Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

The sun was setting to the west.

Laura sat on Gu Qing Shan's shoulder as the two of them made their way towards the setting sun.

"Hah, Gu Qing Shan, it tastes so good!"

She excitedly said while holding several large skewers of meat in her hand.

"It would taste even better with some beer, but since we might have to face a lot of issues, we can't be drinking alcohol"

Gu Qing Shan commented while handing a bottle of fruit juice to Laura.

In the sky, an occasional shooting star could be seen descending.

However, those shooting stars landed very far from their location, unlike earlier.

"It'll be great if we can get something else, like a lamb or chicken"

"No worries, the amount we currently have is enough for quite a while"

"Whoa, I just knew that traveling with you would be a great thing, Gu Qing Shan. Big sis Anna is so fortunate"

"…"

------we still need to travel for another five days in order to leave this world system.

Running into a competitor isn't a big issue, since we can fight or escape whenever we wish.

-------it's not like there are any rules stating that we can't flee if we can't beat them.

But what should we do if we run into an organized group?

Gu Qing Shan suddenly had such a thought.

He paused briefly, then continued to head forward.

"Whoa, Gu Qing Shan, look at how beautiful that sunset is, we should run towards it!" Laura excitedly said.

"Alright" Gu Qing Shan regained his senses and answered her.

Let's deal with the issue as they come.

This world is extraordinarily large, so much so that my inner sight can't even sense the border of the wasteland, so Laura and I shouldn't be so unfortunate to run into a whole group of competitors.

Gu Qing Shan's steps became wider as he began to run towards the sunset.

On his shoulder, Laura's cheers could be heard.

"Forward!"

…

The wasteland.

It was still a barren wasteland.

The location where Gu Qing Shan and Laura fought the bull.

Numerous people were gathered here.

They were all fully armed while standing in a formation as each of them carried themselves with a considerable degree of skill and experience.

Suddenly, all of them were startled.

A voice announced:

[Attention all hands present!]

[The guard group has met up with the leader and is currently heading towards us, they'll arrive in three minutes!]

[Remain vigilant, keep up your fighting spirit, don't displease the leader]

The atmosphere of the camp became even sharper.

A few minutes later.

Cha-clak! Cha-clak! Cha-clak!

A man covered from head to toe in metal entered the camp with two groups of Professionists around him.

"Hm, your spirit is decent, that's exactly how you all should be"

The man commented with a pleased tone.

His hair was fashioned into a mohawk, he had a cigar in his mouth, and was wearing black sunglasses.

-----other than his head, his entire body seemed to have been made out of metal, rather than being clad in it.

"Boss, we discovered something very unusual, would you like to take a look?" someone reported.

The man replied: "Of course I do. Now that the qualification battle has begun, we can't arbitrarily let any bit of information pass"

Still surrounded by his subordinates, he approached a mound of dirt.

"Now what do we have here?" the man asked with interest.

Behind him, a subordinate stepped forward and clapped his hands: "[Olfactory Rewind]!"

A thick but pleasant fragrance filled the entire area.

The metal man's nose twitched slightly: "This… could it be the smell of braised beef?"

The subordinate earnestly reported: "Not only that, but there was also beef shoulder roast, grilled beef liver, peppered beef willow, beef meatball curry, braised beef sauté with vegetables, wine-poached beef tongue, stir-fry sliced beef, smoked beef tail, as well as black pepper beef steak"

The man chuckled: "It seems we have a chef among our competitors this time"

"Leader, we've used technological cross-referencing to confirm that the bull was Sitar" the subordinate continued in a whisper.

The man's smile disappeared completely; his entire metal body gave off a small grinding noise.

A terrifying wave of killing intent erupted from his body.

"What----- did you------ just say----?" he practically emphasized every word.

"Leader… it truly was Sitar" the subordinate knelt down and reported once again.

The grating noises emerging from the metal man's body became increasingly louder and more rapid.

His surroundings became completely silent, everyone was holding their breaths while silently lowering their heads.

"If Sitar was killed, why didn't you continue to investigate?" the metal man asked with an unchanged expression.

"Because to activate the temporal reconstruction machine, we will need to expend 3.5% of the Society's entire wealth. Without your permission, we don't dare to activate it of our own volition" the subordinate continued his report.

"------Ahahahaha!"

The metal man suddenly laughed hysterically.

"That damned thief Sitar, legends had it that he would always be attracted by wealth and subconsciously approach places with boundless treasures------ I cannot believe that he would be the one to be completely devoured by someone else!"

"How very interesting"

"Relay my orders and activate the temporal reconstruction machine. I'd like to see just who killed him!"

With the metal man's order, the entire camp moved into action.

After not too long, a large machine had been assembled in front of the metal man.

The machine appeared almost like a giant cannon, but also similar to a thin and long washing machine.

"Activating in T minus five!" someone loudly declared as they operated the machine.

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

Spiraling ray emerged from the nozzle of the cannon to strike the small mound of dirt.

Instantly, a 3D simulation image of Sitar descended from the sky in front of them.

「 Two similarly smelly humans, you must be quite unfortunate that you ran into me before anyone else 」the bull declared.

Gu Qing Shan and Laura both appeared in the vision.

Staring with how he tossed his swords aside, unleashed his Realm Force, and killed Sitar, everthing was perfectly replicated for the metal man to observe.

Followed by the process of them making food.

"Enough"

The metal man waved his hand dismissively.

The entire vision vanished in a flash.

His subordinate cautiously asked for orders: "Boss, what do you say I organize some brothers and…"

The mental man tossed his cigar away and impatiently said: "Stop with the nonsense, that person's combat instincts and skills aren't normal. If you guys followed me, he'll probably notice before you even come close, so------"

"You're going by yourself?"

"Naturally"

A jet-black metal helmet suddenly emerged from his metal body to cover his entire head.

His eyes began to glow in blue.

[Discovered crime scene, confirming the target to be wicked]

[Causality Law has been established]

[Initiating Judgement of the Saint Cavalry]

[Begin!]

Boom-------

The metal man shot into the air like a blurred image and vanished from everyone's sight.

After he left, everyone sighed in relief.

"It's time for the Boss to pass his judgement again"

"Indeed, as long as he had witnessed the process of the crime, unless they honestly answered all of his questions, they would surely die"

"Against a criminal, the Boss' strength would be increased by 200%, no matter how sly that person earlier was, they wouldn't be able to win against the Boss"

"Naturally, no one had ever been able to defeat the Boss after he activates his ability"

"Alright, let's clean up and wait for the Boss to return"

…

At another location.

Gu Qing Shan was running towards the sunset while carrying Laura on his shoulder.

He suddenly sensed something and stood still.

What is this feeling?

Someone seems to be approaching-------

How fast!

"Gu Qing Shan, why did you stop running?" Laura asked.

"…Someone is pursuing us"

After answering, Gu Qing Shan drew his twin swords and shifted into a fighting stance.

He could sense that the other party would appear in about half a minute.

Suddenly, lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:

[You've been affected by a Causality Law]

[You've been confirmed to be wicked]

[This Causality Law is infallible, a judgement passed through justice, you cannot avoid it]

[Attention: The other party had become 200% stronger]

[Additionally, during the questioning process, you must honestly answer all of their questions, otherwise, you must follow an order from the other party------- this order cannot be refused, even if they ask you to commit suicide, you must immediately commit suicide as well]

Gu Qing Shan's expression changed.

Such a Causality Law exists?

If I don't answer honestly, I'll die?

He didn't have time to think anything else before the War God UI produced more lines of glowing text:

[In consideration that the other party has determined you to be a wicked target, your Title 'Pure Man' has been automatically activated]

[Your Title ability: 'Innocent' has been activated]

[Innocent: The entire Dusty World stands witness to your innocence, no one would be able to badmouth or accuse you without reason]

[-----Whenever you do anything or get caught in any incidents, keep in mind that you are innocent]

[Combat results: Innocent has triumphed over the other party's Causality Law]

[You now have two choices:]

[Firstly, using your innocent, immediately break free of the Causality Law's restrain and make it so that they do not become 200% stronger, but the other party will immediately realize this result]

[Secondly, accept the other party's questioning and let them remain 200% stronger, but you can choose not to tell the truth without the other party realizing it]

Right after Gu Qing Shan finished reading, a figure suddenly appeared from the horizon and reached him in mere seconds.

The figure had shown itself.

-------a metallic humanoid monster!

"Brat, who exactly are you?" the humanoid monster grinned and asked.

Immense killing intent radiated from its body, clearly targeting Gu Qing Shan without any intentions of hiding it.

Gu Qing Shan narrowed his eyes.

If this was the case, then naturally------

He cleared his throat and answered with a serious expression:

"I am the disciple of the number one Combatant from the Dusty World. My master has given me the qualifications to return, so I'm currently heading towards the center of the Dusty World"

Complete silence.

A gust of wind blew past them.

--------the metal monster was stunned.

My Causality Law…

Is working normally.

The metal monster looked at Gu Qing Shan again.

This guy was actually telling the truth.

In order words----

He's the disciple of the number one Combatant of the Dusty World?

Then-----

After not even a second of being stunned, the metal monster suddenly took off its helmet as well as its sunglasses to display a wrinkled smiling expression.

"Good brother, I've witnessed your grand figure from afar, so I wanted to come closer to say hi. After all, it was definitely predestination to meet one another in a vast wasteland like this!"

He lowered himself to greet Gu Qing Shan, then stepped forward and offered him a cigar.

"Ah? Weren't you full of killing intent earlier?" Gu Qing Shan accepted the cigar and asked curiously.

The metal man puffed his chest out and answered like he was surprised: "How could that be! You must have been mistaken; I was just excited!"

"But this cigar-------"

Click!

Before he even finished his words, a lighter had already lit the cigar.

"This cigar is from my personal stash. I've never shared it with anyone before, but since I can feel a sense of connection between us right as we meet, like heroes who happen to become acquainted among the masses of mundane people, I can't help but be emotional------ just take a drag and you'd understand the emotions that it represents"

"Really?"

"Enjoy it! Please, I insist!"