366: A Call from Home

The transparent sightseeing elevator, like a bullet shot toward heaven, rose rapidly.

The chaos, cries, and flashing red alarm lights below quickly shrank, eventually turning into a silent abstract painting.

Above the clouds, the sunlight was so piercing it felt fake.

"Ding—"

The elevator stopped at the 1001st floor.

The doors opened.

There were no heavily armed guards as expected, nor was there a hail of bullets.

There was only an office.

It was absurdly large and terrifyingly empty.

The floor was a single piece of black crystal, and the walls were holographic projections of real-time data streams, showing the movements in every corner of this city in the sky—including the riot that had just broken out in the lobby downstairs.

Behind the desk sat a man.

His back was to the elevator, and he was using a pair of delicate scissors to prune a withered potted plant.

"You're late."

The man turned around.

Unexpectedly, he was very young, one might even say... immature.

He looked to be only in his early twenties, wearing an ill-fitting, oversized suit, with a sickly paleness on his face from a long lack of sunlight.

The Chairman of Metaverse Company—the Dreammaker.

"The farce below was quite exciting."

The Dreammaker put down the scissors, his gaze passing over Lu Chen to land on Su Qingying behind him, a greedy flicker of data flowing through his eyes.

"Perfect modeling, perfect logical chain."

"Pity, it's a 'plug-in'."

"Plug-in?"

Wang Peng (Fatty) took offense, stepping forward and pointing at the Dreammaker's nose.

"Kid, watch your mouth! This is your sister-in-law! Believe it or not, Lord Fatty will sit on you and crush you to death!"

"Vulgar."

The Dreammaker frowned in disgust.

He raised his hand and gave a light tap toward Wang Peng.

"Delete."

Buzz!

No energy fluctuations occurred in the air.

But Wang Peng's face instantly turned deathly pale. He clutched his throat in terror as if being strangled, his feet leaving the ground as he struggled desperately without being able to make a sound.

"These are the rules here."

The Dreammaker looked at Lu Chen with an indifferent expression.

"In this world, I am the sole Administrator."

"Those little tricks you're pulling downstairs, the so-called 'awakening,' are nothing more than adding a bit of seasoning to this stagnant pool of water in my eyes."

"If I wish."

The Dreammaker snapped his fingers.

"I can roll back the server at any time."

"And make everything start all over again."

"Roll back?"

Lu Chen watched Wang Peng struggling in the air, his eyes as cold as ice.

He didn't rush to act, but slowly pulled out that bio-skeletal chip from his pocket.

"You think you're God?"

"You think this 'brain in a vat' system is your private back garden?"

Lu Chen walked toward the Dreammaker step by step.

With every step he took, the chip in his hand grew a bit brighter.

The true laws from Universe No. 0001 were violently colliding with the virtual rules of this world!

Zzzzt—

The holographic projections in the office began to distort and flicker.

The Dreammaker's brow finally furrowed.

"Alien code?"

"What are you holding in your hand?!"

"Something that can strip this skin right off you."

Lu Chen violently waved his hand.

"Break!"

Boom!

An invisible wave swept across.

Wang Peng fell to the ground with a thud, gasping for air: "Cough, cough... almost... almost bit the dust! Brother Chen, this kid plays dirty!"

"It's fine."

Lu Chen shielded Su Qingying and Wang Peng behind him, facing the youth who controlled everything alone.

"He's not just playing dirty."

"He actually has some real ability."

Lu Chen could feel that the 'reality' of this world was much higher than the previous Multiverse.

Here, his 'Manifestation of Words' was weakened by 90%.

The opponent was, after all, fighting on his home turf and possessed the root permissions of this place.

"You are strong."

The Dreammaker stood up, his body beginning to levitate as the surrounding data streams transformed into countless sharp swords pointing at Lu Chen.

"But you are like rootless duckweed."

"You severed your connection with your original universe; you are isolated and without help in this world."

"Your energy will only decrease with every use."

"Whereas I..."

The Dreammaker spread his arms, and the energy of the entire city in the sky began to converge toward him.

"I have infinite supplies!"

"I can grind you down until you're dead!"

Lu Chen fell silent.

The opponent was right.

To prevent the 'Ultimate Player' from tracing the path back to Earth, he had personally severed the passage.

Currently, he was indeed fighting a lone battle.

"Scared?"

The Dreammaker sneered. "Kneel and submit to me, and I might consider giving you the status of a 'High-Level NPC'."

Just then.

"Buzz—"

A sudden warmth came from Lu Chen's chest.

It wasn't that chip.

It was... his heart.

That was where he had once stripped away the pangu permissions.

Though the permissions were gone, the karma of that blood connection could never be severed.

“Zzz... zzz...”

An extremely faint yet exceptionally clear voice seemed to cross endless time, space, and dimensions, sounding directly in the depths of his soul.

"Daddy..."

Lu Chen's whole body shook.

Was that... Lu Xinghe's voice?

"Daddy! Can you hear me? It's Xinghe!"

There was no crying in the little fellow's voice; instead, it held a steadiness and dominance that didn't match his age.

"Sister heavenly craft said the signal over there is bad, she's setting up a 'Cross-Dimensional Base Station'."

"Even though the passage is closed, we've been watching you!"

Following that was a burst of noisy background sound.

It was the roar of warship engines and the cheers of billions of beings.

"Reporting to the Marshal!"

That was Ye Qingcang's loud voice.

"Everything is fine at home! I took the Divine Mechanism Guards and just flattened that troublemaking magic universe next door! We seized three tons of 'Magic Crystals,' and we're sending them over to you now!"

"Lu Chen."

That was Dean Li Zhenbang's voice, aged yet powerful.

"Don't hold back! The family is wealthy now! However much energy you need, we will supply it!"

Finally, there was a female voice of extreme gentleness.

It was heavenly craft, who had stayed behind in that universe.

"Father."

"All 129,600 energy nodes in the universe have been lit."

"Executing—[Ultra-Long-Range Energy Transmission]."

"Please..."

"Receive it!"

Boom—!!!

In this instant.

Lu Chen felt as if the top of his skull was about to be blown off.

A massive, indescribable, and extremely pure golden energy ignored time, ignored space, and even ignored the Dreammaker's permission lockout... forcibly pouring into Lu Chen's body!

That was no ordinary energy.

It was the **thoughts and support** of the entire Multiverse, billions of civilizations, and countless family and friends for him!

"This... what is this?!"

The Dreammaker discovered in terror that the air in the entire office was burning.

The aura on Lu Chen's body was climbing at an illogical speed!

From mortal, to demigod, to true god... and then to the unknowable!

Lu Chen slowly raised his head.

His eyes once again transformed into those chaotic divine pupils, one gold and one white.

And they were more brilliant than ever before!

"Isolated and without help?"

Lu Chen clenched his fist, feeling the power within him that was about to explode.

He looked at the Dreammaker, who was already pale with fright, and his lips curled into an extremely arrogant arc.

"You underestimate the weight of the word 'home' too much."

Lu Chen raised his hand and made a light grasping motion toward the void.

The pangu sword, which had been somewhat illusory, instantly solidified at this moment, erupting with ten thousand zhang of golden light!

"Kid, watch closely."

"This strike."

"Is called..."

"**Family Portrait!**"

"Fatty! Qingying! Get back!"

Lu Chen gave a thunderous shout, his figure instantly vanishing.

When he reappeared, he was already above the Dreammaker's head.

There were no fancy techniques.

Just a single strike.

Carrying the pride of a father, the confidence of a leader, and the call of his entire home... he slashed down fiercely!

"I want to know."

"If this so-called 'Eternal Dream' of yours..."

"Can take a beating?!"