Chapter 863: Two Choices

863. Two Choices

The final step did not shatter and disappear. The deity was urging Lin Ye to give an answer, yet had not crushed the last step.

"Aren't we going out?"

Von edged a little closer to the large door.

"That's not the exit."

Lin Ye answered without hesitation.

"Then why did we come up? Are you deceiving us too?"

Rex stared fixedly at the golden door that seemed within arm's reach.

"I don't like lying to people. Even when facing enemies, I dislike telling falsehoods. It makes me uncomfortable."

Lin Ye replied with utmost seriousness.

"Then why won't you let me go back? If I just open that door, I can return and save my family!"

Rex's expression twisted, his eyes filled with barely contained rage.

"But your family isn't in there."

Lin Ye suddenly reached out and slammed Von, who had been inching toward the door, down onto the steps.

"I thought you might take the chance to open the door."

Lin Ye stood on Von, turning his gaze to Rex.

"You're the only one willing to talk to me. I want to believe what you say, but I have to do something."

Rex approached the door, only to be slammed onto the steps by Lin Ye as well.

"Back then, should I have just tossed something random into the sea?"

Von lay on the ground, suddenly recalling the opportunity Lin Ye had given him earlier.

"Exactly. I only asked you to fish up whatever you could. Even if you'd caught an overcoat, I wouldn't have minded. That's the true essence of fishing. As long as you master that skill, you'll never go home empty-handed."

Lin Ye answered with a smile.

"Unfortunately, I only understand that truth now."

Von stopped struggling, lying on the steps as if he had given up.

"Aren't you going in?"

Little Guardian, dressed in a dark red gown, suddenly appeared before Lin Ye and spoke.

"They were already influenced by you?"

Lin Ye stepped on Von and Rex, speaking casually.

"I can't open the door for you, but I can control them to open it for you. You shouldn't have brought them up here."

Little Guardian wore a delighted expression.

"I promised to take him back. I just didn't expect you to bypass the mental barrier so silently."

Lin Ye sighed. In truth, he had been monitoring both of them all along.

"Your mental barrier is quite impressive. I didn't bypass their mental barriers."

Little Guardian walked up to Lin Ye and pressed her head against the location of his spiritual energy core.

"...They were yours from the start?"

This was something Lin Ye truly hadn't anticipated. He hadn't expected an Abyssal Evil God to use such a troublesome method against him.

"Not exactly mine. They're all part of the Abyss. You came too late. They were adventurers from the last expedition into the Sea of Death. These are merely two lingering phantoms."

Little Guardian reached up and stroked Lin Ye's hair, as if comforting him, telling him not to be sad.

"That old man was just an ordinary high-level spiritual energy user. Because of hesitation, he died on the outermost island. That young man had barely entered the Sea of Death before he Alienated into a twisted mass of flesh. He couldn't save anyone. He couldn't do anything."

Little Guardian lifted her head, meeting Lin Ye's gaze with those bright red eyes.

"So I couldn't save him either. I could only watch his remains vanish completely."

Lin Ye looked down at Little Guardian, his expression perfectly calm.

"That's right. There are always things you cannot do. I hope you'll willingly open that door."

Little Guardian stepped back, putting a little distance between them.

"I'll hold Her off for you. You know what to do."

Little Red suddenly appeared behind Little Guardian, placing her hand on Little Guardian's shoulder.

"I'll jump down right now! You hold on!"

Lin Ye shouted loudly.

But his body didn't move an inch. Both feet remained planted on Von and Rex.

"Why aren't you jumping? Did I not act well enough?"

Little Red leaned half her body against Little Guardian, tilting her head in question.

"As a deity, you've performed remarkably. I couldn't spot any flaw either. But I've never trusted anyone. If I were you, I certainly wouldn't leave such an obvious exit here, nor would I let Little Red tell me the way out in advance."

Lin Ye answered with a smile.

"This is indeed a problem. So what will you choose now? Will you open the door?"

Little Guardian walked over to Lin Ye and wrapped her arms around one of his.

"Or will you jump from up here?"

Little Red came to his other side and embraced his other arm.

"I won't hesitate this time. I'll catch something that belongs to me!"

Von struggled fiercely beneath Lin Ye's foot, his face stretched into a manic grin.

"Didn't you say you'd take me back? You're not going to deceive me like those others, are you?"

Rex didn't struggle. He simply looked up at Lin Ye.

"Deity, have you ever considered one question? Since I knew Little Red was fake, why did I still come up?"

Lin Ye released Von and Rex, letting them charge toward the door.

But the moment they were about to touch it, countless cracks spread across the door's surface. In less than a second, the door shattered completely and vanished.

What also disappeared was the Golden Staircase beneath Lin Ye's feet.

Just as they were about to plummet downward, Little Red released Lin Ye's arm, and everyone was frozen in place.

"You actually destroyed the stability of this region?"

Little Red stared at Lin Ye in shock.

"I was just bait. As long as you focused most of your attention on me, you wouldn't pay attention to that damaged Parasitism Network."

Lin Ye naturally wouldn't choose the options others presented. Whether opening the door or jumping from the highest point, both would lead to falling into the Abyss. He had a better choice.

That was to destroy this Sea of Death entirely. If he could destroy this sea, he could escape from here.

To destroy the Parasitism Network and capture Little Guardian, the Abyssal Evil God had injected a massive amount of dangerous Abyss information into the network.

But this also gave Lin Ye an opportunity. As long as he concentrated all the Abyss information here into a single point and destroyed some key components, he could destabilize this region, causing it to collapse completely.

After all, this place hadn't fully merged with the Abyss yet. Lin Ye still had a chance to destroy it.

"Impossible. You and her are both here. This kind of precision work requires someone in control. Relying on a damaged Parasitism Network alone, there's no way it could destroy the stability here."

Although it sounded simple, actually executing it involved many troublesome steps. Little Red didn't believe those brainless parasitic organisms could accomplish such a thing.

"If you had come a day earlier, I truly would have had no way. But unfortunately, you came one day late.

Before my advancement, I had been thinking about the new version of the Parasitism Network. After advancing, my mental energy took root in the mental world, and the new Parasitism Network was completed."

Lin Ye answered with a smile.