Chapter 254: Schulz

The night before leaving the Brown farm, Schulz went to the roof as usual, but this time he didn't read—he gazed up at the starry sky.

He had always believed he was smart enough, learned fast enough, and that nothing was too difficult if he set his mind to it.

But as his knowledge accumulated, he discovered that the more he learned, the more he realized he didn't know, and the more he felt his own ignorance.

His earlier rapid absorption of knowledge had come from standing on the shoulders of giants, but at his current pace, he would soon be the one standing at the front.

Then, would he, like other brilliant geniuses in history, spend his entire life solving only a few problems?

If that happened, the promise he made to Xiao En might never be fulfilled.

As he gazed at the sky, he suddenly saw a meteor streak across the horizon and crash within the farm's boundaries.

Schulz rubbed his eyes—meteorites weren't surprising, but what startled him was that behind the meteor seemed to follow a strange creature, one that flew without any device, using only its flesh.

Monster? Or alien?

Schulz felt a thrill—if he could prove that humans weren't the only life form on Earth, then in some way, it would prove humanity wasn't created by gods, since no religious scripture ever mentioned gods working overtime to mold aliens.

He hurried toward the meteor's impact site, but he didn't go recklessly—he took a rifle with him.

Xiao En was right; sometimes this thing was far more useful than books.

The meteor's impact site lay at the farm's edge, far from the main house; by the time he drove there, minutes had passed, yet the air around the impact point was still thick with dust.

Within a one-kilometer radius of the impact, dust hung in the air like fog—he grabbed a handful; the particles were large, easily visible to the naked eye, identical to the sand and soil around the farm.

But the dust around the impact point hung motionless in the air, not a single grain falling.

This anomaly stirred Schulz's excitement—he vaguely sensed he was about to make a momentous discovery.

He took down his rifle from his back and stepped cautiously into the dust mist.

The airborne dust was fine and dense, wrapping the surroundings in a veil—even a powerful flashlight couldn't pierce it; he could only move by instinct toward the center of the impact.

Hum~

Schulz halted—he felt something moving within the mist.

He held his breath, silent.

This was the Brown family's farm; whatever moved in the mist was an intruder.

One of the Brown family's guiding principles: when facing a hostile intruder, the greeting should come after the gunshot.

If one shot didn't kill them, or if the firepower wasn't enough, then pull out the Constitution and tell them it was private land.

As he walked through the mist, he vaguely found himself in a garden—the flowers' colors were more vivid and brilliant than any Impressionist painting, dazzlingly unreal, yet when he touched them, he felt the living texture of real flowers.

He was certain: no such garden had ever existed within the Brown farm's boundaries before.

After walking through the garden for a short while, he saw a lake—its center stood a solemn, dignified middle-aged man.

Schulz frowned; even though he paid no attention to religion, he knew walking on water was a sign of a divine emissary.

The middle-aged man spoke softly: "Come."

Schulz, as if under a spell, followed the man's voice toward the lake's center—when he stepped onto the water, he found he didn't sink; instead, it felt like stepping on a soft, elastic solid.

He, too, had gained the ability to walk on water.

As he walked across the water to stand before the man, he noticed the man's open chest pierced by a long nail—the nail's shape was strange, like a stretched double pyramid.

The man's gaze was gentle, his deep pupils like starlight, shimmering with wisdom.

"Child, pull out the spike in my chest, and I shall grant you the radiance of the gods and boundless wealth."

As he spoke, ripples spread across the water beside Schulz—a simple wooden chest rose to the surface; when it opened, it was filled with gold coins and jewels.

Schulz snapped back to clarity—he looked at the man and asked: "Who are you?"

The middle-aged man continued:

"I walk among countless dimensions. I have many names, many identities. I'm not sure which one you wish to know, but all the intelligent beings I've met call me God."

"Child, you need not be confused or hesitant—just pull out the spike in my chest, and I shall fulfill all your wishes. Your will shall be my will on Earth; no mortal may defy it."

Schulz's gaze grew vacant, as if seeing the vision the man described.

His eyes quickly cleared, and he asked with a strange expression: "You say you're God?"

The middle-aged man nodded.

Schulz asked: "The omniscient, omnipotent one?"

The man smiled: "Exactly the one you have in mind."

Schulz asked: "Can you see a line of text written on your face?"

The man looked puzzled—he was about to speak, but Schulz cut him off.

"So you're not omniscient after all." Schulz raised his hand and fired—a bullet struck the man's forehead.

On the man's forehead was a cross, with the words: "Strike here, and I shall grant you infinite knowledge."

The man's eyes bulged as he collapsed backward onto the water, his body slowly writhing and deforming into an indescribable mass of decay.

The long nail piercing the man's chest transformed into a thumb-sized double-pyramid crystal, floating before Schulz.

The instant he gripped the double-pyramid crystal, he established a connection with it and understood its name: the Omniscience Crystal.

Simultaneously, as he connected with the crystal, Schulz's pupils dilated—his gaze pierced through time and space, gazing into the future.

Wu Chang could not learn what Schulz saw under the Omniscience Crystal's guidance through resentment—he could only see Schulz snap back to awareness, his face ashen, his body trembling slightly, whispering over and over:

"It must not happen. It must not happen."

From then on, Schulz became strange—he had always disliked stupidity and avoided talking to strangers, but after obtaining the Omniscience Crystal, he grew reclusive.

Throughout his four years of university, aside from attending classes, he cut off nearly all social contact, immersing himself in the campus library.

In his first year, he mastered all knowledge taught at the university—not just his own major's knowledge, but every subject across every major.

The questions he asked were so advanced that even renowned scholars in those fields struggled to answer.

In his second year, having synthesized all knowledge, he performed his own energy-activation surgery, unlocking his talent zone—his ability to absorb and master knowledge accelerated further, and that same year he developed high-energy weapons.

In his third year, the Brown family ran into trouble—their farm was targeted, with Saint Song Corp as the entry point, framing the Browns for massive debt; only by accepting the farm acquisition offer could they survive the crisis.

Just as the Brown family was gripped by panic, Schultz found his grandfather and, over the course of one evening, persuaded him to become the chairman of Hymn Corporation.

On the third day after he became chairman, the competitor who had plunged the Brown family into crisis met an unfortunate end—killed in a home invasion robbery.

The competitor's company was holding a meeting at the time. The killer was extremely ferocious, gunning down all five executives inside the villa along with twenty security personnel around it, making off with a hundred thousand federal coins in cash from the villa before escaping, and remains at large to this day.

With the external crisis resolved, what followed was a sweeping round of reforms.

Schultz kicked every member of the family out of the company; they would keep only their entitled share of dividends and no longer hold any power to manage the company.

Next, under Schultz's guidance, Hymn Corporation developed several hit firearms, leaping from a third-rate weapons company to become the most prominent new force in the arms industry. During this period, Schultz aggressively expanded the business, grew the company's scale, and bribed congressmen and federal officials.

With the help of the Omniscient Crystal, he built the very starship Wu Chang was on now, and within the starship he discovered the most crucial technology: how to condense divinity out of human nature.

Immediately after came the well-known Sid Tragedy, high-energy weapons debuted, and Hymn Corporation officially became the world's sole super-company of its caliber.

And after that came the Hymn Project.

Schultz's entire life flashed before Wu Chang. As Hymn Corporation grew ever more successful, the followers and words of praise around Schultz multiplied—but the people by his side grew fewer and fewer.

No matter when it was, his mind was wound tight, ceaselessly absorbing knowledge, pushing the tech tree forward, and laying out the Hymn Project.

Even after exploring the great harmony of life with his life assistant to relieve accumulated pressure, his fingers would still wander ceaselessly across the assistant's back.

The life assistants assumed this was Schultz's unique way of flirting, but in truth Schultz was calculating formulas.

Only when he saw Xiao En could he briefly relax, as if returning to the farm of his youth, letting his mind ease just a little.

Xiao En had long noticed Schultz's state and repeatedly suggested he take a long vacation, the two of them traveling the world and properly enjoying life. Schultz was tempted, but every time he refused.

Because if he stopped, there would be no one to take his place and keep pushing forward—so he could not stop.

!

Until he discovered the anomaly in Xiao En's talent zone, spent a great deal of spiritual light, and performed the psionic awakening surgery on Xiao En, fully activating his talent zone.

Xiao En's talent was far stronger than his own; as a human being, the possibilities within Xiao En were limitless.

From that moment on, Schultz seemed to set down the heavy burden on his shoulders, no longer bound, free to fight with everything he had.

He would launch the Hymn Project and elevate the world he lived in to the higher-tier world where the gods dwell.

He would become the Hymn, and in his own way, plant the seed of godhood in every person, open a new era in the higher-tier world, and give everyone the possibility of becoming a god.

Even if one could not become a god, as long as the seed within could awaken, they could merge with him as one, receive his protection, and endure through the despairing future he had seen in the Omniscient Crystal.

After sending Xiao En into the aircraft, an apologetic look crossed Schultz's face, and he said softly:

"Xiao En hates trouble the most. I hope he won't blame me for making him shoulder such a heavy burden."

The Omniscient Crystal floated before Schultz, flickering with light as if communicating something with him.

After a brief silence, Schultz shook his head and said evenly:

"I told you—for success, every sacrifice is worth it. It's just that now it's my turn."

The Omniscient Crystal flickered again, emitting a sound only Schultz could hear.

Schultz smiled and said, "Failure doesn't matter either. With my experience here, when it's Xiao En's turn next time, he'll surely be able to devise a more perfect plan."

"Following in the footsteps of those before you always makes success easier to obtain. What I need to do now is to leave enough footprints toward the future—enough of them, and far enough."

"Besides, with you here, I may not necessarily lose."

The lingering grievance ended here. The scene before Wu Chang dissolved, leaving behind only a single line of blood-colored last words.

【Without borrowing any gods or higher-dimensional beings, with the will of humanity, decide the future of humanity once.】

Wu Chang hissed, staring at the blood-colored last words before him, his brows and eyes almost twisting into a knot.

No, bro, who taught you to leave last words like this?

Wu Chang scratched his head. This job was a bit tricky—no less difficult than world peace.

He really wanted to resurrect Schultz, then grab him by the collar and ask: besides that little business of saving the world, was there nothing else worth doing in that head of yours?

Even wishing to eliminate the Joy that ruined your plans would be better than this out-of-touch last words.

Sigh.

Wu Chang let out a sigh. Forget it, consider it paying off a debt.

He had used the True Walker to replace Xiao En, and by Xiao En's identity had gotten quite a few benefits from Schultz—such as the psionic awakening surgery, the Hymn starship he was riding now, and the Omniscient Crystal that Joy wanted to snatch.

Especially the psionic awakening surgery and the Omniscient Crystal—through Schultz's lingering grievance he had learned that, to complete his psionic awakening surgery, Schultz had consumed a great deal of spiritual light.

The so-called spiritual light was the part of human nature that could be transformed into divinity. Spiritual light came in two kinds, good and evil. What Wu Chang had consumed was the platinum-gold liquid in the starship—accumulated bit by bit by Schultz over the years.

Collecting high-quality spiritual light usable in the Hymn Project had cost Schultz considerable effort. The loss of this portion of spiritual light upset the ratio of virtue and sin in Schultz's plan, and had a notable impact on the Hymn Project.

The fact that Joy could so easily break the balance of virtue and sin within Schultz also had this factor in it.

Although even with this extra spiritual light, Schultz still could not have beaten Joy, and today's ending would not have changed, it did have a certain impact after all.

Wu Chang had taken Xiao En's benefits, so of course he had to bear Xiao En's karma, and shoulder the responsibility Schultz had entrusted on Xiao En's behalf.

Only he had no intention of walking Schultz's old path. He had no interest in becoming a half-human, half-ghost artificial god, risking himself to shelter everyone in this world.

He could only do his best to fulfill Schultz's final blood-colored last words—and the method of doing so, naturally, was whatever came most handy.

Wu Chang returned from Schultz's lingering grievance. He picked up the Omniscient Crystal and held it in his palm, examining it closely.

In Schultz's lingering grievance, the Omniscient Crystal had lived up to its name—whatever questions were in Schultz's mind, it could answer them.

It was precisely thanks to this omniscient teacher that Schultz had been able to develop so much black technology alone, and had also let Schultz grasp much intelligence about the Reason Realm in advance.

Beyond that, the Omniscient Crystal had even more important abilities. The first was that it could foresee the future to a certain extent, letting Schultz avoid misfortune and seek fortune.

The second was that in combat it could analyze enemies, work out their weaknesses, and target them accordingly.

When Schultz picked up the Omniscient Crystal, the weakness prompt that surfaced on the unknown being's forehead, and his solo handling of the three Mercurys just now, both relied on this ability of the Omniscient Crystal.

Wu Chang rubbed the Omniscient Crystal in his palm, wanting to see what other abilities it had.

Schultz has already entrusted you to me—this time it can't go on scorching my gaze, can it?

Wu Chang's gaze focused on the surface of the Omniscient Crystal. He stared for a while. The Omniscient Crystal's attribute panel he did not see; instead, he felt the Omniscient Crystal gradually becoming crystal-clear, as if its outermost protective shell were peeling away under his gaze.

The Omniscient Crystal seemed to want to show him the most important thing within it.

Wu Chang continued to stare, his gaze delving deeper and deeper, until finally he saw something.

Resentment!

A clump of resentment, utterly devoid of red, pitch-black like an abyss!

Even Schultz's "human will decides humanity's future" kind of hellish resentment was only red tinged with purple, purple shading to black, its color nearly that of a cherry in sunlight.

But the resentment before him was pure, absolute black.

He had never seen this kind of resentment before.

Wu Chang rubbed his hands together. Let me see what's going on here.

Wait, better safe than sorry—let me do some prep work first.

Wu Chang took out the last of his "Whispers of the Nameless," popped it into his mouth, and only then set his mind at ease to examine the pitch-black resentment.

The next instant, he felt as if struck by lightning, his body jolting and collapsing onto the ground, both hands clutching his eyes as an inhuman shriek tore out of him.

"Ah! Holy shit! My eyes!"

(End of chapter)