A Fine Tradition

"Depend on."

The Underworld's eyes widened. "Then the new hostess, won't she be completely wiped out, leaving not even a bone?"

The Caregiver's eyes were downcast. "The children at the orphanage have all passed away too."

Qin Yiguan also suddenly frowned.

The Caregiver's analysis was highly erratic and even contained many logical flaws; it was originally just one of tens of thousands of possibilities.

But Qin Yiguan had a bad feeling about this.

He suddenly realized that he could no longer perceive the passage of time; in other words, he could not clearly discern how long he had been falling.

This sense of ambiguity about time felt somewhat familiar to him.

It was the feeling of traveling through historical time with the help of the Boundless One.

Time has passed, and youth is gone.

This is quite different from traveling through historical dynasties before. After all, those historical periods were built by the Gemini Superbrain and were placed there; they would always be there.

Assuming I manage to escape one day, will I be able to reclaim the 'lost' time?

If not, then it's equivalent to losing everything.

All his friends— Meinan, Mudou, Officer Wang, Jiaolong ... he would never see them again.

Even if you do see them, they won't be the real people; they will be ' Digital Human ' created by the Gemini Superbrain.

In an instant.

The air was somewhat still.

Why can't we look on the bright side?

The Underworld suddenly laughed, "The entire Ao Council should have been wiped out by then, right? Based on my observation, Aoke has a big head and underdeveloped body; his sexual prowess must be lacking—short and weak, unable to father children!"

"By the time we get out of here, all that'll be left of that Aoke is a grave!"

"Let's dig up his grave!"

"If we had gotten out earlier, before he died, we would have kicked his cane away!"

Qin Yiguan and the Caregiver turned around at the same time, looking at the Underworld in the darkness who was still in a falling posture, but with his hands on his hips.

I knew perfectly well that this guy was deliberately trying to lighten the mood in this confusing and uncertain situation.

They stared at each other for a moment.

The three of them laughed heartily at the same time, temporarily casting aside their concerns.

"On the other hand, we only need to dig up the graves of the leaders of the Ao Council. Digging them up one by one would be too tiring!"

The Underworld pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you think the head of the Ao Council is called?"

"The President of the Ao Council?"

"Just like the Qin Variants, it lacks any creativity!"

"Will he be called the King of Big Head?"

"It's not very interesting!"

"Could it be called the Olympics?"

Oreo?!

"Obama!"

"I've got it!"

"His name must be 'Oli Gei'!"

"Hahaha!"

Boom!

The three were laughing happily when suddenly their feet touched the ground. With a loud bang, they were buried halfway up in the earth.

Suddenly, the Underworld poked his head out of the black soil, staring wide-eyed, and exclaimed, "Holy crap, we've landed!"

Qin Yiguan and the Caregiver slowly stood up, quickly becoming alert and warily scanning their surroundings.

But all around was a hazy gray.

The earth is black, the mountains are black, the grass is black, the trees are black. It's like a wilderness, but all the colors have been replaced with pure black. Yet, along with the pure black, there are grayish lines that outline the contours of all the objects.

"Cough cough."

After two soft coughs, a figure slowly emerged from atop a tall stone pillar that appeared to be formed by wind erosion not far away.

He was short, wearing a linen cloak and carrying a burl cane. His face was obscured, but he gave the impression of being frail and old.

Qin Yiguan narrowed his eyes slightly.

The Caregiver pulled her hat down low.

The Underworld gripped the machete at his waist.

"Three new friends."

"I heard you say before that the leader of the Ao Council might be called the King of Big Head, Oreo, or Oreo-given..."

"None of these are correct."

But then they saw the person atop the Shitou pillar, high above them, with gusts of black wind billowing his linen cloak. "His name should be— Core Aoke."

Qin Yiguan's gaze was fixed on the strange man. "Who are you? How do you know all this?"

But then the figure stretched out a dark blue, bony arm and slowly removed the cloak from its head.

A huge, hairless head was revealed.

The strange man's gaze remained calm and unwavering as he said, "Because I am the true Core Aoke."

Swish!

A cold glint flashed, and the Underworld had suddenly erupted.

He leaped a full 5 meters, and swung his machete at the Aoke's legs!

Regardless, he's definitely a Aoke. First, 'sever' his Achilles tendon, then interrogate him slowly, lest he slip through your fingers like an eel!

Buzz!

Suddenly, a circular ripple appeared at the feet of this Freak Aoke.

Within the ripples were tiny white 'snakes' with only mouths, constantly opening and closing their mouths as if swallowing or spitting something out of the air.

The Underworld felt the force on his machete weakening, and he looked somewhat surprised.

The Freak Aoke laughed, "These are creatures from the Subquark Space. Their food is the 'force' on your machete."

The Underworld felt that the force of his strike had been completely exhausted in an instant, and even if the knife in his hand fell, it would not hurt anyone in the slightest.

The Underworld suddenly retreated, returning to the ground, and stood in a row with Qin Yiguan and the Caregiver, looking side by side at the strange man.

"We are all prisoners here."

The Freak Aoke calmly said, "Please, everyone, stop hurting each other."

"You..."

Qin Yiguan still squinted, "A prisoner?"

"Yes."

The Freak Aoke nodded. "The three of you should also be counterparts in the Metaverse, and should be able to sense that while counterparts are vastly different, they also share subtle similarities."

"That's how you are."

"The same goes for Aoke."

The strange man sighed softly, "All the Aoke are cunning and treacherous, unwilling to accept defeat, and even more unwilling to achieve nothing. The Ao Council has been established for many years, but its leader is only one ' Core Aoke,' yet none of the Aoke are willing to be subservient to others."

"Therefore, there have been several power grabs within our Ao Council."

"And the methods are exactly the same."

"The confidants of the ' Core Aoke ' will, after understanding the workings of the Ao Council and gaining certain authority, find an opportune moment to kill the ' Core Aoke ' directly."

"Then this 'confidant' will change his appearance, impersonate Core Aoke, and happily wield power."

At this point, the Freak Aoke gave a bitter laugh, "Until the next power grabber appears... Infinity loop, and the ' Core Aoke ' who know this truth are either dead or, like me, thrown into this prison."

Qin Yiguan and the other two were slightly taken aback.

The idea of being perverted was widely circulated among the Qin Variants.

But this lack of morality is a fine tradition of the Ao Council!

The Underworld looked at the strange man with amusement. "So, you're one of the Core Aoke? Which one are you? The 5th? The 8th? The 188th? Haha, surely not tens of thousands! Your Ao Council is fighting amongst itself every minute!"

But the strange man's smile grew even more forlorn.

"I've already said it, I'm the real Core Aoke."

"I haven't made any outstanding contributions; I've merely invented the ' Multiverse Jump String,' which has opened the curtain on the Infinity prospects of the Ao Council."