Ordinary people could rarely pierce through appearances to glimpse the essence. Much less could three "mortals" hope to glimpse the essence of the Real Universe.
The Corpse Field had indeed spawned many new conjectures for Cheng Shi, but they still couldn't unveil this place's secrets.
He didn't know how it operated, nor why dead gods were "transported" here. One thing was beyond question, though: this was undoubtedly part of the terrible Creator's experint — possibly a dump for "discarded waste," or perhaps a recycling ground for "reusable consumables."
Given his perspective and knowledge, that was as far as he could reason.
Of course, this accidental "trip" wasn't entirely fruitless. At minimum, Cheng Shi had confird one thing: the [Silence] "corpse" he'd encountered earlier in the Real Universe was indeed not dead!
If He had truly perished, He would most likely end up like the Leaking World Silent Puppets in this field — dismbered here, rather than drifting in solitude.
This deepened Cheng Shi's puzzlent.
[Silence] being alive wasn't hard to understand. If mortals could reach the Real Universe, how much more so an immortal god?
The question was: what was He doing?
Just floating through the Real Universe, passively spreading His will?
No — that didn't add up. He hadn't assimilated any nearby life. His behavior was more like turning his body into a trap. But that would only make people despise, reject, and abandon Him. Hardly a thod of spreading will.
Furthermore, any god who would leave the soil of His faith and choose to drift through the Real Universe had presumably seen His slice universe destroyed. [Silence] must therefore know the truth — that the Real Universe was just part of a grander experint. So why still practice His own will? Why display devotion to the cold-hearted Experint Master?
Just to survive?
Reasonable, but sothing felt off.
Cheng Shi sensed sothing was wrong but lacked enough intelligence data to piece it together.
The three lingered anxiously in the Corpse Field a little longer. Finding no further useful information, Qin Xin suggested:
"Ti to go back. The longer this accident drags on, the more unpredictable variables accumulate.
We've gathered enough... gains from this trip. Let's leave."
Hong Lin nodded, wanting nothing more than to imdiately flee this terrifying place. Cheng Shi, however, frowned slightly and cast one look downward, into the infinite depths.
He was about to speak when Hong Lin clamped a hand over his mouth.
"You promised just one look!"
Cheng Shi blinked, then patted Big Cat's hand. His muffled voice ca out: "This chance only cos once."
"!!!" Big Cat was frantic. "I knew it! Every ti it cos to this, you charge in while I'm the cautious one."
Fear flickered through her eyes. She looked down into the depths of the starry pit, then at the countless divine corpses piled around it. Every muscle tensed. She gave a firm nod:
"Fine. One look. Stay behind ."
With that, Hong Lin clenched her jaw and dove toward the abyss below.
Cheng Shi's expression was grim as he followed. Qin Xin took up the rear without being asked. He knew he was their lifeline. If anything went wrong ahead, he had to deploy every ounce of Authority to pull these two from danger.
The three fell in single file, accelerating. Divine corpses streaked past them in increasing density. The radius of the corpse-stacked pit was narrowing. The suffocating pressure of tidal fear made breathing near impossible.
They couldn't tell how deep the pit went. Thankfully, the depths were as devoid of imdiate danger as the surface.
Repetitive scenery numbed the senses fastest. The longer they fell, the more the three adapted to the endless abyss and the rain of corpses streaming past.
But accidents always struck when vigilance was lowest. Just as the three were discussing whether to stop and cease their risky descent, a vast, resonant voice suddenly erupted from the "wall" of the corpse pit — not far below.
The voice was profoundly abstract, as though it detonated directly inside the brain while simultaneously echoing in their ears.
"The gods..."
It hit without warning — like an invisible hand seizing all three hearts and squeezing them still. They froze mid-fall in the deep shaft.
Qin Xin's hands and feet went instantly cold, his entire body numb. His last shred of consciousness activated [War]'s Authority. He grabbed the other two and rocketed upward — only to discover, upon touching them, that both had gone white as chalk, stiff as dead wood, too terrified to move a muscle.
Though the sudden sound was frightening enough, he hadn't expected players as powerful as Cheng Shi and Hong Lin to collapse like this.
Qin Xin didn't have ti to investigate. Head down, he hauled them upward at full speed. Then the next second, his consciousness, too, was obliterated — because the voice thundered once more in his mind:
"...are extinguished. The universe... disintegrates. This is...
Origin!"
"!!!!!"
In the final second before awareness faded, Qin Xin gritted his teeth and triggered the tool's effect. [mory]'s power reached through the Corpse Field, plucked him and Hong Lin free, and reprinted them onto the Spaceti Dolphin Bridge.
Yes — Qin Xin and Hong Lin vanished.
But Cheng Shi had not!
He remained in this abyss, its depths alive with echoing murmurs!
The deepest, most primal fear had driven Qin Xin to execute the retreat plan flawlessly. But in that mont, he hadn't had the capacity to consider whether Cheng Shi was using the sa extraction thod.
Don't forget: Cheng Shi had co here relying on his own [Ti] talent as a failsafe. So when Qin Xin activated the tool, Cheng Shi was naturally left behind.
Fortunately, his companions' disappearance jolted Cheng Shi awake, ripping him from the bottomless terror. Face white with horror, he looked toward the source of the sound below and, without thinking, nearly snapped his—
He didn't snap. He held it.
Right now, Cheng Shi wasn't being Cheng Steady. He was being Cheng Shrewd!
He imdiately pulled out the [Corruption] Container, drained the flood of fear, then his brow furrowed — and once again, at this crossroads of life and death, he gambled!
He bet this voice did not belong to Origin!
Exactly. The reason Cheng Shi and Hong Lin had broken down was that they had both heard Origin's voice before. Cheng Shi had heard it more than once. And at the Assembly of Gods Convention where [Oblivion] destroyed itself, Hong Lin had been "fortunate" enough to hear the "divine oracle."
So when they heard a voice identical to Origin's, both had simply shattered.
Qin Xin had never heard it, so it didn't strike him the sa way. But when the voice spoke Origin's na, even he couldn't stifle his most primal fear and chose to evacuate.
The clearheaded Cheng Shi wouldn't leave so quickly. Because he knew: if this voice truly ca from Origin... then fleeing or staying made no difference.
If He wanted the trespassing mortals dead, He wouldn't need to make a sound.
But if He didn't intend to punish them, why speak up at all?
Rember — when entire swarms of [War] charged Him in formation, that spectacle hadn't earned even a passing glance from the Creator. Why would the rciless Creator descend His voice upon three "mortals"?
Therefore, the source of that voice was absolutely not Him!
Nor could it be a god.
This was a graveyard for fallen gods. Any god here would be dead. They couldn't possibly survive here, much less be "sent" here alive.
So the very existence of this voice was strange enough.
Stranger still was its content — tantamount to blasphemy against the divine countenance.
'The gods are extinguished. The universe disintegrates. This is Origin!'
Listen to that — what kind of declaration was that?!
Before, only Origin had ever passed judgnt on the gods. Since when was so "person" allowed to pass judgnt on Origin?
This was practically declaring that Origin was the culprit who toppled the world and shattered the universe!
Judging by that statent alone, whoever issued this voice might not even be an enemy. They could be so Fear Faction survivor hiding here to avoid Origin's scrutiny!
At this thought, Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened. He steeled himself and sent Shadow Cheng Shi out.
He had to know what was hiding here "impersonating" Origin, and what purpose had driven it to emit that sound.
Just one look. One look at most!
Cheng Shi held his fingers in a death grip over the snap, waiting for Shadow Cheng Shi's report.
...
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