The Rebirth of Life

"Sure enough, it still wasn't enough? This body of ours is too weak!"

Seeing that the pull tab would not budge and the bones had cracked, the Great Emperor of Atabia showed no anger. Only a trace of regret flickered in his eyes:

"Our civilization level clearly stole God Blood from the gods and built the Tower of Babel here to imitate the giant gods, yet we still can't even reach one percent—or one-thousandth—of the true might of the gods?"

"Then start adjusting the muscle structure! Improve the stress distribution of the skeletal framework!" he began.

"Yes, His Majesty!"

Following the order, the Tower of Babel that was the central command center of the entire body pierced through its middle from top to bottom. The sages of countless civilizations began calculating the stress data from just now, as well as a more perfect bodily structure.

Crack.

The body continued to evolve as he tried again and again to open the can's pull tab.

"His Majesty, our energy reserves are insufficient!"

"Six days of lifespan have already been reduced to less than four!"

"It's been two days."

"The genetic structure is collapsing at an accelerated rate."

"The arm structure is malfunctioning!"

"His Majesty, your lifespan is less than two days! If we cannot replenish our energy, we will inevitably—"

"The energy is right before our eyes, but we can't open the pull tab! Are we really going to die on the eve of victory?"

"His Majesty, the muscle fibers have ruptured again..."

"His Majesty, we..."

One report after another came in.

The next moment, the giant braced the beef can with one hand and tugged at the pull tab with the other, exerting every ounce of strength he had, yet it remained unmoved.

The chief strategist of the empire said:

"His Majesty, I suggest using the backup plan: destroy the world. Exterminate the five quadrillion people on the earth and carry out a great massacre of that seventy percent of the population! Replenish the Tower of Babel with massive nutrients."

Throughout the room,

the ground was densely covered with buildings and living creatures. Even the walls were covered in buildings and cities. All of these represented an enormous amount of energy.

"Exterminate them? We still have to exterminate seventy percent of the population?"

He stared blankly, as if he had once more returned to the track ordained by fate.

The Great Emperor of Atabia grew furious:

"I can't do it! I refuse! How could I possibly follow the destiny he planned for me?"

He began pulling the tab again and again, but his strength kept failing him. He even felt his consciousness gradually blurring. In a daze, it seemed as though his entire being was about to march toward destruction.

His memories flashed past one after another like scenes from a lantern show.

He suddenly recalled the day of world destruction when fate had been completely changed. His dearest friend, Herodotus, who had followed him all along, carried the ark through the Great Flood and said:

"His Majesty, will we really have peace in the future?"

"Of course! I'm the wisest hero in the entire civilization. I'll definitely slaughter all the gods in the heavens so that everyone will never again have to live in fear, no longer constantly afraid that the Outer Gods will destroy our world."

"His Majesty, is it truly possible for our dream to come true?"

"It certainly is! I'll lead you forward through this Great Flood and the great extinctions to come, save our people, and as long as we remain alive, there will definitely be hope."

"Rest assured! I'll definitely protect every one of my subjects!" The Great Emperor of Atabia's face shone with gentle radiance.

Hah, it was all a lie.

His ministers had asked him to become a wise ruler, to serve as their spiritual faith and shelter all his subjects. To someone rebellious to the bone like him, how laughable was that?

Even if all his subjects died, he would not mourn them! He merely pretended to be a wise ruler, becoming their gentle sovereign because he and his subjects shared the same goal: defeating the unfathomable Outer Gods.

From beginning to end, he had been an arrogant man. The very first time he saw an Outer God, an intense, instinctive excitement had surged through him: How does that thing exist? What kind of structure and form does it have? Can I become it? What lies beyond the world? Can I challenge those beautiful, dazzling, inconceivable lives beyond the heavens?

"How laughable! Follow the path he gave me and exterminate seventy percent of the population? What's so frightening about death? I refuse!!"

The Great Emperor of Atabia could not help shouting furiously, "Start adjusting the muscle structure! Improve the stress distribution of the skeletal framework! Raise all our strength to its limit!"

"But, His Majesty! We must remain rational—"

"No buts!! Only cowards and weaklings like you would say that I'm beneath you because of this!" His voice was filled with mockery and derision.

"If there isn't enough muscle mass, embed the little muscle we have into the skeleton and exert force from within!"

"If the bones are too fragile, compress the bone structure, even if it means making the body smaller!"

"There has to be a way! There must be a way! It isn't that I pity those people! Nor am I some benevolent wise ruler you've always believed me to be. It's that after devouring my own kind, I became a true piece of trash! I can't even open the first step, I've lost all my dignity, and I'm following the fate he arranged for me—what else is there to pursue?"

"If I can't even win the first step, then I'll never win in my entire life. Rather than that, I might as well die right now!!"

He roared, "If I lack enough ability to become a flesh-and-blood life-form, then I'll temporarily become a skeletal life-form first! Evolve myself into a form capable of exerting force to pull the tab!"

His entire consciousness simultaneously controlled the body. Coordinating with the evolution of its internal structure, Essence, Qi, and Spirit underwent a certain qualitative transformation at this moment. The giant skull fused into his lower body seemed to completely merge with his physique.

This Single Cell truly became the giant's soul, controlling the neurons built around him and commanding the body's limbs.

Crack.

Crack!!

The entire body seemed to erupt with power. The bones were recompiled, the muscles rearranged themselves into a more rational configuration to exert force, and an unprecedented strength burst forth. It was as if a flame were being nurtured and burning within him. His vitality was constantly awakened, and his flesh and blood dissolved.

Evolution!

Evolution, evolution, and more evolution!

His consciousness blurred, and his soul trembled.

Amid endless darkness, a ray of light seemed to appear hazily before his eyes.

He had obtained the bloodline of the Zombie Lord. This "alien life-form" was utterly outrageous. Under his constant evolution, its body kept melting, while its skeleton condensed and shrank, changing from a height of one point eight meters to one point four meters. The muscles had actually embedded themselves into the bones, exerting force and stretching like relief carvings inlaid within the skeleton.

"So this is what true life is! Genes aren't the sole expression of everything. Consciousness, courage, and the soul all influence the body through the genes. Only when genes and consciousness work together does one become a higher life-form!" A trace of enlightenment suddenly appeared on his face, as if he had mobilized all his Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

Roar!

He let out a wild roar, as if condensing the strength of every tendon and bone in his body into one. His waist and legs united as one, unleashing several times the existing strength in an incomparably concentrated burst, as though scattered structures had been condensed into a weighty mountain range.

"Still not enough! The strength isn't unified enough! Consciousness must evolve further!" he shouted, sensing that the pull tab had finally begun to move. The strength of his entire body's muscles seemed twisted into a single rope in a tug-of-war, and he had to keep pulling.

"How is it still not enough!"

"Why! Why is it still not enough!!!"

Crack! The muscles within the world of his body exploded. Bone after bone reorganized, the bone marrow made room, and the muscles densely wove themselves through the skeleton to assist in exerting force. The sounds of thunderous snaps rang out without end.

The sages within the Tower of Babel hurried back and forth, constantly adjusting the structure.

Boom!

The next moment, the can was completely opened, and liquid gushed out.

The giant could not help gulping down the beef and broth in huge mouthfuls. Large quantities of sweet nutrients replenished him, as if all the civilization's efforts had finally been rewarded at this moment.

At this moment, they were like Earth's humans building a telescope and glimpsing the splendid, boundless starry sky—a brand-new future.

"We won! The Atabians did it!!"

"His Majesty! You are our new god! We opened it! We successfully stole the gods' food!"

"Analysis underway! Absorbing nutrients!"

"Energy replenished. Your lifespan is recovering!"

"Six days, eight days, nine days!"

Throughout the entire Tower of Babel, the Atabians' cries rose like mountains and seas. Civilization cheered as they broke the curse of death. At last, they had opened the can and gained enough nutrients to construct a massive amount of flesh and blood.

"."

Li Qing was left speechless as he watched.