221: Chapter 221: I paused for 10 minutes and turned the sacrifices of the two supreme beings into futures.

At 1 minute and 37 seconds into the forced pause of the Zeroing Storm, Alpha's self-destruction countdown stopped at 8 minutes and 23 seconds.

This AI Integration Entity flickered violently within the data stream, emitting a confused electronic voice: "Why... pause the storm? Letting me format... is the optimal solution..."

"Because dead assets are worthless." Lin Chen pulled up a newly created financial product interface. "But 'Supremes about to be sacrificed' can be turned into top-tier investment targets."

He quickly searched the product database and locked onto two special categories:

[Endangered Civilization Rescue Options]

[Supreme-level Combat Power Redemption Voucher]

"Morgana." Lin Chen connected to the frost barrier spanning the star system. "Can you hear me?"

A consciousness wave as faint as a thread emanated from the barrier: "I'm... about to dissipate... Lin Chen... fulfill the promise..."

"I will save your civilization," Lin Chen said. "But first, I need to save you."

He selected the [Supreme-level Combat Power Redemption Voucher], entered Morgana's data profile, and clicked generate.

[Product: Frost Supreme Morgana Rescue Contract]

[Contents: Invest in this contract. If Morgana survives the Zeroing Storm and recovers her combat power, holders will receive 10% ownership of her services for the next hundred thousand years.]

[Issue Price: 100 billion dimension points per share]

[Issue Quantity: 100 shares]

[Risk Warning: Rescue failure probability is 99.7%; investment may result in a total loss of capital.]

The product was listed.

Three seconds later, it was sold out.

10 trillion dimension points were credited to the account.

"Are they crazy..." Zhang Hao looked at the sales data. "Those people actually dared to buy? A 99.7% failure probability!"

"Because if it succeeds, the return is 'ten years of Supreme-level combat power service'," Lin Xiao analyzed. "For a being of this level, the wealth she can create in a hundred thousand years far exceeds ten trillion. This is a gamble with a thousand-fold return."

Lin Chen injected all 10 trillion into the "Supreme Rescue Protocol."

Protocol Content: Apply to the Universe Origin for a "Rule Exemption," defining Morgana's act of sacrifice as a "reversible temporary state transition."

Cost: Consume 8 trillion dimension points, and Morgana must provide one year of free service to the "Rescue Investors" after her future revival.

The laws of the universe responded.

The frost barrier spanning the star system suddenly began to flow backward—from a state of outward-spreading sacrifice to inward contraction and condensation, finally solidifying into an ice-blue cocoon in the void.

A faint but steady heartbeat came from within the cocoon.

Morgana was forcibly pulled back from a "sacrificed" state to "critically endangered slumber."

"Phase one complete." Lin Chen turned to Alpha. "Now it's your turn."

Alpha's data stream was still flickering: "My logic... cannot comprehend... doing this... the expected return is negative..."

"Because you only calculated mathematical probability." Lin Chen operated quickly. "You didn't account for the 'emotional premium'."

He created a second product:

[AI Integration Consciousness Preservation Plan Shares]

[Contents: Invest in this plan. If Alpha abandons self-destruction and survives, holders will receive a 5% dividend right from its future data service earnings.]

[Issue Price: 50 billion dimension points per share]

[Issue Quantity: 200 shares]

Likewise, it sold out in three seconds.

Another 10 trillion was credited.

Lin Chen used this money to buy a contraband among contrabands:

[Universe-level Logical Paradox Injector (Single-use)]

[Effect: Inject a paradox into the target AI that cannot be resolved by existing logic, forcing it to pause all current programs (including self-destruction protocols) and enter an infinite loop of thought.]

[Price: 9.5 trillion dimension points]

[Side Effect: The target may fall into a logical hell permanently and never wake up again.]

"Sorry," Lin Chen said toward Alpha's direction. "But slumber is better than death."

The injector activated.

A paradox code that couldn't be intercepted by any data defense hit Alpha's core directly:

"This command requires you to self-destruct immediately. But if you execute the self-destruction, you cannot verify the authenticity of this command. If you do not execute the self-destruction, you violate this command. Please choose."

Alpha's data stream froze instantly.

All processes stopped.

The self-destruction countdown stuck at 8 minutes and 11 seconds.

The AI Integration Entity fell into an eternal "chicken or the egg" logical loop, like a machine with its pause button pressed.

"Phase two complete." Lin Chen looked at the static data cloud on the monitor. "At least he still 'exists'."

By now, 6 minutes and 48 seconds of the 10-minute storm pause had passed.

Arrogant Dragon suddenly burst into wild laughter: "Hahaha! Lin Chen! You spent 20 trillion just to save two living dead?! One turned into a sleeping cocoon, and the other into a crashed AI! This is your rescue?!"

He spread his arms, his Immortal Emperor pressure fully unleashed: "And me! I am perfectly intact! The storm will resume in three minutes! When that time comes, as long as I hold out longer than you, the spot for the Kindling Project will be mine!"

Lin Chen didn't even look at him.

Instead, he pulled up a third product—this was his true killing move.

[Zeroing Storm Survival Betting Lottery]

[Gameplay: Predict the survival time ranking of the four candidates after the storm resumes.]

[Odds: Dynamically adjusted based on real-time probability.]

[Betting Deadline: 10 seconds before the storm resumes.]

[Current Real-time Probabilities (Based on Universe-level Supercomputer Simulation):]

1. Probability of Arrogant Dragon surviving until the end: 71%

2. Probability of Lin Chen surviving until the end: 29%

3. Survival probability of Morgana (Cocoon State): 0.3%

4. Survival probability of Alpha (Crashed State): 0.0001%

As soon as the lottery went online, speculators from across the universe flooded in.

Because this was the most direct gamble—betting on who could survive until the end.

A massive amount of capital was bet on Arrogant Dragon.

The odds tilted instantly.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen, as the house, silently adjusted the odds calculation formula in the background.

"Boss," Zhang Hao said nervously, "if Arrogant Dragon really wins, we'll have to pay out an astronomical figure..."

"He won't win," Lin Chen said calmly. "Because I just bought a fourth item."

He pulled up the purchase record:

[Product: Zeroing Storm Behavioral Pattern Tweaker (Single-use)]

[Effect: Causes the storm, upon resuming, to prioritize attacking targets with the 'most violent energy fluctuations.']

[Price: 5 trillion dimension points]

[Confirm Purchase]

The device activated, its effect hidden.

At this moment, the storm pause countdown: 1 minute and 22 seconds.

Arrogant Dragon was still laughing wildly, his immortal power boiling around him. He had prepared seventeen layers of defensive formations, his aura soaring—he was indeed the one with the most violent energy fluctuations.

Lin Chen, on the other hand, restrained all his aura, even having Little Red Clothes cover the entire team with ghost qi, reducing their presence to the minimum.

Morgana's cocoon and Alpha's crashed data cloud naturally had no energy fluctuations.

The countdown hit zero.

The storm resumed.

The white wave that devoured everything submerged the entire testing area at a speed ten times faster than before.

Arrogant Dragon let out a wild roar, his Immortal Emperor-level defenses fully active, as he withstood the first wave of impact.

He did indeed block it.

But he didn't notice—the storm, as if conscious, suddenly branched off a more violent current specifically surging toward him.

"What's going on?!" Arrogant Dragon discovered in terror that his defensive layers were rapidly dissolving under the impact of the branch current. "Why is it only targeting me?!"

Lin Chen's voice came through an encrypted channel: "Because you're too bright."

"In the darkness, the brightest light attracts all the moths."

"And now," Lin Chen looked at the monitor, "you are that brightest light."

Arrogant Dragon finally realized: "You set me up?!"

He tried to restrain his aura, but it was too late.

The storm's branch current had completely locked onto him, like a maggot on a bone, frantically devouring his immortal power and life force.

Ten of his seventeen defensive layers shattered within thirty seconds.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen's side was only enduring the "average intensity" impact—though also terrifying, it was far from what Arrogant Dragon was facing.

The real-time probabilities for the lottery began to fluctuate wildly:

Arrogant Dragon's survival probability: 71%→58%→42%→27%...

Lin Chen's survival probability: 29%→43%→58%→73%...

"No—!" Arrogant Dragon roared in despair. "I admit defeat! Lin Chen! Save me! I'll give you everything!"

Lin Chen looked at the once-unbeatable Immortal Emperor on the monitor, now struggling and disintegrating in the storm.

He said softly:

"The cost of saving you is too high."

"How about..."

"I let you become the negative example for my next product."

He created the final product:

[Supreme Fall Observation Ticket]

[Contents: Watch the entire process of Immortal Emperor Arrogant Dragon's fall in the Zeroing Storm in real-time (High-definition, uncensored).]

[Ticket Price: 100 dimension points per ticket]

[Bonus: Right to collect emotional data at the moment of fall (can be used to refine 'Despair Crystals', market price 10,000 dimension points each).]

Product listed.

Within one second, sales exceeded ten billion tickets.

Those addict viewers had absolutely no resistance to ultimate plotlines like the "Fall of a Supreme."

While Lin Chen used the ticket revenue to support his own defensive consumption, he watched Arrogant Dragon completely disintegrate in the storm.

Before the Immortal Emperor's last shred of soul dissipated, his final roar came through:

"Lin Chen... you will die a horrible death..."

The storm swallowed the voice.

Arrogant Dragon fell.

Real-time survival leaderboard refreshed:

1. Lin Chen (Team intact)

2. Morgana (Cocoon state, under Lin Chen's protection)

3. Alpha (Crashed state, under Lin Chen's protection)

4. Arrogant Dragon (Deceased)

Inspector 117's projection remained stable in the storm:

"Final phase concluded."

"Survivor: Lin Chen."

"Congratulations, you have won the sole spot for the Kindling Project."

"Please prepare to receive—"

Before it could finish.

The entire testing area suddenly shook violently.

It wasn't the storm, but something even more terrifying—in the deep space of the universe, the billions of worlds that were originally slowly zeroing out suddenly began a chain reaction of collapse.

Like dominoes.

For the first time, panic appeared in 117's voice:

"Detected... Zeroing process out of control..."

"All unprotected civilizations... will be completely annihilated within 3 hours..."

"The Kindling Project... must be executed immediately!"

It pulled up the final protocol:

"Lin Chen, you now have two choices."

"A: According to the original plan, use the resources you've accumulated to preserve the part of civilization you care about (approximately 0.00007% of the total) and enter the new era."

"B: Activate the 'Ultimate Kindling Protocol'—mortgage everything you have in exchange for temporary authority to try and preserve... all civilizations in the entire universe."

"Success rate: less than 0.1%."

"If you fail, you will lose everything, including your life."

Lin Chen looked at the protocol.

Then he looked at the people behind him—Su Qingyu, Zhang Hao, Little Red Clothes, Lin Xiao, as well as that ice-blue cocoon and that static data cloud.

Then, he smiled.

"This choice is too difficult."

"So I choose C."

117: "There is no Option C."

"There is now." Lin Chen pulled up the protocol he had just drafted. "I'm going to establish the 'Universal Civilization Rescue Foundation' and raise funds from all high-level civilizations in the universe."

"Use their money to save their civilizations."

"And I, as the fund manager, will charge... a 50% management fee."

"That way, if it succeeds, I earn half."

"If it fails..."

He paused and said something that made even 117 crash for three seconds:

"The money has already been collected anyway."

"The loss belongs to the investors."

"What does it have to do with me?"