"Hahaha, you idiot, you deserve it! I timed it perfectly to use the Primordial Chaos, finally taking you down, didn't I? Trying to scheme against me? Damn it, you're not that bastard Chu Xuan, how could you possibly outmaneuver me so easily? What a joke! Those childish tricks, I could see right through them instantly! Hahaha, after being plotted against so much by that bastard Chu Xuan, how could such petty games catch my eye? Didn't I still kill you in the end? Hahaha..." Zheng Zha ignored the dumbstruck looks of those around him, letting out loud shouts to vent his exhilaration. After a long moment, he finally looked at everyone with a laugh, "I'm back. I thought I'd be resting quietly in the Ring world, but who knew the fighting there would surely be more intense than in the Galaxy? Hahaha, good. It means I've improved, and now I can really have a blast in the final battle."

The surrounding people were still somewhat stunned. Putting everything else aside, Zheng Zha's current state alone was strange to them. Before entering the Ring world, Zheng Zha hadn't been in high spirits; in fact, his mood could only be described as slightly low as he desperately sought his so-called enlightenment. Who knew that after returning from the Ring world, he was suddenly buzzing with energy as if he'd been pumped full of adrenaline, looking eager to wreak havoc in the final battle.

"...Could it be you were seducing hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful elf maidens in there? And then had hundreds of rounds of intense action, coming back completely invigorated?" Cheng Xiao asked with a filthy grin.

"Beauties... hundreds upon hundreds of monsters would be more accurate."

Only then did everyone realize that Zheng Zha's physical condition seemed a bit odd; he wasn't in the Submerged Dragon Transformation state.

He was just sitting on the skeletal horse looking like an ordinary person.

Even the imposing aura he once possessed was gone.

There was only a sense of calm and indifference; his presence was like that of a common man.

"You said you just used Primordial Chaos, Heaven and Earth Sundering?" Chu Xuan suddenly asked.

Zheng Zha laughed heartily, nodding as he did so.

Judging by his appearance, he truly didn't look like someone who had just used the move Primordial Chaos, Heaven and Earth Sundering.

At least, he wasn't showing the extreme exhaustion and injuries he usually displayed after unleashing it.

Zheng Zha nodded, "Don't look at me standing here so easily now. I'm actually so exhausted I'm about to collapse. Let me get a full repair first, hahaha. I'll tell you about my experiences in the Ring world in a bit."

As the words fell, Zheng Zha immediately called out for a full body restoration to the "Main God."

Indeed, as Zheng Zha had claimed, the duration of this repair was very long, only slightly shorter than when he was on the brink of death previously.

"This is a new skill I learned in the Ring world... the Death Endurance Technique. I learned it from the Barbarians, and it works quite well. At least after using Primordial Chaos, I don't instantly lose my combat effectiveness. This gives me an extra edge in the final battle."

Zheng Zha smiled as he spoke to the others, then proceeded to detail his entire experience in the Lord of the Rings.

Nothing much happened when he first arrived, as he had a lot of things to redeem points for. He spent over twenty thousand reward points, so he took the opportunity to visit the Elven and Human territories and check in on some friends he had fought alongside before. This period was relatively peaceful. He was still searching for that moment of enlightenment.

But the good times didn't last long. About a month later, a new situation arose. Black-armored cavalry, originating from an unknown place, began appearing in the Human territories. Their objective was simple: find and capture Zheng Zha.

"These cavalrymen are incredibly strong. Uh, they should be comparable to the combined might of seven, no, eight Nazgûl. There were over eighty of them, and you can't imagine the aura they projected—it was terrifying. They routed the human cavalry corps as if it were a game. I happened to be on the snowy mountain when it happened. When I returned, Rohan was on the verge of extinction." Zheng Zha said with a sigh, recalling the scene of that battle. Even he sustained multiple injuries. In the end, he had to activate the "Annihilation" state to wipe out the majority of the cavalry. However, about a dozen cavalrymen managed to escape in different directions. That battle left bodies strewn everywhere; the entire Kingdom of Rohan suffered devastating losses.

"This was just the beginning. Afterwards, the Elven territories were also attacked. Although most of the Elves had already departed for the Land of the Gods, the contingent remaining on the continent, led by the Elven Queen, was still formidable. Several of their archers could use Triple-Shot Burst Arrows, and the strongest among them could occasionally use Quad-Shot. Despite this, their realm nearly fell. The attackers this time were vast numbers of corrupted Orcs."

Zheng Zha ticked off his fingers, "Do you remember? Gandalf the White Mage died and was resurrected, saying a God brought him back and commanded him to help us... The ones attacking me were actually Gods, or perhaps I should call them Demons. Anyway, they are all creatures of the same lineage."

"In the world of the Ring, there are beings like Gods, though they are merely high-level beings with superior strength. Such beings do exist. They discovered something in that world... they realized they were creatures in a box—funny, right? They discovered the existence of the 'Main God' and intended to infiltrate the 'Main God' space. Their method was simple: capture and control me."

"These beings are divided into two factions: one that champions good, called Gods, and one that champions evil, called Demons. The army attacking me this time belonged to the Demons. In truth, the Gods' army was also stirring. They didn't know how long I would stay there, so to prevent my escape, and because my strength had shocked them greatly in the initial confrontation, they decided to only besiege the Elven and Human territories, hoping to force me out. What an infantile idea! Hahaha, compared to that guy Chu Xuan, they aren't even worth calling children." Zheng Zha roared with laughter.

(Did he eat too many losses from Chu Xuan's schemes that now any slightly lesser plot allows him to mock it with such glee?) The others listened, wiping sweat from their brows, as Zheng Zha continued.

"What followed was quite interesting. The champions among the Humans and Elves approached me and shared their plan. These people had long grown weary of the hidden control exerted by the Gods and Demons, especially after what happened with the One Ring. That event significantly weakened the strength of the three races—Humans, Elves, and Dwarves—and the shadows of the Gods and Demons were clearly behind it. So, they decided to borrow my power for a decisive counterattack and to rally other races to join the fight against the Gods and Demons."

"*Speaking of which, I must mention the space of the Gods and Demons..." Zheng Zha said seriously, "The Gods and Demons reside in another dimension within that world. Describing it is somewhat like folded paper, only the space of the Gods and Demons is smaller. They occupy the upper and lower surfaces of the main world, respectively. The entrance to the Gods' space is overseas, and the entrance to the Demons' space is underground. This was information gathered by the world's champions from certain ancient texts. The Gods and Demons can temporarily open these entrances to appear on the continent of the Human world, but once this entrance is opened, it cannot be closed until time runs out; even the Gods and Demons cannot close it. That was the idea put forth by those champions: take advantage of this exposure to eliminate them..."

Chu Xuan asked with interest, "Oh? So what did you do?"

"Our plan was to first raid the lair of the Demons, as they exposed themselves first. But the combined armies of the Humans, Elves, and Dwarves at that time were far inferior in both quantity and quality. The Demons' lair held many devils, as well as the Undead and corrupted Orcs. It would be incredibly difficult. So, for the first two months or so, Aragorn and I focused on seeking out forces willing to join the Human alliance, such as the long-vanished Cyclops tribe, or trying to find the Eagles or Barbarians to assist us. Around this time, a large contingent of Elven troops returned from overseas—an elite force. Although there were only about a thousand of them, they could all use Double-Shot Burst Arrows and possessed Battle Aura shields, making them quite powerful."

"My Death Endurance Technique was taught to me by the Barbarians. Their Berserk skill is similar to my explosion; to avoid immediate collapse in combat and allow time to return to their tribe for treatment, they developed the Death Endurance Technique, which consumes a large portion of their remaining lifespan in advance to balance the damage. This contingent of 500 Barbarians was wiped out later, but they took down a hundred times their number of demonic monsters—truly a group of incredibly strong men."

"Then we launched a surprise attack on the Demons' lair entrance near the Death Volcano... That fight was intense. Only myself and a few others went in lightly armed, and in the end, we managed to kill seven Demons in the Demon Palace..." Zheng Zha recounted it casually, but everyone knew the reality couldn't have been that simple. That battle must have been brutally gruesome; even surviving with nine-tenths certainty of death would have been a good outcome... And to take down seven Demons in one go—never mind the Black-Armored Cavalry earlier, the strength of these seven Demons must have been..."

"That's right. I used Primordial Chaos, Heaven and Earth Sundering then, otherwise, our group would have certainly perished there. Thanks to the Death Endurance Technique, I managed to reach the Elven realm just before death. Many Elven mages treated me, and they soaked my entire body in a mysterious liquid. Even so, it took me half a year to regain my combat strength. By this time... the Gods' army had already conquered the Elven kingdom and Gondor. I had been on the run for over three months. The Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and the allied forces of various races had suffered heavy casualties and could only huddle in the lands of Rohan, barely clinging to life."

Zheng Zha sighed here, saying helplessly, "I am not omnipotent. Even though I gained further improvements after that near-death experience, reaching the threshold of the Fourth Tier Upper Rank, I hadn't truly entered it, nor could I use Primordial Chaos, Heaven and Earth Sundering indefinitely. The Gods' army included many White Robe Mages. If I had recklessly charged in, even if I used Primordial Chaos to slay a few Gods, I likely wouldn't have survived. Many Elven mages died healing my wounds; at that time, they probably couldn't find that many Elven mages again."

"Fortunately, at that point, there were only half a month left until my scheduled return to the 'Main God' space, so I led the remaining army toward the place where I entered the Ring world. And the Gods were truly foolish to let us travel in that direction, merely deploying troops ahead to set a massive net. It seemed they wanted to trap and kill us—such idiots..."

"What happened next was simple: breaking through the siege, another round of fighting, and then stalling until my scheduled departure time. I unleashed Primordial Chaos, Heaven and Earth Sundering with everything I had. Except for one God who escaped, I killed all the others. The strongest God, in particular, I beat his head into a bloody pulp, hahaha..." Zheng Zha laughed loudly, but his laughter held a trace of sorrow, as the people in that world were companions who had fought alongside him. In the previous battles, especially attacking the Demons and killing the Gods, nearly all of them had already died...

"What kind of beings are the Gods and Demons?" Chu Xuan suddenly asked.

"Uh, Gods and Demons? They look human in appearance and form, but they possess energy within their bodies, and the attributes of that energy differ. From a certain perspective, they are more like humans in that world with extremely powerful Battle Aura. Or perhaps, humanoid beings," Zheng Zha mused.

Chu Xuan simply hummed and headed toward his room. Everyone's heart skipped a beat; Zheng Zha was the quickest. He grabbed Chu Xuan by the arm, "You little brat must have figured something out, haven't you? The Lord of the Rings horror movie world was created by the 'Main God' and is completely different from the original Lord of the Rings in the real world. The 'Main God' designed it this way for a reason. I don't understand that reason, but you must have thought of some possibility—spit it out! We want to know too!"

"...There's nothing." Chu Xuan turned his head indifferently without saying much.

"I don't believe you! You're definitely plotting something!" Zheng Zha held him fast, his mouth never ceasing its questioning.

"Let me make a guess," Xiao Honglu, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. "Could this be an auxiliary hypothesis from when the ancient Sages and Cultivators created the 'Main God' space?"

"Auxiliary hypothesis?" Everyone asked curiously.

"Yes, an auxiliary hypothesis. It's like... well, if you have a certain conjecture about something, but you aren't sure, you need to run an experiment. But if this experiment takes too long or costs too much, and the return on investment isn't guaranteed, or you can't wait for the results, you might just throw in some experiments after completing the main objective to test that hypothesis—like the Lord of the Rings."

Xiao Honglu ran a hand through his hair and continued, "From what we know currently, the ancient Sages and Cultivators reached a certain level of power on their own and gradually discovered that our world was controlled, right? But they didn't encounter situations like what happened in the Ring world, where someone hints to them, or creatures from outside the box enter their box. They discovered all this themselves. So, they wanted to test an experiment: if creatures inside a box become powerful enough, will they always discover that their world is a box? That kind of idea."

"So what if it is? So what if it isn't? Does it matter?" Zheng Zha asked, confused.

"Yes, it matters immensely," Chu Xuan suddenly interjected. "If creatures in every box, upon reaching a certain level of power—be it technological power, personal strength, or karmic weapon power—no matter how long they exist or how powerful they become, can discover the fact that their world is a box, then the Sages and Cultivators have hope of breaking the box or fighting the box creator, because it suggests the box is not an absolute existence, and they aren't inherently trapped forever... But if the opposite is true—that no matter how powerful the beings inside become, or how long they survive, they can never discover this fact... then the Sages and Cultivators can only despairingly accept that they can never fight the creatures outside the box, and everything they do is futile."

"Why?" Everyone asked, perplexed.

"Because... if the very knowledge of the box's existence was told to them by the creatures outside the box, and if the reasons for them being prompted to fight the box creator, along with the creation of the 'Main God' space and all subsequent events, were all pre-designed? If that's the case, do you think you still stand a chance?"

Zheng Zha, currently utilizing the Third Stage of the Gene Lock, thought for a moment and understood what the two of them meant... If they could know the box existed, but the creatures they created within their box, no matter how strong, could not know its existence—that meant the only reason they knew about the box was because the entities outside the box allowed it... Was everything merely someone else's design?

"Isn't that thought too cruel?" Zheng Zha lay on his bed, silently contemplating the words Chu Xuan and Xiao Honglu had just shared with the others upon his return... This was truly a desperate conjecture. His life, his arduous struggles, the battles of life and death, love, friendship, existence, even moments of emotion and tears... Were they all scripted? Merely playthings for the beings outside the box to amuse themselves? Like movies, animations, games, or novels—were he and his companions simply designed to entertain?

"If the final battle is to obtain the qualifications of the Protagonist, and the Protagonist qualification is the first capital required to fight against the beings outside the box—then I must obtain that qualification with my partners! I must eliminate the Devil Squad!"

"No matter what! I absolutely, absolutely cannot lose!"

The next day...

"Enter the light pillar within thirty seconds, target lock transfer, Resident Evil 3 teleportation..."

"Everyone, the Devil Reincarnation Squad is waiting for us! Let's take care of them in Resident Evil 3!"

"Go!"

Jump!