Chapter 167 166. A Good Ending
Chapter 167 166. A Good Ending
The color from MAx's face drained in the blink of an eye as he stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar person. He didn't know how the heck the other person managed to change bodies, but when he faced his master once again, he felt a dreadful sensation from the bottom of his heart.
He didn't want to die just yet. So he went on his knees and kneeled, begging: "Master! I'm sorry! I failed to recognize you. I'll listen to you from now on. Please, don't kill me."
"Shane," said Hope. "Let's exchange."
Before Shane could agree, Hope had already changed the bodies, controlling Jake. She crouched and caressed the man's face and snickered.
"Did you really think I have so much time at my disposal to deal with you? Did you really not know why I 'dared' to punish you today?"
Max was silent. He knew clearly what she was talking about. How could he not? After all, he was the first one to refuse to follow her orders in the first place.
He was ordered to turn this place into a miserable world, slowly hollowing it out from the inside. But how could he do it? He was the hero figure who defeated such a dreadful system god at the time. How could he do something even worse for the world? How can he be a hero if he hollows out the world?
He was thankful that the hooded woman never came to him again and instead, he got Echo as his disciple. But honestly, he really didn't have to teach her anything. She already knew everything.
But he was fearful. He knew that his master might come back some day. That was why he had used up the means at his disposal to protect himself from the ones using that invisible cloak. It was just that despite everything, this person still came to him.
He trembled from head to toe.
When others saw their dignified System God begging for his life like that publicly, everyone was stunned. Some of them even videotaped him and uploaded it to the livestream, causing a voc in the system circle.
"Tell me this is a joke!" Someone commented, followed by others below him.
Netizen 2: "I don't think it's a joke. He's the system god. But why is he begging? And from whom? Just who is that guy?"
Netizen 3: "I think I know him. It's Jake from the institute! But he should be a student. How did he come about attacking the system god? And why? Just what the heck is going on?"
Netizen 4: "Ah, I'm dying of curiosity."
Netizen 5: "I think this should be a public stunt. Don't you remember how the system God used several public stunts to make himself look like a generous person? This should be the same."
Netizen 6: "But can you really compare this with those stunts? Are you crazy?"
The chat was a mess, but no one cared about it anymore. The scene at the palace was much more interesting at the moment.
Max finally realized the situation around him was getting stranger and stranger as he got to his feet and rubbed his face bitterly. He took a deep breath and said to everyone else with a forced smile on his face, "This is just a public stunt. Don't worry. Get out of here!"
Everyone else sighed and scoffed. No one cared about the system god anymore after this.
Max signaled Jake to follow him while ignoring the hints from the old minister in the throne room. He directly took Jake to his private garden where no one was given permission to enter. When he was sure that no one was listening to them, he turned around and said, "Master, why did you approach me like this?"
"I want to talk business for now." Hope didn't talk nonsense even for a moment and said, "Why did you think I allow you to become a system god? Were you that able? Your brother was better than you!"
Max's lips pursed. After all these years, his family's affection for the man had already reduced to the point that he always considered Ed his opponent. The latter had disturbed him several times already, scolding at him for being so stupid as to trust his master, but Max never listened to those words, and every time they met, they would fight.
But now, they couldn't even fight anymore.
He took a deep breath and said, "What do you want me to do then?"
Since it was already like this, he might as well agree with whatever the woman was saying. In any case, he was tired of trying to be a hero. All he ended up becoming was a clown. Nothing else. At this moment, he couldn't even bother pretending to care about this world anymore. It was already hollow from the inside out.
Back when he still wanted to be a hero, his heart was filled with youthful energy that wanted to give something good to this world. But now, after living in this world filled with worse people, he didn't want to do anything heroic. What did his master say? She wanted to destroy this world, right?
Fine, he was going to support her for that.
All this time, he was rather afraid to face his master's wrath than to become a hero. He was still pretending that he cared about his little emotion from his youthful days.
After facing his master, he changed all that and became honest.
Hope could read his expression clearly. She scoffed and turned to Shane. "This is why I chose him. He's so easy to control."
Shane had already gotten back his bowl of popcorn as he chewed and shrugged. "He's all yours."
Hope wanted to exchange the bodies, but she still suppressed her emotions and turned to Max. She knew that if she were to give the body to Shane while dealing with this person, things would turn worse. Max shouldn't know about Shane's existence in this job. No one should.
If anyone were to take the blame, it should be her!
In any case, Shane was going to forget all about this, wasn't he? What was the point in making trouble for him? Let us enjoy her while she can.
She stopped thinking about bitter things and said, "Do you know why I want to destroy this world?"
Max shook his head. He was clueless.
"There a secret in this universe." Hope raised Jake's hands toward the sky as if she wanted to touch it. "As we had imagined, the universe isn't as vast as we imagine it to be. It's always getting created and destroyed based on karma. The current world is also about to be destroyed. It's a natural force because of the passage of time. This universe is getting older and older. It cannot handle too many worlds, especially a powerful place like the system world. It would end up blasting automatically, creating a huge hole in the universe. It won't be able to be destroyed."
She lowered her head and stared profoundly at Max. "If we don't do this, this universe cannot exist anymore, even if it's for a little while. But don't worry. Everyone will get a chance at living here. The mortal world will still have a few thousand years before it gets destroyed. So that everyone has a long life ahead of them.
"So you realize why I want to do this, don't you?"
Max was shocked from the bottom of his heart. He didn't think there was such a history behind this. And he dared to cause trouble for his master. Sure enough, his master wasn't of this world at all! And she still took him in!
His face changed from gratitude to elation as he excitedly said, "If I contributed, I'd get a better ending, right?"
Hope smiled. "Of course. Just listen to me this time, yeah?"
Shane scoffed in his mind. "You have a good lying skill."
"Thanks a lot," replied Hope in a bland tone.
Max said, "So what should we do?"
"First, start making this world more and more corrupt. Then go to every dungeon to create a rift there. Every dungeon should be filled with monsters that cannot be controlled. When Ed was still alive, he alone was enough to control such events. Now that he's dead, there's no one who can stop the dungeons from exploding."
Max still had a question that he wanted to ask. "But why choose me for this task? If you wanted, you could do it with a flick of your fingers, right? Why did you do it yourself?"
"I'm an outsider," replied Hope. "I can't interfere with this job anymore. So I can only find someone who can be as naive as you."
Max nodded at first, then his face got angrier when he realized the meaning of that sentence. "What do you mean by that sentence?! Answer me!"
Hope ignored and and said, "Do it, and you'll get a good world with everything you need, even Ed."
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