Zheng Zha glanced down, and a cold sweat broke out all over his body. The Gene Lock activated instantly, his body's instinct moving faster than his consciousness. He immediately deployed Moonwalk, but his descent speed was too rapid; in that instant, he had already plunged another hundred meters. A single Moonwalk was barely enough to slow his fall.

Zheng Zha disregarded everything else and activated his "Destruction" state, his feet blurring into an invisible flurry of Moonwalk steps. Simultaneously, he drew the Hu Po Blade, aiming it at the ground. As his speed gradually diminished, he found himself less than ten meters from the surface. Zheng Zha poured all his strength into the Hu Po Blade, then hurled the weapon downward. With a violent explosion, the Hu Po Blade blasted a massive crater into the earth. Utilizing the upward rush of air from the blast, Zheng Zha finally managed to reduce his velocity to a manageable level. With another dull thud, he landed inside the newly formed pit.

Even though Zheng Zha had exerted every ounce of his power to halt the fall, the impact still threw him down brutally. His entire back screamed in agony, skin and flesh torn open. It was only due to his incomparably tough physique that he merely felt pain and escaped severe injury; an ordinary person would have been instantly killed by such a fall.

"Damn it, is this some kind of prank? As soon as I entered this pit, I felt hypnotized, and the voice of the 'Main God' told me some things."

"But Chu Xuan had already deduced most of those things! And what about below? The most crucial part—what’s below—is missing! Hell!" Zheng Zha sprang up from the ground, ignoring the severe pain in his back, and roared his curses into the void, not caring whom he was yelling at.

The moment he entered the pit, he felt as though he had been transported from the 'Main God' Space into the world of a horror movie. Everything became vague, a state suspended between sleep and wakefulness, where he distinctly heard the 'Main God's' monotonous tone reciting history, starting from the primordial chaos before creation.

It spoke of the origins of the Saints and the origins of the Cultivators, followed by an account of a cataclysmic war between the two factions.

This conflict had nearly destroyed Earth's entire ecological system, resulting in the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The majority of humanity perished. Afterward, the surviving Saints and Cultivators recreated humanity, using the genetic banks left behind by the previous civilization for mass propagation. Only then did humans recover from the brink of extinction, though countless millennia had passed by then.

It was said that in the great war between the Saints and the Cultivators, seventy percent of both sides were annihilated.

Yet, war proved to be the primary engine of human evolution. This massive conflict led both sides to gain a slight recognition of the other's "Dao"—their respective pursuit of evolution. The wise leaders on both sides concluded that when their powers combined, humanity could evolve to its zenith.

Or perhaps, the apex of this universe. At that point, space, time, matter, and energy would all be subservient to human will. The vast primordial cosmos would seem like humanity's domain. Both sides believed this pinnacle represented their ultimate evolutionary goal: the Sixth Stage Gene Lock prophesied by the Saints, or the Great Overarching Indestructible Golden Immortal envisioned by the Cultivators.

Although their paths, or "Dao," differed, and their interpretations of this ultimate power varied, because the previous prehistoric war had nearly shattered heaven and earth, the Saints and Cultivators ceased open conflict. They would not fight again until one side made a decisive discovery regarding the necessary power. But what they discovered then...

"Damn it, what did they find out? If you’re going to leave a message, leave it all at once! Don't be like that bastard Chu Xuan, only saying half of everything—that’s infuriating!" Zheng Zha felt as if he were being tormented by an itch he couldn't scratch. He desperately needed to know what the discovery was, what compelled the Saints and Cultivators to unite despite their differing "Dao," what drove them to build this 'Main God' Space, and what terrified them enough to leave behind so many last words. Even through a mere message without any images, Zheng Zha grasped the sheer magnitude of the Saints' and Cultivators' power. One faction could harness and control energy almost infinitely—a power clearly befitting gods. The other possessed high technology centuries, perhaps millennia, beyond modern human science, involving rune technology, countless magical cultivation methods, and wondrous artifacts. Never mind the rest; even the brief display of the ancient bell used by Chu Xuan could manipulate time and space for a short duration—an ability that surpassed even the gods! What kind of entity could instill such profound fear in both Saints and Cultivators? Aliens? Impossible! Even if ten thousand dreadnoughts like the Tiansha appeared, the Saints and Cultivators could slaughter them as easily as butchering dogs. Could it truly be as Chu Xuan surmised... that they were in a box, and the Ancients knew the method to transcend the box?

"Uh, that deduction isn't entirely wrong."

Chu Xuan's voice suddenly cut through the air, though it sounded weak and listless.

"Damn it, I knew you'd rigged that silver metallic plate with a surveillance function! You manipulative bastard, always playing games in the shadows... Wait, what's wrong with you? Why does your voice sound so weak?" Zheng Zha pulled out the silver metallic plate and shouted, but his shouting trailed off into confusion.

Chu Xuan was currently standing in the corridor of the negative third floor. Surrounding him were suits of armor riddled with bullet holes, resembling honeycomb, the holes emitting wisps of black vapor. Chu Xuan's Gauss pistol used spiritual bullets, which were indeed effective against these Black Knights. However, what shocked Zheng Zha was that one of Chu Xuan’s arms had been severed cleanly at the shoulder. The severed limb lay at his feet, while the Black Knight who had inflicted the wound had just been blasted backward by a Gauss round.

"When you entered that pit, I kept my focus entirely on you. I didn't expect that hypnotic effect to reach me as well. Although I heard those initial messages, losing focus during combat cost me an arm."

Chu Xuan calmly touched his severed shoulder. Though the bleeding had stopped, the exposed bone at the wound and the detached arm on the ground looked gruesome and horrifying.

Zheng Zha said no more. He maintained a strong faith in Chu Xuan’s combat prowess, certain that he wouldn't encounter any real danger in this horror movie world. Feeling slightly reassured, he finally turned his attention to his surroundings.

Only then did Zheng Zha truly take in his environment, and the ensuing shock defied description. This was no mere negative fifth floor; it was clearly another world entirely. The sky above was blood-red, illuminated by three crimson, translucent suns. The ground was entirely blood-colored as well. At first glance, the entire world exuded a terrifying, blood-soaked atmosphere. High above, near the apex of the sky, hung a black hole—a void so dark that faint outlines of earthen walls could be discerned within, though why that initial pit would lead here remained a baffling mystery.

"...This world looks awfully bizarre, doesn't it?" Zheng Zha mused. He then retrieved the Green Goblin Glider from his Dimensional Pouch, stepped onto it, and soared into the air. Once he reached an altitude of a thousand meters, he looked down, but the scarlet landscape stretched out endlessly below, vanishing beyond the horizon.

"Could it be an illusion? Chu Xuan, help me scan the situation here?" Zheng Zha was momentarily transfixed and spoke into the silver metallic plate.

"...Who do you think I am? That you can just command me to look?" Chu Xuan sighed with exasperation. "That device requires a massive amount of energy to operate. I can only propel it using belief power, or Lambda Drive, but belief power isn't infinite. Furthermore, what lies beneath you is very strange. I can only see the passage leading to the fifth layer, but I cannot perceive the space of the fifth layer at all. In short, you'll have to search down there on your own, and make sure you keep track of your position so you don't lose your way back."

Zheng Zha grunted his acknowledgment and stopped talking. He activated the Green Goblin Glider and flew toward the distance. After all, the large crater in the sky was clearly visible, resembling a black moon nestled among the three blood-red suns, making it conspicuous. As long as he didn't stray too far from that pit, getting lost shouldn't be difficult.

Zheng Zha zipped back and forth for a while. The area seemed boundless. In the short time he flew, he hadn't encountered a single living creature. However, not far from the sky-pit, he discovered another massive cavern. This hole dwarfed the previous one, forming an irregular circle. Its diameter was easily several thousand meters across, leading into a pitch-black, unfathomable depth.

"What the hell is this? This whole layer is like an entire world, vast and endless. It would take who knows how long to explore it all! We only have three days to safely return to the 'Main God' Space; staying longer costs reward points. Damn it, what does this mean? Another pit appears, inviting me to jump! Hell no, only an idiot would jump into that!" Recalling the near-fatal thrill of his fall, Zheng Zha cursed vehemently.

"Uh... this looks like Dragonlance, perhaps?" Just as Zheng Zha was raging and cursing, Chu Xuan suddenly interjected with this seemingly irrelevant remark, momentarily stunning him. After a long pause, Zheng Zha retorted irritably, "Of course, it's Dragonlance, is your mind scrambled?"

"...It could also be interpreted as a world based on the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, or something closely related. This rule system is quite interesting; it almost constructs a fictional world entirely through regulations. Within this regulated world, there is an area that strongly matches your current environmental conditions. Ah, that place is called the Abyss, and the creatures within are known as demons. The Nine Hells might even be a specific section of the Abyss, just one peculiar part of it..." Chu Xuan ignored Zheng Zha’s pique and continued speaking to himself.

Zheng Zha grew even more bewildered and asked strangely, "What do you mean? Why are you suddenly talking about Dungeons & Dragons?"

"Because I have a hunch about what they are trying to convey..." Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses with his remaining hand. "If I'm not mistaken, they are attempting to communicate something to us, but they cannot say it directly. Jumping into..."