Chapter 854: Opening the Treasure Vault

"Found it?"

"Yes, my Lord. The human who arrived in this world has activated the final strand of power that the Golden Tribe had hidden away. Your mission will finally be completed after countless epochs. You shall enter the Wasteland, receive the worship of countless races, and become the God above Gods."

A man with ox horns atop his head opened his eyes.

From the center of his brow to his cheeks, twelve pairs of eyeballs across his face rotated freely.

The vision of those divine eye monsters scattered throughout space was shared and merged into his own.

"So, where is the human?"

He stared coldly at the one kneeling beneath him, diligently singing those tedious praises.

What he wanted was never so-called adoration.

Across countless epochs, he had long grown sick of these praise-filled poems.

What he needed was to leave, to escape this world that had been burdened with a mission that could not be refused.

The End had already concluded long ago.

This world should not have retained any trace at all.

And yet, a trace had appeared.

A trace that even a True God of the Wasteland could not discover, could not destroy, could not bring to an End, lay hidden here.

He was a god, yet he had been forcibly detained in this place by a more powerful True God.

Only on the day he found that trace and utterly destroyed it could he leave this world and return to his Divine Kingdom.

How long had it been since that day?

He could no longer remember.

He had only crazily used the rewards granted by that "True God" to manufacture divine eye creations.

He had scoured every corner.

But...

Nothing... There was nothing at all.

As if that trace had never existed. As if he were merely an unlucky bastard left here to be forgotten.

No Outsiders, because this world had already met its End.

No living beings, because this world had already met its End...

He had fallen into a slumber of despair.

Until today...

"My Lord, a human has truly broken into this world! The divine eye creations have recorded the power it commands!"

A divine eye monster was led forward by a half-human creature.

Everything that had happened upon that sea of bone graves was presented before his eyes.

"Color... it's color!"

A frenzied expression spread across his face.

"The trace! It appeared! Then disappeared! It's because of this human! Let him search! Do not obstruct him! Absolutely, do not obstruct him! Once he has found all the traces, he will surely go there, to that treasure vault, that vault which even a True God cannot open!

Kill him, destroy the trace! Complete the mission! Then I shall return to my Divine Kingdom!"

————

Ye Qiyan piloted the divine eye monster under his control for a very long time.

Because the entire world was in black and white, and had suffered considerable destruction, the contents of the map were often not entirely accurate.

However, Lisette, through her hacking techniques, forcibly invaded the peer network of this divine eye monster's kind, manipulating it to cross several spaces similar to the sea of bone graves.

Finally, after fifteen days, they arrived at their destination.

The Golden Tribe's treasure vault.

The divine eye monster slowly descended.

Ye Qiyan and Lisette stepped out from within.

Through the telescope, he looked at the metallic structure sitting on an eerily calm plain, with still no enemies anywhere in the vicinity.

Even those bizarre satellites had all been diverted away from this place.

Calmness to such an extreme degree signaled something unnatural.

Ye Qiyan understood that something was looking forward to him reaching that treasure vault as quickly as possible.

That suited him just fine.

No matter what the other party intended to do, as long as it could accomplish his original goal, even if there were schemes and conspiracies at play, that was no reason to stop.

He stepped onto the muddy plain.

Together with Lisette, he made his way toward the treasure vault at the center of the plain.

One after another, gazes fell upon Ye Qiyan.

One after another, whispers eagerly awaited Ye Qiyan's entry through that doorway.

["Hurry, go in quickly!"]

["Find it, activate it, trigger it!"]

["The End is coming, the End will be concluded!"]

These voices tried to influence Ye Qiyan's Spirit, tried to manipulate his will.

But unfortunately, this was the one thing Ye Qiyan feared the least.

Finally, he arrived before the door.

Those voices also came to an abrupt halt at that very moment.

On the Key to the treasure vault, only the final quarter of its color remained.

It flew up on its own, aligning itself perfectly with the great door.

That last trace of color vanished.

In its place, a wisp of golden light appeared upon the doorway before him.

"RUMBLE—!"

The door opened.

And at that very same moment.

Rain began to fall from the sky.

A colossal one-eyed monstrous fish descended from the inverted ocean, bearing the countless carcasses of divine monsters.

Upon its back.

A figure with ox horns atop his head and twelve pairs of eyes across his face sat perched atop a Throne, gazing at Ye Qiyan with a maddened, excited look.

"Human! You've done well! It's opened! The final trace has now appeared! Destroy it! Kill him!"

Miatira's Light Screen immediately materialized.

[God Serial Number — None — Twelve Eyes]

A False God without a God Serial Number.

Ye Qiyan stood by the door, watching the surging tide of monsters rush toward him, and cracked a grin.

He raised his hand and flipped these bastards off with his middle finger.

"Fucking idiot."

Perfectly articulated.

Because this was the truest portrait of this fellow that Ye Qiyan held in his heart.

Twelve Eyes did not understand what Ye Qiyan's words meant, but he could sense the profound insult carried in that gesture.

"Human!"

Ye Qiyan paid Twelve Eyes no mind at all, completely ignoring the swarm of monsters charging at him as he led Lisette through the treasure vault's gates.

The very instant the two of them stepped through the entrance.

The treasure vault itself, as if it had vanished into thin air, disappeared without a trace.

————

"Ring ring ring..."

The Monday alarm clock sound was forever so detestable.

Ye Qiyan hated going to work, even though his job was only that of a simple mechanical researcher.

He opened his eyes, went through the routine motions of washing his face and brushing his teeth, and ate his breakfast.

He glanced at the time on his pocket watch. Seven fifty-five.

Looks like he was running late.

He couldn't be bothered to go.

Ye Qiyan tossed himself back onto his bed. It was a luxurious, grand bed, and lying upon it would bring about a beautiful dream.

He stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling and let out a soft sigh.

"Anchor."

The dark gold Anchor appeared in his hand.

Sensing the Anchor Point upon it, he could confirm one thing.

This place was not a dream.

"Not a dream, but it brought me directly back to my original world? So, what exactly do you want to do?"

He opened the train window.

The wind from outside blew in.

A figure, sporting dark circles under his eyes, radiating an utterly dejected aura, with the aura of a faded End clinging to every inch of his body, materialized from the wind.

"When exactly did you figure it out, strange human?"