Abyssal Wanderer.

Eros, the Fifth Will...

Hearing Christie's words, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but recall the reminder Janus had left before he left:

"Judging by the time, Eros's last wish should be completed soon. They leave behind something similar to their last wish before they ascend. Since you have Sybil's help, you might as well try your luck, at least make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of some antisocial lunatic."

Eros's dying wish ascended, and the Dionysian structure rose to the surface.

To be precise, it was precisely because Eros's dying wish was to ascend that the Dionysian structure would soon rise to the surface.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but ask:

"So... what is the content of the fifth will?"

Christie shook her head and said:
"I don't know, neither the board of directors nor... that old man can say for sure. But since 'Paradise' is the product of a dying wish, I guess it's something like building a real paradise."

paradise……

Jiang Zhou couldn't help but recall the conversation he had overheard between Hoshino Hikaru and Gu Changsheng.

The "paradise" offers affordable high-end virtual reality experiences and body maintenance services. After draining customers' assets and relationships, it will further sell off their prosthetic bodies, implants, life experiences, brain computing power, biological organs, etc., until everything a person has belongs to the park.

This sounds incredibly dystopian, but Jiang Zhou couldn't say whether the actions of the Bacchus Cult or the actions of other deities who deliberately maintained a line of suffering and struggle had a lower limit.

After all, the question of whether real pain or false happiness is superior has been a topic of ongoing discussion.

Don't you have chocolate-flavored chocolate...?

Jiang Zhou couldn't help but mutter to himself.

On the other hand, Janus did not say that he should stop Eros's fifth will from being fulfilled. He only said to be careful that what He left behind does not fall into the hands of other antisocial madmen... Does this mean that the fifth will itself is not a problem?
Jiang Zhou pondered to himself.

In that case, I really have no choice but to go on this trip to South America.

Whether it was for the sake of Dionysus's authority, or to investigate Eros's last wishes and ensure that what He left behind would not be misused...

Of course, with his current Depth 3 level, the idea of ​​reaching Depth 8 amidst fierce competition and obtaining Bacchus's legacy seems rather unrealistic. A more realistic reason is that he needs to find a place to avoid the eyes and ears of the Olympian Order.

Uruguay, now completely under the control of the Bacchus Order, would be an excellent destination.

Even if it's just to avoid the limelight, I still have to go to South America.

"So... Sister Ke, what are your plans?"

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou asked.

"What 'sister'... call me team leader!"

At this moment, Christie came to her senses and gently tapped Jiang Zhou's head.

Where did you get the title of "team leader"? Are you the band leader?
Jiang Zhou couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

On the other side, after complaining like that, Christie hesitated for a moment and said:
"I think... we've only just taken control of Theseus's cargo business, and we're already rushing into the battle for the Alpha-class deep-sea interface; especially going all in on a force with a dismal winning rate. Isn't that a bit too aggressive?"

The new Prison Abyss Studio is currently thriving. Theseus Freight is taking advantage of the Neptune traffic paralysis to aggressively seize the logistics market. Orders and cooperation invitations from companies including some Olympus giants are pouring in. She can't stop smiling every day just by checking the company's accounts and stock trends.

Putting aside everything else, just two days ago, when she signed the 1 million auré interest-free loan contract for the reconstruction of the Nord resettlement area, she didn't even flinch.

If this trend continues, while operating the entire Central Asian region centered around the Nord resettlement area, they will continue to quietly amass wealth. Even if Neptune Transportation resumes its global logistics system, New Prison Studio will be able to become a large regional enterprise within a few years.

"But without the Alpha-class deep-sea interface, we'll never be able to become a power that can stand on equal footing with the Olympian gods, will we?"

Seeing through Christie's concerns, Jiang Zhou earnestly offered his advice, like a strategist.

Christie looked Jiang Zhou up and down after hearing this, and after a long while, she finally spoke:

"I didn't realize you had such lofty ambitions..."

Seemingly somewhat moved, she continued:
"But I don't have such high ambitions... No matter how strong you are, can you withstand a huge thunderbolt? It's just playing house in the order established by Jupiter. I've already decided that once I've reached Depth 8 and sent the old man away, I'll focus on playing in the band."

She patted Jiang Zhou on the shoulder as she spoke.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely take you on the world tour with me. We won't need to rely on those idiots from Pluto. I'll also arrange things like promotions and adjustments for you. So before that, you should focus on learning a musical instrument and not get involved in things like this where you could easily get yourself killed."

No... So you went through all this trouble to push the limits of human intelligence just so you could play a proper band?

Seeing that the other party was serious, Jiang Zhou felt like he had a lot of complaints stuck in his throat and couldn't get them out.

"But to outsiders, we're already openly supporting the Dionysian cult..."

After a long silence, Jiang Zhou was still somewhat unwilling to give up, and he tried to seize this opportunity.

In response, Christie waved her hand dismissively and said:

"It's just normal business dealings. We'll just sign the same contracts with Venus Digital Media, Juno Financial, Mars War Corporation, and Minerva Information Technology later... and also those civilian forces that want to go to South America, as well as mercenary lone wolves. As long as there's demand, we'll welcome them all."

"Helping them is the same as not helping them at all."

Seriously, sis... you really just left it like that?

Jiang Zhou was speechless for a moment.

However, after putting himself in Christie's shoes, he suddenly realized that Christie's arrangement seemed reasonable.

After all, the deep-diving interface she needed to break through the limits of human intelligence was the one from Pluto's deep-diving; the Dionysian framework wouldn't be of much use to her. As for helping the Dionysian cult achieve its goals, her relationship with Theta didn't seem deep enough to warrant risking her entire fortune.

Besides, even if we help Sita ascend to become the God of Wine, it's uncertain whether the other party will acknowledge the favor afterwards...

You know, Christie was the founder of Pluto Deep Dive, but the current board members haven't shown much gratitude—now that she just wants to get promoted to Depth 8, those guys are stingy.

Furthermore, the Bacchus Order has the huge pitfall of the Fifth Wish, and deities like Venus and Juno are eyeing it covetously. If Jiang Zhou were in her shoes, she probably wouldn't want to get involved in this mess either.

But while I understand, what should Jiang Zhou do himself?
Christie was able to advance using the Pluto Deep Dive interface, but he might only have this one chance with the Bacchus Order...

With a determined heart, Jiang Zhou said directly:
“If that’s the case, then let me go to South America with Ms. Sita alone… in the name of free mercenaries.”

They had now reached the helipad, to the location of Christie's massive steel dragon. Upon hearing this, Christie, who had been lying on the ground cooling off, raised her steel jaws, and turned one of her blood-red eyes toward Jiang Zhou.

Can I ask why?

Christie asked, neither agreeing nor refusing.

"Back in Nord, in the final stage, in addition to the cluster of constructs and giant machines sent by Neptune Transportation, there was also a hidden malicious program that attacked the resettlement area... Fortunately, the Styx River was at high tide at the time, which prevented them from carrying out a large-scale massacre in the resettlement area."

Jiang Zhou spoke:

"They are not the meme entity variants that were advertised afterward, nor are they any ownerless malware wandering the World Wide Web... The emcee told me that the makeup artists from Venus Digital Media had actually been collecting malware in the Nord resettlement area. Therefore, he suspected that the final surge of malware was just an excuse sent by Venus to give Neptune an excuse to carry out the extermination plan."

Jiang Zhou cited his distrust of Venus Digital Media as a reason.

To ensure they can seize the Dionysian framework, they will try to eliminate any sufficiently powerful competitors.

Theta and Jim Reit... In order to deal with two Orpheus Path Depth 7 Coordinators, He even went so far as to destroy an entire settlement.

“If it weren’t for Mr. Paradox’s timely intervention, we would probably have died in Nord long ago… Therefore, I cannot accept the Dionysian Framework falling into Venus’s hands. If she were to control the Dionysian Framework, it would be a disaster for all mankind.”

Finally, Jiang Zhou said this.

Christie's true form stared at Jiang Zhou in silence for a long time.

The constantly changing topological structure suggests that she is either thinking about something or recalling something.

Finally, she spoke.

“You can’t go in the name of the New Prison Abyss Office, nor in the name of Pluto Deep Dive… You can only accept the Dionysian Church’s employment as a free mercenary, as you said before.”

Of course, that's assuming Sita is willing to hire you. "You'll have to figure out how to talk to her about that later."

Jiang Zhou nodded and breathed a long sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Christie continued:

"Besides that, just tell me what kind of help you need... As long as it doesn't require me to do it myself, I'll try my best to meet your needs."

As she spoke, the enormous alloy head nodded.

The situation is now ten times better than Jiang Zhou had imagined. In addition to personally taking action, the head of the new Prison Abyss office... no! The leader of the Prison Abyss band is willing to provide him with all the help he needs.

Jiang Zhou, who had already obtained the necessary resources through the underground botnet, replied without hesitation:
"I need your help to rent a multi-purpose printer for the Damascus resettlement area!"

…………

Four hours later, Jiang Zhou, with a Glock pistol at his waist, passed through multiple security checkpoints without hindrance and arrived at the multi-purpose printer, which was strictly protected underground.

The pitch-black cube floated in mid-air, with all sorts of materials piled up below it.

Through the vast black market of the zombie underground network and the logistics system of Theseus Freight, Jiang Zhou directly obtained the complete set of adjustment and modification printing permissions for Theseus Path Depth 4 and Depth 5, as well as the necessary printing materials.

It can only be said that the Theseus path truly lives up to its reputation as a high-risk adjustment path. Even with the efforts of those 200,000 zombies, they've only managed to acquire enough resources for Depth 4 and Depth 5 upgrades over the past few days. As for Depth 6 and Depth 7, they haven't even managed to find out all the specific printing permissions.

If a more common path adjustment method were used, it would likely collect all printing permissions from depth 1 to depth 7.

This road is not easy...

Jiang Zhou couldn't help but sigh.

It's estimated that the printing permissions for most of the items salvaged by Abyss Wanderers were intercepted by the Olympian Order.

Even with the high-risk path, Jiang Zhou believed that with the powerful intelligence capabilities of the zombie underground network, it was only a matter of time before he could find everything—it had only been a little over a week, and he had already collected all the clues for Depths 4 and 5, and had also found quite a few clues for Depths 6 and 7.

If we wait another month or two, we can probably collect everything at depth levels 6 and 7.

In short, the key is to first reach Depth 5, strengthen your own combat power, and obtain new controllable element slots. This will give you a better chance of winning when you arrive in South America and face your competitors.

Moreover, after his upgrade, he will have several more controllable element slots. When he connects with some powerful high-depth adjusters, Jiang Zhou's main body will not even need to personally participate in battles.

Thinking this, the path of "Hercules" involuntarily came to mind.

If one could connect to a Hercules path adjuster, even if not at the limit of human intelligence, a depth of 6 or even 5 would be enough to handle most situations.

Thinking this, Jiang Zhou stepped through the door opened by the multi-function printer.

The promotion has begun.

…………

Jupiter Group, Olympus Space City.

Countless pieces of information began to be exchanged in an instant.

[The honeypot has been triggered; it is now confirmed that the Ship of Theseus is being rebuilt.]

【Place】

Damascus resettlement area

[Source of request]

[New Prison Abyss Studio, Carol Christie]

【蜜罐编号：A6489、E2678、N3678、O3678、I3678……下略23组蜜罐编号】

[Are you kidding me? How could they be so scattered? Spanning seven continents and four oceans, involving more than 20 resettlement areas, even including several space stations and the moon where people triggered the events simultaneously, and then bypassed our monitoring network, converging in Damascus as if by prior arrangement? Does such an organization still exist in today's pan-human intelligence network?]

You just don't want to admit it... Wide-area zero-latency synchronization, precise coordination down to the level of each individual thought—there's only one possibility for this.

……

……

[The First Will and Testament Revealed]

[The First Will and Testament Revealed]

[The First Will and Testament Revealed]

[The First Will and Testament Revealed]

(One after another, a series of low murmurs)
……

What is the current situation of Jim Ritter in the Nord resettlement area?

[Low-frequency activity, no signs of threat]

[Assessment of the likelihood of Carole Christie revealing her first will]

[Low-level threat]

[Potential assessment of his subordinate codenamed "Theseus"]

[Extremely High]

[So it seems that Jim Ritter was just a smokescreen they used; in reality, the First Will had already infiltrated the pan-human intelligence network.]

The being that calls itself a "paradox" actually chose "Theseus."

Therefore, I propose activating the final terms of the Pure Soul Protocol.

[Seconded] [Seconded] [Seconded]

[Seconded] [Seconded] [Seconded]

[Seconded] [Seconded] [Seconded]

[Seconded] [Seconded] [Seconded]

[Seconded, but is it necessary to recall the Seventh Will to observe the future?]

[Reject it, and instead block any channels that might allow the Seventh Will to know. In a private capacity: Are you out of your mind? Let the First and Seventh meet; if there's even the slightest possibility of them cooperating...]

[The following are the elimination targets. Primary targets: Damascus resettlement area, Nord resettlement area; Secondary targets: Thrace resettlement area, Lishan resettlement area, Taishan resettlement area, Yueshan resettlement area, Luxor resettlement area, Melbourne resettlement area... 7 resettlement areas omitted]

[I'd like to add something: Tartarus... the Minos board member appears to have had contact with "Theseus".]

[Seconded] [Seconded], [Seconded]...

[The Great Thunderbolt has begun execution]

…………

After the adjustment was completed, Jiang Zhou, who had just stepped out of the multi-function printer, saw a flash of white light.

When he came to his senses, he found himself sitting in the manned cabin suspended below Christie's main body.

A scene that seemed familiar.

"When we see Sita later, remember not to say anything carelessly."

Christie spoke in a way that sounded familiar. (End of Chapter)