As a player, can you be normal?

Chapter 749 The Birth of Endlessness, The King's Past, The Alliance with the Deepest Malice
Marger didn't understand: "Why?"

"Why?" The demon god sat casually on an empty hospital bed as if he knew the place very well. "This has something to do with Karl, but I'm not here to avenge him. I want to avenge myself. Don't overthink it. I'm just giving you some advice. Everything after that depends on your own actions. You're a bunch of kids who haven't even broken through to the next level. We're not cooperating."

Marger did not answer him.

When the demon mentioned "Karl" just now, there was an undisguised emotion in his eyes.

That's a story from the past, one that will never be told again, never be recounted.

But it lingers forever in the mind of the demon god.

Marger reminded him, "Hmph... Big brother, I'm a manager now too."

Demon God: "So?"

Marger: "This is a world of comedy."

He pointed to a television next to him, a junk he'd salvaged from a shopping mall, only usable in the corridor area.

Shameless TV Shows Spying on Your Dreams

[Quality: Trash ~ Epic]

[Effect: During negotiations, the other party's inner monologue will be played, switching from first-person to third-person narration, with the protagonist being the other party's obsession.]

Marger said, "In short, this thing was invented by some Cairo alien and was later used in the pornographic film industry. It's the kind of prop that combines action scenes with psychological scenes. We often consider action scenes as the main scenes. For example, the female lead in the action scene is playing out stories about her time with her father in her mind."

Demon God: "Hmm."

Marger shook his head: "I must tell you, this thing cannot be destroyed unless you leave."

The demon god frowned slightly: "I don't have time to come over."

Marje rummaged through drawers and found a bag of sunflower seeds sold in the mall, grabbed a handful and handed it to the demon god.

"Then let's keep watching."

"Ok."

They come, the security.

The demon god and the evil god looked at the television.

……

A thousand years ago.

Strictly speaking, it was actually 999 years ago.

The gathering area of ​​"The Corridor of the End" has a very simple name: "The Demon Realm".

The End has always been the most terrifying place among the five corridors, where powerful life forms far surpass those in the other corridors have been nurtured.

But Carl Ellison is special.

"Who posted my bounty in the toilet?"

Karl emerged from the only public toilet in the Demon Realm, clutching his bounty in his hand, and stomped angrily toward the street. The Demon Realm had no daytime, only eternal night. As he walked under the lamplight, the people around him stared at him blankly, as if they were looking at a talking pig.

"Hey! Galdella! You did this, didn't you!"

Karl arrived at the door of a guild and kicked it down, allowing "The End" to directly disrupt other guilds.

The guild leader is Galdella.

This man, who was over two meters tall and had long silver hair, was a monster who had conquered most of the border prison and was worshipped as a demon king by many other worlds. However, when Galdella saw Karl standing at the door, she panicked like a child who had done something wrong.

"What did I do?"

"You're the one who put my bounty on the toilet, aren't you?!"

"You can predict it yourself, so go ahead and make the prediction!"

Galdella knew that this bastard was just looking for an excuse to extort gold coins; everyone was used to it.

A woman sitting next to Galdella walked over, suddenly appeared behind Karl, touched the back of his neck, and gave a seductive laugh.

"You should probably start your own organization soon, or come join us. If you think Galdella is in your way, we'll help you kill him."

"Shall we make a plan?"

Carl showed interest.

Gardella's eyes flashed with hostility, but his companions looked at him with bloodlust.

One of the players clapped his hands with a smile, and the broken door of the house was instantly repaired.

outside the house.

A crow's eyes were fixed on this spot.

The crow's visual senses were transmitted to the mind of the "Corridor of the End".

"nothing……"

“We’ve fooled them.” Galdella sat up from her chair, walked over to Karl, and said, “Don’t worry, we’ve kept the administrators’ spies out of the way.”

Carl plopped down in a chair, chuckling lazily, and said, "I'm here to show you the plan you mentioned in the last script. I'm very interested in killing the administrator."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Being the manager of the "End Corridor" is a high-risk job. While other corridor managers are replaced every thousand years, the End Corridor is basically replaced every hundred years.

Therefore, the managers here have placed malicious surveillance in every corner.

Later in the night.

Carl returned to his lodgings in the settlement.

The final settlement is built on top of the Demon Cave. The main inhabitants here are a combat species called "Demons". Some time ago, someone opened a huge portal, and humans from other worlds were sucked in. Compared to Demons, humans have a much better reproductive capacity, resulting in humans making up more than 80% of the population in the settlement now.

The vast majority of humans live in the suburbs as slaves or laborers. They can only survive in this garbage dump. If they step into the city without permission, they may even become food for the demons.

Players at levels 25-40 typically reside in the junkyard where humans live.

Players above level 40 will definitely choose to move to the city, where there is better technology and magic.

But Carl still lives in the junkyard.

His shantytown collapses every week, and his yard is always full of garbage heaps that can never be cleaned up.

The resident next to this house was known as Mrs. Veroka. When Carl was still a low-level player, this old lady helped him a few times, including once when he was being chased by players, Mrs. Veroka chased them away with a broom.

After that, Carl settled here, and now Mrs. Verloca has become a tombstone in the junkyard, but he still guards this place.

Every time Karl returned, he would bring some food to distribute to the poor people here, and then go to Mrs. Verloka's grave and say something sarcastic.

"You old codger, I'm back again."

It is extremely difficult for players to survive.

It's really very difficult.

Back then, Mrs. Veronica and the neighbors would throw Carl a birthday party every day because the guy himself didn't know when he was born. He had lived a lonely life in reality and had never experienced anything.

So people always tell Carl, "You've already made a fortune by celebrating several lifetimes of birthdays before you die."

Carl likes it here.

But he was powerless to change the status quo of "the end".

The rules of this corridor have been there for far too long; he is powerless to change them, and even becoming the manager won't change anything.

"I'm just a half-baked amateur, how could I possibly manage a corridor?"

Karl always declined, simply because he was afraid of the trouble and the greater his status, the more he would lose, and eventually he would lose everything he had now.

He's nothing but a coward.

However, with Baikar residing here, no demons or players dare to cause trouble here anymore.

The neighbors had no idea that this carefree guy, who loved playing with children and boasting to drunkards, was the most powerful individual in the Five Great Corridors, and even in the myriad worlds on the World Tree side.

Even Carl himself was unaware of this.

He was an oddball.

When an outlier obstructs the rules and refuses to move, that outlier must be eliminated.

Even if no one does it, fate will intervene.

A week later.

When Karl returned to the guild, more than half the people were gone, including the woman who had teased him last time.

Galdella sat in a chair, looking exhausted.

"Who beat you up like this?"

Carl was very strange.

Galdella raised her head.

Have you ever heard of a 'judge'?

"Redemption..."

Carl certainly knew the judge, the longest-serving administrator.

"That bastard cheated."

Galdella didn't want to say much, but in the end she left out a comment.

"The most powerful manager is indeed not someone I can handle... Karl, let's talk about this later, I need to rest for a while."

Seeing that he didn't want to say more, Karl stopped asking. After all, rebellion was just a passing fancy; he just felt that life was too boring.

"I'm leaving."

"Aren't you interested in that 'judge'?"

Galdella suddenly asked him.

Carl, who had already reached the door, turned around and said, "No."

What does the manager of the corridor have to do with him?

Carl never imagined that one day he would be so familiar with the people of “redemption” in a certain place.

That world is called the Elden Ring.

"My name is Angel."

The woman spoke in a cold tone. She stood in the wind, her long hair covering half her face, the exposed half of her face covered in mechanical parts.

Karl carried a dragon tail on his shoulder; it was the trophy of the ancient dragon he had hunted.

“My name is Carl, Carl Elimond.”

He didn't know why he would utter the woman's real name to her. Perhaps it was because Karl's favorite female character was Koko from Yu Yu Hakusho, and Angel looked so much like Koko now.

“Angel… wait, I remember the staff of ‘Redemption’.”

"Yes, I'm a staff member of 'Redemption'."

Angel's stomach rumbled.

"Do androids need to eat?"

"Androids can even poop."

"Then come with me. I've built a village here. We'll all eat together when we get back."

Angel had originally intended to stop him to ask him some questions about the players.

But for no apparent reason, I followed him into the village.

"It happened so suddenly, I have to make it clear that I was lured here by the people in our corridor. Those guys used a teleportation rune to drag me here."

The two walked one after the other, with Angel trying hard to explain and not make himself look so foolish.

"I understand, the reason I dragged you here is to repair the equipment in the script."

"Hmm... but I'm not part of the work group. I'm a messenger for the manager, so there's no point in me coming here."

"So they abandoned you."

"I wanted to leave on my own!"

Carl noticed that this woman had a kind of haughty air about her, as if she had stepped away from her surroundings.

"Can't you go back by yourself?"

"cannot……"

Angel looked dejected.

“Our corridor is special; you can’t just go back whenever you want.”

Karl, who was walking ahead, nodded.

“I know, I know Tia’s team, she told me that your place is a food processing plant.”

The nickname "Redemption" is quite humorous.

Food processing plant.

What's actually behind it is chilling.

In the "Redemption Corridor," their governing judge has a contract with all players.

Carl knew about this too, so he simply mentioned it in casual conversation.

1. Starting at level 25, players need to sell souls to the administrator in order to start the scenario normally.

2. The final ownership of the soul is determined by the judge.

3. Players may use other players' souls, provided the judge agrees.

4. The higher the player's level, the deeper the bond between their soul and the judge.

The above four points illustrate that the "Redemption Corridor" is a dictatorial area where the rules set by the judge ensure that he himself can never be defeated.

Angel made a dull sound.

“Initially, the judge wasn’t actually this kind of person. He’s been in office for over three thousand years, and nobody knows what happened during that time…”

"Ha!~" Karl chuckled. "This kind of development strategy is probably for conquest."

Angel felt a tingling sensation down his spine; he was right.

"There are also conflicts among managers, such as the Valkyrie..."

"I do not want to know."

"But many people want to know."

“I’m not interested.” Karl turned his head, smiled at Angel, and asked gently, “Angel, why did you say you can’t go back?”

“I also have a soul in the judge’s body. Although I am a staff member, once I enter the script, I am half a player. So I must help the players complete the script in order to go back. If I fail to complete it, I will have to hide here for the rest of my life until I am scrapped.”

She ended by saying "scrapped" instead of "dead".

Karl, with his keen senses, noticed this. The players who were with Angel had been killed by Karl, so he felt it was necessary to send the girl back.

They arrived at the village before they knew it.

The Elden Ring should no longer have a normal city, but the village is thriving, with villagers even working and living. They greet Karl, and it feels just like a normal city. Angel walks on the village's dirt road, his eyes wide with surprise, shaking his head in disbelief. Everything feels breathtaking.

"You... built a village in this apocalypse?"

"I felt sorry for them, so I helped them."

"You come from the 'End'?"

"Yes."

"No wonder..."

Angel quipped that only someone with the "End" mindset would do something so pointless in a script.

“If it were us, the ones who ‘redeemed’ them, we’d probably take away the souls of every living thing we could see.” Angel’s words sounded like a sarcastic remark, but they were all true.

Karl distributed the dragon meat to the villagers and chuckled.

"Redemption, redemption, it's actually about saving yourself, what an interesting name."

He said nothing more, letting Angel argue with him. Karl just smiled, as if he had no other emotions, no anger, no sadness, and was born with a kind of serene divinity.

In the days that followed, Angel couldn't figure it out.

"Why don't you become a manager?"

The high walls were filled with the corpses of soldiers. Karl piled them together and burned them. In the firelight, he watched the rising smoke as if he were watching their souls ascend to heaven.

"...Guess why."

Players who have broken through levels in the Five Great Corridors all agree that no one can come close to Karl Elimond's power; his strength exceeds what players should be capable of.

Gradually, Angel's purpose in following Karl was no longer to complete the script, but to see what was going on with this guy. Moreover, for Angel, being able to bring back Karl's information would be a good thing for "Redemption Corridor".

Until the day the script was about to be finished.

Karl is about to ascend the throne of "King of Elden".

Angel calmed himself down and, in the final moments, finally managed to extract the information they needed most.

"Can I ask you why you're so amazing?"

"I once went to a place called 'Kairosoft World'."

"I know that place. Isn't it said to be a place where a bunch of ordinary creatures that look powerful but are actually just idiots?"

"No, that's not it. I dug up cabbages there for ten years, drove a hearse for thirty years, and then worked as a black hole manager for twenty years. Then I was accidentally sucked into a black hole and ended up on the other side of the World Tree, where I underwent a complete transformation. And because of the comedic world's abilities, my weaknesses are completely different from normal people. In short, the comedic world is responsible for defense, and the abilities on the other side of the World Tree are responsible for offense. The two forces combined make me who I am."

"No wonder..."

Angel's long-standing question has finally been answered.

But Carl was still hesitating over the final decision regarding the script for "Elden Ring".

“I’m saying, Angel, according to the world-building of the ‘Elden Ring,’ the king and the god complement each other, right?”

“It doesn’t have to be like this, it’s all up to you…” Angel didn’t say the word “choice” because Karl took out a Darkmoon Ring and handed it to her.

“I’ll be king, you’ll be god, and together we’ll banish the darkness from this place and usher in a new beginning for the reconstruction of civilization,” Karl said with a smile.

Angel stood there, stunned: "Me, a god?"

“Aren’t you called Angel?” Karl said. “Angel is an angel, which is practically God.”

At that moment, Angel's mind was subjected to an unprecedented shock.

“I am an android, a staff member of the corridor, and my real name is ‘Angel 333’.”

"My name is Carl 334."

Are you an idiot?

"you guessed right."

Angel was amused by him, and she couldn't help herself and put on the ring.

After that, she returned to her community.

As a messenger among the staff, she was asked by the players above her, "What are Karl's abilities?"

Reporting intelligence is part of the staff's job.

But this time, Angel pointed to his brain: "My brain system is broken."

Angel didn't know one thing.

The ring Karl gave her contained runes from a life card. He originally planned to extort some things from Galdella after he returned, and make Angel his contracted familiar.

"No."

Galdella refused readily.

"The things they do for salvation are unusual; their administrators possess the soul value of all life, unless you talk to that judge."

"That's impossible, how could they possibly agree?"

"You have a crush on her?"

"No, it's just that I feel sorry for her."

Galdella sneered to himself, “This damned ‘Corridor of the End’ always seems to be full of weirdos.”

But after that day, Galdella never saw Karl again.

Because on that night, Karl discovered that Angel's life card had become weak.

"As a staff member, am I going to be eliminated...?"

Carl found the staff in their corridor.

She was an old lady named "Smiling Bustard".

"If a staff member has a health problem, they will be thrown into the machine for rework, and the person who comes out again will not be the same as before."

"Memories will all disappear?"

"Hehe~ Of course."

After receiving an affirmative answer, Carl bought a lot of food and weapons from the Smiling Madam, distributed them to the native neighbors on the outskirts of town, and then cleaned Mrs. Veronica's tombstone.

After that, he went to the "Corridor of Redemption".

Angel didn't know exactly what had happened; she had already entered the Great Forge, preparing to disappear with the memories related to Karl.

But when she opened her eyes, Karl's face was reflected on her retina.

"How pitiful, Angel."

Karl held Angel's remaining head in his hands; he was still smiling, but his face was covered in blood.

Behind them was a mountain of corpses, piled up from countless players.

On this day, the "Gallery of Redemption" faced its greatest crisis in its three-thousand-year history.

“I told them I needed to take you with me, but they wouldn’t let me. They even said they wouldn’t let me leave and that I should leave my life here, so I had no choice but to do it.”

Carl turned around.

Countless players appeared outside the factory where the manufacturing workers were located, and suddenly he and Angel were teleported to another area.

This place is called "Basel," and it is one of the main worlds of the "Gallery of Redemption."

This main stage of "Eternal End" is under the jurisdiction of Redemption. It is as dark as hell, with red fiery clouds in the sky. The earth has not been bathed in sunlight for a long time, the trees have long since withered, and the natives are like walking corpses. Everyone's soul is under that guy's control.

That dictator.

That tyrant.

Schaffarel.

A figure emerged from the tower in central Basel.

It is said that the administrator of "Redemption" has been hiding in the main world. That guy is called Shufarel, and this is the first time he has faced Karl face to face.

"No matter what, it's embarrassing."

Schaffarel appeared before Karl.

Karl knew that this battle was unavoidable.

"Is it worth it, Carl Ellison?"

A large number of players appeared behind the judge; these guys were all pillars of the team whose levels exceeded the cap.

"You already possess the qualities to become a manager, so why are you wasting your future here?"

Carl put Angel's head into his storage bag, then began to stretch his shoulders as he walked toward the judge and the group of "redeemed" players.

"Yeah, it makes me want to try being a manager myself."

What happened next had virtually no witnesses.

When Angel was taken out by Karl, what she saw was an open sky, a destroyed world, countless players reduced to ashes, and a judge who had turned into a black soul and flown to the World Tree.

Karl lay dead in the ruins of Basel, his body covered in wounds, on the verge of death, uttering his last words to Angel.

"Would you like to become Angel of the new Corridor?"

"willing!"

Thus, the "Endless Corridor" was born on the ruins of Basel.

Why is it called the 'Endless Corridor'?

When Angel first entered the manager's room, he asked him a question.

Karl pondered for a moment and said, "I long for immortality, I long for all worthy people to live forever, without end."

He looked at the ruins of Basel and said, “Angel, I want to build a place where everyone can live well. I can’t interfere with players below level 25, but I hope to give those who have been through the trials a place to live.”

Angel: "You have to understand, this is simply impossible."

None of the five corridors or any of the gathering areas were bathed in sunlight.

But Carl thought it was fine: "How will I know if I don't try? I'll lower the cost of players' lives. I know that will make them weaker, but they can also use the power of the main worlds like Cairoworld and South Park to develop themselves, just like me. If the other corridors go too far, I can beat up their managers during the roundtable. I'm already the most powerful one, so I can send my malice to the higher-ups."

They had lived in darkness for too long, and he wanted those who came after to see more of the sunlight.

Karl had an extremely strong ability to restrain his own rights. The more powerful a creature is, the greater its desires and the stronger its predation of the weak, just like Judge Schaffarel.

To gain safety, one must control the souls of all people.

In order to achieve results, they will stop at nothing.

In order to consolidate their position, they subjugate the lower classes.

Players are the same; each enjoys the rights that come with power, and each meticulously plans to use their talents to exert power and rights. Everyone hates the feeling of being restricted and balanced. If no means are used to change anything, it would hinder the unbridled desires. Becoming the supreme being in a region is what players and administrators pursue.

But what makes Karl even stranger is that, despite being more powerful than everyone else, he only wanted to create a place where the sun could shine for the homeless and those in purgatory.

The man who had the best chance of becoming a dictator and a tyrant restrained all his desires and suppressed his plundering, like a shepherd, but he preferred to be one of the sheep.

For thousands of years, no one like Karl has ever appeared.

Until one day, a "crippled" character stepped onto the stage of history, but that's a story for now.

The story should end here.

The birth and past of the king thus came to an end. A thousand years of rule brought sunshine and peace to Basel, but he ultimately failed.

Karl on the screen looked out of the screen.

Those innocent eyes were fixed on Marger and the Demon God outside the screen.

These two men are his successor and the only punching bag who knows his past.

So, on the screen, Karl picked up a wooden sign that read: "As an Easter egg for those who have seen this, Marger, the gift for you is that the password for the Demon God's [Administrator Black Card] is thirty zeros, and this password cannot be changed."

boom--!
The demon's punch obliterated half of the hospital area connected to the television screen.

"Karl..."

He sensed something was wrong.

The television in the comedy world... played stories about Karl and Angel using his memories as a medium. Something just didn't feel right. He had been deceived by the "Comedy World" logo.

Marger, holding a calculator, tapped on the number keys: "Mr. Galdella, as the manager of the other corridors, you wantonly destroyed our corridor's property. This debt needs to be settled."

The calculator displays: 100 million.

"These gold coins will probably soothe our frightened hearts."

"The World Tree will be repaired for you, and I'll compensate you for the money you spent on breaking the wall." The demon god turned to look at him, his brows furrowed deeply: "Karl is still alive?"

"I don't know." Marger truly didn't know.

Only Li Nuo and Cha Bai knew that the King and Angel were existing in the network in the form of virus signals, and could never appear in front of the world again. They could be said to be dead, or they could be said to not be completely dead.

So what was being shown on TV was completely unexpected for Marger. He really didn't know that the King would hack the signal and come over to tell him the Demon God's black card password.

But there was another crucial takeaway.

The king's power comes from the combination of the comedic world and the world outside the World Tree.

It is necessary to pay attention.

"Let's get down to business." The demon interrupted Marger's thoughts and said, "My affair with Xiu Farrell is another matter. I'm not doing this to help you. You don't need to worry about what's going on behind the scenes. Anyway, I have a few ways to increase your survival rate in the next scenario."

Marger put his hands in his robe pockets, chuckled, and said, "No matter how exciting the king's story is, he still lost. So if we want to win, we need to use a different, more extreme approach. I guess you have the answer we need."

The demon god glanced at him with his pupils and said with a smile, "You lot haven't even broken through the level barrier, yet you want to take the most dangerous path?"

At that moment, Li Nuo rushed in from outside the broken wall: "Marje, you fucking mess around with shit again! Addicted to blowing up walls, huh!"

Before he could finish speaking, Li Nuo saw the shadow of the Demon God.

Just as the demon god was about to say hello, Li Nuo turned and ran, shouting, "Holy crap! We're going to be wiped out!"

"Hey..." The Demon God was both amused and exasperated: "This kid was so full of spirit when he beat me back then."

“This is who we are,” Marger said with a smile. “We are neither the ‘Endless Corridor’ nor the ‘Corridor of Redemption,’ but just a bunch of worms who have nothing better to do than gather together with no way out.”

"You mean to say that you people..." The demon god grinned, "are the only ones who can defeat all the corridors?"

"Hmph, how will you know if you don't try?"

"Okay, I have a very risky plan. I originally wanted to see if you could get through the next stage first, but now I want to see just how far you can go."

The Demon God walked behind Marger and sighed softly, "Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine. This number represents the total number of players in the Corridor who are level 80 or above. What if all of these people participate in the next scenario?"

Marger figured it out: if the player base were increased to the maximum, the World Tree's calculations would explode and become unbearable. They would definitely be placed in a world with extremely high intensity, which would prevent the "Endless Corridor" from targeting them. Everyone had to take care of their own survival first.

The chaotic breeding ground is the best greenhouse for the "Corridor of Redemption" represented by those two bastards, Li Nuo and Sauron, as well as the insane "Corridor of the End".

Li Nuo and his team have ample room to cultivate their script's influence and amplify their power.

The demon god Galdella can also take this opportunity to purge those in his corridors who are eyeing the position of administrator.

"That was truly a devastating tragedy..."

Marger could no longer suppress the smile on his face.

The demon god stretched out his hand.

"This requires your consent to be done."

"As long as you don't cheat me, it's fine."

The evil god also reached out his hand.

Today, the two evil spirits shook hands amicably in the clinic and reached a consensus to send everyone to hell.

During the discussion, the Demon God proposed that the Evil God submit a list of all his subordinates to his superiors and issue a notice that all players would participate in the competition. The Demon God would then use this as a basis to make a small cheat or a minor advantage.

The parliamentary session concluded in a warm, sunny atmosphere.

The Demon God's old acquaintance, the Demon Hunter, saw him off. During the farewell, the Demon Hunter tremblingly offered to give him a copy of the "Scholar" skill, thus achieving the goal of no lingering grudges between them.

But the Demon God refused, stating that he would tear the Witcher to pieces sooner or later, and that the plan had been put on the "final" agenda today.

After the meeting, the evil god convened a general mobilization meeting.

The main topic of the meeting was where to get the "gold coins" for crafting equipment and buying props for the next script.

Everyone eagerly took the opportunity to speak.

Finally, the evil god produced a [Manager Black Card].

"Hmph, this [Manager Black Card] can be swiped with the Demon God's password. That idiot forgot about it when he left."

(End of this chapter)