Chapter 33: “Adam”, Returns

He looked directly at the Evil-Eyed Worm.

Then, with a wave of Lu Ming’s hand, its body dissolved into a ripple of starlight.

A single, finger-sized, crystal-clear worm flew from within and landed in Lu Ming’s palm.

He erased the Evil-Eyed Worm’s corruption trait.

But he did not kill it; in fact, killing it was not realistic.

The majority of the Evil-Eyed Worm’s body wasn’t even in this universe.

It was still drifting in the Otherworld’s universe.

What surprised Lu Ming, however, was that the “Evil God Summoning” had actually called forth the Evil-Eyed Worm, this Ancient Evil.

In the universe, the threat posed by Ancient Evils was not much different from that of a Fallen Evil God.

Then there were the Hell Lords.

But this Evil-Eyed Worm was only a sub-adult.

It was basically a baby worm.

If it had been a fully grown Evil-Eyed Worm, at the very least, it could have fought with the gods.

Even a single glance from it could destroy and corrupt a powerful plane.

After reclaiming the Evil-Eyed Worm’s origin, Lu Ming prepared to make his escape.

Yet, what lingered most on his mind—

Was that Hooded Man who’d turned Rui Ze away at the entrance of the Containment Facility.

While playing the role of the Watcher, Lu Ming had already noticed him.

But the Hooded Man did not make Lu Ming feel threatened, just oddly concerned.

From his words, Lu Ming picked up a piece of information worth pondering.

The Evil-Eyed Worm’s invasion—he seemed to have experienced it more than once.

“Could it be that he possesses the authority over [Time]? But it doesn’t seem like it, and it shouldn’t be possible.”

“Maybe, it’s because of that being behind the Bronze Gate.”

“Sequence 001, ‘Emperor’… hmm, that’s how it’s recorded.”

After all.

The God of Time was one of the eight Primordial Gods born at the dawn of the First Era.

His authority was extremely difficult to master.

But at the beginning of the Second Era, it was rumored that He’d become lost within time.

Some said He had fallen.

But Lu Ming had no way of knowing what truly happened.

Shaking his head quietly, Lu Ming gave up on these thoughts.

These things were not what he should be worrying about right now—ascending to godhood was his foremost priority.

***

At this moment, he could already sense the faith being born continuously.

All those on parallel Blue Star who had been corrupted and mutated had been deliberately informed of everything by Lu Ming.

Many among them immediately turned to believe in the Goddess of Life.

Others were already leaning toward that faith.

“This is enough; the rest, I’ll let their own imagination fill in.”

Then.

Lu Ming turned his gaze to Rain.

A pale green cloud floated over her head.

The cloud released a gentle green rain, filled with the vitality of life.

The instant the raindrops fell onto her body—

She felt an incomparably light and pleasant sensation, one that was deeply familiar.

“This is… Divine Grace!”

Messiah, seeing this, quietly inched closer to Rain, as if wanting to bask in this god-sent rain as well.

But those raindrops seemed to have a will of their own, purposely avoiding Messiah.

They fell precisely onto Rain.

“So stingy…”

Messiah muttered softly, almost as if afraid Lu Ming wouldn’t hear.

After a while, Rain’s eyes flew open.

Her once pitch-black hair was now tinted with a hint of light green and gentle orange-red, looking utterly natural.

“Dawnlight Divine Art?” Rain was taken aback.

In her mind, she now possessed knowledge of a divine art called the Dawnlight Divine Art.

Wasn’t His Highness the Goddess of Life? How did she possess the Dawnlight Divine Art? Could it be that His Highness also held the Dawn Goddess’s position…

Lu Ming glanced at Rain, unsurprised by her reaction.

But the Dawnlight Divine Art wasn’t stolen—it was something he had asked for openly from Xisiliya.

Besides.

His relationship with the Dawn Goddess was… well, practically like siblings.

Buddies.

It’s just a divine art. The Dawn Goddess wouldn’t be so stingy about it.

If it really came to that, he could always offer the Dawn Goddess a free…

A free one-on-one lesson on the truth of fertility in return.

Lu Ming remained calm.

“May life be with you all.”

After that, his figure was engulfed by a pillar of light, slowly fading away.

Rain subconsciously reached out, as if wanting to touch that departing figure.

“He’s gone already, what are you still daydreaming for?”

Hearing this, Rain looked at Messiah and nodded, a bit lost.

After receiving Divine Grace from Her Highness the Goddess, she was already a fifth-rank transcendent, and had also mastered the Dawnlight Divine Art.

But why was she not happy?

“Rain?! Messiah, where are you?”

“Rain, are you still there? I think I heard Her Highness the Goddess’s voice?!”

In the distance, Li Ang and Lyle’s calls echoed.

Messiah patted Rain on the shoulder and nudged her that way.

“Go on, your ‘tagalongs’ are calling for you. I’ll head back to guard the gate.”

“The Post-Disaster Reconstruction will probably need your help, so try not to tire yourself out.”

Rain nodded, her expression complicated.

Then she ran toward her teammates.

“Captain, Li Ang, are you all right? Where’s Qiongsi?”

***

Seeing this, Messiah—

Her figure flickered, and she reappeared inside the Containment Facility.

After passing through a series of special installations—

She arrived in a vast underground cavern.

At the end of it stood an utterly inconspicuous giant bronze gate.

“Yo, hello there, Miss Messiah.”

“Your new body looks great, but remember to go to the Storage Room and pick up a fresh Clone Body. Return this one when you’re done.”

The Hooded Man was leaning casually against the giant door, greeting Messiah.

“You didn’t go inside, did you?” Messiah, however, was watching the Bronze Gate, pressing the question.

“No, before I could enter, that Goddess of Life descended.”

“I really wish I could get close to Her.”

At the Hooded Man’s words—

Messiah nodded in agreement.

“She truly deserves to be called a god. And She made me understand, for the first time, the true meaning of the word beauty.”

***

The Hooded Man smiled and shook his head.

“That’s not what I meant, Messiah. How come even you are acting like this?”

“Never mind. Go change bodies first. I’m really not used to this appearance.”

At his words, Messiah let out a shushing sound.

She said nothing more and turned to leave.

Yet after she left, she fell into silent contemplation.

“You always say the unknown deserves awe, but aren’t you the most unknown existence in this Containment Facility?”

“To this day, I still can’t remember your face.”

“‘Adam’…”

The Hooded Man’s posture did not change, only a worn notebook gripped in his hand.

He wrote a few lines.

“Containment Event: Evil-Eyed Worm Invasion.”

“Containment Level: Extremely High Risk.”

“Solution: Descent of the Goddess of Life.”

“Containment Result:

Failure.

Failure.

Failure

Success.”