Abyssal Wanderer.

Therefore, Jiang Zhou imported all his memories into the Janus program.

The 474,531 existing superhuman zombies simultaneously paused for a brief moment.

They might pause suddenly while speaking, hesitate for a moment while moving something, slow down their pace while walking, or stop breathing for a second while fast asleep.

It was really just a very brief moment, and then their behavior continued as usual.

No outsiders could even perceive the abnormality at that moment.

But from then on, everything changed.

Through a brief connection via the Janus program, Jiang Zhou announced to the zombies that they were now out of the game.

But they can still survive—as long as they maintain their current identity and live hidden within human society.

Although they have lost the right to reproduce and the possibility of vying for human dominance, they can continue to survive as long as they maintain their mimicry.

If you're lucky, you can live until each individual dies of old age.

For normal human beings, this is an absolutely unacceptable condition.

This not only deprives people of their dignity as human beings, but also robs them of hope for the future. Even with no hope of victory, humanity would probably choose to fight to the bitter end.

But for superhuman zombies, they have no concept of dignity or hope.

Their survival logic lies in adapting to the environment more quickly, utilizing resources more efficiently, and preparing contingency plans for various possible survival challenges.

They won't die for some illusory idea if there are no tangible, quantifiable benefits.

Jiang Zhou's request, broadcast through the Janus program, was nothing more than a redefinition of their current living environment.

"It's completely... over."

After doing all this, Jiang Zhou looked up at the huge, dark tentacle that was gradually moving away and couldn't help but sigh.

Through the Janus program, he can now monitor the number of Supermen worldwide and the behavior of each one in real time. Furthermore, he can connect up to 36 Supermen to become his controllable entities at any time. Unlike controllable entities with self-awareness, these entities do not influence his decisions, thus granting him complete control over their actions—even controlling their suicide.

Of course, if Jiang Zhou still feels that Superman is a threat, he doesn't even need to go through the trouble of manually controlling them to commit suicide; he can simply eliminate them with a single click.

It can be said that the entire Superman population is completely under his control.

No wonder those superheroes went crazy and tried to assassinate him.

"and then?"

Jim said, standing opposite him.

Although the two were in perfect harmony, just as a person might ask and answer their own questions when pondering a problem, Jim's question was both a dialogue and a form of self-reflection.

“I cannot leave the Nord resettlement area.”

After thinking for a moment, Jim continued.

There are over 400,000 superhuman zombies in total, with over 200,000 of them residing in the entire Nord resettlement area.

Unlike their counterparts scattered throughout human settlements and operating outside of oversight, most of these superhumans in the Nord settlement are legally registered citizens. Therefore, these superhumans must continuously maintain the mandala verification system.

Currently, the verification of the mandala can only be maintained through two mediums—the Nyx factors distributed by Jim or the Janus program connected by Jiangzhou.

However, Jiangzhou currently only has thirty-six spots available.

Therefore, Jim had to stay, for Nord's sake.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be long before the Olympian order would notice something amiss and discover the existence of Superman.

At that time, only utter destruction awaits the entire Nord resettlement area.

"But the question now is, how do you stay and become the gatekeeper of the Nord settlement?"

Jiang Zhou said.

It's important to understand that the Jupiter Group would absolutely not allow Jim Ritter to remain here.

They needed a reason that could convince the entire Olympian order, and this reason couldn't reveal the existence of the Superman Zombie... much less Jiang Zhou's existence.

Hmm... The entity that resembled Janus rose to the surface and pulled everyone in the Nord settlement into the Styx Firewall. Perhaps we can make use of that.

Whether used for deterrence or negotiation, if the Jupiter Group can be convinced that this matter is related to Jim Ritter, they probably won't dare to forcibly take him to Mount Olympus.

Otherwise, a Styx rising from the Jupiter Group headquarters would be an incredibly spectacular sight.

And this balance must be carefully struck.

If the gods perceive Jim Ritter as a significant potential threat and decide to eliminate him without hesitation, then all our efforts will have been in vain.

"That is to say..."

Jiang Zhou thought for a moment and then said:

“We need to demonstrate deterrence, but we must have a legitimate reason for doing so, and we also need a trustworthy communication channel to contact the Jupiter Group. Ideally, we should also be able to offer them a way out so that our positions don't appear completely opposed…”

He couldn't help but laugh as he said this.

How is that possible?

Just then, the system of the City of Sages reminded Jiang Zhou that several high-level adjusters had come to the door.

Christy and the emcee?
Looking at the list of visitors, Jiang Zhou suddenly had a bold plan pop into his mind.

only……

This time, without Hecate's support, he couldn't display exaggerated strength, and he didn't know if he could impress them with his acting skills alone...

Jiang Zhou was somewhat apprehensive about this.

But since he had no other choice, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

…………

Christie met the emcee at the entrance of the theater.

Having already made contact during the previous rescue operation in the Nord resettlement area, they quickly confirmed each other's identities and established the minimum level of trust required for cooperation when they met here.

They had no idea why they were there.

Okay, actually Christie does have some.

But she couldn't very well reveal her identity as Charon to a representative from the Jupiter Group and say that this was the place where she had been imprisoned for more than ten years.

"That being has left this place."

The emcee watched the tentacle disappear into the distance, then looked around:
"But we were still not deported."

Christie made no comment; she simply gazed at the classically styled doors of the Grand Theatre, wondering who was truly inspired this time.

Could it be Theseus?

"Let's go inside first."

After calming herself down, she said this.

The doors opened, and a thin mist filled the entire open-air theater, modeled after the ancient Roman Colosseum.

Amidst the mist, the silhouette of a black dog with phosphorescent fire burning in its eyes appeared and disappeared.

"Whatever you do...do not show any intention to attack."

Seeing this familiar scene, Christie whispered to the emcee.

A month ago, she saw a director of Pluto Deep Dive being exiled here.

It really was Him...

Christie thought to herself.

Paradox... In the center of the theater, a human figure made up of countless mosaic blocks stands there.

This time, however, he was not accompanied by the goddess of the underworld. But directly above him, countless silver-gray mists gathered like a storm, resembling a crown forged from the storm.

"Jim Ritter?"

The emcee looked at the gathering silver-gray storm and couldn't help but speak.

His gaze then shifted downwards, landing at the feet of the mosaic humanoid figure...

"The mortician!"

The mortician collapsed there for some unknown reason, his entire body covered in charred soot.

Seeing this, the emcee immediately went into battle mode. Ice walls and ice breakers were simultaneously activated, and began to materialize into images of armor and weapons around him.

Although his data-gathering ability was severely limited by the thin fog, as if he were looking through frosted glass, he could still see clearly through the advanced ice wall that the Jupiter Group had customized for its core employees—the mosaic humanoid was currently injecting a large amount of data intelligence into Jim Reit's database, and this newly promoted Coordinator to Depth 7 was unable to resist the process.

The mortician likely fell at the other's feet for the same reason, except that his data processing ability was far inferior to Jim's, which is why he burned out many processors due to data overflow, exhibiting the characteristics of "burns".

Regardless of what the other party is, their actions constitute an attack.

Seemingly sensing the master of ceremonies' intention to attack, the vicious dogs in the mist began to growl at him in a low voice.

The mosaic-like humanoid figure waved its hand, calming the black dog's agitation, and then said:

"You've finally arrived..."

"Mr. Paradox".

Fearing the emcee might do something impulsive, Christie quickly stepped forward and said:
"Are you going to judge us again for some reason this time?"

She worked so hard this time, almost risking her life to save the Nord resettlement area. She shouldn't have to be put on trial.

Paradox shook its head.

"I only came here to properly handle the legacy of the Goddess of Night; I originally intended to entrust this responsibility to him..."

As He spoke, He looked down at Theseus at His feet and sighed:

"But he doesn't seem to have this..."

But before he could finish his paradoxical statement, it was drowned out by a tremendous roar.

Looking up from the Grand Theater, the sky over most of the Narcissus Plain was now occupied by another enormous figure.

It was the image of an old man made of seawater, wearing a golden crown, bare-chested, driving a golden chariot pulled by divine horses and dolphins.

In His hand, He held a huge trident tightly.

…………

What a terrible plan...

From the moment Christie and the emcee entered the theater, Jiang Zhou and Jim simultaneously came to this conclusion.

Even though the computing power of the City of Sages and the script left by Lady Hecate were used to recreate the data environment of the previous "trial" as much as possible, these things were not enough for the master of ceremonies and Christie to achieve a calm and collected deterrent.

If the other side really intends to use force, although Jiang Zhou and his team can temporarily suppress them by leveraging their computing power and algorithmic advantages, this would also directly expose the true level of "paradox"—which is only a relatively powerful algorithmic level of Depth 7.

Christie, having experienced a "trial," was very cautious about the superficial special effects they had created.

But the emcee was completely unmoved by this—especially after he saw Jiang Zhou "falling to the ground and unable to get up," he even planned to directly activate the ice wall and icebreaker to rescue him.

Jiang Zhou himself had no idea that the captain of this professional team thought so highly of him.

But this would jeopardize their original plan to intimidate people by acting mysterious and then conveniently appoint Jim Ritter as the gatekeeper of the Nord settlement.

Christie was taken aback, but the emcee was completely unfazed.

Although Jiang Zhou was confident that he could completely suppress the emcee here, Christie would definitely see through the methods he used.

It's like having a screw stuck at both ends.

Faced with this situation, Jiang Zhou had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue performing according to the original plan.

If all else fails, just disconnect—after that colossal being left, the Sage's City system prompted him that everyone could be sent back to the base reality.

Having secretly made this plan in his mind, Jiang Zhou continued:
"But he doesn't seem to have this..."

But it was at this moment that the situation suddenly changed.

An entity that is neither human nor artificial intelligence ignored the Styx Firewall and arrived here along the previously established path.

He held a golden trident in his hand.

…………

The constructs, driven by His authority, reported some strange messages.

The network signal in the Nord resettlement area disappeared from the circulation system, and they were unable to recycle or replace materials that did not exist.

Therefore, they ask whether they should leave.

Poseidon told them to wait a moment.

disappear?

How can it be?

The planetary-level cycles and material exchange are precisely the authority He holds on behalf of. As long as it remains within the scope of the pan-human intelligence as a whole, the network signal cannot disappear—even if the Nord settlement is annihilated by the Great Thunder, their existence signal will still remain in the pan-human intelligence network.

Something must have gone wrong.

Thinking this, He once again activated His authority and went directly to the address that should have been the Nord settlement area.

As He predicted, the signal in the Nord resettlement area did not "disappear," but was instead blocked.

It was blocked by the Styx Firewall.

It is not that it has sunk into the abyss of the dark web, but rather that it has been submerged by the waters of the River Styx and is temporarily not present in the pan-human intelligence network, thus being undetectable by its own authority.

But why did the River Styx suddenly rise and flood the Nord resettlement area?

This is not something an ordinary person can do... Among the Olympian gods, perhaps only Jupiter might have such authority.

Could it be that the God-King himself intervened to protect the Nord settlement?

As He was thinking this, a black dog caught His attention.

That was a malicious program that Charon handed over to the cartographer during the transaction. After the cartographer's death, it seems to have entered the Nord settlement's own network, becoming a wandering artificial intelligence.

Noticing His gaze, the black dog immediately guided Him to a network interface.

After scanning the data, it appeared to be a temporary door leading to the interior of the Styx Firewall.

Go in from here?
He thought.

come all come...

After a moment's thought, He stepped directly into it.

He hurried along the address left by the black dog, countless scenes flashing before his eyes. After a moment, he saw a small town.

From a data structure perspective, it appears to be built on a Theseus path adjustment at a depth of 7.

But before He could get a closer look, He felt everything go black.

A patch of darkness rapidly moving away from the place brushed past Him—because they were so close together, He did not recognize that the other was in the shape of a tentacle.

Then, the impact knocked the crown on His head askew, and several jewels and pieces of gold leaf flew off and eventually fell into the small town He was observing.

He lost consciousness. (End of Chapter)