I was just fishing, how did I become a Great Old One?

The royal palace square of the Flatland is less a square and more a vast, pristine white canvas. It is paved with the most expensive vector grid flooring in the entire Flatland, every line of latitude and longitude precise to the nanometer level, symbolizing the absolute control of the royal power over this two-dimensional world.

At this moment, the canvas was already crowded with geometric celebrities from all over the inner circle. Countless colorful regular polygons, circles, and ovals, these nobles, were watching the towering arena in the center of the arena in an extremely crowded but politely tangential distance.

A tense and frenzied atmosphere filled the air, with countless speech bubbles intertwining overhead and converging into a noisy cloud of words.

"Have you heard? This problem has no solution!"

"Of course, that's a topological dead end personally designed by His Majesty; no one can win it."

"Then what are we here for? To watch the joke?"

"Shh! His Majesty has arrived!"

With a sharp, piercing screech, like glass scraping against a blackboard, the space above the square suddenly twisted eerily. All the lines trembled, and all the shapes involuntarily receded, as if out of instinctive fear of some higher being.

A huge and chaotic figure slowly emerged on the main seat of the arena.

It's not a regular geometric shape. It's constantly changing, with its edges filled with countless tiny, self-repeating jagged edges. If you look at a part of it with a magnifying glass, you'll find that that part looks exactly like the whole; if you magnify that part even more, it's still the same pattern.

【The Folding Tyrant · Mandelbrot】

It is a living fractal geometry. It represents infinite complexity, an infinite perimeter within a finite area. This very existence is a mockery and a domination of the simple geometric order of the planar world.

The tyrant did not speak, but the ever-growing serrated edges of its body vibrated the air, emitting a grand sonic message: "My people, welcome to my banquet."

"Today, I will bestow upon you a delicacy that transcends dimensions—【Möbius Longevity Noodles】."

"Whoever can eat it without breaking the container will receive my reward, and perhaps even... become my second-in-command, working with me to fold this world into a perfect mille-feuille!"

As the tyrant's will fell, ten transparent platforms slowly rose from the arena.

On each booth, there was a container that evoked despair—the Klein Bottle.

In the three-dimensional world, the Klein bottle is an object that can only truly be realized in four-dimensional space, but in the projection of the two-dimensional world, it looks like an extremely distorted, self-intersecting closed coil. Its neck bends through the body of the bottle, forming a bizarre structure that appears closed but actually has no distinction between "inside" and "outside".

Within that intricate labyrinth of coils, lay a noodle radiating an alluring golden light. The noodle, with its ends connected, possessed only one side and one edge, endlessly looping within this two-dimensional bottle.

"The match begins!"

The chief referee (the one who had accepted Jiang Li's bribe, the regular pentagon) trembled as he waved down the flag.

It's less of a competitive eating contest and more of a public execution of intellectual capacity.

Contestant number one is a gigantic, perfectly round object. It comes from the gluttonous family and, relying on its large mouth, charged forward, attempting to swallow the entire Klein bottle with its mouth (a notch on the circumference).

"Snap!"

Its teeth broke. The Klein bottle is made of "absolutely rigid lines," with a hardness comparable to a neutron star.

"Waaaaah... I can't bite it..." The giant, perfectly round creature cried as it left the stage.

Contestant number two is a slender, snake-like creature. It attempts to use its body's flexibility to squeeze into the twisted neck of the Klein bottle.

"Watch me! I can squeeze into any hole!"

It twisted its body and squeezed into what appeared to be the entrance. However, the topology of the Klein bottle was a trap. As it burrowed, it found itself emerging from the bottom of the bottle, back to its starting point, and because its body was too long, it had tied itself into a knot.

"Help... I've strangled myself..."

Contestant number three attempted to drill a hole and was penalized with a violation (cut into pieces).

Contestant number four attempted to shatter the bottle with sound waves, but was stunned by the rebounding sound waves.

One after another, these pampered nobles made a complete fool of themselves when faced with this puzzle involving high-dimensional topology.

Finally, it was booth number ten's turn.

Standing there was a beautifully drawn, rainbow-colored Grand Duke—Jiang Li.

Unlike the others who rushed forward, he elegantly adjusted his bow tie (which was drawn on) and then gave a standard noble salute to the folded tyrant on the platform.

"Grand Duke, aren't you going to eat?" the chief referee whispered, "There's only half the time left."

"Eat, of course I'll eat." Jiang Li smiled, gently tapping the despairing Klein bottle projection with his folding fan. "However, as an elegant nobleman, I don't want to gnaw on this work of art like a beast."

"Oh?" The tyrant on the platform seemed intrigued; the jagged fractal patterns on his body writhed faster. "So, what do you plan to do? Stare it out with your eyes?"

"No, Your Majesty." Jiang Li raised his head. Although the depth of his eyes could not be discerned in this world, his aura underwent a qualitative change at this moment. "I intend to... use a bit of [height]."

"high?"

The moment that word was uttered, the entire room erupted in uproar.

In the two-dimensional world, "height" is a taboo word. Because two-dimensional beings cannot comprehend height; it belongs to the realm of gods (three-dimensional beings).

Jiang Li didn't explain. He stood in front of the Klein bottle and closed his eyes (though only the lines closed).

To all two-dimensional beings, the Klein bottle is a closed, self-intersecting labyrinth, with the noodles trapped tightly in the cages formed by those lines.

However, in Jiang Li's [three-dimensional soul perspective], this so-called "dead end" is simply a joke.

This is like drawing a circle on a piece of paper and putting a coin inside it. To the two-dimensional figure on the paper, the coin is trapped inside and can't get out.

But for a three-dimensional being standing outside the paper, what is this kind of confinement?

Why not just reach over and pick up the coin from above the paper (Z-axis)?

The same is true.

This Klein bottle, which appears closed in a two-dimensional projection, actually has an "opening" in three-dimensional space! Its curved neck actually passes through the third dimension and connects to the bottom of the bottle.

For Jiang Li, that noodle was like being placed in an open bowl, completely unsuspecting.

"System, activate [High-Dimensional Feeding Mode]."

"Gluttony Godhood, locked to Z-axis coordinates."

Jiang Li slowly opened his mouth (a crack appeared on one side of his regular dodecagon).

Then, he did something that sent chills down the spines of all the paper figures in the room.

He didn't bring his mouth close, but instead took a deep breath into the "void" above the Klein bottle.

"Slurp—"

The sound of slurping noodles echoed clearly across the square.

A bizarre scene unfolded.

The golden noodles inside the sealed bottle suddenly seemed to come alive, breaking off without warning. One end even... vanished into thin air!

No, it didn't disappear.

In the eyes of two-dimensional beings, that is disappearance.

But in Jiang Li's perception, the noodle was flying vertically upwards along the Z-axis (height), passing over the two-dimensional bottle wall, and then drawing a beautiful arc before landing precisely in his open mouth.

"Glug."

The first bite of noodles went down.

"this……"

"How is that possible?!"

"Where did the noodles go? Did they break?"

"No! Look! The noodles are still decreasing!"

To the audience's horror, the noodles in the bottle were getting shorter and shorter, their cut surfaces disappearing into thin air as if swallowed by an unseen ghost.

Jiang Li was standing there, chewing with a look of enjoyment on his face.

"Hmm...not bad."

Jiang Li took a drag while also sending a comment on the screen.

"These noodles... are so chewy!"

"This isn't just the taste of flour, it's... the taste of [cycle]."

"The Möbius strip has only one side, which means its flavor is continuous, with no distinction between front and back. The entrance is the end, and the end is the beginning."

"This endless range of textures...it's like running a marathon on your tongue!"

As the Gluttony Godhood operated, the theoretically "infinitely long" noodle began to show signs of collapse.

Because Jiang Li's absorption rate exceeded its self-circulation rate.

He wasn't eating noodles; he was eating the paradox.

"Slurp slurp slurp—"

In just three minutes.

Jiang Li thoroughly devoured the Möbius longevity noodles that had perplexed countless mathematicians and gourmets, slurping them up with the broth and all (even though there was no broth).

Finally, he even stuck out his tongue (drawn) and licked the corner of his mouth.

The Klein bottle still stood there perfectly intact, without even a crack.

"belch--"

Jiang Li let out a burp.

The burp carried a strange spatial vibration, which knocked several triangular guards around it to the ground.

The entire room fell silent.

All the shapes stared blankly at the regular dodecagon.

They couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Was it a miracle? Or sorcery?

"Your Majesty," Jiang Li elegantly wiped his mouth and bowed slightly to the tyrant on the high platform, "the noodles were good. Is there any more? I only ate half full earlier."

On the high platform.

Folded Tyrant Mandelbrot fell silent.

The fractal serrations on its body stopped wriggling, and its entire body stiffened like a frozen image.

An unprecedented sense of oppression erupted from it.

That wasn't anger.

That was... [killing intent].

And a sense of being offended and terrified.

"you……"

The tyrant's voice was no longer grand, but became sharp and distorted, like countless voices superimposed together.

"You just... used [altitude]?"

"You crossed the plane?"

"You... are not a representation of this world!"

"Boom!"

As the tyrant's emotions fluctuated, the entire palace square began to tremble violently.

The vector grid on the ground began to distort and deform.

"Grab him!"

"He is an intruder of dimensions!"

"He is that legendary... [3D Demon]!"

The tyrant roared.

The next second, it made its move.

It didn't rush over to beat Jiang Li, nor did it emit any light waves.

It performed a movement—[folding].

The tyrant stretched out countless serrated tentacles and grabbed the "space" at the edge of the square.

It's like someone grabbing the edge of a piece of paper.

Then, fold it forcefully in the middle.

"Snap!"

The once flat square was suddenly broken in half.

The ground suddenly rose up, like a high wall, and slammed down hard on Jiang Li.

"Wow! That's really folded!"

Odin (the octagon) was so frightened that his crown tilted.

"Boss! This land has been raised up! We're going to be sandwiched like a sandwich!"

"This is [Space Folding]!"

Naya calmly analyzed the situation from the side.

"It forces our coordinates to overlap by changing the curvature of space. If we are sandwiched between those two layers of space, we will be completely 'crushed' and become part of the background texture of this world."

"You want to turn me into a specimen?"

Jiang Li looked at the two "ground walls" that seemed to be closing in as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were splitting apart.

"That depends on how stiff your paper is!"

Jiang Li suddenly pulled out his paintbrush (Genesis Fountain Pen).

At this moment, the pen, having just consumed the Möbius noodles, was also tinged with a golden sheen at the nib.

"System! Gluttony Energy Conversion!"

"Use the pen instead of the knife!"

"Since you want to fold paper, then I'll... [cut the paper]!"

Jiang Li suddenly swung a brush against the two spatial walls that were about to close together.

This stroke is not a drawing.

It means [cutting].

"Crimson Lotus - Dimensional Slash!"

A golden-red line shot out from the tip of the pen.

This line carries the concept of "thickness" in the three-dimensional world, and has a sharpness that is enough to cut through the rules.

"Sizzle—!!!"

A loud tearing sound.

The two walls that were closing in were abruptly... [slit open] by this stroke.

It's like using a craft knife to slice open a folded piece of paper.

The space that was about to close collapsed instantly and was leveled out again.

At that smooth break, a dark void filled with gibberish was revealed.

"What?!"

The folded tyrant was greatly alarmed.

"You actually... severed my domain?"

"What's that pen in your hand?!"

Jiang Li twirled the fountain pen in his hand, which stood proudly upright.

"This is—[utility knife] (crossed out)...[chef's boning knife]."

"But today, I'm not picking out bones."

"It's your... [wrinkles]."

"A tyrant, huh? A fractal monster, huh?"

Jiang Li pointed to Mandelbrot on the high platform.

"Your shapes are so messy, they're giving me OCD."

"Since I ate your noodles, I'll give you a return gift."

"I'm going to... [iron] you!"

"All personnel, prepare for battle!"

"Target—Folded Tyrant!"

"Tonight's treat—a mille-feuille pastry!"

At Jiang Li's command, the people disguised as geometric nobles tore off their disguises.

Odin tore off the octagonal shell, revealing his true form as a stick figure holding a toothpick (spear).

"I've been holding it in for ages! This shell is too tight!"

"Take this toothpick thrust from me!"

Abel tore off the hexagon, transforming it into a black and white silhouette, and rushed towards the tyrant's flank like a ghost.

"Its weakness lies at the center of the fractal! That's its true nature!"

Tangyuan opened its mouth wide and took a bite of the tyrant's fine, serrated edges.

"Snap!"

"Mmm... crunchy! Like potato chips!"

An ultimate battle about dimensions, geometry, and appetite erupted in this dissected plaza.

Meanwhile, Folded Tyrant Mandelbrot finally realized what kind of madmen he had messed with.

How can this be considered an intruder from another dimension?

This is clearly a group of... [cosmic demolition crew]!