Chapter 486

Starlight glittered, emerald waves rippled; fuel leaking from aircraft and ships burned on the sea surface, drawing schools of fish below.

"Sometimes I wonder if becoming a player was the right choice."

Zhongtian Beiji, restored to his original power, stepped upon the sea, weary and pressing his forehead with his hand.

Fortunately, Master Pi Fu and the others arrived in time, preventing Zhongtian Beiji from being sold into slavery—my one go,

otherwise he would have returned to the real world and gone on a killing spree, eliminating every NPC who had appeared, then cleaned his memories in the slums.

Exhausted in body and mind, Zhongtian Beiji bid farewell to everyone over the comms channel, then promptly teleported back, vanishing from the sea surface.

Sanriyue and Joker left with him.

As for the two remaining players on the sea, these two had only enjoyed a few minutes of free movement at the start of the mission,

failed to counterattack the CIA agents, were promptly subdued, injected with sedatives, and spent the entire time lying flat, asleep, cluelessly carried through to mission completion—you don't care whether you contributed, just ask whether the mission was ultimately cleared.

The two thanked profusely over the radio, then logged off and returned.

Most had left; only Master Pi Fu and the Oracle remained.

The two hovered in midair, like gods ignoring the struggling American soldiers begging for rescue on the sea, kilometers apart, showing no intention to approach.

The Oracle spoke first, casually: "Satellite communications show the Ohio-class submarine in the Atlantic and the entire Pentagon Defense Department have fallen into total chaos—they can't figure out what happened on the island and won't launch nuclear missiles anytime soon."

"I'm not worried about the nuclear missiles."

Li Cheng rubbed his chin; as long as the nukes weren't exploding against his face, with his levitation engines, a single thought could carry him hundreds of kilometers away—the real concern for him was

"How should I address you now? The Oracle? Or… the true interdimensional traveler?"

In the instant he finished speaking, Li Cheng slashed his chest with the Two Yin-Yang Blade, shifting into his Insect Form, his left palm concealing Xuanlei Qilin blood, his right hand open, ready to summon the still-repairing mass of mechs.

This was the strongest form he could currently summon; beside him, Huiyu wore a solemn expression, gold-threaded 【Silver Wing Path】 glasses on his face, gripping the 【Skullcrusher Power Hammer】 in both hands, a tablet computer hanging from his chest, rapidly downloading internet content via satellite tech.

"I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour~"

The theme song from the classic sitcom Friends blared from the tablet; Li Cheng turned to look at Huiyu, and the Oracle on the radio fell silent.

Li Cheng groaned: "What the hell are you doing?"

"Downloading movies and TV shows."

Huiyu replied matter-of-factly, "I just connected to the network and found this parallel world shares similarities with real Earth—like 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it also differs: this world's 'Soldier's March' has a second season, 'District 9' is followed immediately by 'District 10,' and Friends ran for fifteen seasons—

That's all money."

TMD, Gan, you're a genius!

Li Cheng slapped his forehead; the statement wasn't wrong—though Whale Song's AI video generation tech was already highly advanced, original works produced by this parallel world's original cast would never match in authenticity.

Bringing back these pirated FBI Warning works to the real world could truly fetch a fortune.

(FBI Warning: U. S. Federal Bureau of Investigation notice. Usually appears before videos as copyright protection—copying or distributing copyrighted videos legally invites the FBI's iron fist.)

After the interruption, the Oracle on the radio paused, regrouped his thoughts, and mused: "Why do you call me an interdimensional traveler?"

"When I first entered the scenario, I felt something was off—this mission seemed strange,"

Li Cheng said, "The setup was too unusual. If you wanted to frustrate puzzle-oriented players, there was no need to set the rule 'kill the VIP to unlock power.'

If you wanted combat-focused players to slaughter freely, there was no need to make them child-sized and powerless. This suspicion accumulated from the moment I found that magazine in the dungeon, differing from reality, and peaked when I saw De Shao Wei's corpse."

"Oh?" The Oracle remained noncommittal. "Continue."

"The greatest deviation in this world began in 1999, when a meteor fell over Chicago, Illinois, directly influencing a young Obama just entering politics, accelerating his rise."

Li Cheng said, "At first, I thought it was an accident—a mid- to high-level player from the Evil Science Alliance died in this world, and his legacy was inherited by Obama, who, even without powers, would have won the presidency; the supernatural power further fueled his ambition to become king of the world.

But when he fully revealed his supernatural abilities, I realized there was no accident.

The Black Pharaoh understood the arena mechanism perfectly—his power system appeared complete, yet was fundamentally flawed. His early rise, his ambition, even his thoughts, were meticulously manipulated and designed.

The Black Pharaoh understood the battlefield mechanism intimately; his power system appeared complete but was in fact flawed. His premature ascension, his ambitions, even his thoughts, had been meticulously manipulated and designed.

Li Cheng pointed toward the forest on the island's cliff—the Nightmare Bear had vanished, leaving only a massive depression behind.

It was the Oracle who had earlier told him that intense light and heat could disrupt the Nightmare's presence—information no player with sealed powers could ever scan out unless they already knew.

He retracted his finger and spoke calmly: "I have ties to the Evil Science Alliance—I've never heard of anyone actually practicing the Black Emperor's legacy. Thus, only two possibilities exist: one, that Evil Science Alliance player secretly kept the power seed, and you know him.

Withdrawing his finger, Li Cheng said calmly, "I have some ties to the Evil Science Alliance, but I've never heard of anyone actually practicing the Black Emperor's legacy. Taken together, there are only two possibilities: first, that the Evil Science Alliance player secretly hoarded a power seed, and you know him.

Considering that even a typical Lv28 transcendent, let alone the so-called 'Number One Under Lv30'—【White Horse Tombstone】—

couldn't remotely intercept and destroy a Trident missile traveling at over ten Mach speeds so effortlessly, I lean toward the latter.

No one could intercept and neutralize a trident missile traveling at over ten machs with such effortless ease from a distance—I'm inclined toward the latter.

"Oh? Your words are rather arrogant," the Oracle laughed. "Aren't you just Lv21 yourself?"

"First, after this mission, I won't be Lv21 anymore,"

Li Cheng tapped his temple's biomaterial armor; the inverted pyramid realm triggered by Cai Anjie wasn't a mission, yet it gave him no XP—but he had genuinely strengthened himself immensely within it.

He said calmly: "Second, those top-tier powerhouses are merely mortals born before my time."

High above, wind howled; Huiyu hesitated, whispering: "Uh… the current president of the 【Monutong Alliance】, 【Ji Li】, became a player at age twelve four and a half years ago and is now Lv40 at sixteen—she's younger than you."

". I mean biological age, biological age, do you understand? Ji Li has already completed countless missions and secluded herself in pocket dimensions for hundreds of years—her biological age is already hundreds or even thousands!"

Li Cheng's face flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead, spouting incomprehensible phrases:

"I'm Silver-tier, I'm strongest—if I'd become a player four years earlier, I'd have won the championship."

"You're the challenger."

After muttering like a monk chanting sutras, Li Cheng took a deep breath, calmed himself, and continued: "The final, decisive evidence lies in the Black Pharaoh's mind.

I extracted his memories and obtained the name of the power source: Lin En, Lynn."

I extracted his memories and learned the name of the source of power: Lin En, Lynn.