The dealer's grotesque face began to twist, becoming even more sinister and terrifying.
It seemed angry, yet mocking.
Low, guttural roars came from the Space Station's screens.
They sent chills down everyone's spine.
"Brother, what happened to your face? I'm just robbing you. You didn't have to split your mouth all the way to your ears, did you?"
"..."
Hearing Yan Huan's voice, everyone was left speechless.
Big brother, couldn't you have just flipped the cards properly?
"Forget it, I won't rob you anymore. You're already missing both legs and still working as a dealer. That's just too pitiful." Yan Huan waved through the raging storm.
Then—
Bang—!! He kicked the gambling table over.
Cards and chips scattered across the ground.
Perhaps the dealer had hit his head; it let out an even more sinister, horrifying roar.
Eerie muttering mixed with the monster's low growls and reached Yan Huan's ears.
He scratched his earlobe.
"By the way, how do I get out? This room doesn't even have a door."
As soon as he finished speaking, the overturned gambling table before him slowly righted itself, its legs twisting unnaturally.
The dealer's mouth had split all the way to its ears as well. It kept sneering, looking utterly bizarre.
"It seems you are determined to wreck this establishment. Heh heh, hahahahaha...!!"
Accompanied by its chilling laughter, the walls of the room continuously cracked, peeled away, and collapsed.
Revealing their true form.
There was no room at all. Beyond it lay only pitch-black darkness, more like a cave.
And before him was no longer the dealer, but a towering void creature radiating terrifying heat.
"Since you refuse to appreciate my kindness, then... stay here forever—!!"
Surging flames erupted, illuminating the entire dark cavern.
But—
The next moment—
Across from it, an even more dazzling blaze shot into the sky.
Boom—!!
That fire was as tangible as molten lava. The tongues of flame that burst forth even began devouring the monster's own flames in turn.
Firelight fell over Yan Huan's face, revealing his wild, unrestrained madness.
"Hahahaha... I knew from the start that you weren't human!!"
At the heart of the flames, he gripped the Heavenly Fire Greatsword. His long black hair flew wildly amid the waves of fire, while his molten-gold eyes brimmed with madness.
"Now you have two choices. One, hand over every valuable thing you have, and I'll spare your life! Two, I'll kill you, then tearfully inherit your estate!"
Towering flames scorched the entire cavern red, as though they had entered an erupting volcano.
Compared to the human before it, the flames the void creature had initially unleashed now seemed utterly insignificant.
Even its own flames were nearly completely assimilated by the other's.
The void creature's towering body began creaking as cracks appeared across it.
If it kept being devoured by this human's flames, it probably would not even be able to preserve its body.
"..."
After a moment of silence, the void creature slowly spread its thick arms apart. Inside were all the chips from the card table.
It said nothing, but the gradually dimming flames on its body had already made its stance clear.
It surrendered.
Seeing this, the Space Station researchers all sucked in cold breaths.
They were not astonished by how quickly the void creature had backed down. Instead, their eyes were fixed on the Heavenly Fire Greatsword in Yan Huan's hand.
"What kind of weapon is that? Why can it even assimilate a void creature's flames?"
Even through the screen, they could feel the heat within.
That brilliant fire carried the splendor of an entire civilization.
On the Star Rail Express.
Welt was also observing the object in Yan Huan's hand through a display sent by the Space Station.
"A Key of the Gods... Divine Fire Sacred Judgment."
Welt knew that sword all too well.
It had once had many wielders, yet had now fallen into Yan Huan's hands?
What astonished Welt even more was Yan Huan's condition.
Using Divine Fire Sacred Judgment required a price.
Yet he seemed completely unaffected. He had even brazenly raised Divine Fire Sacred Judgment's output to an extremely high level.
He simply had not considered the possibility of side effects at all.
It was as though he had absolute confidence in his own strength.
Herta's office.
Herta herself also grew serious, staring fixedly at the flames on the screen and at Divine Fire Sacred Judgment.
As a participant in the Simulated Universe project, she naturally understood that it was definitely not a virtual weapon, but one Yan Huan genuinely possessed.
The glorious flames and terrifying waves of searing heat turned the entire cavern crimson and bright as though they were tangible.
"His true strength goes far beyond what we have seen."
Even among an Aeon's Emanators, there were distinctions in strength.
Some were suited for battle, while others were not.
Yan Huan was clearly the former.
His talent for combat was extraordinarily high. He was practically born to fight.
Dan Heng, standing beside her, wore a grave expression as well.
The Divine Sword of Taixu Yan Huan had used earlier bore the shadow of Hua, the Xianzhou Alliance's Cloud Knight Marshal.
That had made Dan Heng believe all along that Yan Huan might have deep ties to the Xianzhou Alliance.
The strength Yan Huan displayed now was already no weaker than that of a Xianzhou general.
"Brother Huan is awesome! That thing looked like a real tough customer, yet he actually made it surrender on the spot!"
The Space Station researchers erupted once more.
"When Mr. Yan Huan flipped the table, I thought he was dead for sure. So he had known all along that there was something wrong with the dealer."
"Brother Huan is truly a man of temperament! If it were me, I'd definitely obediently flip the cards. I wouldn't even dare think about flipping the table."
"Pfft, if you flipped the table like he did, the dealer would eat you alive on the spot!"
The researchers' original task had been to observe the Aeons drawn in by Yan Huan.
In the end—
Not a single Aeon appeared, while they instead began observing Yan Huan.
In the Simulated Universe project, Yan Huan had merely been bait, yet he had somehow played himself into the role of protagonist.
Some researchers had already lost interest in waiting for Aeons. All of them stared intently at the screen, eagerly awaiting what Yan Huan would do next.
It was like watching television.
Inside the Simulated Universe.
After Yan Huan tearfully accepted his reward, the scene around him changed once more.
It was a desolate village.
What appeared before Yan Huan were no longer grotesque monsters, but three little pigs.
More precisely, they were three creatures called "Trotters."
"Why is the Simulated Universe raising pigs too?" Yan Huan was briefly at a loss.
How was he supposed to clear this? Beat them all up?
It seemed that was how he had gotten through everything before.
Just fight them, right?
Thinking that, Yan Huan pulled an AK from his clothes and revealed a terrifying smile.
Then, he took out a black hood and put it over his head.
No particular reason. It fit the mood.
Now, he looked even more like a heinous bandit.
"Hey, run! Run, you lot! Sooey, sooey, sooey, sooey!!"
He shouted while firing.
Bang bang bang bang bang—!!
Flames continuously burst from the AK's muzzle as bullets rained around the three little pigs, kicking up sparks everywhere.
Amid miserable squeals, the three little pigs hurriedly fled.
First, the three little pigs rushed into a straw house.
Yan Huan, wearing the hood, gave it a sweeping burst from the AK.
The straw house immediately collapsed.
The three little pigs rushed into a wooden house.
Yan Huan, wearing the hood, gave it another sweeping burst.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!
Countless bullet holes riddled the little wooden house, leaving it in ruins.
Then it collapsed with a boom.
The three little pigs fled into a brick house.
Bullets struck the bricks, leaving only a few shallow marks.
Seeing this, all the researchers breathed sighs of relief.
Wonderful, the little pigs were safe.
But the next moment, Yan Huan on the screen revealed an evil grin and kept pulling sticky explosives from his clothes, mockingly plastering them across the entire brick wall.
Then he pressed the detonator.
Boom—!!
In an instant, the Space Station's screens were once again filled with vast flashes of fire and explosions.
"Couldn't he just cut the Trotters down with one sword?" someone suddenly asked.
"No. Then Mr. Yan Huan wouldn't get to experience the joy of being a bandit."
The person suddenly understood. "So that's how it is!"
"...Does he have something wrong with his head?"
Before you continue