135: The ultimate truth! We are just playthings on the chessboard of the gods!

"Godslaying."

These two words were not a heavy hammer.

They were two invisible, ice-cold spikes, tempered with the extreme chill of the universe, silently yet brutally piercing the soul of everyone on the Bridge.

Gu Zhixia's breathing completely stopped at this moment.

She stared intently at the woman in the holographic projection, who was spouting insane rhetoric. Her pretty face, usually covered in frost, was now drained of all color, deathly pale.

Her proud battles, her life-or-death struggles, were they… just a performance for the "gods" to enjoy?

This was more cruel than killing her!

"Wuu…"

Hiding behind Lin Mo, Gu Nianqiu instinctively clamped her hand over her mouth, preventing herself from crying out.

But the immense fear still transformed into hot tears, continuously flowing from between her fingers.

In her large eyes, which always sparkled with innocent light, for the first time, pure, crushed terror was reflected.

The entire Bridge was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Only Lan Yue's frantic and resolute voice still echoed in the cold air.

"Madwoman."

Lin Mo finally spoke, breaking the suffocating silence.

His voice was steady, as steady as a ten-thousand-year-old piece of profound ice, but beneath that ice, a volcano about to erupt was suppressed.

"What makes you think we are qualified to even discuss those two words?"

"Just with these two ships of ours?"

He took a step forward, and the terrifying energy pressure from the antimatter core made his entire aura incredibly sharp, as if it would tear Lan Yue's holographic image to shreds.

"Of course not enough."

Lan Yue shook her head, the almost frenzied flame in her eyes pushed back deep within, leaving only a coldness that had seen through everything.

"To gain the qualification to wield a blade against Them, we need to find seven 'hearts of the world'."

She raised her slender hand and lightly traced the air.

An object radiating soft, holy light appeared out of thin air.

It was a pulsating heart, seemingly made of pure, solidified laws. Each beat caused sacred ripples in the surrounding space, as if the entire universe was breathing with it.

"The heart of the world."

Lan Yue's voice carried a solemn reverence and fanaticism, as if introducing a sacred relic.

"These are the seven core cornerstones that built this 'hunting ground' world, scattered across various corners of the universe."

"Each one contains a part of this world's fundamental laws."

"As long as we can gather all seven hearts of the world and reunite them, we can instantly usurp the highest authority of this world!"

She paused, her gaze burning as she looked at Lin Mo, like a devil tempting a mortal onto the only path to salvation, which led to hell.

"To gain one… chance to personally grasp a god's throat."

"This is the only hope for us 'pawns' to turn the tables!"

Lin Mo's heart, at this moment, beat violently and uncontrollably.

Not out of excitement.

But a suffocating, heavy pressure, as if the entire world had been placed on his shoulders.

A grander, crazier, and more despair-inducing truth slowly unfolded before him.

He slowly opened his mouth, his voice hoarse, yet incredibly clear.

"Where is the first one?"

This question finally brought a genuine curve to Lan Yue's lips, one filled with intense killing intent.

"With an 'old friend' of ours."

"The Leviathan Guild."

"That heart was taken by their Guild Master, that fool who fancies himself the 'King of the Deep Sea,' and embedded as a trophy in his flagship's throne."

She raised her hand, and a golden data stream shot from her fingertip.

The data stream instantly unfolded on the main console in front of Lin Mo, forming an incredibly detailed star map.

At the end of the star map, a chaotic starfield shrouded by a twisted, dark red nebula glowed with a bloody light, indicating extreme danger.

Abyss's Maw.

Leviathan Guild Headquarters.

"When you're ready, go there and take it back."

"When you obtain the first heart of the world, it will resonate with the other six, guiding us to the next coordinates."

Lan Yue's gaze became more serious than ever, as if entrusting the future of a world.

"I need you to fire the first shot in this godslaying endeavor."

"And I will go deal with some more troublesome 'issues,' clearing some higher-dimensional obstacles for you, and for us."

Her tone suddenly shifted, becoming cold and realistic.

"This is the premise of our cooperation, and also my… final test for you."

"If you can't even conquer Leviathan, then our alliance, our 'godslaying' dream, is nothing but a joke, with no reason to exist."

After saying this, she fell silent.

She just quietly watched Lin Mo across the cold data stream, awaiting his answer.

Lin Mo remained silent.

His gaze was fixed on the star map, which represented endless perils, but his brain was working at an unprecedented speed.

Bargaining with a tiger.

Driving a wolf to devour a tiger.

All strategies seemed so pale and ridiculous in the face of the insurmountable dimensional gap before "God."

Did he still have a choice?

Either be played to death as an interesting toy on the gods' chessboard, in endless slaughter.

Or… flip the entire chessboard over!

After a long while.

Lin Mo slowly raised his head, meeting Lan Yue's unfathomable eyes.

He didn't say "deal."

Nor did he say "okay."

He simply stated, calmly, a fact that was about to happen.

"I will personally dismantle Leviathan's throne."

"I will obtain that heart."