The end of the world is approaching, I'm handing myself over to the country.

An invisible barrier surrounds the altar, and many players who rush in at the front become instantly stiff the moment they step in.

Unable to move or log off, they could only watch helplessly as they were imprisoned and pulled into an illusion, their faces filled with terror.

But the players behind them were completely unaware of this and continued to surge forward recklessly.

Just then, a terrifying pressure that sent shivers down from the sky descended.

The commotion within the entire altar area abruptly ceased.

The withered figure appeared silently above the altar.

She looked down at the bewildered, terrified, and confused faces below, her majesty as the ruler of the undead completely enraged.

"Damn ants!"

She raised her hand and gave a loose handshake to the crowd below.

In an instant, an irresistible force enveloped the entire altar.

Whether charging forward or imprisoned, all players' bodies began to wither and shrivel at a visible rate, their life force being frantically drained.

Players at this stage simply cannot withstand such damage.

Thousands of players vanished in the same instant, turning into white light without a trace.

The withering didn't stop; in the instant those players vanished, she tried to seize their memories and uncover the secrets of their appearance here.

However, to her surprise, Diao Ling discovered that the souls and memories of these ants seemed to be protected by an indestructible barrier, and her power was repelled by a supreme force of rules as soon as it touched them.

Unable to detect!

This made the dying flames of anger burn even more fiercely.

Withering slowly descended to the center of the empty altar, heading towards the figure bound by countless rune chains.

Zhou Jian was covered in blood and his breath was weak, clearly enduring immense pain.

But on his face was a near-manic laugh, a laugh that was silent yet more jarring than any other sound.

Seeing this expression, Diaoling knew that her guess was correct.

Withered walked up to Zhou Jian, looking down at him condescendingly, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Did you already know?!"

This time, Zhou Jian surprisingly cooperated.

He struggled to lift his head, his bloodshot eyes, tormented by pain, staring directly at the decaying figure.

Zhou Jian shook his head slightly, then smiled and spoke.

"I cannot predict the future, so of course I don't know."

Zhou Jian's voice echoed across the empty altar, each word a silent mockery of decay.

"But I am certain that my compatriots will never abandon me."

As he spoke, a confident smile appeared on Zhou Jian's face, which was covered with dark red blood spots.

Withering remained unresponsive.

Her anger no longer needed to be expressed through words.

Just then, the air at the edge of the altar twisted again, and an unstable spatial rift was forcibly torn open.

A player wielding a longsword cautiously peeked halfway out from the crowd, seemingly still bewildered by his bizarre teleportation.

However, the next second, his confusion turned into extreme fear.

An irresistible suction force appeared out of nowhere, violently pulling his body out of the spatial rift!

The player was waving his arms and legs in mid-air, shouting, "Holy crap! What is that?!"

His body flew uncontrollably toward the figure emanating endless deathly aura above the altar.

With a flick of her jade-like hand, she gripped his neck from afar.

She didn't even glance at the player, but simply brought him up in front of her as if displaying a trivial trophy.

"Snap—!!"

A crisp sound of bone cracking rang out.

Withered hands suddenly slammed shut, and the player's head was crushed like a ripe watermelon in an instant!

The scattered light points from the shattered red and white objects mingled together, only to be completely annihilated by the power of death in the next moment, leaving no trace.

After doing all this, Diaoling finally turned her emotionless gaze back to Zhou Jian, who was nailed to the center of the altar.

"These people couldn't have just appeared here for no reason."

She snorted coldly, each syllable carrying a chilling edge.

"Unless someone possesses spatial authority."

"It's the person behind you."

As Diaoling spoke, she kept observing every subtle change in Zhou Jian's face.

She tried to decipher the message she wanted from that face contorted with blood and pain.

But she was disappointed.

Zhou Jian's face was devoid of anything but that almost manic, ferocious grin.

He seemed completely unfazed by the bloody scene just now; on the contrary, he became even more excited by the death of his compatriots.

That wasn't gloating, but a martyr-like fervor.

"Haha...hahahaha..."

Zhou Jian let out a laugh that sounded like a broken bellows, and with each laugh, blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, but he didn't care.

With all his might, he raised his heavy head and met the fading gaze with a mixture of mockery and pity.

"Now that my compatriots have appeared, it means... your good days are over!"

"I will keep my eyes wide open until the moment you die."

These past few days, Zhou Jian had received no assistance or news, so he guessed that staying here would definitely be useful.

Therefore, Zhou Jian has been living life to the fullest, just waiting for this day.

As it turned out, his guess was correct.

Withering once again probed into Zhou Jian's soul, but failed again. Her spiritual power was repelled by a supreme power of rules, and her anger was ignited again by those words, burning even more fiercely.

"Just a bunch of ants."

Her voice suddenly rose in pitch, and the terrifying pressure caused the stones of the entire altar to tremble slightly.

"You really think you can hurt me?"

What angered Diaoling was not the arrogant provocation, but Zhou Jian's fearless attitude!

Kill him?

it's useless.

These beings, who call themselves "players," possess near-immortality.

Their souls were protected by some rule she could not comprehend; death was to them nothing more than a brief slumber, after which they would rise again as heroes.

Therefore, killing Zhou Jian is no different from letting him go!

He might be reborn in another place in the next second and then pass on this information to millions of his compatriots.

She can't kill him, at least not now.

This made Withering feel a long-lost sense of irritation.

She was used to being in control of everything, to having the power of life and death, but this guy in front of her, who was not even as good as an ant, had become a thorn in her throat in a way that she could not break.

Since the hard bones are too tough to chew...

The anger that had been burning in his heart slowly subsided, transforming into a deeper, more cruel coldness.

"Since you're willing to look, then open your eyes wide and give me a good look."

Withered straightened up, turned around, and faced away from Zhou Jian, leaving him with a solitary and resolute back view.

"Just watch and see how I... extinguish your hope, bit by bit, until it's completely gone!"