The young man could not help but shudder when he heard the devil talking about the destruction of the world as if it were nothing.

“What—what about us?”

Although he knew the answer, the young man did not give up and asked, “If the World of the Fist God is… closed, what will happen to us who live in the World of the Fist God?”

“It is a good question. ‘What happens to people after they die’? Unfortunately, no wise man or wise man has ever been able to explain it clearly.

Lu Qingchen scratched his head and said, “If I were to do a similar experiment, I would divide the characters in the virtual world into two types. The first type would be the randomly generated ordinary virtual humans. I’m afraid I wouldn’t care too much about their life and death. Even if I yawned and eliminated ten thousand of them, I could still yawn and randomly produce a hundred thousand or a million.

“There is also a class of virtual humans with carefully-designed templates, which are the legendary ‘heroes’. They are responsible for grasping the general direction of the operation of the world and transmitting the will of the experimenter at the critical moment.

“If it is such a virtual character with a ‘hero template’, after the world is destroyed, all the memories of the world should have been erased and stored in the template, so that it can be used again when the next experiment is restarted.

“But for the individuals in the virtual world, namely you, it doesn’t matter whether you are an ordinary virtual human being or a virtual hero. You are dead. What else do you want?

Gus was silent.

He did not know whether he should cry or rage.

“What, you don’t want to die?” The devil observed his expression and chuckled.

Gus opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Pondering for a long time, he gnashed his teeth. “People of the World of Fist God have been taught to face everything bravely, including death.

“In order to carry out our Great Dao, we are absolutely not afraid of death. Even if I am a little timid normally, but—but when necessary, I am absolutely not afraid of death!

“I just—I just don’t want to die in such a way. I don’t want to be played by meaningless data and die quietly.

“I—I am not data. I am not virtual. I am not someone’s experiment subject. I am me. I am a living being. My sister, my father, my mother, and everyone else. We are all alive. Real human beings!”

The young man finally drew the clearest picture of his will. He suddenly stood up and straightened his back. There was no telling whether he was roaring at Lu Qingchen or the darkness behind the devil.

“Aiyoyo, this is the aura I’m talking about. I know I didn’t choose the wrong person.”

Lu Qingchen smiled. “Even though you know the truth of the world, you are not frustrated or frustrated at all. Even though you are as weak as an ant, you still have to shout at the God of Creation. Young man, you are really suitable to join my side.

“Then, let’s continue our pleasant journey and overthrow the Fist King together!”

“What?”

Gus read between the lines and asked anxiously, “If the Fist King is defeated, can the Fist God’s World be saved?”

“It will be very difficult and unnecessary to protect the Fist God’s World.

Lu Qingchen continued, “But it is true that the boxing champion can be defeated. Although his body is made of the strongest fleet in the Pangu Universe, his brain is in the process of transforming from a ‘strong artificial intelligence’ into a real ‘intelligent life’, and it has reached the most critical stage of evolution.

“At this stage, his soul—if there is such a thing—will be extremely fragile, too. A tiny virus, such as me, will only need to find the most chaotic and vulnerable part of his soul, and I will be able to replicate it infinitely. The ‘super lightning life-form’ will be reborn in the tactical network of the strongest fleet in the Pangu Universe and hijack the fleet, turning the body of the Fist King into mine.

“By then, hahaha, not only will the super lightning-type life form be reborn in this unprecedented super fleet, it will also be impossible to find a force in the Pangu Universe that can compete with me. I will transform the Pangu Universe with the lightning-type life form and let this remote, poor village develop a new civilization a hundred times faster than the carbon-based intelligent life form.

“As long as my plan works out, Li Yao and the rest of them will be able to stall the flood for a while. Believe me, it won’t be long before the Pangu Universe, which boasts the advantage of lightning life, becomes the strongest force in the sea of the cosmos!

“Hehehe, doesn’t it sound perfect?”

Gus did not understand.

He did not care about the Pangu Universe, either.

He only wanted to know, “What about us? What about the people of the Fist God’s World?”

“That’s easy.”

Lu Qingchen shrugged and said, “If you want to live a carefree life in the virtual world, I can summon some servers and computational resources to keep the virtual experiment running. But I need to remind you that the underlying logic of this world is inherently flawed. It is not a normal world but a test of martial arts. Therefore, the future development will be more and more difficult. It is very likely that the abnormal ‘steam civilization’ and the conservative ‘hand-to-hand combat civilization’ will fight endlessly. Even if the world is not destroyed, the people living in it may not be very happy.

“Of course, if you or the other kids are not willing to be trapped in the virtual laboratory, I can prepare a shell of a higher dimension for you so that you can ‘fly’ from the virtual world to the Pangu Universe and exist in a more realistic way.

“Ascend?”

“There is a saying in the World of the Fist God,” Gus said. “It is said that, when the fist art is trained to the highest level, one will be able to create an unprecedented ultimate technique. One will be able to hear the call of the Fist God and ascend to a higher level of the Heaven’s Origin Sector to serve the Fist God forever. Is this true?”

“From a certain perspective, yes.”

Lu Qingchen explained, “When certain data changes and unexpected results are calculated, the boxing champion will extract the data and swallow it to refill his martial arts library. This is probably the so-called ‘ascending’. However, if so, the free will of the poor virtual boxer will certainly be obliterated. His soul will be scattered.

“But I won’t and I don’t need to do that. My purpose is to find more helpers to help me seize the right to rule the Pangu Universe and transform it completely. Besides, the forms of the lightning creatures tend to be scattered and ever-changing. It is unimaginable that a completely unified will can only think in one way and utter one voice.

“Therefore, I will preserve your free will and your independent personality, and I will show you… a vast, starry universe.