Chapter 584: So-called Deities

A finger snap echoes.

Lu Dou's forward step finds no ground.

There is no ground.

There is no school infirmary.

There are no students in the Corridor laughing and crying, nor Jiang Yuan and the others waiting outside the school for a breakthrough.

The white long robe spreads out in the vacuum.

Lu Dou loses his pivot entirely and rolls forward.

He tries to stop, but there is nowhere to leverage.

Fragments of the White Umbrella drift around him.

The Gray Mist does not expand.

The Dangerous Laugh Rule does not respond.

The evil crown fragment also falls silent.

Lu Dou lifts his head.

There is no school infirmary building ahead.

In the distance lies a boundless star sea.

Star points are scattered in the endless darkness, so quiet they make one lose direction.

And Earth is already so far away it cannot be seen clearly.

Lu Dou's pupils contract.

He attempts to invoke the Rule.

The Gray Mist just rose from his palm before being sucked away by the vacuum.

His skin begins to lose its color, his lungs instinctively contract, yet there is not a speck of air in his chest cavity.

Blood ceases its normal circulation in his vessels.

Large dark patches start appearing before his eyes.

Lu Dou opens his mouth but cannot produce any sound.

This takes a person directly away from Earth.

Lu Dou's brain is still functioning.

But the more it works, the more absurd it feels to him.

He controls Dangerous Laugh.

He has commanded the strange tales.

He connected thousands of people to the same life network, even forcing Jiang Yuan's Dark Shadow Court into a bind.

But Chu Che only snapped his fingers.

And tossed him into the universe.

This is no longer the Trickster.

It is not Weird either.

Lu Dou's body begins to convulse.

His consciousness is dissipating.

Just as his consciousness is about to sever, a slender, fair hand reaches into his view.

Chu Che hovers nearby.

The Doctor's Lab Coat remains pristine.

The Gold Thread Glasses are still perched on his nose.

He even maintains the seated posture he had in the school infirmary, though the cup of flower tea is gone.

Chu Che lifts his hand and draws a line in midair.

A transparent boundary suddenly appears around Lu Dou.

Inside the boundary, oxygen appears.

The pressure begins to recover.

The blood that was about to run out of control flows again inside his body.

Lu Dou kneels in the void, hands covering his throat, breathing violently.

He coughs up blood.

Blood droplets drift before him, halted by the invisible boundary, suspended in the air.

Chu Che watches him for a few seconds.

"The alveoli have slight damage; blood oxygen recovery will take a little time."

"Don't worry, there will be no aftereffects."

Lu Dou lifts his head, his long hair drifting.

He stares at Chu Che.

"Where... is this place?"

"Outside the solar system."

Chu Che pushes his glasses.

"Distance is irrelevant."

"You have no transport and no navigation now. Even if you were given ten thousand years, you still couldn't return."

Lu Dou falls silent.

He turned his head to look into the distance.

There were nebulae, shattered asteroid belts, and galaxies so far away they could not be distinguished.

The universe gave no reply.

He felt true insignificance for the first time.

He used to think humanity was pitiable.

People are crushed by power, tormented by illness, driven by poverty, driven mad by loss.

So he wanted to give everyone an Exit.

Let them not have to choose anymore.

No more pain.

But standing here, he suddenly realized that human suffering was not even worth a speck of dust.

Chu Che watched Lu Dou's reaction.

This was also the data he wanted.

Lu Dou was a rare experimental sample.

He had ideals, logic, and sufficient executive power.

More importantly, Lu Dou did not consider himself a madman.

He sincerely believed he was saving people.

Such people are harder to deal with than pure evil.

Chu Che spoke.

"Can we talk now?"

Lu Dou lifted his head.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Which part?"

"Don't play dumb."

Lu Dou's breathing was still unsteady, but his tone was not disordered.

"You stayed at Qiu Ce Yuan, posing as the school doctor."

"You created Weird, created disasters, pushing humanity into this era."

"And just as I was about to finish my plan, you brought me here."

"What exactly do you want to do?"

Chu Che did not answer directly.

He looked at that transparent boundary.

Inside were oxygen, gravity simulation, stable temperature, and survival conditions that would not let Lu Dou die in the short term.

This was originally just a temporary observation chamber.

Lu Dou did not like being treated as an experimental subject.

But from the day he stepped into the infirmary, he had no choice.

Chu Che raised his hand to straighten his cuffs.

"You have studied sociology."

"That should make you understand a principle."

"Order has never existed naturally."

Lu Dou stared at him.

Chu Che continued speaking.

"People need rules, yet they also rebel against rules."

"People need freedom, yet they also use freedom to harm others."

"Power without limits becomes corrupt; resources without restraint are monopolized by a few; law without enforcers is just a scrap of paper."

"These lesions, you have seen them."

"I have seen them too."

Lu Dou asked: "What is the difference between you and me?"

Chu Che raised his finger.

A drifting asteroid in the distance deviated from its original trajectory.

It did not shatter or explode; it simply quietly changed direction, flying toward a more distant region.

"The difference lies in."

"You want to cut off humanity's desires."

"While I need to preserve it."

Lu Dou furrowed his brow.

"Desire is the root of suffering."

"Desire is also the root of evolution."

Chu Che's tone was gentle.

"Someone wants to live, so they study medicine."

"Someone refuses to be trampled, so they overthrow the old system."

"Someone fears loss, so they learn to cherish."

"Someone refuses fate, so they move forward."

"Desire can create disasters, and it can also drive civilization."

"Fear can make people flee, and it can also bring people together."

Lu Dou stared at him.

"You treat humanity as livestock."

Chu Che did not deny it.

"A shepherd needs the flock to stay alive."

"He needs the flock to reproduce."

"He also needs the flock, when wolves appear, to learn to gather and to strike back."

"But a shepherd does not need a group of desire‑less empty shells."

Lu Dou lowered his head.

He looked at the lingering gray‑white patterns in his palm.

Those patterns once could connect the lives of thousands of people.

They once could make a group of suffering people put down their tears and show smiles.

Lu Dou suddenly asked, "So you let me grow."

"Yes."

"You want to use me to force Lord Wei."

"Yes."

"You want the Investigation Bureau to understand that law and bullets are still insufficient."

"Yes."

"You also want humanity to keep fearing, keep fighting, and keep surviving in disasters."

Chu Che pushed his glasses.

"Let me correct that."

"I have eliminated most inequality."

"You have already seen Zhou Ping's case. The emergence of the Suppress Spook Bullet gave ordinary people the ability to restrain the extraordinary again."

"This is a kind of correction."

"But a correction does not mean an end."

Lu Dou smiled.

He smiled lightly.

"How interesting."

"You say humanity is sick on your lips."

"But you also fear curing the disease."

Chu Che answered quickly.

"What you call treatment is not healing."

"It is brain removal."

"People without pain will have no choices."

"Those without choices are not alive."

Lu Dou fell silent for a long time.

He looked at the distant star sea.

The day his younger sister died, he stood in the long hallway of the hospital.

Someone told him to restrain his grief.

Someone made him sign.

No one ever asked whether his sister was in pain.

No one ever asked whether he still wanted to keep living.

Later, he studied cognitive science, studied group behavior, and studied emotional transmission.

The more he studied, the more he confirmed one thing.

Humanity is fundamentally unworthy of freedom.

Give them freedom, and they will only devour each other.

Give them choices, and they will only choose wrongly.

Therefore, he wants to place everyone into the same world.

No crying, no fear, no more loss.

Lu Dou lifted his head.

"You are more cruel than I am."

Chu Che nodded.

"Many people say so."

"But I do not need them to understand."

Lu Dou laughed, blood spilling.

"Do you think you can control everything?"

"You created Sai Men, created Weird, manufactured Rules, and arranged humanity's rebellion."

"You treat every person as experimental material."

"But have you ever thought that humanity does not need a shepherd?"

Chu Che looked at him.

"Humanity has already given itself many chances."

"The results were unsatisfactory."

Lu Dou's smile stopped.

He raised his hand.

In his palm, half of a Sin Crown fragment floated into view.

The fragment was already riddled with cracks.

After the Grim Smile Rule was suppressed by Chu Che, Lu Dou lost most of his power.

Yet he did not lower his hand.

Chu Che also did not stop him.

Lu Dou stared at his palm.

"I originally wanted to give them a world without pain."

"Now that I think about it, it is indeed laughable."

"I made the choice for them."

"You also make the choice for them."

"We are not much different."

Chu Che said, "There is still a difference."

"You want to end the experiment."

"I want to observe the outcome."

Lu Dou lifted his head.

"Then I will give you a result."

His body began to burn.

It was not flesh burning.

It was consciousness, it was memory, it was all the obsession he had clung to since his sister's death.

The white robe began to tear apart.

Gray Mist surged up from beneath his skin.

The Sin Crown fragment fused into his forehead.

Lu Dou no longer connected to the Infected on Earth.

He knew those people could no longer save him.

Nor should they bear his suffering any longer.

This time, he burned only himself.

Chu Che looked directly at Lu Dou for the first time.

This choice broke away from the original model.

Lu Dou did not continue to use hostages.

He did not keep using massive contamination to pressure the Investigation Bureau.

He left all the costs to himself.

Gray Mist gathered behind Lu Dou.

No smiling faces.

No cries.

No crowds.

Only a gigantic hand.

That hand was composed of Rules, its five fingers spread, covering the area where Chu Che stood.

Lu Dou's skin began to crack.

Blood flowed from his eyes.

Yet he kept smiling.

"This move is called the Hand of Great Unity."

"It is not to control anyone."

"It is only to prove something."

"Even when facing cruel deities… humanity can still leave brilliance."

The Hand of Great Unity descended.

It did not attack the flesh.

It polluted the concept.

As long as Chu Che still exists in this universe, as long as the notion of "Chu Che" remains defined, that hand will drag him into unification.

Dragging him into indiscriminate void.

Lu Dou burned away his final trump card.

Chu Che raised his right hand.

Five fingers spread.

The surrounding fundamental particles began to gather.

Hydrogen atoms, helium atoms, floating cosmic dust, and the rule residues scattered when Lu Dou's soul burned, were all drawn toward Chu Che's palm.

They were compressed.

Further compression.

Space began to collapse.

Even the starlight in the distance showed a shift.

The smile on Lu Dou's face finally froze.

In Chu Che's palm, an extremely small black dot appeared.

The black dot had no color.

It had no temperature.

After it appeared, everything around was pulled toward it.

The Hand of Datong first stalled.

Then, the five fingers began to disintegrate.

The Rules were swallowed.

Gray Mist was swallowed.

The crown fragment emitted its final tremor, also being dragged into the black dot's interior.

Lu Dou tried to retreat.

But his body lost control.

The white robe turned into fragments.

Skin, blood, bones, and the residual Dangerous Laughter power were all pulled forward by the black hole.

Lu Dou exerted his last strength, lifting his head to look at Chu Che.

He wondered what to say.

But nothing remained.

The black hole swallowed the Hand of Datong.

It swallowed the fragment of the Sinful Crown.

It swallowed all of Lu Dou's Rules.

It also swallowed the starlight behind that region.

After a moment.

Chu Che clenched his five fingers.

The black hole disappeared.

The universe returned to its original state.

Lu Dou floated within the transparent boundary.

His white robe was already shattered.

His hair was disheveled.

The crown mark on his forehead disappeared.

The Dangerous Laughter rules are gone.

The Strange Tales Dominion is gone.

He didn't even have the strength to lift his hand.

Lu Dou opened his eyes.

He is still alive.

Chu Che did not kill him.

This is more painful than death.

Chu Che walked toward him.

There is no path to walk in the universe.

But with each step Chu Che took, the distance shortened.

Lu Dou watched that hand reach toward him.

That hand had just created a black hole.

It had also just crushed the Hand of Datong he had exchanged everything for.

Chu Che's hand stopped in front of Lu Dou.

"Mr. Lu."

"My treatment of you is not over yet."