CHAPTER 424: CHAPTER 338: CHAOS

Sky Mountain Garden, No. 10.

’Mr. Death’ wore a lost and despairing expression, saying: "The world is about to descend into chaos."

Indeed,

The world is about to plunge into great disorder.

The Old Earth’s descent is underway, converging with the Real World. The ’gods’ occupying symbols will soon step into reality—terrifying, abhorrent, and indescribable. A myriad of unspeakable phenomena will manifest before people’s eyes. One can only imagine the cataclysmic changes this blue planet is about to undergo.

Yang Qizhou felt equally heavy-hearted. Although his game character successfully contained the ’King of Nature,’ shepherding a ’Pillar Level’ deity, due to the vast disparity in ranks, he could only harness a fraction of its traits, far from unleashing its full power,

This strength would indeed be deemed invincible on the Real World’s level,

But in the Old Earth, where mystery and terror coexist, and grotesqueness and absurdity run rampant, it was still far too insignificant.

"The internet must be in an uproar now." Yang Qizhou muttered under his breath, cutting to the game interface and randomly browsing various forums, only to find that there was barely any information about the ’illusory world occupying the skies.’

At first, Yang Qizhou found it strange but soon figured it out.

The anomaly had happened too suddenly, too briefly. Everyone worldwide was still reeling from this shocking transformation; only a scant few had leisure to post about it on forums.

However, it was foreseeable that in less than half an hour, information about the ’Old Earth’ would proliferate exponentially, becoming the hottest topic of national discussion in the shortest time. Meanwhile, the ’Deceit World,’ whose news had long been suppressed by the ’Deceit Bureau,’ hidden in the shadows, would most likely surface in the public eye as well.

Coming to terms with reality, Yang Qizhou squinted his eyes and murmured to himself, "The mystic cultivator, Zhou Xu, Little Bean... I wonder how they’re reacting right now. They must be quite shaken."

Just then,

"’Mystic Cultivator,’ hurry, check the game..." ’Mr. Death’s’ voice, tinged with panic, called out.

What’s wrong with the game?

Feeling puzzled, Yang Qizhou quickly switched back to the interface, focusing his gaze on it.

Originally, he planned to finish his game character’s ascension, wrap up the endgame events of the ’Asgard’ storyline, and then dive deeply into the ramifications of the ’Old Earth’ converging with the ’Real World.’ Thus, he felt no frustration of disrupted plans.

But when the screen returned to the ’Deceit World’ interface,

Yang Qizhou’s gaze froze.

The text, which should have remained static without player input, was slowly refreshing—one word, two words—very slowly but inexorably.

"As the anomalies of the world’s convergence unfold, the text’s progress is gradually synchronizing with the actual trajectory of the ’game character,’" Yang Qizhou’s heart grew heavy, for this signified a closer bond between game characters and their players.

’Mr. Death’ uneasily added, "’Lamp Holder,’ does this mean that any bad fate the game character encounters in the future will also be mirrored onto the players?"

"Haven’t you already experienced something like this?" Yang Qizhou referred to when ’Deception Lord’s’ avatar contaminated him, twisting his flesh.

’Mr. Death’ shook his head. "That’s different. ’Deception Lord’ is on par with the ’King of Nature,’ a top-tier deity at the pinnacle of the Old Earth hierarchy. When such high-level events are involved, it’s acceptable for players to be affected. However... if in routine story arcs, the game characters are cursed, have their souls imprisoned, or their flesh polluted, and these are projected onto players, that would evolve into a deeply horrifying scenario."

At first, Yang Qizhou didn’t give it much thought,

But as those words sank in, he connected the dots, and his expression turned significantly grim.

Indeed, the ’Deceit World’ player base was not limited to one or two individuals but spanned tens, hundreds of millions—an immeasurable multitude. If every terrifying misfortune encountered by the game characters were mirrored in the Real World, one could foresee the horrifying impact on reality.

"If I could ascend the godly throne of the ’Lord of Blasphemy,’ wielding the great power of ’Fate’ to rule the universe, I could change all this. But for now... I can only resign myself to fate."

Yang Qizhou muttered inwardly, shaking his head to dispel his musings, and instead turned to ’Mr. Death,’ saying, "Keep an eye on ’Deception Lord’s’ movements. Let me know immediately if there’s any news."

Following that,

Yang Qizhou first utilized the ’Spiritual Dragon’s’ power to block ’Mr. Death’s’ perception. Then, he manifested ’Little White’ from the Real World. Time was short; he had no leisure to coddle this cuddly little creature. He immediately relayed the consensus reached between ’Deception Lord’ and the ’Master of Millions,’ instructing it to inform the game character.

"Daddy, you’re asking me to deliver a message to you? This is so strange..." Little White tilted its head, its fur-covered eyes filled with puzzlement.

Yang Qizhou casually replied, "It’s a game Daddy and Little White are playing."

With that, ’Little White’ cheerfully returned to the game world.

Thanks to the ’Spiritual Dragon’s’ mind-block, ’Mr. Death’ remained entirely unaware of Little White’s appearance and departure. To him, his understanding stayed fixed on Yang Qizhou’s instruction to monitor ’Deception Lord’s’ movements. Since this enigmatic ’Lamp Holder’ didn’t share methods to counter the impacts of the ’Old Earth’s’ descent on the Real World, ’Mr. Death’ dared not pursue the matter further. He simply nodded and replied: