Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Under the influence of the space bridge, space began to warp and distort on a large scale, making the wide-area gravitational field surrounding the entire base even stronger. The omnipresent gravitational field bound all matter that could not escape the vicinity of the base immediately, making them and itself the common teleportation target.

'Famine' had already been defeated, and 'Slaughter,' still trying to escape Zheng Zha's entanglement within the gravity circle, was destined not to get the opportunity it wanted. In its final effort, it still made a last-ditch effort, using its destructive greatsword to launch a multi-layered series of slashes at a single point on Zheng Zha's armor under extremely tight time constraints—it almost succeeded.

It forced Zheng Zha away, cleverly changing its shape to block Zheng Zha from firing the Sun Magic Cannon. Taking advantage of this opportunity, it was able to gather its strength, using the Destruction Greatsword to cut through the outer armor and slash a huge, terrible wound on Zheng Zha's chest, almost splitting his lungs and spine in two!

However, it was ultimately too late.

As it finally broke free from Zheng Zha's grasp and struggled to escape the gravitational field under the threat of the solar cannon, the space bridge's teleportation project was initiated. And in less than a millisecond, the teleportation was abruptly terminated.

The darkness of early morning transformed into the dawn in an instant, and the thousands of kilometers between the East Eighth and West Fourth time zones of Earth were completely traversed in a brief moment that went unnoticed by hundreds of millions of ordinary people. The light of sunrise rose from the distant horizon, and in the next instant, this radiance shone on the faces of the combatants outside the base.

There are nine suns in the sky.

In the distance, the sun is about to rise, and the eight simulated 'suns' with highly concentrated energy hang on the ritual tree. When the ritual tree arrives at this place of sunrise, and the sea beneath its feet has already been completely burned to ashes in the earth fire of the second horn, possessing the properties of the 'Tang Valley' recorded in the records, the ritual tree naturally transforms into the ritual Fusang.

With the sun, the hibiscus tree, and Yi, what's still missing?

“We’re still missing the last sun.” Alice snapped her fingers, ordering the shield to be lowered, cutting off all light from inside the base. All the veterans still outside the base were quickly retrieved by automated aircraft. The gravity field was released, and all that remained in her view was the figure of 'Slaughter' desperately fleeing after sensing extreme danger.

“You are a winged being, your movement is accompanied by flocks of crows, you ride the earth's fire to destroy the land. And your kind have become one of the suns in the sky. Therefore, in the ritual, you have already fulfilled the condition of being one of the ten suns in mythology.” Alice watched the figure moving rapidly in her line of sight, completely elusive. She knew very well that the magic cannon was meaningless if it missed, and with 'Slaughter's' movement speed and anti-lock capabilities, trying to hit it simply with the magic cannon... was nothing short of a pipe dream.

But now, she doesn't need to spend the effort to lock it down.

She maintained the array of magic cannons; the second, one-tenth of the solar cannon's power was completely unable to lock onto 'Slaughter'. But as long as it remained in a state of readiness to fire at any moment, it was the best deterrent. And now, the only thing left to do was to put the pre-prepared ritual into action.

"Zhang Heng, it's time to make a move," Alice said.

The moment she uttered those words, Zhang Heng, who was inside the base and watching the outside world through layers of barriers, took a deep breath and drew the divine bow he had obtained from 'War' towards the sky.

Drawing the bow, shooting the arrow—where the arrow goes is entirely irrelevant.

The moment he drew the bow for the first time, the energy channels within the Ritual Fusang, connecting to the Star Extraction Tower, activated at full power. Undoubtedly, the simulated suns confined within the Ritual Fusang were utterly powerless against the Star Extraction Tower, which possessed true star-devouring power—one of them was instantly swallowed up. And when Zhang Heng drew the bow for the second time, the second Sun Fruit vanished in an instant.

The act of shooting an arrow is a signal to activate the operating system of the Stellar Extraction Tower. Each time he draws the bow, the tower activates, and one sun disappears. The second time he draws the bow, two more suns disappear from the Ritual Fusang. Whether his arrow hits the first eight suns is irrelevant; what matters is that his act of shooting an arrow and the suns' extinction are causally linked.

As he was becoming 'Yi,' the closer he got to this mythical figure, the deeper his connection with the sun became. And when he drew his bow for the eighth time, the eighth sun fruit on the ritual hibiscus also went out!

There are ten suns in the sky, and Yi was destined to shoot down nine of them. The moment the eighth sun on the Fusang tree disappeared during the ceremony 'because of Yi's shot,' his last arrow was given the mission of hitting one of the last two suns.

The concept was formed; all that remained was to infuse it with magic. So, on his ninth draw, he nocked a special arrow.

An arrow used in rituals, an arrow imbued with magic.

Magic surged wildly into his body through the channels constructed by the concept, and before he could burst, it was all absorbed by the 'Yi Shoots Down the Nine Suns' ritual and transformed into the power to strengthen the bow and arrow. When he released the bowstring, the arrow, specially crafted by the witches to contain the immense magic power of the ritual, transformed into a wisp of pure white light.

The power that was originally reserved for 'war' was now being used in his hands. The divine bow that originally belonged to the white rider had changed hands at this moment, and the first arrow he fired was destined to shoot down a sun!

There were two suns in the sky. One was the "Slaughter," a ritualistic act forcibly imbued with the concept of a 'sun.' The other was the sun, a star existing in the real universe, located 3.8 billion kilometers away. And as his arrow transformed into threads of light and broke free of the base's defenses, a cloud summoned by magic happened to block the true sun's radiance!

The witches didn't gamble on probabilities, so they were well-prepared. Long before the teleportation began, the witches dispatched robots to draw in a large amount of dust clouds covering the sky due to the eruption of subterranean fire. Once these clouds activated at the opportune moment, the choice for the ritual arrow became easy—the ray of light unhesitatingly sought out the direction in which 'Slaughter' was fleeing rapidly through the sky and gave chase. It then easily pierced through its defenses and delivered a heavy blow.

It was shot down, and in the instant of its fall, the solar cannon controlled by the witches struck the crimson rider with pinpoint accuracy. Thus, it was drawn into the 'war'. In a brief pursuit organized by Zheng Zha after he recovered from his injuries, it quickly vanished from the world.

The dust has settled.

Three of the four ancient angels have been defeated, but the veterans have not suffered much damage. As for the last one, all that is needed is to deal with it with all our might to bring about the end of this world.

"I even thought I was dreaming." Alice gently pinched her cheek, and only after feeling a slight pain could she confirm that it was real, not a dream. She watched as Zheng Zha regained his fighting ability after a simple surgical treatment and rushed back to the battlefield. Then she watched as he arrived at the land where 'Kill' had been shot down under the cover of artillery fire, and returned to the base half a minute later with 'Kill''s' head and the Destruction Blade.

What doomsday judgment? What Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse… Isn’t this just a bunch of people who came here specifically to deliver equipment? Their strength hasn’t exceeded its limits, and their technical and strategic advantages are negligible. Although they possess fourth-tier extraordinary power… what use is a body that merely outputs and bears that power?!

Even if mortals wield divine weapons, they are still mortals. Tools are important, but that doesn't mean they are omnipotent. Alice originally estimated that by this point, at least half of her group would be on the verge of death, or even one or two would have already perished. Unlike now, where even the outer shell of the base hasn't been breached!

"Could it be... that 'death' is actually the strongest? And everything before was just an appetizer?" The blonde girl scratched her head. She still had a large portion of her trump cards up her sleeve, and hadn't revealed most of them. Undoubtedly, the previous battles were merely a warm-up, a slightly challenging encounter. It was far from the do-or-die battle she had anticipated.

“…Is there some mistake?” Alice frowned, pulling out a light screen to observe the condition of the three dead ancient angels—undoubtedly, they were utterly dead. The war was ended by the cursed poison bombs, the slaughter was torn apart by Zheng Zha's bare hands, the physical form of the famine was destroyed, and the source of power was sealed within Zhan Lan's heart. Apart from the yet-to-be-debuted 'death,' which still had some variables, they no longer posed any threat.

Could death really bring back ancient angels? That's just too far-fetched...

She thought to herself, and then connected with Patchouli.

“Patch,” she asked impatiently the moment the call connected. “Is everything alright on your end? Have the ancient angels’ bodies been sealed properly? Have any traces of ‘death’ been detected?”

"Everything is normal," Patchouli replied calmly. She was currently inside the central tower, watching intently, with a puzzled yet focused expression, as the remains of the three ancient angels were dismantled into many pieces and placed into layers of seals. Just like in many game novels, the Great Demon King's body was buried in different seals. Although in stories these seals often lose their effectiveness for various reasons, even if they did, it would be a long time from now.

They have no chance of revival. Even if 'death' could truly resurrect the three fallen knights of the Apocalypse, their bodies, which are not inherently extraordinary, cannot regenerate quickly under the heavy seal. As for themselves, they only need to hold out until the twelfth day, deal with the final blow from the Emperor of the End, which shatters the stars, according to the pre-planned method, and the rest will be completely irrelevant to them.

This is not normal, it is extremely abnormal.

The fact that 'death' had not yet occurred might itself signify that some kind of change had already taken place. In Alice's mind, there was indeed a plausible and explanatory conjecture based on the premise that the emperor would not intervene, but that conjecture was so terrifying and so vile that, although she would certainly prepare for such a thing, her brain would subconsciously deny its possibility.

She couldn't believe it, she didn't agree, she refused to admit... that all her painstaking preparations and plans had come to such an end!

“It has to be done immediately…” She raised her hand, but just then, a communication from an emergency channel rang in her ear.

[It's Zhao Yingkong. I placed a communicator near where she completed the Earth Reincarnation Ritual so she could contact me directly... Is something wrong with her? In the short time she was teleported from the main base... could 'death' have befallen her?]

The witch's mind raced, but no matter how much she thought, connecting to the communication wouldn't take any extra time. She quickly composed herself and then opened the communication channel with Zhao Yingkong.

"Did you succeed, Zhao?" Alice asked.

“Neither successful nor unsuccessful.” Thousands of kilometers away, Zhao Yingkong, now free from the reincarnation ritual, leaned against a shattered boulder. She gazed at the sky, one hand holding Alice's communicator, the other toying with a human skull emitting a faint grayish-green glow. Not far from her feet, the green warhorse, now broken into pieces, had attained eternal peace.

"I did indeed relive the entire process of advancing step by step from the first stage of the Gene Lock to the fourth stage. I also regained and fully mastered the Microscopic Insight, the Light of the Mind, and other miscellaneous things. But I was unable to overcome my inner demons... There is still a crucial condition missing. All I could do was suppress them to their limit. I don't possess the essence of the fourth stage, perhaps only about four-fifths of it." A blurry light appeared in her palm, crushing the human skull into fragments.

"But you did fulfill the terms of the deal you proposed, and you did help me reach this final step. It was my own fault for not being able to get past it, so I will abide by the contract and help you deal with the remaining obstacles in this cycle of reincarnation... Well, at least 'death' among the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse has been dealt with by me. As for the others... I don't know to what extent I can do them, so you can only rely on yourself."

Alice frowned. "What?"

"Don't you remember the last verse of Revelation about the Apocalypse?" Zhao Yingkong gazed at the sky, at the portal opening in the void, and at the enormous, scythe-wielding phantom, composed of countless tiny lights from the far distance, covering most of the sky in her field of vision. "[—I looked, and behold, a pale green horse. Riding it was named 'Death.' And the kingdom of death followed him.]—You wouldn't have only noticed 'Death' and ignored 'the kingdom of death,' would you?"

Angels are essentially puppets, creations of a puppeteer from 600 million years ago. Naturally, their essence isn't that of limitless, transcendent beings; they decay, decay, and become unusable. Most angels, once broken, are simply discarded; after all, they are mass-produced, inexpensive goods, and the loss of many is insignificant. However, some puppets are different…

They are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the ultimate instruments used to destroy the world. They are far more valuable than other mass-produced dolls, so even used discarded items cannot be wasted. In the six hundred million years since the emperor ascended the throne in this universe, countless times across dozens of galaxies, millions of celestial bodies, and endless cycles of civilization have carried out the Sixth Horn of Revelation. And their executors now all slumber here.

They are ancient angels who carried out apocalypses and were once one of the Four Horsemen. Because they were abandoned, they were not equipped with supernatural devices. Their power level is the limit of the third stage of the gene lock, the end of mortals.

The current total is 200 million.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Death - Part One

Zhao Yingkong's communication was cut off after nineteen seconds. Her last message to Alice was: "I can hold them off for at most half an hour... maybe less. I'll try to close that door, but you'd better not get your hopes up too high."

[Then, let us fulfill our promise. See you in the next life, or rather… farewell, Alice Margotrovid.]

The communication equipment was destroyed. And there, Zhao Yingkong, the original personality, would face her final battle in this world. Even having reached the true fourth stage of the genetic lock and become a transcendent, Zhao Yingkong was not invincible. Moreover, within that wide-open gate to the Kingdom of the Dead…

...There may be extraordinary creatures that could pose a fatal threat to fourth-tier powerhouses.

Alice had no idea what had happened on the battlefield. The instruments she could still control were simply unable to obtain accurate data due to the interference from the massive, countless energy aggregates thousands of kilometers away, spanning six time zones. And all the satellites she used to monitor the Earth's surface had been destroyed for unknown reasons before they could even collect optical information from that land—all she knew was that there were countless angels there, as numerous as the water in the sea, as numerous as the sand beneath the water.

【………………】

Alice turned her head to look to her west, where the sun had set was now just a faint, shimmering patch of gray in her vision. The volcanic eruption from the Second Horn had evaporated the oceans, turning them into dust clouds and lightning that would remain suspended in the sky for millennia. Except for the clouds above the base, which were dispelled by magic, all other areas were left with only the unchanging thunderstorms and volcanoes.

She can't see.

She also knew she couldn't see.

But she couldn't help but want to look in that direction.

She took a deep breath and then opened the communication channel to talk to Patchouli.

“Patch,” she asked softly, trying her best to keep her tone and demeanor as normal. “How long will it take before the Space Bridge can be put back into service?”

Half a second later, a half-body projection of Patchouli appeared in front of her. The purple-haired witch was busy processing various data in the base and sealing the remains of the ancient angel. Patchouli looked up at her, then casually pulled out a light screen and scanned it with her gaze.

"The operational space inside the space bridge, which is similar to an engine and whose components are completely unanalyzable by us, is currently in an extremely unstable state. It will take at least forty minutes before it can be used again. Otherwise, there is a 99.977255% chance that we will be severely damaged in the space tremors. The best-case scenario would be the destruction of the base, with all mortals being crushed into a pancake in an instant."

"...And what about flying? How long would it take us to fly back to the Yangtze River from here?"

"This base isn't the Great Library, Alice. It's just a building block-like structure, pieced together with steel and machinery, barely maintained by physical structure and magical runes. It's fine to hover, but if we want it to fly, all the magic arrays have to be fully activated, and we don't have that much energy to waste... and it will be slower than you think."

"...How slow?"

“The speed won’t exceed three hundred kilometers per hour, Alice.” Patchouli suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked up at her. “…What happened?”

"Some unexpected events."

"The unexpected event regarding 'Death'?" Patchouli tapped her temple. "It's not here, it's with Zhao Yingkong? She failed? 'Death' is stronger than expected, are you planning to go back to support her?"

“It’s not ‘death’.” Alice shook her head. “Zhao Yingkong has become a true fourth-tier powerhouse, and ‘death’ has already been dealt with by her.”

"Is that so?" Patchouli lowered her eyes, her short hair falling down to form a shadow that obscured the upper half of her face. "Then the situation is much more serious than we thought... How serious?"

“Second to last, the ‘Dead Kingdom’ after ‘Death’ contains hundreds of millions of Apocalyptic Ancient Angels… slightly better than the Emperor directly confronting them. But the chance of a direct confrontation is still zero. Even if we use one-tenth of the Stellar Cannon and exhaust all its energy, even if all hits are successful, we can only kill less than one-tenth of them at most.” Alice looked at her seriously. “Patch, we need to be prepared to use the last few contingency plans.”

The last contingency plan, the final contingency plan.

When Alice uttered the word, she clearly saw the veins in the other person's neck throb violently.

Patchouli took a deep breath.

"...Can't we just restart the Solar Extraction Tower?" Patchouli looked at her and asked, "We can use the Stellar Extraction Tower to directly absorb the energy released by the sun over a hundred million years. If a hundred million years isn't enough, then a billion years. Then we can create a massive flare on Earth that covers half the planet. I don't believe they won't die!"

“Then we will die too. We can’t control that much energy. Even if we divide it by a hundred or a thousand times, we still can’t control it. And… if the earth is destroyed, what will we use to deal with the seventh trumpet of Revelation, how will we survive the wrath of the King of Kings?”

“Patch.” Alice turned her gaze to her slender fingers and smooth nails, then flicked them gently. “As long as we live, there is hope. Even if only one person is left alive, the Book of the Sun can give us a chance to start over.”

“I presided over the rituals of Jianmu and Fusang, and I was also in charge of Yi shooting down the nine suns. Therefore, it is more appropriate for me to complete the next part of the project, while you are more suitable to take over the final ‘mending the sky.’ This way, the success rate is the highest, and there is no reason to argue,” she said softly. “Let’s start charging the Star Extraction Tower. Draining the sun is certainly not an option, but making a trigger bomb to buy time is still no problem. Zhao Yingkong can buy time for a maximum of half an hour, and with the movement speed of the ‘Dead Kingdom,’ an hour should be our remaining time limit.”

“I’ll talk to Zheng Zha. Patchi, you’ll be in charge of completing the final work before the Space Bridge starts its transfer: dismantling the central tower and embedding it into the ground. I’ve calculated the time; it should take forty-five minutes to fully embed the central tower and establish its concept. Maybe I can still catch a ride on the Space Bridge.”

She tried her best to make her tone lighten. Although... her pretense was full of flaws in the eyes of Patchouli, who was one with her in body and soul.

Patchouli remained silent for two seconds.

"...I've already told him that 'death' has been ended, at least they can rest for a while... So, after you've dealt with Zheng Zha's matter, come find me in the Central Tower." The purple-haired witch said calmly, the shadows under her hair making it difficult to see her expression. She disconnected the communication, and everything returned to the calm that had preceded the communication.

"…………"

Alice stood atop the central tower, gazing for a full ten seconds at the churning gray-black clouds and flashes of lightning within them. Without thought, without judgment, without engaging any mental calculations, she simply wasted time watching the clouds swirling in the sky—the clouds in the far east, which had been used to block out the sun, parted slightly, and pure sunlight pierced the heavens, tinging the gray-black clouds with a touch of gold.

“It’s more beautiful than I imagined,” Alice commented. She then took a small step forward, leaned forward, and plummeted from the height of ten thousand meters. She could feel the continuous echoes coming from the base’s ring structure. The part belonging to the main control tower was gradually separating from the main body of the base, and then strong branches extended from the roots to bind the earth, thus constructing a new concept.

To survive the Seventh Horn—the manifestation of God, the Son of Heaven's all-out attack—the only way is to use this celestial body she values ​​as leverage, creating a barrier that would require her to shatter the entire planet if she wanted to cross it. However, time is running out; it's impossible to create a seamless barrier connecting to the Earth's core from scratch using mechanical technology. Therefore, the only feasible method is to use a ritual, with the assistance of the mantle deities, to construct the concept of 'mending the heavens,' forcibly creating a protective wall to shield the sky at the cost of burning away the rewritten history.

To mend the sky, the sky itself must first collapse. The creation of the world is the starting point of mythology, but directly connecting it to mending the sky would be insufficient. Therefore, before mending the sky, Mount Buzhou, the pillar of heaven, needed to collapse. And in order to destroy Mount Buzhou, Gonggong, as the executor of the ritual, was essential.

Now, the central tower, which embodies the concepts of the 'ritual Jianmu' and the 'ritual Fusang,' both possessing the power to reach the heavens and the earth, has qualified and is gradually evolving into the 'Buzhou Mountain.' Therefore, only one factor is ultimately needed.

One person had to stay behind to become the 'Gonggong,' and one person had to stay behind to complete the ritual. Only in this way would all the previous efforts not be in vain.

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

When Alice entered the lounge where Zheng Zha and the others were, the spacious hall was filled with a joyful atmosphere after victory. Having regained her composure, Zhan Lan, her face slightly pale but her breathing smooth, sat at the dining table sipping warm tea. Xiao Honglu sat opposite her, munching on a fried spider while raising his hand to greet Alice as she entered.