254: Collapse of order

That heaven-shaking rainbow condensed by the Blade of Judgment did not hesitate in the slightest, piercing straight into the core of negativity composed of the pain and despair of billions of living beings.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor was there the deafening roar of Laws colliding.

Wherever the light reached, the screeching venom was smoothed away, the twisted hatred was straightened out, and the bone-chilling despair was slowly dissolved by the warm power of creation.

This was a purification, and even more so, a transcendence.

The entire singularity of negative emotions, like a rabid dog injected with an overdose of tranquilizers, trembled and convulsed violently, and the structure of its core began to show signs of unstable disintegration.

Just then, a force far older, more vast, and more cold than the singularity itself erupted suddenly from the deepest part of the singularity.

That was not a backlash of negative emotions, but a pure, unquestionable will.

The Hand of Order.

Its will had descended.

[Error.]

A thought resonated directly within Li Dong's Divine Soul, devoid of any emotion, yet containing a majesty akin to divine retribution.

[Cycle broken. Calibration procedure initiated.]

Before the words faded, the space around Li Dong began to twist strangely.

The concepts of up, down, left, and right vanished instantly, and time seemed to turn into a rubber band that could be kneaded at will, infinitely stretched and then instantly compressed.

This space, along with him, was being forcibly "gouged" out from the "canvas" of the Universe, ready to be tossed into some unknown corner of the Void Realm.

Banishment.

The simplest and most efficient method of elimination.

"Calibration?" Li Dong stood in the center of this storm of chaotic space-time, yet there was not a trace of panic on his face.

"You mean to say, throwing away the faulty parts counts as a repair?"

The ancient stone slab within him hummed, and a ripple vibrating at the same frequency as the Origin of the Universe spread out from him, forcibly anchoring an absolutely stable area around him.

No matter how chaotic the space-time outside became, the three feet of ground beneath his feet remained as steady as a rock.

"Let me see what your 'perfect program' is really like."

Instead of retreating, Li Dong followed that force of banishment upstream with his perception, beginning to analyze the Law composition of the Hand of Order.

Countless Law runes flowed before his eyes; their structure was so precise and their logic so rigorous that they were practically the ultimate textbook of the Universe.

Even the smallest rune contained enough vast information to construct a world.

This was a flawless System, vast enough to be awe-inspiring.

But... it was also suffocatingly dead.

Li Dong saw birth and destruction within it, saw light and darkness, saw existence and nothingness; everything was in a state of absolute, mathematical equilibrium.

Yet, he did not see "accident," did not see "surprise," and certainly did not see the chaotic yet infinitely potential vitality of "life" itself.

"So that's it, you have obsessive-compulsive disorder." Li Dong laughed aloud, as if he had discovered some massive secret, "And it's terminal, too."

He ignored the continuous force of banishment, and with a flash of cold light from his fingertips, the Law Scalpel condensed once more.

This time, his target was not large-scale purification, but to precisely cut into the structural node at the very core of the negativity core—the cage used by the Hand of Order to imprison and compress "universal trash."

Rip!

The scalpel was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet it precisely severed that crucial Law chain.

The bindings were undone, and the energy that had been imprisoned for countless ages was finally released.

However, what spilled out was not the more violent torrent of negativity as imagined, but a stream of pure Origin energy that carried a hint of "imperfection."

That was the last lingering attachment to "life" that remained from the destroyed civilization, beyond their pain and despair; it was the final proof that their civilization had existed.

In the logic of the Hand of Order, these "scraps" that could not be categorized or quantified were "trash" that disrupted the balance and ought to be sealed away.

But at this moment, this "trash" energy was like a wanderer who had been imprisoned for ten thousand years, finally returning to the embrace of the Universe.

It had no aggression; it simply flowed out gently, merging into this galaxy, and a portion was naturally absorbed by Li Dong.

Li Dong's body shuddered slightly.

He felt his understanding of the Universe deepen another layer.

What the Universe needed was never a spotless, sterile room without a trash can.

Decay, death, and even negative emotions were inherently part of the cycle.

Digging out rotten flesh from a wound and throwing it elsewhere to let it continue fermenting was not treatment; it was pollution transfer.

[Warning: Core containment unit has been destroyed. Balance protocol invalidated.]

In the thought of the Hand of Order, there was finally a violent fluctuation that could be called "anger."

[Activating highest authority. Eliminating 'disordered' Variable.]

In the Void Realm, above the chessboard, that blurry figure seemed to move.

Immediately after, in the ruins before Li Dong, several phantom figures towering ten thousand feet high condensed out of thin air.

Their entire bodies were composed of the purest Laws of order; they had no facial features, no form, just absolutely symmetrical, absolutely standard humanoid silhouettes.

They were the manifestation of the Laws, the executioners of "order."

Judges.

As soon as they appeared, they simultaneously launched an attack on Li Dong.

There were no energy beams, no physical impacts.

Their method of attack was more fundamental: it was an erasure of "definition."

Invisible forces of judgment landed on Li Dong, attempting to "reformat" him, this "Variable," stripping away his emotions, erasing his memories, wiping out his individuality, and returning him to a most basic, most stable, and most "order"-compliant "initial value."

"Want to restore me to factory settings? Did you ask for my opinion?"

Li Dong did not retreat; instead, he advanced.

Facing the siege of these several Judges, he abandoned all defense.

He transformed into a stream of light—a jarring, discordant noise that suddenly appeared on an absolutely orderly musical staff!

The Judges' attacks were incredibly precise, calculating every possible evasion route Li Dong could take.

But in their calculations, Li Dong should not have been "moving" at all; he should have been "defined" and "formatted."

Li Dong's movement trajectory had no logic to it whatsoever, completely violating the Laws of conservation of energy and spatial Laws.

He was like a drunkard, dancing a clumsy tango amidst a hail of bullets, yet he was always able to dodge every fatal attack by a hair's breadth.

"Your 'perfection' is your greatest flaw!"

After an almost impossible side-step dodge, Li Dong finally seized the thousandth-of-a-second logical pause created when one of the Judges missed its attack.

The light of the Blade of Judgment in his hand changed abruptly.

It was no longer the gentleness of creation, nor the warmth of purification, but condensed into a concept of "existence" that was pure, absolute, and allowed for no external force to change it.

"I am my own order!"

Hum—

The sword light slashed down.

On the absolutely perfect body of that Judge phantom composed of pure Laws of order, a crack appeared that could not be understood or repaired.

The next second, it shattered with a roar, turning into a sky full of chaotic Law runes and dissipating into the Void Realm.

Li Dong stood with his sword, looking at the remaining few Judge phantoms that had clearly "lagged" for a moment, and grinned.

"Now, who else wants to try 'running an antivirus' on me?"