289: The True King

However, as soon as he closed his eyes, those scenes flashed through his mind.

"In the ocean called the starry sky, no one is an island. Even the gods are closely united under the call of the Star Abyss. Even the complex [society] is composed of thousands of atomized citizens. Every narrative is inseparable from the individual power at the micro level."

"If I have someone I can rely on, I hope it's you."

"You don't need to think about anything, just protect me, pay attention to me, watch over me, and walk with me through life."

"No matter what I do, remain silent. Even if there is an abyss ahead, just accompany me and believe me—if you do this, I will explain everything."

On the night of the coming of age, Li Aoz gave special instructions on all of this.

In the end, he did explain everything.

However, the result was... brutal.

"Think about it, there must be a reason why the church doesn't allow us to look up at the stars and forbids people from exploring the universe. The church must be doing this to protect us."

"The church has protected us, guided us to transform our living environment, and taught us to be servants of the Lord God. Since those God Samurai who intended to harm us in ancient times were demons, weren't they?"

Players descend from the sky, trampling civilization, destroying cities, and slaughtering lives.

This is practically no different from a demon god, is it?

"Li Aoz ...why is it that no matter how I look at it, I feel that none of these things are wrong?"

"Isn't the church supposed to be protecting people?"

"Why is it that when they are clearly protecting people, they end up causing them more suffering?"

"You should know the truth in your heart."

"This is not a world that people can live in."

The heads of the Redemption Army were severed and driven into stakes.

Other heretics, like wild beasts, slaughtered the common people.

Only the church has always protected people.

The church, which has always been resisted, is not only resisting the invasion of "society" but also guarding against other civilizations from outer space.

They oppose rock music in order to protect more people.

Even though their methods were imperfect, they were extremely vigilant, corrupt, and backward, they still upheld their original intention to protect.

—It is us.

The cold rain pattered against the Caramel Snail's eye sockets, streaming down its tear troughs.

—So, it turns out that we, From the Star Abyss, were the invaders.

After a while, the Caramel Snail opened its mouth, rainwater poured in, and it made a hoarse sound:

"Lee... Lioz."

His pronunciation was somewhat distorted, and he exuded an unsettling aura. "What will happen to them if you don't set foot on this planet?"

"A parasitic [society] will not necessarily completely devour civilization. The same is true for the [Melodycal Society]. It will always try to integrate into the local civilization, make rock memes the mainstream culture, and eventually puppet the entire civilization step by step. It will turn the entire civilization into its mine, and select a large number of citizens at any time."

Li Aoz with one hand on his hip and said calmly.

"In the end, they will be in a symbiotic relationship until the civilization of Violet Star completely loses its vitality and heads toward destruction."

"... that is to say..."

The Caramel Snail tilted its head back and murmured, "If we hadn't come, ' Xia Beiluo ' would have continued from generation to generation, and the church would have gradually liberated its thinking... Although it was an invasion, people's lives would have gotten better and better until they perished..."

"Yes." Li Aoz nodded.

"It was our arrival that destroyed this civilization, destroyed this precious future..."

"That's a future parasitized by a [Melodycal Society], not a civilized one."

"For ordinary people at the bottom of society, is there really a difference between society and civilization?"

The Caramel Snail shouted:

"What you've shown me along the way, besides tourist attractions and historical sites, are mostly... the countless ordinary people struggling to live and survive in this world!?"

[Warning: Your Worldview leans towards the [Social] alignment. Current corruption level: 11.7%.]

He gripped the blade tightly. "Because of your purpose, these people could have lived peaceful lives... They could have been secularized, married freely, listened to Rock and Roll, and even one day explored the stars."

[Degree of Corrosion: 15.9%]

"For a guitar, for your own purposes, you destroyed their future... even their present is destroyed."

[Degree of Corrosion: 20.3%]

"Lioz, you tyrannical and autocratic ruler..."

The ' Caramel Snail ' has become too corrupted and has automatically left your party.

Li Aoz sighed.

"... I originally wanted to use this incident to teach you a lesson about the difference between us and [society]. From the very beginning, we have been irreconcilable with [society]."

I originally thought my charm was a sure thing.

As a result, Caramel Snail, the one who trusted itself the most, turned out like this.

"(Lioz) was a pure god, like those manufactured Cannon Fodder God, without selfish desires, without pleasure, without ego, without emotions, lacking love, incapable of empathy for anything, and without favoritism towards anything."

Li Aoz clenched his fist.

[Has Lioz's personality been affecting me because I haven't taken my medication while controlling the implant?]

[As expected, Lioz has absolutely no humanity.]

"Thank you for your teaching, Lioz. I no longer hate [society]."

Caramel Snail raised its sharp blade, musical note patterns appearing on its body. "What the people here need more is [society]—the ones who should get out are you!"

"Do you want to betray your own side, Caramel Snail? Your knife, your achievements, everything you have is what I gave you."

Degree of corruption: 45%

Caramel Snail slowly raised his hand, and deep in the valley, a series of songs echoed in his ears.

In a daze, he seemed to see scenes of past memories before his eyes.

A young girl struggling to ride her bicycle in the rainy night, her hard-earned savings destroyed, finding a guitar to start a new life, setting lofty goals, embarking on a pilgrimage...

"As a believer, I will follow the faith and uphold morality."

"As a singer, I should be as unrestrained as possible."

"As an ordinary person, I want to show everyone how far I can go through all by my own efforts."

A short-haired girl was playing the guitar, and behind her stood a lonely man in Sunglasses. Seemingly noticing Caramel Snail's gaze, he Sunglasses and looked at Caramel Snail: "Do what you think is right."

[Recognition Filter has been shattered]

The Caramel Snail slowly raised its head and ripped off its dog tag. "Who wants your stuff, tyrant!"

As he spoke, he slammed the ceremonial plaque to the ground.

The "Lai Anding Medical Protocol" has expired.

The Caramel Snail nodded slightly, its angry eyes completely filled with green.

"This is such a hassle."

Jio Zeiou tilted his head, looked at his hands, then at Lioz, and scoffed, "You're still the same as before, Lord Lioz. Just as heartless, just as ruthless in your pursuit of efficiency. That's why you lost the war."

"Lioz? How could you—uh."

A blue light flickered in Li Aoz's eyes as his will struggled against the overwhelming force, but this time, he could barely withstand the intense consciousness.

"You—you too—I made no mistake."

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

The rain poured down.

After a few flashes, his eyes turned completely dark blue.

Lioz calmly looked ahead, then at Jio Zeiou: "Jio Zeiou, the God of Falsehood Destruction, is known for supporting other worlds beyond the Abyss in their resistance against invaders. I fought alongside you, but now you are corrupted. I will kill you and free you."

Jio Zeiou's Commentary:

"You know what, Lioz? The way you speak is truly terrifying, utterly devoid of emotion. It's like you're issuing commands. Is your desire to dominate really that strong?"

Lioz: "I don't need to be driven by desire."

"You're still so realistic, so realistic it scares me... My body has been controlled by [society], but it's strange, I don't know why, I can still maintain my self-awareness—it's just that there's not much time left. If you're going to do it, then hurry up, otherwise when time runs out, both I and this body will be finished."

"Jio Zeiou is useful; it can save you from death."

"Thank you so much, Lioz, but could you please not talk like that?"

"It's pointless."

Lioz's statement remained the same.

"My time is limited. Intelligence exchange complete—begin the operation."

"If you were as humane as I am, you would never have ended up in this situation."

Jio Zeiou shrugged helplessly, twirling his sword in a flourish. "I never imagined we'd meet again like this, especially not in such a frail way—speaking of which, how come you're so different from us?"

"Enough."

Lioz looked at him calmly, as if he were looking at a corpse:

"Enough."

"—Wait a minute, Lioz, you're only using a suit of armor right now. Are you sure you can fight me?"

Jio Zeiou felt a chill run down his spine, and for some reason, he felt that something was wrong.

Although Lioz's reincarnation has reached the Zeta-rank (6), it is just a clone without any extraordinary genes, and even has some inferior genes mixed in.

What makes him think he can fight against my meticulously nurtured and socially enhanced body? And why isn't Lioz appearing as a 'player' like me? Regarding this—

Lioz simply raised his hand:

"Sequence Two——"

The area where he stood was instantly cleared, and all particles were excluded.

In an instant, the scorching and surging high-energy shock spread outwards in a radial pattern, swallowing half of Violet Star like a cake, and its northern hemisphere was hollowed out and disappeared in an instant.

Instead, countless rejected particles tore through the stardust at extremely high speeds, shining with incredible brilliance in the universe.

"--nothingness."