CHAPTER 356: CHAPTER 356: SO YOU’RE HITTING ME WITH A METEORITE, AREN’T YOU? _1

"I haven’t been living underground for a hundred years, have I?"

Wang Linchi surveyed the widespread ruins. The civilization on the surface world had regressed massively, resembling a wasteland.

What on earth happened here? Things have changed so much in such a short time. Wang Linchi truly hadn’t anticipated any of this. Ye Tian’s intelligence network hadn’t transmitted any corresponding reports, and he had no idea what had transpired.

However, one thing was certain: in the absence of Fallen Players and rebellious NPCs, the Game System’s development speed had been exceedingly fast, to the point of restructuring the entire civilizational framework. Technology, culture, economy, and other essential elements of human development held no value for the Game System. What It needed was the order and Chaos generated by humans themselves, along with the assimilation of a sufficient number of Erroneous Sins for Its Growth. Thus, the world had been reshaped by It into a form that suited Its needs.

As soon as he stepped out of the underground world, he felt an inexplicable pressure.

Well damn, have I been discovered? Wang Linchi instantly realized that the Game System would undoubtedly have surveillance at the entrance to the underground world; It knew people had vanished there and would certainly be paying close attention.

At this juncture, even his luck couldn’t save Wang Linchi. His luck wasn’t yet heaven-defying enough to bend reality to his whims. The Game System was so powerful It could even negate Ye Tian’s dual-layered Protagonist’s Aura, let alone Wang Linchi’s Soul Kind · Destiny.

Fortunately, the Game System was formless and insubstantial, still unable to act directly against him. However, even Its indirect actions were enough to give Wang Linchi a major headache.

"I am blessed by Fate, and you dare to smash me with meteorites?!" Wang Linchi exclaimed, feeling deeply insulted as he watched the meteorite fall from the sky. He thought of the quintessential figure associated with "Blessed by Fate," Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu. That man had meteorites smashing his enemies, yet here he was, about to be smashed by one. He felt utterly useless in comparison.

Fine, fine, fine! Let’s see how many meteorites you can conjure! A terrifying light shone in Wang Linchi’s eyes as he pulled out a red gemstone from within his body. In the next instant, the gemstone began to destabilize. Numerous cracks appeared on its surface, and a peculiar radiation seeped out from the fissures.

"Take that!" Wang Linchi yelled. Seeing the red gemstone was about to explode, he hurled it. With his Secret Silver Level physique, the ruby instantly became a streak of light, hurtling towards the meteorite in the sky.

"Break!!!" Wang Linchi roared, even adding a mental "BUFF." As a protagonist blessed with Fate, he felt that shouting "Break!" would surely augment the explosion’s power, even if just by a little.

In the sky, an intense light erupted, and a mushroom cloud ascended. The meteorite was pulverized by the intense heat before it could even draw near.

"You can’t even withstand one hundred thousand units of spiritual power! Dare to throw more?" Wang Linchi yelled arrogantly.

Using spiritual power directly was akin to fighting barehanded. But if spiritual power was used as a raw material combined with the Philosopher’s Stone, it was tantamount to deploying a nuclear warhead. Had the Philosopher’s Stone not been (in critical moments like this) more suitable as a standalone trump card than as a support for Fanciful and Fickle, Wang Linchi might have considered using it without limit. The potency of the Philosopher’s Stone was determined by the amount of spiritual power invested during its creation. Furthermore, using it as an explosive was indeed somewhat wasteful, unless faced with a dire situation like meteorites raining down on his face. Otherwise, it was best utilized to support Fanciful and Fickle.

Wang Linchi hadn’t been arrogant for more than a few seconds when he saw dozens of meteorites piercing through the mushroom cloud, hurtling towards him from a distance.

Wang Linchi cursed inwardly. I was just kidding! It actually threw them when he said that? Then why didn’t the Game System oblige when he told It to go die earlier?

Seeing this, Wang Linchi naturally chose to flee immediately. Having reached the Secret Silver Level, Wang Linchi was capable of flight. However, he had a very accurate assessment of his own flight efficiency, so he unhesitatingly summoned the Saint Master. Letting a professional handle the flying was much faster.

The meteorites arrived almost instantly. Yet, in that brief interval, the Saint Master had already carried Wang Linchi nearly a hundred kilometers away.

Still so quiet... These meteorites probably aren’t real; they must be some kind of materialization. Wang Linchi noted the complete lack of sound from behind. This also explained how the enemy could summon so many meteorites.

After the Game System failed to hit Wang Linchi, It naturally began to intensify Its efforts to lock onto him. However, once Wang Linchi exited Its alert zone, the intensity of the Game System’s monitoring decreased sharply. It directly lost Wang Linchi’s trail.

Wang Linchi was naturally confident that the enemy couldn’t possibly deploy such high-intensity surveillance across the entire world. Otherwise, how would the Game System maintain the operation of Its many programs? Nevertheless, the tracking hadn’t ceased. If Wang Linchi didn’t have a follow-up plan, he would easily be found by It.

He could indeed rely on his Soul Kind to conceal himself. However, as the Game System grew stronger, for an anomaly like him to move within Its ’body,’ it was impossible to completely avoid detection.

Wang Linchi took out his previous alternate account, attempting to continue posing as a Player. The instant he connected to the Game System, he immediately crushed the token representing the account.

Damn it, my account was deleted!

Wang Linchi’s face turned grim. Then he saw another meteor shower descending from the sky.

Account deletion under these circumstances was normal. After all, an account inactive for such an extended period was bound to be problematic. The game had fused with reality; how could one possibly log out? Therefore, an account anomaly was detected, and the Game System directly erased its data. With the data gone, attempting to log in again was equivalent to announcing to the Game System, "I am a problem."

Wang Linchi had the Saint Master fly him at top speed. This time, it was even more outrageous. Besides the meteor shower, there were also gales, torrential rain, and earthquakes. It was like a scene from ’Final Destination.’ Moreover, this time the Game System’s lock on him was extremely tight, evidently having learned from the previous experience.

Is Ye Tian really certain to win? Wang Linchi felt a chill. Based on what he had seen, mere indirect interference granted the Game System the power to control numerous global catastrophes. What if It intervened directly? Under such circumstances, even if Ye Tian successfully advanced his Error Soul Seeds to the Mythology Level, he would still be no match for the Game System. There were disparities even among Mythology Level Soul Kinds.

As this thought flashed through his mind, Wang Linchi, however, felt no fear. He turned back, another Philosopher’s Stone already in his hand.

Natural calamities? Can they be more terrifying than man-made disasters? Wang Linchi knew that if he couldn’t break the enemy’s lock on him, escape would be pure fantasy.

As Wang Linchi finished speaking, the spiritual power within a Golden Core Illusion was instantly drained, and the Philosopher’s Stone in his hand disintegrated into powder.

ROAR—

A barely perceptible beastly roar emerged, and unformed phantoms of an ape and a horse floated out. Centered on Wang Linchi, the Impact of Fanciful and Fickle bloomed outwards. It swept over everything silently, leaving no trace, yet all that it touched was annihilated into dust. Be it meteorites, storms, or earthquakes. Even a large section of the ground itself caved in.

"You think these are the only tricks I have?" Wang Linchi scoffed as he watched everything return to tranquility, the Game System’s power completely severed by his attack. Heh, if you really thought that, you’d actually be right.

After waiting for three minutes, Wang Linchi sensed that the Game System seemed hesitant to make further moves, wary of repercussions. Thus, his immediate priority was to escape. This single move had consumed one Golden Core Illusion, tantamount to using an ultimate ability. He could only use it three times in short succession. That’s right, he had one actual Golden Core and two Golden Core Illusions. As for his own spiritual power, Wang Linchi wouldn’t touch it unless it was a life-or-death situation. He was well aware that his spiritual power was the bedrock of his strength. Who would fight by throwing their own heart at the enemy? Sure, it could recover if damaged, but there was always the risk of an unforeseen accident. This was unlike the Golden Cores; they could be repaired if broken and regenerated if lost. They weren’t his fundamental essence. Even if completely destroyed, Wang Linchi could create new ones.

After fleeing frantically, Wang Linchi quickly disguised himself. Just as he was pondering his next step, he spotted a duplication entrance by the roadside.

My luck! If it can’t deal with the Game System, surely it can handle a trifling little duplication like this! Wang Linchi felt his luck was finally turning. It’s a perfect opportunity to enter the game duplication to hide for a while. Besides, I can test whether the Game System’s power can now interfere within duplications. After all, I previously guessed that the Game System could only create duplications to control Erroneous Sin, but couldn’t effectively extend Its own power into them. If that’s still true, then a duplication is the perfect place to cause some major trouble! That would definitely draw Its attention, buy me at least a month, and also provide me with enough resources to get stronger.

It’s caught up again! Wang Linchi once more detected the Game System’s movements.

The Game System indeed couldn’t pinpoint Wang Linchi’s exact location. However, that didn’t stop It from initiating a large-scale scan when It wanted to find him.