Chapter 39

Having long anticipated that Poseidon would make things difficult, Fu Li and Apollo exchanged a glance.

As expected, he still cared about this.

Then their plan could proceed.

"Honorable Sea God."

Fu Li spoke, drawing Poseidon's attention to himself. Indeed, Poseidon shifted his gaze, waiting for him to continue.

"We have come precisely for this matter."

Fu Li stepped forward, his emerald green eyes meeting Poseidon's unfathomable gaze without flinching.

"Back then, the ownership of Athens was decided by a competition."

"The Goddess of Wisdom bestowed the olive branch. You bestowed the steed and the salt spring."

He paused, his voice clearly resonating through the water.

Hearing the old story, Poseidon's face instantly darkened.

The ocean reacted to his mood; the surrounding seawater began to churn.

"Bringing up this matter in my domain. You have courage."

Poseidon's tone was extremely hostile, his deep blue eyes brewing a storm.

Seeing that Poseidon had taken the bait, Fu Li secretly conveyed his delight to Apollo through their empathy link.

Although Apollo knew this was part of the plan, he still worried that Fu Li might be caught in the crossfire.

Cecrops was also sweating nervously, his serpent tail taut.

Fortunately, angry as he was, Poseidon wasn't inclined to lash out yet.

Fu Li knew it was time to drop the bombshell.

"The outcome of a competition is not always the final conclusion."

He threw out the most powerful bait.

"Hm?" Poseidon frowned deeply, his writhing tentacles pausing. His deep blue eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"

"A competition. The glory you lost can be reclaimed here."

Fu Li tried to make his tone sound as sincere as possible.

Would the pride-obsessed Sea God reject such an invitation?

They had long prepared for this competition, for they couldn't afford to lose.

But they didn't know if the Sea God would be willing to step into their trap.

"A competition?"

Poseidon's gaze swept over Fu Li, Apollo, and Cecrops.

He suddenly let out a short, scornful laugh.

"Interesting. You mean you want to compete against me? Very well. If you win, I will go and clean up Zeus's mess."

"But if you lose," Poseidon pulled a malicious grin, "you will feed my dolphins for one hundred years."

"Deal."

Fu Li accepted the wager.

Apollo added: "A verbal request, made without proof, is as weightless as sea foam to the Sea God."

Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "Then what do you propose?"

This was exactly the cue they were waiting for!

Fu Li excitedly produced Tartarus's token.

The purple-black tortoise shell token lay in his palm. Seeing the object clearly, Poseidon's expression flickered.

Tartarus's possession?!

That old mushroom would even lend his stuff out?!

"Seems you're on good terms with Tartarus, for him to lend you even this."

After a few shifts in his expression, Poseidon spoke in a cold voice.

"Tartarus said he misses you greatly in the Underworld and invites you for a brief stay at his place."

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

Poseidon's expression grew even stiffer.

The old mushroom missed him?

What a joke.

Tartarus was the prison of the gods; he had forged the bronze walls that held the Titans himself.

"Are you threatening me?"

This nephew Apollo was indeed as compatible with him as his father was.

Gods of Zeus's line should stay far away from him.

Apollo naturally couldn't accept this accusation.

"Of course not. As a junior, I am quite concerned about my elders' quality of life."

Fu Li had taught him this retort. Apollo found it perfect for shutting down elder gods who used their seniority to throw their weight around.

Poseidon was speechless.

"I will decide the contest."

Poseidon had no desire to continue arguing in a field where he was at a disadvantage.

He bared his teeth in a grin, revealing shark-like, sharp white teeth. "One contest decides life or death. You three against me. The sea is my domain, so I'll let you make the first move."

"The contest is simple," his tentacles pointed towards a side area near the palace where the light was dim and the currents were chaotic and turbulent. "Amid the dark currents, surrounded by creatures, find the True Pearl located on the seabed."

"True Pearl?" Fu Li heard the unfamiliar term. "What is that?"

Poseidon: "The True Pearl is a luminous pearl, not hard to recognize on the seabed. The only catch: it won't let itself be caught easily."

"Is it alive?" Cecrops asked.

Poseidon glanced at him. "Indeed."

"Is that all?"

Apollo found it somewhat hard to believe this uncle of his would propose such a simple contest.

He expected something worthy of his pride, yet Poseidon's requirement sounded like an underwater scavenger hunt.

Poseidon flashed an arrogant grin.

"Apollo, find it first, then talk about the difficulty level."

He folded his arms. "Remember, you have to catch it."

Poseidon's tentacles tensed and pushed, propelling him swiftly out through the current.

Fu Li and the others immediately followed.

Initially, they followed Poseidon. The seabed was too vast and unfamiliar, so trailing behind the Sea God was the best approach.

Poseidon paid them no heed either. He had absolute confidence in himself.

In the sea, all gods could only follow behind him.

The sea nymphs watched this race dumbfounded. The water-born sprites excitedly joined the game.

No matter what it was, as soon as the number of participants increased, chaos and obstacles followed.

By a chance mishap, they lost track of Poseidon.

"He's gone."

Fu Li squinted. The light on the seabed was too scarce; he had to squint just to see the path ahead clearly.

"What are you doing?"

A lithe figure swam over from the side.

An adorably naive dolphin stared at them with its beady eyes.

"Are you the little dolphin from before?"

Fu Li's eyes lit up. What a stroke of luck.

The little dolphin cried out a few times. Apollo used his divine power to allow it to speak human language.

The little dolphin shook its head. "I'm not qualified to join the Sacred Beasts yet. You still haven't answered me. What are you doing? It looks like so much fun!"

Cecrops said gently: "We are looking for a True Pearl. Do you happen to know anything about it?"

"The True Pearl? Why are you looking for it?"

The little dolphin clearly knew what the True Pearl was. It spun an active circle. "It's really mean!"

"Mean?" Apollo hadn't expected a pearl to earn such an evaluation. "Why do you say that?"

The little dolphin gestured with its fins.

"Just really mean! It loves bullying me!"

"So, you're quite familiar with it, then?"

Without thinking, the little dolphin answered: "Not familiar at all."

Clearly very familiar.

Fu Li softened his tone. "We have a favor to ask of it. Can you tell us where it is?"

The little dolphin wagged its tail: "Sure."

Small animals were truly so innocent.

Fu Li somehow felt like a shady uncle offering candy.

"So, where is it?"

"In the shipwreck!"

"Shipwreck?"

"It's a sunken house under the water!"

The little dolphin described it in the most straightforward language.

It specifically used its small pectoral fins to gesture a large outline.

"It's dark in there, with lots of holes. True Pearl loves hiding inside and scaring the other fish! Last time, it almost got me stuck inside!"

"Sounds like a somewhat troublesome place."

Cecrops mused.

A shipwreck meant numerous obstacles, a complex structure, and light struggling to penetrate it. It was indeed an ideal spot for hiding and playing hide-and-seek.

Apollo: "Little dolphin, can you lead the way?"

"Of course! Follow me!"

The little dolphin joyfully somersaulted in the water, flicked its tail deftly, and accelerated in a certain direction.

It was extremely fast. If Apollo hadn't used his divine power to maintain the bubble following it, they might have been left behind.

As they continued to dive deeper, the light grew increasingly sparse, and the temperature gradually dropped.

The creatures roaming around them also changed. Bizarrely shaped deep-sea fish stared with their massive eyes, eerily observing this group of uninvited guests.

"Right there!"

The little dolphin's voice was exceptionally clear in the silent seawater.

Ahead, a deep, shadowy silhouette was gradually emerging.

It was a massive shipwreck, resting in the deep sea for who knows how long.

The hull was eroded by various deep-sea organisms and coral reefs. The masts had long since snapped, and the hull had cracked with huge fissures. Yet, there were quite a few small fish around the ship; countless beautiful little fish swam all around it.

"The True Pearl is inside there, playing hide-and-seek." The little dolphin stopped at the periphery of the wreck, its beady eyes gazing at those dark holes. "It's a mess in there, and it runs super fast, blinding fish with its light. It's scary!"

"Thank you for leading the way. We'll handle the rest." Fu Li gave the little dolphin a gentle smile, then looked towards Apollo and Cecrops. "Split up, or…"

"Together."

Without hesitation, Apollo grabbed Fu Li's hand. In such an unfamiliar environment, he couldn't possibly let Fu Li out of his sight.

"Cecrops, stay close to us."

The King of Athens nodded, his serpent tail swaying in the water.

Encased in the bubble, they slowly approached the massive, damaged broadside of the shipwreck.

Entering the ship's interior, the light was further blocked. Apollo had to increase his own radiance.

The internal structure was complex, the passages narrow, the broken cabins interconnected like a maze.

"There!"

Cecrops, sharp-eyed, pointed his serpent tail abruptly towards a flash of light deep within the hold.

It seemed to sense it was being watched and shot away, hugging the decaying bulkhead, speeding towards the deeper parts.

"After it!"

Apollo immediately steered the bubble to follow.

The True Pearl was incredibly agile, its small body capable of hiding anywhere.

It indeed possessed intelligence. When they couldn't find it, it would deliberately roll out to lure them into continuing the chase.

"This thing is definitely toying with us!"

Apollo gritted his teeth, his golden eyes tightly locked onto that floating, elusive white light ahead.

Being led on a wild goose chase through an underwater shipwreck by a pearl was not a pleasant experience.

Fu Li was already panting heavily. He hadn't expected to run a marathon on the seabed.

Cecrops was even more disheveled. As half-man, half-snake, he was completely weightless underwater.

"No good. We can't let it comfortably run us around like this."

After Fu Li caught his breath, he came up with a plan.

They couldn't stay inside a single bubble.

"Split the bubble into multiple ones."

The moment Fu Li's words fell, Apollo cast the spell.

Cecrops was split off.

Cecrops: …

He shouldn't be here; he should be at the bottom of the ship.

Apollo: "Bubbles divided. What next?"

Fu Li didn't notice Apollo's little act of selfishness.

"Apollo, use light beams to restrict its movement space! King Cecrops, watch for side passages where it might turn!"

Apollo understood. Several beams of light shot from his hands like ropes, weaving rapidly into a sparse net of light in the likely escape routes ahead and to the sides, compressing its activity range.

Cecrops used his serpent tail to navigate the complex passageways, attempting to flank from the side.

Although the True Pearl was fast, their cooperation was tacit, cornering it into a relatively enclosed space.

The True Pearl floated in the corner, its light flashing urgently, clearly exasperated.

"Now!" Apollo seized the opportune moment. A solid beam of light suddenly shot towards the True Pearl.

Just as the beam was about to touch the pearl's surface, an unexpected change occurred!

The True Pearl suddenly glowed brightly, unfolding a hazy phantom image around itself.

The sudden transformation made Apollo pause.

In that split second of hesitation, the True Pearl shot out with a 'whoosh' towards the exit and crashed directly into Poseidon's embrace.

Poseidon: ?

He stretched out a victor's grin, preparing to declare himself the winner. But the True Pearl used the same trick on him, flashing him once before smoothly making its escape.

Poseidon flew into a rage: "That cursed pearl!!!"

He furiously swam out in pursuit, and Fu Li's group also followed, waiting for their chance to act.

Just as they swam out of the shipwreck, they saw a figure that should not have been there, and the True Pearl was in his hand.

"Are you playing hide-and-seek, or is it a treasure hunt?"

Notus asked cautiously. Seeing everyone's expressions turning grim, thinking he'd said something wrong, he immediately added:

"Uh… This is nice, very tasteful!"

Seeing Poseidon's face turn as black as charcoal, he was frightened into stammering. "Underwater treasure hunts are quite fun, good for physical health, longevity, and wellness!"

Apollo: "…"

Fu Li: "…"

Cecrops: "…"

Poseidon: "…"

Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "Did you three collude to play tricks on me? Or is this Notus a fake?"

This question was also what Fu Li wanted to ask.

South Wind God, hadn't you been locked away in the Creator God's Chaos?

Could it be that Zeus's pestering was this effective?

Notus had absolutely no idea what his appearance signified.

He rubbed his hair innocently. Why wasn't anyone speaking?!

Socializing was truly troublesome. Sleeping was better.

Thinking of sleep reminded him of the orders he'd been tasked with.

"Uh, good evening, everyone?"

Notus, the atmosphere destroyer, even plunged Poseidon into silence.

How was one supposed to respond to that?

It ended with Poseidon, his face black as thunder, sweeping his gaze over them and leaving.

On the earth, night had already fallen deeply.

Fu Li couldn't help but ask first: "How did you get out?"

Notus looked bewildered: "Get out from where?"

"Hypnos said you were in Chaos. How did you wake up?"

Fu Li's mind was filled with blanks. The events that transpired were too absurdly dramatic; even he didn't know what to say.

"I was woken up."

Notus said honestly.

"I was sleeping so soundly. If a god hadn't woken me, I wouldn't have wanted to wake up at all. It was such a beautiful dream."

Recalling it, Notus felt regret.

The dream was too beautiful, like experiencing a completely different life.

Apollo: .

Fu Li: .

Cecrops: .

This reasoning was very Greek.

Fu Li helplessly massaged his forehead, once again refreshing his understanding of just how unreliable the Greek gods could be.

Notus said sheepishly: "So, as soon as I woke up, the God King told me to come and notify you all…"

"Thank you very much."

Notus also knew what a huge problem his deep sleep had caused.

Apollo rubbed his temples.

What else could be done? It was dramatic, but at least the situation was resolved.

Fu Li gazed up at the sky.

*

The day after Notus returned to his post, the long-awaited spring rain began to fall steadily, nourishing the parched earth.

The clouds gathered again, the wind brought moisture, and the water levels of the rivers began to rise slowly.

Everything seemed to have returned to normal.

Yet Fu Li kept feeling something was off.

This sense of wrongness was indescribable. Was he overlooking something?

One night, leaning against Apollo's shoulder and looking out the window at the starry sky washed clean by the rain, Fu Li finally voiced the doubt in his heart.

"Apollo, I keep feeling I've overlooked something…"

Apollo toyed with the ends of his golden-red hair and paused slightly upon hearing this.

"What seems off?"

Suddenly, Fu Li remembered.

The words Notus had spoken on the seabed were not something a god of this era would say.

Good for physical health, longevity, and wellness.

How had he forgotten? This was modern-day phrasing.

How would Notus, a native-born Greek god, know this?!

"The choice of words."

Fu Li said with certainty.

"Choice of words?"

Apollo repeated his words.

"Yes, choice of words. Apollo, would you say 'good for physical health, longevity, and wellness'?"

Fu Li lay on his chest and said.

Apollo gently scraped the tip of his nose.

"Gods are eternal."

Thinking about this made him melancholic.

The issue of Fu Li's lifespan still had no resolution.

"Hypnos said the South Wind God's dream took place among tall buildings."

Apollo pondered: "Are you saying he went to your world in the form of a dream?"

"Just a speculation."

Fu Li wasn't sure either.

He had always had a question.

How had he come to Greece?

He had no answer to this question. Before, survival necessities kept him from caring. Now, having experienced so much, he actually wanted to know the answer.

Could he accept the answer behind all this?

Fu Li didn't know.

He had a premonition.

Even if he didn't actively seek the answer, the one behind the curtain would eventually find him.

Forget it. Face whatever comes.

Worrying about a future that hasn't happened wasn't as good as cherishing the present.

Days flowed by in a mix of busyness and routine.

The time Fu Li could remain on the earth's surface was about to run out again.

Apollo and Fu Li once again entered the fissure in the earth.

This was the entrance to the Underworld.

The boundless River Styx flowed silently.

Before Charon arrived, they still had time to say goodbye.

"How did four months pass so quickly?"

Apollo's voice was muffled against the crook of Fu Li's neck.

"Hades won't give me any more pomegranate seeds."

Fu Li patted Apollo's shoulder as comfort. "Time passes quickly. We still have the empathy link."

"…It's not enough."

"Ah, you're here too?"

Notus's voice interrupted their intimate moment.

He looked curiously at Fu Li and Apollo, clearly having arrived not long before.

"Notus, what are you doing at the entrance to the Underworld? Your duty lies on the earth."

Apollo's voice still carried a hint of displeasure.

Notus shrank back, his eyes seeking help from Fu Li.

Fu Li caught his look and tugged on Apollo's sleeve.

"Hehe, Apollo, isn't it just that I want to dream a little… I wanted to ask the God of Sleep to craft a dream for me."

"To recreate my experience of dreaming within Chaos!"

Notus babbled incoherently, his cheeks flushed with excitement.

"But as a god of the earth, you'd be in great pain if you went to the Underworld."

Fu Li reminded him.

Notus: "Ah, I'm not going to the Underworld. Mainly, I'm waiting for Charon, to ask him to relay the message to Hypnos."

After speaking, Notus suddenly remembered something and said to Apollo:

"Apollo, you need to go see the God King. He needs your prophecy. I hear a city-state is about to go to war, and they're praying for a prophecy to guide them away from conflict."

Upon hearing this, Fu Li also urged Apollo to go check.

He could already see Charon's figure in the distance.

Apollo could only sigh, leaving a kiss on Fu Li's forehead.

After Apollo departed, only Fu Li and Notus remained.

Notus rubbed his hands together, looking excited the entire time.

Fu Li found it somewhat curious. He seemed completely unlike the shy person from before.

"Is that dream really so captivating?"

Fu Li spoke.

"A completely new experience."

Notus smiled.

"The gods are eternal. Many things lose their flavor. But that dream brought endless novelty."

"Wonderful experience. No wonder even the supreme Chaos is so fascinated by it."

Notus said this last sentence almost like a dreamy murmur.

Fu Li didn't catch it clearly and reflexively asked for clarification.

Notus didn't answer him. Instead, he said something cryptic.

"Fu Li, he wants to see you."

Fu Li froze: "Who?"

What answered him was a push from Notus.

Completely off guard, Fu Li pitched forward.

He fell into the River Styx!

The sensation of a coldness capable of freezing the soul instantly enveloped Fu Li.

Before he could make a sound, the water of the Styx, as if alive, dragged him under.

Standing on the bank, Notus silently watched it all happen.

Chaos wants to see you.

This was the command the Creator God Chaos had given him upon waking.

*

Fu Li fell continuously into boundless darkness.

Where was he being dragged?

Chaotic thoughts flashed by, followed by even stronger panic.

The surrounding darkness began to fade… no, to change.

Indescribable colors seeped into the pure ink-black, as if the space itself was distorting.

The perception of time became utterly disordered.

Suddenly, all movement ceased.

Solid sensation came from beneath his feet.

Fu Li coughed violently, but no water came out, as if the drowning sensation just now had been a hallucination.

Then, he saw the sight before him.

No sky, no earth, no concept of up, down, left, or right.

This was a space that could not be accurately described with language.

Standing in the center of this bizarre space was a humanoid figure.

It was a man in the form of a youth, his long silver-white hair casually draped, wearing a peculiar pure white robe. His features were handsome, his eyes a pure silver-gray.

Fu Li thought this man was far away from him, but with just a slight movement of the man's fingers, the distance between them instantly shrank.

Now, he and this man stood face-to-face.

Fu Li was under immense pressure. Merely being watched by those eyes made him feel as if he were being thoroughly seen through, from his soul down to every fiber of his existence, with absolutely no place to hide.

There was no malice in that gaze, nor scrutiny, only a pure, keen interest.

A teasing curve lifted the corner of Chaos's mouth.

"So, you fell in," his silver-gray eyes curved into a smile, "soul from another world, Fu Li."

"An unexpected visitor who crossed the barrier of laws. The most special seed. Do you like the vitality of the seed I left for you?"

Chaos looked with satisfaction at Fu Li's stunned expression.

"This counts as our first official meeting."

He clapped his hands, and the surrounding space shifted.

In the blink of an eye, Fu Li found himself seated in a movie theater chair, with the towering Chaos beside him.

Before them was a giant movie screen that was playing a film.

"What is going on…?"

Fu Li pinched his cheek. The pain told him all this was really happening.

Chaos turned his head to look at him and chuckled lightly.

"Let's watch a movie. The movie of a life."

The screen lit up.

Fu Li saw himself.

Himself, hastily crossing the street.

The rush hour traffic, the screeching horns, the truck that appeared from the side lane, the blinding high beams.

"Help —!"

"Ambulance, where's the ambulance?! He's going to stop breathing—!"

Himself, lying in a pool of blood.

"Look here," Chaos took out a bucket of popcorn from seemingly nowhere and proceeded to eat it casually. The screen kept zooming in and freezing at his command. "I caught you. Just a little help."

On the screen, the falling body of Fu Li, at the instant of hitting the ground, was lightly caught by a silver-gray halo.

This seemingly insignificant intervention changed the angle of his landing. What was originally an instantly fatal impact turned into severe injuries, leaving him on the verge of death.

Fu Li's breathing stopped.

He opened his mouth, but his throat was too dry to make a sound.

He hadn't expected to learn the truth in this manner.

He wanted to question it, yet subconsciously shied away from it.

It felt as if he really had experienced everything on the screen.

Why did he have no memory of this?

If it were true, he should have remembered it?!

"I…"

Fu Li wanted to ask, but Chaos stuffed a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

"Thoughts on the movie can wait until it's over."

The scene on the screen switched to a hospital.

Pale white lights, instruments beeping rhythmically, the silhouette of a doctor shaking their head.

The silver-gray halo appeared again, wrapping around the Fu Li on the hospital bed like a protective film.

Fu Li knew it was what kept him clinging to life.

"You were supposed to die on the spot." Chaos's voice was low, his tone carrying a hint of incredulity. "That day, the Fates were drunk on nectar. Together, we wove a thread that didn't belong to our world. Then, I saw you."

"You were very fortunate. Though I can't interfere in other space-times, I could connect your thread of fate to my world. Thus, you received a new life."

The screen showed the scene just after Fu Li had transmigrated.

The wilderness, hunger, an unfamiliar language, looks filled with hostility.

Fu Li's body trembled as he looked back at his various past experiences.

"Mortals in this world are too fragile. Especially when you're a mortal from another world." Chaos offered his commentary. "I added a little safety net for you."

On the screen, the past Fu Li, chased by wild beasts, fled in panic and took refuge in an abandoned, desolate little shrine.

Utterly exhausted, he fell into a deep sleep.

In his dream, a silver-gray mist enveloped him.

From within the mist came a low, amused whisper, as if directly resounding in the depths of his soul:

"Little anomaly, in critical moments, your perception will connect with the nearest deity. You'll share your five senses. From pain to death, everything can be shared proportionally. Of course, the other party will feel yours, too. Whether that's a blessing or a curse is up to you."

Fu Li was completely petrified.

So that's how the empathy link came about.

As Chaos unveiled the truth, that memory was finally unsealed.

He had indeed taken shelter in a shrine while fleeing from wild beasts that night and had a dream.

Upon waking, however, he couldn't remember the specifics.

"Seems like it worked out okay?" Chaos rubbed his chin. "Managed to survive quite well against all odds."

The scene switched to the war against the Titans.

The screen darkened for a moment.

"The Seed of Life, I specifically gave it to Zeus. As long as the timing was right, there was a chance to regrow. You used it quite thoroughly."

Chaos observed Fu Li's expression with keen interest, his silver-gray eyes like mirrors, clearly reflecting Fu Li's expression.

Interesting. Truly interesting.

As expected, another world was truly fascinating.

Fu Li stood frozen in place, his whole body cold, yet his fingertips trembled slightly.

It wasn't fear, but numbness from the massive impact of the information.

"Why?" Fu Li finally found his voice again, hoarse and strained. "You… why did you do all this?"

He couldn't understand.

To a supreme Creator God, what about such an insignificant soul from another world was worth paying attention to, let alone repeatedly intervening?

"Why?"

Chaos repeated, as if this was a very interesting question.

"At first, probably out of boredom." He confessed with startling frankness. "Eternity is too long. So long that everything becomes tedious. A thread of a different color, a thing that shouldn't be here—this made me curious. Very curious. I wanted to know more things that would surprise me."

Fu Li was silent for a moment. "Then why did you want to see me?"

He now understood why Notus had pushed him.

It must have been Chaos's order.

"Because I was curious. I have only ever watched, observed from the sidelines. Now I want to personally experience this brilliance."

Chaos's silver-gray eyes shimmered with an unusual light.

It was time.

The time for him to reap his harvest.

******

"Is there anything else you want to know?"

Chaos chuckled as he conjured up various modern appliances.

He clearly loved these things, constantly shifting and experiencing them.

Fu Li stood to the side, watching him as joyfully as a child.

This was the Creator God?

Chaos acted just like a modern child, brimming with freshness towards everything.

"Um… Can I go back?"

Fu Li finally found an opportunity to speak.

He was very grateful that Chaos had given him a second life, but if he stayed here too long, Apollo would be worried!

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Chaos's expression did not change. He snapped his fingers.

A glass of ice-cold cola appeared floating before Fu Li.

Fu Li: …

Seeing such advanced things in Greece was quite terrifying.

"You don't like it?"

Chaos offered a Fanta instead.

Seeing that Fu Li had absolutely no intention of drinking, he conjured up a cup of clear tea.

Fu Li accepted the tea, but before he could speak, Chaos spoke again.

"Don't you want to go home?"

Chaos questioned.

"Ah…?"

Fu Li hadn't expected him to ask this and was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Compared to your world, this place is backward and dull. Mortal creativity is low. Don't you want to leave?"

Ignoring him, Chaos continued: "Hmm, there's not even basic internet infrastructure here. Doesn't it get boring?"

Fu Li: …

This was absurd from every possible angle.

The Creator God seemed even more modern than him, a modern person.

"There are indeed many inconveniences."

Fu Li admitted this point.

Regarding basic infrastructure, the modern era was far more developed. But it wasn't a comparison to be made that way. Technology also evolved step-by-step from the most primitive techniques.

"So, you really want to go back?"

Chaos's silver-gray eyes glinted faintly, and the curve of his lips widened.

This was the answer he wanted to hear.

"…"

Fu Li fell silent.

Go back?

Go back to that empty home where he was all alone.

"I want to stay here."

Here, he had a home.

He had Apollo.

Upon hearing this, Chaos's smile vanished. "Are you joking?"

"I'm not."

Fu Li said firmly.

"Your very survival was all due to my planning for you."

Chaos said icily.

He suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Is it because of Apollo?"

"Gods are eternal. You are merely an interlude in his life. Once the novelty wears off, you will become yesterday's sunset."

"Furthermore," Chaos stepped closer to Fu Li, "you two could fall in love only because of the empathy link I provided as a safeguard for your life."

"Without all that, you and he would never have come together."

"Everything you cherish is built upon illusions."

Chaos stated this calmly, as if merely stating a fact.

He observed Fu Li's expression and found Fu Li was remarkably calm.

His curiosity was piqued again: "Why don't you refute it?"

"Or do you think what I said is the truth?"

Chaos paced around. He had watched Fu Li's life and was still capable of feeling curiosity about him.

This sense of the unknown fascinated Chaos.

"You seem very eager for me to go back?"

Fu Li spoke calmly, his emerald eyes meeting Chaos's gaze levelly.

"It is the optimal solution for your life."

Chaos said.

He didn't answer the question directly.

Fu Li understood clearly.

It seemed his return would bring Chaos something.

And that something was what Chaos desperately wanted.

"No, it is the optimal solution for you."

Fu Li wasn't afraid of angering Chaos.

Since he possessed something Chaos wanted, he would be temporarily safe.

The chaotic space rippled in response to Chaos's subtly shifting mood.

The cold expression on Chaos's face gradually faded, replaced by one of amusement.

"More perceptive than I thought."

"I do very much hope you will go back."

Chaos was very frank.

Fu Li: "…Why? Is it because I'm a soul from another world?"

Chaos looked at him with a strange expression.

Greek gods weren't this concerned with rules.

"Of course not."

Chaos clapped his hands. The previously stopped screen began playing a movie once again. This time, the protagonist wasn't Fu Li, but Chaos himself.

In the movie, Chaos was terribly bored. Because life was too uninteresting, he would sleep for millions of years, and each time he woke, it wasn't long before he'd fall asleep again.

"So boring."

The Chaos in the movie was melancholy every day.

Until one day, he and the Three Fates accidentally discovered the existence of another space-time.

The occurrence itself was unexpected, and Chaos was happy about it for a very long time.

Finally, something unpredictable had happened!

Soon, this joy faded, and Chaos reverted to his previous state.

He couldn't stand it anymore.

He wanted to experience more differences.

At first, just watching another space-time could excite him for a long time, but now, merely watching was no longer enough. Chaos began to attempt interference.

The laws of that other space-time were extremely powerful; even Chaos could not shake its rules.

The Chaos in the movie didn't give up. He discovered that the boundary between life and death was the most ambiguous zone—perhaps he could start from there.

Fu Li could guess the rest of the events.

Chaos had chosen him as the experiment for interference.

Sitting in the audience seat, Chaos smiled as he watched himself in the movie and remarked:

"Even negative emotions like this are very precious to me."

"Eternity means omniscience."

"When I awoke from Chaos, defined the rules, created all things, and watched them operate, multiply, fight, and destroy themselves according to the tracks I set… everything was within my expectations."

"The initial wonder has long since faded. What's left is only repetition. Gods pursue eternity, but for those who are already eternal, eternity itself is the most tedious prison."

"This is the world I created."

Chaos said.

"Look at your world. No divine rules, no destined fates. Individual lifespans are as brief as mayflies, yet civilizations attempt to reach for the stars…"

"Chaos, order, destruction, rebirth. Everything surges forward dynamically and madly. No preordained answers. No endings I can know with just a glance!"

"This is simply… simply…"

Chaos excitedly searched for a word of sufficient weight but finally spat out: "A living Chaos!"

Fu Li understood.

Chaos's omniscience and omnipotence had driven him mad.

No matter how much dramatic insanity the Greek world had, the Creator God was still lonely.

"So, to return to the original question: yes, I want you to go back. But not simply to send you back to that point in time. That would be meaningless."

"I want you to return to your original world, fully conscious, carrying all the experiences you've had in this world."

"I want to observe: what will happen when a soul shaped by two worlds re-enters its original world?"

"Will your return be like a pebble cast into a calm lake, or a key, opening a door to other possibilities for your world? And that door, that is the passageway through which I can enter."

Chaos spoke at length, looking at Fu Li expectantly. Any intense reaction from Fu Li would bring him pleasure.

But Fu Li had no reaction at all.

"You have nothing to say?"

He frowned and asked.

Fu Li: "Haven't you said it all?"

The Creator God was this pathologically lonely. The Greek gods were collectively responsible.

Look what they'd driven Chaos to.

"That's your reaction?"

Chaos was somewhat dissatisfied.

"What else?" Fu Li spread his hands. "Your condition, where I come from, has a specific name: Terminal Stage Omniscience-Omnipotence Spiritual Internal Friction Complication. The common term is—too much free time."

Chaos: "…"

As if he hadn't heard clearly, or as if he found it absurd, he tilted his head slightly.

"…What?"

"Too much free time."

Fu Li repeated affirmatively, his posture much more relaxed than before.

He filched a few kernels of uneaten popcorn from Chaos's bucket.

"Eternity. Omniscience. Invincibility. Sounds great, right? But after a while, it's like eating the same dish every day. No matter how delicious it is, you get sick of it to the point of nausea. In the end, all that's left is the philosophical emptiness of 'Who am I? Where am I? Why do I exist?'"

"In short, even gods fear having too much free time."

Chaos fell silent.

"Life is about stirring things up."

Fu Li summarized the healthy lifestyle of the Greek gods.

Behind every Greek god was a collective of pleasure-seekers.

"Stirring things up?"

Chaos repeated with keen interest.

"Exactly. Look, you created the world, set the rules, and then you just sat to the side and started spectating. Spectating for too long naturally gets boring." Fu Li counted off on his fingers. "If you ask me, you need to get into the game yourself and play."

"Get into the game? How?"

Chaos rested his chin on his hand with great interest, his silver-gray eyes fixed unblinkingly on Fu Li, resembling a child waiting for a story.

"There are plenty of ways." Fu Li shrugged. "The simplest: seal most of your power and memories, reincarnate into the mortal world, and start living from scratch. Experience birth, aging, sickness, death. Love, hate, passion, and revenge. Worry about tomorrow's bread. Have your heart race over a look from your beloved. I guarantee you won't find it boring anymore."

"Sounds nice."

Fu Li also thought it sounded great.

"But I refuse."

Chaos shook his head.

His silver-gray eyes stared at Fu Li. "Right now, the newest, freshest thing for me is the other world."

"Open the door for me, Fu Li."

Fu Li felt the world before him go dark. His vision gradually blurred, the final image being Chaos's indifferent face.

Fu Li's consciousness struggled to surface from a void of nothingness and darkness.

What returned first were his senses of touch and hearing.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as lead, as if glued shut.

An unfamiliar weakness and stiffness, as if he'd slept for far, far too long, spread through his limbs and bones.

The last scene in his memory was Chaos's calm declaration.

Had Chaos succeeded?

Had he truly sent him back?

This realization made Fu Li's heart clench violently.

Apollo!

He exerted himself, trying to open his eyes again.

This time, he managed it.

His blurry vision gradually cleared.

The first thing he saw was a white ceiling. He turned his stiff neck to look to his left.

Outside the window was a gray, overcast sky, and several tall buildings.

A sparrow fluttered its wings and landed on the windowsill, tilted its head to look inside, then flew away again.

To his right was a simple nightstand with a vase holding plastic flowers.

This place was…

Identical to the illusion created by the Three Fates, and yet different. This time, it was real. He had truly returned.

But he had died in this world.

To what point had he returned?!

Was it before the accident, or after?

A tremendous sense of absurdity submerged him. Fu Li could barely steady his own emotions.

A wave of even more urgent heartbeat came through. This wasn't his own emotion.

The empathy link?!

It still worked in the modern world?!

"Fu Li!"

Fu Li turned his head towards the source of the voice in disbelief. His eyes contracted sharply.

Apollo!?

Apollo steadied himself from a corner, ran over quickly, and immediately rushed to check Fu Li's condition.

He soon noticed the environment too and paused slightly.

"Is this the illusion of the Three Fates?"

"This should be my world. The real world." Fu Li said in a hoarse voice.

Apollo: "!!!"

"Apollo, how are you here?"

This was Fu Li's main concern. After Chaos had sent him away, Apollo shouldn't have been there.

Apollo reached out and stroked his hair.

"I should have arrived sooner. Charon told me you fell into the River Styx… Fu Li, I actually always had a feeling the Creator God would seek you out."

Apollo said earnestly.

"Father God finally told the truth too. So the blessing he gave you came from Chaos. I begged him to let me go into Chaos. This time, he agreed."

"Chaos… he permitted me to enter his realm."

Apollo spoke uncertainly.

He thought he would be refused. He hadn't expected Chaos to grant him entry.

As soon as he entered, he saw Fu Li being teleported away.

Apollo still remembered the words Chaos had spoken to him then.

"Do you want to follow him?"

Chaos chuckled softly.

Apollo nodded without a second thought.

The state of losing Fu Li filled him with indescribable anxiety.

He knew Chaos's proposal had a catch, but he couldn't worry about that now.

After Fu Li finished listening, he hugged Apollo tightly. "How could you be so foolish…"

Apollo hugged him back just as fiercely. "You are more important."

Clap, clap, clap.

The sound of applause that didn't belong in this room rang out.

Chaos looked at them with a faint, ambiguous smile.

"Seems I've disturbed your sweet moment. But I won't feel guilty about it."

Chaos was quickly distracted by other things.

He wandered curiously around Fu Li's room, occasionally touching the furniture, marveling aloud.

"As expected, you have to touch things with your own hands."

Chaos retracted his hand with a beaming smile.

"Chaos…?"

If Apollo was a pleasant surprise, then Chaos was a horrifying shock.

"Fu Li, what's with that expression? Oh, are you wondering why I'm here?"

Chaos looked towards Apollo. "I was the one who sent you here. Being so wary of me hurts my feelings, you know."

Though he said that, Chaos was clearly in a much better mood now.

"…You used Apollo to test the tunnel's stability."

Fu Li slowly voiced Chaos's objective.

"Exactly."

Chaos admitted it openly. Now that his goal was achieved, there was no need to hide it.

"Having finally come to this world, I won't waste any more time talking with you."

In many aspects of his logic and actions, Chaos was more like a child. He would worry about playtime being insufficient and disengage.

With a flash, he disappeared from the room.

Apollo suddenly clutched his head, his form swaying unsteadily.

"Apollo, what's wrong?!"

Fu Li immediately helped him sit down on the bed.

"I'm fine… I just feel very weak."

Apollo's face was pale. He hadn't expected this to happen.

Upon arriving in this world, it felt as if a large hole had been poked into his body. His divine power was leaking away like sand through an hourglass.

"Weak?!"

Was this the side effect of traversing worlds?!

Why was only Apollo affected? Fu Li felt nothing at all.

The priority was to find Chaos!