Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

He was thus forced to spend over ten days outwitting and outmaneuvering these Imperial Arms users. Finally, with the help of a shapeshifter sent by the rebels to infiltrate his ranks, he managed to wipe out the scourge. However, just as he was finally able to catch his breath, the entire world collapsed along with Ex.

This experience was quite eventful, but it helped him grow a lot. And...

The woman with the ability to change her appearance left him something when the world collapsed.

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

Hahaha, you didn't expect that, did you? It was Chelsea who ultimately rose to the top!

Section 2: My love for someone is never unfounded [1/7]

"I almost forgot I had this." The Overlord slapped his forehead heavily, pulling out a small box the size of a woman's handbag from his storage ring, which was now a staple in everyone's possession. It appeared to be a portable women's makeup case, exquisitely crafted, containing rows of various foundations, paints, and a variety of delicate makeup tools. However, the tools and accessories seemed like mere illusions, impossible to discern precisely. They appeared to be definitely present in the box, yet when the Overlord reached out to retrieve an eyebrow pencil, he could only grasp at nothingness.

"Here it is." The Overlord wasn't annoyed. He casually placed the makeup case on the table beside him. Then, he organized his thoughts and explained to his companions who were looking at him with puzzled eyes.

"It's the shapeshifter I told you about before, the one who helped me take down a bunch of monsters. When that world with the gate collapsed, she suddenly seemed like a different person and asked me for a favor. Then, before I could answer, she handed me this little box—"

"I didn't think much of it at first, because the box disappeared after I returned to the lower world. It was nowhere to be found when I arrived in the upper world either. We were so busy helping the people in the upper world establish a home for the last few days that we completely forgot about it. Who knew that when we came back, the box would inexplicably reappear in my inventory?"

As he was speaking, Alice, sitting opposite him, suddenly showed a look of interest. After he finished speaking, Alice gestured for him to look over and said, "It seems your luck is really quite good, Overlord. In the Star River World, your war dividends are extraordinary... I guess you've already unlocked the first stage of the gene lock?"

"Hahahaha..." Overlord scratched his head, a rather embarrassed expression on his rugged, bear-like face. "I had a slight feeling when I woke up in the Gate World. I thought it was just my imagination, so I didn't tell anyone. Last night, after returning to my personal space, I got some equipment and trained hard all night. Now it seems that, according to Zhongzhou's explanation, it should be pretty close to the truth."

The group congratulated him repeatedly. Zheng Zha even ran over and patted him on the shoulder forcefully, offering his congratulations while half-jokingly complaining that he hadn't said so sooner. They only let him go when the burly Russian man begged for mercy with a pained expression. Then Zhang Jie, Cheng Xiao, Luo Gandao, and others brought out a lot of wine and poured it down his throat one bottle after another.

Unlike the pat on the shoulder, the Overlord was completely unfazed by being forced to drink, drinking as much as he could. However, considering that the meeting wasn't over yet, it wasn't time for the men to have their drinking contest. When the group had calmed down enough, Alice reached out and took the small box, examining it as she stated her conclusion.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a naturally occurring weapon of a soul system obsessed with obsession. It hasn't reached the level of civilization, but it's definitely at the level of a high-level true name naturally occurring weapon—it should be a way out left for itself by the world's will, which gathered a huge amount of fortune before its death. And only such a method could create an object that can cross the wall of worlds."

"Will it cause any trouble?" Zheng Zha suddenly became serious.

“It used to be there, but it’s gone now.” Alice gently fiddled with the various cosmetic components in the box and said softly, “As you all know, Patchouli made a deal with the world's will in the Gate World. In exchange for protecting its key protagonists, it allowed Patchouli to deliver a heavy blow to Exusiai through self-destruction. Of course, it kept its promise and dealt Exusiai a severe blow at the right time. Patchouli also did not break its promise, creating blank pure-blooded human bodies in the upper world and allowing those key protagonists to complete their reincarnation with the mission of reviving the Gate World.”

"And it is clear that the young world will does not intend to place all its bets on us."

"So it went after the Overlord?"

"To be precise, it was a mutually beneficial transaction with only one party in the know," Alice corrected. "This advanced True Name Innate Weapon is essentially a treasure of destiny. When its ownership was transferred to the Overlord by the World Will, a corresponding portion of destiny was also transferred to the Overlord. That's why the Overlord was able to unlock his genetic lock on his own. And it's precisely because of this world destiny that we weren't able to discover that you, Overlord, had unlocked your genetic lock immediately. And you didn't mention it to us either."

The overlord was startled and terrified.

"I'm going to smash this piece of junk right now!" He almost jumped out of his seat, his face turning bright red, and his joints creaking as he clenched them!

“There’s no need for that anymore.” Alice shook her head gently, and a reassuring message sent him back to his seat. She played with the delicate little box, examining it closely as if countless runes were slowly flowing through her eyes.

"It's human nature not to put all your eggs in one basket, and the same applies to the world's will. It's just a pity that the will of the Gate World is too young and too greedy. If it had simply attached itself to you, Overlord, and run away after leaving the lower world, that would have been fine. But it chose to seek its own demise, insisting on infiltrating you to gain more benefits, so... the Supreme God cannot tolerate stowaways."

"So that's how it is..." The Overlord let out a soft breath, his gaze towards the small box becoming more complex. "I never imagined that luck could be such a dangerous thing. Before I knew it, I almost stopped being myself..."

"Wait a minute!" Zheng Zha suddenly interrupted, shouting, "Margot Lloyd, aren't you the best at manipulating things like luck? How could you..." His voice suddenly trailed off, "You did this on purpose?"

"What do you think?" Alice glanced at him indifferently. "If it weren't for the fact that Zero has already gone through several reincarnation worlds with us, and he really can't hide that unique aura of a reincarnator from Ex, I would have even thought of stuffing him in as well. When have you ever seen me do anything unnecessary to waste time... Cheng Xiao, stop winking at me. Don't you even know whether you can unlock your genetic lock or not?"

Before she could finish speaking, Cheng Xiao let out a strange cry and leaped to the bottom of the main god's light sphere. He unleashed a set of exquisite Xia Ji's Chaotic Wild Fist techniques with tremendous force, his power flowing from the soles of his feet. Then, with a loud roar, his eyes became dazed. A free and unrestrained martial intent, as if breaking free from its constraints and establishing its own style, immediately spread around him.

A few seconds later, Cheng Xiao, who hadn't undergone any additional physical enhancements and had been forcibly kicked out of his unlocked state, slammed face-first onto the floor like a salted fish. The main god's healing beam then lowered, and he would probably be a good man again in a few dozen seconds—but until then, the people present couldn't be bothered with him.

Alice pushed the little box back in front of the Overlord.

"This innate weapon is now pure, and its potential is immense. It can be used until you unlock the fourth stage of your genetic lock without any problems. The world's will that lurked within it has been completely eradicated by the main god. There's no need to worry about any future troubles. However, using it will still be difficult, since you haven't followed the path of the Obsessive Soul System..."

"I have two options. First, your first-tier gene lock was activated because of the world's fortune in the Gate World. Although I had a scheme in place to force the Gate World's fortune onto you without you having to bear any additional karma, it's not impossible to connect this karma—I can arrange a ritual to make the fortune of this innate weapon resonate with yours. Of course, the price is that you'll inevitably have to return to the Star River Squad to help the Gate World revive. Otherwise, you'll suffer a lot. The benefit is that the power will belong to you, and this innate weapon will become a part of you, as if you've 'refined' it."

"The second option is to take a more indirect approach—I detected a simulated soul message record within the internal structure of this innate weapon. Presumably, that's a remnant of the operator's information from when this innate weapon was still an ordinary Imperial Arm. It should be the shapeshifter you mentioned—I can recreate her soul using advanced AI techniques and bind it to yours. Then it can act as the 'spirit' of this innate weapon to help you fight. Of course, if you want to further enhance its combat power, you can give it a body. After all, the main god's human creation quota isn't expensive, and I remember you have one free opportunity to create a human."

She picked up a cup of water from the Wutong Spring and took a small sip. "Two choices, you can choose..."

Alice suddenly grabbed a huge pearl clam and smashed it on Zheng Zha's head with a 'Duang' sound, just as he was about to say something.

"Don't interrupt! We can't have it all this time, it's impossible!"

Zheng Zha covered his head and shut his mouth, feeling wronged.

The overlord was thus plunged into deep thought.

Several seconds passed...

"Hehe, reviving her isn't such a bad idea after all." Overlord suddenly laughed, looking at Alice seriously and saying, "I received a lot of help from Chelsea—that shapeshifter—in the Gate World. If it weren't for her, I might have already rolled back to the lower world with nothing. Although this was very likely driven by the will of the Gate World, I do owe her a lot."

"...Let's recreate her. I killed a veteran in the Star River World, and the haul was quite substantial. Besides, I'm not very good at infiltration, disguise, or other such tasks. So, having an assistant to help might not be a bad idea."

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

Currently, over 1000 new blades have been added, and over 4 new donations have been received.

So it should be the seventh update. Anyway, I'll finish this week, and there'll be a second chapter later. I'll check my performance in the third chapter…

Section 3: I think three meetings are long enough. [2/7]

“Then it’s decided.” Alice nodded to the Overlord. “I’ll help you complete the ceremony after this meeting. Next…” She looked at Chu Xuan.

“Next is Ming Yanwei.” Chu Xuan picked up where she left off: “Kampavsky’s enhancement plan doesn’t need to be changed. After solving the problems of mid-to-close range firepower suppression and melee support, we need to upgrade the ranged items. Of course, Ming Yanwei, your role overlaps somewhat with Zero. So I suggest you focus on magic legend-type enhancements, with an emphasis on area damage and multiple support abilities.”

"Hmm." Ming Yanwei touched her ears, which had become slightly pointed after her elven bloodline was enhanced. "The elven archer's enhancement can continue to advance. This time, it's enough for me to enhance my bloodline to the A-rank 'Moon Elf Sharpshooter' level. At the same time, I can also buy a high-level bow and a set of rune arrows. But I haven't decided which ones to buy yet..."

"The Zishan Bow is from the novel *Inuyasha*, the longbow used by the heroine Kikyo." Chu Xuan raised his hand, and a Japanese-style longbow, nearly as tall as Ming Yanwei, appeared beside him. "I've calculated the reward points you have and the number of side quests you've acquired. After you've exchanged for the Moon Elf Archer Bloodline, you should be able to exchange for a corresponding level of spell skill."

He reached out and, as Alice often did, pulled down a list of spells covering the light screen—"Given your particular fondness for the profession of priestess, you can exchange for all the priestess spells from the Inuyasha series—A-rank bloodline inheritance should be enough for you to master these abilities before reaching the third tier. As for rune arrows, I think Alice can handle that."

“…Thank you.” Ming Yanwei nodded and accepted the ancient longbow. She drew the bowstring taut, then closed it. When she drew it taut again, a sharp arrow-shaped beam of light appeared on the bow—she didn't shoot the arrow, but instead closed the bow and stored it in her storage equipment. Seeing her do this, Zheng Zha, who had been carefully observing, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ming Yanwei is not without a powerful bow—the Bow of Conquest, won by Zhang Heng in the Final Destination world after defeating 'War,' is now in her hands. Although she cannot unleash even a fraction of the white bow's power, its extraordinary material and load-bearing capacity are enough for her to use until the late third or even fourth tier.

But now she needs a new bow.

Exchanging for a new bow means the old one will no longer be used. However, the Zishan Bow is clearly inferior to the fourth-tier Conquest Bow. This suggests that she intends to resurrect Zhang Heng during this intermission.

[Excellent! This will greatly strengthen our Zhongzhou team! If Zhang Heng can replicate his legendary feat of shooting down nine suns, he'll be no less formidable than the Great Library's artillery suppression!] He clenched his fist inwardly, a weight lifted from his heart—he was genuinely worried that Ming Yanwei would keep Zhang Heng asleep indefinitely after his resurrection. After all, this was between the two of them, and he really couldn't interfere…

[With this, only Saito Hajime is needed for the Zhongzhou team to fully reappear. Hmm, in the fourth tier... I wonder if I can overcome that inner demon. Perhaps Margot Lloyd can be a little faster than me... And Chu Xuan's psychological grasp of Ming Yanwei is really accurate... Wait, it seems it's not just her. I remember I only decided to give Zhang Heng a hand on a whim.]

Zheng Zha was lost in thought, while at the same time, Chu Xuan had finished planning for Ming Yanwei and turned his attention to Luo Gandao—who immediately straightened his back.

Contrary to what Alice saw in the prediction records, in this timeline, Logandao and Chu Xuan had very little interaction from beginning to end—it was Alice who tricked him, Alice who punished him, Alice who educated him, and Alice who strengthened him. Even in the final stage of the Gate world, when he unlocked the gene lock and rapidly deduced to near the second stage level through his will to survive and Ex's 'soul' ability, Alice was still the mastermind behind it all.

He still longs to live, but his fear of death is no longer as intense as before—those who have died once either become extremely afraid of death or extremely fearless. He is precisely the third type of person, somewhere in between.

He's become normal again. His will to survive is still strong, but it no longer whips his back like an invisible lash, forcing him forward. This might slightly reduce his potential to grow in adversity, but it has earned him the recognition and respect of his teammates (at least that's what he thinks)—like now.

“You’re very interested in piloting machines. So, my plan for you is to upgrade your skills in this area.” Chu Xuan looked him up and down, then adjusted his glasses. “I originally intended for you to exchange for a clone regeneration pod from the EVE Online universe and then have a brain implant inserted into yourself. That way, as long as your regeneration pod isn’t destroyed, you can’t die, and you can endlessly regenerate and pilot your robot into battle. But now it seems there’s no need for that.”

“Of course.” Roger Dao made a confident gesture, raising both fists and showing off his biceps. “I am a completely new me now. I am brave! Fearless! Courageous! Strong! Bring on any challenge! ...Of course, anything too exaggerated is out of the question.”

However, Chu Xuan did not cooperate with his performance.

"I have two options. First, the main god offers various Gundam series items for exchange..."

"That's it!" Roger slammed his hand on the table. "A real man pilots a Gundam!"

"Only boys pilot Gundams!" Zheng Zha retorted sharply. "Real men pilot Zaku!!!"

"What's so great about piloting an ugly Zaku?" Logando surprisingly wouldn't back down on this point. "It doesn't even have a V-shaped antenna; it's obviously a grunt! You can count the number of Zakus that can defeat a Gundam on one hand... half a hand! Don't come out here and embarrass yourself with your cannon fodder life!"

"you!"

"What's wrong with me!"

"Uh..." Zhang Jie weakly interjected. "Actually, I think the Light Warrior is pretty good..."

"Shut up!" "Heretic!" they both shouted in unison.

And then...

'Buzz————'

A multicolored magic cannon, as tall as a person and crackling with powerful lightning and iridescent light, grazed past their noses. The barrage stretched to the horizon of the main square before slowly disappearing into a blank void. Patchouli then gently closed the open grand grimoire. The two clueless individuals then obediently fell silent.

"Tsk, men." Ming Yanwei curled her lip, pulling her thoughts away from the dilemma of whether to revive Zhang Heng and instead focusing on dealing with the sumptuous feast in front of her. Cheng Xiao, who had somehow returned to normal, sat beside her, looking like he was saying, "See, I'm not like those vulgar people, come and praise me"—and then received two sanitary pills.

"So, besides Gundam, I have another option: exchanging for the Knight Titan, which is based on the Warhammer 40K. After all, Logandao, although you have a lot of reward points, you don't have enough side quests. So you can't exchange for those ridiculously expensive super robots. Even if you could, you probably wouldn't be able to control them right now. In contrast, the Knight Titan, which is relatively easy to operate but has powerful ground firepower, would allow you to unleash your full potential at this stage. In short, the choice is yours. It's your freedom to choose whichever path you take."

He looked at Cheng Xiao one last time, his gaze lingering for a very brief moment.

"Go practice Hokuto Shinken," Chu Xuan said, then returned to his seat.

"Colonel! You should at least say something!" Cheng Xiao's face twitched. "I'm a special forces soldier, after all, and I did help out a little in the Star River World!"

"There's nothing to say," Chu Xuan replied coldly. "Your path is basically set. Apart from developing in the martial arts, your future isn't very bright. There aren't many enhancements related to witchcraft in the Main God Space, but the Big Dipper Fist is an exchange that can relatively utilize the 'breath manipulation' ability you learned in the Gate World. Of course, you can also choose martial arts to cultivate qi. And magnetic field rotation martial arts might not be a bad choice either."

He then ignored Cheng Xiao, who was deep in thought. With a flick of his finger, the 'Fragment of the Tower of Babel' he had obtained from the Star River World fell into his hand. "I will now focus my research on this treasure. Don't worry about my combat abilities or self-defense. I will inform you when I have any results." He nodded to the witches, indicating that he had finished speaking.

“Okay, so next up is Patchouli and I’ll be making arrangements,” Alice said. “We have some research projects to complete, so most of our resources will be spent on them. Besides that, due to various reasons, worlds like Resident Evil, Ju-on, Alien, The Mummy, Final Destination, and Starship Troopers can’t provide us with enough assistance in the short term. So…”

"After resurrecting our fallen comrades, I will bring everyone to our own reality. There, we will help everyone complete all the planned enhancements. We will provide our resurrected comrades with trials and resources to catch up with the team. And... Patchouli and I have some important karmic debts that need to be settled there."

"In short, welcome to the world of Touhou Project."

Welcome to Gensokyo.

Section 4. There are always some...strange things.

Before heading to Gensokyo, some additional preparations are needed. Exchanging for enhancements and gaining a basic understanding of the new level of power are part of this, but the most urgent issue is resurrecting the crew. Since we don't plan to spend too much time in the Legend of the Condor Heroes world this time, only three people will be going.

Alice, Zheng Zha, Ming Yanwei.

The exchange period lasted only one day, and when the teleportation light faded, the three of them arrived at the plaza in front of the black pyramid located in the sacred oasis—the temporary base they had previously created in the world of Gods and Demons.

"Those monkeys are truly unforgettable," Zheng Zha couldn't help but sigh. He lightly swung the Destruction Blade in his hand, his gaze suddenly trembling when it fell upon the Anubis statue in front of the black pyramid. Well, the monkeys were secondary; the trial by Anubis was the real challenge for him—his fingers trembled, but he ultimately decided to store the crimson Destruction Blade in his storage ring.

—One must have reverence for deities, especially those one is completely powerless against. Even though Zheng Zha has now reached the fourth tier, making him a genuine extraordinary being, he still can't help but tremble with fear when recalling his trials!

Good heavens! This guy casually conjured up an empty world, then casually sealed off his fourth-stage genetic lock. Even now, Zheng Zha still couldn't comprehend or imagine such power—he even suspected that Alice might have referenced or copied Anubis's methods when creating the portal world in the Star River World. Otherwise, creating a complete world out of thin air is truly terrifying!

"I didn't, I'm not, don't overthink it." Alice cut him off before he could speak. "What I deceived in the Star River World was only that mainframe created by the humans of the upper world. I indirectly interfered with that 'Tower of Babel fragment' that had no defenses whatsoever. Deceiving the real universe and creating the real world are beyond my capabilities. Don't think of me as omnipotent."

“…Oh.” Zheng Zha pouted in disappointment. His gaze then turned to Ming Yanwei, who had just recovered from the teleportation by the main god and was still somewhat absent-minded.

"Are you alright, Ming Yanwei?" he asked with some concern. "If it's not convenient for you, then that guy Zhang Heng... it's the same if I resurrect him instead."

Ming Yanwei jolted awake, instinctively gripping the Zishan Bow that Chu Xuan had given her. She immediately realized she had overreacted—her chest heaved, and after taking several deep breaths, she managed to lift her head to look at Zheng Zha.

“No, I’m fine.” She shook her head gently, her tone firm and earnest. “I just recently exchanged for a series of inheritances from the Exorcist Priestess, and there’s so much new knowledge. So my head is a little fuzzy. I’m okay.”