80: Chapter 80 Sequence Holders

The pickup truck sped through the darkness.

Chen Mo gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. That eye was still in the distance, suspended in mid-air, with countless threads surging within its golden pupil. It was waiting for him.

Lin Wei sat in the passenger seat, watching him.

“Are you really going?”

Chen Mo nodded.

“That is the will projection of the strange world.”

“I know.”

“You might die.”

Chen Mo said nothing.

He simply stepped on the accelerator.

The pickup truck went even faster.

Ten minutes later, he stopped in front of that eye.

The distance was less than a hundred meters.

Up close, it was larger than imagined. At least fifty meters high, entirely golden, like a giant eyeball floating in the air. Those threads surged from within it, extending in all directions, connecting the entire Ghost Realm.

Chen Mo pushed open the car door and stepped out.

Lin Wei wanted to follow, but he stopped her.

“Wait here.”

He closed the door and walked toward the eye alone.

With every step, the surrounding pressure increased by a notch. Those golden threads floated around him, some trying to wrap around his body, but all were shaken off by the rules within him.

When he reached a distance of fifty meters, the eye's pupil suddenly contracted.

A voice rang out in his mind.

“You have come.”

The will of the ghost realm.

Chen Mo came to a halt.

“I have waited for you for a long time,” the voice continued. “Ever since the day you rejected me, I have been waiting.”

Chen Mo did not speak.

He just looked at the eye.

In his twenty-second Prediction, its next move was clearly visible—

It would first launch a Rule Crushing, attempting to overwhelm him with pure rule power. If that failed, it would intervene personally, descending with a part of its true form.

Chen Mo spoke.

“Do you want to kill me?”

The voice fell silent for a second.

“No. I want to see how far you can go.”

An image surfaced within the eye's pupil—

A massive space where countless golden light spots floated. Each light spot was an 'Observer'. They had no bodies, no emotions, only pure consciousness and rules.

“You could have been one of them,” the voice said. “But you chose another path.”

Chen Mo looked at the image.

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 others whose names he didn't know.

They all wanted to become like that.

But he didn't.

“That path is not what I want.”

The voice went silent.

The surrounding golden threads began to shake violently.

“Do you know what you want?”

Chen Mo said nothing.

He raised his hand.

Golden lines surged from his palm, spreading in all directions.

【Rule Creation: Rule Immunity Domain】

【Domain Range: 50-meter radius】

【Duration: 30 seconds】

The moment those golden threads entered the Domain, they were all shaken away.

The will projection of the strange world fluctuated for the first time.

The eye's pupil contracted violently.

“You...”

Chen Mo took a step forward.

“I am the Sequence Controller.”

He raised his other hand.

【Rule Creation: Rule Suppression】

【Target: will projection of the strange world】

Golden light shot from his palm, piercing straight toward the eye.

The projection's body began to distort.

The threads shook frantically, some even beginning to snap.

It let out a roar.

The sound didn't come from outside; it exploded directly in Chen Mo's head.

【Warning: Mental Pollution Attack】

【S-Rank Mental Pollution detected】

【Mental Resistance in effect...】

Chen Mo's head felt as if it were being pierced by countless needles simultaneously.

But he did not fall.

He just gritted his teeth and continued to walk forward.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

The pollution grew stronger and stronger.

But he kept walking.

When he reached a distance of ten meters, he finally stopped.

The eye was right in front of him.

The threads were almost touching his face.

But it did not attack.

It just watched him.

In those golden pupils, something different appeared for the first time.

Not anger, not fear, but...

Wary.

“You have made me wary,” the voice said. “In history, only three people have ever done so.”

Chen Mo looked at it.

“Which three?”

“The first was Zhang Yuan. The second was Li Xiuying. The third is you.”

The voice paused.

“Zhang Yuan is dead, Li Xiuying has vanished. What about you?”

Chen Mo did not answer.

He simply raised his cleaver.

The eye looked at him.

Then it laughed.

The laughter was complex—like helplessness, yet also like appreciation.

“You may go.”

Chen Mo was taken aback for a moment.

“What?”

“I will not kill you today,” the voice said. “But next time, I will not show mercy.”

The eye began to shrink.

From fifty meters to thirty, from thirty to ten, and finally, it transformed into a human figure the size of an ordinary person.

It was still that old man.

Zhang Yuan.

He looked at Chen Mo, an unreadable expression in his eyes.

“You passed.”

Chen Mo said nothing.

Zhang Yuan took a step forward.

“You are the most human-like one I have ever seen.”

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

“Those former Controllers, after obtaining the core, they all changed. They were no longer human; they became part of the rules. Only you still retain those things.”

Chen Mo looked down at his chest.

Those golden lines were still flowing, but that feeling of being 'human' indeed remained.

Zhang Yuan looked at him.

“Do you know why?”

Chen Mo shook his head.

“Because you chose Independent Advancement,” Zhang Yuan said. “You did not fuse with the core; instead, you made the core a part of you. This is the only path that allows one to retain the self.”

He smiled.

The smile was very bitter.

“I didn't dare to choose it back then. So now, I'm only left with a fragment of consciousness.”

His figure began to fade.

“Go. Do what you must do.”

He vanished.

Chen Mo stood where he was, staring at that stretch of void.

In the distance, the eye was already gone.

Only those golden threads remained, floating in the air.

He turned and walked back to the pickup truck.

Lin Wei was waiting for him.

“Is it over?”

Chen Mo nodded.

He got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

The pickup truck drove back the way it came.

In the rearview mirror, that patch of void grew further and further away.

Chen Mo gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

Suddenly, a System announcement rang out.

【Regional Announcement】

【Congratulations to Chosen One 'Chen Mo' for becoming the first A-Rank Sequencer in this region】

【Advancement Sequence: Sequence Controller (Independent Advancement)】

【Advancement Evaluation: First in History】

【Acquired Exclusive Title: Rule Dominator】

【This announcement is hereby publicized to the entire region】

Chen Mo looked at those lines of text.

First in history.

Independent Advancement.

He had done it.

Lin Wei was beside him, watching him.

“You... you really made it.”

Chen Mo did not speak.

He just looked out the window.

The night was deep, but in those eyes, the golden light was brighter than ever.

Sequence Controller.

From a pawn to a player.

How long had it taken him?

He didn't know.

But he knew that this was only the beginning.

The real battle was still ahead.

The pickup truck continued forward.

Ahead, the lights of Trading Post No. 1 flickered faintly.

Chen Mo stepped on the accelerator.

Bring it on.