Chapter 275: Do You Want to Understand the Meaning of Life? The Main God Descends!
Shen Anyu asked a few more questions about the origin of the abilities, the location of the master, and the nature of the "organization." Each question was met with the same trembling, terrified refusal: "Cannot be said."
The several elite treasury guards standing beside him looked at Dai Song with extreme displeasure. Their hands hovered over their tactical batons. To treat their Young Master so perfunctorily? This rat clearly didn't want to live.
However, Shen Anyu appeared very patient. He maintained a warm, almost gentle smile, asking all sorts of questions as if he were chatting with an old friend rather than interrogating a thief.
"Don't be nervous," Shen Anyu said softly. "I'm a reasonable person."
Even Dai Song, in his panic, felt a flicker of hope. The big shot in front of him seemed to be a very kind and good-tempered person—a sheltered young master perhaps? Maybe he could get through this without much trouble if he just played the pathetic victim card.
Just then, Shen Anyu suddenly changed the subject, asking with a smile:
"What about those dozens of gold bricks? I see your clothes are thin and you don't have a bag. You shouldn't have them on you. Where did you hide them?"
Dai Song froze.
He had used the [Wall-Penetration Technique] and [Invisibility Technique] to enter Shen Anyu's family treasure vault and steal dozens of heavy gold bricks. But now he had been caught empty-handed. Where were the gold bricks?
Hearing Shen Anyu's pointed question, Dai Song's expression changed drastically. His eyes darted around, and he answered in a panic:
"Big shot! Those gold bricks are hidden outside! I buried them in the garden! I will definitely get them back and return them to you immediately!"
Shen Anyu smiled and shook his head, his gaze softening even more, looking almost pitiable.
"I said, those dozens of gold bricks are nothing to me. If you can provide information that interests me, I can give you dozens more gold bricks right now. Enough wealth for you to spend for a lifetime of luxury."
He took a step forward, his shadow looming over the kneeling thief.
"But now, you are lying."
"My guards have been patrolling the perimeter. You never left this treasure vault. So, where are the items hidden?"
As he spoke, Shen Anyu's expression was still smiling—a perfect, sculpted smile. But to Dai Song, that smile was more terrifying than a demon's grimace. It made his scalp tingle and cold sweat pour down his back like a waterfall.
Dai Song swallowed hard. His eyes involuntarily glanced at the black wristband on his right wrist for a split second before darting away.
He whispered with his head down, his voice trembling:
"This... cannot be said..."
He thought that this time he could also use the magical phrase "cannot be said" to muddle through, just like before. It was his shield.
But he was wrong.
Shen Anyu's [Divine-grade Perception] keenly noticed that fleeting glance. His eyes locked onto the black wristband.
He didn't know what brand it was or what material it was made of. It had a cold, pure black color, matte and light-absorbing, as if it were a mini black hole on his wrist. It appeared somewhat dim and unassuming, designed not to attract attention.
"A Spatial Storage Treasure?" Shen Anyu mused internally.
But how could a small fry like Dai Song possess such a high-grade treasure?
Shen Anyu himself, the Young Master of the Shen Family and the host of a System, only obtained a [Storage Ring] from the [Destiny Plunder System]'s lottery after spending a fortune.
Besides that, in this entire world, even with the Shen Family's vast intelligence network, he had never heard of such treasures involving space technology existing in the secular world. Even the ancient sects didn't have this.
Shen Anyu waved his hand dismissively.
"You all leave. Guard the door. No one enters."
"Yes, Young Master!"
The treasury guards bowed and retreated, leaving the vault. The heavy alloy door didn't close, but the silence returned, heavier than before.
Only Shen Anyu and Dai Song remained.
Shen Anyu squatted down, bringing his face level with Dai Song's. With a kind and friendly smile that reached his eyes, he asked:
"Is it hidden inside this black wristband? Let me see."
Dai Song had already felt uneasy when he saw Shen Anyu dismiss the guards. Upon hearing Shen Anyu's soft request, his face turned the color of ash.
He knew he couldn't hide it anymore. The restriction was terrified of exposure, and the man in front of him was not easily fooled.
"Big shot... please..."
He knelt on the ground, kowtowing frantically, banging his head against the metal floor.
"Please don't take this black wristband! Otherwise, I will die! I really will die! The rules say—Ah!!"
Slash!
Dai Song's plea for mercy was cut short, replaced by a series of agonizing, high-pitched screams that echoed off the steel walls.
And then, the sound of liquid splattering.
Shen Anyu had merely flicked his finger. An invisible blade of [Psychic Energy], sharp enough to cut diamond, sliced through the air.
It directly severed Dai Song's right hand at the wrist. The cut was clean and precise, cauterized slightly by the speed of the force.
The black wristband, still attached to a blood-stained severed hand, arced through the air and fell to the ground with a wet thud.
"When you do wrong, there must be consequences."
Shen Anyu stood up, brushing invisible dust from his suit. He smiled as he looked down at the writhing Dai Song, speaking kindly and gently, like a teacher correcting a student.
"You..."
Dai Song was terrified and deathly pale. Intense pain swept through his body, causing his eyes to roll back. He looked at his stump, then at Shen Anyu, his mouth opening and closing.
But before he could utter another word, a sudden, unnatural spasm seized him.
Gag—
He immediately collapsed to the ground, convulsing non-stop. Foam mixed with blood bubbled from his mouth. His eyes turned completely white, and visible veins bulged on his forehead as if something was exploding inside his brain.
Within two or three seconds, he went still.
He lost all signs of life.
He never dreamed that the seemingly kind and friendly Shen Anyu would, in the middle of a casual conversation, directly sever his wrist and trigger his death sentence.
Shen Anyu watched the corpse cool with indifferent eyes.
"So the restriction is real. Loss of the device leads to obliteration."
"This thing... doesn't look like a good item, does it?"
Shen Anyu didn't care about Dai Song's death at all. Even if the device hadn't killed him, Shen Anyu wouldn't have let a thief who knew the location of his vault leave alive.
However, Shen Anyu looked at the black wristband on the floor with apprehension and solemnity.
Although it looked like a treasure, given that Dai Song died on the spot immediately after losing it, it seemed to be a cursed or bound item.
"I can't touch it directly."
After some thought, Shen Anyu's mind stirred. He accessed his System Interface.
[System: Deploying Unit...]
He directly summoned a [Congenital Guard] from his System Space that he had obtained from a lottery draw weeks ago but hadn't yet taken out.
A flash of light appeared, and a burly man materialized. He wore a simple gray uniform. His eyes were dull, lacking the spark of a soul.
Unlike the guards Shen Anyu personally trained, the guards obtained from the System Lottery had no personal will. They were biological robots, completely loyal to Shen Anyu.
Their biggest flaw was that they had no room for [Breakthrough] and lacked intelligence; they were rather dull and could only follow direct orders.
The advantage was that they were fearless. As long as they had Shen Anyu's command, they would charge forward even if facing a nuclear blast. They were the perfect disposable tools.
For convenience, Shen Anyu used the traditional ranking of "Heaven, Earth, Black, Yellow" and numbers to identify these System guards.
[Earth-level: Grandmaster]
[Black-level: Master]
[Yellow-level: Innate/Congenital]
This one was a Yellow-level guard.
"Huang Ershiqi (Yellow-27), pick up that black wristband. Then put it down."
"Yes, Master."
Immediately, the System's Congenital Guard, numbered Huang Ershiqi, unhesitatingly walked forward. He picked up the blood-stained black wristband from the severed hand, held it for a moment, and then put it down on a clean patch of floor.
Shen Anyu held his breath, staring intently at the guard, his muscles tense and ready to defend against an explosion or curse.
One second passed!
Two seconds passed!
Three seconds passed!
...
Several minutes passed. The vault remained silent. Huang Ershiqi stood there, blinking slowly, still fine.
"It seems there's no problem if it's merely touched, as long as it's not worn or activated."
Shen Anyu breathed a slight sigh of relief. He looked at Huang Ershiqi and issued the next command—a death sentence, potentially.
"Huang Ershiqi. Put on this black wristband. Then tell me, what happens? Or is there anything unusual?"
"Yes, Master."
Hearing Shen Anyu's question, Huang Ershiqi showed no fear. He picked up the wristband and unhesitatingly snapped it onto his own right wrist. The device adjusted its size automatically to fit him.
Then, he stood still for a moment, his eyes losing focus.
"Master," Huang Ershiqi spoke, his voice monotone. "In my mind, some strange mechanical sounds appeared. It is projecting text directly into my consciousness."
Shen Anyu's eyes lit up with a sharp, dangerous glint.
"Tell me. What sounds? Repeat them exactly."
Huang Ershiqi immediately repeated the strange mechanical voice in his mind, word for word:
"Do... you want to understand the meaning of life?"
"Do... you want to truly live?"
"Yes?"
"No?"
"Main God Reincarnation Game - Second Beta Test. Countdown: 88 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes, 33 seconds..."
Boom!
Shen Anyu felt like a thunderclap had exploded in his mind. His eyelids twitched wildly, and his heart pounded against his ribs.
[Main God Space]. [Infinite Terror]. [Reincarnation Paradise].
In his previous life, he was a massive fan of "Infinite Flow" novels and had read countless stories of that genre.
He knew exactly what this meant.
Most of these novels were incredibly cruel. Protagonists struggled in the [Reincarnation] of infinite horror movie worlds, fighting aliens, zombies, ghosts, and demons. Teammates died one after another like flies.
Of course, there were also those "Lone Wolf" types who didn't form teams, and each of them grew into a killing god capable of destroying planets.
Later, there were variations where the protagonist was the mastermind behind the Main God, manipulating the players.
But no matter what type of infinite flow protagonist appeared, they all shared one trait: They were extremely difficult to kill, and they grew incredibly fast.
Just look at Dai Song: an unemployed, bottom-tier gambler. A piece of trash. Yet, after participating in just one test instance of the [Main God Reincarnation Game], he gained a [Wall-Penetration Technique] and a perfect [Invisibility Technique].
His growth rate was terrifying.
And now, the countdown said "88 Days" until the next test.
"This time... I have encountered big trouble."
Shen Anyu stared at the black wristband, realizing that his comfortable life as a rich villain was about to be invaded by a force from a much higher dimension.
[Akarin Note:
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