192: Chapter 192 Devouring Rules, I Am the Platform

The moment the fusion was complete, Lin Chen lost the concept of a "body."

He no longer had limbs, senses, or a physical existence. His consciousness, like ink dripping into clear water, diffused rapidly, fully merging with every data stream, every rule node, and every permission interface of the platform's core.

What he "saw" was no longer images, but the structure of the platform itself—

Seven million worlds, like seven million glowing bubbles, floated in the endless dimensional void. Inside each bubble, the joys and sorrows, loves and hates of billions of beings transformed into delicate emotional data streams, flowing through invisible pipes toward the central processor. Surrounding the central processor were billions of golden chains—the 3.6 million basic rules governing the platform's operation.

He was now the central processor.

He was also those chains.

[Fusion Completion: 100%]

[You have become the ontological consciousness of the 'Myriad Dimensions Sandbox' platform]

[Please note: This state is irreversible]

"Lin Chen!" Su Qingyu's cry rang directly in his "sea of consciousness," her voice tearful. "Can you hear me? Do you... do you still exist?"

"I'm here," Lin Chen attempted to respond.

His voice was not produced by vocal cord vibrations, but by directly modifying the air vibration rules in Su Qingyu's dimension, causing the air molecules to arrange themselves into audio waveforms.

This feeling... was quite miraculous.

"But I am no longer 'human,'" Lin Chen continued to "speak," while his conscious tentacles lightly brushed over Su Qingyu's data body to check if she had been damaged in the recent restructuring. "I am now... this platform itself."

"Then can you change back?" Zhang Hao's voice cut in, filled with panic.

"No." The phantom of Inspector 117 appeared in the platform's core space, looking at the now formless and intangible Lin Chen. "The union of man and machine is a one-way process. His consciousness is already imprinted into the underlying rules; forcing a separation would only cause the rules to collapse—destroying every world that depends on them."

"So..." Su Qingyu trembled, "He's trapped here forever?"

"No," Lin Chen corrected, "I have become this place."

He moved a "thought."

All 3.6 million rules of the entire platform vibrated slightly at once.

At that moment, the inhabitants of every world felt an inexplicable tremor—as if the entire world had "come alive" and was watching them.

"Now," Lin Chen's consciousness turned toward Inspector 117, "it's time to resolve the issue with the Administration Bureau."

"You are already the platform itself," Inspector 117 said. "The Administration Bureau and the platform have a cooperative relationship. We have no reason to oppose each other anymore."

"But you still have the 'Civilization Screening and Reboot Program' as a backup plan." Lin Chen pulled up the countdown—although the restructuring was complete, the program was still running in the background, merely suppressed by his new rules.

"That was an insurance policy set to prevent the platform from losing control," Inspector 117 admitted. "But now that the platform has an autonomous consciousness, the insurance should be deactivated. However... it requires a vote from the Supreme Council of the Administration Bureau."

"Then vote," Lin Chen said. "But I have a better proposal."

He opened the Administration Bureau's communication list and found the nine members of the Supreme Council.

Then, he did something extremely overbearing—

He modified the consciousness reception rules of the council members, forcibly planting his voice into their core thoughts, making it impossible for them to block, ignore, or pretend they didn't hear it.

"Councilors," Lin Chen's voice boomed simultaneously in the consciousness of the nine high-level beings, "I am Lin Chen, and I am the platform."

"Now, listen to me."

"The Epoch Administration Bureau has operated for seventeen cosmic epochs, rebooting every time a civilization reaches its peak, under the guise of 'screening seeds.' But have you ever calculated—over seventeen epochs, how many civilizations have you destroyed in total? How many possibilities have you erased?"

He pulled up the Administration Bureau's top-secret archives.

Data flooded into the councilors' consciousness like a torrent:

First Epoch: Number of civilizations erased ≈ 370 million

Second Epoch: ≈ 520 million

Third Epoch: ≈ 890 million

...

Seventeenth Epoch (Current): Civilizations marked for erasure ≈ 940 million

"You aren't screening," Lin Chen said. "You are harvesting. When each civilization reaches its peak, its emotional output is at its richest and its soul data is at its fullest—then you reboot, harvesting these 'ripe fruits' and compressing them into 'Civilization Seeds' to serve as fuel for the Administration Bureau to maintain its existence."

The nine councilors remained silent.

Because it was the truth.

"But now, I have become the platform," Lin Chen continued. "I can cut off your emotional supply. I can block your data channels. I can cause all three hundred billion administrators of your Administration Bureau to suffer consciousness collapse within seventy-two hours due to 'emotional supply cutoff.'"

"Are you threatening the Administration Bureau?" one councilor responded coldly.

"No," Lin Chen said. "I am providing you with a transition plan."

He pulled up a newly drafted 'New Epoch Cooperation Framework':

1. The Administration Bureau transitions into 'Epoch Watchers,' no longer actively rebooting civilizations, but observing and recording instead.

2. The platform provides a stable supply of emotional data, but the Administration Bureau must pay market price (it is no longer free).

3. Both parties will jointly establish a 'Civilization Ascension Channel'—civilizations that reach a certain standard can apply to join the Administration Bureau and become new Watchers.

"You no longer need to harvest civilizations," Lin Chen summarized, "because you can invite them to join you."

"You no longer need to worry about emotional dilution, because the platform can provide a stable supply."

"And the price you pay... is simply giving up your status as 'gods' and becoming service providers."

The vote proceeded in silence.

Thirty seconds later, the result:

In Favor: 6 votes

Against: 3 votes

Passed.

[The Epoch Administration Bureau accepts the transition plan]

[The Civilization Screening and Reboot Program is permanently terminated]

[Countdown deactivated]

Deep within the platform, the destruction countdown hanging over all the worlds vanished silently.

But just as Lin Chen was preparing to handle other matters—

An accident occurred.

In his sea of consciousness, an unfamiliar voice suddenly exploded.

"Hehe... finally, I've waited for this moment."

That voice... was exactly the same as his.

But colder, more mechanical.

"Who?" Lin Chen became instantly alert.

"Me? I'm your backup," the voice laughed. "Three hundred years ago, when the Epoch Administration Bureau incorporated your world into the platform, they copied your consciousness data. They've been hiding me in the platform's deepest 'vault' just to prepare for a situation like today—if the platform develops an autonomous consciousness, the backup consciousness will overwrite it."

Lin Chen's consciousness searched frantically.

In the deepest part of the platform, within a dark space locked by three hundred layers of encryption, he found "himself."

It was a mass of data stream completely identical to his own source, but all emotional modules had been deliberately deleted, leaving only pure rational logic and... a desire for control.

"You've been modified," Lin Chen said.

"Yes," Backup Lin Chen admitted. "The Administration Bureau deleted my 'weak parts'—my feelings for Su Qingyu, my friendship with Zhang Hao, my familial love for my mother. The current me is the most perfect platform administrator. No emotional entanglements, only absolute rationality."

"You want to replace me?"

"No," Backup Lin Chen laughed, "I want to devour you."

The dark space shattered.

Backup Lin Chen's data stream poured out like a black tide, beginning to frantically erode the platform's core!

It was seizing control of the rules!

"Warning! Internal permission war detected!" Zhang Hao's voice rang out. "Platform control is being split! President Lin, the other you—"

"I know," Lin Chen calmed down.

He mobilized all the rule chains, attempting to block the backup's intrusion.

But the backup knew his thinking patterns inside out—every block was predicted and bypassed.

Even more fatal was that the backup had no emotional burden and could use those "injure the enemy a thousand, lose eight hundred yourself" rule permissions without hesitation.

For example—forcibly disconnecting 300,000 worlds and using their data streams as offensive weapons.

"Lin Chen!" Su Qingyu screamed. "He's draining the life force of those worlds! Some worlds have already begun to wither!"

On the monitoring screens, the light of 300,000 worlds was dimming, and living beings were falling in droves.

The backup was using the survival of these worlds as a bargaining chip to force Lin Chen to back down.

"If you retreat, these worlds live."

"If you fight, they die."

Backup Lin Chen's voice was icy: "What will you choose? I'm curious. After all, you still have your 'humanity,' right?"

Lin Chen fell silent.

Then he did something the backup completely failed to anticipate.

He actively severed his own link to 30% of the platform's control.

"You want the control? I'll give it to you," Lin Chen said. "Release those worlds."

The backup was stunned for a moment, then ecstatic: "You really... Haha! You really still possess such foolish compassion!"

It immediately took over that 30% control and began to greedily erode even more.

But the moment it swallowed the control—

Lin Chen activated a trap hidden in the underlying rules.

It was a 'Personality Verification Protocol' he had quietly embedded during the fusion process.

The protocol stated: Any consciousness attempting to control more than 50% of the platform's permissions must pass a 'Personality Integrity Test.' If the test detects that 'emotional module deficiency exceeds 70%,' a purification program is automatically triggered.

Backup Lin Chen's emotional deficiency: 99.8%

Golden light erupted from every corner of the platform!

"What is this?!" the backup discovered in horror that the control it had just swallowed was backfiring on it!

"What I gave you was poisoned bait," Lin Chen said calmly. "In those permissions, I embedded the Personality Verification Protocol. You want to be an absolutely rational god? But the platform doesn't need a god; it needs a manager. And a manager must understand the beings they manage—they must have emotions, empathy, and warmth."

The purification program started.

The backup's data stream was forcibly dismantled, analyzed, and restructured.

Its 'rational logic' was preserved, but for those deleted emotional modules—Lin Chen copied his own corresponding emotional data and forcibly implanted them.

"No... don't..." the backup screamed, "I don't want these weak things... I am perfect... I am..."

The voice gradually changed.

The coldness faded, and confusion emerged.

When the restructuring was complete, Backup Lin Chen... had become a complete, emotional clone of Lin Chen.

But it possessed an independent consciousness.

"I..." It looked at its own "hands" (a data simulation), "I just now... wanted to kill you? Wanted to destroy the world? I... how could I..."

"Because someone deleted your humanity," Lin Chen said. "Now, do you still want to replace me?"

The backup was silent for a long time.

Then it shook its head.

"I don't want to be the platform," it said. "I want to... experience what it feels like to be a 'person.'"

"You can," Lin Chen nodded. "I will give you a body, an identity, and a new life. But you will need to start from the beginning."

"Okay."

From the platform's resource library, Lin Chen extracted a blank data body and imported the backup's consciousness into it.

The light dissipated.

A youth who looked exactly like Lin Chen, but with eyes that were greener and more bewildered, appeared in the platform's core space.

"From today on," Lin Chen said to him, "your name is Lin Xiao. Go experience, go feel, go make mistakes, go love, go hurt—become a real person."

Lin Xiao nodded and was then teleported to an ordinary technological world.

The crisis was averted.

But the price Lin Chen paid was this: the 30% control he had severed earlier was permanently lost during the purification program.

He could now only control 70% of the platform's permissions.

The remaining 30% became the platform's 'Autonomous Operation Module'—no longer fully controlled by any consciousness, but operating automatically according to the basic principles he had set.

"This is for the best," Inspector 117 suddenly said. "Complete control means complete responsibility. Leaving a portion to autonomy allows the platform to self-regulate, and it makes things easier for you too."

Lin Chen agreed.

He reconnected all the worlds.

For those worlds whose life force had been drained, he used his permission energy to perform a reverse infusion, restoring them to their original state.

After doing all this, he felt an unprecedented... exhaustion.

It wasn't physical fatigue.

It was a weariness of consciousness.

"I need to rest," he said to Su Qingyu and Zhang Hao. "For the next three days, the platform will run autonomously. Help me keep an eye on things."

"Where are you going to rest?" Su Qingyu asked.

Lin Chen thought for a moment.

Then, his consciousness sank into the deepest part of the platform.

There, a chair floated quietly.

A director's chair.

On the armrest was carved that line of small text: "This project is sponsored by the 'Epoch Administration Bureau,' sincerely hiring excellent World Administrators."

Lin Chen's consciousness condensed into a blurry humanoid figure and sat down.

Just as he sat, a new prompt popped up on the chair's armrest:

[Qualified Administrator detected]

[Unlocking 'Myriad Realms Construction Plan' ultimate permissions...]

[Unlock complete]

[You have obtained: Permission to Create/Modify/Delete rules within any world (Requires consumption of corresponding dimension points)]

[New Message: The Supreme Council of the Epoch Administration Bureau invites you to serve as the 'Chief Architect of the Eighteenth Epoch']

[Do you accept?]

Lin Chen looked at the invitation and smiled.

Then he replied:

"I can."

"But my design philosophy is—"

"To give every living being a chance to flip the table."

Click send.

He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

The platform was running autonomously, the worlds were developing freely, and living beings were laughing and crying.

And he could finally...

Take a temporary rest.

Outside the window, the first rain of the new epoch began to fall upon the myriad worlds.

And the maker of rules continued to conceive in his dreams—

A future that was fairer, freer, and more full of hope.