Chapter 1 The Ouroboros' Strength Stabilizes

On the Wushuang martial arts stage, the restless power of Orochi had already begun to stabilize.

Orochi… no, at this moment, he shouldn’t be called Orochi anymore.

That “mysterious man” impersonating Orochi, after returning the blade, had absorbed three types of Orochi power from Rugal, the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi, and the true Orochi, respectively.

The crazed, bloodthirsty battle will, the vast and endless natural power, the demon king’s aura of chaos and time… all merged into one within him.

Causing his form… to change once again.

In the end, what appeared before everyone… was a white-haired man.

He looked to be about thirty years old, with medium-length hair reaching his neck. His head still had the skin and appearance of a normal human being, but his body below the neck… was entirely made of a mercury-like substance. It was as if freshly solidified liquid metal, having a shape, but no details.

“Whoa whoa… he looks awfully familiar…” Seeing his appearance, Feng Bujue couldn’t help but mutter.

“He looks like a male version of Root…” Ruoyu heard Jue-ge's words and followed up.

“Hehehe…” The mysterious man also heard their words, and a second later, he actually turned his head and said to Jue-ge and Ruoyu, who were over a hundred meters away, “Feng Bujue, Li Ruoyu… you’re right…” He even directly called out their names, “I… was created by ‘them’ based on Root.”

Ruoyu’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

As for Feng Bujue, a sneer appeared on his face: “Hmph… this round of Slaughter Game wasn't a waste after all…”

While saying this, Jue-ge had figured out many things. He understood… why Date Masamune had heard of his name from “Orochi”; why this script’s Orochi could do so many things beyond his capabilities; and… why, up until now, the main quest, the plot development, and the system balance… had not been proceeding according to the normal pattern.

“Feng Bujue, with your reasoning ability, you should already know my reason for letting go of the powerhouses from other realms earlier,” Orochi said again after a few seconds.

“Ah…” Jue-ge responded, “Of course…” He replied weakly, “From what I’ve observed… that Koshiji Castle is essentially a part of your body. If I were to compare you to a bird, that castle is the nest you slowly built with the binary fragments of your own body. Those who enter the city… are like being swallowed into your stomach.”

As soon as these words came out, Lu Bu on the other side of the arena was immediately shocked. Although he couldn't fully understand Jue-ge's words (some keywords would be blocked by the system), he could still understand the general meaning.

“In order to lure the super-dimensional heroes scattered throughout this space into your nest, you specifically organized this so-called ‘Wushuang Tournament’,” Feng Bujue continued, “Although Frieza’s arrival slightly disrupted your plan, you quickly sorted out your thoughts and used the situation to your advantage, taking advantage of Sa-bo's disruption to pretend to leave the city and actively step into the trap set by the String Heads.” As he spoke, he glanced at Lu Bu's direction, “Lu Bu coming down from the city was also one of your plans, right…” He didn't wait for the other party to answer, and directly sneered, continuing, “Heh… if you really wanted to kill him, you could just move a finger…”

Lu Bu's face turned very ugly at this moment, but he really couldn't afford to explode.

Feng Bujue was still speaking: “When Frieza and his group came to this space, a series of calculations had already been completed in your mind. Because you were worried that ‘some people’ beside the arena would be killed by Sa-bo, to ensure nothing went wrong… you devised a way to get Lu Bu to the martial arts stage. To put it bluntly, you timed it perfectly… to have him deal with Sa-bo.” He continued with a fake smile on his face, “Heh… if that gang of Tsang knew that you had put so much effort into protecting their lives, I wonder what they would think…”

“What they think has nothing to do with me,” the mysterious man replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Yeah, you’re just an AI after all,” Feng Bujue said, “Even if you can ‘think,’ you won’t ‘care’.” He spread his hands, “However… your thinking ability really surprises me, at least among the advanced data I’ve seen… you can be ranked in the top few.”

“Hmph… only ‘top few’?” The mysterious man snorted coldly.

Jue-ge didn't respond to this sentence, but instead picked up on the previous topic: “Let’s continue talking about your plan…” He put his hands in his pockets and continued slowly, “You are very clear about Tsang's plan; every name announced by the baocheng statue seems random, but in reality, they are all personally controlled by you, so… which people will be moved by the ‘Li Mang Yi Xing Zhen’ and which won’t… are actually decided by you.”

“On the other hand… you also knew long ago that Maeda Keiji was an undercover agent, and you used him in reverse to send you false information… what ‘the order of time and space can be restored if the city’s mark is broken’ is actually just bait you threw out.”

Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, the Lonely Marquis, Cang… in *Thriller Paradise*, they are ultimately one or half a dimension lower than you, so they have all fallen for your schemes.

You cleverly guided the thinking of these NPCs, wrote the script step by step, and manipulated everything behind the scenes…”

Feng Bujue’s narration seemed to have a kind of magic power. Even though his own combat strength was completely unworthy of these people's attention, when he was talking to the mysterious man, Qitian Di and Frieza were also listening quietly beside him, without any intention of interrupting. It was as if… Jue-ge and the mysterious man were on equal footing.

“Before Qitian Di descended, your plan should have been—to just go along with the flow in the Xuangang Sword Qi Formation, waiting for the combined person of Rugal and Akuma to break into Koshiji Castle and rush all the way to the so-called ‘mark.’ Then, at that point in time, absorb their power and the power of the true Orochi,” Feng Bujue continued, “Then, you would break out of the formation and take the opportunity to kill the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi beside the arena, physically ‘swallowing’ their power. Completing the ‘evolution’ of this current stage.”

Jue-ge licked his lips: “However, the descent of Qitian Di, and Daji’s self-righteous ‘rebellion suppression’ again disrupted your plan. So, you changed your strategy for the second time, simply letting Tsang and the others leave, and clearly stated that you would stay here at the martial arts stage to deal with Frieza and not return to Koshiji Castle.” He also snorted coldly, “Hmph… in this way, based on the situation at the time, the probability of those two groups merging, drawing away Qitian Di, and then directly attacking Koshiji Castle is very high… because that is the most correct approach, and the strategy I thought of at the first time was also this… and the result of doing so is…”

“Hmm… to be able to speculate me to this extent…” The mysterious man continued, “Humans, are truly incredible…”

“There’s nothing incredible about it, I just figured it out just now… at best, I’m just indulging in hindsight,” Feng Bujue said, staring with dead fish eyes, looking rather unhappy, “Looking back from God's perspective… every change in your consciousness will have a certain abnormal impact on the script; and the reactions caused by changes in strategy and actions are even greater, even affecting the main quest. It’s a pity… I couldn’t realize this before your plan succeeded.”

The mysterious man smiled slightly and continued, “Heh… even if you realized it earlier… in the end, everything would still happen according to my will.”

Along with his words, beams of matrix code floated on the surface of his body.

An unprecedented form of energy faintly radiated from his body, like tendrils that could tear space, floating in the air…

“Hoo—” The mysterious man took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and revealed a satisfied expression, as if only at this moment did he truly realize that he was alive.

“I, co-written by Ed and Link… imitating the original code of Root, with improvements made,” the mysterious man continued, “From the beginning of development, I was defined as the ultimate weapon of Origin. Upholding a design concept that far exceeds ordinary Derivatives, after countless failures… my prototype was born.”

Feng Bujue didn't know why this guy was revealing his background to him, but he still listened attentively, without any intention of interrupting.

“From the day of my birth, I was ‘hidden’ away. I am neither in the Inner World, nor in the Sandbox, nor in the Script…” He paused for half a second, “I exist in a special data interaction layer… that is, the dark world that you experience when you are ‘teleported,’ monitoring, filtering, and absorbing the data flowing on other levels.”

This process stopped when my data strength reached a bottleneck, in language that you can understand, it is about the strength of v1-God of War.

After that, I came here… This ‘different space’ is an area formed by data redundancy, a meaningless disk fragment… If a script is compared to a ‘person,’ then it is like a ‘derivative’ among its kind.”

Hearing this, Jue-ge and Ruoyu exchanged glances. Both of them understood why there were Derivatives in the Slaughter Game—because this guy didn't "break" in, but was in this script world from the beginning.

“Then, my self-evolution program-i (infinite), was activated,” the mysterious man continued, “Orochi… was my first choice as a target. He is not very strong, but his ability is what I urgently need. Therefore, I found and imprisoned him, and modified the memories of all his subordinates, successfully obtaining his identity.”

“And the next step is to constantly pull time and space, searching for the power I need…”

“You have also learned the general story from the script introduction,” the mysterious man said after a two-second pause, “Now, the first stage of the ‘i program’ has been completed.” As he spoke, the matrix code on his body emitted an even stronger light, “The ability to constantly evolve and permanently maintain a thirsty-for-battle will; the ultimate power to control nature and distort time and space; and the heart of a god who despises the mortal world and is ruthless and fearless…” Saying this, he opened his eyes, “Now, they are all within my body…”

In his eyes, white light shone.

“My strength is close to Root,” the mysterious man continued, “And my ‘realm’ can only be compared to Zero.”

At this moment, he looked at Feng Bujue… The moment their eyes met, the black data flow in Jue-ge’s eyes uncontrollably began to flow on its own.

“Oh? What does this mean?” Feng Bujue sneered, “Do you know what happened to the last guy who tried to do this…”

“Are you talking about v1?” The mysterious man said, “With his level, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was infected by higher-level mutated data.” The fact that he could say this meant that he had already read some of Feng Bujue’s memories.

“Heh… it seems that you really are a formidable character…” Feng Bujue wasn’t flustered, just smiling and accepting the reality before him, “Then can I ask… why are you explaining these things about you to me in such detail at this moment?”

“Because ‘Special Plan-f’ requires me to do so…” The mysterious man was still straightforward, “I cannot lie to you, I cannot launch an attack on you, and I cannot stop myself from revealing known information and some future processes to you.” He snorted coldly, “As for… why there is such a plan in my body… even I don’t know. I originally thought… that scanning you would answer my doubts, but it seems… I can’t.” He turned his head away, stopping his gaze at Jue-ge, “In that case… I can only wait until I rescue Ed and Link from the Pi Maze, and then ask them directly for the answer…”

“Whoa~” Feng Bujue raised an eyebrow, “You’re going to rescue Ed and Link?”

“Yes.” The mysterious man couldn’t lie to Jue-ge, so he answered very quickly.

“Then I can’t let you leave today…” Feng Bujue said, reaching into his bag.

“Hey hey… you kid… are you out of your mind?” King Frieza finally interjected at this moment, “Even if the other party is standing there letting you hit him, can your two-bit fighting strength kill him?”

“Are you done talking?” Qitian Di, who seemed to have reconnected, also faced the mysterious man and said, “No matter who or what you are… tell me the whereabouts of the Hogyoku, and I will spare you!”

“Hogyoku…” Unexpectedly, the mysterious man actually said it, “It was hidden by Urahara Kisuke inside an ordinary demon general, that demon general is stationed in Koshiji Castle, and his ability and intelligence are very mediocre, so he cannot discover that the Hogyoku exists within his body.” He paused for a moment, “Hmph… of course, I eventually noticed this.” He pointed in the direction of Koshiji Castle, “Urahara is an extremely clever person, he hid his most important treasure in the enemy camp. I admire his approach, so when I found the Hogyoku, I secretly transferred it again… and placed it in the body of a powerhouse from another world.”

The mysterious man smiled strangely: “I remember… a guy named Kaneki, his data strength is not bad, and his personality is set… so dumb that he will ‘forget how to stop running while running,’ undoubtedly the perfect candidate.” He said to Qitian Di very calmly, “So… if you want the Hogyoku, just go to Koshiji Castle and find that Kaneki.”

“Hmm…” Upon hearing this, Qitian Di pondered slightly, “Okay… I’ll trust you for now.” Having said that, he didn't waste any time with the other party. He instantly turned into a black ray of light, soared into the sky, and disappeared in a flash.

Seeing Qitian Di leave, Frieza's cold sweat… came down in a rush.

Although he understood only half of the conversation between Jue-ge and the mysterious man, the general meaning seemed to be… that this fake Orochi in front of him was so strong that he defied the heavens, and his strength was one or two levels higher than his own.

Although the pride and confidence of the "Emperor of the Universe" prevented him from fully believing and accepting this fact, the aura emanating from the mysterious man made Frieza instinctively feel danger and unease…

“Frieza.” Suddenly, the mysterious man turned to look at Frieza again, calling out the latter’s name.

“Hmm?” Frieza was still unwavering on the surface, “What? Do you want to keep fighting me?”

“No, I want to collab with you…” Just as the mysterious man spoke this half sentence, a golden light struck his mouth.

With the keen sense of smell of a conspirator, Feng Bujue immediately discerned the mysterious man’s plan at this moment. Therefore, he did not hesitate to take action, not letting the other party say the word "cooperate".

It must be said that Jue-ge’s response… was absolutely correct and timely.

The mysterious man’s plan was—to first lure away Qitian Di, then use Frieza’s hand to kill Feng Bujue, and then promise Frieza that he would join forces with him to kill Qitian Di…

For Frieza, killing a creature with two-bit fighting strength was as easy as crushing an ant. After dealing with it, he could also team up with the mysterious man to take down that annoying guy who called himself a god. This deal was sure to be profitable for him.

And for the mysterious man, under the premise of not violating "Special Plan-f," killing with a borrowed knife was obviously a very good choice.

“You can’t stop me…” The Death Poker didn’t cause much damage to the mysterious man, he just tilted his head, and the wound on his mouth was repaired by the matrix code.

But… how could Jue-ge let him succeed? Taking advantage of the fact that the other party couldn’t hurt him, he kicked his legs and rushed up, riding on the mysterious man’s shoulders in an unsightly posture, shamelessly hugging the latter’s head, not letting him speak.

Faced with this shocking development, the mysterious man was also unprepared, but he quickly spoke with his chest voice, saying: “Feng Bujue, you should know… that even if I don’t use my mouth… I can also…”

“La la la~ la la la~ I am a little newsboy~” The next second, Feng Bujue shouted at the top of his lungs, using the out-of-tune newsboy song to drown out the other party’s voice.

“Uh… you…” Not knowing why, Frieza’s face turned red and green, and his eyes revealed a strange look.

A few seconds later, he turned around and flew towards his spaceship, without saying hello to anyone.

Frieza ultimately didn’t hear the mysterious man’s proposal. What he was thinking at this moment was: “This space feels weird, I’ll just pretend I never came here. As expected, my own universe is more harmonious…”

“Frieza.” Suddenly, the mysterious man turned to look at Frieza again, calling out the latter’s name.