233: Chapter 233 The Debt Collection Team Arrives! I'll Trade the Emperor's Life for a Trillion-Dollar Loan.

At 1 minute and 47 seconds after the Bone Emperor fully awakened, the debt collection team from the Universal Origin Bank arrived.

It wasn't a fleet or an army that came, but three pitch-Black Stars—they tore through dimensions in a way that defied the laws of physics and appeared directly above the Skeletal Starfield.

A massive golden emblem surfaced on the stars: a scale with a star on the left pan and a debt contract on the right.

"Bone, your debt is due."

The voice emanated from all three stars simultaneously, vibrating every bone in the starfield.

The Bone Emperor, who had just broken free from his slumbering seal—a giant skeleton thirty thousand miles tall with dark red soul fire burning in his eye sockets—looked up and roared, "Mere bank lapdogs! When I roamed the universe, you hadn't even opened an account!"

He swung a skeletal hand, slapping toward the nearest Black Star.

Wherever the wind from his palm passed, space shattered inch by inch; the power of this strike indeed exceeded that of an Immortal Emperor by a hundredfold!

But the Black Star only flickered slightly.

When the Bone Emperor's hand was still a thousand miles from the Black Star's surface, it suddenly began to dissolve—not breaking, but disintegrating at the most fundamental particle level.

"Rule... Erase?!" The Emperor retreated in shock and fury.

"According to Article 7 of the 'Special Authorization for Universal Debt Collection'," the Black Star emitted a cold mechanical voice, "for debtors who maliciously evade debt and resist with force, the creditor has the right to 'temporarily strip their existential attributes'."

The three Black Stars simultaneously fired beams of light, weaving into a giant net that draped over the Bone Emperor.

The Emperor roared, releasing billions of bone spikes, each capable of piercing a galaxy, but when they touched the light net, they were like snowflakes hitting a branding iron—melting instantly.

"No—! I am a Half-Step Creator! You cannot—"

The light net tightened.

The thirty-thousand-mile giant skeleton was forcibly compressed into a fist-sized bone bead, suspended in the air.

The light net transformed into golden chains, binding the bone bead tightly.

"Debtor 'Bone' has been restrained," the Black Star reported. "Assessing remaining asset value... approximately equal to 0.0003% of the total debt."

"Initiating mandatory debt repayment procedure: The debtor will be transferred to a 'Creation-level Labor Camp' to repay the debt through labor-created value. Estimated repayment time: three million epochs."

The bone bead vibrated violently, emitting the Emperor's desperate howl: "Three million epochs?! I would rather die—"

"Death does not exempt one from debt," the Black Star said coldly. "Your soul will be recycled and remodeled into a 'Debt Slave Worker', extending the work period to five million epochs."

The bone bead instantly went still.

Arrogant Dragon and seventy million cultivators watched the entire process, all holding their breath.

So this was... the debt collection method of a top-tier universal financial institution?

"Wait," Arrogant Dragon suddenly spoke. "Bank, I have a proposal."

The Black Star turned toward him: "Please speak."

"The Bone Emperor owes the bank 9,900 trillion, and with interest rolling to 100 quintillion, he can basically never pay it off," Arrogant Dragon pulled up the data. "But if our Epoch Management Group takes over this debt for 'debt restructuring', the bank can immediately recover part of the principal and avoid a bad debt."

"Restructuring plan?"

"The Group will purchase the creditor's rights for this debt at 10% of the market price," Arrogant Dragon stated the figure he had prepared long ago. "That is, 9,900 trillion."

The Black Star was silent for three seconds—evidently calculating.

"The bank can accept," it finally said. "But there are two conditions: first, payment must be completed within 24 hours; second, if the Bone Emperor evades debt again after restructuring, The Group must bear a hundredfold penalty for breach of contract."

"Deal," Arrogant Dragon said without hesitation.

The contract was instantly generated and signed.

The Epoch Management Group's account transferred out 9,900 trillion dimension points—which was nearly 80% of The Group's current liquid capital.

Once the bank received the payment, the three Black Stars vanished immediately, leaving only the bone bead bound by chains.

Arrogant Dragon picked up the bone bead.

A weak but venomous voice came from within: "Junior... you think you've controlled me? Once I escape—"

"Don't you understand yet?" Arrogant Dragon interrupted him. "I am your creditor now. And I didn't buy your debt; I bought 'the full right of disposal over you'."

He pulled up the contract terms: "According to Supplementary Agreement Article 3, as the new creditor, The Group has the right to perform 'asset maximization disposal' on the debtor."

"What do you mean... asset maximization disposal?" The Emperor had an ominous premonition.

Arrogant Dragon connected to Lin Chen's communication: "Chairman, the goods are in hand. How should we dispose of them?"

Lin Chen's projection appeared and glanced at the bone bead: "What's the purity?"

"Half-Step Creation-level. Although weakened, the origin is still there."

"Then put it up for auction," Lin Chen said nonchalantly. "For the title, write: 'Creation-level Combat Unit (Defective) Auction, comes with a three-million-epoch labor reform contract'."

"Starting price?"

"9,900 trillion. As long as we break even."

The auction information instantly spread throughout the entire universe.

Half-Step Creation-level combat power! Although it was sealed, just studying its skeletal structure and comprehending its laws was worth the price!

The bidding broke two quadrillion within three minutes!

Ultimately, it was won by a mysterious buyer for three quadrillion.

After deducting costs, the net profit was 2.1 quadrillion.

The moment the bone bead was teleported away, the Emperor's final scream echoed from within: "No—! I am unwilling—!"

The voice stopped abruptly.

Arrogant Dragon looked at the 2.1 quadrillion that had arrived in the account and took a deep breath.

"Chairman, this money..."

"Keep one trillion as The Group's liquid capital," Lin Chen said. "The remaining 1.1 quadrillion will be fully injected into the second phase of the 'Kindling Project'."

"The second phase?"

"Yes." Lin Chen pulled up the project plan. "The first phase was to rescue civilizations; the second phase... is to resurrect civilizations."

He switched the screen—it showed the seventeen worlds that had been completely annihilated during the previous Zeroing, now leaving only a void.

"Use this money to apply to the Universal Origin for 'Historical Data Retrieval Permissions'. Pull the 'existential records' of those seventeen worlds out of the timeline and then reshape them."

"Success rate?"

"37%." Lin Chen paused. "But it's worth a try."

Arrogant Dragon nodded: "What do you need me to do?"

"Your current task is complete." Lin Chen looked at him. "The position of Head of the Special Operations Department has been confirmed. Next, prepare to attend The Group's first 'Cross-Dimensional Shareholder Meeting'."

The communication ended.

As Arrogant Dragon was about to lead his people to evacuate, his work badge suddenly rang with a piercing alarm—this time it wasn't a mission, but a Group-wide emergency broadcast.

Inspector 117's urgent voice came over the broadcast:

"Attention all employees! An abnormal acceleration of the Zeroing Storm has been detected!"

"The originally scheduled three-month buffer period has suddenly been shortened to seven days!"

"Reason unknown! Repeat, reason unknown!"

"All field personnel please return to headquarters immediately! Please all—"

The broadcast was suddenly cut off.

It turned into a mess of static.

Then, a voice Arrogant Dragon had never heard before, cold to the extreme, came from the broadcast channel:

"Phase two of the test is complete."

"Number of surviving civilizations: 0.0007% of the current universal total."

"Meets the minimum standard for the 'Kindling Project'."

"Now initiating the final phase: Clearing redundant data."

"Target: Erase all unselected civilizations."

"Executor: The Epoch Administration Bureau—that is, us."

Arrogant Dragon's pupils shrank.

He jerked his head up.

Above the Skeletal Starfield, the projection of 117 slowly emerged—but it was no longer that mechanical neutral image, but a figure covered in pure white armor, eyes flashing with a cold light of judgment.

"117, you—" Arrogant Dragon questioned sharply.

"I am execution unit No. 117 of the Epoch Administration Bureau's 'cleanup program'," it interrupted. "The previous 'Inspector' identity was merely for collecting test data. Now that the data is sufficient, it's time to clear the field."

It waved its hand and pulled up real-time monitoring screens of the entire universe.

On the screens, countless white beams of light shot out from the void, accurately hitting those civilizations that had not been rescued by The Group.

Wherever the beams passed, civilizations were annihilated; there wasn't even a Zeroing process, they just disappeared.

Just like... deleting unwanted files on a computer.

"You Administration Bureau..." Arrogant Dragon's voice trembled, "are the Zeroing itself?!"

"No," 117 corrected. "Zeroing is a natural law of the universe; we are the 'accelerators'—ensuring that what should disappear does so as quickly as possible to make room for new life."

It looked at Arrogant Dragon: "As for you selected kindling... congratulations. You have survived."

"But the price is—"

117 paused and said the words that made everyone's blood freeze:

"To forever live under the monitoring of the Administration Bureau."

"To forever live according to the 'scripts' we write."

"To forever... be our 'observation samples'."

As the words fell.

The entire Skeletal Starfield was suddenly enveloped by a pure white barrier.

Arrogant Dragon tried to tear through space—ineffective.

Tried to contact headquarters—the signal was blocked.

Even the Chairman's permissions on his work badge now displayed [Insufficient Permissions].

"It's useless," 117 floated in the air. "The priority of the Administration Bureau's rules is higher than any commercial contract. Now, the game is over."

It raised its hand, pointing at Arrogant Dragon and the seventy million cultivators:

"You have two choices."

"One, voluntarily upload your consciousness and become a 'permanent experimental subject' of the Administration Bureau."

"Two, resist, and then be forcibly uploaded."

"Choose."

Arrogant Dragon clenched his fists.

His Immortal Emperor cultivation had been used up earlier; now he was just an ordinary manager.

Facing the absolute rule suppression of the Administration Bureau, there was nothing he could do.

But just as he was in despair—

The work badge lit up on its own.

It wasn't a blue light, but a golden light never seen before.

A familiar voice came from the work badge, tinged with a smile:

"117, did you forget..."

"I just spent 9,900 trillion to buy your Administration Bureau's 'Founding Shareholder Bonds'?"

Lin Chen's virtual image projected out from the work badge.

In his hand, he held a yellowed, ancient covenant:

"When the Epoch Administration Bureau was first established, to raise funds, it issued a batch of 'Founding Shareholder Bonds'. Later, as the Bureau became officialized, this batch of bonds was forgotten in the dust of history."

"But I found them."

"And I bought... 51% of them."

Lin Chen looked at 117 and smiled:

"According to the Administration Bureau's original articles of association—"

"Those holding over 50% of the founding bonds..."

"Have the right to convene a 'Special Shareholder Meeting'."

"And dismiss the current management."

Cracks appeared on 117's pure white armor for the first time.