Worlds’ Apocalypse Online - Chapter 1678

As Gu Qing Shan came closer, a cold, mechanical voice resounded from inside the metal gates:

[Detected target, identified as a human]

[Access granted]

The gates gave off a loud noise.

——it was opening by itself.

Looking through the gates, Gu Qing Shan could see that these gates could only be considered a small entryway, as there was an entire destroyed world behind the gates.

Ruins.

Ruins as far as his eyes can see.

This underground world could be estimated to be around several million square meters in total, judging by its structural layout and concentration, anyone could imagine how prosperous this world used to be.

—–unfortunately, there were already no longer any living beings here.

There was nothing but a gigantic black demonic egg covered in numerous mysterious ruins that were making things either go dark or light up as it flickered.

It was hovering by itself above the ruins.

The demonic egg was giving off immense pressure, as whenever it moved forward or backwards, space around it also trembled.

[Welcome, you are the 8952nd visitor to the Nurture Ruins, human male]

The demonic egg hovered towards Gu Qing Shan and spoke with a gentle voice in common human language.

—–this guy is very powerful.

Gu Qing Shan silently thought to himself, then spoke: “Some of my friends have been petrified, do you have a way to save them?”

[My apologies, I have no such solution] the giant demonic egg replied.

Gu Qing Shan’s heart was feeling heavy as he silently gazed upon this demonic egg.

—-lines of text written in a strange language had appeared above it.

Quite obviously, it was thinking something.

——-Gu Qing Shan had travelled through the 900 million World Layers, learning the language of countless civilizations from the scholars of the Spire, which included many common languages as well as exotic ones, he then studied even more languages during his time in the Hitman Guild of Void City.

But Gu Qing Shan still doesn’t recognize this type of scripture at all.

Staring at the line of text, he felt a bit troubled.

—–what kind of language is that exactly?

Egg language?

I’ve never even heard of eggs having a unique language of their own.

Feeling unsure, Gu Qing Shan asked: “I’ve never met an existence like your grace before, may I ask who your grace is?”

The giant demonic egg replied: [I am the spirit of this world, my responsibility is to guide all future visitors of this realm towards the entrance of the next world]

“But I don’t want to head into the next world right now, I want to save my companions” Gu Qing Shan replied.

[Then please continue to think of a solution on your own. If you want to leave this world, you can come to see me at any point] the giant demonic egg replied.

Gu Qing Shan stared closely at the egg and saw another line of text appear.

—–still don’t understand it at all.

Gu Qing Shan’s mind quickly drifted.

There are many ruins on the ground, perhaps I might be able to find a few clues there.

He silently released his inner sight to search the ruins below.

Huh?

Gu Qing Shan suddenly found something relatively new.

It was a broken piece of female armor. There weren’t any blood marks on it, but Gu Qing Shan could almost guarantee that this armor hadn’t been broken for very long.

He continued to search with his inner sight, but didn’t find anything else suspicious.

A certain thought slowly appeared in Gu Qing Shan’s mind.

“Pardon me, may I ask if all the Combatants who arrive here would head towards the next realm?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The giant demonic egg answered: [Indeed. In the past, my world system had already been crippled by the Apocalypse, so there is nothing left here except these ruins. For that reason, when explorers like yourself arrive, I can only guide them towards the next realm]

Gu Qing Shan’s expression didn’t change at all as he continued to search through the ruins.

Soon, he leapt upward and landed into one of the ruins, from which he picked up a stone slab.

This stone slab was carved full of a foreign scripture that Gu Qing Shan couldn’t understand, most likely recording some sort of unknown history.

—–the reason why he specifically picked this stone slab up was because the scripture written on it looked exactly the same as the language that the giant demonic egg’s thoughts were displayed in.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t try to pick up any items that were left by other Combatants, as that would easily alert the giant demonic egg.

On the other hand, since this stone slab was part of this world’s ruins, it wouldn’t draw any suspicions.

[What are you doing?] the giant demonic egg asked.

“Nothing much, I’m just interested in this kind of script, I feel like it has a certain sense of indescribable beauty” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The giant demonic egg paused briefly before asking: [You said that you can see the beauty of this script—- are you perhaps a treasure hunter?]

“I am”

Gu Qing Shan admitted.

Lines of glowing text appeared in front of his eyes:

[Magisapien civilization stone slab (incomplete), contains the following knowledge:]

[Magisapien script recognition]

[To comprehend this type of script, you need to expend 1 Soul Points]

So little?

Right as Gu Qing Shan was about to sigh in relief, another notification appeared:

[Attention, you no longer possess any Soul Points, please use 1 Realm Point to exchange for Soul Points]

[This exchange is a laborious task that will cost you 30,000 Soul Points]

[Would you like to conduct the exchange?]

Gu Qing Shan’s eyebrows twitched.

—–and here I was about to ask why it was so cheap, as expected, it was all a ruse.

How can I not exchange in his situation?

What kind of time is this that you’re still taking royalties?

He silently gritted his teeth and said: “Exchange!”

Lines of glowing text quickly appeared don the War supreme-ruler UI:

[Good choice, exchange complete]

[You’ve spent 1 Soul Points and comprehended the Magisapien script]

Gu Qing Shan felt a bit of warmth appearing in his Thought Sea before new knowledge appeared in his mind.

He had become fluent in Magisapien script.

“Why does your grace have to remain in these ruins? Can’t you leave with me?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The giant demonic egg answered: [Although I am a spirit, my situation is a bit unique. Since I haven’t actually hatched, I can’t leave]

Two more lines of text appeared above it:

[Can this guy really do it?]

[—-Alright, he seems a bit suspicious, so it’s better just to ambush and sent him directly to the surface]

I see, so it was like that.

Gu Qing Shan’s thoughts circled several times in his mind before he suddenly chuckled and said: “Perhaps you didn’t know, but before coming to this Dusty World, I was one of the most famous treasure hunters in the infinite worlds”

The giant demonic egg paused briefly.

A group of text written in Magisapien script appeared above it again:

[…It’s a rare chance, I might as well test him once, there’s no loss either way]

Finally, it spoke: [If that’s the case, then please help me take a look at this—–]

An irregularly-shaped grey piece of rock scale flew up and hovered in front of Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan caught the scale.

Lines of glowing text instantly appeared in front of him:

[Apocalypse Envoy Mixed-blood Scale]

[This is a mutated scale that was grown from the body of a Magisapien after an Apocalypse Envoy descended on their body]

Gu Qing Shan finally understood what was going on.

He commented: “How strange, this seems to be the scale of some creature, but I think it has been corroded by something and became irreversibly mutated”

The giant demonic egg stayed silent for a little bit.

More text appeared above the egg:

[So he really does have some skills, perhaps I should have him take a look at a few more things before transporting him to the surface]

[This way, even if he manages to decipher something, the secret would still be kept with his death]

The giant demonic egg then spoke: [You must be someone with quite the sharp eyes, I want you to help me take a look at something else, we can discuss payments later]

Rumble rumble——-

The ground began to split.

A large arm that was several dozen meters in size flew out from the crevice and floated towards Gu Qing Shan.

[Please help me discern exactly what this is] the giant demonic egg told him.

While Gu Qing Shan was thinking about what to say, the world suddenly vanished in front of his eyes.

A misty fog of blood drifted around him.

「 …So it was this… 」

A voice softly sighed.

Hearing this voice, Gu Qing Shan instantly realized what was going on.

——-this was the voice of the Devil of True Antiquity, Overlooker of Myriad Worlds!

Who would have thought that this giant arm would be able to draw their attention to the point that they personally show up?

A second later, he can clearly sense the other party shifting their attention to him.

「 Death supreme-ruler of the River of Death… 」

「 Only considering power, the demonic thing in front of you is five times stronger than you are—— if you are able to kill it, I will grant you a chance to make a transaction with me—— this chance can save your companions 」

After they said this, all the bloody fog disappeared.

Everything returned to normal.

Gu Qing Shan’s expression while looking towards the giant demonic egg slightly changed.

Stronger than me?

Five times?

This egg-shaped fellow?

Let me think a bit about how I should get rid of this egg…

The giant demonic egg seemed oblivious about everything that just happened and continued: [You are a treasure hunter, so help me take a look at this]

Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and said: “I can do it, but I want my payment first”

[What do you want?]

“Can you save my companions?”

[No, I do not have that ability. I suggest that you also give it up, otherwise, the only outcome for you will be death] the giant demonic egg immediately answered.

“Then, can you help me heal my left arm?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[Your left arm?]

Gu Qing Shan raised his left arm and clenched it to form a fist, explaining: “That’s right. It was afflicted by some sort of curse, so it’s been unable to even perform the simplest punch”

[Let me take a look] the giant demonic egg said.

“Look here” Gu Qing Shan threw a punch from afar.

——-[Ethereal – Grand Mountain]!

Those struck by this punch would have their thoughts shattered, everything in their minds will become blank.

In an instant, the giant demonic egg fell into a blank state.

Gu Qing Shan sighed, then drew the Earth sword and Chao Yin sword, unleashing numerous strikes into the void of space.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

Numerous chiming strikes could be heard all over the giant demonic egg, but it wasn’t chipped or cracked at all.

——that outer shell was truly sturdy!

In an instant, 999 attacks had been unleashed.

Gu Qing Shan sheathed his sword and waited for a few moments.

Time quickly passed.

The giant demonic egg slowly regained its senses and focused its attention on Gu Qing Shan.

[Pitiful fellow, you dare attack me?]

It spoke with a mocking tone.

Gu Qing Shan put up a finger in front of his mouth to signal silence, then pointed at the giant arm and said:

“Actually, about that thing over there—— I have something that I wanted to tell you first———”

The giant demonic egg looked closely at him, waiting for his next words.

At this point, the entire ruined world was silent.

Lines of glowing text instantly appeared on the War supreme-ruler UI:

[Prerequisite: Anticipation has been fulfilled. The other party had fully focused their attention on you]

[Prerequisite: Silence has been fulfilled. It is currently as silent as could be]

[Prerequisite: Passion has been fulfilled. You’ve attacked the other party a total of 999 times]

[Prerequisite: Focus has been fulfilled. You have not utilized any other ability that required Realm Force]

[Silence, Anticipation, Passion, and Focus have all been fulfilled]

[You can now activate ‘Manipulator of Song and Dance’]

Gu Qing Shan coldly grinned, then muttered: “I originally didn’t want to use this technique——-”

Sha!

He had done a split in mid-air!

Beautiful!