Chapter 1860: Chapter 1858: Two Choices
Thus, led by the Evil Plague, the group arrived at the towering structure in the city center. Soon after, Fang Zheng and the others finally met the ruler of Osta, the legendary "Her Royal Highness."
In the almost pure white Osta, only this castle was all black. The pitch-black marble floor and ceiling reflected a light that made one feel as if they were in a pitch-black starry sky. However, nothing compared to the figure sitting on the chair.
It was a young girl, whose age was indiscernible, appearing around fifteen or sixteen years old, with pitch-black long hair and snow-white skin. Not only that, the most striking feature was that her eyes were covered with a mask, and the lower half of her face was completely sealed by bandages, seemingly deliberately preventing her from seeing or speaking.
Standing beside the girl, the elderly man exhaled and spoke.
"Osta City’s City Lord, Her Highness Wira Hecmatika is here again. Visitors, state your names."
"Hello, it’s nice to meet you, Miss Wira."
Fang Zheng stepped forward and nodded at the young girl before him.
"I’m Fang Zheng, and I have come here with a request for your permission."
"What business do the visitors have?"
The inquiry came from the elderly man again, although seeing the girl’s condition... likely she couldn’t speak?
"It’s like this, I wish to enter Osta City’s Core Zone, investigate your Core Reactor, and also help clean up after my predecessor."
Saying this, Fang Zheng sighed.
"To speak candidly, I am here to save the world."
"Eh!? —————!"
This time, it wasn’t the black-haired girl who screamed, but the girl hidden behind another pillar. At this moment, she peeked out in surprise, her emerald-like eyes widened, staring at Fang Zheng, as if she had heard something astonishing.
Wasn’t this the girl he saw during that Retrospection in the deceased village?
Seeing the girl, Fang Zheng was a bit surprised. Why was she here?
However, this thought merely flashed through Fang Zheng’s mind, and the next moment, a boy walked out from behind the girl, pulling her back.
"Why are you screaming? This is a serious diplomatic occasion, understand?"
"No, no, Mr. Zicholi, did you hear? That gentleman said he’s going to save the world, just like me!"
"Alright, shut your mouth!"
The boy covered the girl’s mouth and dragged her back, while others withdrew their gazes and turned back to the front.
"Insolent!"
The elderly man’s face had grown grim.
"Do you know what place this is? How dare you make such a demand? Do you even know—..."
"Forget it, I don’t feel like beating around the bush with you. I’ll be direct."
Fang Zheng sighed, interrupting the elderly man, then stared at him and the surrounding soldiers, speaking.
"The dead are a mistake."
"—————!"
With Fang Zheng’s words, the atmosphere in the hall became tense, the soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, and the air was filled with murderous intent. Even the girls behind Fang Zheng grew nervous, yet Fang Zheng continued to fix his gaze on them, speaking one word at a time.
"No, strictly speaking, you’re not even dead. You’re neither alive nor dead, suspended in between. This is an error, an error constructed by the world program. Of course, I know you’re victims too, so I’ve come here mainly to offer you two choices."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng raised his hand and extended a finger.
"First, let me enter the Core Zone, then I will adjust the Core Reactor, reconstruct the order of this region, turning you back into true undead creatures—not like now, neither alive nor dead creatures."
"You...!"
"Wait a minute!"
Yet just as the old man seemed to issue a command, the boy from earlier suddenly emerged and stared at Fang Zheng.
"What do you mean by true undead creatures? What do you mean?"
"It’s simple, like ghosts, spirits. This is the process you should undergo. See, a person lives, then dies, then their soul leaves the body, the body decays, the soul ascends—it’s a complete process. But now, your death process is stuck at the point of death, and your souls can’t leave your bodies, so you’re influenced by your decaying bodies. After I adjust, you’ll become pure ghosts, you won’t need to maintain your decaying bodies, you can appear as you did in life, do whatever you please, and you won’t have to worry about your spirit being eroded."
"...Is there really such a good thing? But there must be a price."
"Of course."
Hearing the boy’s questioning, Fang Zheng smiled slightly.
"That is, you can never again live in sunlight. You can live in eternal night, but sunlight will become your everlasting enemy. Once exposed to sunlight, you will be utterly destroyed, turning into ash... completely and utterly gone, no need for a Grave Keeper or any other steps. Of course, I’ll set Osta City to eternal night, but once you leave this city, prepare to face total death."
"..."
At this point, everyone fell silent. After a moment, the boy spoke again.
"So, what is the other choice?"
"It’s simple, you refuse my suggestion, and then I destroy the entire city, eradicate all the dead here, then proceed to the Core Zone to reset the order in this region—honestly speaking, for me, the latter is more convenient, if starting now..."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng glanced at his personal terminal.
"It will take about two hours to settle this."
"How presumptuous!"
"Utterly arrogant!"
Upon hearing this, others began to shout and scold in anger, yet Fang Zheng just stood there, shaking his head.
"See, I knew you’d say that, so at the very least, I should let you witness it firsthand..."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng raised his right hand and snapped his fingers lightly.
"Boom———!!"
Just like that.
Suddenly, the entire world turned bright red, and intense heat emerged, nearly overwhelming everything. At this moment, a soldier standing by the window screamed.
"You all, come and look!!"
Hearing the soldier’s words, the others hurriedly looked outside the window, and then—they were utterly shocked.
Above their heads, the once pitch-black night sky had transformed into an endless sea of fire, with blazing flames rolling like thick clouds, covering the entire city. At this moment, all the undead creatures scrambled onto the streets in terror, staring blankly at the sky, completely unaware of what might happen.
"That’s how it is."
Fang Zheng smiled as he looked at the people before him.
"For me, to destroy this city would take less than a minute. In contrast, going to the Core Zone might take longer. And if any of you doubt whether these flames can destroy you, rest assured, I can guarantee that this is even more effective than the death brought by the Grave Keeper."
After all, nothing but ashes remain.
"Who, who exactly are you?"
At this moment, the young man was no longer calm; he looked at Fang Zheng with a pale face, and Fang Zheng shrugged.
"A Deity. For now, you could say I’m a formally employed Deity."
"Huh......?"
"A God?"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, everyone seemed unable to comprehend and stood there in a daze. A moment later, the Evil Plague beside Fang Zheng suddenly roared and rushed forward, grabbing Fang Zheng by the collar.
"So, you are a god?! Was it you who abandoned us, making us like this?!"
"Don’t pin this on me. I’m a deity from the outside world, not the same as the deities of your world..."
Fang Zheng just snorted softly, and the next moment, the Evil Plague released his grip and fell heavily to the ground.
"...And to be honest, your world never had any deities from the start."
"Nonsense, how is that possible!"
Hearing this, the Evil Plague, lying on the ground, raised his head and pointed at himself.
"No one dies, and no one is born. All the suffering we go through, if not caused by gods, then by whom?!"
"It was merely a program left by the god, and everything you’ve encountered...well, it wasn’t that you angered the god, nor did you do anything wrong. It’s just that the program...malfunctioned."
"Mal...function?"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s response, the Evil Plague seemed to lose all strength, sitting dumbly on the ground.
"That’s right, just a malfunction."
"Are you saying...in this world, our world...the suffering endured by tens of thousands of people was merely due to some malfunction in what the deity left behind?"
"I know it’s hard for you to accept, but it indeed is the truth."
Fang Zheng shrugged.
"To deities, you’re really too insignificant, too negligible. Your suffering and pain...well, they’re not even present here, so there’s no question of whether they care or not."
"Then, why do you care about us?"
"Because your existence endangers this world."
At this, Fang Zheng’s expression became serious.
"As I said earlier, you no longer count as the living or the dead; you are ambiguously hanging between the boundaries of life and death, which is wrong. If you continue to exist like this, it will lead to a complete collapse of the world’s orderly boundaries. So, you can either choose to stand firmly on one side—either in life or death—or be annihilated."
Fang Zheng looked at the people before him and raised his hand once more.
"I’m not a devil, but I do have my boundaries. The existence of order cannot be disrupted, and the destruction of the world cannot be tolerated. Therefore, I offer you a choice, either truly becoming The Fallen or choosing complete annihilation. It’s up to you to decide."
At this point, Fang Zheng snapped his fingers, and in the next moment, the sky-filling flames recoiled in a spiral, then people watched in horror as the roaring flames flowed from the window, converging at Fang Zheng’s fingertips, ultimately shrinking to the size of a lighter’s flame.
"I’ll give you one day. At this time tomorrow, I will come to hear your answer."
