Chapter 429 - 65: True Game, Cosmic Game

The rise and fall of civilizations is a constant drama playing out across the Endless Star Sea.

Take this civilization, for example.

It had already progressed to a Tier Two Civilization.

Its people had even constructed a structure resembling a Dyson Sphere around their sun.

A civilization this powerful should have been well on its way to becoming a Level Three Civilization, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

But unfortunately...

They encountered the Ascenders of the Cosmic Game: the ’Players’.

After the appearance of the ’Industrial Evil God,’ all starships and industrial equipment were contaminated.

Under the assault of the Subordinate Gods and Clans of the Cancer of All Machines, the civilization quickly fell.

At this moment, on this civilization’s capital planet.

Large numbers of contaminated flesh-and-blood machines, and even Ascenders, were excitedly harvesting all the flesh on the planet.

Massive numbers of native lifeforms were being slaughtered.

Altars resembling pools of flesh and blood were erected one after another.

And so, under Cheng Hua’s watch, countless spiral pillars of flesh and blood seemed to rise from the sky above the planet, plunging into the void of the surrounding Star Sea.

All of this flesh, blood, and industrial machine parts—absorbed and even contained by some unknown existence—was sacrificed to the great ’Cancer of All Machines’.

The entire metal planet began to disintegrate, continuously collapsing inward from its periphery.

"An entire planet..."

"For all its living beings, and even all its matter, to be devoured so completely... It’s truly cruel."

At this moment, out in the Star Sea, Cheng Hua silently watched it all unfold.

Over the long years, Cheng Hua had grown accustomed to scenes like this.

Because a full sixteen hundred years had passed.

All that time, Cheng Hua had been part of the Cosmic Game’s great current, participating in the process of exterminating and subjugating civilizations.

’Damn it all.’

’Why hasn’t my homeworld come to save me yet? Where is the Human Alliance? Where is the Chief of the True Game?’

’If they don’t come soon, I won’t be able to hold on for much longer!’

At this point, Cheng Hua was truly getting worried.

To be honest, after becoming a so-called Sinful God among the Ascenders, the power and lifestyle Cheng Hua enjoyed were naturally beyond comparison to that of an ordinary Ascender.

In fact, over the past sixteen hundred years, through His own efforts, He had at one point become the Legion Commander of the Sixty-Third Legion under the Cancer of All Machines.

He ruled over three of the Cosmic Game’s ’Military Equipment’ planets.

Therefore, the number of Ascenders under His direct command had long since surpassed one million.

He even had seven Sinful Gods serving directly under Him.

As for Cheng Hua Himself?

Over these sixteen hundred years, He had long since successfully entered the stage of Powerful Divine Power and was even close to Breaking the Limit to become a Main God Level existence.

Logically, Cheng Hua should have been happy with this growth in strength.

But Cheng Hua couldn’t bring Himself to be happy at all.

The reason was simple: His soul was not from a world under the control of the Cosmic Game.

Of course, perhaps this didn’t matter.

After all, once someone became an Ascender, it was hard to say if Cheng Hua could ever easily leave the system, and the Cosmic Game didn’t care in the slightest where its ’Players’ came from.

But Cheng Hua cared!

If his secret was exposed, Blue Star would likely suffer an unwarranted disaster.

Furthermore, Ascenders who became Sinful Gods seemed incredibly powerful and enjoyed unimaginable authority.

But in reality, Ascenders who became Sinful Gods were deeply afflicted by the contamination of their Upper-Rank, the ’God of All Machines’.

Cheng Hua had personally witnessed two Ascenders who were Sinful Gods slowly transform from rational ’people’ into monsters that craved nothing but slaughter and blood.

Moreover, the faster one was promoted, the more their Spirit and soul would be influenced—and even noticed—by the ’God of All Machines’.

Therefore, this promotion was not what Cheng Hua wanted, but it was also not something He could control.

After all, the Cosmic Game would repeatedly issue missions befitting a Sinful God like Him.

If He didn’t complete the missions, death would be a merciful outcome; what He truly feared was his soul being tormented by the ’System’.

So, over the years, Cheng Hua had intentionally tried to control his mission completion rate. But by surviving on the battlefield time and time again, even a pig would have been fattened by the Cosmic Game’s basic rewards into an incredibly powerful being.

’Sixteen hundred years...’

’He, Cheng Hua, was already on the verge of ascending to Main God.’

’Why haven’t the Blue Star Alliance and the Star Empire come to save me yet!’

Cheng Hua had been truly anxious all these years.

He longed, time and again, for someone to rescue him and take him home.

But unfortunately, after all these years, no rescue had come.

Fortunately, Cheng Hua still possessed a ’sub-system’ from the True Game.

And it was precisely because of its existence that Cheng Hua had been able to endure all these years.

Whether it was shielding him from the prying of Upper-Rank Deities or using it to resist Spiritual Contamination, it was all thanks to the help of this sub-system transmitted from the True Game.

The system would even occasionally show Cheng Hua recorded footage of Blue Star’s King whenever he was about to forget everything about his home.

In short, without the existence and support of the True Game’s ’sub-system’, Cheng Hua never would have survived.

Cheng Hua didn’t hold out much hope for the Blue Star Alliance.

But his expectations for the Star Empire were immense.

Even though, on the surface, the Star Empire seemed far smaller in scale than the Cosmic Game.

But since the True Game’s sub-system had been able to help Cheng Hua hide everything for sixteen hundred years, he felt that the True Game’s own Power must be considerable.

Besides, even if the True Game couldn’t defeat the three great Deities behind the Cosmic Game...