May Your Mercy Shine Upon Us

After an object entered the Great Worm Bridge, it would jump according to the spatial route preset within it.

Aboard the warship, Yuan had Qiming scan every inch of it dozens of times. If Wu Daozi could still leave some contingency aboard under those circumstances, Yuan would accept it. It was beyond the scope of his knowledge.

All he could do was accept it, just like Cole. When crushed by technology, one could either endure it or rage helplessly.

If things were truly as Wu Daozi had said, and the information vanished after being transmitted, then Yuan was right to some extent: once they entered the Great Worm Bridge, they would be safe for the time being.

After all, the information transmitted onto the warship was merely code. It did not yet have the ability to follow them through the Great Worm Bridge.

Unfortunately, Yuan did not know that, aside from natural wormholes, countless Great Worm Bridges throughout the universe had been built by the Divine River Civilization and, later, the Super Seminary.

Officially, they existed to spread the knowledge and glory of the Divine River Civilization. As for the real reasons behind the scenes, only those advanced civilizations knew.

Since they had been artificially constructed, they could naturally be controlled by others. Thus, as the Great Clock roared, the Great Worm Bridge containing the warship bloomed with a light that did not belong to it.

Yuan sat quietly in the command center, enjoying the comfort of traveling through the Great Worm Bridge as he always had.

"Something's wrong!" Yuan abruptly opened his eyes.

"Qiming, begin checking the warship's condition."

"Command received. Scanning the warship. Scan complete. No abnormalities detected."

Qiming's reply did not make Yuan happy. This felt different from their previous journeys. He sensed an inexplicable disturbance in space-time. He could not put it into words, but something was wrong.

He calmed himself. When he opened his eyes again, he was already within his own Dark Dimension. It was as empty as ever, with nothing inside.

He widened his eyes, trying to read some information from the Dark Dimension. Vaguely, the space-time energy patterns within his Divine Body seemed to resonate with him.

Scenes of warped space-time appeared in the Dark Dimension. Though the images were extremely blurry, he could still see space-time twisting and deforming under an immense Gravitational Field.

Boom! The Dark Energy in his Divine Body was nearly drained dry. As alarms blared through his mind, he was forcibly kicked out of the Dark Dimension.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Cold sweat poured down Yuan's forehead as he rose to his feet and began observing the scene beyond the porthole.

Bruis, who had been carefully monitoring the central system in the command hall, immediately noticed Yuan's condition. To be honest, it startled him as well.

Over the years, apart from Yuan's rather bedraggled days as a mortal, when had Bruis ever seen him in such a state?

"Your Excellency, what happened to you?"

Yuan did not answer. He continued staring solemnly out the window. Only after some of his Divine Body's energy had recovered did he turn to look at Bruis.

In a hoarse voice, he slowly said, "Obviously, Bruis, we have a problem."

As if to prove his words, Qiming's and the central system's alarms blared at the same time.

Alert! An immense Gravitational Field detected. Great Worm Bridge space-time curvature is out of control.

Master, intense space-time curvature fluctuations detected. The Great Worm Bridge's Gravitational Field has increased five hundredfold. We are heading toward an unknown region.

"Got it, got it. At a time like this, what the hell is an alarm supposed to do? Shut up, all of you."

With a wave of his hand, Yuan shut off all the alarms ringing in his ears, then sat back in the command chair under Bruis's puzzled gaze.

"Sit down."

"Your Excellency, can you tell us what happened?"

"Heh, it doesn't count as trouble yet. I'm afraid some god didn't want us to leave so easily and decided to play a little joke on us."

"Wu Daozi?"

Yuan nodded and said, "Now that I think about it, there's a very high chance it was Wu Daozi. Otherwise, the universe is so vast—who would have nothing better to do than keep an eye on us? Death God Karl?"

At that, Yuan smiled indifferently. Bruis was nowhere near as calm. His body trembled, and he hurriedly whispered to Yuan:

"Y-Your Excellency, please don't say that. Let it be Wu Daozi. Wu Daozi is good—at least he's better than the Death God."

"Think whatever you want. Go get some rest. There might be something entertaining to watch soon." Then Yuan tilted his head up toward the ceiling and gave a faint laugh.

"Wu Daozi, damn it, you got me. I concede. We'll meet on Dobilun Star."

That was right. Though they had not yet reached their destination, Yuan could more or less guess where the Great Worm Bridge had been redirected.

"Hehe, children really are young. Fine, I'll wait for you to come see me." Carl, her face hidden beneath her hood, revealed a rare look of interest.

But who could say whether it was merely a spur-of-the-moment idea or an attempt to patch up her plan? At the very least, Yuan did not know.

Seeing no response, Yuan dropped the provocation from his face. His attempt to test Wu Daozi had failed once again.

"These old monsters are all foxes who've lived for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. Every last one of them hides their depths. If you'd just talked it over properly—or, if that didn't work, let a little something slip from your hand—I would've gone, wouldn't I? Did you have to make such a huge show of it?"

Seeing Yuan mutter to himself, Bruis's mouth twitched. That old man had talked to you for quite a while, and yet you still ran faster than a warship. But he only dared say that in his heart. If he spoke it aloud, he would probably be keeping Cole company by now.

"Your Excellency, are you saying the place we're heading next is Dobilun Star?" Bruis cried out in surprise. Only then did he realize the destination Yuan had mentioned. At the words "Dobilun Star," strange looks appeared in the eyes of the Taotie present.

"Hehe, surprised? Feeling how unpredictable life can be?"

"Didn't you say it was a trap?"

"Then do you think we have any room to choose now?" With that, he slowly addressed the surrounding Taotie.

"A direct confrontation is unfavorable. Letting the enemy control us is unacceptable. There's only one path."

"All rise! Your Excellency, give your orders."

"Stay on full alert. Arm yourselves to the teeth. Watch for an opportunity—if you can run, run."

"Huh?" Everyone widened their eyes and stared incredulously at Yuan's serious expression. This was not what they had expected.

"Wu Daozi has already made his move. We have no choice. But one thing is certain: that place is not somewhere we should be going right now. So if you can run, run. If you can't, grip your weapons tightly and stay close behind me."

"Yes, Your Excellency. Rest assured, we will spill our last drop of blood to safeguard your safety." Bruis and the soldiers stood ramrod straight before Yuan.

"Heh, you're overthinking it. If there's a choice, I'll be the first one running. Don't you all go dying on me. Otherwise, our cooperation ends, and you Taotie can forget about ever rising again." Yuan's faint voice carried an unprecedented warmth to Bruis.

"Yes! Your Excellency, may your mercy shine upon us!" As he spoke, Bruis's voice rose into a roar, and the Taotie's eyes reddened as well.

"May your mercy shine upon us!"