Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Alice couldn't see through Luo Ye's concealment, nor could she see what Luo Ye was trying to hide. All the records she had previously observed vanished when Luo Ye's avatar appeared. There were no files, no reports, no playful Purple Moon. Everything Alice had observed was a disguise, while the real Luo Ji remained seated, reading the document Luo Ye had given him.

He had been reading for eleven hours, and perhaps would continue. He remained unmoved by Alice's earlier probing or Luo Ye's counterattack. All his spirit, will, and energy were focused on reading the document Luo Ye had given him. He simply had no spare attention to observe anything else around him.

Luo Ye glanced at him and shook her head slightly.

“I hope you can finish reading this book,” she said softly, and then her form vanished completely, just as it had when she first appeared. The manifested veil disappeared without a trace.

A few seconds later, Luo Ji, who had returned to hiding, turned the page of the document in his hand.

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

Luo Ye blinked, and the computational power used to construct her avatar returned to her main body on Earth. She and Xilin had arrived in Meilan and were now lying on a beach chair, wearing sun hats and enjoying the holiday sunshine.

Theresa, dressed in a white one-piece swimsuit, played happily on the beach, her innocent smile as pure as that of a real twelve-year-old girl. She waded through the shallow waves, white seashells washing ashore at her feet, and her silvery smile spread across the beach, making the entire air seem cheerful.

“She really is only twelve years old.” Celine pushed up her sunglasses, making it clear to Luo Ye beside her. “Both her body and her mind are only twelve years old. Both in terms of genetic fragments and mental structure—I don’t understand why you’re so fixated on observing her. To be honest, it makes me very unhappy.”

“I know, but it’s necessary,” Luo Ye replied. “You and I both know that it’s impossible for a Theresa Apocalypse from a broken world to appear out of nowhere. Although she hasn’t shown any abnormality, she herself signifies something unusual. And… I don’t think you really consider her a twelve-year-old girl.”

Xilin subconsciously tugged at her belt.

"Human laws don't apply to me... and I don't really want anyone to interfere. Luo Ye, I won't ask what you did when you transferred a portion of your will to Gray Moon. I also hope you can give me the respect I deserve—being colleagues is one thing, investigating is another. Even if you really want to investigate something, at least make sure I don't see it directly."

“If you ask me, I will answer you.” Luo Ye pursed her lips, a slight upturn at the corners. “And… are you planning to take her back? Back to the Main God Space? Although this little one has a feeding habit similar to that of a vampire, she only needs to drink blood, she is not afraid of the sun, and she has no blood energy—even if you feed her with your extraordinary blood, the cycle of reincarnation is still too cruel for her.”

Celine remained silent, glancing at Theresa, who was playing on the beach—the latter immediately noticed her gaze and gave her a pure, joyful smile.

“I have a feeling.” Her throat bobbed. “She… although she seems to be a native of this land from genes to soul, a woman similar to the one I know, formed by a series of coincidences. But I have this feeling. She… is her. The Theresa of this world… is the Theresa I met back then.”

"...Do you have evidence?"

No, not at all.

"Really? That's a real shame." Luo Ye looked up at the pale gray moon in the sky. She could vaguely see a spaceship sailing from the Earth's surface into space and docking at the gray moon's port—it was the ship carrying Cheng Xin, which meant that the plan had reached its final stage.

"...It's really a pity."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: I Am the Mandate of Heaven (Part Six)

The pages turned...

Many years ago, an ordinary girl was caught up in the chaos of an accident. When she awoke, she found herself in a foreign land completely different from her homeland. It was a place where the progress of civilization and the advancement of technology far exceeded her imagination. It took her a long time and a great deal of effort to settle down before she could even think of a way to find her way home.

The stories are all lies. When Easterners arrive in a foreign land, they never think of settling in. The idea of ​​"since we're here, we might as well make the best of it" only applies to those who can't go home. And this ordinary girl soon became one of them.

Since I'm already here, I don't want to settle down. But the way home is hard to find, so I have no choice but to make do.

But she was still unwilling to give up; she didn't want to die alone in a foreign land. She wanted to return to the place where she was born. At first, it was just a thought, but later it turned into an obsession, which became her spiritual pillar. In the end, she was willing to pay any price to go back.

In the foreign land she inhabited, a unique academic system existed, entirely different from the technological system of her homeland. Perhaps through studying this academic system, she could find her way home—she had gone to great lengths, employing many underhanded methods, to gain entry into its fold. Then, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to researching this academic system, hoping to find her way back.

She is a fallen leaf. If a fallen leaf does not return to its roots, then what value does it have?

however……

All those stories in the storybooks were indeed lies. How could an ordinary, mediocre person suddenly soar to great heights just by changing environments? A genius is a genius wherever they go, and a good-for-nothing is a good-for-nothing wherever they go—she was just an average person, how could she possibly reach the pinnacle of academic achievement in a foreign land solely based on her own talent? You must know that the advanced academic knowledge in foreign lands is no simpler than the top-tier knowledge in her homeland, and in some aspects, the foreigners are even more superior.

An average or slightly above-average undergraduate student could never understand the academic papers painstakingly written by the most talented academicians in the national research center. A mediocre person who is not born with much mathematical talent and has not received much specialized academic education could never catch up with those mathematical masters who were born with extraordinary talent, no matter how hard she tried.

If you can't do it, you can't do it. After trying your best, you realize you really can't compare to some chosen ones. Even the most outstanding geniuses and most experienced masters in foreign lands are at a loss when it comes to bringing her home—her arrival is a miracle, like a boulder rolling down a hillside and playing a piano melody. And such a miracle can never be replicated.

And so she despaired; she could never go back. She had considered leaving descendants so that one day, after their research succeeded, they could bring her ashes back to her homeland. However, she ultimately decided to abandon this strategy, because she did not believe that the genes she possessed, being mediocre, could cultivate a peerless genius who could surpass this world, and also because, in her despair, she found a path that was faint but held some possibility.

The reason why mediocre people are mediocre is precisely because they turn to vague and uncertain things when they are powerless to do anything else. Just as incompetent fools entrust things beyond their capabilities to God. This incompetent girl ultimately decided to turn to God because she truly found His presence in this foreign land.

Did she discover God, or did God choose her? This question became less important as she overcame trial after trial. And when she reached the limit of her abilities and the end of her life, she finally met the will of God in a fantastical land that did not exist in the mortal world.

That might not be considered the will of God, but rather a remnant of God—a supreme being who could do as He pleased wandering through many worlds, and the foreign land the girl had arrived at was just one of His footprints. God desired an offspring for an inexplicable reason. And the ordinary girl just happened to fit one of His thousands of options that He was trying.

And so, God bestowed a grace upon the girl. With this grace, the girl could use her own blood, her own flesh, her own memories, her own soul, and everything she possessed as raw materials to create a flawless divine child. She would perish completely, but the divine child reborn from her materials would inherit her sole will and, one day in the distant future, return to her homeland with her longing.

This is the death of new life, washing away all decay and ultimately forging the miraculous. The ordinary girl quickly realized she had no other choice. Having received divine grace, there was no other path.

So the girl started the ceremony.

—'You are the one destined by Heaven.'

—'You are the womb that gives birth to the divine child, the heaven of dreams.'

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

Luo Ji's finger hovered over the last page of the document titled "The Death of the Honest." The content of the ritual and the truth of the story were now clearly presented before his eyes. Combined with the numerous pieces of information he had secretly gathered over the past two years while posing as a netizen, he finally understood the truth of this world—or rather, part of the truth.

There was no need to turn the last page, because he could guess the ending. The woman who called herself Luo Ye was undoubtedly that ordinary girl. And she came from another world!

Earth has long been controlled by outsiders from another world; everything is an illusion. The World Government is nothing but a puppet of these outsiders. The entire world is enslaved by them!

Good heavens, what kind of world am I living in?!

He clutched his heart, his other hand tightly gripping the not-so-thick document. A wave of panic and confusion washed over him. He tried desperately to recall if he could find someone he could trust to share this unspeakable secret. Then, tragically, he realized he couldn't find such a person at all!

That man named Cheng Xiao must be from another world, because Luo Ji had already sensed something unusual about him before even opening the book. The way Cheng Xiao looked at Luo Ji from the beginning was filled with admiration and unrealistic expectations—while Luo Ji knew his own limitations; given his previous level, what was there to admire about him?

Sure enough, that admiring gaze vanished completely within three or four weeks. Because Luo Ji himself had consistently acted like a useless person, he stopped valuing himself—but if he truly possessed something admirable that he himself was unaware of, if his scholarship truly held that special value, how could that admiration have disappeared so quickly?

This isn't reverence for my academic work, but rather a temporary fanaticism, much like a fan idolizing a celebrity. He idolizes me as a person! But I don't recall ever accomplishing anything worthy of respect... In that case, there's only one answer left.

He tried to regulate his breathing and slowly relaxed into the chair. The otherworldly beings' surveillance devices were likely everywhere; he had just reacted irrationally and now he had to make amends.

He shook his head violently, then steeled himself and used the copy of "The Death of the Honest Man" as a rag to wipe his forehead. His face was contorted, and he muttered curses as if he were having a nightmare.

"What garbage! I'm never looking at this again!" He casually tossed the extremely valuable document aside. Then he picked up another document and roughly wiped the sweat from his neck—the cold sweat from being frightened. He was startled even more when he saw the time next to his personal terminal.

[I've actually been reading here for over ten hours... No! My unusual reaction is bound to be noticed. Ah, that woman who called herself Luo Ye must have helped me cover up my reading.]

So he immediately picked up the copy of "Death of the Honest Man" that he had thrown aside, and only breathed a small sigh of relief when he found that there wasn't a single wrinkle on it.

[The memories of the entire world have been altered. Before the alteration, I was likely an important figure who accomplished something truly astonishing to these people from another world. That's why that man named Cheng Xiao admires me—he, as a low-ranking member of the other world, is amazed by what I did in the past. That's why he's been monitoring me, and those two assassination attempts were indeed just tests, as I predicted!]

He understood, finally understood. Luo Ji had sensed something was amiss with those two assassination attempts long ago, and now he had finally arrived at a definitive conclusion. Although he didn't know exactly what he had done before, the people of the other world were undoubtedly wary of him. The two assassination attempts were tests to see if he could once again amaze them. And if he had truly done something extraordinary, then what awaited him might be the elimination of Cheng Xiao, the one who was watching him.

[They didn't kill me outright because they wanted to exploit my remaining value... Yes, Chu Xuan, the head of Star Research, is definitely an invader from another world. And they established Star Research for at least two purposes. First, to restrict the intelligence of us Earthlings, making it difficult for us to achieve developments beyond their expectations. Second, to feed on our intelligence; they want us to research technologies for them, so they can easily reap the rewards they need!]

[Zheng Zha, the governor of the World Government, is definitely from another world, as is Patchouli Knowledge, the curator of the Moon Research Institute. Even the singer Zhan Lan could be one, since she's been famous for so long without any scandals, and Cheng Xiao was quite fond of her at the time… perhaps this point is debatable.]

He shook his head, rubbing his forehead to clear his mind. The conclusion he reached was that he simply didn't believe he could find even a single trustworthy ally. In the entire world, besides himself, the only one who would stand against this immense power that controlled everything was Luo Ye.

Loneliness gripped him, but was quickly dispelled by a sense of mission surging from the depths of his heart. He might be the only one left who remained conscious in this world, and he had once accomplished feats that astonished and instilled fear in the people of another world.

That being the case...

[Perhaps my awakening this time, Luo Ye's intervention, and even her very existence, are all just another experiment by people from another world. But... since I am the only one who has awakened, then I have no choice.]

He glanced at the document in his hand; the entire ritual of rebirth and death was now vividly displayed in his mind. Perhaps it was a trap in itself, but a trap can ensnare more than just its prey. And before that…

"I need a template for reincarnation."

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

Today is special, so I'll post one more chapter.

Happy birthday, Jiuyuan

Chapter Thirty-Eight: I Am the One Chosen by Heaven (The End)

“I call this thing the quantum God, or to put it another way—'the prophet'. Referring to the super-beings described in an ancient book, calling it 'SEERS' wouldn't be wrong either.”

Inside the Tower of Babel world, Chu Xuan showed Alice a silver, wriggling creature encased in a transparent container. Just recently, Alice had witnessed this silver creature, named 'SEERS,' develop from nothing into a virtual universe created by fragments of the Tower of Babel, expanding, devouring, and within five days completely assimilated by a home planet civilization designed to be on par with 21st-century Earth, constructing a planetary-level ecosystem suitable for its own development.

It took it a year to devour the entire star system, including the Sun, and make it part of its own body. It took five years to extend its interference power to the entire lower arm of the Milky Way—Chu Xuan had set up many powerful enemies for it during its development. There were countless nations capable of completely evaporating a planetary system, equivalent to a fully-fledged Cybertron or the Star Federation without superhuman strength. But without exception, they all fell to the expansion of 'SEERS'.

By the fifteenth year, the entire Milky Way galaxy had become part of 'SEERS'. This artificial life form had become the galactic overlord with a physical body. And at this moment, it broke through the restrictions imposed on it by Chu Xuan.

It became aware of the existence of the Tower of Babel world. Unlike Alice, who discovered the loophole in the Tower of Babel world by exploiting its lack of an administrator in the Star River world, it genuinely noticed the existence of the Tower of Babel world right under Chu Xuan's nose. However, it ultimately fell short; as it attempted to break through upwards, Chu Xuan activated the Tower of Babel world's security measures and eliminated it.

"The 'technological explosion' in this worldview does exist. I collected the thoughts of all the wise men in the world and let their wisdom collide to produce such a result: an artificial life form composed of a large number of microstructures. It also has the ability to self-reproduce, expand, and even think—but I did not wait for it to naturally generate powerful wisdom. Instead, I copied, purified, and finally fused the thoughts of many wise men and injected them into its body."

"That wisdom was quickly devoured by it as food, and it thus began to take on the rudiments of a soul. Based on the knowledge I acquired, the design it derived from the beginning possessed a certain degree of high-dimensional perception. Coupled with its innate cellular-level molecular manipulation ability, you can regard it as a natural-born fourth-order supernatural larva."

Chu Xuan paused slightly at the end of his explanation.

"The reason I stopped it when it became aware of the Tower of Babel world was not because I feared it might seize control of the Tower of Babel world. Rather, it was because at the end of my research, I realized that it used the thoughts of all intelligent life in the experimental universe as raw materials to ignite the most primal light of mimicry mind."

He looked at Alice, his gaze calm.

"This is the result of my research over the past two years, achieved with the help of those wise men. Although manipulability is still a serious problem, this little thing is more than enough if it's just a means of deterrence or retaliation." Chu Xuan waved his hand, and the silver snake encased in the container disappeared without a trace along with its cage. The setting for the conversation shifted to a large laboratory.

"Are you satisfied now?"

“A naturally uncontrollable fourth-order being, even capable of acquiring the Light of the Mind… If given food, the fifteen-year process could be skipped entirely in a short time.” Alice rubbed her head. “This single universe cannot accommodate too many extraordinary life forms. Once Chang'e is dragged into this universe, she will inevitably clash with them… In other words, even if our plan fails, randomly teleporting these little things into the universe could serve as a deterrent, right?”

"That's right, but there's still one problem that needs to be solved."

"How can we keep Chang'e trapped in this universe even after our failure? Since you've asked, there must be a corresponding method. And the key to accomplishing this lies with me?"

"To be precise, it's a prop. A stone slab," Chu Xuan replied. "The stone slab you created in the previous world."

Alice raised an eyebrow, a thought flickering within her. A smooth, simple, yet subtly powerfully imposing blank stone tablet appeared in her hand—the very tablet she had used in the Lord of the Rings world when she unleashed the Outer Revelation: The Cataclysm. Now, though in a different world, no longer able to bind the gods, this tablet still carried the concept of the 'Cataclysm.' As long as the original did not appear in this world, under the right conditions, it could once again fulfill its duty as the 'Slate of Destiny'!

“Patch and I can’t activate two apocalypses at the same time. ‘Moon Flight’ already requires our utmost effort.” Alice frowned. “It’s not impossible to lay the groundwork beforehand so that ‘Moon Flight’ would change if it failed. But that might weaken ‘Moon Flight’... After all, it’s already too late to make preparations now.”

“I can handle this.” Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses. “I analyzed your records of using the Apocalypse several times. Although there are still many things I don’t understand and it’s difficult to innovate, I can at least manage to copy it. If the moon run fails, I can launch the Holy Catastrophe to forcibly trap it in this universe. And at that time, SERRS will be our bargaining chip. After all, we can leave this world at any time by abandoning the mission, but she can’t.”

"..." Alice was silent for a few seconds, then a slightly bitter smile appeared on her lips. "Patch and I have tried for so long but we still couldn't cultivate a suitable successor. But you were able to learn it directly... Well, if it's you, anything is possible. You can even mass-produce extraordinary larvae, so the mere Apocalypse is naturally no problem."

Alice shook her head and tossed the Fate Tablet to Chu Xuan.

"It's a pity that SERRS can't be controlled. If we could do that, we could have a lot more Tier 4 combat power at once."

"That's impossible. Human thought can hardly synchronize with such a thing. Unless it became like this from the very beginning before it gathered the light of the mind, it is destined to be a species that has nothing to do with mortals. It can only be used as a weapon, and the kind of weapon with a high possibility of going out of control. The only thing to be thankful for, or perhaps regrettable, is that the middle stage of the fourth level of the alien species should be its limit. Perhaps quantum senses can give it some of the abilities of the high stage of the fourth level, but it will never reach the high stage of the fourth level... and the fifth level is absolutely impossible."

“Perhaps there’s a way to get around it, just like there’s more than one path to transcendence than the genetic lock?” Alice said, then shook her head and faded from the Tower of Babel world. “But that’s not something I should worry about… I have to thank you, Chu Xuan, now I feel much more at ease.”

After saying this, her form completely disappeared from the Tower of Babel world and then returned to the real world.

Chu Xuan was left standing alone in the empty laboratory, his gaze coldly fixed on the coordinates of her departure. After a long while, he waved his hand, changing the scene of the laboratory. He then moved away, heading deeper into the Tower of Babel world, which had transformed into a secret base.

A giant silver shadow flickered around him.

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

The world returned to silence.

Alice appeared in the outside world, nodded slightly to Chu Xuan's avatar who was in the Gray Moon Central Laboratory, and then left. Unlike when she arrived, her steps were noticeably lighter as she left.