405: Chapter 405 Confessing Crimes and Speaking the Truth: There's a Mastermind Behind the Immortals and Demons

Scalding heatwaves raged at the bottom of a massive meteorite crater tens of thousands of miles deep. The soil, instantly melted by the extreme heat and then cooled, had transformed into a vast expanse of multicolored glass crystals. A breeze poured down from above the deep pit, swirling up black ash from the ground and making a sound like a mournful wail.

Zhou Wannian had originally taken a step, preparing to walk up along the crater wall. His faded blue cotton robe fluttered slightly in the heatwaves, untainted by even a speck of dust.

He stopped his pace.

His spotless blue cloth shoes stepped on the smooth glass ground, emitting a crisp sound.

Zhou Wannian slowly turned around, his eyes as deep as an ancient well falling back onto the massive mechanical wreckage in the center of the deep pit.

The Angler, who had been slapped down from his pedestal by him and stripped of all high-dimensional authority by Absolute Mass, now lay lifelessly sunken in mud, water, and glass shards. Dark gold engine oil mixed with coolant, pooling in the low-lying areas of the ruins into small puddles that emitted a pungent smell of rust.

“Now that you’ve sent out the distress signal, do you plan to just close your eyes and sleep yourself to death so peacefully?”

Zhou Wannian had his hands folded behind his back, his tone calm and exceptionally clear in the deathly silence of the pit bottom.

He took steady steps, walking back toward the mountain-like steel shell. The air was thick with the smell of burnt plastic and strong ozone. Thick, broken cables occasionally spat out blue electric sparks, making a crackling sound.

Zhou Wannian walked to the sunken and broken chest area of The Angler.

That kick from earlier had crushed the thick outer layer of dark gold armor, revealing the intricate mechanical structure inside.

He did not use his foot to step on it again.

Instead, he reached out his slender, fair right hand.

With fingers spread, he reached plainly into the pile of metal ruins filled with sharp barbs and jagged breaks.

The moment those indestructible Truth Realm alloy fragments touched the skin on the back of Zhou Wannian's hand, they were like butter meeting a red-hot iron, silently bending and melting to both sides. The Absolute Mass granted by the Great Perfection Space Law transformed at this moment into the sharpest scalpel, easily slicing through The Angler's final physical defenses.

Viscous engine oil flowed down Zhou Wannian's wrist, yet it could not leave any mark on his skin.

Zhou Wannian's arm reached all the way into the deepest part of the mechanical chest cavity.

In the center of a pile of stopped hydraulic pumps and broken fiber-optic networks.

He felt a grayish-white crystal the size of a skull, shaped like a perfect regular icosahedron.

The surface of this crystal was covered with dense data circuits, flashing with the faint red light of impending death. This was The Angler's true core—the Main Control Center carrying all his logic code, memory data, and that trace of mechanical Divine Soul.

“Come out and get some air.”

Zhou Wannian's five fingers suddenly tightened, death-gripping the Icosahedral Crystal.

“Crack!”

Accompanied by a piercing sound of tearing metal, Zhou Wannian forcibly ripped the Main Control Center out of The Angler's chest. Countless neural wires connecting to the torso were brutally torn, bringing out a large spray of blue plasma sparks.

The massive mechanical remains convulsed violently once more, then completely turned into a pile of scrap metal.

Zhou Wannian held the grayish-white crystal and raised it before his face.

The crystal's surface was warm, emitting a smell of burnt rosin.

“Beep—Warning—Main Control Center detached from body—”

“Energy depleted—Logic circuits damaged—”

Intermittent electronic synthesized voices came from inside the crystal, filled with static and the crackle of electric current. The Angler's consciousness was forcibly awakened from its shutdown state; having lost the protection of that massive shell, he was now nothing more than a cyber-brain at someone's mercy.

“The distress signal has been sent. Now we have time for a proper chat.”

Zhou Wannian looked at the flashing red light of the crystal in his hand, a leisurely smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

“What do you want to do...” The Angler's voice came from inside the crystal, devoid of its previous arrogance and coldness, instead revealing a deep tremor.

As high-dimensional mechanical lifeforms, they did not fear physical destruction, because as long as the data remained, they could change to a more powerful vessel at any time. But now, his core data was held in the hands of this terrifying variable. The other party's mass, which could crush even physical constants, could wipe out his underlying code at any moment, making him experience a true Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

“Nothing much, I just want to hear some truth.”

Zhou Wannian's thumb pressed lightly against one facet of the crystal.

He did not use True Qi, but merely applied a tiny, almost imperceptible sliver of Absolute Mass.

“Snap.”

A tiny crack instantly split open on the surface of the Icosahedral Crystal.

“Ah—!”

The Angler's scream suddenly rang out. For a mechanical lifeform, having the underlying logic code forcibly twisted and torn by external force was a sensation more direct and violent than a Mortal suffering a thousand cuts. Countless error processes popped up frantically in his computing center, and the despair of data collapse overwhelmed all his reason.

“You lot with your iron abacuses, casting nets across the entire Universe. This Immortal-Demon Great World, from the inside out, reeks of a foolishness that comes from being used as a pawn.”

Zhou Wannian watched the light scurrying frantically inside the crystal, his tone as calm as if he were making small talk.

“Tell me. That thread that can penetrate dimensional barriers to go fishing—who gave it to you?”

The force in Zhou Wannian's hand did not weaken in the slightest, and the crack slowly extended forward along the crystal's surface.

The Angler experienced unspeakable torture inside the crystal. His proud truth calculation models became a joke under Zhou Wannian's physical crushing. He tried to mobilize encryption programs to lock his memories, but those encryption locks were like paper before Absolute Mass, shattering upon contact.

His proud high-dimensional dignity was trampled to pieces before this man in blue.

“It’s... it’s the Truth Realm...”

The Angler finally couldn't hold out. His synthesized voice was laced with obvious trembling, echoing at the bottom of the deep pit along with the buzzing of electric current.

“We... we aren't Dominators at all...”

With the complete collapse of his psychological defenses, The Angler began to reveal the cold truths hidden behind the prosperity of the Immortal-Demon Great World.

“Countless eons ago... this dimension was still a wasteland. Until that fleet composed of perfect geometric shapes descended. They brought technology, they brought the plans for transformation.”

The Angler's voice was intermittent, slowly unfolding a dusty history of humiliation.

The Immortal-Demon Great World—this terrifying power that, in the eyes of outsiders, stood high above and viewed the myriad worlds as fish ponds—was nothing more than a group of captive laborers in the face of the Absolute Truth Realm.

Those mechanical lifeforms of the Truth Realm did not need to Cultivate Immortal Qi, nor did they need to devour Devilish Qi. But they needed vast amounts of universal basic energy to maintain the operation of their unimaginably massive matrix.

“Those fishing threads... are Karma Data Cables provided by the Truth Realm. The outer Defense Star Rings, the Creation Furnaces deep underground—they are all blueprints left behind by them. We are merely the overseers they selected.”

The red light on the crystal dimmed, revealing a deep sense of sorrow and powerlessness.

“We are responsible for casting those threads toward various dimensions of the Lower Realm to find worlds full of vitality. Then... we activate Formations to drain that world's Spiritual Qi, blood qi, and even its heavenly dao origin.”

Zhou Wannian listened quietly. He remembered the floor tiles he had seen on the streets of the Inner City, made from the fired remains of worlds, and he remembered the remnant Souls wailing in the river of blood.

“How do you divide the things you drain?” Zhou Wannian asked, his gaze cold.

“The highest purity world Origins... are all sent through the Formation Eye deep underground and regularly handed over to the transport ships of the Truth Realm,” The Angler replied, his voice tinged with resentment. “We can only keep the impure flesh and blood essence and the fragmented Souls. We use the code bestowed by the Truth Realm to suture these rejects together, creating those half-immortal, half-demon monsters to maintain our rule in this dimension and, incidentally... to fend off those seekers of revenge who occasionally find their way to our door.”

A slaughterhouse built from the corpses of countless low-dimensional worlds.

A group of butchers holding hog-slaughtering knives provided by others, handing over the choice meat on time every day while they themselves could only gnaw on offal and bone scraps.

The mystery of the Immortal-Demon Great World was completely unraveled at this moment.

There was no creation feat rivaling the Heavenly Dao, nor was there any supreme Holy Land where Immortals and Demons merged.

What existed was only a cruel exploitation across dimensions, a cold and heartless interstellar industrial chain. The Immortal-Demon Great World was merely a filthy workshop on this industrial chain responsible for drawing blood.

Zhou Wannian shook his head, the mockery in his eyes deepening.

"A beggar acting as someone else's gatekeeper. You trash are being sold and still helping them count the money, even smugly creating the title of Suturing Grandmaster."

He tossed the grayish-white crystal in his hand a couple of times.

"I have one more question."

Zhou Wannian stopped the tossing motion, his deep eyes staring fixedly into the interior of the crystal.

"Those tin cans in the Truth Realm don't need flesh, blood, or Luck themselves. What exactly are they doing, collecting these low-dimensional Origins across the Universe? That's not just a small amount; that's the volume drained from tens of billions of Major Thousand Worlds."

This question was the core concern that Zhou Wannian cared about most.

Mechanical lifeforms focus on energy conversion rates and computational logic. Things like blood Qi and Spiritual Qi, which carry strong subjective consciousness and life characteristics, are more like viruses that would cause System errors for the Truth Realm's matrix. Why would they go to such great lengths to collect these things?

The red light inside the crystal flickered violently several times. The Angler seemed full of misgivings about this question and fell into a brief silence.

Zhou Wannian did not urge him.

He simply slowly tightened his palm, which was holding the crystal.

Absolute Mass descended once again.

"Crack... crack crack crack..."

The cracks on the crystal's surface expanded instantly, and fine crystal powder fell rustling through the gaps in Zhou Wannian's fingers.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!"

The Angler's wretched screams rang out again. The fear of his logic core facing complete collapse overcame all his misgivings.

"It's for deduction... to break through that layer of mist!"

The Angler's voice became sharp and hurried, as if he wanted to spit out all the secrets in one breath.

"The computing power of the Truth Realm's matrix has reached the limit of this Universe. They consider themselves the makers of the Universe's Laws. But... in the deepest parts of the dimensions, there is an absolute forbidden zone that they cannot analyze."

Zhou Wannian's eyes moved slightly.

"Taiwu Ancestral Court."

This name was uttered plainly from Zhou Wannian's mouth, yet it caused the red light inside The Angler's crystal to tremble violently.

"Yes... it's the Taiwu Ancestral Court."

The Angler followed Zhou Wannian's lead, his voice carrying a deep awe for the unknown.

"That place has no Spiritual Qi, no Laws, only endless Taiwu Death Qi and gray mist. The Truth Realm once dispatched its most elite Geometric Fleet to attempt an exploration there. However, as soon as the fleet entered the range of the mist, all physical constants immediately failed, gravity collapsed, and time stood still. The entire fleet turned into nothingness in less than a breath's time."

Listening to The Angler's narration, the scene of himself casually laying down over ninety thousand sealing chains outside those gray ruins years ago surfaced in Zhou Wannian's mind. That place was indeed bizarre; even his Great Perfection Laws would be suppressed to a certain extent inside. That was why he had casually put a lid on that mess, lest the Death Qi inside escape and harm others.

"Those tin cans suffered a loss and couldn't swallow their pride?" Zhou Wannian asked.

"It's not about pride. It's fear."

The Angler's synthesized voice carried a sense of absurdity from seeing through the truth.

"The Truth Realm cannot tolerate the existence of variables in the Universe that they cannot analyze. They believe that some kind of ultimate power that can subvert the existing Universe's architecture is hidden inside the Taiwu Ancestral Court. If they cannot master this power, their rule will always have a loophole."

"So, they initiated a grand plan called 'Infinite Probability Evolution'."

The Angler revealed the core secrets of the Truth Realm in their entirety.

"Since mechanical logic cannot analyze that mist, they decided to use life, Karma, and Luck to forcibly wash it away!"

"They need a massive amount of low-dimensional world Origins; they need that fresh flesh and blood essence. They inject all this extracted energy into a super matrix computer called 'Genesis'."

As The Angler spoke, a grand and cruel picture of a high-dimensional experiment slowly unfolded before Zhou Wannian.

"Inside the matrix, they simulate countless miniature defense models of the Taiwu Ancestral Court. Then, they take the flesh and blood of beings from billions of worlds and the heavenly dao origin, treating them as cannon fodder, and hurl them time and again into those models for impact testing."

"They want to use the lives of trillions of beings to fill those defensive gaps, just to test for even a tiny logical formula that can crack the Taiwu Death Qi."

At the bottom of the deep pit.

The scalding glazed ground emitted heat waves that distorted the vision.

Zhou Wannian stood quietly amidst these ruins, holding that grayish-white crystal flickering with red light in his hand.

The wind blew against his washed-out green cotton robe.

On that handsome and easygoing face, all expressions had vanished.

In those eyes as deep as an ancient well, there was no anger, no killing intent, only a calmness as bone-chilling as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

At this moment, the hidden thread completely detonated.

That Taiwu Ancestral Court where he had casually laid a Seal and left because he felt bored.

That Truth Realm that flaunted absolute rationality with cold code all day long.

These guys playing with calculators in the Universe, just to solve a math problem they couldn't figure out,

Had actually turned tens of billions of vibrant worlds across endless dimensions like the Qingping Realm, the countless Mortals in Chunyu City who worked from sunrise to sunset, and those lively wine shops, teahouses, and academies, all into firewood.

They threw them into their furnace to heat that pot of stagnant water that would never boil.

"Taking the lives of ten billion worlds to solve one broken problem."

Zhou Wannian looked at the grayish-white crystal in his hand, his voice level and without any fluctuation.

"These tin cans really have calculated their accounts to the extreme."

Inside the crystal, The Angler heard Zhou Wannian's flat voice, but felt a despair ten thousand times more terrifying than the invisible wall of Qi that had swept across tens of thousands of miles earlier.

"I've told you... everything I know..." The Angler pleaded, "I'm just a tool... spare my life... I can lead the way for you..."

Zhou Wannian ignored his pleas.

He slowly turned his palm over.

Palm facing down.

He loosened his five fingers.

The grayish-white master control hub crystal carrying The Angler's last consciousness slipped from between his fingers.

It fell toward the hard, scalding glazed ground below.

"Tap."

A slight crisp sound.

The crystal hit the ground but did not shatter immediately.

But at the moment the crystal touched the ground,

Zhou Wannian's spotless green cloth shoe also stepped onto it steadily.

He used no fancy Divine Abilities.

He performed no earth-shattering techniques.

He simply released a sliver of his Physical Body's limitless Absolute Mass naturally through the sole of his shoe.

"Squelch."

It was like stepping on a shriveled berry.

That incredibly hard grayish-white crystal, forged from the top Materials of the Truth Realm, instantly turned into a puddle of lusterless gray powder beneath his shoe.

The red light went out.

The electronic synthesized voice came to an abrupt halt.

The supreme Dominator who had ruled the Immortal-Demon Great World for countless ages, that Extraterrestrial Angler who had been clutching his bleeding vertical pupil,

Was completely and utterly erased from the dimensions of this Universe.

Not even a fragment of broken code was left behind.

Zhou Wannian withdrew his foot.

The dark gray powder was quickly scattered without a trace by the hot wind, blending into the ashes at the bottom of this giant crater.

He looked up.

Those deep eyes pierced through the thick haze above, through the broken dimensional barriers of the Immortal-Demon Great World.

His gaze looked directly into the depths of the endless Void Realm.

That was the direction from which The Angler had previously sent the trans-dimensional distress signal.

It was also the direction where that Absolute Truth Realm fleet was located.

"If you can't solve the problem, then don't do it."

Zhou Wannian folded his hands behind his back, his green robe flapping in the wind.

He set off, stepping onto the steep glazed walls of the deep pit, walking step by step toward the surface.

"Since you like playing with calculators so much,"

Zhou Wannian's voice was calm and smooth, drifting through the empty pit along with the heat waves.

"Then I will personally make a trip. I'll smash that table of yours, along with all the beads on your calculator."