77: Chapter 77 The Core of the Sequence

Chen Mo stood in the service area, watching the projection approaching in the distance.

In his Time Perception, its movement speed was very fast—at least twice as fast as before.

At this speed, it would arrive here in three hours at most.

Lin Wei stood beside him.

"Is there enough time?"

Chen Mo did not speak.

He just raised his hand and looked at his palm.

Those golden lines flowed under his skin; with every rotation, a new surge of power welled up.

Rule Creation, Sequence Control, Prediction extended to fifteen seconds.

He had not yet truly used these abilities.

Now was the time.

Chen Mo closed his eyes.

Those rules emerged in his mind—the rules of the Ghost Realm, the rules of the sequence, and those rules hidden in the depths that had never been discovered by anyone.

His consciousness extended along those rules, reaching out in the direction of that projection.

Ten kilometers.

Twenty kilometers.

Thirty kilometers.

Fifty kilometers.

He "saw" it.

It was a mass of huge light, brighter than any Ghost Shadow.

Its shape was constantly changing; sometimes it looked like a human, sometimes like a beast, and sometimes like a burning ball of fire.

Those golden lines surged out from within its body, spreading in all directions, connecting every corner of the entire Ghost Realm.

A projection of the will of the ghost realm.

It was not the main body, but it was already powerful enough.

Chen Mo withdrew his consciousness.

He opened his eyes.

"Let's go," he said.

"Where to?"

"To meet it."

The two of them got into the pickup truck and started the engine.

The pickup truck drove onto the road and rushed toward the direction of that projection.

Three hours later, they stopped on an open field.

Five hundred meters ahead, that projection was suspended in mid-air.

Looking at it up close, it was larger than he had imagined.

It was at least thirty meters tall, entirely golden, and shaped like a huge eye.

The eye was open, and countless golden threads surged within its pupil.

Those threads extended in all directions, disappearing into the Void Realm.

Chen Mo pushed open the car door and stepped out.

Lin Wei wanted to follow, but was stopped by him.

"Wait here."

He closed the car door and walked toward that eye alone.

With every step he took, the pressure around him increased by a fraction.

Those golden threads floated around him; some tried to entangle his body, but they were all shaken off by the rules within him.

When he walked to a distance of one hundred meters, the pupil of that eye suddenly contracted.

A voice sounded in his mind.

"You have come."

The will of the ghost realm.

Chen Mo stopped walking.

"I knew you would come," the voice continued. "From the first time I noticed you, I knew you would come."

Chen Mo did not speak.

He just looked at the eye.

In the fifteen-second Prediction, its next actions were clearly visible—

It would first launch a Rule Suppression, attempting to deprive him of his abilities.

Then it would send out three A-Rank Ghost Shadows to surround and attack from three directions.

If he could survive this wave, it would take action itself.

Chen Mo spoke.

"Do you want to kill me?"

The voice was silent for a second.

"No. I want you to join."

A scene appeared within the pupil of that eye—

A huge space with countless golden light spots floating within it.

Each light spot was an "Observer."

They had no bodies, no emotions, only pure consciousness and rules.

"Become one of us," the voice said. "You can exist forever, observe forever, and never be threatened by death."

Chen Mo looked at the scene.

Those light spots were the lackeys of the will of the ghost realm.

The leader of the traitor organization, the Transaction Master, Zhang Lie, and countless people whose names he did not know.

They all wanted to become like that.

But Chen Mo did not.

"I refuse."

The voice fell silent.

The golden threads around him began to shake violently.

"Do you know the price of refusal?"

Chen Mo did not speak.

He just gripped his cleaver tightly.

The voice laughed.

The laughter was harsh and sharp, like countless people screaming at the same time.

"Then let me see how long you can hold out."

Three light spots surged out from the pupil of the eye.

The three light spots landed and turned into three human shapes.

Three A-Rank Ghost Shadows.

【Target: A-Rank Ghost Shadow × 3】

【Abilities: Rule Suppression, Space Lock, Time Stasis】

【Threat Assessment: Fatal】

Chen Mo did not move.

He just looked at the three Ghost Shadows.

In the fifteen-second Prediction, their movements were clearly visible—

The one on the left would first launch a Rule Suppression, attempting to deprive him of his abilities.

The one in the middle would lock the space to prevent him from escaping.

The one on the right would launch a Time Stasis to slow down his movements.

The three coordinated seamlessly.

But Chen Mo had fifteen seconds.

It was enough.

He activated Eerie Power Burst.

All attributes increased by 50%.

Thirty seconds.

He only had thirty seconds.

The first Ghost Shadow raised its hand, and the light of Rule Suppression surged toward Chen Mo.

Chen Mo did not dodge.

He activated Rule Creation.

【Create Temporary Rule: Rule Immunity】

【Duration: 10 seconds】

Those suppression lights landed on him, but had no effect.

The first Ghost Shadow was stunned.

Chen Mo rushed over and slashed at its core with his cleaver.

The blade cut in.

It let out a scream, and its body began to disintegrate.

The second Ghost Shadow launched a Space Lock, and the surrounding Void Realm instantly solidified.

Chen Mo activated Sequence Control.

【Deprive Ability: Space Lock】

Those locks instantly disappeared.

The second Ghost Shadow wanted to run, but could not.

Chen Mo chased after it and slashed down.

It fell.

The third Ghost Shadow's Time Stasis had already been launched, but Chen Mo's fifteen-second Prediction was still active.

He could see that one second of stasis.

Before the stasis arrived, he activated Infiltrator.

Seven seconds of invisibility.

That stasis landed on his afterimage.

Seven seconds later, he appeared behind the third Ghost Shadow.

He slashed down.

Three seconds.

All three A-Rank Ghost Shadows fell.

Chen Mo stood in place, panting heavily.

There were fifteen seconds of Eerie Power Burst left.

The eye looked at him, and for the first time, something different appeared in its pupil.

Not anger, not fear, but...

Confusion.

"How... did you do that?"

Chen Mo did not speak.

He just raised his cleaver and pointed it at the eye.

"Next."

The eye was silent for a few seconds.

Then it laughed.

The laughter was no longer harsh, but became... complex.

"Interesting."

Its body began to shrink, from thirty meters to twenty meters, from twenty meters to ten meters, and finally into a human shape the size of an ordinary person.

An old man.

Wearing worn-out clothes, face full of wrinkles, eyes weary.

Chen Mo looked at that face.

He recognized it.

Zhang Yuan.

The person he had met in the Depths of the Strange Realm, who claimed to be a Chosen One from thirty years ago.

"You are not Zhang Yuan," Chen Mo said.

The old man laughed.

"I am. And I am not."

He took a step forward.

"Zhang Yuan is a part of me. Just like you are also a part of me."

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

The old man looked at him, and there was something indescribable in his eyes.

"Haven't you realized it yet?"

He raised his hand and pointed at Chen Mo's chest.

"Whose core of the sequence is that?"

Chen Mo looked down at his chest.

Those golden lines, the fluctuation of that core.

He remembered.

The words Zhang Yuan had said—

"Everyone who gets it will become a part of the rules."

That core belonged to Zhang Yuan.

It also belonged to countless previous Sequence Controllers.

The old man looked at him.

"Which one are you?"

Chen Mo was silent.

He did not know.

The old man answered for him.

"The seventeenth."

"Seventeen Sequence Controllers, seventeen cycles."

"Every time, they thought they had broken the cycle."

"Every time, they failed."

He took a step forward.

"You will be the same."

Chen Mo looked at him.

In the fifteen-second Prediction, the old man's movements—

There was nothing.

A blank slate.

It was not that he was too strong, but that he did not exist at all.

Just a projection.

A remnant of consciousness.

Chen Mo spoke.

"Perhaps."

"But if I don't try, how would I know?"

The old man looked at him, and something flashed in his eyes.

It looked like relief.

"Go on."

His figure began to fade.

"Go and try."

He disappeared.

Chen Mo stood in place, looking at that Void Realm.

In the distance, the eye was still there.

But it was no longer attacking.

It was just looking at him.

Watching him.

Chen Mo turned around and walked back to the pickup truck.

Lin Wei was waiting for him.

"Is it over?"

Chen Mo shook his head.

"It has just begun."

He sat in the driver's seat and started the engine.

The pickup truck drove back the way they came.

In the rearview mirror, the eye became smaller and smaller.

But that feeling of being watched was still there.

Always there.