Chapter 1566 — Will You Pray to the Gods?

Honestly, ever since he arrived here Gao Yang had heard Lady Night speak of so many ancient secrets and vicissitudes of time, yet all of it combined could not hold a candle to the one word "badass" that now came thundering down from the sky—he stood there with his head tilted back, stunned for a long while without any reaction at all, completely thrown off his game. In the end it was Amber whose mind stayed nimble and whose nerves stayed tough; a grin spread across the Shadow Strike Goose's face, and she proudly patted her chest: "Damn right. I even helped come up with the idea back then..."

"There's no way that was your idea," Lady Night cut in before Amber had even finished speaking. "Because even I couldn't have thought of that approach."

Amber: "...Oh. Right. I forgot you and I are actually built from the same template..."

But compared to Lady Night's astonishment, Gao Yang was actually the more surprised one at this moment. He looked at the ancient god before him and raised an eyebrow: "You really know nothing about this? In that illusion earlier, you should have already witnessed the execution of this plan... Even if it didn't cover the details of the early planning stages, at the very least you should have known about this."

Lady Night was silent for two seconds, and her voice seemed a little awkward: "...To conserve the system's computing power, I skipped over everything involving 'known events'..."

Gao Yang: "...You can skip things?! No wonder 'Amber' during that period was either working overtime in the office or sleeping in her room—you couldn't even catch a glimpse of her all day. So you were just fast-forwarding through it all on your end—is this conserving system computing power or slacking off?"

Lady Night thought about it, her tone low and solemn: "It was to conserve system computing power."

Gao Yang's gaze lingered on Amber for a moment, then rested on Lady Night for a long while. This time he had come to thoroughly understand just how deep the connection between Lady Night and Amber really ran. On the other side, Lady Night on the throne seemed a little awkward too; the gaze she cast down now was somewhat evasive, and only after several seconds of silence did she offer, as if in remedy: "I was merely expressing admiration for your astonishing ideas."

Gao Yang was silent for a long while, and finally the corner of his mouth twitched: "If you really can't hold it in... then don't. You did call me Old Zongzi for fifty years, after all..."

Lady Night: "...Fine. Old Zongzi."

Amber's eyes darted rapidly back and forth between Gao Yang and Lady Night several times. She had wanted to ask since a while ago, and now she finally couldn't hold back: "What on earth are you two talking about?"

"I'll explain it to you later—it's a bit complicated," Gao Yang said, reaching out to press a hand on Amber's head. Then, before the conversation could spiral completely out of control, he quickly steered it back on track. "Let's talk about our 'Twilight of the Gods Plan' instead. My lady, how feasible do you think it is?"

The ancient deity on the throne was silent this time for even longer than before. She seemed to be running some large-scale deduction and simulation, so much so that even the swirling sand and dust at the desert's edge froze still in the air. Only minutes later, when the dust began to dance once more, did she break her silence: "I have never considered this possibility, but in theory... the entire process should work."

Although he had been confident in his own heart and had run through the deductions many times before coming here, it was only now, hearing the affirmative answer from Lady Night's lips, that Gao Yang truly breathed a sigh of relief. A faint smile appeared on his face: "With that answer, I feel much more at ease."

But Lady Night on the throne did not speak again after that. She seemed lost in thought, silent for a long time, which made Gao Yang—who had just relaxed—tense up again: "Is there still a problem?"

"No... not a problem. I am simply somewhat moved," Lady Night said with a gentle shake of her head. "For over a million years, I have watched countless civilizations rise and fall, flourish and decay. They fought back, they possessed great wisdom, they had great people who tried to find a path that could be walked—but on the whole, none of these civilizations ever exceeded my calculations. Every time, I could foresee their failure decades or even centuries before the end came. But only you... you have taken too many actions that have already exceeded the boundaries of the system's simulations.

"Even now, when there is less than a year left before the end, when I have personally intervened to help plan the route for this season's civilization, you still managed to take actions that leave me astonished... Compared to those predecessor civilizations that marched into failure according to calculation, the mortal beings of this season are truly not the least bit well-behaved.

"Is this all change brought about by you? My neighbor—was it you who made them so unpredictable?"

Gao Yang did not speak for a moment; he fell into serious thought. But after a spell of contemplation, he shook his head: "I don't think so. Although without me, the trajectory of this world might indeed have changed somewhat—it might even have truly failed to survive this disaster—I still don't believe that everything this world has become is driven by me. To this world, I am probably just a variable that occupies a relatively large share. But if you ask why this season's civilization is so unfathomable..."

He paused, then smiled and spread his hands: "It's probably because every child on the verge of adulthood ought to be this unruly."

"...Stuffing bombs under the chairs of the gods—this season's 'children' really are unruly to a fault," Lady Night said with a smile of her own. And within that cheerful smile, she adjusted her posture slightly and finally let out a soft sigh. "Well then. There will never be an end to the things one wishes to say, but every meeting must come to a close. The most important matter has been entrusted. I think it is time for you to go about your own business—after all, this world is not yet truly safe."

Hearing Lady Night's words, Gao Yang knew that this special "visit" had reached the point of being declared over. Although he felt that given time he could still pry more secrets from this ancient god's lips, as she had said—this world was not yet truly safe, and he did not have an endless supply of time to linger here chatting with an ancient god.

So he gave a slight nod. But just as he was about to take his leave, Amber suddenly stepped forward two paces. She seemed to be holding something back and wanted to ask: "Wait—hold on! I still have a question!"

Gao Yang looked at Amber with some bewilderment at the strange expression on her face, but soon he seemed to realize something, and his gaze grew deep. Lady Night, meanwhile, cast an curious look their way: "Oh? You have another question?"

"There's a voice!" Amber said loudly. She seemed to have been holding this question in for a very long time, and even now she had only dared to ask after immense hesitation. Perhaps her emotions were running too high, for her face was slightly flushed. "There has always been a voice. I always thought it was you, because that voice called itself the 'Goddess of Shadow'... It spoke with me, occasionally taught me things. But now I know—that voice is not you... I... I just want to ask, do you know what this is about?!"

As Amber's words fell, the space around the throne fell instantly silent. Gao Yang drew a soft breath, thinking to himself that this was indeed the matter—he had nearly forgotten this crucial question!