When space-time fluctuated again, You Zhengping dimly sensed that this was his last chance. 

He had disrupted Guan Shaoguang’s plans twice in a row. This time, Guan Shaoguang wouldn’t let him get close to Yu Hua again. And as the number of levels ascended, Guan Shaoguang’s power would be stronger and stronger. This must be the moment when Guan Shaoguang would be most able to kill him. 

Each time space-time fluctuated, he had ended up near Guan Shaoguang, not near Yu Hua. Why was that? 

Also, according to what Guan Shaoguang had said, this was only a false memory space that he had created with time law. The track of history was unchanging. So why would Yu Hua remember him? 

There were too many questions. You Zhengping had no way to analyze them one by one. He only knew that when the space-time fluctuation stopped, he might be faced with a merciless attack from Guan Shaoguang at his prime. 

You Zhengping felt agitated, but he didn’t fear battle. If he could grasp natural law power once, then he could grasp it a second time. Even if time had been turned back, his body, his memories, and his experiences couldn’t be erased. His gift for combat had always been the best in the organization. If Guan Shaoguang wanted a fight, then he would fight! 

You Zhengping clenched his fists and waited for Guan Shaoguang’s attack. 

The time lapse stopped, and You Zhengping found himself standing inside an estate with abundant greenery. There was a manmade lake next to him. The temperature was neither cold nor hot. The sky was as blue as a computer desktop. The white clouds were absolutely still. The sun shone like a searchlight hanging in the sky. 

Another person might have thought that this was a peaceful world. But You Zhengping’s intuition was very acute. He instantly noticed that the supposed sky, white clouds, and bright sun were artificial products. Even the wind blowing on his face strengthened and weakened according to certain rules. In this bright and spacious area, everything had a sense of falseness. 

You Zhengping walked along the lake, carefully examining the surroundings. The more he looked, the more he thought that this was like an ordinary estate on an ordinary world. There was a residential building about thirty floors high beside the lake. Some windows were open, and some were closed. It seemed to be inhabited. There was a strong aura of life. But there was no one in the estate. 

Just as he was thinking that there were no people active inside the estate, You Zhengping faintly heard the sound of conversation from the other side of the lake. 

You Zhengping’s spatial instincts told him that this estate was probably some space or little world, but the people talking were outside of it, so he could only hear their voices but not see them.  

Since that was the case, with his ability, he should be able to pass through the restrictions of space and see the people speaking. You Zhengping attempted to use his ability to approach the place where the voices were coming from. He held out his hand in the air, and a light screen the size of a big movie theater screen appeared in front of it. You Zhengping could see who was speaking, but it seemed that the other side couldn’t see him. 

He reached out to touch the light screen. His hand passed through as though through rays of light, but he couldn’t touch the people on the screen. They were in two dimensions in the same space, something like a two-dimensional projection into a three-dimensional space. You could see them, but there was no way to touch them. 

“Guan Shaoguang, haven’t you decided yet?” There was an exceedingly handsome man on the screen. You Zhengping had never seen him. 

There were five people in all on the screen. Guan Shaoguang was one of them. Faced with the handsome man’s question, he didn’t answer. 

All five people had excellent appearances. They were high grade levelers and had undergone countless upgrades to their bodies. Their attractiveness and their physical capabilities had both reached the pinnacle of humanity. 

“Whether you agree or not, I’ll take action in the next world,” said a short-haired woman who was playing with a knife. “The next world is our five-hundredth level. After we pass this level, the five of us can all grasp natural law power. Only then will we stand a fighting chance.” 

“And if I don’t agree?” Guan Shaoguang said. 

“They you aren’t qualified to fight in the five-hundredth level,” the short-haired woman said with an emotionless smile. “A dead person isn’t qualified to pass levels.” 

“We’re all friends who have crawled up together from the bottom. Why is this necessary?” Guan Shaoguang said with a sigh. 

“Controlling and being controlled isn’t being friends,” said a robust man. 

“The whole central world is already within his reach,” said the last man, who was soft and feminine. “He holds every type of ability and can punish levelers however he wants. If he clears, do you really think he’ll help all of us return home? No, he’ll only become an even more awful new System!” 

Guan Shaoguang said, “Then…I’ll go ask Yu Hua again. I want to know why he’s become the way he is today. He wasn’t like this to begin with.” 

“Do all those with time abilities like dwelling on the past?” the feminine man said mockingly. “You may remember everything, but that doesn’t mean he does.” 

The conversation among these people stopped there. Guan Shaoguang left the picture, and the light screen disappeared. 

From their conversation, You Zhengping had gotten quite a bit of information. 

First, this was the border between level 499 and level 500.

Second, level 500 was the boundary between man and god. These people were all levelers who were about to fight through level 500. They wanted to use that level to team up and kill a certain person.

Third, the person they wanted to kill was Yu Hua. 

Finally, they were like Guan Shaoguang, former friends of Yu Hua’s who had faced life and death with him. 

Was this true history? So Guan Shaoguang hadn’t only wanted to kill Yu Hua when he was resurrected by the System. In the original track of time, he and Yu Hua’s other friends had betrayed Yu Hua together, had attempted to join hands and kill Yu Hua during level 500. 

Thinking about it carefully, this wasn’t impossible. Guan Shaoguang had said that he was already dead and that the System had brought him back to life. The System wanted to kill Yu Hua, so it had had to choose someone who had the chance and also the courage to kill Yu Hua. How could it have resurrected an enemy? 

So Guan Shaoguang and the others had truly betrayed Yu Hua and tried to assassinate him. That was why Guan Shaoguang would have been chosen by the System to be brought back to life. 

“Why?” You Zhengping absolutely couldn’t understand what they were thinking. Since they had been sworn friends, why would they betray Yu Hua? What was there that they couldn’t say directly to him? 

As he was wondering this, another light screen appeared at his side. This seemed to be a dark and gloomy wide room with a very high ceiling. Guan Shaoguang walked through the doors and said to the person reclining in a chair in the room, “Yu Hua.” 

“What is it?” came a familiar voice. It was Yu Hua. 

He was hidden in the shadows. His face was invisible, and his expression even more so. 

His voice was cold and unfeeling. There was no emotion to be heard in it. 

“Didn’t you kill some more levelers recently?” Guan Shaoguang’s tone was extremely respectful. He even kept his bearing meek. 

“Yes,” Yu Hua answered very pithily. 

Guan Shaoguang said, “Why? They were only low grade levelers. Was it just because they didn’t obey your instructions and chose to carry out a world opening mission? They just wanted to choose the mission that would give them the most points, so that when they came to the next world with a high difficulty level, they would have a guarantee of survival. Why did you… No, you’re keeping the levelers from passing levels! 

“You force the high grade levelers to transfer their points to newbies so the newbies will be able to stay on the central world longer and only leave when they have no choice but to pass levels. You’ve trapped the high and low grade levelers alike in the central world, but you yourself have constantly entered new worlds and constantly gotten stronger. 

“Everyone says you’re a ‘Tyrant,’ that you want to squeeze out all the levelers’ points and abilities to become all-knowing and all-powerful yourself. You want to seize the System’s power and become a savage new System. You…” 

“None of you understand,” Yu Hua interrupted Guan Shaoguang in a dull voice. 

“Because we haven’t grasped natural law power, we aren’t worthy of being your friends anymore?” Guan Shaoguang looked at Yu Hua. “Your ‘control’ power will always hold us down?”

“If you want to understand it that way, then it is so,” said Yu Hua. 

Guan Shaoguang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. “What the hell do you want?” 

Yu Hua put his hands on his chair and walked down from his high seat. He passed by Guan Shaoguang and left behind a sentence: “When you’ve passed level 500, you’ll know.” 

Yu Hua was dressed in a black cloak. His features were very similar to the office worker Yu Hua that You Zhengping was familiar with. He strolled out of the dark and gloomy hall, leaving Guan Shaoguang alone. 

Guan Shaoguang’s expression had been very pained at the beginning. After Yu Hua left, his expression returned to normal. He looked coldly at Yu Hua’s receding figure. “Since you want to undertake everything yourself, then let me see whether you have this kind of power on your own!” 

Guan Shaoguang’s initial hesitation and discomfort had vanished. He ferociously returned to the room where they had plotted to assassinate Yu Hua and said to the other four, “I agree. What are your plans?” 

The picture disappeared altogether. Quiet returned to the estate. You Zhengping suddenly sensed his surroundings darken. He looked up at the sky. The sun, blue sky, and white clouds were gone. They had been replaced with a full moon and a sky full of stars. 

Was the transition between day and night so abrupt? What kind of world was this? 

While he was considering where he had found himself, You Zhengping also had to analyze the images he had just seen. Had they happened before, or were they happening now? 

He inclined towards thinking they were happening now. The reason was Guan Shaoguang. 

In the images that had unfolded before him just now, Guan Shaoguang and the others had chosen to betray Yu Hua because at this time they didn’t understand Yu Hua’s behavior. Guan Shaoguang also must not have known, so he had gone to question Yu Hua before making a decision. 

But after Yu Hua had left the room, Guan Shaoguang’s expression had changed greatly. He had clearly known all of Yu Hua’s reasons and had hoped to reach a conclusion, but he had gotten a contradictory answer. 

From this it could be seen that these things had truly happened, and this track of history had once existed, but Guan Shaoguang was the one who had died and been resurrected. He had gone back in time and at the same point in time had once again asked Yu Hua the same questions and gotten the same answers. Then he had once again chosen to plot against Yu Hua. 

From the scenes just now, it seemed that Guan Shaoguang was actually…

“You’re very content with your lot in this strange space,” a voice said behind You Zhengping while he pondered. 

He turned at once and saw Yu Hua, in a black windbreaker, standing behind him. 

“Huh? How come you’re here?” You Zhengping turned his head and looked at the place where the light screen had just appeared. Shouldn’t Yu Hua be in the hall on the central world? 

“It’s my little world, with my rules. Why shouldn’t I be able to come?” Yu Hua sat in a chair in a pavilion by the side of the estate’s lake and lightly waved a hand. Two cups of steaming tea appeared on a table. 

“No, well, you…” You Zhengping was dumbfounded. What was even going on? 

“Have some tea.” Yu Hua placed a cup of tea across from himself. 

“Okay.” Like countless times in the past, You Zhengping obediently sat down across from Yu Hua, picked up the cup, and drank a mouthful of warm tea. 

---

Author's Note

Yu Hua: It’s dark and chilly. Drink hot tea to warm up. 

You Zhengping (agreeable and obedient): Okay.