I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

The night wind was biting, and the air atop Kunlun Mountain was so thin it seemed to freeze one's thoughts.

Gu Qing sat cross-legged alone on a boulder at the edge of the cliff. This was the core of the entire Kunlun Grand Formation and the closest place to the starry sky.

Looking down from here, you can see the lights still twinkling in the square halfway up the mountain.

The five hundred students were still awake. In order to catch up with the schedule and avoid being eliminated, they persisted in absorbing spiritual energy on this cold night.

This should have been a moving picture: the indomitable will of humankind in the face of adversity in order to survive.

But as Gu Qing watched this scene, a hint of indifference, which he could not control, flickered deep in his pupils.

[Sizzle...]

Accompanied by a faint electrical sound deep in his mind, the world before his eyes suddenly "displaced".

The figures struggling in the square have become blurred, replaced by countless floating, cold points of light and lines.

He looked at the boy who was practicing inhaling qi into his body.

In his eyes, it was no longer a flesh-and-blood person, but a functioning "energy conversion container".

[Target: Low-level carbon-based life forms (No. 042)]

[Status: Extremely low psionic conversion rate]

[Estimated lifespan loss: Due to the forced practice of this technique, his kidney function will fail in 40 years.]

Overall rating: Low-value unit. It is recommended to abandon investment of resources in this area.

Gu Qing's heart suddenly clenched.

It wasn't because I felt sorry for her, but because of... fear.

What terrified him was that when he saw the suggestion to "give up investing resources," he felt no emotion whatsoever, and even thought it was "reasonable."

"Is this the price to pay?"

Gu Qing looked at her hands. In the moonlight, her hands were as white as jade, yet they seemed to be losing their warmth.

As his faith continued to accumulate, emotions such as worship, awe, and fear flowed into his consciousness like countless streams. These forces not only shaped him but also assimilated him.

He is gradually becoming a true "god".

God, however, has no need for emotions. God only needs to calculate "gain and loss" and "cause and effect".

[Warning: Host's mental state is fluctuating abnormally.]

[A detection indicates that "human logic" is interfering with "divine decision-making."]

The system's cold voice rang in his mind, clearer than ever before, without a trace of emotion.

Gu Qing took a deep breath, trying to regain the feeling of being a "human": "System, I feel like I'm disappearing. The personality named 'Gu Qing' is being completely washed away by the massive data flow."

[Answer: This isn't disappearance, it's evolution.]

Lower-dimensional beings rely on emotions to maintain their groups, while higher-dimensional beings rely on absolute rationality to maintain cosmic order. Your perspective is ascending in dimension; this is an honor.

"Honor?" Gu Qing gave a bitter laugh. "To treat your own kind as a pile of data that can be discarded at any time, is that what you call honor?"

[Host, you are in a lot of pain.]

The system seemed to sense his struggle, and a highly tempting "rational persuasion" appeared in its voice.

[The host's current credibility reserve has reached a critical value.]

You have a new option.

Option B: Detachment.

[You can consume all your current faith power to construct a one-way spacetime tunnel through the system. You can then detach yourself from this mortal body and reshape a perfect divine form.]

The system will take you to a brand new star system 1 light-years away from Earth. There, the environment is beautiful, free from void threats, and you can act as the "Primordial God" to create a new, perfect civilization.

Gu Qing was stunned.

leave?

Now?

The simulation results show that Earth's civilization has a survival rate of less than 5% under void invasion.

If you stay here, you will most likely perish along with these natives.

[Leave, and you will gain eternal life and supreme authority. This is the optimal solution.]

This is a perfect deal.

Gu Qing slowly closed her eyes.

With a simple nod, he could escape this heavy physical body, this suffocating countdown to the end of the world, and the impending bloodshed and death.

He could go to a new planet and live a truly heavenly life.

As for Earth?

As for these students, and the billions of humans down the mountain?

On a grand cosmic scale, their destruction is nothing more than the dissipation of a speck of dust, utterly meaningless.

In that instant, Gu Qing admitted that he wavered.

As a biological instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, it is an allure etched into our genes.

"If we disregard emotions and only look at the data..." Gu Qing muttered to herself, "Leaving is indeed the only way to survive."

but.

When his fingers touched the cold rock beneath him, a memory suddenly surfaced.

That wasn't anything earth-shattering.

That was when I was seven years old, and I went back to my hometown for the Chinese New Year.

Heavy snow blocked the roads, and his father carried him, who had a high fever, for five miles through the snow to the hospital. His father's back was broad and warm; it was the safest haven in his memory.

The scene changes.

That was a history textbook I read when I was in school.

A hundred years ago, this land was also ravaged. Countless ancestors blocked bullet holes with their chests, built a Great Wall with their flesh and blood. Did they not know they would die? Did they not calculate the "survival rate"?

No, they've calculated it.

But they still rushed forward.

The scene then changes.

That was a scene he had seen on the news before.

A young firefighter gave his only gas mask to a trapped child, leaving himself to perish in the fire.

"Optimal solution..."

Gu Qing opened her eyes and looked at the dark earth beneath her feet.

This land is not perfect. The people here are greedy, selfish, and ignorant.

But here you can also find the warmth of your father's back, the taste of your mother's braised pork, and those fools who would die for others.

If he leaves.

This land is truly beyond saving.

Those children who are still foolishly cultivating will be torn to pieces on the first day the void descends.

The mountains that buried his ancestors would be devoured into ruins by monsters.

"system."

Gu Qing's voice stopped trembling and became calmer than ever before.

"Is your so-called 'evolution' just turning into a cold, lifeless stone?"

This is called absolute rationality.

"Screw your absolute rationality."

Gu Qing swore. This vulgar word made him feel a little more alive.

"I am a human being. At least I am now."

"This land nurtured me. I won't go anywhere until I've paid off this debt."

[Host, this is an irrational decision. You are choosing a path to certain death.]

"The road to certain death?"

Gu Qing stood up, facing the biting cold wind, her sleeves fluttering.

His gaze pierced through the clouds, as if he could see into the deep, dark depths of the universe, where greedy eyes were closing in.

"Then let me die here."

"At least when I die, I will still be Gu Qing, not a piece of code called 'God'."

He reached out and clenched his fist tightly in the air.

[Select Confirm: Reject Option B.]

As the choice was made, the pulling sensation that seemed to want to rip him from his emotions intensified instantly, as if it were a punishment for his ungratefulness. The excruciating pain in his mind almost made him kneel down, but he stubbornly held on.

He knew that this erosion would not stop.

As he grows stronger and his faith grows, he will one day completely lose his humanity and become a supreme god.

But before that day arrives...

"I will use this crippled body to hold up a sky for them."

Gu Qing sat back down on the rock and began circulating the Primordial Qi.

This time, however, there was a hint of gloom in his eyes that he had never seen before.

A question silently flashed through his mind, but he didn't say it aloud or let the system notice.

"system……"

Gu Qing didn't show anything.

He simply gazed quietly at the eastern sky.

There, as dawn breaks, the first rays of sunlight pierce the darkness and shine upon this land that has suffered many disasters yet remains vibrant with life.