209: The Game of Gods

"Who told you to stay behind and play the hero?"

A figure with a gentle temperament materialized layer by layer like a holographic projection.

He glanced at the Statue of Liberty, where only ten lonely servers were still flickering. A hint of heartache flashed in his eyes as he frowned and whispered:

"If I hadn't made it in time, you would have been finished here, you know that!"

Zhang Huaiyuan felt a wave of lingering fear in his heart.

"Excellency, why are you here?"

The Statue of Liberty's voice rang out with urgency:

"Asroth, didn't I tell you to take His Excellency and leave? Why did you come back!"

She was truly anxious.

She had previously realized that even an existence like His Excellency Zhang Huaiyuan would inevitably act on his emotions, so she had secretly conspired with Asroth to smuggle him away. Now, all that effort had gone to waste!

"You can't blame me, it's..."

"Lady Goddess, my apologies, I was the one who leaked the secret. I felt that if Mr. Zhang Huaiyuan knew you had fallen for his sake and we had withheld the information, he would most likely format me."

Before Asroth could finish explaining, the ring on his hand flashed, and the light and shadow of an Intellectual Brain appeared.

"It was you? I should have left you behind then."

The Statue of Liberty said coldly.

She was somewhat annoyed; the Emotional Module in the Miracle Algorithm had still influenced her to some extent, preventing her from accounting for every unexpected event.

"I say, give me a little trust, will you?"

Zhang Huaiyuan's tone grew slightly heavier: "When have I ever let you down?"

"But..."

The Statue of Liberty hesitated upon hearing this.

Rationally speaking, no matter how many simulations she ran, even if the other side successfully developed powerful weapons using level 3 rules, they couldn't possibly be a match for so many high-level cultivation experts.

But emotionally, she was willing to believe that His Excellency Zhang Huaiyuan could create miracles, just like the algorithm he had gifted her.

Since things had come to this... at worst, she would perish here along with His Excellency.

As she thought this, the rapidly flickering indicator lights flashed even more violently.

"I understand."

She fell silent for a moment, a hint of a smile entering her voice:

"I learned it from you, Excellency."

"What?"

Zhang Huaiyuan was taken aback.

"Didn't you ask, 'Who told you to stay behind and play the hero?' I'm saying, I learned it from you."

The Statue of Liberty said in a serious tone.

"You learn the bad things but not the good ones."

Zhang Huaiyuan said sheepishly.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this display of master-servant affection between you ants."

At that moment, a cold voice drifted over.

Without them noticing, the elders of the Xuanjian Sect had completely surrounded them.

Venerable Xuan Jian reached out and gripped his Heavy Sword, a mocking smile on his face.

The reason he hadn't acted immediately was that this part of the world had been sealed off by two elders, yet this fellow had broken in silently.

But after observing carefully for a moment, he found it was just an ordinary person with little power.

He must have slipped in through some kind of technological device.

"Wait for me a moment."

Zhang Huaiyuan comforted her softly, putting away the remaining ten servers of the Statue of Liberty with a wave of his hand.

He then turned around to face Venerable Xuan Jian, his expression darkening:

"Were you the one who hurt her?"

"An ant dares to question a god of the heavens."

Venerable Xuan Jian's face was indifferent as his Heavy Sword left its sheath. He said calmly:

"Offending my Xuanjian Sect is a capital offense. Perish along with this world."

"Hahaha!"

Hearing this, Zhang Huaiyuan suddenly burst into wild laughter.

He seemed to completely ignore the sword qi that was sharp enough to cleave an entire galaxy.

"After leaving that disaster on Blackstone Star, I swore that I would never allow myself to fall into such a helpless situation again."

"For decades, I haven't dared to slack off for even a minute."

"I didn't dare to indulge in power, I didn't dare to accept others' affections, and I didn't even dare to spend too much time on interpersonal relationships. Every minute, every second, I told myself to keep learning, improving, and learning again."

"Now... all of this has finally paid off."

The smile on Zhang Huaiyuan's face vanished, a cold light glinting in his eyes as he stared at Venerable Xuan Jian. He spoke in a slow, teasing voice:

"Have you ever heard a saying... As long as you dare to show an HP Bar, even a god can be killed."

"What do you mean?"

Seeing the other's somewhat crazed appearance, the sword light in Venerable Xuan Jian's hand paused. An inexplicable sense of unease rose in his heart.

Surely this guy doesn't have something left behind from some high-level ruins too?

"It means... all of you must die today. Even a god can't save you—I said so!"

As his voice fell, Zhang Huaiyuan lightly snapped his fingers. His figure vanished from the spot, leaving behind four barely audible words.

"Game... start."

Instantly, the originally dilapidated universe began to restore itself at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Planets, space, and even the destroyed fleets and fallen lives reappeared one by one.

"This is..."

The expressions of Venerable Xuan Jian and the elders changed slightly. They all activated their sword qi to form protective shields.

"Strange, I can't sense that fellow's position anymore."

"Hmph, just playing tricks. So what if this low-level world is restored? We'll just destroy it again."

An elder snorted coldly, his long sword in hand. A sword light spanning hundreds of millions of miles severed the galaxy once more.

But something shocking happened.

The shattered starry sky restored itself again, as if time were being rewound.

"This..."

The elder blinked in disbelief.

"Something's wrong..."

Venerable Xuan Jian suddenly turned around and looked toward the distant starry sky:

"A large number of presences are approaching."

"How can that be... Aren't the living beings of this world all dead... Wait, could it be..."

Several elders also looked over, sensing something. Their faces darkened.

They thought of a certain possibility.

Since the destroyed galaxies had been restored, would the dead soldiers also... Their speculation didn't last long. As fleets and massive space fortresses approached, everything was proven.

Countless cold muzzles lit up with brilliant light, locking onto everyone from afar.

"They really were resurrected?"

Venerable Xuan Jian narrowed his eyes and tentatively swung his Heavy Sword.

Instantly, the sword qi tore through the air, sweeping away everything in its path.

It was just as easy as before.

"Hmm? After all that posturing, they're still so fragile."

The elders couldn't help but smile at the sight.

No matter how many times these ant-like things were resurrected, it was useless. They could kill billions with a casual wave of their hands.

Meanwhile, not far above them, in a place even Venerable Xuan Jian could not detect.

"The battle has only just begun."

A cold smile played on the corners of Zhang Huaiyuan's mouth.

He looked at his ability.

extraordinary level: SSS.

Current World Gamification Progress: 100%.

Activate Extra Effect — God's Game:

Everything within the current world is digitized. Life, laws, items, science—everything can be quantified.

At the same time, as the controller of the ability, you may add rules within the reasonable scope of the game. Note: adding too many rules at once will cause the world to collapse.

Supplementary Note: Within the scope allowed by the game, you are God.

With a thought, Zhang Huaiyuan acted.

The invisible rules of this universe instantly changed.

"Upon entering this universe, any existence, no matter what it is, will have an 'HP Bar' manifested."

"Attacks within this universe will deal a minimum of 1 point of forced damage."

"Mechanical equipment entering this universe will have a durability stat."

"Native beings will have Respawn Points. After death, they can be resurrected at a Respawn Point in full health."

"..."

"That's about enough. Cheating rules like direct instant-kills seem impossible, but this is enough."

A cold glint flashed in Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes, but the smile on his face grew wider.

"Big bosses, welcome to the game world. What you are facing is... the GM of this game. Please, struggle to your heart's content."

...