91: Chapter 91 A Collapse at the Start

"Boom——!!!"

That was not a sound; it was the wail of the rules themselves!

With merely a blink of its city-sized eye, the Lord of the Ultimate End unleashed a second, devastating wave of invisible destruction. Like a tangible tsunami, it crashed mercilessly upon the already ravaged Underworld Fortress!

The half of the Fortress that had miraculously survived the first strike now crumbled in a cataclysmic collapse, like a child kicking apart a castle of wooden blocks. More walls, thicker walls, twisted, shattered, and turned to dust under an incomprehensible force! The massive metal skeleton supporting the core region let out a grating screech as its supports snapped and collapsed one after another!

"Run——!"

"Help! Save..."

"Mommy...!"

Desperate cries and death wails were drowned out, rendered feeble and fleeting by the even more violent explosions and the thunderous roar of collapsing structures. Countless survivors and low-level spectral soldiers were swallowed and annihilated before they could react, buried under torrents of ten-thousand-ton boulders and torrents of violent energy.

Dust rose like a shroud of death, once more blotting out the already dim, blood-moon sky. As far as the eye could see, there were only collapsing buildings, flying debris, and... rapidly spreading, glaring crimson stains!

Su Qingyu's command center, located towards the rear of the Fortress, shook violently during this second strike. The ceiling split open with huge cracks, dust and gravel raining down. Several monitor screens went black instantly.

"Defensive walls in Eastern Sectors C through F have completely collapsed! The internal 'Bizarre Monster Taming Grounds' are destroyed. All experimental subjects are out of control!"

"The energy relay station has overloaded and exploded! Core area power supply reduced by sixty percent!"

"Preliminary personnel casualty count... exceeds thirty percent!"

The assistant's voice, choked with sobs, came in broken fragments amidst the violent tremors and blaring alarms. Each number felt like an icy dagger stabbing into Su Qingyu's heart. She gripped the edge of the console so tightly her knuckles turned white, barely managing to stay upright. Watching the red zone of destruction expand relentlessly on the main screen, a sense of unprecedented helplessness seized her.

Is this... the power of an apocalyptic-level entity? With just two 'glances,' the Fortress they had built with endless effort and nether talismans was about to become history?

Meanwhile, at the very forefront of the Fortress, in the collapsed zone now reduced to ruins with almost no barrier to the outside world...

Lin Chen's figure shot skyward from a pile of scorching metal wreckage! His silk loungewear was already tattered, a streak of bright red blood at the corner of his mouth making him look somewhat disheveled. But his eyes burned with a terrifying intensity—not with fear, but with a fury that seemed ready to erupt!

He hovered mid-air, his gaze sweeping over the hellish ruins below like a precision scanner.

His 'Nether Rare Treasures Pavilion,' housing the various rare artworks and luxuries he had exchanged for with hundreds of millions of nether talismans—gone! Only a massive crater and scattered, sparking wreckage remained.

His private lounge, freshly renovated for thirty million nether talismans with decorative walls made of 'Ten-Thousand-Year Blood Coral'—gone! That brilliant red was now mix in the mud and stone, dull and lifeless.

His stockpile of eight hundred crates of 'Top-Soul Nectar,' saved for leisurely enjoyment—the entire warehouse area had evaporated, not even a shard of a bottle left!

And his favorite sofa, crafted from 'Star-Beast Leather,' his 'Holographic Ecological Garden' built at great expense...

All gone!

Fucking all of it!!

"My goods! My renovations! My collection!!!" Lin Chen's heart bled. This hurt him ten thousand times more than seeing personnel casualties or Fortress damage. These were the comforts he had painstakingly 'whaled' for, his only solace and pleasure in this damn apocalypse!

He snapped his head up, glaring fiercely at the indifferent giant eye within the crack in the sky. The rage in his chest felt like it could ignite him.

"Fine! Just great! You didn't just flip the table, you smashed the whole damn pot!" Lin Chen laughed in extreme anger, his voice distorted by sheer fury.

Instead of retreating, he took a defiant step forward, Facing the suffocating terrifying pressure!

Simultaneously, he raised his wrist with lightning speed. On it was an unremarkable black wristwatch—the external terminal of the 【nether domain asset system】.

"Beep!"

The watch projected a small screen. Lin Chen's fingers flew across it, ignoring combat analysis or energy readings, going straight for the system's built-in 【Asset Loss Assessment & Claim】 function!

The lens automatically aimed at the chaotic Fortress ruins below and the giant eye, the culprit in the sky, scanning crazy!

"Ding! Preliminary asset loss assessment complete!"

【Nether Rare Treasures Pavilion (including internal collection): Estimated value 380 million nether talismans】

【Ten-Thousand-Year Blood Coral decorative wall & private lounge: Estimated value 90 million nether talismans】

【Top-Soul Nectar x800 crates: Estimated value 240 million nether talismans】

【Star-Beast Leather sofa set: Estimated value 50 million nether talismans】

【Holographic Ecological Garden & supporting facilities: Estimated value 150 million nether talismans】

【Fortress main structural damage (55%): Estimated value 800 million nether talismans】

【Energy system & defense matrix destruction: Estimated value 300 million nether talismans】

【Personnel casualty compensation & spectral soldier reconstruction costs (estimated): Estimated value 200 million nether talismans】

...

【Total loss: 2.21 billion nether talismans】

A list so long it was dizzying, with figures vast enough to give any survivor base leader an immediate heart attack, was instantly generated!

Without even glancing at the details, Lin Chen scrolled straight to the bottom and found the crimson button labeled 【Generate Electronic Bill & Send to Target Consciousness】!

He didn't hesitate for a second, slamming his finger down on it!

"Whoosh——!"

An invisible data stream, bearing a sky-high bill of 2.21 billion nether talismans, Ignore spatial distance and Rule Suppression. Like the most precise law of cause and effect weapon, it instantly crossed the void and shot directly into the indifferent giant eye of the Lord of the Ultimate End!

The Lord of the Ultimate End, which had been preparing for a third Devastating Strike, suddenly... paused.

Deep within its pupils, which reflected the extinction of stars and the end of all things, chaotic data streams and number flashing with the light of nether talismans seemed to flicker past. For the first time, its consciousness core, composed purely of will for destruction and End, was forcibly injected with an entirely foreign concept—【Compensation】.

Its huge body, beyond description, seemed to experience an infinitesimally brief moment of stagnate.

In this bizarre gap, as if time itself had frozen for an instant...

Lin Chen's cold and mocking voice, amplified by the The remaining amplification array, rang out clearly over the battlefield, echoing as if directly within the consciousness of the Lord of the Ultimate End:

"Damaged property must be compensated at full value."

"No credit allowed. Payment accepted in nether talismans, Soul Crystal, bizarre artifacts, or even... Deduction with your Ontology."

He grinned, baring his teeth in a Senbai smile.

"So, shall we continue fighting?"

"Or should we first discuss... the matter of compensation?"