The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

Night fell over Lanhe City, and the lights below formed warm-colored patches.

In order to get Hua Linlin home as soon as possible, Wu You still chose to travel by sword. A few minutes later, they arrived at a destination called "Orchid Community".

Wu You stood at the entrance of the residential area and nodded to Hua Linlin on the silver-white flying sword.

Hua Linlin then jumped off the flying sword. When her feet landed, she instinctively took a half-step forward to steady herself. In her hand, she was still clutching the long black box, the surface of which was slightly warm from the heat of her palm.

After she jumped down, the silver-white flying sword scattered into tiny silver-white light spots once more.

She stood under the streetlight at the entrance of the residential complex, not walking straight in, but hesitating for a moment before saying, "Um..."

"Could you send me a copy of the health-preserving sword technique you gave to your uncle and aunt?"

After she finished speaking, she added an explanation, speaking a little faster than before: "My parents are getting older, and they don't really have any exercise besides taking walks. I thought it would be better for their health if they could do this."

Wu You nodded almost without pause. He tapped the mobile terminal on his wrist, swiped the screen, and brought up a document that already existed in his notes.

I'll send it to you.

He tapped the screen two or three times, and the document labeled "Health Preservation Sword Technique (Basic Edition)" was transmitted via the Investigation Bureau's dedicated communication channel.

Hua Linlin's terminal vibrated. After confirming that she had received the message, she looked up and said, "Thank you."

Wu You simply shook his head and said nothing. That sword technique was originally something he had specially separated from the basic sword techniques. The production cost was almost negligible. It was a good thing for the world if more people could use it and benefit from it. He didn't need the other party to thank him for it.

Hua Linlin turned off the terminal screen and walked a few steps into the community, her pace slower than before.

She walked to the access control and glanced back as she swiped her card. She saw Wu You still standing in the same spot, the streetlights casting long shadows on the paved sidewalk, his outline clear, showing no sign of leaving.

As she swiped her access card, she waved in Wu You's direction before pushing open the iron gate and going inside.

The iron gate closed behind her with a soft metallic clang.

Wu You stood there watching her back as she walked into the residential area, through a cobblestone path, past the ginkgo tree in the center of the flower bed, and into a detached villa.

Then he heard a sound coming from one of the windows of that small villa.

His hearing was almost completely impaired at this distance; the words remained clear and distinct as they traveled through the walls and corridors to reach his ears.

A gentle female voice drifted in from the window, its tone carrying a casual, unadorned concern: "You little rascal, you've been coming home later and later lately. Don't do it again." Then, abruptly, she added, "And what have you been up to during the day lately? What have you been doing?"

Then a calm male voice followed, also filled with concern: "Alright, alright, it's good that you're alright."

He paused for a moment, then added, "And Linlin, next time if you're going to be away from home all day, be sure to tell us in advance, otherwise your mom and I will worry."

There was a moment of silence at the window. Then Hua Linlin's voice came through, her tone lower than usual, with a hint of mystery: "Dad, Mom, I have something to tell you..."

Upon hearing this, Wu You's lips twitched slightly: It seemed that Hua Linlin was also preparing to respond to the Investigation Bureau's call and start promoting the idea to her family.

fair enough.

With the Bureau of Investigation, ability users, and zombie species about to be revealed, there's no need to hide anything anymore.

He then looked away and turned to walk towards the outside of the residential area.

. . . . . .

The return journey was even faster than the journey there. A dark streak of light disappeared into the night, tracing a clean arc from one end of Lanhe City to the other without any pause in between.

Wu You landed in a secluded corner outside Lanxing Residential Area, then walked through the gate of the residential area, went upstairs, and arrived at his doorstep.

His movement of taking out the key was natural, but when he inserted it into the lock and turned it, he deliberately used less force.

The living room lights were still on, but the brightness had been turned down to a dim setting, just enough to outline the sofa and coffee table in the darkness.

Mr. and Mrs. Wu had just finished washing up and were sitting on the sofa when they saw him push the door open and they both breathed a sigh of relief almost simultaneously.

Wu Ma spoke first, her voice carrying the languidness of sleep and the relief of confirmation: "You're back? Then you should get some rest too."

Wu You nodded, responding naturally, "I understand, Mom and Dad, you should get some rest too."

He offered no explanation, such as that he no longer needed sleep, or that his 13th-level physique allowed him to go for weeks without closing his eyes without any problems.

He hung his coat on the rack by the door, and as he walked to his room, he suddenly remembered something. He turned back to Aunt Wu, who was walking towards the master bedroom, and said, "Oh, right, Mom, I want to eat your egg pancakes tomorrow morning. I haven't had them in a long time."

Wu Ma's hand was already on the doorknob of the master bedroom. When she heard those words, she turned around faster than usual, and a smile spread from the corners of her eyes and mouth at the same time: "Okay, Mom will make them for you tomorrow morning, four of them."

Upon hearing this, Wu You immediately waved his hand: "No, Mom, I really can't eat four bills, two bills are enough."

Aunt Wu smiled and nodded, her tone soft with a hint of resignation after being bargained with: "Whatever you say, two tickets it is."

She knew, of course, that this wasn't about a few pancakes; it was her child telling them with a specific request—that he was still alive and that he would be sitting at the table eating what she had made the next morning.

This is her child putting their minds at ease in his own way.

Then, with a click, the door closed gently behind her, and Wu You turned around and walked towards her room.

As Wu You passed the coffee table in the living room, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a white cup out of the corner of his eye.

It was a glass of milk, with a few tiny droplets of water vapor still clinging to the rim of the glass, indicating that it hadn't been sitting there for very long.

There was a note pressed under the cup, its edge creased by the cup's bottom. On it was written a line of words he knew all too well:

"Heat it up in the microwave before drinking."

He stood there for a while, looking at the note, a genuine smile curving his lips.

A moment later, he picked up the glass of milk.

However, he still didn't turn around to the kitchen to heat it up; he still tilted his head back and drank the whole glass of milk in one gulp.

At this moment, just like always, it seems that nothing has changed.

. . . . . .

Just as Wu You was enjoying this rare moment of warmth...

In some unknown place, the sound of flowing water came from all directions, as if a mighty river was flowing endlessly beyond some unseen boundary.

A pale hand emerged from the shadows, its fingertips resting on the cover of the pure black notebook. It paused for a moment, then opened it.

At this moment, the notebook was filled with all sorts of messy characters and messy lines.

"#￥%￥#@, already severely injured in the battle against the powerful Sin Dragon, is no longer able to use that special ability that temporarily boosts him to the fourteenth rank!" — Failed, crossed out.

"Even the special rules and domains mastered by #￥%￥#@ cannot inflict any effective damage on that projection of lust!" — Failed, crossed out.

"All escape routes and support have been cut off. This time, there's nowhere to run! We're truly in a desperate situation!" — Failure, crossed out.

"Under the suppression of absolute status and strength, #￥%￥#@ will ultimately die at the hands of that projection of the Rank-Bound Lust with the power of authority!" — Failed, crossed out.

"The God of Beasts hidden within #￥%￥#@ will also be captured by that projection of lust, and then transformed into the main material used to fix, widen, and aggregate the numerous cracks!" — Failed, crossed out.

Ultimately, the convergence point of the rifts will solidify into a passage directly connecting the two worlds! — Failed, crossed out.

The crossed-out words were layered upon layered, with some lines still bearing earlier versions that had been crossed out before. The ink marks overlapped with the ink marks, making the texture of the paper uneven.

Starting from a certain page, new content was added to the notebook's records:

"The mysterious #￥%￥#@ can actually use that amazing special ability, even temporarily elevating himself to the fifteenth rank!"

"And #￥%￥#@, possessing the strength of a fifteenth-tier being, successfully bypassed the power of the God of Beasts' authority, even killing the projection of the God of Lust, thanks to the blessing of the God of Beasts' authority!"

But this isn't over yet!

"The God of a Thousand Faces, through a wisp of his will hidden within the human world, successfully summoned a projection imbued with His authority to the human world via a descent ritual! Furthermore, he successfully bypassed the detection of the human world's will through the deceptive ritual!"

"But before the Thousand-Faced God's projection reached its peak power, the mysterious #￥%￥#@ actually managed to reach the Thousand-Faced God's projection through the nascent interdimensional portal!"

"But the God of a Thousand Faces is far more powerful than that useless God of Lust. Even though the mysterious #￥%￥#@ has reached the fifteenth level, he is still at a disadvantage against that thousand-faced projection imbued with the power of authority."

Despite its best efforts, the mysterious entity was unable to break through the defenses of the thousand-faced projection, let alone kill it. It was completely outmatched and trapped in a dead end!

Then there was a broken record.

That page was filled with large blank spaces, as if the pen tip had been hovering there for a long time, unsure of which direction to continue writing.

Only scattered along the edges of the blank lines were fragments of characters, so incomplete they were almost invisible. Some resembled the names of some kind of power, others the abbreviations of some action, but none of them could be fully identified.

"And at the last moment, first it happened (%%%……￥……%￥￥&%*&%&（）*&（）……*（*）, then it happened ￥%……￥……￥……%%……, followed by %￥……%￥%……￥#￥#."

"In the end, the mysterious #￥%￥#@ won! That thousand-faced projection imbued with the power of authority was actually killed by #￥%￥#@!"

The owner of the pale hand was also full of question marks upon seeing this: What does it mean that the mysterious #￥%￥#@ was at a disadvantage, the mysterious #￥%￥#@ was completely at a disadvantage, the mysterious #￥%￥#@ was trapped in a dead end, and finally the mysterious #￥%￥#@ gave a victory speech? ???

Moreover, previously only the name of the "variable outside of fate" could not be captured by the Fate Notebook, thus displaying garbled text.

He has accepted this; it is a characteristic of the variable itself.

But now, even the Fate Notebook can no longer fully record certain things that happened to that variable.

Those processes that should have been written down, those causal chains that should have been established, all became obscured and blank at some point!

For a moment, He couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with the fate notebook in his hand that could manipulate the fate of all living beings.

But He knew that even if something happened to Him, the Destiny Notebook in His hand, which possessed a portion of the Sovereign's status, would not have any problems!

After a long while, the owner of the pale hand had no choice but to accept this cruel reality and continue browsing.

"And before the Thousand-Faced Projection was destroyed by the mysterious #￥%￥#@, it detonated a hidden mechanism that had been planted long ago inside the passage!"

"He wants to destroy that passage!"

Upon seeing this, the owner of the pale hand was startled, followed by a somber voice mixed with the sound of gurgling water:

"What! The plan didn't include blowing up the tunnel!"

"Destroying the passage might directly connect the two realms, ending the war between them sooner!"

"No, this is not allowed!"

"The war must end at the time ordained by fate! This is a matter of my ritual!"

"And there's a thousand faces..."

"They've actually found a way to temporarily avoid having one's fate controlled by the Fate Notebook...?"

"No, that's not right. He might have just been using the special nature of that variable..."

After a long silence, the owner of the pale hand continued reading the contents of the notebook of destiny.

"But at the crucial moment, for some unknown reason, the remaining essence of the God of Beasts was willing to risk complete annihilation by surrendering the control of its divine nature entirely to the mysterious #￥%￥#@!"

"And it was precisely under the influence of the Myriad Beasts' [Divine Essence] that the passage was completely sealed, and the process of its collapse was halted."

Thus, the curtain of fate fell.

A pale hand closed the notebook with its pure black cover, and a somber voice, almost perfectly coinciding with the sound of flowing water, rang out again: "The passage is sealed..."

"That's good, at least there's still time..."

"My ritual must not be interrupted by anything! Destiny must be put back on track!"

The voice paused for a moment, as if calculating something, before resuming its tone:

"Perhaps I need to find some allies..."

. . . . . .