The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

He... went "home".

Where the guard on the "Iron Heart" once stood, only a set of cold mechanical prosthetics that had fallen onto the deck remained.

"First."

Inside the command center, Shen Ge calmly uttered three words as he watched this scene.

This is the "first," and it will certainly not be the last.

The allure of the "future" was too tempting. If Shen Ge hadn't seen through its true nature with his elusive eyes, he would have wanted to go and see what his "future" self would look like.

"No! This can't go on!" Ellie was the first to react when she saw this.

She rushed to the control panel and yelled into the city's public address system, "Wake up! That's not the future! That's a trap! It's a monster!"

But her voice sounded incredibly weak at this moment, because with the appearance of the first "traitor," there was a second, a third, a tenth... More and more soldiers and civilians whose will was not firm to begin with stood up from every corner of the city.

Their faces all wore the same expression of pain and relief as the first guard.

"I agree."

"I agree."

"Take me away...take us...to that place where there is no pain..."

These people, like the soldiers before them, transformed into streams of energy, constantly rising from the "Iron Heart" and surging into the increasingly "lively" "Heart of Truth" on the opposite side.

The "heart of truth" is becoming fuller, while the "heart of iron" is being hollowed out.

"Brother!" Kyle and Roca's eyes were red. They watched all this with anger, but they were powerless to do anything. They could kill tangible enemies, but they couldn't stop a heart that... was determined to die.

Alai closed his eyes in despair. In this battle of wits, the temptation of "hope" and "future" was too powerful, so powerful that... mortals could not resist it.

Just then, the gentle voice of "Future Shen Ge" rang out again above "Iron Heart".

"...Look, child. It's the inevitable trend."

Pain is poison; happiness is the ultimate destination. This is the most fundamental logic of life, and you... cannot change it.

Its gaze finally fell on Hephaestus, Kyle, Roca, Ellie, Alai, and... the purest soul sleeping soundly in Alai's arms—Moya.

Now, it's "your" turn.

I know you're still hesitant, still afraid.

"Then, let me show you something else. Something... that can help you make your final decision."

As he spoke, he slowly raised his hand again.

This time, the outer armor of the incredibly magnificent "Heart of Truth" behind him, the location that should have been the "Forge Temple," slowly opened to both sides amidst a series of incredibly precise mechanical sounds.

It revealed its true "engine" inside, which was not some "subspace core" but a human body connected by countless glowing energy pipes, imprisoned by an enormous life support device, with its eyes closed but its chest still rising and falling very faintly!
That's... Shen Ge?
No, or rather, in everyone's eyes, that body seems to be "themselves".

Hephaestus's breath hitched when he saw the "person" clearly. His eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, widened to their limit in extreme shock.

[...Surprised, aren't you, kids?]

The gentle voice of "Future Shen Ge" rang out once again.

But this time, its "gaze" went through Shen Ge and landed directly on Hephaestus, who was the most "shaken".

This is your final 'form'.

[…One day in the future, you, Hephaestus, will develop a great technology… called the 'Dream Engine'. It will amplify your mental power infinitely, creating a 'world' where everyone can attain eternal happiness.]

[...and you willingly became the 'core' of this world. You are our 'god'.]

The voice was filled with praise and reverence.

"...Come, Hephaestus. Come, children. Return to the embrace of your 'god.'"

Now, make your choice.

This final and most fatal temptation struck Hephaestus and Alai like a heavy hammer.

Even Hephaestus, the wisest and most rational among them, voluntarily became a "god," so is there any point in their persistence?

"Clap clap clap."

At that moment, a round of applause rang out in the control room.

Shen Ge raised the control room to the top deck and looked at the "Shen Ge" opposite him. He said with interest, "Very good idea, tsk tsk, to create a dream world where everyone can have eternal happiness. As far as I know, the last person who thought of this only wanted to create a world with Lin. You are more righteous, wanting to give everyone 'happiness'."

"Well done."

"Both the setting and the dialogue are almost flawless, it's just a pity... you chose the wrong person. How could someone who only believes in science and logic create such ethereal things as spiritual energy and dream worlds? By the way, you don't think I've been sitting in the control room these past two days doing nothing, do you?"

The moment the words fell, Shen Ge's strange domain, like a huge dome, not only enveloped the "Heart of Iron" and the "Heart of Truth," but also covered most of this sea area.

He spent several days finally finding the location where these multiple strange spaces "overlapped," and found a breakthrough.

For the first time, the gentle expression on the face of the "future Shen Ge" across from him showed a change!
[Impossible, how...did you find out?]

His voice became sharp and startled, no longer gentle as before.

“It’s very simple.” Shen Ge said calmly, “No one should be more qualified to talk about multi-dimensional strange spaces than me. I have destroyed at least eight or ten large multi-dimensional strange spaces. And the method to destroy them is very simple. It is undoubtedly to determine the strangeness that maintains the strange space and destroy its strange tumor heart.”

"As for you, you are quite special. At first, I couldn't even figure out what you were, after all, I had never met such a 'real' version of myself."

"Later I discovered that your situation was not like a typical overlapping strange space, but more like two fragmented worlds that intersected."

"Besides, there are things there that I'm very interested in. Otherwise, why do you think I would spend time 'acting' with you?"

Shen Ge did not continue to "explain". After several days of investigation, he discovered that the existence of the "Heart of Truth" was not an ordinary stacking of strange spaces, but the intersection of two fragmented worlds.

To put it simply, the "Heart of Truth" is neither a god nor a future, but a high-level anomaly from another fragmented world that successfully devoured the "Heart of Iron," "Elysium Island," and even consumed Hephaestus and others.

This is Elysium Max in another fragmented world!

The power that sustains its existence is naturally the dream fragment that Shen Ge has been searching for for a long time but has been unable to find in the entire sea!

That's right. The reason why Shen Ge's eerie eyes couldn't see through its essence was because the "Heart of Truth" was protected by the power of dreams.

Now, Shen Ge has found a breakthrough.

boom--! ! !
The eerie domain set up by Shen Ge released powerful eerie energy that eroded the city. In an instant, the outer shell of the entire city began to peel away and flow like melting wax.

The silvery-white metal turned into writhing, nauseating flesh and blood, and the futuristic buildings became twisted white bone spurs growing from the flesh and blood.

In the center of the city, the imprisoned "future Hephaestus" has completely disappeared, replaced by an enormous "fused face" composed of countless fused human faces and broken mechanical parts.

That face bore a striking resemblance to the "Flower of Flesh and Blood" that Shen Ge had crushed on "Paradise Island," but it was much larger.

And that "future Shen Ge" has also torn off his perfect mask!
His body was reassembled like mud, and a deformed wing made of bizarre flesh and covered with eyeballs suddenly unfolded from his back.

His other arm had transformed into a terrifyingly large "psychic cannon" intertwined with flesh and blood. Half of his face resembled Shen Ge, while the other half was that of the one who had lost an arm and was the first survivor from "Paradise Island" to submit to Shen Ge.

He is a "fusion monster" who has devoured countless "beings" and stolen their forms, memories, and abilities!
"Ha...hahaha!" A burst of crazy and maniacal laughter came from the mouth of "Shen Ge", who had turned into a monster.

Its sound sometimes resembles Shen Ge, sometimes that of the amputee survivor, and sometimes turns into a cacophony of men, women, and children.

“That’s right! You’re absolutely right! I’m not some future! I’m just an ‘inheritor’!” As it spoke, its right arm, made of “psychic cannons,” pointed at Shen Ge.

“I inherited everything from that foolish ‘island’ that only knew how to spread ‘happiness’, but I am smarter than it! I know that mere ‘happiness’ cannot attract true strength!”

"If I want to have you, if I want to have a 'perfect vessel' like you, containing the entire 'universe' within you, I must offer you something you cannot refuse... 'hope'!"

Behind it, on the enormous "fused face," all the mouths opened and closed, uttering greedy, nauseating whispers.

"And now... you, and your city, and all your 'future'... will become the most delicious... 'nourishment' on my path of evolution!"

With that frantic declaration, the "Heart of Truth," which had already revealed its true form as a bloody hell, stirred!
Tens of thousands of enormous, fleshy tentacles, like giant snakes, suddenly emerged from the seawater at the bottom of the city and slammed down on the "Heart of Iron" beneath Shen Ge's feet!
It wants to completely crush this "past" along with everyone on the ship, and then absorb and integrate it all without leaving a trace!
boom--! ! !
For the first time, the biomass engine and subspace engine of the seventh-tier monster king, "Iron Heart," entered a 120% overload operation mode without reservation.

The entire steel city erupted with unprecedented power, with countless terrifyingly large "steam purification cannons" controlled by the "Gear Guard";
The damaged "Macro Cannon" that Hephaestus urgently activated; and the "Abyss Eye" on the bow of the "Ark One" that once again gathered a dark golden beam of eerie energy!
Countless flames, representing the power of the "Iron Heart," shot into the sky at the same time!

In the center of the battlefield between the two colossal beings, Shen Ge's figure collided with the "fusion monster" that had stolen his appearance!
The collision of the two "cities" instantly ignited this desolate sea area.

“Boom! Boom! Boom—!”

Countless steam-powered projectiles, gleaming with blazing white light, slammed into the shield of the flesh-and-blood city, exploding into ripples of energy as corrosive as pus.

Hephaestus's eyes were bloodshot as he poured all the energy of the "Iron Heart" into the broken "Macro Cannon"!
A massive beam of energy, thick enough to tear the sky apart, struck precisely the enormous "fused face" of the City of Flesh and Blood, instantly turning half of its face into a bloody mess.

Its tens of thousands of fleshy tentacles, like a raging swarm of snakes, lashed out at the "Iron Heart's" energy shield.

Each impact caused the entire steel city to tremble violently, and countless steel components groaned under the strain.

The shield's energy level was rapidly decreasing on the main control screen.

This is a most primitive and brutal contest. It's a competition of whose "shield" is thicker and whose "cannon" is sharper!
"Kyle! Roca!"

Hephaestus's voice rang out in the control room: "Port, 37 degrees, 500 meters below! That's its weak point in the shield, the node supplying power to its 'heart'! Take it down!"

"Roger that!"

The two brothers had been holding back their anger for a long time.

Commanding their elite "Gear Guard," they piloted over a dozen of the fastest assault boats, like a pack of fearless sharks, braving the tentacles flying overhead as they charged toward the designated coordinates.

At the highest point of the battlefield, Shen Ge also engaged in the most direct battle with the "fusion monster" who had stolen his appearance.

"die!!"

The strange creature roared, and its right arm, which had become a "psychic cannon," condensed a dark red ball of light mixed with flesh and energy at the muzzle, blasting towards Shen Ge's face.

Shen Ge neither dodged nor avoided, but raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air. An invisible giant hand directly crushed the energy.

The next second, Shen Ge's figure appeared in front of it like a ghost. Under the influence of the "Immovable Ghost Domain", the other party could not see his movements at all.

Shen Ge didn't use any fancy moves; he simply raised his right hand.

An invisible hand, almost identical to the previous one but larger than a mountain, took shape again and instantly grabbed the monster.

"No!"

That invisible hand, carrying the power to crush everything, gripped its deformed, ugly body tightly in its grasp! (End of Chapter)