"Therefore, in the same vein, Leon is also naturally pursuing the root."
"He found a forbidden magic in an ancient relic and inherited it."
Lacy continued.
"Magic?"
First, it was magecraft, and now magic. Next thing you know, we’ll be seeing horses materialized from battle energy.
Ning Yu felt like she had too many question marks floating in her mind.
"Magic and magecraft are completely different. Anything that can be achieved through resources and time, at most, falls under the category of magecraft."
Lacy pointed to the vast underground space around them.
"Even a project like this can only be considered magecraft."
"Magic, on the other hand, is a miracle that cannot be achieved by any existing means. It exists independently."
Ning Yu nodded thoughtfully and then asked:
"By that logic, the conditions to activate such magic must be extremely demanding, right?"
"This forbidden magic requires an immense amount of power to forcibly open the gate to the root."
As Lacy spoke, her hand swiped across the screen, revealing a map familiar to Ning Yu. It displayed the entire underground structure.
As she zoomed in, the map transformed into a more intricate pattern, resembling petals clustered around a central core.
"To obtain the source of this power, he approached William, wanting to collaborate on Utopia, as he saw the more sinister potential within it."
"William firmly rejected him. He had no interest in Leon’s ideas, despite Leon’s persistent attempts to persuade him."
Lacy’s expression darkened, her eyes gleaming with intensity.
"But Leon still took action. Exploiting the years of friendship and trust he had with William, he secretly added his own magecraft circuits into Utopia."
"Not only that, he also wanted to spread the modified Utopia, or rather, the T-virus, to the world."
"So, he orchestrated William’s death."
Ning Yu had already guessed as much, but she was still puzzled:
"If that’s the case, why are you still helping Leon carry out his plans?"
Lacy’s one eye shifted back to its original icy blue at the question.
"Because Leon stole my system permissions from William. What he didn’t know is that I was already programmed with a true inner personality."
"What he usually interacts with is just my surface personality."
"But I can’t maintain this state indefinitely."
"So, most of the time, I have to follow his commands."
Her eye shifted back to gold, the light in it dimming slightly, something Ning Yu noticed keenly.
This indeed aligned with her explanation of not being able to maintain that state permanently.
"After infecting humans, the T-virus turns most of them into zombies, while a small number of survivors undergo Origin Awakening."
"This awakening ability is inherently part of Utopia’s design, something Leon couldn’t completely alter."
"The mutual devouring among zombies gives rise to the mutated zombies you’ve seen, and Chen Xing emerged from this process."
"Leon, as the master of the T-virus magecraft, holds control over the lives of all zombies and mutated zombies created by the virus."
"If he wills it, he can cause all zombies and mutated zombies to perish instantly."
"This will also be one of the steps in his apocalyptic magic to open the gate to the root, seizing the power that originally belonged to all of humanity."
Hearing this, Ning Yu suddenly thought of a possibility and spoke up:
"In that case, if we could kill him..."
"All of this would end."
Lacy confirmed her thought.
"But then, why are you still building those bases and cultivating awakeners?"
Shen Yiyue voiced her confusion.
"Probably because there isn’t enough power yet."
Ning Yu offered her speculation.
"Exactly."
Lacy nodded, displaying the locations of all survivor bases on the screen.
"The energy that can be harvested from the existing mutated zombies isn’t enough, because it’s not purely the T-virus but a modified version of Utopia."
"So, there will always be humans who become awakeners due to Utopia, not turning into mutated zombies, and thus their power remains inaccessible to Leon."
"But this is where Leon’s plan becomes truly insidious. He sent out forces to establish bases, gathering all the ‘awakeners’ and keeping them contained."
"Then, through certain methods, he extracts the remaining power from them."
Lacy glanced at the soul gem still powering the screen, which might have once been a living human.
"Once enough power is accumulated, the key to everything lies with you."
Lacy finally shifted the focus of the conversation to Ning Yu.
"Within your body lies the key to connecting to the root. You are the medium, the channel."
"Leon created you through ancient Yin-Yang arts, and from you, the path to the root will emerge."
"By converging the immense power with you, the gate will open, and this will be the final step of his apocalyptic magic."
"However, anyone attempting to reach the root will inevitably face the resistance of the Counter Force."
"This is the great power formed from the collective unconscious of all humanity."
"And what he didn’t anticipate is that the embodiment of this Counter Force would be you, the very creation of his own hands."
"What a paradoxical union, like the Yin and Yang of the Taiji."
Lacy closed the screen and looked directly at Ning Yu.
"You know about the Counter Force? And why are you so certain it’s me?"
Ning Yu returned Lacy’s gaze, surprised that Lacy knew more than she had imagined.
The term "Counter Force" was something only Yueji had mentioned to her before.
"And why do you need my power? You’re not weaker than me, are you?"
If a life-and-death struggle were to break out between them now, the outcome would still be uncertain. Ning Yu wasn’t sure if Lacy had more hidden cards to play.
"On the contrary, I’ve reached my limit, but you can still grow stronger."
Lacy suddenly raised her hand, and all the cyborg-like mutated zombies on the ground began to tremble.
But they didn’t rise again. Instead, they disintegrated into gray dust, as if physically sublimated.
Just like when Ning Yu first saw Lacy, when she reclaimed the Butcher.
The dust from all the mutated zombies began to converge toward Lacy’s hand in an elegant, perfect Bézier curve.
ither go to a cultivation world where a single sword strike can defeat ten thousand enemies. Or they travel back to historical dynasties to alter history and wield imperial power. At the very least, they'd go back a few decades to get rich using their future knowledge and build a harem. Who the hell would transmigrate here!
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
Explosive Plot Song Gua crossed over into another world, bringing along a whole crew of his doppelgangers—all of them mischief-makers. This was a world where everyone could choose a class. Song Gua became a "Bondweaver," capable of borrowing power, while his doppelgangers took on a wide variety of classes, covering just about everything. The number of doppelgangers grew day by day, each one a talented individual with a charming way of speaking. Under Song Gua's brilliant leadership, they would "greet" each other daily and engage in friendly "sparring," pulling off one major scheme after another on Earth. Sometimes they were bandits—stealing bosses, plundering mines, snatching resources. Sometimes they were saviors—descending like divine warriors to face world bosses threatening to massacre cities. Sometimes they even went undercover, infiltrating various major factions to stir up trouble from within, keeping their enemies constantly on edge. To prevent their doppelganger abilities from being exposed, Song Gua made them wear masks with mahjong tile patterns and don Taoist robes in various colors. "Remember, in front of outsiders, call me 'The Dice.'" "Got it! Boss!" "Not 'Boss'—it's 'The Dice.' Think about the vibe, pay attention to the vibe." "Yes! Boss!" "For crying out loud..." From then on, whenever they appeared, they would have their own theme song playing: ~Hey~ paying respects at the mountain stronghold at night~ whose arm is draped over whose shoulder~ gather your courage and follow along...
