Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

A bunch of idiots.

But that's how they were designed. Simple, emotional, and easily swayed by feelings.

Luo Ye knew she had no reason to blame them. After all, the bubble world where the ship girls lived had developed into what it was today, and she bore some responsibility for it. Although Alice's act of extracting concepts was the direct trigger, she was still herself; the two were simply different facets of the same whole. And since they were the same person, it was only natural that they should clean up the mess.

So she slightly parted her lips. But just as she was about to say some words of encouragement, she felt a slight flutter in her heart.

Ah...it's work time again.

The next moment, Luo Ye's gaze returned to the world of the origin. The powerful abilities belonging to extraordinary beings surged within her limbs and bones—she raised her head and looked up at the sky. In the vast and boundless sea of ​​energy, she saw many subtle changes.

Changes that were planned, changes that were expected.

She saw the entire Tree of Phenomena swaying slightly. What she saw as a slight sway was magnified to a violent shaking hundreds or thousands of light-years away. Countless tiny leaves sprang out from the dense canopy, filling the entire sea of ​​energy like drifting willow catkins.

The primordial Chang'e, in her slumber, began to act, her response to Chu Xuan's ultimate move. When Chu Xuan used the Hunting Saint's Cage to purge trillions of small worlds on one branch, forcing him into hibernation, a hidden mechanism was triggered. Then, many specific small worlds on the other branches would take advantage of his hibernation to break free from the 'branch script' Chu Xuan had woven for them, plunging into the boundless ocean of energy.

These small worlds are destined for destruction. Once detached from the 'branches' formed by the script, most of them will soon be washed away into tattered remains by the raging sea of ​​energy. Just like fallen leaves that can't return to their roots, they will only vanish into thin air. Even if left unattended, they won't exist for long.

However, that's only the majority. The majority doesn't represent the whole. Just as among those seven or eight trillion small worlds, there are bound to be a few worlds with anomalies, containing fragments of the original Chang'e's true power, attempting to awaken her true form, there must also be hidden mechanisms within these many fallen 'leaves,' which, if left unchecked, will trigger calamity!

After all, the sages of the primordial world did not descend upon this universe alone. It wasn't just the original Chang'e who came here; trillions upon trillions of servants also arrived. Although they were all imprisoned in this celestial prison formed by the Virgo star cluster within the Sage Hunting Cage, and all demoted to mortals, falling from the highest realm of transcendence to dust, if they were to break free from the script, they might rediscover their true selves. And if they did, they might be able to activate a special means to awaken Chang'e before the small world that had fallen into the sea of ​​energy was completely destroyed!

“In terms of quantity, there are a total of... 1,675 small worlds that have broken free from their branches.” Luo Ye flexed her fingers and sighed softly.

Chu Xuan will not move. He will not use the Hunting Saint Cage again because of the loss of a mere 1,675 worlds. He will only break out of hibernation and forcibly take action if he is certain that he can severely injure the original Chang'e. And to create such a situation, at least more than one trillion small worlds would have to be in turmoil.

He can't move, but Luo Ye can. Because this is also part of the cooperation, and because in the current Hunter Saint Prison, she is a unique and extraordinary being.

Even the most inept superhuman life form can easily suppress a planetary-level civilization. Luo Ye possesses combat power equal to or slightly exceeding Alice's, which can be considered true combat strength at the mid-stage of the fourth tier of unlocked genetic potential. She only needs to spend time to easily crush these small-world civilizations that don't even qualify as planetary-level; they are merely phantoms. And time—time has no meaning for her.

The time for hard and tiring work is over; now it's time for the dirty and unpleasant work.

She took a light breath, and then...

...The first world.

The first world is a fantasy medieval world. Dark and gloomy, a murky energy entity calling itself a god hides behind the celestial veil, creating several God Hands as if playing a game, instigating wars between light and darkness for its amusement—Luo Ye's will falls, crushing those who claim to be gods into dust, shattering all the God Hands. Then, when peace arrives, her gaze slices across the sky like a tangible blade, cleaving the earth.

—All living beings and things in this world have been slaughtered to the last.

The second world is an ordinary modern metropolis, without war or bloodshed. Great powers scheme against each other, but their rivalry is subtle. Smaller nations occasionally clash, but without bloodshed. The entire world is as peaceful as a typical, leisurely daily story—Luo Ye shatters the Earth's core, unleashing celestial fire upon the land, causing the oceans to boil and vaporize, until everything is reduced to charcoal, eradicating all life.

—All living beings and things in this world have been slaughtered to the last.

The third world is set in a near-future sci-fi world where mortals modify their bodies and pilot enormous humanoid machines to fight in orbit and even in space. It's a world of passion, youth, and a space diva singing amidst the roar of steel—Luo Ye sensed something amiss with the famous diva upon her arrival. Before she could reveal her affiliation with the Saint Legion, he blasted her and her colony into atoms with a single punch, then granted her equal deaths before her enraged protectors arrived.

—All living beings and things in this world have been slaughtered to the last.

...The Hundredth World.

The hundredth world is a desolate place. Human civilization has long been wiped out by the virus, leaving only a few ordinary people to fight against the indestructible infected with air guns and swords. They won, they won the war, and then, in their cheers and celebrations, they welcomed the arrival of Luo Ye…

—All living beings and things in this world have been slaughtered to the last.

...The 435th world.

The awakened ones of the Saint Legion anticipated Luo Ye's arrival, transforming the world into a narrow arena. They created countless heroes and monsters to select the strongest warrior to fight against Luo Ye. They were almost successful. When Luo Ye descended, a being who combined the full power of several awakened ones, whose combat strength far exceeded the limits of the world's cosmology, and who could defeat any enemy with a single punch, was born—a being beyond the supernatural, not quite extraordinary. It was a bitter battle; supernatural beings, if not decided from the start, would inevitably be locked in a grueling struggle. Luo Ye spent three years exchanging a quadrillion punches with that warrior before finally breaking through his defenses and killing him. The entire world had already been reduced to dust in their battle.

—All living beings and things in this world have been slaughtered to the last.

...The 667th world.

When Luo Ye descended, the crimson blood moon had already risen. The awakened ones fled to this place, sacrificing all life in the world in an attempt to activate Chang'e's slumbering will before Luo Ye's arrival. They thought they had bought enough time, but they did not know that within this prison of the Saint Hunter, time was meaningless to Luo Ye.

Luo Ye will always arrive before their ritual succeeds, because she has already locked onto these thousand-plus small worlds. No matter how long she stays in other worlds, she will never be late to the next world.

—All living beings and things in this world have been slaughtered to the last.

...The 999th world.

The 999th world is the world of Transformers, where the story abruptly ends after the events of the first film. Sentinel Prime on the moon and the Fallen in Egypt seem to have never existed in the first place. Then, in a country he didn't want to set foot in, in a place he didn't want to remember, Luo Ye saw an ordinary woman.

She did not go abroad to study, her parents did not pass away early, her relatives and friends cared for her, and she had many like-minded friends.

She didn't get married, but she found a job that overlapped with her interests. Her income was enough to support her, and she got along well with her boss and colleagues.

She lived a very happy life.

Then... she saw her.

She was very happy, but she saw someone who was not happy at all.

—All living beings in this world will be slaughtered to the last.

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

Luo Ye returned to the base world, gazing at the now calmed sea of ​​energy. It took 14,330 years, 95 days, and 7 seconds to completely erase all the scattered worlds and their internal destabilizing factors.

Her gaze fell upon the Wizarding World that had transformed into a fruit. Though she could no longer perceive the many possibilities, she could still see Alice—Alice, having obtained the coordinates, had just found a ship bound for the Skellige Islands. She would arrive in Skellige in a few days, and then sail north to the Misty Isle where Ciri resided.

Besides her, Janlan and the Witcher's group were also entangled in Norvingrey. Janlan found some tricks and, without relying on the enhancement of the main god, indirectly released her spiritual power through the Gene Lock. With this method, which was not restricted by anti-magic metal, she wiped out the Eternal Flame's stronghold and fought Geralt several times, becoming both enemy and friend.

She looked away.

A curse swirled around him… It was the work of the primordial Chang'e. Those fragmented miniature worlds, though essentially illusory, and all the living and dead beings within them merely phantoms conjured by the power of a sage, were still humans. These illusory beings, under the influence of the sage's power, had their concept of 'humanity' emphasized. And after destroying so many miniature worlds and killing so many 'humans,' even a reincarnator protected by a supreme god would inevitably be cursed by the multifaceted nature of humanity.

Unlike Chu Xuan, who used the power of the idealistic Chang'e, killing or destroying countless worlds wouldn't be attributed to him. Because a sage is qualified to converse on equal footing with diverse human realms, whether a sage destroys or saves a world, it's considered a great deed without incurring any sin.

She is not him, so she has to bear it. Because this is also part of the cooperation.

Luo Ye took a soft breath, and the shadows vanished in an instant. She felt that her own shadow seemed to have darkened slightly, but she didn't care.

“Someone always has to take responsibility. Alice, Alice Royer, Alice Margot Lloyd.”

"It's either her or me."

"It wasn't her. It was me."

She shook her head and returned to the bubble world.

Time meant nothing to her; 14,300 years was just 1.43 seconds when necessary. She returned to the observation tower once more, and several kilometers away were the ship girls who had just botched the exercise, pretending to be humble and correcting their mistakes, but in reality, they were all watching her every move with their ears perked up and eyes wide open.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but felt at a loss for words. In the end, all that came out was a meaningless word of encouragement.

"Be careful next time, don't mess it up again."

She nodded and turned to leave. Next, she planned to go to the 'bathhouse' to check on the ship girls who had unfortunately perished. Then she would plan her next move.

The clerk caught up a few seconds later, walking faster than usual.

“Luo Ye…” She hesitated for a moment, then addressed Luo Ye by his name instead of ‘Commander.’ She spoke cautiously as Luo Ye turned his head in confusion.

"Although the situation is very tense, aren't you being a little too strict with the girls?"

Luo Ye did not answer.

Her gaze swept past the scribe and landed on the faint shadow with the outline of Luo Ye that the ship girl was treading on.

The shadow did not become any darker than usual.

—Perhaps not.

Section Twelve: The Road to Death - Part Three

"...Luo Ye?"

"Yes, I'll be more careful in the future. I've been a bit too harsh on them."

"I apologize, Commander, I didn't mean to criticize you..."

“It’s alright.” Luo Ye shook her head slightly and gestured to her clerk to calm down. “If I made a mistake, I made a mistake. If you don’t mind, Lexington, could you please convey my apologies to those girls for me?”

"I'll have a good talk with them." The clerk nodded and silently left Luo Ye's side. Five seconds after she left, another ship girl quietly took her place.

As the sole admiral, Luo Ye is always surrounded by ship girls who guard her. For example, right now, there are at least three ship girls secretly following her in the shadows. The reason why the second ship girl only appeared five seconds later was simply out of respect for Lexington due to her special status, so she chose to come from the shadows ten meters away to within three meters of Luo Ye after she had left.

Luo Ye gazed at her shadow, its color now restored to its normal hue. She was certain that the hatred for humanity within her had been completely suppressed. She wouldn't be bothered by it again for some time.

How much longer can I hold on...? Ah... I should be able to hold on until the ceremony ends.

Luo Ye pondered as she continued forward—she knew her purpose and the pace she should take to reach her goal.

Death…she did indeed yearn for death. But if it were simply about dying, she could abandon everything now and merge directly with Alice. Because Alice had already reached the mid-stage of the fourth tier, activating the tribulation of her inner demons. The reason Alice hadn't yet completed her complete transformation was simply because her inner demons hadn't fully materialized.

Because simply dying isn't enough, far from enough. While reincarnators possess boundless potential, their growth towards the Demon King rank and the fourth stage of the genetic lock still requires a process. Alice's talent is exceptional, and she had already accumulated enough experience before reaching the fourth stage, allowing her to enter it without hindrance. However, if she wants to continue smoothly through the latter half of the fourth stage, she needs even more growth.

Nirvana once referred to the light of the soul as the ideal state of the soul, and an ideal signifies perfection, a temporary peak. It's like finally patching up a short plank in a bucket; although the bucket can now be filled with water, it's difficult to transform it into a more suitable container, because if a bucket already full is modified, the water will leak out. Perhaps unlocking the fifth-order genetic lock would allow for a fresh start, but that's clearly a distant goal.

Once Alice reaches the fourth tier and gathers the complete Light of the Soul, she will inevitably face a trial. Both the Divine Beast and the Supreme God will place this trial and heavy responsibility on her shoulders. Therefore, before she gathers the Light of the Soul, she must acquire a sufficiently vast foundation in advance.

Luo Ye's hope was that Alice, upon reaching the intermediate level of the fourth tier, would gain infinite spiritual light, just like the clone of Roger Daw in the prediction records. In this way, she could immediately master abilities sufficient to rival those of a regular advanced fourth tier simply by gathering spiritual light—although almost all the powerful beings in this multiverse possess extraordinary abilities, and the so-called 'regular' advanced fourth tier might only exist in theory, like a 'blank' initial fourth tier. But at least after reaching that position, Alice would be stronger than the vast majority, if not all, of the intermediate fourth tiers.

[That's my goal, so I have to hold on no matter what. Chu Xuan probably stuck at the third-tier limit for the same reason... He's more ruthless than me, and he sees further than me. Even if I knew the answer beforehand, he still saw further than me. If the ritual is a complete success, he might be able to ascend to the heavens in one step...]

[But I can't expect a complete victory. Chu Xuan might be able to, but I can't... Aim high and you'll get somewhere in the middle; aim for the middle and you'll get nowhere. My abilities dictate that I can't achieve complete success. But even partial success should be enough to push Alice to her limit, similar to Zheng Zha's state before the final battle in the prediction records.]

After all... there's a sage here as a resource.

Luo Ye stopped in her tracks, having unknowingly arrived at the repair room, commonly known as the 'bathhouse'. Naturally, as a female admiral, she encountered no obstacles. And when she entered the repair room accompanied by the new secretary, the newly recruited ship girls, who had all looked melancholy and haggard before she entered, immediately jumped up from the pool as if injected with chicken blood, only to fall back into the pool amidst the phantom pain of the nerve link.

Pretending...

But it's also quite cute.

If a male admiral were here, he would surely be overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery before him, and would feel quite embarrassed even without making any indecent gestures. However, the person here is Luo Ye—Luo Ye, who has had countless ship girls try to climb into her bed over the past nine months, only to be skillfully rejected by her.

She neither loves nor expects to be loved. She craves neither that fleeting, dreamlike pleasure. Her steps are steady, her hands firm. She walks along the pool, scooping up one by one the newly recruited ship girls who are pretending to have fallen and can't get out, straightening them, and offering a few words of encouragement and concern that make their faces flush like fire. Then, while their thought processes are overloaded, she quietly crosses the pool and heads to her next target.

She wasn't slow, but it was still an hour later when she emerged from the repair room. Calming down those overly sentimental girls took considerable effort—but ultimately it was just a matter of combining language, expressions, and actions. By adding a few random elements to each step to eliminate the overly mechanical feel, it wasn't a difficult problem to properly appease these ship girls, whose minds were instilled with obedience and respect for their admirals from the very beginning.

"They really are like dolls... Alice, no matter how human-like your familia may be, their essence remains that of exquisitely crafted bionic dolls. Even with flesh and blood bodies indistinguishable from real people, and soul algorithms capable of free operation and evolution, their essence is no different from the energy phantoms I cleared during the Sacred Hunting Ritual."

After all, you're a puppeteer.

Luo Ye walked leisurely out of the repair room, mentally reviewing the tasks she needed to handle that day as she entered the corridor. These included the progress of the factory construction, the maintenance and supervision of the dock, and, as usual, the psychological counseling of her ship girls—in Alice's bubble world, there was no objection to the union between admirals and ship girls, or even to admirals building harems within the naval base, whether normal or yuri. This was because mortals in this world were essentially forcibly introduced alien beings; Alice hadn't granted them the authority to wield power, yet they had to exist. Therefore, this unrestricted union law was the guarantee that they could continue to exist in this world.

[It's a pity, Alice. If you had spent more time tending to your Dao foundation, you would have discovered that these mortals appearing within it aren't truly mortals. They are merely projections of energy and information, just like those you encounter outside.]

[...just like me.]

No, there are still some differences between me and them. At least I have an empty shell, while they don't even have an empty shell. So, in that sense, I am actually...

Luo Ye's thoughts suddenly stalled. She felt as if she had figured something out, yet it was also as if she hadn't thought of anything at all. This kind of thing shouldn't happen to someone who had already reached the extraordinary realm—her mind shouldn't be filled with thoughts that she herself couldn't understand. However, this situation was actually happening right before her eyes.

Her mind raced, exploring, but just as she was about to obtain the result—