Chapter 399: Advent: Ghosts vs. Interstellar Civilization

"The Grox Empire, it seems, also failed to impress the Will of the Ghost World."

As soon as Qi Suian finished speaking, he brought out the captive Su Huayun and killed him on the spot.

With the addition of the protagonist halo from a survivor "protagonist" like him, the halo, which had been at Reinforcement +11, instantly jumped to +12.

[Reinforcement +12: Rule Affinity]

Compared to the regeneration and self-healing from the female protagonist, the Green Tide Lord, the enhancement from the male protagonist, Su Huayun, was far more useful.

Qi Suian could clearly feel that he had now come into contact with the four special traits possessed by the Tai Sui God.

At the same time, his two SSS-rank talents, Human World Tai Sui God and Death’s Reforging, were significantly strengthened.

However, the boost wasn’t massive. After all, it was only affinity, not direct reinforcement.

"It’s a shame this world has reached its end. I can’t even take advantage of the home-field advantage."

Qi Suian saw that the Doomsday Game had issued a change to the limited-time event.

[Limited-Time Event: Core Parasite has been altered due to external factors.]

[Survival Time has been modified.]

[The new survival time is: 30 minutes.]

After the event changed, the panel glitched, and the planned thirty minutes dissolved into a jumble of garbled code.

Apparently, the Will of the Ghost World didn’t want the Doomsday Game to leave and had taken certain measures.

"Hold on, aren’t you fighting this universe’s will? How do you have the time to control the Doomsday Game?" Qi Suian complained.

But the Will of the Ghost World replied, "The difficulty is low. I plan to capture It alive and use It as a power source."

Qi Suian fell silent. ’So it really isn’t difficult for it,’ he thought. ’It even has time to chat with me.’

"If you’re bored, go get some loot from that Grox Empire," the Will of the Ghost World added.

At this, Qi Suian looked up at the endless interstellar fleet, the space fortresses, and more. ’Is that really a place I can go to "get some loot"?’

Qi Suian swallowed hard, but then he noticed something.

Countless ghosts were being thrown into the cosmic battlefield by the World Will. As the two worlds merged, they gradually formed entirely new, terrifying lifeforms.

"Ghosts with self-awareness!" Qi Suian instantly saw the difference.

These weren’t the mindless ghosts from the reality layer that only knew how to follow their killing rules.

These were ghosts whose minds had been freed from the truth layer by the World Will. And because of the rules of the world where the Exhausted Planet was located, they had gained new powers.

Ghosts themselves were a type of rule. Now, possessing the rules of two worlds, along with self-awareness and power, they were actually able to hold back the Grox Empire’s offensive.

"Still not a place I can go," Qi Suian said, seeing the Grox Empire’s technological weapons.

They weren’t pushovers either. Through advanced technology, they controlled, mastered, and utilized rules, turning them into tools in their hands.

Even though the ghost invaders had an advantage, it only resulted in a stalemate.

Furthermore, all the human survivors on the Exhausted Planet had been moved away by the Will of the Ghost World.

Every last one was stuffed back into the Ghost World for safekeeping.

How Qi Suian knew was simple: he checked the survivor count in the Doomsday Game.

It had dropped straight to zero. Not only had everyone been taken away, but their survivor statuses had also been stripped from them in an instant.

This only deepened Qi Suian’s understanding of how lousy the Doomsday Game was.

"You guys really suck. It would be one thing if you were killed, but all your ’employees’ got poached, leaving only a cancerous existence like me behind. You’re truly pathetic."

This action actually reassured Qi Suian quite a bit. From this gesture, it was clear the World Will had no intention of backing out of their deal.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t still be here; he would have been moved along with all the other humans from the Exhausted Planet.

"It’s actually not that bad. It seems the Doomsday Game was beaten stupid by someone before."

"It’s not as pathetic as you say. Its instinct to flee is still intact. I just happened to tie it up," the Will of the Ghost World’s message came once more.

Qi Suian was speechless.

’The Doomsday Game is truly plagued by disasters.’

He suspected that his Profound World might not have been the Doomsday Game’s first stop.

Instead, it was the first stop of a reboot after it had been beaten stupid.

That would explain all the baffling operations and why it couldn’t even eliminate a rule-breaker like him.

The existence of transmigrators was likely proof of that.

Just as Qi Suian was about to say something, he suddenly sensed a spatial fluctuation.

Something had locked onto him.

"Holy shit, one got through!" Qi Suian yelled hastily.

"I didn’t let one through. I just don’t have the time to deal with the Grox Empire," the World Will continued. "The ghosts are the ones doing the killing."

"It’s not just your area that has a breach; there are others. Deal with it yourself. I’m busy."

"This universe’s will is starting to fight back."

After that, the World Will went silent.

The spatial fluctuation tore open, and a crimson-skinned, semi-cybernetic lifeform stepped out. It was covered in high-tech weaponry, its entire being screaming that it was a living weapon. A person from the Grox Empire had appeared before Qi Suian.

"Damn, his base stats are higher than mine."

"How is this normal?" Qi Suian turned and ran.

He didn’t know if this Grox Empire soldier was an elite or a regular grunt, but it was best not to fight it.

The power ceiling of this world was truly high. He estimated his own stats at 15 points, while this Grox Empire soldier had at least 18, possibly even 20.

In the worlds Qi Suian had been to before, such power, even if not enough to destroy a whole world, could shatter stars, extinguish life, and cause all sorts of damage to the planet.

But here, this was just one soldier of the Grox Empire.

The real main force was being held back by the rule-empowered ghosts of the Ghost World.

’Thinking about it now, the ghosts that both I and the other survivors encountered were probably not in their complete forms.’

Only a force of equal... no, a force of greater and higher magnitude could suppress the Grox Empire’s main army.

’As for breaches, how could anyone account for everything on a cosmic battlefield this massive?’

[High energy reading! High energy reading!!!]

The AI’s warning was frantic.

Qi Suian’s expression remained unchanged. He decisively formed a shield with polymorphic energy as a Ghost Energy Storm erupted in sync.

An unknown energy beam filled Qi Suian’s vision.

It was no longer a question of whether it would hit or not; it simply engulfed him.

The attack released by the Grox Empire soldier had a diameter of ten meters and was so fast that Qi Suian could barely react.

His polymorphic energy, combined with the Ghost Energy Storm, forcibly melted a path to survival within the beam.

"Damn, the protagonist halo is actually useful. At least the home-field advantage let me survive." Qi Suian felt he had been too quick to judge before.

He never expected to face such a disaster at the very end.

Seeing that it hadn’t killed Qi Suian, the Grox Empire soldier attacked again.

This time, it wasn’t an energy attack, but a purely physical one.

Coordinating with his AI, Qi Suian counterattacked immediately.

He blocked it, but not completely. His entire body was smashed to pieces.

However, he recovered in an instant and launched a counterattack.

A nice idea, but his attack couldn’t even break the enemy’s Energy Shield.

’I’m screwed. Can’t even break its defense...’ Then Qi Suian got hammered again.

The true damage was completely absorbed by the shield. The armor-piercing effect worked, though, reducing the enemy’s Energy Shield maximum.

But the enemy’s Energy Shield max was longer than Qi Suian’s entire health bar. The tiny reduction was completely useless.

After recovering, he scrambled away, running for his life.

"Damn it, help! I can’t beat their grunt!" Qi Suian shouted to the Will of the Ghost World as he fled.

"You’re selling yourself a bit short. That’s no grunt; it’s an elite Warrior of the Grox Empire," the World Will corrected him.

Qi Suian was speechless. "Is that really the point?" he said hurriedly. "The point is I can’t beat it!"

Qi Suian didn’t care if it was an elite Warrior or a grunt. If he couldn’t win, he couldn’t win.

"It’s fine. You can resurrect. With their level of technology, they can’t counter your resurrection ability."

"I just need a little more time to resolve this. Hold on by yourself."

The World Will had given Qi Suian a foolproof solution.

’Since you can’t die, you can just stall for time.’

"Hold on, how long is ’a little time’?" Qi Suian couldn’t take it anymore.

In the time it took to exchange those three lines of dialogue, he was hammered by the Grox Empire’s elite Warrior a full fifteen times—an average of five times per line.

For every two of those hits, he would die once and then have to resurrect.

"Ten..." the World Will added.

"Ten days? Ten hours? Or ten minutes? This is important!" Faced with a threat to his life, Qi Suian couldn’t afford to be polite.

"Nine... eight..."

Hearing the countdown, Qi Suian’s eyes widened. ’Reliable! As expected of a World Will.’

It could handle it in just ten seconds.

Qi Suian spun around viciously, firing a Dark Energy Beam that mimicked the Six Meridian Divine Sword, striking the Grox Empire elite Warrior’s Energy Shield.

The shield flickered as if being annihilated, but it didn’t disappear. Instead, its immense energy reserves directly consumed the energy of the Dark Energy Beam, nullifying its disintegrating effect.

Qi Suian’s counterattack was insignificant, but the Grox Empire elite Warrior’s attack was ferocious.

A red energy ray shot out from its mechanical eye, hitting Qi Suian in an instant.

Qi Suian immediately exploded into a bloody mist.

Fortunately, his resurrection and recovery were fast enough. He reformed into his human shape in an instant, and thanks to the innate effect of the Human World Tai Sui God SSS-rank talent inherited from the Tai Sui God, he suffered no lasting damage.

He had just resurrected when, before the Grox Empire elite Warrior could act again, the entire universe began to shake.

It was as if another world had collided with the edge of this universe.

At the same time, the fundamental parameters of the universe underwent an irreversible change, affecting most of the Grox Empire’s technology.

Including the various pieces of equipment on the Grox Empire elite Warrior standing before Qi Suian.

This was good news for Qi Suian.