Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

She suddenly recognized the figure.

"Zheng Zha?" She tilted her head slightly, barely able to make out his outline through her crimson-tinged vision. She could feel a surge of power emanating from the man, even stronger than before, along with a pervasive sense of sorrow and grief.

"Ah... You broke through to the third stage of the gene lock during the battle? It seems you've killed all the invading ancient angels. That's quite an unexpected bonus."

"...Did we fail?" Zheng Zha, who had broken through the wall, looked at her, his fists clenched, and asked in a deep voice, "After giving so much, after sacrificing so much, did we still fail?"

“Failure? Ah… perhaps.” Patchouli raised her hand, looking at the Reincarnation Watch on her wrist, its flickering becoming increasingly faint. “After all, there are only a few minutes left… perhaps that’s true. But…”

She suddenly stared at Zheng Zha, her gaze so intense it was impossible to look directly at him, yet it seemed as if her gaze passed right through him, looking towards some point in the void.

"Hey, you know what? When making plans, not all of them need to be spoken aloud, and not all of them need to be mentally conceived."

She rose from her throne, bathed in her own blood.

"We have one last chance."

She stared intently at Zheng Zha, her eyes burning with a dark, fiery light.

"The last one."

Section 42a - God

(Originally one section, but split into two parts due to plot structure issues)

She stood up and asked Zheng Zha a question.

"Zheng Zha, do you know who the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors are?"

“Uh… the Three Sovereigns are the Heavenly Sovereign, the Earthly Sovereign, and the Tai Sovereign. I vaguely remember that. The Five Emperors…” Zheng Zha frowned. He didn’t understand why Patchouli would ask him such a question at this time. But he knew Patchouli wouldn’t waste her time at a time like this. So he patiently thought about how to reply.

"The Five Emperors are the Yellow Emperor, the Yan Emperor, Yao, Shun, and Yu?" He scratched his head and replied, "I don't really know much about these things."

“The Three Sovereigns are fine,” Patchouli smiled gently, wiping the blood from her face as she answered, “but there’s something wrong with the Five Emperors. Normally, Emperor Yan and Yu aren’t among the Five Emperors; at least in this world, the Five Emperors are described differently. They are—”

"The Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu, Emperor Ku, Yao, and Shun."

“You previously acquired the concept of Pangu through ‘creating the world,’ becoming the first great ruler of the human race, and you can now be compatible with all the ranks from the Three Sovereigns to the Five Emperors. However, there is no need to concern yourself with the other sovereigns and emperors now. You only need to know the second of the Five Emperors, Zhuanxu, who is the Black Emperor of the North.”

Do you know what the most famous thing Emperor Zhuanxu did was?

"What is it?" Zheng Zha asked cooperatively. He sensed that as the conversation continued, the energy fluctuations around him seemed to undergo some unusual changes. His status was shifting, a new ritual was taking shape, and his position in the ritual was rapidly transforming into the ancient king described by Patchouli.

“It’s a very famous thing.” Patchouli smiled at him, revealing the answer without keeping him in suspense. “The only famous thing he did was this—he ordered Chongli to sever the connection between heaven and earth, and there was no one to be demoted… Do you understand?”

"Severing the connection between heaven and earth." A glint of light flashed in Zheng Zha's eyes. "You mean..."

“Yes, that’s right. Severing the connection between heaven and earth, there is no lowering one’s status.” Patchouli gently stretched her body, violent magic swirling around her, clearing away the bloodstains and healing her injuries. “Since I can’t become Nuwa to mend the sky, then becoming Chonghe Li to sever the connection between heaven and earth is the same. Anyway, it’s all about separating heaven and earth… there’s no difference.”

"Ah...that's right, 'Gonggong' knocked down 'Buzhou Mountain'. But when 'Buzhou Mountain' collapsed, it was also 'Fusang' and 'Jianmu'! And Jianmu is the ladder to heaven. When it fell, the prerequisite for the ritual of severing the connection between heaven and earth was fulfilled!"

She tilted her head and looked at Zheng Zha.

“I am now both Gaia and Alaya. Therefore, I can occupy two positions at the same time, becoming both the ‘Chong’ of the next day and the ‘Li’ of the Jedi. And you are now Zhuanxu. You have the right to appoint me to assume this responsibility. And this is our last chance.”

"Build a barrier between heaven and earth, and seize the last chance of the Seventh Horn."

Her aura was fierce, like a tangible storm. When she took a step towards Zheng Zha, her immense presence even caused Zheng Zha, who had already reached the third stage of the gene lock, to instinctively stumble backward.

But Zheng Zha quickly realized what was happening.

“What should I do—” he asked instinctively, but then he immediately noticed Patchouli’s abnormal behavior and the contradiction between her strategy. “Wait, if that’s the case, then breaking through the barrier between heaven and earth is far simpler than Nuwa patching up the sky. There’s no need for Gonggong to strike the mountain, and Margot Lloyd doesn’t need to go and die—you can’t do that. What are you hiding from me?!”

He lunged forward and grabbed Patchouli's right hand, which was adorned with the Reincarnation Wristwatch. He could clearly see the Reincarnator symbol on the witch's wrist becoming unstable, flickering like a distorted television screen!

"Your God Watch is disappearing!"

"What exactly do you want to do!?"

"Oh, so you noticed. I thought getting some blood on it would make you ignore it, but I underestimated the observational abilities of a third-stage Gene Lock user." Patchouli tried to pull her hand back, but found it wouldn't budge. She could only sigh softly. She replied, "It's just a price. Don't worry, this time it's not you or your companions who pay the price. It's just me who will bear it."

"You're one of my comrades too!" Zheng Zha roared at her, his eyes blazing with undeniable fury. "Don't even think about excluding yourself!"

"Tell me, what exactly do you want to do?!"

“…What an rude man.” Patchouli stared at him for a few seconds before slowly looking away. “Okay, let go of my hand, I’ll tell you.”

She withdrew her hand, her gaze passing over the gap in the wall torn by Zheng Zha to look outwards—she saw torrential rain, lightning, and thunder. Under her will, the earth gradually regained its vitality, while further away, clouds churned, and storms and flash floods reshaped everything on the land.

With only a few minutes left until the end, how many more minutes will it take for the emperor to reach the solar system?

"There is a difference between severing the connection between heaven and earth and Nuwa patching the sky. When Nuwa patched the sky, the five-colored stones were used to fill it. Nuwa only needed to complete the steps of patching the sky to end her mission. But severing the connection between heaven and earth is different. Chong and Li, who are responsible for severing the connection between heaven and earth, must continue to shoulder this task until time itself comes to an end."

"Do you understand? If I want to use the concept of 'Severing the Connection Between Heaven and Earth' to create a barrier covering the entire planet, I need an unparalleled amount of energy. To obtain such energy, I must simultaneously inherit the powers of Gaia and Alaya. If I use the powers of both at the same time, then I will truly become the Chong and Li of this world, the true Gaia who governs the heavens and the Alaya who governs humanity. I will become... an anomaly, a god of the planet. And the supreme god will not accept anything other than humans."

She glanced at the watch on her wrist, which was becoming increasingly unstable and could disappear at any moment.

"This is a warning from the Supreme God. It is warning me that if I become a Star God, I will be disqualified from being a Reincarnator. And once I am no longer a Reincarnator, the Sun Scripture will naturally be of no use to me."

“But I will not die. I will live, forever, until the planet is destroyed. It’s just… by then I will no longer be myself.” Patchouli reached out, gently clenched her fist, and then released it. “My essence is still that of a mortal, neither a true god nor a false god; the flaws within me will always remain. And when I become the god of this planet, bearing the responsibility of dividing heaven and earth, all my own emotions and memories will be completely eroded in a very short time by the countless torrents of information originating from heaven and earth.”

"This is the price, the price I must pay." She looked at Zheng Zha, her eyes devoid of any hesitation. "Only I can use this ritual; no one else can. Not even you. So you will live, live to return to the Main God Space, and then you will bring your companions... and resurrect Alice."

"This price...is too heavy. Is there no other hope?"

“That’s it.” Patchouli shrugged. “You can think of it in a positive light, like you can come back to avenge me when you become stronger, or even turn back time here. But now, you have to make a decision.”

“Time is running out. If we delay any longer, everyone will die meaninglessly. So…” She looked at Zheng Zha, her calm face even carrying a gentle smile.

"Give me a title."

"In the name of Emperor Zhuanxu, I was bestowed the title of Chonghe Li, allowing me to go..."

"Sever the connection between heaven and earth!"

Chapter 42 Part 2: The Demon

die……

What does death feel like?

Alice had experienced death several times, and the feeling was deeply etched in her memory. It was like floating in an endless, dark abyss, without logic, without thought, without emotion, without sensation. Everything was completely forbidden, and everything felt as long as eternity.

The dead cannot feel the sensation of death. Only when the deceased returns from the underworld and regains the consciousness of the living does that eternal solitude, adrift in the abyss, manifest in their own will. Then, the memory of fear and nothingness is deeply etched into the depths of their soul, until they once again reach the end of their destiny.

She was very familiar with this feeling; she understood it very well.

And that is why she was so surprised when she once again felt this eternal loneliness that came from death.

Wasn't I dead? Died in the impact of Mount Buzhou, killed by the self-destruct spell [Demonic Manipulation: Return to Nothingness]. I should have died completely, leaving not even a single molecule behind. But now I have consciousness... Could it be that the cycle of reincarnation has ended, and my companions have resurrected me in the world of gods and demons?

She tried desperately to open her eyes, but she couldn't. Her body felt as if it were floating in a void, without gravity or any force. She even began to doubt whether her physical body had ceased to exist, but if her body didn't exist... this didn't seem like the feeling of an informational soul.

——'Come here'

It seemed as if a voice was speaking to her.

She was puzzled, but at that moment she didn't seem capable of overly complex thinking. So she began to focus her attention on the direction from which the sound was coming. And the sound gradually became clearer and clearer.

——'Touch this'

The sound came from closer, so she listened even harder. Then, she felt as if she had touched a strange object.

It resembled a walking stick. Very thin and long. It was carved with wondrous and intricate patterns, which seemed to be horns, crowns, and stars.

—This is my walking stick!

The thought crossed her mind. Her thoughts became clearer, as if some powerful force was surging from the cane, rapidly filling her body.

His own body had become strange, devoid of blood and flesh, replaced by some bizarre energy entity. His will seemed to have become the framework of this energy entity, a skeletal structure. And the energy entity itself became flesh and blood, the lungs and skin.

—I seem to have become some kind of quantum energy body.

—A ghost? No, my current state is clearly far more advanced than that of a ghost.

—My body contains a vast amount of energy, hmm… though it feels quite inferior to the magic furnace.

—Ah, I remember now, the name of this walking stick is…

—"The Staff of Domination!"

She opened her eyes abruptly, and the next moment, the sounds of raging wind, rain, and thunder echoed in her senses. She found herself still in the world of Final Destination 2. The sky was filled with dark clouds, and torrential rain, like a celestial river pouring down, lashed the ground. Huge bolts of lightning, hundreds of meters thick, crashed down from the clouds, striking the water on the surface, followed by the foul stench of nitrogen and sulfides reacting.

The Reincarnator's watch was still on her wrist. She glanced at it and found that the task described on it hadn't changed. Her gaze shifted slightly, and she immediately realized that she was in the ruins of the collapsed 'Mount Buzhou'. She could even see the fragments of the central tower in the lake that had now formed.

She then noticed that she was suspended in mid-air, holding the staff of control in her hand, and that the heavy rain was being blocked from her by about thirty meters away. It seemed that some powerful field surrounded her, isolating her from everything around her.

"Oh, you woke up at the peak of True Demon level. I thought 'original intention' would be a troublesome thing for you. I didn't expect you to skip it so easily... I must say, as expected of you, Miss Alice." A somewhat familiar voice came from beside her. She turned her head sharply and, unsurprisingly, saw a familiar face.

“Zhu Wen…” Alice raised an eyebrow—or rather, she thought she raised an eyebrow. “No, you’re Saito Hajime. You… saved me? Why?”

"Um, I'm sorry." Saito, who wore black-rimmed glasses and resembled Zhu Wen, shrugged. "After all, this is the only time when that Quasi-Saint named Hinami Tenshi is not busy watching this planet, so I had no choice but to awaken you at this time. It's also thanks to your exchange for the Breaker's physique and your innate weapon of civilization that I would have had to spend more time."

"As for why I woke you up... isn't it only natural for companions to help each other?"

Alice felt like she had met a fake Saito Hajime. She clearly remembered that not long ago, this guy had tricked them all terribly. Although he was probably also caught in the Emperor's scheme, back then... She reached out and pointed at Saito Hajime, speechless.

“Every extraordinary adventure comes at a price; there’s no such thing as a free lunch—I understand that, and I’ve known it for a long time.” Saito smirked, seemingly smiling. “I realized long ago that my thinking was flawed, perhaps influenced by that extraterrestrial knowledge. So, long before this horror movie even started, I cut off the corrupted part of my personality, had the main god repair it, and threw it onto the surface of my consciousness to take the fall. I was hoping it could serve as bait to lure out the source of the corruption and then eliminate it. I just didn’t expect… I’d run into an even bigger fish.”

"So what happened next was quite logical. I hid my main personality in my memories, and then hid my memories in the inheritance of the 'Emperor's Aura Observation Technique' and sent them to Zhu Wen. Although that quasi-saint was powerful, because my personality fragments had been repaired by the main god beforehand, she couldn't see or guess my purpose. She just thought I wanted to smuggle my memories out to cultivate new people, so she didn't interfere. And I just happened to get this opportunity."

"Then before..."

"Oh, that's me too. Just a more radical version of myself." She/He smiled shyly, seemingly a little embarrassed. "The prophecy says I'll fight alongside you, but there's no sign of a comrade yet, and there are comrades who have helped me a lot in the past and are still fighting alongside me now... I know which side to side with. It's just that, in order to cooperate with that quasi-saint's act, my personality fragments went along with the flow and increased the amount of pollution... I apologize for any offense caused."

“…I forgive you.” Alice’s lips twitched. Then she shook her head slightly. “No, we should be the ones who wronged you. If only I had realized it sooner…”

“So that quasi-saint also figured it out.” Saito Hajime shook his head with a smile. “Alright, if you really want to thank me, then when the team has a fourth-tier powerhouse who can control himself and plans to resurrect me, just prepare a body for me in advance. The name ‘Saito Hajime’ has been removed from the main god’s list. If you want to resurrect me, you’ll have to resurrect the newbie Zhu Wen… I’m not very interested in trendy things like gender-bending.”

“Resurrected? Could it be that you…” Alice’s eyes widened, then she immediately noticed the fragments gradually crumbling around Saito Hajime’s body. “Is that so… Your power has already been exhausted. Well, this isn’t your own body after all. Then, what about that newcomer named Zhu Wen? What if she…”

“No.” Saito shook his head. He/She didn’t seem to care much about the breakdown of their body. “I made a deal with her. She gave me this body and her qualifications as a reincarnator, and I let her be reborn in this world with her past life’s personality, memories, power, and the luck of being a member of the Central Continent Team. The cruel world of reincarnation is now far away from her, and she only needs to enjoy the carefree life of the new generation of Feng Jiaotian.”

"...That's quite an enviable ending." Alice pursed her lips. After curing the curse on herself and Patchouli, what she hoped for was to leave the cycle of reincarnation with Patchouli and spend the rest of her long life in a peaceful and tranquil world... Well, she was quite envious.

“But we’ll have to see how you do next.” Saito changed the subject, saying, “Before I died, my personality fragment managed to peek into that quasi-saint’s mind. Although it was only for a moment, I discovered something from it… she had already guessed that you planned to mend the heavens.”

Alice closed her eyes and took a soft breath.

“Then… Patchouli’s plan to mend the sky must have failed. And in this situation…” She looked at Saito Hajime, her gaze intense. “I have to get back to Patchouli immediately. Do you have a way, Saito Hajime?”

"The teleportation array is ready for use at any time, Your Excellency." Saito gave her a comical bow, and beside her/him, a small one-way portal was emitting a faint light.

“…Thank you.” Alice nodded to him/her and stepped into the portal. “Next time…I’ll treat you to a drink.”