Abyssal Wanderer.

Despite trying his best to maintain a calm expression after the previous conversation, Jiang Zhou was inwardly in turmoil.

what happened? !
He remembered that he had just been preparing the materials needed for a Depth 3 upgrade, and then a technician walked up behind him, said something, and then...

Flashes of light, gusts of air, intense heat.

To put it simply: an explosion.

If it was an assassination, then the timing was perfect: the bomb was detonated the moment Christie's attention was diverted from her; and the reason she looked away was because a man-portable missile was coming from outside.

It's a very old-fashioned tactic, but it works.

Combined with the information Jim had gathered—that Hanel had stated with absolute certainty that his life could not continue—this further reinforced the fact that...

Without a doubt, this is the tactic employed by those superhuman zombies.

He was only slightly careless when he was swiftly assassinated, leaving no trace of his body.

This is how it should be...

But I am still alive.

Jiang Zhou looked down at his palm and thought.

Not only did they survive, they even returned to...

He glanced at the time.

Ten minutes ago?
Thinking of this, a pop-up window suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

In the list of controllable elements, Sibyl's name flashed briefly, followed by two lines of notes.

[Current steady-state regression time: 9 minutes and 35 seconds]

[The current maximum steady-state time that can be stored is 00:00:00 (current maximum steady-state time that can be stored is 24 hours)]

But in the short time he was stunned, the countdown "35 seconds" had already turned into "34 seconds".

Time reversal... is it an ability I gained by connecting with Sibyl?

Jiang Zhou looked at the countdown and thought to himself.

I haven't been connected to Sybil for very long—the café that was open before seemed a bit strange, so if you really want to count, I started connecting to Sybil pretty much from the moment I left the café.

From leaving the coffee shop to beginning his Deep 3 adjustments and modifications, about ten minutes had passed. He had been ambushed and killed by zombies during that time, which then sent him back to the very beginning.

In this case, the so-called "steady-state regression time" should refer to the minimum time required to advance along the arrow of time in order to rewind time again; while "reserved continuous steady-state time" probably refers to the time that can be saved after the minimum rewind conditions are met.
If that's the case, then you can only go back up to 24 hours ago at most.

The question is whether "death" is the only way to backtrack, and whether one can choose the specific point to backtrack to.

Jiang Zhou accepted the reality that he had just experienced a "death rewind" quite naturally—in fact, it would be strange if there were no changes after connecting with Sybil.

So, is this the ability of the Sibyl Path Depth 7 Adjuster?
Time rewind after death?

If there's no price to pay for this, then it's just too incredible...

Jiang Zhou couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement, then immediately recalled another sentence that Sybil had told him:

"But let me warn you beforehand, don't treat this as some kind of blessing."

Isn't this a blessing...?

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

Or is the cost of using backtracking capabilities unimaginably high?

However, before he could continue thinking in this direction, Christie, who was standing behind him, finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"It's no use pretending to be mute anymore. Tell me everything you know!"

The mechanical dragon's steel jaws opened and closed with a sharp metallic scraping sound.

Jiang Zhou turned around and looked up. He first recalled what had happened earlier, and then his gaze turned to a certain direction in the darkness.

He remembered it was in that direction...

Christie also turned sharply in that direction, exhaling a scorching, molten breath from her throat.

A fireball ignited in mid-air.

Then...

The Heavenly Gods, who were lying in ambush somewhere, fired simultaneously, directly destroying another missile.

"There's an ambush here! Let's go back and talk about it."

As Christie spoke, she reached out and scooped Jiang Zhou up with her paw; then, as if she had thought of something, she looked down at Jiang Zhou.

How did you know there would be an attack from that direction?

She asked in confusion—she herself had only been able to detect the stealth missile thanks to the various sensors built into the machine, while Theseus didn't have such advanced early warning equipment.

Faced with Christie's question, Jiang Zhou did not answer but instead said directly:
"Could you take me to the geothermal power plant first? I have something urgent to attend to—these missiles are all aimed at me, and these zombies are trying to stop me from upgrading to Depth 3."

Faced with this sudden request, Christie opened her mouth as if to ask something, but then suddenly closed it again—although observing the topological structure of a mechanical dragon was very difficult, Jiang Zhou was still able to discern some of the other party's helplessness thanks to Jim's abilities.

Someone was trying to persuade her.

Is it Charon?

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

I hadn't noticed this detail before, and thought it was just that Christie was easy to talk to.

Finally, without saying a word, she activated the anti-gravity engine and flew into the air, then headed towards the geothermal power plant.

"In fact, this second-order crisis is not completely over yet."

Jiang Zhou spoke directly before the other party could even open their mouth.

In fact, Jiang Zhou couldn't fully trust Christy before—although she had a good personality and treated her subordinates well, Jiang Zhou wasn't quite sure what her core interests were.

If there is a conflict of core interests, then no matter how good their personal relationship is, Jiang Zhou would not dare to casually reveal information that could cost him his head if outsiders knew about it.

But if Charon intends to support him, that would be a different story.

In addition, Jiang Zhou's newly acquired ability to rewind gave him more confidence to take a gamble.

If one could have an ally who has reached the limits of human intelligence and also has a corporate background, then many things would be much easier.

"It's not over yet? But I've already received news that 'Big Thunder' has been canceled."

Christie asked, puzzled.

"Currently, there are approximately 200,000 philosophical zombies in the entire Nord resettlement area, combining the Dionysian and Apollonian viruses. They can perfectly impersonate normal humans and even pass the 'Mandala' verification... Even the Jupiter Group has been fooled by them."

Jiang Zhou said this.

"How were they verified using mandalas?"

Christie immediately grasped the key point.

"Explaining the whole story is complicated, but the core issue is that Jim Reit provided them with a public mandala matrix—which is why they would suddenly come toward you after you activated the contract."

“But I clearly used your mandala.”

Christie said immediately.

Jiang Zhou first nodded frankly, then hesitated for a moment before saying:

"You'll find out the reason soon enough." ...

Even though the second wish has been proven to be a failure, the zombies still haven't given up.

Because they haven't abandoned this concept.

At this moment, for Superman, their highest priority task is to kill Jiang Zhou.

Based on the contract between the two super artificial intelligences, Superman was not specially equipped with any "one-click removal" backdoor that could take everything offline with a single command.

Therefore, to completely eliminate the threat of Superman, it is necessary to use the backdoor that Janus installed on all of humanity.

This is also known as the Janus procedure.

Currently, there is only one person capable of activating the Janus program.

And the Supermen are willing to pay any price to take him down.

This includes the complete destruction of the Nord settlement, and even the exposure of their existence.

After all, Jiang Zhou's completion of the Deep 3 adjustment and modification was a definite failure, but the discovery of their existence by the Olympian Order might still leave a sliver of room for redemption.

Therefore, although Jim had previously used the summoning of "Great Thunder" as a means of threatening them, after he abandoned his second will and reconnected with Jiang Zhou, it was the zombies who wanted to expose the truth and summon "Great Thunder" to destroy the entire Nord resettlement area.

Unfortunately, all their attempts to contact the outside world were intercepted by Hecate.

"Losers should accept their failure."

Perhaps because she was in a good mood after completing the project, she gave her evaluation, which left Chen Wang, who was watching from the side, stunned.

So... which side is better?

Having never understood the situation from beginning to end, he couldn't help but ask.

"It's alright, let's go back to the Descartes Theatre and have some fun."

Perhaps feeling somewhat disappointed, Hecate said, and sent him back to a domain in the Dark Web.

"Well then... I hope we meet again someday, Jiang Zhou."

She spoke a farewell that the other person couldn't hear, and the multi-printer beneath her feet suddenly expanded, instantly engulfing her entirely; then the darkness immediately shrank back, turning into a small, pitch-black sphere.

The black sphere flickered a few times and disappeared into the sky above the Nord resettlement area.

…………

Although Hecate has left, the blockade she left behind still exists, preventing the Supermen from achieving their goals using "Big Thunder".

The Supermen's frail bodies were insufficient to withstand a direct confrontation, and at this moment, most of the Supermen in the Nord settlement were being suppressed by Jim using the Nyx Factor. Therefore, only a few Supermen wearing shielding devices took out their various heavy weapons and headed to the seventh basement level, attempting to intercept them along the way.

But with Christie protecting him, Jiang Zhou was completely safe.

This is how it should be...

Following Jiang Zhou back to ten minutes earlier, Jim, after a brief moment of amazement, couldn't help but facepalm.

Who would have thought that a superhero was lurking in the geothermal power plant?

But since they already knew in advance, the Supermen had no reason to succeed again.

At the geothermal power plant, Jiang Zhou did not choose to remind Christie in advance to take action—after all, time reversal was the ultimate trump card, and it was safest to keep it from being noticed by anyone.

So, just like last time, a large wave of missiles attacked outside the power plant, which Christie intercepted precisely using his strong observer vision.

Then, she turned to look at Jiang Zhou and simultaneously shut down the observation device that resembled a lithium flower.

The guy who had been lying in ambush was waiting for this moment; he pressed his finger on the fuse to detonate the molten high-explosive bomb.

But this time he didn't have time to detonate it.

A bullet with a tricky angle pierced his head.

It was the Heavenly Gods who had been lying in ambush and fired the shot.

To avoid being misunderstood by Icarus's people, Jiang Zhou, although he had already confirmed who the assassin was, still chose to act at the last moment—after all, both he and Christie were here on behalf of the company, and it would be difficult to explain without some strong evidence.

If possible, Jiang Zhou didn't want to have any conflict with them.

"Have you checked all the printing permissions?"

After everything was ready, Christie projected a 3D image in front of Jiang Zhou and asked.

As she spoke, she turned her head and glanced at the clone that Number One had left outside:

"Especially what that guy provided... We checked everything to make sure nothing was tampered with, right?"

Upon hearing this, Number One outside spread his hands in a helpless gesture.

Jiang Zhou nodded, but still checked the printing permissions again.

Personality distillation system, third-order puppet circuit, broad-spectrum energy core, Marathon II bionic enhancement system, Periphert inertial anchor, Ariadne-type nano-neural intrusion line, pseudo-Poseidon's Gift type active armor, Pegasus-type biological protein chip.

Depth 3 requires as many as eight printing permissions to be installed or replaced.

Aside from a few enhancements to the connection with the puppet, Depth 3 finally features several improvements related to physical strength and direct combat capabilities...

Jiang Zhou couldn't help but sigh.

In addition, there is the most important "Pegasus".

More than a hundred years have passed, and I've finally managed to cure that damned radiation sickness.

As he was thinking this, Christie's projection whispered:

"Also, your promotion to Depth 3 this time is a serious violation of the rules. Of course, I will try my best to help you get a legitimate high-risk adjustment path slot in the Olympian Order. But don't get your hopes up too high. I know those guys on the board of directors all too well. They're not easy to fool... You'd better be prepared to go into exile in the Badlands as an illegal person."

Jiang Zhou nodded.

Exile to the Wasteland means losing the protection of human civilization and going to dangerous areas outside the sphere of influence of the Olympian Order.

Although he sometimes felt that it might be more dangerous for him to remain within the sphere of influence of the Olympian Order, having no choice was a terrible situation in any case.

Thinking this, he slowly lay down in the black coffin that the universal printer had transformed into.

As printing materials and energy are continuously absorbed, the depth 3 adjustment and modification of the Theseus path begins.

…………

Let's do it, this is our last chance!

The Great Thunderbolt has been lifted, but the blockade remains in effect; Theseus Freight's shareholders are definitely still in Nord!

[Pluto has sent a Level 7 Coordinator to Nord. Taking action now can also eliminate a potential threat that could exceed the limits of human intelligence in the future!]

Venus and Apollo also support our actions; they have promised to stand by us at the subsequent meeting.

[Just received news from Juno that most members within Jupiter also intend to destroy Nord. This cancellation was never in their best interest; they only did it at the request of the Seventh Will.]

The Goddess of the Moon has also left Nord; even she no longer intends to provide protection. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Poseidon, holding his trident, sat on his throne, watching the council members send him repeated requests to use his authority to completely destroy the Nord settlement. The tentacles on his face involuntarily curled up.

The wounds inflicted upon Him by "Great Thunder" still throbbed faintly. Several times, He got up, intending to log off and leave, ignoring these overly enthusiastic messages, but in the end, He could only let out a sigh.

【All right……】

Finally, He sighed. (End of Chapter)