god of tomorrow

Gao Wen felt a bone-chilling cold surge from the depths of his soul, and his life force was being brutally drained by the tyrannical power. Watching his colleagues turn to ashes, he knew he was about to follow in their footsteps, so he closed his eyes and waited for death.

My eyelids felt heavier and heavier, and my body felt light and airy, as if I might be carried away by the wind at any moment.

I've never felt so empty before, not even on Valentine's Day.

Gao Wen had died once, but had a few extra days of life, and also had a time-travel experience. He felt that this was a huge win, and he had nothing to complain about; he was already satisfied.

However, the expected death did not occur.

One second, five seconds, ten seconds...

Although the weakness from the extraction still lingered, he did not wither away as quickly as others... his vitality seemed rather vigorous.

You can still draw!

A thought struck Gao Wen, and he quietly opened one eye.

Before his eyes, the vast majority of the gray mist surged toward the black abyss, feasting on it, while only a small portion clung to him and Vanvich, the latter looking terrified, as if he had gone too far.

Gawain wasn't mistaken; VanVleet had indeed gone too far. If the Chaos Sacrifice ritual truly had its intended outcome, it wouldn't be called a life-or-death gamble.

Van Vecchio made a mistake. Just moments ago he had been so dismissive of the elderly and poor, but now he seemed to be showing some respect for the dead.

He could clearly feel his life force rapidly draining away; magic and thought were both drifting away from him. Chaos had a voracious appetite, seemingly, possibly, perhaps regarding him, this devout sacrifice, as a offering as well.

It's chaotic, as it always has been.

"No...stop! I am your follower, I am the one who called upon you!"

Van Vecchi screamed in terror, his voice cracking, but it was too late. Chaos has no believers, nor does it need believers. It does not respond to calls, but only to sacrifices.

This offering is quite good. Putting aside the rubbish and scraps that can be ignored, the broken fragments of the underworld contain many laws.

Such an excellent offering shows great care and deserves a generous reward.

Look where everyone is.

As the gray mist dissipated, only Gawain stood there in the magic circle, looking completely bewildered. He was the weakest of them all, knew no magic whatsoever, and had only survived this long by sheer luck.

It's only you, that's you!

Click!

The abyss suddenly broke apart, with one section plummeting rapidly as if being controlled to rush forward, while the rest was swallowed up by chaos.

The gray mist representing chaos did not pursue. An indescribable, obscure power filled the entire space. It was formless and intangible, yet as heavy as billions of stars. It instantly crushed the magic circle of the sacrificial ritual and enveloped Gawain, suspending him in mid-air.

This time, no life force was extracted.

Gawain felt the world before him rapidly fading in color; the cave, the abyss, and himself—all tangible objects—disappeared.

He stood amidst an endless expanse of gray, like a deep ocean, like the vast universe, without distinction of up or down, front or back, only endless gray flowing slowly, a place that even the river of time could not disturb.

Gawain lost all sense of his body. His consciousness detached from his body and transformed into a fish, which then expanded into a giant whale, swimming freely in the chaotic ocean, instinctively swimming towards what he thought was ahead.

He didn't know how much time had passed—it could have been a moment or ten thousand years—before he grasped his target: a point of light floating in the vast universe.

Buzzing—

A deep hum resounded deep within the soul, like the roar of the beginning of the universe.

The chaos dissipated, and the gray mist vanished in an instant.

Gawain lost his footing and plummeted towards the bottomless abyss.

That's the feeling, he knows it well, he's been there before.

At this moment, Gawain's entire consciousness was immersed in a soft light, talking to himself, completely unaware of the outside world.

"What did you say? I got a magic spell that grants people's wishes?"

"What's the use of this thing? It can't... Wait, can I make a wish on myself?"

"A person can only make one wish, and I'm no exception... Okay, one wish is fine, as long as I can make one."

Upon learning that he could also make a wish, Gao Wen's mind immediately started working, and he pondered what kind of wish he should make.

Money, beautiful women, wealth, status...

It's too small; it limits your perspective!

"I wish for three wishes!"

"If it doesn't work, then forget it."

"Let me make another wish to myself: to obtain absolute power that surpasses all others, is irresistible, and is insurmountable!"

The underlying logic of everything is violence. As long as you have power, you can not only overturn the rules, but also make them. It is not wrong to wish for power.

"What the hell? What do you mean by 'can't be fulfilled'? What do you mean by 'find another one'? Someone like you has the nerve to go out and grant people's wishes?"

"Excuse me, is it not possible to pay more?"

"I can't add you because I'm fulfilling a wish, because I lack the ability, or because I don't have the money? Nonsense, these are all your pretentious excuses!"

Unable to reach the top in one step, Gawain settled for second best and made another wish: "I, Gawain, wish to myself, I want to become stronger..."

"system!!!"

Chapter 4 What a lousy system! Even a dog wouldn't want it.

Universal March 11, 2016.

On this day, Gao Wen made a wish to himself and obtained the system.

Good news: A bright future awaits!

Bad news: No future in sight.

After making his wish, Gawain's soul, or rather his consciousness, snapped back into his body like a rubber band that had been snapped back.

All I could see was pitch blackness, there was no sense of solid ground beneath my feet, the wind howled in my ears, and I felt like I was in freefall.

What's scary isn't free fall, nor is it complete darkness.

The darkness before us is not true darkness; there are still mountain cliffs and rock walls. It can only be called a precipice. Gao Wen has fallen there before and will not mistake it.

The black below is the real black.

The dark abyss lurks deep within the earth, its thick, inky blackness devouring all light, and its blinding death aura capable of severing even the line of sight.

A dead end.

A place where the living must not set foot.

Gawain remembered clearly that Vanvich had said that this pitch-black place filled with death energy was a fragment of the underworld, one of the offerings in the Chaos Sacrifice Ritual.

But weren't the offerings swallowed whole by Chaos? How come there are still leftovers?

Gao Wen was puzzled. He hadn't seen the scene of the Netherworld fragments being chased and devoured by Chaos, and the scene of the warriors cutting off their wrists to survive. He couldn't help but sigh that Chaos wasn't as bad as the rumors suggested. It was well-versed in the principle of harvesting resources and was a master of sustainable exploitation.

He's actually a pretty good person!

The whistling sound grew stronger, and we were getting closer and closer to the underworld. Now was not the time to discuss ingredients.

He, Gao, suffered assassination attempts and betrayals one after another. He walked on thin ice all the way. He finally reached the other side, outlasted Fan Weiqi, and completed a bewildered counterattack. He died by falling off a cliff, which he felt was very frustrating.

Besides, if you die from falling off a cliff before you time-travel and then die from falling off a cliff again after you time-travel, then you've wasted your time-travel experience!

"Tie……"

Mwah~~

Bang!

"Save me, Your Majesty!"

As soon as Gao Wenren opened his mouth in mid-air, the aura of death rushed over with the scent. As if some mechanism had been triggered, he would have been fine if he hadn't spoken, but as soon as he spoke, he was locked on. The Black Abyss suddenly stretched out its shadowy tentacles, and before he could finish his sentence, it dragged him straight into the darkness.

Even fragments of the underworld are still part of the underworld, existing in another dimension. The laws governing these two worlds are different. The momentum Gawain had accumulated during his descent vanished the moment he entered the underworld, sparing him from another second-dimensional tragedy.

Even so, the fall from mid-air was still quite severe.

The underworld also has gravity, and the acceleration of gravity will not let any carbon-based life form escape.

"Poop, my butt hurts so much..."

Gao Wen rolled around, clutching his buttocks, for quite a while. Because of his strong physique and amazing self-healing ability, what caused others to suffer severe injuries such as comminuted fractures of the coccyx, he only felt pain for a moment before quickly getting up.

"Oh, my ass, following you has brought me so much bad luck!"

Gao Wen patted his backside, still shaken, and looked around, trying to make out his surroundings, but all he could see was endless darkness.

Within the thick, indelible ink, a tangible liquid seemed to flow slowly, creating a chilling atmosphere in the land of the dead. The deathly silence rendered the entire world a single color: darkness.

It was eerily quiet; there wasn't even a whisper of wind.

Without starlight, without moonlight, and certainly without sunlight, the eyes become mere vents, making it impossible to judge direction or distance.

But at the end of the darkness, high up in the distance, there was a faint white crack, as thin as a white line. But when you looked closely, there was nothing there, as if it were just an illusion.

"Where did you give me this for?"

Is this the underworld? It really is a godforsaken place, just like the stereotype.

No, it should be the remnants and leftovers of the underworld, a beggar's version of the poor going bankrupt.

Gao Wen frowned. He had just escaped one danger only to fall into another; his luck was truly terrible.

The air was filled with a cold, old smell, much like the rotten smell emanating from the depths of a tomb. This aura was pervasive, seeping into his body through his pores. Although it didn't melt in his mouth like Chaos, it gradually eroded his life force.

No living person can withstand such torment!

Being exploited by chaos is one thing, but it stands at the top of the food chain. You, who are just sitting on the dinner table, are bullying honest people. You really think you're something special.

"Where's the system? Where did it go?"

Gawain snorted irritably. This broken system didn't even have an automatic protection function. It was hard to imagine that it was a cheat system he had made a wish for and tailored specifically for him.

What happened to the promised autonomous defense, omniscience and omnipotence, and godhood in seven days?

Understand your place: you're here to assist me!

[Host call detected. Activate system?]

A semi-transparent curtain suddenly appeared before Gao Wen's eyes, its black and white static flickering like a television screen without a signal.