134: God's Game! Qualification to Kill Gods!

The Dune Land was not an island.

It was an endless sea of sand that rose from the inky black ocean.

Countless dunes, massive as mountains, stretched like frozen gray waves, rising and falling until the horizon.

The sand here was the ash of some ancient world that had burned to its end.

The perpetually dim light source in the sky cast a pallid, lifeless hue over this desolate place.

There was no wind.

No sound.

It was a colossal graveyard, forgotten by the world.

The Natural Selection hovered above this sea of sand, its pitch-black hull like the sole deity descending upon this land.

“It’s… so quiet here,” Gu Nianqiu whispered from the Bridge, peering out the porthole, the desolate scenery filling her with an instinctive unease.

Gu Zhixia stood beside Lin Mo, her expression alert, her gaze sharp as a blade, scanning every flickering data point on the radar screen.

Her hand was already on the summon slot for “Thunder Dragon.”

Just then.

A shadow, large enough to obscure the light source, slowly slid out from behind a mountain-like dune.

It was a pitch-black, menacingly rugged war fortress.

Like an ancient beast that had slumbered for a thousand years, it silently appeared before its prey.

“Target vessel detected, code name: thanatos.”

“The other party has sent a communication request. Connect?”

“Connect,” Lin Mo’s voice was devoid of any discernible emotion.

The next second, Lan Yue’s holographic image appeared in the center of the Bridge.

She was still seated on the throne made of colossal biological bones, with a dark command center filled with Gothic industrial aesthetics as her backdrop.

Her flowing, azure hair was casually draped.

Her gaze immediately fell upon the structural light projection of the Natural Selection’s hull.

Then, for the first time, a clear ripple of emotion appeared in her deep-sea-like blue eyes, which were usually so indifferent.

It was shock.

“Antimatter energy core…”

She softly uttered the name, a hint of awe in her voice that she herself hadn’t noticed.

“In the Gods Workshop’s sequence, this is already the end.”

She slowly raised her eyes, her gaze seemingly piercing through the holographic image, looking directly at Lin Mo.

“Your speed is much faster than I imagined.”

“The gift you sent was very useful.”

Lin Mo took a step forward. The surging power from the antimatter core made his figure seem to grow several inches taller in Lan Yue’s perception, filled with an invisible oppressive force.

He didn’t exchange pleasantries but directly asked.

“Now, tell me everything.”

“Why are so many people, like sharks smelling blood, rushing to their deaths one after another?”

Lan Yue’s gaze retracted from the holographic image and refocused on Lin Mo.

She fell silent.

A flicker of extremely complex emotion passed through her deep blue eyes.

It was pity.

And self-mockery.

“Because, you and I, and all the ‘lucky ones’ like us…”

She paused, every word crystal clear.

“Are just pawns.”

“What?” Gu Zhixia’s brows furrowed, a surge of indignant anger rising from her heart.

Lan Yue ignored her, simply staring at Lin Mo, and continued.

“Pawns in a… game.”

“Game?” Gu Zhixia demanded coldly, “Whose game?!”

Lan Yue’s gaze finally turned to her, her eyes devoid of scorn, only a cold, numb statement of fact.

“The game of gods.”

These four words, like an invisible giant hammer, struck everyone’s heart.

The air in the Bridge instantly solidified.

“The world we inhabit, the ‘universe’ as we know it…”

Lan Yue’s voice was devoid of emotion, as if she were reading a pre-written death sentence for everyone.

“Is just a petri dish.”

“A colossal petri dish created by a higher civilization, by beings we call ‘Gods’.”

“A hunting ground named ‘Doomsday’ for them to amuse themselves.”

Gu Zhixia subconsciously clenched her fists.

Her nails dug deep into her palm; only that sharp sting confirmed to her that she hadn’t misheard.

“Every single one of us is prey in this hunting ground.”

“And They will, periodically, introduce ‘variables’ into this hunting ground.”

Lan Yue’s gaze returned to the Natural Selection, a strong hint of mockery in her eyes.

“For example, your ship.”

“They bestowed upon you this unique, god-tier battleship with infinite evolutionary potential, not out of benevolence, and certainly not as some divine selection.”

She paused, as if to give them time to digest this suffocating cruelty.

“They just want to watch a more interesting show.”

“They want to see how long a unique sardine, thrown into a school of sharks…”

“…can struggle.”

“…how much of a splash it can make.”

“…how much fresh, bloody amusement it can bring to this boring hunt.”

These words were like ice descending from the heavens.

Gu Zhixia’s face instantly turned ashen. Everything she was proud of, her battles, her struggles, all became a joke at this moment. The anger of her crushed pride made her body tremble slightly.

Beside her, Gu Nianqiu had instinctively hidden behind Lin Mo, her small hand clutching his clothes tightly, her usually sparkling big eyes now, for the first time, filled with pure fear and bewilderment.

Their perceived struggle for survival in the apocalypse, it turned out, was just a bloody circus, watched by others, utterly devoid of dignity.

Only Lin Mo.

His expression remained unchanged.

From the moment he obtained this ship, he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.

The greater the gift, the more terrifying the price hidden behind it.

Lan Yue’s words merely confirmed his suspicions.

“Those Leviathan pursuing me,” Lin Mo asked his second question, his voice so cold it seemed to freeze the soul, “What are they?”

“Them?” Lan Yue’s lips curved into a sarcastic smile, “They are ‘local players’.”

“A bunch of self-important fools who think they are hunters, believing that by hunting us ‘outsiders’ and seizing the ‘variables’ from us, they can climb higher and higher, becoming ‘superiors’ in this hunting ground.”

“But they will never understand…”

“In the eyes of the Gods, whether hunter or prey, they are all just toys.”

“The only difference is that some toys are a bit more durable.”

This analogy made Gu Zhixia bite her lip, a metallic taste of blood spreading in her mouth.

“What about you?”

Lin Mo’s gaze suddenly became sharp as a blade, piercing deep into Lan Yue’s soul.

“Why are you looking for me, to form an alliance?”

“Me?”

Lan Yue suddenly laughed.

There was no warmth in that smile, only endless coldness and resolve.

Her body leaned slightly forward, as if she was about to rise from the colossal bone throne.

In her indifferent blue eyes, a nearly insane, blazing flame finally ignited, hot enough to incinerate the star sea.

“I don’t want to be a toy anymore.”

Her voice echoed in the dead silent Bridge, every word a blood-curdling roar squeezed from the depths of her soul.