99: Chapter 99 The Data Torrent

That wisp of fire burned in the dead, silent void.

Like the final echo of a star at the end of the universe, it was faint, yet it tore through the endless darkness.

On the shared spreadsheet of [creation furnace Energy Deficit and Current Asset Conversion Rate Estimate], the terrifying astronomical number representing the 'Total Energy Deficit' finally saw a negligible reduction.

But immediately after, the spreadsheet refreshed automatically.

A new timer appeared in everyone's vision—[Countdown to the Evil God's True Form Descent].

The bright red numbers were jumping rapidly at a heart-stopping frequency.

Time was running out.

Ninth Prince's sacrifice did not herald victory; instead, it rang a heavier alarm bell.

What he had bought for this world with his 'deletion' was merely a few moments of breathing room.

"Not enough... Nowhere near enough."

The old cultivator from the Holy Land sat paralyzed on the ground, utterly dejected.

He looked at that bean-sized spark, then at the almost unchanged energy deficit on the spreadsheet, and the last glimmer of light in his eyes extinguished.

A Golden Core peak expert with royal bloodline had sacrificed everything, yet it amounted to nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

Even if all tens of thousands of local cultivators present were thrown in, it was unlikely they could grow this spark into a raging prairie fire.

Despair, more corrosive than the Evil God's whispers, began to silently gnaw at the Dao heart of every local cultivator.

However, no one in the player camp spoke.

Their gazes were locked tightly onto The Romance of the Science Guy.

This god of technology among the players had entered a state of near 'system crash' ever since Ninth Prince began his sacrifice.

He hovered in the air, motionless, his eyes vacant, yet deep within his pupils, billions of data torrents seemed to be rushing, colliding, and reorganizing at speeds exceeding light.

He didn't look at the heart-wrenching sacrifice, nor did he pay attention to the countdown that was enough to crush one's spirit.

His entire consciousness was immersed in the bottom-most logical architecture of the All Things Return to One system.

He was calculating, frantically calculating.

"Incorrect..."

"This conversion rate is incorrect..."

"Ninth Prince's 'bloodline source' energy level is very high, but the refining loss of 'spiritual energy' is absurdly large... Why?"

His thoughts turned into invisible probes, scanning the program that had just completed the total erasure of a life over and over again.

"The loss... it's because of 'compatibility'! The spirits and memories of local lifeforms are of the same origin as this world; sacrificing them is like burning wood for water—heat dissipates, and there is residue. But... we are different."

A crazy thought, like a bolt of creation lightning, split the chaos in his mind.

"We... are from 'outside the heavens'."

"Our soul essence, our data structure, is incompatible with this world. We are viruses, antibodies, 'anomalous information' that this world cannot understand!"

"If local lifeforms are 'firewood', then we... we are 'nuclear fuel'!"

"The Ancestor did not create this system for us to sacrifice cultivation and treasures; that is too inefficient! His true purpose was to let us sacrifice the very foundation of why we are 'players'!"

Boom!

The Romance of the Science Guy suddenly lifted his head, his unfocused eyes reigniting with a fierce light comparable to a supernova explosion.

He did not shout, nor did he explain.

He simply extended his finger and, with a speed bordering on spasms, began operating in the void.

In the alliance channel of all players, the shared spreadsheet titled [creation furnace Energy Deficit and Current Asset Conversion Rate Estimate] suddenly popped up a forced update window.

A brand-new tab was added.

The title was cold, rigorous, and devoid of even a shred of emotion.

**[Feasibility Report on Sacrificing 'Extra-Heavenly Data Links' to Achieve Ultra-High Energy Conversion]**

The content of the report was not sentimental text, but lines of dense, yet logically chilling formulas and data comparisons.

**[Model One: Local Lifeform Sacrifice]**

Energy Source: Cultivation + Bloodline + Soul Origin (same origin as the world)

Conversion Formula: E = m(1 - α) + k(1 - β)... (α, β are energy dissipation coefficients under world rules)

Estimated Conversion Rate: 17.3% (based on Ninth Prince as the baseline sample)

**[Model Two: Player 'Extra-Heavenly Data Link' Sacrifice]**

Energy Source: System Permissions (Interface, Quests, Inventory) + Resurrection Mechanism (Cross-world data anchor) + Spiritual Link (The connection to the 'Earth' dimension itself)

Conversion Formula: E_player ≈ ∫(ψ_system + ψ_respawn + ψ_link) d(t)...

Core Theory: Directly convert 'information entropy' from 'outside the rules' into 'source energy' 'within the world'.

This is not burning; this is... **annihilation**.

Estimated Conversion Rate: **99.9%**

At the end of the report was a bold, blood-red conclusion.

**[Conclusion: The effective energy produced by a single player performing an 'Extra-Heavenly Data Link' sacrifice is approximately equal to the sum of sixty-three Golden Core stage local cultivators. This plan is the... only optimal solution for the current predicament.]**

A moment of dead silence.

Then, the entire player camp exploded.

"What the hell?! This... what does this mean? Sacrifice our system?!"

"Permanent death?! Even the chance to resurrect is gone? Isn't this just... deleting the account?!"

"No, it's more thorough than deleting an account! This is pulling the 'network cable' between us and Earth! We will completely become 'natives' of this world! If we die, we are truly dead!"

"He's crazy! STEM Man, he's really gone crazy!"

Panic, shock, and disbelief swept through every player like a tsunami.

This discovery sent a chill deeper than the Evil God's descent itself.

They could be fearless, they could charge with a smile, because deep down, they always had the thought of it being a 'game,' a fallback of 'at worst, we'll try again.'

But now, The Romance of the Science Guy had laid their final and most core trump card bloody and bare on the table with a cold data report.

"No! I object!"

The first to issue a sharp objection was Skillful Hands Mending.

Her eyes were red, staring fixedly at The Romance of the Science Guy, her voice trembling from agitation.

"How could you... how could you propose such a plan?! Ninth Prince just... just died in front of us like that! His memories, his emotions, everything about him was crushed! Do you see that? Do you not feel anything at all?"

She pointed at the report as if pointing at something filthiest.

"Now, you want us to walk down that same path? Turn our systems, our resurrections, everything that makes us 'players' into a string of numbers in your spreadsheet?! Then what makes us any different from Ninth Prince? No, we're even worse than him! He did it to protect his world, but us? We're doing it for a... so-called 'optimal solution'?!"

"STEM Man! We are people! Living, breathing people! Not program code for you to calculate optimal solutions with!"

Her questioning struck every player's heart like a heavy hammer.

Many players who were already resistant immediately echoed her sentiment.

"That's right! We are players! Without the system, what kind of players are we even!"

"I can die ten thousand times, but I cannot be without resurrection! That is the bottom line!"

Facing the accusations of thousands, The Romance of the Science Guy's expression did not change in the slightest.

He simply looked calmly at Skillful Hands Mending, with the gaze of someone analyzing material composition.

"Your emotional fluctuation stems from an obsession with 'identity' and fear of 'total death.' According to calculations, this emotion lowers logical judgment by at least 30%."

He paused, his voice still as steady as a straight line.

"I will reiterate. First, this is not my plan; it is an objective existence derived based on the All Things Return to One system left by the Ancestor. I simply discovered it."

"Second, 'optimal solution' is not a cold term; it represents exchanging the minimum cost for the maximum chance of survival. Ninth Prince's sacrifice was great, but it also proved that filling the gap with local cultivators is a dead end. Our choice is not 'whether to sacrifice,' but 'how to make the sacrifice more valuable'."

"Third, and most importantly."

His gaze slowly swept over all the players, over Skillful Hands Mending, over the silent Outlaw Zhang San, over War God Number One, Immovable as a Mountain...

"You ask, what is the difference between us and Ninth Prince?"

"The difference is, he had no choice. But we do."

He raised his hand, pointing to the report, and also to the furnace burning with a faint spark.

"Choose to be a 'player' who can resurrect infinitely but will ultimately be deleted along with this world."

"Or choose to become a 'person' who has only one life, but has the chance to personally ignite a new world."

"This is a multiple-choice question. It is not one I am giving you; it is one that this world, which is about to be destroyed, has given to all of us."

After finishing, he closed his mouth and returned to that absolute stillness, as if all the clamor outside had nothing to do with him.

He had already provided the only path to the future that he could find.

As for whether to walk it, or how to walk it, that was not a matter for a technician to decide.

That was... the weight that decision-makers needed to bear.

Everyone's gaze, without exception, converged on Outlaw Zhang San.

This man, who had led players to flip countless tables with a cynical attitude since the Novice Village, was, for the first time, plunged into a long silence.

He lowered his head; no one could see his expression.

He was not calculating, nor was he weighing pros and cons.

He was just thinking about one thing.

When he was first summoned to this world by the Ancestor, what was it for?

Oh, right.

It was to get a golden coffin for the Ancestor.

What a small, what a ridiculous, and what a real beginning.

And now, they seemed to be only the final, and most distant, step away from that ultimate 'golden coffin'.

A long time passed.

Outlaw Zhang San finally raised his head slowly.

On his face, the usual playfulness and ruffianism were gone, leaving only a bottomless calm.

He spoke, his voice not loud, but it clearly drowned out all the arguments and discussions.

"The Romance of the Science Guy."

"Present."

"Make this report... public to all survivors of the alliance."

He did not say he agreed, nor did he say he opposed.

He simply returned this choice, which was heavy enough to crush the entire world, back to every person who still wanted to live.