103: Chapter 103 Mutual Destruction

"Boom—!!!"

In the very next second after Lin Chen had just become the absolute controlling shareholder of the Netherworld and the Former Nether Kings Phantom had sullenly gone to clean up the battlefield, another anomaly occurred!

Among the three core remains of the Lord of the Ultimate End that were suspended in the air after being "formatted" and should have completely lost their vitality, the "Spinal End" core—the most heavily damaged one—erupted with a final, hysterical light without any warning!

That wasn't the original power of the Lord of the Ultimate End, but a more pure, more extreme form of self-destruction that burned through all existence!

"Hahaha... Lin Chen!!!" A twisted, crazed, and utterly malicious fragment of consciousness erupted from that core wreckage like a final deathbed struggle. It was the last lingering obsession of the Lord of the Ultimate End! "You think you've won?! Bought out my existence?! Formatted my consciousness?!"

"But you forgot! This 'Spinal End' core of mine was 'polluted' before by that ant named Zhang Hao with his filthy Netherfire!!"

"Your formatting... is incomplete!!!"

"Let's... die together!!!"

This final roar was filled with the ultimate humiliation and madness of being defiled by an ant, forcibly "purchased," and "formatted"!

The "Spinal End" core wreckage erupted like a powder keg being ignited! The terrifying destructive energy was no longer the Power of the Ultimate End, but a chaotic force of destruction mixed with Zhang Hao's heterogeneous Netherfire, the resentment of the Ultimate End, and the collapsing structure of the core itself. It formed a twisted, filthy, and highly unstable torrent of destruction, lunging straight at the nearest person, Lin Chen!

Even more terrifyingly, this self-destructing torrent acted like a fuse, instantly igniting the other two relatively "pure" core remains! ("Cranial" and "Cardiac")

"Buzz, buzz, buzz—!!"

The other two core remains were pulled by the energy and disturbed by the rules; their extremely unstable internal structures were also instantly detonated!

At this moment, the three major core remains formed a chain reaction of sympathetic detonations!

Although its power was far inferior to a self-detonation when the Lord of the Ultimate End's consciousness was intact, this was, after all, the core essence left behind by a trinity-level world-ending existence! The energy it unleashed was still enough to completely blast the fragile edge of the Netherworld (the very battlefield where Lin Chen and the others were) back into chaos after it had just endured a great war!

Everything happened too fast! Too suddenly!

No one expected that the Lord of the Ultimate End, who had already been "bought out" and "formatted," would still leave behind such a vicious trump card! It had exploited the formatting loophole caused by Zhang Hao's previous "pollution"!

"Master!!" Su Qingyu's face turned pale. This sudden explosion was too close to Lin Chen!

The Former Nether Kings Phantom, who was halfway through cleaning up, also jerked its head back. A flash of astonishment crossed its eyes, which then turned into indifference, even carrying a faint, imperceptible sense of "watching a good show."

Bai Qi, Xing Tian, and Ying Bu wanted to rush to the rescue, but the explosion happened right next to Lin Chen—there was simply no time!

The torrent of destruction instantly swallowed Lin Chen's figure!

"It's a success! Hahaha..." The last sliver of the Lord of the Ultimate End's resentment let out a delighted shriek before completely dissipating.

The terrifying explosive energy was like an out-of-control beast, madly spreading in all directions. It looked as if it would drag the remaining Fortress, Su Qingyu, and everyone else into the abyss of destruction!

At this critical juncture—

"Freeze."

A calm voice drifted out from the very center of the explosion.

The voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed to contain the will of the Netherworld itself.

Immediately after, a scene that left everyone dumbfounded occurred.

That all-consuming torrent of destructive energy, that explosive light wave capable of annihilating all things, the moment it touched a certain invisible boundary, it was as if a pause button had been pressed. It abruptly... stagnated!

It wasn't blocked, nor was it neutralized; it was... time frozen!

Energy, light, flying core fragments... everything was frozen in place, maintaining the most violent posture of the moment of eruption, yet unable to advance even a fraction of an inch!

It was as if an invisible giant hand had forcibly frozen this tableau of destruction!

In the center of the explosion, Lin Chen's figure slowly emerged.

He was still standing there, completely unharmed. Even his tattered loungewear wasn't the least bit disarrayed.

His gaze was no longer one of absolute rationality or playfulness, but a kind of... indifference.

It was the indifference of someone who, having grasped fundamental authority, looked upon all things as if they were insignificant phenomena in their own backyard.

He slowly raised his hand and lightly clenched it toward the frozen triple torrent of destructive energy before him.

"Disperse."

His words became law!

The frozen, incredibly violent destructive energy, like soldiers hearing the highest command, instantly disintegrated and collapsed. It turned into the most obedient basic energy particles and then, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, silently merged into the surrounding void. It was absorbed and assimilated by the rules of the Netherworld itself, without causing a single ripple.

Less than three seconds had passed from start to finish.

A chain of sympathetic detonations from the cores of the Ultimate End, enough to destroy everything, was just like that... nonchalantly wiped away.

silence.

A silence even more deathly than the silence just now.

Everyone's mouth hung open as they watched this scene that looked like a miracle (or perhaps, a Nether-miracle?).

Su Qingyu clutched her chest, feeling as if her heart was about to jump out.

The Former Nether Kings Phantom's "watching a good show" expression froze on its face, replaced by a deep shock and... a trace of horror that even it was unwilling to admit. It knew better than anyone what kind of terrifying authority and control over the Netherworld's rules were required to freeze and dissipate an explosion of that level so effortlessly! This was definitely not something that could be achieved with just a 55% stake! This kid's speed in adapting to and utilizing authority was simply inconceivable!

Lin Chen had dealt with the explosion as if he had merely swatted a buzzing fly. He didn't even look in the direction of the explosion, but instead turned his gaze toward the devastated ruins of the Fortress below, and the dazed survivors within those ruins who had narrowly escaped death.

His gaze swept across the broken walls, the collapsed buildings, the blood-stained earth, and those faces supporting each other, mixed with fear, sorrow, and a glimmer of bewildered hope.

A data stream labeled "messy situation" flashed rapidly through his mind.

He frowned slightly, seemingly finding it a bit troublesome.

Then, he raised his hand.

This time, he didn't point at any enemy, but toward the massive ruins below and the people surviving within them.

A gentle yet majestic force of the Netherworld's source, containing the rules of life and death, creation and restoration, spread out from him like a warm black tide toward the entire Fortress ruins.

Under the influence of this power, a miracle occurred—

Broken walls healed and reshaped themselves as if time were flowing backward!

Within the collapsed building ruins, steel bars twisted and concrete reorganized. One by one, brand-new buildings that were even sturdier, boasting a dull metallic luster and mysterious runes, rose from the ground!

The blood-stained earth was purified, charred marks were smoothed over, and even "Ghost Moss," a plant unique to the Netherworld that emitted a faint glow, began to grow.

The wounds on the injured survivors healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and their depleted vitality was slowly replenished...

Even some of the Ghost Soldiers who had died in battle earlier, as long as their remnant souls had not completely dissipated, began to reconsolidate into faint phantoms under the influence of a certain force...

This wasn't simple repair.

This was... reconstruction!

Using the authority of the Netherworld, he was establishing a more grand, more powerful new city upon this scorched earth, one that bore Lin Chen's personal mark—the New City!

Su Qingyu stared blankly at the world-changing scene before her, feeling her internal injuries heal and her strength recover. Looking at that rapidly forming black city that exuded a grim majesty and a strange beauty, she couldn't say a single word.

All the survivors knelt on the ground as if they were beholding a miracle.

The Former Nether Kings Phantom looked at all this with a complex expression, which finally turned into an imperceptible sigh. It continued to bury its head in cleaning up the peripheral energy residues, though its movements seemed a bit more diligent...

Lin Chen hovered in the air, looking down at the New City that was rapidly taking shape beneath his feet, and at the survivors who were as small as sesame seeds yet projected gazes of fanaticism and awe toward him.

He felt the vast and boundless authority of the Netherworld within him, which he could wield as easily as his own limbs, as well as the "humanity anchor" that was still frozen but seemed to be faintly throbbing behind a thin membrane.

A sense of control like never before filled his body and mind.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the barriers of the Netherworld to see the endless void and, beyond that void, even more worlds waiting for him to "explore," "operate," and "acquire."

Finally, a clear arc of endless ambition curled at the corner of his mouth.

"The Netherworld..."

"I'll take it."