create a certain intense illusion, making one believe that time and space are continuous.

"Interesting... you, how long have you stopped time?"

An enclosed space, tens of thousands of leaders, it turns out this was a trap set for me...

Looking at the four silent avatars, Li Ang raised an eyebrow, feeling a trace of real pressure appearing upon himself.

I will strive to update more "human-like" tomorrow.

(End of chapter)