380: Leave your mark at the beginning of the river of time.

In that absolute void, Lu Chen bent down and picked up that yellowed, discarded manuscript paper.

The paper was very brittle, as if it would crumble into the dust of time with just a little force.

It was densely covered in writing, the handwriting scrawled, and there were even several holes burnt by cigarette butts.

Su Qingying and Wang Peng leaned in, holding their breath.

They thought they would see some earth-shattering cosmic truth or some unspeakable forbidden incantation.

However.

There was none.

What was written on the paper were just some fragmented, even somewhat ridiculous short sentences:

"Chapter One: Make the protagonist a bit more handsome. He needs a system at the start, otherwise, it's too miserable."

"Chapter One Hundred: Should I kill off the fat guy? Forget it, let's keep him; he's quite festive."

"Chapter Three Hundred: Su Qingying cannot die! Absolutely not! Whoever dares touch her, I'll delete the book!"

"Ending: ..."

Following the word 'Ending' was a large mass of black ink marks that had been crossed out.

It seemed that the 'Author' had hesitated for a long time and struggled for a long time when writing to this point.

Ultimately, next to that ink smudge, there was only a line of small characters written with such force they almost pierced the paper:

"To hell with tragedies."

"I want them... all to live."

"This..."

Looking at the phrase 'kill off the fat guy,' Wang Peng felt a chill on his neck and shrunk his head back.

"Brother Chen, this guy... has quite a temper, huh? I almost bit the dust?"

Su Qingying's eyes were slightly red.

She reached out her finger, gently stroking the line of writing about her.

"So our fate was once so close to the abyss."

"It was him... that 'you,' who forcibly pulled us back."

"Yeah."

Lu Chen carefully folded the discarded manuscript and put it into his inner pocket.

The playful look was gone from his face, replaced by a respect originating from the depths of his soul.

"He wasn't writing a novel."

"He was... resisting."

Lu Chen looked up at the old-fashioned typewriter that was still vibrating slightly.

"In the 'scripts' of countless parallel universes, perhaps we would have long since died and rotted, turning into dust."

"Only this 'he,' for the sake of a perfect ending, wore himself down into that ghostly state."

"This debt of gratitude..."

Lu Chen took a deep breath and turned to sit back in the chair.

His hands hovered above the keyboard again, the light in his eyes hotter than a newborn star.

"Must be repaid."

"Since he gave us a perfect ending."

"Then I will give this new universe..."

"A perfect beginning."

"Click, click, click."

The crisp sound of typing echoed in this void once more.

This time it wasn't to create matter, nor was it to set physical constants.

Lu Chen was writing... rules.

"Fatty, what do you want?" Lu Chen asked without turning his head.

"Huh? Me?"

Wang Peng was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up, "It has to be money! Resources! Ideally, gold everywhere and getting stronger just by breathing!"

"Vulgar."

Lu Chen curled his lip but typed a line of code on the keyboard.

[Setting 1: Resource enrichment level increased by 300%.]

[Note: Leave some family inheritance for the future children; don't let them go hungry.]

"Qingying, how about you?"

Su Qingying looked at the chaotic cloud mass outside the window that was cooling and forming galaxies, her gaze gentle.

"I hope... there won't be so much killing anymore."

"I hope there can be a bit more understanding between civilizations, and a bit less dark forest."

"Difficult."

Lu Chen shook his head, "Where there are people, there are struggles; the underlying logic of greed can't be changed."

But he still typed a line of words.

[Setting 2: Add 'Common Tongue' underlying module.]

[Note: Although I can't stop you from fighting, at least before you fight, you can understand what the other person is cursing at you.]

Finally.

Lu Chen stopped his hands.

He looked at this vast, newborn universe, at those lives that had not yet been born.

He thought of Earth.

He thought of that night eating instant noodles in the rental room.

He thought of the older generations who fell so that the fire of civilization could be passed on.

"One more thing is missing."

Lu Chen muttered to himself.

"What?" Wang Peng leaned in curiously.

"An imprint."

Lu Chen suddenly raised his hands, his fingers flying as he typed out an extremely complex and grand piece of code on the keyboard.

This code did not transform into matter.

Instead, it turned into an invisible ripple, merging into the 'background radiation' of the entire universe.

"Voom—!!!"

The new universe trembled slightly.

As if cheering, and as if remembering.

"Brother Chen, what did you write?"

Wang Peng's eyes widened, but he couldn't understand those garbled codes.

Lu Chen stood up, clapped his hands, and a mysterious smile curled on his lips.

"Nothing much."

"I just, in every atom of this universe, in every frequency of background noise..."

"Carved a sentence."

"What sentence?" Su Qingying was also curious.

Lu Chen pointed to his own heart, then pointed to the stars across the sky.

"Hundreds of millions of years from now."

"When the civilizations in this universe develop to a certain height, when they learn to look up at the starry sky and capture the cosmic microwave background radiation."

"They will decipher a message from the 'Creator God'."

"That message is..."

Lu Chen straightened his collar and, facing the void, softly recited that sentence which would be enough to make countless future civilizations go mad with excitement and move them to tears:

"Don't be afraid."

"We..."

"Are human."

Having said that.

Lu Chen gave a sudden wave of his hand, and the typewriter instantly turned into countless points of light, dissipating into the void.

The authority had been used; he brushed off his clothes and left, his task complete.

"Let's go!"

Lu Chen turned and strode toward the 'Xuan Yuan'.

His silhouette at this moment appeared incredibly relaxed and free.

"Where to?"

Wang Peng followed closely behind, "Brother Chen, are we going to be God or are we going to be a King?"

"Be a damn nothing."

Lu Chen stepped into the hatch and looked back at this new era he had personally opened.

"Being God is too tiring, and being a King is too vulgar."

He pulled Su Qingying close and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"Let's find a planet with good scenery."

"And open a..."

"Barbecue stall."

"I've even thought of the name."

Lu Chen grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth.

"It'll be called..."

"[Ragnarok]."

"Fatty, remember to bring enough cumin!"

"You got it! Brother Chen!"

"Rumble—"

The black warship turned into a streak of light, charging without hesitation into that newborn sea of stars filled with infinite possibilities.

And behind them.

At the origin of the universe's birth.

A line of golden text slowly emerged in the void, lingering for a long time:

[End of the book...]

[Wait, who said it's over?]

Lu Chen's voice suddenly came from the warship, tinged with a bit of exasperation.

"Fatty! Did you freaking leave my 'source of fire seed' on that typewriter?!"

"Huh? I saw that glowing thing looked pretty, I thought it was an ambient light..."

"Damn! That was the max-level gift pack I left for my son! Go back! Quick, go back!"

"Too late, Brother Chen! We've already entered the atmosphere!"

"I...!!!"

Accompanied by a burst of chaotic clamor.

That great, holy, and peerless savior... just like that, in an extremely 'down-to-earth' manner.

Stumbled and fell... into the new mortal world.