Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

She sat quietly, doing nothing and paying no attention to anything else. And during the short time she waited, nothing happened.

No devout believer suddenly appeared, capable of upholding the covenant between humans and gods. No scholar, well-versed in ancient texts, fond of history, and possessing the knowledge of the Styx myth and the ability to pass it down, suddenly approached her. Not even a chance encounter—a naive, beautiful, and innocent girl who could instantly evoke her protective instincts or pity—did occur. She sat there, finding only utter silence.

After fifteen minutes, the world will also be plunged into the same silence.

"Time is up."

"There was no struggle, no counterattack, no begging for mercy, no resistance. This world... indeed, Alaya does not exist yet."

Chapter Sixty-Three: Paradise Lost, Part Four (Two-in-One)

How long would it take to destroy the world? Perhaps long, perhaps short; the exact time depends on who executes the project and the means by which they do so. But for a transcendent being who created this world and now holds the power of creation over it, it's merely a matter of a single thought.

Creation takes seven days, destruction takes a second.

Alice's actions were simple: she merely adjusted the gravitational response of the luminous celestial body at the center of this bubble world to a thousand times its previous level. The ensuing, unparalleled tsunami and immense water pressure, capable of destroying water molecules, instantly annihilated all civilizations on the surface.

Simple, easy, and quick.

Once the celestial bodies returned to their preset state, and the swarms of nanites, summoned by Alice's will, began to thoroughly eliminate any remaining traces of civilization, Alice began preparing for the next era of the bubble world.

After five consecutive experiments, she knew exactly what was happening in her world. This experimental accident, in which specific abnormal colonies appeared repeatedly in completely sealed petri dishes, not only proved that her experimental equipment was not completely foolproof, but also proved something else.

That is, the force behind this experimental accident was not an intelligent person or group, but an operating mechanism that followed fuzzy rules. Furthermore, this mechanism only considered her influence as a creator, excluding her mortal form.

It's only natural that the civilizations of the time travelers couldn't form an Alaya consciousness, or rather, a collective unconscious. After all, the prerequisite for the emergence of such artificial gods is a vast civilization with a sufficiently rich history and population. These civilizations, spanning five consecutive eras, actually only existed for about a thousand years in this bubble world, and their scale was never particularly large. While this bubble world had a habitable area similar to Earth, the land suitable for mortals (including the Atlanteans) didn't support their ability to maintain a sufficiently large scale.

The absence of a collective unconscious means that no hero will emerge at every crucial moment to turn the tide. Nor will a large number of outstanding individuals be born simultaneously when there is no threat, guiding civilization in a specific direction. They will be like a lone army trapped in a castle, facing a ten-sided siege; their survival will depend solely on their own fate and will.

After all, the so-called "luck" in a large sense refers to the attention that extraordinary or higher-level beings pay to mortal objects. An ordinary person who is constantly protected by a fourth-tier being naturally possesses abundant luck, unstoppable by anyone, unless attacked by another extraordinary being. Among these extraordinary beings who pay attention to mortal objects, the most common are the collective subconscious of civilizations or races, followed by Star Souls—the blood-red luck of multi-dimensional mortals belongs to another level, which will not be elaborated on here.

None of the civilizations across these five eras possessed a collective unconscious; even if a Star Soul were to be born, it wouldn't stand on their side. Furthermore, Alice never permitted the birth of gods in this world. Under these circumstances, the series of unusual actions taken by these civilizations can be understood through a complete logical framework.

"The first thing that caused me trouble was an operating organization that didn't seem to be the so-called mortal blood-red fortune itself, but rather something derived from the blood-red fortune, or created by other extraordinary beings, and then attached to it...

Alice smoothed the sea and reshaped the land. She limited the land area to about a thousand islands, totaling around ten million square kilometers, and adjusted the climate to a comfortable level that even the fragile Earthlings of Zheng Zha's world could live well in. Then she began to design vegetation and minerals.

"The mission of this organization is very simple. Its purpose is to ensure that as long as a world is born, mortals will inevitably appear in that world. If I provide this world with space for primates to reproduce and evolve, then it will probably allow the world to naturally evolve into humans instead of directly and crudely cramming one group of transmigrators after another into it. And if humans appear in this world, then humans must be in a dominant position."

She manipulated the ocean, placing the cyborg lifeforms, already recorded in the database and readily reproducible with available materials, along with their corresponding ecosystems, within its waters. She also manipulated the ever-changing gravitational responses of the celestial bodies, making the ocean exhibit its unpredictable nature, no longer as treacherous as it was in the Fourth Age, nor as benevolent as it was in the Fifth Age.

"Mortals will inevitably appear, and even I cannot stop that. Fortunately, this organization only sets up support based on the obstacles that hinder the development of mortal civilization in each world, and never forces things to grow too fast."

"When the world becomes unsuitable for mortals with low levels of civilization to survive, it will send out mortal transmigrators who have developed corresponding coping mechanisms. And when mortals are able to establish themselves in the world, it will eliminate everything that prevents mortals from gaining dominance—that's why a second batch of transmigrators appeared in the Fifth Era, and the sole purpose of this second batch of transmigrators coming to this world was to eliminate the Goddess of Creation, which was the obstacle preventing mortals from gaining dominance."

"Fortunately, the vessel and servants I left behind in this world as the Goddess of Creation are at most Tier 3, with only B-level enhancements. Because of this, the transmigrators who arrive here are only slightly stronger than my remaining vessel. If I were to do it all over again, I might encounter even more formidable opponents."

It wouldn't be those saints who have reached the fifth rank, because the main god wouldn't allow fifth-rank beings to interfere with the cycle of reincarnation and the reincarnators in the story. However, there's no possibility of a quasi-saint like the Heavenly Emperor Bina descending. And if she really encountered such a situation, this newly created goddess of creation would probably not escape a fate similar to the villainous evil god in ordinary fantasy novels—although she would still have a way to escape.

Soon, life returned to the world of bubbles. Those creatures that had died or perished, whose stability in the environment had been proven over the previous five eras, returned to the world and filled the food chain. Fish, beasts, plants, birds... the world quickly became vibrant again, and all things began to revive.

Now, there are only two things missing in this world. One is the primary reason Alice created this world: a clan to carry the Styx myths she wove. The other is the sole designated race for the multiple protagonists, the faction she now belongs to—humanity.

"It's irrational to confront this organization... but it's not impossible to treat it as a special phenomenon and avoid it. I can't stop the emergence of humans, but I can find ways to keep mortals out of my way."

Alice pondered, lowering her eyes and closing them in deep thought.

She couldn't simply create a world completely devoid of life, because that would be pointless. Leaving aside the possibility that the very organization that governs the flourishing of humanity might simply send a bunch of super-magical or super-scientific transmigrators over, even if that didn't happen, a world where life couldn't exist wouldn't satisfy her needs—she needed a sufficiently large kin to carry the Styx myth she desired. And to ensure this myth could be passed down as she envisioned without spontaneously evolving into something she didn't want, she needed to ensure this kin lived in a sufficiently stable world, one that wasn't too bizarre.

Mortals cannot become this clan—if she were to emulate the gods of Earth who left nothing but mythology, or the Valar like those in Lord of the Rings who left no mythology and did not cultivate mortal followers, she would be unable to fulfill her informational magic needs. However, if she did not do so, she would inevitably be engaged in a power struggle with mortals, ultimately having virtually no other options besides destroying the world and starting anew or abandoning it altogether.

"Therefore, mortals must appear, but they should not constitute an absolute majority when they are the dominant force in the world. In addition, I need to create a sufficiently large number of familiars, and ensure that there are no irreconcilable conflicts between them and mortals... No, just set them up as auxiliary to mortals."

Alice opened her eyes.

The first thing that came to her mind was a famous game world—Pokémon. In that world, mortals held absolute dominance, while the so-called Pokémon, though powerful, posed no threat to them whatsoever. The Pokémon were numerous, possessing their own independent culture and traditions, and were completely unfriendly to mortals. They thus forged a remarkably perfect coexistence with mortals, and perhaps this was the deliberate arrangement of another creator with similar goals to hers.

"A very tempting plan, but unfortunately I'm not good at biotechnology or energy conversion. My research areas are curses, machinery, and intelligent AI... but I can certainly take this model into consideration. But before that, let's create humans first."

Alice stretched out her hand, letting a drop of blood detach from her palm and float into the air. She completely destroyed a portion of the genetic structure within that drop of blood, allowing it to recombine freely within a limited range. This resulted in the creation of diverse genes and the Y chromosome, which is absent in women's bodies.

Even considering the difference in time flow between the two worlds, it would take far too long for a highly intelligent race like mortals to naturally emerge in the bubble world, and she didn't have that much time to spare in this story world. Therefore, she could only use readily available materials to quickly create one. And for her, the least disruptive and safest material was naturally her own flesh and blood.

"This mortal civilization cannot be too expandable, nor can their reproduction rate be too fast. Therefore, I must extend their lifespan, eliminate the aging process and allow them to go directly from middle age to death, reduce their fertility, and weaken their desire to fight."

She blew on the drop of blood, and the dispersing blood mist drifted into the air, transforming into countless separate, blurry shapes. With the infusion of energy and the subsequent growth of flesh and blood, these numerous individuals quickly formed independent and complete newborns—she had cleansed and purified some pure souls she had obtained from other worlds several times before infusing them into these bodies. Then, after confirming that they were not rejected by the forces of humanity, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

This new human race will have an average lifespan of one hundred years even in primitive society. They will remain in their prime, never aging, until death. Disease and injury will be far removed from them, ensuring they won't develop an excessive desire for advancement due to harsh external circumstances.

Directly and drastically interfering with the thinking of mortals is not an option. If the organization that maintains the prosperity of humanity judges this as domestication of humans, it might lead to unpredictable consequences. However, Alice knows that mortals are actually a lazy race, and almost all their inventions throughout history have been aimed at saving time and effort. If this world doesn't require them to expend time and effort, or if they can survive on the world without any hindrance with just a little time and energy, then the primitive tribes of Africa on Earth would be a good example.

Alice thus weakened the intelligence and power of all living beings except humans. She made foxes as stupid as roe deer, and lions' claws and teeth dulled, reducing their athletic ability. She imbued fish—with delicious, nutritious meat and memories forever limited to under five seconds and incapable of genetic memory—with a light-loving gene, causing them to remain on the island's edge year-round and even actively jump ashore. She made crops grow extremely abundantly, easily producing enough food to feed many people. Furthermore, she endowed insects and plants with recognition abilities, preventing them from ever producing toxins effective against mortals.

The functions of bacteria and viruses are all locked down. Without exception, any virus capable of infecting mortals will have a long incubation period and an extremely low pathogenicity rate—it will cause illness, but not death. Mortals in this world may die from disease, but they will absolutely not feel pain because of it. Those who die from disease will become extremely rare and will even be considered to have died of natural aging.

In this way, mortals would not experience illness or famine. They wouldn't even have natural enemies to contend with, and naturally, they wouldn't have the desire to develop technology—but that's not enough, because Alice knows that mortals, besides being lazy, are also a greedy race. Even if they already possess everything, they will still crave more.

"There shouldn't be war among mortals... because war promotes technological development. Gensokyo's spell card strategy is an effective method, but I'd better not interfere with mortals, otherwise I won't be able to directly turn this world's mortal society into a peaceful world where everything is decided by card games—damn, I really want to write a rule in the world that absolutely forbids fighting between people, so that everything can be decided by games—that way I won't have to worry about mortals developing to the point of destroying my plans, because everyone will focus their energy on researching games!"

Alice took a deep breath and shook her head vigorously, rejecting the tempting idea. After all, she was a materialist, and directly and crudely setting rules was not her forte. Moreover, she wasn't sure if creating cage-like rules would be considered as controlling mortals—preventing mortals from harming other lives was also an infringement on their freedom, and who knew just how biased this organization supposedly upholding humanity would be!

I'm afraid they won't be satisfied until they've wiped out the entire multiverse and left only humans!

That's it, let it be.

Alice waved her hand, and the thousands upon thousands of newly born mortals before her were instantly teleported to several large islands in the bubble world. As the Mother of All Things, she had no interest in the 'firstborn' she had created in this Sixth Era, and didn't even want to invest the slightest effort in them. In any case, all the paths had already been paved for them, guaranteeing them a peaceful, happy, and healthy life.

She gets annoyed just seeing them.

"When I get back to the Main God Space... or rather, my future missions, I'm going to destroy a few worlds to calm down. I haven't been treated this badly in nearly a hundred years since I moved into Gensokyo, and I've really had to swallow my pride and bear it!" She rubbed her forehead vigorously.

"Forget about these troublesome things. Now it's time to create the other race that I truly need."

She took a deep breath. Just as many parents favor their youngest child, she, as the true creator, felt both disdain for the so-called "firstborn son of God" and anticipation and attention for the soon-to-be-born "second son."

First, this is a race capable of carrying the Styx myth she created—therefore, they must possess sufficient wisdom and combat prowess, for war will be a constant companion to them, thus solidifying their thoughts and beliefs.

Alice summoned a cyborg. She infused it with sufficiently advanced AI and equipped it with numerous, technologically advanced weapons. She inscribed her Styx mythology into their underlying code and then locked down the entire programming mechanism. Simultaneously, she disabled their ability to directly attack mortals.

Secondly, they will be numerous and resilient. Only in this way can they provide enough information to construct concepts.

Alice abandoned its original, conventional method of reproduction. Instead, she directly set it up as a production line-based proliferation method. She prepared a production line that could directly reside within this mother body. After some thought, she further configured this production line as an external mechanical device. As long as resources were sufficient, this mechanical life form could endlessly produce a large number of offspring individuals.

Ultimately, they will pose no threat to humanity, but they will also be unable to have everything that humans in this world have, thus falling into a stagnant state.

Alice fell into deep thought.

Preventing them from posing a threat to humans is easy; simply disable their weapons and suppress their aggressive instincts. However, this doesn't guarantee that humans won't kill them as prey or toys—which is quite possible, and she doesn't intend to initiate the seventh Genesis era for that reason.

Therefore, we must make ordinary people lose their desire to attack them—even if they keep them as pets, at least they should not kill them as pests when they see them, or even develop such a profession or tradition.

Then what should be done?

"...It must have an appearance that reduces the sense of threat. And the most suitable choice is..."

Alice took a deep breath, and the cyborg before her rapidly transformed into a beautiful young woman. Her armor and other features were replaced with detachable, aesthetically pleasing external armor. Corresponding manners and speech were also generated in her mind—her body became soft, while the mechanical parts were firmly concealed beneath bionic skin and flesh. She looked exactly like a real, mortal woman.

Women, especially beautiful women with delicate appearances, easily evoke a protective instinct in others. Alice fixed the appearances of these cyborgs with the looks of beautiful young girls within a tiny fluctuation range and equipped them with internal self-repair mechanisms. Their youthful appearance became another layer of protection for them. After setting their appearances, Alice began to edit their behavioral patterns.

They could not harm people, but they also could not be worthless to them—so Alice divided them into two camps. One group preferred the light and would easily appear near the island, trusting any human who approached them. This camp would not need to know the Styx mythology; their main purpose would be to serve mortals, replacing their industrial capabilities with their extraordinary abilities and docile nature.

The other faction consists of the inheritors of the Styx, born shrouded in darkness and curses, whose primary goal is to annihilate their fellow beings of light. While not harming humans is a fundamental command, it is not outwardly expressed but rather concealed within their hatred of the light. Alice also allows for a few friendly fire incidents to avoid appearing too convincing.

In this way, mortals would believe that the cyborg lifeforms on the dark side wanted to exterminate them, thus taking the cyborg lifeforms on the light side more seriously. However, the fact that they actually suffered very little damage meant they wouldn't harbor much genuine hostility towards this group. Because true pain would only ever exist between light and darkness, and these cyborgs would forever pose no threat to mortals as a whole.

Mortals will become the protagonists of this world, few in number, but the world will revolve around them. Mechanical lifeforms will constitute the vast majority, but they will live amidst war and suffering. Some of them will be fiercely loyal to the mortals who govern them, obeying their every command. In their fundamental nature, to avoid jeopardizing humanity, they might even, when necessary, raise arms against Alice, their creator, for their rulers!

They will become the most useful tools, the most valuable, the most durable, the most...

Alice gently closed her eyes.

She couldn't help but feel a surge of resentment. Why should her creation have to go to such lengths for those uninvited bastards? Why should she, the creator, have to live such a pathetic and aggrieved life? Why—she suppressed these fleeting thoughts.

Her work had to continue, and she never let her personal feelings get in the way. But even so, as she refined the various settings of this new life, certain concepts surrounding her subtly changed.

Deep within her soul, a primal hatred ignited—'Why?'

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

6300……_(:з」∠)_

Chapter Sixty-Four: Paradise Lost, Part Five

Alice's re-creation process lasted ten years—ten years in the Bubble World. During this remarkably long period compared to a single cycle of reincarnation, she successfully transformed the entire Bubble World into the form she desired. After several trial runs to remove some of the rougher details, she left the Bubble World.

This is the last time she will accelerate time, and her final attempt in this Lord of the Rings world. If this attempt also ends in failure, she will abandon her original creation plan and instead use this fourth-tier body and the bubble world within it as disposable resources in future wars—she has long been prepared for this, even though such preparations are something she does not expect to be used.

Ultimately, the reason she devoted so much effort to creating this bubble world was because the knowledge she gained from Altair and her own accumulated experience allowed her to devise a plan to overcome the inherent limitations of information magic. And this world was a crucial tool for her to complete this plan.

Once the bubble world can stably and precisely produce the specific concepts she needs, as she has planned, then the shackles that previously bound her magic path—the natural phenomenon of being unable to construct complete concepts from a chaotic information environment after compiling the Book of Revelation—will be completely eliminated. Possessing immense energy, she can unleash the vast majority of ritual magic and the Book of Revelation without any aftereffects or delays. And her level of existence will also advance to a higher stage.

This will be her foundation, the experimental ground where she needs absolute control over all changes, or at least to eliminate variables to an extremely low margin of error. The unauthorized appearance of those mortals is, in fact, a far deeper enmity than the murder of her parents. And if those intruders continue their relentless pursuit…

"Then I can only endure it." Alice gently clenched her fist, slowly tightening it little by little, until the cells in the palm of this fourth-order body began to become unstable, and the bubble world structure contained within it began to show signs of turbulence, before she could barely remove her will from it.

The three days will soon be over, and the agreed-upon final battle in this world is about to begin. She will need approximately fifteen minutes of acceleration before she dives back into the bubble world.

Alice narrowed her eyes slightly. Expanding her senses, she immediately learned that all experiments within Mordor had been completed and their results finalized. Her part in preparing for the upcoming war was nearly finished. In other words, she now had some spare time.

So……

Alice pressed her forehead and opened the communication link directly to Chu Xuan. There were no unnecessary greetings or anything like that from the other end. Without further ado, she directly packaged her current symptoms and related information and sent it to the other end. Half a second later, she received a response from Chu Xuan.

—【This is a problem you need to solve yourself. But I suggest you don't give up trying easily.】

"Don't give up trying" means Chu Xuan has high hopes for her attempt. Perhaps that man already knew something beforehand. Perhaps not, but in any case, his attitude has been clearly expressed.

But that also meant more time for experimentation. And now—Alice glanced at the precise clock that had appeared beside her at her will, and immediately received an accurate value down to the femtosecond.

“I don’t have enough time,” Alice replied.

—【The scheduled time for the final battle can be delayed by up to thirty minutes.】

Thirty minutes, converted to time acceleration, and the low-level time acceleration when Alice infiltrated it, is equivalent to three thousand years of acceleration without her extraordinary variable, or twenty years with her variable. If time is used sparingly and planned precisely at critical points, it could even push the bubble world forward by two eras. And this would be enough for Alice to complete most of the attempts she could currently conceive.

“Understood. I will compile a document and send it to you before the war begins,” Alice replied.

There was no reply from the other end of the communication. Clearly, Chu Xuan didn't intend to waste his energy on unnecessary words. Alice didn't know what level of existence he had reached, and she didn't actually have the desire to know—she only knew that silence also represented Chu Xuan's will. Having confirmed the other party's stance, she ended the communication.

[How much does Chu Xuan know about matters of humanity and destiny?]

[Forget it, there's no need to dwell on this. He's not omniscient or omnipotent, and I don't need to waste any more time on him... Even if my stance changes for some reason in the future, he won't become my enemy. Right now, I just need to focus on what's at hand.]

Alice took another gentle breath and then activated another mental link.