178: Chapter 178 I am the System

[Ding! Vessel eligibility confirmed...]

[Receiving 'Divine Fragment'... Parsing 'Anchor of the World'...]

[Warning! System Fragment Core overloaded! Undergoing reverse devourment by abnormal vessel...]

The cold system notification voice glitched into panicked garbled text for the first time before coming to an abrupt halt.

At this moment, Jiang Ming's devouring process underwent a qualitative change.

He was no longer merely absorbing energy and flesh.

He was parsing, reading, and devouring the most fundamental "rules" that constituted this world!

The Skeleton Prophet's eye sockets, burning with dark blue soulfire, flickered violently.

Releasing an unwilling roar composed of tens of thousands of cracking bones, it swung its Whale Bone Great Scythe in an attempt to sever Jiang Ming's connection to the two streams of energy.

However, within Jiang Ming's Tree Domain, dozens of brand-new roots fused with the Rotting Leviathan's bone spikes shot out, easily wrapping tightly around the bone scythe and blocking it.

The Skeleton Prophet had lost its qualification to compete.

Within Jiang Ming's sea of consciousness, a vast amount of information was being forcibly stuffed in.

He "saw" it.

He saw a dying blue planet, its sky painted gray by the flames of war.

He saw countless desperate, dying human souls being sucked up, packaged, and screened by a beam of light descending from the sky.

He saw this desolate, fog-shrouded "petri dish" world, as well as the first-generation vessels cast here as "gu."

He saw how the outer god used the "survival system" as a fishhook to issue quests, create disasters, and guide these gu to slaughter and evolve against each other—ultimately coming to harvest the richest soul and life energy when the "vessels" matured.

Jiang Ming's will expanded at an unprecedented Speed.

He poured a cold, emotionless stream of information into the minds of the Skeleton Prophet and all the survivors of the Sea Fog Fortress simultaneously.

"Your struggles, your evolutions, your prayers... are all just firewood."

"Meant only to ignite that final bonfire dedicated to the Old Gods."

This crushing pressure from the informational level brought a deeper despair than any physical attack.

At the same time, Jiang Ming's true main body—the forbidden Tree Domain along the coastline—began to undergo a violent metamorphosis.

Across the surface of the tree trunk, countless dark-gold patterns resembling integrated circuits flickered with faint light.

The cuticle layer at the tips of countless roots shed, growing translucent crystalline interfaces capable of seamlessly connecting with any system device.

And at the very top of his canopy, the giant single eye—fused from all the eyeballs of the Thousand-Eyed Giant Throat—slowly opened.

Reflected within its pupil was no longer the real world, but a rushing waterfall of data composed of endless 0s and 1s!

He began attempting to rewrite the rules.

Following the connection with the System Fragment Core, his will instantly covered the entire Sea Fog Fortress.

Inside the fortress, the system panels on the wristbands of all survivors flickered at the same time, and then, with a "snap," went completely dark!

The system maintaining their hope for survival had vanished.

Panic spread through the dead silence.

But in the next second, everyone's panels lit up again.

Only, all the quests, maps, and prompts on them had completely changed.

[New World System Activated.]

[New Quest Issued: Breathe.]

[Quest Requirement: Continue breathing under my gaze.]

Seeing this scene, the Skeleton Prophet's skeletal body transmitted the emotion known as "fear" for the very first time.

It knew that Jiang Ming was becoming the new "System."

If it didn't leave now, it would also become part of this new system!

Decisively severing its entangled Whale Bone Great Scythe, it plunged into the deep sea without looking back, disappearing into the mist.

Deprived of the attraction from the outer god fragment, the tentacles of the Rotting Leviathan also slowly retracted into the gradually closing abyssal rift.

The survivors of the Sea Fog Fortress plunged into a despair even deeper and more absolute than before.

They had escaped the enslavement of the old system...

...only to fall into the grip of a living, new god of calamity whose instincts were devouring and dominance.

Jiang Ming paid no mind to those tiny ants.

He was immersed in the final devouring and fusion.

The moment the outer god fragment and System Fragment Core were completely digested and integrated into his tree core...

In his mind rang the final—and brand-new—system notification sound.

[Ding!]

[Old World System collapsed. New World rules generating...]

[Congratulations Host, you have become the sole rule of the world.]

[Trait updated: tree of the end (Evolution Pre-condition: 7/10)]