Chapter 16
Su Mo's lips curled slightly as he watched Liu Dajun, whose soul drifted farther and farther away, his face filled with resentment, regret, and pain.
Of course, Liu Dajun had only learned this information because Su Mo had deliberately revealed it.
Originally, Su Mo had intended to genuinely give them a thousand years.
In fact, if he wanted to, giving them a few extra years would not matter. It would only amount to a few extra minutes, anyway.
It was not as though he had never done something like that before. Once, for instance, he had lost track of time while scrolling through short videos of pretty girls.
He had destroyed the world over ten minutes late, equivalent to five years within the Microcosm. So, in truth, Su Mo was indifferent to whether he destroyed the world a little early or a little late.
It would not affect him at all, after all. But this time was different.
Previously, he had merely wanted to see what these people would do, having learned so much and made so many preparations, especially with a transmigrator among them.
He had even wanted to know just how far they could ultimately go. But he had never expected these bastards to stir up so much trouble!
Stirring up trouble inside the Microcosm was one thing. Now they wanted to bring it into the real world, and that was something Su Mo absolutely would not permit.
Still, although Su Mo did not care about destroying the world early, these people had spent so many years preparing. He did feel a little embarrassed about not playing by the rules.
After all, according to the information they had obtained, the world-destroying calamity came once every thousand years. Although they were only two months short this time, a thousand years had still not passed. So Su Mo did feel a little guilty.
But what could he do about that guilt? He could hardly let these bastards actually make it to Earth. That was absolutely impossible.
Thus, Su Mo decided to put this on Liu Dajun's head.
In truth, he was destroying the world early because of Liu Dajun's actions in the first place, so it could hardly count as unfairly blaming him. It was simply a fact.
Had Ultra V known what Su Mo was thinking, he probably would have started cursing on the spot.
You were the one who wanted to see how far our civilization could ultimately go.
You were the one who wanted to see what else we could pull off.
And now that we've actually pulled something off, you're unhappy!
Are you even human?!
I'm asking you, are you even human?!!!
Watching the meteor shower and monster army racing through the starry sky toward Blue Star, Liu Dajun's soul dropped straight to its knees and frantically kowtowed toward Su Mo.
"Please, spare them! I was the one who proposed opening a gateway to another world. If you want to blame someone, blame me! Please, spare them!"
Su Mo said nothing and simply kept accelerating the monster army.
Unless he hurried, those bastards really would lock onto the coordinates.
It was not as though Su Mo had never considered sealing this passage outright. He could do so whenever he wished.
But he remained unwilling to do that, solely because he thought he might introduce more transmigrators or things like them in the future.
So this time, he would find the loophole in the Microcosm and patch it. In the future, only those he allowed would be able to enter his Microcosm through specific methods.
As for everyone else, especially those inside the Microcosm, they absolutely would not be allowed to go outside.
Watching the meteors and monster army continue accelerating, Liu Dajun broke down in tears.
"Why?! Why?! Why can't you spare this civilization?!
"Every mistake was mine! If you want to punish someone, punish me!"
That terrifying being, so enormous that its boundaries could not be seen, said nothing. He simply stood there quietly, like an emotionless robot.
His cries and pleas had no effect whatsoever.
Turning to look in the direction he had come from, he did not know why he could see things even more clearly after leaving his body.
Not only could he see Zoffy and the others leading an army of Ultraman above Blue Star in search of the Starry Sky Giant Mosquito,
he could also see Ultra V and the others in the laboratory, their faces filled with excitement as they attempted to open a gateway to another world.
Even the body he had used for two hundred years was perfectly clear to him now.
The sight of the scarlet cape behind him and the gleaming duke's badge on his chest, signifying his status, was especially blinding.
How he wished he could return to that laboratory immediately and tell Ultra V everything he had seen.
Even more, he wanted to return to three days ago and give the version of himself who proposed this plan two vicious slaps.
But everything was already too late.
Wrapped in enormous flames and accompanied by a terrifying number of monsters, the meteor shower had already approached Blue Star's star region and could enter Blue Star's vicinity at any moment.
And Zoffy and the others, still searching the starry sky for the Starry Sky Giant Mosquito, regarded as the Ultra civilization's final and most promising hope of escaping the world-destroying calamity, would bear the brunt of it!
At this sight, Liu Dajun knelt in the void, his eyes nearly splitting with anguish. He kept hammering his fists against the void, roaring again and again in regret.
"If only I'd known! If only I'd known, I should have listened to King Ultra sooner and hurried back to my original world.
"If I'd gone back to my original world then, none of this would have happened! But why was I so stupid?!
"Why did I think I was so clever? Why?!!!"
"Even-even if I hadn't chosen to return to my own world, even dying there would have been better than this!"
"If I hadn't created Ultraman back then..."
"Perhaps-perhaps coming to this world was a mistake. I should never have come here. I should have died long ago!!! I'm sorry, everyone. I've doomed you. I'm a sinner against the entire Ultra Empire!"
Within the soul passage, Liu Dajun's regret reached its absolute peak, but he could do nothing except watch helplessly.
Two murky tears rolled down his despairing cheeks. A moment later, they became tangible and fell out of the void.
The instant those two tears appeared, the Simple Brain-Dead System Su Mo had made immediately began beeping with alerts.
[Beep, beep, beep. Supernatural item detected!] [Beep, beep, beep. Supernatural item detected!]
Su Mo frowned at the brain-dead system's alerts. What the hell is this?!
Why has it detected another supernatural item?!
Why would something like that appear in my magicless Microcosm?
Then he noticed two crystalline droplets in the void.
With just one glance, the entire process through which the droplets had formed and appeared replayed rapidly before his eyes.
Su Mo frowned slightly. Under normal circumstances, Liu Dajun was currently a soul and could not possibly shed something like tears.
But after reading the system's inspection report, he finally understood what had happened.
[Soul Tears: Tears with a one-in-a-million chance of forming only when a soul's despair, regret, and resentment reach their absolute extremes.] [Divine Rank: 3.14] [Level: 3] [Effect: Has a chance of bringing the supernatural into being in a lower universe.]
Looking at these tears that represented ultimate despair, Su Mo was rather surprised. Their Divine Rank aside, not only were they an item that would possess level-three quality even in a supernatural world, but they had also been born in this magicless Microcosm.
As for their Divine Rank, Su Mo found nothing strange about it. After all, Liu Dajun originally came from a world with a world rank of 3.14, so it was hardly strange for the supernatural items he produced to possess that Divine Rank.
With a thought from Su Mo, the two Soul Tears landed in his hand.
He looked at the tears in his hand. They were only the size of water droplets, yet placed within this Microcosm, they were no smaller than enormous lakes.
After some thought, Su Mo ultimately put the two tears away.
With these things, perhaps developing technology would no longer be the only path available to his world in the future.
But even if he developed the supernatural, it would not be now. This civilization's time to perish had already come. It would have to wait until the next civilization.
Who told you to know too much?
And you even tried to open a gateway to another world. If you don't die, who should?
But rest assured. After your civilization perishes, I absolutely won't let the next civilization follow your old path.
Consider it your contribution to this world.
Still, I really do have Liu Dajun to thank this time.
Without him, where would I get a supernatural item like this? Transmigrators really are good things.
Liu Dajun wanted to go back and tell Ultra V everything he had seen. He wanted to tell Zoffy and the others to leave immediately. Only by running-the farther, the better-would they have a greater chance of escaping this unprecedented and most dangerous world-destroying crisis.
But he found himself drifting farther and farther from the body he had inhabited for two hundred years. No matter how hard he tried, he could not return.
He could only watch helplessly as Ultra V and the others continued striving to open a route to Earth's world.
He could do nothing, only rage impotently within this passage leading back to his own world.
In the distance, a light appeared. He could already feel that once he passed through that point of light, he would return to his original world and his own body.
But at that moment, he would rather have died than return to his own world to scrape out a life alone.
He simply could not bear the weight of an entire civilization.
Nor could he live peacefully in his original world after learning that he was the chief culprit behind this civilization's destruction.
He was a sinner, a sinner against the civilization of the entire Ultra Empire!
Yet they still treated him as a hero and granted him the title of duke. He was nothing but a bastard!
But no matter how Liu Dajun struggled, roared, or bellowed, it was only impotent rage.
Nothing he did had any effect anymore. Just then, that point of light suddenly erupted with a tremendous suction force.
The next instant, his soul vanished from the Microcosm in which he had lived for two hundred years.
...(Liu Dajun did not belong to the Ultra civilization, and his soul belonged here even less, so even leaving would not affect the protagonist's Divine Rank.)...
In the starry sky, a young man noticed specks of starlight lighting up in the distance and asked the person beside him in confusion, "Lord Zoffy, what is that?"
Zoffy initially thought they had discovered the Starry Sky Giant Mosquito. He turned to look, and his expression instantly changed dramatically. "World destruction! Giant meteors!"
Hearing this, Original Ultraman also turned to look. But his eyesight was better. Not only did he see countless meteors, he also saw monsters with six legs and hard shells.
They had seen these monsters before. They were the Black Armored Beasts that had appeared the first time!
"No, impossible! How is this possible? Wasn't it supposed to be a world-destroying flood this time? Why are there meteors? This isn't real! This isn't real!
"The fortresses! Our fortresses can't withstand impacts from meteors like these! No! We have to intercept all these meteors..."
[ Mmph, mmph~ ]
Before Original Ultraman could finish, Zoffy clamped a hand over his mouth. Then, ignoring his struggles, Zoffy issued an order. "By order of Ultra V, I hereby assume the position of supreme commander of the Giants of Light. Everyone, heed my command: abandon Blue Star!"