Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

It must be said that the armored man, as the chosen one of the world of the Fallen Star, has truly tenacious vitality.

Even though Su Xiao's Dragon Slayer Flash had accurately pierced his chest, the blade penetrating the light armor and sinking in at least twenty centimeters, the health bar above the opponent's head, which only contractors could observe, still had a small section remaining. In an extremely bizarre situation, it repeatedly jumped between the boundary of "critical" and "severely injured," refusing to completely reach zero.

This is the ability to lock in health.

And it's a very high priority.

It's difficult to kill someone quickly by simply relying on stacking damage.

Su Xiao nodded, her gaze falling on the armored man's chest, which was still rising and falling slightly.

The Dragon Slayer remained rooted to the spot, its blade trembling with each heartbeat, yet no new blood flowed from the wound's edge. Instead, a dark golden light seemed to writhe, attempting to heal the injury.

Lin Yi and Su Xiao had indeed seen similar descriptions of this ability in the World's Child's skill list. Whether it was a certain rubber-bodied pirate or a certain ninja with a tailed beast sealed inside his body, they all possessed this almost cheating tenacious vitality.

Unless you have an instant-death condition that ignores the invincibility mechanic, or true damage that can cause the most fundamental damage, conventional attack methods will be much less efficient.

"Born from a fallen star, it's not surprising that he possesses regenerative abilities similar to those of ancient gods' followers." Su Xiao exerted a slight force on his wrist, and the azure energy, like a living venomous snake, burrowed along the blade into the depths of the wound.

This time, the dark golden restorative light seemed to have met its nemesis, emitting a hissing sound and retreating for a moment.

But at this moment, a sudden change occurred!

Alek's body suddenly arched, letting out a low, inhuman growl of pain.

Numerous slippery, slimy black tentacles emerged without warning from his pierced wounds, his mouth and nose, and even from the edges of his eye sockets.

These tentacles are as thick as a child's arm, covered with nauseating suckers and constantly opening and closing mouthparts, emitting a stench mixed with deep-sea silt and rotting flesh.

They danced wildly, pounding the ground and air, leaving behind withered vegetation and corroded rock surfaces in their wake.

The scene was filled with a sense of distortion and blasphemy.

The Dream Spirit girl exclaimed in surprise, instinctively taking half a step back, and quickly forming a defensive mental seal with her hands.

Shangyue's wings unfurled with a whoosh, and her scimitar was drawn half an inch from its sheath.

These tentacles possessed independent will, frantically trying to break free from Alek's body and wrap around and tear at the nearest living creature.

Their movements were chaotic and disorderly, filled with a primal destructive urge. They were clearly not under the control of Alek's own consciousness, but rather seemed to be the out-of-control rampage of some power within him in his near-death state.

Just as the tentacles were about to touch Su Xiao's arm, Alec's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.

The madness, pain, or despair that might have been present in those eyes did not appear. Instead, there was a burning light that was a mixture of pain and astonishing perseverance.

Veins bulged on his forehead, his teeth clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound, and a suppressed roar escaped his throat.

"Go...back!"

With that hoarse roar, the wildly beating black tentacles seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, and suddenly stopped!
They began to tremble and contract violently, extremely unwillingly, being pulled back inch by inch into Arek's body.

This process clearly caused him unimaginable pain; it felt as if countless worms were wriggling under his skin, his bones made a "crackling" sound as they were unable to bear the weight, and dark red blood seeped from all seven orifices.

But he stared intently, and with a moving willpower, he forcefully suppressed the power bestowed upon him by the ancient god.

As the last tentacle disappeared at the edge of the wound, Alek seemed to have exhausted all his strength, and his whole body went limp, with only his chest rising and falling with heavy breathing.

The stubborn health bar above his head finally stopped its meaningless fluctuations and began to slide down at a slow but definitely decreasing speed.

The Dragon Slayer was still embedded in his chest, and the energy of the Azure Steel Shadow continued to erode his last bit of life and that dark golden restorative power.

He struggled to move his eyes, his gaze first falling on the hilt of the knife at his chest, then slowly moving upwards, sweeping over Su Xiao's expressionless face, and finally settling on Lin Yi.

His lips moved slightly, his voice weak yet exceptionally clear, carrying a deep-seated bewilderment and yearning: "God... God... are they really... omnipotent?"

The question, which seemed to have no beginning or end, had exhausted all the strength and courage he had left.

Lin Yi did not answer immediately. He stepped forward, squatted down next to Alek, and calmly met the gaze of the dying Son of the World.

This action caused a faint glimmer of light to flash in Alec's dull eyes.

"You come from the Fallen Star, right?" Lin Yi's voice was not loud, but it carried a peculiar penetrating power, piercing through Arek's increasingly faint breathing. "A world ruled by ancient gods."

Arek's body trembled almost imperceptibly, and a complex expression appeared in his eyes—there was astonishment at being exposed, a hint of deeply hidden shame, but more than anything, there was a lingering sense of bewilderment.

“There, gods are portrayed as supreme beings, and mortals are not even qualified to peek into them. Those who peek are physically distorted, their souls twisted, and their wills driven mad,” Lin Yi continued, his tone as calm as if stating a fact unrelated to himself. “And you, as a ‘chosen one’ and ‘child of the world’ who can speak directly with gods, have you always taken pride in this? Have you considered it the highest honor, the favor of fate?”

Alek's lips tightened. He wanted to refute, to say yes, this was indeed an honor! It was the recognition he had sought all his life!

But when the words came out, all that came out of his throat was a painful gasp.

"As for why they didn't resist..." Lin Yi paused, his gaze sweeping over Alek's tattered armor, which clearly bore the style of the Meteorite Star. "The reason is simple. You think it's impossible, right? Because in your mind, the gods of the Meteorite Star are almost 'omnipotent.' It's the lair of the ancient gods, a super-huge world, but the thought of resistance was probably eradicated along with the soil before it even sprouted."

"There are no rebels there. Because the people of that world have had their 'legs' broken long ago. The concept of 'the supreme being of the gods' is not written in books or spoken, but has been etched into the bones of your generation by the most cruel means, integrated into your blood, and become part of your breath. There may have been rebels in the past, but they, and the traces of their existence, have been completely erased."

Su Xiao's words pierced Alek's gradually fading consciousness like an ice pick.

He recalled his childhood neighbors who had turned to ashes in the light of divine punishment for their "impure thoughts"; he remembered the legends told by the elders in his youth about how "blasphemers" in ancient times were eternally suppressed in the abyss; he remembered the soul-freezing pressure that enveloped him every time he met the gods, and the trembling in his heart called "awe" and "submission".

The power of the ancient gods themselves is not frightening. What is frightening is when a group completely loses the will to resist, even taking "non-resistance" as a matter of course and "serving" as the only value. Then being enslaved and never being able to rise up becomes their inevitable fate.

A sad but realistic logic came to Alek's mind: people are not afraid of suffering, but of being the only one suffering.

If everyone were in the same state of suffering, then the concept of "suffering" itself would be dissolved, becoming "normal" or "life itself."

When a faint light accidentally shines into absolute darkness, illuminating the filth and distortion that are taken for granted in the darkness, the light itself will be regarded by the darkness as the greatest threat, as "guilty".

Darkness will use all its power to extinguish it, erase it, and return everything to the familiar darkness.

Arek's eyes darted around violently, his unfocused pupils sometimes focusing and sometimes dilating.

The reason he didn't choose to completely succumb to the madness and alienation brought about by the power of the ancient god in the final moments of his life, but instead used his last strength to suppress it and ask Lin Yi and Su Xiao that question, was perhaps because deep down, his heart was no longer a pure darkness.

A faint ray of light had begun to shine in, though I don't know when it started.

He wanted to get an answer from these two people who clearly did not believe in the ancient god of the fallen star, and might even be on the opposite side of it, an answer about the truth of "gods".

This answer, for him, may be more important than his impending death itself.

Lin Yi looked at the struggling glimmer in Alek's eyes and asked another question, one that seemed unrelated to the current situation but directly addressed the deepest contradiction in Alek's heart: "Alek, why... are you unwilling to completely transform into the form of an ancient god?"

This question struck Alec's heart like a heavy hammer.

His pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints, his body trembled violently, and even the Dragon Slayer Sword on his chest swayed slightly.

A large amount of blood gushed from the wound, but he seemed to feel no pain anymore.

Lin Yi's question truly touched upon his most private and unthinkable corner.

As the vessel chosen by the ancient gods, Alek was well aware that he possessed the qualifications and potential for "transformation".

With each surge of power, each time he received a deeper level of "divine grace," those cold yet tempting whispers echoed deep within his soul, urging him to abandon this "fragile" and "inferior" human body and embrace a more powerful and "perfect" form.

The clansmen, elders, and even his most trusted mentor around him were all bewitching him with fanatical eyes and words, telling him that it was the highest glory.

However, every time that critical point was about to arrive, a sense of inexplicable fear and resistance would well up in his heart.

That wasn't rational thinking; it was more like an alarm sounding from the depths of one's life instincts.

He couldn't explain the feeling, only attributing it to his own "immaturity" or "insufficient faith in the divine." But now, with Lin Yi asking so bluntly, that thin veil of self-deception was suddenly torn away.

The Dream Spirit Clan girl had squatted down at some point, right next to Lin Yi.

She watched Alek's drastically changing expression. The initial disgust and mockery in his amber eyes were gone, replaced by a kind of understanding tinged with sadness.

She reached out her hand, her fingertips not touching Alek, but merely hovering above his heart, her voice soft yet carrying a strange, comforting power: "That is your indomitable spirit as a 'human being,' as a 'child of the world.'"

"It's not faith, not knowledge, not even courage. It's something etched into the deepest part of life, the foundation of 'what you are,' an instinctive resistance to being completely reduced to 'not you.' Just as a moth won't actively fly into a real flame, and the roots of plants will instinctively avoid deadly poisonous soil. Your body, your soul, in its deepest part, still remembers what it was originally like, and is still resisting being completely distorted and covered up."

The Dream Spirit girl initially felt nothing but disgust for Arek.

In the void, believers of the ancient gods are mostly synonymous with madness, twistedness, danger, and irrationality, and are the common enemy of the vast majority of orderly races.

But at this moment, looking at this young man struggling at the end of his life, torn between faith and instinct, what surged in her heart was a more complex emotion—not a simple judgment of good and evil, but a pure compassion of one being for the plight of another.

This sympathy is unrelated to any camp or stance; it stems solely from a fundamental fact: a sentient being, from birth, has its thoughts and destiny forcibly shaped and imprisoned to this extent, which is not how it should be.

As Arek listened to the Dream Spirit girl's words, the confusion in his eyes receded like a tide, replaced by a clarity that was almost painful.

So that's how it is...? Those repeated midnight terrors of resistance, those repeated hesitations and coldness amidst the cries of glory, weren't because he wasn't devout enough, or because he was cowardly, but because he was still a "human being".
Is he still the "Child of the World" born in this world, carrying the last bit of favor and expectation of this world?
“Heh…hehe…” Alek suddenly laughed.

At first, it was just broken breaths, which then turned into a low, intermittent laugh.

There was no joy in that laughter, only endless relief and a sense of liberation after finally finding the answer.

He laughed until his whole body trembled, and more blood gushed from his mouth, nose, and wounds, but he seemed not to feel it.

He struggled to raise his hand, which was still barely functional, but instead of grabbing Lin Yi or touching the Dream Spirit Clan girl, he tremblingly grasped the blade of the Dragon Slayer Sword that was stuck in his chest.

The sharp blade instantly cut his palm, and blood flowed down the blade.

But he gripped it so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and his bones made a faint, teeth-grinding sound as they rubbed against the blade.

Amidst the slightly surprised gazes of everyone, Alek used the last of his strength to grip the blade tightly and forcefully press it deeper into his heart!
"Pfft!"

The blade was completely embedded, even piercing through his back, with the tip protruding slightly from the back of the armor.

This wasn't Su Xiao exerting his power; it was Alek himself who brought about this final end.

His stubborn health bar, once it was pressed, plummeted like a cliff, reaching zero in an instant, and then disappeared completely.

Arek's movements stopped.

His grip on the blade began to loosen.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Lin Yi one last time, over Su Xiao, over the Dream Spirit Clan girl, over Shang Yue, Vago, and further away, over Bubuwang and Baha.

His eyes were no longer confused or pained; instead, they held a strange calm.

His lips moved, his voice so faint it was almost inaudible, but through lip movements and their perception of his breath, Lin Yi and Su Xiao clearly "heard" his last words. Those words still carried his usual rhythm, but were filled with unprecedented weight:
"If...in the future...there is an opportunity..."

"We must... take down those... high and mighty... gods..."

"Drag them all down from their pedestals!"

As the last syllable faded, the light in Alek's eyes went out completely.

His hand holding the knife fell limply to his side, his body leaned back, and he was slightly swayed by Su Xiao's timely withdrawal of the Dragon Slayer Flash before collapsing completely onto the cold ground.

In his final moments, he grasped the enemy's knife with his own hand and ended his own life.

He gave his final answer to God as a "human being".

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

The Dream Spirit girl gently and carefully reached out and removed Arekna's broken helmet.

Beneath the helmet was a young face, yet one etched with weariness and the marks of time.

His features should have been regular, but now his face was ashen and his lips had lost all color.

Most notably, the anomalies that might have appeared due to the corruption of the ancient god's power have now disappeared.

Under the combined attack of Su Xiaoqing's Steel Shadow power and with the help of his own last will, Alek finally regained a pure human appearance.

Perhaps he lived his entire life as the "Son of the World" in the shadow of being arranged for him, but at least in the moment of facing death, he returned to the original form of life and completed his final journey as a "human being".

Almost at the same moment that Arek's life force completely dissipated, Lin Yi heard the notification sound from the Paradise of Reincarnation:
[Note: You have received the dying gift from 'Alec,' the chosen one of the Fallen Star world.]

[You have obtained the spatial coordinates of 'Meteorite - Pale Sanctuary' (already recorded).]

You have obtained a special item: 'Alek's Heart's Blood Crystal'.

[Alec's Heart's Dew Crystal]

Origin: Meteorite
Item Rarity: Epic

Type: Special Item

Effect 1: When you possess this item, you will have one priority access to the "Meteorite" world.

Effect 2: Upon entering the world of "Meteorite," a tracking, hunting, or investigation quest related to the ancient god worshipped/associated with "Alek" will be forcibly triggered. The difficulty of the quest is related to the holder's rank and world exploration progress, and additional rewards will be granted upon completion.

Effect 3: Consuming this item grants a brief "Meteorite" world blessing in the mission world (the effect depends on the current world compatibility).

Note: This item contains strong causal attraction. Its use will likely attract the attention of the ancient gods and may continue to affect the holder's subsequent quest world matching tendencies.

Rating: 684
Synopsis: When you gaze upon the ancient gods, the ancient gods also gaze upon you.

The message was concise and clear, but the value and potential risks associated with this item were enormous.

The Dragon Slayer returned to its sheath with a soft "clang".

Su Xiao glanced at Alek's lifeless body, her face still expressionless, but she gestured to Bubuwang and Am beside her: "Bury it."

Bubuwang let out a "woof" and walked over to Alek, gently nudging Am's leg with its head.

Amu growled, walked to the side, and began digging a hole with its huge paws.

Its movements weren't exactly gentle, but they were serious enough.

The Dream Spirit girl sighed softly, helped Am tidy up Arek's remains, and then stepped aside.

Alek is dead, but his final cry and gift, like a pebble thrown into calm water, have stirred up even deeper ripples.

Lin Yi withdrew his gaze and looked at Su Xiao: "The twins from Death Paradise should be almost completely cleaned up by now."

"Mm." Su Xiao responded, also looking into the depths of the forest. "As agreed, it's time for us to make our move."

At the same time, Bubuwang used its paws to push the last handful of soil over the small earthen grave.

Am patted the dirt off her hands and stood back behind Su Xiao.

Lin Yi took one last look at the inconspicuous mound of earth, then turned and walked towards the eastern half of the area to begin clearing the area. (End of Chapter)