171. Void Domain (Part 3)
[Detected harmful information, initiating scan]
[According to Article 22 of the "Agreement": Intercept and process harmful information and malicious data]
If we are the same as [Society], then aren't earthlings also hating Star Abyss for the same reason as me?
[Recognition Filter activated]
Should we reflect on ourselves?
[Warning: Memory overflow! Memory overflow!]
What exactly are we?
What's the point of playing this game, who is urging us to play, are we so frenziedly addicted to games because we are inherently evil?
[Due to Recognition Filter shattering, interception impossible]
Then what right do we have to accuse others, to accuse [Society]…
[Intercept system rebooting——ERRO!]
[ERRO!]
[Reboot failed, anti-crash program collapsed, rebooting game for you and downloading the latest patch from the official site]
[Scanning…]
[You are already on the latest patch]
[We're very sorry, we cannot fix this type of error. You may choose to send a crash report to [PLAYER]. Qiqiao Network will carefully handle your request and actively improve. Your feedback will help us serve you better.]
[Enjoy your game]
[System offline]
Panic, anxiety, unease, doubt.
"...System?"
The panel that always appeared when called, now had no response.
Before Caramel Snail's eyes suddenly became boundlessly empty. The once familiar UI, stats, quest panel—
In an instant, nothing remained.
"Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck!"
Caramel Snail couldn't help but curse:
"Qiqiao Network, fuck you——!"
Before he could finish, the cross-headed figure pressing him down suddenly exerted strength, grabbing his arms and pulling outward.
"Ugh—ahhhhhhh!"
This bastard, it was going to tear him apart alive!
"Get the fuck off! Off! Off! Get off me!"
He felt like someone abandoned by civilization, attacked by a beast in the wilderness, crudely pinned to the ground.
Without wisdom and the crystallization of technology, humans became incomparably fragile before absolute strength.
He forgot his own power. Without the system, he couldn't do anything. Everything the system once coordinated, now he had to manage alone.
Endless self-doubt, coupled with the system shutting offline, pushed Caramel Snail's mentality into despair.
At that moment, Cumin Powder's voice still echoed by his ear:
'Go die.'
Finally, despair bred nothingness.
Under absolute suppression of strength and psychological assault, Caramel Snail broke down.
His eyes went hollow, completely giving up resistance.
Letting the cross-head tear his arms apart, blood spurting.
Caramel Snail tilted his head, feeling the pain, wanting to cry but unable to speak. The void's constant mental erosion and prayers of nothingness drove him into collapse, even numbing him to his own death.
Alive or dead, what did it matter?
When alive, he caused an entire planet's massacre. Wanting to grow stronger, he fell before the Champion. The one time in his life he shared mutual love with a girl, he watched her die before his eyes.
'I can't do anything…'
Caramel Snail lay in a pool of blood, just like the NPCs he once casually slaughtered.
Without the system, players were just electronic parasites, destined to be killed like worms.
They were only rampant thanks to their former immortality. They weren't stronger than the native NPCs.
Perhaps, when they thought themselves protagonists, players, in reality they were just NPCs for others to harvest and amuse themselves with.
'You can't do anything, Jiao Ziniu.'
Cumin Powder gently cupped his face, softly speaking:
'So stupid, so foolish, so weak, never able to do anything right.'
'You shouldn't exist. Let this world belong to the elites and geniuses.'
'And you, should come with me, into eternal nothingness.'
Yeah, he really couldn't do anything.
The cross-head stepped on his chest, raising the flail high, yet Caramel Snail felt only relaxation.
Let it all be buried once and for all.
The next moment, the flail smashed down!
Smack!
Blood spattered, flesh and organs splattering across the corridor, painting it red.
"...Eh?"
Caramel Snail stared blankly ahead.
"I... didn't die?"
Not only alive, when he raised his head, a gust of scorching wind blew against his face, stinging his cheeks.
"So hot—ugh, that ancestral house is gone, this is?"
Caramel Snail's eyes focused on the night sky—on that towering figure, massive as mountains.
Normally, we don't call a person 'majestic.'
But now, besides 'majestic,' Caramel Snail could think of no other word.
Whoosh—Bang…
A colossal rocky tail struck the ancestral ruins lightly, scattering rubble, though it was merely an unconscious motion.
The black night was lit by flames, crimson magma coursing across the mountainous body like blood vessels, filling every crack.
He had no wings, but from his broad triangular back jutted two rows of sharp rocky spines, like two great sails. With each breath they stirred searing winds.
Granite, basalt, bedrock, obsidian—unyielding layers shielded against outside radiation, resolutely resisting the void's power.
People always thought the deep sea unconquerable, forgetting that beneath the abyss, the earth has watched for countless ages.
Earth Dragonkin.
Beneath the dome, above the mantle, from bedrock to surface, all was the earth's domain.
Back in school, Li Aozi had once briefly clashed with Diaran, when the latter summoned an Earth Dragonkin against him.
Back then, Li Aozi hadn't yet learned the hidden story.
Only after fusing with Leoz did he truly understand the Earth Dragonkin's status among dragonkind.
—Shock Troops.
Red King once took the form of an Earth Dragonkin to wreak havoc across Haines, aiding Leoz to defeat five evil gods and seize the identity of the 'Goddess of Truth,' becoming Sharguenia.
Red loved to transform into an Earth Dragonkin through Dragon Transformation Art, naturally with reason.
And now, this power most relied upon by dragon rulers, was his to wield.
"What are you dazing out for, Niu."
Li Aozi glanced down and asked.
"You—True General?"
Caramel Snail dumbly stared at the giant dragonkin, too shocked for words.
"What kind of enemy did you fight, to end up like this…"
"Nothing special, just calculated that with this mode I take no damage."
Li Aozi flicked his tail, looking at Caramel Snail:
"Strange, what did you encounter to end up so beaten down?"
'No damage... worthy of being True General.'
Caramel Snail forced a wry smile and said:
"Uh, a cross-head with a flail, spawning void-corrupted monsters, a Berserker template…"
Li Aozi folded his arms, puzzled:
"Isn't that just a mob?"