Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Everything is interconnected.

All the connections originated from her, and she herself was trapped within them.

And this can only prove—

“Cirin severed her connection with me, but I did not sever the bond between us. I am, I have always been, learning from her. I have always been… transforming into her.”

"I really did something stupid."

All these things, like fleeting clouds, swirled in her sea of ​​memories. In the end, all that remained for her was a long, soft sigh.

I misjudged the situation and made mistakes, which means that everything I did from the beginning was meaningless, worthless, and futile.

It's a waste of time and energy.

Ten thousand years have passed, but now they are not worth mentioning.

And so, she did not open her eyes again. She sat on this lonely throne, awaiting her own end.

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

Terran New Calendar, 11,233.

Lim Xi, the dictator who had ruled Terra for over 10,000 years, was impeached and forced to step down. A new government replaced her and immediately lifted the ban on Terra residents leaving their homes, enacting legislation to fix the term of office at 100 years. As the new Terra residents turned their curious gaze to the outside world, former dictator Lim Xi, after a lengthy trial, was stripped of her citizenship and deported.

Terra has no death penalty. Those who commit serious crimes often choose to commit suicide before sentencing, due to their own moral principles. Therefore, the most severe punishment in Terra is expulsion from the land, meaning they are no longer considered residents of Terra.

Lin Xi quietly accepted this decision. Her companion, Miss Skadi, who had been with her for so long, had originally intended to request to be removed from the roster to continue following her, but Lin Xi refused. From then on, she was finally a solitary individual in this universe, without any further ties or connections.

She is no longer human.

She is no longer a resident of Terra.

She severed all ties with everything in this world. And she finally became herself.

She became Lin Xi, no longer Xi Lin, and could never be Xi Lin's Lin Xi again. Everything she had finally belonged entirely to herself. And she no longer possessed anything other than herself.

She is free.

She finally became the observer and recorder she had originally wanted to be, and nothing could hinder or influence her decisions anymore.

So……

"What will become of this universe, these civilizations?" she pondered, creating an invisible and colorless eye at the pinnacle of the concept of the universe, then placing herself within it, quietly and eternally gazing upon this world that no longer held her.

She will never help anyone, save anyone, attack anyone, or hate anyone again.

She only records, only observes, and then, through observation and recording, she seeks the future she desires.

She wanted to know the outcome of what she sought.

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

And so, time continued to pass.

One hundred years later, another hundred years will pass.

A thousand years later, another thousand years.

It took the inhabitants of Terra a full two thousand two hundred years to forget the admonitions and warnings she gave at her departure. It took two thousand two hundred years to completely leave the Holy Land and come into contact with the demons whose very existence symbolized corruption. And in those two thousand two hundred years, the mortal civilization of Old Terra had already gone through six cycles of reincarnation.

The inhabitants of Terra paid a heavy price.

It was huge, incredibly huge. Because the demonic corruption was irreversible and contagious, like Oripathy. In the first hundred years after coming into contact with the demons, more than three-fifths of the once perpetually prosperous Garden of All Beings was easily destroyed and fell into ruin.

Terra was nearly destroyed, and even with the help of the Holy Spirits, it still perished.

However, they ultimately survived. While Lin Xi's preparations over those ten thousand years were worthless in her own eyes, they were objectively significant. During her reign, she analyzed most of the data left behind by 'Luo Ai' and 'Andromeda' and created some technological products. And they finally put these achievements to use before everything became unmanageable.

The barrier that prevented the demons from encroaching was successfully put into use.

The tools that could actually kill demons eventually fell into the hands of the Holy Spirits by accident and were widely used by them.

And this ultimately points to a victory for the native inhabitants of Terra—even though they never believed they were in the midst of a conflict from the beginning.

After all, they are Terran, and Terran are not good at fighting.

However, no matter what they think or do, the retreat and defeat of the demons is an undeniable fact.

—They do not intend to exterminate them, nor do their ideologies allow them to do so.

So, on the eve of their triumphant victory, on the eve of witnessing the demise of the demon race, which should have been immortal, they made an interesting decision under the guidance of the ruling authorities at the time.

They... intend to transform demons. They plan to establish a mechanism that seals all demons in special containers before they are born. These containers will be conceptually incredibly robust, ensuring that their contents will not leak out even under the strongest impact.

They intend to seal the demon race within another newly born race. This new race may be powerful, or warlike, but it will never be able to corrupt and defile other life forms like the demons.

From Lin Xi's perspective high above, she watched and recorded every detail of the project—she observed the native inhabitants of Terra using the hacking tools she had left behind to create a powerful new life form. She watched this new life form grow green skin, a robust body, and fangs, and watched it acquire the name 'Orc' under the will of its developers.

Orcs, beings of bestial nature, and those who suppress their bestiality.

These creations, known as the Orcs, are bloodthirsty and warlike, but they no longer possess the power to erode all things and make them their own, unlike the demons of the past. When the Orcs were created, the Holy Spirits who assisted the inhabitants of Terra in battle also made their own requests.

Light and darkness must be in balance, and good and evil must be equal.

When the demons were sealed away as orcs, the Holy Spirits also requested to be transformed into beings of the same nature as the orcs in order to continue this war of sworn enemies. And naturally, Terra granted their request and prepared new bodies for them.

Thus, the Holy Spirits became the Spirit Race. Possessing long lifespans, robust physiques, and graceful forms, the Spirit Race is locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Orcs. They exist on the same level of existence as the Orcs, the only difference being that the Spirit Race's physical form cannot completely conceal their true nature—but this probably doesn't matter much, since the Spirit Race is originally a race transformed from the Holy Spirits of truth, goodness, and beauty. Even if their true nature is revealed, so what?

It's simply about making this already improving world even better.

The inhabitants of Terra thought this, and so they did it without hesitation. With the completion of the two projects, in this idealistic universe formed from the sea of ​​consciousness, the Holy Spirits and Demons—two species born from the emotions of all things—were finally and completely severed. Not a single Demon would linger, nor would a single Holy Spirit desert their ranks. They successfully transformed the war between good and evil into a war between races, and in this vast universe, conflicts between races were like natural phenomena, requiring little attention.

everything is over.

The great era of Terra has arrived.

The inhabitants of Terra, banished to the depths of the cosmic dream, once again set foot on the land of the mortal realm after ten thousand years. When they encountered mortals, their formidable enemies from ten thousand years ago, a large portion of the mortal kingdoms, which had been reincarnated countless times, regarded them as gods and submitted to them.

Thus, a new era replaced the old. And in the era when Terra ruled over all things, Lin Xi, high above, merely cast a silent, indifferent gaze.

She watched as the universe secretly chose a new kin, watched as colossal beings born from the sea of ​​energy, capable of feeding on celestial bodies, lurked in the grand era of Terra. She saw this new kin secretly make contact with the only remote tribe among mortals who believed only in themselves. She saw them deceived by it, inexplicably inciting hostility towards the inhabitants of Terra, and willingly becoming the forces of the kin of the universe.

Lin Xi could guess the outcome. She could see that these mortals, with the assistance of the Celestials, would abandon their physical bodies and become immortal and incomparably powerful mechanical lifeforms. She could foresee that this army, guided by the Celestials, would inflict extremely heavy blows on the inhabitants of Terra, potentially even leading to Terra's retreat or demise.

She saw everything, foresaw everything, and calculated everything.

However, she has no intention of making any changes to it.

Because she finally became a recorder, because she finally let go of everything.

Because of her, a conclusion was finally reached.

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

"So, what is your conclusion?"—From the invisible eyes above the highest heavens, someone of unknown identity asked her.

And her conclusion was—

“Utterly worthless.” She gazed at Terra, which was marching toward its doom. She said softly, “Terra’s twisted nature, that extraordinary moral bottom line, is utterly worthless.”

"Why?"—the voice asked.

"Because I have finally discovered something, I have finally discovered what Terra's morality is based on. Because I have discovered how similar Terra's society is to that of mortals, because I have discovered that mortals and Terra are connected to each other."

She spoke softly, turning to the person who refused to reveal their face.

"Because from beginning to end, only I felt that Terra's moral level was 'high'! Other Terran individuals and many races outside of Terra were completely unaware of this—whether it was the Holy Spirit symbolizing ultimate good or the Demon symbolizing ultimate evil, they were completely unaware of their moral bottom line."

"Do you know why?" Lin Xi chuckled, then answered herself, "It's simple, because I was once a mortal, and only I was once a mortal."

"Terra's morality isn't morality at all; it's just sick because its moral code is based on and modified from mortal cognition. It hasn't become noble at all because it's merely comparing itself to mortals. The behind-the-scenes manipulators who created all of this simply wanted to use a race that surpasses mortals in every way to prove that mortals are nothing special. But if they truly surpass mortals precisely in every aspect, then wouldn't such a race be considered just another kind of mortal in disguise?"

A length greater than one centimeter is an inch, a foot, a meter, or a ten-foot. However, regardless of how units and standards change, the very fact that they can be compared implies that they all belong to the set of 'length'. And what harm is there in considering a group that excels, but only by a fraction in every area of ​​mortal existence, as another kind of mortal?

"Therefore, my conclusion is that it is meaningless," Lin Xi emphasized one last time. "Terra's existence is meaningless. Because it can neither embody the greatness of mortals nor highlight their insignificance. Because it is merely a clumsy imitator, something that surpasses the original on every level, yet confines itself to the category of the original."

"Aren't you right?" She looked at the person she was speaking to and uttered a name.

The latter, with her long, icy-colored hair, remained silent.

a long time.

The questioner left. Only then did Lin Xi let out a soft breath and close her eyes.

Now, she is finally free—the tacit agreement between her and Celine has finally ended, and she no longer has to do anything, see anything, or think about anything.

She finally found her peace.

End Summary

Okay, this should be the last volume summary. The next one should be the author's closing remarks.

Well, in short, this concludes the penultimate volume of the book. Next comes the final battle, which will settle all the foreshadowing. The final battle shouldn't be too long; it's the end of June now, so the entire book should be finished around August.

Then, let's review this volume... Strictly speaking, there's not much combat content in this volume. After all, this volume should actually be considered a setup volume, providing a smooth transition for the main characters' final level-up. Its role is more about transition than conflict, so... there's not much to say. Anyway, that's it.

Okay, enough of this boring rambling. I'm currently preparing my next book. Judging from my previous few poorly received monthly updates, I've realized I might be better suited to writing fanfiction. However, I can't shake my original creative spirit, so my next book will probably be similar to this one—a pseudo-classic story disguised as fanfiction. I'm currently leaning towards a surreal urban setting, at least to tone down the power struggles and allow for more interesting stories.

Well, that's all... okay, one more thing—the final battleground is obviously Warhammer, or rather, the ambiguous version of Warhammer that this article often uses. There's plenty of motivational flair, but no fundamentalism. Although I feel it's unlikely anyone would still find this style unappealing, I'll mention it anyway.

Finally. Now the final volume is about to open, and the script for the final battle is ready. And today happens to be the Dragon Boat Festival, so I, Jiuyuan-chan, will buy a treasure chest and give it to everyone as a Dragon Boat Festival treat.

Happy holidays, everyone.

Final stop: The burning universe

☆ Preparations before the end of the war: routine meetings

Time axis anchoring...

Space axis anchoring...

Things seem to be stabilizing...

The meeting was structured using avatars, beginning...and ending.

Alice opened her eyes.

The room is set in an early 21st-century business meeting space, with flowers and a red carpet at your feet, and a circular table of uniform height in front of you. A spherical chandelier, resembling—no, practically a materialized version of a deity—suspends above the center of the table. Beyond the meeting hall lies a bustling, prosperous modern city street scene.

Everyone else was already there—or rather, her arrival time coincided perfectly with the arrival time of the other meeting participants. Clearly, she wasn't the only one on the team who had chosen to participate this way. Afterward, everyone exchanged glances, letting everything proceed in silence.

All seventeen members of the Zhongzhou team have arrived.

Among them, two individuals have successfully unlocked the fourth-order high-stage gene lock: Zheng Zha, the team leader, and Alice Margotrovid, the logistics manager.

Two individuals, possessing exceptional combat abilities, have reached the unstable fourth-tier advanced stage through special methods: Chu Xuan, who serves as a think tank, and Saito Ichi, a scholar who recently returned. The former successfully refined and controlled the fragments of the Tower of Babel during the trial, thereby acquiring reserve resources equivalent to a super-single universe. The latter, however, refined and devoured most of the essence of a desolate universe and two quasi-saints, making his resource accumulation comparable to the former.