66: Resist the tyranny of smiles! He said: Our Long March has begun!

The Sea of Concepts.

Here, there is no time, no space.

Only endless, surging “possibilities”.

Upon a throne constructed from “Absolute Silence” and “Infinite Possibilities”...

Gu Jianghan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.

To him...

The heart-wrenching tragedy that unfolded in the World of Wrath, from its beginning to its climax...

was merely a brief period of darkness, like the closing and opening of his eyelids.

He slowly “opened” his eyes.

The scene reflected in his pupils...

was everything that had just transpired.

The Joint Squad’s life-burning defense.

An'an’s despair as she fell from heaven to hell.

And that cold, merciless final judgment.

His gaze...

easily pierced through billions of cycles of reincarnation...

tracing back to the origin of it all.

That was a world called the Cradle of Original Sin.

A high school campus bathed in sunlight.

Girls in blue and white school uniforms...

had the purest worries and the cleanest smiles.

A girl named Su Ke Ke...

was always cornered by a few girls, led by Li Na.

She was thin and timid, like a startled fawn.

Then...

Another girl named Zhang Wei...

would appear like a ray of light tearing through the gloom...

always at the most crucial moment.

She would shield Su Ke Ke behind her...

and stare fiercely at everyone with eyes as stubborn as a wolf cub’s.

On the way home from school...

they shared a melting popsicle.

Zhang Wei, with a cut on her lip, smiled more brightly than anyone.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you from now on.”

“We promised to go to the highest mountain outside the city together to watch a sunrise!”

Alas, sacrifices are not meant to have happiness.

When Su Ke Ke attempted to escape the control of fate...

the innocent Zhang Wei became the new sacrifice to appease the world.

On the cold altar...

Zhang Wei cried and laughed...

shouting Su Ke Ke’s name with all her might.

“Ke Ke… run… run quickly!!!”

“...Next life... I’ll watch the sunrise with you again...”

What a beautiful story.

From then on...

the girl who survived became a god.

She used billions of reincarnations...

to “protect” the girl who died.

Unfortunately, time is the most cunning deceiver.

It stole the god’s memories and twisted the god’s original intention.

The current Su Ke Ke...

has even forgotten who “Zhang Wei” is.

She only remembers a cold rule called “Protection”.

She doesn’t know who the object of her protection is.

Is it Zhang Wei who protected her in the school?

Or is it Zhang Wei who replaced her on the altar?

She doesn’t know that everything she is now personally inflicting...

is utterly killing the girl who once promised to watch the sunrise with her.

Using the deepest love to brew the most poisonous hatred.

Using the most persistent protection to construct the most desperate cage.

Su Ke Ke... you truly are... a perfect work of art.

Just as Gu Jianghan was savoring this ultimate tragedy...

a sudden anomaly occurred in the World of Wrath.

At the moment An'an was about to dissolve into nothingness because of the phrase “You are not her”...

a faint yet incredibly pure ray of light flew out from Ye Liuli.

That was one of the rewards she received in the World of Sorrow—[Tear of God (Fragment)]!

This fragment of a tear...

seemed to possess its own consciousness.

It instantly merged into An'an’s glabella.

It could not heal the already shattered soul.

Nor could it contend with the rules from the divine.

But its homologous aura...

was like the strongest anchor...

firmly grasping the soul that was about to dissipate...

forcibly pulling her back from the brink of “non-existence”!

An'an’s collapse stopped.

She was like a broken porcelain doll...

barely, fragilely held together by this tear.

Almost simultaneously...

a cold system notification sound...

rang out in the minds of all members of the Joint Squad:

“Ding!”

“Detected that the ‘Wrath Emotional Core’ is stable and no longer in an annihilated state.”

“Judgment: Act Two — World of Wrath, mission complete.”

This cruel announcement...

made the members of the Joint Squad, who had just painstakingly crawled back from the edge of hell...

feel a dizzying absurdity.

However...

before they could process any of it...

a blood-red countdown...

like a death warrant, suddenly appeared in the bottom right corner of their chat panel!

“Remaining Time: 239:59:42”

“Warning: Please complete all remaining instances (Joy, Fear, Love, Evil, Desire) within the specified time.”

“Failure to complete the mission will be judged as a failure of the ultimate instance challenge, and all participants... will be annihilated.”

The members of the Joint Squad had experienced many stories.

They had long since transitioned from simply completing missions to survive...

to the grand aspiration of saving Zhang Wei and awakening Su Ke Ke.

But when their gaze...

fell upon that rapidly ticking...

bloody countdown... the fire of their resolve...

was doused as if by an entire icy sea.

Five instances, ten days.

This was not a test at all.

This was a desperate execution with an already predetermined outcome...

a clear knowledge of impossibility, yet still pursuing it!

Just as the Joint Squad stared blankly...

When I fall into a dead silence mixed with determination and despair.

That emotionless system notification sound...

like God’s verdict...

rang out again in each of their minds.

“Ding! Act Two ‘World of Wrath’ mission settlement begins...”

“Basic Mission Completion: S”

“Special Event Triggered: ‘Divine Judgment’”

“Hidden Plot Explored: ‘The Guardian’s Lost Path’”

“Overall Rating: SS+”

“Rewards being distributed...”

A series of prompts...

brought no joy.

Instead, it seemed to remind them...

that everything they had just experienced...

was merely a precisely calculated program.

In the Sea of Concepts...

Gu Jianghan’s gaze held a hint of playfulness.

Oh? Payday, is it?

But it’s just a last meal for those about to die.

Several rays of light suddenly appeared...

merging into the bodies of the Joint Squad members.

“Points obtained: 50000.”

“Team Title obtained: ‘Survivor Under Divine Judgment’ (When facing divine pressure, mental resilience is slightly increased).”

“Ding ~ Chain Breaker authority unlocked.”

“Captain Gu Yanci receives special reward: ‘Chain Breaker’s Wrath’ (one-time skill, can unleash an angry strike beyond one’s own limits).”

“Team member Ye Liuli receives special reward: ‘Resonance of the Divine Tear’ (passive, the stabilizing effect of [Tear of God (Fragment)] is enhanced).”

Finally...

an item...

appeared out of thin air in the center of the squad...

emitting a faint, yet stubborn, dark red glow.

It was a small cluster of flames sealed within a crystal.

It burned silently, emitting no heat...

yet exuded an unyielding will.

“Special Item obtained: ‘Unyielding Flame of Wrath (Echo)’”

“Item Description: A wisp of unextinguishable flame condensed at the core of the ‘World of Wrath’. It cannot burn any physical entity, but it can ignite a sunken will, completely paralyzed by a single emotion.”

Gu Yanci instinctively grasped the cluster of flames.

A warmth, born of unwillingness and anger...

emanated from his palm.

It gave his heart, which had been cold with despair...

the urge to fight with everything he had.

But what good was it?

He raised his head...

looking at the pale faces of the other team members...

looking at the blood-red...

rapidly dwindling countdown.

This small warmth...

was instantly swallowed by boundless coldness once more.

In the Sea of Concepts...

the human-bodied Gu Jianghan...

the flesh symbolizing his face, curved into an arc.

To counter ‘Joy’ with ‘Wrath’?

What an elegant design.

Letting the prisoners walk into the next cell with their keys.

How benevolent.

How cruel.

He could already foresee...

what a magnificent display of fireworks this tiny flame...

would ignite in that grandest, brightest “Paradise”.

“Rewards distributed.”

“Teleporting to Act Three — World of Joy.”

“5... 4... 3...”

Before the Joint Squad could react...

an irresistible force of teleportation...

completely enveloped them!

“2... 1...”

The dullness and dead silence before them were instantly torn apart!

The next second...

they plunged as if from tens of thousands of meters in the sky...

into an ocean of colors!

This was a world that could be described as perfect.

The sky was the purest, brightest azure.

Clouds like cotton candy drifted leisurely by.

The air was filled with...

a rich, cloyingly sweet scent of flowers and pastries.

In the distance was an endless, grand celebration.

Countless “people” in splendid attire sang and danced.

On every face...

hung the exact same...

perfectly stiff, happy smile.

Streamers, balloons, candy rain... all elements symbolizing “happiness”...

were magnified ten thousand times here...

and violently, almost aggressively...

surged into their senses!

All members of the Joint Squad...

felt a violent dizziness.

Their nerves, taut from exhaustion, anger, and despair...

were forcibly, roughly smoothed out...

as if by an invisible hand.

That deep-seated hatred...

that determination to save Zhang Wei...

that fear of the 10-day countdown...

All these negative emotions...

were rapidly purified, diluted, and erased by the world’s powerful “Happiness Field”!

Ye Qiong instinctively clutched his dagger...

but found that he could not even muster the emotion of anger.

Ling Xi wanted to divine...

but found her spiritual intuition...

drowned out by endless laughter and joy.

The camera focused on Captain Gu Yanci’s face.

He raised his hand...

looking at the blood-red countdown still ticking on his wrist.

“Remaining Time: 239:48:16”

That string of numbers, representing death and failure...

in his pupils...

seemed to lose all meaning.

It became an insignificant...

even somewhat pleasant decorative musical note.

Why care?

Why struggle?

This world... how wonderful it is.

His face, which had been tense with anger and determination...

was softening, uncontrollably, little by little.

The corners of his mouth were beginning to curve upwards, against his will.

Just as he was about to sink into oblivion...

the resistance force of this world...

the leader of the revolutionary army, called out to him.

“Comrade, wake up. Our Long March has only just begun.”