156: Chapter 156 God War? No, it's Business Competition

The moment Lin Chen's words "hostile takeover" fell, the entire Pantheon exploded.

Not a metaphor—the divine might simultaneously unleashed by the enraged 365 deities truly blasted the hall's dome into the sky!

The ten-thousand-zhang-high dome of the divine hall shattered into billions of fragments, burning and falling amidst the holy light. For the first time, the sky of the divine realm outside was fully exposed to the deities—no longer pure gold, but covered in dense, black cracks, like a piece of glass about to shatter.

"Audacious!!!"

Helios, the Sun God, was the first to act.

The twelve pairs of light wings behind Him burned completely, each wing transforming into a miniature star! Twenty-four stars orbited Him, releasing light and heat sufficient to evaporate an entire galaxy!

"All deities, heed my command—!"

Helios's voice resounded throughout the divine realm:

"The Lord of the Underworld blasphemes divine authority, intending to overthrow the divine realm!"

"Activate the 'Ragnarok' protocol!"

"At all costs—"

"Slay this beast!!!"

Boom——!!!

Within the hall, over two hundred deities rose simultaneously!

The God of War drew a giant axe capable of cleaving the starry river!

The Lord of Thunder grasped a spear condensed from billions of lightning bolts!

The God of Death opened his third eye, capable of annihilating souls!

Even more terrifying were the surroundings of the hall—the ancient divine beast reliefs carved into the walls, originally mere decorations, now all came to life! Their stone bodies peeled away, revealing real flesh and blood beneath, each exuding the pressure of a chief deity!

Three hundred and sixty-five deities, plus seventy-two Ancient Divine Beasts.

This was the divine realm's trump card, its true "world-ending" level combat power, unused for a hundred thousand years!

Their gazes all locked onto Lin Chen.

Killing intent solidified into tangible black frost, spreading wildly across the hall's floor!

Zhang Hao, watching the projection from his nest outside the divine hall, felt his legs go weak: "B-boss... you've gone too far this time..."

Su Qingyu, however, stared at Lin Chen in the projection and suddenly said, "No, he's smiling."

Indeed.

Standing at the center of the storm of destruction, the corner of Lin Chen's mouth was indeed curled into a slight arc.

It wasn't a cold smile, nor a sneer.

It was... a genuine, heartfelt smile of seeing the fish finally bite the hook.

"They've all finally jumped out."

He said softly.

Then, he raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

Snap.

A very soft sound.

But the next second—

An absurd plot twist:

Outside the Pantheon, in the sky of the divine realm, countless enormous... billboards suddenly appeared.

Not illusions, but real, three-dimensional projection billboards made of pure light energy.

The first billboard appeared above Helios's head, flashing with golden characters that read:

"[Tired of the 996 divine grind? Underworld Group is sincerely hiring 'Faith Market Specialists'!]"

"[Compensation: Base monthly salary of 100,000 Underworld Coins + faith commission + five social insurances and one housing fund + paid annual leave]"

"[Requirements: Familiar with divine realm laws, priority given to those with over three years of believer management experience]"

The second appeared before the God of War:

"[Had enough of fighting wars? Come be a 'Weapons Tester' at the Underworld Military Industry Department!]"

"[Job content: Test the latest god-slaying weapons, provide professional combat data]"

"[Benefits: Full reimbursement for all combat losses during testing, death and injury compensation starting at 5 million Underworld Coins]"

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

In just three seconds, the entire sky of the divine realm was completely covered in dense recruitment ads, product ads, and promotional ads!

Even more outrageous was—

All praying believers suddenly heard a gentle female voice announcement in their minds:

"Interrupting with an advertisement: Still troubled by unanswered prayers? Still suffering because your faith power is being skimmed at every level? The 'Underworld Brand Faith Express' is officially launched! Skip the middleman deities and connect directly to the Underworld Reincarnation System! First-month trial price only 9.9 Underworld Coins! The first ten subscribers also receive a 'Priority Reincarnation VIP Channel' experience voucher..."

"Repeating, Underworld Brand Faith Express..."

All believers: "???"

All deities: "!!!"

"This... what kind of sorcery is this?!" The Lord of Thunder was so angry that electricity crackled wildly all over his body. "My prayer channel... has been invaded by ads?!"

"Not just yours." The God of Death's voice was hoarse. "The mourning channels of all the realms of the dead I oversee... are also playing ads for 'Underworld Cemetery Limited-Time Discounts'..."

"At my harvest sacrificial ceremony, the farmers just knelt down when they heard a promotion in their minds: 'Underworld Hybrid Divine Rice, yield 30,000 jin per mu'..."

Chaos.

Complete chaos.

The "faith transmission system" upon which the divine realm relied for survival was, at this moment, utterly polluted by Lin Chen using the cheapest, crudest, most shameless method—ad bombardment!

Helios's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, bloodshot: "You... you dare defile the sacred prayers..."

"Defile?" Lin Chen looked innocent. "I'm helping you optimize the 'customer experience.'"

He pulled up a report just generated:

"Based on my analysis of the divine realm's faith income data from the past ten thousand years, your problems are: a single product line (only the pray-response model), poor service attitude (often unresponsive), too many middle layers (deities, angels, priests skimming at every level), leading to continuously declining customer (believer) satisfaction and a yearly increasing churn rate."

He pointed at the ads in the sky:

"The 'Faith Express' I offer cuts out all middlemen, allowing believers to connect directly to the reincarnation system, improving response speed by 99% and faith power utilization by 300%."

"This is business innovation, how can it be called defilement?"

He paused, then added:

"Of course, if you insist on calling this 'unfair competition'—"

"I can apply for arbitration with the Scales of Truth."

"Let's see who they rule is disrupting market order."

Helios: "..."

Other deities: "..."

Frustration.

Unprecedented frustration.

They had prepared a world-ending divine war, but the other side was playing business competition with them?

And it was a business competition of dimensional reduction?!

Thrilling Satisfaction:

Just as the deities were about to explode with rage—

A sudden anomaly occurred.

Not from Lin Chen, nor from the deities.

But from... outside the divine realm.

That sky covered in black cracks suddenly shattered completely.

Not a physical shattering, but the very concept of "space" itself was bitten off by some more terrifying existence.

What was revealed behind the cracks was not void, nor darkness.

It was... a mouth.

A mouth spanning half the sky of the divine realm, covered in countless layers of fangs, each fang skewering at least ten divine sparks of deities—

The true mouth of the Abyssal Lord, Gramer.

"Eat... ads... finished eating..."

Gramer's voice was no longer playful as before, but carried a certain... lazy satisfaction.

"So... the faith of the divine realm... tastes this good..."

"Thank you... Lord of the Underworld... for advertising for me..."

His mouth began to slowly close.

And before it closed, everyone saw—

Within that mouth, floating twenty-seven golden light clusters.

Each light cluster radiated the pressure of a chief deity!

Those were the divine sparks of the twenty-seven chief deities the divine realm had lost to Gramer's sneak attacks and devouring in the past three hours!

Including several chief deities who had been meeting in the Pantheon earlier but had rushed out in rage to fight Lin Chen just now!

"No—!!!"

Helios let out a heart-wrenching scream.

He recognized several of those light clusters—

Lord of the Ocean, Mother Earth, Master of Stars...

All pillar deities of the divine realm!

"Gramer... you despicable... !!"

"Despicable?" Gramer's mouth paused mid-closure, emitting a thunderous mockery. "It was you... who deployed your entire defense system... to deal with the Lord of the Underworld..."

"I merely... took advantage of the opening..."

"If you want to blame someone..."

His gaze turned toward Lin Chen:

"Blame him."

Perfect framing.

Perfect sowing discord.

Helios and the remaining deities all turned their eyes to Lin Chen, the killing intent in their eyes almost solidifying—

If it weren't for you causing trouble here, why would we have moved our defenses?!

If it weren't for you playing ads here, how could Gramer have taken the chance to ambush?!

You are the culprit who caused the deaths of the divine realm's twenty-seven chief deities!

"Kill him—!!!"

Over a hundred deities completely lost their minds. No longer caring about ads or business competition, they burned their divine sparks, their divine bodies, everything, transforming into three hundred and sixty-five torrents of destruction, crashing toward Lin Chen!

This was the true, "Ragnarok" at the cost of mutual destruction!

Zhang Hao screamed from his nest: "Boss, run—!!"

Su Qingyu had already charged out—

But Lin Chen still didn't move.

He even closed his eyes.

Not waiting for death.

But rather...

Listening.

Listening to the sounds of those ad announcements echoing in every corner of the divine realm;

Listening to the confused whispers of those believers;

Listening to the prayer channels where more and more people began asking "how to apply for the Underworld Faith Express";

Listening—

To the faint, almost imperceptible...

Chewing sounds.

Deep within Gramer's giant mouth.

Three seconds later.

Lin Chen opened his eyes.

In his eyes flashed a cold understanding.

"So that's how it is."

He said.

Then, he raised his hand—

Not to defend, not to counterattack.

But to throw a coin toward the giant mouth in the sky.

A coin with a face value of—1 Underworld Coin.

The coin traced a parabola through the air, flying accurately into Gramer's about-to-close mouth.

"You treated me to a feast of ads."

Lin Chen's voice was terrifyingly calm:

"I'll return the favor—"

"With a proper meal."

Hook:

The moment the coin fell into the giant mouth.

Gramer's mouth, spanning half the divine realm, suddenly—

Froze.

Not attacked, not sealed.

But...

He felt that within his body, the twenty-seven chief deity divine sparks he had just swallowed and hadn't yet digested—

Simultaneously began to... glow.

Not ordinary light.

But the kind... forcibly activated with a "self-destruct sequence," about to—

"No—!!!"

For the first time, Gramer let out a terrified roar:

"You tampered with the divine sparks—!!!"

Boom——!!!

Twenty-seven chief deity divine sparks exploded simultaneously within his body!

It wasn't a physical explosion.

It was a conceptual-level explosion!

Each divine spark explosion tore open a "rule wound" within Gramer—wounds that couldn't heal, permanently existing within the concept of his being, continuously eroding his essence!

Even more terrifying was—

The shockwaves of the explosion didn't spread.

Instead, they were all... absorbed by that 1 Underworld Coin.

The coin spun frantically at the explosion's epicenter, devouring all energy, all fragments of laws, all remnants of divinity like a black hole—

Then.

On the coin's surface, a line of small characters appeared:

"[You have successfully activated the 'Divine Takeout' service]"

"[This takeout order: 27-chief-deity-divine-spark buffet]"

"[Delivery fee: 1 Underworld Coin]"

"[Dining experience rating: ★ (Negative Review)]"

"[According to platform rules, negative review orders trigger the 'Full Refund + Tenfold Compensation' clause]"

"[Refund amount: Estimated value of 27 divine sparks (approx. 8.1 trillion Underworld Coins)]"

"[Compensation amount: Tenfold, i.e., 81 trillion Underworld Coins]"

"[Please pay within 30 seconds, Lord Gramer. Late payment will result in forced seizure of all your abyssal assets.]"

Gramer: "..."

His giant mouth began to tremble violently.

Not from anger.

But... a tremor forced by the rules, impossible to resist.

Because he felt—

The foundational laws of the multiverse had truly begun calculating his assets!

If he couldn't pay the 81 trillion...

He would be forcibly disassembled into parts by the laws and auctioned off to pay the debt!

"Lin Chen—!!!"

Gramer let out an unprecedented roar filled with ultimate frustration and rage:

"I will devour you—!!!"

His mouth, disregarding everything, bit down toward Lin Chen—

But at that moment.

Behind Lin Chen.

Those three hundred and sixty-five torrents of destruction, the deities' burning lives transformed—

Arrived.