Amid the gasps of the crowd, my kick hurtled toward The Creator like a meteor—but in the instant before contact, my brain suddenly went haywire, as if an invisible hand had seized my body and forcibly redirected my attack!
I crashed to the floor, barely grazing the glass cylinder. Only then did I understand—it had used its immense thought-field to disrupt the electrical signals traveling from my brain to my motor nerves, effectively short-circuiting my attack!
My God—was that even possible?
"See, Ryan Knox? Facing a miracle, you should be convinced now, shouldn't you?" Victor Day gazed at me with a look of pity. "Even a Yaksha cannot defeat The Creator. Don't forget—you are merely His creation too."
I forced myself to my feet and tried to attack again, but an eerie sensation flooded my brain and my entire body went numb. I could only collapse to my knees.
"Ryan, give it up." Victor Day gently stroked the top of my head. "Before the wheel of evolution, any resistance is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot."
I wanted to stop all of this, to save Selene, to bring her back to the normal world—but I couldn't. I couldn't even stand. Regret and defiance tore at my chest.
"This is truly a miracle! This is the realm of mystery I've dreamed of!" Jasper Locke suddenly stood up, his face alight with ecstatic fervor. "Yes—this is the ultimate direction of evolution, the final spiritual destination of humanity! This is the ideal shore I've yearned for day and night!"
Victor Day nodded with satisfaction. "Jasper Locke, Professor Locke, I've been watching you closely. You're the only person Headquarters invited to Death Trip based not on combat prowess, but on intellect. Your analysis and intuition regarding human psychology are simply breathtaking. With your assimilation, The Creator's cognitive power would undoubtedly ascend to a new tier."
"It is my wish!" He strode forward eagerly. "I can barely contain myself—may I be the first to merge with The Creator?"
"Certainly. Merge early, attain nirvana early." Victor Day waved, instructing the staff to release Selene and escort Jasper to the assimilation procedure first.
"Old Jasper, you've lost your mind!" Though my body was beyond my control, my mouth still worked. "You've been brainwashed! You've gone mad! Don't let them manipulate you!"
"Brainwashed?" Jasper Locke let out a cold laugh. "When the first ape freed its hands and picked up a stone, the other apes up in the trees said the same thing. Ryan Knox, I appreciate your help through all these trips, but unfortunately, our intellects truly don't occupy the same level."
"Send Professor Locke forth into eternity!" Victor Day proclaimed. "May his allies also be inspired, and join us in forging a new world."
"Time will prove everything." Victor Day glanced at me, then sat down on the operating table.
A shudder ran through my entire body!
That final glance—it was too familiar. It was the Jasper Locke I knew. I could even read the words hidden in those eyes: Ryan Knox, this is as far as I can take you.
I watched helplessly as they plastered electrodes all over Old Jasper's head, like countless tendrils reaching from inside the glass cylinder, wrapping tightly around him.
As the buzzing of electric current filled the air, Jasper's body twitched slightly. Before long, he became gaunt and hollow, his cheeks sunken, his face devoid of all life—his soul seemingly departed.
And then, the nerve clusters inside the glass cylinder suddenly trembled, as though savoring a moment of ecstasy. A cluster at the top unfurled and stretched, like something that had just experienced a pleasurable climax.
Jasper Locke the person no longer existed. He had become part of The Creator—his consciousness, his thoughts, his personality, all merged into that vast thought-field.
I couldn't describe the feeling. I had no way of knowing what psychological battles Old Jasper had fought in those final moments.
Suddenly, the nerve clusters inside the glass cylinder began writhing in distress, bundles of them twisting and churning like snakes on a hot griddle. Victor Day's face changed in alarm. He frantically ordered his staff to check what had gone wrong.
In that instant, the invisible force controlling my brain vanished.
I knew—this was the precious time Old Jasper had bought me.
Using his own consciousness, he had mounted a resistance. But it wouldn't last long—The Creator would assimilate him soon enough.
I immediately surged to my feet and charged at the glass cylinder. Two staff members saw me coming and tried to block me, but ordinary mortals were no match for me in Yaksha state. They went down in a single exchange.
I loaded my right shoulder, twisted my hips, and drove a devastating punch—like a meteor striking the earth—straight into the massive petri dish. But just then, Selene suddenly stepped in front of me, spreading her arms wide.
I pulled my fist back in time, baffled. "Selene, what are you doing?!"
"Maybe The Creator is right?" Selene's eyes brimmed with tears. "My father never lied to me—he didn't when I was little, and he isn't now. Ryan, I choose to believe him."
"Selene, you..."
She stepped forward and embraced me, her warm body almost melting into mine. "Ryan, we've come this far—haven't we seen enough of how ugly the world can be? Even without Death Trip, it's overflowing with deceit, war, crime, and lies. Is a world like that really worth clinging to?"
I shook my head, desperate to convince her. "But no matter what, it's the world we live in!"
"We could choose to live in another world—like the eternal realm The Creator has made for us. There, we'd never suffer again, never struggle again. We could be together—forever and ever." And then Selene pressed her moist lips against mine.
I held her, feeling her warmth and heartbeat, wishing this moment could last forever, wishing this was eternity... but I couldn't. I opened my eyes again, and the world before me shattered like a mirror, Selene included—breaking into fragment after fragment.
The real Selene was still sitting on the floor, drained and powerless, watching it all unfold.
Now that I'd broken free of the illusion, I understood The Creator's ploy: unable to control my body, it had used the residual waves of its thought-field to construct a mirage, hoping to stall my actions.
But unfortunately, in Yaksha state, every cell in my body was on high alert. My heart rate exceeded 200 beats per minute, my five senses were supernaturally acute—and I had an instinctive rejection of illusions.
How ironic. This body was The Creator's own creation, and now it had become its executioner.
I threw a punch that connected solidly with the glass wall. With a sharp crack, fractures spidered outward. Barely a second later, the massive glass cylinder collapsed, shattering into countless shards.
The nerve clusters, exposed to the outside air, withered rapidly—like plastic bags set on fire. Within moments, they had collapsed into the floor, disintegrating into segments of grayish keratin.
Victor Day stood there in stunned silence, seemingly unable to process what had just happened. When he finally reacted, he grabbed my shoulders like a madman and shook me: "Do you realize what you've done? You've destroyed The Creator—you've personally shattered the New World! You are the sinner of humanity, the sinner of evolution, the most unforgivable criminal since the dawn of civilization!"
I gently brushed his hands away and looked at the dumbfounded guests across the hall. "See? Your 'Creator' was nothing but a monster made of nerves—a freak that all of you nurtured together."
Victor Day staggered back and collapsed onto the floor. The man who'd seemed so vigorous just moments before seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.
"You think destroying The Creator will bring down Headquarters? How naive..." He suddenly began laughing maniacally. "Headquarters isn't just one place—this is only the South American branch in Nazca. Even if you destroy The Creator, He will be incarnated elsewhere... Your personal power can't stop the wheel of evolution! Death Trip will continue, Neo-humans will awaken one by one, and no one can halt the arrival of the New World!"
"You've lost your mind, Dr. Day! Snap out of it!" I shouted.
"No, no—though The Creator can be incarnated again, my sin is unforgivable. It was my negligence that destroyed everything..." He slapped himself repeatedly, until blood ran from his nose and mouth. Then he pointed at me, his eyes vicious. "Ryan Knox—it's you! The Creator is gone, and you will be buried with it!"
With that, he pulled out a remote control, flipped open the safety, and pressed a red button. A rumbling like thunder came from the ceiling above—explosives that had been pre-positioned were now detonating. The entire hall began to sway and buckle. The colossal crystal chandelier crashed to the floor, scattering like a burst of sparks.
The guests who had been so devoutly worshipping The Creator moments ago now scrambled in panic, but every exit had been sealed. They could only run around like headless flies.
I grabbed Selene. "Hurry—we need to get out, this place is coming down!"
"No..." She struggled to pull free of my hand. "I want to stay here, with my father..."
"Your father has gone mad!" I had to make her face reality. "Do you want to do what he wants—stay here and be buried with The Creator?"
Selene was drowning in tears, choking on words she couldn't speak.
I understood how she felt. As someone who grew up in an orphanage, I knew too well the pain of losing your parents. Selene had searched for years, and when she finally found her father, it was only to say goodbye forever.
But Selene—this wasn't your fault. You shouldn't have to bear this. As long as there was even a sliver of hope, I would drag you back to the world of the living.
I pulled her hand and ran, dodging chunks of stone falling from the collapsing dome. The glazed columns had already snapped in several places. The whole structure was about to cave in completely.
But Victor Day was ruthless. He'd sealed off every passage when he triggered the bombs. He was determined to make all those worshippers join The Creator in death.
Amid the crumbling hall, the only sounds were the screams of the doomed and Victor Day's deranged, unbridled laughter.
He walked through the rain of rubble, head tilted back in sorrow, as if performing the final scene of a one-man play.
Just as I was giving up hope of finding an exit, a voice called out: "Ryan Knox, over here!"
It was Morphine. She seemed to know where the exit was and was waving me over.
I had no other options. I pulled Selene and ran toward her. Without wasting words, Morphine led us into a side room, moved a painting aside, and revealed a hole in the wall behind it—about the size of a ventilation fan.
"This is an exhaust duct left over from construction. Not many people know about it. Get out, quick—the tunnel's going to collapse soon too."
Selene and I squeezed into the duct one after the other, but Morphine didn't follow. I asked, "What about you—aren't you coming?"
She gave a bitter smile. "Ryan Knox, thank you."
"Thank me for what?"
"For letting me see the truth. This was my first time seeing The Creator's true form—I never imagined it would be... I always thought my efforts were building a New World. I never imagined the so-called New World was just a deformed freak. I'm staying here—to atone for what I've done."
I had no strength left to persuade her. I could only pull Selene through the duct. Behind us came the rumble of collapsing structures, a wave of pressure and dust buffeting our bodies.
Finally, we crawled out of the duct and emerged onto the Nazca plateau aboveground. Headquarters, it turned out, had been built underground as a massive fortress. Now the ground was slowly caving in, countless stones tumbling into the sinkhole that was forming.
I stood at the edge of the crater for a long time. Then I reached into my jacket and pulled out a ticket stub, and let it fall.
It spun downward, as light as a leaf in the wind. The bloodstains on it gradually disappeared into the darkness.
Quinn, I promised you—I'd smear your blood on the heart of this world.
A subway train was roaring toward its terminus.
An announcement crackled over the PA: "Attention passengers. The last car's passengers have boarded. Our journey is now officially underway. All cars except the last are designated combat zones. This trip features especially generous bonus rewards—please maximize your eliminations. Good luck, and thank you."
The car erupted in chaos. A boy wearing earbuds stared around in bewilderment, completely at a loss. "What combat? What eliminations? What is the announcer even talking about? Isn't this the new direct-to-museum special?"
I lowered the copy of Abnormal Psychology in my hands and looked at him. "Before you figure out what's going on—want to consider forming an alliance with me first? Let's make keeping you alive the priority, yeah?"