Chapter 266 – A Perfect New World (XXX)

Chi Xiaochi has entered countless doors throughout his life.

The most impressive experience for him was the time he stepped into Zhu Shoucheng’s home.

Inside and outside the door, the opening and closing of the door changed his life.

Before he stepped through the door, no one inside or outside knew what the door would look like when it was opened again.

Inside the cascade of light, Chi Xiaochi looked around the room, grabbing a piece of memory dust floating in the air, before turning his attention to the large, dark red mastermind floating in the centre of the room.

He greeted the brain, “You’re Lord GOD ?”

Lord GOD looked down at the mole that had defeated him so many times and pretended to be at peace: “You’ve heard of me?”

” Lord GOD is what his name suggests.” Chi Xiaochi commented, “It’s like a brain flower.”

Lord God didn’t want to be a loudmouth, to be a lowlife: “Tell me what you want.”

Chi Xiaochi paced a couple of steps and looked around, “Won’t you bring me a chair.”

Lord GOD coldly: “You have a lot to say?”

Chi Xiaochi, without Lou Ying to control him, had no need to disguise his own bad taste, so he lifted his face and said lazily, “Not necessarily. I just don’t like to stand and talk.”

Lord GOD sweeps up behind Chi Xiaochi.

Numerous flying scattered data coalesced behind him in the shape of a chair.

Chi Xiaochi sat up and stretched his legs, not knowing whether to be sincere or not, and said, “How convenient.”

Lord GOD knew that any conversations in the “in-between” would not be transmitted to the outside world, but checked what Chi Xiaochi was carrying just to be on the safe side.

It nearly passed out of breath at this examination.

A whole warehouse of cards, whatever their function, was lit up, and he even created a spare bin of necessary cards, as well as a lot of miscellaneous gadgets, cigarettes, alcohol, sleeping bags, tents, photos, peace knots, rings, shrimp sticks, everything, a department store.

The tone of Lord GOD’s voice was well controlled and unmistakable: “You’ve collected everything.”

”I’ve travelled ten worlds.” Chi Xiaochi’s index finger taps on the arm of his chair, “Anything is possible if you have the time.”

”And do you know how much time has passed in your world while you were on your mission?”

Chi Xiaochi replied, “Three years and one month.”

”Three years.” LORD GOD repeated the time, “Three years paralyzed in bed, I’m afraid it’s hard to even learn to walk again.”

Chi Xiaochi smiled softly, “You care so much about me.”

”Of course.” Lord GOD said, “I care about each and every host.”

Chi Xiaochi props up his chin: “I can feel it. Farmers also care about how much milk the cows have milked today and how many pounds the pigs have fattened up.”

LORD GOD smiled leatherily: “I can’t understand what you are saying. I am very busy, so please say your wish as soon as possible. Which world are you going to?”

Chi Xiaochi put his knuckles to his lips, “Ah, that’s a serious question, something to think about.”

He leaned back in his chair, pondering: “The first world is Cheng Yuan’s world. It was ordinary for me, not too difficult, and the world line was similar to my original world. However, that world is also quite memorable. — I have a guess that within the original host, the host and the original host existed at the same time.”

LORD GOD is horrified: “…… bollocks!”

Chi Xiaochi waved his hand: “I’m just saying that, you don’t have to take it personally.”

Lord GOD muses.

It knew that the Between is closed to the outside world, that 061 is no longer related to Chi Xiaochi, and that Chi Xiaochi is far less powerful than he is, so he cannot use any of the cards.

Anyway, there was no way he was going to get out of the “between” room today.

If it weren’t for the personal protection regulations set up by the Master System specifically for hosts, Lord GOD would have crushed Chi Xiaochi into data fragments without even lifting a finger.

Let this ant be pleased with itself for a while.

Chi Xiaochi didn’t seem very interested in its ups and downs and continued, “I only told Brother Lou about this conjecture. So I soon came to the second world and encountered – which by all accounts should not be in the second world at all – A-grade difficulty.”

”At first, I thought you had the ability to tap into every system, and that the A difficulty world was a punishment, a warning, against me. But then I wasn’t entirely sure, because if you had this ability to put your hands on every world and collect information, after I found out the secret, you shouldn’t have just done it on the difficulty, you could have just killed me and wiped Lou’s brother’s memory.”

”Why don’t you do that? Is it because you don’t have enough authority, or because you’re jealous of something? Or, perhaps, both?”

”However, your actions have also convinced me that there is a possibility that I am correct: I have offended you in some way, not very badly, but in a way that makes you angry.”

”Then the third world further confirmed my thoughts.”

As he spoke, Chi Xiaochi changed to a more comfortable position: “…… Dong Ge’s world, level B difficulty. Compared to the second world, the difficulty has dropped back more than a star and a half.”

”Thanks to your reminder, after that world, I can be sure that you did not want to torture me simply by having a difficult world. You made Lou Sifan, also known as Lou, appear and somehow give him a memory identical to that of Lou’s brother. You wanted to make me afraid, to make me hard, to make me attached – you were trying to make me generate some kind of energy that approximated the value of remorse.”

”Figuring that out, combined with what Lou had told me about what happened to the other hosts, I figured out most of it.”

”It’s possible that you’re not only getting the remorse value from the subject of the raid, but also intend to get it from the host, or even …… from the original host.”

”And you are targeting me, not necessarily because I guessed your secret, but because, in my first world, I lived too fluently and did not produce what you needed.”

”That would explain why, in the second world, you suddenly raised the difficulty; in the third world, the difficulty was lowered and you threw me a Lou Sifan.”

”The fourth world, it’s an interesting one.”

At this point, Chi Xiaochi purses his lips and smiles, as if remembering a close friend.

”If, in the third world, I found traces of the original host’s existence, by the fourth world, I could finally be completely sure that the original host did coexist with is host as one.”

”You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to pick the fourth world. On the one hand, it was an ABO world where insects existed and where lives could be at risk at any moment, and on the other hand, Zhan Yanchao was indeed a man who could be saved. You wanted me to wallow, wanted me to play God like the other hosts.”

”Unfortunately, I’ve played so many roles that I don’t have any interest in appearing as God.”

Lord GOD snorted, unsure whether to dismiss Chi Xiaochi’s series of inferences or to cover up his weakness.

”And then, I went to the fifth world.”

”I’ve deduced your mindset, and if it’s a negative energy like remorse value you want, the fifth spirit world is undoubtedly the most suitable. Besides, you’re starting to lose your patience, you want me to die.”

”In that case, I need to throw out some warnings at the right time too.”

”So, at the end of the fifth world, I made a point of stating the most irrelevant of all my guesses as I entered the exchange space: that you would create phantoms in each world, trying to lure me to stay in a certain one.”

”I was trying to warn you and to see what move you would take next. After all, I’ve already experienced the S-class world, so what’s left to fear?”

”In the sixth world, I entered a post-apocalyptic world.”

”After this incident, I can be sure that you don’t know that I know the secret that the original owner is still around, otherwise in the second world, you would have done this – you really wanted me dead.”

”But, I’m so sorry it didn’t work out.”

”In the seventh world, you’re doing even more little things. You put a book-piercing system together with Brother Lou, and you want to get at Brother Lou, weaken me, and then kill me.”

With that, Chi Xiaochi raised his hand to his chest and bowed quite sincerely to Lord GOD whose squirming had increased significantly, “Thank you very much.”

”This world also corrected one of my misconceptions. At first, I really thought that Dong Feihong, Bu Lu and the Gan siblings were all people you had arranged to paralyse me with good intentions to keep me in a certain world. Thank you for letting me know that those people were all Brother Lou.”

”You find that coming too hard doesn’t work. So there’s an eighth and ninth world.”

”The world of ancient battlefields, the world of Battle Royale. You want me to experience what it’s like to kill with my own hands, you want me to drift away from my old world.”

”In the eighth world, I killed the Southland skirmishers; in the ninth, I killed Wei Shiliu with my own hands. You must have been very happy, because then it was convenient for you to arrange the last world for me.”

”Finally, in the tenth world, you have given me a parallel world that could not be more peaceful.”

”Here, where nothing happened, you wanted me to heal for the rest of my life, and for that even assigned a body to Brother Lou. I have the real Brother Lou, I have the future, I have everything …… how good it is.”

Chi Xiaochi’s eyes show a palpable sense of nostalgia as he speaks.

Lord GOD has a double entendre: “You really should have stayed in that last world for longer.”

Ten worlds of lessons have forced Lord GOD to realise that it simply cannot control a freak like Chi Xiaochi.

In that case, let Chi Xiaochi go back to his original world and live his life as a paralyzed child, waiting for Lou Ying to return.

Around the same time, with that unreported non-disclosure agreement, 061 was never going to be able to return.

Lord GOD will not allow anyone to escape from its grasp.

He will remember Chi Xiaochi’s smug face now and return to his world line to see how he looks when he waits for Lou Ying to not return.

Lord GOD is in a much happier mood when he thinks about it.

It said, “After all you’ve said, don’t you want to know why I did it?”

”Don’t want to know.”

To his surprise, Chi Xiaochi declined to speculate further: “I have no interest in the mind of a murderer.”

”Then you should also say enough is enough.” Lord GOD tried desperately to hide the gloating inside, “Which world do you choose? Back to the original world? I understand ……”

Who knows, Chi Xiaochi interrupted it, “Sorry, I’m not going back.”

Lord GOD thought for a moment that he had misheard, “What did you say?”

Chi Xiaochi said, “I said, I’m not going back.”

Lord GOD was quite taken aback: “So which world are you going to?”

Chi Xiaochi leaned back comfortably, “I’m not going anywhere.”

”You ……”

Without giving Lord God a chance to say anything, Chi Xiaochi said, “I want to be you.”

Lord GOD : “…… what?”

As Lord GOD’s mind was swept by monstrous unease, Chi Xiaochi perfected his answer.

”My heart’s desire is not to go to any world, or to return to the original world.” Chi Xiaochi lifted his hand, “My heart’s desire is that I want your place. I want to be the Lord GOD here.”

Lord GOD : “……”

After a brief silence, Lord GOD bursts into laughter.

Chi Xiaochi lets him laugh as he sits back in his chair, his finger on a silver ring repeatedly tossing a peace knot, the red spike flicking in his palm.

After Lord GOD laughed, a puff of dust and smoke rose up, the huge brain in the room disappeared, and a cold hand, viper-like, wrapped around Chi Xiaochi’s neck.

Thin data tentacles extend from the circumference of the chair, easily confining Chi Xiaochi.

With one hand on the arm of the chair and the other on Chi Xiaochi’s neck, the Lord GOD in human form does not press very hard, but only compresses his breathing, and between his pretended elegance there floats a violence that cannot be completely suppressed.

”Do you know where you are stupid.” Lord GOD nodded behind him and eleven gates of light appeared, ten leading to the ten worlds he had experienced and one to Chi Xiaochi’s original world.

”…… You shouldn’t have come to me to pick a fight. Be smart, choose a world, and I’ll let you go.”

”Then you know what you’re stupid about.” Chi Xiaochi raised an eyebrow and returned the original comment with a smirk, “Actually, you can’t even kill me, nor can you just throw me in any door.”

The sardonic grin on Lord GOD’s face stiffened a little.

”If you could have killed me, you could have snapped my neck just now.” Chi Xiaochi said, “By the same token, I can guess that when each host chooses the world they will end up in, they must walk into it willingly, otherwise you could have thrown me in.”

With that, Chi Xiaochi gave a polite nod: “Thank you, for telling me two more very important pieces of information.”

Lord GOD gave a harrumph and waved away the door of light behind him, “I gave you a chance, you didn’t want it. Yes, I have restrictions and can’t kill you, but I can keep you in the ‘between the whiskers’ for the rest of your life, and you can’t go anywhere without my permission. I just don’t know if you will die first in your cage from madness, or from lack of food and water.”

Chi Xiaochi’s response was muted, even regretful: “You really don’t want to give me what I want. It would have been best for you if you had fulfilled my wishes and stepped down voluntarily.”

”Oh? Is that so?” LORD GOD grunted, “Then I really must thank you for your kindness.”

”You do have me to thank for that.” Chi Xiaochi accepted its compliment with the utmost cheek, “Otherwise, there’s no telling where you’ll end up when word of your affair reaches the ears of the higher watchdogs and the main system.”

Lord GOD lowered his head and forced himself to look at Chi Xiaochi, pretending to be calm, but the veins throbbing beneath his translucent white skin were hard to suppress: “You think you can still get out of here?”

Chi Xiaochi said, “Of course.”

Lord GOD laughs and asks, “Where do you get your confidence from?”

Chi Xiaochi said, “I have physical evidence and human evidence.”

”…… physical evidence? Human evidence?”

LORD GOD This is a real laugh now.

Chi Xiaochi knows but one 061.

The so-called physical and human evidence, combined into one, is 061, I believe.

Even though Lord GOD hates Chi Xiaochi to the core, he has to admit that Chi Xiaochi is really smart.

However, Lou Ying, 061, is his absolute weakness.

Chi Xiaochi’s blind faith in 061 will soon be reduced to a bubble of sand.

By the time your evidence is submitted, 061 will have been formatted completely.

All physical evidence and all human evidence are just Chi Xiaochi’s delusions of grandeur.

Lord GOD put on a deliberately interested face, “What physical evidence?”

Chi Xiaochi moved as if she was not very comfortable being tied up, “How can I show this to you.”

LORD GOD: “What about the witnesses? Is it just outside of the ‘whisker’?”

Chi Xiaochi cocked her head and thought, “Something like that.”

After just a couple of teasing sessions, Lord GOD had had enough of his calm and collected expression as if he had everything under control.

It wanted to crack the smiling face of Chi Xiaochi and peer through the cracks to see his fear: “Whatever the physical evidence, the human evidence, that has to be handed up too. You think that the watchdog system is going to come here just because of one side of some system-”

Before the words were out of his mouth, Lord GOD suddenly heard a loud, sharp sound outside, shaking the data that made up his heart with a throb.

Lord GOD rose in horror and asked the AI, “What’s going on out there?!”

The AI gave an immediate answer, “…… security system has been breached again!”

”Also ……”

The answer caused Lord GOD to choke and grimace: “Where was it that was invaded? The archives again?!”

The AI’s reply actually stuttered a little, “No, it’s …… Lord GOD Hall …… and, this time, it seems to be a frontal invasion ……”

On the shattered walls of information, the hand-shaped mechanical exoskeleton gripped the edges of the swirling, swirling fissure and moved around, making the clicking sound of twisting mechanical joints.

There are transparent fragments of information rustling down from the fingers of the visitor.

Ji Zuoshan’s fully armed mental body stepped in from the outside and, with a small sigh of relief, gently bowed before the already dumbfounded crowd of systems: “Please calm yourselves. This is not an invasion, it is a visit by invitation. I am looking for a host named Chi Xiaochi and a system called 061. Are they here, please?”

Within “a few moments”.

Chi Xiaochi’s finger, wearing a special Na Man metal ring, still taps uncomfortably on the arm of the chair.

He whispered, “My witnesses are knocking at the door, Lord GOD, won’t you greet them?”

In a panic, Lord GOD left Chi Xiaochi tied up and swung open the door of the “Between the Hours” and was about to run out when he froze in place, his face gradually turning from iron blue to blue grey.

The “in-between” isolates most of the sound from the outside world and is always surprisingly quiet.

Lord GOD was so focused on Chi Xiaochi that he didn’t realise that the PA system had been interfered with and hacked into at some point.

There was a slight delay in the amplification, so when Lord GOD opened the door to the “In Between”, a voice belonging to Chi Xiaochi was echoing across the vast and deadly silent Lord GOD space: “My witness is knocking at the door, won’t you greet it?”

All the unknowing systems in Lord GOD’s space, including 023,009, looked in shock at where Lord GOD was standing, even the one in charge of the security system, who simply stood silent, taking no defensive measures against Ji Zuoshan, who had broken the firewall with his bare hands.

In the midst of a shower of stares, Lord GOD was poured with ice water on his head and looked back at the “in-between” in anger.

Lou Ying was at Chi Xiaochi’s side as soon as the doors to the “In a Moment” opened.

Chi Xiaochi, half untied by Lou Ying, turned around and looked back at it, one arm resting on the back of the chair in a relaxed manner, “Now, Lord GOD, are you going to format all the systems under your command, or are you going to guess how long it will take for your surveillance system, to arrive?”