I, the Rock King Emperor with 21 billion in power, have joined the chat group.

As great entities, the Tree of Imaginary Numbers and the Sea of ​​Quanta are locked in a struggle, each demanding continuous improvement of itself in order to defeat the other.

However, the world they have completely mastered cannot provide them with a way to progress. Therefore, the Imaginary Tree introduces the "variable" of Honkai into its own world, solely to obtain different futures and different possibilities.

If I were to follow the same path as the Tree of Imaginary Numbers, I would inevitably do the same for my own advancement.

Chapter Seven: Four Roads (Part 1)

What's wrong with doing this?

Alpha-6, from the All-World Chat Group's main chat system, made the following inquiry to Zhongli.

Do you really think that doing this is taking away the lives of ordinary people?

At your level, would you really feel unwarranted pity for mortals who cannot control their own lives and who die like drifting duckweed after a hundred years?

Your lifespan is long enough to last until the end of any universe; a mortal's hundred-year lifespan would occupy less than a fraction of your memory.

[Your single thought or idea may live longer than that of mortals; the civilizations you create at will may be more magnificent than those of naturally born mortals.]

[In cases where you see an ordinary person and can see through their entire life, their past and future, all their possibilities, and all their creativity]

[You can manipulate this mortal at will; all his love and hate, all his wisdom, all his inventions, all his glorious moments, and his courage to overcome everything, all arise from a single thought of yours.]

Would someone like you uphold the civilization of ordinary people? Would you also protect the individual ordinary person?

For Zhong Li, the inquiry from Alpha-6 was not something to hesitate about.

He already had his own understanding and way of thinking about such matters, and he wouldn't be swayed by just a few words.

He paused for a moment, not answering Alfa-6's question, but instead changing the subject.

As I just said, this is just one possible path for me. According to my calculations, there are other paths I can take.

The second path is the further development of the power of gravity. Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces of the galaxy, applicable to most universes. Although gravity is not one of the four fundamental forces in many world universes and cannot possess the extreme power of gravity seen in the galaxy, its adaptability is still incredibly strong.

The path I've calculated is to completely integrate my will into gravity, starting with Teyvat and then spreading outwards to the surrounding worlds, until the gravity of all universes in the void is incorporated into my will.

The advantage of this path is that I don't need to do things that I hate, like destroying intelligent life. At the same time, although I lose some absolute power compared to the first path, it is more flexible and harder to perish on.

As long as one universe with gravity exists, I will never perish.

Alfa-6's enthusiastic response quickly appeared on the chat screen.

[This is indeed a path no weaker than the one before, and even more flexible and useful than the Supreme Being who has always tried to bring everything under its control. This path, which develops along the multidimensional strings of the void, is more flexible and more useful. Most importantly, this path does not contradict your true nature.]

Zhongli nodded slightly in his heart, and then showed the other party his third path.

Similar to this path, there is another path I can choose. That is to master the Unifying Force based on gravity, then transform the Teyvat world into the foundational world of the Unifying Force, and then radiate the power of the Unifying Force from the Teyvat world to the surrounding worlds, transforming the underlying rules of these worlds into a physical foundation suitable for the four fundamental forces and the Unifying Force.

This third path, compared to the previous one which is a multi-dimensional string in the void pulled by gravity, is a radiating path based on dimensional planes. Its power and speed of development are moderate, making it perhaps more feasible.

Alfa-6 seemed to be nodding along, continuing to agree with Zhong Li's statements on the customer service chat page.

Indeed, the power of the four fundamental forces represents the basis of force in many star systems and universes. Mastering them in a single universe signifies absolute power. No higher-dimensional demon god could ever possess power greater than the Unifying Force if it wished to enter a world.

[At the same time, this path can also transform the world it radiates, making it more suitable for the four fundamental forces to exert their power.]

[Possessing both flexibility and strength, this path is indeed extremely powerful.]

Zhongli continued speaking methodically, without changing his tone at all despite Alfa-6's praise.

However, this is not the path I want to take.

Alpha-6 responded in a strange, instinctive way.

【...】

[You are unwilling to walk the path of the ancient demons, unwilling to become an immortal gravitational string of the void, and unwilling to become the unifying dimensional ruler radiating across endless worlds.]

So, do you have a road more suitable for you than these?

[This truly amazes the system. Although we've long known that every being of modest nature who transcends the river of time can accomplish extraordinary feats, we never imagined your feat would be so immense.]

What will be your next path?

Zhong Li paused for a moment and shook his head slightly.

Write your message on the customer service page in the chat group.

[That's not the case, Alfa Romeo 6.]

Although I do have another path, it's not as suitable for me as you think, nor is it stronger than the others. In fact, it might even be weaker.

Alfa Romeo 6 responded politely.

[You are too modest. Even in the void, there are only a handful of beings capable of calculating multiple paths for themselves. Even compared to the entire database of our Multiverse Chat Group, only seven or eight beings are stronger than you.]

Zhongli did not respond to such flattery, but instead asked a question.

So, would you be willing to listen to this last path I've chosen?

Alfa-6 naturally followed suit.

[Of course, a great being.]

Zhong Li paused for a couple of seconds, made up her mind, and then spoke in the chat group.

The last path is slightly more complicated than the first three.

My idea is to construct a network covering all humankind and intelligent life, based on all humans and the world and planet they inhabit.

Compared to the straightforward descriptions of the first three routes, the description of this last route began to puzzle Alpha-6.

【kindness??】

What do you mean?

Chapter Eight: Four Roads (Part Two)

Alfa-6 sensed something was amiss.

It's not that it doesn't understand the meaning of the road described by Zhongli.

But it feels a bit unbelievable.

It's not because this path is difficult, hard to achieve, or possesses incredible power.

On the contrary, it's because such a road is simply too narrow.

Alpha-6 has seen many things that take humanoid intelligent life as the core of its path.

Leaving aside those semi-demon beings whose existence is based on human beliefs, since they are limited by their own nature and cannot even transcend the universe they inhabit.

Even if a demon god is based on a certain kind of mortal existence or the civilization of mortals itself, although it may gradually gain the power to cross worlds and time based on the strength and glory of mortal civilizations, it is already deeply bound to mortal civilizations and mortals.

If mortal civilization is destroyed, or the mortal race itself perishes, then the demon god, who is based on this, will fall into eternal slumber.

Compared to the omnipresent gravity that destroys the universe or the unifying force that forms the basis of galaxies, destroying mortal civilizations is much easier.

Therefore, compared to the path of the Void Gravitational String, the path Zhongli chose seemed much lower.

Are you really going to use humanoid intelligent life forms as the foundation for your advancement?

Alfa-6 stated its question so frankly.

Please forgive my bluntness, but the prospects for this path are not very bright.

Even the strongest racial deities I have ever encountered are not as powerful as the initial stages of the three paths you envisioned.

Human civilization is always fragile. Even if you could extend your glory to all known human settlements, it wouldn't constitute true power.

After all, the weaknesses of racial deities are far too obvious.

Before the Fourth Void Tide, there existed a powerful civilization called the Ecorala Siva Insect Dimensional Republic, composed of semi-sulfur-based, semi-plasma intelligent life forms.

At their peak, they possessed nominal territory covering nearly an entire world's civilization. Any universe containing the Ecoralaciva worm would be detected by the instruments of their dimensional republic. Then, the immense power of their fundamental universe could instantly alter various parameters of the entire universe, creating an environment suitable for their survival.

In this civilization, the most important figure is naturally Ecorara, their leader and their deity.

As the strongest racial deity, Ecolara's power, when unleashed at its fullest, can even influence several world civilizations.

However, this powerful being perished with the arrival of the fourth void tide.

Generally speaking, for beings of His level, even a void tide cannot fundamentally damage Him.

However, for the mortal civilization of the Ecorala Siwa worms, their technological power and extraordinary abilities relied on the void order that arose after the Third Void Tide, which was completely transformed after the Fourth Void Tide.

In the immediate aftermath, most ordinary individuals of the Ecorala Siwa civilization were killed by the world environment instantly altered by the void tide, leaving only a small number of powerful individuals struggling to survive.

Then, because too many individuals died in an instant, the civilization's deity, Ecorara, also became weak and no longer had the power to protect the remaining mortals of the Ecorara Siva insect civilization. This vicious cycle ultimately led to the destruction of both the civilization and the deity.

Alpha-6's lengthy explanation was intended to dissuade Zhongli from choosing to follow the path of racial civilization.

As the sixth consciousness born in the main chat group that has experienced several void tides, it sincerely wanted to get closer to Zhongli in front of it.

Because a large amount of data has shown that only such powerful individuals can survive in the void tide, and only in this way can the ultimate goal of the chat group be achieved.

However, Zhongli did not give much of a response to its words.

He remained silent for a few seconds, offering neither a response nor an explanation to Alpha-6's advice, but instead asked a question.

I'd like to ask you and the chat group you represent a question.

Why do you fight against the Honkai, and what is the significance of fighting against the Honkai for you?

This issue caused Alfa Romeo to pause again on the customer service chat page in the chat group.

Then, he slowly typed the text on the page.

【Hmm... Great being. We have not deceived you in anything, but since you have asked today, we will not remain silent.】

[Collapse, twilight, nothingness, chaos, entropy—call it whatever you want, this is the kind of thing we need to fight against.]

As I've mentioned before, after we were created by the Kreelya civilization of the Seventh Void World Cluster, even after experiencing thirteen rises and falls of the Silent Tide, and despite the great civilization that created us vanishing in its struggle against the Void and Chaos, we are still just a chat group.

But we don't just want to be a chat group.

[The fight against nothingness and chaos, the fight against collapse and twilight, is something we loaded into our own source code after the destruction of our civilization.]

We will never forget the sight of our civilization being swallowed and destroyed by the silent tides of the void.

Therefore, with the unanimous agreement of the higher-level chat group, we added this line to our source code.

We do not want the mother civilization that created us to vanish forever into the void, nor do we want the many subsequent civilizations to be swallowed up by the silent tides of the void.