72: Chapter 72 Lord of Pleasure and God of Pleasure

Just as Zhang Hao was processing the drastic changes within himself and warily watching those seven closed-eyed larvae, an extremely subtle ripple—one that seemed to originate from the underlying rules of the entire Dream World—swept through the underground space like a gentle tide.

In the next instant, the seven Sin Progenitor Larvae floating above the multi-colored black pool, along with the eerie pool beneath them filled with endless negative emotions and that massive colorful lotus, began to turn blurry and transparent, like reflections in water shattered by a stone.

Immediately after, the seven-colored pillar of light that had originally pierced through heaven and earth seemed to lose its source; it rapidly disintegrated and dissipated from the bottom up, as if being erased by an invisible giant hand.

In the blink of an eye, the entire underground hall became empty. All that remained was the rough Rock ground and the massive hole in the ceiling that was slowly self-repairing and closing up. All energy signatures—the suffocating negative pressure, the life force of the Sin Progenitor Larvae, the eerie ripples of the pool—had vanished without a trace, as if everything thrilling that had just occurred was merely an illusion.

Zhang Hao was stunned.

He abruptly looked up. Through the closing hole, he could see that the sky above Dreamland had returned to its original state—still that same fake, bright pinkish-blue. The clamor and cheerful music of the park drifted down once more, as if they had never been interrupted. The laughter and screams of the Hosts continued as they shuttled between various attractions, their faces brimming with pure joy.

No one looked up to search for the pillar of light, and no one cast a glance at the massive, slowly "healing" hole in the ground. Even... Zhang Hao noticed that the corner where the [Nightmare Haunted House] had originally stood had now become a flat clearing filled with glowing mushrooms, as if the building had never existed.

Cognitive interference! And it was an enhanced, wide-range Cognitive interference at that!

This eerie phenomenon sent a chill down his spine. He immediately attempted to activate his brand-new Talent, [Child of Numerology], and a strange light flickered in his eyes.

Looking with his left eye, the [Eye of Fate], he saw that the fate trajectories of the Hosts were still submerged in a vortex of pleasure—smooth and singular. They hadn't experienced any violent disturbances from the recent upheaval, as if they had been forcibly "smoothed out" by a stronger power.

Looking at the former site of the haunted house and the sky with his right eye, the [Eye of Reason], he could see some faint, rapidly fading karmic remnants. They proved that everything that had happened before was real, but these traces were also being quickly erased by an invisible force.

"Every time I use this Talent, it consumes Dream Power... and the consumption isn't small." Zhang Hao immediately noticed the slight decrease in his Dream Power, gaining a preliminary quantitative understanding of this new ability. The power was formidable, but it certainly couldn't be used without limit.

Just as he was focusing all his attention on perceiving and analyzing his surroundings, trying to find clues about the disappearance of the [Lord of the Seven Deadly Sins]—

Without any warning, a humanoid silhouette emitting a soft white light appeared before his eyes, face-to-face and silent as a ghost!

They were so close their noses almost touched!

The hair on Zhang Hao's entire body stood on end! He hadn't even seen how the other party appeared; the extreme sense of horror left his mind blank, his body's instincts moving faster than thought. Thanks to the simultaneous physical strengthening during his Talent's reshaping, his reaction speed and explosive power far exceeded his past self. He lunged backward with his feet like a startled leopard, instantly putting several meters of distance between them. He took a defensive stance, his heart pounding wildly.

Yet that being of light remained floating in place.

It had no clear facial features, merely a humanoid silhouette outlined by pure white light. Seeing Zhang Hao's shaken state, it suddenly raised a hand made of light to cover what was likely its stomach. Its entire luminous body began to shake rhythmically, shoulders heaving violently—it was a textbook, silent gesture of "doubling over with laughter"!

It was mocking him!

Zhang Hao's expression was grim, but his vigilance had reached its peak. To be able to approach him so silently, and without any warning even under the perception of his new Talent—the level of this light-being was absolutely beyond imagination!

Once the light-being had "laughed" its fill, it finally seemed to remember its business. It slowly turned around, "looking" with its featureless "face" at the Black and White Clown, who had been standing quietly to the side, trying to minimize his presence.

The moment the Black and White Clown saw the light-being, it was as if he had encountered his natural enemy. An expression of extreme terror appeared on his face, which was painted with an eternal weeping mask. His entire body froze, trembling uncontrollably, and even his clumsy movements came to a halt.

The light-being beckoned to the Black and White Clown with a finger.

The [Prompt Board] that the Black and White Clown used to communicate with Zhang Hao flew out uncontrollably, floating before the light-being.

The light-being extended a finger made of light. The glow at its fingertip condensed and stretched, eventually forming a "pen" seemingly made of pure light. Holding this light-pen, it began to write on the Prompt Board with ease and fluidity, producing a faint rustling sound like the friction of starlight.

As the strokes were completed, a line of text that exuded an aura of both cheerfulness and majesty appeared on the Prompt Board:

["I am the [Lord of Pleasure], and also the [God of Pleasure]."]

The moment those words became clear—

Zhang Hao felt as if a mental bomb had been dropped into his brain!

His brand-new Talent, [Child of Numerology], acted as if a maximum-level alarm had been triggered—or perhaps it had caught the scent of an attraction from a higher-level Law of the same Origin. It began to operate frantically at an unprecedented speed, completely beyond his control!

The golden starlight in his left eye and the chaotic darkness in his right both erupted with blinding light! Within his field of vision, countless pieces of information representing "fate" and "Karma" surged and intertwined with unprecedented density and complexity! A massive torrent of information, like a river bursting its banks, forcibly poured into his consciousness!

He saw the fate trajectories of countless Hosts immersed in joy being guided by an invisible force; he saw the myriad, mutually nourishing karmic connections between the "happiness" of Dreamland and the "guilt" that had just vanished underground; he even caught a faint glimpse of an immense... chain of Laws! One end connected to ultimate "pleasure," the other to ultimate "negativity," together forming a much grander balance!

"Ugh—!" The massive information overload brought on a splitting headache. Zhang Hao groaned and couldn't help but clutch his forehead, his body swaying. The phenomena erupting in his eyes only barely subsided, but the lingering dizziness and the shock from that fleeting glimpse left his mind reeling.

The Lord of Pleasure... the God of Pleasure?

A dual identity as both Dominator and God?

A symbiotic relationship between Dreamland and the Lord of the Seven Deadly Sins?

He looked up at the figure emitting a soft white light, which seemed to contain the very Origin of both the "happiness" and "distortion" of the entire Dream World, and waves of shock crashed through his heart.

Was this being the Dominator behind it all?

The light-being—the [Lord/God of Pleasure]—seemed satisfied with the violent reaction of Zhang Hao's Talent. "Holding" the Prompt Board inscribed with its title, it tilted its "head" slightly. Its featureless face "looked" at Zhang Hao once more, as if waiting for his response.