"The settlement is complete. Damn, that was terrifying." The Hand of God opened the panel with lingering fear. The log-out option reappeared, and his heart finally settled. The rewards, however, were extremely rich.

Wang Linchi glanced at it and found it quite satisfactory. One hundred million points had been credited to his account. Additionally, 100 skill shards and 100 equipment shards, both self-selectable, had also arrived. This meant Wang Linchi could directly exchange them for a complete set of end-game equipment. Unless new equipment was released in the future, he essentially wouldn't need to replace them.

As for Wanxuan City's share, Wang Linchi wasn't too concerned. The city was currently being rebuilt, and it would be at least a year before it could be operational again.

The main priority was repairing the Abyssal erosion; other tasks like constructing buildings or managing the native inhabitants weren't very difficult.

By now, including Wang Linchi, a total of 112 Players had survived. Most of them belonged to the first legion under Ye Tian. The second and fourth legions, as well as Wang Linchi's previous third legion, had all been wiped out.

It could only be said that the Players assigned to the protagonist were undoubtedly far stronger than those in their three legions. Furthermore, they might have received some protection from the Protagonist's Aura, which is why they survived and even underwent a metamorphosis.

"This is just the beginning. I just checked the forums; other servers aren't looking optimistic either. If the Demonic Heirs hadn't drawn such a large number of Abyssal Demons to this location, many cities would have undoubtedly fallen by now. Even so, apart from us, no other city dared to directly confront the Abyssal Demons."

"Just imagine, if these Abyssal Demons appeared in the real world, then we..."

Ye Tian stepped forward and began to speak passionately. Wang Linchi paid him no mind, dismissing it as just a speech. Wang Linchi knew what would follow: Ye Tian undoubtedly wanted to recruit people into his Celestial Palace to form an organization to resist the Abyss.

Indeed, as soon as Ye Tian spoke, he immediately received responses from everyone.

Wang Linchi watched this scene with a calm expression.

"What do you think? Interested in joining?" Ye Tian asked after successfully recruiting the others, who then began to log off and rest.

"Not really. I'm more interested in Order and the Abyss," Wang Linchi declined once again. If he hadn't sensed something amiss earlier, Wang Linchi would have gone with the flow and joined. But not now. Who knew if Ye Tian might suddenly turn dark or if some other problem would arise?

Ye Tian sat down, took a deep breath, appearing somewhat fatigued, and then began to speak.

"This is actually quite easy to understand. The Abyss represents the side of Chaos, while we and the Game System represent the side of Order. We have always existed in a state of mutual generation and restraint."

"The difference is, the Game System itself has no source of Order. It *is* the rules of Order, and we are the producers of Order. Therefore, it needs Players."

"Players are not just the Game System's power supply; we are also its blades and Shield. We and the Game System share a common destiny."

"With the Game System's help, we use Order as power to continuously battle Chaos. The Game System, in turn, uses what's left behind by the Chaos we slay to strengthen us—things like Experience Value, Abyss Crystals, or equipment and Skills. It's all like that."

"Essentially, we and the Game System are symbiotic. If one side dies, the other will die too."

"Don't ask me where the Game System came from; I don't know either." Ye Tian looked up at the constantly interweaving code in the sky—the manifestation of Order.

Hearing this, Wang Linchi understood everything.

"So that's how it is. Then what's the deal with the Abyss Difficulty instances? Are they real worlds too?" Wang Linchi asked.

"No, those are World Echoes. The last world destroyed by the Abyss fell into our world, eventually forming an Abyssal invasion. Subsequently, these echoes were captured and forcibly contained by the Game System. Creating instances from them wasn't for any benefit, but out of necessity; the Game System has been constantly working to eliminate these echoes."

"If they cannot be eliminated within a certain timeframe, well, you've seen what happens. These echoes will invade because they were originally real."

Ye Tian didn't seem to be hiding anything.

"The essence of a Player character is to be an incarnation of Order, which is why they can slay Abyssal Demons," Wang Linchi summarized.

"Exactly. That's what it means." Ye Tian strongly approved of Wang Linchi's summary.

"This is truly unexpected. From the very beginning, the most valuable things in 'God-given World' have been the Players themselves, yet they are also the cheapest."

"As long as Order exists, Players can resurrect; they will never truly die, unless Chaos descends." Wang Linchi found this quite disheartening. The Abyss hadn't even truly made its move, yet they had to use their trump cards to defend. If a real fight broke out, wouldn't they stand no chance at all?

"Yes, unless Chaos descends. Sigh..." Ye Tian sighed. In the current situation, they simply couldn't hold out.

The defensive line constructed by 'God-given World' offered no resistance against the Abyss; it crumbled at first contact.

He hadn't felt it in his past life, but this time, he truly faced the pressure directly. Just a nascent Demon God had nearly wiped them out.

The Fate Devil God holds the titles 'Head of the Abyssal Demon Gods' and 'First of the Demon Descendants,' but these merely represent his status, not his actual strength.

There are a full 3,000 such great Demon Gods with titles, and another 108,000 Demon Gods without titles. The fact that humanity managed to survive for ten years without being annihilated was only because their world was vast enough and they were decisive in ceding territory, not because they actually withstood the onslaught.

Even if one Fate Devil God died, more Demon Gods would descend later.

In his previous life, such a terrifying power had ravaged the world, yet they had never glimpsed the true face of the Abyss. Its sheer scale was evident from this alone.

"The Fate Devil God said I carry Fate. Do you know what that's about?" This time, it was Ye Tian's turn to ask.

"Oh, it just means you're the protagonist. He's saying you're the protagonist, understand?" Wang Linchi retorted.

Ye Tian fell silent. He did indeed feel like a protagonist; his rebirth alone was enough to confirm it. It was just that he hadn't really thought about it in that way before.

"Is there really such a thing as a protagonist?" Ye Tian couldn't help but ask. "You siphoned off a bit of my luck. Did you feel anything?"

"Yes. It's because I siphoned off some of your luck and added it to my own. My 0.9 plus your 0.2 formed 1.1 luck, which suppressed the Fate Devil God's 1 luck. Otherwise, how do you think we both won? You don't really think it was because of our strength, do you? Do you really think the Game System would have arrived so opportunely?" Wang Linchi's words were ninety percent true and ten percent false.

The lie, naturally, was in the luck values. In reality, it was his 1 plus Ye Tian's 0.8 against the Fate Devil God's 0.8, and they still hadn't managed to kill their opponent.

"That's not right. Didn't the Fate Devil God say you stole *his* luck?" Ye Tian was a bit confused. Only 0.2? Something doesn't add up.

Wang Linchi calmly stated, "That's right. Your 0.1 and his 0.1, don't they add up to 0.2?"

"Then why is the Fate Devil God still at 1?"

"Then he couldn't possibly be 1.1. If that were the case, wouldn't it mean you siphoned an extra 0.1 from me?"

Ye Tian felt that either Wang Linchi had a problem or his own math skills were problematic.

Seeing this, Wang Linchi unhesitatingly admitted to the latter.

"Oh, I've never passed math," Wang Linchi said very calmly.

"..." Ye Tian didn't know how to continue.

"I should remind you, there's a high probability the Fate Devil God isn't dead," Wang Linchi decisively changed the subject.

"Not dead? That shouldn't be possible. We received Experience and Abyss Crystals, plus there was the Game System notification. The probability of that is low, isn't it?" Ye Tian still trusted the Game System more.

"There's a ninety percent chance he used the 'golden cicada sheds its shell' stratagem—sacrificing a large part of himself to ensure his survival. If the Game System were truly that powerful, it wouldn't need us. It, too, can be deceived." Wang Linchi trusted himself more.

"Then where could he be? Wanxuan City has been reclaimed by the Game System. Even if he escaped, the upcoming system self-check would find him. The power of Chaos is extremely conspicuous under the dominion of Order." Ye Tian didn't dwell on whether the Demon God was dead or not, proceeding with Wang Linchi's assumption that he wasn't.

"The Fate Devil God should possess two kinds of power. One is the chaotic power of the Abyss. What do you think the other one is?" Wang Linchi didn't say it directly.

"Fate!" At that instant, Ye Tian's expression became incredibly grave.

"Then it's quite obvious where the Fate Devil God is." Wang Linchi was practically spelling out that the Fate Devil God was on *him*.

"I understand. The Fate Devil God is on *you*. For some reason, you can't say it directly, so you need to guide me to realize it, right?" Ye Tian said seriously.

Veins nearly popped on Wang Linchi's forehead.

"It's on YOU! You're the Son of Destiny, I'm NOT!!!"

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