80: Chapter 80 He Awakened

The dark red "hot pot" was like an evil altar, emitting a nauseating, thick scent of blood. The pre-battle heroic spirit from before was washed away completely by this sudden, eerie change. The square fell into a deathly silence, leaving only heavy breathing and suppressed fear.

The chopsticks in Zhang Hao's hand dropped onto the table, making a crisp clatter that sounded exceptionally harsh in the silence. Su Qingyu's face turned pale, and she instinctively gripped the short sword at her waist.

Lin Chen slowly stood up, his gaze fixed on that pot of viscous blood-water, his eyes cold to the extreme.

This wasn't just a provocation; this was... an announcement!

At the very moment he stood up—

"Buzz—!!!!"

An indescribable, low-pitched hum that seemed to come from the dawn of the primordial universe suddenly descended from high above the nine heavens! It wasn't a sound, but rather a vibration that acted directly upon the soul and the very source of the world!

The entire Underworld Fortress—no, the entire world—shook violently within this humming!

"Crack—!!!"

Above the Fortress, that eternally hanging blood moon was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as if it were a fragile piece of glassware! The dark red moonlight filtered through the cracks, becoming fragmented like the bloody tears shed by a dying giant beast!

Then, under everyone's despairing gaze, the sky above the Fortress—that oppressive sky illuminated by the blood moon for countless ages—was suddenly torn open to both sides like a curtain grabbed by an invisible giant hand!

A massive spatial rift, spanning the sky with no end in sight, appeared hideously in the heavens! Behind the rift was not a starry sky, nor was it nothingness, but an indescribable, writhing background composed of pure darkness and chaos.

And in the center of that rift, an... eye slowly opened with an indifference that crushed everything.

That eye was so massive it exceeded the scope of comprehension! Just one of its eyeballs was comparable in size to the entire Underworld Fortress below! The white of the eye was a murky, grayish-yellow, as if it had precipitated the remains of countless worlds, while the pupil was a slowly rotating dark vortex that swallowed all light!

The moment this eye opened, an unspeakable, terrifying pressure bore down like a physical tsunami!

"Thump!" "Thump!"

In the square, except for Lin Chen, Bai Qi, and a few of the strongest Underworld Soldier generals, everyone else—including Su Qingyu and Zhang Hao—fell to their knees uncontrollably or were pressed flat against the ground! They felt their souls wailing, every cell screaming to flee, yet they couldn't even move a finger!

This was the Lord of the Ultimate End!

And it wasn't even His true body, but merely a projected eyeball!

"Rumble—!!!"

That massive eyeball, comparable to a city, seemed to... blink casually.

It just blinked once!

An invisible wave containing the rules of "Ending" and "Zeroing Out" spread out like a ripple, sweeping across the Underworld Fortress!

At the outermost edge of the Fortress, the thick outer wall—painstakingly built by countless Underworld Soldiers and survivors, reinforced with numerous defensive talismans, and capable of withstanding the onslaught of the Thousand Faces Cult and Wang Kun's allied forces—was like an ice cube thrown into lava. Without making a single sound, the moment the wave swept past, it silently... annihilated!

It didn't collapse or shatter; it completely vanished! As if it had never existed!

Then the second wall, the third line of defense... more than half of the Fortress's outer area, along with the buildings inside, the automated defense facilities that didn't have time to evacuate, and even some low-level Underworld Soldiers on the periphery... all turned into nothingness within that single "blink"!

Just one strike!

Half the Fortress was gone!

"No—! My supermarket! My goods!!" Zhang Hao, pressed to the ground, watched as the internal supermarket he was responsible for—which stored a large amount of luxury supplies—turned into nothingness within that wave. His heart ached so much he almost fainted, which actually momentarily overrode his fear of the eye.

Su Qingyu lay on the ground, a trace of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth, caused by her internal organs being injured by the terrifying pressure. She looked at the half of the Fortress that had vanished instantly, her eyes filled with despair. Was this world-ending level power? It was simply impossible to resist!

Lin Chen stood where he was, his body swaying slightly, the air around him distorting as he forced himself to withstand the pressure. He looked at the massive eye gazing indifferently down at the earth, looked at the Fortress that had been half-erased in an instant, and looked at his subordinates collapsed on the ground. His face showed no expression, but his fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were white and his veins bulged.

Anger!

An unprecedented anger boiled in his chest like lava!

It wasn't because of fear, but because of... the loss!

The Fortress he had painstakingly spent money to build, the supplies he had accumulated, the foundation he had established... were half destroyed by this bastard's single glance!

How many nether talismans would this cost?!!

He suddenly raised his head and stared fixedly at the massive eye in the sky, his gaze as fierce as a hungry wolf whose food had been stolen.

He didn't even check on his subordinates on the ground first; instead, he immediately raised his wrist, opened the [nether domain asset system], and activated the... scanning and evaluation function against that eye!

[Target Scan: Lord of the Ultimate End (Will Projection · Eye)]

[Energy Level Evaluation: Exceeds current measurement limit (???)]

[Attributes: Rules · Ultimate End, Concept · Zeroing, Existence · Unspeakable...]

[Threat Level: World-Ending (Highest)]

[System Emergency Evaluation: To repair the damaged parts of the Fortress, rebuild the outer defenses, and replenish annihilated supplies and Underworld Soldiers... Estimated nether talismans required: 1,000,000,000 (One Billion).]

One billion! It was exactly the same number he had spent earlier to buy intelligence!

Lin Chen looked at the repair cost evaluated by the system, and the corner of his eye twitched violently.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to gouge out that eyeball and sell it as a light bulb. Then, he did something that no one expected.

Through the system, he generated an incredibly clear and standard-formatted... electronic bill.

Bill Header: [Nether Domain Asset Group — Property Damage Claim Notice]

Damaged Items: Underworld Fortress Outer Defense System (50%), Internal Warehouse Supermarket (1), Automated Defense Arrow Towers (15), Underworld Soldier Units (327), and related supporting facilities...

Evaluated Repair Cost: 1,000,000,000 nether talismans

Payment Deadline: Immediate Payment

Note: For overdue payments, a daily late fee of 0.5% will be charged, and the right to take further measures (including but not limited to forceful collection) is reserved.

Once generated, Lin Chen directly used the system's highest authority to project this golden, absurd electronic bill across space, landing it with a "snap" precisely... in the very center of the pupil of that city-sized eyeball!

It felt like sticking a small but incredibly conspicuous overdue payment notice on the outer wall of a skyscraper!

"You damage property, you pay the price," Lin Chen spoke coldly to the eye, his voice not loud but carrying a reckless toughness. "Those are the rules."

Zhang Hao, struggling to lift his head from the ground, happened to see the bill projected on the giant eye's pupil, filled with the words "nether talismans." His mouth hung open wide enough to fit a goose egg, and his brain completely short-circuited.

Di... Director Su? Is the Master... giving the Lord of the Ultimate End... a fine?!!

Su Qingyu saw it too. She forgot the sharp pain in her body and her despair, left only with boundless absurdity and shock.

That massive eye also seemed to be stunned by this sudden and completely illogical action.

The slowly rotating dark vortex of a pupil actually... really paused for a moment.

It was as if some supreme existence was reading and comprehending that inexplicable thing on its pupil.

In the world, that world-destroying pressure froze for a brief instant.

He really seemed to be... reading the bill?