Chapter 836 - 821: The Truth of the Ark

Chapter 836: Chapter 821: The Truth of the Ark

"Old World..."

Lin Jun walked to the nearest coffin and casually touched it, feeling the hard texture through the mycelium fingertips.

Although the Death God said these were just projections, it was clearly different from the cutscenes of decomposing mist monsters, which could only be seen and not interacted with.

Lin Jun had long wanted to see what was inside these coffins!

Putting both hands on the coffin lid, he applied force, but it didn’t budge at all; this coffin was more complex than it seemed.

However, after Lin Jun observed with a data-driven perspective, he quickly grasped the method to open it.

As Lin Jun activated a few rivet-like buttons, the lid was propped up by a bracket, revealing what was inside.

Lin Jun thought it would be a body soaking in nutrient solution, or more extremely, a brain with countless tubes attached, but that wasn’t the case.

"Crystal?" Inside the coffin was a block integrating machinery and crystal, with something flowing slowly inside, like liquid light, "What is this?"

Nevilra silently moved over: "The soul of an intelligent life, the only two valuable existences in this dead universe."

"So, the world was destroyed, and everyone hid in a game to barely survive?" Lin Jun lifted the mushroom cap, looking towards the pure black sky, "Why did the world perish? Is there still hope? You said there are two, what’s the other valuable thing?"

Lin Jun’s mood now was anything but good.

Even though he knew his memories might be fake and he might not even be a real person, none of that had shaken Lin Jun before.

Because those were just the past, and Lin Jun was living in the present, merely curious about his own past.

But if the entire world had no future, that was another matter entirely.

Nevilra did not rush to answer, just extended a tentacle and gently pulled at the pure black sky.

At first, nothing changed, and just as Lin Jun was about to ask again, a bit of light suddenly seeped from the depths of the sky.

It was a star!

Extremely dark, extremely distant, like a speck of ember, enveloped by surrounding darkness, so faint and dim, as if a slight oversight would swallow it in darkness.

Yet it was the only light in this dark starry sky.

This "only" lasted for a very short time.

A second star lit up in another direction, followed by more stars, emerging one after another from different positions, some dim, some dazzling, some as white as snow, some glowing cold blue or dark red.

They appeared at an increasing pace, the pitch-black curtain seemed to be ignited in patches.

Soon, the entire sky was filled with stars.

Besides the stars, there were also dots of light with long tails, racing from one star to the next, traversing the sea of stars.

The tails left behind long, thin threads, lingering, connecting those originally unrelated stars into a flowing mesh.

The Death God then slowly spoke, his voice resonating beneath the starry sky:

"Once, countless civilizations were born in this universe. In the name of their race, they fought, killed, allied, and betrayed. Stars twinkled above their heads, and war flames burned under their feet. Over long years, they repeatedly experienced the same thing—rising from the ruins and falling from glory again."

"Until one day, a civilization finally observed the existence of the soul, realizing that in essence, all intelligent races in this universe are no different."

"Thus, they tried to eliminate racial differences, to end the cycle of war." the Death God said, taking the soul block from the coffin and gently rotating it, "After enduring long years, numerous difficulties, they succeeded. They built a paradise that accommodated everyone, without tears or sorrow."

The Death God’s tone was calmly recounting the history of the Old World that no one knew anymore.

"That was our most glorious moment, and everyone thought this was the end... until disaster struck."

Suddenly, a star in the sky extinguished.

"At first, no one thought much of it."

"To build the paradise, we overcame too many obstacles, conquered too many impossibilities. Everyone thought this was just another minor hurdle."

"But, people were wrong."

In the sky above, stars began to extinguish one by one, the resplendent Milky Way sinking into darkness segment after segment.

Not only the stars, but even those dots of light with tails also grew fewer and finally disappeared completely.

Soon, only a few scattered starlights remained in the vast darkness, suspended, unwilling to go out.

"The world requires emotions produced by devouring souls to maintain itself. Imprisoning souls for eternal life in crystals means cutting off the source, and that is the truth of the destruction, but we discovered it too late."

"To face the apocalypse, countless people willingly or unwillingly released their souls, sacrificing their otherwise everlasting selves."

The crystal in the Death God’s hand detached from the machinery, the soul’s projection floated out, like a wisp of smoke blown away by the wind, quickly vanishing without a trace.

However, those extinguished stars in the sky did not light up again.

"Souls without worries only have leisure and happiness, they are inferior fuels, and even that happiness became numb and useless over the long years." Nevilra’s tendril hair quivered, showing a bit of sorrow in her eyes, "All that we once took pride in ultimately became the noose that killed us."

"Our world finally crossed that last boundary, beginning an unstoppable final collapse."

"At this point, creating suffering to enrich emotions was meaningless."

"People used the remaining resources to build the last paradise!" Nevilra turned, looking at the enormous Ark behind her, "Initially, it wasn’t called an Ark, people simply referred to it as ’Paradise,’ or perhaps... ’Tomb.’"

"It was just a tomb for a group of defeated people seeking peace before perishing."

"Yet fate is unpredictable, and the collapsing world brought us something else!" she said, as a white mist appeared in her palm, rolling, "Ether!"

"It is the origin of the world, the original form of all tangible and intangible things! Full of infinite possibilities!"

"Before this, we hadn’t discovered it because it naturally wouldn’t appear in a stable and complete world! As collapse began, everything in the world gradually returned to its most primitive state."

"Ether brought us, already in despair, the last hope!" The Death God’s numerous eyes lit up simultaneously, green lights flickering in the darkness.

"We guided the ether into the Ark, cleared the memories of everyone except the management team, and inside the Ark, we mimicked the Old World and built a new stage. As planned, the Ark would continuously digest the ether, eventually becoming a new world!"

"Then you failed again?" Lin Jun suddenly interjected.

The apocalyptic scene outside had nothing in common with "success."

"It’s just temporary, we haven’t succeeded yet. You should also understand, no matter how we try, we still can’t cultivate new souls."

"Temporarily... I don’t think there’s much time left..."

"Yes, time!" Nevilra quickly stepped forward, placing a tentacle on Lin Jun’s shoulder, looking at him expectantly, "Ikezion has already found the root of the problem, he left the Ark to solve that issue, just needs a bit more time, Ikezion will definitely succeed!"

"So, little mushroom." the Death God’s tone suddenly softened, with a hint of pleading, "Stop the Demon King and Link, don’t let them ruin everything, only you can save this world!"

Yet Lin Jun furrowed the mushroom cap, "Slimes born evil I can understand, but why is Link on the other side too?"