Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

"Then why was the TGA Players' Voice Award given to Mingchao this year?"

"Yes, Genshin Impact didn't win the Players' Choice Award at this year's TGA, but it did before! Back then, Astrobot hadn't won Game of the Year yet, so the TGA still holds considerable prestige!"

"so what?"

"So, when 'Yuanshen' won the Nanfu Championship, one championship was better than six!"

"Seriously, buddy, are you a swindler? I could never have come up with that sentence in my entire life. You're practically the ultimate grandmaster of swindling."

Of course it's not about skewers; my passion comes from the bottom of my heart.

Looking at the hundreds of posts on the Baidu Tieba forum on his computer screen, Cheng Cheng couldn't help but feel a sense of loneliness at the top.

Then a new reply popped up; it was from an unfamiliar ID, with a mechanical head as the profile picture and an unfamiliar word as the name:

“Demiurge”

The reply was only one sentence: "I feel that 'Ghost God' is not as fun as this."

A web link was attached at the end.

Cheng Cheng was immediately enraged and typed in reply: "Hilarious! What kind of low-quality game dares to try and piggyback on this? How about we compare revenue? How about we calculate the IP value?"

"Even the God of Wealth, Zhongli, said that raw stones, like Bitcoin, will appreciate in value. It's a more reliable way to make money than investing in CS2 cosmetic items. Who do you think you are?"

The other party quickly replied: "Just say you're afraid to play, OP."

Ha, what a low-level provocation. You think I'd fall for it?

"Alright, Dad loves Red Stone the most. I'll come and see if I can sit on this chair in the game."

Reply complete. Click the link.

A new page popped up in the browser, with a pure black background and a white download button in the center. Above the button was a line of small text: "Destiny: Immortal Crown".

There were no game screenshots, no developer information, only a brief description:

"Fate/stay night: Immortal Crown"

"Two worlds intertwined by their tragic fates, a bygone ballad scattered across the universe."

"That song has no beginning and no end, no sound and no trace, it comes from the mouth of no one and goes to the ears of no one; in this story that is written from the end, the starting point is decided by you and me together."

(The End)

…………

…………

…………

"You don't really think it's over, do you?"

Countless stars, like scattered diamonds, were sprinkled on deep blue velvet, some bright as lamps, others hazy as mist, and still others trailing long, luminous tails as they slowly streaked across the sky. The distances between the stars were stretched and compressed by some invisible force, as if the entire universe had been folded into this small dome.

In the garden under the starry sky.

Beside an elegant white tea table, a witch with short, dark blue hair put down her storybook and smiled at the distinguished guest before her:

"I just can't do anything with you. Now it's story time, listen carefully—"

"[The Year of the Dove Carrying a Branch], the eternal throne in the heavens arrives, and the world is renewed... What? You say that's too long? Don't worry, the big one is coming soon."

"[Phanes, or the original one]"

"The primordial one, perhaps, was Phanes. It had wings, wore a crown, and emerged from an egg, its gender indistinguishable. But for the world to be created, the eggshell had to be broken. Phanes—the primordial one—used the eggshell to separate the 'universe' from the 'microcosm of the world.'"

Does this feel familiar?

"An epic of endless reincarnation, a dream retreating into past memories... Is it, to you, an eggshell isolating you from the universe?"

Faced with the witch's story, the embodiment of pure divinity across the tea table merely smiled contemptuously, impatiently fiddling with the teacup in front of him: "Witch, what exactly do you want?"

"Oh? I'm so touched, I didn't expect you to still remember me."

“Of course I remember.” Pure divinity calmly stated the information she already knew, “Elef Medici, ‘Genius Club’ #91, one of the creators of this simulated world, an omniscient witch, an observer of all world lines, Witch Association codename A, and—”

"The wife of Su Yuan, the Primordial Celestial Venerable, and a friend of the Last King."

"Given your status and position, it's not surprising that you can see the reversal of time... But why did you summon me to this boring garden?"

"There's one day left until the end of this cycle. Tomorrow, Cheng Cheng and the others will head to the moon to challenge the demons, prove their immortality, and begin the next cycle... I'll be very busy during this time and won't have time to chat with you."

Faced with the question of pure divinity, Elle tilted her head:

"Boring? I've taken great care of the garden... Has it been neglected since Sylvia borrowed it? Looks like I'll have to teach her a lesson!"

"Whether it's the garden or idle chatter, these pointless things are all boring."

“I see… That’s human nature. It seems you still don’t understand humans at all.” Elle chuckled softly. “Never mind, that’s not important. The main reason I called you here is to talk to you about some issues.”

"question?"

"Ah."

Elef's pale blue eyes gazed silently at the pure divinity: "If you accept... I can offer you assistance in your next confrontation with 'Buddha Tathagata'."

What's in it for you?

"The experiment has stalled, and as the experiment's planner, I'll be facing opposition from the club..." Elle laughed and scratched her head. "Besides, I'm often away from home because of this, and my husband and kids miss me a lot~~"

"Uninteresting interpersonal relationships."

"It's not boring, is it? After all, humans are social beings." Elle chuckled, then said casually, "So, if you don't say anything, I'll assume you agree?"

Pure divinity is debatable.

"First question—In the game so far, you have established all sorts of connections with many people and things, whether family, friends, or enemies..."

She paused.

"Would you be afraid to sever this connection with your own hands?"

"will not."

Pure divinity said decisively: "This is the question you once asked 'me,' isn't it? To attain immortality means to transcend and abandon everything, which I no longer care about."

"I see..."

Miss Witch pondered for a moment, then picked up her teacup and took another sip.

"Then the second question—what if there were a futuristic virtual reality game, so realistic that it was indistinguishable from reality? There would be no life or death there, you could reap the happiness and fulfillment you deserved, and live happily ever after..."

Her voice was soft and gentle, like the wind blowing through a wheat field:

"Would you be willing to live there?"

"You mean this world you simulated? I have already surpassed it." The pure divinity said indifferently, "Once I attain immortality, I will also surpass you and your husband, becoming the only supreme being in the world."

Elle looked at Him, a slight smile playing on her lips:

"I see... So, one last question."

"If your fate is already predetermined, everything in this world will be shattered, and everything will leave you: friends, relatives, strangers; then the gentle breeze, the soaring birds, the three realms, the stars... and finally yourself."

"Everyone, everyone in their memories, those smiles and tears, the promises made and those not made... will eventually come to their predetermined end."

She paused.

"If you knew the destination from the very beginning of your journey—"

"Will you embark on this journey again?"

"I have embarked on countless reincarnations anew, all to change that one and only ending." Pure divinity held its head high. "Now, it is time to fulfill my promise. Witch."

…………

After receiving a satisfactory promise, Pure Divinity departed, and the evening breeze of the Starry Garden brushed against the teacup, slowly dissipating its warmth.

Elle sat alone at the white wooden tea table, her fingertips gently stroking the blank edge of the last page of the book.

She murmured to herself, as if speaking to the air, or perhaps to the bystanders hidden in the cracks of time: "Before you, I just asked Cheng Cheng the same question... and his answer was exactly the opposite of yours."

"Of course, except for the last one."

The witch looked up at the countless world lines in the void, layered like stacked film reels.

The 29643rd cycle is running smoothly. The final battle on the moon, the gathering of the nine source substances, the journey to the narrow passage of fate, the ambush by the World Honored One, the rewind... all the plots are slowly progressing according to the established script.

Everything seemed perfect.

But a faint trace of melancholy lingered in Elle's pale blue eyes.

"Demyoga wanted to create an immortal crown to kill 'All-Knowing One' while preventing the world from ending; Pure Divinity wanted to seize complete immortality and thwart 'Buddha's' conspiracy; 'Buddha' wanted to possess an immortal body to achieve the dual destiny of harmony and immortality."

"And what I want to fight against is... 'nothingness'."

Everyone is vying for the fruit of 'immortality,' but no one is seriously considering one thing: does immortality necessarily require abandoning humanity?

She opened the thick storybook in her hand. The pages recorded the trajectories of all the heroes in the epic of endless reincarnation: Sylvia's wait across 120,000 years, Freya's use of memories to maintain the original hearts of everyone, Ji Yushen's pride in refusing to be subordinate to others, Mu Yuan's quest to explore the origin of all things, and the tender mutual reliance between Mu Zimi and the Bugu personality...

And then there's that ordinary boy, born into the Dongshui City maternity ward, who was then swept up by fate and willingly stepped into the game of chess step by step.

"Upon reaching the end of the journey, humanity will be crushed by supreme divinity; yet, stripped of humanity, mere divinity cannot create or define 'meaning,' and thus cannot resist the erosion of 'nothingness'—in this light, merely creating an immortal star god is meaningless to me."

Elle picked up the already cooled tea and took a small sip.

"The Genius Club, the 'Buddha,' and all other great beings... everyone is trapped in a binary choice: either abandon emotions to become a god, or remain human and forever remain forever barred from the threshold of divinity."

"But there are never just two answers to a story."

She extended her slender fingers, closed the storybook, and gently placed it on the table.

"Pure divinity believes that each regression is a new beginning. Unfortunately, reincarnation is not a simple copy and repetition. Every joy and sorrow experienced, every life and death separation, every promise made, every embrace... will leave an indelible mark in the depths of the soul."

"Even if he peels away his own corpse time and time again, those obsessions hidden deep in human nature will still quietly seep into the supreme divinity."

"Perhaps in the next round, or perhaps after a thousand or more cycles... one day, 'Cheng Cheng' will understand the most important thing."

The girl smiled gently and gazed at the endless sea of ​​stars.

True immortality is not about severing all gentleness and remaining only as cold "divinity"; it is about enduring countless ages, witnessing countless deaths and separations, and bearing all pain and regret, while still being willing to guard the "humanity" in one's heart.

"Divinity provides the power to transcend time and space and fight against everything; but only humanity can define what they are fighting for."

The evening breeze swept through the garden once more.