End and Return

Through satellite imagery, one could see that after the nuclear blast, a crimson giant cocoon about three meters tall had appeared amidst the ruins at the center of the explosion, standing out on the apocalyptic battlefield.

The surface of the giant cocoon was covered in red, vein-like patterns, and it pulsed rhythmically as if it were a beating heart.

"Thump, thump..."

The dull, rhythmic thumping sound carried a suffocating sense of immense pressure through the broadcast, causing everyone who heard it to feel a suppression originating from their very bloodlines. It was as if a docile, harmless rabbit were facing a tiger, leaving one unable to catch their breath.

Orochimaru spoke with difficulty:

"It isn't dead, and it looks like it may have evolved!"

The hearts of everyone present, including Minato, sank to the bottom of the abyss.

"Can you carry out another long-range strike?" Minato asked the human officers in the camp.

After reporting to their superiors, the officer replied:

"We can. The next round of attacks will arrive shortly!"

Not long after these words fell, dozens of long-range missiles descended from the sky, their target being none other than the crimson giant cocoon!

Suddenly, cracks appeared on the surface of the cocoon, and they quickly widened. The entire cocoon began to emit golden light that shot straight into the clouds!

Following this, a creature with four legs and a pair of wings on its back broke through the shell and soared into the sky.

The creature was entirely fire-red, shaped like a horse with the head of a camel and covered in scales. It resembled a mutated Fire Qilin, and with wings on its back, flames trailed behind it as it moved.

"A corpse first transforms into a Hanba; its next transformation is into a Hou," Orochimaru muttered to himself.

Before the others could continue to question the origin of this Hou, the situation on the field changed again!

The evolved Hanba—or rather, the ferocious beast Hou—flickered its wings slightly and vanished instantly.

In a split second, it transformed into a streak of red light, weaving through the air and striking the dozens of missiles.

"Boom!"

The missile swarm, capable of destroying half a city, was obliterated by the sheer physical power of the Hou. The continuous explosions in mid-air were a spectacular sight.

After finishing this, the Hou flapped its wings to fly high into the sky and let out a long, heaven-shaking roar.

Its voice was like thunder, laced with the faint resonance of a dragon's howl and a tiger's roar.

It opened its mouth, and a fire-red aura surged out, forming a flame lotus that flew off into the distance, vanishing from everyone's sight.

"What is it doing?"

Just as everyone was filled with confusion, the incredulous voice of the human officer came from the camp.

"It's going to detonate the second wave of hydrogen bombs early!"

The flame lotus sped toward the north, its target clearly the second round of hydrogen bombs launched from the Europa Military Base!

This second round consisted of three hydrogen bombs; in terms of power, they were enough to destroy a small nation and turn hundreds of kilometers into a dead zone for all living things!

One could imagine the level of resolve the human leadership had reached in order to eliminate this monster.

However, with a spectacular display of fireworks, all hope was extinguished...

The mushroom cloud exploding high above the distant Mediterranean Sea destroyed the hope of humanity!

What now?

When humanity's ultimate weapon was destroyed head-on, the blow dealt to mankind was unimaginable.

For decades, ever since humanity possessed nuclear weapons, they had convinced themselves that they could annihilate any form of life. If one shell wasn't enough, it simply meant there wasn't enough firepower!

In a sense, humanity had indeed become too arrogant; one must remember that arrogance is the root of failure!

And humanity had only been the masters of this planet for a mere few thousand years!

The only thing to worry about was that humanity had to control this weapon of mass destruction properly.

Now, their final trump card—nuclear weapons—had struck the enemy directly, yet the opponent remained unscathed, had even evolved, and was capable of destroying nuclear weapons outright.

This meant that human weaponry was almost useless against this monster, leaving them no choice but to let it wreak havoc.

This fear and sense of powerlessness, the inability to control the fate of their own species, spread deeply among all the human leaders who received the news...

After destroying the threatening nuclear bombs, the ferocious beast Hou turned its head. Its hideous, terrifying face, which held a hint of majesty amidst its evil, revealed a gaze so horrific it seemed to want to devour anyone it looked upon.

The Reincarnators watching from a great distance felt a sense of immense terror descending upon them the moment they were caught in that gaze!

"Not good, it looks like it's coming this way!"

A warning flashed in the hearts of the Reincarnators watching from the camp. Like cats with their fur standing on end, everyone immediately used their own methods to flee.

However, a fire-breathing dragon that blotted out the sky descended. Compared to the fire dragon that Orochimaru and the others had sealed together earlier, the terror of its presence was as vast as the difference between heaven and earth.

The fire dragon coiled above the crowd, doing nothing but suppressing them with its aura.

As for the Reincarnators fleeing in all directions, they were all struck by a streak of red light, sent flying back to their original positions, and left severely injured.

Having dealt with the crowd, the Hou flapped its wings and slowly landed on the head of the divine dragon.

At this moment, the Reincarnator in the best condition was Minato, who had chosen not to flee earlier.

As for the others, aside from Kizaru, who was too heavily injured to run, only Red-Haired remained.

The remaining five, including Orochimaru, Doflamingo, and the two captains from the Bleach World, were all wounded one by one by Hou and left unable to rise from the ground.

"What is he trying to do? Is he toying with us?" Minato frowned, unable to fathom the intentions of this ferocious beast.

On the other side, Red-Haired spoke with a grave expression, "This evolved Calamity Behemoth is likely no longer on our level. No wonder this was an A-rank mission!"

Red-Haired was right. Although the original Hanba was a high-tier third-rank entity, its combat power was unfairly strong due to its mastery of certain fire laws, yet everyone working together could still manage to hold their own for a while.

However, after evolving into Hou, its strength had firmly broken through to the fourth-rank Law Realm.

Every movement of the summoned Flame Divine Dragon represented the pinnacle of the world's flames; none of the people present could withstand the burning of the flickers of fire dancing upon its body.

Just as even Red-Haired felt they had reached a dead end, a massive white portal appeared in the sky, shrouding the firmament.

A giant hand of energy, blotting out the sun, reached out from the gateway. The moment it appeared, it felt as if the heavens were collapsing and Mount Tai was crushing down, causing the entire world to lose its color.

The giant hand descended lightly upon the Flame Divine Dragon, making the fire dragon look like a mere insect in its palm. It simply extended an index finger and tapped the Flame Divine Dragon gently.

The fierce and terrifying Flame Divine Dragon seemed to have its soul extracted, slowly dissipating like ash!

The giant hand flipped over, and before the beast Hou could even attempt to flee, it fell unconscious and flew automatically toward the giant hand, lying in the center of the palm like a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

The giant hand gently gripped Hou, then flicked its finger. A gust of wind generated from the flick flew rapidly toward the Sahara Desert, and in an instant, the endless Fire Domain that had consumed the desert vanished without a trace.

After finishing all this, the giant hand retracted into the massive gateway and vanished from the world.

Everyone who witnessed this scene remained stunned for a long time.

Only the mission completion prompt in their minds pulled the surviving Reincarnators back to reality.

[World Mission "Rescue" completed. Due to interference from other factors, the completion rate for the Reincarnator faction is low. Reward: 2000 contribution points.

The final phase of the World Mission is complete. Reincarnators may remain for 1 hour; exceeding this time will result in automatic return to the Main God Space.

Note:

1. If a large number of local lifeforms are killed during the stay, you will suffer a backlash of fortune, leading to additional penalties. Reincarnators are prohibited from this behavior!

2. Contribution points are being calculated; World Mission rewards will be automatically distributed after returning.]

It's finally over! Every Reincarnator breathed a sigh of relief.

The difficulty of this World Mission was terrifyingly high! Especially the final evolved Calamity Behemoth; if not for the mysterious entity stepping in to suppress it, almost no Reincarnators present would have survived!

Among those who survived, nearly everyone was injured. Those with severe wounds, like Kizaru, chose to return immediately.

Minato looked around; most of the Reincarnators chose to return. After all, unlike the usual 24-hour stay, they only had one hour, which wasn't enough to do much.

More importantly, the restriction in the Main God Space against malicious attacks between Reincarnators was lifted during the post-mission stay!

Once this restriction was removed, the Reincarnators who were previously allies all became strangers with unknown allegiances.

Among the experiences summarized in blood by Reincarnators in the Main God Space, one of them was:

Never trust a Reincarnator whose stance is unclear.

In many missions, even if the Main God restricts malicious attacks to prevent powerful individuals from bullying newcomers and wasting space resources, teammates can still act with malice during actual combat by intentionally holding back or withholding important information. Such actions could very well indirectly lead to the deaths of other Reincarnators.

Although the Main God Space created by Zhu Shen was not as cruel as in the works of his previous life and provided basic living space for new Reincarnators, it did not overly prohibit various conspiracies and calculations, nor was there any need to eradicate them. Ultimately, he needed useful tools, not to act as a nanny for them. If a Reincarnator couldn't even handle a little scheming, they were hardly fit for great responsibilities.

Those who could participate in the final mission at the camp were undoubtedly not naive. Therefore, some left, while others stayed behind based on their strength and confidence.

Minato and Shanks both stayed behind; they were undoubtedly the latter.

"Let's make a deal, Shanks," Minato initiated a private conversation with Shanks.

"Oh? I was thinking the same thing."

"I need the basic cultivation method for Haki, and I will give you the Chakra refinement method."

"The basic cultivation method for Haki is priced higher in the Main God Space than the Chakra refinement method, you know."

Shanks did not agree immediately, opting to hear Minato's conditions first.

Minato frowned upon hearing this; what Red-Haired said was indeed true.

In the Main God Space, exchanging for the basic Haki cultivation method required 1000 points, and it could not be taught to others.

The moment you had the intention to teach it to someone else, all information would be blocked the moment you tried to speak. Some Reincarnators had tried to record the exchanged secret techniques, but no matter how they were stored, they would turn into a pile of garbled code.

Basically, all cultivation methods in the Main God Space were like this. This was to prevent people from exchanging them and then reselling them to other Reincarnators, which would reduce the Main God Space's profits.

The Chakra refinement method was priced at 500 points.

Don't think this is cheap!

You must know that a Desert Eagle with infinite ammunition only costs 100 points. Moreover, most first-rank exchanges were under 1000 points, plus a D-rank side quest.

Therefore, a foundational extraordinary method that could only be practiced by a single person, priced at nearly a thousand points despite requiring no side-story plot, was simply too expensive.

Moreover, Minato did not need a version that only he could learn!

Thus, Minato deliberated for a moment, "I can add three more D-rank ninjutsu learning scrolls, the teachable versions."

This price swayed Shanks, and soon the two successfully completed their trade and began to converse.

"Regarding that mysterious palm that appeared at the end, you entered the Main God Space earlier than I did; do you know who that might be?"

Hearing Shanks' question, Minato could only smile bitterly and shake his head.

"I am just like you, I have no clue. However, we can make some bold guesses; there are a few possibilities:

1. This mysterious existence is a powerhouse from this world, such as a hidden expert or a deity;

2. An extraordinary being from another world, with an unknown purpose;

3. Like us, they come from the Main God Space. They have the most reason to suppress the Calamity Behemoth, and destroying the Fire Domain could also be part of a rescue mission or something similar.

The probability of these three hypotheses increases in that order."

To be honest, even though Minato's imagination ran wild after seeing Zhu Shen strike, he would almost never associate it with the Main God stepping in personally. Who would ever think the Main God would descend themselves?

To the Reincarnators, that cold, mechanical voice meant that even if the Main God were to truly manifest, it would surely be an existence capable of destroying the universe with a single thought, suppressing the ages, and transcending the river of time.

The person behind that giant palm, while outrageously strong, was ultimately within the realm of imagination and confined to the limits of a single world, far inferior to the Main God they envisioned.

Yet, the wonders of the world are exactly this.

People are always willing to believe what they want to believe, regardless of what the truth is.

Who would truly want to believe that the existence who left all the Reincarnators feeling helpless was the Main God?

Shanks remained silent upon hearing this, deeply agreeing with Minato's view. In everyone's eyes, it was impossible for the Main God Space to contain only them as Reincarnators.

Although hundreds or even thousands of Reincarnators had appeared for this world mission, there were certainly many more who had not yet descended.

For instance, this person who intervened possessed strength of at least the fourth rank, which was why the A-rank mission was successfully completed.

So, what about Reincarnators of the fifth, sixth, or even seventh rank? Was it because they were too strong and looked down on low-level missions? Or was it due to world restrictions that prevented their arrival?

Speculations like these lingered in the minds of all the Reincarnators. And this was something Zhu Shen would never bother to explain.

Although the Main God Space currently had no fifth-rankers, and even among the fourth-rankers, there was only himself and the Hou he had just subdued, there would surely be countless high-rank Reincarnators in the future.

By then, when the Reincarnators saw all of this, they would think: As expected! And then pride themselves on their own foresight.