Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

He immediately stood up and ordered a special express train ticket from Venus to Earth on his personal terminal. Seeing the message "Seven minutes until departure," he waved to his mechanical butler to bring him his usual coat. Then, he watched as his aerial apartment sped through the clouds of Venus.

The Sky Apartment was a scientific invention invented by East Asians, or more precisely, Chinese, six years after the end of the Enlightenment War—it is said that they obtained a great deal of technological knowledge from the Witch King that was ahead of its time, so much so that East Asians served as the co-chairmen for eighteen out of the thirty years after the establishment of the World Government. Witt didn't care much about this, but he had to admit that the invention was simply brilliant.

The combination of inexpensive, lightweight yet sturdy building materials, powerful nuclear engines, and reliable anti-gravity mechanisms has resulted in spherical sky apartments ranging from 100 to 300 square meters, which are affordable even for orphans who rely on social security benefits.

Most importantly, the circulation system of all the aerial apartments is independent, and with the mass collection module that all aerial apartments must have, as long as there is a network, the aerial apartments can be placed in the sky of any planet without wasting time on any colony ecological modification. Although this has the suspicion of a technological leap, since it is the Witch King's method, naturally no one has anything to say.

As a result, housing prices and land prices were completely deregulated.

With the coordination of the solar system's information network, residents of the sky apartments can freely travel over any planet without worrying about traffic accidents. The only drawback is that the sky apartments are not powered enough to enter space. If they want to take a walk from Venus to Earth, they have to buy a ticket and attach their spherical apartments to an interstellar express train.

The latest model of the sky apartment is said to support space travel, but poor young Witt obviously can't afford it.

He stood at the window, staring blankly at the Venusian clouds rushing past and the occasional other sky apartments in the distance. After a long while, he slumped backward in melancholy, crashing into the soft bed that his mechanical butler had raised behind him the instant he fell. He then pulled the blanket over his head, looking utterly dejected.

He wasn't unaware of the importance of contemporary history as a required course, and he was trying very hard to learn it. But the problem was… whenever he read books like *An Examination of the Messianic Idea* or *The Spirit of Sam Witwicky*, a feeling of utter embarrassment, as if his dark past had been publicly exposed, would linger in his mind. This made it impossible for him to concentrate on the textbooks, which comprised 30% of the material on the 'War of Enlightenment'. And since he couldn't concentrate… failing the exam was naturally to be expected.

"Should I transfer to the moon to study magic? It's said that information magic can be used on all planets except Earth, and the Moon's Information Academy even preserves the Witch King's research hall." He rubbed his head vigorously, thinking.

I'm currently a freshman, and although my grade in the required course Modern History is precarious, that won't prevent me from advancing to a sophomore or junior before graduation. When it comes time to choose my elective, I can easily choose to study information magic on another planet. And as long as I can produce a substantial thesis by graduation, according to the world government's support policy, I can graduate despite failing my basic courses and still get a guaranteed job offer.

But magic... magic is really difficult.

He covered his head and rolled around.

Thirty years ago, before leaving Earth to explore outer space, the Witch King left behind a magical legacy at the request of the World Government. Since then, the World Government's exploration of magic has never ceased. The War of Enlightenment is called 'Enlightenment' precisely because that war dispelled the 'ignorance' of humanity, allowing all survivors to witness and participate in the war, thus breaking free from the tedious and narrow-minded internal strife and uniting them in a common struggle towards the stars.

In that battle, the sheer power of the magic called 'Apocalypse,' cast by the Witch King, was undeniable. According to the World Government's calculations, even if humanity took a shortcut, leaping from a planetary civilization to a pan-stellar civilization within thirty years, and even with the addition of the Cybertronians, they would still be helpless should another event like the Nemesis attack occur. This is a consequence of overly rapid technological advancement, and information magic, however, is a proven and effective solution.

Therefore, the World Government has never given up on analyzing and exploring information magic in the past thirty years. Research in this area has been given the green light; it is said that a magician capable of unleashing flames and gales single-handedly has already appeared in the Information Academy on the moon. It is precisely for this reason that courses on ancient history, modern history, and contemporary history—which can evoke magical power—have been made compulsory. While contemporary history is relatively easy to study, the latest policy even divides the basic ancient history required for high school students into more than a dozen courses based on mythology. And if you fail even one of these courses, no matter how powerful your background, you can forget about getting into university!

Given the World Government's emphasis on information magic, if poor Witt could achieve even one or two results during his studies, he would at least be financially secure. And if he could go further...

He took a deep breath, preparing to immerse himself in wonderful anticipation for the future.

“Mr. Witt, your sky apartment has been registered with the interstellar train. However, you need to submit your handwritten signature to the information network before departure.” A soft yet somewhat serious female voice rang in his ears, and this familiar voice, which he had heard for many years, made young Witt feel particularly conflicted.

"Can't you just sign for me?! Wasp! I remember authorizing you to sign any document I need on my behalf!" He glared angrily at the blonde beauty before him. This robotic butler had been with him for years, and with the Cybertronians sharing the automatic upgrade technology of the mechanical core, he figured he'd have to deal with this iron-headed creature for decades to come... or even longer. Who knew, maybe one day he'd become an iron-headed creature himself!

And this guy is actually pretending to be stupid!

The World Government has been discussing mechanical ascension on the internet for over a decade! Ever since the Autobots of Cybertron chose new biomimetic shells, making themselves look human-like, and even creating a bunch of idols, the calls for open cybernetic modifications have been relentless. People clearly understand that the path to immortality is within reach, and as long as human civilization continues, even if the physical body changes, one will still be human—the rise in the status of history isn't solely due to magic!

He glared angrily at his mechanical butler for over ten seconds. Then, at the twentieth second, he gave in, sighing resignedly, and took the terminal from Vesper, signing his name. A few minutes later, accompanied by a slight tremor, the Venusian clouds outside the window vanished in an instant into the vastness of space!

Witt averted his gaze from the porthole. "Vesper, next time, please don't waste my time with these pointless authorization documents. Okay?" he said earnestly to his mechanical butler.

"Is there anything else you need, Mr. Witt? It takes thirty minutes to travel from Venus to Earth, and you have no way to connect to the information network." — The mechanical butler's voice was as sweet and flat as he knew it, and it didn't answer his question.

"...Help me connect to some information...Never mind, let's turn on the projector TV and see if there are any TV programs to pass the time." Young Vit was as helpless as ever with his mechanical butler. He couldn't help but miss his girlfriend Mira, who was studying mechanical engineering on Mars; at least with her, he wouldn't feel this daily awkwardness.

The sudden sound signal dragged poor Witt out of his fantasy, forcing him to face the cold, pathetic reality of being completely controlled by the mechanical butler.

He turned his head away dejectedly, looking at the television that held no appeal for him.

"...Next, please welcome our much-anticipated Scarlet Queen, Miss Arcee, who brings glory to the world, to introduce the Scarlet Sisters' latest album, 'Metallic—' to the audience."

—Change the channel.

"...Current Co-Speaker Nemo and Cybertronian Plenipotentiary Optimus Prime held cordial and friendly talks regarding cultural exchange between the two races. New cooperation is expected to commence in the near future—"

—Change the channel.

"...Please tune in to the latest and hottest fantasy series, 'Wrath of the Witch King,' which begins with the attack on that seaside town by the evil Decepticons."

—Change...or not change.

Witt straightened his posture slightly, the plot of the TV series in front of him somewhat catching his attention. Clearly, it was an alternate history drama. It told the story of an East Asian female student named Luo Ye who went to study in America, only to be attacked by robots in the city on her first day of school. After dying, her soul traveled to the Middle Ages, becoming an apprentice of the Wizard King, and gradually grew into a powerful magician, living on until the modern era to witness the War of the Enlightenment…

Half an hour later...

"This screenwriter's imagination is truly extraordinary," Victor clicked his tongue. "It's a wonder this movie even passed censorship; isn't he afraid of being censored online for portraying the Witch King like this? Why didn't he just make that Luo Ye guy the Witch King!"

He shook his head, turned off the projector, and looked out the window. The next moment, the enormous monument, constructed from parts of the Retribution's remains and anchored outside Earth's main spaceport, appeared before him!

His vision suddenly blurred...

He seemed to see countless heroic souls transformed into warriors cheering and shouting. An endless, vast battlefield suddenly opened up before him. Accompanied by hymns and hymns that lingered in his ears, a legendary road made of guns, swords, spears, and enemy corpses stretched from his feet all the way to the end of the sky. And at the end of the road, an incomparably grand, solemn, and magnificent throne of glory awaited him.

then.

"You want me to work overtime? No way."

The next moment, all the illusions vanished, leaving only a bewildered Witt and his mechanical butler Vespa.

"What just happened? I feel like I'm hallucinating?" Witt asked his butler in confusion.

"You're spacing out."

“…Alright.” Victor scratched his head, deciding to put this tedious matter aside for the time being. The customs and security checks at the Earth's spaceport would be over soon. And he…

We need to breathe some fresh air from Earth.

Sixth stop: Galaxy

Section 1: Safe Return, Ready to Go

With a flickering light, the brief journey of the legend of gods and demons came to an end. Unlike the pitiful few who went there, they returned as a team more than twice their original size. There were Zhang Jie, Chu Xuan, Ba Wang, Ming Yanwei—and Zero, who had used the reward points earned during the mission to resurrect before their return.

Zheng Zha ultimately failed... or rather, he failed Anubis's trial for the time being.

With magical protection, he easily killed the weak, pitiful, and helpless Scorpion Queen. Death then cast him into a secondary world with a time flow thousands of times slower than Earth's—the world of the prequel to God and Demon, *The Scorpion King*. His trial was to complete the unfinished work of the Scorpion King in that secondary world, using a mortal body stripped of all enhancements and genetic locks.

That is to say-

He, Zheng, was able to conquer the world as a mere mortal. Relying on his own strength and bravery, he marched eastward from Thebes in Egypt all the way to Yangcheng, the capital of Bactria at the time. Moreover, in this war, no gods or monsters aided him, but his enemies were unrestricted.

Naturally, no matter how much potential Zheng Zha possessed, he couldn't possibly conquer the entire ancient mythological world with his mere mortal body. Although he unlocked his sealed genetic lock during the war and reached the third level in one fell swoop, his strength and wisdom could only sustain him until he conquered Thebes. While crossing the Mediterranean, the six-headed sea monster Scylla summoned by the Greeks directly destroyed Zheng's expeditionary fleet. Although he chopped the pitiful six-headed sea monster into seven pieces after the ships were destroyed, a king who had lost his army and was lost on the islands of the Mediterranean could never possibly conquer the world.

After all, this is Anubis's world, and since Anubis said that no gods, fairies, or monsters would help Zheng Zha, then Zheng Zha naturally wouldn't encounter a reclusive fairy or witch on the island to guide him, like the heroes in mythological epics. Although his sense of direction is good, it's still quite far from being able to cross the Mediterranean Sea by instinct.

So, Zheng, who had been a wild monkey on the archipelago for over a year, finally had to admit defeat to Anubis after eating his fill of fish and fruit. He was then thrown out of the trial world by the manifestation of Death, and kicked directly out of Anubis's black pyramid.

The mission was interrupted.

The trial mission notification was still displayed on the God's wristwatch, clearly indicating that they could try again later. However, it seemed unlikely that the group from Zhongzhou would be able to complete the objective this time. Left with no other choice, they focused their attention on other miscellaneous tasks: some trained, some practiced teamwork, some devised strategies, and some caused trouble. When the deadline was almost up, the group regrouped on the ruins of Cairo, then, armed with their newly acquired B-grade rankings and 6,000 reward points, returned to the God's Space.

Ah…by the way, the reward for resurrecting at midnight was provided by Zheng Zha. After he bravely defeated those two invisible motherships under the protection of magic, the Main God gave him a mothership, a B-rank side quest, and 3000 reward points, plus some miscellaneous items. He probably had a little bit left over after completing the resurrection…

Okay, actually there's not much left.

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

"In short, thank you all for your hard work." After the teleportation ended, Zheng Zha turned around and glanced at the Zhongzhou team, which had now returned to a size of seven. The frustration he had felt earlier because he had failed the Trial of Death had quietly faded away.

As the captain of the Zhongzhou team, he felt it was his responsibility to pay for reviving his teammates, even though it wasn't strictly his duty. Since it was a responsibility he should bear, he naturally wouldn't ask newly revived rookies to use their reward points to revive teammates they barely knew or had never even met.

Because this is their own wealth, and in the God Realm, wealth is life.

The rewards this time were actually quite substantial compared to previous horror movies. The difficulty was low, and everyone received 6,000 reward points and a B-level side quest. Although it was far from the huge harvest at the end of The Mummy, it was still important starting capital for several reincarnators who were arriving in the God's Space for the first time.

Of course, start-up capital is start-up capital. As the team leader, Zheng Zha wouldn't 'forcefully allocate' the wealth of the newcomers who were short of funds when they first met the main god. But that didn't mean he would let the resurrected newcomers squander it at will. Although it had been repeatedly emphasized in the world of Gods and Demons that arrangements should be made based on the team's needs before exchanging for enhancements, Zheng Zha felt it necessary to repeat some points again.

However, before that...

He saw the classical beauty named 'Na'er' being recreated from nothing by the main god before Zhang Jie's gradually dissipating teleportation beam. From hair to toe, from flesh to clothing, he saw the cigarette that had been dangling from Zhang Jie's lips, who had been in a state of anxiety since the imminent return, quietly slip off his lips, and the next moment, the two were already tightly embracing.

Zhang Jie cried. This man, who always maintained a nonchalant attitude no matter what difficulties he faced, this man who remained open-minded and carefree even as he was about to be erased by the God of War. When the girl in front of him threw herself into his arms, he clearly wanted to laugh out loud. He wanted to laugh, but the air wouldn't rise in his throat, and his eyes involuntarily became wet.

He gestured for Zheng Zha to excuse himself, but didn't bother with a single word or a telepathic message. He simply picked up his beloved girl and strode into his private space. Perhaps, for him now, any words unrelated to the person in his arms were meaningless.

Zheng Zha could only obediently shut his mouth.

He watched Zhang Jie walk back to his own space, and just as he was about to speak, he couldn't help but chuckle. He looked down and casually saw Luo Li standing beside him, tugging at his clothes. And naturally, he felt that he needed to do something very urgent.

"Everyone, go back and rest. Ba Wang, Ming Yanwei, I've already explained the precautions for the Main God Space to you. In short, don't touch anything except for the free creation of babies. Tomorrow morning... around noon, meet here and we'll discuss the next steps."

He scooped Lori up in his arms, ignoring the girl's shy struggles, and carried her to their private space, leaving a group of people standing beneath the main god's sphere, looking at each other in bewilderment. And then...

"Uh... should I remind him that returning to the story world doesn't take time, and that he wasted a lot of time in his private space before setting off?" Alice scratched her head, but clearly didn't intend to move. Since she didn't move, the others naturally pretended not to notice.

“Tsk, men.” Ming Yanwei shook her head, walked to the bottom of the main god's light sphere, and showed it to Alice before her return, containing the memory container of the little girl she had adopted in the world of Ju-on.

The next moment, a petite, Japanese-style girl dressed as a shrine maiden quietly appeared beside her. She then took the girl's hand and randomly chose a door of light without any owner, and walked inside.

Chu Xuan nodded to the witches and then left. Zero had long since disappeared. The last remaining Overlord, however, did not, as Alice had predicted in the future prophecy record, have the main god create a strikingly similar Eastern European, but instead chuckled twice like a real Russian bear before heading straight back to his resting place.

And so, the main hall of the god was once again left only with the witches, just as usual.

“Um,” Alice turned her head to look at Patchouli. “How about we…?”

"I'm tired." Patchouli glanced at her indifferently, putting away the Great Library that had finally been finished, as well as the wonderful memories of her travels in the East just half a day ago—Alice had kept her promise this time and really went on vacation, although this greatly slowed down the restoration progress of the Great Library, making her slightly dissatisfied, but overall, she was still happy.

Since happiness is the goal, then naturally one should avoid conflict.

The end result was that the witches actually slept soundly in bed this time. Yes, truly slept, doing nothing else. And time passed as a result, and after about twenty hours, the group met again in the square beneath the main god.

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

"...Laugh if you want to." Zheng Zha sat on the chair, sullenly, his chin resting on his hand. There were three very obvious light red marks on his face, like scratches from a cat. Without a doubt, it must have been a very fierce cat. At least given Zheng Zha's current physical strength and self-healing ability, it was absolutely impossible for a demon with less than a thousand years of cultivation to leave such clear scratches on his face.

Silence fell over the surroundings.

The men wisely remained silent, while the women had no interest in wasting time on such a boring topic. Aside from the poor Ba Wang, who tried to force a laugh to ease the tension but was silenced by Zheng Zha's 'friendly' gaze, everyone else remained completely silent.

Zheng Zha glanced at the others.

“Alright,” he nodded in satisfaction, “then let’s move on to our first topic. I checked with the Supreme God, and as the captain, I can find out the movie’s name three days before the next storyline begins, allowing us to prepare in advance. So, before that, let’s summarize everyone’s earnings data and then discuss the upcoming exchange items.”

He was the first to raise his hand and say, "I only have a little over three thousand reward points left, but I have two B and one D side quests."

Zhang Jie: "B plus 7,300, 1,300 was obtained by beating monkeys."

Chu Xuan: "B plus six thousand four hundred."

Overlord: "B plus six thousand six hundred."

Zero: "..."

Ming Yanwei: "B plus C plus eight thousand. I have the reward for exploring the Scorpion King's Tomb."

Alice: "Patch and I are about the same. After deducting the side quests and reward points used for the previous resurrection, we now have about an A and a little over 7,000 points."

“Alright,” Zheng Zha nodded and looked at Chu Xuan. “So that’s the basic situation. Chu Xuan, you should have a good understanding of the team’s combat strength now. So, what are your suggestions regarding our future strengthening direction?”

Chu Xuan didn't stand on ceremony and took over the topic Zheng Zha had given him, beginning his own story.