25: I want both rewards!

Inside the transparent cage.

Facing two paths leading to ultimate power.

Su Ke Ke's face revealed a mischievous smile.

That smile was as pure as spring snow in March.

Carrying a hint of divinity that saw through all things and looked down upon all living beings.

She didn't choose.

Because only the weak make choices.

And a newborn god chooses to create rules.

Just as Gu Tiancheng's pupils suddenly contracted.

Su Ke Ke, suspended in mid-air, moved.

She didn't have an earth-shattering aura.

She was just like a feather.

Lightly floating down towards the barrier made of dozens of layers of special bulletproof glass.

There.

Was what mortals considered the strongest material.

"Alert!!"

Gu Tiancheng instinctively roared.

The soldiers behind him.

Immediately charged their energy weapons to the maximum.

A piercing hum echoed throughout the entire laboratory.

However.

Su Ke Ke was oblivious to all of this.

She extended a finger as fair as jade.

Under the gaze of countless anxious, fearful, and horrified eyes.

Lightly touching the half-meter thick glass wall.

There was no explosion, no cracking.

Not even the slightest sound was made.

Where her fingertip touched.

That solid material, said to be able to withstand a tactical nuclear explosion.

As if it had never existed.

It silently, completely... annihilated!

A perfect circular void appeared.

Then.

This annihilation spread like the most terrifying plague.

Instantly engulfing the entire glass wall.

The indestructible cage.

In this dead silence where a pin drop could be heard.

Transformed into golden dust, harmlessly fluttering in the air.

Like a sacred offering, slowly drifting down.

Everyone was petrified.

The scientists' mouths hung open, forgetting to breathe.

The battle-hardened soldiers' hands, holding their weapons, trembled uncontrollably.

They were not facing power.

But a law.

It was a miracle they could not comprehend, resist, or imagine!

Su Ke Ke, barefoot.

Stepping on the sacred golden dust.

Walked out of the cage's range, step by step.

Arriving in front of Gu Tiancheng.

Her voice.

Clear and ethereal, as if it came from above the nine heavens.

"The order of mortals cannot bind a god. I refuse your appeasement."

Gu Tiancheng's heart sank to rock bottom.

But he still held on, just about to say something.

Su Ke Ke's next words left him completely stunned.

"I am not your enemy. I will become your faith."

She raised her eyes.

Those divine eyes looked directly at Gu Tiancheng.

Declaring her will, word by word:

"I will establish my religion here, becoming the Great Xia Country's only state religion. You shall offer me your faith, and I, in the name of God, will protect this country, shielding it from all calamities."

As soon as her voice fell.

The system's notification sound rang wildly in her mind.

With an unprecedented, almost admiring tone!

"Ding! Detected that the host has completed a 'Third Choice' that transcends script logic!"

"Judging..."

"Judgment result: This choice perfectly integrates the core of 'God's Hibernation' (integrating into the secular world under the guise of faith) and the external manifestation of 'God's Declaration' (establishing supreme status with absolute power), twisting the two paths into one, forging a domineering path of its own!"

"Evaluation: Excellent! The actor's improvisation added an unexpected brilliant chapter to this drama!"

"Main quest: God's First Lesson, has been overfulfilled!"

"Rewards being distributed..."

"You have received all rewards from Option One and Option Two!"

In an instant.

A massive stream of information.

And power, surged into the depths of Su Ke Ke's soul!

The technique of "Perfect Disguise"!

The authority of "Seed of Lies"!

The law of "Divine Might Catastrophe"!

The prototype of "Throne of Calamity"!

Two completely different sets.

Yet perfectly complementary power systems.

Shone brightly within her body.

Making her already unfathomable aura.

Instantly become even more vast, like a sea of stars!

It worked... both rewards, I want them all!

Cold sweat streamed down Gu Tiancheng's forehead.

The situation he now faced was.

A predicament a thousand times more difficult than his worst fears.

The other party was not an enemy.

Yet more aggressive than any enemy.

She didn't want his life, she wanted his soul, and the faith of the entire country!

How should he choose?

Should he, on behalf of the Great Xia Country, bow down to a god born just three minutes ago?

Just as he was internally struggling, in a fierce battle of wills.

In Su Ke Ke's mind.

Gu Jianghan's new divine oracle descended once again.

"Ding! New main quest triggered: Cornerstone of Faith"

"Quest requirement: A church without believers is merely a castle in the air. Make this powerful individual of the mortal world, Gu Tiancheng, commander of the Soul Suppression Bureau, the first pilgrim of your church."

"Quest hint: You can choose to make him willingly kneel, or you can... help him kneel."

Facing the cold yet tempting quest in her mind.

Su Ke Ke looked at Gu Tiancheng before her.

There was no killing intent in her eyes.

Instead, a hint of pity was revealed.

That was the look a god would have when looking down at struggling ants.

Make this man, who had dedicated his life to his country and people, kneel before her?

No, that was too crude.

True conquest.

Was to make him willingly offer his knees from the depths of his soul.

Su Ke Ke slowly raised her hand.

There was no earth-shattering energy convergence.

Her fingertip simply tapped lightly in the void.

Om—

The scene of the entire laboratory instantly vanished.

Gu Tiancheng was horrified to discover.

He was not in a cold metal base.

But standing on a vast expanse of land.

And before him.

Incredibly realistic three-dimensional scrolls.

Unfolded rapidly like slides!

He saw it.

He saw a towering tsunami about to sweep across the coastline.

But just a second before the tsunami engulfed the city.

A golden barrier descended from the sky.

No matter how the tsunami raged and crashed.

The city remained calm, and the people lived in peace and contentment.

He saw it.

He saw how vicious foreign mercenaries infiltrated the border.

How they used weapons to harm the citizens of the Great Xia Country.

But before they pulled the trigger.

Holy light descended from the heavens, and the god's authority over calamity was activated.

Purifying them and their weapons into nothingness.

The border guards did not bleed, nor were they injured.

They no longer had to cry, holding the cold bodies of their comrades.

He saw it.

He saw in the hospital.

Countless terminally ill patients, condemned to death by modern medicine.

Bathed in a gentle light.

Their withered bodies began to regain vitality.

Countless families were reunited, crying tears of joy.

Earthquakes were calmed, drought-stricken lands received rain, plagues were annihilated... Scene after scene, event after event, case after case.

These were the Great Xia Country's deepest pains!

They were chronic diseases that countless people like him, throughout their entire lives, could not completely eradicate!

And now.

All of this.

Was easily resolved under the will of a "god."

Gu Tiancheng, this iron-willed man, found his tiger-like eyes unknowingly welling up with moisture.

He trembled all over, not out of fear.

But because of an extreme longing and struggle.

His lifelong ideal, everything he had fought and sacrificed for.

Seemed so... insignificant before the mighty power of this moment.

The illusion quietly dissipated.

It was still the cold laboratory.

But Gu Tiancheng's heart could never return to the past.

Su Ke Ke's voice echoed softly.

With a perfectly appropriate warmth:

"Commander Gu, I know your daughter, Zhang Wei. She is my classmate."

Gu Tiancheng suddenly looked up.

With a father's alarm in his eyes.

"For her sake, and for the sake of thousands upon thousands of future flowers of this country, like her, I will give you time."

Su Ke Ke's figure began to become ethereal.

Transforming into specks of golden light, merging into the air.

"Go back and tell your high-ranking officials that my patience is limited. I want to see the sincerity of the Great Xia Country, not their probing. Next time, I hope you will actively seek my protection, rather than me having to display my power to you."

As her voice fell.

Her figure was no longer seen.

Leaving only silence in the room.

And a Gu Tiancheng whose heart was churned by stormy waves... The next moment.

On the outskirts of Jiangbei City.

Above a ghost realm known as a "forbidden zone."

Space rippled like water.

Su Ke Ke's figure appeared out of thin air.

Below was a world filled with soaring resentment.

Countless twisted, ferocious demons and ghosts roared and fought within it.

In the air.

A foul aura, enough to drive ordinary people mad, permeated.

Here.

Was a breeding ground for evil spirits that even the Soul Suppression Bureau found troublesome.

But to Su Ke Ke at this moment.

This was just a perfect testing ground.

"God said, 'Let there be light.'"

She declared softly, her voice not loud.

Yet it clearly reached the ears of every demon below.

In an instant.

A brilliant golden sun rose behind her!

The light was no longer a gentle healing light.

But "Divine Might Catastrophe," filled with destruction and judgment!

Endless holy light, like sharp swords, shot down.

Illuminating this dim ghost realm as bright as day.

Those ferocious demons, under the illumination of the light.

Were like accumulated snow meeting a scorching sun.

They didn't even have time to scream.

They were evaporated and purified in large swaths amidst their mournful wails!

With just one strike.

Tens of thousands of low-level evil spirits on the periphery of the ghost realm were swept clean!

Su Ke Ke felt the surging power within her body.

And then cast her gaze towards the depths of the ghost realm.

Towards those even more powerful existences.

Her lips curved slightly, and she extended a finger.

Lightly beckoning towards a giant monster comparable to a mountain.

"Seed of Lies" activated!

The roaring monster's movements came to an abrupt halt.

Its huge eyes were instantly filled with endless fear.

It seemed to see the most terrifying scene in the world.

It saw its soul being gnawed by billions of ants.

It was not attacked by any external force.

Yet it let out a heart-rending scream.

It went mad!

Under endless madness, it began to tear at its own body.

Again and again.

Finally, in extreme terror.

Its hands gripped its own head, rotating it 360 degrees.

Bang—!

The monster's body exploded with a roar, turning into a shower of blood and flesh!

This was the power of a god!

To kill, and to strike at the heart!

Su Ke Ke nodded in satisfaction.

Just as she was about to completely erase this ghost realm from the map.

An extremely terrifying aura.

Suddenly shot up from the deepest underground crack of the ghost realm!

That aura was ancient and sinister.

Carrying a hint of law power that did not belong to this dimension, but to a higher level.

Accompanied by the grating sound of chains breaking.

A hoarse and mad voice echoed through the heavens and earth:

"Who... disturbed my slumber!!"

At the same time.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have left the Novice Village."

"Hidden BOSS 'Sealed Outer Demon' has been awakened."

"Please defeat this weak demon king!"

Su Ke Ke: "..."