PGVCW 88

Playing God in Various Catastrophic Worlds

Chapter 88: The Return of the Apex

Xia Wang'an crouched down, affixing a recovery talisman directly onto Yuan Ning's person.

He presently looked exceedingly disheveled, bearing zero resemblance to his customary immaculate, refined demeanor. Slumped against the ground, his visage was streaked with a combination of fresh crimson lacerations and muddy grime.

Yet when he lifted his gaze to offer Xia Wang'an a resilient smile, his eyes radiated an extraordinary, brilliant luminescence.

"You intentionally partitioned that segment of your memory, didn't you?"

Yuan Ning invariably discerned the underlying architecture of Xia Wang'an's stratagems, much like during their childhood when external observers argued that children ought not to shoulder excessive pressure or voluminous academic drills. Yuan Ning, however, understood implicitly that Xia Wang'an's primary gratification stemmed from the intellectual mastery of cracking complex problem sets.

It was neither driven by pursuit of institutional ranking nor motivated by aspirations of research induction; she executed trial assessments purely out of an intrinsic devotion to cognitive resolution.

By extension, while that agonizing memory archive possessed the capacity to inflict immense psychological trauma, though she might temporarily sequester it, she would categorically never permanently discard her foundational experiential archives.

Particularly not when deposited directly within the operational perimeter of the Corrupters.

Xia Wang'an hoisted him to his feet; the superficial lacerations across her own facial contours had already autonomously regenerated.

"Well spotted." She arched a brow lightly: "You deduced correctly."

Xia Wang'an had experienced numerous instances of memory suppression throughout her trajectory, yet true to her foundational conviction, even if all explicit recollections were severed, a singular axiom remained immutable.

Every action she executed invariably harbored a definitive, calculated purpose.

That preserved memory archive was undeniably excruciating, but as she asserted, whatever Xia Wang'an resolved to accomplish, she invariably achieved.

"It functioned as a failsafe protocol."

Xia Wang'an articulated calmly: "I lacked empirical certainty whether my combat capacity would experience accelerated post-exile cultivation upon returning, yet I retained absolute confidence in a singular axiom: the sole entity possessing the martial capacity to vanquish me was my own historical self."

"That repository of memory served explicitly as an ultimate insurance policy, which I intentionally abandoned to the Corrupters. Should the deity harbor the intent to eradicate me, its singular viable vector was to manufacture that exact combat facsimile."

Once manufactured, regardless of Xia Wang'an's prevailing cultivation tier at that specific juncture, the absolute instant she assimilated that primeval memory archive, she would instantaneously repossess her absolute, uncompromised martial supremacy.

That archive represented an express corridor; the singular mechanism ensuring Xia Wang'an bypassed this shortcut was for the Corrupters to deliberately abstain from deploying it.

Yet she maintained absolute confidence: the adversary would inevitably trigger it.

Xia Wang'an offered a casual shrug: "A transparent open conspiracy."

"I have officially restored my primeval apex capabilities—"

Overhead, Lin Ke remained locked in a ferocious, non-stop melee with swarming stellar beasts: "I am on the verge of being terminated! Could you esteemed personages postpone your conversational discourse and provide tactical extraction immediately?"

Cai Cai loosed an instantaneous spatial arrow, obliterating a ferocious feline stellar beast lunging toward his flank: "Concurred!"

007 and Qiu Zhuang collaborated to crush a collective of beasts: "Rest assured, based on my algorithmic projections, Host retains precisely three minutes of conversational leeway. Exactly three minutes and sixteen seconds hence, Qiu Zhuang will suffer total muscular exhaustion, sustaining a thirty percent statistical probability of corporeal expiration."

"!"

Qiu Zhuang sputtered: "Why must I occupy the primary casualty tier?! Manifestly, Yuan Ning sustained ejection first!"

Xia Wang'an drew breath: "En route."

Within her grip, the heavy black blade vibrated with a resonant, metallic hum, throbbing with eager bloodlust for imminent slaughter.

Xia Wang'an flicked her wrist, transmitting an operational invitation directly to Yuan Ning: "Assist as my tactical support matrix?"

Yuan Ning rose with an easy smile: "At your absolute service."

The Call of the Devout

With her martial potency fully restored to its absolute zenith, Xia Wang'an's sensory parameters experienced an instantaneous, qualitative elevation.

She remained acutely mindful of her outstanding quota of thirty billion units of faith power.

Since their arrival, Yunxing's academic institutions had actively popularized the canonical protocols of "sacrificial offerings" and "divine manifestations." Amidst the current municipal cataclysm, bewildered citizens would inevitably seek refuge in divine intervention.

Within a fraction of a second, as Xia Wang'an's consciousness expanded across the spatial grid:

She intercepted the desperate, concurrent supplications directed toward her ethereal persona.

【Ancient Progenitor, Celestial Sovereign, Matriarch Wang'an, we implore your divine manifestation!】

【Does electronic incense hold genuine efficacy? The canonical texts explicitly mandate traditional organic incense, but desperation leaves no alternative—let us execute the trial anyway. I recall the broadcast utilized electronic sticks as well.】

【Divine Sovereign, grant us deliverance from this purgatory—!】

Cumulatively, operating across a foundational demographic base of thirty billion citizens, the volume of Yunxing inhabitants willing to experiment with sacrificial invocation was remarkably substantial.

Xia Wang'an realized that her ontological alignment had indeed approximated the functional architecture of a classical deity.

Mirroring the mechanics chronicled within mythic lore, when mortal adherents offered ritual devotion, the utilized "sacrificial tributes" materialized a metaphysical bridge across which Xia Wang'an could traverse at will.

Consequently, by concentrating her perceptual focus, she gained unfiltered access to the internal psychological lamentations of the supplicants.

She rapidly isolated the most critical vector requiring immediate intervention.

An argent chinchilla-morph standing thirty-five meters in height, desperately shielding a residential structure while enduring a savage, coordinated assault from a dozen predatory stellar beasts.

Positioned directly within the threshold of the reinforced doorway, a geriatric chinchilla-morph stood guard over a juvenile specimen—a diminutive "chinchilla-pup" measuring a mere one meter in length.

The Divine Descent

Before the juvenile chinchilla, a rudimentary altar constructed from piled tectonic rubble held raw offerings; its plush, furry countenance was completely saturated with raw terror.

Logical, certainly—infant supplicants generated the purest, most concentrated waves of faith energy, registering within Xia Wang'an's cognitive auditory apparatus as the loudest, most urgent vector.

Xia Wang'an manifested instantaneously. The pristine celestial raiment adorning her form had suffered structural compromise during the escalating hostilities; translated into vernacular terminology, her vestments were distinctly tattered.

Paradoxically, the shredded ribbons of her exquisite attire enhanced her silhouette, imbuing her presence with an even more profound, terrifying aura of sacred divinity.

As the stellar beasts converged in a suicidal charge toward the structural fortification, accompanied by the piercing shriek of the infant chinchilla, Xia Wang'an unsheathed her blade.

The heavy blade cleaved the firmament; a single downward arc unleashed an apocalyptic cascade of sword qi, causing swarming clusters of stellar beasts to plummet from the sky like falling dumplings.

Operating nearby, a contingent of frontline Yunxing military cruisers had just primed their forward plasma batteries when they witnessed this breathtaking, catastrophic manifestation.

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