Chapter 1 The Silent Bridge

On the giant tortoise rock terrace returning, the bridge was unusually quiet. The fierce battle with the Goddess of Destruction had taken too much energy from everyone. Even after resting for a couple of days, they hadn't recovered. Even the normally rowdy Lily and the curious Gungnir were sitting or lying quietly on their chairs. Only Doudou and Xiao Ruo Ji still maintained their usual energy, one splashing in the sink, the other venting frustration at a piece of meat that was too tough to chew.

These two probably used the least energy in the previous battle.

Although one of the merfolk nearly took half the life of the Goddess of Destruction…

Everyone was quiet for a while, until the giant tortoise rock terrace arrived at the "Inter界 Gate" located in Kolo. Lily couldn't help but break the silence, "Hey, landlord, did we... just stand and win against a true god?"

Ren Hao thought about it carefully, feeling there was nothing wrong with that statement. He nodded, "In a sense, that's right."

Lily pondered for a moment, then suddenly slapped the armrest of her chair, "Holy crap, I can brag about this for half a year!"

"Who are you going to brag to?" Vivian glanced at the husky girl with disdain, "Run to the neighborhood and brag to your dog followers? Or go to the nursing home in the southern suburbs and tell the old men and women? Or write it in a novel and brag to the readers?"

Lily was stunned, suddenly realizing that this seemed to be a brag she couldn't actually spread. But she was still unconvinced, crossing her arms, "So what if I write it in a novel! This is still a world-shattering battle, okay!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Nangong Sanba scoffed, "Give it a rest. Nowadays, if a novelist doesn't spray the nine heavens and Buddhas with a mouthful of soda, would they be embarrassed to call themselves the protagonist? The battle record of our group combined isn't as good as a fish's. If you write that out, don't even mention a world-shattering battle, how many people would criticize you for abusing the protagonist..."

Lily patted the chair, "They're bragging! I'm telling the truth! Don't look down on our documentary literature, okay!"

When Hao Ren heard that she even had the nerve to say the words "documentary literature," he knew that this husky spirit had fallen into the state of "literary creator's self-appreciation." Lily was basically impossible to communicate with at the moment. He turned to Vivian, "Speaking of which, what are your thoughts after being so close to your creator?"

"I have a lot of thoughts," Vivian said with a slight smile, "But to be honest, none of my mental preparations were useful. Goddess… Leah is completely different from what I imagined."

Hao Ren nodded, "Oh, I didn't expect her to look like your great-niece."

"That's not what I meant!" Vivian rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about her personality, and her… aura. I thought she would be more serious, more dignified, but I didn't expect her to be like that, very approachable, even like the little girl next door – it sounds a little rude to say that, but that's really how I feel. But no matter what, one thing is the same as what I imagined, and that is that she is really easy to talk to, just like the Raven Goddess."

"Don't mention that Shunzi, you don't think she's easy to talk to when her brain short-circuits," Hao Ren's mouth twitched, "And speaking of the Creation Goddess's current personality… to be honest, I think it has a lot to do with her failed business venture."

Vivian was quite familiar with Hao Ren's habit of randomly using words, so she just asked faintly, "Hmm?"

"We know about her deeds back then, carrying two broadswords and charging into the lair of the Lord of Madness, directly overturning an entire dimension and resetting the order of the Dream Realm. A person like that couldn't have a soft personality, but what about now? I don't need to tell you, you can feel it, she's surrounded by a warm, softening aura. A nice way to put it is that she's seen through things, a harsh way to put it is that she's been smoothed out by the storms, she has no fighting spirit. As for the reason, it's easy to guess. Anyone who spent tens of millions of years building an era of order, only to have it completely flattened in the blink of an eye, and then have countless plans, schemes, and backhands destroyed one after another, even the appearance of allies like us is based on completely denying all her plans, how big of a blow would that be?"

Vivian frowned, "Can gods be defeated in will?"

"She wasn't defeated, otherwise she wouldn't have followed us out of the Dark Domain. It would be much more comfortable to continue dreaming," Hao Ren waved his hand, "But she wasn't completely unaffected. The will of a god is very powerful, so powerful that it's unbelievable to mortals, which allows them to focus on their original intentions for endless years without wavering. But gods also have thoughts and feelings, which is the basis for them to understand and love mortals, but it also leads to them wavering a little bit – obviously, the Creation Goddess now has a little bit of wavering. She seems very gentle, very indifferent, even excessively indifferent. All her plans have been destroyed or denied, and then we gave her a new plan, and she accepted it without question, cooperating to an incredible degree… Of course, she should cooperate, because she is very wise, she knows that the plan we gave her is better, but in this process she showed a lack of initiative, which is a point that I and the Raven 12345 discussed before."

"Do you think… Leah can't get out of this psychological state on her own?"

"She can definitely get out, otherwise she wouldn't be a god, but I don't know how long it will take her to realize this and complete the initiative adjustment. After all, we don't have much time," Hao Ren said frankly, "I actually don't doubt her learning ability, I'm afraid that she's lost her drive, and we don't have much advantage when facing the Lord of Madness in the first place. If Leah has a little less drive… then we'll have even less advantage."

Vivian looked very worried, "Did the Raven Goddess say how she plans to solve this problem?"

"…She told me to give the Creation Goddess a few more sets of test papers."

The corner of Vivian's mouth stiffened, "…Okay, now I also think the Goddess is a bit unreliable."

Hao Ren shook his head with a smile, beckoned to the sink beside him, and Doudou immediately jumped over happily. Hao Ren's hand sank – the little guy was quite heavy, "But speaking of which, it was quite reliable for her to let me bring Doudou this time, although that was thanks to the Prophecy Crystal…"

As he spoke, the giant tortoise rock terrace had crossed the gate located in Kolo, and the shining starlight of the outer world once again covered the ship's hull.

Letting the others in the family go back to rest, Hao Ren led Vivian, Doudou, and Xiao Ruo Ji directly to the Raven 12345's "Heavenly Villa."

In the brand-new (almost always brand-new) office, the Raven 12345 listened carefully to Hao Ren's report of this action.

After listening to the report, the goddess sister rarely didn't start babbling immediately, but fell into a silence of ten seconds.

Finally, she opened her mouth, "So… you fought the 'Goddess of Destruction' who possessed the power of a true god head-on, and then repelled and seriously injured her with everyone surviving?"

"Strictly speaking, it was a Goddess of Destruction in a weakened state," Hao Ren emphasized, "In the previous Godslaying War, she was also impacted by the Divine Kingdom explosion, so she was seriously injured and fell into a deep sleep. It's very doubtful how much strength she could exert when fighting us."

"But that's still a true god. The strength level won't change even if the power intensity declines," Raven 12345 slowly pressed her hand on the table, her eyes suddenly brightening, "The inspector under my command stood and won against an evil god! Holy crap, I can brag about this for half a year!"

Hao Ren coughed immediately. How did this sentence sound familiar?

"Can you stop marveling at this kind of thing?" He looked at Raven 12345 with a wry smile, "I'm here to talk to you about serious matters. Look, now the Goddess of Destruction has run to the lair of the Lord of Madness, she's basically delivering a brain to the Lord of Madness… This is completely unexpected."

"But it has also been weakened at the same time. After the two cancel each other out, the situation won't be so bad. This point is accurate in the judgment of that 'Leah'," Raven 12345 said unhurriedly, "I've heard your various arrangements and decisions. They're very reasonable and very wise. The smartest decision was not to rush into that dark abyss cage. Before Leah completes those studies, you're really not a match for the Lord of Madness. Maintaining monitoring of the enemy's nest is the only action that can be taken at this stage."

"Speaking of which, can you use the Prophecy Crystal to test it?" Hao Ren looked at the goddess sister with some anticipation, "Test when the Lord of Madness will be unable to suppress it, or when the decisive battle will break out… and then I can determine how much time I have left."

Raven 12345 immediately glared at him, "I said last time, don't rely on the power of prophecy, have you forgotten at this time?"

But after she finished speaking, she still gave a serious reply, "It's not that I won't help you, but the role that the Prophecy Crystal can play in this matter is limited. The Lord of Madness is located in the Dream Realm, and its own power intensity is close to that of a god. Now it's relying on the Goddess of Destruction to turn itself into a stand-in user. In this case, any prediction of it by the Prophecy Crystal will lead to uncontrollable results, and may even cause the originally stable future to develop in the direction of destruction."

When Hao Ren heard that it was so serious, he had to give up his idea and raised another matter, "There's also the matter we discussed last time, the Creation Goddess's fighting spirit doesn't seem to be that strong…"

Raven 12345 frowned, "She's chickened out? That shouldn't be…"

"She hasn't chickened out, but her personality is obviously much softer than before, like the feeling of settling down after experiencing great storms, but a little more depressed."

"Settling down is a good thing, she was too immature before, but depression is absolutely unacceptable. Fighting monsters like the Lord of Madness requires an absolutely strong desire to fight," Raven 12345 shook her head, "Did you educate her with the meteor hammer?"

When Hao Ren heard this, his face collapsed, "Can you stop joking? It was okay to say it before, but I can't really swing the Bible and smash her – she's Vivian's own mother!"

"Tch, I knew it," Raven 12345 glanced at Hao Ren and Vivian with disdain, then waved her hand, "Then has she started studying?"

"That's going pretty smoothly. Although she was a little frustrated when she knew there was a lot of homework, she was very interested in the textbooks themselves."

"That's fine. As long as she starts reading, there won't be a big problem," Raven 12345 said, a mysterious smile on her face, "Actually, the big shots above are very concerned about this matter, and that Mother Ibtis specifically left a little gift in those textbooks. Don't worry, it will definitely work. No one knows their daughter like their mother."