Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 315 After the Destruction of the World

To His Excellency Ethan

The adventure book had these words written on its title page.

As Ethan's fingers touched the words, flashing images instantly flooded his mind, reminiscent of the scene he had seen in the library of the Demon King Sincarlo: a solitary rock in the middle of the sea, with the sound of surging waves crashing against the rocks below.

Looking around, a vortex filled his field of vision.

This time, however, he was not alone. Many unfamiliar figures appeared on the lonely rock. He recognized one of them, whose iconic golden mask stood out in the crowd. Among them was a man wearing a mage's cloak and holding a ruby ​​wand. Although this was their first meeting, Ethan recognized him at first glance.

Merlin.

Unlike the fragments he saw in the King of Gold's memories, their clothing style had completely adapted to this world, and Ethan could easily guess the path they had chosen from their equipment and weapons.

In fact, the founders of the guild also followed the rules of this world.

The Golden King is an alchemist, the Crimson Queen is a follower of Argos, and there's also Merlin, the elemental sculptor...

This is the last stop on their adventure, and it can be considered a group photo before they pass the test.

Then Ethan's perspective shifted, and the lone rock and waves he could see grew farther and farther away. The sound of the waves gradually faded away. When all his senses were withdrawn, the expressions of everyone on the lone rock were frozen in a black and white photograph. "He" was taking out the photograph that had been sealed in a frame when a man's voice came to his ear.

"Everyone else has gone to the guild headquarters. Today is an important day."

“I know, Merlin.”

Ethan recognized Scarlet's voice. He was now in Scarlet's shoes, glimpsing a fragment of her memory as before. "I'm just a little tired... and the guild doesn't need me to show up right now."

Merlin glanced at the door and windows of the room. The room was decorated in the typical style of an adventurer's guild, almost identical to the adventurer's guild headquarters that Ethan had seen in the capital. The walls of the room were hung with monster trophies obtained from hunting, as well as some certificates.

Merlin's fingertips flashed with light, and a gentle breeze closed the doors and windows. Then, a simple sealing spell completely sealed them shut.

"I've uncovered some information about the goddess."

He broke the silence in the room once again.

It was a day three months after the end of the "Great Adventure" when Ethan recalled the relevant information in his mind. When he was learning in the guild, the instructors would tell every newcomer about this glorious history. It was the starting point of the guild's birth and also marked the beginning of humanity's exploration of this world with infinite possibilities.

After completing their adventure, the founders of several guilds were granted the opportunity to meet the goddess at the end of their journey.

Every year, the guild and its various divisions hold commemorative events to celebrate the great deeds of the guild's founders and to inspire new investigators to follow in their footsteps and further explore more planes.

"You should have realized by now that the flow of time is different in the two worlds. She entered the world less than a year earlier than us, but the actual time she has spent here is likely to be more than several hundred years."

Ethan's speculation about the flow of time is also confirmed here.

Merlin continued, "Perhaps for the people over there, it's only been one night. If we go back, we might be able to make it in time for morning tea."

"How to go back?"

Scarlet asked calmly.

When the great adventure was over, they realized a serious problem—the company had never told them how to leave this world, and after "completing the game," they had no further main quests.

It wasn't until this problem was presented to everyone that they, as "companions," truly sat down for the first time to exchange the information they knew.

The company promised each of them a high reward. As long as they completed the tasks assigned by the company and found the existence of the goddess, the guild would erase their shady deeds, so that they would no longer have to live as criminals. They could walk out of their homes at will, bask in the sunlight, and not have to worry about being taken away by law enforcement officers who suddenly appeared.

In addition, they will receive a fortune that they can never spend in their later years.

A new identity and a completely free life are conditions that people like them cannot refuse.

"Before coming here, I was a private investigator."

"You said that last time."

Although the profession of "detective" is not common, it is nothing special in this team full of "talented people". After exchanging information, they all discovered that they had something in common with each other.

The company had obtained incriminating evidence against them, seemingly because they valued certain abilities—abilities that only lawbreakers could acquire and master, skills that they used extensively during their adventures.

"But I've been hiding something important."

Merlin paused, "Because I don't trust them."

"Honestly, you really should get rid of this suspicious habit."

“There must be someone planted by the company among us to ensure we abide by the agreement with the company… I just don’t know who that person is yet.”

At this point, a smile appeared on Merlin's face. "But at least it's not you."

"why?"

Scarlet paused for a moment, "You should know I'm very good at lying, right?"

Of course, that's a more euphemistic way of putting it.

The law typically refers to people like her as fraudsters.

"intuition."

This is a lie.

Someone as cautious as Merlin, bordering on neurotic, would never trust someone based on intuition alone. After a moment, Crimson had her answer: "You investigated me."

She was referring, of course, to her identity before coming to this world. Everyone was involved with the company because of illegal and disorderly conduct, and she was no exception. However, the person she chose this time was somewhat special, so much so that she inadvertently learned some things she didn't want to know when they got to know each other.

She was a technician who only knew how to bury himself in academic research. Since graduating from university, he had locked himself in the research lab and dealt with research equipment every day. She could easily imagine the lifestyle of such people. They lacked experience in dealing with people and were the easiest to deceive.

In fact, all she wanted was money.

She had no interest in those academic questions, in distinguishing between the concepts of body, consciousness, and soul. She also had no desire to understand the concept of the "brain in a vat" or to explore what would happen if a person's consciousness were extracted using some tool and placed in a virtual world.

She swore she was willing to listen to him ramble on about topics she wasn't interested in, but he was really good at making money, and the project owner must be very generous to offer him such high pay in such a bad job market.

"You can think so."

Merlin smiled knowingly. "As far as I know, your 'boyfriend' disappeared before we came in, and he didn't show up in our group either."

They all knew what disappearing in a company setting meant.

“In fact, I heard that the entire project team was cut, which means that no one else may come in again.”

"They really just wanted to make a game, right?"

Scarlet asked a question she already knew the answer to.

However, if we measure this world from the perspective of a game, then it is absolutely groundbreaking. Everything they experience here is indistinguishable from reality, and everyone they encounter during their adventures far exceeds the scope of current AI. Whether it is the way they talk or their attitude towards people, they are no different from real humans.

Even after understanding the true nature of the world, they find it hard to believe that they are facing false data.

If this game is successfully released, it will be equivalent to providing people with a "second life".

However, this game has many huge problems.

For example, it doesn't have a logout option.

“I heard that the company’s head has a daughter who had an accident when she was a teenager. After that, she needed to be kept alive by many sophisticated instruments. Of course, that was just to keep her from dying. She couldn’t move or communicate with people, and her condition was deteriorating every moment.”

"Vegetative state patient".

Scarlet summarized it in concise words.

Merlin remained noncommittal and continued, "Until one day, a group of people proposed a completely new treatment plan. Perhaps they could create a world that could accommodate her consciousness, where she could live freely."

"Initially, the project progressed very smoothly, and even her physical condition improved. This gave the girl's father hope, and he increased his investment, recruited more people, and built a dedicated research facility for the project team, eager to achieve further results, because he was not satisfied with this." "Soon afterward, he made a new request to the project team: he wanted this world to be able to accommodate the consciousness of more people, allowing others to enter... Thus, the project team encountered a huge challenge, because at the beginning of the project, this was a world born from her consciousness, which meant that this world was destined to be unstable, and even the slightest thought of hers could cause this world to collapse and be destroyed."

"The project team also had disagreements on this issue. The earliest group of researchers originally intended to promote this technology, and once the project's results were published, it would bring them unimaginable wealth. However, at that time, the project's status clearly could not achieve their goals."

Merlin responded to Crimson's question, "If this were a game, no player could accept that all the wealth, abilities, and equipment they had acquired in the game would be wiped out because of someone's casual thought, nor could they tolerate the plane being in a state of chaos for a long time."

Even if it can bring players an unprecedented experience, it will still receive a flood of negative reviews due to its poor gameplay.

"For a long time, the project was stuck here."

Merlin said, "Until someone came up with an idea."

"what idea?"

These topics successfully piqued Scarlet's interest; she sat up straight and listened attentively.

"Perhaps they can implant an idea in the girl's mind, making her forget her identity as a 'god' and instead become one of the staff members in the project team."

"...That's why there are some inexplicable and rejected cases here."

Scarlet suddenly realized, but at the same time she felt a chill run down her spine.

The guild discovered modern facilities in certain planes that completely contradicted the world's established settings, such as company buildings and research institutes. She found it hard to imagine which developer would incorporate these elements into their design in a sane state of mind. However, Merlin has now answered her questions.

"We weren't the first people to come in."

Merlin stared at the closed window. "The people... or rather the team, have already completed their mission and successfully implanted an idea into the girl's consciousness. This idea has brought the project team an unprecedented, stable dimension that can accommodate tens of thousands of people."

"But what's interesting is that those people disappeared after completing their mission. I couldn't find out their identities, and I don't know what happened to them afterward."

Upon hearing this, Scarlet frowned. "But you said before that the entire project team was cut."

"Because the girl's father discovered what they had done, in my words, it was a side effect of implanting an idea into someone's mind—the girl completely accepted her new identity, completely forgot her father and family, and could even be said to have become a completely different person; she became the character created by the project team."

"...This doesn't seem like the kind of clue a private investigator could uncover."

Crimson gazed intently at Merlin.

He knew far too many details about it. "You just mentioned that the company planted someone among us... I suspect that only he knows the real mission of this trip."

"He implanted an idea to remind her of her true identity... but after meeting the girl, he changed his mind."

"why?"

When confronted with Scarlet's questioning, Merlin simply remained silent.

After a moment, he said, “Some things are going to happen in the guild. I will go to that plane to investigate in some way. Many things that may seem unbelievable to you will happen in the future... and the way to leave here is hidden in it, but I hope you can keep it a secret from others.”

..............................

The fragmented memories ended there, followed by a long period of darkness.

This is the scene that Scarlet is seeing right now.

The way to leave this place is hidden within.

She had no idea whether she was still alive, and could only continue forward in this endless darkness.

But she remained optimistic.

This work has been going on for over a thousand years, and now it's finally time to go home.

Upon waking, she would receive a generous reward, after which she would leave the city and start a new life in a place where no one knew her. She would miss the air-conditioned room and the soft bed, and the sound of cars driving by.

She also misses the internet, the milk tea shop downstairs, and the luxury goods that always tempt her to buy things.

More importantly, it was the real world, and the place where she should live.

As for what happened in the other world, such a convoluted and bizarre story would only be seen as the work of a novelist with a delusional mind if told to others.

Soon after, she saw light.

A cacophony of sounds came from the other side of the light, as if someone was there to welcome her back.

She quickened her pace and walked briskly toward the ray of light.

When her vision cleared again, she saw a pristine white ceiling, and upon seeing the incandescent light bulb, she was almost moved to tears.

It took her several seconds to adjust to her body before she looked at the old man sitting by the bed.

The old man was almost speechless, only repeatedly muttering, "You've worked so hard, you've suffered so much..."

This is not the scene Scarlet imagined.

The old man didn't look like a company employee; he was dressed very respectably, like an official seen on television.

"Colonel Zhuang Xiao, thank you again for your contributions to humanity."

Zhuang Xiao...

This is her name.

But, Colonel?
What exactly is he saying?

If she remembered correctly, she should be a fraudster, the kind who would be in jail for more than ten years if she were caught.

In her confusion, she was helped up by people who rushed to her aid, and everyone she encountered along the way was extremely excited.

Through the crowd, she also spotted two familiar figures.

She recognized Merlin, as well as the Golden King who had killed Merlin in another world. They were dressed similarly and stood together, looking like old buddies.

"Leave her to me... You guys go and report to them that we're going to go for a walk on the surface."

Merlin said to the white coat that was helping her up.

It looked like an underground experimental facility. He walked ahead, going up the stairs.

Merlin gave a sly smile. "Don't be nervous. Dizziness is normal. As I said, it's a side effect of the implanted idea."

At the end of the stairs was a closed iron gate.

Looking at the tightly sealed iron gate, Zhuang Xiao suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of fear.

But Merlin didn't give her a break and entered the password in front of her.

The long-sealed iron gate slowly opened.

There are no vehicles, no skyscrapers.

What comes into view is a gray sky, and... ruins everywhere.

There was no milk tea shop she missed, nor the generous reward the company had promised her that would ensure she would never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of her life. No one could be seen in the ruins. Perhaps they had all truly existed, but were now buried under the rubble. All of this reminded her of a cold and cruel reality.

All the long-forgotten memories came flooding back at this moment.

this world……

Their world has been destroyed.

(End of this chapter)