The Mysterious Church

Light as air.

Freed from gravity, he floated in the void.

That was how Chen Rui felt now—or rather, how he felt after regaining consciousness.

He could not explain what state he was in. It was as though his soul had left his body and was drifting through the universe.

He had no body and needed no breath, yet he felt relaxed and serene.

That was right. The scene around him was outer space, not the galaxy within the Super System, and he could not sense any aura of faith. It seemed to be the real universe.

Was this... what it felt like to be dead?

Chen Rui recalled having read about the sensations of death online. Those accounts had not come from people who had truly died, of course, but from experts compiling the testimonies of those near death or survivors of failed suicides. He vaguely remembered descriptions of extreme relaxation and tranquility, as well as... becoming one with the universe?

With this peaceful feeling now, coupled with this "journey" through the universe, had he really died?

(I still haven't slept with a certain Empress, or slept even more with another Empress, let alone slept even more with all my other wives... To die with my grand ambitions unfulfilled? Where's my protagonist halo? Where's my harem halo?) As his thoughts ran wild, his drifting continued.

His drifting seemed slow, yet the passage of cosmic time was entirely the opposite. Just moments ago, Chen Rui had witnessed a star go from its "youth" to its twilight years. Its violent death explosion reminded Chen Rui of the supernova Starburst unleashed by Shura. Electromagnetic radiation illuminated the entire galaxy, forming a dazzling, resplendent nebula. Quite a few nearby planets were swallowed up, while others became wreckage.

Another planet was struck by a