Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Zheng Zha sighed slightly, feeling worried. He didn't know if the imposter was aware of his methods, given his current state of extreme weakness.

In short, that thing wasn't Margot Royd... nor was it a native or one of those gods or anything. With such a severely restricted worldview, how could something so outrageous appear at this time? If we rule out those possibilities... then it must be other reincarnators who have descended.

[The opponent should be restricted like me, but to a lesser degree... Is it because of the item, or is its actual combat strength above mine? It probably wants to descend under the guise of Margot Lloyd... Damn, could it be the Demon Team? Margot Lloyd on the other side!?]

Zheng Zha's heart was in turmoil.

Destroying the mirror directly would be unwise; who knows if the other party has other methods to infiltrate? Rather than taking that strange risk, it's better to pretend ignorance from the start, drag her down, and then thoroughly discipline her within this cage—a tactic Zheng had watched Alice perform several times before. Although he knew he was foolish, he had at least gained some experience. And since that's the case…

[Two possibilities. First, it's highly likely that he's an outer reincarnator, a member of the Demon Team... I still don't understand the specifics of how I got here, but it's probably either Margot Lloyd's doing or Chu Xuan's trick... Damn! Why did I think Chu Xuan could do something like this? And the Main God didn't give any hints about a team battle... The Main God said this was a special team battle!]

Secondly, there's some kind of supernatural force entrenched in the area... This world isn't very large, and the main religions are the Red God, the Cold God, the Seven Gods, and some other miscellaneous minor entities. According to what Margot Lloyd taught me, such a small world can't nurture a true god; at most, it can only harbor a few large natural spirits—if that's the case, then letting it in would be a mistake...

Zheng Zha thought to himself, but he also knew that the possibility was actually very small, extremely small. Because if it really was a local natural spirit, then it could easily bewitch any nobody, and there was no need to target Zheng, the world's number one fighter.

Therefore, this guy disguised as Alice must be from outside this world… The situation on the outside is unclear. Although it's very likely a scheme orchestrated by Alice or Chu Xuan, let's just assume they're not needed for now. And given my self-reliance attitude, the most important thing I should do is…

“I’ve made up my mind.” Zheng Zha suddenly adopted the identity of Viserys.

“I, Viserys Targaryen, the True Dragon Awakened, the Crowned One, the Andal, King of the Rhoynar and the First Men, Ruler of Westeros and Protector of the Realm, Khal of Khals, Highlord of Dragonstone… shall begin today to restore the glory of my ancestors. I am the True Dragon Awakened, the true incarnation of God, and no god or king is worthy above me. So…”

"All those who overstep their bounds shall die!"

The reasons are perfectly valid. The identity is perfectly suitable. Although Zheng Zha had previously tried industrialization as an unworkable strategy, and democracy and republicanism were utter nonsense in this world, the Dolask Plain, though vast, was completely locked down, making it impossible to ignite any sparks of revolution, let alone spread like wildfire.

Since that's the case, the unpretentious Zheng decided to play the role of a medieval emperor, embarking on a grand scheme to conquer the world. And since he considered himself a dragon descended from heaven, it was only natural that he would establish a theocratic regime, deeming all other faiths heretical and condemning them. As for that imposter thrown into Westeros, no matter what real power she possessed, if she dared to emerge from the mirror, the already powerful Zheng could crush this nonsensical creature on the same level with absolute superiority!

Yes, that's right, that's exactly it. The plan is perfect, the strategy is flawless.

Zheng Zha thought to himself, then ignored some irrelevant details such as 'why not lie to that guy when he arrives in Dorask and then blow him up on the spot,' and left with a smug and arrogant air.

The motivation has been well-established, and it is clear that there is no need to add anything unnecessary.

He planned to immediately gather his army upon returning—or rather, to launch a campaign of continental conquest with the army he had already assembled. He had long disliked those slave-owning trading cities, but had refrained from acting rashly before due to a lack of understanding of the situation and the sudden appearance of divine notifications on his watch. Now that he no longer needed to act on his whims, he would naturally sweep across the land!

So, let's set a small goal first.

"The Dorask are fast travelers, but I also need to prepare some suitable officials; we can't let barbarism replace civilization. In that case, I'll set a time limit of one month. I'll conquer all the trading cities and then take their ships across the sea!"

Zheng Zha made his decision, and thus began his journey as a self-proclaimed Great Emperor. Although he felt slightly disappointed that few people came to his aid, he figured future historical records would surely include the supporting characters he desired.

So……

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

"I think I'll have to wait at least a month before I can get in." On the outer side of the world, Alice looked at the Game of Thrones world, which was like a tightly sealed sphere, and sighed softly. She had finally managed to cross the bubble world and appear as a cell in the world that served as the base of the dream... She didn't dare to look at Luo Ye's movements, because her gaze might expose her. And when she left Youssefka's clinic and came to the outer side, the scene that came into view almost made her jump up and down in anger.

With seven or eight hundred trillion fragmented small worlds, finding a kitchen knife would take forever. If Luo Ye hadn't glanced at Zheng Zha's world earlier, leaving a residual mark in the void, Alice felt that the only thing she might have done was to roll back to the Bubble World, and then, either directly back to the Heart Abyss or without going through it, roll back to The Witcher 3 to properly develop the plot.

Fortunately, Luo Ye caught a glimpse of it, giving her another possibility. And it was precisely because of this new possibility that she had to traverse vast stretches of time and space, guiding this extraordinary life cell across the timeless sea of ​​energy.

She didn't know how long she had been drifting in the sea of ​​energy; time was meaningless anyway—perhaps thousands of years, perhaps tens of thousands, perhaps less than half a second. In any case, she eventually reached the outer edge of this world, and then her next task was to figure out how to descend and reunite with Zheng Zha.

She had tried a few things before, but the results weren't ideal. She didn't know if Zheng Zha had received her message, and she had a feeling that something was off about her surroundings.

Extraordinary beings do not experience illusions. Even if she only had one cell left, it would be impossible for her to experience hallucinations or memory loss.

This only means there is danger nearby, and she doesn't know what that danger is.

Delaying is a disadvantageous choice. Although time is not actually of much significance, a swift and decisive approach is still a necessary strategy. In order to get out of the current situation as soon as possible, she decided to take a slight risk.

"Start with the gods of this world...find a way to replace one of them, and then contact Zheng Zha, or create an avatar to communicate with him."

Section 18. The Path to Truth - Part 3

How to seize the identity of a deity?

It's very simple. For extraordinary beings who have unlocked the fourth-order genetic lock, seizing a divine position in a small world is as easy as putting an elephant in a refrigerator—there are refrigerators in this world big enough to fit a symphony orchestra, and extraordinary beings are to a divine position what refrigerators are to an elephant.

Yes, even a single cell of extraordinary life, one that dares not proliferate significantly to avoid altering its own nature. Its relationship with an indigenous nature spirit is almost like that of a refrigerator and an elephant. Alice could easily deal with any god in this "Game of Thrones" universe in just three simple steps.

The first step is to find a god.

The second step is to erode or kill it.

The third step is to seize its identity.

See, it's very simple. Easy to operate, convenient steps. And in reality, there's no problem getting stuck on the first step—Alice immediately spotted a dozen or so gods of varying strength hovering on the surface of the world. Among them, the two gods representing cold and heat were the most powerful; they were manifestations of concepts, roughly equivalent to third-tier beings with A-level enhancements in the world. Although they possessed the inherent weaknesses of natural spirits, such as lacking complete consciousness and having chaotic thought processes, suppressing a medieval-level micro-magic civilization wouldn't be difficult if they used their full power.

Cold and heat, sweltering heat and freezing winter. In Alice's observation, the Red God, representing heat, is dominating the world. This has resulted in decades, even centuries, of consistently warm summers. However, the Cold God, representing cold, is not content to succumb—she sees a strange life form blessed by the Cold God silently rising in the snow-covered plains of a continent's northern edge, rapidly amassing a massive army. It seems that a great upheaval is imminent; this is perhaps what is meant by the overlapping of eras.

"A clash between ice and fire...?" Alice pondered, realizing that the side representing 'heat' wasn't entirely oblivious to everything the 'cold' had done. She saw a crimson meteor streak across the world's surface—a remnant of 'heat' tearing a crack in the heavens, allowing a sliver of energy to surge down from the endless torrents of the energy sea. This world would soon transition from low-magic to low-magic; mythical creatures would reappear, ancient secret arts would gain value, and, naturally, heroes who should have existed only in ancient legends would quietly emerge.

Heroes and monsters, mortals and aliens, ice and fire… Under this diverse theme of human prosperity, the ultimate victor is self-evident. Of course, Alice doesn't really care about these things. Her only regret is why she couldn't have arrived earlier. If she could have descended into this world when the sky was torn open… she wouldn't be suffering from such a severe headache now, having to infect a god before entering the world.

Alice closed her eyes—yes, even though she only had one cell, she could still close her eyes if she wanted to—she controlled her body to press close to the outer membrane of the world, and then let her will touch the mark that the Red God, symbolizing 'heat,' had drawn on the outer membrane of the world.

If you're going to kill a god, kill the strongest one. Just as she could pinpoint Zheng Zha's world using Luo Ye's gaze, since there were tearing marks left by the Red God here, she could naturally pinpoint the god within that world from outside.

And so, her will sank. Killing and seizing the identity of a 'god' would be easy for her, but it would still be a process that would take time.

Although time... time has long since lost its meaning.

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

For some people, time has no meaning.

But for those who still need time, there's a saying: 'A day in heaven is a year on earth.'

Zheng Zha had never understood this statement, nor did he care to. In his understanding, it was probably some application of relativity, a phenomenon of time slowing down or accelerating around a high-speed object. For example, a few seconds on the world's surface might be equivalent to several hours on the world's interior... But this was useless to him. He didn't need to go to the world's surface; all he needed to do was unify the continent as planned, and then let all the gods or god-like beings perish.

His movements were swift… or rather, his fists were faster than the most ferocious warhorses in the world. For the past few months, he had led his Drask Legion all the way from Meereen to Braavos, sweeping across the continent from east to west.

It's an absurd marching route, but it's not impossible.

If you unfold the map, you'll find that this continent is roughly an irregular rectangle—the center is the grasslands of the Dorask people, the east is dominated by slave cities such as Meereen, Yunkai, and Alaspo, and the west is home to the trading city-states, the places where the governors who once provided Viserys with much support or mockery reside.

Clearly, Zheng Zha couldn't possibly conquer both the eastern and western sides of the continent within a few months. So he adopted a rather absurd strategy—he divided the army of Dorask into two parts, sending one westward to await orders at the edge of the Dorask plains. The other part was entrusted to his sister and brother-in-law, and he himself participated in the first part of the strategy, launching an invasion of the various lands where Slaver's Bay was located.

The Dorask people, a nomadic people of the steppes, were skilled in slaughter but lacked the means to deal with cities. However, with Zheng Zha, the descended dragon who displayed unpredictable fighting prowess, everything became a breeze. Zheng Zha led from the front, at the start of each siege, leading a group of elite warriors—a suicide squad, more like a cheerleading squad—to the city walls, wiping out all the guards, opening the gates, and then the main force would unleash a carnage. And so, one city fell swiftly, followed by the next phase: another slave city.

His enemies weren't just standing there waiting idly. They used schemes, ambushes, and tried everything from gang fights and burnings to drowning, poisoning, and assassination attempts to kill Zheng Zha. But Zheng Zha showed them the true meaning of despair with his fists—all the traps were shattered, and all resistance was futile. After the city fell, Zheng Zha destroyed all the temples and captured all the slave owners hiding in the tunnels and secret chambers, attempting to wage a counterinsurgency campaign. The elite soldiers who had previously acted as his 'cheerleaders' now deeply admired him after witnessing his power and naturally became the new governors he left behind to govern the fortress.

They might not be able to govern the city well, but Zheng Zha didn't care. Slave cities were always easier to manage than regular towns. And when he discovered that this world didn't reject the concept of 'liberating slaves,' he used a large-scale slave liberation project to gain a group of loyal soldiers and reliable civil officials. Presumably, even if he became a hands-off manager and handed this land over to his adopted sister to govern... there wouldn't be any major problems for the time being.

In short, the situation on the right side of the mainland was settled. After spending some time eliminating all religious beliefs, Zheng Zha issued an order to send a fleet with the most elite troops to meet at the western coast. He then handed over the land to his adopted sister, Daenerys, and left the East alone.

He traversed the Dorask Steppe in less than half a month, and by the time he caught up with the western legion he had dispatched, his loyal followers had only just reached the vicinity of the outermost trading city. All that remained was to repeat the same task.

There's not much to say here. Zheng Zha, capable of unlocking the genetic lock and transforming Ninja Gaiden into Dynasty Warriors even without it, is simply too overpowered in this world. For the next two months, all he did was lead his troops to the city's base, charge in with his cheerleaders, and destroy the city's frontal defenses and traps. The rest was just the spectator soldiers—because Zheng Zha was truly powerful, no one dared to oppose or test the rules he established. After the siege, the entire commercial city area suffered very few casualties; some weaker city-states even surrendered without a fight, saving him considerable time.

And today, he destroyed the strongest and last of the trading cities, Braavos on the water.

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

Zheng Zha carried the head of Aquaman, the supreme commander of Braavos, before him the burning temple complex. The corpses of nearly a hundred fearless Black and White House assassins and water dancers stretched from about two hundred meters behind him to his feet—these were arguably the strongest group of assassins and swordsmen in the world; even their sheer numbers couldn't inflict the slightest harm on him. All they could obtain was death.

Humans cannot defy gods. Zheng Zha may know that he is not a god at this moment, but his enemies and subordinates have become convinced of this fact time and time again through battles. The assassins of the Black and White Courtyard and the water dancers and swordsmen of Braavos made a final struggle in despair, and their deaths proved this point once again.

Zheng Zha's successful completion of the mountain-crushing and temple-destroying mission was not without reason. In this era of surging energy and hidden gods, he was the unique true god of the earth. Even the emerald wildfire, the pinnacle of alchemy in this world, capable of burning everything and equivalent to dragon flame, posed no threat to him. This was because Zheng Zha had discerned the alchemical structure of the wildfire in advance by its scent and color, thus preparing a countermeasure. He directly interrupted the reaction process of this powerful chemical agent with a powerful punch that caused air to vibrate.

Thus, there were no longer any mortals on this land who regarded him as a mortal. He became another god, a god among the Dorask people, a god among the slaves, and now, the mortals of the trading city regard him as a deity walking among the people.

A war between gods... what right do mortals have to interfere?

They were not qualified, and they knew they were not qualified. Those who thought they were qualified were either fanatics or powerful vested interests, and without exception, they became one of the corpses beneath his feet. And after the walls of Braavos fell, there was no longer any adversary on this continent who dared to openly oppose Zheng Zha.

He became the sole god of this continent, and his fanatical followers were increasing rapidly, experiencing one or two small peaks every day—he wasn't unfamiliar with being a god-emperor; he was quite adept at this. As for whether this would bring him any aftereffects…

...Damn it, Zheng only appears weaker, not truly weaker. The essence of his extraordinary life still exists perfectly well somewhere in this world, only sealed away by something he doesn't know called the Hunting Saint Ritual. If the medieval civilization of a mere fragmented world can corrupt an extraordinary life form that could potentially master the Light of the Mind at any moment, then his extraordinary nature is far too cheap.

He shook his head, ignoring the shouts of "Viserys! Viserys!" from the group behind him—who looked like warriors but were nothing more than a bunch of lazy cheerleaders in his eyes. Alone, he traversed the flames and ruins to reach the highest point of the burned temple, gazing towards the western horizon of the ocean.

It is said that on the other side of the sea, the curse caused by the mirror he sent has spread to almost half of Westeros. Several large territories have been sealed off by nobles, preventing those inside from leaving and forbidding outsiders from entering.

Zheng Zha wasn't entirely clear on what had happened over there, as information was scarce. Some called it a disaster, others a blessing. But regardless of their interpretation, they all seemed somewhat unstable—he surmised that the imposter Alice had successfully landed from the outer realms. He felt regret, after all, it was he who had sent the mirror to the other side of the ocean. He knew he was responsible for the calamity on the other side, and he knew he was capable of bearing that responsibility.

after all……

He looked around. Having been in this world for so long, he knew very well that all the people he had encountered all this time... were just people who looked like people.

He shook his head, deciding to stop investigating this problem that was giving him a headache. After all, there was something else that was more worthy of his attention than this perplexing situation.

"I've already completely demolished the temple of the Red God... why isn't this guy reacting at all?"

Section 19. The Path to Truth, Part 4

I might have killed a false god.

Alice's will emerged from the surface of the world. She spent an unknown amount of time gradually instilling her information into the world where Zheng Zha was, and eroded and corrupted the strongest god representing 'heat' in this world. She put in a lot of effort to do this, but after she successfully instilled her will, she found that she seemed to have made a bad deal.

This god, who is supposed to be the strongest... seems to be a little too weak.

Alice felt as if she had been stuffed inside a jellyfish soaking in salt water. This newly acquired shell looked like it was alive, but in reality, it was no different from being dead. Because a jellyfish soaking in salt water can't see or feel anything, and can do nothing but wait to die!

Gan!

It must be that this corrupted Red God encountered internal problems during its clash with Alice on a spiritual level, and was robbed of its resources behind the scenes! Because the war between wills doesn't involve physical collisions, just like the body of a brain-dead patient doesn't suffer damage, Alice should have been able to completely reclaim this 'barely divine body' along with its corresponding divine power and followers. And if she could control this information network, wouldn't it be incredibly easy for her to do whatever she wanted on this continent?

However, this perfect plan has now fallen through before it can be implemented.

[There's a 90% chance Zheng Zha was behind it. Luo Ye observed this world, and he should be the only reincarnator there. The energy level of this world is also extremely low, and based on my previous observations from the outside, there's practically only one spiritual being capable of killing the Red God in a short time... but those two gods have probably been fighting for a thousand years. The god representing 'cold' probably wouldn't risk doing something so foolish.]

[So, ninety percent of the time it's Zheng Zha. Ten percent is the god representing 'cold'—I remember there are many conceptualized natural spirits in this world. But their power is probably insufficient; they might not even be able to interfere with reality… Never mind, let's just include them all for now. Anyway, plans don't always go wrong, and I love someone who has backup plans.]

Feeling her divine body deteriorating with each passing second, Alice remained largely calm. After all, she always planned for the worst possible outcome. Clearly, acquiring a weakened divine body wasn't so bad for her. Even a dying divine body was still a divine body, a convergence of the concept of heat. And even if this divine body lost all perception and mobility, there was one thing it was certain to accomplish.

Unconscious heat will inevitably seek out the gathering cold, and even a divine body that is too weak to operate externally still has some permissible energy within it.

So, what happens when cold and heat collide?

Alice knew nothing about, understood nothing about, and was completely unaware of a powerful tropical storm that was sweeping across the sea from Dorask and heading straight for the north of Westeros.

—Of course, she knew nothing. Although she could guess what was going to happen, the specifics of how things unfolded were still beyond her expectations. She could only sense herself moving, moving, moving—occasionally encountering obstacles, perhaps flattening or crushing something. And as she felt herself moving faster and faster, and with increasing amplitude, a massive clash of hot and cold was about to strike.

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

Luo Ye withdrew his fingers from the chest of the divine general Heng Shi Yin, watching as this member of the Fourth Limit Primordial Saint Legion, who had killed him over a hundred million times in the past few hundred years, gradually disintegrated into grayish-white material fragments with a resentful look in his eyes. He took a light breath, feeling his power rise slightly.

Planetary weaponry, primordial secret techniques, and the mental light honed to its extreme—if not for the Hunter Saint's Cage, a reincarnation team like the Central Continent Team would be wiped out every time they encountered it, and every ten thousand times they would be wiped out. After all, outside this cage, powerful individuals who have obtained the complete mental light can use various methods to restore their physical and mental strength. And for them, who have overcome their inner demons and whose minds are already in a perfect state, they wouldn't even have idle thoughts.

"It's a pity that you are food here. Although you are hard to chew, I still have a little confidence in my perseverance." She moved her fingers and watched as all the material fragments decayed into meaningless residues that could not be reassembled. The ritual of the Hunting Saint Cage judged that this life was completely dead, and this planetary system, which had been created by the ritual and turned into a soup of matter and energy, also collapsed and was restored to attribute-less energy that flowed into the energy sea outside the base point world.

The quiet city of Yharnam appeared before her, now devoid of any living creature. All those afflicted with the Beast Transformation had vanished with the demise of their sealed forms—she turned her gaze away, and before her lay the burial place of Father Gascoigne, the first mandatory boss in the game. In reality, the tutorial in the starting village had only just ended there.